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Governance
For more information on Media Relations please link to: www.charityvillage.com
Are You Front and Centre Yet? Tips for Getting Publicity
in a Media Saturated World.
By Stephanie Black
Do you ever read an article or watch a profile on the news and
wonder why that business is getting some great publicity and yours
is not? 'There is a good reason: That organization either has a
great publicist or they know how to play the promotion game.
Here are some tried and true tips for getting noticed.
Issue an innovative press release that is factual but amusing and
gives the media an angle as to why they should cover your event.
Is your service or product tied in with a timely holiday? E.g.,
you are selling healthy tomato sauce and Valentine's Day is coming
up, you could send out your sauces to the appropriate press with
a recipe attached for a romantic evening for two!
Join a prestigious networking association and volunteer to do a
"free" seminar on your expertise. In addition, invite
your media contacts to watch you in your element.
Build your "buzz" factor. What makes you and/or your
service stand out? Are you the underdog competing with the big boys
or are you the fastest gunslinger In the west! Everyone has an angle.
Use yours to the hilt.
Cultivate contacts. Any time you meet a press person take their
card and they are no longer a stranger the next time you make your
story pitch. "Hi, I'm Ellen. I met you at panty last week.
1 have a good story... ". Now, it's no longer a cold call.
Send out a tip street to different publications specifying your
expertise.
What is your "C" Factor? Yes, the infamous celebrity
affiliation. Whom do you know that shops at your store or uses your
service? Let others find out and they will follow. Or ask your famous
customer if they will give a testimonial on your services.
Identify a timely problem and offer your business as the solution
Write a letter to the editor on a topic that you know. There is
free publicity if the article is published.
How to succeed in a media interview
Dealing with the media can be straightforward, and even pleasant,
provided, of course, that you know how members of the media think
and what they want.
To help you prepare for an interview, here are six key questions.
Choose what you think the correct answers are.
These questions originally appeared in Nonprofit Management Strategies.
News is:
a. Important information
b. Information about your organization
c. Whatever the editor says it is
d. Information that is timely, unique and important to people in
the area
When being interviewed:
a. You have several basic rights
b. You have no rights, the reporter makes the rules
c. You have the right to approve the article or story
d. You may redo the interview if you don't like it
No comment is:
a. Better than admitting guilt
b. A phrase best used in connection with litigation
c. A signal that you are covering up something
d. The best way to avoid answering a sensitive question
Errors appear in stories because:
a. The reporter doesn't allow you to review it
b. There is a multi-layered editing system that creates errors
c. Reporters aren't knowledgeable about your group
d. Reporters are human and make mistakes
e. You did not communicate effectively during the interview
What's the best time for an interview?
You have the option of deciding when a reporter should come to do
a story for the 5:00 p.m. news. Should you choose:
a. 10:00 a. m.
b. b. 2:00 p. m.
c. c. 3:30 p. m.
d. d. Live at 5:00 p.m.
A media interview is:
a. An annoyance
b. A glorious opportunity
c. Asking for trouble
d. Only occasionally worth it
The correct answers are:
1. c. News is whatever the editor says it is
2. a. When being interviewed you have several basic rights.
You do have the right to know what the interview will be about,
and what the direction of the interview will be.
3. c. No comment is a signal that you are covering up something
Any spokesman or organization that says nothing will be presumed
guilty.
4. All of the above, although e is often the main source of
errors
5. d. What's the best time for an interview? Live at 5:00 pm
because you cant be edited.
6. b. A Media interview is a glorious
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