PR Newbies: Tips from Editors on The Sun, Metro, Telegraph and Sunday Mirror:
At the time the "Inconvenient PR Truth" kicked off, I spoke to various, editorial level national newspaper staff about the subject of PR spam.
I asked - "As an editor on a national news publication, what are your thoughts on press release emails and what tips would you give to PRs looking to achieve national coverage?"
Useful comments from Chris Pharo (The Sun) Jane Hamilton (The Sun) James Day (Metro) and Andy Bloxham (Daily Telegraph).
I have also today added comment from the Sunday Mirror's James Scott...
James Scott. Deputy Editor. Sunday Mirror:
“As a Sunday paper journalist, it amazes me how many PRs call up with press releases that have already been to the Daily papers and failed to get in. My first question is: If it wasn’t good enough for them, why is it good enough for us? If you want to target the Sundays make it specific to us by understanding who we are and who our target market is. Don’t recycle releases.”
Chris Pharo. Head of News. The Sun:
‘'We are bombarded with badly written press release emails all day. It is about time PR people spent a bit longer reading the newspapers to try and get more of a grip on what sort of stories we run on a daily basis. We are often called just before conference, a time when myself and everyone else on the desk has much bigger fish to fry''
Jane Hamilton. Consumer Editor. The Sun:
DO:
• Sum up the story in the subject line.
• Send ideas early - not at gone 11am when it is too late for conference.
• Know the publication, which days it has certain sections etc
• Enjoy the job, try hard and be more creative. Journalists love really good PRs as you help us come up with great stories - but there are not enough truly excellent PRs around.
DON'T:
• Send a completely irrelevant idea - think whether you can honestly see it in that publication first.
• Send huge attachments or press releases in a word document. We don't have time to open them up - just put the details in the email.
• Never ever send a press release as a PDF as we cannot cut and paste from it.
• Ring and ask if we got the press release. If it hasn't bounced back to you then we have. We will contact you if you like it. I have over 40 calls a day from PRs asking if I've received the release which can take up to an hour of my time.
• Do boring surveys and call them 'quirky'. We know supermarkets sell a lot of BBQs in the summer - that is not news.
• Just send statistics - think of the story behind it. Why have sales gone up, what does it mean, is it a new trend or celeb-led?
James Day. In Focus Editor. Metro:
"While I appreciate PRs have a very stressful job role and are expected to get results, trying to hoodwink journalists with lazy tactics such as entitling releases as 'breaking news' is neither original, inspired or in any way inventive.
Honesty is always the best policy and if what you are trying to plug is strong enough or of interest we will take notice and give it the coverage it deserves.
If we've not spoken before don't act like you're my best friend or make jokes about the weather. Keep things tight and professional and direct it personally. Do your research and make sure what you're sending is relevant to the publication and warrants coverage in a particular section."
Finally, calling my landline, mobile, landline, mobile then landline again in quick succession won't make me want to pick up the phone any quicker. I'm probably busy, so please leave me a message or send me an email. We do pick them up and more regularly than you would imagine."
Andy Bloxham. Night Editor. Daily Telegraph
‘'I would advise PR people to call first and say something like ‘I am calling with a story for tomorrow's paper' - not "Hello, My name is Shanice from TinPot PR" or whatever.
Please get to the point. Also it's better if you don't try and explain to me what your client wants the story to say as I'm not interested in that.
Give me a good intro or a nice fact which will make a headline. You have to remember I am not interested in products, I am interested in stories.''
By Harriet Crosse
Daily National Newspaper Websites on Twitter - October
Second month of our monitoring of UK national newspaper websites on Twitter. This month we have added The Financial Times to the list which, with 216,770 followers takes it into first place.
The Guardian has increased their Twitter following by 8718 followers, by far the largest increase. Both the Telegraph and the Independent have gained over a thousand followers this month. The Metro has also had sizable growth of 813.
Twitter Followers:
Financial Times - 216,770
The Guardian - 95,549
Telegraph - 20,990
The Independent - 15,345
The Times - 13,321
Daily Mail - 9,959
Daily Star - 6,517
The Sun - 4,554
Metro - 4,167
Daily Express - 3,036
Daily Mirror - 2,488
Daily Sport - 2,552
Growth since September:
The Guardian - 8,718
Telegraph - 1,547
The Independent - 1,288
The Times - 464
Daily Mail - 510
Daily Star - 275
The Sun - 362
Metro - 813
Daily Express - 117
Daily Mirror - 104
Daily Sport - 239
Too Much Opinion and Not Enough News?
The cuts, the cuts – what does everyone think about the cuts?
