The media need you. Need the information and expertise you offer, that is. But they are not encyclopedias. They don’t serve up information. They serve up stories.

That heap of paper that thuds onto your doorstep early each morning – it’s called a newspaper, not an information paper.

And that evening broadcast you watch to catch up on the day’s events? They call it the Evening News, don’t they? Not the Evening Information.

The media take the huge mass and swirl of information out there every day and spin it, by a process that seems magical but isn’t, into what we all call news. Into stories.

Simply put, news is what’s new. It’s what everyone’s talking about today. Whatever that may be. Or, it’s whatever the news media, in their judgment, think we need to know today, so we can all talk about it tomorrow.

First, let’s just get our arms around this key distinction between news and information. It’s critical to getting meaningful publicity.

News and information: two different things.

The media take a raw ingredient – information – and condense, distill, sort, and package it into a product called news. News, whether in print, on TV, or the Internet, is delivered in tidy little packages called stories.

Compared to your financial planning knowledge, news stories are unbelievably short, simple, and – sorry to say—usually shallow. (That’s not as cruel as it sounds: the audience – your prospects – usually don’t need to know huge amounts of information, to decide they may need your services.)

But those stories sure do pack the powerful punch of immediacy, urgency, and relevance to daily life.

Examples:

Information: a financial planner devotes an entire career to mastering the intricate details of investing and managing a 401(k) retirement account.

News: Congress passes a far-reaching retirement savings law. Suddenly, millions of Americans face a deadline to make financial decisions that may affect their quality of life for decades. The financial planner explains the new law succinctly and clearly in an interview aired on the local TV news, and guides viewers through the choices they face. The entire story is two minutes long, just right for the general public. By contrast, when the financial planner speaks on the topic as an expert before an audience of her peers, she will present for an hour.

Information: Dr. Jones is a leading authority on certain rare infectious diseases, lecturing and writing on the subject in the world’s most distinguished medical journals and colloquia.

News: The Governor of Dr. Jones’s state contracts one of those diseases, and uncertainty over his ability to remain in office swirls. Dr. Jones does not treat the Governor, so he cautions that he cannot comment on the specifics of this case. But calmly and objectively, he explains to reporters in lay terms the general facts about this kind of illness, pointing out that 90% of people with it recover promptly with treatment once diagnosed.

Information: broad, deep, and evergreen.

News: narrower, shallower, but timely and topical.

The knowledge within it is no less true, real, or important. It’s just been distilled into bite-sized bits that fit the space in the paper, the time on the show, or the audience’s attention span. Distilling that information into news, and then assembling it into appealing packages called stories, is essentially what the news media do.

So don’t be like one of those characters in an Alfred Hitchcock movie – getting in trouble because you know too much. Instead, learn to slice and dice your topic into many narrower, manageable offerings.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele’s MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

Keep these few crucial details in mind when writing and submitting your press release to increase your chances of news coverage:

1. If you are not the news: become the news. No matter what your release is about, you need to find a way to tie into the news. Make use of current trends and statistics.

2. Make sure your headline is catchy, compelling the reader to continue. Research your newspaper to see what works to help you write one.

3. Use "Who, what, where, when, why, how" but not in that order. Your first paragraph should state the problem your product/service/book is trying to solve. This is the "why".

4. Your next few paragraphs should contain the "what" and "who" that is solving the problem. Your last paragraph is the "when and "where".

5. Keep it short and sweet. Concise contact information should be included on the top and bottom of the release. Provide a link to your website.

6. Do not "advertise" - this is the news. Keep it fact-based.

7. Use short quotes that evoke an emotion about the product/service/book.

8. Type ### at the end of your release to indicate there are no more pages. A release of more than one page is not recommended.

9. Include a brief history section at the bottom of your release with details about your company or your bio.

10. Most importantly - research and send it to the correct editor using the method they prefer to receive it. Don’t just assume that fax is okay. If you are unsure, pick up the phone and find out.

