Posts Tagged ‘Press Release’


A Letter From a Press Release

Monday, November 1st, 2010

Dear PR Professional,

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. “I am not dead and I have an app to prove it.” Ok, maybe I don’t. But granted, I am more than 100 years old and am still holding up fairly well, if I must say so myself.

Our relationship has seen its ups and downs. You’ve shared me in many ways, including, but not limited to mail (long before it was called “snail mail”) and fax – I really burnt up some data lines in my time. Let us not forget email; you’ve emailed me so often and to so many erroneous contacts I sometimes get called “SPAM” or “junk” now – no respect for your elders. And this newfangled “tweeted.” (That’s right, I’m “hip” to it all.)

Now I spend most of my time in online press rooms as a reference link for reporters to “come and get me if they want me.”

A few tips I’ve heard over the years:

ARCHIVE: Even if you focus on social media ALWAYS have a place for traditional releases in your newsroom. This will allow journalists a resource for quotes if someone is not readily available. Your website should have an archive of news stories and I still prove to be a concise summary of events and/or activities important to your business.

IDENTIFY CORRECT RECIPIENTS: Never blindly email me. If you must do this, and I can’t think of a good reason why, at least make sure I’m relevant to the recipient. (I have a positive reputation to maintain after all.)

BE SENSITIVE TO MY SIZE: At least embed me in the email. People hate it when I’m “attached” and frankly just hanging out there is a little scary.

WRITE A GOOD SUBJECT LINE: If you MUST email me, even if the recipient is expecting me, please write a good subject line. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone unopened because nobody really knew what I was so they ignored me.

GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT: If someone says they don’t want a press release, but just the who, what, when, where and why, please give it to them. Also prepare that same information in my form or at a minimum a fact sheet for your archive. Remember once I’m on your website you can still maximize me for SEO purposes.

I still have some gas in the tank so don’t count me out just yet. I know some say our relationship is a bit dysfunctional at best. Sure, I’m traditional, you know – AP Style – but I still have a place in your plan and tactics if you use me wisely. And I really think we can make this work.

Lovingly,
Press Release*

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*Bio: Press Release is a 100+ year veteran of the PR and media relations industry, where it helps professionals connect and engage with relevant journalists and bloggers. In its spare time, Press Release enjoys finding innovative ways to stay curtain in the ever-changing media landscape and maximize its results. Web: BurrellesLuce Media Outreach; Facebook: BurrellesLuce; LinkedIn: BurrellesLuce; Twitter: BurrellesLuce

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Posted in Media Industry, Media Outreach, Media Relations, Public Relations | 2 Comments »

PRSA Counselors Academy: Mark McClennan, Schwartz Communications, Interviewed By Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

Transcript -

JOHNA BURKE: Hello, everyone, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and I’m at the PRSA Counselors Academy. And we’re here with Mark.

Mark, will you introduce yourself?

MARK McCLENNAN: Sure thing, Johna. It’s Mark McClennan. I’m a senior vice president at Schwartz Communications.

BURKE: Mark, now, you just gave a session on growing your talent from within. Can you give a couple of the takeaways, for those people that couldn’t be here, of how they can do that at home?

McCLENNAN: I’d be happy to. When you’re talking about growing the talent from within, there’s really three fundamental things you need to make sure you do. From point one, you need to make sure you establish buy-in to the company vision and the power of folklore from day one. Make sure people understand where your company is, where they fit within the company and how they can grow within the company.

Point two is you need to make sure you’re constantly giving them opportunities to fail. I mean, fundamentally, the only way to grow your supervisors, your vice presidents, is you encourage people to make mistakes and learn from them. You know, give them the maximum responsibility at the earliest possible moment. Eighty percent of the time it’s going to work well for you, 20 percent of the time it’s not necessarily going to work as well, and those are the learning experiences. And you need to make that commitment because short term there may be an impact, long term you’re going to get a significant ROI. And that’s how you’re going to grow the people that know your company, know what you need to succeed, and they can help drive things forward.

And finally, you need to make sure, when it comes to training, that you don’t do the work for your employees. You need to give them the opportunities to begin the discussion. You need to–when you get a horrible press release, you can’t rewrite it. What you need to fundamentally do is figure out ways to help them through an…(unintelligible)…process to fix it. Ask them during every team meeting, `What do you see as the trends? What do you think we should do?’ When they come to you with questions, don’t answer the question. The first thing you should say is, `What do you think? How do you think we shoot–we should do that?’ And by doing that, you’re going to have people aligned with the company vision, you’re going to give them the confidence they need to succeed, and you’re going to really help develop the future leaders that will help your agency grow.

