|
|
|
Be Media-Friendly and Get in Print
Public relations is an important part of every business. You might place
an advertisement and have an offer of free editorial space, or perhaps
you want to write a press release about a new product or team member in
hopes of getting some publicity. Whatever the reason, rather than incur
the costs of a firm of public relations professionals, most SME owners
prefer to do their own PR work.
As with most other industries the media are running leaner than ever
before. There are fewer reporters, higher overheads and greater demands
for coverage. If you can help
the overworked media personnel do their jobs you’ll have a much greater
chance of success with your publicity efforts.
Start by thinking of what the media want from you rather than what you
want to put in the media. They look for content that will be appealing
to their audiences. They need an angle that makes it newsworthy or
interesting. They want it in a form that makes it easy to receive and
manipulate. They also want to have a selection of high-quality
illustrations for consideration.
This sounds as if you have to be a combination of trained journalist,
photographer and editor, but it’s really not so hard. We’ll start with
the story you’re going to put together.
Get to know the media in your area. Is their primary audience young or
old? Is it male or female? Do they run ‘hard’ news stories or human
interest material? Learn the names of the staff reporters and columnists
and the types of stories they write about. This will help you target
your material to the right people at each media outlet you contact.
Prepare your media information in a style that’s as close as possible to
that used by each publication you’re sending it to. One might want
interviews with your clients, another might want to start with a problem
and write about a solution. The old principles of writing about ‘Who’,
‘What’, ‘Where’, ‘When’ and ‘Why’ still make a good outline of how the
facts in a story can be presented.
Keep in mind the differences between the media. Information sent to a
newspaper can be a page or so of double-spaced text with as many of the
facts as you can fit in. Radio will only need a ‘teaser’ that has enough
facts to make them call you for an interview. Television wants the full
story and if you can put in suggestions for how it could be handled
on-air so much the better.
Whatever else you do, don’t send the same thing to everybody. Spend some
time to ‘customize’ each release or media information kit and you’ll get
much better results. You’ll also be showing editors that you’ve given
them some thought and respect their specific needs. They’ll appreciate
it.
Most news releases these days are distributed electronically. That’s
fine but it’s not enough. The telephone is still the best way to
introduce yourself and your story to the various media outlets. Once
you’re talking to someone in the news area, ask them how they’d like to
receive your information.
Be sure that your contact details are included on all your publicity
materials – email address, daytime and night time telephone numbers,
cellphone number and business address. You never know when a reporter
might decide to cover your story and need to get in touch with you
before their next deadline.
If you have a website you can have a ‘media information’ section with
news stories and visuals that can be accessed by the media as required.
Post your material in the most flexible and simple formats – documents
in MS-Word and photos as high-quality JPEGs. If the media want something
else they’ll ask you for it.
Visuals are important elements of communicating just what you’ve got to
the media and that includes radio stations. Photographs that clearly
depict people or products are needed; if a different type of
illustration is called for the editor will arrange for it. Avoid
attempting to be ‘arty’ – odds are pretty good your photographs will
never be used.
Always remember that time is critical when dealing with the media. If
you’re sending out information about an event give them sufficient time
to arrange coverage, including talking with you about it beforehand. If
they contact you and you’re out of the office, call them back just as
soon as you get their message. They could be on deadline and this might
be your one and only chance.
Unfortunately all this isn’t going to guarantee coverage for your
business every time you send information to the media. There are always
times when every inch of space is allocated or even really good stories
won’t get the coverage you just know they deserve. But keep on trying
and do it the right way.
You’ll eventually become known by editors and reporters as someone who
gives them quality material to work with. You might even become seen as
an expert in your particular field and be contacted for comment on a
breaking news story. Give them what they need, contact them personally
each time you have something interesting to say and you’ll ultimately
get the publicity you want.
|
|
