Press & Media Course File

‘Getting Noticed’

Press, Publicity and PR: raising profile through the media Ian Lewis FRSA created this for © 2012 Ian Lewis

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Assisted by

and

Welcome to this programme from

INTRODUCTION

This is a workbook linked to a workshop. It is not intended as a standalone.

The Outdoor World has become much more together in recent years. More than anywhere, this has been identified by ‘the media’, that amorphous group ‘out there’, who decide what shall be communicated locally, nationally and internationally across the public channels of print, TV, radio and to no small degree the WWW. Effectively ‘they’ decide what others shall know, and therefore think, about the outdoors.

In this workshop we will explore how to create the outcome you want for you organisation. We will increase your awareness as to what is possible and how to get the best value for the least cost. But most of all we shall explore the means by which the ‘they’, the ‘out there’ and ‘the media’ become one – a true collaboration - with us, the outdoors.

This is an experiential fun workshop with real-time takeaways which will both form a strong foundation for your Outdoor Adventure Week events and other profile aspirationa. We may have taken the liberty of delivering ‘Online’ in 2012, but time and carbon require this of us.

Of course, like parachutes, minds only work when they are open….

Ian Lewis 07802 423502 Email: ian@campaignforadventure.org

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CONTENTS PRESS, PUBLICITY AND PR PROGRAMME Introduction & Notes

Page 2-4

Exercise 1 – Clarity Ahead

5

Types of Media / Relationships

6

Positions of Strength [POS]

8

Bricks of Negotiation & Influence Value and Negotiations

10 12- 14

Research the “GAME”

15

Your Media Contact Sheet – Data in Action

17

Gambits help you….

17

Personalities > Relationships

20

The long write home – your support sheets

21

Into Action - Your fully worked plan

23-30

Supporting reading – ‘Campaigning’ in Action

32-38

Notes

It is no accident that this programme has been ‘saved as’ Press, Publicity and PR from its original form as a global sales training course delivered in the capitals of the world.

The skills, knowledge and understanding are one in ‘Media Management’ as in ‘Sales’: Vision > Planning >Pre-information > Communication > Confidence > Relationship building >. Monitoring successes. > Applying reviews

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Exercise 1: Clarity Ahead Lets first look at our visions. Where do you want to go? What are your outcomes & targets?

Please list all of them below: Apply ‘Inner PR’: What is your perfect future?

How big can you go? How brave are you? What would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?

Vision One: Vision Two:

Vision Three:

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Types of media.

Fast News > Slow News > Information > Interest > Professional Media type

Priority

Professional Buyers Make buying decisions based on facts Work continuously at planning & managing their purchases Remain focused and objective Are a little cynical about offers and salespeople’s claims until they have checked them out.

Weighs up all the facts first then negotiates Keep asking questions to find the truth Shop around to find the best value supplier Negotiates on different terms and conditions not just money Researches to find out about alternative options and suppliers

More:

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Professional Media Relationships

Professional media ‘buyers’ [i.e. gate-keepers] buy (decide to print) based on both logic and emotion.

What are their logic triggers?

What are their emotional triggers?

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Media P.O.S (Position of Strength)

No Competition

HIGH

V.HIGH

Low Value

High Value

V.LOW

LOW

Lots of Competition

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Your P.O.S

No Competition

LOW

V.LOW

Low Value

High Value

V.HIGH

HIGH

Lots of Competition

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The ‘Bricks’ of Negotiation and Influence

We need to think in all these terms, yet the relationship is the vital first step.

Do you listen to those you have never met before and have no relationship with?

Communication

Personalities

Relationships

Procedures

Courage

Systems

Where would you draw the ‘start-end’ arrows on the above?

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Notes

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Successful Negotiation is a GAME To play any game we need to know the rules and research how to play. Good research to establish the facts is critical for successful professional media managers. It makes any negotiation easier and logical What do you need to know

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How to find out

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Notes

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It’s not “All about the Money” – Non Financial Negotiation Options REMEMBER YOU CAN NEGOTIATE ON MANY THINGS OTHER THAN JUST MONEY Most people consider negotiation is all about negotiating for a better financial agreement. In the world of Cause-related marketing, we can negotiate on a whole number of other things. What is important is to go into the negotiation well informed and with something of value [to them] to offer. This is the win/win of media, press & PR work Here is an opportunity to look at what they might value:

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Simple Routes to Success: Research is a game played up front…

Be clear about what you want Think about what they want – be clear if you can Do not make demands – feed in ideas and thoughts and questions Do their work for them Make their life [success] easy Stay close to them – be a great source/contact Never let them down – they make promises!

