Tag Archive for ‘journalist’ at PRactical Relations

Tag Archive for 'journalist'

Decor Editors Share Publicity Tips

Published

on October 8, 2008

in Media Relations Tips and Success Tips

. 4 Comments

I attended PR-Net last night in Green Point, Cape Town, where several top decor editors spoke about the unique selling points of their specific home/decor magazines, plus tips on how they’d like to interact with PR people and publicists.

I’ll share some of the tips with you here:

Anneke Blaise from Home/Tuis magazine says that she really appreciates face-to-face contact. She wants to know who she’s dealing with and invites PR practitioners to visit their offices once a month, or whenever appropriate to discuss ideas, show products, or simply just put a face to an email.

Bianca Du Plessis from Conde Nast House & Garden says that she finds it surprising that people don’t realise that they work three months in advance. That means that the issues for December and January have already been sorted. Bianca suggests that PR people should find out what issue they’re working on and enquire about the feature calendars.

Bianca also explained how tricky gardening features can sometimes be. Because of their three months production schedule, a picture of a beautiful Spring garden in full bloom wouldn’t reach them in time for the Spring edition. So unless they have a good library of pics, they sometimes work on their gardening features one year in advance.

“Be concise” is the advice from Johan van Zyl of Visi. They have a small editorial team and he fills the roles of three people, therefore he says he often suffers from “inbox rage x3″. Johan recommends that you familiarise yourself with the magazine and then speak to the right person depending on the section you want to appear in. Visi is different in several ways from other decor magazines, so Johan is looking for an angle (preferably exclusive) that would be perfect for the Visi reader.

Both Johan and the next speaker, Lauren Shantall of Elle Decoration, spoke about the “non-exclusive exclusives”. No magazine wants to feature something that appears in several other competing titles at the same time. They lose credibility with their readers and you will certainly lose the editor’s trust. All that they ask is that you are honest about what other magazines plan to feature your product/brand/company so that they can decide what type of angle would work best for them.

On this topic, Brian Berkman raised a valid point. Journalists also have a responsibility here to answer PR emails on whether they plan to use the content or not. When you don’t get an answer, it’s difficult to know when you can start pitching the idea to other titles and you might miss the production deadline in the meantime. As Brian said, a “no” is better than hearing nothing.

Back to Lauren, she says that she prefers to receive the high res pics upfront, as it saves her time. Please note though that this is certainly not the case for all journalists - they won’t be happy if you crash their inbox. Use Encyclomedia’s media database research service to give you all the journalists’ individual preferences and pitching tips.

Lianne Burton from House and Leisure says that they aim to promote all the positives of life in South Africa. The new look magazine launches in January 2009 and, given that the competition was sitting right next to her, she couldn’t really reveal too much except that the new slogan is “stylish SA at home and play” and it includes a beauty section. They’re big into eco angles, so there are some great PR opportunities there too.

Thanks to Mike from Wesson Digital Photography for the photographs.

Popularity: 29% [?]

How To Really Irritate a Journo in The First 5 Seconds

Published

Robynn

on April 4, 2008

in Media Relations Tips

. 7 Comments

It’s simple. If you start a phone call with “Hi, how are you?” you are looking for trouble.

Perhaps you’ve heard that public relations people are sometimes referred to as PR sales people? This is not because the poor journalists aren’t savvy enough to know the difference, it’s because people in our own PR industry are creating this perception - often unwittingly. In fact, some are so unconscious to the effect that their sloppy PR habits have, that they get upset and exclaim “how rude!” when an exasperated journalist doesn’t want to hear another irrelevant PR pitch.

I think I need a quick disclaimer here: I am not saying that journalists should be excused for being rude, there is no excuse for that. But after hearing some of their stories, I can understand why blood pressure levels rise as often as they do.

