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3 Steps To A Successful Public Relations
                                     Campaign




    How Small Businesses Can Use PR To Dramatically Boost Their
                             Profits




                                     Justin J Pugsley
                                           Of
                                     JJPAssociates



Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
CONTENTS




Why You Absolutely Must Do Public Relations                                                 Page 1
The returns in terms of sales can be huge for what can be a very small investment
or even no investment at all. A marketing campaign is incomplete without a PR
component to it.


3 Steps To Creating A Successful Public Relations Campaign
How you plan, structure and create a successful PR campaign and how to write
news releases and target your communications with maximum effectiveness



STEP 1: Your Contacts - Who Should You Be Talking To?                                       Page 7
How to find relevant media outlets and then research which reporters and bloggers
you should be targeting


STEP 2: Generating Ideas – What's Your Story?                                               Page 18
Sure fire ways of coming up with ideas that will get you mentioned in the media.


STEP 3: Getting Your Story Out There – How To Get Noticed Page 27
How to craft the news release, why you need to think beyond the media and get the
very best out of your communications and how to pitch journalists your ideas.




Copyright © 2012 by Justin J Pugsley
All or any part of this publication can be copied and distributed on condition that the author, Justin
Pugsley or JJPAssociates, is given full credit for any material used.




Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
Why You Absolutely Must Do Public Relations


Because You’re Worth It
How would you like to reach 10,000, a 100,000 or even 1 million potential customers
within the next 28 days at little cost or even for free?
Once upon a time that would have been extremely hard to do, but now it is easier
than ever before.
It all comes down to the Internet. You can now reach more people, more quickly,
more effectively and more cheaply than at any time in history. And in the world of
business that's got to be the most exciting and transformational event in the last two
decades.
For a small business this is potentially a god send and in many cases it turns the
tables on the big established players and gives smaller more nimble firms an edge
at a comparatively low cost. In the process the Internet is transforming media and
public relations – the subject of this report – in ways, which can be hugely beneficial
to small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.
This report will show you how you can get great publicity at very little cost and
generate a level of exposure, which would cost you small fortune if done via
advertising.
Good PR is increasingly suited to the new mood among consumers who are
becoming increasingly cynical and jaded towards advertising. People want
trustworthy information to inform their purchasing decisions, not just a sales pitch,
and this is where PR, if done honestly and in a targeted way, can have a profound
impact on your business.
It's fascinating to note how Richard Branson has built a multi-billion pound empire,
partly through great public relations and let's face it, it's something he excels at.
His various stunts, such as flying across the Atlantic in a hot air balloon, have made
him a household name in Britain along with his Virgin brand. He is expert at
grabbing the media's attention and capturing the public's imagination. It is said that
he spends a considerable amount of his time on devising stunts and in engaging
with the media.
And why does he do it? Simply, because it saves him a fortune in marketing and
advertising. It also allows him to connect with people, current and potential Virgin
customers, in a way advertising wouldn't.
In essence, PR has helped mould an image of Virgin as a young, cool, dynamic and
creative brand, something people want to be part of.
Admittedly, Richard Branson is a big name tycoon promoting a mass market brand
and can now quite easily generate publicity. However, even if you're a complete
unknown that should not put you off from having a go, after all there was a time

Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
                                                                            1
when no one had ever heard of Richard Branson. Also, you don't have to do dare
devil stunts to catch the media's attention.
And anyway, it's quite possible to build a rapidly growing successful business
without ever appearing on the 10 o'clock news on BBC 1. Besides, you'll probably
want to be reaching more targeted niche audiences who are potentially a lot more
interested in your products and services.
Reaching very large numbers of potential customers in under week, even in the
Internet age, is still a challenge and will require plenty of preparation and hard work
to pull off.
But done properly and with focus it will reap huge rewards for you.
However, good public relations is far more than just a 28-day campaign – it should
form an integral part of your day-to-day business and be part of your marketing
plan. But 28 days is a good time scale for getting results from your PR campaign.


What Is PR?
Before delving into using public relations to help build your sales let's first identify
what it is and how it differs from marketing.
PR or public relations is about building your company's image, enhancing it's
reputation and generating positive feelings towards it, a buzz in other words.
It's also about safeguarding and enhancing your company’s image and reputation
and influencing perceptions and views of it. It's about building your credibility.
It’s basically about getting other people to say nice things about you.
Marketing on the other hand is all about product promotion, pricing, positioning,
targeting markets, getting the right calls to action across in brochures and websites.
It’s anticipating and satisfying customers’ needs.
I guess that’s you saying nice things about yourself.
These are very simplistic explanations, but they should at least give you some idea
of the differences between the two disciplines. But as you've probably already
guessed, the two disciplines converge in places and in terms of doing it in
cyberspace it can sometimes be very difficult to distinguish one from the other.
But ideally, you want both to be happening side by side.
And as for the second question: “How can it benefit my businesses?”
Well, imagine you have lots of people out there saying great things about your
company
and its products. And that you develop a solid reputation for being very good at what
you do, for being reliable, an expert and trustworthy, as someone who delivers great

                                                                               2
Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
products and services, such a reputation is priceless and is a strong competitive
edge in its own right.
In essence, done properly, PR builds your credibility and people's trust in you and
your company. Building credibility is often half the battle in getting people to buy
your products or services and it's also a quality that marketing isn't best suited for
building up. People have become apathetic or worse outrightly cynical towards sales
and marketing pitches.
Research some years ago by travel marketing consultancy, Y Partnership (now part
of MMGY Global), found that 76% of consumers don't believe that companies tell
the truth in their advertisements. Another consultancy, Yankelovich, found that 76%
of people don't believe adverts either.
But if you have credibility with your market, you will find it a lot easier to sell into it
and that in itself will make your marketing much more effective. Indeed, depending
what line of business you're in, it is conceivable that you could build your whole
business on nothing but good public relations.
Besides, why should your competitors get all the glory and the best coverage?
Especially if their product or service isn't as good as yours. But even if that isn't the
case, there's still no reason why you shouldn't be using PR to boost your marketing
and your profile. In many cases it may even generate new business and interest
from quarters that your marketing efforts don’t reach.


Looking To Raise capital? Attract JV Partners?
Or maybe, at some point you're looking to raise capital from business angels,
venture capitalists or even float on the stock market. Believe me those guys will do a
lot of due diligence on you before investing. It will help your case and credibility if
you've been written about in a positive way and have raised your media profile
before hand. Having a public profile could even increase the value of your business
and its brand.
The same goes if you want to set-up a joint venture or form some other type of
relationship with a big corporate or even a government department. A track record
of great publicity could work wonders for you.
This report is primarily aimed at entrepreneurs and small businesses, but the
principles could equally apply to non-governmental organisations, associations,
clubs and charities. Basically, this report is for anyone on a tight budget and is
designed to help you get publicity for a tiny outlay.
It should also be of interest to marketing directors who want to explore new angles
for growing their business and for supporting their marketing campaigns, but who
maybe can't afford or don't yet want to employ PR staff or a PR agency.
Although, my object is show you how PR or public relations works and more
importantly how to do it yourself successfully on a tight budget, it is not designed to
replace public relations agencies. Though it will help you better understand what
Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                           3
they do and possibly to select one if that’s the route you eventually want to take.
Having done some PR yourself you'll be in a better position to know what to expect
from an agency and what they should deliver for you.
But if you can't afford the services of a PR agency then this is a great place to start
and there's enough information here to show you how to successfully get your
stories in print and to get the word out on the Internet.
And it will require effort. After all, part of what good PR agencies are selling is the
fact that they have relationships with key opinion influencers, whether they be
journalists or bloggers, and have the expertise to place stories with the relevant
media. And as you'll see good relationships are key to getting your story out there
and that does take time to build.
As an industry PR has been growing rapidly for many years. According to the
International Communications Consultancy Organisation in 2010 US consultancies
saw fees increase by an average of 11% and 13% in the UK, the world’s two largest
PR markets. Though that came after a 5% decline in fee income during the dog
days of 2009.


Why PR Is Becoming Increasingly Dominant
But the fact that PR has been growing for decades shows that it is valued by a
growing number of organisations and is becoming increasingly important. Though
PR is standard practice by most large organisations, be they public or private,
there's absolutely no reason why small businesses can't do it as well – even one
man bands!
And thanks to the Internet I would argue that an awareness of it is now more
important than ever. Consider for example that anyone can go on a review website
read by thousands of people -- some of them your customers and potential
customers -- and write something good or bad about you. Those comments can stay
there for years and turn up every time someone does a web search on you, your
company or your products.
When you think of the impact publicity can have on an organisation it is no wonder
that PR as an industry has been growing so much. Even politicians and government
departments have armies of PRs working over-time to safeguard their reputations
and to make sure they influence what the media says about them. The vast majority
of big companies also deploy PR professionals often under the banner of corporate
communications or media relations (fancy terms for PR).
In over 20 years in the media business I have noticed how prominent PR has
become. PR professionals have become the gatekeepers between senior
management and journalists.
Though we will mainly be looking at how to use PR to support and leverage your
marketing it is worth noting that as a discipline it has also grown enormously in
scope and sophistication as well.
                                                                            4
Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
PR now seems to permeate every industry and a large part of the public sector as
image and perception have taken on so much importance in an age increasingly
dominated by spin, impact driven reporting and instant news.


About Me
I've always found public relations fascinating in that it can have such a profound
impact on how a person or a company is perceived and is therefore regarded. That
in turn plays such a decisive role over whether a politician gets elected or a new
product succeeds or not in the market place.
I come from this subject from the point of view of a hack or journalist -- I’m on the
receiving end of PR all day long via press releases, emails and phone calls. I also
interact heavily with PR people, whether it’s me chasing up stories or them trying to
get me to write about one of their clients or include their views in a story I’m putting
together. And it is often the other way around as well.
I've seen examples of great PR as well as some dreadful efforts.
And yes I’ve also acted as a PR consultant and helped my clients successfully place
stories in various publications or develop a PR strategy. Coming from a journalist
background and having worked in different types of media helps enormously as I
have a very good idea what my colleagues in the industry are looking for.
I first started out in journalism with the venerable French real-time news wire service
Agence France Presse in the late 80s after spending several years doing various
mind numbing jobs in accounts and administration and even did antique restoration
for a while.
Though I mainly collected data on commodity and financial markets at AFP, I did get
the opportunity to write market reports and small news stories. It’s where I learned
my trade, along with a course at the London School of Journalism. I also attended
evening lectures with the London School of Economics, which helped a lot in
learning about different theories on the economy and how it effects our lives.


Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal & BSkyB
By the early nineties I ended up with the Dow Jones news agency, which owns the
famous Dow Jones Industrial Average stock market index and The Wall Street
Journal where I wrote a column about Eurobonds and also frequently had stories
published on corporate events, bond and money markets.
I was personal finance editor for a while for Skytext, part of British Sky
Broadcasting, where I would explain various financial products and put up brokers'
share tips.


Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                        5
By the mid-nineties I ended up at a commodities publication called Public Ledger,
which I still regard as one of the most enjoyable jobs I ever had. I had the privilege
of working with some great people where we turned around a nearly bankrupt 200+
year-old publication into profit maker.
By the time I became editor I worked with marketing to more than double
subscriptions, after which I was ready for new challenges and went freelance for 10
years. While freelancing I wrote for a great number of business and trade
publications and also did some PR work with Norwegian telecoms group Telenor on
behalf of PR agency Burson-Marsteller and I advised the Common Fund for
Commodities and got them published in the FT among other specialist publications.
Other gigs included working with mining finance brokers, David Williamson
Associates, on their move into raising finance for technology companies. Apart from
helping write research reports I also distributed them to the press and helped some
of DWA’s clients with their PR.
For a few years I acted as the press officer for the London Ship Repair &
Conversion exhibition, which was held in London.
Then I went to work for Thomson-Reuters covering mergers & acquisitions followed
by European banking regulation. Putting this report together is very much down to
my own personal experiences and observations.
I'm also very grateful for the feedback from a number of PR professionals I've
spoken with over the years who have generously shared with me some very useful
insights into their profession and how they place stories with the media.
And another very useful source of inspiration was the Public Relations Professionals
and the Public Relations and Communications Professionals forums on LinkedIn.
I hope these insights will prove useful in helping you successfully get your message
across to the media and boost your profile, your company and your sales.
If you do need help, putting together a PR strategy or campaign or need someone to
write material such as news releases, then I am available to work as a PR advisor
and I promise you that this is my one and only pitch in this report.
My email address is: justin@jjpassociates.co.uk
My website: www.jjpassociates.co.uk
My linkedIn profile can be found at: http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/justin-
pugsley/36/880/533
Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/jjpugsley
And please drop me a line about your experiences and successes as I'd love to find
out how you get along. OK enough about me..... let's get started with your PR
campaign.



                                                                      6
Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
STEP 1: Your Contacts – Who Should You Be Talking To?


To quote an 18th century US president, Benjamin Franklin, by failing to prepare you
are preparing to fail. This stage lays the foundations of your whole campaign and
will be decisive as to whether it achieves anything.
So this is the planning bit. You need to have a clear idea of your destination.
Preparation is crucial for getting the best results and to avoid wasting your time and
effort.
What exactly are you trying to achieve? Are you targeting a particular market niche
or a completely new market? Are you trying to build your credibility so you can in
fact enter a new market? Or form a joint venture with another organisation? Or
maybe, you're thinking of raising capital at some point in the future and want to
develop a public track record? Do you just want to support your ongoing marketing?
The answers will give you important clues as to where you want to be written about
and which media outlets will generate the most impact for you.
There are a lot of web-based services that specialise in sending out press releases
to journalists listed on their databases, but I still don't think you can beat having your
own bespoke, completely up to date list. And of course those web-based news or
press release distributors do charge for their services and I'll discuss their uses
later.
You need to create a list of media outlets to target and why and rate them according
to priority. If you've never done PR before I suggest that once you actually start your
campaign go for the less relevant media outlets first to practice and to refine your
approach.
Your list will probably include a number of magazines and newsletters, possibly
ones key to your industry or most importantly read and respected by your target
audience. But also don't overlook prominent bloggers, pure online media outlets and
forums.
One thing I will say at this stage, don't be tempted to pursue publicity just for vanity
reasons, just to get quoted in a famous newspaper or to go on TV. It could end up
being a time wasting diversion.


Be Targeted
So be very clear about the media outlets you're targeting and why. It may not
necessarily be about getting mentioned in the largest circulation publication,
especially if 95% of the readership is not relevant to you. That could amount to
wasted effort, unless of course that 5% of readers really could be decisive for your
business.



Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                      7
In your database, you must also locate the relevant reporters. For example, if one of
your targets is the big daily newspapers, you absolutely need to find the right
reporter. If your target is the defence industry, for example, it would be pointless
sending communications to the entertainment correspondent. You need to find the
defence correspondent or the person nearest to that. Some phone enquiries to
reception or the editorial department might be needed to establish exactly who you
need to deal with.
You would be surprised how many PR professionals don't do this piece of vital
research. Throughout my career I've been on the receiving off all kinds of irrelevant
news releases.
For example, when I was a senior reporter at ThomsonReuters covering European
banking regulation I would receive lots of news releases relating to flower shows,
the tourism industry or something on fuel poverty – wasted communications that
we're so irrelevant to what I was covering that they could actually be termed as little
more than spam.
Just blasting every journalist you can find with emails will not get your story covered.
Here are some resources to help you put together your database:


Journalisted.com
 A list of journalists who work for well known titles is available here:
(http://journalisted.com/list)
Unfortunately, you will have to trawl through all the names to find out who does what
and what they write about by clicking through to them. If you're lucky they
sometimes, have the journalists contact details as well.
The site journalisted.com is run by a charity called the Media Standards Trust and is
designed to enable the public to find out more about journalists and what they write
about.
It even has an alerts service for you to track certain journalists and what they're
writing about.
On the other hand, a newsletter with a small number of very specific subscribers
may actually be far more beneficial if they happen to be focussed just on the
customer group you want to target. In my experience most industries and even their
sub-sectors are supported by some publication, sometimes it could be just one.
It is also generally easier to place your story in such niche publications especially if
your message is very relevant to their audience.
Most publications carry advertising and as such they should have some information
on their circulation and audiences, usually on their websites. Check under headings
such 'advertising,' 'circulation' or 'media pack'. Otherwise a phone call to the
advertising department should get you that information.

                                                                           8
Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
If that information is not available then scanning the headlines and stories on the
website should give you some idea whether or not it is relevant.
All that can greatly help you in deciding whether a particular publication is relevant
or not.
Here are five websites to get you started:


Mediauk
This is a very useful and comprehensive online media directory listing magazines,
newspapers, television and radio broadcasters.
You can search by alphabetical order or by the name of the owner (publishing
company).
The good thing with this site is that once you click through to a publication of interest
– it does give you the website address and a general telephone number.
You can also type in a search under the industry topic of interest, but it won't always
capture all the media outlets you're looking for.


Tradepub
A very good website for this is called tradepub (www.tradepub.com). It is actually an
online subscription service provider targeting business to business or b2b
publications.
There are various business classifications and then it displays the covers of the
publications in question. Clicking on the picture of a particular publication will take
you through to a short description and a subscription tab.
If it still looks relevant, then carry out a web search until you find the publication's
actual website address, from which you can collect editorial contact details.
There are of course a lot of websites, which list publications from around the world.
However, many tend to be US centric, but they can still be useful.


