 |
 |
 |
           |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
Public Relations Primer Part III: 10 Donts
There are all kinds of smart moves professionals can make to raise their media visibility. Here are ten things not to do if you're aiming to heighten your public profile. 1. Don't make the story about you. The media care about, and want to use, your knowledge and expertise. Build your media pieces around the topics that the public, and the media, want to learn more about - not around announcements about the latest award you've won. 2. Don't misunderstand the process. The media will quote and feature you if you can deliver information their audiences need. They have no obligation to use you because you took out an ad, or because you play golf with the publisher. 3. Don't bite off too much at once. Keep it simple, and focused. Every media piece you send out should be about just one topic. Don't try to impress them with everything you know, or every possible angle. They can only do one story at a time, and they are deadline-pressured. Subtlety and complexity are usually your enemies. 4. Don't wander, or help reporters wander. In every interview, walk in knowing by heart your main point or message, and two or three key facts that support it. Make sure you say them, repeat them, and be sure the reporter gets them. Don't drift all over the topic's landscape. 5. Don't hold back. Don't withhold your "best stuff" for another day, or for paying clients. This is your spotlight, your moment - use it! Share the best of your knowledge with the media - they'll value you more. 6. Don't be leisurely. If a reporter calls, return the call promptly - within an hour or two, at most. They'll find someone else to use if you don't. 7. Don't overreach your knowledge. Talk to the media only about what you know best. If it's outside your core expertise, give it a pass - better yet, steer the reporter to a more appropriate resource. You'll score big points. Who wants to come across sounding ill-informed? 8. Don't send the reporter down an unproductive trail. Sure, you want to help a reporter do his or her job better. But that doesn't mean you have to coax them to interview a direct competitor, or someone else in the field who is likely to oppose or contradict you in print. 9. Don't try to fool a reporter or hide key facts. They usually find out anyway. 10. Finally, don't forget who gave you good coverage. Remember and reward reporters who feature you - not with gifts or anything inappropriate, but with kind thank-yous, and frequent suggestions and information for future stories, even if they may not involve you directly. Reporters value information and ease of access to it - deliver that, and you'll be a media favorite. Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele's MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.
MORE RESOURCES:
PR - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
PR - More Than News Releases Public relations and news releases are synonymous in the minds of some. Because the media relations aspect of PR is so "public", the PR discipline often is narrowly defined by this tactic. Knowing the Community You are in business for yourself, but how well do you know your customers and community? A good way to become better at understanding your community is to develop spread sheet databases of service clubs in your town with contact names, phone numbers, email addresses and brief descriptions. You should know all of the Volunteer Support / Service Clubs in your town. How To Create A News Angle Think of a triangle. On the left, imagine the story you want to tell. Radio Interviews - How To Get Them! Getting on the radio can be a great tactical move as part of your overall publicity effort, but you do need to have a story idea or an angle to present on a particular topic. Selling yourself as a guest on a talk show is a great way to raise your profile and if your subject relates to a topic that is currently in the news your chances of getting on is clearly improved. The Role Of Public Relations In Branding Because PR can be difficult to control, it is often discredited. According to Dick Lyles, president and chief operating officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies, a full-service consulting and performance improvement company, "People tend to migrate to things they can control. A Well-Oiled Strategy Machine Yes, that's what public relations really is when it tracks important external audience perceptions and follow on behaviors. And again when it does something about those perceptions and behaviors by reaching, persuading and moving to actions you desire, those people whose behaviors affect your organization the most. Life After Press Release Distribution? A few weeks ago I was participating on an on-line message board. One of the members was a new business owner who was very excited about sending out her company's first press release. Managers, Start Your PR There'll never be a better time for a manager working for a business, non-profit or association to ask this question: "Am I getting the public relations results I'm paying for -- the really important external audience behaviors I need to achieve my department, division or subsidiary objectives?"If the answer is no, better get busy and rebuild that public relations engine.Best place to look for an answer to your question is the foundation on which your public relations effort is based. Austin's Annual Charity Event with KVET In my travels around the country while building my business I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the greatest community volunteers in our nation. I never missed an opportunity to meet community leaders and learn all I could about every market my company franchised in. All Youve Got To Lose Is Everything Everything, that is, if you ignore those folks whose behaviors have the greatest effect on your business.What those people see and believe about your enterprise, pretty well determines what their follow-on behaviors will be - for example, do business with you, or move on to someone else. Three Communication Secrets of The Great Communicator I've worked in media and public relations for 20 years, and experience has taught me that communication is an essential skill to master in order to be successful in all aspects of one's life. No one person can do many things without the involvement of other human beings; having superior communication skills, then, is a highly enviable quality, and those who manage such a feat serve as role models to the rest of us. Managers, Which PR Is Right For You? An effort built around a string of print and broadcast exposures? Or, a public relations initiative that delivers results far beyond simple publicity tactics. Namely, real behavior change among your most important outside audiences leading directly to reaching your objectives. Press Releases How do press releases or interest stories have an effect on meeting new potential clients?Press releases can make the difference between being known and being just the same old service that everyone offers. You need to set yourself apart from all the others. Where is the Best PR Value? Wherever the fundamental premise of public relations is practiced.Look at what it suggests. Your Financial Planning Clients May Hold the Key to Free Publicity Every reporter, from the cub at the small town paper to the high-paid anchor on 60 Minutes, dreams of finding a lead to that news story that everyone will want to read.Any marketing-minded financial planner will start to do the same if they are serious about getting free publicity through the media. Publicity From Thin Air In an ideal world, your business would be overflowing withnewsworthy stories, and the media would be waiting with batedbreath for your next press release, ready to give you front pagecoverage. In the real world, however, it's not always so easy to generatereal news. PR: Ouch! Tells the Tale Ever get the feeling that your public relations program isn't doing much about the behaviors of your important outside audiences? Those audiences whose actions have the greatest impacts on your business?Chances are your PR effort is focused primarily on communi- cations tactics and not on the process needed to really move those key audience perceptions, and thus behaviors in your direction.Which means you've missed out on the sweet spot of public relations. Forget The Story Youre Promoting - Heres What Journalists Really Want From PR People Although it seems less common these days, there are still a fair number of us public relations practitioners who enter the business by crossing over from the journalist's side of the notebook.When you make that transition, you become something of an oracle. Levines Laws For Pitching With Panache Excerpted from "Selling Goodness- The Guerrilla PR Guide To Promoting Your Charity, Nonprofit Organization, Or Fund Raising Event"Whether you are making a pitch over the phone or in person, whether to a newspaper or magazine journalist or a reporter or producer in the electronic media, there are fundamental rules to follow. To some extent, they coincide with universal rules that apply to all human relations-courtesy, honesty, respect, integrity-but some of them are relatively unique to media relations, such as the advantage of having a topic that grabs by the collar and won't let go. Publicity: Show a Reporter You Care by Inviting Them to Fact-Check Just like a financial planning client fears not having enough money for retirement, reporters fear getting their facts wrong in print.Inaccuracy isn't tolerated in newspapers or magazines.
|
 |