pr stratgey… Tip Sheets as a Successful PR Tactic by Brian Camen

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The media calls my team because of the relationships we have built, the reputation of my employer, and the sources we can offer. I work for a top-ranked graduate school. Our “clients” are faculty members (around fifty Ph.D.’s), each experts in their field.

Last summer, my team created a media tip sheet for the Olympics. With the help of my director, I took the lead on it, and this tip sheet set off three months during which our team was trying to fulfill multiple inquires per day.

Media tip sheets are under utilized, but really simple to create. If there is a major local, national, or international event occurring and you have multiple experts that can take different angles on the event, why not let the media know that you’re there for them?

Here’s what I recommend if you’d like to create a source-based media tip sheet:

1. Introduction–What news story/event & why is your company qualified to discuss.
2. Multiple Experts-–Be sure to include multiple experts that can comment on different perspectives of the news story/event.
3. Credibility–What makes each expert credible to discuss the topic? No credibility means no media attention.
4. What your expert is prepared to say–-A brief description about what your expert is prepared to say.
5. Contact information–Do you like it when things are made easy for you? Well so does the media. Don’t forget to put direct contact information for your experts.

The tip sheets I prepared featured nine different professors and senior officials who were experts on different business angles of the Olympics. We had representatives who could talk about topics such as China’s government, their environment, the branding of the Olympics, disaster and emergency planning, and more. The tip sheet also featured recent stories in school publications about students who played a role in the Olympics.

As you can guess, the tip sheet paid off. Our expert sources were featured in many local, national, and international print and broadcast outlets. The inquiries came pouring in but didn’t end when the Olympics completed. The media tip sheet created a domino effect. Journalists knew our sources were efficient, reliable, and could be trusted.

All you need to do is create a one-sheet featuring a paragraph about each expert stating why they’re qualified to comment, what they’re prepared to say, and direct contact info. This campaign was so successful because we made it easy for the media.

BRIAN CAMEN is a Public Relations Coordinator at a top-ranked international b-school in Glendale, AZ. Read his blog The PR Practitioner (http://www.theprpractitioner.com). He can be reached at brian.camen@gmail.com or @BrianCamen

what is public relations… Marketing VS Public Relations–The final showdown(?) by Janet Krenn

New Professionals PR Blog 5 Comments

Knowing the difference between marketing and public relations seems like a scholarly exercise… until you consider applying for a PR job under the supervisory umbrella of the marketing department, or you have to write a marketing plan to define how your company will use public relations to achieve marketing goals.

So what is the difference between between public relations and marketing? I’ve looked at several sites to try to come up with an answer.

What’s the difference?

Marketing: Definitions and Partial Definitions

  • “…marketing exists to sense, serve, and satisfy customer needs at a profit.” (from Public Relations: Concepts and Practices, republished)
  • “marketing is the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit” (Philip Kotler)
  • “Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders” (American Marketing Association)

Public Relations: Definitions and Partial Definitions

  • “Public relations exists to produce goodwill in the company’s various publics so that the publics do not interfere in the firm’s profit-making ability.” (from Public Relations: Concepts and Practices, republished)
  • “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.” (Public Relations Society of America)

The Visual Description
Perhaps the most interesting comparison of public relations and marketing come from an older, but still very relevant  post on The Brand-Builder Blog.

What are the Major Differences?

Role within the Organization
In a company, marketing promotes goods and services to consumers. These activities are projected from the company outward. Public relations works to “help the organization and its publics adapt mutually to one another”, according to one professor. PR activities should strive to have a back-and-forth relationship with the world outside the company, by projecting information and working with others. In other words, putting the “relationship” in public relations.

Measures of Success
Because the goal of marketing is sales, the success of their efforts can be measured in profits. The goal of PR is to build positive impressions of their client or company. So publics’ perceptions become the measurement tool in public relations.

Is there Overlap?

Positioning
Jack Trout, a prolific author on the subject, would say that positioning is the process of “owning space in a person’s mind.” For example, what company do you think of when I say the word “happy”? For about 75% of people, Disney comes to mind (Differentiate or Die, Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin). Disney “owns” the word happy.

Marketing and public relations work in tandem to position a company. Marketing does the research to determine what the position of the company is and should be. Public relations promotes the image and position of the company through events and news.

How Do You Think Marketing and PR are Different or Related?

Do you think marketing and PR are more related than different? Do you think I missed some key similarities or differences? Leave comments!

JANET A. KRENN is Communication Co-Chair of the New Professionals Section of PRSA. If you’re a member of the New Professionals Section, and you’d like to contribute to the New Pros’ blog, email her at janetqs(at)gmail dot com

pr strategy… Distribute the “Necessary-but-Not-Hot-News” Press Release by Shirley Skeel

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You’ve got your press release ready. Now what?

