Category Archives: Events

Pitching Media in the Digital Age: Journalists from Huffington Post & USA Today Weigh In

photo-620x830

Arin Greenwood of Huffington Post talks for a packed lunch crowd while Gwen Flanders of USA Today looks on.

The Independent Public Relations Alliance held a packed house lunchtime program in April called, “Secrets to Getting Ink in Traditional and Digital Media” with journalists from the Huffington Post and USA Today. There was plenty of practical advice on pitching that will ring true for PR pros.Gwen Flanders from USA Today covers breaking news. She said pitches should be succinct and to the point (include the 5Ws and the H – who, what, where, when, why, how) and that pitching multiple people in the newsroom is frowned upon. Arin Greenwood  from Huffington Post’s DC page said that pitching multiple people is fine for them, so there is some wiggle room on this point, based on the outlets  being targeted.

Both Flanders and Greenwood prefer pitches arrive via email. Faxes don’t make it onto news desks, so don’t fax anything unless requested. Both recommend including the topic in the subject line (no teasing or coy headlines, no beating around the bush).

It’s essential that PR pros check their work and avoid type-os if they want for a pitch to be taken seriously by journalists. Flanders noted one public relations firm in particular, is notorious for sending out terrible press releases loaded with errors – she ignores anything the firm sends out.

Researching who covers a topic on the outlet’s website, is critical to making a successful pitch. Thankfully, because of the internet, doing this footwork is easier now than its ever been. “It’s your credibility and you should check your work,” said Flanders. “Do your homework and find out who the right person is.”

It’s important to note the perspective of the outlet when putting together your pitch. USA Today is a national newspaper that wants unreported national trends and does not want stories that have already appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post or other competitors. They love exclusives. USA Today especially likes trends that are popping up here, there and everywhere, but have not quite bubbled to critical mass yet. The Huffington Post DC page where Greenwood works is focused on DC based stories, not national ones (although they are routinely pitched national ones).

Deadlines for editors and reporters are constant now in this space. “If I’m at work, I’m on deadline,” said Flanders. She observed that she has double the duties she used to have and edits twice the number of stories she did a few years ago.

The digital world also means story enhancements – graphs, videos, photos, slide shows and interactive elements are more important – so mention these elemental possibilities when pitching a story. Greenwood noted that trying to call journalists at the end of the day is almost always a bad idea – as they are tired, grumpy, and generally trying to get things wrapped up so they can get out of the office.

The digital and print worlds have been on a collision course for a long time. In addition to ratcheting up the deadline pressure to a feverish and never-ending hum, the online world is also opening up new avenues for readership. Flanders noted that USA Today has 1.3 million print readers each day, but has double that number of readers online for its website.

For Huffington Post, readership is a key factor in decision making about a story. “The ‘clicky-er’ it is, the more likely we will write it up,” says Greenwood. Having a DC angle with a story line that stands out is critical for Huffington Post’s D.C. page. Greenwood said, “If it’s saucy enough, we will go for it. The less work you can make me do to figure out if we want to do a story,  the better.”

When it comes to follow-ups, both journalists expressed frustration with public relations staffers who do multiple follow-ups that intrude on their limited time. “Follow up once, not four times,” said Greenwood. And don’t be pushy, advised Flanders.

“Twitter is one more place to look for good stories,” noted Greenwood, when asked by audience members about how they use social media for news gathering. Stories featuring real and living people still reign supreme, said Greenwood.  Flanders noted that her reporters watch Twitter for story ideas, and that attempting to drum up artificial hype in social media is also noticed  (but not in a positive way).

Greenwood said she appreciates the work public relations professionals do and that she wants to hear from them with relevant story pitches. She also reminded the audience that Huffington Post allows blog posts that focus on issues (don’t be overly self-promotional) and op-ed submissions.

PRSA-NCC member and IPRA founding member Ami Neiberger-Miller owns Steppingstone LLC, an independent public relations consultancy working with nonprofit and association clients, with a special focus on supporting organizations assisting trauma survivors. This post originally appeared on her blog.

