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The how-to-do-it e-newsletter for PR and marketing
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Why PR must be ready for the green shoots
While half the country has been lounging on beaches during August, I’ve spent most of the month interviewing business leaders in Britain and North America for a series of magazine articles. The conversations – together with published reports from leading economists – have convinced me that the recession is coming to an end and that those fabled green shoots will soon be visible.
If that’s the case, this could be a very important time for PR. Not least because it’s when radical change is in the air that PR can do some of its best work. Skilled PR professionals are needed to interpret the significance of the changes and communicate them to their own colleagues and their organisations’ wider audiences.
But there’s more to it than that. This recession has come at a time when the most important underlying shift in communication for countless generations (perhaps since the invention of the printing press) is taking place. I sense that, in some ways, the recession has accelerated the shift from printed to digital media.
So with the tectonic plates moving as never before, PR professionals need to ensure they are on top of their game. It’s too easy to get stuck in yesterday’s mind-set. With that thought, the first article in this issue looks at 10 ways PR people can prepare for the upturn.
Alan Burkitt-Gray is editor of Global Telecoms Business, an important magazine in the Euromoney stable. He explains what he’s looking for from PR in the “Five minutes with…” slot.
When journalists receive press releases in their in-box a common reaction is: so what? Fellow writers tell me that it’s hard to see what possible relevance many of the releases could have for their readers. So the Press Release Clinic slot provides three questions to answer to ensure your releases don’t fail the so what? test.
This seems to be a month for awards. The Sponsored Links section in the right-hand column includes links to the iawards, which represent British achievement in science, technology and innovation, and the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. Both are inviting entries. So if you (or your clients) feel like a winner, now is the time to discover whether you are.
Peter Bartram
Editor
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10 ways PR can profit from the upturn
Peter Bartram looks at issues PRs should be thinking about as the recession comes to an end
If those famous “green shoots” of recovery are about to arrive, PR needs to be ready. Here are 10 ideas to consider.
1. Raise the stakes. PR has proved a marketing lifeline in many companies during the recession. It has taken up the slack caused by slashed ad budgets. Now PR needs to show it can do more when the good times roll. Which means a bigger voice in the boardroom and a budget to match. Tip: Send managers a regular briefing on PR’s successes to underscore its contribution.
2. Value people. PR scored its best results in the recession where it valued its people. When growth starts to motor again, the best PR professionals will once again be at a premium. Tip: Companies and agencies that offer attractive compensation packages, interesting work and a lively participative culture will attract the best talent.
3. Develop skills. The business gurus tell us the firms that profit most when a recession ends are those that continued to develop their “human capital” during it. They mean, of course, the people. The digital revolution is changing PR faster than ever. Tip: Allocate 15 minutes each day to learn something new.
4. Build customer confidence. In a recession, customers lose confidence. PR can help to restore it by showcasing the positive news. But facts speak volumes while hype just irritates. Tip: Look for real-life examples which show that business is returning to normal levels of activity.
5. Seek new markets. All recessions change markets permanently in some way. Old markets decline for ever. New markets emerge. Make it PR’s job to help the business identify new opportunities. Tip: Become a trend watcher in your business area – look internationally for emerging developments and decide how they can be adapted for your company’s (or client’s) use.
6. Explain the new landscape. As this recession ends, a new kind of business world will emerge in which no industries (or public sector organisations) will remain unaffected. PR people should be in the lead helping their organisations to explain how the new situation affects people and what they can do. Tip: Use the PR power of informational tools such as briefings, white papers, help lines and websites.
7. Focus on CSR. In the post credit crunch world, most organisations are giving more importance to corporate social responsibility. (Business schools report a huge increase in students for this subject.) PR people will need to spend more time working on the CSR aspects of the organisation’s or client’s activities. Tip: Make CSR a specific feature of the annual PR plan.
8. Do more with less. Another feature of the post credit-crunch world: smaller budgets that will take time to grow again. PR needs to find ways to deliver more bangs for the buck. Tip: Focus more on measuring what works and what doesn’t – increase the former, reduce (or stop) the latter.
