PR 101 

For professionals who render complex, knowledge-based services, PR is a particularly effective tool for demonstrating expertise, showcasing work and facilitating relationships with clients, employees and the community at large. While there's no end to the PR activities you can undertake, for the purposes of this article we will focus on 'Media Relations' and on how to procure editorial coverage, which provides benefits that advertising and other promotional vehicles cannot match.

For starters, media coverage confers credibility, since news outlets focus on individuals and firms whose work is innovative, newsworthy or an example of excellence. Being featured in a newspaper or trade journal is an implied endorsement by an established and objective source. It's also dignified and in keeping with professional standards: media coverage is fact-based, so your expertise, services and work are presented in a precise, unvarnished manner free of promotional hype. Lastly, media coverage helps attract the best and most talented personnel, since everyone wants to work in a high-profile 'hot' firm and coverage helps place your firm on the sought-after list.   

A PR Strategy in 7 Steps

To be effective you need a plan of action. To design a PR strategy you'll need to:   

• Determine Your Objectives: What are you looking to accomplish? Your objectives will determine the type of campaign you conduct and the media you target. If your goal is to enhance your standing in your profession, then your PR efforts should be aimed at your trade and industry media. But if you are looking to generate more business, then you need to focus on the media that potential clients read, view or listen to.

• Determine the Services and Projects to Be Promoted: What are you selling? Your firm, your expertise, all the services you offer, or a specific service or project? There is a limit to how many items you can promote in one PR project or media kit. The more you cram into one effort the less targeted and pertinent the material becomes, increasing the possibility that editors and producers will discard it because it's "not of interest to their readers".  If you have a lot of newsworthy content, consider doing several campaigns.

• Determine Your PR Targets: Who are you looking to reach? Consumer, business or trade media?  
  • Consumer media: A dentist, a financial planner or a residential interior designer will reach potential clients through consumer magazines, newspapers, broadcast programs and websites that feature lifestyle, health, family, home, décor and investment advice.
  • Business and Industry Media: Engineers, corporate lawyers, computer experts and other professionals whose clients are other companies or institutions need to target business media, the target market's trade media [i.e. Canadian Banker] and their own trade media, which prospective customers often peruse looking for ideas on whom to hire. Target also industry media to enhance your firm's profile among fellow professionals, suppliers, industry organizations and other stakeholders. Getting exposure in your industry or suppliers' media can lead to referrals or, when the market is tight, it can help line-up top sub-contractors and suppliers for projects. 

• Create an Effective List: A good list is the basis of your media outreach and will spell the difference between success and a wasted effort. Instead of dozens of names, go for a select number of carefully researched media targets. To ensure that your materials are suitable and your 'pitch' is effective you'll need to know:
  • What trade, business or mainstream media reaches your target audience? 
  • What is the news outlet's geographic scope? Local, regional, national or international?
  • Who are the editors, producers, columnists and 'beat' journalists?
  • What is the news outlet's preferred type of content, format and style?
  • What sections, features or segments does your information fit in?
  • What are the production deadlines and lead times?

• Establish a Schedule: Timing is critical in media relations: media outlets operate on rigid assignment and production schedules and you need to time your activities accordingly or you'll strike out, no matter how interesting your content. As well, many publications follow an editorial calendar and will only consider material that fits in with the an issue's theme. Timing can also be used as a driver for procuring coverage: seasons and holidays provide ample opportunities for placing 'How To' stories and consumer tips.

• Prepare Compelling Content: To increase the chance that your news release will be picked up, it has to contain information that is newsworthy and of interest to the audience, or that has a 'hook', a unique element or twist that makes the story truly compelling. Media materials can range from a short descriptive letter or e-mail message to a comprehensive media kit.  Each situation will determine whether you send one item or several. Options include:
  • Letters of introduction
  • News releases
  • Case studies, fact sheets or white papers describing projects, services, studies or areas of expertise
  • How To articles, Top 10 lists and other statistics, consumer tips, FAQs [very popular!]
  • Company information or 'backgrounders' and biographies
  • Contributed or 'by-lined' articles
  • Samples of products or creative, photos, DVDs or MP3 files

• Distribute the Information and Follow Up: The content, number of items and the preference of the editor or producer you are targeting will determine whether you use e-mail, regular mail, couriers or a news wire service like Canada NewsWire or News Canada.
  