See You on Stage!

NKDEP Kidney Sundays Toolkit_Page_01

At Ogilvy, we view entering the PRSA-NCC Thoth Awards as an annual opportunity to showcase work that exemplifies our creed: ideas and solutions that make a real impact in fresh, original, and noteworthy ways.

Ogilvy Washington submitted entries to more than 20 categories last year and was recognized across nine– winning three Thoths and six Certificates of Excellence. The thrill of the evening was taking home our very first Best in Show award for “Kidney Sundays Help African Americans Understand Their Risk for Kidney Disease,” with the National Kidney Disease Education Program.

Entering the Thoth Awards offers your organization the chance to reflect on the work your team does throughout the year and be recognized for it. While winning is great, the pursuit can be just as satisfying. Of course the formula for winning Best of Show is a closely held secret of the Thoth judging committee, but here are a few helpful tips that helped us create winning entries in multiple categories:

  • It starts with the work: Great campaigns are rooted in solid research and deliver real results that make a positive impact for your client. Tell that story!
  • Every detail matters: Support your entry with meaningful data, detailed results and demonstrated success.
  • Enter in multiple categories, but tailor each submission to the language and requirements of each specific category.
  • Dare to take a fresh look at your campaign.It is likely that there is a supporting element of your campaign that deserves the spotlight. The Thoth Awards offer the opportunity to bring those elements to the forefront in the “Component” categories.  Don’t miss this chance to win!
  • Don’t be discouraged if you didn’t win last year – every new client campaign provides a new opportunity to be awarded for your work in partnership with your client.  The value of losing is in learning why you didn’t win. Request the score sheet to determine how you can refine and retool your campaign approach. We do – and we’ve learned a lot about our work in the process.

Think your work could be a winner – Enter it in this year’s Thoth

We are looking forward to a great Thoth Gala in 2013. See you (hopefully) in the winner’s circle!

Tiana Allen, Account Supervisor, Ogilvy Washington

Ellen Birek, Vice President External Relations, Ogilvy Washington

Free e-tools and apps for the busy PR professional

We’ve all had those exasperating moments at the office when we stomp and fume, “There’s got to be a better way of doing this!”

That’s definitely the case when you’re a solo practitioner, or you’re a one-person PR department. Efficiency and productivity take on new meaning when it’s just you and your computer, and you have no support staff.

Marcus O'Malley at a recent IPRA luncheon.

Marcus O’Malley talks about free e-tools at the IPRA luncheon.

Luckily, there are a lot of slick web and mobile applications out there, many of them free, that can make your life easier. A couple of weeks ago, Marcus O’Malley of Immerge Technologies gave the Independent Public Relations Alliance an excellent overview of some time-saving, life-simplifying e-tools that PR professionals can put to use right away.

In addition, there are quite a few publications and blogs that provide good advice to entrepreneurs and small business owners, and they often provide lists of apps worth checking out. One source of small business advice that I like is The New York Times’ “You’re the Boss—The Art of Running a Small Business.” This blog has lots of great stories and ideas.

So if you haven’t already discovered these, here are a few free apps worth exploring (even if you’re not self-employed):

Google’s suite of office tools. Most people are aware of Gmail and Google Docs, but Google offers many other products that can increase your productivity and improve your professional image. For example, you can create aliases for your Gmail accounts to give them the appearance of coming from your business address. You can aggregate and manage various Gmail accounts and link them to Google’s calendar. You can also create “hangouts” for collaboration and group chatting.

Screenr. This free, screen-capturing tool allows you to create screencasts of websites, including recording your own voice-over. It’s extremely helpful for explaining to customers or clients how to login to an account or manage content. Check out this Screenr video by Marcus that explains how to use some of Google’s free tools.

FreeConferenceCall.com. I’ve used this conference call service myself, which allows you to set up calls (and record them) at no cost to you. The only catch is that participants must make a long-distance call to dial in, but nowadays most people are able to make free long-distance calls anyway.

