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Even a “dummy” can spot a PR opportunity

Discussing the keys to successful media relationships at our chapter’s media seminar, University of Florida master lecturer and former St. Pete Times editor Mike Foley described several media values. Among them: currency.

 

Currency is the ability to leverage current news or circumstances for purposes of getting your story picked-up and messages disseminated. Or as described by Foley, “riding the wave” or “jumping on the bandwagon” of a current trend. Foley’s tip reminded me of a unique media approach I stumbled on recently.

 

Sarasota-based Medical Education Technologies, Inc. , or METI, creates human simulators used in the training of healthcare professionals.  The dummy moniker used in the title of this entry doesn’t do the company’s unique product justice. The human simulator, or iStan as he is known, breaths, sweats, bleeds and reacts appropriately to medicine. iStan is the gold standard in his industry. In fact, he’s become somewhat of a celebrity, appearing on television shows like ER and most recently, ABC’s Grey's Anatomy. The recent Grey’s Anatomy appearance gave the company an opportunity to put the idea of currency to the test. 

 

Of course the company was pleased that their product was going to receive national attention on the show. But METI didn’t let the story stop there.  In preparation for iStan’s debut on Grey’s Anatomy, METI’s Director of Marketing Tess Mitchell enlisted the help of their customers throughout the country to make sure the product’s exposure stretched well beyond its brief appearance on the show.

 

METI provided customers, which include hospitals, medical schools and community colleges, with press packets to distribute to their local ABC affiliates. The purpose was twofold: help their customers get local press exposure and build awareness of the company’s product throughout the country. 

 

Tess recognized that local ABC affiliates would likely piggyback on a story related to one of their station’s shows.  Her hunch was right. Though all the media coverage is still being tallied, a quick Google search made it clear to me that the strategy provided a national stage for their product and clients. Online coverage included stations in Missouri, Pennsylvania and Ohio –not to mention blogs dedicated to the show. 

 

I recognize that not all of us are lucky enough to have a national television appearance to promote our product, service or mission. But I think we can all learn from METI’s successful use of the strategy.

 

The importance of timing, capturing a trend or finding the right angle can’t be underestimated. The METI example reminds me that if I’m not always looking for a unique opportunity on which to capitalize, then I’m the dummy!

 

--Emily Sperling, Corporate PR
Emily is the Community Relations Manager for the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Food and Resource Economics and Master of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of Florida.

Media Talk

Media Talk

David Voss

David Voss opened his Media Talk with a little surprise— a surprise for Colleen  Miller of the Sarasota County Tax Collector’s Office (and FPRA/CWC VP of community service)—who addressed in an impromptu interview with some difficult questions.  She handled it beautifully, as did the Economic Development Corporation’s Emily Sperling (FPRA/CWC president-elect), David’s next victim.

According to Voss, we need to get real.  We not only have to communicate with the media effectively for interviews and unplanned media contacts under pressure, but train our leadership to do so.

The first media manual he wrote was 32 pages long.  It was condensed to 16 pages, and then it came down to 5 pages.  Now we have the 10 B’s for working with the media:

1. Be realistic.  It’s a working and positive relationship we maintain with the media. But there’s also gamesmanship—what they’re looking for and what we’re looking for. The orientation of the journalist is to be skeptical.  We have to face deadlines of time and agenda. Sensationalism is going up and there is no end in sight.

2. Be prepared.  Read bylines, so when you know a reporter calls, you know where his interest lies.  Be a good consumer of the news.  Anticipate what you will be asked.  Don’t do an interview on the fly, even if you’re the most knowledgeable person.  The most knowledgeable people are often the worst in interviews—pontificating, etc.  The lack of preparation isn’t based on lack of knowledge. 

When someone calls for an interview, ask “When is your deadline?”  You’re not saying “no” or refusing to answer the question.  Then ask follow up questions:

“Who else have you talked to?”
“What do you need?”
“Who would you like to talk to?”

