PRINT MEDIA RELATIONS

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PRINT MEDIA RELATIONS
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Abundance of Outletswith Challenges

• Electronic media growth
• Decline in readership in U.S.
• Faith and trust in the media limited
• 1,480 dailies with 9 million circulation
• 121 million daily and 127 million Sunday
  readership
• According to the Newspaper Association of America
• 10,857 magazines published in U.S. with
  readership up in specialty publications
• 500 Cable and broadcast television channels

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Top Ten Daily Newspapers in the United States
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Public relations professionals rely on the
media

• As an important public for their efforts
• To secure positive publicity for their clients
• To assist in promoting and defending their client
  as the need dictates

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Question

• Can you identify the promotion efforts?
• The City of New York
• Can you identify the defense efforts?
• SARS

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Cant we all just get along?

• A question at the forefront..with media and
  practitioners.
• Role of the media is to watch, look, listen, and
  question officials
• Gather and report the news as objectively as
  possible

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Public relations professionals and the media
should have a reciprocal relationship built on
respect, fairness, and trust.
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Principles for dealing with the media

• A reporter is a reporter
• You are the organization
• There is no standard issue reporter
• Treat journalists professionally
• Dont sweat the skepticism
• Dont buy a journalist
• Become a trusted source

• Talk when not selling
• Dont expect news agreement
• Dont cop an attitude
• Never lie
• Read the paper

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Question

• What is the difference between publicity and
  advertising?
• Hint Credibility

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Advertising

• Costs money for time or space
• Content is controlled
• Size is controlled
• Location dictates where it will appear
• Reach is exposure to households
• Frequency or times it is run

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Publicity

• Uncontrolled
• Editorially reviewed
• No direct costs for placement, like advertising
• Appears as news, not advertisement
• Perception is more objective

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How can publicity be used by the practitioner?

• To announce a new product or service, or
  reinvigorate an older one
• Provide an explanation about a complex product
• Requires little to no budget
• Can enhance the organizational reputation
• Provides a venue for crisis response

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Publicity should remain a strong part of the
organizations overall marketing
plan.Practitioners must actively place
publicity through gatekeepers. This practice is
called pitching.
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Guidelines for Pitching

• Know deadlines for each media outlet
• Generally, write dont call
• Direct the release to a specific person or editor
• Determine how the reporter prefers contact
• Dont badger
• Consider exclusives carefully
• Do your own calling
• Dont send clips of other stories about your
  client
• Develop a relationship
• Never lie

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Pitching OnlineA different space but
relationship building is still important

• Use a media database that delivers releases to
  cyberbase venues
• Send an e-mail briefly inquiring whether e-mail
  is appropriate for news announcements.
• Target, personalize the pitch
• Links are valuable to your website
• E-mail newsletters for targeted publicity
• Check online news cites and Rueters
• Check Web libraries and monitor discussion forums
• Cyber media tours can be valuable to many outlets

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Wire Services

• Traditional Wire service Associated Press has
  15,000 clients worldwide
• Financial Wires are Dow Jones, Reuters, and
  Bloomberg
• PR Newswire, Business Wire, and Internet Wire are
  paid wires.

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Measurement of Publicity

• Media Directories such as Bacons Publicity
  Checker
• Press Monitoring Bureaus such as Burrelles and
  Luce
• Broadcast Transcription Services
• Media Distribution Services
• Content Analysis Services such as Medialink

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Interviews

• Interviewee role is to convey key messages
• Interviewee role is to get a good story

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Say what?Interview Dos and Donts

• Do homework in advance
• Relax
• Speak in personal terms
• Welcome the naïve question
• Answer questions briefly and directly
• Dont bluff
• State facts and back up generalities
• If the reporter is promised further information,
  provide it quickly
• There is no such thing as off the record
• Tell the truth

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Press Conferences

• Press conferences provide a venue to communicate
  in person real news. Can be used for annual
  meetings or major announcements.

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Exercise

• Youve just been assigned to pitch the upcoming
  tour of an upstart rock band. What would you need
  to know to pitch them? Where would you pitch?
  How would you handle interviews and press
  conferences?
• Compare your answers to the following list, how
  did you do?

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Guidelines for Press Conferences

• Dont play favorites, notify all representatives
• Notify the media by mail well in advance
• Follow up early and often
• Schedule the conference in midmorning to
  accommodate schedules and deadlines
• Hold conference in a meeting room
• Time should be allotted and stated in advance
• Keep the speaker away from reporters before the
  conference
• Prepare materials to complement the speakers
  presentation
• Remember to prepare for TV
• Let the reporters know when the end has come
• Cue the reinforcements