CamCard. How many times have you been to a networking event, collected a bunch of business cards and then failed to follow up because you’ve tossed them into a drawer, never to be seen again? CamCard scans the information from business cards using your smartphone’s camera and then allows you to save and organize the information for later use.

MailChimp. This easy-to-use email service allows you to create your own marketing emails and e-newsletters. You can create lists, monitor opens and click-throughs and customize the look of your emails with your own artwork.

DropBox. Tired of losing flash drives or leaving them at home? DropBox is one of the original cloud storage applications. Once you’ve set it up on your computer, tablet or smartphone, you just drag and drop documents and files to share across platforms. You can also allow others to access your DropBox files.

Evernote. Another cloud-based app, Evernote helps you organize and share all of the snippets and scraps of information you collect, from to-do lists and notes to photos, scans and documents. Regardless of what it is, you can use Evernote to capture it, share it and make it searchable.

Jay Morris is president of Jay Morris Communications LLC, an independent PR and marketing firm in Alexandria, Va. He serves on the PRSA-NCC and IPRA boards and blogs at waywardjourney.com, where a version of this post originally appeared.

Insanely Simple? Or is it?

Recently, I had the opportunity to review some of my fellow publicists’ work, since I was on the press list for the mHealth Summit. I learned a lot about healthcare apps and devices for mobile phones and tablets, including the “game-i-fication” – that’s a real word – of apps that maintain your health records, apps that remind you to take your medications, blood pressure, insulin, etc., as well as devices that plug into your iPhone to take your blood pressure, blood-sugar levels and even diagnose what’s ailing you. The summit received a lot of coverage because it is an interesting, quickly growing and controversial industry.

Instead of delving into that massive area, I’m offering a few simple observations and questions. And keep in mind that while these things may be insanely obvious to all of us, they are not to the average CEO (which is a good thing because this why they need to hire us).

Observation: Mass Blasts. I’m assuming publicists pitched in advance individual reporters who they know or who work for major outlets. But many sent invitations to their booths and info about their clients the whole registered press list.

Question: Is it worth sending blast emails at all? Maybe. You can’t know everyone, and it’s free. But don’t harass writers. I received many pitches at the end of the week before the Summit, which was too late. I already had my agenda planned.

Observation: Email Content. Styles ranged drastically from just the traditional press release (centered headline, subhead and text) to a meandering “Hi I’m here, I’m authentic and enthusiastic and want you to talk to my client.” One publicist even pitched her PR firm before the client.

Question: Are these good pitches? Just say, “NO.” A short, sweet note will do it with links to the client’s website, press release and product page. You might paste in the release at the bottom of the page. But no PDF files; would you open one?

Observation: Press Releases. Some companies had 8 ½-by-11 paper releases.

Question: Is it worth writing a traditional press release? YES. But I wouldn’t hand it out. The process of writing a press release can be a great way to help a client better understand how targeted audiences will see their company. Post it on the client’s website and link to it. Reporters will have more info, it’s a good record, AND reporters might not write about your client, but they might Tweet about it. So you need that unique URL up BEFORE you pitch.

Observation: Press Materials. Many companies had 4-by-6 glossy cards with a colorful, basic pitch, a URL (or two), and a CR code. You might say a “PR-i-fied” collateral piece. GREAT idea.

Observation: Last Minute Contact. I received a couple of emails an hour or two before the press conference, which I read on my phone.

Question: Should you send an email at the last minute? I’m not sure about this one. On the one hand, you are probably annoying the writer. On the other, I like being reminded of something I’m interested in and might have missed while in a session. (And, see my first point in my previous post; think carefully before holding a press conference at all.)

Obviously, there’s a lot more I could have added about the pitches I received at the Summit, among them: email subject lines, topper content, press release styles and SEO, etc. Maybe I’ll touch on these in the future.

Season’s greetings.

