By inmedia
The February edition of Insights from the PR blogosphere is the first of what we hope will become a regular feature. For now, we are keeping our roundups monthly but may decide to pick up the pace and deliver weekly roundups in the future. As always, we welcome our readers’ thoughts.
10 ways to get coverage in local press
What does your client do? (No, really)
This is merely a sample of the great content published by the Getting Ink blog. Their post on knowing what your client does and being able to explain it in 20 words or less should act as a warning. Stay away from hyperbole and meaningless buzzwords!
For beginners, Linda Jones’s post on generating local coverage provides a helpful list of things to keep in mind. Don’t make the mistake of sending every story to the news desk, find out who writes about the kind of story you’re pitching and take a targeted approach. On a similar note to Linda’s post, Cece from PR Meets Marketing shares four tips startups can use to generate media coverage.
Angryjournalist.com — Things Are Tough All Over
Over the past few days, the Angry Journalist link has made multiple appearances in my Google Reader, being picked up by the likes of Michael Tangeman and Tom Murphy. It seems the AngryJournalist inspired Kevin from the Bad Pitch Blog to remind us of the inevitable – for each of us the day will come when an angry journalist gives us an ear full. He suggests we don’t take it personally.
The Future of Blog Outreach
How Far Should We Really Go to Please Bloggers?
Conversations about blogger relations continue with Melanie Seasons weighing in on what she thinks the future of blogger outreach holds and Jennifer Mattern questioning how far out of our way we should go to please bloggers. This continues to be a hot issue and it’s something we need to write more about, our most recent post on the topic being Fiction: Bloggers are different from other journalists. For those engaging in blogger relations, Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote a helpful post that compares six ways to identify top bloggers in any niche.
PR Agency Review Tips, No. 436
When I saw this post by Scott Baradel, I was disappointed we hadn’t thought of it first. The images say it all. Who’s on your account team, really?
Taking issue with tech PR stories drive national coverage
Bring back the news release; forget about social media releases
In his post about catching the attention of national media, Stephen Waddington outlines the challenges PR agencies face and makes some recommendations, saying securing national coverage “requires creativity aligned with the current news agenda, with a fast turnaround best achieved through the use of pre-packaged comment. PRs need to scrutinise the media constantly, hit the phones and make sure spokespeople are available for follow-up.” His post on writing news releases is similarly sagacious. He suggests we get back to basics and focus on writing good news copy.
The junk man talks about PR
I love this post. If Julie gave a similar speech, I’m sure she would get a standing ovation. After having no luck with PR agencies, some companies see better results by taking the work in-house. Julie explains why this isn’t always the best solution and shares advice on how clients and PR agencies can work together to create an environment that’s conducive to success.
Access CNW: A Good Step Forward
Dave Fleet offers CNW some feedback on Access CNW, a new tool that allows their clients to have more control over the news distribution process. We’ve just started testing the tool but are excited at the thought of being able to mange the formatting and editing process online, rather than by phone or email.
By Linda Forrest
In today’s instalment of my series about the various components of an integrated PR program, I will talk a little bit about awards.
Publications and conferences have award programs that invite companies that are active in their sectors to nominate themselves for awards. Other awards programs select the nominees and winners based on set criteria, or are selected by esteemed judges and the companies vying for the award have no input or sway in whether they are considered for the award.
How award programs work and the benefits derived from winning such an award can vary widely.
Some awards submissions cost a considerable amount of money in order to even submit a nomination for consideration. In my opinion, any award that you’re paying for is not likely to hold much sway with your prospects as the value is diminished when it’s easily determined that the distinction was bought and paid for.
Nominations themselves can consist of simply a form filled out by a company representative or be as in-depth as requiring support letters and recommendations as well as extensive company documentation. For those private companies preparing complicated nominations, be cognizant of whether the submission process requires you to divulge your financial statements and if so, consider whether the value that would be derived from winning is worth providing your competitors with your company’s revenue and sales data.