9. Use social media. Definitely the big new growth area in PR. But it’s too easy to be dazzled by the technologies. There are so many possibilities, the key PR skill will be using social media to deliver real business benefit – rather than as just a gimmick. Tip: research each project thoroughly and carefully consider the potential downside (anything new contains unseen risks).
10. Find better ideas. There are more PR opportunities in the digital world, but fewer newspapers and magazines after the recession. Only the very strongest ideas will find favour with editors. So consider pitching fewer but stronger articles and interviews, sending fewer but newsier press releases. Tip: Form small teams to brainstorm for newer and stronger ideas for use in PR campaigns.
The new world of PR. The Perfect Public Relations Masterclass in London on Wednesday 28th October can help you make the most effective use of the time and resources you put into a PR campaign – whether that be for your own organisation or a client. Full programme and online booking at www.perfectpublicrelations.co.uk
Five minutes with... Alan Burkitt-Gray
Alan Burkitt-Gray has been the editor of Global Telecoms Business (www.globaltelecomsbusiness.com), part of the Euromoney group, for nine years. The magazine is read by CEOs and other leaders in the industry worldwide
1. What I want from PR people is…
…access to leaders of telecoms operators and significant vendors worldwide. We interview them, up to 10 an issue, ideally when there is a news peg. But they don’t include, sorry, the VP of marketing EMEA who pays your bills or the MD of Tolpuddle Telecom. Sorry to sound arrogant, but you have to offer someone who can be interviewed alongside the CEO of China Mobile, France Telecom or Alcatel-Lucent: I’ve done all of them in the past year.
2. The best way to get my attention is…
…to help me make Global Telecoms Business do its job even better than it does. That means you must know something about it. Even if you just have two minutes, do look at the website before you call. You’ll see we’re not a product magazine. We don’t do stories about new line testers or release 3.04 of some software.
3. But please don’t…
…phone to ask if I’ve received an email. I get 150-200 a day. If you’ve sent it and if it’s interesting, I’ll respond. If you ask me if I’ve received it, I’ll express great gratitude that I don’t get 150-200 similar calls a day and I might even be rude to you.
And don’t ask what my deadline is for a feature that you’ve read we’re doing in the next issue. I take that to mean you think all we do is copy and paste contributions from PR people into features on deadline day. Perhaps you don’t, and perhaps you do understand the process of commissioning and writing features: in that case, show it.
4. When pitching a story to me…
…show that you understand what Global Telecoms Business does and where our market is, and how your company or client fits into what we do. And how we work as a magazine. And what we’ve got in the magazine or on the website at the moment.
5. If you’re sending a press release, I want…
…the subject in the subject line (not “Press release” but something meaningful) and the release in the body of the email, not a Word or PDF attachment or a link to a website. I don’t mind getting lots of emails — it helps me build up a picture of companies in the industry — but I do want to go through them quickly and anything that slows down that process is an irritant.
6. The most successful PR people…
…understand the way the media work and understand that we’re all under pressure to write material that is useful to our readers and that distinguishes us from other brands.
Pitch perfect! The Perfect Pitch Masterclass in Manchester on October 8th and London on December 2nd is an intensive half-day session which shows you how to pitch ideas to journalists successfully by e-mail or telephone. The course is based on what 75 editors and senior journalists say they want from PR. Full programme and online booking at www.perfectpitchmasterclass.co.uk
Press release clinic: so what?
Peter Bartram explains why press releases should not be sent out unless they pass the “so what?” test
Here is the opening sentence of a press release I received just before I started writing this piece:
Mast&Flag, a European leader in IT management solutions, has announced today that its partner NOTIT, has recently been promoted to a Professional VAR under the new partner programme in the UK.
(I’ve changed the names to save a few blushes.)
There are several things wrong with this, but the main problem is that, as far as I’m concerned, the release fails the “so what?” test. I write mostly about business, finance and IT – but even so the story doesn’t get my newshound nose twitching. To be blunt, I can’t think of many IT journalists who would be interested either – although there may be handful of specialist “channel” publications who’d give it a glance.
Perhaps it’s unfair to single out this release for criticism. One of the moans I hear most from fellow journos is that many of the releases they receive don’t pass the “so what?” test. In case you’re wondering the test is this: so what? – why do you imagine my readers would be interested in this?
