20 Hats: Thinking Cap

Public Relations Play of the Day

LRAD acoustic nonlethal device in NOLA at Superdome
Originally uploaded by xeni.

Congratulations to New Orleans! The city will unveil the Superdome tonight when the New Orleans Saints host the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football.

The Superdome has undergone a $184 million makeover to rid it of the stench and physical damage caused when 30,000 plus people sought refuge there during Hurricane Katrina.

Holding an event at the Superdome is a critical public relations move and one that I think is brilliant.

There could be some backlash today though. Officials need to be prepared to answer questions about why such a large amount of money was spent on the Superdome while some areas of the city still are without utilities and infrastructure.

Working with the Media: Media Mistakes

Reading1
Originally uploaded by Ughman.

From time to time we have a client who is annoyed that the media has gotten something wrong about them in a story. Typically, the error is something like giving someone a wrong title or paraphrasing a quote. Sometimes it’s factual (do you mean the error?) in nature.

Although your boss may be hacked off that something is wrong, this situation begs the question of whether the error is important enough to correct or if asking for a correction would basically amount to nit-picking.

To make this determination, take a step back and assess just how damaging the error is. Is it worth jeopardizing future coverage from the publication?

In most cases, it’s not.

Although the error may cause an internal political issue - such as your CEO being referred to as president - most readers won’t even notice or remember the individual’s title in the article.

Demanding a retraction or correction for something that is primarily creates internal upheaval is a bad idea. Ditto when the “error” involves the misuse of industry jargon or terminology.

Instead, be sure to clarify any confusion upfront the next time you work with that same publication. In addition, work between stories to cultivate a better relationship with individual reporters.

What reporters want: Online news rooms

With last minute deadlines looming over their heads, reporters don’t have time to put hours of research into finding a good public relations or communications contact when writing a story. To save time, many reporters are using the Internet as a research tool. However, they are running into the problem of not knowing exactly where to look on a company’s Web site for basic company information or public relations’ and communications’ contact numbers.

Companies often build Web site content around potential customers or investors. These Web sites will more than likely include a brief history of the company, list of services, whom to contact to purchase a product and a customer help-line number. While this information is exactly what your customers may be looking for, it’s not quite enough for reporters.

The best way to guide reporters to the proper information is by having an identifiable media room on your company’s Web site. The most important thing about the media room is making sure it has the information reporters may be looking for. Some of these items include:

• Public relations/communications contact information
• Recent news releases
• Company history
• Brief explanation of company activities
• Company fact sheet
• Bios on the organization’s key people
• Photo gallery
• Annual reports (for business reporters)

Finding these items in a central location allows reporters to research an organization at their own depth and pace. It also relieves the stress of having to call five different departments just to get in touch with a public relations professional.

Here’s what local experts have to say about media rooms:

Paul Monies, business reporter, The Oklahoman: “Media rooms are usually either the first or second place I visit on Web sites of companies I'm not familiar with … nothing is more frustrating than seeing a press release with no contact information at the top, or just an e-mail address. Despite everything being high-tech and people being tethered to their BlackBerries, I'm still looking for phone numbers above all else.”

David Page, reporter, The Journal Record: "I often visit company media rooms for different levels of research – to determine if we want to do an article, for historic information about a company and to see previous releases. I also use media rooms to localize national wire articles, such as finding out how many stores a national company has locally."

Shane Kempton, Phase 2 Interactive: "Most of the Web sites we develop have some type of media room. The trend we’re encouraging our client to be a part of is providing interactive media like audio and video files. It’s often more effective to have Web site visitors view your latest commercial or listen to a PSA than have them read lots of press releases. High-speed Internet connections and seamlessly incorporating video into the Web site experience have allowed us to further explore this type of interactive communications."

Jennifer Mock, reporter, The Oklahoman: “I go straight to the media part of a company's Web page. I read recent press releases and read about the company. Good media rooms have clear press releases, sortable by year and month. They also have an ‘about us’ section that gives the media a quick snapshot of a business they may have never heard of before.”

by Megan Myers