http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/index.htmlLatest Blog Postenpresentwithease@rogers.comCopyright 2011 Eric Bergman2011-09-15T07:46:30-04:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Sun, 27 Feb 2011 11:35:35 -0500presentwithease@rogers.comPitchingStrategy2011-09-15T07:46:30-04:00http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/ad5b0fc0a07d7888044b9104fb936bb2-8.html#unique-entry-id-8http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/ad5b0fc0a07d7888044b9104fb936bb2-8.html#unique-entry-id-8by Eric Bergman, ABC, APR, MC

I read with interest Andre Beaupre’s article entitled 7 Reasons why it’s time to retire ‘pitch’ and ‘pitching’ and I must respectfully disagree with his perspective. I don’t believe these words date or harm the PR industry.

The word “pitching” arises from comparisons to baseball. The pitcher is on the mound and pitches the ball to the catcher.

If you’ve ever witnessed such an event, you know that the catcher throws the ball back to the pitcher and the process repeats itself. It is, therefore, two-way by its very nature. The pitcher does not have a large bucket of balls from which he (or she) keeps throwing, without any regard for whether the catcher actually catches.

But what people unfamiliar with this exchange may not know is that the pitcher does not blindly throw fastballs, curve balls, sliders, knuckle balls or changeups to the catcher without a thought of what the receiver is expecting. The catcher first gives the pitcher a sign to indicate what he (or she) expects to receive.

Competent media relations practitioners understand what journalists need or expect to receive, and tailor their pitch accordingly. What harms us is not the word, but the behavior of exuberant individuals within our profession who keep firing pitches from their large, limitless bucket.

I don’t believe the word “pitching” damages our reputation. What is infinitely more damaging to our reputation is when we train spokespeople to keep firing the same messages from the same bucket, regardless of whether the journalist is even remotely interested or listening.

So let’s not focus on the word. Let’s focus on the approach, and make all of our exchanges with journalists two-way, with the expectation of creating win-win outcomes from which everyone benefits.

In this, I agree with Mr. Beaupre. Two-way exchanges are the foundation on which long-term relationships of lasting value can be constructed. ]]>presentwithease@rogers.comMedia RelationsStrategyMeasurement2011-09-23T14:52:12-04:00http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/b98a25b513ee447b8ed900c40883e77d-7.html#unique-entry-id-7http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/b98a25b513ee447b8ed900c40883e77d-7.html#unique-entry-id-7This is the fourth instalment in a series on media relations measurement.

by Eric Bergman, ABC, APR, MC

In the this part of my conversation with Wilma Mathews, ABC, author of Media Relations: A Practical Guide for Communicators, she provided an example of a media relations initiative that demonstrates the importance to linking behavioral outcomes to media relations inputs.

A staff writer at Arizona State University received an assignment from the archaeology department to write a news release to promote an upcoming lecture: a local attorney, as an amateur Egyptologist, was only the second person to go into an Egyptian tomb.

Wilma told me this writer often takes what many would consider to be an unusual approach to media relations. "She knows her media, so she never does follow up calls to the reporters she sends material to," Wilma explained. "She knows whether they're the right ones to get the release."

The communicator got two hits from her release. One was in a calendar listing in the local newspaper. The other was to a reporter who likes to write human interest stories.

"Without any prompting, the reporter turned this story into a front page of the Sunday leisure section, including two color photographs over three-fourths of a page," Wilma says. "A lecture that would normally bring in 25 brought in almost 200 people."

There is no AVE for this program. And the circulation numbers would be small by most media relations measurement standards, because there was only one newspaper's circulation to include.

However, in many ways, this example represents the tried and true in media relations, and the importance of measurement over evaluation. To be successful, it's important to understand the needs of reporters and only target those journalists or media outlets who would have an interest in your program, your product, your service or your candidate.

After going through that process, if your media list ends up being only five outlets — but they're the right five outlets — you can achieve success with what would be considered to be an extremely low AVE, if any AVE at all.

Wilma pointed out that the Dictionary of Public Relations Measurement and Research defines impressions as "the number of people who might have had the opportunity to be exposed to a story that has appeared in the media."

