Public Relations Tips: September 2007

Should you always have a quote in your press release? No. It's not always necessary. In fact, in section number two-and this is a little bit of an advanced tip-in section number two, I will either put a quote, or I will use what I call my "media torture technique." I will put some bullets in there and then a really tantalizing phrase. For example, I wrote a book on dating and relationships called How to find the Love of Your Life in 90 Days or Less, and one of my bullet points is, "The worst place to go on a first date, go here and you'll probably never get a second date." Well, what does everybody on this line want to know right now? Where's that place? So that's media torture. And the media people love that kind of stuff. They have to call to find out the answer. But again, if you're just doing a bake sale, or a shop opening, no you don't have to put in a quote at all. For more fantastic tips on how to write great press releases, read How to Write a Killer Press Release That Stops Reporters in Their Tracks
http://101publicrelations.com/killer.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=killer_press_releases

Posted by Dan at 07:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How can you avoid getting into trouble with your business blog? You need to have some kind of editorial guideline out there just to keep you out of court. Especially if part of your personality in your particular blog is to comment on the industry. You need to make sure that you have some kind of control out there to keep you out of court. There will be certain areas that are forbidden. There will be certain styles that are forbidden. Now what I recommend is that you write a generic document that says "Here are examples of how to handle specific issues." And then you have a manager who approves blog entries before they go out, especially if you are in a highly regulated or a highly litigious industry.
My recommendation is that you do it this way - every day, whoever it is that is assigned as the company blogger, at 10:00 in the morning that person has no other meetings on the calendar because it's blogging time. That person has an hour that is their time to blog each day. At 11:00 the manager and/or the lawyer who has to approve it has set on their calendar a constant daily meeting consisting of reviewing the blog, approving it and publishing it. If you have it that way, where the lawyer or the manager is the person who actually converts the blog from a draft to a published entry then you never have any doubts over whether or not they reviewed it before it was publishedFor more great ideas on how to make blogs work for you, and keep you out of court, read "Business Blogging Results."
http://101publicrelations.com/bloggingresults.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=business_blogging_results

Posted by Dan at 07:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a great tip for polls and surveys. If you can tie your poll or survey-or even your brief-into a season of the year, or into a holiday, or into an anniversary, or something major that's coming up, editors love that because they're sort of obligated to write about major holidays and anniversaries, and they're always looking for material. If you publish ezines, include your briefs in your ezines. In other words, every time you send a brief, use it in your electronic newsletter.

Here's another thing-you can offer these briefs to the publishers of other electronic newsletters. We're not only talking printed material here. Everything that you're submitting to the print media, you can just as well submit to the electronic media.

For more fantastic ideas about how to get free publicity, read Briefs, Fillers and Quizzes: How To Write Them and Why Editors LOVE Them

Posted by Dan at 07:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Want to project a professional spoken image? According to Dr. June Johnson, you need to lose the "fillers".

As with hesitations, fillers create the impression that you either don't have much to say or are not sure of what you're saying. Fillers are the "garbage" words such as:

ya know ya see

like ya unnerstan

really uh

-er um

Filler words clutter speech and fill time without contributing a thing to communication.

One radio station runs a contest in which callers have to talk for 20 seconds about a given topic without using "uh." You might want to try timing yourself, with "uh" or any of the above words.

Place your tape recorder beside your telephone and turn it on whenever you are on the phone. Forget that it's there. You'll not only hear how often you use fillers, but also how you sound to others.

Your speech habits are extremely important when you're on the telephone because there is no body language to help listeners interpret your meaning. They can only hear what you say, and the way you say it.

In Building the Power of Your Voice: How to Improve Your Voice to Command Attention & Move People to Action, Dr. June Johnson provides professionals with additional tips to improve on-the-job communication.
http://101publicrelations.com/voicepower.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=voice_power

Posted by Dan at 07:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Knowing how to communicate in a crisis is a key component of a crisis communication plan.