Ok, so getting back to the PR/sales person comparison. Here’s what you can do to avoid a negative impression when making your call:

- Introduce yourself upfront.
Only untrained telemarketers selling dodgy products start a conversation with a bubbly “hi, how are you?” in an attempt to “build rapport”. The only thing this does is build scepticism. First say who you are and what company you’re calling from. No-one wants to make small talk when they don’t know who they’re dealing with; journalists generally don’t want to make small talk at all.

- You don’t need to be everyone’s best friend.
Get to the point and then be friendly, in that order. Once you’ve built a good relationship with a journalist, then you can chat away about your weekend plans and the weather. But up until that point, simply give the journalists what they need in a professional manner.

Please, for your own sake and for the sanity of the journalists you’re dealing with, understand why “hi, how are you?” just doesn’t work. Then pass on the tip to all of your colleagues too (despite its obviousness), because somewhere out there some PR people are unknowingly sabotaging all your hard media relations work.

What’s obvious to one is obviously not obvious to everyone.

Popularity: 7% [?]

The Back and Forth Journey of a Newspaper Story

Published

Robynn

on March 17, 2008

in Media Relations Tips

. 1 Comment

You write a great media release and the newspaper journalist you’re pitching the story to decides to use it. You celebrate and feel very chuffed with yourself, excitedly tell your colleagues and possibly even call up your client. The next morning you rush out to the shop and get your copy of the newspaper and enthusiastically page through to find your article. You reach the end and realise that you must’ve missed it in your haste, so you page through again…and again…

Suddenly the shattering realisation hits that your wonderful article simply wasn’t printed.

For those of you nodding and remembering the excitement and disappointment of your early PR days, you know that there are various factors that affect the longevity of your media release - irrespective of whether the journalist liked it or not. But for the benefit of those who still climb the emotional roller-coaster with every daily newspaper, here are just a few things to keep in mind.

The news editor controls what stories the journalists work on. It’s fine to pitch your idea to a journalist directly (news editors are in any case pretty busy people), but just understand that it needs to get the nod from the news editor too before the journalist invests any more time in the article.
In the case of Die Burger’s newsroom, your story needs to survive six daily meetings where the placement of each and every article gets discussed.
Once the article leaves the journalist’s desktop, it will pass through about nine other people before finally going to print. If any one of these people find fault with something in your article, it will quickly get edited or simply get cut altogether.
Important breaking news or hard news will always replace the softer news stories. If you’ve pitched your newly-formulated-fool-proof-muffin-mix minutes before the onset of a national crisis, hard luck. Of course, if you’ve pitched your idea after the journalists start scrambling to cover the big news, then perhaps you should consider a more appropriate career.

Don’t ask me why the odd press release (in its exact original form) finds its way through to the printed paper from time to time. Count yourself lucky when this happens, very, very lucky.

Popularity: 6% [?]

The Do’s and Don’ts of PR Follow-Up Calls

Published

Robynn

on March 13, 2008

in Media Relations Tips

. 3 Comments

Follow-up calls can either build relationships or build frustration. The majority of journalists surveyed by Encyclomedia on this topic have experienced the latter, far too often than they’d like. So let’s take a quick look at some of the mistakes that PR practitioners make when following up on the media releases they’ve sent.

Don’t expect journalists to have a memory like an elephant
An editor shared her frustration with me yesterday. She had just received a call from a PR person who was following up on a press release sent in August last year. No jokes. “I wish I had the kind of memory that could recall detail from that far back,” the editor said. “I get a lot of phone calls asking me if I used a press release, and often it is months after the release was sent.”

Don’t expect journalists to be clairvoyant
A phone call that starts with “Hi, did you get my email?” can only ever receive a frustrated response. Here’s an example of a conversation I received from another journalist recently:

PRO: Hi, I’m phoning to see if you got my email I sent on Friday?
Journalist: Well, let’s start with who you are and what was the email about…

Journalists receive hundreds of emails every day. De Waal Steyn told me earlier this week that he receives between 500 and 800 emails a day, across eight different mailboxes. He’s not alone in this.

