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Archive for the ‘mediarelations’ Category

Now publish your news releases through Newscast

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newscastlogoWe are creating Newscast, a news release distribution site at India PR Blog. Everybody is free to register and submit their company/ client press releases. This is how you can start:

1. Register with Newscast

Visit the registration page and fill in your details. It is important you use your full name as your username, like ‘Tina Anand’, with space between the two words, and you use your official email and not Gmail, Hotmail, etc. This is to help prevent abuse in the system. Please fill in your company name, address complete with phone numbers, and a short profile of yours.

When you are through filling up, click the ‘Register’ button. Then wait till you receive two emails from us. The first one will contain your password. The second one will mention that your account has been activated. Then, you can login to your account. Note that your second email might take an hour to a day to pass through a review by a Newscast editorial member.

The registration is a bit lengthy as we want to be sure of those who we allow to submit news releases on Newscast. But once the registration is done, users can submit and publish news releases directly on the site, without any intervention, though the editorial team will constantly check for abuse in the system.

When you log in for the first time, please review your contact details are correct and add a picture of yours and update your profile. It looks nice. It will come out at the bottom of every release. See below.

2. Submit your news release

Access the submission form, fill in the news release details, preview, and submit. Your news release is live on Newscast.

If there are any bugs you encounter, please write to the team here. Happy posting!

Written by Palin Ningthoujam

April 27th, 2009 at 6:01 pm

New mandate for media invites

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My colleagues were sending out media invites for a press briefing tomorrow and I happened to chance upon the invites that were sent out yesterday and today. Mr. Chidambaram’s press conference incident yesterday sure has its consequences in the PR industry.

SPOT THE DIFFERENCES

This invite was sent out yesterday morning:

media-invite1

This was sent out today:

press-conference-invite1

(ok I was just kidding, please don’t take this seriously)

Written by Palin Ningthoujam

April 8th, 2009 at 3:54 pm

HBL Editor publishes your releases on his blog and allows you to see his interview diary online

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just-in-just-outMy wife pointed out this very interesting information and I think it’s one of its kind. Murali D, Deputy Editor of The Hindu  Business Line, has a blog called ‘Just In, Just Out‘ where he publishes press releases he receives on his inbox. Very apt name! The subhead reads ‘What’s hot in my inbox’. It could have been ‘Hot releases in my inbox’ though.

Probably Murali was tired of follow ups from PR reps to put out press releases and so he created a blogspot blog and put everything – press release and intro mail included – online. ‘So there you go, your press release has been published. Happy now?’

Apparently many PR people are still sending him press releases and he is continuing to put that out on the blog. I figure the PR people don’t know about the blog and send him releases for the Hindu Business Line paper. Sending press releases for the blog especially would be a bit silly, I think, unless you are desperate of some coverage and want it anywhere. I said silly because the blog today looks like a free press release distribution site full of releases from mom and pop stores, SEO people, and corporates alike. I don’t know how many people come to read the blog especially for reading the releases as they are.

However, what I like is his other blog, Food for Thought, where he publishes his interview schedules online and asks PR reps to check free schedules there and pitch for those free spots. He will then accept requests on a first come first serve basis. I like this one, not because he is agreeing to do every interview request, but because of the approach he has taken. It’s open and transparent. It saves him time as PR reps will check his schedules first and pitch requests accordingly. On the blog, he also uploads the CVs/ profiles of the people he has met and post their pictures.

What do you think? Do you know any other journalist adopting such online tools to manage their connection with PR folks? Share in the comments.

Written by Palin Ningthoujam

March 26th, 2009 at 5:39 pm

Are our cricketers being media trained?