Make sure that your plan includes a clear process for getting the news out. Some reporters like to get their news via email. Some prefer getting their news via fax. Know their preferences as it could mean the difference between getting them the story you want to tell and having them miss something or focus on the negative.

Keep in mind also the power of the Internet in communicating during time of crisis. Tools such as a blog or a content management system may enable you to instantly communicate your message to a large number of reporters and the public in case of crisis. Experience has shown that the moment a crisis hits the major national media, thousands, and sometimes millions of people will access the company's website, so this is a great way to control the message as it is communicated.

A word of caution - while trying to be complete, be aware that anything communicated via the web (or any other means during a crisis) can be used as evidence in a trial, so be very cautious in what you communicate.

Crisis Communication Planning: Organizing and Completing a Plan That Works teaches companies how to write crisis communications plans that work.
http://101publicrelations.com/crisis-communication.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=crisis_communications

Posted by Dan at 07:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are some key tips to getting on a talk show. When the call from a producer comes, don't just jump in and start pitching, begin by asking them what their angle will be with the show. Continue to gather information throughout your conversation. Position yourself as one who is helpful and willing to do whatever is necessary to make the show a success. Understand that time is of the essence and if you don't act immediately, the spot will likely go to someone else. Show the producer your personality.

Don't hesitate to suggest alternative ways to handle the show if they would truly make a better show (don't make suggestions to make you look better, make suggestions to improve the show!) Never pitch or even mention your product during the first interview - how your product is handled can be dealt with after your spot is confirmed. Be brief and engaging in your conversation. Let your inner beauty show through. Be grateful for every opportunity. This could be the beginning of a fantastic career for you.

For more great tips on how to make sure that you're the one being interviewed on a TV talk show, read "Secrets to Get TV Talk Show Hosts to Book You As Their Guest."

Posted by Dan at 01:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How do you find lists of media to whom you can send your press releases? I'm going to give you two quick answers to that. You can go to your library for two books. One is called Bacon's Publicity Checker. That's a set of five volumes. Just flip through, look for the ones you need, photocopy or write them down. There's also another book called Gebbie's All In One, a single volume of far fewer contacts, but that may do what you need. If you have any significant number, you don't want to do it that way, it's labor intensive. But if you need one, or two, or three, just go to the library.

What I use is something called Publicity Gold Mine Data Disks. I put information about it on my website. Go to www.hartunian.com/disks. You will find information, now on CD, that has over 20,000 media contacts. You just put it into your database program. You can sort any way that you want. You can fax right from there. You can do everything. That is all I'll use. I don't bother looking through pages of a directory. For more fantastic tips on how to write great press releases, read How to Write a Killer Press Release That Stops Reporters in Their Tracks
http://101publicrelations.com/killer.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=killer_press_releases

Posted by Dan at 07:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Does your on-the-job public speaking not seem successful? It may be what you're saying with your eyes.

The eyes have it. There is a wonderful old Irish song that goes "When Irish eyes are smiling, all the world seems bright and gay." Take these words to heart because the world does seem bright and gay when you meet smiling eyes.

Your eyes show how you feel about yourself and have a direct bearing on how others feel about you. People are constantly interpreting what they read in other's eyes. How often have you heard the expression, "I could see it in her eyes?" or "Did you see those shifty eyes?"

People in power know how to use their eyes to maintain control. They master looks that convey authority, confidence, warmth or concern. They know better than to look down or look nervously around a room since that indicates disinterest or insecurity.

Direct eye contact should be maintained only about 70 to 75% of the time. By glancing away occasionally you avoid intense staring that makes people uncomfortable.

When speaking before a group, let your eyes sweep around the room to include everyone. Audiences want to feel that you are speaking directly to them. Avoid looking over their heads, at the ceiling, off to the side or concentrating your attention on only a few individuals.

