Tag Archive for 'journalists'

Tips For Increasing Your Publicity During The Holidays

Published
by
admin
on December 7, 2009
in Media Relations Tips and Miscellaneous
. 0 Comments

While many people are off shopping, taking kids to the beach and enjoying their year-end holidays, newsrooms continue working (albeit with skeleton staff). Newspapers are still being printed, TV and radio slots still need to be filled and the journalists and producers still need content, especially content that’s different from all the normal holiday-season fare. However, as we go deeper into December, the media’s phones start to go quiet and the flood of emails slows to a trickle. This presents the perfect PR opportunity to pitch those tough stories that normally wouldn’t cut it during the busy news cycles.

The best timing for the best impact is to use the holiday time - especially around the public holidays - to actively pitch your stories. But even if you’re off sipping cocktails, there are still a few things you can do to passively help increase your holiday-time coverage:

- Don’t date your media releases. If it’s a story that doesn’t have a specific date attached to it, then it makes it easier for the journalists to slot it in during a slower news day.

- Ensure that all the facts are included, from where to buy the product and the price, or links to related research findings, to the industry expert quotes. You don’t want a journalist to have to ask for anything and then reach your “I’m on holiday” out-of-office reply.

- Many of the beat editors and journalists you normally deal with may be on leave and freelancers will be working in their place. Although personalised emails are the best at all other times of year, if you’re not sure if the recipient is going to be there, rather email your story to the newsdesk so that the relevant acting editors can still access it.

Good luck for all the publicity opportunities and … enjoy the holidays!

Popularity: 15% [?]


SA News Distribution Service Brings The Power Of Publicity To More Companies

Published
by
Scott
on December 7, 2009
in Public Relations
. 0 Comments

A news distribution service has recently launched in South Africa, which now provides the most cost-effective way to send press releases directly to targeted journalists and editors, helping companies gain valuable media exposure. Media Alerts News Distribution will help journalists access relevant news, while helping companies easily distribute their news to all the right media contacts.
Media Alerts News Distribution uses the Encyclomedia media database, South Africa’s largest database of over 6 500 journalists, including all print, broadcast and online media, plus influential freelancers and bloggers.

Useful reporting: The service includes a report with the number of emails sent, plus a list of the media titles the release was sent to - useful for internal or client reporting and tracking of media exposure.

Benefits:

  • Publicity results are boosted by expanding the reach of the press release, with access to the largest database of contacts.
  • No need to spend hours researching to find the right media contacts, this has already been done by the industry specialist.
  • Press releases are personalised with the journalists’ names, making it stand out from the hundreds of general emails they receive.
  • The targeted approach means that the press release is sent to the right media contacts who are in the best position to use the information.
  • Press releases are formatted in the journalists’ preferred layout, helping them quickly find the information, key contacts and images.

Price:

  • R1 750 per release (includes one category of your choice)
  • R150 per additional category (over 30 targeted categories to choose from)

This is the most affordable way to individually contact every news outlet in South Africa.

If this is something that could help expand your media coverage, we’d be happy to give you more information. Find out more on our website: www.MediaAlerts.co.za/News-Distribution

Popularity: 16% [?]


Media@SAfm Features Media Alerts

Published
by
admin
on May 27, 2009
in Media Relations Tips, Miscellaneous and Success Tips
. 0 Comments

Robynn Burls talks to Ashraf Garda on Media@SAfm about Encyclomedia’s new service, Media Alerts. Listen to the interview and visit the Media Alerts website to find out more about this new free service.

Popularity: 26% [?]


New SA Tool To Help Journalists And Benefit PRs

Published
by
Robynn
on May 19, 2009
in Public Relations
. 2 Comments

A free online tool is launching on Thursday, 21 May, to help South African journalists source relevant content for the stories they’re working on, by reaching a network of PR professionals who are in the best position to help.

Media Alerts will help journalists reach the people with the right contacts and information, whether they need people to interview, or facts and stats on a specific topic. Based on the American Help A Reporter Out concept, Media Alerts lets journalists receive the best selection of content in a short space of time.