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The array of news papers, electronic channels, internet, radio and blogs that have emerged over the last decade has given national and international exposure to our cricketing heroes. Our cricketing celebrities are exposed day in and day out but what is more interesting is some of them have really become great spokespersons and are able to handle the media with lot of confidence and intelligent conversations. Do they undergo media training? I am not aware. Or has BCCI got a media manager who coaches them on the finer aspects of facing the media? I am not even sure if celebrity management companies are also imparting training on this aspect so that the brand they endorse is having a right connect and the equity of the brand is well protected. In case they are getting the assistance of the media manager, then that has really helped them and lifted the image of these cricketers.

No matter whether they speak in English or Hindi, it is the confidence with which they deliver matters. On that front, our skipper Dhoni has been improving by the day and the reply that he gave after the last test against England was really apt and powerful. He firstly thanked the English team for returning for the test match after the terrorist attack and secondly sent a clear message to the world that India will not buckle under such cowardly act of terrorism. I have been watching Dhoni from close quarters for the last one year and each time I observe him, he comes out as a thorough professional when he faces the media.

Handling the media has been so important these days as mind games are being played by the opponents before or after the matches. And you need to counter them with good strategy so that they don’t affect your game or the team’s performance. Few years back when South Africa was going through a bad patch, their board quickly appointed Ravi Shastri to coach them to handle the media pressures. So that’s the kind of importance one is attaching to media relations.

Speaking to media is an art and it will only come if one is coached and given professional advice. If you are on a winning spree, the confidence will drive you to speak well and handle the media with ease. It is during crisis and failures one may loose the confidence but if you are trained by a good media coach, you will be able to battle it well and take the media with complete confidence. I finally would like to conclude that handling media and speaking to them with the right tone and message will really help the team to play the role of great statesman and ambassadors for the nation in any part of the world.

Written by Ganapathy Viswanathan

January 2nd, 2009 at 10:42 am

Posted in clientservicing, mediarelations

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10 tips for dealing with gen x media

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I have observed a very curious trend in media, over the last one year- A whole new breed of young journalists suddenly gaining a lot of ground and visibility in almost all publications and TV channels, across the country. While the seasoned journalist is still very much around, the gen X (Y?) media poses a new challenge, and excitement, tossing out of the window the revered set of media relations pointers we’ve collated since the genesis of PR in India.

Many of these young journalists are smart, savvy and rather fearless. The in-depth stories, the frequent bylines and the probing questions, all demand that we take them seriously. Having had the opportunity to deal with many of them, I have collated a personal reference of pointers that have proved very useful when dealing with a young journalist. I would definitely appreciate additions to this.

1. Be prepared with details: Keeping all the facts and figures, even the most atypical ones, is important as the young journalist asks a lot of questions. While the more seasoned ones know that certain questions will not be answered and will be evaded, the new ones tend to demand for answers and explanations.

2. Do not escalate issues: I have had some big issues where a journalist had behaved in a rather unprofessional/unethical manner. For instance, once a journalist refused to complete a food review as a tiff with a friend had upset her mid-way! Not only had we taken appointment with the client a week in advance, we had made arrangements for the entire F&B for the evening. While it really was tempting to call up her editor and report the issue, we realized that it was best to sort the matter then and there. No matter how close you are to the boss, do remember that today’s rookie is tomorrow’s editor-in-chief. Plus, you also stand a chance of ruffling feathers incase the editor is drinking buddies with the concerned journalist. Be firm and reinforce the importance of the task at hand and inform the journalist of the effort gone into it. More often than not, you will get your message across. If nothing works, ask for an alternative and confirm further action immediately.

3. Follow-up incessantly: Do this with both the journalist as well as the editor concerned. This not only ensures that you get the coverage but also conveys a sense of importance of the story to the journalist. Once a journalist actually said to an executive in my team-“Oh, I didn’t realize this story is so important to your client!” Also, this acts as a reminder and a great way of building relationships with the concerned media.

4. Socialize. Socialize. Socialize: They are a lot of fun and are great friends with lots of journalists. I actually met a very senior journalist through a trainee, over drinks. This is also a great platform for getting to know their psyche and their general opinions. Add them on Gtalk and Facebook; few will refuse an invitation.