Try to get them to offer – to read something, to receive something, to visit, to send a photographer, to come and try it?

In summary: They need you, you need them, you both need each others’ help

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Notes

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Your Media Contact sheet and initial plan sheet: [trial first three]

Publication

Contact Name/s & details

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P.O.S

FACTS/History

IMPROVEMENT

OPENING GAMBIT

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Back to your Vision

For a start – ‘SMARTen’ it: S M

A R T

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Moving to ‘GAMBITS’

Press, publicity and media tend towards this definition:

“A clever move or maneuver, especially one made in the early part of a game, is a gambit.”

The purpose in a ‘Gambit’ is: [Think: time, impact, message, attraction, cost, relevance….]

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Personalities What do we know?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Who do we know?

Name

Contact route

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Use

Ideas/comments

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The long write home‌.

The items at the back of this file are from the web document that support this course. Feel free to offer additions to it and to build it as a resource for yourself or/and your organisation.

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INTO ACTION: A fully worked Press, Media & PR Plan

This is IT‌.YOUR PLAN. The aim is a real-time workshop, where you break off to do things and come together again to create further, review and evolve, all the time swapping ideas and building better outcomes.

Your sheets read:

Vision > Planning >Pre-information > Communication > Confidence > Relationship building >. Monitoring successes. > Applying reviews

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Vision

> Planning >Pre-information > Communication > Confidence > Relationship building >. Monitoring successes. > Applying reviews

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> Planning

Vision >Pre-information > Communication > Confidence > Relationship building >. Monitoring successes. > Applying reviews

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>Pre-information

Vision > Planning > Communication > Confidence > Relationship building >. Monitoring successes. > Applying reviews

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> Communication

Vision > Planning >Pre-information > Confidence > Relationship building >. Monitoring successes. > Applying reviews

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> Confidence >

Vision > Planning >Pre-information > Communication Relationship building >. Monitoring successes. > Applying reviews

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Vision > Planning >Pre-information > Communication > Confidence

> Relationship building >. Monitoring successes. > Applying reviews

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Vision > Planning >Pre-information > Communication > Confidence > Relationship building reviews

>. Monitoring successes. > Applying

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Vision > Planning >Pre-information > Communication > Confidence > Relationship building >. Monitoring successes.

> Applying reviews

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ACTION SUMMARY

What shall you do from here?

1..

What

By when?

2.

What

By when?

3.

What

By when?

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The long read home…. Campaigning in Action

The items at the back of this file are from the web document that supports this course. Feel free to offer additions to it and to build it as a resource for yourself or/and your organisation.

Marketing and Promotion • • • • •

• •

The key to the success of the Outdoor Adventure Week is in the marketing and promotion of events by the Promoters In explaining what the programme is about, how it works, and what is involved in being a promoter, this manual aims to give some idea of the ways in which this can be achieved.

Remember, the aim of the game is to tell people about what is going on and what you are doing - at a local, regional, and national; and in any special areas which will help promotion.

This is not a monopoly on good ideas... you will have your own plans and ideas, some you have used before, some new, some yet to be thought of.

We hope this manual will both help to start you off and to check some points as you go along. If you've never been involved in a campaign like this before you may need a little help to see the opportunities to move with the others and to really locate the best ways to promote your activity in and through the community.

There can be no excuse for letting your activity be overlooked just because you are too busy doing it. This is not acceptable in today’s climate of competition for funding, clients and choices.

Nationally the EOC will aim to profile the campaign in the media and use a celebrity to do this.

Campaigning • • •

The question is 'what makes a successful campaign?'.

The answer is: ideas.

All that is required is a little imagination, and a lot of effort behind the one you think will be successful.

Some are simple and quick, others may take more planning, time and energy.

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• • •

Pick the activities that will work for you and are compatible with the resources you have available. Some will be more relevant than others.

For example, some activities will be of interest to the local media and can be used to generate wider publicity through editorial.

Others may be less obviously newsworthy, but could suit special situations and media needs. Be ready with an idea or three!!

Later on we will look at how to get media coverage. It isn't a step-by-step guide as getting coverage on TV, radio and in the press isn't an exact science - but it should help you avoid some of the common pitfalls which can prevent a potentially good news story ending up in the wastepaper bin.

