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Radio is still No.1 for influence
PR Week this week led on page 4 with the headline “Radio tops poll on influence.” For all our attention on social media, there’s a danger that we ignore what we hold most dear to our hearts.
Good radio won’t go away. It will only get better. Commercial Radio bosses realise that advertising and sponsorship will be gleaned from decent content not recycled pap. BBC also will aim for integrity from its programming.
Don’t forget that there are also community radio stations, local to you if you are in the UK, and internet radio stations (local and worldwide). Check out Shoutcast and Live365 for info on just how many internet radio stations there are. Not all of them have chat content but search, suck it and see.
Here are 10 tips for getting on the radio and linking the coverage with your social media:-
1. Relevance applies to Twitter as it applies to radio. Before ringing a producer of a programme, make sure the subject matter is relevant to the types of issue they regularly cover on the programme e.g. on BBC Radio Merseyside’s Roger Philips programme it’s about consumer affairs, local politics, the news issues of the day.
2. Timing. Don’t ring 5 minutes before they go on air. Check programme listings. Basic. Need I say more?
3. Preparation. Ensure you or your spokes person has some experience of talking on radio. There are many organisations that run media training courses. LJMU can run bespoke training days. Contact me keith@effective-media.co.uk for info.
4 The Four Point Rule. Vital. Think of FOUR points you would like to make. Three should be crucial to the issue you are discussing but the vital one is the Call to Action. Don’t try to garble any more than four. Your message will be mixed. Guaranteed!
5. Oh did I mention News Release? (notice ‘News’ not ‘Press’ as radios print very little). If you can’t write one or don’t have time to draft one, there are those who can. 3 Options: a) I can recommend a PR agency b) I can get student help for you through our World of Work c) You can use my template which I can email to you. All I ask a friend add on my Twitter account
6 At the interview. Be courteous but assertive. Turn up 20 minutes beforehand and talk to the producer before brodcast to finalise the parameters for the discussion. Although you have had this convo before, sometimes the agenda changes e.g. the other guest doesn’t turn up or the presenter is off ill. Be prepared. be confident.
7. Social media 1: Secure bounces to your blog or website IF the producer or presenter allows that. If not your response must be keyword rich. At the very least, make sure they get your name right your designation and the name of your blog or company so that people search for you after the interview.
8. Social media 2: Alert the producers that you have a blog. Get it in their contact books. Make yourself an expert and ensure you are the one contacted for views on your subject specialism.
9. Social media 3: Befriend producers and journalists on social media like Linkedin, Twitter, Digg and Facebook
10. Don’t puff. We know your product is brilliant but establish a rapport with your interviewer before you plug it. Get them on your side.
11. Hey you said 10! Ah But here’s the free bonus. Always offer future availability as you leave the studio. And, some radio stations have websites. Offer a URL to your blog. Stations get inundated with calls like “who was that bloke about the bikes?” The staff will welcome a further info slot to direct those calls to.
How to make Word 2007 fully loaded for Harvard Referencing
From time to time, whether we operate in academia or not, we must give credit to others’ work in order to minimise plagiarism and enhance our own reputations. When I jumped ship from PR practice to academia at LJMU, I had to teach the subject. I was staggered to discover that in the otherwise excellent Microsoft Word 2007, the single most widely used referencing tool was not included in the styles directory.
APA, the preset will get tour around 80% of Harvard’s conventions and then you would “top and tail” against your favourite guide to Harvard.
So let’s see how we can add some styles and ensure our copy of Word is fully loaded for referencing. Ironically, and by way of disclaimer, I have decided not to reference to Harvard in this article so you can immediately see the hyperlinks direct from my blog.
First let’s have a look at the References ribbon on Microsoft Word. Click to enlarge the screenshot:-
The most common task we have to do in Harvard is to insert a citation. We simply click this and a drop down list appears. You simply choose what type of document you would like to reference and complete the form. Word stores this in its “memory” for when you are ready to add your Bibliography later. (Go to Bibliography > Insert Bibliography). The advantages of referencing as you go along are multi faceted. The biggest one is time management. This method will allow you to maintain your train of thought and keep to convention.
The problem is that Word 2007 doesn’t have Harvard as standard. The closest is a combination of APA and Ghost. But come 3 am in the morning, using two referencing styles in unison could be frustating to say the least.
Enter Bibword. These incredibly helpful people have provided a style sheet which you can cut and paste into your Word directory safely. To access this directory, you would normally go to Program Files > Office > Office 12 > Bibliography. But first you would need to download the software from and follow its installation instructions. It arrives as a zip file. Copy the style list, once unzipped, and paste into your directory.
