ConvergeSouth2012

1. Getting
Press’
the ……
Attention

6. The one-slide secret to
working with the press
• Understanding commercial media
• Relationships
• Credibility
• Making the right pitch

7. Commercial Media = Exposure
Buy it Get it free
Control Say . . .
• Content
• Timing “Goodbye control”
• Placement

8. Reporter’s Editor’s Your
Job Job Job
Compromise
• Time
• Talent
• Space
Sales Sales

9. Relationships
• Making connections first
• Meet reporters, editors
• Figure out who covers what
• Figure out who makes decisions

10. Your credibility
• Offer story tips even when you have
nothing to gain
• Be honest . . . don’t oversell
• Be realistic
• Understand the difference between
ads and editorial content

11. Your credibility, V. 2.0
Stuff happens
When it does

12. Understanding media
• They’re busy. Get to the point
• They’re motivated by what’s new, different,
bigger, broken, changed, unusual
• They prize their credibility
• They want stories with the broadest possible
appeal
• They want real-people examples
• With non-profits, they want to share the
wealth

13. Make the right pitch
• Have a narrow purpose
• Be realistic
• Unless you’re buying ads, don’t
promise your boss or board what the
media will deliver

14. Make the right pitch
• Tell them early
• Make it easy
• Frame your idea for wide
• Think visually
• How can you help?

15. Suggest
Bonus tip
a
Partnership

16. An editor’s Peeves
• Last-minute Minnies
• NQR Ninnies
• Molly Moochers
• Entitlement Eddy’s
• Negative News Nancy’s

17. Now you be the editor
An exercise
• 10 minutes
• 10 stories
• Expect interruptions

18. Now you be the editor
An exercise
Pick . . .
– Four stories for page field
• 1 story for news lead
• 1 story for main display
• No more than one with secondary art
• Four stories for page field
– One story with art for sky box
– One story to lead left rail

19. Your 10 stories
• Non-profit with record of successful service celebrates 50th
anniversary. 15 inches. w/ photos.
• Greensboro City Council debates changes to city recycling
program. No decision made. Meeting highly contentious. 18
inches. No visuals.
• Popular long-time, former high school football coach dies in
nursing home. 12 inches. w/ file photos.
• Weather expected to turn colder overnight, first frost possible. 7
inches. w/ chart.
• Convenience store robbery in High Point. No suspects. 5 inches.
No visuals.
• Local manufacturer announces it will add 150 jobs paying $40K
over next three years. 16 inches. w/ locator map.
• Trial preview story in year-old homicide case. 10 inches. w/ file
mug shot of defendant.
• Service club announces it is accepting applications for
scholarship program it sponsors. 4 inches. No visuals.
• Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 2.4%. w/ chart.
• Car, school bus collide, killing car driver and injuring nine
children. 22 inches. w/ photos.

20. Questions