Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.

From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.

How to Sell Your Story Over the Phone – 5 Best Practices

Have you ever heard the saying a smile can be heard over the phone? The saying rings very true because there’s nothing quite like the sound of a smile. But, when it comes to pitching stories over the phone (call-downs), you’ll need more than just a dashing smile to be heard.

Pitching a story, whether that’s in person, via email or over the phone, should be a very well thought-out process. A good PR professional knows that reporters work on deadlines and have no time to waste. In light of this, if a PR pitch is unclear, confusing, too long, unstructured, filled with typos or any other careless efforts, the reporter won’t give you the time of day – even if it’s the best story ever told – it’s all about the pitch.

One of my dearest mentors once told me, “each word should be intentional,” and that’s something that is always in the back of my mind while I am pitching.

The best way to get your pitch heard is to be strategic about the process. Below are five best practices to keep in mind when you are suddenly faced with the challenge of call-downs.

1.) Script it and warm up. Have a plan and be organized by developing an outline of what you will say, whether that’s with a script or bullet points. Be prepared with the materials you’ll need, such as talking points, the press release if you have one, or other key messages.

2.) Start with who you are and why you’re calling. Simply tell them your name, what company you work for and the nature of the call. For example, “Hi Steve, my name is Alice and I’m with Communiqué PR. I have a story that I think will interest you if you have a moment?” Simple, clear and to the point.

3.) Brevity is crucial. If you are leaving a voicemail, the entire call should be under a minute from the moment you start talking to the moment you hang up. In my experience, it is best to keep the actual pitch really short if you have the reporter on the phone. In that case, I recommend about 30-45 seconds of pitching time.

4.) Offer a resource and story angle the reporter could use. You should have something to give the reporter, whether that’s a press release, a briefing or exclusive news. Also, it’s your job to enlighten them as to how and why it relates to their beat.

5.) Anticipate questions and embrace rejection. Have a strong head on your shoulders and don’t take anything personally, especially in PR. Be strategic and have answers to questions you might be asked and if a reporter hangs up on you, move on.

MAIN TAKEAWAY – Before you start calling reporters, make sure you are well prepared with a plan, such as a script, a prepared Q&A and all the materials you may need. The call should last about a minute long; brevity is key. Once you are near the end of the call, be sure to always, always, always thank the reporter for his/her time; and though this may be obvious, make sure you end the call with your name and contact information. Don’t forget your dashing smile and happy pitching!

Click here for other tips on pitching the media through social media.

The Rise of Contributed Content: 5 Tips to Make Yours Sing

Today, opportunities abound for savvy marketers to get their messages heard. If the late 1990s heralded the rise of online content, the early 2010s are all about the rise in contributed content. For those of you who follow changes in the field of media and journalism, it won’t come as any surprise that Forbes is now host to over 1,000 regular contributors, many of whom are unpaid but who receive credit for page views and the clout that goes along with publishing under the Forbes banner.

If that does come as a surprise, you might wonder why Forbes has made such a radical shift. Are they diluting their brand? Does this mean their business is losing steam? Not exactly. Forbes has seized on a trend and in the process has become something of a pioneer in blending journalism with social networking. LinkedIn has followed suit with its long-form publishing capabilities and big names are participating. Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Ariana Huffington are just a few of the regular contributors. Popular sites like Medium, Business2Community and DigiDay are more mainstream but still offer those with something to say a chance to get their thoughts published to a wide audience.

With all these opportunities for contributed content, should you jump in? Absolutely! Adding your voice to the dialogue in your respective industry is a great way to raise awareness for your business and your brand, while allowing you to connect with like-minded professionals.

But all content is not created equal. Use the following tips to ensure that your piece sings.

Start With a Killer Headline

Studies show that articles with headlines using powerful, emotive words not only get more readers but get shared more often on social media. CoSchedule offers a headline analyzer, a list of powerful, emotive words and a wealth of tips for how to make your headline as strong as it can be.