5. Do not underestimate: A reputed financial publication in Bangalore has a very talented trainee journalist whose bylined stories are featured in the daily almost every day. When she had turned up at an important press conference a couple of months back, we were all very worried. When she started asking questions, not only did she come across as smart but also very, very thorough. No surprise, the client was impressed and we got a big story.

6. Brief the client: It is most challenging when you have an inexperienced journalist turning up for interactions. Reinforce the importance of the publication to the client and share samples of the journalist’s work, if possible. Also prepare a detailed briefing document, focusing on the journalist’s qualities like depth of stories, style of interacting, industry knowledge, etc., instead of experience.

7. Do not forget to brief the journalist on the client: Share company literature and if possible, have a long chat the day before, on the client. Last month, a new journalist asked the global head of one of my clients to give an intro about the company to him! Enough said, it did not go down well with the client at all. It also makes sense to give the journalist an overview of the client’s industry and competition if he/she is very inexperienced. He will remain thankful for increasing his knowledge base, the client will be happy about the quality of interaction, and you might get a more prominent story in the bargain.

8. Share visuals: Doesn’t matter if the client is in the manufacturing business, share as many pictures/videos as possible. These are definitely more interesting than plain pitch notes and are much more appealing to the younger audience. Plus, I see a lot of pictures getting picked up for industry/trend stories magnifying a client’s participation in them.

9. Draw a line: It is very easy to get carried away when you chat with someone everyday and catch up outside of work regularly. Please remember that even the junior-most of journalists expect respect and professionalism, and rightly so. Maintain the same level of deference that you would employ for a senior journalist and stay away from gossip as much as you can. It will backfire for sure.

10. Share appreciation when you feel a job is well-done: Drop in a thank you note for a great article and call up if you can. Even if a story is not about a client and you think it is fantastic, let them know. Not only is it a great booster for someone, who is new, it also shows that you actually follow their publication. However, be wary of appreciation bordering on flattery. It is easy to catch and leaves a bad taste no matter how close you are. Be honest and you will do just fine.

Written by Bina Emanvel

October 31st, 2008 at 1:12 am

Posted in mediarelations

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Why do PR people pamper the media?

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When I was a caterpillar in the PR profession, I used to enjoy learning everything about the media. Making media contacts was one of my favorite roles. I engrossed in it to the extent that I shifted my profile entirely to media relations.

However, one thing that has confused me is pampering the media unnecessarily. I was stunned seeing my colleagues giving endless gifts to the media. It was a shock as in my professional course of Advertisement and PR I have been taught about professionalism. But I could not see any professionalism in taking gifts for attending events or for doing stories.

During my professional traveling so far for events, I have seen a culture that many times the media asks for gifts openly. They ask bluntly about what gift you are giving. It was really shocking when some of them asked straightforwardly for cash in an envelope to attend an event.

It’s not only the PR agency that encourages this culture but somewhere the clients are also responsible for the same. One of the biggest players in automobile industry thinks that if they do not give gifts to media, the event will be considered incomplete. They also think that the media will not write their stories without gifts irrespective of the fact how important the news they are sharing is.

Last year we had a big event in Rajasthan. One night before the event, a government minister died in a road accident. I started getting calls from the media till late night saying that they would not be able to attend the event as a minister has died and they will be busy in that. They asked me what we are giving as gifts. I was left with no option but to tell them and next day I found all media persons at the event. I believe gifts were more important than the death of the minister.

This seems more of buying the media rather than indulging in media relations. Or in other words, we can say this is the another definition of MEDIA BUYING in PR industry.

Later on I came to know that this is not the case in tier two cities alone, in metros, the scene is worst. Even in the capital, so many journalists from reputed media houses attend events just for gifts. Sometimes journalists give phone calls and ask for gifts without attending the event. And of course even after this, the story is not assured. But if the editor will eliminate the story, the journalist will never say that he or she has taken a gift from PR agency so please don’t stop the story. There are journalists who create issues for not getting the gifts. They make excuses for not attending the events from next time and also try their best to stop the stories.

