Relationships (and “Minor” Details) Matter

by Julie Primrose

 

 

Today I had the opportunity to attend the Central Florida Media Roundtable hosted by the local chapters of the Florida Public Relations Association and the Public Relations Society of America.  The annual event lets PR professionals sit down with local journalists and ask them questions about their outlets’ practices and how they prefer to be pitched.

While everyone I spoke to had slightly different preferences on how they like to be contacted, the same themes kept coming up as I spoke with the journalists, whether they were from broadcast, print or online outlets.  Nearly every journalist said that what many would consider to be “minor” details actually makes a huge difference between having your news covered and it being lost in the depths of their inbox.

While some of their preferences were universal (provide timely, newsworthy story ideas; include a descriptive subject line with your emails and spell their name correctly), others were not quite as obvious and varied by outlet and reporter (include your news release in the body of your email rather than attaching it, submit your news using the form on their website rather than email, call between 1 and 3 p.m., etc.).

Besides making invaluable connections with local journalists, having a forum to learn these little details is what makes the Media Roundtable such a great event.  A lot of our work with journalists is done over email and we don’t always have a chance to speak with them at length to learn about their preferences.  But today’s event reinforces the importance of building relationships with the media and taking the time to learn about what works best for them.  While providing newsworthy, relevant content will always be key, having a relationship with the reporter and knowing how and when to pitch them is just as important for landing a story.

Turn to the Message Boards – I Think Not

by Dan Ward

I gained some insight last week into why political discourse continues to devolve into schoolyard taunting and soccer hooliganism.

A former social media strategist for a presidential campaign was speaking to a group of PR professionals and made an off-hand remark that the No. 1 destination to which Americans turn for news – aside from “The Daily Show” – is the online message board.  My first thought was, “so this explains why politicians rant and rave rather than engage in conversation … they think that’s what people want to hear.”

I wish I had challenged her to share the research on which this claim was based, because I can find nothing to back it up.  The Pew Research Center reports that while people are increasingly going online for news, most still turn to traditional sources like television news.  I see very little mention of the message boards.

While the political strategist advised posting to the message boards, we advise most clients to stay far away.  Who we see on the message boards are largely the “ten-percenters,” those people whose opinions you are never going to change no matter how hard you try – as evidenced by LOUD comments and inflammatory rhetoric – when you engage the lunatic fringe, you give them credibility, and you take your eye off the larger percentage of people who are fair-minded, reasonable and open to new ideas.

As we’ve discussed here before, the people who share their opinions on message boards are able to do so anonymously, so all sense of decency is often lost.  Many news organizations are seeing the light, and either eliminating the anonymity or removing message boards altogether.

If you want to engage in fruitless arguments, by all means head to the message boards.  If you want to engage in discussion that sways opinion and drives action, don’t listen to political strategists … listen to your audience.

Awards Season is Here!

by Kerry Martin

With all the excitement of the Golden Globes and Oscar nomination announcements, it can only mean one thing:  Awards season has arrived.

Of course Hollywood can’t take all the attention.  As most communication professionals know, each spring is the time for recognizing the planning and effort that comprise major Public Relations campaigns through programs like the Florida Public Relations Association’s Golden Image Awards and the Public Relations Society of America’s Silver Anvil Awards.  Local chapters of FPRA participate in Image Award programs across the state, while the PRSA Silver Anvil takes nominations from the entire country.

In its 25 years, Curley & Pynn has received its share of awards, becoming the first Florida agency to win a Silver Anvil Award in 1992.  But each year presents a new opportunity to showcase the hard work that is involved in promoting a client’s program or brand—and to remind that client that the tools and strategies of a public relations campaign are instrumental in carrying out a sound business plan, whether communicating with internal audiences, potential customers or even public figures.

With deadlines just around the corner (PRSA Silver Anvil is February 25, Orlando’s FPRA Image Awards is March 4 and FPRA’s Golden Image Awards is May 20), we encourage all communication professionals to seek recognition for their work and show clients the power of PR.

Storytelling

by Kim Taylor

I caught a great post over at PRSA’s Whatever Suits blog today, “Successful Leadership: How to Motivate People to Drive your Business Forward—Even in Challenging Times.”

This really resonated: “People remember stories, not business plans.”

Maybe you roll your eyes or sneak in a yawn when you hear your colleague start a sentence with, “I remember when …” but, think about it; they weren’t describing line-by-line strategy or tactics … they were telling you about tangible outcomes … “We had 1,000 kids drumming on the lawn at the Hard Rock Hotel, it was so awesome to break that Guinness World Record …”

Although the focus of the speech and blog post talks about using this communication tactic to amp up your employees, it has an equally strong impact when trying to sell a new idea to a client.

Give it a shot. Think about the story’s “big idea” and build around that. And, remember that telling a story or anecdote is much like any presentation you give; you have to gauge your audience—whether it’s a room full of employees or a client—and respond accordingly.

Misguided

by Roger Pynn

Poor Rupert Murdoch, all those millions poured into newspapers and an attitude like this: papers have an edge over bloggers and other newcomers because readers trust them more, according to a story by Associated Press.

Rupert, old boy, if you haven’t noticed public confidence in the media is at an all-time low. Why? Could it be that many in the news business have abandoned the basic tenants of journalism and become so comfortable with prefacing their comments with the words “I think” that they’ve forgotten altogether that journalists shouldn’t express their personal opinions?