Magazine Group
Another online subscription website worth checking: (http://www.magazine-
group.co.uk)
It gives a more detailed description of each publication, but to find contact details
you will need to a web search.




                                                                         9
Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
Internet Public Library
A well known one is the Internet Public Library (www.ipl.org). Look under the
heading 'newspapers & magazines.'


TVA Media Group
If you're targeting the US, then this site is worth checking out. TVA Media Group is a
media promotion company, but you can search under:
(http://www.tvamediagroup.com/html/mediaoutlets.php). This produces a lists of
different types of media outlet.
Once you've compiled a list of media outlets of interest, you then need to do a web
search to find their websites.


The Newswires
One area of the media you shouldn't overlook are the news wire services. They may
not cover your line of business, but if they do, then you should definitely prioritise
developing contacts within these organisations – why? Because so many
newspapers, magazines and online content providers tap into and recycle their
news stories.
If you're quoted in a newswire story, then that quote will potentially be seen by a far
wider audience than just the readership of that particular news wire service. Plus a
lot of their stories get indexed in Google news, which is a good bonus.
Typically, news wire services are global media organisations with bureaus around
the world and the big ones literally employ hundreds of journalists.


Newswire Stories Recycled
They are very much driven by being the first to break a story and usually do,
because they are real time services. Then what happens is that the other media
organisations, such as newspapers and television and radio stations then pick up
the story.
Usually, they'll do their own coverage of the event, but often they simply republish
the news wire story. Their reporters regularly contact the people quoted in the
newswire story as they rush to publish their own take on events. That could be you.
These days the big money spinner for newswire services are financial markets,
where instant news is critical for traders wanting to get in ahead of their competition
and having that sort of information first can be worth many millions of pounds in
profits.

Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                    10
Bloomberg is heavily geared to doing this. Other leading newswire services include
ThomsonReuters, which is now a media conglomerate spanning many areas from
markets through to scientific and legal publications. There's Dow Jones, which
happens to own the Wall Street Journal. WSJ in Europe, in particular, has
traditionally relied heavily on Dow Jones for content.
Reuters, Bloomberg and Dow Jones are all very much geared to real time news for
business, finance and especially markets and typically their client base is financial
institutions and big multinational companies.
Reuters also covers general news and is very strong in political coverage. Other
players that have a heavy focus on general news include Press Association, which
is heavily UK-focussed and also has a dedicated service providing features and
other content to publications in areas such as entertainment, fashion, living and
homes.
Press Association is a US-based and well regarded global news wire service.
Another is United Press International, also US-based, but with a global focus.
Agence France Presse, which is Paris-based, is also a global news wire service with
a large number of subscribers.
Many of these groups publish stories in many languages, but all have English
language services.
Though getting quoted in stories produced by these organisations can give you
great coverage, the downside is that they tend to see quite high staff turnover and
rotation as journalists frequently move to new beats.
Many countries have their own news wire services and Wikipedia has a list of many
of them:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_agency)
Finding out who writes what is a case of trawling through their stories under the
categories relevant to you and looking for the bylines (the names of the person or
people who wrote the story).
Sometimes this can be done by a search on their websites or going through Google
news or web searches. Otherwise call the switchboard and ask for the editorial
department and then make enquiries into who covers your area of interest, which
might be just as effective and possibly quicker.
As stated earlier you also want to include so called new media outlets, such as
bloggers or Internet only publications. These can be a bit harder to find and to
obtain information on in terms of numbers of subscribers (many are anyway free
and live off advertising) and targeted demographics.
Many of these sites come under the banner of social media especially Twitter and to
an extent blogs and LinkedIn. New concepts seem to come along regularly in this
space.


Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                   11
In case you're not familiar with the term social media, here's a good definition from
Wikipedia: The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile
technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue.


Alltop
This is basically a news driven search engine, which picks up the latest headlines
from blogs and other websites (often magazines and newspapers) and you can
search under specific topics: (www.alltop.com):


Technorati
This website describes itself as a real time search engine for user-generated media
by tags or keywords, basically for blogs.
But it does have a blogs directory: (http://technorati.com/blogs/directory/)
It creates a list of the top most influential 100 blogs on a daily basis:
(http://technorati.com/blogs/top100/)
Under 'tags' you can search for blogs under specific terms:
(http://technorati.com/tag/)


Bloggapedia
Contains a large collection of blogs: (http://www.bloggapedia.com)


Blogs Collection
A list of blogs categorised by activity and country of origin: (http://www.blogs-
collection.com)


Yahoo Directory
This contains lists of bloggers, columnists and Internet broadcasters. But also
covers traditional media such as magazines and newspapers:
(http://dir.yahoo.com/news_and_media)


Open Directory Project
This directory has been around almost since the beginning of the Internet and is
updated by volunteers. For media: (http://www.dmoz.org/News/Media).


Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                     12
It's a real mixture of news resources as well as listing online media sites, blogs and
so on.
Another area of social media you shouldn't ignore is Twitter. It is heavily used by
journalists, bloggers and other media types.
To use Wikipedia's definition of Twitter it is: an online social networking and micro
blogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to
140 characters, informally known as "tweets".
Those 'tweets' also allow you to use abbreviated URLs, which is useful. Twitter is
not only a useful place to find journalists, but you should also use it as part of your
overall media campaign and more on that later.
Here are some Twitter directories:


Wefollow
It has all kinds of categories to chose from. But in the search bar you can type in
'journalists' and it will give a list of those who 'tweet.' From there you can track down
who they write for by visiting their websites and getting their contact details:
(http://wefollow.com).


Twellow
Similar functions to the one above: (http://www.twellow.com)


Just tweet it
This is a social media directory of twitter users: (http://justtweetit.com)


TweetFind
Another directory site to find journalists and bloggers who are also Twitter users:
(http://www.tweetfind.com)


Mytwitterdirectory
This site has an enormous number of entries: (http://mytwitterdirectory.com)
Also: http://twitter.com/#!/journalisttweet or http://journalisttweets.com/ and there are
many others.
Another way of finding relevant media outlets is to simply do an Internet search. If
you're targeting construction engineering companies, for example, you can type in
                                                                        13
Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
terms such as 'construction engineering publications' 'civil engineering publications'
'infrastructure engineering publications' and you switch publications with 'news'
'articles' 'interviews' or whatever combination of terms is most relevant to you.
For example, the first search term on Google 'construction engineering publications'
turned up the New Civil Engineer, the American Society of Civil Engineers (if your
looking beyond the UK), which apparently publishes its own magazine called Civil
Engineering and ASCE News.
Also, there's Engineering News Record published by McGrawHill in the US. Then
there's the Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, which looks quite
academic and is only published four times a year and so on.
I then typed 'construction engineering' and dropping 'publications' into Google News
to see who is currently generating news on this topic. Obviously a number of well
known names turned up such as the Financial Times and the Guardian newspaper,
but also ConstructionWeekOnline, which might be very relevant.


The Importance Of Getting The Right Editorial Contacts
On that list you want to note the contact details of the editorial staff by going through
to the websites of these publications. Sometimes there's break down of which topics
the journalists cover. It's really important to be as precise as possible on this one,
because sending your carefully crafted news releases to the wrong journalist
practically guarantees that you'll be ignored (and don't always count on them
forwarding it to the relevant colleague, journalists are busy people as well).
From your Google News search you may want to note the names of journalists of
the more famous publications. But to be sure they weren't covering for a colleague
that day, you may want to do a Google web search as well as a news search
entering the Journalist's name + the publication and see what they've been writing
about on a regular basis.
You can also enter publication name + construction engineering and search under
Google News and Google Web.
Google also has a special search tab for Blogs and Groups (like forums). Though I'd
also be inclined to do the same search on Google Web under for example
'construction engineering blog' etc...
One group of journalists that are often overlooked by PR professionals are
freelancers.
But let me tell you why they shouldn't be overlooked:
On several occasions I have been invited on press trips, whether it be tours of
factories or meet and greets with management, as a freelance journalist along with
staffers as well.



Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
                                                                             14
Often that has resulted in only one article for one publication as with the staff
journalists. But not always.
Now for me as a freelancer I will want to get the most out of the trip, after all time is
money, and spin off several stories that I can then sell to a number of publications –
making sure each one gets something unique and insuring there are no conflicts of
interest. I don't want to alienate any editors.
On several occasions I have ended up writing from different angles the same event
for four to five different publications. For me the trip was time well spent and for the
public relations people they got a good return on their investment so to speak.
I suspect freelancers get overlooked because, unlike staff journalists who are
affiliated with a particular outlet, it is difficult to know who exactly they write for and
what they specifically write about.
Also, it is sometimes difficult to establish what their relationship is with various
publications – are they almost like a member of staff or did they just write a one-off
piece for a particular publication?
But the media industry relies heavily on freelancers, whether it be to cover for
absent staff, to tap into expertise they don't have in house or to contribute to special
supplements. Many freelancers enjoy long-term relationships with publications as
well – maybe they even used to work there or the editor is a personal friend.
Freelancers will typically write for many different media outlets and given they often
rely on selling story ideas to editors, they could well be useful in helping you get
exposure. Also, they're often on the look out for ideas for stories they can then sell
in the form of articles to the various publications they have a relationship with.
So where to find freelancers?
There's the Google search method described earlier, worth doing, but the results
could be quite random.


LinkedIn
I would advise you use LinkedIn, a website designed to enable people to network
professionally. It's a bit like Facebook for professionals. If you're not signed up, I
would suggest you do so, it's a useful tool for developing business or for promoting
your career, if you're an employee.
Recruiters increasingly use the site to advertise jobs and to head hunt people.
You can start with the basic free account. That allows you to see the first 100 results
free. It also allows you to build up a network with people you know – suppliers,
clients, colleagues etc... already on LinkedIn.
However, if you want to communicate directly with other members, not in your
network, you need to pay a subscription fee. They offer month only subscriptions as

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well as annual ones. So getting access and building up your database needn't be
that expensive.
But sometimes they have personal websites listed on their page and I would
suggest clicking through to them and usually they will have their contact details.
That may be enough for you not to have to pay a subscription fee.
There are also many useful forums, some you will need permission from the forum
owner to join. There are many covering public relations and marketing where you
can interact with people who have an interest in those matters. But if you do get
involved be sure to respect their terms of engagement.


Journalism.co.uk
You can try www.Journalism.co.uk. Then go to the tab that says 'Freelance' which
will show another set of options and click on 'Find a Freelancer' Or alternatively just
search on the web under 'journalism.co.uk find a freelancer.'
That will produce a list of journalists describing what they do – broadcast, features,
news etc... and the areas they cover, such as politics, economics etc...
The National Union of Journalists freelance directory at www.freelancedirectory.org,
where you can send emails to those listed there and is a good place to look as well.
With the Internet being such a fluid place, means that websites come and go and
established websites do change their layout and terms and conditions. So I would
also do web searches along the lines of 'Journalist Directory' 'List of Journalists.'
And do various word search combinations with reporters, editors, editorial etc...
But also many of the blog and twitter directories mentioned earlier will list freelance
journalists as well.


Gorkana
Then there are various websites that make a living connecting PR professionals with
journalists and the best known one in the UK is Gorkana.
For a fee you can join as a public relations professional, which gives you access to
a database of journalists – not just freelancers, but staffers as well – they will update
you on the latest career moves by journalists, keep tabs on bloggers and they do
breakfast briefings to allow PR professionals to meet journalists.
To their credit Gorkana do make a lot of effort to keep their databases up to date
and do a pretty good job of it.
But other services that are very useful include the forward features list that they
compile from well over a 1000 publications.



Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                     16
And lastly they publish media requests whereby journalists – and I've been one of
them on many occasions – put out a notice saying they're writing an article about a
particular subject for a certain publication and invite relevant PR professionals to
approach them with contacts.
If the request is relevant then that contact could be you. But more about media
requests and features lists later. The latter could be particularly useful for you.


DWPub
Another outfit that does a similar job is DWPub and they run
www.journalistdirectory.com. But again you have to pay for access and the various
services.
Whether or not you decide you use these paid for services really depends on:
A/ Your budget and how much time you want to spend building up your database –
if you want to do it for free then use the techniques outlined earlier in this chapter,
but it takes time. What services like Gorkana do is to reduce the legwork for you and
make it easier for you to connect with journalists.
B/ Whether you are looking to target a large number of media outlets. If for you it
really just boils down to a very few specific media outlets – maybe very specialised
trade publications and bloggers – then I wouldn't bother with these paid for services.
But if you are looking to reach a large number of media outlets then they are
actually very useful.
This may seem like quite dull and time consuming exercise, which it is, but it really
will form the foundation of your successful PR campaign. So you want to give this
part of the
campaign just as much time and attention as the more exciting aspects, such as
strategy, writing your news releases and preparing your pitch.




Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                     17
STEP 2: Generating Ideas – What's Your Story?


This bit is a lot more interesting. It's what you're going to talk or write about or even
podcast or videocast about.
Basically, you need some ideas that will grab the attention of editors, journalists and
bloggers and ultimately of course their audiences, some of whom could become
clients of yours.
So the big question then is how to come up with those attention grabbing ideas?
But before doing that, it is important that you understand the task ahead and the
scale of competition between stories all vying to see the light of day.
Most journalists and especially those who work for well known titles are bombarded
with a torrent of press releases, reports and other communications on a daily basis,
mostly by e-mail.
The same goes for well known bloggers with established followings.
Therefore grabbing their attention – especially if you're an unknown entity – is going
to be challenging.
However, the situation isn't hopeless, all kinds of unknown people and small
businesses get great coverage every day, but breaking in will take research and
perseverance.


The Media Needs PR & Your (Relevant) Stories
It is also worth keeping in mind that probably the majority of media organisations
now rely heavily on the work public relations professionals to generate content.
Staff levels have often been cut and reporters are expected to churn out more copy,
which leaves less time for them to research stories and this is all the more so in the
age of instant media, which is driven by 24 hour news channels and Internet media
such as Twitter.
Therefore if you can establish yourself as a reliable and credible source for
comment, then you stand a good chance of getting mentioned in articles and being
contacted by journalists fairly frequently.
But you must absolutely ensure that what you're saying is pertinent to the
publication in question and that you are dealing with the relevant journalist, because
if you're not everything else is a complete waste of time – your story will simply not
get covered.



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So targeting your communications, not just the message, but who receives it, is
vitally important. Now your database, if it has been done properly, should at least
provide you with the 'who' and the 'where' part of the process.
Though news releases and other types of media communications are very
important, I don't think anything quite beats the personal touch.
If you've got something interesting and relevant to say to a reporter I strongly
suggest you call them, rather than just sending an email. It is much more direct,
personal and potentially a lot more effective.
And after that conversation follow up quickly with an email re-stating what you said
or promised to follow up on if extra information was requested or confirming an
interview time and so on.
But do keep in mind that as you're not paying for coverage, the media has no
obligation to cover your story, to quote you (even if they've interviewed you for half
an hour on the phone) or write their story in a way that suits your interests.
Essentially, the job of the editor and the other editorial staff is to produce content
that readers want to read and it is from that perspective that they'll judge whether
what you've got to say is interesting or relevant and therefore worth their time.
Also, most respectable media outlets will try and write their news stories to be
unbiased and neutral and usually that applies to bigger articles with longer shelf
lives such as features. However, more opinionated pieces generally come in the
form of editorials and columns written by the editorial staff and sometimes guest
writers.
So salesy stuff like “we're the best” is unlikely to get you much mileage. So always
think about it from the point of view of what would interest the readership of this
publication, which also happens to be relevant to your market.
Ideas for stories:


1. It's News
Media outlets are most concerned with the news, the big story of the moment,
because that's what usually sells. Look at their front page stories and some of the
other big stories – is there something ongoing that is likely to get covered in the next
issue like a financial or political crisis?
This is where you can get in touch and give your opinion or even your personal
experience of the event.
But even better if it is a piece of breaking news – such as a shock rise in interest
rates by the central bank. You can very quickly put together a news release saying
how that will effect you as a small business and your peers.




Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                           19
Or it could be related to something a celebrity has said or done. If you're a divorce
lawyer and some celebrity is in the news for an infidelity you can talk about how
solid are
prenuptial agreements, the way assets are likely to be split or if there are any
unusual circumstances that might effect the outcome of a court case.
And quickly email that out to relevant journalists and state that you are on-hand to
give interviews if necessary. It's a tactic increasingly used by PR professionals to
get media exposure for their clients, but plenty still don't do it.
Your communication, doesn't necessarily have to be dressed up as a news release,
but should contain some 'canned' quotes. For example: “Today's drop in retail
sales....(what ever you want to say),” says (Your Name, Your Position, Your
company's name, and where you're based) and put your contact details at the
bottom of your communication.
As journalists will be hard pressed for time trying to meet a tight deadline, especially
if they're a newswire service, a news broadcaster or a daily newspaper or even a
blog – then these sort of instant reactions to a big news event can be extremely
helpful and because of their immediacy stand a good chance of getting quoted.
I know because I've been there and always appreciated quick reaction comments to
an event I was having to cover in real time.
I would place this as one of the best ways of getting mentioned in the press,
especially if you can develop an insightful, original or genuinely interesting
interpretation or twist on a big news story.
You're basically saving a journalist a lot of time phoning around their contacts who
may or may not be available to give an opinion there and then and within the
deadline.
Now here's the thing. In many cases you can be prepared for big news items as
they're scheduled.
Think of the Bank of England's regular meetings to set interest rates, monthly
publications of government statistics, important reports or white papers that have a
big impact on an industry and where it is known in advance when they're going to be
released, a scheduled meeting or speech by a dignitary, the publishing of an opinion
by an important body and so on.
What big news items are scheduled for your industry? That would impact your
clients? Who publishes them and when? What impact are they likely to have?
Can you find these organisations, look at their schedules of upcoming events on
their websites and get on their mailing lists?
Even lower frequency publications, such as monthlies, will be interested in the news
and will usually try and develop a behind the headlines analysis. But many now daily
update their websites and email daily newsletters to their subscribers, so they to
should be included in these 'instant reaction' communications.

Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
                                                                      20
2. Tomorrow's News
Maybe you're in a position to have an unusual insight into an upcoming
development, because of who you know, your client base or supply chain and can
therefore predict fairly accurately the next big news story.
Now one thing all journalists and editors love is a scoop, in other words to be the
first to break the news or to see an event coming before others do.


3. Trends
An awful lot of what journalists and bloggers write about is trends, for many media
outlets it's their bread and butter. A trend is basically something that keeps re-
occurring, such as more and more people dressing in a certain way, taking holidays
at home or the stock market going up or down and so on.
So be aware of the trends relevant to your customer base and come up with new
angles as to the impact a given trend may have. Even better if you can identify a
completely new trend that has not been reported on yet and you can supply some
strong evidence to back up your point. Ditto if you can show convincingly that an
ongoing trend is about to change.


4. A Series Of Articles
You notice a reporter is doing a series of articles on a topic that is relevant to you.
Ring them up, say you're really interested in the series and tell them you think it is
topical or is valuable and that you've been following it (if several articles have
already been published).
Then put forward your angle or take on the subject and arrange for an interview time
if it's not convenient for the reporter to do it on the spot.


5. An Article You Agree Or Disagree With
A publication or a blogger has put out something that has caught your eye. You may
agree or disagree with the thrust of the article. It's an opportunity to get in touch and
maybe put a new twist on it.
If you disagree with the thrust of the article, then be polite about it. Being
confrontational will not only potentially destroy a useful relationship for you, but may
well undermine the chance of your view being aired.
Calmly state why you think it's inaccurate in unemotive language and make sure you
can convincingly back your argument with facts. The journalist may well run another


Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                     21
article expounding your opinion to counter-balance the last one. I have done that on
occasion myself.
On one of those occasions I had written an article looking at the potential direction
of a particular commodity market for which there was a very strong industry
consensus
After publication I was contacted by someone with an opposite opinion and had
some interesting data and facts to back up their views. I simply wrote another article
based around what this person had said.
Yet another take on this is to simply write a letter (email) to the editor commenting
on the article. Sometimes they are published if you write something interesting.


6. The Features List
Publications that take advertising often devise features lists or lists of upcoming
special supplements with the view to creating something relevant to a particular
group of advertisers. Of course those special issues need content and articles have
to be written.
If there is something you can comment on, then get in touch preferably a few
months before it runs stating what angle or ideas you can contribute.


7. You've Won An Award
This can be worthy of a news release if a well known body has named your
company the best or given you the top accolade for the year.
If a publication has awarded it, I suggested you don't send a news release about
that to rival publications, they generally won't be interested.
Also, think of entering your company for awards if you think you have a realistic
chance of winning anything. If it's a publication the winners are generally written up
and it's great publicity.


8. You've Just Developed A New Product
Before getting carried away, is this really newsworthy or can you make it so? If it is a
piece of software that does something unique or never done before for instance
then it might be.
If it's genuinely revolutionary or game changing in some way I would write some
news releases and maybe phone up and directly pitch a few reporters.
Couch your argument in facts and figures. And crucially, try and give a human
angle, people are interested in people.


Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
                                                                      22
And it it is a technology product, go easy on the technical language and acronyms. If
it is an industry reporter they'll probably understand, but if it's not they may not and
therefore could miss what's so great about your product.
This can apply to opening a new branch somewhere, hiring someone with a high
profile, forming a new joint venture, buying or being bought by someone else. It
could even involve a new application for your product.


9. Do A Survey
If you can gather a large number of opinions about something topical – think about
issues that are preoccupying society right now or your customer base – and come
up with an interesting angle or one that firmly disproves a commonly held belief
etc... then it could get written up by a publication.
Often if companies aren't known they'll work with a well-known polling organisation
such as Ipsos MORI or Populus as the results of the poll are more likely to be seen
as credible and relevant. The news release then says something along the lines of
research by Your company / Ipsos shows that 69% of executives believe..... But of
course setting that up costs money.
Another way could be to work with one of your suppliers, customers or business
partners, if they're well known or maybe even your industry association.
Polling people doesn’t just involve going out and stopping people in the street to
gather their opinions. It could be an email circular or phone calls to a group of
people you're in some way connected with.
If your website has heavy traffic then you could simply set up a poll on your front
page – if you offer some kind of reward for participating in your poll then all the
better.
Social media such as LinkedIn and Twitter can be good places to collect opinions.
It is important that you are transparent and honest about how you collected those
opinions, the number of genuine responses and from whom they came.
Regular surveys on a particular area, especially if no one else is doing it, could
become recognised and quite valuable.


10. Do A Research Report
Very much related to the above – compile a research report, which gives analysis
and forecasts that would be of interest to your client base. This tactic has been
successfully used by many companies to gain acceptance, credibility and to raise
their profile.
It's even better if you're covering an area where there is little in the way of existing
information or understanding. That's often the case with a newly emerging industry.
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Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
Like with surveys it really helps if you can hitch up with someone credible.
Also, you could use university business or economics graduates, for free or a very
low fee, to help you put this together on the basis that it is work experience for them.
Clearly anything they can put on their CV when looking for a job will help. In
exchange, credit them as one of the authors or researchers on your report that they
can then hand to potential employers.
If they have an economics or business background they should be able to help you
put together a methodology and produce the analysis and forecasts. This could
even be done in conjunction with your surveys or following several of them,
especially if you've identified a trend.
If you put out a report several times a year, hopefully it can become a fixture and
something recognised as valuable by the media and of course your current and
potential client base.
In a similar vein you could do a white paper, a term much beloved of technology
companies and policy makers.
But it is important to emphasise that this information you put out is about clarifying a
situation and coming up with solutions and is genuinely useful to reporters looking
for a story and of course to your customers, because hopefully they'll be reading
your report as well.
It must not be all about you and your products and services. If it's seen as
something self serving, a glorified sales brochure, it will get nowhere with anyone.


11. You've Bought Advertising
Now this is a bit cheeky and occasionally it works. Say you've decided to buy an
advert or a series of ads in a magazine or newspaper. Before agreeing to sign-up,
you can request that the editorial department interview you for a story on the basis
that you will be quoted in it or even write a story about you, such as a profile, if you
really feel you can push your luck.
Smaller publications may well agree to that – it very much depends on whether
they're advertising driven or editorially driven. An example of the latter would be the
Economist for instance where that tactic is highly unlikely to work.
And in many other publications, especially in the more famous and prestigious ones
that won't work either because they have a strict separation between commercial
and editorial to conserve editorial integrity of the publication so as not to be in any
way perceived to be aligned with any particular commercial or political interest.
A lot of publications are aware that they trade heavily on their editorial integrity and
will therefore safeguard it with their life.
Another more watered down tactic would be to say to the advertising person you're
dealing with: “Look I've got this interesting story idea, it's very topical and relevant,”

Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                       24
and explain to them what it is and then simply ask the sales guy who you should
speak to in the editorial department.
You can even ask if the ads person knowns them personally, if yes get some advice
on how to approach them.


12. Getting Involved In Your Community
Sponsorship, community support, free advice sessions, photo opportunities,
celebrity visits, creating an award and so on – all worthy of news releases, press
invitations and might be of particular interest to the local press or radio station.


13. Conferences
What about turning your conference speech into a news release and distributing it to
relevant industry publications? And don't forget to send it to bloggers as well.
Also, you could consider loading your presentation on slideshare
(http://www.slideshare.net).
The benefit of doing that is that it will get picked up by search engines and
journalists seeking background for a story and might stumble across it and quote
from it.


14. Forming A Committee
Maybe there is an issue that is important to your industry. If you have the ability to
persuade others to join you, you could form a special committee to tackle the issue
and that is definitely worth a news release.


15. An Anniversary
Maybe you've been in business a very long time or your company has reached an
important milestone in terms of sales or a particular product development. A news
release containing some interesting analysis or observations could get covered.


16. Seasonal Events
Spring, Summer, Christmas, New Year, Breast cancer day, Remembrance day and
so on. Is there any seasonal event that is relevant in some way to your business?




Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                    25
17. Opinion Pieces
Some publications will allow you to submit a well reasoned and argued opinion
piece, but of course that is very much up to the discretion of the editor. You would
need to persuade them that you are communicating something of value to the
readership and that it isn't all about you promoting yourself.


18. Other People's Campaigns
Think of really famous ones such as government campaigns to stamp out smoking,
reduce drink driving, eat five a day (encouraging people to eat more fruit & veg)
etc...
Is there an ongoing campaign or one about to start from the government, your trade
association or some other relevant body that you could piggy back on?
As long as you can find a relevant connection for your market and a target
publication and you can come up with an interesting or useful comment, then you
could be on to something.




Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                   26
STEP 3: Getting Your Story Out There – How To Get Noticed


You've got the database of contacts and hopefully you're now bubbling over with all
kinds of story ideas to pitch to the media.
You're nearly there. You now need some support infrastructure before going live
with the media. You need a section of your website to be dedicated to the press.


Build A Media Friendly Section On your website
If you really want to tell journalists and bloggers that you're media friendly and want
to be approached – then set up a media section on your website, even if you're a
really small business. If that is the case I would just call it 'Media' or 'News.' But
often with large companies that section is called 'Press Office', 'Public Relations' or
'Corporate Communications', 'Media Relations' etc... But usually larger companies
also have in-house PR people whose job it is to deal with journalists.
If you're not in that position then I think just calling it News is probably best, as it
sounds less pretentious, especially if you really are a tiny outfit.
Besides news releases, where the latest should be at the top of the page, you also
should have a fact sheet about your business. It should say exactly what it does, its
industry & target market(s), product range, where it's based, who founded it and
when, who runs it, some history about why it was founded etc... or something about
the founders as well, which makes it more personalised.
Write your fact sheet in a neutral tone, so try and leave out terms like “we're the
best” “unbeatable prices” “We're proud....”, we're delighted to...” and other marketing
hype. Leave that for the sales & marketing section.


Great For Search Engine Rankings
But here's an interesting fact about the news section. Often when doing a web
search on a company that is sometimes the part of the website that gets the highest
rankings in the search engines. Why? Because it is often the part of the website that
is relatively content rich and is updated more regularly than other parts of the
website – two factors loved by search engines.
So done properly, your news room is effectively a great marketing tool as well and I
suspect in the end most of the visitors to it won't be media types, but possibly your
own customers, potential customers and other people you do business with for the
simple reason it's a great way of finding out about the latest happenings in your firm.
As part of increasing their visibility on the web and boosting their rankings in search
engines, some companies deliberately send out a steady stream of news releases.
                                                                          27
Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
Search engine rankings merely refer to where your website shows up when a
search term or search phrase is typed in. The idea is to be within the first three
pages of that search.
Your news site is also a great place to host any white papers, reports or surveys
that you have put together. The same applies to relevant podcasts or videos.
A podcast could feature you talking with someone else in the industry or the
marketing director interviewing the CEO about the industry environment, as long as
it is informative and interesting to other people in the industry. So as not to make it
sound too amateurish, listen to some of the podcasts on the BBC or FT.com and try
and mimic their style.
It is fairly formal and the interviews or debates have a natural flow. Obviously some
preparation helps.


Get Visual
Or It could just be a useful how to video that helps your customers solve some of
their problems.
If you're a software company targeting consumers – how about a video with some
useful tips on safely optimising your PC's performance? If you're a firm of decorators
– what about a video talking about colour schemes or a few clever tricks on getting
a certain impact, especially if it ties in with the latest fashion. If you're a garden
centre – a series of seasonal videos about protecting your plants from frost as
winter approaches or getting the garden ready for spring when that is on the way.
Or you could do a video about a day in the life of your firm and just walk around and
talk to staff as they're doing their job, it could be particularly interesting if you're a
company that makes things or does something creative. The videos and podcasts
shouldn't really be more than 5 minutes. They're more likely to be watched until the
end.
However, there's nothing stopping you putting up a video or podcast of a conference
speech you've done – but probably best to clear that with the conference organisers
first.
Those videos can be loaded onto youtube and can be accompanied by news
releases.
I think it is also a good idea to have some pictures of yourself and other key
members of staff, of your products and premises as websites and magazines often
make use of pictures as part of their content. Make sure you own the copyright on
those pictures so they can be freely distributed and republished elsewhere.
You could almost view your news site as a bit like running a publication and it is
probably best treated from that point of view rather than for pure marketing – even
though it partly serves that purpose. It is really about supplying useful information,
which helps your customers and builds your credibility with the media as an expert.

Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                      28
And crucially provide some contact details and mention that you're open to talking
with journalists and bloggers.
It amazes me that there are websites out there with fairly comprehensive news
rooms, sometimes big companies, with no contact details for the person assigned to
handle PR.
Also, have a facility to enable people to sign up for news releases so you can build
up a news distribution list. Again, don't ask for too many details or make it
complicated, because people won't bother to sign-up. And get RSS (really simple
syndication) set up if you can.
You could just keep it to Name & Email address or just the latter. (Often the email
address is a good clue as to what the company does). If it's XXX@IBM.com, then
you know it's IBM and if it's a name you've never heard of then type the bit of the
email address after the @ putting www at the beginning in the address bar of your
web browser, so as to get www.ibm.com as in our above example. You can then
check the website, unless it's public email service like Gmail or Hotmail.
And now comes the more dynamic and most exciting part, actually getting your
name in print.


The Pitch
As I said earlier, if you have a good topical story, a new or interesting angle on
something happening, then get on the phone – it is likely to be more effective than
sending an email or a news release.
And remember by their very nature, journalists are always on the lookout for a good
story. Some of the best stories I've stumbled across have often come from people
who simply got in touch.
A phone call with a well thought out pitch really stands out against the 100+ emails
and news releases a journalist receives everyday and many go unanswered
because they lack importance or are irrelevant or simply get forgotten in the rush to
write up stories or to hit deadlines.
Another point worth keeping in mind is when to make that pitch. If it is very time
sensitive and a big story then by all means go ahead and make the call. However, if
it's a weekly or monthly publication find out when it 'goes to press.'
You can usually deduce that by finding out on which day a publication comes out.
Press day is usually the day before. So if a magazine comes out on a Friday, then
press day will usually be on Thursday. Monthly magazines are sometimes slightly
more flexible. If you can't figure out when press day is, then simply call up and find
out.
Larger news rooms often have an editorial assistant or a secretary whose job it is to
field such enquiries, otherwise call one of the reporters.


Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                    29
From having worked in many different publications press day is usually highly
pressured, unpleasant and people are in a bad mood as there is a mad rush to get
all the content written, subbed and edited by the publishing deadline – believe me
this is probably one of the worst times to call a newsroom and pitch an idea.
If it's a daily newspaper or newswire I would suggest calling in the morning, but it all
depends on how busy the reporters are on the day. Newswire reporters, besides
covering breaking news, usually have a set number of stories that they write at
certain times of the day. So for example, someone who covers the stock market
might be expected to write an opening (or pre-open) market report, a midday one
and a closing report. So it's good to be sensitive to their schedule.
If there's a really big story breaking – a ministerial resignation, a declaration of war,
a major crisis of some sort etc... – you probably won't get a great reception unless
you have something interesting or unique to say about that crisis.
Under such circumstances journalists covering other areas are often dragged in to
help out, a case of all hands on deck and as such other stories that would normally
be considered important suddenly become much lower priority.
But back to the pitch. When making your call make sure it is crafted to suit that
particular publication and possibly the journalist in question – maybe you made
some effort to familiarise yourself with their writing beforehand?
And in your pitch clarify your interest in the story and how you are connected with it.
Let's say it's about a proposed piece of legislation. Describe how it could effect your
industry and how you know this because you operate in it.
After the telephone conversation you should have a fairly good idea if your idea is a
runner or not. If it is make sure you quickly follow up with any extra information
requested.
But remember – what ever is said, it is not a guarantee that you will be quoted in
any story or written about, even if you've spent a lot of time on the phone or
compiling useful background information.
What sometimes happens is that a story evolves, the angle changes as new
information comes to light and what you discussed with a journalist yesterday is no
longer relevant today. Maybe the rumour or the speculation has now become fact or
dismissed out of hand by some new revelation.
There have been many occasions when I've had to rewrite a story from scratch
because of some breaking news and had to completely rethink the angle and
unfortunately that meant a lot of the quotes I was using were no longer relevant.
Or the editor decides to edit out your quotes, usually to shrink the size of the story to
make it fit on the page or because the quotes don't seen that relevant.
It's happened to me as a journalist and I've done it to other journalists' stories when
I've been editor, it's just the nature of the business I'm afraid.


Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
                                                                        30
Some Notes About Bloggers:
One of the key differences between bloggers and a newspaper or magazine is that
they are usually the personal opinions of the author or authors and in many cases
are done as a hobby. Though, some blogs have evolved to the point where they are
actually businesses supported by advertising and affiliated marketing.
In a sense a blog is more akin to a personal opinion column, which you typically find
in newspapers. You therefore want to get fully acquainted with that bloggers' likes
and dislikes before approaching them.
If they deal with subjects in an even handed way then that is good. But if you notice
that a blogger has a tendency to be verbally nasty towards something he or she
dislikes, then you might want to reconsider approaching them.
Also, most are only contactable by email or by posting responses on their blog,
whereas with journalists, you can usually phone them as well.
Now the point about it being a personal opinion column is important, because if you
mess up in your approach it could backfire and see that event as becoming the
subject of a blog post, whereas cocking up your pitch to a publication will more than
likely just see you being ignored.
Otherwise, you could get involved in the conversation on the blog by posting your
own thoughts and opinions.
Bloggers tend to be more casual than journalists, who are subject to far more
constraints in what they can write and how they write it (style guides, not allowed to
express personal opinions in an article etc...). As such take a more laid back
approach when dealing with bloggers.
And of course you should become a blogger yourself. It's really easy to set one up,
just go to Word Press (www.http://wordpress.org), they can host it for you for free
and later on you can if you wish host it on your own website.
It's very easy to use and you can be ready to blog within five minutes of starting the
set-up. I would suggest practising on it for a few weeks before developing your
readership, such as listing it on your website and before listing it in various blog
directories.
There are other free blog hosting sites available such as from Google.
Oh and here's another thing – journalists frequently read blogs and sometimes even
quote from them, which I have done myself on occasion. You also engage with
journalists on their blogs, many have them now.




Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
                                                                     31
The Interview (And Dealing With Misquotes)
Let's deal with what must be one of the worst dreads of anyone who is interviewed:
Being misquoted and it happens a lot.
Mostly, this happens as a genuine error and is not done maliciously.
So how to minimise this occurring to you? Partly this lies in the overall preparation
for the interview and I will weave in some suggestions to answer the above
question.
Firstly, make sure you're well prepared for the interview, consider the questions that
you might be asked and think about how you'd answer them, think about the
interesting angles, do you have a unique point to make? Do you have the data and
facts at hand to back your arguments?
Look at it from the point of view of what makes a good story:
It should answer six questions: Who? What? Where? Why? When? and How? It's
what the famous poet Rudyard Kipling called his “six honest serving men” and they
form the basis of good journalism.
Good preparation also minimises the chance for awkwardness during the interview.
For a journalist it's irritating to be greeted with answers to questions along the lines
of “I don't know”, “I'm not sure”, “I think it's this, but don't quote me on that” etc...
Obviously if you don't know, you don't know so don't make it up (you may want to
make it clear at the beginning of the interview where your field of expertise lies). But
those kind of answers do suggest that the person being interviewed doesn’t really
know the subject that well and it does devalue them as a contact and as someone to
quote.
But back to dealing with misquotes. Secondly, don't speak at a 100MPH i.e.
incredibly fast. That is a recipe for ensuring that much of what you say will be
wasted and definitely massively increases the chances of either being misquoted or
not being quoted at all, because the journalist simply couldn't keep up while taking
notes, some do use recorders, but most don't. Having dealt with this situation myself
on many occasions I have simply not quoted the person, because I prefer not to risk
misquoting them and end up with all kinds of problems afterwards.


Keep It Simple Slow
So instead speak more slowly, give the guy on the other end of the phone a chance
to actually write down what you're saying.
Thirdly keep it simple and I appreciate that can be difficult to do, especially if you're
talking about something quite complicated.



Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
                                                                        32
Think about analogies or some simple way of illustrating your point. A lot will also
depend on the technical proficiency of the journalist you're talking with. If it's an
experienced
reporter from a trade publication you may go into much more detail and feel
confident you'd be better understood than if you're talking to maybe a 'general news'
journalist who has never covered your topic of interest before, but is having to do so
because it's suddenly the story of the moment.
If you want you can even follow up with an email along the lines of: “it was nice
talking with you earlier and here are some quotes from our conversation, which you
might find useful for your article.”
And if after all that you are misquoted anyway? Then ask yourself is it really that
serious? If not then I'd be inclined to let it go. However, if you did say something that
you regretted and was quoted on, then I'm afraid that is your fault and your options
for redress are extremely limited and it may come down to goodwill only for you to
get your quote changed.
It's extremely annoying after having published a story to be then challenged by the
person you interviewed over quotes that he or she definitely made. Under those
conditions an editor will almost certainly not issue a correction and if they have any
backbone will stand firmly behind the reporter who wrote the story.
The problem here is that editors hate issuing corrections and journalists can get into
trouble with the editor and potentially the editor with the publisher as well. So issuing
a public correction is a source of embarrassment to the editorial department as it
implies sloppiness and a lack of care over facts and details.
But if it is a genuine misquote and is serious and puts you in a very bad light then
phone the journalist who wrote the story explaining clearly your grievance and follow
that up with an email. Again, keep it polite and as unemotive as possible as after all
you do want to build up a good relationship with that publication and you will
probably want to talk with them again in the future. And at this point you do need
their cooperation to rectify the problem, even if they caused it.
Alternatives to issuing a correction, could involve simply re-running the story with
the correct quote or issuing a clarification or in extremely rare cases running another
story or running it again without your quote.
If you're not getting any joy with the reporter who wrote the piece then escalate it to
the editor. Beyond that you're getting into legal territory and it becomes
confrontational and expensive and will ruin, probably for years to come, any
potential relationship with that publication.


Parachute Journalism
A classic recent case of misunderstanding and misinformation is that of rare earths,
which have rocketed in price, because China, which supplies over 95% of the

                                                                       33
Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
world's needs is cutting back exports. This is causing a real headache for
engineering and technology companies in the West and Japan.
Though the market for these obscure elements is tiny they are critical to all kinds of
technologies ranging from missile guidance systems, hybrid electric vehicles
through to smart phones. And compared with most commodities rare earth elements
are complex and traded in opaque markets.
Suddenly, you have journalists who have no familiarity with topic having to quickly
write stories about it. So you can see the potential for misquotes, misunderstandings
and incorrect stories.
You get this with war zones to. A war breakouts in some far flung part of the planet,
the world's media descend upon it, hence the term parachute journalism, to cover
the event, but know little about the background of the war, the history, the players
and the cultures involved.
Ultimately, I would suggest you start every interview by saying something along the
lines of “if there is anything I'm saying that you don't understand feel free to
interrupt and ask at any time during the interview” and also “feel free to come back
to me if you want any clarifications on anything including quotes.”
To avoid the chance of being misquoted, it is common practice for big law firms,
consultancies, banks and multinationals to only grant interviews on the basis that
they will be allowed to check their quotes before publication.
Not every publication, especially the most prestigious, will accept those terms, but
most do as it potentially saves both sides from possible embarrassment. As a small
business there's no harm in you politely requesting a quote check, just to make sure
there are no misunderstandings. Often it will be granted.
What most journalists will not do is send a draft of the entire article before hand so
you can influence its tone or direction as that would undermine editorial integrity.
Another point when giving an interview is to be careful with saying “this is for
background only” or “this is off the record” or “don't quote me on that.” Many PR
professionals will tell you if you don't want to be quoted on something then simply
don't say it in the first place.
I agree with that up to a point. I would only do that if you trust the reporter you're
talking to.
Public Affairs professionals, PR people who work with politicians and policy makers
and often called lobbyists, frequently talk to the press and it is usually on
background only. They often have some interesting insight or other to pass on, the
objective for them is not so much to be quoted, but to influence the tone of the
article so it favours the interests they're promoting.
Trade publications are more likely to respect 'off the record' requests. That's partly
because of the need to get on with people in the industry they cover and also
because trade publications are usually less competitive than the big dailies.

Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                      34
There's less guarantee of cooperation from say a 'hot shot' journalist at a big daily
newspaper, desperate to make a name for themselves. They could well use your 'off
the record' quote anyway, especially if it makes their story really good. Politicians
know this all too well! So use your judgement, especially if you're talking about
something commercially or legally sensitive.
Many years ago, I heard of a currency analyst with a major city bank who was
nearly sacked because he said something to a reporter from a well known
newspaper naming one of the bank's clients in a transaction – all on background of
course. The reporter printed the name of the client anyway (a big insurance
company I vaguely remember).
After the story was out, the bank had to grovel to their furious client and the analyst
received a severe reprimand from his bosses. I heard later on that the reporter got
promoted and she clearly was quite unscrupulous about burning her sources if it
helped her career! Fortunately, her type are more the exception than the norm.
From experience 'off the record comments' are often by far the most interesting.


The Golden Quote
One thing Reuters journalists are taught to look for, and I have been on the training
course, is the 'golden quote.” In PR parlance that means a sound bite.
This is basically a quote that is interesting, catchy, original, novel or somehow just
sums it all up. The Business secretary, Vince Cable, is a master at that having used
terms such as 'casino banking' to describe the activities of investment banking –
whether or not he coined it I don't know, but it sounds catchy and is easy to
understand and is closely associated with the points he has been making about
what he sees as the failings of the financial system.
Indeed, politicians or their speech writers or PR experts, are very good at coming up
with memorable and catchy quotes, designed to define them or their policies.
Some examples: Ronald Reagan on terrorists: “you can run, but you can't hide,”
Margaret Thatcher: “The lady is not for turning.” Tony Blair: “The party of fox
hunting, Pinochet and hereditary peers: the uneatable, the unspeakable and the
unelectable (he was of course referring to the Tories).” And unintentionally amusing
and contradictory: “A day like today is not a day for sound bites, really. But I feel the
hand of history upon our shoulders. I really do (a reference to the successful
Northern Ireland talks in bringing peace with the IRA)”
And then maybe the greatest of them all is Winston Churchill who coined so many
clever and catchy phrases that entire books have been dedicated to citing them.
Here are some memorable quotes from the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2007
from people in the business world.
”Capitalism without financial failure is not capitalism at all, but a kind of socialism for
the rich,” - James Grant, Grant's Interest Rate Observer

Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
                                                                         35
“When the music stops in terms of liquidity, things will get complicated. But as long
as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance. We're still dancing,” - Chuck
Prince, Citigroup
"America is more communist than China is right now. You can see that this is
welfare of the rich, it is socialism for the rich," Jim Rogers, trader.
“You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out - and what
we are witnessing at some of our largest financial institutions is an ugly sight,"
Warren Buffett, legendary investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.
In fact the last two, Warren Buffett and Jim Rogers are two very media savvy
people, besides being very successful investors. Both are extremely adept at
coming up with memorable quotes, with a splatter of dramatic language or
interesting analogies, that get repeated across the media over and over again.
Now obviously famous politicians or business people don't have much difficulty
getting interviewed or quoted, but the 'golden quote' helps get their point across.
For someone who is unknown to the public or the media the golden quote has the
double objective of not just getting a point across, but of being quoted in the first
place and hopefully near the top of the article. And the very best company
spokespeople are aware of that, so before your interview think of some 'golden
quotes' and also think of the 'golden quote' when you write your news release.


Relationship Building
Journalists are people and journalism is very much a people business. So your
success in getting mentioned in the media will to a large extent depend on the type
of relationships you build with the gate keepers of those various media; be they
editors, journalists or bloggers.
One good way of starting a relationship is to simply invite them out for lunch or a
coffee – a very common practice by PR professionals, if that's practicable.
It's a chance for the journalist to learn about you and crucially for you to learn about
them. What are they working on at the moment? What are their areas of
enthusiasm/interest? How do they decide on stories? How much of the decision
making on what stories to write is down to them or the editor? What particular angle
does the publication pursue?
Also, try and develop a more personal relationship, such as personal interests,
children, travel, sport etc...
Again, after lunch follow up with an email, along the lines of it was great meeting
you for lunch today, I look forward to talking with you in the future etc...
The other place to meet journalists is at conferences and exhibitions i.e. places that
are largely designed to create opportunities for networking.


Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                     36
Look out for any journalists or editors giving speeches and go and meet them
afterwards. Or find out whether any relevant publications will be sending someone
along to cover the conference and make an appointment to meet up with them.
You could extend the same invitation to bloggers, or if they can't attend you could
offer to feed them some anecdotal stories about the conference, comments on an
interesting speech, gossip (as long as it isn't libellous), report on whether people
seemed upbeat or not, there was a lot of excitement when XYZ unveiled it's latest
product or something amusing happened when someone was giving a speech etc...
Ideally with you writing the post in your own name with a link back to your website.
As well as covering serious stuff, blogs are ideal for writing about the lighter side of
a topic. Before offering any info make sure you tailor it to what that particular
blogger is interested in. It's possible they may not want any light trivial stories so
make sure you enquire before hand.
Does your company hold an annual party? Or a product launch party – then why not
invite the press. If it's the Christmas party and it tends to get a bit raunchy and wild
then maybe not.
Otherwise if you can pass on difficult to get information that can also be very helpful
and appreciated and is good for relationship building.
Another route is to track down journalists' blogs and twitter feeds and simply engage
with them on what they're writing. Over time that could develop into a good
relationship and put you in pole position to be quoted or even contacted when that
journalist or blogger is seeking a comment from you.
Other than that try and keep in touch fairly regularly, but not over the top.


Writing The News Release
If you don't have a lot of experience with writing then you may find this a little
challenging at first, but it's not complicated and it's really a case of getting into the
mindset of writing news releases.
To make this easier, I would take a very formulaic approach to doing this.
There are a number of advantages to this approach. It allows the reader to quickly
get a grasp of what the story is about, hopefully that will come from the headline, but
it should be clear at least by the opening paragraph.
The other advantage with formulas is that once mastered, they're relatively easy and
quick to replicate. So let's start with the layout and once you've decided on a
particular format, which includes where everything will go, type face (times new
roman, arial etc...) then stick with it for the sake of consistency.
I would recommend this layout:
Name of Your company right at the top

Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
                                                                         37
                                                                                            Note t
Name of Your company right at the top
Today's date
In bold the header: News Release
Your headline
Your copy
At the bottom you should have:
Press contact: Name, position, telephone number & email address
Note to editors: this bit is for background describing what your company does, a bit
about its history, where it's based (city & country), if you want it can give figures on
turnover etc...
But keep the whole news release short and relevant. Ideally news releases should
not be more than 2 pages long.
The way to structure your copy, is to do so in the same way a journalist would write
a news story, after all that is what you're hoping your news release will become – a
printed news story. So make it easy for a journalist to write it up.


The Egyptians Weren't The Only Ones Into Pyramids
The most common structure is the pyramid one. What that basically means is that
the top of the story contains the most important facts with the less important ones
mentioned towards the bottom of the story.
To help you decide what is most important about your announcement and how to
write it, imagine having a conversation with a friend down the pub or over lunch.
How would you summarise it for them while keeping it in simple every day language,
what would come first? How would you explain your points?
Here is a little exercise that might help. Simply type word for word a number of small
Reuters, Bloomberg or FT news stories. You need to do at least 3 or 4. After a
while you will begin to appreciate that they are constructed in a very particular
structure and are usually tightly written.
But only do this exercise on news stories – not opinion pieces like the FT's Lex
column, Reuters' breakingviews or big feature stories that are usually printed inside
the FT. Though a lot of this copy is great, often superbly well written, it is not a
relevant writing style for news stories, which have to be to the point and more
neutral in style.
In other words it is not about clever writing or worse flowery time wasting prose.
Bloomberg stories in particular, tend to be very formulaic.



Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
                                                                       38
The Bloomberg way is to start with writing the headline and once that's done, then
proceed to write the first paragraph and so on.
You don't have to be rigid about this, I sometimes take this approach, but mostly I
end up writing the first paragraph and then the headline straight after or on occasion
leave it until right at the end so I can come up with a headline that captures the
essence of what I have just written. But most experts advise that starting with the
headline is the best way.
Also, write in the present tense, it is more lively and delivers a greater sense of
urgency.


Tips On Writing Headlines
It should say what the story is about
Don't get cute and try and use clever puns or phrases
Keep the headline on one line and if possible keep it short
Try and make it catchy or make a strong claim (provided you can support it).
It depends on the circumstances, but it can start with: How To...., Five Ways To...,
Why XYZ Will Change Retailing Forever, Is ABC really better than XYZ? (maybe a
comment on a new gadget that has just been released and how it compares with
something else on the market)
I would call these typical copywriter headlines (i.e. people who write marketing and
sales copy). And that's fine in the right context.
These type of headlines work well for new videos, podcasts or reports that are
designed to help your target audience, such as if you're a gardening centre:
Five Tips For Getting Your Garden Through Winter etc... (providing that it's topical).
Unfortunately, those sort of headlines probably won't get you maximum mileage with
news driven journalists, such as those who work for news wire services.
A more newsy approach is better:
So a tech company might go for something like this:
New Gamma Widget Boosts Call Centre Efficiency by Cutting Call Waiting Times
20%
(if one of your key words – we'll come to those very shortly – is call centres then you
want to try and somehow get that in the headline as done here) otherwise
New Gamma Widget Cuts Call Waiting Times By 20%
If you're a financial adviser:
July's 5% Drop In Mortgage Approvals Reflects Fall In Attractive Products
                                                                       39
Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
The 5% drop in mortgage approvals for July reported today by the Council of
Mortgage Lenders partly reflects the growing number of attractive mortgage
products being pulled from the market as lenders' tighten their loan criteria
Over the last month at least 30 mortgage products have been withdrawn from the
market and replaced with more expensive offers.....