The sad reality (at least from a journalist’s perspective) is that too many PR people have too optimistic a view of what constitutes a decent news story. Many others do know what makes a story – but get hassled by managers or clients to issue releases that they know fail the so what? test.
Sending out lots of stories that don’t cut the mustard, queer the pitch (we’re mixing metaphors with impunity here) for those releases that do. So what’s to be done about it?
I suggest answering three questions to decide whether a story passes the so what? test. 1. Does the publication or website to which I’m sending this release, normally carry this kind of story? 2. If not, is there any special reason why it should want to carry this story? 3. If not, is there any other angle to the story which could make it a realistic runner?
If the answer to all three questions is “no”, best not to send the release but turn to a subject that could make some column inches.
Get more releases published. Peter Bartram will be presenting the Perfect Press Release Masterclass in London on Thursday October 1st. To see the full programme and book online, go to www.prmasterclass.co.uk
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Contents
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Diary dates:
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Training events for PR and marketing professionals:
Thursday 1st October: Perfect Press Release Masterclass, London.
A journalist’s eye view on how to write releases that make it into print
More: www.prmasterclass.co.uk
Wednesday 7th October: Writing for Publication Masterclass, Manchester Business School.
How to write news stories and feature articles that editors want to publish
More: www.writingforpublication.co.uk
Wednesday 7th October: Perfect Proposals & Presentations Masterclass. Manchester Business School.
How PR and marketing consultancies can improve pitches to win more business
More: www.perfectproposals.co.uk
Thursday 8th October: Perfect Pitch Masterclass, Manchester Business School.
How to devise article and interview pitches that journalists really want to hear
More: www.perfectpitchmasterclass.co.uk
Tuesday 27th October: Perfect Proposals & Presentations Masterclass. London.
How PR and marketing consultancies can improve pitches to win more business
More: www.perfectproposals.co.uk
Wednesday 28th October: Perfect Public Relations Masterclass, London.
Key skills for winning press, broadcast and online PR coverage that deliver more business value
More: www.perfectpublicrelations.co.uk
Thursday 12th November: Writing for Publication Masterclass, London.
How to write news stories and feature articles that editors want to publish
More: www.writingforpublication.co.uk
Wednesday 2nd December: Perfect Pitch Masterclass, London.
How to devise article and interview pitches that journalists really want to hear
More: www.perfectpitchmasterclass.co.uk
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Sponsored links:
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Web Links
Just click on the title of each link and it will take you to the appropriate website.
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Get your own sponsored link…
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Worth knowing:
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Our friends in the north
The best PR training events don’t always have to take place in the south – now they’re heading north
Here’s a conundrum – there are thousands of PR professionals working in agencies, companies and the public sector in the north of England, but most of the specialist PR training events take place in the south. Why do the trainees usually have to come south rather than trainers going north?
Well, they don’t. In October, Manchester Business School is hosting two days of PR training events mounted by New Venture Publishing. All three events over the two days have already played to dozens of PR professionals in the south. Now it’s the north’s turn to get in on the act.
The event kicks off on the morning of Wednesday 7th October with the Writing for Publication Masterclass, an event for PR people who need to write articles for newspapers, magazines, websites or in-house publications. The programme and online booking information are at www.writingforpublication.co.uk
On the afternoon of 7th October, Jo Lynn, a specialist in winning new PR business, will be giving her Perfect Proposals & Presentations Masterclass. This is an opportunity for senior professionals in agencies to discover what clients are looking for from successful PR proposals. Programme and online booking at www.perfectproposals.co.uk.
Then on the morning of Thursday 8th October, Peter Bartram will be presenting the Perfect Pitch Masterclass, which pulls together information from 75 editors and senior journalists on what they want (and don’t want) when they get PR pitches. Programme and online booking at www.perfectpitchmasterclass.co.uk.
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Contact details
We hope you find this newsletter of interest. If you have any queries or would like to make a suggestion about future content, please contact New Venture Publishing using the contact details below.
New Venture Publishing Ltd, 29 Tivoli Road, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 5BG, UK.
Tel: +44 1273 565505. E-mail: info@newventurepublishing.co.uk
© New Venture Publishing Ltd 2010. All rights reserved.
New Venture Publishing Ltd is registered in England & Wales, number 5606789
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