Having now built up some (almost four years) experience
in the PR industry, it is great to know that I can use my skills to help
others. The last couple of weeks I have been involved in helping a friend with a
media kit for an art auction she is currently organising. With all proceeds
raised going towards to Spinal Cord Unit at the new Fiona Stanley Hospital.
I was able to offer Jocelyn some advice about media relations and getting the right story to the right
journalists etc.
I started with an interview with her to
find out everything about the art auction, her story after suffering a neck
break which led to sudden quadriplegia, the local artists who will be involved
on the night and picked her brain for any other information she was able to
provide to me.
From there I went about producing a media
release, a backgrounder on the not-for-profit known as CORD, a backgrounder on
Jocelyn and the list and details of all the artists involved on the night.
Jocelyn and I also worked together to form a media list we could send the information out to.
I have used different angles, such as
focusing on Jocelyn being a Mt Lawley local, her injuries, the event and the local
artists involved.
Some tips I have learnt over the past four
years:
- Never send out a blanket email and media release to all the media at the same time.
- Make sure the content is worded to be as relevant to their readers as possible (ie not all outlets will use the same angle)
- Research who the best journalist is to approach - read about the stories they have already written and be familiar with their style and topics
-
Make sure images are provided as thumbnails, or in very low-res the first time to help gain interest, but not clog up the journalists inbox - the high-res versions can always be provided at a later stage, if the outlet is interested
- Same goes for making sure the files aren’t too big (large emails are often blocked by servers or if they do come through then they can annoy journalists and slow down their email
- Make a follow up call
- Follow up journalists without harassing them
- Make sure the date is current - sometime when media releases are first written, by the time the approval process goes through, several days has passed. Therefore the release doesn’t look breaking
However my media release
has been written word for word on the Visit Perth City blog, which I’m pretty excited
about. You can read it here: http://visitperthcity.com/events/cord-art-auction-music-gig-fundraiser
While Jocelyn is the key to this event. I
will be volunteering all that I can from now, until the event. I was going to
helping out on the night, but as I am off to Malaysia for Globcomm, I will make
sure l follow up after the event to try for post-event coverage.
For any of you wishing to attend the event, the details are as follows:
Cord Art Auction /Gig/Fundraiser
Date: Saturday, 6 June 2015
Time: From 6pm
Venue: Whippersnapper Distillery, East
Perth
Further information about the event and
purchasing tickets can be found here:
1 comment:
Hi Sloan,
I really enjoyed reading your blog post about "Some tips to remember when trying to get the media's attention".
This title triggered my attention because most of us have gone through this process of engaging with the media. Not everyone knows what is important to journalists. Therefore one can easily miss the right story and so miss out the media coverage. I think that the information we provide to the journalist needs to be newsworthy for them. The angle which varies from outlets to outlets, as you previously mentioned, is, according to me, really important as it will directly and indirectly impact on the company's reputation. Therefore one should aim to provide the journalists with as much as interesting information.
I think that it could have been interesting for you to provide some tips about photos that can be included in media kits, as sometimes in some situation, for example when you have disabled people or sick ones, you can encounter some difficulties (even ethical difficulties) to choose what kind of photos are most appropriate. You know, like you need to be careful not to use photographs which are too shocking.
Overall, i feel your tips are really useful. Though they might seem obvious when reading them right now but less obvious when you are busy running in all directions, doing several things at the same time. Thanks, I'll try to take notes and remember them in my future approaches with media relations.
Good Luck for the rest,
Hope to hear from you,
Anne-Julie
Post a Comment