Adapt Headlines & News Releases To Audience
That might be suitable for the personal finance section of a daily newspaper, which
means you need to get that news release out very soon after the data is made
public. So if that data is important to your particular market, make sure it's in your
diary and be prepared for its release looking at what you could write depending on
which scenario plays out.
On the other hand if you're targeting a personal finance magazine or website you
could re-angle that headline. Those publications will be more interested in giving
their readers some useful advice i.e. add some value to that news (the more tailored
your news releases are to your different audiences the more likely they are to be
used).
So for that audience you might change the headline to this:
Seven Tips For Obtaining The Best Mortgage Deals
or
Seven Tips For Getting The Best Mortgages Deals
July's 5% drop in mortgage approvals is proof that lenders are increasingly
tightening up their lending criteria, however there are seven steps a credit-worthy
borrower can take to substantially improve their chances of getting a good deal on a
loan.
And as your PR campaign is ultimately about supporting your sales and marketing
efforts and is aimed at your client base as well as relevant journalists – think about
incorporating search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques.
Now the topic of SEO is a whole area of specialisation in its own right and beyond
the scope of this report. But it is an area constantly subject to change as marketeers
try and figure out exactly what criteria search engines such as Google use to rank
websites under various key words.
What these search engines are ultimately trying to do is provide useful and relevant
information to match people's web searches
But what it basically means in the context of your news releases is building in key
words or phrases into your copy so when your news release is out there on your
website or on someone else's it stands a chance of being picked up and given a
good ranking by search engines.

Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley                                    40
PR Campaign - A Detailed Guide To Doing Your Own Successful Public Relations
PR Campaign - A Detailed Guide To Doing Your Own Successful Public Relations
PR Campaign - A Detailed Guide To Doing Your Own Successful Public Relations
PR Campaign - A Detailed Guide To Doing Your Own Successful Public Relations
PR Campaign - A Detailed Guide To Doing Your Own Successful Public Relations
PR Campaign - A Detailed Guide To Doing Your Own Successful Public Relations
PR Campaign - A Detailed Guide To Doing Your Own Successful Public Relations

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PR Campaign - A Detailed Guide To Doing Your Own Successful Public Relations

