Those focusing on events often are called event listings. Feature — A story that gives detailed information on an issue, a trend, a situation, an industry, a company or organization, or a person. Feature stories can be submitted to community newspapers and magazines query first on paper or on disk. Camera-ready features can be created and sent to community newspapers as well.
Ideas for features can be pitched to various media. Filler — A short piece of interesting but minor or untimely material that the print media can use to either fill space or to provide community interest information. Free speech message — The broadcast version of the guest editorial, these are opinions presented by an individual or group on a topic of general public interest. They are taped at the radio or TV station.
News release — A news story written for and released to the news media, particularly newspaper. News releases submitted to newspaper are written according to CP style guidelines. When a news release is prepared for radio, it is written according to BN style guidelines. A news release can be distributed on paper, on disk, by email, by a PR newswire, or posted on a website. Other alternatives include Sports News, Business News, etc. Promo — A broadcast announcement that promotes an upcoming program or activity on a radio or TV station.
PR photographs — Photographs taken for publicity purposes and submitted with cutlines to the print media. Photos may illustrate a news release, fact sheet or other PR tools. Public service announcement PSA — A broadcast announcement, for which no charge is made, that promotes the programs, activities, or services of governments nonpartisan , nonprofit organizations, or other groups serving community interests.
Information for PSAs can be prepared in point form, as a script, or pre-recorded. Radio program or feature — Taped news and public affairs features provided by an organization at no charge to radio stations. Programs and features may be on such topics as consumer hints, author interviews, and new product information. Reader tip sheets — Sheets that contain helpful tips on various subjects for media audiences.
Video news release VNR — A videotaped news story produced by an organization and distributed to television newsrooms. VNRs are particularly useful at times of crisis or when an organization has an angle based on unusualness or human interest.
VNRs may be accompanied by B-roll footage. Audio phone feed — Providing radio stations with a special number they can call to tape one or two minutes or less of information you have recorded for continuous automatic sending. This provides stations with actualities they can use. Interview — An organizational spokesperson is interviewed by a reporter at the request of either the organization or the reporter. A broadcast interview can be live or taped for presentation later. Media availability — Informing reporters that a spokesperson will be available for interviews on a specific date s at a specific time or times at a specific location.
A well designed and laid out website communicates a lot about a company. For small businesses, the Internet is a great equalizer as it shows off your company as well as any big business. Social Media is relatively inexpensive, and it gives you a ready channel to hear from your customers and respond to their needs in real time.
Social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube are also great for small budget organizations and Non-Profits as they allow for inexpensive and direct target marketing for your promotions. A social media policy is a must for every organization.
Set boundaries beforehand for employees so that they would be no major fallouts. AP employees must refrain from declaring their views on contentious public issues in any public forum and must not take part in demonstrations in support of causes or movements.
This includes liking and following pages and groups that are associated with these causes or movements. Companies tend to create a crisis communications plan after a crisis has happened. Hire clowns, comedians and entertainers to make your events fun and easygoing. Staking your name and reputation before your product or service is ready could bring negative reviews. First focus on bringing the best out of your product or service before going public with it.
A good product is more likely to get better press upon review. Identify the media outlet and if possible, the journalist that will most likely take your pitch. A customized pitch shows you are organized and know what you are talking about. Always plan your PR efforts ahead. Most media produce either daily, weekly or monthly so think of them in advance to ensure coverage.
Create a PR plan with press announcements that are well-timed before each season, holiday, business calendar announcement and other events. Having a well-organized media or press page on your website will project an image of being organized.
In addition, provide a where to go in the site for press queries, press releases, bios, company facts and history, and archival material — resources that media would like to use. Small business owners are the heart of American ingenuity. Leverage your position to provide insights in regards to your industry, on running a business, current affairs and others.
Podcasts are widely popular and have millions of listeners. You can use them to amplify your presence. You might be so invested in your product or service and so convinced of its importance to the market it can seem inevitable people will want to write about it. It is always okay to miss targets in your first try. What is important is to learn from your mistakes and work towards achieving your goals.
Work towards improving your appeal and pitch. It might take a lot of telephone ping pong, emails and mixers to get the media on board. Always keep on trying. Your goal is to connect with as many people as possible. You should not connect with everybody but with people who look after the section of the very publications you want to get into.
Aim to become a good contact person who has knowledge about your industry and community. In this ever-connected world, news travels fast; if you blink you might have missed it. In public relations, speed is not just about getting news out the door. What it actually is reflected in the way a company disseminates relevant and timely information to its customers and business partners.
Always make sure you monitor all reports, comments about your business to see how you fare with the general public. Make sure you have the capability to analyze the impact of coverage or comments so that you can respond with the appropriate degree be it positive or otherwise.
There can be tremendous pressure to respond immediately, it is never a good idea to make a statement before you understand all of the facts. Consult with involved employees or other stakeholders so that you are clear about exactly what happened and what information has been published.
You might be tempted to respond to a crisis by sharing every detail, but keep in mind reputation management is about sharing what the public needs to know, not what you want to say.
Be content with providing just enough information so they understand your response. Focus on giving a good level of detail to those who are actually impacted by the problem. Businesses are ever more conscious of the values of lifetime customers and customer relationship management. The key here is to recognize keeping your customers satisfied for the long term is more important than the immediate sale or the profits from it.
Likewise, treat the press as you would a customer. Preserve the relationship so that the media concerned will continue to be friendly and receptive when you call with your next pitch. Never violate your code of ethics for PR or any other business pursuit. The media, in particular, are better able than other people to spot unethical behavior.
