Following up on my post about taking notes on how interviews are structured, I now bring you a prime example of why public relations professionals should do the same with press releases.
The example I'm linking to confirms that untimely death of a professional hockey player in the middle of his career. In the hockey world, this type of press release might be written a few times a decade. In sports in general, it will probably be written 10-20 times a year. So even if you're not in hockey PR, but lets say in baseball PR, you can still find reviewing this press release useful.
Now I know this example is a depressing example, but tough news is always harder to deal with emotionally and mentally then others. Tactfulness and compassion are paramount and time is often short at best. That's why reviewing bad news examples are more important because they have a sense to be more "on the money".
Again, review it, take notes, and stash it away in a folder labeled "Just In Case - PR". Sooner or later, you'll be looking at this folder for one reason or another and it's always better to be prepared with examples that you have previously found to be a great that look over.
And remember, topics you want to look out for can be about anything - good or bad.
Showing posts with label Public Relations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Public Relations. Show all posts
Taking Notes: Interview Preparation
One important responsibility of a good PR department is preparing a subject before an interview. This isn't something that's taught in school and they more you do it, the better you get at it. But that doesn't mean you, as a PR professional, need to actually prepare an interview subject to gain valuable experience.
One exercise that I like to do to watch interviews about important, controversial or breaking news. I try to study the interview process to see how the journalist is shaping the interview, how the questions progress, what types of questions are being asked, etc. I do this so I can have a better understanding of what to expect if I ever have to prepare one of my clients or supervisors for an interview about a similar subject. (I do the same with reviewing press conferences, press and media releases, website/social media coverage.)
"60 Minutes" reporter Steve Croft recently interviewed President Barack Obama about the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound and spoke to Poynter about how he structured his interview that the entire world would be watching.
While I will probably never have to prepare the President of the United States for any type of interview, being able to get into the head of a veteran journalist like Steve Croft holds invaluable lessons that every PR professional should take note of.
One exercise that I like to do to watch interviews about important, controversial or breaking news. I try to study the interview process to see how the journalist is shaping the interview, how the questions progress, what types of questions are being asked, etc. I do this so I can have a better understanding of what to expect if I ever have to prepare one of my clients or supervisors for an interview about a similar subject. (I do the same with reviewing press conferences, press and media releases, website/social media coverage.)
"60 Minutes" reporter Steve Croft recently interviewed President Barack Obama about the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound and spoke to Poynter about how he structured his interview that the entire world would be watching.
While I will probably never have to prepare the President of the United States for any type of interview, being able to get into the head of a veteran journalist like Steve Croft holds invaluable lessons that every PR professional should take note of.
Tags:
Journalists,
Lessons,
Public Relations,
Tips
What To Do First: Email or Phone Call?
I was taught to always pick up the phone and call a reporter because it's more personal. More veteran (older) PR supervisors wanted me to do the same when I mentioned I was going to email a journalist. Picking up and dialing the phone was how so many PR - Reporter/Journalist relationships were built for many years. But now in 2011, is it better to send an email when reaching out to a reporter/journalist?
It will always depend on the reporter or journalist in question. You might be contacting a reporter who is 75 years old and hates email. Obviously a phone call is better in that case. But how many times have you as a PR professional unknowingly called a reporter who was on a tight deadline to pitch a story? Do you remember how annoyed they were when you called?
This topic was discussed in an ABA Journal article that also had responses to the question.
I'm a big proponent of emailing a reporter first because you give them a chance to read your pitch on their time, one that is good for them. If you do not get a response back, then follow up with a phone call. But maybe first contact doesn't have even have to be through traditional email: You can use Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter if you know how to use it correctly.
The main thing is know how the reporter/journalist wants to be contacted. At first you might not know how. There are websites and programs that try to provide this information for the price of their subscription fee. But you can also try contacting their news desk and ask if they know how.
For me, it usually email first. Times have changed and PR professionals have to change their communications habits as well.
It will always depend on the reporter or journalist in question. You might be contacting a reporter who is 75 years old and hates email. Obviously a phone call is better in that case. But how many times have you as a PR professional unknowingly called a reporter who was on a tight deadline to pitch a story? Do you remember how annoyed they were when you called?