Susan Valeri is a book and business publicist who gets clients in front of their audience. Her company, The Powerful Publicity Group, obtains maximum visibility for their clients through personalized and persistent contact with the media. Combined with her talented associates, they offer 15 years experience in the U.S. and Canadian publicity market. Visit http://www.powerfulpublicity.com, email info@powerfulpublicity.com or call 905-335-4081 for more information.

Maybe you’ve seen another financial planner on TV, and thought, “Hey, I’m just as good as she. Why didn’t the press pick me?”

Well, chances are, as you now know, they picked her for at least two good reasons:

1. She is a proficient – though not necessarily top–financial planner, and
2. She did something, somewhere, to get on their radar screen.

Just as you’re going to learn how to do. If you’ll just keep learning about publicity.

Truth is, you can’t just walk into a TV station or magazine office and announce, “Here I am, expert available!” It’s a little more involved than that.

But it’s not so hard that a smart financial planner can’t figure it out. And implement your own little media plan. And use your publicity to build business. And do it without spending a ton of money on some fancy-pants PR firm.

All you have to do is understand how the game works. How media folks think. How they speak. What they need to put together a story… a story that informs their audience, and that features you.

Truth is, you can sort nearly everything you need to know into five convenient buckets. They are:

• Create your own story.
• Learn the media game.
• Connect with the media.
• Excel in the media.
• Get more out of your publicity.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele’s MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

The Key to Great PR is Perseverance

By Paula Gardner of Do Your Own PR

I regularly seem to come across businesses that have pinned their hopes on one press release. They tell me how they sent it out with excitement in the pits of their stomachs and then felt the hard cold flop of disappointment when they didn’t get an army of journalists on the phone the very next day. And then, disillusioned, they resign their venture into PR to the past and move on to what they consider safer tactics.

But what separates these businesses from the ones that do get go on to get great, continuous press is often one thing, perseverance.

PR is a long-term option and takes perseverance in more ways than one.

Putting the time in

Just like exercise, an occasional blast of frenetic activity will have little long-term effect. What does succeed is regular, time-tabled PR activity. Take a look at your weekly schedule and ascertain how much time you can devote to PR. A morning or afternoon a week is great. Put in your diary and make it sacrosanct. If you don’t have that amount of time, what can you ditch or delegate to make the time?

Experimenting

One press release does not make a PR campaign. You need to release something to the media at least every other month. Sometimes these communications will disappear into the ether; sometimes they will be spot on. Regular postings to the press ensure that your name is in their minds (and contact books) and allows you to experiment with different ways of writing and presenting your press release.

Building Relationships

But the most important part of a PR strategy is building bonds with journalists and editors. Just like making friends or networking for business contacts, this takes tact and time. It’s not a case of rushing in, but gently building trust and respect.

Allowing the campaign to reach the public

Seeing your company covered in the press is extremely flattering and satisfying, and may help bring you enquiries, clients and increased sales, but the real rewards come with continuous long-term coverage that propels your company firmly into the public eye and creates a recognised brand, your brand.

Working with my long-term clients on the PR Academy programme I have watched complete beginners go on to nab columns in national magazines, be interviewed for monthly glossies and appear on national TV. A key part of the programme is clients’ accountability – ostensibly to me, but primarily to themselves. Take this aboard with your own campaign, either charting your goals and your progress in a diary or journal as you go, or partnering up with another business and sharing the process. This helps keep up impetus and motivation when it becomes a little too easy to get distracted by the day to day distractions of running your business.

And it’s a wonderful way to share and celebrate your PR successes, supporting and cheering each other on as you go.

copyright ©Paula Gardner and Do Your Own PR 2004. All rights reserved.