It is a regular practice that has been carried by PR, journalists, and clients. But it creates a problem for small organizations who can’t afford expensive gifts for the media. We have noticed few journalists who try to stop stories of PR agencies that refuse to give gifts.

Another issue I believe which doesn’t make any sense is the pick ‘n’ drop for media. There is no point providing such facilities to media. In exceptional cases like providing drop back facility to female journalists in the night or taking media out for a day is quite acceptable. But calling a cab at your place four to five hours before the event and using the same for the rest of the day is really unethical. It really doesn’t make a sense to provide a cab to such a place which is just half kilometer away from the venue of the event. Still many media persons ask for pick ‘n’ drop for these small distances, despite the fact they get paid from their companies for traveling officially. They say it openly if we want us to attend an event, you have to provide the pick ‘n’ drop. PR agencies need to spare one executive to coordinate the cabs for these special guest of our. Sometime it feels like doing transportation business rather than real PR.

There are also some people who attend events without being invited for it and they openly ask for gifts too. They belong to such media houses, which are not relevant either for PR agencies or for the clients. Some people do not belong to any media houses but still claim to be journalists and ask for gifts. Few retired journalists are sometimes also being noticed attending events for their share. Sometimes they start misbehaving or threatening PR persons and try to show them the MEDIA POWER.

Sometimes they ask for two gifts at one go. Helping media in getting a discount in a clients’ product is acceptable but giving gifts, cabs, and other facilities to them to get the stories done is extremely unethical.

Needless to say that they have stronger network than any other in this industry. They update themselves with all the events everyday with the exact timings and venue. Sometimes clients ask us to find out the events happening on a particular date and we find it difficult to find all the relevant details. I must say it is an indirect learning for all of us.

I have noticed Mumbai as the only place where these practices are not followed. In the rest of the country the meaning of professionalism goes for a toss. I don’t know who is to be blamed for this. PR agencies or Clients? Obviously we cannot blame the media as we only support these practices for one or the other reason. I feel this process will continue like this and media will keep on taking the advantage of it. But still I want to stop this crap. Don’t know how.

Written by Palin Ningthoujam

October 7th, 2008 at 2:58 pm

Calling up journalists without proper planning

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Apparently a DNA journalist last weekend wrote a story about how a PR executive called him up to pitch a guest article by her client, and she expected the journalist to give her ideas her client can write on. So he was pretty upset.

Normally we all have our own versions of what is good and what is bad and I tend to ignore such whining of journalists and bloggers’ little egos that one can find so many if do a search.  However, this one is interesting. Not because of anything else, but because the thread has been picked up by the PR Yahoo forum and seems many PR people want to discuss it.   

I wonder if the incident Vivek mentioned in his article actually happened or has he just cracked up his weird imagination and ‘boring’ sense of humour. Seemed more like a PR person called him up and when he’s pondering over what to write for the day, and there he rediscovered his lost muse.

But what if the incident actually happened? Which agency in today’s time calls up journalists and asks them to suggest topics for their clients?  I mean we were all taught to be creative and think of interesting topics and pitch them to journalists. Not the other way round – call up journalists and ask them to be creative for us.  

Of course one call pull off these provided he/she knows the journalists really well. I have heard my media team head calling up journalists and starting with ‘oye, tu ek story karega? ….’. But that’s another level and please don’t attempt that in case you are not a PR veteran and the journalist is not your childhood friend or a relative.

However, I bet it’s safe to stick to the rules, though often we are tempted to look for shortcuts. It takes all kinds to make this world, and it takes all kinds of journalists to make the media. Sometimes, senior journalists have helped me a lot by giving me insights about a particular vertical when I called them up. Other times, I have my journalist friends helped me out by volunteering to call my client for a telephonic interview when the other journalist, who was supposed to do the interview, chickened out at the eleventh hour. But sometimes, some just groan. Other times, they just want to feel great and write a story about how victimised they feel when PR professionals call them.  Even if you and the journalist are related, you might very well become pesky relative. 

