Last night I attended a public relations seminar at the WUSA Channel 9 Station in Washington,DC. The topic du jour was digital media and making the transition, but as it was a roomful of PR pros in a televison statio, questions naturally came up about pitching television producers in a digital world.
It’s no secret that newsrooms are shrinking. In December the Washington Post reported on WUSA9′s new approach to multimedia journalism; deploying anchors equipped with digital cameras, camcorders, and video editing equipment. This approach has been met with praise and criticism; but it still begs a question: how can PR pros successfully function in this new multimedia environment?
I found the comments of Khalim Piankhi, Vice President of Community Relations for WUSA9 to be extraordinarily spot-on. To sum up Piankhi’s thoughts, don’t pitch producers.
This may seem counterintuitive to public relations professionals, but the media industry is changing, which absolutely affects the way we work with media organizations. How do they liked to be approached? What are their preferences?
Piankhi says news organizations like his don’t particularly care about your client. They care about their audience. He suggests that instead of thinking of how you can get yourself or your client in the news, think how you can help a news organization meet its objectives. At the end of the day, news organizations need the most relevant content to keep their audience, and if a big story breaks they will be searching for content to pump out to their consumers.
So instead of thinking a pitch, think relationships, he went on to say. Frame yourself as a resource to a news organization. Check in from time to time. Send background materials. Keep your issue on the back burner-close enough that when that major story breaks bringing your issue to the fore, the producer will reach for the phone and call you.
Autumn is my favorite season of the year. It’s not just the high drama of the fiery foliage, leaves crunching underfoot, the wind whistling through the trees, acorns thumping down on the pavement below (while I do love all of this). It’s also a time of great reflection and preparation for the coming winter months. Like any other mammal, I’m readying for the cold season–fretting here and there getting my cave ready for a sort of professional hibernation.
When it comes to business, this certainly means generating leads to last me through the colder months. I do some of my best prospecting in the fall. Because the season is ripe for events of all kinds, I find myself on the circuit more than normal, so it’s a great time to network. This greater movement coupled with the biological need to prepare for a physical and seasonal slow-down, I’m motivated to get out there and get some business to last me at least until the next thaw.
This September, after a busy summer of working with one of my main clients on our big annual project, I got to work reaching out to prospects who I thought might be a good fit for my services and followed up on a number of leads. I received an overwhelming number of positive responses. One response that stood out to me most was from a national cultural organization that I was *dying* to work with. The contact told me that my timing was “excellent” because the organization is gearing up for it’s ten year anniversary next fall. So they will definitely start the process of working with a public relations consultancy much like mine very very soon.
I think fall is a busy time for most of us because of the back to school season, gala season, etc. And the holiday season is busy in its own way. But the very end of the year and the very beginning of the new year can be rough for some PR pros, especially independents, who are between contracts. My advice? Look forward, towards “the thaw”.
Think Spring. For your existing clients, already start thinking and talking about great campaigns for spring. Especially if your contract is up at the end of the calendar year, let your current clients know that you see yourself on their team past the winter months. Don’t give away all of your great spring ideas, of course, but let them know that you enjoy working with them and look forward to continuing the relationship and are hoping to renew a contract at the beginning of the year.
Prospect 2-3 Years Out. To do this, you can study calendars and conference schedules. If you’re looking to build a relationship with a new, dream client, keep your eyes peeled for large conferences that may be coming to your city. You may be able to help an organization facilitate a nice reception for local leaders on the ground. Large conferences are generally booked 1-2 years in advance, sometimes more, so you have time to develop your pitch. If a large event isn’t coming to your city until 2011 or 2012 even, you have time to get your ideas together, research the proper contacts and even do some targeted in-person networking before you pull the trigger. Obviously, if you want to land a good client for 2010, you need to have started yesterday. But there is still time. There are a lot of great conferences happening towards the end of the year. Find out when and where they are and whether or not you can help out on them.
Keep an Ear to the Business Ground. An organization’s launch, anniversary, etc. is obviously a great opportunity to introduce yourself to a public relations prospect; many times the organization or business that’s having the anniversary isn’t in planning mode, so it’s up to the enterprising to capitalize on insider knowledge. So keep your ear to the business streets by knowing what business projects are in the pipeline of your industry. I read the Washington Business Journal’s business leads section for general ideas about what’s going on behind the storefronts-who’s applying for business licenses and liquor licenses, who just registered a business, etc. As long as it’s not another PR firm, there’s a chance they could need PR, right? So just ask yourself the questions that pertain to the kind of PR that you do. What restaurants will be opening in a few months? What art galleries will be hosting the work of a prominent artist in the spring? What organization will be releasing an important study and will need help putting together a press conference? Now is the time to begin the big PR push.