This topic was discussed in an ABA Journal article that also had responses to the question.
I'm a big proponent of emailing a reporter first because you give them a chance to read your pitch on their time, one that is good for them. If you do not get a response back, then follow up with a phone call. But maybe first contact doesn't have even have to be through traditional email: You can use Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter if you know how to use it correctly.
The main thing is know how the reporter/journalist wants to be contacted. At first you might not know how. There are websites and programs that try to provide this information for the price of their subscription fee. But you can also try contacting their news desk and ask if they know how.
For me, it usually email first. Times have changed and PR professionals have to change their communications habits as well.
How Stressful Are PR Jobs?
An article on Yahoo! Finance discussed a report that named "Public Relations Executive" as the second most stressful job in America. It feel right behind "Commercial Airline Pilot" and right above "Senior Corporate Executive". The author of the original report cited his main reason as: "Public relations executives are "completely at the mercy of their clients and buyers." I really don't buy it.
A PR job can certainly be stressful, but just as much as any other job. I believe PR jobs are only stressful if your no confident in your ability to connect with people. The success rate for PR professionals are similar to bating averages in baseball: It's a given that you're going to fail more times then succeed when pitching stories and you can succeed less then three out of 10 times and still be great at what you do.
It's how you handle your successes along with your failures internally that will decided how stressful your PR job will be. And that can be said for every job.
A PR job can certainly be stressful, but just as much as any other job. I believe PR jobs are only stressful if your no confident in your ability to connect with people. The success rate for PR professionals are similar to bating averages in baseball: It's a given that you're going to fail more times then succeed when pitching stories and you can succeed less then three out of 10 times and still be great at what you do.
It's how you handle your successes along with your failures internally that will decided how stressful your PR job will be. And that can be said for every job.
Tags:
Careers,
Pitching,
Public Relations
The Misconceptions of the PR
If you’re a Public
Relations professional that has ever worked for a private business or
organization, you’ve most likely run into the problem of co-workers having no
idea what public relations really is.
It can come from an executive or an entry-level employee and it mostly like contained
the phrase: “Can’t the PR department just
do that?”
The art of public relations has been around since the beginning of time – the ancient Greeks and Romans were masterfully skilled at it. But the industry has been given a glamorous (please forgive me) spin in the past 10-to-20 years with TV shows and movies showing public relations professionals sipping martinis with music stars in limos. On his website, Jackson Wightman put together a list of 21 things PR is not and I agree with almost all his points.
My favorite not-to-dos on his list are No. 5 and 6: (Never) Ever guaranteed to generate coverage and (PR is never) Ever 100% controllable.
Just having a story or brand to pitch isn’t enough anymore, even for the best practitioners. It has to be interesting to people who have no attachment to the product. Often, CEO’s/Presidents/Executives think that everyone loves their product and story and have no reason not to and if journalists don’t pick it up, then it’s the PR departments fault. Well, it actually can just be the brand is boring in it’s current state and/or form.
As for No. 6, unless something unethical is going on between the public relations team and the media, chances are a bad story won’t just go away. A good PR professional can share the company’s standpoint and try to show the journalist their side of the equation. But once a journalist decides to run with a story, chances are it will be published. Only in rare instances can a PR pro make a deal to sweep one story under the carpet because they can offer up a bigger story in return in the not-to-distant future.
I would also add a No. 22 to the list: Easy.
Public Relations is not something that anyone can just start doing. I went to college specifically for a degree in public relations. In the last 10-to-15 years, more and more universities are offering specific degrees in public relations as opposed to a blanket degree in mass media and journalism for those who want to go into the industry. A marketing degree might help, but you would still be missing a lot. A degree in finance or pre-law? No thank you. Just because you watched the Sex and the City series or the movie Thank You For Smoking doesn’t make you an expert in public relations.
Public Relations is a lot of things. A lot of good things. But for some reason, as an industry, public relations professionals haven't pitched what their work really is effectively to the outside world. Misconceptions will only continue until we do.