Just as preparing a roadmap for editorial calendars and speaking opportunities is helpful for determining your planning horizon, so to is including a nomination schedule for awards. Keep an eye on when submissions are due and what components you’ll need to gather and manage your time accordingly.
Awards for which the winners are selected by expert judges, without the influence of the company itself, are of the most value as they’re entirely impartial and the product or company can legitimately consider their win as signifying that they are genuine leaders in the area for which they’re being recognized. The submission process is easiest too, as no action is required until if and when you’ve already won and the awards organizers are looking to build out profile for collateral or coverage in the associated publication.
Once you’ve won an award, it’s a good idea to publicize it in the form of a news release and a link on your web site. This not only increases your search engine results but also can provide useful ammunition to any prospects that are deliberating on whether to buy your solution. Sometimes the fact that your company or product is award winning can seal the deal as it offers third party validation and will help them sell it up the decision-making chain internally.
By Jill Pyle
Late last year, Linda wrote a primer on editorial calendars. If you are unfamiliar with editorial calendars, you should take a few minutes to read her post.
Although they are put together predominantly by advertising departments looking to focus advertising spends from particular market segments in specific issues, editorial calendars can also provide PR practitioners with a good indication of the types of content the publications are interested in featuring. Depending on the kind of editorial coverage you are seeking, your research may uncover many seemingly relevant editorial calendar opportunities, or just a few. In great part, this will depend on the size of your media landscape, which essentially refers to the number and kinds of media that write about your business, customers, products or services.
To build a comprehensive list of editorial calendar opportunities, you should review the calendars made available by your Tier 1 media targets, those who you believe are likely to have an interest in your story and are the most influential in your space. Once you have done this, you can use an aggregator service like MyEdCals to fill in any blanks. Whatever you do, don’t rely on an aggregator service to do all the work for you. Many are not comprehensive enough and may contain errors.
Once you begin researching editorial calendar opportunities, you will notice many publications provide a very brief description of the stories they are planning to publish. The vague descriptions they offer leave many companies with a long list of editorial calendar opportunities to evaluate. Having a complete picture of the medias’ interest in a specific topic or set of topics can be beneficial, especially when working with customers in different verticals. However, few businesses have the resources necessary to pursue every editorial calendar opportunity that presents itself. Evaluation and prioritization is necessary.
When trying to decide which editorial calendar opportunities are worth investigating, it’s important to keep in mind your business objectives and any success metrics you have agreed upon with your public relations agency or internal team. Some opportunities may appear to be exactly what you are looking for but are in publications that are not typically read by your target audience. In other cases, the description of the opportunity may be very general, listing only “medical technology” or “business intelligence solutions” as the topic, but be in a publication that is widely read by your target audience. When trying to build mindshare in a specific location, geographical distribution may also be an important factor to consider.
The bottom line is that you should only dedicate resources to investigating editorial calendar opportunities that have the potential to move you closer towards meeting business objectives. As long as you have a clear sense of which media are the most influential in your space, selecting the right opportunities to investigate should not be difficult. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed by a long list of publications planning to write about the topics that are important to your business. Focus on pursuing the kind of media coverage that will have the largest impact on your objectives and start the investigation process by going after the most high-value opportunities.
By inmedia
Late yesterday, Gawker purported to spill the beans on the secret to all good PR: a sandwich. The post’s author espoused the virtues of buying reporters lunch and building a face-to-face relationship, and that truly that face time is the secret to all good PR. While I won’t object to the value that’s derived from face-to-face meetings and relationships built, it’s a lot easier said than done when your key media targets are not just around the corner and able to meet up for lunch but instead are part of the global media marketplace, reporting from places as far afield as Hong Kong, Australia, the Netherlands, or throughout the U.S. as do some of our key targets for our clients. If we are truly talking to the correct targets and bringing them the components of our client’s story that they need and want, it’s that intersection of interest that results in positive coverage, not whether we’ve broken bread with the reporter.