Stay Way Ahead of the Prospect. Whatever your field of interest, always be a few months ahead of the potential client so that you can approach them before they even realize that they need you. When they do realize they need you, they may value you even more for your timing and instincts.
I had the pleasure of meeting today’s TDMJ PR Pro a few weeks ago, and was so compelled by her story that I knew you would be, too. In addition to being a new wife and mother like myself, Mrs. Lara is a tenacious public relations professional who started out in the world of academia and leveraged a thirst for knowledge and willingness to work hard to create her own opportunities. For Lara, this has translated into a pretty impressive career track only a few years out of college-not bad for someone who didn’t study communications in college! Already a senior account exec with several agency positions under her belt and a consulting practice in the works, Mrs. Lara is one to watch.
Name: Jacqueline Lara
Age: 26
Current City:Silver Spring, MD
Job Title: Senior Account Executive, Lyons Public Relations Owner, Mpact Communications
Length of Time in this Role: 18 months
Mopwater: Describe your path to PR. How did you wind up in this field?
JL: My path to PR was nontraditional, but I wouldn’t change it for the world because each step has molded my experience. I received my B.A. in Sociology and a business certificate from the College Park Scholars program at the University of Maryland. While I enjoyed my major and loved analyzing groups of people and their behaviors, as well as organizations and the key factors influencing their effectiveness, I often wondered what profession I’d pursue after college. I felt pigeon-holed between working in HR and becoming a social worker. Neither of these options appealed to me, so I took a few communications courses and was intrigued by the power of words and the way media pundits ‘spun’ messages to advance their platforms. Read the full story
Eleventh Hour Requests: Turn it down or turn it around?
Ah the constant considerations and mental multi-tasking that make up the ever-evolving job description of the public relations professional. We’re the unofficial keeper of the company brand. The assessor of image and public sentiment. But we also keep up with the daily duties that must be made systematic; the tasks that without our thinking must become second nature, commonplace, routine.
Long-range and short range pitching and planning. Searching for angles, securing opportunities for spokespersons, leveraging excitement around campaigns/seasons/holidays. The list goes on. Yet all of these tasks fit neatly into a package that clients and the public will eventually see as a finished, polished product.
But how do we get there? And how do we handle those eleventh hour requests from would-be clients who think it’s so easy to get there?
How many times have you been approached by an amazing potential client with an amazing story or an amazing product for which you could create an amazing pitch except this would-be client gave you absolutely no time to do your job? As in, one week to pull off a campaign? Or better yet two days? [Yes, this has happened to me.]
While this may fly at a large agency that has minions working around the clock, you may be dealing with 2-3 people max when you are working with a smaller firm. As PRos, we have to ask for, no, we have to demand time. And this may mean explaining that hey, when you work with a smaller firm you’re not dealing with layers of bureaucracy, or dozens of junior staff members. You’re dealing with a greater attention to detail, a higher level of customer service, and of course a lower overhead.
Don’t be ashamed to turn down a project because there isn’t enough time to turn it around. Believe it or not, just because you are a public relations pro, doesn’t make you a magician. As with anything else, it takes time to do a thorough job and produce professional results. Clients expect nothing less than that from you. Demand that same level of professionalism from your clients.
When you are running your own consultancy, it’s easy to get caught up in how to get clients, keep clients, and how to get more out of clients. The client chase as I like to call it, is probably the number one consumer of a consultant’s time, outside of doing actual consulting work. We’re so obsessed with getting and growing that we sometimes fail to take the time to think long and hard about the people who we have supporting us.
Because at one point or another, you will come to depend on the services of a freelancer or subcontractor to help you with your client work. While you’ve heard me talk about the kind of clients to avoid, there also quite a few subcontractors to avoid, too. Here are a few subcontractors to steer clear of:
The Diva Don’t let the feminine title fool you: a diva can be male or female. It’s the attitude and behavior of this dangerous contractor that will clue you in. Divas are generally very inexperienced and lack business acumen; they don’t understand the ins and outs of running a business so their actions and attitudes indicate as much.
The diva wants to do all of the glamorous things-attend red carpet events, get photographed, hook her friends up with VIP tickets, mix and mingle with the client or worse yet, the stars. But the diva does not want to do the simple tasks that keep the firm afloat. The diva does not want to be told what to do; the diva wants to tell you what she’s going to do.
There are service-oriented divas. The copywriter who can’t stand to be edited.The graphic designer who refuses to grant client requests because said requests will diminish “the integrity” of his “artistic work”. Whatever the case may be, all divas have similar core characteristics: they think that somehow they are above instruction or menial tasks. They think you’re an idiot, and that they should already be running the show.
