Comments on: Newspapers Will Never Write About Your Story

By: Dana Todd

Dana Todd — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:21:11 +0000

‘hem. Well don’t throw things at me but in the online space you can simply buy eyeballs using advertorial placements to tell your story directly, and you don’t have to worry about pitching anyone, or getting misquoted. I’m not saying it’s a full substitute for earned media, but there’s a whole series of content strategies that can be enacted once you have the freedom to do corporate storytelling on your own timetable and with a few controls in place of your own.

If you think that people don’t read well-written advertorial, I can tell you that you’re very very wrong, and we have research to prove it…and I can also tell you that most of the public assumes a commercial influence in everything they read, so “source” is less influential than it used to be.

{–ducks to avoid flying objects hurled at her head–}

By: Terence McArdle

Terence McArdle — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:44:30 +0000

I couldn’t agree more. A large chunk of my day job (news aide) is screening calls that come into a daily newspaper and taking messages because the editors simply don’t have time for an unsolicited pitch — especially soft news or a blatant attempt by a client to simply get its name in the paper. I especially cringe when we get calls updating a media list or directory with 50 or 60 names on it! You can always tell the interns by the way all sentences end with a questioning cadence. Do PR firms go to central casting to find young women with the “perkiness” voice?

>>The editorial board might have guidelines on what they run and don’t run, but those decisions are usually what leads you to pitch them in the first place — i.e. I’m not pitching my flatscreen TV story to an auto mag, no matter how well I know the writer.

My experience is that many PR people really don’t even know which section of a daily to pitch to and they don’t bother to look at the paper to figure who covers which beat. Then again, these calls may be from the “fearless” intern who was given the hot potato to pitch.

>>Target the individual contacts most likely to write about the story you are pitching and you will generate far greater results. Sure, it takes a lot of time to target media this way, but no more time than it does to follow up hopelessly with journalists that aren’t interested in your story.

Words to live by. Why do so many people in PR ignore this? How difficult is it to figure out the name of the automotive writer by using a search engine?

By: Building Media Relationships in the Midst of Newsroom Instability

Building Media Relationships in the Midst of Newsroom Instability — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:47:11 +0000

[...] it’s true. The days of creating a media list and letting it sit unmodified for a year are over. No, the days of thinking of journalists as [...]

By: Jamie Favreau

Jamie Favreau — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:29:57 +0000

I am a new into the business and I want a better understanding of everything. This provides valuable information. Thanks for your insight.

By: Madcom

Madcom — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:58:36 +0000

This may be a restatement of some of the above but you should also tailor the PR not just to the journalist but to the journalist’s audience. Rather than pushing to the journalist you can create a demand by tailoring the story so that it is pulling into larger movements of ideas. This also requires monitoring of the discourse.

By: CT Moore

CT Moore — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:06:12 +0000

This reminds me of that saying “guns don’t kill people; people kill people.”

But I think you’re on the mark. The editorial board might have guidelines on what they run and don’t run, but those decisions are usually what leads you to pitch them in the first place — i.e. I’m not pitching my flatscreen TV story to an auto mag, no matter how well I know the writer.

It’s strange how marketers and PR hacks are trying to learn relationships all over again. It’s like the recoil from being able to “blast” their “message” everywhere at once left them with a long-term case of dimentia.

By: Jeremy Porter

Jeremy Porter — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:10:54 +0000

Jon: that’s a HUGE compliment coming from you, thanks. Since you’re so in-tune to journalism and PR topics, please let me know if you have any suggestions for topics we should cover (along with everyone else). We’re just starting out.

By: Jon Boroshok

Jon Boroshok — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:42:51 +0000

Great post — I just made it required reading for my Intro to PR students at Emerson.

By: bmesfin

bmesfin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:33:11 +0000

(Lotsa good tips in this one) RT @journalistics Newspapers don’t write stories, people do: http://tr.im/oaat. #pradvice #mediarelations

This comment was originally posted on Twitter