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.
CNN correspondent Joe Johns offers what could be a case study in bad PR, and a cautionary tale for all of us. Johns tells the story of an unfortunate PR person who pitched the top of the CNN food chain (the producer) instead of involving the corresponding reporter directly.
This morning I attended the PRSA National Capital Chapter’s panel in Washington, DC: How to Get Big Media Hits in a Social Media World. Joe Johns, a correspondent for CNN, gave this great synopsis of how he uses Facebook to get information for his stories. While he loves Facebook, he’s not such a big a fan of Twitter. So the lesson here is, know your journalists’ tastes.
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
Traditional media outlets are, sadly, a thing of a bygone era. It has become almost an improbable proposition to start and sustain a pricey print publication, or an expensive-to-produce television show. Journalism is evolving, some would say dying; and we have not hit rock bottom yet.
With the number of major news organizations downsizing and/or folding altogether, public relations professionals have to begin to develop a stronger roster of new media contacts to get their clients’ stories told. As a PR2.0 professional, I am always on the lookout for the New Influencers: professional bloggers (many with journalism backgrounds), freelance writers who write for both the Web and print publications, and new media producers.
Though media database services like Cision and Vocus are great tools that still very much have their place, scrappy PR2.0 professionals realized long ago that Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter have made it much easier to find and connect with journalists. In the same democratizing way,YouTube, Vimeo and other free video sharing sites have destroyed the barrier between the would-be television producer and the audience, and WordPress and Blogger made it possible for anyone with content to easily publish that content on the Web. Producers don’t need tons of money or the backing of major networks to get a show up and running: all they need is a camera, a YouTube account and a great story to tell.
These days, everyone is trying to get more for less. And when you’re a public relations practitioner, that especially includes your clients. We’re in a recession, so smart business owners are out to get more than their money’s worth. Clients want to see the impact of each dollar spent.
But what can you do to add value to an existing public relations contract without investing too many precious hours that you don’t plan to bill? Here are a few ways to easily add components to your contract and enhance the public relations work you’re already doing. Tip: Assign these tasks to a PR intern who is eager to learn.
Set Up a Facebook Fan Page
The new Facebook Fan Pages are much better than the old Facebook groups because they allow you create a profile for a business much like you would create a profile for yourself. Fan pages allow businesses to list standard business info like hours of operation, web address and phone numbers, as well as update the status bar to answer the “What are you doing?” question much like you would do on Twitter. I like the fan page because it allows business to combine the lightweight functionality of Twitter with a photo gallery, video, and more. The client can update their fan page to quickly reflect changes in hours, menu, prices, sales, promotions, etc. The client can also upload photos to show potential customers the interior of the establishment, etc.
Offer to Set Up a Blog
I happen to love setting up blogs for clients because I’m a writer and content is my middle name. If you’re a writer, researcher, or creative type (which you are if you’re in PR) suggest helping your client set up a blog focusing on their industry. But be sure to make the blog industry and solutions-focused, not company service-specific. Readers don’t want to feel like they’re getting sold; they want to feel like you’re helping them solve a problem.
Your client may want to build out a blog section as a part of their custom site. If not, there are tons of free blog publishing platforms out there, so the investment will be nominal. My personal preference is WordPress, but there are a few other blog services that offer powerful publishing capabilities for little or no cost.
Setting up a blog can be time consuming though, because you want to get the colors, design, fonts, headings, and taglines just right. If you need some help on this, subcontract some of the content development out to a professional writer. Be sure to suggest topics for your client to blog about, or be prepared to provide the first few posts to get the ball rolling.
Set Up a YouTube Channel
Another easy, free way to get your client maximum exposure is a YouTube channel. Take the blog beyond mere words by embedding video. Bonus: Once you upload your video on YouTube, you can tag it with keywords to make it instantly searchable. This, of course will aid in SEO-one of those ROI factors clients love. Videos are also a great way to incorporate “how to” messages, product demonstrations, on-site facility tours, employee interviews and more. There really is no limit to where you could go with video. And again, since YouTube is a free service, the investment is only your time.
There is absolutely nothing that upsets me more than to see savvy entrepreneurs, PR pros and marketers send messages from their handheld devices and use the default e-mail signature. You know the ones. “Sent from my iPhone.” or ”Sent from my AT&T blackberry wireless.” I always think, why on earth would you give all of that free advertising to Apple, AT&T or Blackberry? Are you getting your residuals?
Unless you just want people to know that you have an iPhone, or Blackberry (which most people have these days anyway) why not use your e-mail signature to promote yourself or your business? If you think about it, you probably send dozens of e-mails a day if not more. So dozens of people could potentially see the name of your business and the link to your Web site in your e-mail signature. But if you’re sending messages via your handheld device and only have that factory signature, you’re missing a tremendous opportunity to market yourself, your business, your Web site and any other projects you want people to know about. [To change your e-mail signature on your handheld, simply go into your e-mail settings and alter the existing text of the current signature] Read the full story
Happy Hump Day. As promised, I spoke to Sarah Caron, a “real live” freelance writer to get some thoughts on how best to work with freelancers. Sarah divvies up her writing time between Parenting/Children, Cooking/Food and Technology. You can check out her blog for more of her insights.
But after chatting (typing) with Sarah, I noticed that there’s a pretty common thread coming from reporters, whether they are freelance writers or staff reporters. Always remember that writers are people. Always respect the writer’s time. Never practice spam-pitching (pitching off topic, sending releases blindly). Media relations are all about the relations! So develop relationships with your media contacts, this includes freelance writers.