Take Your Time and Write What You Know

When you’re passionate about a topic, it comes through in your writing. Write about what you know—what excites you, what keeps you awake at night, where you want to be in 10 years’ time. Don’t be afraid to do a deep dive either: posts in excess of 1,000 words are read more frequently and shared more often than shorter posts.

Consider a List Post

One need look no further than the uber-popular Buzzfeed to see that list posts are some of the most oft-shared content on the web. A primary reason why list posts work so well is the headline: as Copyblogger points out, “any headline that lists a number of reasons, secrets, types, or ways will work because…it makes a very specific promise of what’s in store for the reader.” Try it and see for yourself.

Make it Pretty

Add graphics. Studies show that blog posts which feature compelling visual images get 94% more views than posts without images. Stock photography sites such as iStock offer images you can feel confident in using without violating any copyrights. And the price to purchase the image is worth it; you can repurpose it for corporate presentations, future LinkedIn posts, or use it on your blog.

Got Writer’s Block? Maybe You Need An Infographic

If you have some great research but lack the time and energy to turn it into a 1,000 word blog post, consider putting it into an infographic. Sites such as Pinterest, Visual.ly, Daily Infographic, Slideshare and others are a source for all sorts of stuff you want to share with others or might not have known yourself.

Now that you’ve got some ideas it’s time to grab a cup of coffee, turn on some music and start writing!

Presenting 101: Five Tips to Help You Nail Your First Business Presentation

As a PR professional you’ll likely give countless presentations throughout your career. From new business presentations to annual PR plans, there will be plenty of opportunities for you to speak in front of a group. Presenting becomes easier and easier every time you do it, but the first time can be a little nerve-wracking. Following are five tips to help you keep calm and give a killer presentation.

Practice, Practice, Practice. The more prepared you are, the more confident you’ll feel during your presentation. A few days beforehand, develop talking points for each of your slides. If you know that you tend to get nervous when speaking in front of a group, write out a full script and practice it out loud to make sure it flows nicely. Once you know what you’re going to say, distill it down to bulleted talking points. Then rehearse your slides with a colleague or your fellow presenters and ask for their feedback.
Be Confident. When giving your first business presentation, you may be the youngest person in the room. Don’t let that be intimidating. You were invited to the meeting for a reason – everyone wants to hear your ideas and your team members value your input. Don’t be afraid to speak up, join the conversation, and assert your opinion.
Be Genuinely Excited. It’s much easier to talk about something you care about (we all know a heated discussion about Game of Thrones can last hours) and your passion for the topic will come across in conversation. Even if you don’t love the topic you’re presenting as much as you love Game of Thrones, find something about it that genuinely excites you. Your audience will notice that you truly care.
Engage Your Audience. Presentations should be interactive, and if you’re speaking to a small group your presentation should turn into a conversation between you and your audience. In order to effectively engage your audience, be sure to ask for feedback and check in with them after every slide to make sure everyone is on the same page. For example, if you summarize your understanding of a company’s business objectives to members of their executive team, be sure to ask if you’re on target and if they have anything to add. If you’re presenting a list of proactive pitch ideas to a potential client, ask if any of the ideas resonate with them.
Keep Calm and Carry On. If you make a mistake during a presentation, you’re probably the only one who will notice. If it is a noticeable mistake, lightly brush it off and keep going. Everyone makes mistakes, and your audience is not going to judge your entire presentation based on one slip up. If you breeze past it in a calm, collected manner, chances are no one will even remember it happened.

The bottom line: Remember that everyone gets a little nervous before a big presentation. Do you have any tips of your own to share that helped your nail your first business presentation?

What Google’s New Mobile-Friendly Algorithm Means for PR

Recently, Google began rolling out its mobile-friendly ranking algorithm across its global data centers and by the time you read this post, the roll out should be complete. The new ranking algorithm is designed to favor mobile-friendly pages in Google’s mobile search results and demote sites in search results that are not mobile-friendly.

