INK PUBLIC RELATIONS

Very thorough, and interesting, story out today on our client Nuventix in Scientific American. Nuventix takes a unique approach to cooling down hot LEDs – a required part of the process if we all want to go green and be more efficient in our home (and commercial) lighting schemes. SynJets are essentially synthetic jets, using the same air moving process that jet airliners do to keep us in the air, only these move the air to cool hot LEDs.

From a PR perspective, this story represents the full process of what we as PR folk go through to secure coverage of our clients. Here’s how it worked:

Initially, I was reading up on Scientific American as a good fit for such a story and noticed that writer David Biello had written a story on LEDs with one line referencing the heat problem (but not a solution). I shot David a note re the missing piece of his story being Nuventix’ approach – the SynJet, and further checked him out on Twitter (interesting guy, covering quite a few topics close to my heart including clean energy (or our lack thereof!)). David and I maintained a conversation via email from April until August when he returned from paternity leave (congrats again David!). When he was back in the office, he passed on the Nuventix information to Larry Greenemeier who just so happened to be working on a synthetic jet story. Larry and I had recently worked together on a story for a different client and I must say it was a joy to work with him again – he knows his stuff. Interview happened, customer reference was secured, demo and images sent out, facts verified and ta-dah! Here we are today with a story that’s interesting to Larry’s readers and shines a light on the very cool, and unique, technology of our client.

These are the days that we do see the fruits of our labor – my favorite days for sure.

…be ready to dress as if they were headed to the Kentucky Derby.

Based on what I am hearing from friends and experts in the broadcast journalism field, more than ever reporters in this industry must wear many hats. As people increasingly turn to the Internet as their source of news, broadcast news organizations must ensure they maintain or grow their audience by hitting eyes via this medium. For the broadcast reporter (already a profession notorious for impossible workloads and timelines), the growth of the Internet is just another task on their massive daily “to do” list. No longer is the reporter simply creating stories for their TV newscast. Sure, they still do that, but now they are also creating a web version of that story and on top of that more of these journalists are expected to shoot and create web video to accompany online stories. And let’s not forget that the demand for turnaround on these online stories are as about as close to “real-time” as you can get. As if that was not enough, the rise of the Internet and in turn social media is demanding broadcast reporters develop a social media presence.

As PR professionals, keep this in mind when pitching broadcast reporters. Let them know you are savvy to their plight by indicating resources you can provide for any medium where they will publish their story (Online? No problem…here are web-ready images. TV? No problem…here is b-roll. Tight turnaround? No problem…here are stats and my spokesperson is at the ready). Don’t be afraid to suggest how they could tell your story on camera. For one client, we actually shot our own video of how the story would look on camera and received a great response as a result. Basically, put yourself in the well-worn shoes of these overworked souls and pitch accordingly.

Personally, I intend to learn more by following the blog of Elise Hu, a local TV news reporter who is venturing out in a new role as a multi-platform reporter for The Texas Tribune. Hopefully, I will pick up some insight in order to more effectively pitch the modern day multitasking broadcast reporter.

In public relations and as a company spokesperson, there are few things more disappointing than having a fantastic interview with a key reporter and then having the story come out without any mention of the source or company. This can happen to the most impressive experts, and sometimes they are in fact the most susceptible because they take it on themselves to educate the reporter. We take great time and pride in counseling our clients on how to provide more than background information for a story and, while nothing is ever guaranteed, how to increase their chances of being quoted and mentioned prominently in every story.

This is no grand conspiracy on the media.  This is about delivering what reporters need to do their jobs well.  We must offer up not just information, but interesting, colorful, attention-grabbing and sometimes controversial stories, examples, opinions and comments for their articles.  Every great storyteller does this instinctively.  Many people understand this for personal interactions, but then tone down the personality and enthusiasm in a business setting, especially an uncomfortable media interview.  In order to combat this natural tendency and increase our clients’ chances of being quoted and referenced, we recommend planning ahead on not just what you’re going to say, but how you’re going to say it.

A few tactics we have found to work include using bold action words and absolutes to pump up your statements.  It seems obvious, but it’s something you have to plan for in how you describe your product or service.  Think of more descriptive and unexpected ways of making your point.  Using personal anecdotes and references can bring a product demonstration or nugget of information to life.  Did you use the device to solve a problem in your life?  Did your four-year-old daughter recently try it out?  Did you hear about that while having lunch at the local burger joint in town?  Also, as corny as it may seem, clichés can work to quickly convey or stress a message.  And of course, the holy grail of interviewing is finding the perfect analogy.  It has to be simple or forget it.

So while great background information will make someone an invaluable resource to journalists, it’s the colorful statements that enhance a story and that the journalists can’t make up (or find through research) themselves that find their way into quotes.  By preparing that level of message in advance, you’ll be more than just a good interview, you’ll be someone they know to go to for great quotes – just make sure that quote is in YOUR best interest too!