BURKE: Mark, that’s great. Thank you so much.

McCLENNAN: Thanks so much.

BURKE: And where can people find you on the web and in social media?

McCLENNAN: Sure. Well, there’s a lot of places there, but basically schwartz-pr.com, and our blog is Crossroads, so schwartz-pr.com/crossroads. And you can find me at @mcclennan at Twitter.

BURKE: Great. Thank you so much, Mark.

McCLENNAN: Thanks. 

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Posted in Career Advice, Industry Events, Online Video, Public Relations | 1 Comment »

Pitching the Media: Brooke Siegel, DailyCandy, and Jake Dobkin, Gothamist, Share Tips At Bulldog Media Relations Summit

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

by Colleen Flood*

The timing for the “Meet the Editors” roundtable at the Bulldog Media Relations Summit could not have been a better follow up to my BurrellesLuce colleague Tressa Robbins’ recent post, What Journalist Really Want from PR People. In fact, I had the opportunity to moderate two roundtables with journalists of highly regarded outlets. The morning session was with Brooke Siegel, entertainment editor of DailyCandy.com, and the afternoon session JournalistTakingNoteswas with was Jake Dobkin, publisher of Gothamist.com.  Both conveyed similar messages about pitching:

  • Provide simple, concise details of what they need to write the story
  • Send the type of story their outlet would include

Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes a PR person can make when pitching is sending the finished product. I heard from Dobkin and Siegel that “almost never do they use the ‘story’ as you send it.” And I am sure that most journalists would probably agree.  Instead, they recommend “sending the details” and then “they will write the title and the story.”  Be specific with details, especially in the subject line.  Just be sure you don’t include the entire press release (in the subject line) – Siegel joked that this has happened to her and reached for her BlackBerry to show us, then remembered she had deleted it!

For Jake the details he must have include pictures, illustrations, or video.  Since Gothamist.com is a blog it is important to lure the reader with visuals.  Without any it is likely he will not do the story.  Just don’t send large files. Instead provide photos via a “photo-drop box” like Flickr.

According to Dobkin, PR and media relations professionals should also know before pitching Gothamist.com that:

  • Gothamist.com does 10 posts/day
  • Audience is 18-34 year olds known as “affluent hipsters”
  • Contact via email tips [at] gothamist.com
  • Don’t call us – we’ll call you.  Trust us, you will receive a call if we need additional information
  • Provide videos via YouTube or embed with a code

As far as getting your story picked up by DailyCandy.com, Siegel provides some specifics:

  • Dailycandy.com is committed to covering what’s new and undiscovered in 11 cities
  • Audience is primarily geared towards women regarding fashion, food, and fun
  • Exclusives are welcome
  • They have a “deals email” that is a great way to establish brands
  • No “enter to win” or giveaways
  • How-to videos are welcome
  • Always include a website; this is the “biggest business card you have”

It was a pleasure to meet Siegel and Dobkin in person.  They are real people who work very hard to get their stories out to their audiences.  And while some of their points were specific to their publications, I think the biggest lesson they offered was to remind participants how important it is to “research and know the outlet you are pitching.” Now, that’s a takeaway any savvy professional working with the media would do well to heed.   

Are you pitching journalists they way they want to be pitched? What tips have journalists and bloggers given you for working with the media? Share your thoughts with the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

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 *Bio: Colleen Flood has been a sales consultant with BurrellesLuce for over 12 years and is eager to become a more integrated part of the social-public relations community. She primarily handles agency relations in the New York and New Jersey metro-area. She is not only passionate about work, but also about family, friends, and the Jersey Shore. Twitter: @cgflood LinkedIn: Colleen Flood Facebook: BurrellesLuce

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Posted in Industry Events, Media Outreach, Media Relations, Public Relations | 6 Comments »

Media Relations 2.0: What Journalists Really Want from PR

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Last week, I attended a webinar by Sally Falkow, APR, and Rebecca Lieb, on how Internet technology and social networking affects news media and as a result, the public relations and media relations practitioner.