So if you need to follow up on a specific email, start by stating the day and time it was sent, the subject line and the overall topic of the media release. The more specific you can be, the easier it is to enter into a productive conversation with the journalist.

Don’t ask questions when you can find the answer yourself
If you sent a media release to an online journalist, there is absolutely no need for you to call and ask if the journalist ever used the release. Simply search their website using your keywords and you’ll have your answer in seconds.

Don’t hound a journalist
Some PR companies have apparently developed the habit of calling to ask if they can send a media release, calling to ask if the journalist received it, calling to say that they are sending more pics, calling to ask if the journalist will use it, and so on.

A quick, clear and direct call to follow-up on an email is fine, but the “are you going to use it?” type of call every few days is not helping you to build a relationship, instead, you’ve become a nag. If your media release was well researched, targeted and relevant for the target audience, the journalist will contact you for more details.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Good PR Case Study - Vuka in Die Burger

Published

Robynn

on March 12, 2008

in Media Relations Tips

. 0 Comments

A feature article appeared yesterday in the Buite supplement of Die Burger, where a group of people (including Die Burger journalists) took a trip into Die Hel in the Gamkaskloof on their bright and eager Vuka Scutas. To Hell and back on a scooter!

It was a great PR idea - something fun, a little different and a great fit for Buite. But more importantly, according to De Waal Steyn, multimedia editor of Die Burger, Vuka’s PR people made the most of the good idea and maximised their coverage across the print and online platforms.

This is, in fact, exactly what an online or multimedia editor needs to do. He needs to link the content in the print newspaper to the online content and vice versa, without duplicating content and needing to continually add more value. Not an easy task.

De Waal explained that when it comes to hard news, the breaking news stories appear on the website as it happens, covering the 5 W’s and H. They then refer the online readers to tomorrow’s newspaper to read more about the story. The newspaper then refers readers back to the website to find more photos, videos and blog comments.

In order to leverage a soft news story or feature, the newspaper needs to direct their readers to the website to find further insights into the story, along with a photo gallery, video content and links for further information.

What Vuka did right is that they didn’t stop at simply discussing the idea with the editor of the Buite supplement, they made contact with De Waal too. They found out what type of multimedia content and other stories around the theme he would need to make it work. Which he did. You can read the story here.

This isn’t a groundbreaking or particularly remarkable case study, but rather one that simply illustrates that if you take the time to find out what a journalist needs and then work to give him what he needs, you will be building far better relationships and ultimately gain more coverage.

Popularity: 8% [?]

You want to send a fax?

Published

Robynn

on March 11, 2008

in Media Relations Tips

. 1 Comment

I met with De Waal Steyn, the multimedia editor of Die Burger, earlier today and I was completely shocked when he told me that he still receives media releases via fax. What? I almost fell over my chair - well, actually I was standing at the time, going through a tour of the beautiful, but busy Media24 offices (plasma screens everywhere you look). But I was seriously surprised that someone would consider a fax (a useless piece of uneditable text) useful to a journalist, let alone a multimedia editor.

When I asked De Waal if he had any examples of these endangered items (partly because of my disbelief and partly to help these poor PR people realise what century the rest of the world has moved into), he promptly replied that he deletes the faxes the moment they arrive. Naturally, they are “fax to email” and of course, they serve no purpose so they do not even warrant a further look.

For those of you savvy enough to find this blog, you certainly don’t fall into the group that still faxes their media releases. But I thought that this would bring you some comic relief, because although we can all make mistakes in the way we get our messages across, it could always get worse.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Email Tip - Keep it Professional

Published

Robynn

on March 4, 2008

in Media Relations Tips

. 0 Comments

There is nothing wrong with being friendly in your emails, friendly people are far more approachable and memorable. However, beware of pretending that the journalist you are emailing is suddenly your best mate.

