By Ashley Wirthlin  author and editor of Public Relations Blogger

While sending out press releases is an important part of or PR, there is an appropriate time and place to do so. Bear in mind that news publications and bloggers are often in need of your press releases as they make up a large portion of their stories.

The Internet has made it possible for PR professionals to reach their customers directly; this means that your target audience is much, much larger than it was when your press releases were being sent to media contacts only. Now, you’ve got to consider all of the readers your press release will reach, and those that you hope your press release reaches.

If you ever doubt the need for your press release, go through the points below before sending it out. Here are 3 important things to consider when writing a press release and if it is time to, well, release it:

- Your story’s “newsworthiness”. This can involve a few things:

• Relevance
• Effects/ Consequences or Repercussions (on customers, the community, the general public, etc.)
• Effects/ Benefits (for your company and brand or the company and brand that you represent)
• Importance (which can relate to relevance)
• Timeliness (which can also relate to relevance)

- Its optimization for the Internet. This involves a few things as well:

• Keyword optimization. SEO (search engine optimization) is an important part of anything you publish on the Internet. Ensuring that your press release will show up in the search results of the millions of Internet users who search with Google, Yahoo!, or Bing can greatly increase your audience reach and site traffic. You can find some tips for SEO from Brad Shorr here and some of my own here.
• The release’s title. This involves some SEO skill as well, but it more importantly involves creating a title that is captivating, interesting, and explanatory of the release’s information and affects on the reader. Make sure it is succinct, to the point, and creative.
• Image titles. More about this can be read in Brad’s guest post, but to summarize, your images ought to be optimized with keywords as well. When uploading an image to a blog post or even to a press release make its name optimized with similar keywords you’ve used throughout the entire copy; this can help with search engine results.

- The style, form, and make-up of the release. Things that should be found in a press release can and should include:

• Release date. This can be a future date, or the day you send the press release out. If you are sending the release to press contacts, ensure that you indicate if the press release needs to be released on a specific date,
• Answers to these questions: who, what, when, where, and why. This should cover the above characteristics of being newsworthy: what is happening, who does it affect, why is this news “news”, when it happened, and where.
• Your most relevant information ought to be at the top of the news release or accompanying pitch; this will help readers and those you pitch to get the gist of your release and story and to understand why it is important news.
• The boilerplate. This is where you can briefly describe your company, what you do, and who you are. This is also the place to describe any company that you are working with that you cover in the release. For example, if you are a technology company taking on a new client, explain your company and their company as well. They will appreciate it, and most likely post your press release to their news/ media room to share with their customers and visitors.
• Links and suggestions for action. Your press release is a great place to get people to act. Don’t use the press release as an advertising tool, but rather a tool to offer value to your customers and potential customers; offer a free eBook, White Paper, whatever, just get them clicking and visiting your site.
• Lastly, the tone of your press release will need to change depending on who you pitch the press release to, if you are simply adding it to your website and a few other press release distribution sites, and if what kind of publication you are pitching. People who know a lot about your industry will want different information than someone who knows enough about your product or industry on a consumer level.

The key to having success with press releases is to continue releasing them with a steady flow of news. Though a release sent out once may keep traffic and media coverage going for a little while, there will undoubtedly be more news coming from other companies that will bump your story out of the limelight. Keep the news coming. For some tips on making newsworthy news, check out another post here. Just remember, there is always need for more good stories.

What are some tips you have about releasing and writing press releases?

Ashley is a marketing and management graduate of the University of Portland, a Marketing Associate of the H Media Group, and creator of the Public Relations Specialist Certification Program (PRS) sponsored and provided by BusinessTraining.com. She plans to launch the PRS program early 2010.
She also just released an 80+ page eBook that can be downloaded for free at http://publicrelationsblogger.com andhttp://publicrelationsbook.com.

© 2010 www.media-training.info

Six quick steps to make you and your company more “media friendly.”

Plan in advance what you will wear when you are interviewed on camera. Learn what looks good on camera and what to avoid.

Whether it’s a live interview on the six o’clock news, an employee training video or a on camera speech you’ll want to come across as someone reputable and reliable. So, how should you dress for TV? What should you wear when you are going to be on television? What colors look best on TV?

