Attracting Media Attention

Marsha Friedman's "How to Get the Media Interested in You"

How To Get the Media Interested in You: You may be newsworthy without even knowing it.

Do you know what the media would consider newsworthy about you or your company?

Many new clients come to us with a strong opinion about what their "pitch" should be, but often miss the mark, in terms of knowing what will get the media to sit up and pay attention to their message. But it's very understandable that this could occur, if you're not working with the media the way we do, day in and day out, developing story angles intended to grab their interest.

For those who are new to PR, my message is this -- think outside of the box!  As normal as it is to be focused on your own company and industry or field of interest, there is a lot going on in the world, and your expertise might be news in ways that you've not previously envisioned.

I always recommend to my clients that they try to view their companies from the outside looking in, particularly, from the perspective of the media. The best way for you to garner the media's interest is to understand what it is about you and your company that might be interesting to them. The process is actually quite simple.

1. Read the News - If you want to be featured in the news, you should read the news. Be general in your approach. Read the top headlines in all the categories, even if your company is in a niche industry, because you never know what is going to happen. For instance, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has focused a spotlight on oil rigs and the people who work on them. Journalists are looking at the companies who own oil rigs, drilling rights, and other oil company service firms. Analysts in that small business niche are being quoted in top tier media outlets, after existing for decades completely outside the reach of the media's radar. So, go broad with the topics that you track, and don't be afraid to become a little bit of a news geek. Being better informed about the world around you isn't a bad thing, and the by-product is that you'll be far more media savvy.
 
2. Track it Back - Now, as you absorb the headlines and the stories of the day, think about how one or more of them could track back to you, your company and your key messages. A good example comes from one of our clients, a maker of natural health supplements. Their primary product line uses a natural ingredient called Resveratrol. Clinical research has uncovered that Resveratrol can be helpful in reducing fatigue, restoring energy and safeguarding your immune system. Now, earlier this month, Reuters reported that doctors who performed an 11-year study of British civil servants discovered a direct link between heart disease and working 11 hours or more each day. Another story quoted U.S. Department of Labor statistics that more than 7 million Americans work at least two jobs. We combined those two pieces to demonstrate that millions of Americans are working way more than 11 hours, and are at risk for everything from chronic fatigue to heart disease. From there, it wasn't too difficult to beat a path back to the client's physician spokesperson who recommended a series of tips to prevent those outcomes, including a short tip about how some natural supplements can be helpful. At first blush, you wouldn't imagine that labor stats and a medical study in Great Britain would have any relationship with a natural health supplement, but by thinking creatively, we were able to make the connection and develop a strong radio pitch for that client.
 
3. Be Opportunistic - The news happens fast, so be prepared to think just as fast. Recently we took on a client named Jane Heimlich, who has a dual claim to fame. She is the daughter of dance hall king Arthur Murray, who established the largest chain of dance instruction centers in the country. She is also the wife of chest surgeon Dr. Hank Heimlich, the creator of the life-saving, anti-choking first aid technique called the Heimlich Maneuver. She had just written her memoir, and was looking to promote it via media interviews. When we brought her on board, the new season for the network TV show Dancing with the Stars was about to begin. In reading her book, we discovered that her father's TV show, The Arthur Murray Party, was the first network TV dance contest - and it involved the big stars of the day. So, we put together a radio pitch with the headline "Remembering the Original Dancing with the Stars."  We booked 15 radio interviews and a full print campaign with that angle, and we just refreshed the angle with the CBS announcement that they are giving Paula Abdul her own TV dance competition.

At the end of the day, recognize that your expertise can be stretched beyond what you have in your marketing plan, and you'll be able to make you and your company more relevant to the press in a lot of creative ways.

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For 20 years Marsha Friedman has been a leading authority on public
 relations as CEO of EMSI. Go to www.emsincoporated.com 
to signup for her free PR Insider Newsletter today! Or call at 
727-443-7115, ext. 202, or email mfriedman@emsincorporated.com

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Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20160308213303/http://aboutpublicrelations.net/ucmfriedman3.htm

John P. David's "Want the Media's Attention?"

Want the Media's Attention?:  The secret is simple: Say something!

While having a drink (bourbon) with a reporter from a major national news outlet (The Wall Street Journal), the discussion turned to the top guy at a company that is one of our newest clients. 

The executive is well positioned to comment on one of the biggest business stories of the year (the subprime meltdown). I mentioned to the journalist that we were still getting to know our client, but my gut was telling me that our guy could be an excellent source for the Journal.

My journalist friend then said, in a very frank manner, the following (paraphrasing): "So you haven't gotten hold of him yet and turned him into a lifeless spewer of self-serving drivel." I laughed because our guy, thankfully, remains pure; and then I cried because so many other executives fail in the PR game because they refuse to say anything meaningful.