3. Be Accessible. This means:  be available, calm and friendly but not trusting 100%.  “No comment” is interpreted as “guilty.”  Answer the question with an explanation…”The reason I can’t answer that is….it puts someone’s health in jeopardy, violates Statute X, etc.”  You can talk about policy, “I can’t answer the question about that person, but I can tell you about our policy…”

4. Be Honest.  There are only several answers.  “I know and here’s the answer” OR “I know and I can’t tell you”  OR  “I don’t know.”  (It’s okay to say you don’t know if that’s the truth.)

5. Be Quotable.  Dive right in but keep it very simple. Use plain English with a message.  Churchill is a great place to turn.   Give yourself some time to prepare the message.  Consider Senator Obama’s one word message: “Change.”  Obama kept to one message and stayed with it. 

PAM: Preparing a Message

* What is the goal?  (How can you take advantage of this interview?  Get the
   truth out, raise money?)
* Who is the target audience?  (demographically, geographically, etc.)
   Become the senior citizen, the 6th grader, the mother or who ever your
   audience is.
* What is the format?
   If the interview over the phone might not work, try having someone come to
    your location.  

Take keywords that will get you to your goal and that relate to the targeted audience. Create wording that connects to the people you are hoping to reach.  Write that wording on your forehead so that you will remember it throughout the entire interview.  You want to be a well, not a fountain.  You know the answer regardless of the question!

6. Be in control.  Asking questions can help slow things down if you need more time.  Slow yourself down or change your pace when you want to be quoted.  A conversation with an interviewer is slower.  Use lists.  Lists make it easier for media to get it all and to get it right.  Answer with positive, informative statements.  Do not be affected by the reporter’s demeanor or the wording or phrasing of the question.  Bridge from their question to your message.  “That reminds me of….”  “Or it’s most important that…”

7. Be liked.  Get the open, likeable face to look and sound open to questions before you go on for the interview.

8. Be innovative.  You have to have the hook.  If you have big news that everyone needs to know, the press release is the way to go.  If you have soft news (a good story), find a reporter you know and give it to them.  Who’s interested in the story and has been good to you?

9. Be assertive.  If you don’t tell the news media when they’re wrong, how do they get it right?  Not minor issues, but significant errors, should be corrected.  When the story has just left the wrong feeling or message, think of how you can pitch a follow up story that conveys the right message?  If this isn’t possible, consider a letter to the editor or guest editorial.  When you’re referring to the error, refer to the media’s ethical responsibility, not how the error hurt you or your organization.

10. Never screw up a slow news day.  Good news comes from doing good things.
-Susie Bowie, FPRA/CWC Blog Team, The Nonprofit Angle

The Media Mix

The Media Relations Seminar for 2008 invited top media from the Tampa Bay area to speak to the CWCFPRA about the changing media environment. From business to features to broadcast to print – media professionals provided insider information on getting your message across. 

The Media Mix.

Media Panelists:
Susan Giles Wantuck, Host of All Things Considered, NPR and Interim News Director, WUSF; Mark Gordon, Managing Editor of the Gulf Coast Business Review; Jackie Barron, News Reporter WFLA, Channel 8; Kay Kipling, Exec Editor, Sarasota Magazine; Matt Sauer, Business Editor, Sarasota Herald Tribune. Matt Holloman of MattRadio moderated the panel.

Talk about online viewership vs. traditional viewership (print or television) for your respective media outlets. How much are your respective publications readership is online?