Sarah Caron’s Dos and Don’ts
Do Take Time to Read the Writer’s Former Work
As with any writing professional, PR people really need to take the time to understand a writer’s role at publications and who they are writing for. This can easily be done with a little research or even just asking the writer.
Don’t Pitch Off Topic
Freelancers can be an excellent resource for PR professionals, especially if they write for multiple publications online and in print. However, it’s important that the PR pros take note about what the freelancer writes about and only sends along pitches that really fit their topics of interest. Trying to twist a subject to fit the writer’s interest seldom works if it’s not a natural fit. One important thing to realize though is that there are different types of freelancing: there is contract work, where you write on a regular schedule for a publication. There is also one-off work, which is most often garnered through pitching. And pitches take time. Read the full story
Freelance writers are really a publicist’s secret weapon. Building relationships with freelancers can be a great way for PR pros to get coverage for their clients, because freelancers often write for multiple publications. And if a particular publication folds, a freelancer will often have relationships with editors at other outlets that publish similar content. The main downside to working with freelancers is they are often much harder to reach than staff writers or editors, because they don’t have a permanent home at any given publication. But hard to find or not, freelancers present an awesome opportunity for publicists.
Why They’re Great
Freelance writers are generally passionate about the subjects they cover. They have to be since they are usually working outside the comfort and security of a staff reporter position. Freelancers, generally speaking, are self-motivated go-getters who hustle their content to editors until they get someone to buy.
They’re a great resource because they’re often hungry for content. Since freelance writers aren’t on staff, the more they write, the more money they make. Simple as that.
Freelancers can write for more than one publication. A business writer could easily freelance for Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, and their local Business Journal. Many often do. This bodes well for publicists and people looking to get coverage because you can go “multi-outlet” shopping when working with a freelancer. The down side is that you could work with a freelancer on a story for months only to have them pitch it without success. But that’s the gamble. Read the full story
Marketplace. Morning Edition. All Things Considered. Fresh Air. News and Notes. The segments that make up the programming for what we fondly know as National Public Radio-NPR for short.
NPR is headquartered in Washington, DC (near my Shaw/Convention Center neighborhood, no less) and describes itself as an “internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming.” But how does one get covered on the ubiquitous news radio network ? While the news organization’s Web site has what appears to be some pretty helpful advice about getting your story on, NPR has hundreds of local affiliates, so it’s a little more daunting than the Web site makes it appear.
Jamila Bey to the rescue! Jamila is a full-time freelance journalist and frequently works as an editor and producer for NPR- her former full-time employer before she went freelance. She also co-owns Tactical Productions Company and does sound and video production for music and fitness organizations. Here’s how to pitch Jamila for NPR.
Mopwater: What types of stories do you write and produce?
JB: I write stories that focus on either fitness, African-American and women’s issues, free thought and separation of church/state issues, and within the last year- parenting stories. My background, however, is that of a political reporter, but I haven’t been in the daily government grind since the election of 2000!
A recent story I pitched and produced, but I didn’t report, was for NPR’s show, Tell Me More with Michel Martin. There was a hilarious commentary in TheRoot.com about the absurdity the author felt about celebrating Kwanzaa. We brought her in for an interview about the “True meaning” of the holiday and a consideration about what it means today. I LOVE stories with a twist of some sort.
Mopwater: What kind of stories are you most interested in covering, and in what context?
I like covering fitness and protest stories best. I love the fact that they both lend themselves to the obvious before and after. However, one story I produced for NPR really stuck with me. Zimbabwe in turmoil was the title, and I found a journalist there on the ground to talk about the nation that was once known as “Africa’s breadbasket” is now facing famine and political breakdown. When I work as a radio producer, I will often call and do a lot of reporting of a story and then hand over my notes and questions to the on-air host. In this case, Michel Martin. I enjoyed this story because it allowed us to get a very good sense of what was happening in Zimbabwe and a good historical perspective as well. You can listen to the story here. Read the full story
Whether you’re a journalist or PR professional, you should be using Pitch Engine. It’s another one of those great 2.0 applications that makes all of our lives easier. Pitch Engine allows journalists to browse thousands of social media press releases, and gives publicists the chance to house their SMPRs online for free. The press releases are easy to link and share on Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, Technorati, etc. You can even upload photos, video, and audio.
I wanted to try out the service on myself before using it for clients. Check out my social media press release before it expires.
Eleventh Hour Requests: Turn it down or turn it around?
These days, everyone is trying to get more for less. And when you’re a public relations practitioner, that especially includes your clients. We’re in a recession, so smart business owners are out to get more than their money’s worth. Clients want to see the impact of each dollar spent.
There is absolutely nothing that upsets me more than to see savvy entrepreneurs, PR pros and marketers send messages from their handheld devices and use the default e-mail signature. You know the ones. “Sent from my iPhone.” or ”Sent from my AT&T blackberry wireless.” I always think, why on earth would you give all of that free advertising to Apple, AT&T or Blackberry? Are you getting your residuals? 
Freelance writers are really a publicist’s secret weapon. Building relationships with freelancers can be a great way for PR pros to get coverage for their clients, because freelancers often write for multiple publications. And if a particular publication folds, a freelancer will often have relationships with editors at other outlets that publish similar content. The main downside to working with freelancers is they are often much harder to reach than staff writers or editors, because they don’t have a permanent home at any given publication. But hard to find or not, freelancers present an awesome opportunity for publicists.
NPR is headquartered in Washington, DC (near my Shaw/Convention Center neighborhood, no less) and describes itself as an “internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming.” But how does one get covered on the ubiquitous news radio network ? While the news organization’s Web site has what appears to be some pretty helpful advice about getting your story on, NPR has hundreds of local affiliates, so it’s a little more daunting than the Web site makes it appear.