  • 1. 3 Steps To A Successful Public Relations Campaign How Small Businesses Can Use PR To Dramatically Boost Their Profits Justin J Pugsley Of JJPAssociates Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 2. CONTENTS Why You Absolutely Must Do Public Relations Page 1 The returns in terms of sales can be huge for what can be a very small investment or even no investment at all. A marketing campaign is incomplete without a PR component to it. 3 Steps To Creating A Successful Public Relations Campaign How you plan, structure and create a successful PR campaign and how to write news releases and target your communications with maximum effectiveness STEP 1: Your Contacts - Who Should You Be Talking To? Page 7 How to find relevant media outlets and then research which reporters and bloggers you should be targeting STEP 2: Generating Ideas – What's Your Story? Page 18 Sure fire ways of coming up with ideas that will get you mentioned in the media. STEP 3: Getting Your Story Out There – How To Get Noticed Page 27 How to craft the news release, why you need to think beyond the media and get the very best out of your communications and how to pitch journalists your ideas. Copyright © 2012 by Justin J Pugsley All or any part of this publication can be copied and distributed on condition that the author, Justin Pugsley or JJPAssociates, is given full credit for any material used. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 3. Why You Absolutely Must Do Public Relations Because You’re Worth It How would you like to reach 10,000, a 100,000 or even 1 million potential customers within the next 28 days at little cost or even for free? Once upon a time that would have been extremely hard to do, but now it is easier than ever before. It all comes down to the Internet. You can now reach more people, more quickly, more effectively and more cheaply than at any time in history. And in the world of business that's got to be the most exciting and transformational event in the last two decades. For a small business this is potentially a god send and in many cases it turns the tables on the big established players and gives smaller more nimble firms an edge at a comparatively low cost. In the process the Internet is transforming media and public relations – the subject of this report – in ways, which can be hugely beneficial to small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. This report will show you how you can get great publicity at very little cost and generate a level of exposure, which would cost you small fortune if done via advertising. Good PR is increasingly suited to the new mood among consumers who are becoming increasingly cynical and jaded towards advertising. People want trustworthy information to inform their purchasing decisions, not just a sales pitch, and this is where PR, if done honestly and in a targeted way, can have a profound impact on your business. It's fascinating to note how Richard Branson has built a multi-billion pound empire, partly through great public relations and let's face it, it's something he excels at. His various stunts, such as flying across the Atlantic in a hot air balloon, have made him a household name in Britain along with his Virgin brand. He is expert at grabbing the media's attention and capturing the public's imagination. It is said that he spends a considerable amount of his time on devising stunts and in engaging with the media. And why does he do it? Simply, because it saves him a fortune in marketing and advertising. It also allows him to connect with people, current and potential Virgin customers, in a way advertising wouldn't. In essence, PR has helped mould an image of Virgin as a young, cool, dynamic and creative brand, something people want to be part of. Admittedly, Richard Branson is a big name tycoon promoting a mass market brand and can now quite easily generate publicity. However, even if you're a complete unknown that should not put you off from having a go, after all there was a time Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 1
  • 4. when no one had ever heard of Richard Branson. Also, you don't have to do dare devil stunts to catch the media's attention. And anyway, it's quite possible to build a rapidly growing successful business without ever appearing on the 10 o'clock news on BBC 1. Besides, you'll probably want to be reaching more targeted niche audiences who are potentially a lot more interested in your products and services. Reaching very large numbers of potential customers in under week, even in the Internet age, is still a challenge and will require plenty of preparation and hard work to pull off. But done properly and with focus it will reap huge rewards for you. However, good public relations is far more than just a 28-day campaign – it should form an integral part of your day-to-day business and be part of your marketing plan. But 28 days is a good time scale for getting results from your PR campaign. What Is PR? Before delving into using public relations to help build your sales let's first identify what it is and how it differs from marketing. PR or public relations is about building your company's image, enhancing it's reputation and generating positive feelings towards it, a buzz in other words. It's also about safeguarding and enhancing your company’s image and reputation and influencing perceptions and views of it. It's about building your credibility. It’s basically about getting other people to say nice things about you. Marketing on the other hand is all about product promotion, pricing, positioning, targeting markets, getting the right calls to action across in brochures and websites. It’s anticipating and satisfying customers’ needs. I guess that’s you saying nice things about yourself. These are very simplistic explanations, but they should at least give you some idea of the differences between the two disciplines. But as you've probably already guessed, the two disciplines converge in places and in terms of doing it in cyberspace it can sometimes be very difficult to distinguish one from the other. But ideally, you want both to be happening side by side. And as for the second question: “How can it benefit my businesses?” Well, imagine you have lots of people out there saying great things about your company and its products. And that you develop a solid reputation for being very good at what you do, for being reliable, an expert and trustworthy, as someone who delivers great 2 Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 5. products and services, such a reputation is priceless and is a strong competitive edge in its own right. In essence, done properly, PR builds your credibility and people's trust in you and your company. Building credibility is often half the battle in getting people to buy your products or services and it's also a quality that marketing isn't best suited for building up. People have become apathetic or worse outrightly cynical towards sales and marketing pitches. Research some years ago by travel marketing consultancy, Y Partnership (now part of MMGY Global), found that 76% of consumers don't believe that companies tell the truth in their advertisements. Another consultancy, Yankelovich, found that 76% of people don't believe adverts either. But if you have credibility with your market, you will find it a lot easier to sell into it and that in itself will make your marketing much more effective. Indeed, depending what line of business you're in, it is conceivable that you could build your whole business on nothing but good public relations. Besides, why should your competitors get all the glory and the best coverage? Especially if their product or service isn't as good as yours. But even if that isn't the case, there's still no reason why you shouldn't be using PR to boost your marketing and your profile. In many cases it may even generate new business and interest from quarters that your marketing efforts don’t reach. Looking To Raise capital? Attract JV Partners? Or maybe, at some point you're looking to raise capital from business angels, venture capitalists or even float on the stock market. Believe me those guys will do a lot of due diligence on you before investing. It will help your case and credibility if you've been written about in a positive way and have raised your media profile before hand. Having a public profile could even increase the value of your business and its brand. The same goes if you want to set-up a joint venture or form some other type of relationship with a big corporate or even a government department. A track record of great publicity could work wonders for you. This report is primarily aimed at entrepreneurs and small businesses, but the principles could equally apply to non-governmental organisations, associations, clubs and charities. Basically, this report is for anyone on a tight budget and is designed to help you get publicity for a tiny outlay. It should also be of interest to marketing directors who want to explore new angles for growing their business and for supporting their marketing campaigns, but who maybe can't afford or don't yet want to employ PR staff or a PR agency. Although, my object is show you how PR or public relations works and more importantly how to do it yourself successfully on a tight budget, it is not designed to replace public relations agencies. Though it will help you better understand what Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 3
  • 6. they do and possibly to select one if that’s the route you eventually want to take. Having done some PR yourself you'll be in a better position to know what to expect from an agency and what they should deliver for you. But if you can't afford the services of a PR agency then this is a great place to start and there's enough information here to show you how to successfully get your stories in print and to get the word out on the Internet. And it will require effort. After all, part of what good PR agencies are selling is the fact that they have relationships with key opinion influencers, whether they be journalists or bloggers, and have the expertise to place stories with the relevant media. And as you'll see good relationships are key to getting your story out there and that does take time to build. As an industry PR has been growing rapidly for many years. According to the International Communications Consultancy Organisation in 2010 US consultancies saw fees increase by an average of 11% and 13% in the UK, the world’s two largest PR markets. Though that came after a 5% decline in fee income during the dog days of 2009. Why PR Is Becoming Increasingly Dominant But the fact that PR has been growing for decades shows that it is valued by a growing number of organisations and is becoming increasingly important. Though PR is standard practice by most large organisations, be they public or private, there's absolutely no reason why small businesses can't do it as well – even one man bands! And thanks to the Internet I would argue that an awareness of it is now more important than ever. Consider for example that anyone can go on a review website read by thousands of people -- some of them your customers and potential customers -- and write something good or bad about you. Those comments can stay there for years and turn up every time someone does a web search on you, your company or your products. When you think of the impact publicity can have on an organisation it is no wonder that PR as an industry has been growing so much. Even politicians and government departments have armies of PRs working over-time to safeguard their reputations and to make sure they influence what the media says about them. The vast majority of big companies also deploy PR professionals often under the banner of corporate communications or media relations (fancy terms for PR). In over 20 years in the media business I have noticed how prominent PR has become. PR professionals have become the gatekeepers between senior management and journalists. Though we will mainly be looking at how to use PR to support and leverage your marketing it is worth noting that as a discipline it has also grown enormously in scope and sophistication as well. 4 Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 7. PR now seems to permeate every industry and a large part of the public sector as image and perception have taken on so much importance in an age increasingly dominated by spin, impact driven reporting and instant news. About Me I've always found public relations fascinating in that it can have such a profound impact on how a person or a company is perceived and is therefore regarded. That in turn plays such a decisive role over whether a politician gets elected or a new product succeeds or not in the market place. I come from this subject from the point of view of a hack or journalist -- I’m on the receiving end of PR all day long via press releases, emails and phone calls. I also interact heavily with PR people, whether it’s me chasing up stories or them trying to get me to write about one of their clients or include their views in a story I’m putting together. And it is often the other way around as well. I've seen examples of great PR as well as some dreadful efforts. And yes I’ve also acted as a PR consultant and helped my clients successfully place stories in various publications or develop a PR strategy. Coming from a journalist background and having worked in different types of media helps enormously as I have a very good idea what my colleagues in the industry are looking for. I first started out in journalism with the venerable French real-time news wire service Agence France Presse in the late 80s after spending several years doing various mind numbing jobs in accounts and administration and even did antique restoration for a while. Though I mainly collected data on commodity and financial markets at AFP, I did get the opportunity to write market reports and small news stories. It’s where I learned my trade, along with a course at the London School of Journalism. I also attended evening lectures with the London School of Economics, which helped a lot in learning about different theories on the economy and how it effects our lives. Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal & BSkyB By the early nineties I ended up with the Dow Jones news agency, which owns the famous Dow Jones Industrial Average stock market index and The Wall Street Journal where I wrote a column about Eurobonds and also frequently had stories published on corporate events, bond and money markets. I was personal finance editor for a while for Skytext, part of British Sky Broadcasting, where I would explain various financial products and put up brokers' share tips. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 5
  • 8. By the mid-nineties I ended up at a commodities publication called Public Ledger, which I still regard as one of the most enjoyable jobs I ever had. I had the privilege of working with some great people where we turned around a nearly bankrupt 200+ year-old publication into profit maker. By the time I became editor I worked with marketing to more than double subscriptions, after which I was ready for new challenges and went freelance for 10 years. While freelancing I wrote for a great number of business and trade publications and also did some PR work with Norwegian telecoms group Telenor on behalf of PR agency Burson-Marsteller and I advised the Common Fund for Commodities and got them published in the FT among other specialist publications. Other gigs included working with mining finance brokers, David Williamson Associates, on their move into raising finance for technology companies. Apart from helping write research reports I also distributed them to the press and helped some of DWA’s clients with their PR. For a few years I acted as the press officer for the London Ship Repair & Conversion exhibition, which was held in London. Then I went to work for Thomson-Reuters covering mergers & acquisitions followed by European banking regulation. Putting this report together is very much down to my own personal experiences and observations. I'm also very grateful for the feedback from a number of PR professionals I've spoken with over the years who have generously shared with me some very useful insights into their profession and how they place stories with the media. And another very useful source of inspiration was the Public Relations Professionals and the Public Relations and Communications Professionals forums on LinkedIn. I hope these insights will prove useful in helping you successfully get your message across to the media and boost your profile, your company and your sales. If you do need help, putting together a PR strategy or campaign or need someone to write material such as news releases, then I am available to work as a PR advisor and I promise you that this is my one and only pitch in this report. My email address is: justin@jjpassociates.co.uk My website: www.jjpassociates.co.uk My linkedIn profile can be found at: http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/justin- pugsley/36/880/533 Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/jjpugsley And please drop me a line about your experiences and successes as I'd love to find out how you get along. OK enough about me..... let's get started with your PR campaign. 6 Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 9. STEP 1: Your Contacts – Who Should You Be Talking To? To quote an 18th century US president, Benjamin Franklin, by failing to prepare you are preparing to fail. This stage lays the foundations of your whole campaign and will be decisive as to whether it achieves anything. So this is the planning bit. You need to have a clear idea of your destination. Preparation is crucial for getting the best results and to avoid wasting your time and effort. What exactly are you trying to achieve? Are you targeting a particular market niche or a completely new market? Are you trying to build your credibility so you can in fact enter a new market? Or form a joint venture with another organisation? Or maybe, you're thinking of raising capital at some point in the future and want to develop a public track record? Do you just want to support your ongoing marketing? The answers will give you important clues as to where you want to be written about and which media outlets will generate the most impact for you. There are a lot of web-based services that specialise in sending out press releases to journalists listed on their databases, but I still don't think you can beat having your own bespoke, completely up to date list. And of course those web-based news or press release distributors do charge for their services and I'll discuss their uses later. You need to create a list of media outlets to target and why and rate them according to priority. If you've never done PR before I suggest that once you actually start your campaign go for the less relevant media outlets first to practice and to refine your approach. Your list will probably include a number of magazines and newsletters, possibly ones key to your industry or most importantly read and respected by your target audience. But also don't overlook prominent bloggers, pure online media outlets and forums. One thing I will say at this stage, don't be tempted to pursue publicity just for vanity reasons, just to get quoted in a famous newspaper or to go on TV. It could end up being a time wasting diversion. Be Targeted So be very clear about the media outlets you're targeting and why. It may not necessarily be about getting mentioned in the largest circulation publication, especially if 95% of the readership is not relevant to you. That could amount to wasted effort, unless of course that 5% of readers really could be decisive for your business. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 7
  • 10. In your database, you must also locate the relevant reporters. For example, if one of your targets is the big daily newspapers, you absolutely need to find the right reporter. If your target is the defence industry, for example, it would be pointless sending communications to the entertainment correspondent. You need to find the defence correspondent or the person nearest to that. Some phone enquiries to reception or the editorial department might be needed to establish exactly who you need to deal with. You would be surprised how many PR professionals don't do this piece of vital research. Throughout my career I've been on the receiving off all kinds of irrelevant news releases. For example, when I was a senior reporter at ThomsonReuters covering European banking regulation I would receive lots of news releases relating to flower shows, the tourism industry or something on fuel poverty – wasted communications that we're so irrelevant to what I was covering that they could actually be termed as little more than spam. Just blasting every journalist you can find with emails will not get your story covered. Here are some resources to help you put together your database: Journalisted.com A list of journalists who work for well known titles is available here: (http://journalisted.com/list) Unfortunately, you will have to trawl through all the names to find out who does what and what they write about by clicking through to them. If you're lucky they sometimes, have the journalists contact details as well. The site journalisted.com is run by a charity called the Media Standards Trust and is designed to enable the public to find out more about journalists and what they write about. It even has an alerts service for you to track certain journalists and what they're writing about. On the other hand, a newsletter with a small number of very specific subscribers may actually be far more beneficial if they happen to be focussed just on the customer group you want to target. In my experience most industries and even their sub-sectors are supported by some publication, sometimes it could be just one. It is also generally easier to place your story in such niche publications especially if your message is very relevant to their audience. Most publications carry advertising and as such they should have some information on their circulation and audiences, usually on their websites. Check under headings such 'advertising,' 'circulation' or 'media pack'. Otherwise a phone call to the advertising department should get you that information. 8 Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 11. If that information is not available then scanning the headlines and stories on the website should give you some idea whether or not it is relevant. All that can greatly help you in deciding whether a particular publication is relevant or not. Here are five websites to get you started: Mediauk This is a very useful and comprehensive online media directory listing magazines, newspapers, television and radio broadcasters. You can search by alphabetical order or by the name of the owner (publishing company). The good thing with this site is that once you click through to a publication of interest – it does give you the website address and a general telephone number. You can also type in a search under the industry topic of interest, but it won't always capture all the media outlets you're looking for. Tradepub A very good website for this is called tradepub (www.tradepub.com). It is actually an online subscription service provider targeting business to business or b2b publications. There are various business classifications and then it displays the covers of the publications in question. Clicking on the picture of a particular publication will take you through to a short description and a subscription tab. If it still looks relevant, then carry out a web search until you find the publication's actual website address, from which you can collect editorial contact details. There are of course a lot of websites, which list publications from around the world. However, many tend to be US centric, but they can still be useful. Magazine Group Another online subscription website worth checking: (http://www.magazine- group.co.uk) It gives a more detailed description of each publication, but to find contact details you will need to a web search. 9 Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 12. Internet Public Library A well known one is the Internet Public Library (www.ipl.org). Look under the heading 'newspapers & magazines.' TVA Media Group If you're targeting the US, then this site is worth checking out. TVA Media Group is a media promotion company, but you can search under: (http://www.tvamediagroup.com/html/mediaoutlets.php). This produces a lists of different types of media outlet. Once you've compiled a list of media outlets of interest, you then need to do a web search to find their websites. The Newswires One area of the media you shouldn't overlook are the news wire services. They may not cover your line of business, but if they do, then you should definitely prioritise developing contacts within these organisations – why? Because so many newspapers, magazines and online content providers tap into and recycle their news stories. If you're quoted in a newswire story, then that quote will potentially be seen by a far wider audience than just the readership of that particular news wire service. Plus a lot of their stories get indexed in Google news, which is a good bonus. Typically, news wire services are global media organisations with bureaus around the world and the big ones literally employ hundreds of journalists. Newswire Stories Recycled They are very much driven by being the first to break a story and usually do, because they are real time services. Then what happens is that the other media organisations, such as newspapers and television and radio stations then pick up the story. Usually, they'll do their own coverage of the event, but often they simply republish the news wire story. Their reporters regularly contact the people quoted in the newswire story as they rush to publish their own take on events. That could be you. These days the big money spinner for newswire services are financial markets, where instant news is critical for traders wanting to get in ahead of their competition and having that sort of information first can be worth many millions of pounds in profits. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 10
  • 13. Bloomberg is heavily geared to doing this. Other leading newswire services include ThomsonReuters, which is now a media conglomerate spanning many areas from markets through to scientific and legal publications. There's Dow Jones, which happens to own the Wall Street Journal. WSJ in Europe, in particular, has traditionally relied heavily on Dow Jones for content. Reuters, Bloomberg and Dow Jones are all very much geared to real time news for business, finance and especially markets and typically their client base is financial institutions and big multinational companies. Reuters also covers general news and is very strong in political coverage. Other players that have a heavy focus on general news include Press Association, which is heavily UK-focussed and also has a dedicated service providing features and other content to publications in areas such as entertainment, fashion, living and homes. Press Association is a US-based and well regarded global news wire service. Another is United Press International, also US-based, but with a global focus. Agence France Presse, which is Paris-based, is also a global news wire service with a large number of subscribers. Many of these groups publish stories in many languages, but all have English language services. Though getting quoted in stories produced by these organisations can give you great coverage, the downside is that they tend to see quite high staff turnover and rotation as journalists frequently move to new beats. Many countries have their own news wire services and Wikipedia has a list of many of them: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_agency) Finding out who writes what is a case of trawling through their stories under the categories relevant to you and looking for the bylines (the names of the person or people who wrote the story). Sometimes this can be done by a search on their websites or going through Google news or web searches. Otherwise call the switchboard and ask for the editorial department and then make enquiries into who covers your area of interest, which might be just as effective and possibly quicker. As stated earlier you also want to include so called new media outlets, such as bloggers or Internet only publications. These can be a bit harder to find and to obtain information on in terms of numbers of subscribers (many are anyway free and live off advertising) and targeted demographics. Many of these sites come under the banner of social media especially Twitter and to an extent blogs and LinkedIn. New concepts seem to come along regularly in this space. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 11
  • 14. In case you're not familiar with the term social media, here's a good definition from Wikipedia: The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Alltop This is basically a news driven search engine, which picks up the latest headlines from blogs and other websites (often magazines and newspapers) and you can search under specific topics: (www.alltop.com): Technorati This website describes itself as a real time search engine for user-generated media by tags or keywords, basically for blogs. But it does have a blogs directory: (http://technorati.com/blogs/directory/) It creates a list of the top most influential 100 blogs on a daily basis: (http://technorati.com/blogs/top100/) Under 'tags' you can search for blogs under specific terms: (http://technorati.com/tag/) Bloggapedia Contains a large collection of blogs: (http://www.bloggapedia.com) Blogs Collection A list of blogs categorised by activity and country of origin: (http://www.blogs- collection.com) Yahoo Directory This contains lists of bloggers, columnists and Internet broadcasters. But also covers traditional media such as magazines and newspapers: (http://dir.yahoo.com/news_and_media) Open Directory Project This directory has been around almost since the beginning of the Internet and is updated by volunteers. For media: (http://www.dmoz.org/News/Media). Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 12
  • 15. It's a real mixture of news resources as well as listing online media sites, blogs and so on. Another area of social media you shouldn't ignore is Twitter. It is heavily used by journalists, bloggers and other media types. To use Wikipedia's definition of Twitter it is: an online social networking and micro blogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets". Those 'tweets' also allow you to use abbreviated URLs, which is useful. Twitter is not only a useful place to find journalists, but you should also use it as part of your overall media campaign and more on that later. Here are some Twitter directories: Wefollow It has all kinds of categories to chose from. But in the search bar you can type in 'journalists' and it will give a list of those who 'tweet.' From there you can track down who they write for by visiting their websites and getting their contact details: (http://wefollow.com). Twellow Similar functions to the one above: (http://www.twellow.com) Just tweet it This is a social media directory of twitter users: (http://justtweetit.com) TweetFind Another directory site to find journalists and bloggers who are also Twitter users: (http://www.tweetfind.com) Mytwitterdirectory This site has an enormous number of entries: (http://mytwitterdirectory.com) Also: http://twitter.com/#!/journalisttweet or http://journalisttweets.com/ and there are many others. Another way of finding relevant media outlets is to simply do an Internet search. If you're targeting construction engineering companies, for example, you can type in 13 Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 16. terms such as 'construction engineering publications' 'civil engineering publications' 'infrastructure engineering publications' and you switch publications with 'news' 'articles' 'interviews' or whatever combination of terms is most relevant to you. For example, the first search term on Google 'construction engineering publications' turned up the New Civil Engineer, the American Society of Civil Engineers (if your looking beyond the UK), which apparently publishes its own magazine called Civil Engineering and ASCE News. Also, there's Engineering News Record published by McGrawHill in the US. Then there's the Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, which looks quite academic and is only published four times a year and so on. I then typed 'construction engineering' and dropping 'publications' into Google News to see who is currently generating news on this topic. Obviously a number of well known names turned up such as the Financial Times and the Guardian newspaper, but also ConstructionWeekOnline, which might be very relevant. The Importance Of Getting The Right Editorial Contacts On that list you want to note the contact details of the editorial staff by going through to the websites of these publications. Sometimes there's break down of which topics the journalists cover. It's really important to be as precise as possible on this one, because sending your carefully crafted news releases to the wrong journalist practically guarantees that you'll be ignored (and don't always count on them forwarding it to the relevant colleague, journalists are busy people as well). From your Google News search you may want to note the names of journalists of the more famous publications. But to be sure they weren't covering for a colleague that day, you may want to do a Google web search as well as a news search entering the Journalist's name + the publication and see what they've been writing about on a regular basis. You can also enter publication name + construction engineering and search under Google News and Google Web. Google also has a special search tab for Blogs and Groups (like forums). Though I'd also be inclined to do the same search on Google Web under for example 'construction engineering blog' etc... One group of journalists that are often overlooked by PR professionals are freelancers. But let me tell you why they shouldn't be overlooked: On several occasions I have been invited on press trips, whether it be tours of factories or meet and greets with management, as a freelance journalist along with staffers as well. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 14