Jackie Barron, News Channel 8:  If something breaks, you put it online right away.  It’s the nuts and bolts…plain Jane, straight to the point.  You see breaking news of the day, traffic and weather online, but just the basic version.  People tune in to TV for personalization and the longer version of the stories.   There are a few people who concentrate on big, special stories online. 
Mark Gordon, Gulf Coast Business Review:   Our readers are 99% print; our website currently reflects only our print stories.  We’re in the process of updating the website because we understand that readers do want that.
Susan Giles Wantuck, All Things Considered:  Web is really important to us. About 50% of our pledges came in on the Web in our last campaign. One of our student interns is a multi-media specialist.  Google maps, sound slides, etc. are becoming very important.    Podcasting is very popular—combination of morning and afternoon news broad casts are very popular.  
Matt Sauer, Herald-Tribune:  We’re a fully integrated newsroom.  We break stories on the web continuously, regardless of the topic. Stories that play well in the paper don’t necessarily play well on the Web.
Kay Kipling, Sarasota Magazine: We have a lot of readers online who aren’t print readers.  Whenever someone Googles “Sarasota,” our publication comes up immediately.  So a lot of our online readers are not local readers, though we do have many local readers.  It’s a different audience that we’re reaching online. We’ve been expanding our site, adding content and visuals to it.  Of course we remain very committed to continuing our print magazine.

Some stories play differently on the net. Can you talk about that?
Matt Sauer:  There are stories that only play on the net. We produce more info than we can get in the paper. Obama’s victory speech was the puppy story. You have to cover events like that on all levels. Pres Bush’s Scottie bit a reporter. The advantage of the web is unlimited space. There's a different type of appetite on the web – news of the weird, crime, the deep perspective piece is a newspaper story. Web interest is not always the gauge of the story.

How much of what you decide about what you write on your blog comes from a press release or what a PR person?  
Jackie Barron:  How well you write the press release can impact whether or not it is used.  Will it interest viewers or subscribers?
Mark Gordon:  Not as relevant to blogs, but often our stories come from ideas that were contained within a press release, not the news of the press release itself.
Susan Giles Wantuck:  It just depends.  Sometimes it is easier to cover something this way than sending a reporter out.   Sometimes we also base our stories on ideas we received in a press release (not from the press release itself).  We write about individual stories.
Kay Kipling:  Some of our blogs do come out of press releases we have received.  Retail Therapy is one.  It’s a good way to build relationship with an editor or a writer.

How do you measure the effectiveness of your blogs?
Kipling:  Sometimes you get a lot of comments. David Grimes got a lot of comments at the beginning. The web manager is able to chart the readership to measure the hits, how long someone stays…we get monthly reports. Unless someone tells me they read it, I don’t know who is reading or reacting.

How much autonomy do you have on stories?
Kay Kipling: Corporate is in Malibu and our editorial staff has been around for a long time…we’ve been successful and they are pretty hands off - we appreciate that.
Matt Sauer: We are completely local about what we cover. We get national from New York.
Susan Giles Wantuck:  I was thinking about this because my Dad works for a Clear Channel station in Clearwater. We (public radio) decide our own stories – it’s nice to have that freedom.
Mark Gordon:  I have a lot of freedom in what we write about.
Jackie Barron:  We’re still locally based. Media General owns WFLA. The problem with a lot of media, we make the most but we spend the most because we’re the flagship media. I can pitch what I want to pitch…the TV newsroom isn’t micro managed….no one crosses sales influencing content. However, we have to do more with less. We have had layoffs - that’s the biggest problem facing a lot of newsrooms now.

What is the best way for people to approach you?
Jackie Barron:  E-mail with a follow up phone call is the best way to get me.  I’m part of a mobile newsroom, and we’re in a live truck. We don’t want little stories falling by the wayside.  Call to follow up if you sent a press release 3 weeks ago.  Think about action.  Can I cover it in the making?  In the set up? 
Mark Gordon:  Better to contact me using phone and set up a meeting in person.  Send an e-mail to me with your press releases.  Access is important.  When you send out the PR, have the person who really knows and understands the story available. We don’t cover job promotions or new hires in the Gulf Coast Business Review.
Susan Giles Wantuck:  E-mail, generally with no attachments, except for perhaps one picture.  Many times news stories come out of relationships with people we know.  That relationship will give you an opportunity to get in there.  We don’t want to miss important stories that need to be told.
Matt Sauer:  Any form is okay.  E-mail always works.  Action, trends, details, dollars and motivations are good to include.  Not looking for quotes from people involved in the story.  Unique approaches are good.  To our business readers, we want to deliver a broad brush approach that other businesses can use to weather the storm.  We’re looking for drama.  A company acquisition is drama to me. Now a company adding any jobs and why is drama for me.  We’re looking for positive stories with a lesson for other businesses out there.
Kay Kipling: E-mail press release; follow up with a phone call is fine.  For an events calendar listing, just send a brief e-mail.  Being able to put a face to a name is important as well. 

