UPDATE ON PRESS KITS AND NEWS RELEASES
PRESS KITS – PRINT, ONLINE or CD?
Online press kits take too much time to review and print.
CDs are easier to use than online kits, but take time to load, click through and print. Many people send printed kits with a CD version enclosed.
Printed kits are still popular and always good, but keep them short and to the point. Plain vanilla will do just fine. Editors and reporters don’t want to buy anything, they simply want to cover what is newsworthy about your company or organization. That should be the focus of your kit’s contents.
If you have the budget, produce kits in all three versions, print, CD and online. That way you’ll reach everyone.
You can’t go wrong asking the media what they prefer and provide them with it.
One Editor’s Comments – “At a trade show, for example, I can pick up 20 printed press kits and go through them in 15-20 minutes to pull out the information I need, toss what I don’t. If I had to go through 20 online kits, I would need several hours. So, I prefer printed kits, although I do like the stuff to be available online, as well, especially if I need to find something I forgot or I didn’t see in my manual review.”
NEWS RELEASES
Content, not graphic appeal is what counts for editors and reporters. And page one is still the important document.
Double space is the standard for traditional news releases; single space for e-mail is easier to work with editing and cut and paste functions.
Get to the point, give the facts, no editorializing. Editors and reporters want news.
Don’t suffer over your text. Reporters and editors are unlikely to use it as is. They will write it in their own style.
Don’t sweat the lead sentence or paragraph, give them the facts and information, they’ll do the rest.
Minimize the use of adjectives, adverbs, and connectives. These “fillers” make your copy longer and interfere with the news.
Avoid hyperbole. Editors and reporters can tell whether your company or product or issue is newsworthy. Exaggeration is a turnoff!
Press releases sent as attachments are universally disliked. They can be hard to open in some cases and sometimes can close down the system.
Don’t use throw-away quotes such as “We are pleased to release our new product” or “We are delighted to welcome Mr. Jones to the management team”. Instead say “Our new product will reduce retail costs, etc.” or “Mr. Jones’s 20 years of experience with Wal-Mart will fuel our launch into the retail market”.
CPL
2006
Showing posts with label Press Kit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Press Kit. Show all posts
Thursday, September 28, 2006
The Buying Power of PR-- How to Get the Two I's
Hire a PR Firm to Get the Two I’s – Ink and Intelligence
________
* One PR agency compared advertising to “air cover” (bombs) which “soften up” a target while PR is “the Marines” who go in and occupy the territory.
* “Above all, make the PR firm part of your company. Too often, it’s an adversarial relationship. A company hires a firm and says, ‘Okay let’s see the SOB’s do it.’ Don’t dare them to do things. Trust them.”
* “Clients foolishly equate size with intelligence – the bigger the agency the better. What counts is the ability of the person or team on your account.”
* A New York PR counselor with more than 25 years experience said that for $20,000 a month the PR firm should be able to come up with four or five major placements a year – besides counseling and the day-in and day-out product, personnel and other routine announcements.
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The Buying Power of PR
_______
In a recent Public Relations survey, 28% of those surveyed said a magazine feature article would impact their buying decisions, while only 8% indicated the same for magazine ads.
In terms of believability, newspaper articles are believed by 95% of those surveyed; magazines are a believable information source for 89%; TV talk shows placed 71% in believability, and direct mail pieces and a celebrity endorsement rated 63% and 45%, respectively, in believability.
R.H. MACY & CO., New York valued an editorial placement at 10 times the value of the same size ad.
______
________
* One PR agency compared advertising to “air cover” (bombs) which “soften up” a target while PR is “the Marines” who go in and occupy the territory.
* “Above all, make the PR firm part of your company. Too often, it’s an adversarial relationship. A company hires a firm and says, ‘Okay let’s see the SOB’s do it.’ Don’t dare them to do things. Trust them.”
* “Clients foolishly equate size with intelligence – the bigger the agency the better. What counts is the ability of the person or team on your account.”
* A New York PR counselor with more than 25 years experience said that for $20,000 a month the PR firm should be able to come up with four or five major placements a year – besides counseling and the day-in and day-out product, personnel and other routine announcements.
_______
The Buying Power of PR
_______
In a recent Public Relations survey, 28% of those surveyed said a magazine feature article would impact their buying decisions, while only 8% indicated the same for magazine ads.
In terms of believability, newspaper articles are believed by 95% of those surveyed; magazines are a believable information source for 89%; TV talk shows placed 71% in believability, and direct mail pieces and a celebrity endorsement rated 63% and 45%, respectively, in believability.
R.H. MACY & CO., New York valued an editorial placement at 10 times the value of the same size ad.
______
PR Provides New Business Opportunities
How Public Relations Provides New Business Opportunities by Creating/Increasing Demand and Other Benefits
_____________________________________
Boston, Mass. – Public Relations can be a very effective tool in providing new business opportunities for your company. Getting your company’s message before the public will increase sales by creating demand for your product or service, augmenting the value of company stock (for public companies) and helping recruit more qualified employees.
“Visibility in the news media not only enhances your advertising, it also makes it more believable,” says C. Paul Luongo, President, C. PAUL LUONGO COMPANY, Public Relations & Marketing, Boston. “It is the most efficient form of communication, reaching more people, per cost, than any other vehicle.”
Keeping the company name before the public builds a strong customer base and wide recognition. In the process, it helps the public see you as a leading expert and spokesperson for your profession or industry.
Public Relations Agencies also see things in a company that go unnoticed by employees, things that then become newsworthy items are reported by the press to give you valuable corporate exposure.