Some clothing will look good to the camera and some will distract. The worst on camera offender- light color clothes like white, pink and yellow. Light colors get washed out in the lighting. The detail is gone. The reason? A camera doesn’t see light the way your eye does Too much bright to dark contrast and something’s got to give. So either the bright or dark color loses detail. In other words, just because it looks good to your eye does not mean it will look good to the camera. The contrast ratio problem also applies to dark clothing. Pure black and navy blue clothing will loose all detail and appear like a solid dark blob. Same problems for pink and yellow colored clothes- stay away.

Best color clothing for television medium to medium-dark blues. Look at television sets and professionals on television, you’ll find blue as the color of choice.

Something else to avoid- clothing with fine patterns. They will cause a moiré (a distracting wavy effect) pattern when seen on TV. Examples of some clothing that my cause this are, Herringbone patterns on a jacket or small check patterns.

If in doubt bring several sets of clothing to the video shoot and consult with the director. The best types of clothes to wear are solid colors and pastels.

What To Wear On Television Checklist:

 -No white or dark clothing  -Several set of clothes so the director has a choice –  No beeping watches          -Pager and cell phone turned off   -Take a comb, makeup, and mirror   -Eyeglasses, if must wear get glare free type or frames with no lenses   -Don’t forget to get a good night sleep before the shoot

Remember when dressing for TV, the camera “sees” things differently than the human eye. Keep it simple, solid colors, pastels, no fine patterns or distracting jewelry.

If you have any questions about what will look good for your TV interview call the director or your contact person before the day of the video shoot. They will appreciate it and together you can look your best.

© 2010 www.media-training.info

Six quick steps to make you and your company more “media friendly.”

Have the CEO and any others that may need to talk with the press media trained. Be ready before the media calls. Don’t try to “wing it.” Media training will show your spokespeople how to get their message delivered to the media.

Media Training is learning how to tell your story in the most compelling and interesting way. It’s how to take control of an interview and transform contentious questions into positive “on message” answers.

Think of it as grabbing the steering wheel- you take control. Staying on message is simply a matter of “grabbing the wheel” of an interview and steering it across the bridge. You “bridge” the interview from the question you don’t want to answer to the answer you want to give.

While you can’t tell a report what to ask, you can control your answers. Politicians do it each day. They bridge tough, unwelcome questions with phrases that begin with. “I can’t tell you that, but what I can tell you is… “Let’s put your question into perspective….” “The real issue here is…. There are many roads that help you navigate your way from hostile question to an on-target message…and you can deliver it with a smile without being evasive or combative. “Message masters” perfect this, the same way you get to Carnegie Hall….practice, practice, practice.

Don’t talk with any reporter until you talk with one of our media trainers. Be prepared, get your message delivered, get trained on how to deal with the media.

Comments and questions welcome.

©2010 www.media-training.info

Six quick steps to make you and your company more “media friendly.”

Have b-roll video available for the press. This is video that you hand out to the press that is covering your event. Produced by you- you control what is shown.

Having b-roll to hand out to the press is a great way to be media friendly, get press coverage and control the message.

Definition: But first, what is b-roll and why is it important. B-roll is the video that TV news uses to illustrate an on air story. For an example let’s imagine a news story about the President going to China for trade talks. When you hear the reporter’s voice saying “the president left the White House this morning full of hope for his trade mission”, you might see video of the president walking to the helicopter on the White House lawn. The video of the president walking would be the b-roll.

Importance: Why is b-roll important? The Television press can’t do a story without video to show what they are talking about. No video, no story or a shorter story done with the on camera news anchor reading it. Make it easy for the television media to do a story on you. Give them the video to do it.

Control: Where b-roll becomes even more important to you is, if you have the video created for you by a professional video production camera crew you control what is shown and how it is shown. For example let’s say your company has five locations and four of them are old and need upgrades. But, you have one brand new modern up to date facility. You would have the video created of the new location. That way when you give out the video to the press you are controlling which of your locations they show and what they show.

Advantages: The two advantages of you having b-roll to hand out again are:

- It makes it easy for the press to cover your business. Thus more coverage

- You are able to control what the press can show to the public.

Hand out b-roll another tool you can use to be more media friendly and advance your media relations. Questions or comments please let us know.

©2010 www.media-training.info

Six quick steps to make you and your company more “media friendly.”

The details: Step two Build A Media Room

Build a media room. A room designed to make it easy for you and the press to conduct an interview at your offices.