Because I’m working with the homeless, I come across the most incredible stories – but I don’t know any media…..How do I have access to you? 
Matt Sauer: There are more of these stories than we know of out there. We have a generous community and we are interested.
Susan Giles Wantuck: There are definitely stories that need to be told in the homeless population. We did a story that won all sorts of awards but more importantly it brought attention to an important issue.

The best efforts of all of us sometimes end up with an error.  What is your advice for us when something is reported erroneously?  How can we correct the error?
Mark Gordon:  Call us, we’ll talk about it and we’ll run a correction.
Susan Giles Wantuck: Call.  It hurts the media credibility too, and we’ll do a correction.

I work locally and nationally entrepreneurial with companies. It’s hard for me to pick what might be of interest because they don’t have impact on the community.

Kay Kipling:  We like stories that are giving people guidance in how to succeed. Entrepreneurs make good stories.
Susan Giles Wantuck:  I would like to add we have a program called Florida Matters. Growth, Transportation, Environment. Recommend someone as a source for them.
Mark Gordon:  I like stories that tell me what makes them tick? Why are they successful?  Something that people can get something out of.

 

Keynote Speaker: Sustaining Media Relations with Mike Foley

 

Mike Foley is a veteran newspaper editor and executive now on the faculty of the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Read more about Mike Foley at the end of this post.

Keynote: Sustaining Media Relationships

Why am I here?  I am old.   

What does the title of this presentation mean?  It is just words.   In fact, the best titles are titles of country songs.  There are a littany of them that are great. Get Your Tounge out of My Mouth Because I am Kissing You Goodbye is my all time favorite.

Foley loves words and it was very clear that he had a knack for them.

How many of you have a website?  How many have a blog? How many of you are on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn? Text message reguarly? 

You better do all of these and more and there is a lot more. 

How many of you have heard about JuicyCampus?  It is unfettered gossip. It is horrible.

The new era of communications is here, it’s not coming.  In colleges, we have to teach technology not just writing skills these days.

Did you know that newspapers are called “legacy media?"

So how do you connect with media and get them to cover your story?

Boring is death with  reporters. if it is not local, not relevant to my area and boring then you certainly will not get covered.

Your challenge:  get your message out to blogs that you trust which leads to the question, "Who the hell are these bloggers?"  We will cover building relationships and trust shortly.

Here are some things that you can do to build relationships:

Basic ideas:

• Get Out.  “Shoe leather” reporting.  Go talk to people and figure out who they are.  Do not just be an e-mail address.
• Study the Media.  What works for your message?  Who do you need to talk to?  What would make that media person look good?
• It’s a Two Way Street.  Establish trust, give story tips, GIVE and take. Have conversations with them.
• Have a Story.  Consider a news story…if not a feature story.  BOPSA (Bunch of People Sitting Around) Stories for TV are done!

What is news? 

1.Unusual, different, new
2. Change in consequence and status quo
3. Reporters and editors say it is.
4. Most important is how does it affect me (the reader)
5. Changing relationships
6. Distruptive event
7. Event of community consquence

News Values
1. Impact, timeliness, prominene, proximity, conflict, weirdness ( my favorite), currency (piggy back on larger national story), who is your  audience

2. Make it interesting (this is the also the most creative part of your job, coming up with the "nugget") Remember Boring is death. 

