PR and marketing

On Sunday I went to an event that kicked off a week of celebrating International Women’s Day called the F word with Germaine Greer and Naomi Wolf. These women shared their views on feminism in the global context, as well as what it means in today’s society.

Both women have formidable intellects and raised really interesting and valuable issues. Some of which I agreed with, and others I didn’t.

I was very aware of the privilege of sitting and hearing them.

As Germaine said, “In some countries feminism is a matter of life and death” quoting a situation where a woman was killed because she wore lipstick.

As an educated woman living in the western world, I do have choices. Many choices. I realised it’s how I act on those choices that makes the difference.

One of the comments made by both women got me thinking. Germaine said “I’m going to get in trouble for saying this but I’m going to say it anyway”. That’s what people love about her (and why others hate her).

On International Women’s Day this Thursday 8th March 2012 maybe it’s time for all of us to 'say something anyway'! Maybe it’s time to act in a courageous way that will help the women around you, or women in the global community.

There are so many events to celebrate International Women’s Day. Here is a list of events you might be interested in.

Join me:
International Women Day: I'm a panelist for Women as Entrepreneurs event WE WIN, Women Empowering Women In Need. It’s an awareness and charity event, a celebration of the successes of women with a focus on enabling change for women as entrepreneurs, both here and in the third world. Special price tickets for our friends $45, register here using "CPComm".

Step into the spotlight with PR and social media: Join me on 28 March 2012 at the Women’s Network Australia’s lunch where I’ll be talking about Stepping Into the Spotlight Using PR and Social Media – both from a business and personal perspective. Register here.

Learn how to do your own PR: My next one day workshop – PR and Media Releases that get Results – is on 30th March 2012. Learn how to construct a PR strategy including how to develop media angles, pitches, media releases, articles, case studies and editorials. You will also learn how to strategically use these tools to maximise your chance of achieving your PR objectives. This event is held at the Sydney Writers’ Centre. Register here.

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter.

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How to create a media list
Do you want to generate publicity for your business with a media release? Then you need to create a media list and start pitching your release to the right journalists.

A media list documents the key media contacts in your industry that would be interested in your media release. These contacts can include journalists, producers, bloggers, freelancers and editors.

A media list allows you to create a targeted approach to the distribution of your information. By targeting the right journalists you can gain coverage in the publications that your target audience views. This means that the right audience will see your media release at the right time.

Here are some steps to creating a media list.

1. Find your audience: The purpose of a media list is to gain coverage in publications that your target audience uses or views. This means that you need to write a list of all the publications, blogs and TV programs that appeal to your target audience.
2. Identify contacts: Once you have a list of publications you now need to identify the appropriate contact person to send your information to. Usually the most appropriate contact is the reporter or editor who covers the topic in your media release. You can find their email address or phone number on their publication’s website or call the publication directly. Try to avoid sending your media release to the email address for general enquires or “editor@” because it usually will not reach the right contact person in that publication.
3. Create a Database: Organise your media list into a database such as excel document, with separate columns for the name of the publication, the contact person, their job title, email address and phone number.
4. Categorise your list: You should categorise your list into different sections for each media outlet. For example you could create a section for all your newspaper contacts and another section for all your magazine contacts.
5. Update your list regularly: Media professionals often change their career or areas of expertise, which means you should constantly update your media list. Remember to update your list if your contact person changes or if you find new contacts.

Read the full article here.
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Why your business should start pinning on Pinterest
Have you heard the saying a picture paints a thousand words? Well your business can do just that on Pinterest.

Pinterest is a new social media site where you can create online bulletin boards and ‘pin’ your favourite images to it.

You can create a variety of bulletin boards in any category imaginable. Your followers can then view your images, like them, add a comment and re-pin them to their own boards. Each image represents a link to its original website, which makes sharing images and websites easy.

It isn’t a broadcast mechanism and doesn’t encourage product pushing, so you need to be creative and take a different approach to Twitter and Facebook.

The images on Pinterest can quickly convey their messages to the audience with just a glance, instead of users reading through long lists of text on Twitter and Facebook.

There are also a number of sharing options. Each image can be shared on Facebook and Twitter, you can embed it so the pin can be shared on blogs and external sites (which is great for link building) and the URL can be shared via email.

Read how Pinterest can benefit your business on our Public Relations Sydney blog.
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Upcoming events
Here are some events coming up that we thought you might be interested in:

International Women’s Day: Reception, Expo, Lunch and Seminar
Celebrate International Women’s Day and hear the success stories of three inspirational women. During the expo a wide range of businesses and women’s organisation will showcase their community work. You then have the opportunity to network with other like-minded women during the included lunch.
8 March – Rockingham, WA

Strike a Pose for International Women’s Day
Get involved in a professional flashmob to promote the global recognition of International Women’s Day! The event will be held at 2pm at Martin Place in Sydney where participants will strike 10 pre-prepared poses over 5 minutes. You will be given the poses weeks in advance and anyone can participate.
8 March – Sydney, NSW