The Annapolis Group list serve (for independent liberal arts colleges) had a flutter of activity recently about the fine art of sending out press releases. Is mass mailing still acceptable? How do you keep harried reporters informed, but not irritated?

One media relations officer said that, for local coverage, she mass-mails to a standard distribution list. For national coverage, she begins with the news services, such as EuerkAlert and the News Media Yellow Book, and chooses specific newsrooms.

Another officer said he is very choosy about where he sends each press release. He always sends individual emails, and he suggests that if an email “looks like a blast (even a small one)” reporters “will toss it.”

I disagree. Speaking as a former reporter, reporters are single-minded creatures—They want a story. That’s it. Whether it comes in an email blast or off the back of a corn flake box does not matter.

I do agree that you have to be choosy to prevent reporter ennui. I use “email blasts” or individual mailings, or a combination, depending on the story—but even with the blasts, I hand pick the recipients each time.

However the art can get pretty icky, sticky, tricky. There are times when you and your institution are proud of an event, but it’s as likely to get press coverage as my husband is to give up smoking (sorry darling). And the last thing you want is for reporters to stop opening your emails because you send out too many flimsy releases.

So far my approach has been NOT to send the “necessary but not hot news” release to individual reporters. Instead I send it to general news desks, such as tips@newspaper.com (but what if the news editor opens this!!??) and to community media who just may take an interest. If my institutional conscience is really nagging, I also send it to a few known beat reporters with a gentle note asking them to pass it on if someone happens to be collecting stories on this topic.

It’s not perfect. And I’ve known at least one purist who would say, “Just don’t send them out.” That’s tough to swallow.

What strategies do you use to get out those “necessary-but-not-hot” releases?


SHIRLEY SKEEL is Media Relations Manager at University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. She can be reached at sskeel@pugetsound.edu

your pr career… One Year Down, 60 More To Go! by Courtney Vaught

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As one of my co-workers said, 23 is not an envious age. You are trying to find your place in the workforce; you aren’t sure what you really want to do with your life; you have far too many awkward moments, and things are uncertain—especially in this economy.

Now you have at least one year of experience behind you. Whether you’re happy with your current company or thinking of moving on, take time to reflect on what you’ve accomplished. In doing so, you might get a better idea of where you want to go and how to get there.

I’d like to share some of the advice I received from a career consulting professional who’s been in the business for 25 years. His name is Jeff Vaught, but I call him Dad. (Don’t think I’m mentioning him just because he is family; he really does have some great insights into career development.)

Before you start thinking promotion or job search, first, ask yourself:

  • What are your professional goals?
  • Does your current position allow you to pursue your goals?

If you want to continue along the path you’re in currently, ask yourself:

  • What have you done to earn a promotion?
  • Can you handle the greater responsibility?
  • What added value will you bring?

If your employer is a little too comfortable with you in your current position and will not consider a promotion, then start looking elsewhere. Remember to stay stealthy during the search, and take extra precautions.

  • If posting your resume while employed, keep it confidential—don’t list the name of your current employer.
  • Don’t take calls during work unless it’s easy to do so—running out in the hall to talk on your cell phone is painfully obvious.
  • Don’t fall into the counter offer trap—if you’ve tried to negotiate a promotion with your employer and they didn’t listen to your concerns, don’t assume things will change if you stay

Do you have questions or concerns about where your career is headed? Do you have other suggestions to share? Leave comments!
We are all in the same boat and can always use the advice.

COURTNEY VAUGHT is a member-at-large of PRSA New Professionals Section. You can reach her at vaughtc20@gmail.com or @CourtV. If you have more in-depth career questions for her dad, Jeff Vaught, you can reach him at jejucoal78@msn.com.

pr strategy… Do’s and Don’ts of Crisis Communication Management by Travis K. Kircher

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It was an undercover drug bust gone bad.

In the early morning hours of January 3, 2004, Police Detective Darren Richards (not his real name) was about to arrest a suspect who had allegedly tried to sell him narcotics in a convenience store parking lot. But 19-year-old Frederick Sizzle (also not his real name) decided he wasn’t going to be taken easily. They struggled. Richards drew his weapon. Sizzle tried to take it and an errant shot struck the pavement. Somehow Sizzle managed to fight Detective Richards off and he headed toward a nearby vehicle.

He never made it.

A few minutes later, Sizzle was dead with three bullets in his back.

The facts of the case are disputed. Detective Richards claimed he shot Sizzle out of self-defense when he thought he was reaching for a pistol. Eyewitnesses claim Sizzle never reached for anything and was in full retreat. A handgun was discovered in the waistband of Sizzle’s pants.

Additional facts: Frederick Sizzle was African American. Detective Darren Richards was Caucasian.