Paula Gardner of http://www.doyourownpr.com is a PR and marketing coach who works with people who are passionate and serious about getting their business noticed. Do Your Own Pr offers Pr training via ecourses, telephone coaching, one to one consultations and in-house staff training. You can sign up for the Do Your Own PR newsletter at http://www.doyourownpr.com/subscribe.asp

Almost every day, I hear the same question, over and over, from motivated, well-meaning financial planners who want to use publicity in their marketing mix. It goes something like this:

“Who do you know in the media? (Or, sometimes they frame it as, “Who do I need to know in the media?”) Can you get me publicity?”

My answer is always the same. Who you know in the media is only half the game. And it’s the easier half.

I’m a former newspaper reporter, and am on a first name basis with plenty of newspaper reporters. And here’s what you get from knowing someone in the media:

It gets them to take your phone call, or your e-mail. Period. That’s it.

But it’s what you know – your unique expertise and experience - and how you serve it up to those hungry media folks that determines whether you’ll become a media star.

When they know you (or your publicist), they’ll gladly give you 30 seconds on the phone to make your pitch. But – and this is the harsh truth – for you to get into print or on the air, they must make the cold, calculated judgment that what you’ve got is newsworthy. Not even the strongest relationships or friendships can bend this iron rule.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele’s MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

What do your customers say about your company?

Would you let your major competitor control your sales strategy?

Public relations is an inevitable consequence of being in business. Whether you like it or not, your corporate image evolves with every interaction with clients, investors, competitors, and even between your own employees. Thus, managing perceptions of your company is just as important to the bottom line as what you sell and who buys it. Unfortunately, many companies see PR as a reaction to external forces and lose control over market direction as a result.

As with all other corporate activities PR should be treated as a strategic process. Adopting a strategic PR campaign enables a company to not only compete better in the marketplace, but also be successful across market boundaries. Being proactive rather than reactive means establishing long-term goals that are measurable and repeatable and that will ensure longevity and achievement for the company. The setting of objectives, milestones, and metrics guarantees that any and all PR activities are aligned with the company’s objectives and will deliver real results.

By answering the following questions, a strategic process will emerge for PR that will support all of the company’s process and goals.

Who are you?

What do others say about us?

What are the corporate objectives?

How can we control the PR process?

Your Internal Identity

The reality is that good PR begins at the office: possessing a strong sense of corporate identity on all levels is key to having a consistent and credible public image. It is the responsibility of management to articulate to all employees the company’s mission statement and make it actionable. This is a message that will be repeated and demonstrated to external audiences daily through virtually every company interaction. Employees who believe in the mission statement will display the corporate image through their actions. Indecision, multiple, or conflicting messages at any level will have a negative impact and inadvertently kill any momentum that might be achieved.

By making PR a strategic process and not a reaction to external situations, a consistent message will be developed across all corporate segments. Applied correctly, it is a message that will eventually evolve into corporate attitude and culture. Actively defining the image of your company ultimately impacts the credibility obtained from all sectors: employees, investors, customers, competitors, and the general public. Actions speak louder than words and govern how all outsiders will interact with you. Establishing a mission that is accepted and adopted by every segment of your company will aid in verifying your value.

Your External Identity

Initiating a strategic PR campaign allows your company to control its place in the market by defining perceptions across all segments of the value network. It is more than just a clever marketing campaign to support your products – it is an extension of the corporate identity. Think about what others say about you - your customers, competition, shareholders, and the general public. In today’s economy the response needs to be in harmony.

A coordinated PR strategy is critical to delivering a consistent and compelling message across all of your company’s interfaces. The focus is on establishing the company image, and will impact the reception you garner from each of these audiences. Confirming the corporate message needs to practiced with all departments working in unison because conflicting signals will undermine the significance of any future efforts. For example, your marketing team cannot be contradicting what the product team asserts for product capability.

A company’s image is most important for non-customers. What do your competitors say about you? Do they take you seriously? Do your suppliers? How about industry analysts? Do potential employees want to work for your company? These impressions do count and can determine the company’s maneuverability in a dynamic market by determining access to needed resources and strategic options. Strategic PR delivers a consistent, credible message that establishes a foundation for future efforts and results.