According to Google, either your website is mobile-friendly or it’s not – there’s no in between. This change is so significant that marketing research firm Portent found that 40 percent of the leading websites failed Google’s mobile-friendly test and could be down-ranked in search.

In a similar, but relatively under-the-radar move, Bing, which also provides search results for Yahoo!, has added a “mobile friendly” label to pages listed in their mobile search results that are mobile-friendly. As of this writing, the search engine’s plans for announcing a mobile-friendly algorithm have not been announced.

So what do Google’s mobile updates mean for PR? In our increasingly mobile-dependent world, just about everyone is using a smartphone to gather information and conduct business – that includes journalists and other influencers. If your website and press resource center are not mobile-friendly it’s possible that reporters, bloggers or industry analysts may have a harder time finding information on your company, such as contact information, press releases, fact sheets, etc.

However, are the implications of Google’s mobile-friendly algorithm and the predicted “Mobilegeddon” living up to the hype? Early analysis by SEO expert Dr. Dave Chaffey found that so far, the changes have not yet shown a big impact on rankings. In a statement, Google further clarified that while the mobile-friendly change is important, a variety of other signals, such as high-quality content, are still used to rank search results.

The bottom line: ensuring that your website and press resource center continue to have fresh, high-quality content should remain a top priority.

If you’re unsure whether your website meets Google’s mobile friendliness criteria, check out the company’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool where you can enter your website URL and receive a report confirming if the page has a mobile-friendly design.

Google’s Developer site has some great tips for making your website more mobile friendly and for implementing best mobile SEO practices.

So what do Google’s mobile updates mean for PR? In our increasingly mobile-dependent world, just about everyone is using a smartphone to gather information and conduct business – that includes journalists and other influencers. If your website and press resource center are not mobile-friendly it’s possible that reporters, bloggers or industry analysts may have a harder time finding information on your company, such as contact information, press releases, fact sheets, etc.

The bottom line: ensuring that your website and press resource center continue to have fresh, high-quality content should remain a top priority.

Google’s Developer site has some great tips for making your website more mobile friendly and for implementing best mobile SEO practices.

For more of our insights into Google’s algorithm updates, check out this post: Google’s Panda 4.0 and the Implications for PR Pros.

A Lesson in Trusting Your Gut…and Your Audience

2015 has thus far been a pretty tough year for broadcasting companies. First, NBC took a major hit to its credibility when Nightly News anchor Brian Williams was found to be less than completely honest in his storytelling. Now, PBS, the independent and publicly funded network that many Americans look to for educational and unbiased programming, is at the center of its own media firestorm. If this recent story has somehow not been on your radar, here’s a quick recap:

Earlier this month, Britain’s Daily Mail published a story, using leaked Sony Corp. emails posted by WikiLeaks that reveals that Ben Affleck sought to have his slave-owner ancestry censored from the PBS series “Finding Your Roots.” The host of the popular show, esteemed Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., sought the advice of his friend, Sony CEO Michael Lynton, via a now public email exchange and in the end, the segment around Affleck’s slaver ancestor was edited out of the episode’s final cut.

News of this celebrity-requested censorship case has created a barrage of media backlash, with harsh criticism directed at Affleck, Gates and PBS. While Affleck was responsible for asking that the story not air, the bulk of the criticism has been directed at Gates for acquiescing to Affleck’s request, even though his emails with Lynton make it clear that he was fully aware doing so “would be a violation of PBS rules.”

In fact, even PBS Ombudsman, Michael Getler, has been critical of both Gates and PBS, posting a column on the issue in which he refers to how the emails between Gates and Lynton “make clear that Gates understood the serious journalistic and credibility issues at stake.” He goes on to say that PBS was “asleep at the switch when this broke,” and that the institution “deserves all the articles and TV reports,” for responding with “a statement that said essentially nothing and very quickly looked pathetic, as if they were hiding something.”