A professional public relations agency can easily find something exciting and innovating about your company to report to the media on a local, regional or national level.
And the price is right. For example, a four minute interview on the NBC-TODAY SHOW is worth $240,000 if you were to pay the current advertising cost of $30,000 per 30-second commercial. And of course, an editorial endorsement has 10 times more credibility than a paid commercial.
Caveat Emptor: Having a positive public image today can also help avert bad publicity if a future disaster strikes!
_____________________________________
Boston, Mass. – Public Relations can be a very effective tool in providing new business opportunities for your company. Getting your company’s message before the public will increase sales by creating demand for your product or service, augmenting the value of company stock (for public companies) and helping recruit more qualified employees.
“Visibility in the news media not only enhances your advertising, it also makes it more believable,” says C. Paul Luongo, President, C. PAUL LUONGO COMPANY, Public Relations & Marketing, Boston. “It is the most efficient form of communication, reaching more people, per cost, than any other vehicle.”
Keeping the company name before the public builds a strong customer base and wide recognition. In the process, it helps the public see you as a leading expert and spokesperson for your profession or industry.
Public Relations Agencies also see things in a company that go unnoticed by employees, things that then become newsworthy items are reported by the press to give you valuable corporate exposure.
A professional public relations agency can easily find something exciting and innovating about your company to report to the media on a local, regional or national level.
And the price is right. For example, a four minute interview on the NBC-TODAY SHOW is worth $240,000 if you were to pay the current advertising cost of $30,000 per 30-second commercial. And of course, an editorial endorsement has 10 times more credibility than a paid commercial.
Caveat Emptor: Having a positive public image today can also help avert bad publicity if a future disaster strikes!
Public Relations and Sex
PUBLIC RELATIONS AND SEX
Boston – Someone once said that Public Relations is a little like sex: most people think they’re good at it, few really are.
For any company tight on a budget, a successful Public Relations campaign can work wonders by raising company visibility, boosting sales and customer loyalty and helping to introduce a new product. While Public Relations doesn’t displace advertising, it is a lot cheaper and far more effective in generating favorable consumer opinion because it involves a third-party media endorsement.
If you are tapping into your own market research, conducting an exclusive survey, or staging an event, you can use PR to issue newsworthy stories about these activities to the media. Making charitable donations or volunteer efforts are also valuable news topics. Even an executive’s appearance at a seminar on a panel or a seemingly run-of-the-mill speech shouldn’t be overlooked as ways to generate important company news.
A company which employs a PR firm will find that the agency provides the expertise, resources and press contacts necessary for any successful PR campaign, thus saving valuable time – time that is better spent conducting company business.
C. PAUL LUONGO COMPANY, Public Relations & Marketing, Boston, offers SPECIAL NEWS PROGRAMS that begin at only $25,000, plus expenses for 4 Local – Regional Features and $50,000, plus expenses for 4 National News Features. And they’re guaranteed!
Boston – Someone once said that Public Relations is a little like sex: most people think they’re good at it, few really are.
For any company tight on a budget, a successful Public Relations campaign can work wonders by raising company visibility, boosting sales and customer loyalty and helping to introduce a new product. While Public Relations doesn’t displace advertising, it is a lot cheaper and far more effective in generating favorable consumer opinion because it involves a third-party media endorsement.
If you are tapping into your own market research, conducting an exclusive survey, or staging an event, you can use PR to issue newsworthy stories about these activities to the media. Making charitable donations or volunteer efforts are also valuable news topics. Even an executive’s appearance at a seminar on a panel or a seemingly run-of-the-mill speech shouldn’t be overlooked as ways to generate important company news.
A company which employs a PR firm will find that the agency provides the expertise, resources and press contacts necessary for any successful PR campaign, thus saving valuable time – time that is better spent conducting company business.
C. PAUL LUONGO COMPANY, Public Relations & Marketing, Boston, offers SPECIAL NEWS PROGRAMS that begin at only $25,000, plus expenses for 4 Local – Regional Features and $50,000, plus expenses for 4 National News Features. And they’re guaranteed!
Press Releases
PRESS RELEASES
Press Releases can be an important ingredient of a company’s communications program.
Press Releases can offer the following news -
* Company Product or Service information.
* Executive Announcements
* Financial Reports
* New Business/Contracts
* Mergers or Acquisitions
* Stock Market Performance
* New Stock Issues
* Social Marketing Programs
* Employee Benefits or Labor News
According to JACK O’DWYER’S NEWSLETTER, “financial and computer editors receive about 500 news releases per week and that two-thirds of the releases are so weak that they go directly into the wastebasket.”
A good PR person must also be a good reporter to present information that is of interest to the news media, of benefit to the company and to the reader. If it doesn’t serve all three, it doesn’t work.
Matching the news outlet with the information to be imparted is important, otherwise it is a waste of time, expense and energy to send something to an inappropriate news outlet.
Lastly, always call the news outlets to reconfirm their address, telephone and name of the person to whom the news release is directed. Often, you will find that the person on your press list is no longer employed, has moved on to another responsibility or worse, you have an incorrect spelling of the person’s name.
You will achieve professional communications success if you follow these rules.
Press Releases can be an important ingredient of a company’s communications program.
Press Releases can offer the following news -
* Company Product or Service information.