The case ignited a powder keg of racial tension in the city. The public was already on edge over a handful of previous police shootings that some said were questionable. As a result, local civil rights leaders scheduled weekly protests at police headquarters. They held several press conferences, along with Sizzle’s family, over a period of weeks, each hammering home their belief that Detective Richards was a trigger-happy, racist cop who was just looking for an excuse to shoot an African American. Before it was over, the riot gear was out, four protestors had been arrested and the police chief’s office window had been shattered.

The police department, on the other hand, refused to comment on a pending investigation. Detective Richards and his family refused to speak to the media on the advice of his attorney. The Commonwealth Attorney’s Office soon announced that a grand jury would be convened to determine whether Richards should be tried on murder charges.

* * *

That was the state of the case one Saturday weeks after the shooting. As an assignment editor at our local television news station, I had to find a story for our nightside crew, including a reporter and photographer, to cover. The choice seemed obvious: The day before, we’d received a press release from Detective Richard’s family indicating that a rally would be held in support of him. It looked as though we might finally be able to hear from his family to get their side of the story.

I quickly picked up the phone and dialed the contact number on the release. When a family member answered, I told them our news crew planned to be there and would love to speak with Richard’s friends and supporters.

His answer? I’m paraphrasing:

“We don’t want you there. We know how you hacks are in the liberal, drive-by media. You never want to tell our side of the story! All you want to do is trash the cops!”

I told him that the reason we hadn’t been able to tell their side of the story was because no one on their side would come forward to tell it, and that this would be the perfect opportunity to do just that.

“Yeah whatever,” he said (I’m paraphrasing again.) “We don’t want you anywhere on the property. It’s a closed-door meeting. Stay away from us!”

We did, and that night we ended up covering a different story that was so insignificant I can’t remember what it was. That conversation stands out to me as one of the more startling examples of how NOT to handle the media during a crisis. It was a bit confusing because (a) they had sent us a press release about the event, (b) nowhere on that release did it say it was a closed door event, and most importantly, (c) in the process of attempting to get their side of the story, we were accused of not being interested in getting their side of the story.

Did the conversation bias us toward the case one way or another? Certainly not.

Did it affect our ability to cover the story completely? It might have appeared that way to the viewer. When one side is talking while the other is mum, the tight-lipped often find public opinion rapidly turning against them.

When it comes to PR, there is a time for silence, but this wasn’t it.

How can folks who find themselves in similar situations respond more effectively?

1. Get a spokesperson. This doesn’t necessarily mean retaining the services of PR firm, but a good spokesperson has to have a basic understanding of the art of public relations. They also have to be able to build good relationships with the media. Sending conflicting messages and firing off accusations against them does nothing to accomplish that goal.

2. If you can’t comment on the case particulars, don’t—but say why. Some departmental policies or legal situations mandate silence, but the public often doesn’t understand this. In this case, the spokesman could have made this clearer: “Detective Richards is eager to explain what happened that night, but his hands are tied by police department policies that restrict public comments during internal investigations. He looks forward to the day when he’ll be able to talk more freely.”

3. Reach out to friends. He may not have been able to comment on what happened on the night in question, but Detective Richards was former U.S. Marine and a five-year police veteran. Perhaps there are citizens who could tell how his quick-thinking and brave response protected them from crime over the years. Perhaps Richards had African American friends and colleagues who could speak out in his defense and refute charges that he was racist. Friends, family members, old schoolmates, sports league teammates, fellow church members—all of these could work together, with the supervision of the spokesman, to paint a much more balanced picture in the mind of the public.

4. Get a good picture. When a major story like this one breaks, one of the first things the media is going to be asking for are pictures. They’ll want images of the suspect and any cops involved. In some cases, a single image can define an individual throughout any follow-up coverage in the weeks and months ahead. Whenever that story is mentioned, even in passing, stations will throw that image up. That can be a major problem if the only image the media has is an unflattering one—or worse yet—a mugshot. If this is the case, it’s important to have a more flattering picture and offer it to the media as an alternative on Day One.

5. Make sure statements or press releases are clear. When the media receives a news release, the immediate assumption is that the people sending the releases are looking for coverage. If you’re announcing a closed-door event, make sure the release makes it clear that it’s private and media will not be allowed on the premises. Otherwise, don’t send the release at all. Above all be truthful. Show the positive aspects of your case, but don’t spin or make dishonest statements.

“Detective Richards” was eventually tried for murder and found Not Guilty. He has since moved on with his life and his career. Had his supporters understood public relations more fully, his time in the limelight might have been less painful.

TRAVIS K. KIRCHER is a former TV news assignment editor and founder of WriteNow Creative Services LLC. He can be reached at tkircher@writenowcs.com.