  • 17. Often that has resulted in only one article for one publication as with the staff journalists. But not always. Now for me as a freelancer I will want to get the most out of the trip, after all time is money, and spin off several stories that I can then sell to a number of publications – making sure each one gets something unique and insuring there are no conflicts of interest. I don't want to alienate any editors. On several occasions I have ended up writing from different angles the same event for four to five different publications. For me the trip was time well spent and for the public relations people they got a good return on their investment so to speak. I suspect freelancers get overlooked because, unlike staff journalists who are affiliated with a particular outlet, it is difficult to know who exactly they write for and what they specifically write about. Also, it is sometimes difficult to establish what their relationship is with various publications – are they almost like a member of staff or did they just write a one-off piece for a particular publication? But the media industry relies heavily on freelancers, whether it be to cover for absent staff, to tap into expertise they don't have in house or to contribute to special supplements. Many freelancers enjoy long-term relationships with publications as well – maybe they even used to work there or the editor is a personal friend. Freelancers will typically write for many different media outlets and given they often rely on selling story ideas to editors, they could well be useful in helping you get exposure. Also, they're often on the look out for ideas for stories they can then sell in the form of articles to the various publications they have a relationship with. So where to find freelancers? There's the Google search method described earlier, worth doing, but the results could be quite random. LinkedIn I would advise you use LinkedIn, a website designed to enable people to network professionally. It's a bit like Facebook for professionals. If you're not signed up, I would suggest you do so, it's a useful tool for developing business or for promoting your career, if you're an employee. Recruiters increasingly use the site to advertise jobs and to head hunt people. You can start with the basic free account. That allows you to see the first 100 results free. It also allows you to build up a network with people you know – suppliers, clients, colleagues etc... already on LinkedIn. However, if you want to communicate directly with other members, not in your network, you need to pay a subscription fee. They offer month only subscriptions as 15 Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 18. well as annual ones. So getting access and building up your database needn't be that expensive. But sometimes they have personal websites listed on their page and I would suggest clicking through to them and usually they will have their contact details. That may be enough for you not to have to pay a subscription fee. There are also many useful forums, some you will need permission from the forum owner to join. There are many covering public relations and marketing where you can interact with people who have an interest in those matters. But if you do get involved be sure to respect their terms of engagement. Journalism.co.uk You can try www.Journalism.co.uk. Then go to the tab that says 'Freelance' which will show another set of options and click on 'Find a Freelancer' Or alternatively just search on the web under 'journalism.co.uk find a freelancer.' That will produce a list of journalists describing what they do – broadcast, features, news etc... and the areas they cover, such as politics, economics etc... The National Union of Journalists freelance directory at www.freelancedirectory.org, where you can send emails to those listed there and is a good place to look as well. With the Internet being such a fluid place, means that websites come and go and established websites do change their layout and terms and conditions. So I would also do web searches along the lines of 'Journalist Directory' 'List of Journalists.' And do various word search combinations with reporters, editors, editorial etc... But also many of the blog and twitter directories mentioned earlier will list freelance journalists as well. Gorkana Then there are various websites that make a living connecting PR professionals with journalists and the best known one in the UK is Gorkana. For a fee you can join as a public relations professional, which gives you access to a database of journalists – not just freelancers, but staffers as well – they will update you on the latest career moves by journalists, keep tabs on bloggers and they do breakfast briefings to allow PR professionals to meet journalists. To their credit Gorkana do make a lot of effort to keep their databases up to date and do a pretty good job of it. But other services that are very useful include the forward features list that they compile from well over a 1000 publications. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 16
  • 19. And lastly they publish media requests whereby journalists – and I've been one of them on many occasions – put out a notice saying they're writing an article about a particular subject for a certain publication and invite relevant PR professionals to approach them with contacts. If the request is relevant then that contact could be you. But more about media requests and features lists later. The latter could be particularly useful for you. DWPub Another outfit that does a similar job is DWPub and they run www.journalistdirectory.com. But again you have to pay for access and the various services. Whether or not you decide you use these paid for services really depends on: A/ Your budget and how much time you want to spend building up your database – if you want to do it for free then use the techniques outlined earlier in this chapter, but it takes time. What services like Gorkana do is to reduce the legwork for you and make it easier for you to connect with journalists. B/ Whether you are looking to target a large number of media outlets. If for you it really just boils down to a very few specific media outlets – maybe very specialised trade publications and bloggers – then I wouldn't bother with these paid for services. But if you are looking to reach a large number of media outlets then they are actually very useful. This may seem like quite dull and time consuming exercise, which it is, but it really will form the foundation of your successful PR campaign. So you want to give this part of the campaign just as much time and attention as the more exciting aspects, such as strategy, writing your news releases and preparing your pitch. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 17
  • 20. STEP 2: Generating Ideas – What's Your Story? This bit is a lot more interesting. It's what you're going to talk or write about or even podcast or videocast about. Basically, you need some ideas that will grab the attention of editors, journalists and bloggers and ultimately of course their audiences, some of whom could become clients of yours. So the big question then is how to come up with those attention grabbing ideas? But before doing that, it is important that you understand the task ahead and the scale of competition between stories all vying to see the light of day. Most journalists and especially those who work for well known titles are bombarded with a torrent of press releases, reports and other communications on a daily basis, mostly by e-mail. The same goes for well known bloggers with established followings. Therefore grabbing their attention – especially if you're an unknown entity – is going to be challenging. However, the situation isn't hopeless, all kinds of unknown people and small businesses get great coverage every day, but breaking in will take research and perseverance. The Media Needs PR & Your (Relevant) Stories It is also worth keeping in mind that probably the majority of media organisations now rely heavily on the work public relations professionals to generate content. Staff levels have often been cut and reporters are expected to churn out more copy, which leaves less time for them to research stories and this is all the more so in the age of instant media, which is driven by 24 hour news channels and Internet media such as Twitter. Therefore if you can establish yourself as a reliable and credible source for comment, then you stand a good chance of getting mentioned in articles and being contacted by journalists fairly frequently. But you must absolutely ensure that what you're saying is pertinent to the publication in question and that you are dealing with the relevant journalist, because if you're not everything else is a complete waste of time – your story will simply not get covered. 18 Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 21. So targeting your communications, not just the message, but who receives it, is vitally important. Now your database, if it has been done properly, should at least provide you with the 'who' and the 'where' part of the process. Though news releases and other types of media communications are very important, I don't think anything quite beats the personal touch. If you've got something interesting and relevant to say to a reporter I strongly suggest you call them, rather than just sending an email. It is much more direct, personal and potentially a lot more effective. And after that conversation follow up quickly with an email re-stating what you said or promised to follow up on if extra information was requested or confirming an interview time and so on. But do keep in mind that as you're not paying for coverage, the media has no obligation to cover your story, to quote you (even if they've interviewed you for half an hour on the phone) or write their story in a way that suits your interests. Essentially, the job of the editor and the other editorial staff is to produce content that readers want to read and it is from that perspective that they'll judge whether what you've got to say is interesting or relevant and therefore worth their time. Also, most respectable media outlets will try and write their news stories to be unbiased and neutral and usually that applies to bigger articles with longer shelf lives such as features. However, more opinionated pieces generally come in the form of editorials and columns written by the editorial staff and sometimes guest writers. So salesy stuff like “we're the best” is unlikely to get you much mileage. So always think about it from the point of view of what would interest the readership of this publication, which also happens to be relevant to your market. Ideas for stories: 1. It's News Media outlets are most concerned with the news, the big story of the moment, because that's what usually sells. Look at their front page stories and some of the other big stories – is there something ongoing that is likely to get covered in the next issue like a financial or political crisis? This is where you can get in touch and give your opinion or even your personal experience of the event. But even better if it is a piece of breaking news – such as a shock rise in interest rates by the central bank. You can very quickly put together a news release saying how that will effect you as a small business and your peers. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 19
  • 22. Or it could be related to something a celebrity has said or done. If you're a divorce lawyer and some celebrity is in the news for an infidelity you can talk about how solid are prenuptial agreements, the way assets are likely to be split or if there are any unusual circumstances that might effect the outcome of a court case. And quickly email that out to relevant journalists and state that you are on-hand to give interviews if necessary. It's a tactic increasingly used by PR professionals to get media exposure for their clients, but plenty still don't do it. Your communication, doesn't necessarily have to be dressed up as a news release, but should contain some 'canned' quotes. For example: “Today's drop in retail sales....(what ever you want to say),” says (Your Name, Your Position, Your company's name, and where you're based) and put your contact details at the bottom of your communication. As journalists will be hard pressed for time trying to meet a tight deadline, especially if they're a newswire service, a news broadcaster or a daily newspaper or even a blog – then these sort of instant reactions to a big news event can be extremely helpful and because of their immediacy stand a good chance of getting quoted. I know because I've been there and always appreciated quick reaction comments to an event I was having to cover in real time. I would place this as one of the best ways of getting mentioned in the press, especially if you can develop an insightful, original or genuinely interesting interpretation or twist on a big news story. You're basically saving a journalist a lot of time phoning around their contacts who may or may not be available to give an opinion there and then and within the deadline. Now here's the thing. In many cases you can be prepared for big news items as they're scheduled. Think of the Bank of England's regular meetings to set interest rates, monthly publications of government statistics, important reports or white papers that have a big impact on an industry and where it is known in advance when they're going to be released, a scheduled meeting or speech by a dignitary, the publishing of an opinion by an important body and so on. What big news items are scheduled for your industry? That would impact your clients? Who publishes them and when? What impact are they likely to have? Can you find these organisations, look at their schedules of upcoming events on their websites and get on their mailing lists? Even lower frequency publications, such as monthlies, will be interested in the news and will usually try and develop a behind the headlines analysis. But many now daily update their websites and email daily newsletters to their subscribers, so they to should be included in these 'instant reaction' communications. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 20
  • 23. 2. Tomorrow's News Maybe you're in a position to have an unusual insight into an upcoming development, because of who you know, your client base or supply chain and can therefore predict fairly accurately the next big news story. Now one thing all journalists and editors love is a scoop, in other words to be the first to break the news or to see an event coming before others do. 3. Trends An awful lot of what journalists and bloggers write about is trends, for many media outlets it's their bread and butter. A trend is basically something that keeps re- occurring, such as more and more people dressing in a certain way, taking holidays at home or the stock market going up or down and so on. So be aware of the trends relevant to your customer base and come up with new angles as to the impact a given trend may have. Even better if you can identify a completely new trend that has not been reported on yet and you can supply some strong evidence to back up your point. Ditto if you can show convincingly that an ongoing trend is about to change. 4. A Series Of Articles You notice a reporter is doing a series of articles on a topic that is relevant to you. Ring them up, say you're really interested in the series and tell them you think it is topical or is valuable and that you've been following it (if several articles have already been published). Then put forward your angle or take on the subject and arrange for an interview time if it's not convenient for the reporter to do it on the spot. 5. An Article You Agree Or Disagree With A publication or a blogger has put out something that has caught your eye. You may agree or disagree with the thrust of the article. It's an opportunity to get in touch and maybe put a new twist on it. If you disagree with the thrust of the article, then be polite about it. Being confrontational will not only potentially destroy a useful relationship for you, but may well undermine the chance of your view being aired. Calmly state why you think it's inaccurate in unemotive language and make sure you can convincingly back your argument with facts. The journalist may well run another Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 21
  • 24. article expounding your opinion to counter-balance the last one. I have done that on occasion myself. On one of those occasions I had written an article looking at the potential direction of a particular commodity market for which there was a very strong industry consensus After publication I was contacted by someone with an opposite opinion and had some interesting data and facts to back up their views. I simply wrote another article based around what this person had said. Yet another take on this is to simply write a letter (email) to the editor commenting on the article. Sometimes they are published if you write something interesting. 6. The Features List Publications that take advertising often devise features lists or lists of upcoming special supplements with the view to creating something relevant to a particular group of advertisers. Of course those special issues need content and articles have to be written. If there is something you can comment on, then get in touch preferably a few months before it runs stating what angle or ideas you can contribute. 7. You've Won An Award This can be worthy of a news release if a well known body has named your company the best or given you the top accolade for the year. If a publication has awarded it, I suggested you don't send a news release about that to rival publications, they generally won't be interested. Also, think of entering your company for awards if you think you have a realistic chance of winning anything. If it's a publication the winners are generally written up and it's great publicity. 8. You've Just Developed A New Product Before getting carried away, is this really newsworthy or can you make it so? If it is a piece of software that does something unique or never done before for instance then it might be. If it's genuinely revolutionary or game changing in some way I would write some news releases and maybe phone up and directly pitch a few reporters. Couch your argument in facts and figures. And crucially, try and give a human angle, people are interested in people. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 22
  • 25. And it it is a technology product, go easy on the technical language and acronyms. If it is an industry reporter they'll probably understand, but if it's not they may not and therefore could miss what's so great about your product. This can apply to opening a new branch somewhere, hiring someone with a high profile, forming a new joint venture, buying or being bought by someone else. It could even involve a new application for your product. 9. Do A Survey If you can gather a large number of opinions about something topical – think about issues that are preoccupying society right now or your customer base – and come up with an interesting angle or one that firmly disproves a commonly held belief etc... then it could get written up by a publication. Often if companies aren't known they'll work with a well-known polling organisation such as Ipsos MORI or Populus as the results of the poll are more likely to be seen as credible and relevant. The news release then says something along the lines of research by Your company / Ipsos shows that 69% of executives believe..... But of course setting that up costs money. Another way could be to work with one of your suppliers, customers or business partners, if they're well known or maybe even your industry association. Polling people doesn’t just involve going out and stopping people in the street to gather their opinions. It could be an email circular or phone calls to a group of people you're in some way connected with. If your website has heavy traffic then you could simply set up a poll on your front page – if you offer some kind of reward for participating in your poll then all the better. Social media such as LinkedIn and Twitter can be good places to collect opinions. It is important that you are transparent and honest about how you collected those opinions, the number of genuine responses and from whom they came. Regular surveys on a particular area, especially if no one else is doing it, could become recognised and quite valuable. 10. Do A Research Report Very much related to the above – compile a research report, which gives analysis and forecasts that would be of interest to your client base. This tactic has been successfully used by many companies to gain acceptance, credibility and to raise their profile. It's even better if you're covering an area where there is little in the way of existing information or understanding. That's often the case with a newly emerging industry. 23 Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 26. Like with surveys it really helps if you can hitch up with someone credible. Also, you could use university business or economics graduates, for free or a very low fee, to help you put this together on the basis that it is work experience for them. Clearly anything they can put on their CV when looking for a job will help. In exchange, credit them as one of the authors or researchers on your report that they can then hand to potential employers. If they have an economics or business background they should be able to help you put together a methodology and produce the analysis and forecasts. This could even be done in conjunction with your surveys or following several of them, especially if you've identified a trend. If you put out a report several times a year, hopefully it can become a fixture and something recognised as valuable by the media and of course your current and potential client base. In a similar vein you could do a white paper, a term much beloved of technology companies and policy makers. But it is important to emphasise that this information you put out is about clarifying a situation and coming up with solutions and is genuinely useful to reporters looking for a story and of course to your customers, because hopefully they'll be reading your report as well. It must not be all about you and your products and services. If it's seen as something self serving, a glorified sales brochure, it will get nowhere with anyone. 11. You've Bought Advertising Now this is a bit cheeky and occasionally it works. Say you've decided to buy an advert or a series of ads in a magazine or newspaper. Before agreeing to sign-up, you can request that the editorial department interview you for a story on the basis that you will be quoted in it or even write a story about you, such as a profile, if you really feel you can push your luck. Smaller publications may well agree to that – it very much depends on whether they're advertising driven or editorially driven. An example of the latter would be the Economist for instance where that tactic is highly unlikely to work. And in many other publications, especially in the more famous and prestigious ones that won't work either because they have a strict separation between commercial and editorial to conserve editorial integrity of the publication so as not to be in any way perceived to be aligned with any particular commercial or political interest. A lot of publications are aware that they trade heavily on their editorial integrity and will therefore safeguard it with their life. Another more watered down tactic would be to say to the advertising person you're dealing with: “Look I've got this interesting story idea, it's very topical and relevant,” Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 24
  • 27. and explain to them what it is and then simply ask the sales guy who you should speak to in the editorial department. You can even ask if the ads person knowns them personally, if yes get some advice on how to approach them. 12. Getting Involved In Your Community Sponsorship, community support, free advice sessions, photo opportunities, celebrity visits, creating an award and so on – all worthy of news releases, press invitations and might be of particular interest to the local press or radio station. 13. Conferences What about turning your conference speech into a news release and distributing it to relevant industry publications? And don't forget to send it to bloggers as well. Also, you could consider loading your presentation on slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net). The benefit of doing that is that it will get picked up by search engines and journalists seeking background for a story and might stumble across it and quote from it. 14. Forming A Committee Maybe there is an issue that is important to your industry. If you have the ability to persuade others to join you, you could form a special committee to tackle the issue and that is definitely worth a news release. 15. An Anniversary Maybe you've been in business a very long time or your company has reached an important milestone in terms of sales or a particular product development. A news release containing some interesting analysis or observations could get covered. 16. Seasonal Events Spring, Summer, Christmas, New Year, Breast cancer day, Remembrance day and so on. Is there any seasonal event that is relevant in some way to your business? Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 25
  • 28. 17. Opinion Pieces Some publications will allow you to submit a well reasoned and argued opinion piece, but of course that is very much up to the discretion of the editor. You would need to persuade them that you are communicating something of value to the readership and that it isn't all about you promoting yourself. 18. Other People's Campaigns Think of really famous ones such as government campaigns to stamp out smoking, reduce drink driving, eat five a day (encouraging people to eat more fruit & veg) etc... Is there an ongoing campaign or one about to start from the government, your trade association or some other relevant body that you could piggy back on? As long as you can find a relevant connection for your market and a target publication and you can come up with an interesting or useful comment, then you could be on to something. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 26
  • 29. STEP 3: Getting Your Story Out There – How To Get Noticed You've got the database of contacts and hopefully you're now bubbling over with all kinds of story ideas to pitch to the media. You're nearly there. You now need some support infrastructure before going live with the media. You need a section of your website to be dedicated to the press. Build A Media Friendly Section On your website If you really want to tell journalists and bloggers that you're media friendly and want to be approached – then set up a media section on your website, even if you're a really small business. If that is the case I would just call it 'Media' or 'News.' But often with large companies that section is called 'Press Office', 'Public Relations' or 'Corporate Communications', 'Media Relations' etc... But usually larger companies also have in-house PR people whose job it is to deal with journalists. If you're not in that position then I think just calling it News is probably best, as it sounds less pretentious, especially if you really are a tiny outfit. Besides news releases, where the latest should be at the top of the page, you also should have a fact sheet about your business. It should say exactly what it does, its industry & target market(s), product range, where it's based, who founded it and when, who runs it, some history about why it was founded etc... or something about the founders as well, which makes it more personalised. Write your fact sheet in a neutral tone, so try and leave out terms like “we're the best” “unbeatable prices” “We're proud....”, we're delighted to...” and other marketing hype. Leave that for the sales & marketing section. Great For Search Engine Rankings But here's an interesting fact about the news section. Often when doing a web search on a company that is sometimes the part of the website that gets the highest rankings in the search engines. Why? Because it is often the part of the website that is relatively content rich and is updated more regularly than other parts of the website – two factors loved by search engines. So done properly, your news room is effectively a great marketing tool as well and I suspect in the end most of the visitors to it won't be media types, but possibly your own customers, potential customers and other people you do business with for the simple reason it's a great way of finding out about the latest happenings in your firm. As part of increasing their visibility on the web and boosting their rankings in search engines, some companies deliberately send out a steady stream of news releases. 27 Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 30. Search engine rankings merely refer to where your website shows up when a search term or search phrase is typed in. The idea is to be within the first three pages of that search. Your news site is also a great place to host any white papers, reports or surveys that you have put together. The same applies to relevant podcasts or videos. A podcast could feature you talking with someone else in the industry or the marketing director interviewing the CEO about the industry environment, as long as it is informative and interesting to other people in the industry. So as not to make it sound too amateurish, listen to some of the podcasts on the BBC or FT.com and try and mimic their style. It is fairly formal and the interviews or debates have a natural flow. Obviously some preparation helps. Get Visual Or It could just be a useful how to video that helps your customers solve some of their problems. If you're a software company targeting consumers – how about a video with some useful tips on safely optimising your PC's performance? If you're a firm of decorators – what about a video talking about colour schemes or a few clever tricks on getting a certain impact, especially if it ties in with the latest fashion. If you're a garden centre – a series of seasonal videos about protecting your plants from frost as winter approaches or getting the garden ready for spring when that is on the way. Or you could do a video about a day in the life of your firm and just walk around and talk to staff as they're doing their job, it could be particularly interesting if you're a company that makes things or does something creative. The videos and podcasts shouldn't really be more than 5 minutes. They're more likely to be watched until the end. However, there's nothing stopping you putting up a video or podcast of a conference speech you've done – but probably best to clear that with the conference organisers first. Those videos can be loaded onto youtube and can be accompanied by news releases. I think it is also a good idea to have some pictures of yourself and other key members of staff, of your products and premises as websites and magazines often make use of pictures as part of their content. Make sure you own the copyright on those pictures so they can be freely distributed and republished elsewhere. You could almost view your news site as a bit like running a publication and it is probably best treated from that point of view rather than for pure marketing – even though it partly serves that purpose. It is really about supplying useful information, which helps your customers and builds your credibility with the media as an expert. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 28