If you try to pull a fast one on the media such as offering a bribe, chances are they will spot it and it will backfire terribly. Good business ethics maintain your reputation and enhance your assets.
People who trust you are more likely to do business with you. For every outreach make sure you have a plan. The plan is just the start but will help you get through the intricacies required for your success. Make sure your plan defines explicitly what the key deliverables are and how they measure success.
Integrity is the cement that must be in place to assure your promotion. Integrity means not compromising yourself and taking the high road whenever you can. Stick with the right decision even when you know it may not be the most popular decision. Whether it is a press conference, an interview or an event always have a press kit on hand. This will show you have thought things through and are prepared for any eventuality. Your press kit should be impactful enough for the media to be intrigued and understand your company better.
Your PR efforts should focus on people who are already influencing your target customer. Look for people who have a lot of clout and build that relationship. Help them understand your message and how their followers can relate to you.
A successful relationship will help build trust between your company and its customers. Building positive relationships with the right media outlets is essential to developing trust. Press releases are an easy way to get credibility and publicity. Submit your press releases to media outlets to help you garner exposure in business journals, newspapers, radio shows and television morning shows. PR resources can be expensive sometimes. Regardless of what your budget is, make sure your budget covers all your priorities.
You never know when you might need to use it to promote last-minute releases and ads. Getting good media coverage is good. Make sure your clients and prospects know about the coverage as well. By sharing your media coverage, you are making it known your business is in the spotlight and is credible. Lying about your company is the surest and fastest way of destroying your business and reputation. Your PR efforts must uphold the principles of truth and accountability, which are vital to building trust and credibility with all stakeholders.
You should work with the assumption the truth will come to light, regardless of what you say. Makes sure you have a crisis communications team in the event a crisis occurs. Your crisis team will be tasked for planning a crisis response and ensuring its execution. They can also develop strategies to address the situation, identify responses, and monitor the media.
Follow these simple rules. Always tell the truth; be prepared; show you care; make fast decisions; and make swift adjustments. In a crisis always demonstrate care and compassion. If you are not sure you cannot handle your PR outreach in-house, always have the option of hiring a PR firm. A PR firm can help you set up your PR efforts, provide you with analytics in terms of reach and use their connections to leverage you some media exposure.
The task, planning and executing PR efforts can be overwhelming. If you have access to the internet you can tap into a treasure trove of templates and planners that are freely available to download.
A blog can be a great way to tell your story with relative ease. Another reason to have a blog of your own is it will make it easier for bloggers to include you in their blogs. If you are looking for an effective outreach bring consistency in messaging and a unity of purpose to your outreach. It will also help significantly if you have a dedicated individual who handles all your communications.
A celebrity endorsement has some great returns. Be a talent spotter, look towards the long term when you pick your celebrity and make sure you have a bulletproof contract.
Your celebrity might not hang around if he or she will get other tempting offers. In order to capitalize on your celebrity, design a wide-ranging program of events for your celebrity to be involved in. Above all keep the rights to all the photos and endorsements. Make sure you have free t-shirts, caps, flash drives or even a gift basket in your events. Thank your most loyal customers by giving them something nice, reward staff with freebies, or hand out company calendars.
These will help build your brand and increase your visibility in your community. A branded apron for the summer or a cool T-shirt can take you a long way. Human interest stories sell, especially in regards to small communities. If you have a product you want to launch think of the types of reporter who will be interested in it. Send out an advance sample to the media to get good reviews on it and create a need among your customers.
A good product review will always beat an ad drive. Choose a record that is relevant to your business and then try to break it. It could be by sponsoring the largest pizza in the state or the highest number of turnouts to your events. Invite the media as well as personalities within your community to become part of the fanfare as well.
In a customer-oriented world where a positive happy public face can bring customers to your door creating a mascot is both simple and fun. While choosing your mascot make sure it symbolizes the spirit of your company, develops positive impact and is engaging. Read, research and stay informed with everything in your industry. To better position yourself as a resource person for media looking to garner insights from you.
If you are knowledgeable in your industry you will be highly sought after to comment on developing stories. For example, 'This seems like it could be a good fit for one of the short front-of-the-book features you write,' or 'It seems like this might work as one of the interviews you do toward the end of hour.
Just shock the audience; give them something new, unique, something worth talking about. I believe that no single person is boring, and there is always an angle that you can take advantage of to make a story worth sharing. Reporters can spot a copy-and-paste job from a mile away. My inbox was constantly filled with publicists from Los Angeles and New York trying to get their clients on our morning show.
News flash — I'm a general assignment reporter, not the executive morning producer. Sending some positive feedback on recent work lets a reporter know you went the extra mile to read their stuff and identify the right contact.
Sammi Caramela contributed to the reporting and writing in this article. Some source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article. Max Freedman. If you're trying to get coverage from a publication, it's important to pitch journalists the right way. Here are five PR tactics that work, according to the journalists who receive them. What is public relations? What are some common PR activities? Generally, PR clients fall into one of three categories: Businesses: From small businesses selling futuristic, potentially game-changing products to large businesses such as leading department stores, businesses need PR to make sure their products and services receive proper attention from the media and present themselves to the consumers who ultimately power their profits.
Nonprofit organizations: Like businesses, nonprofit organizations need their goals and messaging to be well known to the public to succeed in their missions, and PR is crucial to these efforts.
Individuals: Public figures — be they performing artists or Fortune entrepreneurs — may hire publicists to promote their recent works or accomplishments. In addition to performing and offering the many common PR activities and PR tools, publicists act as a buffer between public figures and media figures looking to speak with or cover them, allowing the public figures to focus on their work instead of relations with their followers.
What tools are necessary in public relations?
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