In my role as Director of Broadcast Services, I have learned a few things about working with broadcast journalists and thought I would share with you, my loyal reader. These tips will be passed along in a series known as “Quirks of Working with the Broadcast Beast. ”

Quirk #1: “Well…That’s One Way to Look at It?”

I recently worked with one of the most visible consumer tech reporters in broadcast television. He covered the product of one of my clients, the BlueAnt Q1 Bluetooth headset. With all kinds of bells and whistles such as noise cancellation and multipoint technology, the Q1 is the kind of device that has gadget freaks fawning. And it does something else really cool. Something no other luxury headset from any other manufacturer does….it talks. The Q1 has a voice user interface so that you can talk to it and it answers back. With all that going on, I could not wait to see the take this superstar tech reporter would have on the device.

I settled in with anticipation to watch when the segment aired. I knew it would be a summer tech gadget feature and I could just see all the fun angles that could be taken with a souped up, talking Bluetooth headset. “Keep your eyes on the road and hands on the wheel during your road trip”, “noise cancellation technology blocks out the background noise when you need to take a call at a summer music festival”, “multipoint lets you share the Q1 with your summer fling….awwww.” So, imagine my surprise that the Q1’s redeeming virtue according to the reporter was that the rubber ear buds kept the headset firmly in when your ears got sweaty. Say WHHAAAA????!!!! Indeedy deed…that is how the Q1 was positioned…as the best headset for all you sweaty eared users out there. I mean, true the Q1 has optimized design features, but extolling its rubber ear buds would be like saying Manolo Blahnik heels are great because you can use the heel to separate your toes when you want to do a home pedicure.

At the end of the day, the client and I were not disappointed for a second. The fact that we were covered at all by this reporter was wonderful, and after all, it was an extremely positive piece. However, I was still a bit surprised. Given that I was working with a seasoned pro and had done all of the due diligence of educating this reporter on the product, discussed possible angles to take and so on, it was clear that what I had on my hands was an opportunity to learn something, thus quirk #1 of working with the broadcast beast:

Expect broadcast producers to be more liberal with the edit scissors than their counterparts in the world of print. We are talking about a vastly shorter time frame to pack in information compared to what you can do in a print article. Also, when information is delivered through a broadcast medium, a much smaller amount can reasonably be retained. Show and tell them and then “poof” that’s it. When it comes to TV, content has to be tailored to minimize the “in one ear and out the other” risk. And of course, you don’t want to overwhelm the viewer with too much information. When your audience is reading something, they expect more detail and can reference back to the information since it’s right there in front of them. So, what I am saying is…don’t be completely surprised if the finished piece of a broadcast story looks a lot different than how you pitched it for reasons named above.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing and it’s a great thing to keep in mind. Doing so let’s you set appropriate expectations and provide more insightful counsel to clients. You can also use this knowledge to your advantage when pitching broadcast reporters. Break it down for them how all that corporate messaging and technical jargon can be condensed and repackaged in a visually compelling way. And of course, as any seasoned PR pro knows, we can tell our client’s story till the cows come home, but at some point you have to turn that baby over to the reporter who was the ultimate say. So as a cheesy Hallmark card from the ’80’s would say, “If you love something, set it free; if it truly loves you it will come back to you.” Just don’t be surprised if what comes back is a bird of a bit of an unexpected feather.

In the last couple of days, I’ve heard a few examples of “PR” that have just left me here with my mouth hanging open:

- “PR specialists” sending scripts to bloggers saying “Please post about my client – oh and here’s a script for you to use to make it easier on you.”

- “PR specialists” direct messaging reporters via Twitter and INSISTING that they tweet about their client, even going so far as to say “I retweeted your story, now you tweet mine.”

- “PR specialists” STILL sending mass emails to large groups of reporters in the bcc line (STILL? COME ON PEOPLE!).

There is nothing special about these specialists. None of them work here, nor will they ever. Perhaps I’m naive, but I honestly cannot believe these kinds of things take place. I used to say that PR isn’t brain surgery, but perhaps I was selling myself – and my team – short. We believe in the personal touch, in knowing what reporters write and are interested in, in pitching only those which make sense, and in respecting what they do – and in kind, ensuring they respect what we do. It’s really just the golden rule – would I want to receive a demand to do something for someone, especially someone I didn’t even know? Um, excuse my French, but HELL NO.

I’m a huge Food Network fan these days – ironic, since I don’t cook a lick. Hubby thinks it means I’m going to bust out with a gourmet meal any day now, but it really just means I find these people fascinating. Take for instance Duff Goldman, chef and owner of Charm City Cakes – and star of Ace of Cakes. Last night I caught his Chefography – fascinating stuff. Duff has found his calling in life and he didn’t do it by waking up and thinking “I want to decorate cakes when I grow up!” Instead, he cultivated the things in life that he loved to do – art in high school, cooking thereafter – worked hard, took internships and lower paying jobs to make sure he could spend his time doing what he loved, and then one day he made a cake for a friend’s wedding. And someone said, “Dude, you should really make cakes for a living.” And he thought, “Yep, I should!” and an entrepreneur, star and all-around happy guy in his chosen profession was born.