Of course EVERYONE has an opinion – and in typically British fashion, our opinion has to be extreme – black or white – positive or negative.
The British talk in absolutes. Either we’re hitched to the stars or heading for hell in a handcart. Even Polly Toynbee, the left-wing’s media doyen, fell into the trap on Question Time by making several references to “Broken Britain”.
And the British press – on both sides - love nothing more than to stick a firework under the arse of the nation and watch us kick-off.
Some of today’s spending cut headlines:
From the left:
Guardian “Poor Will be Hardest Hit”
Independent “Osborne’s Cuts are Worst Attack on Equality for Generations”
Daily Mirror “Cheeky Fakers: Experts expose truth behind ConDem cuts con”
To the right:
Sun “Let Britain Be a World Beater…Like Maggie Did”
Daily Mail “OECD Welcomes the Osborne cuts”
But where is the middle-ground? And more importantly where are the hard facts? Imagine, for a second, switching on the television or opening a newspaper to be presented with statistics, facts, figures - news without an agenda.
The leading/only proponents of centre ground, fact-based news on this subject I could find is from Paul Mason:
I think the need for a moderate viewpoint is becoming extremely important, especially as traditional newspapers begin to feel the threat of social media. The ubiquity of the web is making the common man more informed than ever before. Access to Government policy and statistics can be found with a few clicks on the mouse.
I would suggest that with this increase in awareness there will also be a decrease in tolerance for biased reporting with an overt political agenda – of which every news network and publication is guilty of.
Written by Harriet
Citizens Vs ‘Journalists’
I can fully understand why citizen journalism frightens the living daylights out of stalwart journalists.
Quite suddenly, the doors on what seemed like a closeted and specialist profession have been kicked open by those irksome, eloquent members of the public, who're taking the liberty of using these new channels of communication to articulate their innermost thoughts, feelings and opinions.
To make matters worse for the likes of Andrew Marr, a fair proportion of the citizen journalist community, afforded the freedom that comes attached to the medium, are writing with a flair and wit that bog-standard, jobbing desk-editors simply can't compete with.
Without exaggeration, I've read citizen reviews on Amazon that have engaged me more than the bloated, self-congratulatory, vainglorious left-leaning weekend press - and I'm a Labour activist.
In his recent statement profiling the typical perpetrator of citizen journalism, Marr exhibited both a deep paranoia and a not inconsiderable knowledge deficit where digital news delivery is concerned. To me, it was an example of old-school hack protectionism at its very worst.
As I detailed last week during #CommsChat with my fellow sweaty, cauliflower-nosed reprobates (thanks for that Andrew), traditional and citizen journalism can work comfortably and harmoniously together. The citizen press acts either as the trigger that catapults readers toward traditional media - or it's applied as a reinforcing agent for those who've read the traditional version of the story and now want a second opinion.
Marr's ignorance manifests itself in his blogger/commenter confusion. His description suits a typical commenter on the lower third of a digital news piece, but not an avid or even half-hearted blogger. If this is what he actually meant, then to a certain degree I can't help but empathise. The instruction to leave a comment is often misread as "you have carte-blanche to be a bigoted, backwards-born psycho here" by those that choose to react to a digital news story.
Moreover, the vast proportion of the bloggers I've met are uncommonly beautiful.
I'm still fond of Andrew Marr - alongside Paxman and Sopel he forms a triumvirate that perpetually enlightens my weeknights and Sunday mornings.
However, as his colleagues, particularly Robert Peston and Laura Kuenssberg, continue to embrace the nuances of citizen journalism and extend their social media outreach, Marr has painted himself as something of an anachronism, and a man out of time.
Written by Dan Drage (@Dan Drage)
Daily National Newspaper Websites on Twitter
Ever wondered how effectively national newspapers are engaging with their audiences on Twitter?
The Guardian has the most followers by a large margin (as of 20/09/2010).
The Guardian - 86,831
Telegraph - 19,443
The Independent - 14,057
The Times - 12,857
Daily Mail - 9,449
Daily Star - 6,242
The Sun - 4,192
Metro - 3,354
Daily Express - 2,919
Daily Mirror - 2,384
Daily Sport - 2,313
By @oliconner
‘Failed’ Journos & PR
I felt compelled to voice my opinion after reading a number of recent articles, posts and tweets on the slightly touchy subject of why some journalists fail to make it in PR.
After carrying out detailed research before commencing my piece I discovered very few, if any of those who have been particularly vociferous on the subject, have made the leap from one side of the fence to the other.
One piece I found, the author of which I will not credit with a mention, described how 'When the going gets tough in PR - the highly paid journo gets going', which made me laugh out loud.