* Executive Announcements
* Financial Reports
* New Business/Contracts
* Mergers or Acquisitions
* Stock Market Performance
* New Stock Issues
* Social Marketing Programs
* Employee Benefits or Labor News
According to JACK O’DWYER’S NEWSLETTER, “financial and computer editors receive about 500 news releases per week and that two-thirds of the releases are so weak that they go directly into the wastebasket.”
A good PR person must also be a good reporter to present information that is of interest to the news media, of benefit to the company and to the reader. If it doesn’t serve all three, it doesn’t work.
Matching the news outlet with the information to be imparted is important, otherwise it is a waste of time, expense and energy to send something to an inappropriate news outlet.
Lastly, always call the news outlets to reconfirm their address, telephone and name of the person to whom the news release is directed. Often, you will find that the person on your press list is no longer employed, has moved on to another responsibility or worse, you have an incorrect spelling of the person’s name.
You will achieve professional communications success if you follow these rules.
PR Outranks Ads
PR OUTRANKS ADS IN AAF STUDY
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New York – Jack O’Dwyer’s Newsletter, New York, reports that PR outranks advertising in terms of “strategic importance,” according to a survey for the American Advertising Federation, Washington, D. C.
The survey asked 3,000 senior managers of U.S. companies to rank the “strategic importance” of seven departments in meeting sales and marketing goals.
PR ranked third behind product development and strategic marketing while advertising ranked sixth, ahead of the legal department.
PR ranked seventh and advertising fourth when companies with ad budgets of $25 million+ were asked how they would use a large amount of extra funds that became available. Half of the respondents agreed that ad campaigns should use PR.
____________
__________________
New York – Jack O’Dwyer’s Newsletter, New York, reports that PR outranks advertising in terms of “strategic importance,” according to a survey for the American Advertising Federation, Washington, D. C.
The survey asked 3,000 senior managers of U.S. companies to rank the “strategic importance” of seven departments in meeting sales and marketing goals.
PR ranked third behind product development and strategic marketing while advertising ranked sixth, ahead of the legal department.
PR ranked seventh and advertising fourth when companies with ad budgets of $25 million+ were asked how they would use a large amount of extra funds that became available. Half of the respondents agreed that ad campaigns should use PR.
____________
PR Contributes Business Results
Public Relations Contributes Business Results Through Sales Generation
A $6 ROI
_____________________________
Boston—C. Paul Luongo, President, C. PAUL LUONGO COMPANY, Public Relations and Marketing, Boston, reports that “PR consistently contributes meaningful business results through sales generation.”
“It delivers a better ROI (return on investment) than any other form of marketing,” continues Mr. Luongo.
One dollar invested in mass-market TV advertising yields about $1.25. Price promotions might return only $.75, but one dollar invested in PR will return an average of $6.
“Marketing and innovation produce results, all the rest are costs,” reports an industry analyst.
Public Relations merchandizes the advertising and makes it more believable.
PR is more than media relations and more than a marketing tool, PR is a powerful sales driver.
A $6 ROI
_____________________________
Boston—C. Paul Luongo, President, C. PAUL LUONGO COMPANY, Public Relations and Marketing, Boston, reports that “PR consistently contributes meaningful business results through sales generation.”
“It delivers a better ROI (return on investment) than any other form of marketing,” continues Mr. Luongo.
One dollar invested in mass-market TV advertising yields about $1.25. Price promotions might return only $.75, but one dollar invested in PR will return an average of $6.
“Marketing and innovation produce results, all the rest are costs,” reports an industry analyst.
Public Relations merchandizes the advertising and makes it more believable.
PR is more than media relations and more than a marketing tool, PR is a powerful sales driver.
PR is a Good Marketing Tool
PUBLIC RELATIONS IS A GOOD MARKETING TOOL
By C. Paul Luongo
Boston, Mass. – Of all the tools at the disposal of marketing people, one of the least used, especially among smaller businesses, is public relations, or PR.
Yet the proper use of PR can have an invigorating effect on a company’s entire promotional efforts for a relatively small expenditure compared to paid advertising.
Traditional advertising and marketing materials, even when effective, carry the taint of biased information serving the self-interest of the company that produces it. Few people like the idea of being “sold”.
When prospects rely on their own positive opinion of a company or product, no matter what engendered this opinion, they are well on the way to selling themselves.
PR is the art of creating, or sustaining, a positive opinion among the public.
Marketing and PR professionals help create positive opinions through every contact a company has with the public including –
· Stories by print and broadcast media
· Customer Relations
· Community Relations
· Event Sponsorships
· Charitable Contributions
Treatment of customers is important and the easiest to monitor. Customer satisfaction studies show that happy customers inform between five and seven people about their experiences while unhappy customers tell nine to fifteen.
At C. PAUL LUONGO COMPANY, Boston, we provide these services for small business budgets beginning at only $25,000 plus expenses for a local-Regional Special News Program that guarantees maximum exposure at minimum cost.
By C. Paul Luongo
Boston, Mass. – Of all the tools at the disposal of marketing people, one of the least used, especially among smaller businesses, is public relations, or PR.
Yet the proper use of PR can have an invigorating effect on a company’s entire promotional efforts for a relatively small expenditure compared to paid advertising.
Traditional advertising and marketing materials, even when effective, carry the taint of biased information serving the self-interest of the company that produces it. Few people like the idea of being “sold”.
When prospects rely on their own positive opinion of a company or product, no matter what engendered this opinion, they are well on the way to selling themselves.
PR is the art of creating, or sustaining, a positive opinion among the public.
