Public Relations Tactics devotes their Feb 2015 issue to articles about being a better PR writer. Topics include:
Infographics
Using everyday language
Headline and boilerplate writing
How to create an engaging story
Avoiding redundancies
http://www.prsa.org/Intelligence/Tactics/Issues#.VOIVoiz0c7F
Thomas Goetz has an interesting one-page essay in the Feb 2015 issue of Inc. magazine about getting media coverage. He says such coverage is great but you’ll have to understand that you don’t have control over how your company’s story is told. “The best way to work with the media,” he says, “is to help reporters find a story they want to tell — and then get out of the way and let them tell it.
This is what we try to communicate to PR students. Goetz summarizes the process so well in one page-page.
http://www.inc.com/magazine/201502/thomas-goetz/the-art-of-getting-press.html
This infographic explains the skills sets needed for future success in the workplace — regardless of profession. These include things like:
Great practical advice on writing headlines. Nielsen research says the BBC does it best.
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/worlds-best-headlines-bbc-news/
Walter Isaacson, author of The Innovators:
Vision without execution is just hallucination.
Technology needs to be used to bring people together rather than isolate them.
If we bind our technology to our humanity our technology will always be as good as we are.
David Gallagher, Senior Partner and CEO, Europe Chairman, Ketchum
Businesses do better when young people have the courage to lead, and leaders have the courage to follow.
Amy Robach, ABC News
Students: Take the first job you are offered doing what you want to do, no matter where it is. (In other words, take that first step to get experience in your profession to launch your career.)
Best advice she ever got: You can never regret your silences.
Tom Whitman, Flip Radarworks
Re: Marketing to LGBT. The acceptance of LBGT is the fastest moving cultural change in a generation. If brands don’t engage now with this audience they will get left behind.
Benefits of pursuing LGBT audience: $830 billion in disposable income and 23% higher median household incomes, 24% more equity in homes. LGBT are affluent, have significant cultural influence, and are brand loyal and talk about brands they like more than the general public.
Bill Heyman, Heyman Associates, an executive search firm
Keith Burton, Brunswick Group
& Kathryn Beiser, exec. vice president, corporation communication, Hilton
What companies are looking for in a PR leader:
Understanding of their business-industry.
Understanding integrated communication — no silo attitude.
Understanding of digital trends.
Understanding of globalization.
Skills at change management.
Engaged listening.
Writing.
Authenticity.
Strong personal brand.
Team oriented.
Mentor.
Relativity: who else does this person know?
Confidence without arrogance.
Willingness to take risks.
Kathryn Beiser, exec. vice president, corporation communication, Hilton
I hate swim lanes. I hate having to stay in my own lane. (avoiding silos, understanding convergence and integration)
Engaged listening: Seek first to understand, to then be understood.
Be appreciated. If you are not, get another job. You should be appreciated.
Kathleen Lewton, Lewton, Seekins & Trester
We are not publicists. We are behavioral scientists — quoting Pat Jackson.
Don’t assume. Do the research.
Polly LaBarre, founder of Fast Company and editorial director of Mix
Hang out on the fringe where the future gets started.
Organizations need a galvanizing sense of purpose that sharpens their focus.
Your message is not your own. It is fodder for comment, retweet.
Create an organizational vocabulary free of jargon monoxide. Talk about your business like a human being.
Everything you do speaks.
Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?
Invite a weirdo to lunch. Expose yourself to people different from yourself.
Lee Odden, TopRank Online Marketing
Consumer attention deficit disorder: The dirty secret of the internet is that no one reads anymore. You’re lucky if they skim.
Digital branding involves become a content publisher.
Search (SEO) is still critical for surfacing your content at the exact moment of need.
Steps in a customer focused strategy: 1) Attract (readers) 2) Engage them to look at your content 3) Convert them to action.
Ann Wylie, Wylie Communication — advice about PR writing
79% of online readers scan. Only 16% read word for word.
60% are illiterate or aliterate. They have poor reading skills, or just don’t want to read.
It is very important to compress the major ideas into the headline, subheads, and captions. It is quite likely that is all that will be read.
Are you giving away main ideas (making them easy to see) or making readers dig for them, because they don’t dig.
No naked charts. If you use a chart it should have a headline and a caption to explain it.
14 words max in a headline.
