Good writers never stop learning and evolving. You read, listen, borrow and blend to develop a voice that is comfortable and informative.  News writers have evolved from writers of hard news stories – give me the facts fast and straight – to using techniques that are more creative. In fact, news reporters would often “phone in” their stories remotely, so they got to the point immediately in case the connection was broken. They also focused on the most essential first, using the inverted pyramid method of containing the who, what, why, when, where and how at the top of a story to avoid having a typesetter trim important details at the end of an article. In recent years, news writers can be less concerned about having their stories trimmed, especially in the era of online journalism, where stories can be as long as necessary.

Regardless of story structure or length, PR professionals who want a reporter to be interested in their client’s story  need to consider and offer journalists ideas that will resonate. Donald Murray, former writer and writing coach at the Boston Globe, says there are seven elements to a good news story. PR professionals should understand them before pitching stories.

1. Information: You need to have concrete details. When reporters ignore your pitches, it is often because they lack substance. Think about the facts and details before you pitch a story.
2. Significance: Your story pitch may be of utmost important to your client, but what about media outlet’s readers, listeners or viewers> If you are not thinking of the audience, it is likely you will strike out.
3. Focus: A good story is limited and focused. In PR, we often want a reporter to get all the details. If you give them too much, you will be disappointed. Remember what your core story idea is and stay focused in your pitch.
4. Context: Good news stories offer readers perspective. Again, your story idea might be of great interest to a company or organization, but you must help the reader understand the story idea in relation to a larger trend or issue.
5. Faces: Good stories include characters. Think about who will be the face of the story you pitch. Often, PR folks defer to the top brass; this is not always a great idea. Whomever you put forward – and you should offer up different sources to enhance your success – should understand and be passionate about the story.
6. Form: Good news stories take shape and give the reader a sense of completion. Again, PR pros can help reporters to generate form by offering a well-rounded set of facts and sources for a story.
7. Voice: Good stories also include good conversations. The newsperson has a job to provide a narrative of facts and details; good, concise quotes will add color and accentuate points in the story.

Mr. Murray was one of the best, and his “Writing for Readers” is a classic. PR professionals who want to better understand what reporters want should pick up a used copy.

Design briefs are wonderful tools to ensure the creative firm and the client are on the same page.  Whether the project is a brochure, website, annual report or just a flyer, a design brief is a written summary of what the project entails, its objectives, a summary of key points that must be achieved within the finished creative project and deadlines.

Creative briefs should not be limited to just marketing collateral, though. They also can be used to guide work on a press release. To ensure you know a client’s objectives and key messages for a press release before you put fingers to the keyboard, answer the following 15 questions to first to keep yourself on target.

1. Subject of the release?
2. What is the news?
3. Headline?
4. Do you need a subhead and why?
5. What is the marketing objective of the release?
6. List the primary and secondary audiences for the release.
7. What are the key messages the release should articulate?
8. What is the impact of the release to your customers and the marketplace?
9. Are there any supporting documents the writer will need for background?
10. If the release is product or service related, when will this item be available?
11. What are the pricing details?
12. Are certain customers or third-party individuals interested in participating in the release?
13. What executives should be included in the release for quotes, why, and what are their key points?
14. Is there any chance the release could create problems for the customer, and if so, is the release a good idea?
15. How will you distribute the press release (email, wire distribution, company website or newsletter among other options)?

What other  items should be included in a press release creative brief?

No company is immune from problems. Whether you are a river-rafting company, health care provider or dry cleaner, your business is susceptible to problems, sometimes predictable and sometimes not. Issues can run the gamut, such as upset customers, employee wrongdoing, criminal investigations, regulatory reports, natural disaster, rumors, product failures and much more.

Ignoring the reality that some issue, at some point, is going to create headaches for your firm is unwise. Instead, your leadership team should carve out time to meet at periodic intervals to go into “what if” mode.

Whether you meet monthly, quarterly, twice a year, or annually, it is essential you set the time and do it. Other day-to-day tasks and responsibilities can displace this planning, but if you postpone it, you will regret it when an issue spirals out of control. The ramifications to your reputation could be far more costly in the long-term than setting aside time for planning.

When you meet, work on the following:

1. Identify realistic issues that could affect your company.
2. Outline the potential repercussions of these issues.
3. Develop a handful of key messages for each.
4. Name a working crisis team that can be assembled on short notice. Don’t forget to include subject matter experts on this team for specific issues. If you are a health care provider for example, and the potential problem involves patient care, add your clinical director as part of the scenario planning team. Do not create a team that is too large or you’ll bog down. Only include people who can help you respond to issues quickly and intelligently.
5. Review your liability coverage and adjust it if you find issues you are not covered for.
6. What would you do if a reporter from 60 Minutes jumped out of the bushes? It’s cliché, but it happens. If you don’t have a basic response in place, it could be very damaging to your company.
7. Make sure your planning group considers all audiences – employees, vendors, suppliers, local officials, media – so you don’t miss communicating with a group when it hits the fan.
8. Outline channels of communication you use – intranet, internet, email, phone, and so on – so you pick the appropriate channel, depending on the issue and audience you need to reach.
9. Discuss your working relationship with the media. Know who your friends are if trouble arises, and consider reaching out to them first if your issue requires a response to the media.