Marketing and PR professionals help create positive opinions through every contact a company has with the public including –
· Stories by print and broadcast media
· Customer Relations
· Community Relations
· Event Sponsorships
· Charitable Contributions
Treatment of customers is important and the easiest to monitor. Customer satisfaction studies show that happy customers inform between five and seven people about their experiences while unhappy customers tell nine to fifteen.
At C. PAUL LUONGO COMPANY, Boston, we provide these services for small business budgets beginning at only $25,000 plus expenses for a local-Regional Special News Program that guarantees maximum exposure at minimum cost.
Press Conferences
ON PRESS CONFERENCES
1. Select a large room without a sunny window that will cause glare for photographers and camera crews assigned to cover the story.
2. Don’t start before 10AM, and if the news is slightly soft, the earlier in the week, the better. Weekends are bad with only skeleton media crews available.
3. Time your announcement so that it coincides with a major event.
4. Select on-sight locations rather than stuffy hotel conference rooms.
5. Brief the press in advance and provide background information so that they can ask intelligent questions.
6. Measure the success by outcomes and not by numbers.
1. Select a large room without a sunny window that will cause glare for photographers and camera crews assigned to cover the story.
2. Don’t start before 10AM, and if the news is slightly soft, the earlier in the week, the better. Weekends are bad with only skeleton media crews available.
3. Time your announcement so that it coincides with a major event.
4. Select on-sight locations rather than stuffy hotel conference rooms.
5. Brief the press in advance and provide background information so that they can ask intelligent questions.
6. Measure the success by outcomes and not by numbers.
Large vs. Small PR Agency?
Large vs. Small PR Agency?
By C. Paul Luongo
Once upon a time, when large agencies were pitching accounts, small agencies stood still. Nowadays, however, the best way for a small agency to win an account is to come in right after a larger agency has made their presentation.
Why? Economics, 2004. Most clients now know that small agencies offer the same service at 25-30% less than a large agency plus personal service from the top!
Small agencies offer executive experience that will actually be used on the account, i.e. the people you see in the new business pitch are those you’ll have on your account. Big agencies send high-salaried executives to pitch the account and then relegate it to their junior staff once the contract is signed.
In fact, Virtual PR agencies are now offering lower cost service with high priced executives formerly at large agencies now employed by small PR firms.
After all, you can be in a farmhouse in Maine with a computer, modem, fax, instant messaging and e-mail and service clients very well without the high rents and overhead of big city locations. Up until 10 years ago if you weren’t in New York you weren’t important. That’s all changed.
My agency has always solicited clients throughout the United States and Canada since our founding in 1964 without a problem of location. In fact, Boston has always had a positive image for us in dealing with out-of-town clients. Invariably they had a Harvard or other educational connection not to mention the medical services offered at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Clients want results however accomplished. Media coverage and communications counsel can be attained without excessive overhead and fancy offices.
“Larger agencies are still living in a Lexus dream, while clients are driving in a Ford Escort world” reports a small PR Agency counselor.
Executives at large agencies have usually not pitched a news story since being elevated to senior positions requiring time spent on budgets, new business and other administrative tasks. They don’t know what’s going on out there!
Small agencies can expend more of their monies offering senior level salaries and reduce many lower level service personnel as executives do more of the “hands on” work themselves. Retainers have also fallen. $30,000 a month fees are not now offered as easily as before and agencies are scrambling for the minimal $5,000 a month client.
Welcome to the New PR World!
By C. Paul Luongo
Once upon a time, when large agencies were pitching accounts, small agencies stood still. Nowadays, however, the best way for a small agency to win an account is to come in right after a larger agency has made their presentation.
Why? Economics, 2004. Most clients now know that small agencies offer the same service at 25-30% less than a large agency plus personal service from the top!
Small agencies offer executive experience that will actually be used on the account, i.e. the people you see in the new business pitch are those you’ll have on your account. Big agencies send high-salaried executives to pitch the account and then relegate it to their junior staff once the contract is signed.
In fact, Virtual PR agencies are now offering lower cost service with high priced executives formerly at large agencies now employed by small PR firms.
After all, you can be in a farmhouse in Maine with a computer, modem, fax, instant messaging and e-mail and service clients very well without the high rents and overhead of big city locations. Up until 10 years ago if you weren’t in New York you weren’t important. That’s all changed.
My agency has always solicited clients throughout the United States and Canada since our founding in 1964 without a problem of location. In fact, Boston has always had a positive image for us in dealing with out-of-town clients. Invariably they had a Harvard or other educational connection not to mention the medical services offered at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Clients want results however accomplished. Media coverage and communications counsel can be attained without excessive overhead and fancy offices.
“Larger agencies are still living in a Lexus dream, while clients are driving in a Ford Escort world” reports a small PR Agency counselor.
Executives at large agencies have usually not pitched a news story since being elevated to senior positions requiring time spent on budgets, new business and other administrative tasks. They don’t know what’s going on out there!
Small agencies can expend more of their monies offering senior level salaries and reduce many lower level service personnel as executives do more of the “hands on” work themselves. Retainers have also fallen. $30,000 a month fees are not now offered as easily as before and agencies are scrambling for the minimal $5,000 a month client.
Welcome to the New PR World!
How to Successfully Deal with the News Media
How To Successfully Deal With The News Media
By C. Paul Luongo
* Be sure you are contacting the correct news person at the media. If not, find out before you make contact.
* Extend a helping hand – become a resource, beyond the client (company). Let them know of industry news they cover, apart from your company or client.
* Provide the media with background material and debriefings. The more you act like a clearinghouse for information the better your relationship will be.
