PR Archives - Page 2 of 6

PR Is NOT Press Release

08/08/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Hello, my SEO colleagues and internet marketers. For several years now I have cringed when I hear the word “PRs” emanating from your neck of the wood over to mine. Upon the first hearing, I wasn’t sure my ears had picked up correctly, must be that invisible hearing aid.

PR Is Public Relations

For, the abbreviation PR has always been for one thing and one thing only – public relations, my discipline, my profession, and my world for many decades – yes, I’m ancient.

Your continual delivery of PR as “press release” is confusing because people in PR, the practice of public relations, are migrating over to the word news release. And, I’ve share why on many an occasion.

When SEO folks get a turn at a “press release” to optimize it and push links, it’s not a press release at all; it’s merely a communication tool we can call a news release IF there is news within it. The point I’m trying to make to save anyone from having to go hunting down a rabbit hole is this:

Back in the day, the press corps was everywhere following folks and the press conference was a gathering of journos listening to a spokesperson shoving mics in his face (yes, it was always a he back then).

Today? Not so much.

Press Corps

There really isn’t a mass grouping of press, the print media, covering companies like groupies. The press corps is relegated to U.S. federal government officials, like POTUS and the secretary of state.

So, when the term press release is used, I switch it out for news release because that’s the goal of the communication tool – to be a vehicle of news.

When an SEO professional uses “PR” for press release and not public relations, I will kindly correct your vernacular and inform you to kindly remove that abbreviation from your vocabulary and call it a news release.

Wouldn’t you agree the word “news release” is so much more powerful than a “press release” anyway?

Note: Jayme Soulati is a veteran public relations practitioner of 30 years; she has a right to defend the purity of her profession.

Anatomy Of Feel-Good PR Stories

05/14/2013 By Jayme Soulati

advocacy.britannica.com

The single-best place to find the single-best headlines in addition to feel-good PR stories is the bottom feature story on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Within these pieces are sensational and zany stories about topics you can’t imagine. Today’s story is one of the best feel-good features I’ve seen there in awhile as it melds the rough and tough U.S. Marine Corps with the desert tortoise.

Yes, our nation’s military dual as conservationists. Hard to believe, eh?

The Story

On a training exercise in the deserts of California, in Twentynine Palms to be exact, the troops were charging a hill and shooting at targets until one of the softer-hearted screamed “tortoise alert!” (Those last four words are speculation.)

The exercise ceased and the turtle doctor was called to the scene; he’s part of “a little-known army of biologists and other scientists who manage the Mojave desert tortoise and about 420 other threatened and endangered species on about 28 million acres of federally managed military land.”

When the tortoises are scared, they pee themselves. I’m only telling you that so I can use this word I’ve never seen from the story…”an unplanned micturition can cause dehydration and even death.” (The best explanation for that is the turtle wets the bed, and BTW? My spell check did not like that word.)

So, the biologist shows the Marines how to soak the reptiles in water until they drink enough to carry on. Apparently, these desert dwellers don’t need a drink for about two years, and when they dribble from fear, their supply of water is exhausted.

Elements of a Good PR Story

Let’s look at why this story works for national news:

Endangered species protected on federal reserves
A team of biologists functioning within the military under a bit of secret cover
The Marine Corps doing drills in the Mojave desert
The Marine Corp as conservationists; ceasing all ops until the tortoise families are safely moved to distances away from training sites.
Background about the reptile and its habits (the water factoids)

And, that really good headline tops it off, “The Few, the Proud, the Tortoises: Marines Protect Endangered Species; An Army of Biologists Are on Nature Patrol at Military Bases; ‘Walking Ravioli’

Your Good PR Story

Considering trying for national news with a good media relations professional? Here are some elements you can’t be without:

Hard news with a soft news twist
Current events angle; news that ties in with world affairs
Data: could be new research, patterns of behavior
Third-party Spokesperson: academic, scientist or other expert to vouch for the data
Consumer: Person who receives the service, uses the product with a good story
Company executive: Someone with the Message Map in hand who can present the company in proper light

The final item on your list is to have a professional pitch this to national media. It will be a huge challenge if you try to do it yourself.

By Jayme Soulati

The News Release Is NOT Dead

01/28/2013 By Jayme Soulati

newsrelease Everywhere I read, someone speaks of the demise of the press release. Perhaps they’re right; we in media relations rarely put “press” in front of “release” to describe company-issued news.

We call it a news release, and the news release is NOT dead.

There were 137 news releases issued on PR Newswire today in the span of 30 minutes, the majority issued at 8 a.m. ET.