It all sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? Well it isn’t. It works perfectly and I have no hesitation in recommending this method to my students. But if you do experience problems, simply drop me a line and I will try my best to help.
What happens when I press this?
Audio visual is your friend
PR people just don’t do techy. And it’s wrong. Like most of my counterparts in agencies and in house teams across this part of Northern Europe, we were taught to write press releases. And release them we did. In my case 15 years passed and I was still giving birth to those beauties of modern prose. I spoke in the language of journalism and shared in the pride when article appeared. But ask me to shoot a film and I was on the phone to my good friend and colleague, Phil Hirst (left in pic)
But it’s become all the more essential why PR professionals at all levels grasp the notion that news doesn’t just have to be generated, the message can be controlled from start to finish. The concept is nothing new of course. Since World War One company newsletters have almost become a staple for employers. Times they are a changin’.
Since Web 2.0 , a new opportunity has opened along with mega bandwidths and broadband to shout out the message aurally and visually. My own introduction to the world of cameras was via ITV when I was fortunate to be involved, during my freelance years, with Lost Treasures, an archaeology programme where ordinary people make extraordinary discoveries.
At first Phil Hirst who produced the programme employed me in a familiar role as PR and publicity. The campaign we produced help us to secure an average of 14% above the norm for viewing at Sunday tea time. But by series three I had become more involved in the process of planning shoots as Assistant Producer. Vince Martin (above middle) showed me his broadcast standard camera with the £6k lens. And yes seeing your name on the programme credits is a huge buzz. Plus I had the opportunity to return to castles and stately homes again.
This coincided with a request on New Year 2008 from the then Director of Wirral TV, Mike Power to provide media training to unemployed people. My learning curve was steep. Another of the Lost Treasures team, cameraman Tom Holden was quickly drafted in response to be SOS signals. It was then that the penny finally dropped: about which plug goes into where and does what.
For all these years, I had the creative verve to think about photographic angles but not the confidence to do it myself. I will be blogging on my discoveries in future posts but suffice to say I was elated and also sad that this wonderful world had not been discovered earlier.
Rock star Glenn Hughes had been a long standing client of mine. We interviewed him in Budapest as a preview to his forthcoming tour of the UK and placed the result on You Tube and also on his own website. The Digital Editor at Liverpool.com also took a one minute version as a “freebie.” Priceless in terms of publicity. I was on a roll.
When the LJMU job came up, I thought it would a great idea to introduce this kind of thing as part of the curriculum. And so Media Relations 2 was born. But it’s not just me bleating on about why PR pros should carry their own gear around. Gary Jenkins of Merseytravel, who is on our Employer Forum, carries a Flip around with him to capture footage from launch events .
This is worth its weight in gold for a number of reasons. Journalists sometimes don’t turn up. When they do, they won’t release the footage unless you buy them a pint and ask nicely. Whilst the footage might not be as professionally shot as the TV stuff, it does provide a viable record which, if it’s good enough, can be placed on the website. With the direct USB connection, you can have your video on Youtube within minutes of filming.
Sounds ideal. But the disadvantage is that the production values aren’t going to be as high without a decent soundtrack. That rich warm ambience you hear on the Glenn Hughes interview on this site can only be achieved using a superior camera with a plug in for an external mike. This is where it gets a bit techy, as it introduces the vastly underrated aspect of sound becomes a science in itself. Stay with me though. Don’t switch off like I did all those years ago.
Basically a grand would be enough for a basic portable kit which consists of an HD camera like Canon’s excellent HV30 or 40 retailing at around £600. A shotgun mike with fluff would set you back at least another £250 and a “beach box” which is basically a mini mixer which screws into the bottom of your camera is about £150. This is what Tom and I took on Ryanair on our mini tour following Glenn around Eastern Europe. No we didn’t have to pay the excess baggage costs. The interview was lit with natural light through the curtains.
The beauty of separated sound is that you can extract the audio track and use it for the website and convert it to a radio news release. Because you are using broadcast level sound values, most radio producers would accept a recording which was free from any glitches. It works the other way round too. I help produce a rock radio programme on 7 Waves on Sunday evenings. As well as the audio, we can produce a film of the interview which means we can extend the life of the piece and distribute to a range of media.
Lighting is important. We got away with it in Budapest basically because the sun was kind to us and illuminating the hotel room, but ideally if you are thinking of investing in such matters, a set of four read heads and a green screen would mean that you have yourself a mini studio which could be set up within minutes. More of that on future posts.
So, to quote Shakespeare “be not afeard, the isle is full of noises that give delight and hurt not.” Audio visual is your friend in these days when newspapers are training their staff to use cameras and sound equipment while laying off those who don’t want to move with the digital age. PR tends to mirror much of the journalism profession. Forewarned is forearmed.