I know from experience PR can be tough.
But is it tougher than an editor, whom you are trying to impress, standing at your shoulder right on deadline, calling you all the names under The Sun because he wants a 500 word summary of Dr David Kelly's career written for edition in seven minutes?
I imagine it can be, but I wouldn't know, the same as a PR person who hasn't stood in my shoes wouldn't know.
To balance that, other posts such as one by our own Harriet Crosse made interesting reading, and was certainly not without substance. Harriet claims 'journos don't make good PRs because they miss the buzz of a breaking story'.
Really? Well you're partially right, Harriet. Yes, it's a downside. But hacks know what they are giving up when they take a PR job, don't they?
But it goes much deeper than that.
I believe I am well qualified to have my say on this issue due to the fact I started out in journalism, and after seven years took a job in PR.
I returned to newspapers because my contract ran out. Not because 'the going got tough'. In fact 'the going' became considerably easier the longer I was there.
After working in journalism in London, New York and Los Angeles, I am now back in PR and loving every minute.
During my time in PR, then more than now, part of the problem was a 'them and us' mentality. Hacks are as guilty of it as PR people are, let’s not pretend they're not.
'We don't need a journalist, we know what we're doing' was something I overheard in my previous PR position.
And the term 'fluffy bunny', or something equally demeaning to professionals who work incredibly hard, is regularly hurled back. But sticks and stones can break bones ... right?
Differences can be overcome - after all PR and newspapers are different, there is no getting away from that, but they are inextricably linked.
Surely, anyone who changes jobs, trades or positions is going to find things slower, faster, easier or harder (insert adjective here). It doesn't mean they can't do it.
My personal belief is that journalists can be huge assets to PR agencies.
They may from time to time be guilty of pushing a story harder than a client would like on occasion or perhaps inserting a word or two which isn't 'on message'.
But tweaking an intro, such as removing the word 'value' and replacing it with 'bargain', can be the difference between a story making the papers or being spiked.
Offering input on how a picture should be shot is invaluable and you are not going to get that sort of insight from someone who has spent their entire career in PR, no matter how much you would like to think you will.
It's the little things which make a difference. That's the way newspapers work, and that is what journalists offer.
The time a story is filed is vital. Hacks know 'the earlier, the better' is the rule, but PR people still send press releases out at 3pm.
The line between success and failure is a thin one. Sometimes a story is as much about what you omit as what you include - and bad ideas don't make the papers, EVER.
Many people generalise and declare 'Journos don't have good client facing skills'.
But some of the scariest, most formidable editors ever to hurl a cold cup of tea in news conference have gone on to make great PRs.
Clearly no problem with their 'client facing skills' then.
In my experience other frustrating issues, and remember I have been there and done it, are that journalists are used to working quickly.
They turn around one story after another and anything which lands on their desk on a Thursday feels old by Friday morning.
So yes, it is a culture shock when it takes four months or longer for an idea to finally be ready to release to the world.
They are used to a fast moving world, where you start every day afresh.
You have no idea what will happen or where you will be at 5pm; be it a wet doorstep in Hackney or Terminal Four at Heathrow waiting for a flight to Timbuktu.
So a three-week sign-off period on a 400-word piece of copy can be mildly baffling, I admit.
During my first sojourn into PR I was tasked with running the pro-active PR department of a top supermarket chain.
The remit was to increase their coverage across the board. Trade, consumer, local and national. Simple as that.
I took the job because staff cut backs at the paper meant after working my way from gruelling night shifts to much nicer day shifts was asked to go back on to nights.
From day one my new job was tough. I was given carte blanche by the hugely experienced and incredibly supportive Director of Comms to 'do it my way'.
That was when the problems began.
Immediately 'my way' was met with resistance by senior press officers who insisted faxing - yes, I said faxing - poorly written, over-branded, embargoed press releases to national newspaper newsdesks was 'how we do things here'.
And so it went on. And it was tough, as I have already acknowledged PR can be.
But the butting of heads on a regular basis didn't mask the fact that we increased our coverage almost six-fold - and I managed to render the fax machine redundant.
And I will give credit where credit is due. Eventually the rest of the team accepted what I brought to the table, and I them, and we made it work.
I feel I have been successful in both fields, but in part due to the people around me who added their experience to mine.
So for me, the PR / hack combination is one I believe can be hugely successful - but like any relationship it takes time - and a little bit of give and take.
And when people ask me now what I do for a living – I am proud to say I work in PR.
Written by Doug Shields
Why Newspaper Hacks Often Fail To Make Decent PRs
The much documented decline of jobs on newspapers means many hacks are shifting their attention to PR.
