Welcome to the first PR Success Monthly
Welcome to the first issue of PR Success Monthly. PR, like most industries, is likely to face a tougher year in 2009. Success might be harder to achieve. But it needn’t be impossible. And we’re here to help. So, in this issue, Lizz Clarke kicks off with 10 top tips for doing PR during a recession.
Andrew Sawers, editor of Financial Director magazine tells us what he wants (and what he doesn’t want) from public relations professionals.
We find out why Gwen Stefani proved such a successul celebrity endorsement for maternity fashion retailer Mamas & Papas (and why former Spice Girl, Emma Bunton, didn’t).
And, in our regular Press Release Clinic slot, you’ll discover how to sharpen that opening sentence in a way that’ll grab editors’ attention.
We hope you find PR Success Monthly an interesting read and a practical help in your work. If you’ve got any comments on this issue, or would like to suggest ideas for the future, please e-mail me at peter.bartram@journalist.co.uk.
Kind regards,
Peter Bartram
(Editor, PR Success Monthly)
Get PR Success Monthly regularly: the only way to ensure you don’t miss out on your free future issues of PR Success Monthly is to register. It doesn’t take more than a minute and you can do it by clicking on www.newventurepublishing.co.uk/register.php
10 top tips for PR in a recession
Lizz Clarke on ways that PR people can raise their game as economic times become tougher
This is likely to be a tough year for PR people – like everyone else working in business or the public sector. So how can PR rise to the challenge? Here are 10 tips for PR in a recession-battered world.
1. Create a realistic plan. Just updating last year’s probably won’t fit the bill. There’s a new mindset out there, which is based on hoarding cash. One practical effect of this is that many newspapers and magazines will have fewer pages this year – less room for PR stories. So you need to make sure that everything you offer hits the spot.
2. Tie PR closely to business priorities. Always important – never more so than now. In some organisations, boards will be looking to cut marketing spend (it’s already happening). When PR demonstrates a positive contribution to achieving business aims, it helps insulate itself from the budget pain.
3. Get other managers on-side. Be honest: not every manager is awed by the power of PR. Take time to win over the sceptics. You do that by demonstrating how the PR you generate helps them achieve their objectives. When hard decisions are being made about spending and headcounts, the more friends you have in high places the better.
4. Focus on what works. Lots of PR activity doesn’t – those news-free press releases, those boozy journalist lunches with no outcome. Be more analytical about what you do and stop things that get no results. Think more creatively about what could deliver better coverage.
5. Measure results. You find out what works by measuring results. Choose a measurement methodology which matches the scale and purpose of your PR programme. Decide in advance what constitutes success – but, in these hard times, be realistic about what you can achieve. Looks better to exceed a modest aim than fall short of an ambitious one.
6. Brush up PR skills. No matter how long you’ve been in PR, it’s never too late to learn a new skill or brush up an old one. PR is changing at an ever-increasing pace and the people who are successful tomorrow won’t always be those who were successful in the past.
7. Look for new outlets. We live in a multimedia world, but too much PR is still focused on print media. Of course, newspapers and magazines are still important, but take a fresh look at digital media in all its forms. There’s a wealth of PR opportunities in websites and social networking forums. Most print media organisations now have websites that offer PR opportunities over and above their newspapers and magazines.
8. Ride the Zeitgeist. Which is no more than a flash way of saying: keep in tune with the spirit of the times. PR works well when it goes with the grain of what people are looking for. Piggy-back on current trends. So if you’ve got stories on how people or organisations are riding out the recession or fighting against tough times, now’s the time to give them an airing.
9. Stay positive. The world around you may look negative, but if you stay focused you can create great results. Just because things are tougher, doesn’t mean they’re impossible. So look for fresh ways of tackling how you do things. Be more inventive.
10. Find some luck. We all need it more than usual in these difficult times. Napoleon always said he chose “lucky generals”. In fact, lucky people are often those who take the time to look ahead and think about what might happen. Then when it does, they’re not the ones who are caught out. So become a lucky PR general. And good luck!
If you work in a company that plans to do its own PR (or handle some of the work alongside an agency) you’ll find lots of practical help about how to become even more effective at the Perfect Public Relations Masterclass in London on Tuesday 3 February, at which Lizz Clarke is one of the presenters. For more information and online booking, visit http://www.howtodoyourownpr.co.uk/
Five minutes with...Andrew Sawers
Andrew Sawers is the editor of Financial Director, published by Incisive Media. The magazine is a leading financial monthly with an ABC circulation of 19,516. It is aimed at senior members of the finance team in large and medium-sized organisations.
1. What I want from PR people is…
… a good, original idea that is relevant to the readers of our magazine, not some tired, generic piece of puff.
2. The best way to get my attention is…
… e-mail initially, with a focused, well-worded subject field. Too generic,
it will be ignored; too “(un)funny/gimmicky”, it will be scorned, then ignored. Follow up with a phone call.
3. But please don’t…
… simply say “If you need any comments on anything just give us a call!” It’s much better if you can suggest particular angles that you think we ought to be covering.
4. When pitching a story to me…
… it helps if you can demonstrate at least some awareness of who our readers are. Perseverance helps: we are all ridiculously busy these days and can’t always get our heads around your brilliant idea at the first hearing.
5. If you’re sending a press release, I want…
… good information and/or data, easy access to additional material, and quotes that sound as though they might actually have been spoken by the person alleged to have uttered them.
6. The most successful PR people…
…don't try to solve their client's problems. They try to help editors solve their readers' problems.