Corporate Strategy Alignment

Knowing your company’s short-range and long-term aspirations is vital in setting the tone for any and all PR campaigns. Having a clear direction allows definition of long-term goals and short-term milestones to be set and success to be measured. As with other corporate processes, the PR campaign should be aligned with management’s objectives and reinforce the other corporate efforts. Buy-in is needed from all rows and columns in the company’s organizational table. Through strategic public relations initiatives, the necessary steps will be developed to implement the plan that will support and promote reaching desired results. Ultimately, by transmitting the company’s mission through the attitude and actions of all stakeholders, a common vision will take hold that will ensure success

Increasing Your Perceived Value

Obviously, not all of the aspects of external perception mentioned above can be controlled (i.e. competitors). This is the reason, however, that strategic PR must be implemented as a proactive process. A consistently delivered message, encompassing both words and deeds, across all facets of the corporate identity will mitigate even the worst things that others might say about your company. To ensure success, PR needs to be managed with the same seriousness as sales, product development, and marketing activities. The entire corporate team must believe in the goals (which will be infectious to all who hear the message) and the process (which will generate buy-in at all levels). Most importantly, an executive must be assigned to shape and coordinate the message across the various outlets and channels. Inclusion of an outside PR professional can be a valuable addition, to avoid group-think and maintain objectivity (which underlies credibility).

Conclusions

A strategic PR campaign is an often-neglected component in establishing a company’s market position and chances of success. It is not focused on just the marketing or sales team, but provides them with a strong foundation to leverage, built on the attitude and image of the total organization. Like all other important corporate activities, PR must be implemented as a well-defined process that is proactive instead of reactive, with short- and long-term goals as well as objective metrics. By developing this new mindset, your company can maximize its potential by controlling external perceptions.

Agnes Brousseau has more than 14 years of public relations, sales and marketing experience with emphasis on corporate communications. She joined BlabberMouth PR a Vice President of Client Services from JPMorganChase Bank, a leader in investment banking, financial services, asset and wealth management and private equity. As an Austin, Texas-based Branch Manager, she was responsible for over $7 million in sales and increasing the overall ranking for the branch to a top position. As a direct result of her expert communications strategies and sales planning, the branch assumed the number one position in Texas for portfolio growth.

The native Australian began her career in 1988 as a paramedic with Halifax County EMS /Hollister Volunteer Rescue Squad. She transitioned to public relations, where she headed the public relations initiatives for the organization. She was also an EMS, CPR and First Aid Instructor for the State of North Carolina and was the designated community spokesperson for EMS. In 1996 she received a Dedicated Service Award.

For more information, visit http://www.blabbermouthPR.com.

In this great country of ours, there are basically three ways to get yourself tons of media coverage.

You can be a celebrity. Try becoming a TV, movie or sports star. That’s a good start.

You can become notorious. Getting arrested, or enmeshed in a juicy scandal, will do nicely.

But I recommend that you follow the third route. You can become an expert.

Experts, you see, are quoted in the media all the time. All the time. The media need experts to interview and quote, just like puppies need blankets to chew on. Couldn’t live without ‘em.

To a TV, radio, or newspaper reporter, experts are essential because they explain things to the watching and reading audience. News reporters, on air or in print, may choose the news and tell it. But experts explain it all.

Sports fans might look at it this way: reporters and on-air personalities are like the play-by-play announcers. But experts are the color commentators who fill in the meaning.

Try this: I defy you to watch any news program or channel for more than 10 minutes, without seeing an expert quoted. Won’t happen. Just like you’ll never see Monday Night Football without a gaggle of commentators.