The Ditz Don’t we all know a ditz? This lovable character somehow makes it past even the most stringent screening processes and finds him or herself at work in the best firms. You know the ditz: you have to repeat everything to him 3 times. You spend so much time explaining a task that you wonder to yourself, would it have been faster to have just done it yourself. Read the full story
You know the feeling. You’re working on a new project and you’re in the zone. Your brain is rapid firing idea after idea; you’re drowning in a deluge of creativity. You’re thinking to yourself, “Wow...this client is doing some amazing work in the community,” or “This campaign is briliant; it’s so cutting-edge, the PR element needs to be over the top…” Especially when you have a new client whom you are trying desperately to impress, it seems that the ideas just keep coming and coming; you’re ready to produce the YouTube video and tie the Twitter campaign to a creative giveaway. PR superhero to the rescue!
Not so fast. Hang your cape back up on its hook.
If you find yourself working on a project and the scope seems to grow in medias res, take the time to solidify the details of your compensation before you continue doing your work. It can be nearly impossible to do for those of us who tend to get inspired and want to just do the good work. But a big part of our jobs as communications professionals, frankly, is communicating these evolving scopes with our clients. Educating the client on how long things take, what steps are involved and how much things cost is all a part of that communications challenge.
Should you find yourself ready to rush to save the day, keep these things in mind first:
Don’t Squeeze: The same way you wouldn’t try to squeeze size 8 thighs into size 2 jeans, don’t try to fit a 2-Year campaign Into a 6-Month Contract. When you do, you’re setting yourself up for failure. If your client has limited time and goals that would normally exceed the time frame, let them know that in the future they should plan ahead so that everyone has the time to do a great job. And then let them know what in your professional opinion can be successfully achieved in the time they have left. Read the full story
Find out how to use hashtags to promote your event, connect with influencers before your event, manage your hashtag during the event, use Twitter and other tools to stream your event live, and how to reward active hashtag users after the event.
Name and News Organization: Kate Michael, KStreetKate.net and The District Dish Beat: DC topics (People, places, events, charities, businesses) Job Title: New Media Personality Length of Time in this Role: 3 years Web Site and/or Blog: K Street Kate/ The District Dish Twitter Handle:@kstreetkate
Mopwater: What kind of stories/people/companies are you most interested in covering, and in what context? KM: Both the online magazine and talk show feature the best of DC, lifestyle stories that highlight the real District of Columbia and its eclectic neighborhoods.
Mopwater: What’s the best pitch you’ve gotten recently and why? KM: A unique and interesting business (trapeze school) moved into the area and featured lessons with the instructor who taught “Carrie” on the trapeze episode of Sex and the City. We booked him immediately to tell people about the trapeze school on The District Dish!
Mopwater: What’s the worst pitch you’ve gotten recently and why? KM: The sister of a local woman asked me to do a feature on her because she was “so nice” and “people should know about her”… I’m not sure why.
Mopwater: What’s the easiest way to get ignored by you when pitching? KM: Forget to take out the name of the other publication you were pitching when you were cutting and pasting your pitch.
Mopwater: What’s your preferred method of contact? Phone, email, your web site, your twitter account, your Facebook? KM: Email and twitter, equally. My actual e-mail is listed on my facebook page, so why use a facebook message?? Read the full story
Name: Jasmine Vega
Age: 41 Current City: Venice Job Title: Music Publicist Company Name: JPR Length of Time in this Role: 20 years
Mopwater: Describe your path to PR. How did you wind up in this field? JV: I didn’t actually go to college. I started working at 14 yrs old and haven’t stopped. I didn’t know what a publicist was when I asked for the job. I was working at a law firm in the data entry department during the day and at night I was promoting my boyfriend’s club in Los Angeles. This was in the late 80’s. We always had rappers and record promoters come to the club and get on the mic. I became friends with the A&R person from Delicious Vinyl (Young MC, Tone Loc). He asked me if I wanted to come to his label one day after work, so I did. I looked around and saw that the office was in a shambles, no file cabinets, no structure etc. This was hard for me to understand coming from a law firm where everything was in its place at all times. So I asked why that was and a month later I got a call asking if I wanted to come in for an interview to assist the GM. I went in and got the job. A few months later the publicist at the label was leaving her position and said that I should ask to take her place since I was already doing her job and everyone liked working with me. Doing her job at that time since we had established artists was answering the phone and sending out press kits to those who asked. Those calling were the likes of Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek etc. I was in a very fortunate situation and took the position. The rest is history.
Mopwater: Describe how you got from the in-house publicist job to what you’re doing now. When did o become an independent PR pro? How many years into working at Delicious Vinyl did you decide to go out on your own?