For those of you who attended last year’s PRSA International conference and heard Arianna Huffington open the keynote address with, “The Newspress release is dead…” or those who read Tom Forenski’s rant a few years ago, “Die! Press Release! Die! Die! Die!,” may be surprised to learn the press release, like traditional media, is NOT dead.  Falkow told us the news has changed, but journalists still want information.  The way that journalists work is evolving so we need to provide this information in different ways.

Lieb quoted some statistics on how journalists work today:

  • 91 percent of journalists search Google to do their job (“expert” is a common search term)
  • 89 percent use blogs
  • 64 percent are using social networks

In addition, Lieb went on to say that over 75 percent of reporters view blogs as helpful in providing story ideas, story angles and insight into the tone of an issue. And, almost half of reporters say they are “lurkers” on social networking sites.

So, what do journalists really want and need from PR?  

  • They want the news in easy-to-identify, digestible sections.
  • They are looking for images, quotes, video, backgrounders, fact sheets.
  • Tag the information so it’s easily found. 
  • Give them the full embed code for multimedia.
  • Put your news in a feed.
  • Make it available on social sites.
  • Aggregate your news/social content in one place.

She says, “Deconstruct the press release into special sections and tag the information. By using news tags, a newspaper or news site could pull together larger numbers of news stories and the PR industry would be helping news publishers to gather the facts and present them in a near-publishable format.”

Bottom line: if you aren’t telling your story, then someone’s telling it for you. If the media can’t find the information they need from you, they will find it elsewhere – and you may not like what they find!  

The media in general is expected to provide more than just a print story, or just a video clip – it’s also on the web. What is your organization doing to feed the media’s hunger for content? 

Want more tips and best practices for working with the media and giving journalists what they want and need? Visit the BurrellesLuce Resource Center which provides FREE white papers, tip sheets, and more. And be sure to sign-up for this month’s newsletter, “When Press Releases Go Bad” or view an archive of last month’s newsletter, “Staying Ahead of the Media Relations Curve.”

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Posted in Industry Events, Media Industry, Media Outreach, Media Relations, Public Relations, Social Media | 5 Comments »

How to Become an Influencer: Lessons from the 2010 PRSA Counselors Academy Spring Conference

Monday, June 7th, 2010

(L to R) BurrellesLuce's Colleen Flood, Paula Whittington, Johna Burke, and Debbie Friez at the 2010 PRSA Counselors Academy“We should all become influencers, and move away from pitching,” said Brian Solis at the PRSA Counselors Academy Spring Conference in Asheville, NC. He suggested that you can start by writing your press release in 120 characters, so there is room for others to re-tweet it. This was just one of the great insights I picked-up at the conference.

Keeping with this theme, I am offering some of the other best tips (under 120 characters or at least 140) I learned.

Blogging and Social Media

  • Use your #blog to showcase expertise in particular areas so you can win business. (@bgindra)
  • Lesson learned-get the video on 1 take, even if you have to record it several times. It’s easier than editing on computer. (@jaybaer)
  • Google wants to provide multi-media search results, so post some video. (@jaybaer)
  • Digital is not about knowing the answer; it’s finding the answer. (@jaybaer)
  • 4 degrees is the new 6 degrees of separation thanks to #SM. (@Brianna)

Engagement

  • Give people something to talk about to help elevate the brand. (@kalbritton) Example is @lenovo photography contest.
  • Every company has a 1% Group of core active customers…you need to engage them. (@jaybaer)

Green Initiatives

  • The grammar of green: Clear, Credible, Consistent & Compliance.
  • Praise companies for doing what is right with being #green instead of looking at all the bad things they have done.

Messaging

  • The new KISS: Keep it simple & share. (@briansolis)
  • QR (Quick Response) codes are great for sharing information, like at a trade show or games.

Strategy

  • The new CEO = Chief Editorial Officer. (@briansolis)
  • Don’t give community management to an intern.
  • Every company should have a social media crisis plan. (@jaybaer)
  • Set goals and objectives before you start social media monitoring.
  • Interesting way of looking at the #SM conversations – what are people saying about my company & is it in the right context & with the right influencers?

For more great information from this conference, checkout, my BurrellesLuce colleague, Colleen Flood’s latest Fresh Ideas post, “Are You Shifting Marketing and PR Plans Based on Hispanic Demographic Trends?,” as well as the PRSay blog, Jay Baer’s blog and others.

Have you learned some new ideas you can share from a recent industry event? What do you think makes an influencer?

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Posted in Advertising/Marketing, Industry Events, Media Outreach, Media Relations, Public Relations, Social Media | 5 Comments »

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