Have you called up journalists without having any proper agenda, or a pitch topic? Share your experiences and learnings in the comments.  

Written by Palin Ningthoujam

September 4th, 2008 at 12:01 am

Posted in mediarelations

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Wow!!! Now that’s a front page story…..

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I always wish to hear these kind of statements from journalists….but alas, The Pursuit of Happiness continues. Friends, how many times has this statement ruined your day, your week or perhaps your month? Allow me to share a heartbreaking tale about a young aspirant who always had something to look forward to.

“There was a young man who went by the name of Jack. Everyday he attended his daily chores like going to media rounds, doing extensive media mapping, effectively sending out extremely simple reports in the approved rocket science formats, etc. One fine day, he thought that Client Goddess has finally seen all his sincerity and hard work and she herself called him up and told him exactly what he expected.

With his trembling hands, he held on to the phone. His heart filled with delight and glee on listening to the beautiful sound in which Goddess said…Wow!!! Now that’s a front page story. She explained how she expected more out of him but still ready to relieve the pressure so that he wouldn’t have to work like an ass to gain her blessings. She gave him a story idea which would work like magic with his journalist comrades (soon to be enemies). He would be able to get front page stories and play with toys and would be pioneer, a statesman in his contemporary DNA age.”

Unfortunately for our new to the club Jack, he was unable to use this magic formula for the betterment of his environment and save his world using the marvelous story idea. Jack still had to work like an ass for this story idea to please this Client Goddess.

On numerous occasions I’ve witnessed my bosses shivering on thinking of a suitable reply to be given to the client which is always eventually based on truth…”Boss, this is not a good story idea or event, I don’t see any coverage coming out of it”. But they have unfortunately inherited a phobia or to never say ‘no’ as soon as they got into the industry. The differences is that they think they have become a Ghandivadi of the PR industry by following this practice. There are so many things that we work day in and day out without even realising the amount of time and energy positioned on something which will help us derive very very special and worthy snippets. We can do something really substantial with all our time spent on these mindless, meaningless pitching and give some real PR value to our clients.

Smash!!! I love what I wrote in the above line. It’s really good, but if only we are allowed to. Anyways, being a PR professional, I am trained to carry & boast alternatives. Let me now site some typical examples which we are regularly tangled:

1. Corporate Social Responsibility: Corporates, I am aware how important it is to practice CSR. You develop good relations with all intended target audiences. It helps you to gain a good hand with the government. Investor relations are kept in good spirit as you are contributing to the society. Consumers understand that you, out of many, think about the common man and they are happy. Yes all good but doing a CSR activity every month….I mean let somebody else be the saint. The catastrophic phenomenon has been around since 4/5 years now. Let’s see some perspective with this aspect.

In a meeting the client shares with me and my boss.

Client: “…..(name not published on request)……, we are coming up with this new thing and its very environment friendly, it would aim to teach students as well. Yes I do admit that other corporate have also moved in this stride but we’ve observed they have involved less no. of students and we are involving many more. I understand the idea is not new but we plan to invest in this for five years. So we want good coverage around this”.

Observe the responses to the info shared by the client. My thoughts on the responses and comments in bracket:

“Oh that sounds of wonderful. (Without realizing it my boss has given a new meaning to the word wonderful). I don’t think we should have a problem in implementing a strategized plan on this. Although this is not a new idea (no stone is left unturned in terms of CSR ideas), we’ll still be able to derive some coverage out of it. Why isn’t it, Saurabh?”

And that’s it,,,, my world just collapses on this last statement.