He’s right. There are huge opportunities for papers that pursue online markets for news. We don’t need to argue whether or not there is a market of people like me who still enjoy the feel of newsprint as they sip a morning cup of coffee.

But if you truly believe there is a difference between “organized journalism” such as what used to and should be practiced by newspapers and the online personal editorial pages that blogs like this represent, why not create a continuing education program for your editors and reporters to remind them that just because Woodward and Bernstein uncovered Nixon’s complicity in Watergate doesn’t mean everyone in the newsroom should be on a mission to prove that every news sources or “public person” or organization carrying the postscript initials “inc” ought to be pursued as a public enemy.

Just report the news. If you need a reminder, you can get your people to start with “who, what, where, why, when and how?” instead of language resembling the best opening argument of a state attorney before a grand jury.

When it Comes to Social Media, Take One Bite at a Time

by Dean Hybl

While recently listening to some outstanding speakers during a very interesting and informative PRSA workshop about social media, I kept trying to envision exactly how the dozens of technology based social media applications they discussed might fit for some of my clients.

Like a kid in a candy store, the natural temptation is to try a little bit of all the different options, but according to Giovanni Gallucci, a self-proclaimed social media ninja, the trick to effective use of technology based social media is not to use everything, but to concentrate on identifying and using the social media tools that work for your specific client.

Chris Elliott, noted travel journalist, reminded us through this Norman Rockwell picture that social media is not a new concept.

However, over time, technology innovations have made it easier to efficiently communicate with large numbers of people. But is bigger always better?

While it may seem like a great idea to use social media to blast out information about your client to hundreds of thousands of people, the value, according to Marlon Manuel from Edelman, is not in how many people you reach, but in making sure you reach the right people for your client. Marlon said that in the PR world, efficient use of social media is to find the venue that allows a core group of people who use your client’s product to become evangelists about the product or service within the social networking world.

So while it is still very easy to be overwhelmed when looking at all the delicious looking options that are out there in the social media world, it is important to remember that taking one bite at a time might be the best way to ensure that you have an enjoyable and successful experience and don’t end up with a tummy ache.

Targeted Messages more Important than Ever

by Roger Pynn

Communicators – marketers, advertising folks and public relations people – talk a lot about target audiences, and as Brian Reich points out in a blog entry at the Public Relations Society of America’s blog ComPRehension, new media and new technology may be causing static between message sender and message receiver.

Communications models have long taught us that the responsibility for a message being received lies with the sender, because static and noise can interrupt even the most carefully crafted message on its way to the receiver.

Reich, author of Media Rules!, offers an important precaution: don’t let the toys and the new technology become your new static.

He’s so right. Far too much of the dialogue among public relations people today is about the medium … not the message … which brings us way too close to proving Marshall “the medium is the message” McLuhan right. It isn’t about Twitter and it isn’t about your iPhone.

Message is always first. Without a message you have no reason to communicate. Whether we choose some old fashioned form of delivery (like a postcard or a newspaper) or instead create a viral pathway through a social network, we ought to be more concerned with targeted messages.

Let’s not leave the target audience asking “WHAT?”

Drivel and Poison

by Roger Pynn

Everywhere you turn today people are talking about transparency and there’s a growing fascination with the take of CEOs on the media (what’s left of it, anyway). Business Journalist William J. Holstein’s new book “Manage the Media (Don’t let the Media Manage You)” adds fuel to the fire, although the title is an oxymoron. You can’t manage the media. No one can. You can only manage yourself and what you say in your relationships with them.

On the other hand, from early reviews it is clear that Holstein has a message for the business community: play the game.

Unfortunately, in many cases today dealing with the media has become just that … and for many it may seem like blood sport. But when you take the position that you’re not going to talk with the media you might just as well press your nose in a door jamb and shut it. They become intransigent, too, and in the absence of your voice they turn to someone else to tell your story … often someone you’d rather not speak for you.

British historian, satirist and author C. Northcote Parkinson offered this advice: “The vacuum created by a failure to communicate will quickly be filled with rumor, misrepresentation, drivel and poison.”

Playing the game – even when your “opponent” may be an intern or young graduate fresh out of journalism school with little or no experience covering your world – is the only way to win. Failing to play is a clear path to forfeiture.

Face-to-Face Time Provides Insight and Understanding at Media Roundtable

by Ashley Pinder

Many times people perceive the media and public relations professionals as working at odds – one side feeling inundated by pesky “follow-up calls” and the other side feeling like the messages it shares are too easily disregarded. However, I attended an event last week that showed this disconnect is not always the case …

At the 2008 Central Florida Media Roundtable, put on by the two local chapters of public relations associations FPRA and PRSA, about 200 PR professionals from all different industries sat face-to-face with 17 media-types from different outlets and shared what they need and want from the other side to do their jobs. And what was quickly uncovered was that both sides just so happen to have the same goal – keeping the public informed.

Of course it is our responsibility as PR professionals to make sure we are only sharing our company information to specific media that it applies to and we are doing our diligence in learning about who exactly that is – timely and relevant information is key. Reporters receive a lot of e-mails, so we need to be sure we are only sharing important stuff, and doing it how they want it. Providing a local angle on a breaking national story is always compelling to daily papers and offering a glimpse into the life of local company executive doing extraordinary things in the community can be an excellent story for a local lifestyle magazine.

When it comes down to it, reporters and editors need information and public relations professionals need to share information … seems like these needs are actually quite complementary. And all it took was a little face-time to realize it.