* Network with journalists as often as possible at various charity events, sports activities or political receptions.
* Know your company and industry. Supply good accurate information. Always pitch your products and company in a way that’s realistic.
* Press releases don’t equal a media relations strategy. A release is only a tool. PR’s value is strategy, not mass mailings.
* Don’t lean on technology, pick up the phone! Develop the relationship. People like to buy lists and email everybody. You will get better results by targeting and meeting people firsthand! Email is a poor substitute for real PR strategy and targeted relationship building.
* However, if you are requested to email a story idea, here are some tips –
1. Don’t use more than one screen of copy.
2. Present clear, cogent subject lines.
3. Don’t use industry lingo or technical terms.
4. Be sure that it is addressed to the correct person.
5. Eliminate v-cards which appear as attachments.
6. Tell your media contact why the story is right for their audience.
By C. Paul Luongo
* Be sure you are contacting the correct news person at the media. If not, find out before you make contact.
* Extend a helping hand – become a resource, beyond the client (company). Let them know of industry news they cover, apart from your company or client.
* Provide the media with background material and debriefings. The more you act like a clearinghouse for information the better your relationship will be.
* Network with journalists as often as possible at various charity events, sports activities or political receptions.
* Know your company and industry. Supply good accurate information. Always pitch your products and company in a way that’s realistic.
* Press releases don’t equal a media relations strategy. A release is only a tool. PR’s value is strategy, not mass mailings.
* Don’t lean on technology, pick up the phone! Develop the relationship. People like to buy lists and email everybody. You will get better results by targeting and meeting people firsthand! Email is a poor substitute for real PR strategy and targeted relationship building.
* However, if you are requested to email a story idea, here are some tips –
1. Don’t use more than one screen of copy.
2. Present clear, cogent subject lines.
3. Don’t use industry lingo or technical terms.
4. Be sure that it is addressed to the correct person.
5. Eliminate v-cards which appear as attachments.
6. Tell your media contact why the story is right for their audience.
How to Hire and Get the Most From Outside PR Counsel
Excerpts From
HOW TO HIRE AND GET THE MOST FROM OUTSIDE PR COUNSEL
By Jack O’Dwyer, New York
New York – “The PR Firm’s job is to convince the media of something,” reports Jack O’Dwyer, Publisher of the leading eponymous Public Relations Weekly Newsletter.
“Unless you have a huge budget, the impact of ads, direct mail, graphics, etc., is going to be small potatoes compared to what is said of you in the media.”
As a client, you can seek to build relationships with reporters and can order your PR firm to do so. Only one PR pro in a hundred attempts to strike up an ongoing relationship with editors, the opposite of previous practices. One corporate PR executive says that “they experience a call from the press as drive-by shooting. PR pros are spending no time in the ‘hood’ (neighborhood) building ties.
One executive states that CEOs are willing to pay “almost anything” for a good media relations person. He advises CEOs not to hire anyone who “expresses an aversion to the media.”
PR is influencing how you appear in the media, not how you are treated by the media. PR people who mostly know methodology rather than subject matter cannot be effective in such a venue.
Prospective PR clients must realize that unlike the past, large numbers of people working in PR now have had no experience in the media and are uncomfortable in dealing with reporters. Media relations experience of people on your account should be checked.
PR cannot exist on its own – it has to be part of a mix of communications methods that delivers a “consistent” message to “target” audiences.
Most clients oppose integration of AD/PR on the agency side; clients want competition among their various agencies – not coordination. They find that agencies are not apt to be equally talented in advertising and PR.
PR closes the sale. While advertising creates excitement and interest in products and services, almost no one buys anything anymore just on the basis of ads. The consumer wants more info and seeks it via general and specialized publications, friends and the Internet.
PR can have an immense effect in a short period of time and at a comparatively low cost. But the CEO of a company must be personally involved in the PR effort, including press relations. Advertising and sales can be well-handled by various company units, but not PR. What you want from your PR firm are the two “I’s” - Intelligence and Ink.
The worst form of PR that can be practiced for you is the junior PR firm account executive who calls up reporters and asks, “Did you get the release on (your) company?” The best type of PR is when the reporter calls you with a story idea and asks you for advice. You want a PR firm that knows all of the major analysts and writers in your field and can broaden your range of press contacts.
A lawyer who worked for a large PR firm once commented it was his impression that most PR was practiced “on” clients and not “for” clients. You don’t want that happening to you.
You want a maximum of up-to-the minute business intelligence and stories or just mentions of your company name or its products in the media and a minimum amount of intellectualizing over what PR is or isn’t.
You especially don’t want grandiose future plans and strategies described in glowing terms. Beware of such buzz words as “strategy,” “management,” “integrated” and “marketing” or any combination of them. PR people are well aware such talk just gets to be “bafflegab” after a while. And people who tell you PR isn’t press relations are like restaurant owners telling you there’s more to their restaurants than food.
The best use of a PR firm is when they supply useful information to influential reporters and analysts who have large audiences. You get third-party endorsement and wide readership or viewership at comparatively low cost. The ad campaign will create the desire and PR will move in with the information.
One PR agency president compared advertising to “air cover” (bombs) to “soften up” a target while PR is “the Marines” who go in and occupy the territory.
Many PR firms say that if they don’t place stories, they are apt to lose an account, no matter how much advice and strategy has been given to the client.
The PR firm is one part of a four-member team that is needed for good PR. . . .the CEO; a close aide that is always on tap to handle press calls; your outside PR counsel and the press/security analysts themselves.
