Earlier this month, I was fortunate to share my experience as a publicist, communications strategist and dancer in a presentation during RISE 2011. Many entrepreneurs, artists and organizations come to us with some straightforward PR questions: Should I write a news release? What’s a press kit? How do I contact the media? While media relations is not the only way that a PR program communicates and persuades audiences, working with news media is a huge part of our heritage. Its traditions are alive and well in the converged/online/interactive/social media age.
At RISE I discussed the journalistic roots of public relations and what that means for anyone who wants to communicate with media about their company, cause, product or service. This is primer in press kit materials with a few examples from our clients.
In sum: Every PR program moves through six main positions: who, what, where, when, why and how? Like a dancer must move through five basic positions before she can innovate, press kit materials must communicate in a journalistic style in order to tell a story and earn a place in the news.
Feel free to download it and contact me with any comments, suggestions or questions. You can also see it on SlideShare.
TAGS: Entrepreneurship, how-to, media relations, PR, Public Relations, RISE 2011
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Who knew it? I’ve been Rippling. And Laura’s been Rippling. This month we learned a new name for the way we’ve always led our business and personal lives: a Ripple.
Steve Harper, author of The Ripple Effect, spoke to Freelance Austin this month. He shared the concept of how whenever you make an impact, big or small, then you’ve created a Ripple. Conversely, when you openly share your thoughts and resources, then you will ultimately create Ripples that lead to new worthy connections.
Our Latest Ripple: Last fall a good friend and long-time colleague emailed us on a Sunday afternoon. She serves on a local non-profit board of directors, and that non-profit was in a PR pinch. With a press announcement planned in less than four days, they needed public relations support to pull it off seamlessly. Were we available to help? We said “yes” and then figured out how to make it happen.
The non-profit organization garnered television coverage, radio coverage and a feature in the Austin American-Statesman. We were sent beautiful bouquets of flowers and lovely thank you notes. We couldn’t have been happier to make this happen for such a worthy organization. It felt good to make a difference and we considered the engagement one of our good deeds for the month.
Then, we were asked to come in and visit with the executive director. We had a wonderful discussion with her, a staff member and the board member that made the original outreach to us. Ripple.
Less than a month later, we were hired to manage an important national outreach campaign for them. Ripple. In his book, Steve discusses three Ripple Rules of business:
- Ripples can be caused by even the smallest of pebbles.
- Ripples bounce back to us.
- Ripples continue long after we can no longer see them.
We did what we thought was the right course of action for a colleague and friend. The Ripple bounced back.
Final take: Don’t put your head under the water. Put yourself out there and see what comes back to you. Sometimes the metaphor will play out very clearly. Other times the rings on the water will blend together and create a beautiful, unique pattern that has no clear beginning or end.
TAGS: Austin American-Statesman, Freelance Austin, Public Relations, Steve Harper, The Ripple Effect
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