The art of public relations has been around since the beginning of time – the ancient Greeks and Romans were masterfully skilled at it. But the industry has been given a glamorous (please forgive me) spin in the past 10-to-20 years with TV shows and movies showing public relations professionals sipping martinis with music stars in limos. On his website, Jackson Wightman put together a list of 21 things PR is not and I agree with almost all his points.
My favorite not-to-dos on his list are No. 5 and 6: (Never) Ever guaranteed to generate coverage and (PR is never) Ever 100% controllable.
Just having a story or brand to pitch isn’t enough anymore, even for the best practitioners. It has to be interesting to people who have no attachment to the product. Often, CEO’s/Presidents/Executives think that everyone loves their product and story and have no reason not to and if journalists don’t pick it up, then it’s the PR departments fault. Well, it actually can just be the brand is boring in it’s current state and/or form.
As for No. 6, unless something unethical is going on between the public relations team and the media, chances are a bad story won’t just go away. A good PR professional can share the company’s standpoint and try to show the journalist their side of the equation. But once a journalist decides to run with a story, chances are it will be published. Only in rare instances can a PR pro make a deal to sweep one story under the carpet because they can offer up a bigger story in return in the not-to-distant future.
I would also add a No. 22 to the list: Easy.
Public Relations is not something that anyone can just start doing. I went to college specifically for a degree in public relations. In the last 10-to-15 years, more and more universities are offering specific degrees in public relations as opposed to a blanket degree in mass media and journalism for those who want to go into the industry. A marketing degree might help, but you would still be missing a lot. A degree in finance or pre-law? No thank you. Just because you watched the Sex and the City series or the movie Thank You For Smoking doesn’t make you an expert in public relations.
Public Relations is a lot of things. A lot of good things. But for some reason, as an industry, public relations professionals haven't pitched what their work really is effectively to the outside world. Misconceptions will only continue until we do.
Tags:
Careers,
Education,
Link,
Public Relations
LINK: Perfect PR Pitches
Tags:
Link,
Pitching,
Public Relations
An Introduction to Social Media
Not since the first pitch letter was e-mailed or the first press release posted on the Internet has the public relations industry encountered as big of a paradigm shift as it is currently seeing with social media. A web search on the Internet for the definition of the term social media will populate hundreds or thousands of answers varying in terminology, length and detail making it difficult to narrow down a singular meaning or concept into one or two sentences. The experts of social media will each have their own definition and that will be different then the Average Joe’s who is using one social media platform to discuss the topic on another social media application.
Since there is no one particular, widely accepted definition, I will define social media for the purpose of my exploration into the topic as a person or entity using a Internet platform, application or website to communicate, connect, discuss or network with an audience ranging from a single person or group of people which may or may not be an intended or have a specified target. Or more simply, social media is a vehicle in which people communicate with each other publicly over the Internet.
An important aspect of understanding social media is that it does not consist of any one specific medium to communicate over the Internet. At the same time, social media does not include every medium or method of communicating over the Internet. A social media medium is using a platform over the Internet to communicate with a group of people that can continuously grow and evolve along with the platform itself and has public characteristics.
As the Internet continues to evolve, methods of communication through that medium expand anywhere from simple to more complex and many of these methods fall under the social media category. Furthermore, anywhere that communication exists is an opportunity for information to be exchanged, and as such, public relations professionals must not only be aware of what social media is, but how it effects their profession, how to utilize it to their advantage to get their message across and be aware of its benefits and drawbacks.
Since there is no one particular, widely accepted definition, I will define social media for the purpose of my exploration into the topic as a person or entity using a Internet platform, application or website to communicate, connect, discuss or network with an audience ranging from a single person or group of people which may or may not be an intended or have a specified target. Or more simply, social media is a vehicle in which people communicate with each other publicly over the Internet.
An important aspect of understanding social media is that it does not consist of any one specific medium to communicate over the Internet. At the same time, social media does not include every medium or method of communicating over the Internet. A social media medium is using a platform over the Internet to communicate with a group of people that can continuously grow and evolve along with the platform itself and has public characteristics.