Women Empowering Women In Need
WE WIN, Women Empowering Women In Need, a celebration of International Women’s Day, presented by Women as Entrepreneurs. This is an awareness event – a celebration of successes of women with a focus on enabling change for women as entrepreneurs, both here and in the third world. Speakers include Catriona Pollard, Angela Vithoulkas, Orsi Parkany, Lisa Messenger, Kim McGuinness, Nicole Kersh, Hannah Schwartz and Maria Padisetti.
8 March – Sydney, NSW

Social Media Women
Online presence, e-commerce and social media are now necessary in every retailer’s marketing strategy. At this networking event Nancy Georges, “the Retail Miss Fix-it”, will give you the information to get you started in e-commerce and social media to increase your online presence.
13 March – Sydney, NSW 

Start your own business
This free seminar will provide you with the information you need to start your own business. You will learn about the legal and insurance requirements, the different options for a business structure and learn about what it takes to run a successful business. You will be given resources and a checklist to help you start your own business.
14 March – Newcastle, NSW

Creating successful social media strategy+ crisis management, measurement and evaluation (B2C)
This two day workshop will show you how to evaluate your social media activity using the latest social media monitoring, measuring and evaluating practices. Learn how to manage your own social media campaigns and gain actual ROI results. Learn how to prepare for social media crisis situations.
15 – 16 March – Brisbane, QLD

Do you want to generate publicity for your business with a media release? Then you need to create a media list and start pitching your release to the right journalists.

A media list documents the key media contacts in your industry that would be interested in your media release. These contacts can include journalists, producers, bloggers, freelancers and editors.

A media list allows you to create a targeted approach to the distribution of your information. By targeting the right journalists you can gain coverage in the publications that your target audience views. This means that the right audience will see your media release at the right time.

Here are some steps to creating a media list:

1. Find your audience: The purpose of a media list is to gain coverage in publications that your target audience uses or views. This means that you need to write a list of all the publications, blogs and TV programs that appeal to your target audience.
2. Identify contacts: Once you have a list of publications you now need to identify the appropriate contact person to send your information to. Usually the most appropriate contact is the reporter or editor who covers the topic in your media release. You can find their email address or phone number on their publication’s website or call the publication directly. Try to avoid sending your media release to the email address for general enquires or “editor@” because it usually will not reach the right contact person in that publication.
3. Create a Database: Organise your media list into a database such as an excel document, with separate columns for the name of the publication, the contact person, their job title, email address and phone number.
4. Categorise your list: You should categorise your list into different sections for each media outlet. For example you could create a section for all your newspaper contacts and another section for all your magazine contacts.
5. Update your list regularly: Media professionals often change their career or areas of expertise, which means you should constantly update your media list. Remember to update your list if your contact person changes or if you find new contacts.

If creating your own media list sounds too hard then you can get help from an online media guide such as Margaret Gee’s Australian Media Guide. These sites provide an online database of contact information for media professionals.

Another alternative is to hire a PR agency because they have an extensive list of media contacts and know how to create a perfect media list.

Once you have created your media list you can start contacting journalists to gain coverage in the most appropriate media that will reach your target audience.

So you’ve sent out a pitch or a media release to journalists and have received no reply. What now? What should you do to find out if the journalist received your email or if they are interested? An essential skill for all PR professionals is to learn how to follow up with the media over the phone.

The best way to follow up with a journalist is by calling them. An appropriate time to follow-up is usually two to three days after the email pitch or release has been sent.

Never wait more than a week to follow up as waiting too long may result in the journalist deleting your email, the story being covered by another person or the story becoming (quite literally) yesterday’s news.

When it comes to following-up journalists the best advice would be to go with your gut instinct – listen to their tone of voice and the way they phrase their answers and make decisions based on that.

However, sometimes that can be a bit hard to do, so here are a few tips you should always take into account when following-up with a journalist.

Be very specific about the media pitch or release you sent them. Don’t just say “I sent you a release and wanted to know if you were interested”.

• Be polite and speak clearly
  When calling a journalist speak clearly and be very direct and to the point. Try to sound interested and enthusiastic to make the call interesting for the journalist.
• Don’t be afraid of journalists
  Don’t be intimidated by journalists, they are people too. If you contact them at a bad time apologise once and move on, apologising more than that can become annoying.
• Choose your questions wisely
  When calling a journalist don’t ask them if they are going to publish the media release. Instead, tell them the date you sent the media release on and what it was regarding. Simply ask if they received the release and if they would like further information or high resolution images.
• Be ready to respond to their requests
  You should be ready to supply the journalist with relevant images, additional information, event details or the contact details of your spokesperson. You can also line up interviews for the journalist to make it easier for them to cover your story/client.

Now that you have the journalist on the phone, how do you react to their responses? One way to calm your nerves and sound more confident on the phone would be to plan out what you want to get across – your pitch or key points.

However, any phone conversation can be unpredictable especially when dealing with a journalist. The best way to tackle any response from a journalist is to be flexible and prepared for anything. You may need to resend the release or answer detailed questions on the spot. More than likely you will need to leave a voice message, so be prepared for that.

Remember after every follow-up to make a note of the outcome to ensure you remember who you have called and who was interested.

The most important thing to remember when conducting a media follow-up is to remain confident and try to provide the most appropriate and interesting information for the journalist. With a little bit of preparation beforehand, you can then hang up the phone feeling like you’ve achieved your goal and maintained a good relationship with the journalist.