Why PR People Love Newspapers

I like working with newspapers because they provide an abundance of opportunities to PR professionals.

 

Day in day out newspapers sort, sift and present us with stories from around the world.  They report politics, business, sports, health and a host of other issues.  Each edition offers the opportunity to learn something either we did not know or we ought to know. 

By and large  our  communities are well served by daily, weekly, local and national newspapers which offer  numerous opportunities to promote our clients, customers and occasionally ourselves.

Some commentators delight in predicting the death of newspapers. True the evidence can seem compelling when we hear a newspaper has closed, cut staff or is now only  available on-line. But we need to be cautious about predicting the death of newspapers.  It would be a sad day if they were to vanish.  We would lose the broad coverage of community affairs  they provide: news we can read over coffee, share with friends, circle with a pencil or rip out to stick on the refrigerator door.

Newspapers are important for other reasons.  They provide a permanent record of events and archive what happens at a particular moment in time. Often they drive the news cycle when radio and TV stations follow their lead and pick up their stories and in recent times on-line sites draw credibility from them by linking back to what they report.

And PR professionals delight in the different sections  of a newspaper designed to appeal to different types of readers. 

The early general news or first four or five pages of a newspaper are where fast breaking news stories about politics, the economy, crime and conflict appear.  Every client aspires to be so prominent providing of course the coverage is positive. However it is competitive so coverage in other sections is likely to be more achievable.   

Feature can range from half to multiple pages and allow more in-depth reporting.  Often there will be weekly or periodic supplements on motoring, education, health, food and wine, seniors, computers, travel or other specific themes.  And larger newspapers may publish weekend magazines that cover such softer issues in more detail than their daily editions. 

People and organisations can express their own opinions through newspapers. They can write to the editor to make their views known or volunteer to write an opinion piece on a topical issue . Or they can approach  the columnists who regularly present their thoughts on news and issues  or make local events easy to discover through the community diary section.

To work effectively with newspapers, you need to develop a feel for how they report their stories.  This can come from analysing what stories appear, how they are described and how a newspaper uses facts and figures and images to explain an issue. A closer reading will also reveal which reporters write about what topics and how often they do so. Analysing then answering these questions will help you understand how to best approach and work with print journalists to cover your organisation or client.

Free PR Workshops For Local Community Groups

Since 2003 we have run free marketing and PR workshops for not for profits, charities and community groups in Canberra, in conjunction with Volunteering ACT.  

Over 200 not for profits from the ACT, NSW, SA and QLD have attended these sessions and offered overwhelmingly positive feedback. 

Here's our 2011 program:

Friday 11 March: Communicating to Community (4 hours)

Explore what makes a successful marketing program and discover the mechanics of putting together an effective, low budget promotional plan for the next 12 months.

Friday 6 May: Working with the Media (4 hours)

Spend the morning with the media and learn why they can be critical for the future success of your organisation. Who are the media and how can you work with reporters and producers to get your message to the community?  This workshop introduces you to the essentials of advertising and building relations with the media, and proves why story banks are among the most important resources in your information armoury.

Friday 3 June: Social Media (3 hours)

In the past five years Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and other social media platforms have turned communications on its head.  They may have smashed traditional marketing models yet are they right for your organisation?   What are the benefits and is there a dark side?  Learn more about platforms, protocols and practices to make you stand out in the digital world.

Friday 8 July: Planning an Event (3 hours)

From swank symphony concerts to Saturday morning cake stalls, events are powerful ways to profile your brand, galvanise support and spotlight your cause. This session highlights the seven steps in successful event planning including budgets, volunteers and bringing in the wow factor.

Email for details. 

 

People Will Support You But Persuade Them First

Persuasive communications have always been important.  Today they are the new communications black because we live in an era of challenging and challenged messages for which we can lay the blame squarely at the feet of politics.  

Over the past two decades citizens around the world have developed a heightened level of wariness about what they see, hear and read about the events around them. Politicians with their insufficent explanations or plain mistruths have taken the lead in devaluing the public discourse.  

