The landscape for pitching local news stories has shrunk dramatically in recent years. Not only have newspapers transitioned to mostly online platforms, drastically cutting newsroom staffs, but the platforms and newscasts have changed as well.
There simply isn’t the space, the airtime or the available newsroom staff to cover all of the news they may have covered as recently as three-to-five years ago.… Read the rest
One of the more common questions new clients have when it comes to media relations is, “How do we get started?”
Here’s a quick summary.
Information-gathering/Discovery – Anyone who’s a fan of legal or crime dramas is familiar with the term “discovery.” This is the phase of the legal case where the attorneys work to ‘discover’ as much information about the case as possible.… Read the rest
For as long as I’ve been in the PR business, the format of just about every proposal I’ve created and every proposal I’ve read features the budget page at the end. There’s a purpose for this. It’s important to talk about what you’re going to do before talking about how much it will cost. This is logical and it’s very important to both the sales and purchasing process.… Read the rest
There is a fine line between what used to be called “cause marketing” and disingenuous virtue signaling in your marketing communications programs. I tend to prefer neither, and much prefer when your actual corporate values stand for something.
An example of the disingenuous kind of virtue signal marketing is when brands and marketers use “greenwashing” strategies.… Read the rest
In a conversation with an old journalism school classmate one time, we talked about some of our pet peeves when it comes to reporting. She has been a long-time serious journalist, and I’ve been in the PR profession for just as long. That’s why we found it amusing that one thing that bothered both of us is when reporters frame certain allegations in their coverage with, “Critics say.”… Read the rest
After producing over 240 episodes of my podcast called Shaping Opinion, I’ve interviewed a wide range of people, some who’ve had a lot of experience with media interviews, and others not so much.
Still, for the better guests, it really didn’t matter how much experience they’ve had doing interviews so long as they could tell a story.… Read the rest
Let me tell you about two situations where companies wanted me to guarantee specific media results. Both were foreign-owned firms, which is relevant from a media culture perspective.
The first one was a steel service center that sold piping for industrial uses. It had approached me about possibly working with them on public relations matters in the U.S. … Read the rest
A few quick words about getting to know your targeted audience. Whether your organization has been around for a while or it’s a start-up, one of the oftentimes missed opportunities is to really dig in, identify and get to know your targeted audience or market.
In the communications business, this focus gravitates to the creation of the persona or avatar of your ideal stakeholder and targeted audience. … Read the rest
Long before the pandemic, communications consulting firms and PR agencies fell into certain categories. You had your big multi-national firms, usually based in places like New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. Then you had local or regional firms.
In each of these cases, the firms touted their fashionable addresses in their hometowns as part of their brand identities.… Read the rest
Welcome to our blog! We’re glad you’re here, but your being here is no accident.
You were brought here because you saw a social media post, perhaps on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. Or, you were using Google or some other search engine to find something and you wound up here. But it’s not that simple.… Read the rest