Journalists want to get the best news stories for their audiences and companies want to get the best publicity for their business. Simple. PR experts (either in-house, agency or freelance) are often employed to act as the conduit in making that happen.

PR professionals and journalists can have a love ‘em or hate ‘em relationship, but the fact is that neither party can exist without the other. PRs can’t be successful without the coverage and support of news outlets. And, in an age where ‘content is king’, editors, reporters, bloggers and columnists would be stuck for a story or two if they were never tipped off through a press release.

Not every business has PR or media resources available. No need to panic though, whatever the size of your business, the secret to successful public relations is not actually that secret at all.

We’ve pulled together a few of our top press tips and included some insights from journalists we heard from recently at the ‘Meet the journalists’ event at Nottingham Trent University, courtesy of Enterprise Nation (which you can read more about here).

Seven press tips for businesses:

1. Create a plan

Who do you want to talk to? What do you want to say to them? When is the best time to talk to people? How do you want your business to come across? Where will you reach your audience?

Without a plan, your PR activity is scattergun at best and inconsistent when it comes to coverage and conveying your company message. Creating a plan for your media strategy will help answer key questions and give you direction so you can prioritise activity and talk to the right people at the right time.

2. Do your research

Ask your customers what they read and find out how they like to consume media. Is it via social channels? Is the industry trade mag a must read? Are all your products and services relevant to every sector or do you need to segment your stories based on the target audience?

Whether you, a team member or hired PR help does it, research is essential in finding the right target media for your business. Some businesses and agencies have the luxury of a media contacts database. However, if you don’t have the budget, setting regular research time aside to keep abreast of topical, timely news and contacts is a worthwhile investment for building future relationships.

3. Get to know your media

Once you know where your customers are looking, read and research the relevant publications. What articles do they run? What is their editorial policy? How do their editors/contributors like to work?

Build relationships with your target publications and the key journalists within them. You can’t get to meet every single person, as this would be a full time job in itself, but you can connect on Twitter, catch up for a coffee, drop them an email or make a point of seeking them out at an event.

4. Connect with contacts

As mentioned, media databases (such as Gorkana) offer unrivalled access to hundreds of thousands of journalist contacts, but not everyone has this benefit at their disposal. That doesn’t mean that making contact is impossible.

Contact us pages on publications’ websites and media packs have the relevant contact details, email addresses can often be found in Twitter bios and LinkedIn shouldn’t be underestimated for making and staying in touch with connections.

Don’t be afraid to get in touch either. A simple web search can return bloggers with specialist interests and social channels offer a great way to start a pitch. Hash tags #journorequest #PRrequest are popular searches which link those seeking stories with those with stories to tell.

Sometimes it’s better to do it yourself. The Assistant Business Editor at the Sunday Times, for example, prefers to speak directly to Business Owners/Entrepreneurs rather than PRs; something you’d only know by doing your research.

5. Be practical, punchy and polite with press releases

The first paragraph of any press release should include the What? Why, Where? When? Before even that, the subject line of your email should grab attention.

Journalists from BBC Radio Nottingham, East Midlands Business Desk, Heart and Notts TV all agreed that avoiding witty puns and catchy headlines was a good idea. They all want bullet points which tell them the story in a nutshell, states what has changed and gives relevant, interesting details with what’s new, different, better or never been done before.

It is worth remembering that Business Desk receives one press release every five minutes, BBC Radio Nottingham one release every minute and Heart Commercial radio one every 20 seconds. That’s a lot of news, so it is important to focus on one key aspect as a priority message and use embargo press releases for exclusives.

To make friends in the media, don’t repeatedly chase stories and don’t send to everyone in the same department. Also, it’s bad practice to send competing outlets the same exclusive story.

6. Learn the lingo

If your press release gets through the net and you find yourself in an interview situation, there are a few phrases that it pays to remember when talking to a journalist to protect you and your business from oversharing:

• “On the record” – OK to publish everything discussed
• “Off the record” – Want the content to be made public, but can’t be attributable to the source e.g. The BBC understands that…”
• “On background” – Completely off the record as there are sensitivities around the story

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For regular press spokespeople and senior team members, it is worth considering media training to give them a good grounding in how to handle media interviews, stay on topic and manage media interactions.

7. Live up to the lead times

Your best chance for PR success is to make yourself available. Long lead times and definite deadlines are what B2B journalists are working to every day, particularly in trade publications.

Saying that, the world of daily news is faster moving and for success with broadcast press, such as TV and radio locally or nationally, making yourself available when the press can make it is essential. For example, the TV crew won’t come to an event at peak times with all the public there, but they may cover it at 7am before everyone arrives.

As a guide, for events, a release/email notification one month prior and follow up again two weeks prior to the event gets the best response. For future features, you need to be thinking 6 to 8 weeks in advance of publication.

So, from broadcast to broadsheet, business to breakfast media, make sure you:

• Plan your media strategy
• Know your objectives and your target audience
• Do your homework
• Get to know your press
• Make friends with the media
• Know your stories
• Stick to deadlines

Need helping in developing your press plan for this year? Get in touch to chat through your objectives on 0798961082 or email hello@bigoldhouse.com.