Last week, Affleck posted a response to the outrage on his Facebook page. He doesn’t apologize for his actions, reminds the readers that the show was not a news program, and explains that his request to shelve that part of his family story was because it would be embarrassing. I imagine it would have been a lot less embarrassing if he had simply let the Gates and the show’s producers deliver the episode without his creative collaboration.

This story offers so many interesting lessons for PR professionals helping to build and protect the brands we represent. For now, I’d like to highlight just two key takeaways:

Trust Your Gut

Gates’ emails highlight that the academic was clearly conflicted by the situation. He knew that if he accommodated Affleck’s request to censor the show and it became public, it would compromise the program’s integrity. His gut was telling him what he should do and if he had listened, he wouldn’t be facing criticism and further investigation. Instead, he opted to appease the Academy Award winner and thus has jeopardized his personal brand, as well as that of PBS.

Know Your Audience

Had Affleck taken time to consider his audience, he would have known that he could trust them with the truth of his family’s heritage. Our nation carries the shame of more than two hundred years of abuse and oppression caused by a system of slavery. This is not a burden Affleck carries alone and rather than hiding the truth, he could have used his story as an opportunity to begin an honest and productive dialogue from the outset.

History has shown us that the American public loves giving second chances, especially to celebrities. Given this, the backlash against Affleck will lesson over time. I wonder, however, if forgiveness will come swiftly to Gates, whose reputation is built less on his celebrity status as host of a PBS show than on his academic contributions focusing on African American studies. What do you think?

Tools for a More Efficient and Organized Workflow

Like many people working in the PR industry, I am always looking for ways to achieve a more efficient and organized workflow. Currently I use Smartsheet, Wunderlist and Talkwalker, among other tools. These have proven to be great resources, all of which I utilize on a daily basis—Smartsheet as a project management tool to collaborate with colleagues, Wunderlist to send myself reminders and keep my to-do list organized, and Talkwalker alerts to stay up-to-date on clients, competitors and industry trends.

In the pursuit of some additions to add to my toolbox, I recently stumbled upon a Cision webinar, Tool School: PR Success In 2015, hosted by Kellye Crane, founder of Solo PR PRO. Kellye had a long list of ideas in a range of categories, including productivity, social media and collaboration. She cautioned, though, that before taking the time to invest time, energy and sometimes money into implementing a new tool, make sure it is the right fit and will actually be beneficial to your workflow. With that in mind, below is my short list of tools I am most excited to try:

Productivity

Evernote— This powerful app allows you to collect articles, photos, or capture handwritten notes, all of which are searchable through the app. Kellye mentioned this could be particularly useful for business cards. Simply take a picture of the card and Evernote will allow you to save and search text through all images saved to the app.
Pocket— Found something you want to read, but don’t have the time to right now? Pocket allows you to save articles or videos for future reference, so you can read or watch them when it is convenient for you.
Newsle— Networking is a crucial element of any professionals’ career. Newsle assists by notifying you when a friend or colleague publishes a blog or article, allowing you to stay up-to-date and presenting an opportunity to nurture the relationship by reaching out regarding the blog or article.
Mention— Similar to Google Alerts and Talkwalker, Mention allows you to monitor the web for topics, clients or competitors. Because all of the tools don’t necessarily catch the same articles, signing up for a few or all of the web-monitoring tools will maximize results.

Visuals

FreeDigitalPhotos.net— Visuals help bring a story to life, but stock photos can be pricey. This site offers a range of free stock photos.
Swipe—Web-powered slideshows offer a flexible solution to presentations. Swipe offers the ability to create, edit, view and present on any device, allowing greater flexibility and collaboration.
Piktochart and Infogr.am— These free apps allow you to create DIY infographics. Piktochart and Infogr.am offer a range of templates, presenting an easy way to bring your data to life with a visual.

I am thrilled that I stumbled across this webinar and am looking forward to testing out these tools. What resources do you find most valuable for improving workflow and/or staying organized?

For more productivity and PR tools, see a post from last December on our blog: Helpful Apps & Resources for PR Pros.

Insights for Leaders Navigating Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.