Corporate America is becoming a nation of drivel spewers. National business reporters are usually very smart individuals with high degrees of intellectual curiosity. Most have access to incredible amounts of data regarding the industries they cover and are typically well-informed. They also have long memories, don't mind phoning regulators/government officials and, in general, have a low tolerance for BS. 

What they want more than anything is reliable insight. In other words, they want their sources to say something meaningful, true and authentic. Sounds simple enough but it really appears to be in short supply. Journalists are searching far and wide for those who are willing to speak the truth about important topics.

Here are my top three tips for building relationships with the national press:

• Can the canned speech. Fetishes aside, nobody wants smoke blown up their behind. Sources need to have clear message points and be prepared when speaking with the media, but real opinions and verifiable facts will trump the spin every time. Lead with the truth about your business or industry and you will be on your way.

• Banish the gods of fear. Speak with authority and conviction; don't be afraid to speak your mind about issues that are important to your industry. Quotes with a measurable level of emotion will stand out. Too often, sources fear their strong words might do damage.

• Help by "trendspotting," or better yet, "scoopspotting." Journalists love to identify the next big trend. Want a journalist to remember you, help them out by letting them know which way your industry is turning/heading. Further, if you can offer up a real nugget of unreported news (a scoop), you will have a friend for a long time.

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John P. David has more than 18 years of experience in the public relations industry, serving Florida-based and national clients. For more information, contact him at john@davidgarciapr.com or visit www.davidgarciapr.com.

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Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20160310104834/http://aboutpublicrelations.net/ucdavid1.htm

Robert Bernarduci's "Want More Media Coverage?"

Want More Media Coverage?: The secret is to start using strategic F-words.

Mention the "F-word" in mixed company and you are liable to get a little more than a look. Try to get F-words covered in the media and expect a call from the FCC or the legal department at Standards and Practices. However, we consistently leverage F-words to get our clients television, radio and print coverage. It just depends on what F-word you focus on.

Before setting up a campaign for a client, our agency reviews eight F-words or what we call F factors that can help garner media coverage. While not every F factor is applicable to each client, by finding the best fit, we craft stories that are more attractive to the media. These F-Words can help a PR practitioner design the right message for the right audience, and pitch the right media at the right time.

Face

From the media's perspective, every story has a face. It could be a celebrity, a CEO, a trusted expert, a government official, a dignitary, an author, a beneficiary, and even a victim, Even a PR rookie knows that "Who" is the first word in the 5 Ws (Who, What, Where, When and Why). Finding the right "Who" is what an agency needs to address first and foremost and what separates a good agency from a great agency. Who will tell the story? Who can we offer for the interview? Who can best address the client message points? Who will best attract the media? Before embarking on any communications campaign, first attach the right face to it.

First

The "first" in this sense is not based on which media outlet receives the exclusive story. Rather, it is based on how you position your client's product, service, situation etc. Positioning is a technique that creates an image or identity in the minds of a target market for our client's product, brand or organization. One of the major tenets of positioning is to be first to market thereby differentiating the company or organization, product or service, from all other competitors. The media loves firsts. The next two questions serve as an example. Who was the first man on the moon? The second? Of course, we all know that Neil Armstrong uttered the famous words " One small step." Buzz Aldrin was the second man to step on the moon. If you got Buzz right you deserve your spot on Jeopardy. However this should prove the point. The first mass-produced car -- Ford, the first light beer -- Miller, the first online auction platform -- eBay. These concepts were firsts in their own right. They created their own category and attracted media attention. Phrases like "best in breed", "revolutionary" and "next wave" mean nothing to the media. First means first. First means coverage.

Finances

Over-paying at the Pump, The Fleecing of America, Affordable Healthcare -- these headlines are very familiar to us because we see them on national, and regional affiliate news stations and in print almost every day. A smart PR agency looks to see if they can craft a story highlighting a client using "pocket book" issues. If you want to get a client on television, radio and in print determine how their product or service affects a consumer's purse strings.

Front Door

How does this pertain to me? Before even embarking on a story place yourself as the audience. Bring the story home to the front door. Localize it. Find the angle that speaks directly to the client's audience and furthermore the media's audience. Is there a local family that best represents the story? Is there a local doctor that can relay this issue? Can the information or data be delivered by state, county, town? If yes, then like a good neighbor, deliver the information with local flavor.

Fear

Unfortunately, the phrase "if it bleeds it leads" is all to often a front page reality. I am not one to purport or debate that the media is in the business of selling fear, however there does seem to be a gravitation toward it. In 2005, there were two weeks of national coverage on "When Sharks Attack" and CNN recently featured a complete day of terrorist coverage titled "Target: America" complete with ominous music intros and oversized headline fonts. Fear can play a roll as a backing soundtrack to many health, political, and socio-economic issues to name a few. The key for a PR agency is not to create the fear, but to understand the current media climate and leverage it for the benefit the client.

Fix

What would a Dear Abby column be without her response? While most people will tell you that they look to the media for information, another major reason people turn to the news is for answers to their questions and solutions to their problems -- what we call the Fix! When it comes to product launches, "new-and-improved" stories typically go from reporter's in-box to the trash bin, however, a product launch that showcases a real problem with a real solution can pique a writer's interest in the story.