Campaign Success •

The success or failure of a campaign is often down to the amount of planning which is done before hand. So start planning now and give your campaign the success it deserves!

photo by Randall Williams

Planning • • • • • • •

Start by writing down your aims, objectives, target audience, priorities and the message you want to get across. Once you have defined these, you can work out how best to achieve them.

Make your aims clear, achievable and realistic.

Research your target audience as far as possible and consider what events, materials or activities are likely to have the greatest impact.

Work out how long the campaign will take to organise, remembering that things often take longer than you think.

Calculate how much the campaign is likely to cost, setting yourself a realistic budget which you can stick to. Zero is OK if you have creativity!

Find out if any other organisations in your area are planning similar events which might clash or overlap. If so, see how you can work with them instead of competing.

Plan your activities step by step so you won't miss out or overlook any important links in the chain of events. back to top of page >

Execution • •

Work out how things will work in practice and have a contingency plan in case things don't go exactly as you anticipated.

Make sure you've thought of every eventuality - what if it rains, what if someone gets injured, what if more (or less) people turn up, who's going to do what, have you thought of facilities for the disabled?

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•

•

Decide how you're going to publicise your activities - think about advertising, posters, badges leaflets, incentives, events, balloons, displays, and the media. These can all be used successfully if carefully planned as part of the overall campaign. It is much better to use several at the same time than only one or several in a sequence.

Get your activities into the media using some of the tips in the media section as a guide.

Evaluation • • • • • •

•

Once you've carefully planned your campaign, work out how you're going to evaluate the results. How you measure results depends on the nature of the campaign.

Aim to do it in a way which is more structured than trying to guess feelings or vaguely asking a handful of people what they think.

Evaluate and monitor each activity as you go along if possible.

Consider circulating questionnaires among volunteers, workers or the target audience.

Work out how much you spent to see if you kept within budget.

Ask yourself some searching question like, did we...

- get the media coverage we hoped for and if no, why not?

- complete the campaign within the agreed timescales?

- print the right number of leaflets or other materials?

- keep a record of interested people to follow-up on?

Work out how you could have done it better if you'd had the benefit of hindsight so you can learn from the experience.

Keep it safe • •

You will be responsible if you are the organiser You will need to manage the risks, as usual, both emotional & physical, of equipment and activities through your usual risk assessments. back to top of page >

The Media •

•

The creation of unpaid publicity is probably the single most important component of any campaign. Getting media coverage for an event can often mean the difference between getting your message across to a few hundred people or many thousands of people.

But with so many representatives from a myriad of organisations competing to get their events and activities publicised, how do you make yours stand out from the crowd and get those all-important column inches or air-time?

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•

•

Some are better at getting media coverage than others - so if you're well practised in the art, skip over these pages and move straight on to the ideas for action. If on the other hand you have little or no experience of using the media, this brief guide should point you in the right direction.

Getting media coverage isn't as difficult as you might think - but it helps if you know a few tricks of the trade. With a bit of planning, many local activities can be made newsworthy to local newspapers, radio and even regional television. After all, their bread and butter is local news, made by local people.

Local media Take a bit of time to study your local media - find out what sort of stories are features and what kind of photos are used. Time spent in this way will be invaluable as it will help you tailor your story in the right way. Your local library should be able to help with copies of local press, as well as the addresses of radio and TV stations which cover your area.

Briefly, by local media, we mean: • • • • •

Regional daily and weekly newspapers - both paid for and free sheets BBC Radio and Independent Local Radio (commercial) stations Community radio stations/hospital radio/shopping centre radio stations Regional BBC and Independent Television (ITV) Community channels on cable television

A Newsworthy Story What makes a newsworthy story? This is the 64 million dollar question!

•

There is no easy answer to this as what may get coverage one week, may not get coverage another week, simply because of what else is going on at the same time. For example,, if there's a royal visit in your area or a major 'hard' news story like a serious crime, the local media will concentrate on that, leaving less space for your 'softer' news.

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•

• •

•

If an event is by local people and for local people, there is a good chance that the media in that area will cover it - as long as you approach them in the right way - SO USE THE LOCAL PEOPLE APPROACH!! It is the initial CONTACT which often makes the difference between whether a story is used or not.

It is a cliche, but a picture really does say a thousand words, so if you can make your event or activity visually appealing, then your story stands a better chance of being used, or perhaps used more prominently. Always think photos!