The media room is a quit place where interviews can be conducted with members of the media. For a room ready for television/video interviews this is what we would recommend:

Windows- The room should have no windows. Television cameras are not like the human eye and do not take well to mixed types of light. (Need more info the technical aspects of this? Just email us and we can go into the details with you.)

Room Lights- While we are on the subject of lights what should you do for lighting in your new media room? Most importantly make sure the overhead lights in the room can be switched totally off and on from a switch in the room. If there are several sets of lights in the room then each set should be individually controllable and even better if they could also be dimmed.

Media Lights- Should you install media lights? That will be up to you. If you do enough media interviews or do video recording in the room for internal purposes then you may want to. If you decide not to then each television crew will bring in their own lights. If you decide to install media lighting ask a local videographer that you have worked with for their suggestions on what lights to get. (Note the lights used by camera crews are different then normal room lights in the type of light they make. If you put lights in your media room make sure they are the correct type.)

Access- Being handicapped accessible is critical so the video crew can roll in their cart of gear with ease. No steps. If the crew has to carry heavy equipment up steps they will quickly cut back on the gear they bring into the interview. The potential result- your spokesperson may not get the crews best lighting work. Thus may not look as good on video as they could have.

Walls- As we said above no windows on the walls. What we recommend would be for one or two walls to have a blue curtain on an overhead track so it could be moved back if desired. Other walls could be carpeted with a blue/gray color material. And it would be great if there were a bookcase in the room also. The various material described above will give the videographer several looks to choose from. Also several people could be interviewed in the same room and still have it look as if they were in different locations.

Chairs- The room should have straight back chairs that do not swivel. This will keep the person being interviewed from nervously swings side to side during the interview. The room should contain not much more then four chairs and an end table or two. No big table taking up half the room. Put a table in the room and it’s no longer a media room it’s a conference room. Keep it simple don’t crowd the room the crew needs space to work.

And lastly something your media interview room should not be- a storage room. Resist the urge to store everything you are not using in the media room.  Keep your room as a ready to go resource.

Any questions please ask. Comments welcome.

© 2010 www.media-training.info

Six quick steps to make you and your company more “media friendly.”

The details: Step One Working With Reporter Deadlines

  Know that when a reporter calls they are under a time deadline. No you can’t call them back next Wednesday. Chances are if they are calling now they need it now.

  Reporter deadlines are not like many of the deadlines in the corporate world. With the internet and 24-hour broadcast news there really could be a deadline every minute. Also with cut backs in staffing fewer reporters are doing more stories and they are being given less time to work on them.

  Work with reporters, understand there deadline needs and you become a resource that they go to over and over again to get a quote or information. Help them out once and they’ll be back because they’ll know are reliable and can be counted on.

  Remember media coverage equals free publicity. Think of it call commercial time that you don’t have to buy.

  One quick word about what to do when that reporter calls. Yes, they are on deadline and you want to help them out so you get the coverage. But, don’t rush into making a mistake in what you say. Instead when they call tell them something like “I just walked in can I call you back in five minutes.” That will give you time to think and that short wait for the five-minute call back will still meet their need for quick action.

  Also remember a session with a good media trainer will prepare you for these quick reporter encounters. Get a media coach before you get those reporter calls.

  Bottom line:

 Reporter deadlines are a fact of life in dealing with the media. Work with them, become a valuable resource and get free publicity for years to come. Get media training and be your best at dealing with the media.

© 2010 www.media-training.info

 Six quick steps to make you and your company more “media friendly.”

 √ Know that when a reporter calls they are under a time deadline. No you can’t call them back next Wednesday. Chances are if they are calling now they need it now.

 √ Build a media room. A room designed to make it easy for you and the press to conduct an interview at your offices.

 √ Have b-roll hand out video available for the press. This is video that you hand out to the press that is covering your event. Produced by you- you control what is shown.

 √ Have the CEO and any others that may need to talk with the press media trained. Be ready before the media calls. Don’t try to “wing it.” Media training will show your spokespeople how to get their message delivered to the media.

 √ Plan in advance what you will wear when you are interviewed on camera. Learn what looks good on camera and what to avoid.

 √ When the video “crew” comes to record you for an on camera television interview treat them well. Be nice to the technical folks and they’ll be nice to you. A happy cameraperson will make sure you are looking your best when you are on camera.

 Next week we go into detail on the six steps above and tell you all you need to know about each step.