Feat

The World's Biggest Bagel! Call Guinness Book of World Records and let them know we have a special event! The feat should never be the first option a PR agency offers a client. However, a special event of epic proportion can get cameras and reporters out on a slow business day. Make it visual and something a photo editor would want to drive out to see and shoot.

Facts

This F-word would be best placed closer to the top of the list. It seems self-explanatory and self-evident, however, many companies continue to send out a press release or notify the press without having all the information. Corral all the information a reporter will need and keep it within hands reach.

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Robert Bernarduci recently founded Jessella PR, a national media relations boutique with offices in New York, New York and New Hartford, CT. 
For contact call (860) 888-2270 or rbernarduci@jessella.com

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Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20160306122412/http://aboutpublicrelations.net/ucbernarduci1.htm

Marsha Friedman's "How to Assess PR Campaign Results"

How to Assess PR Campaign Results: The internet hasn't changed the rules of gauging success.

Recently, I received a question from one of my clients regarding how we track the success of our print and online PR campaigns.

In the process of thinking through the question, I realized that the changing landscape of the media (due to the fast face of technology) really hasn’t changed the way we look at these kinds of campaigns.

Since time immemorial, the only way to actually gauge the success of a print PR campaign was to indicate where placements were made and then list the circulation of that print outlet. For instance, if the Tampa Tribune ran your story on a weekday, the print circulation would be in the 150,000 range. On a Sunday, it would jump to 225,000. Now, that’s not to say, nor has it ever been intended to say, that 225,000 people read your article. It simply rated the size of the news outlet that carried the piece.

And, print outlets used their circulation numbers as the principal guideline to calculate their ad rates. They still do, but the Internet has added a new dimension to that. When the Internet came to be, advertisers loved the fact that they had a better measure, because they could track clickthroughs on banner ad campaigns and even identify where the users came from, how long they stayed on your page and whether they bought anything.

When these numbers and stats were known to be available, the terms spread like wildfire: clickthroughs, pageviews, unique visitors, impressions, etc. And, while these terms are primarily used in advertising, some do have relevance with PR placements that appear online.

Many PR agencies – mine included – choose to continue to gauge our traditional print and online efforts in the same manner that we’ve always done it, by reporting a placement and indicating the size of that outlet’s readership. For traditional publications, circulation of the publication is the determining factor. For online publications (as well as news search engines, websites and blogs) the size is determined by a statistic known as Visitors Per Month, or VPM.

By indicating an online publication has a VPM of two-million, PR pros are not saying that two-million people read your article. They’re simply indicating the reach of the site in the same way that the value of an article in a traditional publication would be judged by its circulation.

I’ve also run into some confusion over how placements are rated on large news aggregators like Yahoo!® and MSN®. Every article on Yahoo is searchable through engines, and can be found by surfing its sections. For instance, if you want to find out about the NFL labor negotiations (in the same way you would open your daily paper to the sports section), you would go to Yahoo, click on sports, and surf the sports headlines until you find the information you want. The URL for those stories will be sports.yahoo.com/blahblahblah. And with business stories, it’s biz.yahoo.com/blahblahblah. Those entry pages are considered a part of Yahoo proper and the separate URL simply offers Yahoo a better way to organize their massive amounts of content, and also provide the user another entry point to view it.

So if your PR agency got an article placed on Yahoo’s sports or business page, the VPM for Yahoo would be the statistic used as there are no sub pages or sub sites within. It’s simply Yahoo and everything contained within is part of Yahoo. This scenario is identical to circulation in a traditional publication. It doesn’t matter if your story appeared in the sports section or the business section of a newspaper. Each section doesn’t get its own circulation rating. The circulation of the publication is one figure for the entire edition.

The point is, we can talk about impressions and VPM and circulation all day long, and balance it against all these new technologies designed to deliver consumers to your Web site. However, none of it means anything relative to the consumer. We don’t always know exactly what takes the consumer from the point of being interested in you to the point of buying your product, book or service. However, we do know that process always includes the building of trust and that’s why the third-party verification provided by real honest-to-goodness media coverage will always trump all the analysis of impressions and numbers.

After all, while the delivery system may be highly technical, the consumer is not. The consumer is looking for quality information in the news outlets they have confidence in. And, your ability to engage the consumer in a meaningful way that creates trust is dependent on you being able to gain coverage in those news outlets.

At the end of the day, statistics will never be more important than trust in the consumer sales cycle and the only tactic that can deliver it is good old-fashioned public relations.

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Marsha Friedman is CEO of EMSI Public Relations, a national firm that provides PR strategy and publicity services to corporations, entertainers, authors and professional firms. She also is author of the book, Celebritize Yourself. marsha@marshafriedman.com

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Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20160306211148/http://aboutpublicrelations.net/ucmfriedman13.htm