PR firms work best when there is a staffer at the company who knows PR and can act as both a buffer and liaison with company executives. The staffer
can be helpful to the press and analysts by always being available (nights and weekends). A big problem in the PR counseling industry these days is that it often takes days for a reporter to reach an A/E or executive. Faced with this unavailability, reporters stop calling the PR firm.
Media relations is the hardest thing to do for a PR firm and it may not be the most profitable. It’s up to clients to keep the noses of their PR firms to this grindstone. Yet, the PR industry practice for many years has been to depreciate press relations.
If a PR firm pitches your account and makes all sorts of promises, even for marketing PR, without pointing out the need for CEO availability, new corporate policies, marketing data, access to line executives, willingness to take lumps in print as well as kudos, etc., then you should be highly suspicious.
One definition of PR is that it is “doing good and getting credit for it.” Another is that PR is “winning goodwill.” Our definition of PR is that it helps the client in appearing in the public forum, it’s the business of explaining.
The new business pitch for one New York firm for many years consisted merely of giving the prospective clients a complete list of its accounts, contacts and phone numbers and urging the clients to call all of them. The agency usually got the business – even when other firms made full presentations.
You can’t expect too many press placements or other results in the first three months. During that time, you educate them on your business and the business of your competitors. “Above all, make the PR firm part of your company. Too often, it’s an adversarial relationship. A company hires a firm and says, ‘Okay, let’s see the SOBs do it.’ Don’t dare them to do things. Trust them.”
The most common mistake clients make is hiring an agency in a hurry to fight fires that have been burning for years. The clients want the fires put out fast – preferably overnight.
One corporate PR executive reports that people who hire agencies often don’t know anything about PR and the people pitching the account often don’t work on it. Almost invariably, the PR committee sees too many agencies in too little time and winds up choosing the winner in a blur of fatigue.
Clients don’t know how much a solid PR program costs. They expect too much, too soon, for too little. Clients foolishly equate size with excellence – the bigger the agency the better. What counts is the ability of the person or team on your account.
Companies continue to confuse advertising with PR and they evaluate PR firms by ad agency criteria. Clients are generally unaware that a PR budget can often be as effective as an ad budget four or five times as large.
Some of the smaller PR firms keep all of their employees up-to-date on all of their accounts as much as possible. A client who calls can always expect some kind of help or at least knowledgeable interest in his or her problem.
A New York PR counselor with more than 25 years experience said that for $20,000 a month, the PR firm should be able to come up with four or five major placements a year – besides counseling and the day-in and day-out product, personnel and other routine announcements.
These are the ‘home-runs’ of the business; solid features in the NEW YORK TIMES, NEWSWEEK, TIME, etc. This is the most efficient way to reach big audiences. Stories in the trade press don’t count that much. They’re too easy to get into.
HOW TO HIRE AND GET THE MOST FROM OUTSIDE PR COUNSEL
By Jack O’Dwyer, New York
New York – “The PR Firm’s job is to convince the media of something,” reports Jack O’Dwyer, Publisher of the leading eponymous Public Relations Weekly Newsletter.
“Unless you have a huge budget, the impact of ads, direct mail, graphics, etc., is going to be small potatoes compared to what is said of you in the media.”
As a client, you can seek to build relationships with reporters and can order your PR firm to do so. Only one PR pro in a hundred attempts to strike up an ongoing relationship with editors, the opposite of previous practices. One corporate PR executive says that “they experience a call from the press as drive-by shooting. PR pros are spending no time in the ‘hood’ (neighborhood) building ties.
One executive states that CEOs are willing to pay “almost anything” for a good media relations person. He advises CEOs not to hire anyone who “expresses an aversion to the media.”
PR is influencing how you appear in the media, not how you are treated by the media. PR people who mostly know methodology rather than subject matter cannot be effective in such a venue.
Prospective PR clients must realize that unlike the past, large numbers of people working in PR now have had no experience in the media and are uncomfortable in dealing with reporters. Media relations experience of people on your account should be checked.
PR cannot exist on its own – it has to be part of a mix of communications methods that delivers a “consistent” message to “target” audiences.
Most clients oppose integration of AD/PR on the agency side; clients want competition among their various agencies – not coordination. They find that agencies are not apt to be equally talented in advertising and PR.
PR closes the sale. While advertising creates excitement and interest in products and services, almost no one buys anything anymore just on the basis of ads. The consumer wants more info and seeks it via general and specialized publications, friends and the Internet.
PR can have an immense effect in a short period of time and at a comparatively low cost. But the CEO of a company must be personally involved in the PR effort, including press relations. Advertising and sales can be well-handled by various company units, but not PR. What you want from your PR firm are the two “I’s” - Intelligence and Ink.
The worst form of PR that can be practiced for you is the junior PR firm account executive who calls up reporters and asks, “Did you get the release on (your) company?” The best type of PR is when the reporter calls you with a story idea and asks you for advice. You want a PR firm that knows all of the major analysts and writers in your field and can broaden your range of press contacts.
A lawyer who worked for a large PR firm once commented it was his impression that most PR was practiced “on” clients and not “for” clients. You don’t want that happening to you.
You want a maximum of up-to-the minute business intelligence and stories or just mentions of your company name or its products in the media and a minimum amount of intellectualizing over what PR is or isn’t.
You especially don’t want grandiose future plans and strategies described in glowing terms. Beware of such buzz words as “strategy,” “management,” “integrated” and “marketing” or any combination of them. PR people are well aware such talk just gets to be “bafflegab” after a while. And people who tell you PR isn’t press relations are like restaurant owners telling you there’s more to their restaurants than food.