If you spend time talking through these and other “what if” questions, you will be better prepared to respond to problems. While no organization can plan for all scenarios (Really? Someone just walked into our mall’s fountain and hurt themselves because they were texting?), what you’ll find is that your response – guided by your working plan – provides a flexible starting point and the right frame of mind to analyze and respond appropriately.

And finally, a shameless plug. It may even help to have a third-party company (like us) help facilitate the planning process. A consultant will be objective to the egos in the room, can drive planning forward, and have experience developing useful plans.

Reporters, news editors and others in the media are constantly inundated with pitches from business owners, public relations professionals and everything in between. What can you do to make sure your pitch isn’t quickly shuffled to the “Trash” box? Hint: exclamation points aren’t going to help your cause. Read on for several tips to crafting a pitch that might, if you’re lucky, catch a reporter’s eye.

Identify the key points, and know what you’re talking about.

Follow this simple guideline: if I were a reporter, what would I want to know? Well, you’d want to know what makes this product/event/announcement worthy of valuable newsprint. Also ask yourself why a reporter’s readers would care about this topic. Is it a local take on a national trend? A unique or wacky event or photo opportunity? Explain.

But don’t explain for too long.

Imagine you have about .3 seconds to capture a reporter’s attention. If you were a reporter, would, “I’d like to share with you a truly fascinating story about a unique paint drying event,” capture your attention? Hopefully not. Cut to the chase – there’s no need to explain what you’re going to explain. There’s also no need to use superfluous adjectives and crazy punctuation. Just jump right in, be straightforward, and don’t go on very long. A single short paragraph is usually enough.

Know who you’re talking to.

Would a book editor be interested in the latest tech product? No, but a technology reporter might. This gets back to point No. 1, where we covered the importance of explaining why a reporter’s readers would care.

Provide accurate follow-up information.

Make it very clear to the reporter/editor/etc. who the proper contact person is and make sure that person is available. Nothing kills a potential story faster than an automated “Out of Office” response from the pitch contact, who just so happens to be on vacation.

Follow-up.

Don’t nag, but do send a follow-up email or make a call a few days after you send out your pitch. Ask if they received it and if they’d like any other information. Strive to make their job easier, but don’t be pushy. A reporter isn’t an extension of your sales team. They aren’t interested in promoting your business; they’re interested in their readers. Show you understand that.

Some organizations have in-house PR personnel; others outsource the work and oversee the program; and some do both. Why the varying approaches? In many cases, if the organization feels it has sufficient in-house experience, expertise and time, it will go it alone. Often, there is simply too much to do, and outsourcing some or all of the PR responsibilities to experts helps increase output and the expand capabilities of the in-house team.

If you decide you want to hire a PR team to assist your organization, management will rightly want to know the role and cost of an outside agency. Below are six reasons to share with management:
1. The agency adds an outside, objective perspective to an issue or program. Internal PR, beholden to management, may not push back as readily on a bad idea. A good PR firm will not hold back, using their experience and judgment to provide honest counsel.
2. The firm can add experience and depth. In some cases, we have been working with organizations longer than many on the internal marketing team, so we can provide historical perspective and industry knowledge.
3. Outside PR counsel can be invaluable in a crisis, where resources are stretched and quick, sound decisions must be made. You don’t want to be getting an agency up to speed when problems arise.
4. The agency can help strengthen industry connections and community relations.
5. The agency can conduct research, help coordinate resources, or manage other time-consuming activities.
6. You get more than one person with a firm. We always say an internal person will cost you salary plus benefits. Say a person makes $45,000 plus 30% in overhead and benefits. So, for $60,000, you have one internal low- or mid-level resource – a person with one set of experiences, generally learned inside your operation. That $60,000 could be applied to an agency, where you get a team of professionals who can apply practices and perspectives learned in many fields.

What other reasons are there to hire outside help? Why not?

At its core, public relations is about identifying and establishing mutually beneficial connections between two entities. It creates and maintains symbiotic relationships between groups that otherwise wouldn’t exist to their full potential on their own. It’s about telling both sides of the story. Unfortunately, as in any field, there are bad apples in PR who fail to meet their ethical responsibilities. Take former Colorado Springs public relations head Sue Skiffington-Blumberg.