PRWeek has covered a number of recent stories involving senior journalists hanging up their hard-news hats to join "the other side" - and a recent blog post by their editor makes the point that due to a sound understanding of comms channels - the right kind of journalist could represent a unique type of campaign adviser.
We employ a number of former-journos for varying roles, without whom we would certainly not achieve the level of news exposure we do.
But I have worked with many hacks in the past that have not been able to manage the shift - and indeed some whose PR careers have been short lived.
So why do many hacks fail to get on in the PR industry? Speaking from my own experience, there are a number of reasons:
1. They lack client-facing skills:
Having worked in a stressful newsroom environment with orders being barked at them or having barked orders at someone else, the hacks' experience of communication differs to that of a PR. Journalists can be impatient and at times downright rude. It is difficult for them to adjust the way in which they communicate and deal with PR-people, who they often regard with disdain.
2. They'll never care about a brand as much they care about a story:
A hacks' intrinsic priority is to create a gritty news piece. When working in PR, journalists need to be able to learn a deeply important skill - finding a middle-ground - a balance between retaining the brand message and creating something which is newsy and robust. A news journalist will always resent the watering down of a killer angle to keep the non risk-taking brand people content.
3. They miss the rush of a proper news story:
Every news hack I know claims the greatest aspect of the job is the feeling they have when working on a great exclusive or when a huge story breaks just before deadline. While achieving decent shows for a brand is a great feeling - even a page-lead for a client will never compare to the rush of a front-page revelation.
4. They miss not being in the news loop:
Newspaper hacks are at the forefront of the current news agenda. Most of them are in the job because they want to be the first to know about and report on current affairs or break a celebrity scandal. Journalists need to have the inside info and as a PR they have to move away from that close-knit environment and adapt their priorities.
5. They will feel they have "sold-out" or lost their integrity:
Although the appeal of a better salary is enough for most journos to be content with their change in career - many journalists will struggle with the feeling that they have sold out by turning from poacher to game-keeper. Moving to PR is still deemed by many in the news industry as giving up on one's journalistic integrity and old friends in the industry will continue to jokingly mock the decision.
So those are some of the attributes which can, in my opinion affect a successful shift away from news and into PR.
But with jobs in journalism fast depleting, there needs to be a shift in attitude if a career in PR is going to work out for a journalist.
The most successful "hack-turned-PR" types I know are the ones who have trained themselves to embrace a new mind-set. They accept the PR industry for what it is and ditch the old-school, pre-conceived notion that what we do is worthless.
Written by Harriet Crosse
20 Tips to Help You Secure National News Coverage
The golden rule to securing press coverage is to read the nationals every day - in print and online.
Only by understanding these publications can you hope to communicate with them in a way that can secure you coverage.
But to help you along the way, here are our top 20 tips:
1. The benchmark is what NEWS EDITORS consider to be interesting, so remember to:
- Challenge or reinforce stereotypes: "Truckers have the best diets" or "Blondes have more fun"
- Make a lifestyle statement: Death of the fry-up / The bath is making a comeback / Tea overtakes coffee
- Create acronyms
- Identify syndromes
- Split people into types / groups
- Calculate lifetime spends
- Find "the average Brit"
2. Remember the product may be exciting to you but think: If you told one other person, would they pass the information on? How did your partner /friends respond when you told them about it?
3. Don't forget the detail. THE FIVE 'Ws' AND ONE 'H' Who / Why / What / When / Where / How. If a journalist writes about a story they will want to know everything.
4. Make sure your intro is not over two lines long, and, where possible, that the copy follows the ABCA rule:
A) Is the opening paragraph. It has to be short, sharp and punchy - "Britain is in the grip of web rage, according to new research."
B) You have created the momentum with a hard hitting opening paragraph; now crank it up another notch with a powerful second sentence - "More and more people are getting wound up over the length of time it takes to download material."
C) Third paragraph is the consequence opportunity - "Now one top web provider has appointed an online counsellor to sort out internet rows."
A) Fourth paragraph can be used to support the attention grabbing opener with a ball-busting quote or knock-out fact - "The cyber-rage phenomenon emerged from a survey of 3,000 computer-owning households by XXX"
5. When selling in over the phone, don't make it sound like the most exciting story in the world. It's not likely to even be the most exciting story that day - remember you are talking to people who deal with the most dramatic and incredible stories in the world on that day. Again: DON'T OVERSELL it.
6. Don't use exclamation marks - hacks see them as gimmicks used to make something funny or dramatic when it is neither.
7. Don't offer it exclusive unless you are dealing with a contact you know and trust.
8. Don't offer a story that makes claims in the intro that are not COMPLETELY backed up by stats. Do not bend stats too far.