The best use of a PR firm is when they supply useful information to influential reporters and analysts who have large audiences. You get third-party endorsement and wide readership or viewership at comparatively low cost. The ad campaign will create the desire and PR will move in with the information.
One PR agency president compared advertising to “air cover” (bombs) to “soften up” a target while PR is “the Marines” who go in and occupy the territory.
Many PR firms say that if they don’t place stories, they are apt to lose an account, no matter how much advice and strategy has been given to the client.
The PR firm is one part of a four-member team that is needed for good PR. . . .the CEO; a close aide that is always on tap to handle press calls; your outside PR counsel and the press/security analysts themselves.
PR firms work best when there is a staffer at the company who knows PR and can act as both a buffer and liaison with company executives. The staffer
can be helpful to the press and analysts by always being available (nights and weekends). A big problem in the PR counseling industry these days is that it often takes days for a reporter to reach an A/E or executive. Faced with this unavailability, reporters stop calling the PR firm.
Media relations is the hardest thing to do for a PR firm and it may not be the most profitable. It’s up to clients to keep the noses of their PR firms to this grindstone. Yet, the PR industry practice for many years has been to depreciate press relations.
If a PR firm pitches your account and makes all sorts of promises, even for marketing PR, without pointing out the need for CEO availability, new corporate policies, marketing data, access to line executives, willingness to take lumps in print as well as kudos, etc., then you should be highly suspicious.
One definition of PR is that it is “doing good and getting credit for it.” Another is that PR is “winning goodwill.” Our definition of PR is that it helps the client in appearing in the public forum, it’s the business of explaining.
The new business pitch for one New York firm for many years consisted merely of giving the prospective clients a complete list of its accounts, contacts and phone numbers and urging the clients to call all of them. The agency usually got the business – even when other firms made full presentations.
You can’t expect too many press placements or other results in the first three months. During that time, you educate them on your business and the business of your competitors. “Above all, make the PR firm part of your company. Too often, it’s an adversarial relationship. A company hires a firm and says, ‘Okay, let’s see the SOBs do it.’ Don’t dare them to do things. Trust them.”
The most common mistake clients make is hiring an agency in a hurry to fight fires that have been burning for years. The clients want the fires put out fast – preferably overnight.
One corporate PR executive reports that people who hire agencies often don’t know anything about PR and the people pitching the account often don’t work on it. Almost invariably, the PR committee sees too many agencies in too little time and winds up choosing the winner in a blur of fatigue.
Clients don’t know how much a solid PR program costs. They expect too much, too soon, for too little. Clients foolishly equate size with excellence – the bigger the agency the better. What counts is the ability of the person or team on your account.
Companies continue to confuse advertising with PR and they evaluate PR firms by ad agency criteria. Clients are generally unaware that a PR budget can often be as effective as an ad budget four or five times as large.
Some of the smaller PR firms keep all of their employees up-to-date on all of their accounts as much as possible. A client who calls can always expect some kind of help or at least knowledgeable interest in his or her problem.
A New York PR counselor with more than 25 years experience said that for $20,000 a month, the PR firm should be able to come up with four or five major placements a year – besides counseling and the day-in and day-out product, personnel and other routine announcements.
These are the ‘home-runs’ of the business; solid features in the NEW YORK TIMES, NEWSWEEK, TIME, etc. This is the most efficient way to reach big audiences. Stories in the trade press don’t count that much. They’re too easy to get into.
Do Reporters Read E-Mail Releases?
Do Reporters Read E-mail Releases?
More than half (52%) of the 50 reporters, who responded to a recent survey, said they look at some of the press releases they get by e-mail.
Only 8% of the reporters said they actually open and read between 90% to 100% of the releases, while the largest number (26%) look at less than half of the releases they get.
The poll was conducted by Ben Silverman, who is director of development and contributing editor for FindProfit.com. He said all of the respondents are beat reporters at daily papers, with circulations ranging from under 100,000 to over 500,000. The reporters polled cover business, politics, sports, local affairs, crime, travel, technology and the arts.
Twenty-two percent of the reporters said they get releases via snail mail, but only 2% of the reporters said they read them.
Thirty-six percent get releases via fax, which are not read by 64% of the respondents.
When releases arrived via an eFax number, 56% of the journalists said they read them; 44% do not.
Silverman said faxing appears to be the best way to get someone to read a press release.
Seventy percent of the journalists said they monitor press release wires such as Business Wire and PR Newswire, and 76% find information contained in press releases on the wire are useful.
Sixty-two percent feel the majority of press releases incorrectly target their beat.
More than half (52%) of the 50 reporters, who responded to a recent survey, said they look at some of the press releases they get by e-mail.
Only 8% of the reporters said they actually open and read between 90% to 100% of the releases, while the largest number (26%) look at less than half of the releases they get.
The poll was conducted by Ben Silverman, who is director of development and contributing editor for FindProfit.com. He said all of the respondents are beat reporters at daily papers, with circulations ranging from under 100,000 to over 500,000. The reporters polled cover business, politics, sports, local affairs, crime, travel, technology and the arts.
Twenty-two percent of the reporters said they get releases via snail mail, but only 2% of the reporters said they read them.
Thirty-six percent get releases via fax, which are not read by 64% of the respondents.
When releases arrived via an eFax number, 56% of the journalists said they read them; 44% do not.
Silverman said faxing appears to be the best way to get someone to read a press release.
