Super PR Value Comes from Authoring an Article
One of the most powerful and influential tools used by public relations practitioners is writing articles for magazines that reach a targeted audience. It can reflect an expert’s knowledge or a CEO’s leadership. The article can create understanding of a difficult issue or a complicated product. It also can establish credibility, like advertising rarely does.
PR professionals measure the success of such placements by multiplying the advertising placement value of the space gained three times. So a full page of text featuring an individual or an organization in an article would be valued at $15,000 (given an ad rate of $5,000 per page).
What’s more important though is to produce a high quality story with valuable content and your key messaging–that is timely and relevant to readers. It is critical to ensure that the angle matches up with the editorial mission of the publication. Keep in mind you want to be invited back for a future opportunity.
The best PR professionals for this task are former journalists who have worked within the media. They know what editors are looking for, respect deadlines and are usually very good at identifying a strong story angle. The first step is to thoroughly research your target publication, examine their editorial calendars and then see how the client’s stories might fit into the story plans. A pitch is then created. This is usually no more than a paragraph or two that is prepared to be spoken by phone and also e-mailed. It may take several or more attempts to pitch and win the opportunity.
A lot of time is saved by doing the advance research because there are many publications that will never consider a submitted article no matter how great the pitch is. It is usually cost efficient to work with a PR agent who knows the industry you are in and has connections or can quickly make them in that segment.
After the opportunity is gained, the PR agent and/or his writers and editors produce an outline for the story which is then reviewed by both the client and editor. This is a good step to take because it can save time and money. If a 2,000 word article is written in fully and then rejected, you are back to the “drawing board.”
Before employing any writers, review samples of their work and ask them what questions they would pose, what sources they would tap, and how they would create the article. There is an art to succeeding with this PR tool; it takes planning, communication and coordination, as well as understanding of media.
After you are published, take advantage of this by ordering reprints to distribute to your customers, and note the article on your Web site.
Five Criteria for Managing a Virtual Firm
Some 20 years ago when I launched Susan Carol Associates, a public relations firm, just outside of Washington, D.C., I felt that I had to hide, or at least down play, the fact that my company was virtual—without the bricks and mortar. My concern was that clients may perceive the business as being less serious or unable to provide full-service capabilities.
Within five years we were heavily promoting the fact that we are virtual because it is cost-effective, responsive and successful in meeting many clients’ needs in full. Our customers benefit from a wide variety of talent, but only pay for what they need; they value our proven executive counsel at rates the larger brick and mortar firms can’t begin to offer. Not that we’re cheap!
However, in managing a virtual firm, there are unique challenges. What brings us together? What keeps us together? There is a core group within my firm that has been loyally working collaboratively since the early 1990s!
Here are five criteria important to growing a virtual firm and serving clients well:
1. We are self-motivated, and disciplined to organize priorities.
2. Our various strengths and weaknesses are clear and acknowledged, recognizing that our interdependence and cooperation is what makes us great.
3. Established business hours and work routines separate our work from our family interests; we’re dedicated to meeting business expectations, yet we carve out the needed time for our families and ourselves.
4. All of us harness technology, and adapt to the latest tools that make sense, so we can connect and respond swiftly, easily share knowledge, and work smarter than our competitors.
5. We have common values, high integrity and the highest professional standards.
Virtual isn’t novel anymore, but it still makes sense!
Looking for News in All the Wrong Places
For two years now I have gone to bed at 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. expecting to find a summary of world news on cable TV networks, but I felt disappointed—in fact, starved for news. I’ll admit it, I am a news junky.
If you are reading this post, perhaps you did the same thing. But, we were looking for news in all the wrong places.
I was not satisfied to watch every network cover the same tasteless details over and over again …celebrities in and out of detox, missing people, talking heads or You Tube re-runs.. I never learned anything new.
I started going around complaining about it. People pointed to the Web but my only access was in the office and I had left there. Then, after a recent tour of CNN with my daughter, the guide said most of their viewers are getting their news from CNN’s web site, not from television broadcasts. It was an “aha” moment. I must turn to the Web if I want more than People magazine or tabloid type content. Here I am!
Can you recommend any good blogs for world news?