By Leo Valiquette
Among the various blogs I follow, one that stands out for a daily chuckle is the Bad Pitch Blog, which outs and critiques bad pitches by those who attempt to pass themselves off as PR practitioners.
The individual reporter or editor is often swamped by pitches of one sort or another, whether it be a press release that’s been dispatched via an email blast or a more personal contact by phone or e-mail. Most often it’s the direct contact that’s going to net the most fish, provided the PR person in question has taken the time to ensure they are pitching the right story at the right publication and have actually provided said editor or reporter with something to chew on. In clear and concise terms, what is the news value and why is it something they should consider? If a PR person can’t convey this in less than 10 seconds on the phone, or in a few punchy sentences via e-mail, they’ve committed premature pitching. Rather than make the most of the opportunity, they’ve blown it. Editors and reporters who feel they’re being nagged by someone who hasn’t done their homework get cranky. (Trust me on this, I used to be one of those cranky editors).
As this latest from the Bad Pitch Blog demonstrates, even worse than not conveying your message crisply is bothering to pursue media with no message at all. It’s like sending a resume with a cover letter that only reads “it’s all in the resume.” See for yourself how a misguided PR practitioner earned her dubious kudos on the Bad Pitch Blog in 10 words or less.
[tag] public relations, pitching, media relations [/tag]
By inmedia
Our profession is under fire again this week with the lambasting the industry received from a CBS legal analyst, deriding PR as a wholly untruthful industry built on the premise that PR consultants are nothing better than paid liars on our clients’ behalf. He tried to dig himself out of the hole somewhat when he saw the incensed responses from commenters within and outside of the PR industry.
The PRSA has fought back with an official statement, defending both the integrity of PR practitioners and the industry as a whole.
The PR industry far too often is judged by its most ineffectual and dishonest members. PR agencies and practitioners that have integrity and their clients’ best interests at heart, would never agree to obfuscate the truth or to put out a bombastic news release that is full of so-called gobbledygook words that lack any real meaning and generally incite the conditioned response from editors and reporters of hitting the delete key.
This story is a tired one, but the usual suspects are covering it with gusto.
By Linda Forrest
It’s true, a lot of a PR consultant’s time is spent writing; writing news releases, backgrounders, bylined articles, biographies, blog posts (ahem)… all in the hope that interested journalists or editors will take what we’ve written and repurpose it or use it as source material to develop their own coverage of our client or its product. But an integrated approach to media relations recognizes that while a lot of the stuff we’re pursuing is print or online coverage, there are other media channels and formats that strongly influence decision-makers in the B2B marketplace, including radio and television. Each format has its place in your program and can have valuable impact when properly incorporated into your media relations activities.
The Buggles had it wrong, I’m afraid – video did not kill the radio star, at least when it comes to B2B marketing.
According to a recent article from btobonline, radio is very influential in this arena. “A study by Media Audit found that 55% of business owners, partners and corporate officers listen to the radio between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m., compared with 45% of the general population. The telephone survey, which took the pulse of 6,860 business executives in 88 U.S. cities in 2006 and 2007, also found that on an average day, 75% of these executives tune to radio, compared with 68% of the general market. According to the survey, the top radio formats for reaching business executives are: news/talk (21%), public radio (17%), country (12%) and talk (11%).”
We are lucky in Ottawa that we have a supportive and interesting radio program in CFRA’s Business @ Night. We often have our clients appear on the show, capably hosted by Greg Hebert, and have had a lot of anecdotal feedback from interviewees that not only does Greg do his homework but that they’ve been approached by customers and prospects to say that they heard the interview. When targeting a local initiative, this penetration can be very valuable and help achieve goals relating to local investment, attracting and retaining staff, and building corporate goodwill by highlighting the company’s activities in the community, among others.
National radio programs, like the Business Network on the CBC every morning at 5:45am, hit a much larger audience both numerically and geographically, and can provide a useful venue for your company’s leadership team to demonstrate their subject-matter expertise or contribute worthwhile dialog to conversations about pressing business issues.
Television has not yet been eclipsed by the internet as a key influencer of the business elite in America, those top executives who have the final say on purchasing decisions. According to the Ipsos’ BE: USA 2007, The Media Survey of the United States’ Business Elite, 70% have watched network television and 60% have watched cable television in the previous day, where just over 50% went online. The convergence of video and the web, though, has gained traction with nearly half having streamed or watched a broadband video from their computers in the last month.
As other bloggers have previously reported, print remains king. “The business elite turn to national newspapers first for deeper understanding of the issues that matter to them, particularly financial and business news (18% of the projected C-suite universe), as they trust newspapers to have the best journalists (28%) and reliable reporting (23%) … For keeping abreast of technology, this group of decision-makers prefers business magazines (22%), such as weeklies BusinessWeek (20%), bi-monthly publications such as Fortune (18%) and Forbes (17%), and monthly publications like CFO (15%). Business magazines are also this group’s primary resource for informative advertising (15%), general business help (32%), and information to manage their career development (29%).”
When targeting your customers, keep all forms of media in mind, not just print and online. There may be other channels that are more appropriate to deliver your message and your PR agency should recognize and pursue these avenues to ensure that your coverage is having the greatest impact on your target audience.
By Leo Valiquette
Now we’ve got it, let’s put it to good use.
Last night was the official launch of TheCodeFactory, a private business accelerator/incubator intended to help fill the gap between a great idea and a commercial product gaining traction in the marketplace. It’s the cherished baby of business consultant Ian Graham and its launch attracted plenty of interest from the local business community, including remarks from Denny Doyle, the “Don Cherry of Ottawa’s tech sector,” Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation, and Scott Lake, founding partner of both Jaded Pixel and Shopify and blogger on Startup Ottawa.
First up, I’ll freely admit inmedia‘s support of TheCodeFactory and my role as PR flack for its launch. But my personal interest and support for this project goes right back to my previous incarnation as editor of the OBJ and my favourite hot-button topics. We need to foster a culture of true entrepreneurship in this town defined by people who want to build a successful company versus those in search of a paycheque who are just trying to give themselves a job. Problem is, having that mindset is only half the battle. You need the means to get from the idea stage to the cash-flow stage. Plenty of great ideas with talented, committed people behind them wither and die thanks to a lack of support for the earliest stages of the start-up lifecycle.
That’s where TheCodeFactory comes in.
What Ian is offering up is a combination of office space for start-ups looking for a desk without all the administrative and costly aggravation of setting up their own office. That’s the fourth floor. What’s truly unique is what’s on the second floor. There he offers co-working space with the relaxed atmosphere of a coffee bar (with full connectivity, of course) where entrepreneurs at every stage and code warriors from local schools can network, collaborate, troubleshoot and refine their ideas, even connect for potential employment opportunities.
It’s this unique community approach, the emphasis on creating a “vital, vibrant, ecosystem” that truly sets TheCodeFactory apart from other venues that fit into the business accelerator category. And Ottawa couldn’t need it more. We’ve seen a host of anchor tech tenants of one stripe or another downsize, pull up stakes or get bought out over the past while. There’s plenty of volatility and uncertainty our there, the perfect breeding ground for startups as people decide it’s time take hold of their destiny and go into business for themselves. It’s been referred to as the “supernova effect,” as experienced and savvy individuals disperse their knowledge and expertise throughout the tech community like seeds cast to the winds.
In this environment, TheCodeFactory is just the kind of place we need for those seeds to sprout into new ventures or for that kind of experience to be made available to others. As Scott said in his remarks last night, it’s “a place for innovation to grow.”