To me, doing what you love everyday is the key to happiness. Because man, if you’re spending 40 hours a week doing something you hate, you’re a miserable human being and who wants to be (or be around) that? And what I learned from Duff is that it’s a journey, not a destination, to find that thing. So get on it.

On Father’s Day, this one goes out to my dear old dad. He was a high school principal and spent most of his time embarrassing me. Yeah…he was my high school principal and once used the P.A. system to announce that he would “break plastic sitting benches over the head” of anyone he caught jumping on said plastic sitting benches. Even though we pursued different career paths, my dad passed along advice that I rely on in my profession as PR pro, particularly when dealing with stress. Don’t worry…it’s not to break things over people’s heads.
1.)   Stress is what you can’t control so forget about it and focus on what you can control.
Big news from industry giants that trumps absolutely all other news items (I am looking at you Apple iPhone 3G S), client expectations that don’t jive with reality (“why doesn’t Walt Mossberg want to review my 5th generation software development kit for improving the functionalities on the yo-yo of the future hitting markets in the year 3000?”) and impossible deadlines from reporters (and theeeeeen it’s always the TODAY Show producer calling to request that your client, who is currently half-way around the world, report for in-person appearance at their New York studios in five minutes) are all things that can really get your goat. Well, don’t let it. At times, you have to accept that you can’t control time, space and the opinions of other people no matter how hard you try. Swallow that bitter pill and move on to tackle what you can.

2.)   Dealing with stress is what you get paid for.
Like “walk to school cookies” or BlackBerry phones, stress (whether in the form of punk ass kids jumping on benches or cranky reporters killing your buzz) is part of professional life be you a school administrator or PR pro. So accept it. It’s what our constituents and clients pay us to do so take it for what it is…par for the course.

And if all else fails, according to the Zen of Ronny Nash (aka, my beloved dad)…drink whiskey and crack skulls.  Thanks Dad for making me the woman (and PR pro) I am today.

In the five and a half years of INK’s existence, we’ve been fortunate to land many clients from all around the country and world, in a range of industries.  The vast majority of those companies came to us via other clients’ referrals – something we’re very proud of – but many also found and selected us based on our specific expertise (in wireless technology, for example), our approach to client service, how we present ourselves on our website, or even our inclusion in local/industry lists, awards and organizations.  We’ve redesigned our web site twice to keep it fresh and while our primary values and approach have remained the same, we’ve infused it with more personality, added experience and new perspectives over the years because we believe these aspects of our company are important to existing and prospective clients.  We’ve also all individually built our social media networks in order to reach new people, learn fresh ideas, and network with various industries – including our own.  We are not unique in this multi-channel approach and with all this information, how do companies choose their vendors these days? Once you’ve determined that a few companies can do or appear to be able to do the job, what is prioritized next?  Service?  Awards? Media coverage? Social media presence? Personality? Experience? All of the above?

We’re interested in this not just for ourselves, but for clients as well.  What features and methods should be prioritized in their communications strategies?  We’re doing a quick Twtpoll to get an idea. If you have 10 seconds, please fill it out.  I’ll post the results later this week.  Thanks!

We received a RFP for a very cool Austin company this week. As with most prospective (and current, for that matter) clients these days, the company would like recommendations on social media campaigns (as it should). The more I explore and work within this area, the more I’m convinced that when you get down to it, social media is a set of tools that helps companies 1) communicate (something they may not be doing at all or not much) with their key audiences, 2) BETTER. Hmm, sounds an awful lot like public relations to me – communicating with key audiences. For that second part – the better – that’s why they hire INK.

My favorite thing about social media? The ability to have conversations that you never would have before, at least not in this lifetime. That’s really what we’re talking about here – communication has come full circle, from talking one-on-one in the cave, to one-to-few at the church, to one-to-many in the town square, to many-to-many via newspaper, TV and the Internet (yes, I skipped a few iterations in there – you get the picture), and now, we have the ability to go one-to-one again, but – here’s the cool part – WITH PEOPLE WE’VE NEVER MET, BUT WITH WHOM WE SHARE AN INTEREST. How cool is that?

This week I had a reporter at Forbes tell me “thank you for thinking of me.”  After I picked myself up off the floor, I could only presume he meant “thank you for knowing I’m the right person for your client to speak to because you looked at what I cover – therefore, thank you for thinking of me.” It was a nice affirmation that the process we follow at INK is the right way to do it. You hear it all the time at conferences and on blogs written by journalists and PR pros alike – you know the drill: READ what they write, don’t pitch if it’s not a fit, KNOW (and be able to talk about) your client. It all sounds so simple, but it’s not – it’s time consuming and thought provoking and yes, sometimes even scary (because you can do all that research and know in your heart the reporter is THE ONE, but still get hung up on – that’s just how some of the crankier ones work ). But, it’s also worth it in the end for the little joys of an email reply in the inbox, a successful phone pitch, and yes, a simple thank you – it does go a long way.