If you are organising an event, can you make it fancy dress? Can you get a local celebrity to take part? Anything which makes your story stand out from the pile on the news editor's desk will help its chances of getting coverage. Once you've attracted attention with a picture story, it helps if you can back it up with some solid facts, like the results of a local survey.

All journalists work to tight deadlines and it is worth checking what they are in advance as these differ from one publication to another. In any case, make sure you let newspapers and broadcasters know in good time that you are planning an event - a week or 10 days is ideal - so they can put it in the diar/ for the actual day and decide whether to cover it. They may also do an advance story, so you might get two bites of the cherry out of one story!

News Releases • •

If you've got a news story you want to appear in print or on air, one way to let journalists know is via a news release that contains all the information about your event or activity.

Don't waste time turning your story into a feature article. If the media is interested enough, they will get one of their journalists to write one after getting more details from the contact person named on the press release.

A news release should: • • • • • • • • • •

Be headed 'News Release' so journalists can see what it is at a glance.

Have an informative headline, typed in bold capital letters. Don't worry about making it too clever - the journalists will do that.

Contain the key facts in the first paragraph, namely Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Have the most important information at the beginning - like an inverted pyramid - with the less important information further down.

Be typed in double spacing with wide margins on one side of A4.

Be clear, factual and free of jargon and 'flowery' language. Avoid long sentences and paragraphs.

Be kept short. The whole thing need not be longer than 300 words - journalists will contact you for more information if they need it.

Include a quotation from a relevant spokesperson.

Have numbered pages and 'more' written at the bottom of each page instead of 'PTO'. Put 'End' at the bottom so there can be no mistake.

Include at least one name and telephone number for journalists to contact for further information.

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•

Date it for the day it will be read to give it 'freshness', (ie. if you post it on the 1st, date it for the 2nd).

Photocalls •

If you want to invite the press to take a photograph, then you can organise a photocall. To do this, simply prepare a sheet with brief details of the event on it and send it to the media 7-10 days in advance. This should be headed 'Photo Opportunity' or 'Photocall' so journalists can immediately see what it is and act accordingly. In both cases, follow your note with a phone call to see that the event has got into the diary of forthcoming events.

Photographs •

• •

Whether or not you invite the press to send a photographer to cover an event, it is worth arranging for someone to take a photograph for you, in case the newspapers photographer doesn't turn up. A professionally taken photograph is always preferable - amateur snapshots are rarely used unless the photographer is very good.

Arrange to get the prints to the newspapers as soon after the event as you can - within 24 hours if possible. It is pointless sending photos a week or two after the event, as by that time the news will be stale and very unlikely to be used.

Make sure the photo is properly captioned, with names and titles of everybody who is pictured (indicating left to right) and send it with a copy of your press release.

Interviews If you send a news release to local radio or TV or invite broadcast media to an event, you could find yourself being interviewed. This could be live, recorded on location, in the studio or down the telephone.

The simple advice for interviewees is to be prepared with the message you wish to get across. Remember the following rules: • • • • • •

Check the angle the interviewer wants to take and the first question you will be asked.

Be prepared - arm yourself with the relevant facts and have a few statistics at your finger tips. Make a list of the three main points you want to make.

Get your chosen message across as early as possible in the interview.

Speak in short sentences, not long ones whose meaning could be changed in editing.

Keep you language informal and avoid jargon.

Don't be flustered by questions you can't answer. Steer the conversation to an area you know more about.

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Other opportunities • •

Don't forget, you can also get media coverage for other campaign activities, such as surveys or competitions, as well as events.

The findings of surveys are newsworthy if they are about local people, particularly if the results are surprising.

Competitions are more of a fun way to raise awareness of your campaign messages, rather than news. Why not get local groups to participate whilst you sponsor prizes and ask the local paper or radio station if they'll run them?

EOC Support • •

•

As you can see, the opportunity for promoting your activity and the benefits of outdoor education and learning exist out there a- plenty. The key is to work towards achieving specifics.

The EOC appreciate the different skills required to do this, and that is why Outdoor Adventure Week initiative is a learning and development relationship. We plan to provide as much support as we can in order for 'Promoters' [probably you] to promote their activities - but real success has to come from a genuine commitment and intention from participants.

Special sections of the IOL & EOC web-sites will allow communication with other Promoters to highlight successes and share ideas. This will be used to reach a wider audience and further develop the programme. Together we can make it grow very large and very effective.

Notes…

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