Vicki Stearn, principal of Think Out Media, is an adept generalist with an expertise in strategic planning as well as end-to-end communications implementation.  She is successful in a variety of industries and is currently expanding her practice to include the mHealth and eHealth sectors. Follow her at www.thinkoutloudmedia.com or @vickistearn.

TOP 9 PR TIPS FOR CONVENTIONS

Attending the mHealth Summit this week reminded of several things I tell clients about how I approach a convention.

1. Actually have news. Don’t plan a press conference unless you are announcing the cure for cancer or  a $10 million prize for the person/company that creates a real Tricorder, as Qualcomm recently did.

2. Have a plan: know the outlets you want to be in and what your best-case headline would be.

3. Set aside specific times in your executives’ schedules to do interviews.

4. Prep your executives. My favorite prep is a notebook with a schedule, speaking points, press release, and “back of the book” with a graph on each outlet, each reporter and some clips. If your exec relies on a mobile device, give her an electronic version (or both).

5. Prioritize outlets and writers.

6. Do give exclusives to your top writers.

7. Don’t scoop reporters by blasting your news all over the internet before you talk to them.

8. Keep engaging writers long after the show.

9. Wear comfortable shoes [the first thing my PR mentor told me].

Vicki Stearn, principal of Think Out Media, is an adept generalist with an expertise in strategic planning as well as end-to-end communications implementation.  She is successful in a variety of industries and is currently expanding her practice to include the mHealth and eHealth sectors. Follow her at www.thinkoutloudmedia.com or @vickistearn.

6 Billion Mobile Phones; 7 Billion People = mHealth Care

Almost everyone on earth has a cell phone. Literally.

Six billion phone users; seven billion people on earth. And, we all need health care throughout our lives. Your well-being is in the palm of your hand.

This week the healthcare and mobile phone industries meet in Washington, D.C., at the fourth annual mHealth Summit. More than 5,000 people from 50 countries are expected to attend: Verizon, AARP, Pfizer, Oracle, StartuUpHealth, HP Cigna, Qualcomlife, mHIMSS, Beclose, Surescripts and many more.  Each jostling to take over a significant tranche of this sky-rocketing industry.

That’s why I’m here. To get a feel for the landscape and identify the companies and people who will really lead this industry and make mobile technology a vital tool to enhance patient/health provider engagement.

Technology can divide us; it can also bring us together.

Vicki Stearn, principal of Think Out Media, is an adept generalist with an expertise in strategic planning as well as end-to-end communications implementation.  She is successful in a variety of industries and is currently expanding her practice to include the mHealth and eHealth sectors. Follow her at www.thinkoutloudmedia.com or @vickistearn.

Thoth winners and the art of storytelling

Thoth winners (l-r) Adam Shapiro, Jewel Jones and Juanita Thompson spoke at a recent IPRA luncheon.

By Jay Morris

In public relations, a good story wins the day every time. Whether it’s pitching to a reporter, making your case on Capitol Hill or influencing public opinion, a compelling personal story always trumps the dispassionate recitation of facts and figures.

At last month’s IPRA luncheon, Adam Shapiro, senior vice president at Lipman Hearne, credited good storytelling for the success of a Thoth Award-winning campaign his firm created for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. He stressed that PR practitioners need to be good storytellers and should always look for the “human interest side” of a client or issue.

“Look for unusual stories or contrarian views,” he said. “Think about the people behind the headlines.”

He gave as an example getting a Powerball lottery winner on the “Today Show” who had agreed to donate his winnings to establish scholarships for local high school Hispanic students. As a result of this segment, Chrysler decided to become a Hispanic Scholarship Fund donor and is now the Fund’s largest contributor.

In encouraging IPRA members to “think behind the headlines,” Adam cited advice from NBC News Correspondent Bob Dotson, who says any good story contains four key elements:

  • Scene setting
  • Foreshadowing
  • Conflict
  • Resolution

Adam said that every news story or marketing message, no matter how short, should contain these elements.

