Three Ways to Invest Time + Money In PR
Kelly: When should people consider PR in their marketing efforts?
Elizabeth: PR should be included in every marketing plan you develop?from the very beginning of a new product being launched or a policy coming out. Use it heavily in the beginning to establish a brand, then level out over time. It?s also a good tool for handling crisis down the road.
For consumer-related messages, PR really builds credibility quickly ? 40-50% of your budget isn?t unreasonable.
Fritz: The traditional view is that product marketing should go with ads, not PR?and that issues and position-related launches should use op-eds and PR. But I see it as actually the opposite?for example a good story on NPR will do more than, say, ads. Think of PR to launch a brand, and advertising to maintain it.
Kelly: What advice to you have for someone just learning about PR for their business or organization?
Fritz: PR is a process ? it?s not a one-time hit or magic bullet. Just like networking or in social experiences, it takes time to develop trust and credibility. So just one press release in a vacuum won?t do it. This is really a cornerstone. One thing that really helps is planning ? even if it?s a year out?you need to be thinking about it now.
Actually, you really need to be thinking and talking internally about it all the time. All of your employees are diplomats and ambassadors of your company. So all the internal communications need to be aligned, with policies on if or how to talk with the press, the general public?talking points are key, as is training. Protect your brand by getting everyone on the same page.
Kelly: So what?s the one thing you wish your clients would do that would make it easier for you to help them in their publicity efforts?
Elizabeth: Bring us into the planning process early on. Often, clients will sit down at the beginning of the year when they get their budget and plan, but don?t include their PR team until much later. You need to think through angles and pitches early on ? and be thinking strategically?not just about tactics.
Fritz: Then there?s the media schedule ? if you want to do big pushes in February, realize that you?re competing with the Super Bowl, Grammy?s and Oscars. Even if you?re local and on a smaller scale, there?s an annual cycle that you need to take into consideration.
Elizabeth: There are things you should plan around, unless you can relate your topic to these things.
Fritz: The other thing is for clients to understand the difference between the story and how it?s pitched. We had a client who shot themselves in the foot by not allowing us to let the media ask them about a particularly hot topic ? it?s got to be about what the public wants, not what you necessarily want to say.
Kelly: So what should a small company budget for PR if they want to build a regional presence?
Fritz: That?s a great question?and again, it depends on whom you?re trying to reach. You need to look at the scope of what you want to do. What?s your dream list, and then scale it back and budget realistically. Come up with smart PR dollars, and don?t waste your investment. So television interviews may not be needed, when radio will be more effective.
Kelly: Let?s talk about radio in a minute. But first, what are SMTs and VNRs...and why are they beneficial to PR campaigns?
Fritz: A Video News Release (VNR) is a pre-packaged news segment. It looks like anything you?d see on local news ? with a reporter in the field, a voiceover, and it?s edited just like news. You then send that to any newsroom and they can pop it in, just like any news piece. So instead of the station having to come out and cover your story, you?re saving them the expense and time. News production has become so much more expensive and producer workload has tripled?so this really makes sense because you?re making their life easier, as long as it?s a balanced piece. You can even do a specific style for a specific network.
The SMT is a Satellite Media Tour. This is doing a series of interviews in a studio, with a satellite uplink that connects to any affiliate in the country, with a reporter doing 2-3 minute interviews. You?ll hit one- to two-dozen markets in a couple of hours, which would have cost you far more in travel, lodging, downtime, etc. Smaller companies don?t tend to go this way (there?s a cost of entry starting at about $12k), but once you figure out what it can do for you on a national scope, the dollars make sense. You can also use it for local and regional markets, targeting only those audiences you want to reach.
Elizabeth: Yes, if you want to launch something within a state (for example, a new mass transit system in a region), it?s much more efficient. Local elected officials may not have time to run around to every station in their market, but will have time to go to one studio for an hour or two, and talk to eight different local or regional stations.
Kelly: Okay ? back to radio. How can radio boost awareness about PR campaigns?
Elizabeth: Radio is a great option for clients with smaller budgets. It?s also good to mix in with SMTs. Radio is a different audience ? they tend to be captive and in the car. There are many different types of programs that are very targeted, so it?s easier to reach a specific audience.
Radio is also a lot cheaper ? costs about 50% of SMTs ? and has a lot of credibility?it?s really a big up and coming tool.
Again, you need plenty of lead-time for radio, although it?s less complicated than TV. We recommend 4-6 weeks of lead-time, to help with targeting and messaging. And sometimes radio is better because it?s not a visual story.
Fritz: With radio, you can get so specific on your demographic target?so the more you know about your target audience, you can really focus how to spend your dollars.
Kelly: Do you have an opinion on the difference in effectiveness between a straight radio interview vs. an editorial-based audio news release?
Elizabeth: I prefer radio media tours better, because you can attach a person?s name to a story and interact with the anchor?and connect better with the audience to build trust.
Kelly: Do you have a specific PR success story you'd like to share?
Elizabeth: We did a satellite media tour for the National Museum of the American Indian. The launch was a huge success?we had 21 interviews lined up for the Museum Director that turned into 91 airings nationwide. One place where we really helped was in targeting the radio stations ? many we found were on Native American reservations.
Kelly: So how should people think about ?success? ? what are the metrics we should consider for PR?
Elizabeth: It really depends on what your goal is: to increase public awareness? to increase museum visits? to sell more books? So we provide statistics on airtime?and encode our broadcasts to see how long they last?and then compare that to ad dollars. Advertisement usually ends up being far more expensive that what they invested for the tour, not to mention the difference in credibility you get from PR vs. ads.
Kelly: So where can people go to learn more?
Fritz: We recommend a couple of websites:
http://www.satellitemediatour.net/
http://www.videonewsrelease.info/
http://www.radiomediatour.com/
http://www.brollproduction.com/
And if you?re in the Washington, DC area, please join Fritz and Elizabeth at PR Nation, Buzz Media?s monthly networking event. For more information visit http://www.buzzmediapr.com or http://www.prnation.org.
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Marketing educator, Kelly O'Brien, is creator of the Create a TurningPointe! Marketing BootCamp and Advanced Marketing TeleClinic. To learn more about these step-by-step programs, get her FREE 20-page Marketing Guide and more how-to articles, visit www.TurningPointeMarketing.com