For the inside track on pitching ideas to editors in any section of the media come to the Perfect Pitch Masterclass in London on Thursday 22nd January. For more information and online booking, visit
http://www.perfectpitchmasterclass.co.uk/
How Gwen Stefani scored for Mamas & Papas
Gill Kingston-Warren, head of public relations at the maternity fashion and children’s goods retailer, describes her most successful PR coup
The most successful piece of PR for Mamas & Papas was not what you think it would be.
We had the delightful experience of working with Emma Bunton while she was pregnant. She announced her pregnancy on the cusp of her announcement that the Spice Girls were reforming. This should have been media gold dust - and in some cases it was as she was a superb model for the brand - but that was overshadowed by the Spice Girl media scrum for salacious gossip about every other member of the band.
Mamas & Papas is incredibly successful in terms of its combined brand messages, but if I were to pick one particular piece of traceable activity it would be the product placing of a limited edition gold pushchair with Gwen Stefani. There were only 10 numbered pieces ever made and Gwen was given number one through a mutual friend in Los Angeles.
Gwen is a consummate media professional and she knows how to celebrate motherhood in her own unique way. The paparazzi images of Gwen with the pushchair travelled around the world and are still being published two years down the line. We could have made thousands of gold pushchairs to capitalise on the demand but we chose to stay true to our word and not create any more than the 10 already in the public domain.
Gwen is a great fan of the Mamas & Papas brand and we make one-off pushchairs for her use when she is at her London home. It's our way of saying thank you to her and helping her maintain that carefully crafted individual style.
The reason our brand has this level of carefully managed cachet is that any celebrity association the brand has is a very personal relationship and it is managed as a friendship and not exploited. This means that celebrities tell us when they are pregnant before they publicly announce it. They even tell us the gender of the baby, sometimes before they’ve told their families.
With an in-house team, we retain consistency of communications and there is no temptation to exploit that relationship for the benefit of another client, as an agency would do. Details remain confidential and trust is created.
We do not exploit our celebrity credentials as other brands do and that shows in the fact there is a constant stream of rock, pop, TV and film aristocracy through our store doors every week. So much so, that paparazzi now camp outside our stores and we have to manage the security of all our clients as the privacy of any individual should never be affected by the publicity that surrounds another.
Most brands would be tempted to exploit their famous associations but those brands that do so tend to peak and fall away as quickly as a skirt-length trend. It is tempting as a PR to chase these opportunities constantly, but the brand and the product must be able to speak for themselves and celebrity association must be genuine.
The public can see right through poorly executed paid-for endorsements and celebrities can easily become embroiled in legal disputes when they are seen to use one brand's products while in a contractual term to another brand. Mamas & Papas is not naïve so it never places itself in such a position - as friends would never make such demands on each other.
And that is the simplicity of our approach. We make friends and we work with media and celebrities to support them as and when they need it, whilst retaining a subtle yet respectful distance at all times. Our PR accurately reflects the brand's family values and ethos - just as it should do.
Like to tell your PR success story in PR Success Monthly? Contact Peter Bartram, editor, at peter.bartram@journalist.co.uk
Press release clinic: first things first
Peter Bartram says that press release writers should hit editors right between the eyes by getting the story into the first words of the first sentence
There is a golden rule of news writing: always get the main point of the story into the first sentence. Ideally, get the story into the first words of the first sentence.
And hit editors right between the eyes by finding the strongest story you’ve got. The rule ought to apply to press releases, too. But too many opening sentences in releases carry unneeded information which obscures the main point of the story.
The 89 editors and senior journalists who provided ideas and comments for the Perfect Press Release Masterclass, said that this was one of the most common faults in press releases.
There are several common reasons for it. Take this example from an actual release I received recently. (I’ve changed the company name to save any blushes!) It’s typical of many releases that dilute the impact of the story by including too much background information in the introduction.
Madeup Communications International (OTC BB: MADE), the leading provider of multi-channel customer service and knowledge management software on-premise or on-demand, today published its 2008 international benchmarking report for the communications sector, encompassing businesses which provide services in cable, internet, satellite, wireline and wireless phone services. The report benchmarks and compares email customer service and web self-service offered by premier communications providers in North America (the US and Canada) and the UK. The UK trailed North America significantly in both email customer service and web self-service, according to key metrics.
Here, the most interesting point of the story – that the UK trails North America - comes at the end of an 89-word paragraph. You can put this right, by moving the story up to the front of the paragraph: The UK trailed North America significantly in both email customer service and web self-service, according to key metrics…
But, in news reporting and press releases, hard facts work better than generalisations. And the sentence leaves unanswered questions. In which ways does the UK trail America? By how much? News and press release intros should answer questions, not raise them. So by bringing up information included further down the original press release, it’s possible to strengthen the intro: Nearly three-quarters of UK companies ignore customer emails compared to only one in five in North America….
This now sounds to an editor like a much stronger story because “ignoring customer emails” is concrete whereas “email customer service” is abstract. Besides, we have some figures which answer the question: by how much does the UK trail America? With the main intro in place, you can add the supporting information at the end of the sentence rather than the beginning: Nearly three-quarters of UK companies ignore customer emails compared to only one in five in North America, according to the 2008 international communications sector benchmarking report produced by Madeup Communications International.
At 33 words, this opener is still on the long side, but shorter than the original 45 words. It also contains a sharper story which is likely to grab more editors’ attention. The background information about what Madeup does can be saved for later in the release. So can the information about the kinds of companies included in the report.
The key lesson for any release: don’t let background information get in the way of telling the main story. And seek out a hard story with specific facts and/or figures.
Next month: How to provide the information in a press release in the best order If you would like to attend the Perfect Press Release Masterclass in London on Thursday 19 February go to www.prmasterclass.co.uk for full details and online booking.
|