Of course, even good stories can miss their mark if they aren’t delivered by an appropriate spokesperson or if they fail to reach their intended audience. Building trust with an audience is absolutely essential, as evidenced in another Thoth Award-winning campaign by Senior Account Executive Jewel Jones and Senior Art Director Juanita Thompson at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide.

In their remarks to IPRA, Jewel and Juanita stressed the importance of understanding cultural values when targeting minority and ethnic communities. The two are the architects of the “Kidney Sundays” outreach campaign aimed at the African-American faith community on behalf of NIH’s National Kidney Disease Education Program, and they won “Best of Show” at this year’s Thoth Awards.

They stressed the need for authenticity and compassion in partnering with Black churches to explain the high risk of kidney disease among African-Americans. The Ogilvy team found success by encouraging church members to discuss kidney health in small group meetings called “conversations” where members could share stories and a volunteer, using a toolkit developed by Ogilvy, could provide useful information.

Juanita and Jewel also talked about the value of partnering with other groups and described how they leveraged the networks of the American Diabetes Association, Chi Eta Phi Sorority and BlackDoctor.org. By utilizing their partners’ channels, they were able to tell their client’s story to a lot more people.

Ultimately, good PR is about telling good stories that resonate with an audience. Quoting from the celebrated director Frank Capra, Adam noted, “Drama isn’t when the actors cry, it’s when the audience cries.”

Jay Morris is president of Jay Morris Communications LLC in Alexandria, Va. He is on the PRSA-NCC Board and can be reached at jmorris@jmcomllc.com.

Reaching The Asian and Latino Markets Is Easier to Do Than You Might Think

Dottie Li

Want a hot tip? Consider sharing your news items with publications that focus on the D.C. Metro area’s Latin and Asian-Pacific communities.

Editors representing those diverse audiences offered insiders’ views on how to get coverage in their publications during IPRA’s November luncheon. They also spoke of the growing impact of media outlets that reach diverse cultural communities.

Addressing the group were Alberto Avendaño, associate publisher of El Tiempo Latino, a Spanish-language weekly newspaper and website covering local and international news for Washington’s growing Latino population, and Dottie Li, writer/editor of Asian Fortune, an award winning English language newspaper serving all Asian Pacific Americans since 1993.

Both Avendaño and Li were united in their opinion that to reach the niche markets, PR pros need to provide information that appeal to the particular audiences. They also agreed that niche-ethnic publications need to make professionalism a goal in their print and broadcast outlets. Avendaño said, “The presence of good quality niche outlets will help improve perceptions and help Americanize the communities.”

Alberto Avendaño

Li said Asian Fortune is designed to appeal to the cultural interests of the broad Asian community, whether Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese or other members of this population. She said that her publication focuses on what readers want to know, including stories about how Asians are making their way in America; Asian cuisine, arts and theater personalities; as well as any other news that highlights Asian culture. She said, “We may review a play at the Kennedy Center that has a Korean playwright, or an Asian American race car driver who has made it big.”

Avendaño pointed out that niche publications, as he calls them, are making an impact in mainstream media. The presence of niche publications is also increasing sensitivities and

cultural awareness about the various communities. While the diverse market publications are separate from the mainstream, he believes the trend is towards more complete coverage of ethnic news. He said, “In the future, media companies are going to have their fingers in many niche publications and broadcast outlets.”

The program provided practical information vital for helping today’s PR pros learn how to reach the growing and diverse population markets in the Washington area. Said Susan Rink, of Rink Strategic Communications, and IPRA membership co-chair, “This was one of the most informative IPRA programs I have ever attended. I wish everyone could have heard it.”

Thanks to IPRA program committee member Dana Vickers Shelley for arranging the event.

Vicki Robb of Vicki Robb Communications is an independent PR practitioner with over 20 years experience, specializing in media relations for traditional, social and online media. She can be found on the web at jvrobb.com.

Recap of October 25 Workshop: Driving Your Social Media Strategy

To summarize the event in one sentence: when in doubt with your social media strategy, create a pyramid and canvas. You’re probably thinking, what does the nutrition chart have to do with social media? You need to talk to Social Driver. Why? Because sometimes drawing your work is fun. And even if it’s not, it helps us to visually conceptualize our approach to social media.