In Building the Power of Your Voice: How to Improve Your Voice to Command Attention & Move People to Action Dr. June Johnson provides solutions to public speaking challenges, and offers techniques and tools that will help professionals communicate effectively.
http://101publicrelations.com/voicepower.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=voice_power

Posted by Dan at 07:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Are blog links good for business? When I write a really good blog post I get thousands and thousands of visitors to my site because all of the other sites that are simply aggregating content and pointing people to different places are all pointing at me. And I love those people. As I said, you should have that type of blog as one of your company blogs. But I also hesitate to say that should be your only company blog. When I send out newsletters, I have a blog where I actually republish the newsletter articles on the blog. It's almost an archiving function. I've been doing it for just under a year now.
What I have found is that I oftentimes get more traffic to the blog version of that than I get to the newsletter version. Not only does that give me a permanent presence for the articles that I write but it also gives people an alternative method of locating it because now they've got search engines that are linking to it as opposed to having to subscribe. It is also a great little selling tool. I tend to blog the way that I speak when I do professional presentations. I do some presentations where I get paid a lot of money to do these presentations. I really like those because they hand me a nice big check and I walk out of there happy. For more great information on how blogs can work for your business, read "Business Blogging Results."
http://101publicrelations.com/bloggingresults.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=business_blogging_results

Posted by Dan at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Speaking professionally with depth and power begins with proper breathing.

Although you have been breathing since you were born, you have probably not paid much attention to it. You need to be aware of the two types of breathing - diaphragmatic and costal.
Diaphragmatic breathing uses the full lung capacity while costal (or high chest) breathing uses only the upper half or third of the lung capacity.
Diaphragmatic breathing is the foundation of speech, the support that provides the power behind the voice. By using the full lung capacity, your body provides the energy that gives your voice its depth and authority and enables you to project with ease. By limiting the intake of air it deprives the voice of support and pushes the voice into the throat. The result is a higher pitch, vocal strain, and a voice that lacks depth and the ability to project.

Professionals can learn to master their breathing and vocal techniques, as well as learn valuable skills with Building the Power of Your Voice: How to Improve Your Voice to Command Attention & Move People to Action
http://101publicrelations.com/voicepower.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=voice_power

Posted by Dan at 07:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Great care should be taken with media conferences that involve alcohol.

Back in the 1970s, the press and booze went hand-in-hand. No one blinked at the three-martini lunch between a reporter and a news source. Reporters sometimes even met their sources at the local bar after work and drank well into the night. Today, such practices have gone the way of the Nehru jacket. And for good reason.

Don't ever feel obligated to serve alcohol at media functions such as news conferences. And if you are being interviewed by a reporter, NEVER EVER drink alcohol, even if the reporter does and offers to pay for your drink. As the old saying goes, "loose lips sink ships." You don't want to let your guard down for one second, particularly in front of a bulldog reporter who can down three double-Scotches, still appear coherent, and fire fast-ball questions at you. You need to stay clear-headed, sober and focused on the interview. You need to remember your key message and deliver it succinctly. You need to be braced for a trick question, and not let yourself get tripped up.

For more rules on appropriate conduct at news conferences, see Special Report #43, "The Do's and Don'ts of Offering Food to the Media"

Posted by Dan at 07:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you have a media kit, how do you get it to the media? You want to put it on your site under a button on your home page that says "Press." It should not be just a press release. It should be a press section. And we prefer to have all of it on one page so that the reporter can just scroll down. To get them there, you do an email blast with a one-paragraph hook that ends with "More information is available." and they can click on the hotlink.

When you call reporters to pitch the story, they will say whether or not they are interested. Then, if they're interested, you can guide them to that kit right while they're on the phone with you. When you book radio talk shows, you then send a confirmation to the host and you say, "All of your show prep material is at this address." And by the way, although it's called a media kit, when I deal with radio talks show bookers, I always call it a "show prep kit" because that's their terminology.

For more great tips on how to use media kits, read "Electronic Media Kits: How to Create Them, Deliver Them, and See Instant Results."

Posted by Dan at 07:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)