Teaching Media Relations to the Text-Message Set
The practice of solid media relations continues to be a skill best learned on the job. With the arrival of bright young professionals each year, we are reminded of this as we try to teach a generation that is clearly focused on the computer-screen the nuances and opportunities within the old printed medium.
Even as our profession expands into online strategies and social media, tried and true media relations continues to hold a high level of importance within the marketing mix. The third-party credibility of traditional media still moves opinion, and it often can ignite discussions in non-traditional online social circles. But as younger professionals enter our industry, it is apparent that online news gathering has become the norm and familiarity with some more traditional news sources is fleeting at best.
Edelman’s Rick Murray, president of the agency’s me2revolution division, has remarked in the pages of The Strategist that in a short time public relations teams will be judged equally on the ability to engage both social and traditional media worlds. All road signs seem to point in that direction, but how do we prepare our younger professionals to excel in the online venues of tomorrow while understanding something that is generally completely foreign to them at first – the elements of a solid print pitch.
The good news is that it is easier to teach new dogs old tricks than the other way around, and taking a few simple steps can go a long way to shoring up the media relations gap.
- Lessen the reliance on RSS feeds and keyword searches.
Challenge younger staffers who consistently miss front page stories because they got the search key word wrong to pick up the papers and scan the headlines. It is an amazing eye-opener for those just starting out that leaves some veterans shaking their heads. This is not to replace online tools, but the mind and eye can work much quicker than even the fastest search engine and seeing how stories are laid out next to one another can help a new PR pro gain a greater sense of how industries connect.
- Give pop quizzes on current events.
Our teams have a love-hate relationship with regular pop quizzes, but are the first to notice when we lapse in doing them. Giving a regular quiz on news of the day, economic statistics and a who’s who in the media world forces younger executives to focus on the traditional form and makes learning more of a game.
- Think in headlines.
Many experience that headline writing tends to be a weakness among young professionals, especially when placed into the context of a story being sent to a traditional media outlet. We’ve all heard that a good headline can fit on a bumper sticker, and forcing those who are starting in PR to think this way helps sharpen pitches and increase results.
- Get on the phone.
E-mail is an extremely valuable form of communications with a journalist, but at some point in the relationship the phone is irreplaceable. Our teams put young pros through a virtual phone boot camp of sorts, where they call a former news anchor on our staff and pitch a series of angles. Practice can make perfect and phone skills are still valuable – even in a social media world.
- Preach about keeping e-mails formal, but not too much.
E-mail has virtually ruined the long pitch letter, and many rejoice the day. But engaging a reporter through e-mail is a skill that is taught not born. Many new pros stumble by being too informal and then err by overcompensating and being too stiff. Get to the point quickly in an e-mail and back it up with hard stats. Don’t boast the growing trend for office users who are seeking a scalable application for accounting. Write about how new software is helping companies cut costs in meeting new Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.
- Leave Time for Pitching.
As days get busier, we need to protect the mid-morning hours for pitching. It also emphasizes the role that media relations still plays in our everyday professional lives.
It is important to structure training on media relations to make a team more effective. This is not an exercise that young professionals will commit to on their own. Make it a point to plan formal sessions
and regular checks and balances, because media relations still plays a role in the success of any public relations team.