JV: While working at Delicious Vinyl, we also hired an indie pr firm to work other projects that I didn’t have time to. After a year in the position, the pr firm had asked if I would like to work in their LA office. I eventually left the label, moved to the indie firm until it closed its doors. At that time, I was able to leave with a handful of accounts to be independent for a few years until Priority Records offered me an in house position. I was there for a couple of years until I was courted by Virgin Records. I remained at Virgin for 8 years until they moved the company to New York. At that time I went indie again and have remained indie for the last few years. Read the full story
It doesn’t feel very good to have your client call you up and break the news that they’re cutting back. But since we are well into what appears to be an ever deepening recession, it’s something you’ll probably experience this year if you haven’t already.
It happened to me a few months ago. One of my clients relies heavily on government funding; about $31 million or so worth of it. By and large, their programming dollars come mostly from one government agency. Our city government, like many others around the country, is facing the prospect of furloughs, so millions are getting trimmed from the operating budget. Naturally, my client’s twice-removed $31 million program ended up on the chopping block.
I knew something was up when I could never reach my contact directly. When I finally did get her on the phone, she informed me that my invoices were being held up by the funding agency for further review. The funders wanted more details about what I was doing (that hard to define PR work), etc. At the same time, the agency’s financial woes had been leaked to the papers and were all over Internet. I’m no dummy. I knew where this was going.
My contract, which was actually up for renewal, was put on hold. One of my specialties is multi-month, multi-year, multi-tier communications and marketing programming, so I couldn’t stop working cold turkey without letting a lot of time and effort go to waste. Pulling the plug meant that quite a few irons I had in the fire would not only cool, but go cold all together. A few projects that had stretched out over several months were finally nearing completion. But I was no longer receiving payment, so what was I to do? Read the full story
To say that economically, things are rough around here would be an understatement, and at this point also a cliche. For entrepreneurs, things are tougher than they once were, no question. But that’s not to say that there aren’t still opportunities for marketing and PR professionals to turn a profit.
It’s really tempting to get so excited about the prospect of a new client that you underbid yourself. Not to mention the dynamics of this recession. You might start thinking “Wow, things are really tough right now, and I’m sure they can’t really afford my normal rate. We’re in a recession. Let me lower my fees, so that I can close the deal, just this once…”
But you’re never going to turn a profit if you don’t get paid what you’re worth. And you can’t get paid what you’re worth if you hedge every time someone says they can’t afford you. Furthermore, that will really come back to bite you once this recession is over. Your clients (who didn’t know you were doing them a favor) will think that you’re only worth the peanuts that you charge.
Scenario: You meet with a new client. You absolutely love them. They love you and you’re both giddy about working together. You promise them a proposal/quote for your services and they tell you they’re looking forward to it. You go home, happy and start slaving over the proposal. You painstakingly detail the scope of work and deliverables. You decide how long all of this will take, outline the budget and break down your fees. You submit the proposal and wait. Read the full story
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a great holiday season and are gearing up for a great 2009. As promised, Mopwater is back in full effect today, and as such, I’m launching the much-anticipated “How to Pitch” column. HTP is going to give you the inside track on how to get yourself or your client covered in print, broadcast and web-based media.
Reporters and editors-are you looking to get more exposure for your work in 2009? Ready to put down the pen (okay, keyboard) for a moment and get on-screen? Maybe you’ve recently seen your reporter colleagues featured as experts on television news programs, so you’re wondering how you could get on television,too.
To help you get your first television interview, I’ve interviewed Ferman Patterson, Producer of Reporter’s Roundtable, a public affairs program that airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at noon on Channel 16 in the District of Columbia. Frequent guests include D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Washington Post Reporter Hamil Harris. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the program, here’s a brief synopsis from the DC Office of Cable Television:
Hosted by Denise Rolark Barnes of The Washington Informer, the show tackles the top news items affecting District residents. Viewers will hear issues addressed from every perspective by panelists like Hamil Harris of The Washington Post and Deborah Simmons of The Washington Times. The show takes you beyond the local headlines as these journalists debate what’s in the news and how it will impact DC residents.
I’ve often wondered how reporters/experts get booked on this program as it seems like the guests are pretty much the same whenever I tune in. According to Patterson, it really depends.
“Sometimes we get leads from reporters or we see a reporter on air and [invite them on],” he says. “Who we choose is based on topic or subject matter.” Recently archived episodes include the same-sex marriage debate, the green revolution and Wall Street vs. Main Street. Read the full story
Last night I attended a public relations seminar at the WUSA Channel 9 Station in Washington,DC. The topic du jour was digital media and making the transition, but as it was a roomful of PR pros in a televison statio, questions naturally came up about pitching television producers in a digital world.
