Thursday, May 1, 2008
Calling Up
Assignments to do and exams are coming... I'm almost about to complete my placement and feeling accomplished once that day comes. Nothing much has come up for me except for doing media releases and feature stories. However, I do need to call up editors and journalist all around Aus to submit these media releases and feature stories. I'm really nervous about that especially since no one will be guiding me to doing that... I wonder anyone of you have encountered that? Maybe someone can give me some advice before I make the first call... Hehe...
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5 comments:
Phoning up journalists and trying to sell in stories can be very daunting. You are definitely not alone here, Connie.
Remember the WIIFM-factor? What ever we do, we always ask ourselves “what’s in it for me? …that makes this worth my while?” (no, I am not talking about freebies! :-)). Research the publications or media outlets you are targeting and get a feel for what kind of stories they are running. What is their style? Who is their target audience? Then put yourself into their shoes and ask “what would I be looking for?”. Remember, journalists are extremely busy, so practice what you want to say in advance until you are confident – and make sure your first sentence gets right to the point.
I agree with you, Connie – it would be great to hear from others how they dealt with similar situations. Any success stories to share?
Hi Connie
No worries, I have made a number of phone calls to radio stations around WA, and they have been nothing but pleasant! Just make sure that you state clearly that you are doing your job placement for university, and most of them will be more than willing to answer questions.
Remember to sound confident over the phone, and you should be able to gain more confidence as you make subsequent phone calls. Good luck!
Jack
I have been making a few calls in my placement. One difficult one was about aboriginal names for mine sites. The lady I had to contact was from Rio Tinto, and she also used to be a journalist, as I have found out later. I have been trying to contact her for a couple of days, and she was unavailable for awhile, but as you may understand, I had a certain deadline to finish writing the story, so it was a little bit daunting.
I have finally been able to get hold of her, and she was kind enough to provide me with lots of information for the story, including photos.
One important thing to keep in mind is that when contacting people "book in" with them early, so you have plenty of time to write your article and avoid last minute stress.
Hi!
I have been in the same situation like you and what I can tell you is that now I feel much more at ease with all the calling up. It is normal that you feel nervous as you have not been used to this type of task before. For me, the best way to tackle anxiety and nervousness is to have a good preparation before doing any tasks. Write on a piece of paper what you have to ask and communicate before making up the calls. Don’t feel shy to ask for any advice from your boss; I am sure that he will help you. Make sure that you introduced yourself well before starting the conversation with the editors and journalists.
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