"It's taken almost as a fact that if you have a million impressions there's an assumption that a million people saw it and read it," Wilma said. "You can make numbers do anything you want. But the real bottom line test is: Did your audience do what you intended them to do?

"You can have all the impressions in the world, but if nobody showed up for that dinner to raise money — and your job was to help improve attendance at that dinner — then you're just not doing your job."]]>presentwithease@rogers.comMedia RelationsStrategyMeasurement2011-09-15T14:47:43-04:00http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/f01b19d87e68f52a8feb2b086c7775ed-6.html#unique-entry-id-6http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/f01b19d87e68f52a8feb2b086c7775ed-6.html#unique-entry-id-6This is the third instalment in a series on media relations measurement.
by Eric Bergman, ABC, APR, MC

In this second part of my conversation with Wilma Mathews, ABC, I asked her where we needed to be as an industry when it comes to the strategic use of media relations.

How do we develop objectives for a media relations campaign? How do we evaluate whether we've achieved those objectives? In a perfect world, how should people approach those challenges?

Her advice was simple on the surface, but represents the complexity of media relations specifically, and organizational communication in general.

"People need to approach media relations by understanding what it is that your client needs to get done," she says. "Too often, the client's needs are misinterpreted to what we can do from a media standpoint, whether it has anything to actually do with solving the problem or not."

She says that one of the challenges that many practitioners have with measurement is that they may start with a great objective — such as increasing the number of people who participate in a weekend run for cancer research from 10,000 to 12,000 — but their evaluation focuses only on the media clippings they generate. They forget to go back and count the number of people who actually participated in the run.

This goes back to her belief that there is a clear distinction between evaluation and measurement in media relations. Counting the clippings is a form of evaluation around the process. Determining how many people participated in the run is a measurement of outcomes, and therefore success.

"You cannot claim success if you are not measuring the right thing," she says. "And this slides over into the issue of ethics."

Wilma believes that it is incredibly unethical to tell a client that a campaign was successful because it generated a million impressions when the objective was to get more people to participate in the food drive, vote for a candidate, or other potential outcome.

There are those who may try counter her argument by saying that it was the client who wanted those media relations results — such as being a guest on certain television programs or being above the fold on the front page of the business section. Therefore, according to codes of ethics governing public relations (whether PRSA, IABC, CPRS or CIPR), the media relations practitioner has done his or her job.

"If that media plan is solely about getting the boss above the fold on the front page of the business section and nothing else, then that's ok," she replies. "The objectives may be that (the client) is looking for media support for the product launch, and (the media relations practitioner) will write an objective that says they want to generate 1.5 million impressions.

"You can get impressions. That's the easy part. But those impressions may have no correlation to a bottom line."

And without bottom line measurement, the job is less than half done. ]]>presentwithease@rogers.comPitching2011-04-18T16:46:13-04:00http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/cf01bf09e2daf10f6d035d504618ff84-3.html#unique-entry-id-3http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/cf01bf09e2daf10f6d035d504618ff84-3.html#unique-entry-id-3 by Mary Ann McCauley, ABC

I make it a point to attend at least two discussions annually where reporters and editors share their thoughts about working with media relations practitioners. While media outlets are changing, the ways in which reporters want to be pitched isn’t changing.

Their preferred first contact is still email. At a HARO (Help a Reporter Out) webinar in February, reporters made it a point to say that they do not want to be pitched via Twitter, phone or fax.

Their rationale is that an email with a short, straightforward description of the story idea and why it is of interest to their readers/viewers gives them the best opportunity to make a decision. They don’t mind a follow-up call as they are deluged with emails daily but, as has been the case since time immemorial, do not call when they’re on deadline.

Other tips they offered are not new to the veteran media relations pro and include:

• Be direct in your subject line. “Story idea: …..”
  

• Get to the point immediately.
  

• Provide context. Why is this news? Is it part of a broader trend?
  

• If it is time sensitive, provide the news hook. Why is it timely?
  

• If it is an exclusive, say so in the subject line and mean it.
  