BBC has the best headlines on the web. 5 words long max and 34 characters max. Subject is always the first word of the headline.
Don’t repeat words from the headline in the body copy. You are wasting valuable real estate being repetitious.
Make links stand alone. Don’t use the URL as the link. It doesn’t mean anything to people. The language of the link should communicate something about the content. 7 to 11 word links are okay.
Body copy in a layout: Use the Edmond Arnold Dollar Bill Test. Each section of copy should only be as long and wide as a dollar bill without insertion of a subhead or image. Dense copy without breaks is not read.
Hadley Malcolm and Mike Snider, USA Today – Media relations
Most journalists prefer email pitches from PR.
Journalists are annoyed by generic PR pitches. They should be directed at a specific individual.
Know the reporter’s interests and the types of stories she/he covers. And get his/her name right.
Media relations matter. If I have some sort of relationship with a PR person I will be more likely to listen to a pitch.
Best pitches give access to something a reporter couldn’t ordinarily get access to, especially if exclusive.
Internal PR people seem to be more defensive. PR agency people seem more to do positive outreach.
Overhandling a newsmaker is a turn off for journalists. Don’t show up with an interview with an entourage of handlers and assistants. Turns the interview into a circus. Makes journalists suspicious as to why the newsmaker needs so many people.
When PR people are not responsive it sets the tone for the relationship with media,
Mike Buckley, VP of Global Business Communication at Facebook
PR people need to be braver, have bigger ideas, and act more boldly.
PR industry needs more balls.
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Research and analytics are vital.
Chuck Todd spoke to the Public Relations Society of America conference. He is the new host of Meet the Press. He said he thought today’s politicos in Washington are less bright than they were back when. I remember lobbying in Alaska in the 80s and early 90s and being discouraged by what dim bulbs many legislators seemed to be at that time. Many just took their orders from the party caucus leaders and didn’t bother thinking about issues on their own. Todd said both parties suffer from poor thinking, rigidity and a sense that compromise with the other side is evil. I don’t know how one rescues a democracy from politicians who don’t understand that politics and democracy are about finding common ground to govern for the benefit of all. Politicians today prefer win-lose or lose-lose to win-win outcomes. It is a bi-partisan pathology.
Sorry for the long winded venting. Being in Washington brought it on.
Speakers at the PRSA luncheon today in Austin:
Elizabeth Christian, of Elizabeth Christian Associates, Austin
Bill Miller, Public Strategies, Austin
Debbie Hiott, Editor, Austin American Statesman
Here are some quotes I captured from the discussion ethics:
Elizabeth Christian:
“John Lennon was right — instant Karma will get you (if you lie).”
“When something bad happens, 1) tell the media what happened 2) say you feel bad 3) fix the problem.””Any pattern of dishonesty or sleaziness just doesn’t work for us.” (fire clients who want you to behave dishonestly)
A lot of new media today have “none of the traditional safeguards of traditional news media” in terms of accuracy and concern about fairness and balance.
Bill Miller:
“Pitch a story straight and get it reported accurately.” In other words, give journalists accurate information and help them to report a story accurately.
“In political campaigns, show business and sports anything goes….Good conduct differs and people seem to be held to different ethical standards.” (unfortunately)
“If you can’t believe and can’t trust a client, you have to get out (fire the client.”
Debbie Hiott:
Said she was happy to see that the PRSA Code of Ethics is similar in purpose and content to journalistic ethical codes like the SPJ code. She also said that if PR practitioners lie or mislead or behave badly in other ways, the word gets around among journalists. PR people should think about building and maintaining long term relationships and credibility with journalists and editors.
Take a look at this article. A cafe in Vermont got into trouble for advertising bacon items on its menu. Vegans and Muslims (who don’t eat pork) said the ad was insensitive to a diverse population. The cafe pulled the ad.
Now one side is mad about the bacon ad and others are mad that the cafe caved in to pressure to pull the ad.
The cafe hired a PR agency to help with crisis communication.
PR crisis can come out of nowhere. Even great companies can find themselves in one. What would you do?
Social media mistakes to avoid: @prsaaustin
It is interesting to see who is influencing the direction of a profession and why.
50 most influential people in PR @prsaaustin @TxStPRSSA
It is interesting to see who is influencing the direction of a profession and why.
engagingpr 