9. Don't offer to make up a headline for them, or try to 'outpun' them.
10. NEVER put branding in an intro, except in the following cases: The client is a genuine household name / The story concerns a specific product / The story is a human interest piece focusing on a business individual
11. If you are worried that a story is not strong enough, it probably isn't. Don't put anything out if you think it is weak - if YOU think it is weak, imagine a newsdesk's reaction.
12. If you send out an over-branded or otherwise irrelevant release, you run two risks: The story will not make - meaning a wholesale waste of your time and resources and client disappointment. / The newspaper may remember the negative connotations NEXT time you try to pitch a story.
13. Agree on a snappy USP or a 'sound bite' which can be attached to your client. SWNS are known as "The biggest independent press agency in the UK" - who do you think made that up?!
14. When selling a story to a national newspaper or journalist - get to the point immediately. Remember that these people are working to strict deadlines.
15. Get to know newspaper's regional district reporters
16. Tune in to today's news agenda - will your story be eclipsed?
17. Use 'paper speak' - "is this one for you?" If it's not one for them, don't ask why
18. Send your story before newspaper morning conference (usually between 10.30am-11.00am)
19. Précis the story in 30 seconds or less
20. Ask in what format they would like to receive it
Written by Harriet Crosse
When Will I Be Famous?
Big Brother is back, which means we have to endure another 13 weeks of “I’m bonkers, me” type-folk invading our TV screens in their frantic pursuit of “celebrity status”.
Those of us who work in PR will not be able to escape BB. Even if we choose not to watch the programme, we still need to read papers and go online. Is anyone else already tired of the #BB hash tag?
Why anyone finds the idea of shacking up with a bunch of irritating strangers under the glaring eye of the nation beats me.
But astonishingly, “10,000 people auditioned in London, Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow and Dublin throughout January and February.”
We live in a world obsessed with fame. Although this obsession has evolved massively with new media platforms, primarily the internet and reality television - it certainly isn’t a new phenomenon. Some trace “celebrity” back to the ancient Greek Gods who were esteemed and idolised because of their extraordinary powers.
In the early 1900s, “movie stars began to be the true A-list celebrities” - and Hollywood actors are still revered because they have talent – an art - they can act – they dazzle us with their performances.
But many of today’s breed of aspiring celebrities seek fame for fame’s sake. And the prospect of achieving “celebrity status” is a considerable enough incentive for these people to endure a host of degrading ordeals.
But why? With what end-goal?
Perhaps celeb status is seen by some as an easy route to wealth? Or maybe the prospect of press exposure is alluring to those with an extrovert streak.
Or just possibly, if one has no other goal, aspiration or life-plan – appearing on Big Brother – or sleeping with a footballer and selling your story – or singing badly on a talent show - is a desperate and last-ditched attempt to feel a sense of self-worth and achievement.
It saddens me that there are people out there who de-value themselves to that extent – it saddens me that Ch4 would churn out this vacuous bilge - and in doing so - take advantage of people who should realise they could achieve a hell of a lot more than becoming the girl who showed the nation her boobs in the Big Brother house.
Written by Harriet
Is It Time We PRs Grew A Pair?
I've just been reading an interesting post entitled Why that rubbish press release isn't the PROs fault. I would argue that actually - it is.
We work mainly with PR agencies – and before I start my rant, there are a load of PRs out there who I really rate – we even did a name and fame blog about them once (need to update that soon).
But, I am more than familiar with the laborious “sign-off” process which can often look like this:
We draft a robust, newsy piece of copy in the style of their target publication - we send it to the PR to get sign-off from their client - the press release comes back littered with unnecessary branding, notes to editors, logos, embargos - even prices.
Saw my head off.
We then enter into a conversation about why the release has been changed to that extent. The answer is usually the same - "the client insisted we change it".
But hang on a second - aren't you, the PR, not supposed to be the expert? Should they not be listening to you about what is actually going to achieve coverage?
I've had PRs admit to me before that they know the release probably won't make but that they don't want to upset the client. MADNESS!
The problem is that as a PR, a lot of the time you'll be dealing with marketing folk - people who understand the brand but not the press.
And that is why they have hired you. They need to be educated - told how it works and have the process explained. Sometimes you need to be firm - show them what works and what doesn't.
Achieving coverage and keeping the brand people happy is an extremely delicate balancing act and, a lot of the time (from what I see), PRs are getting it wrong.
Written by Harriet
72Point Blog
72 Point are national news PR & survey specialists. Achieving daily print & online news exposure for the UK’s largest brands and PR agencies.