Seventy percent of the journalists said they monitor press release wires such as Business Wire and PR Newswire, and 76% find information contained in press releases on the wire are useful.
Sixty-two percent feel the majority of press releases incorrectly target their beat.
Corporate PR Priorities
CORPORATE PR PRIORITIES
Boston – A leading CEO recently stated that there are four groups a business executive must address. They are: shareholders, employees, customers and communities. An effective professional Public Relations Program can be instrumental in assuring that these key groups are properly dealt with and informed.
Shareholders must receive critical financial information as soon as it is known. Dissemination information on a regular basis directly to shareholders as well as to the mainstream financial media is an important part of any Public Relations Program.
Employees must be informed about corporate programs and issues that are important long before they read about them in the press or hear rumors. Proper communication with employees promotes a sense of loyalty and camaraderie, which in turn, motivates them to offer products or services of a higher quality on the market for consumers.
Customers need to know everything about a company’s products or services in order to build brand loyalty – the more informed they are, the more likely they will decide on your company’s product. As a popular company slogan says, “An educated consumer is our best customer!”
Communities must be assured that the company is working to benefit them, in addition to maintaining a profitable margin to satisfy shareholders, employees and customers. An effective PR program, designed to meet these objectives, can assure continued growth and profitability for all concerned.
Boston – A leading CEO recently stated that there are four groups a business executive must address. They are: shareholders, employees, customers and communities. An effective professional Public Relations Program can be instrumental in assuring that these key groups are properly dealt with and informed.
Shareholders must receive critical financial information as soon as it is known. Dissemination information on a regular basis directly to shareholders as well as to the mainstream financial media is an important part of any Public Relations Program.
Employees must be informed about corporate programs and issues that are important long before they read about them in the press or hear rumors. Proper communication with employees promotes a sense of loyalty and camaraderie, which in turn, motivates them to offer products or services of a higher quality on the market for consumers.
Customers need to know everything about a company’s products or services in order to build brand loyalty – the more informed they are, the more likely they will decide on your company’s product. As a popular company slogan says, “An educated consumer is our best customer!”
Communities must be assured that the company is working to benefit them, in addition to maintaining a profitable margin to satisfy shareholders, employees and customers. An effective PR program, designed to meet these objectives, can assure continued growth and profitability for all concerned.
Biotechnology PR Today
Biotechnology PR Today
By C. Paul Luongo
Public Relations, first used by our third President, Thomas Jefferson, is now being utilized successfully by Biotechnology Companies to give them the recognition they require and seek for the following reasons –
Public Companies require information to be disseminated about its product and financial status.
Communicating corporate, scientific and financial developments maintains shareholders and attracts investors.
Biotech companies are dependent on their business potential, research and development activity to be known by investors to reduce perceived risk.
Visibility, which results from sustained and effective communications, paves the way for trust which in turn translates into greater demand for the stock and higher share prices.
Key tools of a good investor relations program include presentations and telephone calls to brokers and investors, e-mails, mailings, conference calls and reporting of events on the Internet.
What attracts potential investors is managements’ credibility, financial health and business outlook plus technology merits.
Press releases announcing a major event should be followed by a conference call and then made available on the company’s website. Follow-up with major shareholders and brokers, analysts and reporters helps foster solid and durable business relationships. This integrated approach optimizes a company’s visibility, its trust and demand for stock.
Here’s a list of things to do for a small capitalization biotechnology company to get the news coverage it requires –
Develop a network of reporters interested in your company. If possible, build relationships with them before releasing your news.
Prepare a Press Kit on your company and send it to reporters by mail or e-mail including a short summary of the company, the news and context.
Highlight aspects of the story of interest to their readers. The easier you make their work the better and greater the chance of it being used.
Allow time for the media to become familiar with your information and call to stress highlights of the story for that particular news outlet.
Have your President available for reporters at all times with immediate access to direct telephone, cell phone and home phone available, in addition to e-mail address and fax number.
By C. Paul Luongo
Public Relations, first used by our third President, Thomas Jefferson, is now being utilized successfully by Biotechnology Companies to give them the recognition they require and seek for the following reasons –
Public Companies require information to be disseminated about its product and financial status.
Communicating corporate, scientific and financial developments maintains shareholders and attracts investors.
Biotech companies are dependent on their business potential, research and development activity to be known by investors to reduce perceived risk.
Visibility, which results from sustained and effective communications, paves the way for trust which in turn translates into greater demand for the stock and higher share prices.
Key tools of a good investor relations program include presentations and telephone calls to brokers and investors, e-mails, mailings, conference calls and reporting of events on the Internet.
What attracts potential investors is managements’ credibility, financial health and business outlook plus technology merits.
Press releases announcing a major event should be followed by a conference call and then made available on the company’s website. Follow-up with major shareholders and brokers, analysts and reporters helps foster solid and durable business relationships. This integrated approach optimizes a company’s visibility, its trust and demand for stock.
Here’s a list of things to do for a small capitalization biotechnology company to get the news coverage it requires –
Develop a network of reporters interested in your company. If possible, build relationships with them before releasing your news.
Prepare a Press Kit on your company and send it to reporters by mail or e-mail including a short summary of the company, the news and context.
Highlight aspects of the story of interest to their readers. The easier you make their work the better and greater the chance of it being used.
Allow time for the media to become familiar with your information and call to stress highlights of the story for that particular news outlet.
Have your President available for reporters at all times with immediate access to direct telephone, cell phone and home phone available, in addition to e-mail address and fax number.
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