What to Do When that Reporter Calls

Communication is written, spoken and in many cases, unspoken (body language). There are ample opportunities to communicate well or poorly, to cast yourself and your business in a positive light or leave the other person wondering "what the hell?"

The one person you don't want scratching a head and wondering what's just happened is a member of the press.

Although I am far from an expert on crisis communications, I do know a thing or two about communicating with members of the press and how to handle a call from a reporter. That call may be in search of your perspective or information about your company (or client, if you are in PR) as it relates to a particular issue in your field or in your community. Or, it could be in response to a negative matter your business was embroiled in for one reason or another. Either way, keep your head on straight, keep your cool, and like the stalwart Joe Friday of "Dragnet" fame, deliver just the facts.

Appoint the right spokesperson
This should (must) be someone who is very articulate, fluid with public speaking, and who thinks on his or her feet. It's important that this person have a nimble mind and stay a step ahead of anticipated conversation or be able to respond quickly (and well) to a question or comment. If the CEO, COO or president is not a great speaker or not necessarily the person the journalist is trying to reach, your marketing manager, community liaison coordinator, or public relations officer is the one to take the call. It needs to be someone who can ...

Stay calm
That's not to say you should be robotic, but communicating with a journalist is not the time to get emotional. This person is writing a story and is requesting your input, not your hysteria or gloominess. Journalists are seeking facts for their stories and dispassionate discourse is a great way to get your point across. You can be friendly and conversational but stay on guard as well. This speaks to the importance of ...

Know your talking points

Be like a Scout and be very prepared in advance with your talking points. Write them down, rehearse them if you need to. Whether you are discussing the positives about your company or organization or the organization's viewpoint about a particular issue, be very clear, concise, and on message. Know your mission statement, think about the "About Us" page on your website and what it says about your company or agency, and know the stance on the issue at hand. If your organization was involved in some way and it was a positive participation, be proud of it and state why. If there was a misstep of any kind, acknowledge it, apologize, and move on with positive points because ...

This is your chance to get free press
And you don't want to blow it! This is an opportunity to show your organization in a good light with the public, stakeholders, or employees. Even one positive quote in a long story is a good thing ... and many times better than one negative quote anywhere! This is also an opportunity to start developing a relationship with the reporter or writer, who might tap you in the future for comments about a news story, which can position you as an expert in your field (more good press). Being truly helpful to the journalist--by staying calm, delivering your talking points well (in a manner that moves the story along a positive path), and engaging the caller in a way that shows you are a partner and not an adversary, you'll drive good media relations for your brand.

Is Your News Release Really News?

Clients often call me to write a news release for them but quite often, I'm left asking, "What exactly is your news?" All too often, business owners or managers believe that what is news to them or important to them carries equal weight with the reporters and editors who will be receiving the press release release, or with the public that will end up reading it.

Sorry guys, not so much. However, there are ways to make your non-news become somewhat publicity-worthy and earn you some free publicity.

1. Try to zero in on a trend that will catch the attention of the media and your intended audience and develop a story around that, one in which you can slide in your announcement. For example, hiring a new employee is not of vast interest to anyone outside of your office; but hiring someone because it reflects growth in your sector or industry, or signals growing strength in the local job market, could be newsworthy.
2.  Tie your news announcement into current events to create greater relevance. I once had to write a press release about an area private school that had a "sister school" relationship with one in Japan. This was around the time of the terrible tsunami that hit Japan two years ago. The school was initiating some type of support project for its sister school overseas. OK, that's pretty good. But I had read a story  in our local daily newspaper a week before about a public school in the county that had some kind of program with another school in Japan. Voila! There was the tie-in. I wrote and submitted the press release, with a note about how this story dovetailed nicely with the newspaper's recent coverage. A reporter called my client to find out more about the program and ran a story in the local section about it.
3. Alert your media targets to an emerging trend or breaking industry news that relates directly to your organization or business. The fact that you opened a real estate staging practice is no big deal to most people beyond your family and friends; however, you can position yourself as an expert real estate stager and inform the media (and thereby, inform your audience) of a study that shows how well-staged homes sell faster, even in a tough real estate market.
4. Offer a free seminar or workshop that is open to the public or that caters to specific market. Free works nicely and is seen favorably as something of a public service. (Hint: a newspaper is also less likely to expect a paid ad for a free program.)  Educational, informational, and helpful programs are also great ways to get exposure for you and your business. You'll want to send a short news release about your upcoming event to the local press or to the appropriate trade publications and post it to your social networks.
5. Perform community service or create a charity drive in your office and invite the public to participate. The fact that your office is doing a coat drive in the winter is your business but opening up to area residents as they are preparing to shop for winter clothing is classic public relations.

Do you have favorite tactics for turning a ho-hum news story into something worthy of a true press release? Share them here! 

New (or Not-So-New) Media as the New Newsroom

Hurricane Sandy turned the social networks into virtual, 24-hour, non-stop newsrooms for many people. Whether or not you had power, whether you checked your pages on a desktop or mobile devices, it seemed everyone everywhere in affected areas (and beyond) were communicating, updating, and commiserating on the social networks.

I will freely admit that although my home was unaffected by the weather, I became utterly obsessed with checking in with followers, friends, and fans on Facebook, which became the visual ground zero for me for all things Sandy. I shared and soaked up countless compelling, frightening, and sad images posted by everyday people, news organizations, and bloggers. I posted updates, news, announcements on my wall for people to see. I got hooked on a newfound page, Tri-State Weather, where a lot of my weather-related posts came from. From the devastation on the Jersey Shore to the decimation on Staten Island, Queens, and other areas of New York, I and so many others came together in a newly formed online community that rallied 'round the storm victims (human and animal) to create a new kind of news organization.

Many people took to tweeting constant updates using various storm-related hash tags and I did follow the headlines there, and shared some updates throughout that first week. But for me, the double-whammy of existing relationships and all those photos and videos on Facebook truly became the newsroom of the moment. One friend created a new group page devoted solely to post-hurricane news: a place where people can share volunteer meetups, donation drives, tips on how to get to badly hit neighborhoods to deliver goods, who needs what and where and when. I was thoroughly gripped by this, actually unable to focus on my work that week as I was driven to be part of the breaking news. 

I believe that this large-scale disaster has ramped up social media's place in news reporting . . . not journalism per se, as I am not stating that good, authentic, in-depth news reportage has been replaced. But it certainly was pushed aside a bit to make room for all the ordinary and extraordinary people who were reporting from the field in a way not seen before. We have all grown accustomed to local newscasts running video that was sent in by viewers, and I've noticed Twitter handles and hash tags in bugs on the screen during news programs more and more.

Ted Turner's visionary idea decades ago for a real-time, worldwide, 24-hour news station has given birth to a whole different way to do breaking news on social networks. I would never have thought, as a young copywriter working on the launch of CNN in the early 1980s, that I would be part of the news cycle in some small way during a natural disaster years later. The experience was absorbing on a level I could not have foreseen and I was gratified to hear that people who were following me were getting useful information. Now that the initial wave of Sandy has passed and the long, hard work of reconstruction begins, I hope I don't ever have the "opportunity" to feel compelled again to become a citizen journalist in times of struggle and darkness. I'd much rather stick to informational posts, newsy tidbits about advertising, marketing, or public relations, and promotions for my clients on my Facebook business page, my LinkedIn profile, or on Twitter or Google+.