Tips for Getting Clients Ink:

As someone who is still an undergraduate Communications major, I hardly feel expert on how to get a client media coverage. However, I have done online research on several sites, and made some conclusions from them. There are ten tips below that I found to be possibly useful for PR practitioners. Many of the sources can be accessed through the Class Blog link. Please feel free to leave your comments.

Know who your audience is:

A post titled “Strategies for growth” from Fast Company.com lists “three options for long term growth” when it comes to brand building. As it would apply for helping your client, you should find out what that client can do better than anyone else in its market. From there, you can narrow down who the target audience is and have a clearer picture of who you are trying to reach. The link to this site is https://cmsbb.systems.smu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_2517_1

Know the Media:

On this tip, I am talking about more than just knowing their deadlines – which should be a no-brainer. I am talking about getting to know specifically who you will be writing to. Different journalists will have different needs and different expectations. Depending on which type of journalist (i.e., sports, business, dining, etc.) you need to publish your pitch or press release, that will be the type of journalist you should network and get to know. Some PR firms – such as Weber-Shandwick – actually have professionals with journalism backgrounds working for them. PR professionals and journalists may seem like polar opposites at times, but it is good to know how the other side thinks. You might even learn secrets from journalists that would help your business or that of your client’s.

Case-in-point, one of my course documents – available on Blackboard – talks about a book written by Ronald J. Alsop. The author – a long-time journalist of the Wall Street Journal – wrote a book on corporate reputation. This document should be available through the following link: https://cmsbb.systems.smu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_2517_1

Another good reason to get to know the media is to get an idea of how to word your pitch. Journalists only have so much time with countless information from other PR professionals. Such a fast-paced environment leaves little room for defining unknown jargon. I browsed a blog post from “Marketing Monster” entitled “Buzz Words + Press Release = Wastebasket”. It stressed the importance for PR professionals to “talk like real people, and we have to talk fast because journalists are usually busy.” From this, I gathered that you should not try to impress journalists with big words. They will only get irritated, and will most likely not use your material. The link should be available at: https://cmsbb.systems.smu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_2517_1

Lastly, by getting to know the journalist – instead of just knowing who the journalist is – you can more easily gain their trust by becoming a source for their stories. One of my course documents entitled “Top 10 PR Tips” talks about this during the tenth tip. The document should be found at: https://cmsbb.systems.smu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_2517_1

Remember Who you Are:

Don’t get too friendly with journalists and media, because they might think you are only doing so for selfish reasons. A lot of times by default, the media does not look favorably on PR practitioners. Some would even go so far as labeling PR as “the enemy.”

Remember that you are a PR professional with a set of ethics to stand by. Those same ethics are followed by many of the most successful public relations firms including Fleishman-Hillard. Do otherwise, and you’ll be in trouble.

Be Innovative and Creative:

Although my source for this tip was geared toward marketing, I find it useful in public relations as well. The post is titled “Lessons on Being Remarkable” and was written by Kristin Foster, the Producer of 360 (degree) Digital Influence (in) Washington DC. Foster listened to Seth Godin (author of The Purple Cow and All Marketers are Liars) speak at a University of Maryland Marketing Forum, and gathered useful information from the lecture.

Without going into too much detail, I found a key thing to be useful with the media: “…focus on one person.” I gathered that one can focus on a journalist that has a constant problem (i.e., needs a remarkable story, but has semantics about what needs to be done); do research on what the client wants that would match with what the journalist wants; and then write a pitch that satisfies both parties. I could have misread the post, but nevertheless found it interesting. The post is available at https://cmsbb.systems.smu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_2517_1

Research the Latest Media Trends:

The media will want accurate and relevant information. In many situations, the less a press release relates to the times, the less likely a journalist will use it. For example: if a PR practitioner were to pitch to the media about one of it’s clients’ public events, but a vast hurricane is approaching that area, then the journalist would probably not include that in the news. Why would someone want to go to an event with gale-force winds?

Research the Latest Technology Trends:
One of my course documents – entitled “Six Buttons of Buzz” – talks about the incredible speed increase at which word-of-mouth can now travel through modern technology. About twenty years ago, the acceleration of word-of-mouth was probably limited to a phone. These days, a phone is no longer a phone – but also a camera, computer, keypad, contact list, etc. I could say more, but felt that it is best said by the following exerpt:

Now, with the Internet, a permanent history of word of mouth stays recorded forever. Bad or good, the Internet has transformed word of mouth from a single-engine dog-fighter to an F-sixteen. It’s now become fast, powerful, long-range, and dangerous if you can’t harness it. It can be your biggest asset in today’s marketing world, or it can be your biggest nightmare if you can’t control it.

Start early…but not too early:

In yet another course document from my class Blackboard – entitled “Secrets of Spin” – I found two sets of paragraphs dealing with the importance of getting hype for a client’s product. Yet they also deal with the danger of not having the product live up to it’s hype. The document is at https://cmsbb.systems.smu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_2517_1.

You’re not Set until you Double-Check!

Needless to say, always do this before you turn in your pitch. You need to make sure that the facts measure up and the grammar is correct. Even better, make it the grammar that a journalist will understand. Remember that you are sending information to a writer that goes by rules different from yours.

Join a Group:

Join clubs – such as PRSA or even a media group – that will allow you to discuss public relations and media practices. The cost for membership may vary; but it allows for valuable face-time with PR practitioners as well as media professionals depending on the club.

Maintain your Networks:

Periodically keep in touch with your contacts – media and otherwise. They can be valuable assets for you in the future.