• Know what they write about.
  

• Know their deadlines and respect them.
  

• Send fact sheets and links to appropriate web sites rather than news releases.
  

• Offer your content experts as future resources. Again, be brief but tell the journalist why this person will be a good resource on specific subjects.
  

The reporters also offered a few “do not’s” that we need to respect, including:

• Do not pitch a story that is similar in subject matter to one just published. Instead, do your homework and research recent articles by that reporter before you pitch.
  

• Do not attach a news release unless the journalist asks you to do so. If you must send a release, embed it.
  

• Do not fail to honor an exclusive promise. This will burn your bridge with that reporter.
  

• Do not call to pitch a story.
  

• Do not fax to pitch a story.
  

• Do not send a book or other products. Most media organizations have policies about receiving gifts. Books won’t get read. Rather, send an email about why the book or product is of interest to readers/viewers.
  

• Do not try to embargo news. Emails containing embargoed news are deleted without being read.
  

One big no-no not mentioned by this group but one I usually hear is – never call to ask “Did you get my release?” If you feel compelled to call after distributing a release, which most journalists say they don’t want anyway, call with some additional, pertinent information not contained in the release. Better yet, choose one or two key journalists and email them the release before it goes out for mass distribution. Of course, this technique can’t be applied to major announcements of publicly held companies since that would violate SEC and other national regulations.

If you are unfamiliar with HARO, go to www.helpareporter.com and sign up. It is a free twice- daily list of stories reporters are working on and seeking content experts. I have had some success in placing stories through this venue.]]>presentwithease@rogers.comMeasurementLearning OpportunitiesStrategy2011-03-24T08:35:00-04:00http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/27ca09a0f08712b65a99b83f13ef970b-2.html#unique-entry-id-2http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/27ca09a0f08712b65a99b83f13ef970b-2.html#unique-entry-id-2This is the second instalment in a series on media relations measurement.

by Eric Bergman, ABC, APR, MC

To help shed some light on what the state-of-the-art in media relations measurement should be, I thought I'd turn to Wilma Mathews, ABC, a long-time colleague and friend, and author of Media Relations: A Practical Guide for Communicators. Wilma has been practicing media relations for ... well, let's just say quite a few years.

When it comes to media relations evaluation and measurement, Wilma says our industry is certainly better off than it was even five or ten years ago. For many years, media relations practitioners relied on the simplistic output measures of counting clips and adding up circulation.

From there, the process evolved into impressions which, from her perspective, means pretty much the same thing as circulation and viewing audience. Next, the advertising value equivalency (AVE) was born, which she points out is a term that's not even listed in theDictionary of Public Relations Measurement and Research.

"But over the years, as PR people, agencies and companies have gotten a little savvier, they've said that what we're asking you as media people to do is sell a product, get people to come to an event, change their minds or vote for someone," Wilma explains. "In short, we're asking you to change behaviour of a certain audience. And that's a little harder to do than counting clips."

She believes the AVE was adopted as a matter of convenience (and I suspect she would say something similar about Media Relations Rating Points). It was a simple way to state some perceived value of media relations to management groups. But to her the AVE is a completely abstract number that has no correlation to any activity because advertising and media relations simply cannot be compared.

"You control everything about advertising," she explains. "You control nothing about the editorial side of the media. But (the AVE) was a way to say to clients 'if you had purchased advertising, it would have cost you X amount of dollars, and we prevented you from having to do that.' And it sounded good at the outset."

She makes a clear distinction between evaluation and measurement in media relations. "You can evaluate your media relations work and still not measure whether or not it worked," she explains. "In other words, if a media relations practitioner wanted a positive story on the front page of the business section with a quote from their CEO — and they wanted it to appear before the product launch — if they got all of that it says their process worked. It says nothing about whether that helped sales."

To her, measurement is the end outcome — from an attitudinal or behavioural perspective. Did people buy the product? Did they vote the way you wanted? Did they form an opinion or change their minds?