Social Driver, a D.C. digital agency, presented Driving Your Social Media Strategy, the first event of the Social Media Boot Camp Series on developing an “owned media” strategy. The event included two visuals that helped attendees plot their social media roadmap. The first visual represents a pyramid, ranging from inner circle to unconnected, and unconnected being the largest audience.

The visual is good to help serve as a guide, since often times we really miss out on conversations with people that we should be talking with. Using this approach, we will be able to cut down the number of contacts we’re monitoring and add value in additional conversations with those people.

Along with the pyramid, attendees explored the social strategy canvas. It has four recurrent areas, listening, talking, sharing, and engaging. The canvas areas,when used simultaneously, help expand and assess your current digital strategy. The listening and talking approach builds an organization-centric roadmap. What else you ask? The talking and sharing areas help segment communication to empower and grow your audience. In the engaging and listening areas, plan how to strengthen relationships and nurture your dedicated audience. Then lather, rinse and repeat.

More importantly talk to people, people. If you solely send out links to your website and do not engage; it’s like walking into a networking event, silently passing out your business cards and walking out. This was among Social Driver’s many insightful analogies.

Recognizably, we had an action-packed agenda for the first event, and what came from Social Drivers’ Managing Director Anthony Shop (@afshop) and CTO Thomas Sanchez (@thomassanchez) was amazing. The moderator and PRSA-NCC Past President, Jeff Ghannam (@Ghannam4) of Crystal Communications & Marketing, LLC did a great job driving the discussion.

Stay tuned for more social media goodness over the next few events. Better yet, join the action and register.

By Lauren Schultz, PRONet Committee. Co-Chair. Lauren is a Buckeye transplant in DC. She loves books, dogs, yoga & all things digital. For work, she is a Project Coordinator at the Association for Career and Technical Education. Say Hello at @lashleyschultz

How “The Avengers” Boosts PR Results

By Michael Smart (MichaelSMARTPR)

I will be sharing a bunch of media pitching tips and techniques during the Nov. 2 seminar for PRSA-NCC. I’d like to share one in advance.

I’m big on using pop culture to land positive placements. Here’s an example….

A sober and geeky disaster analysis company landed several dozen media placements, including Bloomberg, the Guardian, and Gizmodo, with one connection to the movie “The Avengers.”

The analysts worked up an estimate for how much it would cost to repair damage to Manhattan caused in the film’s climactic scene. The answer ($160 billion) is beside the point – isn’t the idea alone a great way to naturally create a story journalists and bloggers would love to tell?

Keep in mind, I’m not talking about merely offering your experts as sources for ongoing news. That’s working great for prominent divorce attorneys in the wake of the latest celebrity breakup, but is not a surefire way to ensure you are a part of the resulting stories.

Kinetic Analysis Corp got loads of free publicity — that is on-message for them – by delivering a value-add to journalists and bloggers already looking for new angles on the year’s top film. Instead of offering themselves as one source among many who could comment on a given natural disaster, they produced a deliverable that required mentioning them in any resulting story.

So next time you’re chatting with your friends about a pop culture phenomenon, take a few minutes and brainstorm any potential ties your organization might have.

Not just what you can SAY about it, but what you can DO about it.

You might surprise yourself and end up with the next media relations blockbuster.

To register for “Perfect Pitching: Winning over Journalists and Bloggers in the New Media Landscape,” click here.

Michael Smart, principal of MichaelSMARTPR, has been landing top-tier coverage for 14 years. He’s also trained more than 3,000 communicators across the globe how to boost their media and blog placements, including pros from Allstate, Disney, Verizon, Edelman, Fleishman-Hilliard, the EPA, a U.S. Senator’s office and many other companies, associations, and non-profits, large and small. Michael has twice been a top-rated presenter at the PRSA International Conference, and he partners with PRSA to offer daylong pitching workshops and national webinars on the topic.