Last month it was revealed that Skiffington-Blumberg followed orders from her superior to basically bad-mouth the city in the local and national press. Skiffington-Blumberg told the Colorado Springs Gazette that her former boss, city manager Penny Culbreth-Graft, gave her direct instructions to disparage her home town. And Skiffington-Blumberg obliged, though she claims not happily. Check out this quote from a recent Gazette editorial:

“Our strategic plan was to paint a picture of the dire straits of our city budget. If we could not do so locally, we would do so in the regional and national press — though I’d have preferred that it not play out with Diane Sawyer,” Skiffington-Blumberg said, referring to one of several media giants who blasted Colorado Springs. “I hated it. I grew up here. My family has been in this community since 1892. But when given a task, it is my obligation to get on board. If you give me a task, don’t expect me not to succeed.”

Just two days after the editorial ran, Skiffington-Blumberg was asked to resign, which she did. Mayor-elect Steve Bach and his team reportedly plan to take a different approach to public relations. It includes touting the city’s multi-million dollar surplus, its ranking as a top-10 college town and other notable features.

The reactions to Skiffington-Blumberg’s statements and subsequent resignation have been mixed. Some have said she was put in an impossible position – follow her boss’s orders or defy her and report her to upper management, both of which probably would have had unfortunately consequences for Skiffington-Blumberg herself. Others have little more to say other than “good riddance.” Skiffington-Blumberg had to know the truth about her orders would have come out eventually. Rather than hide behind the “I was just following orders” mantra, she could have done the right thing and spoken up, or resigned. Had she left her position and alerted the city’s media to the public relations “plan” aimed at slamming the city, she may have been commended for her honesty, which might have led to bigger and better opportunities for her down the road. Unfortunately we’ll never know.

>Kayleigh Karutis

Many start-ups, entrepreneurs or small businesses often don’t have the resources to hire a public relations firm to manage their PR. There are still many ways a small business owner can use the power of PR to their benefit, though. Understanding the basics is key. Here are a few simple pointers for building a positive image within your community and thus building your customer base.

Know your audience.

You may have a great product or service, but if you are targeting it to the wrong crowd, you won’t get any traction. Think about the customer you’re catering to; do you want to speak to young mothers? 20-something professionals? Active seniors? Before you create your message, you need to know who that message will be sent to.

Create a clear message.

Once you have your target audience in mind, come up with a clear, simple message that accurately represents your product or service. Keep it short and simple – the more complex, the less likely your audience (and the media) will understand or pay attention.

Research the local media.

Who in the media – newspaper, radio, television, and online – would be interested in your product or service? Sending a press release about your new cooking tool to the crime reporter at your local community newspaper won’t do much good.

Create a blog.

I talked about this in a recent post about improving your SEO; a blog is a great tool to not only make your product or service more visible, but to present yourself as a knowledgeable authority on a particular topic. If you can commit to regularly updating your blog with relevant and helpful information for your customers, a blog is a great and easy way to get the word out about your product and your industry.

Read more about creating a blog, or see some tips for writing an effective press release.

Do you have any suggestions to add? What techniques have you used to promote your business in your community?

Someone recently said to me, “I’m only as good as the last book I read.” Poignant words that got me thinking.

Whenever I’m stalled out, picking up a book usually provides the needed inspiration to get my creative juices flowing again. So what works have I checked off my reading list lately?

• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach
• The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls
• Groundswell: Winning a World Transformed by Social Technologies, by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
• Crush It: Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion, by Gary Vaynerchuk
• Home Town, by Tracy Kidder

Read more »

David Letterman began his show last night by telling a story* to the audience. He told of getting into his car to find an envelop that contained evidence of his sexual relationships with female staff and a letter requesting $2 million in return for not publishing that evidence. In an awkward moment met with uncertain laughter and clapping from the audience, Letterman admitted that he has had sex with female staffers. As a result, the potential blackmailer no longer has a leg to stand on. Letterman effectively took the wind out of his sails.

Getting out in front of bad news with the truth and addressing it on your own terms is important. Whether it’s a poor quarterly performance report, employee misconduct or any other potentially damaging news, it’s vital to directly address the information with the truth. It remains to be seen whether Letterman saved his job and reputation, but the blackmailer has been caught and the threat of extortion removed.

*Go to YouTube.com and search for “Letterman Confession” to view the tape from his show.

In the June issue of PR Week, a mainstay in our office, two industry veterans discussed an issue dear to my philosophy: fee retainers vs. billing for services rendered. Sean Cassidy, president of DKC, advocates for set monthly retainers. In his opinion, – the fixed monthly retainer means that account teams spend their time on activity, such as strategic counsel, medical relations, and digital marketing – not on managing bureaucracy. Read more »