  • 31. And crucially provide some contact details and mention that you're open to talking with journalists and bloggers. It amazes me that there are websites out there with fairly comprehensive news rooms, sometimes big companies, with no contact details for the person assigned to handle PR. Also, have a facility to enable people to sign up for news releases so you can build up a news distribution list. Again, don't ask for too many details or make it complicated, because people won't bother to sign-up. And get RSS (really simple syndication) set up if you can. You could just keep it to Name & Email address or just the latter. (Often the email address is a good clue as to what the company does). If it's XXX@IBM.com, then you know it's IBM and if it's a name you've never heard of then type the bit of the email address after the @ putting www at the beginning in the address bar of your web browser, so as to get www.ibm.com as in our above example. You can then check the website, unless it's public email service like Gmail or Hotmail. And now comes the more dynamic and most exciting part, actually getting your name in print. The Pitch As I said earlier, if you have a good topical story, a new or interesting angle on something happening, then get on the phone – it is likely to be more effective than sending an email or a news release. And remember by their very nature, journalists are always on the lookout for a good story. Some of the best stories I've stumbled across have often come from people who simply got in touch. A phone call with a well thought out pitch really stands out against the 100+ emails and news releases a journalist receives everyday and many go unanswered because they lack importance or are irrelevant or simply get forgotten in the rush to write up stories or to hit deadlines. Another point worth keeping in mind is when to make that pitch. If it is very time sensitive and a big story then by all means go ahead and make the call. However, if it's a weekly or monthly publication find out when it 'goes to press.' You can usually deduce that by finding out on which day a publication comes out. Press day is usually the day before. So if a magazine comes out on a Friday, then press day will usually be on Thursday. Monthly magazines are sometimes slightly more flexible. If you can't figure out when press day is, then simply call up and find out. Larger news rooms often have an editorial assistant or a secretary whose job it is to field such enquiries, otherwise call one of the reporters. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 29
  • 32. From having worked in many different publications press day is usually highly pressured, unpleasant and people are in a bad mood as there is a mad rush to get all the content written, subbed and edited by the publishing deadline – believe me this is probably one of the worst times to call a newsroom and pitch an idea. If it's a daily newspaper or newswire I would suggest calling in the morning, but it all depends on how busy the reporters are on the day. Newswire reporters, besides covering breaking news, usually have a set number of stories that they write at certain times of the day. So for example, someone who covers the stock market might be expected to write an opening (or pre-open) market report, a midday one and a closing report. So it's good to be sensitive to their schedule. If there's a really big story breaking – a ministerial resignation, a declaration of war, a major crisis of some sort etc... – you probably won't get a great reception unless you have something interesting or unique to say about that crisis. Under such circumstances journalists covering other areas are often dragged in to help out, a case of all hands on deck and as such other stories that would normally be considered important suddenly become much lower priority. But back to the pitch. When making your call make sure it is crafted to suit that particular publication and possibly the journalist in question – maybe you made some effort to familiarise yourself with their writing beforehand? And in your pitch clarify your interest in the story and how you are connected with it. Let's say it's about a proposed piece of legislation. Describe how it could effect your industry and how you know this because you operate in it. After the telephone conversation you should have a fairly good idea if your idea is a runner or not. If it is make sure you quickly follow up with any extra information requested. But remember – what ever is said, it is not a guarantee that you will be quoted in any story or written about, even if you've spent a lot of time on the phone or compiling useful background information. What sometimes happens is that a story evolves, the angle changes as new information comes to light and what you discussed with a journalist yesterday is no longer relevant today. Maybe the rumour or the speculation has now become fact or dismissed out of hand by some new revelation. There have been many occasions when I've had to rewrite a story from scratch because of some breaking news and had to completely rethink the angle and unfortunately that meant a lot of the quotes I was using were no longer relevant. Or the editor decides to edit out your quotes, usually to shrink the size of the story to make it fit on the page or because the quotes don't seen that relevant. It's happened to me as a journalist and I've done it to other journalists' stories when I've been editor, it's just the nature of the business I'm afraid. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 30
  • 33. Some Notes About Bloggers: One of the key differences between bloggers and a newspaper or magazine is that they are usually the personal opinions of the author or authors and in many cases are done as a hobby. Though, some blogs have evolved to the point where they are actually businesses supported by advertising and affiliated marketing. In a sense a blog is more akin to a personal opinion column, which you typically find in newspapers. You therefore want to get fully acquainted with that bloggers' likes and dislikes before approaching them. If they deal with subjects in an even handed way then that is good. But if you notice that a blogger has a tendency to be verbally nasty towards something he or she dislikes, then you might want to reconsider approaching them. Also, most are only contactable by email or by posting responses on their blog, whereas with journalists, you can usually phone them as well. Now the point about it being a personal opinion column is important, because if you mess up in your approach it could backfire and see that event as becoming the subject of a blog post, whereas cocking up your pitch to a publication will more than likely just see you being ignored. Otherwise, you could get involved in the conversation on the blog by posting your own thoughts and opinions. Bloggers tend to be more casual than journalists, who are subject to far more constraints in what they can write and how they write it (style guides, not allowed to express personal opinions in an article etc...). As such take a more laid back approach when dealing with bloggers. And of course you should become a blogger yourself. It's really easy to set one up, just go to Word Press (www.http://wordpress.org), they can host it for you for free and later on you can if you wish host it on your own website. It's very easy to use and you can be ready to blog within five minutes of starting the set-up. I would suggest practising on it for a few weeks before developing your readership, such as listing it on your website and before listing it in various blog directories. There are other free blog hosting sites available such as from Google. Oh and here's another thing – journalists frequently read blogs and sometimes even quote from them, which I have done myself on occasion. You also engage with journalists on their blogs, many have them now. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 31
  • 34. The Interview (And Dealing With Misquotes) Let's deal with what must be one of the worst dreads of anyone who is interviewed: Being misquoted and it happens a lot. Mostly, this happens as a genuine error and is not done maliciously. So how to minimise this occurring to you? Partly this lies in the overall preparation for the interview and I will weave in some suggestions to answer the above question. Firstly, make sure you're well prepared for the interview, consider the questions that you might be asked and think about how you'd answer them, think about the interesting angles, do you have a unique point to make? Do you have the data and facts at hand to back your arguments? Look at it from the point of view of what makes a good story: It should answer six questions: Who? What? Where? Why? When? and How? It's what the famous poet Rudyard Kipling called his “six honest serving men” and they form the basis of good journalism. Good preparation also minimises the chance for awkwardness during the interview. For a journalist it's irritating to be greeted with answers to questions along the lines of “I don't know”, “I'm not sure”, “I think it's this, but don't quote me on that” etc... Obviously if you don't know, you don't know so don't make it up (you may want to make it clear at the beginning of the interview where your field of expertise lies). But those kind of answers do suggest that the person being interviewed doesn’t really know the subject that well and it does devalue them as a contact and as someone to quote. But back to dealing with misquotes. Secondly, don't speak at a 100MPH i.e. incredibly fast. That is a recipe for ensuring that much of what you say will be wasted and definitely massively increases the chances of either being misquoted or not being quoted at all, because the journalist simply couldn't keep up while taking notes, some do use recorders, but most don't. Having dealt with this situation myself on many occasions I have simply not quoted the person, because I prefer not to risk misquoting them and end up with all kinds of problems afterwards. Keep It Simple Slow So instead speak more slowly, give the guy on the other end of the phone a chance to actually write down what you're saying. Thirdly keep it simple and I appreciate that can be difficult to do, especially if you're talking about something quite complicated. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 32
  • 35. Think about analogies or some simple way of illustrating your point. A lot will also depend on the technical proficiency of the journalist you're talking with. If it's an experienced reporter from a trade publication you may go into much more detail and feel confident you'd be better understood than if you're talking to maybe a 'general news' journalist who has never covered your topic of interest before, but is having to do so because it's suddenly the story of the moment. If you want you can even follow up with an email along the lines of: “it was nice talking with you earlier and here are some quotes from our conversation, which you might find useful for your article.” And if after all that you are misquoted anyway? Then ask yourself is it really that serious? If not then I'd be inclined to let it go. However, if you did say something that you regretted and was quoted on, then I'm afraid that is your fault and your options for redress are extremely limited and it may come down to goodwill only for you to get your quote changed. It's extremely annoying after having published a story to be then challenged by the person you interviewed over quotes that he or she definitely made. Under those conditions an editor will almost certainly not issue a correction and if they have any backbone will stand firmly behind the reporter who wrote the story. The problem here is that editors hate issuing corrections and journalists can get into trouble with the editor and potentially the editor with the publisher as well. So issuing a public correction is a source of embarrassment to the editorial department as it implies sloppiness and a lack of care over facts and details. But if it is a genuine misquote and is serious and puts you in a very bad light then phone the journalist who wrote the story explaining clearly your grievance and follow that up with an email. Again, keep it polite and as unemotive as possible as after all you do want to build up a good relationship with that publication and you will probably want to talk with them again in the future. And at this point you do need their cooperation to rectify the problem, even if they caused it. Alternatives to issuing a correction, could involve simply re-running the story with the correct quote or issuing a clarification or in extremely rare cases running another story or running it again without your quote. If you're not getting any joy with the reporter who wrote the piece then escalate it to the editor. Beyond that you're getting into legal territory and it becomes confrontational and expensive and will ruin, probably for years to come, any potential relationship with that publication. Parachute Journalism A classic recent case of misunderstanding and misinformation is that of rare earths, which have rocketed in price, because China, which supplies over 95% of the 33 Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 36. world's needs is cutting back exports. This is causing a real headache for engineering and technology companies in the West and Japan. Though the market for these obscure elements is tiny they are critical to all kinds of technologies ranging from missile guidance systems, hybrid electric vehicles through to smart phones. And compared with most commodities rare earth elements are complex and traded in opaque markets. Suddenly, you have journalists who have no familiarity with topic having to quickly write stories about it. So you can see the potential for misquotes, misunderstandings and incorrect stories. You get this with war zones to. A war breakouts in some far flung part of the planet, the world's media descend upon it, hence the term parachute journalism, to cover the event, but know little about the background of the war, the history, the players and the cultures involved. Ultimately, I would suggest you start every interview by saying something along the lines of “if there is anything I'm saying that you don't understand feel free to interrupt and ask at any time during the interview” and also “feel free to come back to me if you want any clarifications on anything including quotes.” To avoid the chance of being misquoted, it is common practice for big law firms, consultancies, banks and multinationals to only grant interviews on the basis that they will be allowed to check their quotes before publication. Not every publication, especially the most prestigious, will accept those terms, but most do as it potentially saves both sides from possible embarrassment. As a small business there's no harm in you politely requesting a quote check, just to make sure there are no misunderstandings. Often it will be granted. What most journalists will not do is send a draft of the entire article before hand so you can influence its tone or direction as that would undermine editorial integrity. Another point when giving an interview is to be careful with saying “this is for background only” or “this is off the record” or “don't quote me on that.” Many PR professionals will tell you if you don't want to be quoted on something then simply don't say it in the first place. I agree with that up to a point. I would only do that if you trust the reporter you're talking to. Public Affairs professionals, PR people who work with politicians and policy makers and often called lobbyists, frequently talk to the press and it is usually on background only. They often have some interesting insight or other to pass on, the objective for them is not so much to be quoted, but to influence the tone of the article so it favours the interests they're promoting. Trade publications are more likely to respect 'off the record' requests. That's partly because of the need to get on with people in the industry they cover and also because trade publications are usually less competitive than the big dailies. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 34
  • 37. There's less guarantee of cooperation from say a 'hot shot' journalist at a big daily newspaper, desperate to make a name for themselves. They could well use your 'off the record' quote anyway, especially if it makes their story really good. Politicians know this all too well! So use your judgement, especially if you're talking about something commercially or legally sensitive. Many years ago, I heard of a currency analyst with a major city bank who was nearly sacked because he said something to a reporter from a well known newspaper naming one of the bank's clients in a transaction – all on background of course. The reporter printed the name of the client anyway (a big insurance company I vaguely remember). After the story was out, the bank had to grovel to their furious client and the analyst received a severe reprimand from his bosses. I heard later on that the reporter got promoted and she clearly was quite unscrupulous about burning her sources if it helped her career! Fortunately, her type are more the exception than the norm. From experience 'off the record comments' are often by far the most interesting. The Golden Quote One thing Reuters journalists are taught to look for, and I have been on the training course, is the 'golden quote.” In PR parlance that means a sound bite. This is basically a quote that is interesting, catchy, original, novel or somehow just sums it all up. The Business secretary, Vince Cable, is a master at that having used terms such as 'casino banking' to describe the activities of investment banking – whether or not he coined it I don't know, but it sounds catchy and is easy to understand and is closely associated with the points he has been making about what he sees as the failings of the financial system. Indeed, politicians or their speech writers or PR experts, are very good at coming up with memorable and catchy quotes, designed to define them or their policies. Some examples: Ronald Reagan on terrorists: “you can run, but you can't hide,” Margaret Thatcher: “The lady is not for turning.” Tony Blair: “The party of fox hunting, Pinochet and hereditary peers: the uneatable, the unspeakable and the unelectable (he was of course referring to the Tories).” And unintentionally amusing and contradictory: “A day like today is not a day for sound bites, really. But I feel the hand of history upon our shoulders. I really do (a reference to the successful Northern Ireland talks in bringing peace with the IRA)” And then maybe the greatest of them all is Winston Churchill who coined so many clever and catchy phrases that entire books have been dedicated to citing them. Here are some memorable quotes from the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2007 from people in the business world. ”Capitalism without financial failure is not capitalism at all, but a kind of socialism for the rich,” - James Grant, Grant's Interest Rate Observer Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 35
  • 38. “When the music stops in terms of liquidity, things will get complicated. But as long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance. We're still dancing,” - Chuck Prince, Citigroup "America is more communist than China is right now. You can see that this is welfare of the rich, it is socialism for the rich," Jim Rogers, trader. “You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out - and what we are witnessing at some of our largest financial institutions is an ugly sight," Warren Buffett, legendary investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. In fact the last two, Warren Buffett and Jim Rogers are two very media savvy people, besides being very successful investors. Both are extremely adept at coming up with memorable quotes, with a splatter of dramatic language or interesting analogies, that get repeated across the media over and over again. Now obviously famous politicians or business people don't have much difficulty getting interviewed or quoted, but the 'golden quote' helps get their point across. For someone who is unknown to the public or the media the golden quote has the double objective of not just getting a point across, but of being quoted in the first place and hopefully near the top of the article. And the very best company spokespeople are aware of that, so before your interview think of some 'golden quotes' and also think of the 'golden quote' when you write your news release. Relationship Building Journalists are people and journalism is very much a people business. So your success in getting mentioned in the media will to a large extent depend on the type of relationships you build with the gate keepers of those various media; be they editors, journalists or bloggers. One good way of starting a relationship is to simply invite them out for lunch or a coffee – a very common practice by PR professionals, if that's practicable. It's a chance for the journalist to learn about you and crucially for you to learn about them. What are they working on at the moment? What are their areas of enthusiasm/interest? How do they decide on stories? How much of the decision making on what stories to write is down to them or the editor? What particular angle does the publication pursue? Also, try and develop a more personal relationship, such as personal interests, children, travel, sport etc... Again, after lunch follow up with an email, along the lines of it was great meeting you for lunch today, I look forward to talking with you in the future etc... The other place to meet journalists is at conferences and exhibitions i.e. places that are largely designed to create opportunities for networking. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 36
  • 39. Look out for any journalists or editors giving speeches and go and meet them afterwards. Or find out whether any relevant publications will be sending someone along to cover the conference and make an appointment to meet up with them. You could extend the same invitation to bloggers, or if they can't attend you could offer to feed them some anecdotal stories about the conference, comments on an interesting speech, gossip (as long as it isn't libellous), report on whether people seemed upbeat or not, there was a lot of excitement when XYZ unveiled it's latest product or something amusing happened when someone was giving a speech etc... Ideally with you writing the post in your own name with a link back to your website. As well as covering serious stuff, blogs are ideal for writing about the lighter side of a topic. Before offering any info make sure you tailor it to what that particular blogger is interested in. It's possible they may not want any light trivial stories so make sure you enquire before hand. Does your company hold an annual party? Or a product launch party – then why not invite the press. If it's the Christmas party and it tends to get a bit raunchy and wild then maybe not. Otherwise if you can pass on difficult to get information that can also be very helpful and appreciated and is good for relationship building. Another route is to track down journalists' blogs and twitter feeds and simply engage with them on what they're writing. Over time that could develop into a good relationship and put you in pole position to be quoted or even contacted when that journalist or blogger is seeking a comment from you. Other than that try and keep in touch fairly regularly, but not over the top. Writing The News Release If you don't have a lot of experience with writing then you may find this a little challenging at first, but it's not complicated and it's really a case of getting into the mindset of writing news releases. To make this easier, I would take a very formulaic approach to doing this. There are a number of advantages to this approach. It allows the reader to quickly get a grasp of what the story is about, hopefully that will come from the headline, but it should be clear at least by the opening paragraph. The other advantage with formulas is that once mastered, they're relatively easy and quick to replicate. So let's start with the layout and once you've decided on a particular format, which includes where everything will go, type face (times new roman, arial etc...) then stick with it for the sake of consistency. I would recommend this layout: Name of Your company right at the top Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 37 Note t
  • 40. Name of Your company right at the top Today's date In bold the header: News Release Your headline Your copy At the bottom you should have: Press contact: Name, position, telephone number & email address Note to editors: this bit is for background describing what your company does, a bit about its history, where it's based (city & country), if you want it can give figures on turnover etc... But keep the whole news release short and relevant. Ideally news releases should not be more than 2 pages long. The way to structure your copy, is to do so in the same way a journalist would write a news story, after all that is what you're hoping your news release will become – a printed news story. So make it easy for a journalist to write it up. The Egyptians Weren't The Only Ones Into Pyramids The most common structure is the pyramid one. What that basically means is that the top of the story contains the most important facts with the less important ones mentioned towards the bottom of the story. To help you decide what is most important about your announcement and how to write it, imagine having a conversation with a friend down the pub or over lunch. How would you summarise it for them while keeping it in simple every day language, what would come first? How would you explain your points? Here is a little exercise that might help. Simply type word for word a number of small Reuters, Bloomberg or FT news stories. You need to do at least 3 or 4. After a while you will begin to appreciate that they are constructed in a very particular structure and are usually tightly written. But only do this exercise on news stories – not opinion pieces like the FT's Lex column, Reuters' breakingviews or big feature stories that are usually printed inside the FT. Though a lot of this copy is great, often superbly well written, it is not a relevant writing style for news stories, which have to be to the point and more neutral in style. In other words it is not about clever writing or worse flowery time wasting prose. Bloomberg stories in particular, tend to be very formulaic. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 38
  • 41. The Bloomberg way is to start with writing the headline and once that's done, then proceed to write the first paragraph and so on. You don't have to be rigid about this, I sometimes take this approach, but mostly I end up writing the first paragraph and then the headline straight after or on occasion leave it until right at the end so I can come up with a headline that captures the essence of what I have just written. But most experts advise that starting with the headline is the best way. Also, write in the present tense, it is more lively and delivers a greater sense of urgency. Tips On Writing Headlines It should say what the story is about Don't get cute and try and use clever puns or phrases Keep the headline on one line and if possible keep it short Try and make it catchy or make a strong claim (provided you can support it). It depends on the circumstances, but it can start with: How To...., Five Ways To..., Why XYZ Will Change Retailing Forever, Is ABC really better than XYZ? (maybe a comment on a new gadget that has just been released and how it compares with something else on the market) I would call these typical copywriter headlines (i.e. people who write marketing and sales copy). And that's fine in the right context. These type of headlines work well for new videos, podcasts or reports that are designed to help your target audience, such as if you're a gardening centre: Five Tips For Getting Your Garden Through Winter etc... (providing that it's topical). Unfortunately, those sort of headlines probably won't get you maximum mileage with news driven journalists, such as those who work for news wire services. A more newsy approach is better: So a tech company might go for something like this: New Gamma Widget Boosts Call Centre Efficiency by Cutting Call Waiting Times 20% (if one of your key words – we'll come to those very shortly – is call centres then you want to try and somehow get that in the headline as done here) otherwise New Gamma Widget Cuts Call Waiting Times By 20% If you're a financial adviser: July's 5% Drop In Mortgage Approvals Reflects Fall In Attractive Products 39 Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley
  • 42. The 5% drop in mortgage approvals for July reported today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders partly reflects the growing number of attractive mortgage products being pulled from the market as lenders' tighten their loan criteria Over the last month at least 30 mortgage products have been withdrawn from the market and replaced with more expensive offers..... Adapt Headlines & News Releases To Audience That might be suitable for the personal finance section of a daily newspaper, which means you need to get that news release out very soon after the data is made public. So if that data is important to your particular market, make sure it's in your diary and be prepared for its release looking at what you could write depending on which scenario plays out. On the other hand if you're targeting a personal finance magazine or website you could re-angle that headline. Those publications will be more interested in giving their readers some useful advice i.e. add some value to that news (the more tailored your news releases are to your different audiences the more likely they are to be used). So for that audience you might change the headline to this: Seven Tips For Obtaining The Best Mortgage Deals or Seven Tips For Getting The Best Mortgages Deals July's 5% drop in mortgage approvals is proof that lenders are increasingly tightening up their lending criteria, however there are seven steps a credit-worthy borrower can take to substantially improve their chances of getting a good deal on a loan. And as your PR campaign is ultimately about supporting your sales and marketing efforts and is aimed at your client base as well as relevant journalists – think about incorporating search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques. Now the topic of SEO is a whole area of specialisation in its own right and beyond the scope of this report. But it is an area constantly subject to change as marketeers try and figure out exactly what criteria search engines such as Google use to rank websites under various key words. What these search engines are ultimately trying to do is provide useful and relevant information to match people's web searches But what it basically means in the context of your news releases is building in key words or phrases into your copy so when your news release is out there on your website or on someone else's it stands a chance of being picked up and given a good ranking by search engines. Copyright © 2012 by Justin Pugsley 40