How it works – leveraging networks
Journalists submit their specific requests online, which are then sent to the subscribers, who are mostly PR professionals. These are the people who have direct access to the CEOs, MDs, entrepreneurs, celebrities and other networks that reporters need to tap into.

Through Media Alerts, the PR practitioners have access to highly valuable publicity opportunities they may never have known about. Plus, by helping journalists find the information they need, they are also building stronger media relationships.

Relevant content only
The PR subscribers have been given one rule though - to only ever send content that is directly relevant to the journalist’s request. Any abuse of this rule will see them being removed from the service.

The first Media Alerts will be sent on Thursday, 21 May. In the meantime, journalists can submit requests here and PR practitioners can subscribe here.

It’s an added-value Encyclomedia service, so there’s no charge for either side.

Popularity: 24% [?]


PR Success Strategies For Your Business - PR Conference

Published
by
Robynn
on October 14, 2008
in Public Relations
. 4 Comments

If you’re looking to expand your media knowledge and learn highly effective practical PR skills, then the PR Success Strategies For Your Business conference is not to be missed. This full-day conference is going to be jam-packed with invaluable insights into the media, best practices in PR and publicity success strategies. 

THE DETAILS:
- 20 November 2008.
- 08:30 - 17:00.
- The Forum, Victoria & Alfred Hotel, Cape Town.
- Early Bird Special: R2500 until 3 November (R2750 thereafter).
Limited seats remaining, register here.

 

YOU WILL LEARN:
- The power of PR & how to apply it to your business.
- How to think like a journalist & understand the needs of the media.
- PR and publicity best-practices and success strategies.
- Top publicity and media relations tips, direct from journalists themselves.
- How to effectively pitch your ideas to journalists.
- Best media relationship building ideas.
- Top tips on using social media for business.
- How to use online PR to boost your exposure and reputation, plus online reputation management.
PLUS:
- A practical workshop session on mapping your message - how to define and fine-tune your core message to the media.
- Discover new publicity angles and story ideas.

Find more details on the conference and the speakers here: http://www.encyclomedia.co.za/events/.

Popularity: 33% [?]


Great Example of a Pre-Pitch PR Introduction

Published
by
Robynn
on August 20, 2008
in Media Relations Tips
. 0 Comments

Before sending out your press releases to the journalists in your media database, have you ever tried sending an introductory email to ask whether the journalist would in fact be interested in receiving the type of press releases and angles you have planned?

A PR professional named Scott Duehlmeier did just that when he sent a short, descriptive email to a well-known blogger, Chris Brogan, asking if Chris would be interested in receiving further emails with PR announcements from their clients.

Have a look at Scott’s email on Chris’ post “Great PR manners go a long way”. Chris refers to it as “a very polite, very personal-seeming opt-in letter”, which came across well because it was “human-sounding”.

Unfortunately, far too many journalists (and bloggers) are on the receiving end of the spray-and-pray press release distribution approach. Even though software can automatically enter the journalist’s name into the email, they can mostly tell that they’re part of a mass mailing, especially if it starts with “I thought you’d find this interesting”.

Nothing beats personalised, thoughtful communication if you want a good response from the journalists. Of course, if all you’re looking for is a long list of media contacts to tick off and show to your client, then you may need to revisit what your PR goals are.

For some great tips on how journalists like to be pitched to, sign up for this free media pitching tips email series. It’s full of advice on various PR-related topics from editors, producers and journalists across South Africa.

Popularity: 34% [?]


Marketingweb’s Tips To Get Your Press Release Published

Published
by
Robynn
on June 10, 2008
in Media Relations Tips
. 2 Comments

The editorial staff at Marketingweb receive over a thousand press releases each week. In order to make sure that your media release stands out, they’ve very kindly published their top nine guidelines on how to get your story published.

These simple guidelines and tips can be applied to any journalist you plan to contact, although certain journalists will have their own pitching tips and preferences regarding email attachments and follow-up calls. Nonetheless, it’s a very good summary of some of the best practices in pitching your PR stories.

Also have a look at Encyclomedia’s Media Pitching Tips Revealed series. It’s a free email series with tips and advice straight from South African journalists on what works best and what PR tactics to avoid.

Popularity: 14% [?]