But, unless you’re ready to cough up big bucks to buy mailing lists, it limits you. You can only reach the people you already know – the ones in your database. All those people will get to know you better, and that’s good – but you won’t be meeting any new prospects. To do that, it’s either spend on lists or advertising, or learn how to get yourself some free publicity.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele’s MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

The toughest thing about writing a news release is getting started. But writing doesn’t have to be hard. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you beat writer’s block.

Before the story, think about:

• audience. who do I want (or expect) to read this? What do they want to know? What do I want them to know?

• “gatekeepers.” These are usually the editors who will decide if they will use your story. What kind of story do they normally use? How long? Style?

If you just can’t get the first word down on paper, here are some things to try.

• Talk to someone about your story. Listen to yourself. Write the story like you told it. You can always rearrange sentences or paragraphs later.

• Go through your notes. Star the things you think are most important. Then try to start a story with at least one or two of those important things in the first sentences.

• Write the headline first. Then make sure your first paragraph or two says essentially the same thing as the headline.

• Try being childlike. How do kids tell a story? They blurt it out, getting to the point fast with plenty of action verbs.

• Plagiarize, sort of. If you see something written that you like, borrow the idea, but not word-for-word. I’m especially talking about borrowing ideas of style.

Now you have the tools to bust writer’s block. Get write to it.

About the author: Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR, http://www.hoover-ink.com. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Duke Energy, Levolor, North Carolina Tourism, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX and Verbatim.

Commit this to memory, please: To get in the media, being good is good enough.

You don’t need to be perfect, or even the best in your profession. There’s no elaborate entrance exam or competition to determine who gets media coverage.

The prize goes to those professionals who are competent or better, and who understand how to play the publicity game.

I have absolutely nothing against advertising as a means of getting exposure and a wider audience. In many cases, it’s just what you need, and deserves a spot in your marketing mix.

But (have you noticed?) it is expensive, isn’t it? And, in the end, it’s still you saying you’re great, which isn’t as good as them saying it. I just think of it this way:

Advertising – buys you visibility
Publicity – earns you credibility

Sure, you’re good. But, let’s face it. So are many of your financial planning peers and competitors. But you can be the one who gets into the media. Because you knew how to get a reporter’s attention.

You understand that getting in the media doesn’t require you to be the best financial planner on Earth.

I am also a big believer in direct mail marketing. It’s a superb tactic to build ongoing relationships with clients, customers, and prospects.

But, unless you’re ready to cough up big bucks to buy mailing lists, it limits you. You can only reach the people you already know – the ones in your database. All those people will get to know you better, and that’s good – but you won’t be meeting any new prospects. To do that, it’s either spend on lists or advertising, or learn how to get yourself some free publicity.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele’s MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

There is something newsworthy happening at your organization right now. Here are some tips on how to tell your story.

First, make sure your story contains all the relevant facts. Ask yourself: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How?

Next, make your story readable. Here’s how:

• Use short sentences. (Best single thing you can do…and easiest.) Research shows sentences of 15-20 words or less are easiest to comprehend. If you must write a long sentence, punctuation — like colons and dashes — can help the reader.

• Use short paragraphs. Usually one or two sentences per paragraph is enough. Otherwise, the reader sees a solid, gray mass when looking at a narrow newspaper or magazine column.

• Use easy words. Avoid multi-syllable and/or technical words that are hard to understand. If you must use them, explain them with simple definitions or by using analogies.

• Use personal words. These are human interest words: e.g., “I,” “you,” “me,” “they,” names, quotes.

• Use active verbs. These are words that show action. Examples are easily found in recipes or on sports pages (mix, stir, blend, whip, hit, run).

• Get to the point…fast! Readers and editors don’t have the time or inclination to wade through a bunch of words before finding out what a story is all about.

• Use an “inverted pyramid” style. Most editors usually chop stories - to make them fit available space - from the bottom. So put the most important points first, second most important next, and so on down to the least important.

Now, alert the media.

About the author: Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR, http://www.hoover-ink.com. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Duke Energy, Levolor, North Carolina Tourism, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX and Verbatim.