"If that didn't happen and all you've got to show for it is advertising value equivalents or impressions," she points out, "you're just blowing smoke."]]>presentwithease@rogers.comMeasurementLearning OpportunitiesStrategy2011-03-08T10:49:23-05:00http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/7fce5dda6feb3da1d6977517d518a2a8-1.html#unique-entry-id-1http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/7fce5dda6feb3da1d6977517d518a2a8-1.html#unique-entry-id-1This is the first instalment in a series on media relations measurement.

by Eric Bergman, ABC, APR, MC

I’m going to say something that could be perceived as sacrilegious among Canadian media relations practitioners.

I'm not a fan of Media Relations Rating Points (MRP).

For those who don't know, MRP is a uniquely Canadian innovation. It is a relatively simple and inexpensive system for measuring publicity.

Anyone can download a free Excel spreadsheet from www.mrpdata.com, and for a relatively inexpensive subscription fee, can generate audience reach data, which is supplied by News Canada.

At the end of your campaign, you insert the names of newspapers, magazines, blogs, radio stations and television stations that picked up your story. The basic spreadsheet also has cells available for tone (whether positive, neutral or negative) and five other potential criteria that media coverage can be scored against, such as exclusivity of the story, the use of a picture, or prominence in the publication or newscast.

My complaint is not about the tool. My concern is about how it's being used. And, quite frankly, it's leading to a laziness among Canadian media relations practitioners in the way they evaluate the effectiveness of their communication programs.

During the past six months, I have judged some of the most prestigious awards programs in this country. I coordinated the media relations category for IABC's Silver Leaf awards last fall. I participated as a judge in the media relations category of this year's CPRS Toronto's Achieving Communication Excellence (ACE) awards. This past weekend, I participated as a media relations judge in IABC/Toronto's OVATION awards program.

I have been judging media relations entries at local, national and international levels since I coordinated the entire Silver Leaf program in 1992.

Over the past few years, I have witnessed a distinct deterioration in the discipline of media relations measurement since MRP was first introduced. Increasing numbers of entries at all levels are only submitting MRP "results" as their sole source of evaluation.

Honestly, that's not good enough.

Our profession is about outcomes, not inputs. I have no qualms if your client is happy with MRP data as a sole source of measurement. As someone who has operated a successful business for the past 25 years, I understand the concept of giving clients what they want.

But if you're asking your peers for evaluation in awards programs (or in portfolio submissions toward earning your ABC or APR designations), MRP alone isn't good enough.

It's not enough to say that 16,000,000 people may have been exposed to a message at a cost of one-third of a penny each. Did they get the message? And how did it influence their attitudes, opinions and behaviour?

Did the program reinforce existing positive opinions? Did it encourage audiences to form opinions? Did it neutralize negative opinions? Did the media relations campaign move specifically-identifiable audiences to action in ways that support the organization's objectives? And how do you measure all of the above?

In my mind, finding answers to those questions separates a practitioner from a professional.

If you want to use MRP, fine. But please don't try to convince a fellow professional that MRP alone is good enough.

Quite frankly, it isn't. ]]>presentwithease@rogers.comLearning Opportunities2011-02-28T12:09:33-05:00http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/b1c6d514f3b620ad341467aae7b6a66a-0.html#unique-entry-id-0http://www.ateasewiththemedia.com/Blog/Blog/mediarelationsmatters_files/b1c6d514f3b620ad341467aae7b6a66a-0.html#unique-entry-id-0Media Relations Matters—the blog specifically for media relations practitioners.

Our goal is to bring you professional development insights to help you build sustainable relationships with traditional and social journalists, and apply those relationships to the challenge of supporting organizational objectives.

To get there, we will touch on topics like coaching, media relations measurement, crisis communication, pitching, body language and others. If you’d like us to examine a specific issue or topic, please contact us.

We plan to publish two or three articles per month. To receive them automatically, please use the subscription form to the left, or the RSS feed down below. Subscriptions are tracked via FeedBurner but, as per our Privacy Policy, we will never use the e-mail addresses there to solicit you in any way.

If you’d like to participate in conversations related to these topics and others, please search for us on LinkedIn. ]]>