3. Accurate, fair, complete, interesting

4. Know the news cycles
    a. Sunday afternoons slow days, slow seasons, dead times

PR people who "used" me helped by career. 
Find a medium that you TRUST

Nine Attributes of good friends in the PR and media world

David Lawrence, Jr.  former editor of Miami Herald

1. Tells you the truth
2. Is fair
3. Is willing to admit mistakes
        Trusted media runs corrections . First you kill the duck.  NYT wrote a book on corrections.
        Honest media is more interested in getting the right information
4. Is courteous
5. Is a good neighbor (who are these bloggers, next  door neighbors?)
6. Is helpful and useful
7. Is willing to explain himself/herself (Why do you do what you do?)
8. Rejoices in your success. Prints good stories about people doing good things Remember people like  stories.
9. Is compassionate.  They don’t print everything.  This is why JuicyCampus is so controversial.

A secret for success.
1. Don’t tell people everything you know.

Audience Questions:

What is the most creative pitch from PR person and why grapped my attention? 

I don't have one, it is more about timing and if I knew who you were.

What do you see in the future for blogs? 

 More regulation of blogs.  If you edit the comment section you are accepting responsibility for the comment. I predict that young people want to be more articulate and that will bring them back to stories and traditional media.

What is happening to investigative reporting? 

It fading it because it is expensive. Good newspapers are trying to find ways to do this though.

Are you having to change the way you teach quality investigative reporting? 

The real change is teaching technology. The younger generation can supplement the older reporters who can’t do video and blogging.

 

Where are your students going to find jobs?

 

There are jobs, but the competition is incredible. Students have to find a way to be different.  Have multi-media skills, critical thinkers, know what news is and have an ethical background.

How do you know if a blog is "trusted?"

 Instinct and reputation.  Go back to branding. How do you brand your blog? Are you on MSN website, Washington Post?  These blogs are probably more reputable and accurate.  Otherwise do it on your own, you go on instinct.  The writing skills of the blogger are important.

How can we keep on top of editing the comments on blogs? 

Just need to read. I read a lot. NYT, USA Today, St. Petersburg Times, I subscribe to Poynter’s Romanesko which highlights all the news in U.S. all trends, stories, trends, blogs.

It seems that newspapers were slowest to come to table with blogs, but it seems to me that they are leading now? 

There is a big brother tinge to it.

What about commenting on blogs?

Get it first but get it right. Anyomous subjects and corporate ownership are destroying media in America.   I worry about this.  

When pitching to media, and given a "no" what are the guidelines between being a pest and being persistent? 

Ask why first. Call, can I sit down for 10 minutes to find out what you are looking for from me. Be nice and charming. Don’t pitch crap!

More about Mike Foley:

After nearly 30 years with the Times Publishing Co., which publishes the St. Petersburg Times, the largest newspaper in Florida, Foley joined the faculty in August 2003 as a Master Lecturer in the journalism department. Foley's classes focus on news reporting and writing. He was appointed the first Hugh Cunningham Professor in Journalism Excellence in May 2006 and was honored as UF's Teacher of the Year for 2006-7. He served as executive editor, managing editor, metropolitan editor and city editor of the St. Petersburg Times. He also worked on the business side of the paper as VP of Community Relations. He oversaw community relations, the Times grants and scholarship programs and served as company spokesman. He started his journalism career in 1970 as a reporter for the Evening Independent, a now-closed afternoon newspaper owned by the Times. He moved to the Times in 1974 and remained there until retirement in 1999.

He has been involved in a wide variety of industry and community service, including serving as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes, president of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors, judge for the Hearst Foundation College Writing Awards and as a trustee of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Florida. He earned a bachelor's degree (with honors) from the University of Florida in 1970 and received his master's in mass communication from UF in 2004.  He was selected as a Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Journalism and Communications in 1994. He has served on the college's advisory council. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration in 1991 by Tampa College.

Foley is 62 (though he looks much younger), and married to the former Suzette Jennings. He has two daughters: Shannon, of Los Angeles, and Corey, of San Francisco, and two stepsons, Skyler Weaver, of St. Petersburg, and Jody Durkacs, of Ann Arbor, Mich. He plays bass guitar in Suzette Jennings & Moodswingz, a band that plays jazz, Motown and R&B.