Press release writing template
Some former students (who can no longer access Blackboard) asked if certain resources could be put on here. If you are new to PR or run a small business, you might find this bit of Effective Media useful. Anyway without further ado, here’s how I structure a standard seven par press release.
Integrated Social Media
Online to Survival
Here’s the news from the front. Video News Releases and Online promos are the next big thing. This is a presentation I used to illustrate how new media can be used to enhance the marketing mix of any small business during my time at Wirral TV.
Marketing and PR for Small Business 2 97
Any PR pro who doesn’t embrace the new technologies has about five years left in the business. I am not saying newspapers will disappear. It’s clear that their branding is strong enough to provide a viable advertising medium. So yes we’ll still be putting out news releases until the cows come home. But there’s no doubt that the landscape will continue changing as budgets are placed with CPC (Cost Per Click) and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
Here is a simple example of how a small business could benefit: An online promo could be produced which is placed on the home page of their website. This is becomes the pivot. The video is then tagged to reflect the business it is there to promote. So if it’s “widgets for dogs,” the tags in the HTML should reflect variation of the same. Next to the video should be a newsletter where people can subscribe. Converting viewers to potential customers is a long shot but it just might work!
This is all very well but how do you stimulate more customers to the website? There are various ways and not necessarily expensive:-
Social Media
I am coming out. I tried to avoid Facebook and co. like the plague for as long as I had to avoid answering messages such as “RU ok. Gud to see ya xxxx” or discuss my relationship status to all and sundry. But it’s here to stay. The branding of these sites might change over the years but the principle of networking stays the same. The internet defined is simply people saying “hello.” In history they’d say “hello” in a field and then a telephone box, a home phone, a mobile and now online. Nothing has changed! Some of the facilities on Facebook allow you to invite people to events, share ideas and hey even sell products!
Cost Per Click
What’s a PR guy bleating on about Cost Per Click for? Well this PR guy was actually on the launch for Microsoft Ad Center UK. Having had access to private accounts, I was knocked out by the potential for serious money to be made on the internet. Choose the correct keywords for your niche, fine tune your demographics and you have THE most precise marketing method known to this species. This will drive traffic to your online promo.
Media Relations
Obviously articles in the local paper, radio and TV help, but let’s think outside the box here. If you have a video news release or online promo you should send it to the digital editors of the websites owned by the newspaper groups. It can’t be assumed that the editorial policy for one follows the other. When I was promoting a concert in Liverpool, I asked if our promo could be placed in the editorial section of Liverpool.com. Sometimes they will run the footage for up to to three weeks. Despite the ongoing training of journalists to use camera and sound equipment, these website are still short of quality footage. If they can link it back to your site, the effort is worthwhile. Do be aware though that editors might ask for a shorter version than the one you have.
Look out for future posts about integrated online marketing and PR when I will be exploring in greater detail some of the “how to” and prevalent issues.
How a Simple Lemon could change Company Image Overnight
It was corporate guru Tom Peters who made an impression on me when he advocated that it doesn’t matter how good a business thinks it is, if its reception areas and signage are defective, this can have a huge impact on its perception by prospective customers. As a young, enthusiastic advertising executive I thought creative campaigns could solve everything. But like most things in life, the simple ideas are the most effective. Take simple lemon for example.
I once worked for a marketing and pr agency who used to offer lemon with their tea and a choice of coffees. When you reach their reception areas, most companies ask whether you would your tea or coffee white or black. This one decided that while clients were waiting to see someone in reception or in a board room, the lemon would add to the total experience of the visit. It did. It was (so to speak) an ice breaker.
Another client of mine noticed that someone had written graffiti on the company toilets. An hour before an important meeting with his client, he had the presence of mind to go in there himself and clean the walls. Meanwhile his assistant peeled a few lemons to serve with the tea!
I’m not talking about a whole campaign here, I am just talking about basic human hospitality. Customer care usually boils down to common decency and a touch of creativity. It’s usually the simple things which take you further than your competitors.
The company I worked for then started buying in various coffees and offered a mini menu while guests were waiting in Reception. The outlay is so small but the warmth it generates about the company is worth at least the cost of a couple of “awareness raising” ads in the trade press.
You are a customer yourself. Pick a supplier or even you local supermarket and think of a couple of things which bug you and suggest ways of putting it right. You could turn your attention to an internet company. The web is no different. If a company home page takes ten minutes to download, they obviously haven’t thought of the customer.
In future editions, we’d like to keep up to date with similar tips , you have found useful. Write to us with your ideas and we will include them here. Also if there is something that irritates you about this web site I need to know. Only your best friends will tell you. So tell me!
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