Friends please excuse the sarcasm. The point I am trying to make is about always trying to explain to your clients how important it is to practice high-scale impactful CSR otherwise it’s of no use. Ideas like teaching a couple of underprivileged kids, growing a couple of trees are always good for an individualistic value appreciation but not at all meaningful from a corporate perspective. Still I do understand the unaided situation that many of us land in with persistent clients. For those kind of clients give a suggestion to club around 2-3 CSR initiatives and turn that around into a profiling opportunity. Some columns that should be able to suffice your clients and help you are:

a. The Economic Times, Career and Business life page
b. Business Standard, Social Enterprise Page.
c. The Financial Express, Corporate Voice

2. Appointments: Another one of those highly demanded properties that our respectful clients vouch for to be an easy placement. Unless it’s a CEO or a president of a big corporate, movements and appointments are hard to be placed even with amazing media relations. It would not be surprising that one of our clients asks us to get coverage on a change in its security setup.

Trying to offer and combine the appointment news with financial numbers and investment to increase the news value might surely help derive more out of the simple appointment news.

3. Product announcements: No, I don’t mean the launch of a bike, a car, a big pharma drug. I am talking about going through the horror of launching a completely advanced GSM paper. A breakthrough in the contemporary unfortunately not covered by any paper. Sometimes this also happens. The best thing to do in these situations is target the trade media. The trick might be to convince your clients for concentrating on special relationship building meetings and not seeing it though a coverage point of view. Convince him from the more futuristic view. These meetings always help in creating a pipeline for stories.

4. Advertising and marketing campaigns: Not too long ago I was asked to give a PR plan on my client’s small sponsorship in a big rock festival. Ya, I know you are thinking, this is just impossible. No client can be this unreasonable. Well, I was among you all who think in this fashion. Now I am a PR professional. Get it. What do you do in these situations? Well nothing, you can do some industry story participation on the subject but apart from that nothing.

We should all thank the afaqs, exchange4media, indiantelevision, and indiainfoline of the world who can come for our rescue in situations like these.

5. International News: Well, at least most of our clients are sensible enough not too expect anything out of these sorts. But for some select who suffer from this phobia as well I’ll try to give an alternative. It should be relatively easy to acquire a fair amount of coverage in case of a big international collaboration or a big international corporate setting up in India, but for the rest of them, work out a regular dispatch of information to the media without pushing for coverage on it. Suggest your client to be in regular touch with the media with an informative newsletter, which would also help you to monitor and be abreast of your client’s industry.

My apologies to all who religious expect this blog’s horizon to be very serious and always giving gyaans. This post is about an opinion and how we should ideally tackle all the tricky mud holes our clients create for us. I would expect some valuable additions to it as well.

Written by Saurabh Saggi

August 29th, 2008 at 12:01 am

Posted in clientservicing, featured, mediarelations

Tagged with ,

22 tips for PR professionals on working with journalists

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There are various tools used in Public Relations to communicate with target audience like Press Conference, Press briefing, Round table discussions, Editors’ meeting, one to one interactions etc. To do all this we need to work with one parallel industry called Journalism. However, getting things done through a journalist is not so easy. Here are 22 tips on how to get sarted on how to influence journalists and maintain positive relations with them:

1. Beat Journalist: Know your beat journalist. Also find the alternative person as there are two journalists working on the same or alternative beat. Keep their contact details handy as it provides easy and quick access to them.

2. Knowledge: Make sure that you have enough knowledge of your client and also have relevant information of the respective industry. Do your homework well before pitching a story or talking to them regarding your client.

3. Deadlines: Respect their deadlines and try to provide the required inputs on time. It helps a lot to create a reputation as a responsible person. Try to understand that they are also reporting to editors and have to meet deadlines.

4. Personal Details: Try and find the personal details like likes, dislikes, education, and professional experience. It helps in knowing them better and also helps in making their profiles. Organizations nowadays are very keen in journalists’ profiles.

5. Sharing Information: One can be very close to the journalist but never share any official information off the record. Agency or the client might suffer in one way or other. Always request journalist to send a requirement mail for any query.