Which makes it that so much harder for the good guys: the not  For profits who need to pass essential information to their communities. Alas these days there are no free passes for any organisation when it comes to communications. Every ear, every eyeball and every heart string has to be earned.

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 Every ear, every eyeball and every heart string has to be earned

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Not for profits are therefore forced to adopt the strategies and tactics of the big end of town when it comes to building and delivering persuasive messages. And this includes wrapping persuasion packaging around a core set of key messages such as:  

• Testimony from happy clients who benefit from a not for profit's services.
• Stories of front-line staff making a difference.
  
• Endorsements by relevant celebrities, local leaders, academics and other public figures.
• Comparisons with the successes or failures of like minded groups.  
• Contrasting an organisation's services with a situation where they were or are not available.  
• Presenting data and detail showing how a not for profit makes a difference.
• Independent research showing why an issue is important and how it is trending. 
• Using all communications channels to cater for all the different ways people consume information. 
•  And of course using simple, plain language to inform a community bloated on a massive communications overload.  

Fail to use some form of persuasion packaging and your marketing will always struggle.   

9 Tips For Clearer Campaign Messages

We live our lives in an environment of communications clutter.  Each day thousands of messages from other people - governments, businesses, community groups - bombard us. A few are important but most contribute to the ambient noise continually engulfing us.  

The implication is clear: successful campaign messages need to be simple, clear and relevant to the needs and interest of your audiences. So here are my golden rules for developing and using key messages that define your issue and cut through the clutter:

• Firstly write down your key messages.  This sounds so obvious but sometimes we forget the very act of putting pen to paper instils discipline and allows you to share your thinking with others without distortion.

• Use simple language, write in the active voice and express yourself in fewer than 20 - 25 words. Again this introduces discipline and focus into your information.

• Make messages stand out so a busy or time-poor person can recall them. Mix logic with emotion.

• Select three or five key messages that cover your issue. Sure you can have more but in my experience you will only use a handful. Limiting them focuses your efforts and increases the chances others in your organisation will understand and use them.

• Use jargon- or technical-free language unless you are confident your audience knows what you mean.

• Keep a copy of your key messages by your phone or computer to remind you to insert them into every conversation or correspondence that leaves your office.

• Test your key messages with individuals in the groups you are trying to reach or through market research. Feedback is invaluable in tuning up your information.

• Finally make sure at least one of your messages contains a clear call to action: a simple statement of what people should do when they choose to act on your information.

Simple Messages Are Good Messages But Even Better Marketing

Communicating your aims clearly is the crux of effective marketing and PR.  If you can’t deliver a message to an audience you can’t market. You might apply scientific models to communications but I believe it will always remain an art.  This is because communications involves people and individually and as a group we are complex, curious creatures who generally but not always act in our own best interests. 

So there is an art to effective communications.  It lies in providing people with relevant information. Information that is easy to understand and that blends logic and emotion. What you say and send must appeal to the heart as well as the brain.  

It is important that your information also offers a clear call to action.  This is a simple statement of what you want people to do whenever they decide to act on your information.  For example, your call to action might consist of asking people to call a hot line, visit a website, consult their family doctor or give to a charity.  

Most likely your business or not for profit has layers of detail ranging from the simple to the complex to pass along.  You are probably keen to get as much out to the greatest number of people in the shortest time possible.  While this is an admirable goal, it is often a futile practice.  You lack the time, energy and effort to simultaneously reach everyone and you most certainly lack the budget.  You also run the risk of overloading the citizen, client or consumer with facts, figures, choices and alternatives and swamping their ability to process your message. 

A good starting point in deciding what people need to receive is to distil the complexity of your information into key messages. Key messages are the essential information people need to know about your issue or organisation.  If they come away from any meeting with you, what are the critical things they should be aware of and act on?

Our daily routines are lived out in constant communications clutter.  Thousands of messages bombard us daily. Some are skilfully crafted while the majority make up the ambient noise we have all learned to live with. So if you want your key messages to cut the clutter they need to be suitable, persuasive and delivered in enough time that people can absorb them and then act.