 (C) 2010 www.Media-Training.info  Maryland and Virginia

Media Training Washington, DC;

Comments welcome.

by SUSANRYOUNG on DECEMBER 9, 2009

Well, my first blog titled “Things Clients Say That Scare PR Professionals”got lots of great feedback, re-tweets, comments and laughs…so I am sharing 10 more. Consider it a late holiday gift of levity. 

Remember, I love my clients like you love yours…but we often need to educate them about the behind-the-scenes wranglings with news reporters. We are walking a fine line to balance client needs and desire for business growth while respecting what is newsworthy and how we can help reporters get their jobs done. All of this while striving to keep our reputations and credibility intact. Makes for interesting dinner conversation.  

10 More Things Clients Say That Scare PR Professionals:

1. My wife did a little PR years ago before the kids were born. She’ll help with the editing. 

2. Where will you be mailing the press release to? You may want to use my list, it’s only 3 years old.

3. Oh, I don’t like that Social Media stuff where everyone knows what you’re doing. 

4. You can send out the release today but I’ll be away for two weeks.

5. I added two quotes to the bylined article you drafted. 

6. Blah Blah Blah (for 10 minutes), but you’re the expert….(smile) 

7. That’s a wonderful story idea! The Board meets next week so they can discuss if we should move forward. No you don’t have to be there, I’ll fill them in.  

8. You don’t have to come to the event tonight. We can take the pictures and e-mail them to you. 

9. Can I get a copy of the radio (or TV) interview from last week? We must have missed it when it aired.

10. I always prefer to see the article before it’s printed. I’m sure the reporter won’t mind.

One step up, two steps back.

 From Susan Young’s Public Relations Blog “Get In Front Blogging”http://www.getinfrontblogging.com Reprinted with permission

http://www.getinfrontblogging.com/business/10-things-clients-say-that-scare-pr-professionals/

Susan’s website Get In Front Communications is athttp://www.getinfrontcommunications.com/ 

(c) 2010 www.media-training.info

by SUSAN R YOUNG on DECEMBER 7, 2009

The relationship that public relations professionals share with their clients can be unique. With any business, when a PR consultant is hired, there is typically a learning curve as projects begin to progress. It may take a few days or weeks to get into the rhythm of the process and working together.

Most people hire PR consultants because they are either miffed by the news process and want someone who is well connected, media savvy and creative…or they simply don’t have the time or desire to write, pitch and place press releases and stories. 

If you are a PR pro, you’ll likely get a good chuckle out of the following list. If you’re a business or nonprofit professional, please keep in mind that my list is intended to politely remind you that thinking and breathing is not newsworthy. You must be willing to do something or say something that impacts the public, without being self-serving. Above all, if you hire a PR consultant, allow them to use their expertise to help you get publicity. 

Here are 10 Things that Clients Say that Scare PR Professionals. Do any of these sound familiar?

1. I want to be on Oprah.
2. I wrote a press release once in college.
3. How much will it cost to get my press release printed?
4. I want to get publicity but I don’t like to talk to those pushy reporters. You know I was once misquoted. 
5. I know your PR ideas will make me money. I’m on a very tight budget.
6. We’re sponsoring a giveaway with the local minor league team and will be giving away travel mugs with our new logo. It’s Tuesday night; which TV crews can you get to cover our story? 
7. Oh you have an opportunity for an interview with a reporter?  Tell them I’m available on Wednesday at 8 AM or next Tuesday at 3:30.   
8. I’ve scheduled a free seminar for next month…
9. My friend works in my field in Connecticut and his publicist got him into three magazines, an interview with Matt Lauer and a quote in the Wall Street Journal. That’s what I’m looking for. 
10. I’ve scripted out all of my answers for the TV interview you’ve arranged so I can just bring my notes on the set. 

Being realistic about expectations and trusting the people you work with are critical to the success of any PR campaign. And if you want to be on Oprah, hurry! The end of her show in 2011 is just around the  corner.

From Susan Young’s Public Relations Blog “Get In Front Blogging” http://www.getinfrontblogging.com Reprinted with permission

http://www.getinfrontblogging.com/business/10-things-clients-say-that-scare-pr-professionals/

Susan’s website Get In Front Communications is at http://www.getinfrontcommunications.com/ 

(c) 2010 www.media-training.info

Public Relations and Crisis Management

By Ashley Wirthlin  author and editor of Public Relations Blogger