News, among those who don’t truly know what news is, can be anything a company announces; however, if it’s hard news then it’s oriented to facts, data, investors, publicly traded companies, major new products with mass appeal (Boeing’s failed jet), global issues, national crises, weather disasters, and other critical news of the day.

Soft news can be anniversaries, events, new books, babies, ribbon cuttings, christenings, restaurant openings, and other items without critically timed orientation.

Regardless of whether a company has soft or hard news to share, the news release is one of the best vehicles with which to distribute news. Here’s why:

If and when you’re pitching media with that news, a news release written in appropriate journalistic standard and AP style (follow them on Twitter @APStylebook) (typically) is most easily recognizable and accepted by media.
When a company issues a news release in the format as stated in #1, there’s credibility around that action which requires attention.
A news release usually goes through several rounds of editing by many layers of teams and professionals (marketing, legal, executives). Once it is approved and ready for publication, it becomes the official word of the company.
News releases are archived on websites as public record and as an historical queue of stories that inform audiences.
Media and other writers comb these archives to report on and understand companies, products, and people.
Executive quotes are readily accessible in news releases and can be printed in a variety of media with attribution to the spokesperson.
A news release is owned media; your company creates and controls the message. It is used to garner earned media…the story that appears in media outlets featuring much of the news and facts from company-issued news releases.

How is media relations done at your company? If it’s just via a personalized email to multiple email addresses via email marketing, then the message is harder to control.

If the team is using a pre-approved pitch and news release, then everyone is using official language approved by company leadership.

As I said, the news release is NOT dead.

Yum Brands Bad Publicity in China, Or Is It?

01/09/2013 By Jayme Soulati

YumBrands The headline on the cover of the Marketplace section of this morning’s Wall Street Journal caught the eye, “Bad Publicity Dents Yum Brands.” Woah. Must be really bad for the other side to add that key word, “publicity,” in a call out.

Jumping into the story, I got 2/3 through still seeking any mention or indication of bad PR. The story is about how the brand and its KFC stores continues to bounce back after a government review of China poultry supplies, the outbreak of SARS, and a dye potentially linked to increase cancer risk.

What the Chinese consumer is being extra cautious about, however, is whether KFC poultry is tainted with more antibiotics than what’s permitted. Food safety, in the wake of tainted milk issues that plagued the country, has become a top-of-mind issue.

The headline on top of the story says, “China Woes Put Dent in Yum Brands.”

Uh-huh.

That’s more like it, copy desk. The call out header on the section cover implied that Yum Brands was really messing up in China with negative media coverage – after all, isn’t publicity defined by news coverage?

The story didn’t read that way at all. It told about a brand suffering from the natural ebbs and flows of economic issues and stressors that affect any business playing in the food industry.

I think the headline writer wanted to dig at we in public relations and earn a few more readers by using “publicity,” a rare word in a headline for a global daily newspaper the likes of the Wall Street Journal.

Get Ready For The Chief Everything Officer

11/26/2012 By Jayme Soulati

credit: chiefmartec.com

The chief marketing officer manages public relations, marketing, advertising, and social media. It’s no secret that analytics and big data have pushed the CMO into the realm of tech, encroaching on the IT department.

Silos in organizations have IT squarely functioning on its own, reporting to the chief technology officer. When do marketing and technology collaborate? Probably in the conference room and perhaps at a few meetings.

A recent issue of Advertising Age on the future of marketing has raised this very issue – marketing and technology are converging at a fast pace but the squabbling is still alive and well in many firms and large organizations.

Other reports suggest the role of the chief marketing officer is fraught with little tenure – the average length of time in this position is about 18 months. Why is that?

I reckon a solid guess that social media and the outside-in communication style of consumers has pushed marketers into a frenzy to dissect and measure. As the IT department stood alongside watching the festivities, marketing took on big data and added it to its mix. Did it make it any easier for marketers to have all these stats flying around every day? No…social media ROI remains elusive.

The other thought is that CMOs are fighting for influence. A recent study by Appinions, an opinion-based influence marketing platform, studied the level of influence by marketers in a highly popular paper with results published by Forbes. I imagine the chief marketer wants more influence over all of it, right? After all, the CIO or CTO has been relegated to a silo for so many years…but I feel a sea change brewing!

So, what’s going to happen in the corner office?

Is there anyone highly qualified to catch the curve balls in this new normal? Does anyone have the competency to manage all these departments converging in the C-suite? Methinks anyone in the CMO position today is working their arse off to stay smart and be ahead of the game.

Instead of all these chief whatever officers, I’m imagining the Chief Everything Officer…it sounds so much more, well, inclusive, doesn’t it?