  • To call or not to call: It's standard PR practice to make follow-up calls. However, every editor and producer will tell you that what they hate most is people who call to ask "if I received their materials" and advise to never call. Unfortunately, having practiced PR for almost 20 years, I can tell you that follow-up calls are often necessary; many editors and producers aren't able to review everything they get and a call is often the only way of bringing your material to their attention. The key is to know your media targets and avoid calling those who hate it.

Straight from the Horse's Mouth

Editors Noel Hulsman of the Globe and Mail's Report on [Small] Business Magazine and Jim Middlemiss of Canadian Lawyer tell us what works and what is sure to backfire.    

The Report on [Small] Business Magazine is available online at www.globeandmail.com/smallbusiness

Canadian Lawyer Magazine is available online at www.canadianlawyermag.com

Tips for Maximizing Your Media Relations Efforts

There's a specific protocol for bringing your story to the media's attention and for interacting with journalists. Knowing the rules and playing by them will greatly increase your chances of success.

• Know the difference between PR and advertising: There's a fine line between marketing communications and advertising and care must be taken to ensure that your PR materials aren't blatantly promotional, or that you come across like a sales man/woman in interviews. Failure to do this will make editors and producers discard your PR materials, ignore your phone calls or place you in their black list and you'll never be asked back for interviews.
• Never call right before newscasts or production deadlines: Never call a TV station at 11:30 a.m. or a newspaper at 5:00 p.m. When you do call and you get the person on the phone, always ask if it's a convenient time to talk. If it isn't, ask when you can call again. If you must leave a message, be brief: identify yourself and remember to leave a number where you can be reached. If you don't hear back, you can call again two days later. That's it.
• Make it easy for the media to get the story: Provide materials that are easy to use and be readily available - too many phone calls to get you and someone else will get the coverage.
• Never improvise or give facts you're not sure of: If you don't know the answer, offer to check and get back.
• There is no such thing as "Off the Record". This is only on TV or in the movies. In reality, anything you say [before, during or after an interview] may be aired or printed, so tailor your comments accordingly.

Resources and Links

Helping Professionals Tell Their Story 
Should you decide you'd rather hire a professional to help you with your PR campaign, there's no shortage of firms who are happy to help and qualified to do so. Most will do a good job, but the reality is that the amount of work a traditional PR firm needs to do in order to get to know your firm and services and to conduct the campaign, will place the fee for the project well beyond the financial reach of small firms. So what can you do? Easy. Contact Alan McLaren at PR Mentor, the first web-based do-it-yourself PR service in Canada.

Alan and his partner, Leanne Bucaro, launched PR Mentor as a response to the number of small companies who sought to hire their firm Infinity Communications, but who weren't able to afford the fees involved in crafting a traditional PR campaign. Recognizing an underserved market and a business opportunity, they created affordable service packages tailored specifically to the needs of these smaller companies - firms under 10 employees with $500,000 in yearly revenues.

No sooner had they launched this service that they became aware of an even smaller sub-set of potential clients for whom Infinity's pre-packaged programs were still unaffordable: sole practitioners or companies of 1 to 5 employees with yearly revenues of $250,000 to $300,000. Searching for a way to service this market, it occurred to them that they themselves fit the profile; after all, Infinity was also a startup with only two employees. This was the breakthrough they needed: "we turned the table around, and began to look at our services as if we were buyers".

The result is a unique service that provides users with all the information they need to design a PR strategy, target the right media, prepare their communications materials and conduct a campaign. Ongoing support is available through the PR Mentor website, which has forums where members can ask questions and receive feedback from Alan, the webmaster. All questions and answers remain on the website creating an ever-growing resource. Best of all, PR Mentor costs $500 dollars to join, making it the most affordable PR service on the market today.

For more information, you can contact Alan Mclaren at: info@pr-mentor.com or at: 905-257-5555.

Expert News Releases

There's an art to writing news releases that are newsworthy, factual and objective but that still manage to to be eloquent and memorable. It's a practice best left to pros like Evan Thompson, who has been helping professionals with their PR materials for over 20 years. He is great to work with and very flexible; he will take your draft and polish it. Or, he will create your news release and media kit materials from scratch. His approach is always collaborative - he'll ask questions and suggest alternatives while remaining aware that it is your practice, budget or career. You'll always receive his full attention as he views each assignment as if it were his first. Evan can be contacted at www.evanwords.com.