As the Internet continues to evolve, methods of communication through that medium expand anywhere from simple to more complex and many of these methods fall under the social media category. Furthermore, anywhere that communication exists is an opportunity for information to be exchanged, and as such, public relations professionals must not only be aware of what social media is, but how it effects their profession, how to utilize it to their advantage to get their message across and be aware of its benefits and drawbacks.
Tags:
Opinion,
Public Relations,
Social Media
Top 100 PR Pros on Twitter
Liliana Dumitru-Steffens of the blog Everything PR put a list together of the top 100 professionals on Twitter. I'm currently only following a handful of these accounts, but it's a very good list of who's who. If you're not already following PR pros take a look at a few and start following. Sharing ideas is a great (and easy) way to stay on top of trends in the industry.
Tags:
Public Relations,
Twitter
LINK: Social Media - Hot New Career
While this Yahoo! article has elements that scream it's as much an advertisement as it is an actually article, it does profile six "breakout" careers. No. 1 on their list is "Social Media Strategist".
I do tend to agree that this field is becoming more popular, the author's description is pretty bad:
If you want a career in social media, it's best to start from the bottom and work your way up. As in any career field, experience is often the best education. Without the knowledge and experience that education brings, jumping into a more advanced career is exceedingly difficult.
I do tend to agree that this field is becoming more popular, the author's description is pretty bad:
" Do you love Twitter? Why not get paid to tweet? Seriously! Social media strategists figure out optimal ways to get messages out to the masses using the latest community tools online. This involves blogging, tweeting, and using sites like Foursquare and Facebook to find and communicate with customers. "What is the description missing? Just the small fact that "loving" Twitter, Facebook and FourSquare is simply not enough to qualify someone for this type of job. Being passionate about a career is very important, but experience is key. Whether it be in Public Relations or Marketing, the social media industry is becoming too complex to jump into without out experience in reaching out to customers/consumers/the public in more traditional terms.
If you want a career in social media, it's best to start from the bottom and work your way up. As in any career field, experience is often the best education. Without the knowledge and experience that education brings, jumping into a more advanced career is exceedingly difficult.
Tags:
Careers,
Marketing,
Public Relations,
Social Media
LINK: Pitching to Bloggers
PR consultant Susan Young discussed what she believes are the eight best practices when pitching stories to bloggers. Overall, she presents pretty good suggestions that even seasoned PR professionals can read for a refresher.
My favorite/most relevant tip:
It's alwasy better know the journalist before pitching them. Knowing them means both have a previously formed relationship and have a good understanding what they write about and to whom their target/intended audience is.
My favorite/most relevant tip:
4. Observe for a while. Watch their conversations and who they engage with. Follow them. Retweet their messages, a nice form of flattery. You’ll soon be on their radar screen.
It's alwasy better know the journalist before pitching them. Knowing them means both have a previously formed relationship and have a good understanding what they write about and to whom their target/intended audience is.
Tags:
Blogs,
Pitching,
Public Relations,
Tips
Plain Dealer: Sports Public Relations
If you ever wanted proof that all publicity is not god publicity?
Cleveland sports columnist Bud Shaw of The Plain Dealer takes a look at the actions of LeBron James, Albert Haynesworth, Jim Gray and others and questions their motives of their weakest career moments. This column isn't likely to make the pages of the PRSA newsletter, but worth a chuckle or two.
However, I continue to wonder how diluted one's mind must be to do what these gentleman have done and then think no wrong has even been done. Even after working in sports for a number of years, I still find this hard to comprehend.
Cleveland sports columnist Bud Shaw of The Plain Dealer takes a look at the actions of LeBron James, Albert Haynesworth, Jim Gray and others and questions their motives of their weakest career moments. This column isn't likely to make the pages of the PRSA newsletter, but worth a chuckle or two.
However, I continue to wonder how diluted one's mind must be to do what these gentleman have done and then think no wrong has even been done. Even after working in sports for a number of years, I still find this hard to comprehend.
Tags:
Bad PR,
LeBron James,
Public Relations,
Sports
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