6. Stay in touch: Call your beat journalists at least once a day. If possible add them to your chat messengers. It gives a personal touch.

7. Meeting with Journalist: Meet with beat journalist at least once a week. It can be professional or personal meeting. Discuss various spheres of the industry they are working on. Do not force them to be in conversation if they are not interested, it might irritate them.

8. Maintain the Gap: Professionally journalists are very sensitive. They should not feel that you are unnecessarily interfering in their work. Don’t use abusive words even if they are very friendly with you.

9. Never say NO: Sometime journalists might ask you for such information which is not available at that time (or your client CANNOT share it). Never say no to them. Always ask them for sometime. Discuss with your seniors and client and then revert back. Always ask for their deadlines as it helps you to provide inputs accordingly.

10. Off the beat: Here we can have two categories:

o Journalist left your beat: When a journalist shift from your respective beat or shift from one organization to another. Be in touch with them. You never know when they might be useful for you.

o Journalist never on your beat: Sometimes we develop relations with those journalists who are never on our respective beat. There is no harm in maintaining relations with them.

11. Movements: Keep a track on their movement like shifting from one organization to another. It could be internal shifting of beats or if they are getting promoted. Try to be the first one to congrats them. Best way is to write a congratulations mail.

12. Show Gratitude: Always call up or write a thanks giving mail when they have done something for you. It shows professional ethics.

13. Read their stories: Keep on reading stories and if possible discuss it with them. It enhances your industry knowledge.

14. Timings: Respect their timings. Journalists work till late in the night. Do not disturb them when they are busy filing the stories.

15. Occasional Greetings: Do not forget to wish them on various occasions like anniversaries, festivals etc.

16. Maintain your Calm: Journalists are mostly in bad mood due to stressful deadlines. They might shout at you even if you are not at fault. Maintain you calm and try to understand the situation. Never reply back rudely.

17. Lack of Information: Do not go to them again and again if you don’t have anything to share professionally. It gives a negative impression of you as an agency and your client.

18. Journalists’ Friends: Journalist has their own official friend circle. Get yourself introduced with them. It helps in building professional network.

19. Position: Do not discriminate on journalists’ position. Even a trainee correspondent might become a senior correspondent in another organization (With a span of time).

20. Press Conference: Most of the time we meet journalist for the first time at a press conference. This is the best way to get in touch with them. Be friendly but also be professional.

21. Discussion: Discuss the current happenings in various industries. Check if they are planning any stories on the same. Also check if your clients can provide the inputs.

22. Don’t show irritation: Sometime journalists irritate people very much by demanding gifts and other items. Do not show irritation on your face.

Written by Palin Ningthoujam

August 4th, 2008 at 11:56 am

Posted in featured, mediarelations

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Media Teams In The PR 2.0 Age

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I was chatting up with a colleague, who is a part of our four member media team in our office, on blogging and the new PR.

The media team, as we know, plays a big role in large PR agencies where events and crisis happen on multiple clients almost every day. While the client servicing teams need to concentrate on a whole lot of things in servicing an account, the media team can just focus on building relationships with key journalists across the country. So in times of crisis and big events, they can leverage on their networks to value add to the client servicing team.

Now the part that we were discussing was that the media team should now look at PR 2.0 seriously and gear up to equip themselves with knowledge of the blogosphere and start building relationships with key bloggers across the country across verticals and subjects. And why not. Media teams have been building relationships with journalists in the print media, tv, online media, and now social media should be a natural extension. Talk about digitally enhanced media teams.

So are you a media relations expert? If yes, my next questions could be ‘how many bloggers do you know well?’ Knowing and engagibng with bloggers is no longer the perogative of the client servicing person alone.

My question is can the media teams of today adapt themselves to the new challenge (or opportunity), or will  there be a new class of blogger relations teams in agencies? For now, there is just the socal media team that do everything.

Written by Palin Ningthoujam

July 8th, 2008 at 6:07 pm

Posted in PR2.0, featured, mediarelations

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