The post Seven press tips for businesses appeared first on Big Old House.

That’s why Big Old House jumped at the chance to join a recent ‘Meet the journalist’ event hosted by Enterprise Nation at Nottingham Trent University.

The prestigious panel of professionals included Andrew Lynch – assistant business editor, Sunday Times and the Start Up List; Sam Metcalf – editor, East Midlands Business Desk; Kevin Stanley BBC Radio Nottingham presenter; John Collins, NTU lecturer and freelance broadcast journalist at BBC and Notts TV and Greg Simpson – Nottingham Enterprise Nation Ambassador and Press for Attention owner.

Speaking to an auditorium full of freelancers, micro businesses and established start-ups eager to get press tips from the experts, the group took questions from the audience. Giving a brief overview of their respective outlets, they shared tips and tricks for making contact and offered honest accounts of how they like to work with businesses and PRs…

What makes a good story?

For East Midlands Business Desk editor Sam Metcalf, a good story is something that stands out as extraordinary – either in a good or a bad way. A newsworthy story is about more than just doing a good job; it has stats, growth or job creation. It goes a step further and explains why something is different or better or what can you do now that you couldn’t do before as result of it.

Broadcast journalist John Collins, shared that for him and the outlets he represents, a good news story is about change. It’s about being cheaper, easier, harder, better, quicker or safer, rather than “we did XYZ”. A story needs to explain what has changed for the wider community as a result of the news and what impact that has had on its audience.

“Think like a reader” was the advice from Press for Attention’s Greg Simpson, who advocates getting the “What’s that about?” buzz going amongst your target audience.

As a broadcast journalist, BBC Radio Nottingham’s Kevin Stanley is interested in people telling their story rather than just the written word. For him, great people make great stories, so anything with human/personal/public interest angles works best.

And a bad story?

A contract win, a gimmick, attending an event, self-promotion, well, anything that…isn’t really a story!

Identifying the right news outlets

Greg Simpson emphasized how essential it is for businesses to identify their correct target audience. The best way to do this is to ask your customers what they read. Once you know this, read and research the publications and don’t be afraid to get in touch.

The panel agreed that it was vital to know your press – what articles they run, the types of things they cover, how they like to work. Research is the only way that you can achieve this, but it pays dividends in the long term – whether you do it yourself or do it via a PR agency/freelancer.

Finding contact details is not as difficult as you might think. Every commercial radio station has a public file on the website where you can find relevant contact details. Email addresses can often be found in journalist Twitter bios and bloggers with specialist interests can be found through web searches or using hashtags such as #journorequest on Twitter.

Getting in touch

There’s no ‘one size fits all’ method for approaching the press, so it pays to know how journalists like to work.

Most of the panel welcomed email contact or businesses getting in touch through social channels including Twitter and LinkedIn. BBC Radio Nottingham was happy to chat through story ideas on the phone via the newsdesk.

Andrew Lynch from the Sunday Times shared that he prefers email contact on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. He also recommended that all stories were sent to Peter Evans (enterprise editor) and cc’d to him.

He added that The Sunday Times business team would rather speak directly to business owners/entrepreneurs. Approaches from PRs or external communications agencies isn’t ideal, as they would rather develop a direct relationship. They also prefer hearing from start ups who have created a bit of buzz about their business with local inward investment agencies, as they have already convinced other people that they have a story worth telling.

Become the ‘go to’ person for comment/opinion in your industry sector

Experts that have proved themselves to be consistently reliable and newsworthy will become a journalist’s long-term ‘go to’ resource.

Kevin Stanley shared some helpful interview tips for getting the the best from your story and communicating your key message effectively, these included:

• Making sure you share the relevant points you want to convey
• Presenting your background – get your facts about yourself and your business prepared in advance
• Being a good interviewee on a particular topic, as this will get you asked back again and again

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You won’t get approval, so get your facts straight

Most interviews are the start of an ongoing relationship and good stories develop from a two-way dialogue, but don’t expect approval on a piece prior to publication.

When asked if the panel would gather approval on a piece in advance of publishing, it was a resounding “no”. And here’s why:

• Journalists and publications need to retain independent editorial control
• A good journalist will fact check
• Journalism is an honest and honourable profession –  journalists are not out to get you
• It is up to you to get your facts and your story straight in your approach

Will you lose control of your story?

You may not get chance to approve the story, but the panel were keen to express that building a story was a two-way process. John Collins was quick to point out that it could (and should) be a mutually beneficial partnership with a journalist to develop a story.

The panel also agreed that there were several phrases it pays to remember when talking to a journalist:

• “On the record” – Suggests it is OK to publish everything discussed
• “Off the record” – If you say it, it could be quoted but won’t be attributed to you directly
• “On background” – All conversations are completely confidential as there are sensitivities around the story and you should not be identified as the source in anyway

The event uncovered many more useful tips, tricks and insights about making friends with the media – keep a look out for the next event with Enterprise Nation. Until then, do your research, find the right contacts and start building a relationship.

If you want help navigating the world of media relations, why not get in touch? And, visit our blog for more press tips from the professionals?

The post Making friends with the media, with Enterprise Nation appeared first on Big Old House.