A good example of a bad attempt to build rapport
Here is an example of an over-familiar PR pitch that an editor forwarded to me yesterday:

Greetings [editor’s name], I hope you had a great weekend - [partner’s name] and I certainly did! We had no commitments and just lazed away - a one in a million break.

The following [client] release is for your consideration, some pics are attached,

Regards, [name]

This sounds like a brief and friendly email, something that you would expect to receive from a friend. The only problem is that the editor does not know this PR practitioner and the ice-breaker introduction - the personalised little note about the PR person’s weekend - comes across as insincere. To make it worse, the editor’s colleague received the same email, with the same “personalised” note.

I’m sure that the intention of this PR person was to genuinely build rapport, but unfortunately it was perceived very differently. Here’s what the editor felt about it:

“Why don’t PRs just cut the nonsense and get down to business? Do they really think we are stupid enough to feel special with a note like this.”

Building relationships
If your aim is to build a relationship with a journalist (which it should be), don’t send her the same message that you send to every other journalist on your list. You build a relationship with one person at a time.

The best way to build a relationship though, is to do your research and send the journalist something that is truly useful and relevant to him or her. If you continue to do that, you will build a relationship on trust, which is far stronger than a relationship based on chatting about what you did over the weekend.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Instant Media Turnoff

Published

Robynn

on February 29, 2008

in Media Relations Tips

. 1 Comment

I’ve just finished a phone call with an editor covering the marketing and media industry in South Africa. She received a press release this week from a PR practitioner where 60 email addresses were included in the recipient list, for all to see. 60! Naturally, the editor said that she didn’t bother to read any further, it was simply deleted without remorse.

Think of this from a journalist’s perspective. If you see that a media release has been sent to 20, 30 or 60 (gasp!) other people covering your beat and industry, what thoughts would possibly be going through your mind? Probably something like this: “if Sally, Susan and Peter are covering this, then why should I bother?”

Personalised and exclusive
A journalist will not use your media release if there is a chance that another competing magazine or newspaper will cover the same story, or at least the same angle of the story. That’s why journalists love exclusives. It gives them a chance to give their readers something unique, something that their target audience can’t read, hear or view anywhere else.

Many PR companies aim to get as much coverage as possible and will send the media release to as many people as possible (including those who left the publication two years ago). But if you’re employing the “spray-and-pray” method to achieve this, then you’re probably wondering why you get no coverage at all.

Well, now you know.

And don’t try the BCC tactic. Journalists receive enough emails every day to spot the personalised emails from the … well, let’s just call it what it is: PR spam.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Sunday = smart-day for media relations

Published

Robynn

on February 24, 2008

in Media Relations Tips

. 2 Comments

Why am I sitting in front of my computer writing this post on a Sunday afternoon, with such gorgeous weather in Cape Town? Well, it’s just to let you know that I am not the only one sitting at my desk, missing out on an extra degree of sunburn.

Journalists working for daily newspapers are hard at work right now compiling tomorrow’s newspaper. What, did you think they put the whole paper together on Friday afternoon before they left for the weekend? No, Friday’s news is old news. Their week starts today and ends on Thursday. Now some of you already know this and your eyes are glazing over, so let me get straight to the point. When a public relations practitioner or publicist gets into the office on a Monday morning, they only have four days within which to pitch their media releases to these newspaper journalists and editors – the same four days that every other PR person is trying to get through.

Be smart, call them on a Sunday. Daily newspaper journalists have been telling us here at Encyclomedia that their phones are dead quiet on a Sunday, which I’m sure comes as a welcome relief to many of them. However, they still need good content to fill the newspaper so that they can make an impact on their readers by Monday morning.

So if you have a good idea that you’ve researched, a good story that will interest the readers, then take a few minutes next Sunday and make the call. Make yourself stand out and build a better relationship with a journalist. Just think how much more effective you’ll be.

Ok, so now that I’ve said my bit, I’m off to enjoy some more sunshine.

Popularity: 4% [?]