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Feb 09 2016

To Fix the Copy Fix Your Thinking

Lauren EdwardsLauren Edwards is founder of WriteCulture, a company that coaches PR teams on writing, pitching and interactions with clients. Lauren has trained over 1,000 PR pros, from entry-level staff to SVPs.

I sat down with Lauren to get her perspective on current PR challenges.

Why is poorly written content so prevalent these days?

The bar is lower because there are more publishing platforms run by untrained writers and editors. There’s also the advent of automated writing and outsourced writing. New software lets non-humans assemble and package nuggets of information into simple formats like online slideshows and “Top 10” lists. And ESL speakers are writing first drafts later edited by native speakers.

Some of the new “citizen journalists” have realized that writing is harder and more time-consuming than they expected and are looking for help. We’re at a juncture where more people would like to communicate effectively but don’t have access to the right kind of education.

What advice do you have for PR professionals who want to write better copy?

Take time to think from the audience’s POV, and write about people not products. When you write about people, you put human beings at the start of your sentences and use active verbs. Also, give away the punchline at the beginning to get to the point faster.

Always keep your clients’ long-term business goals in mind. For example, a famous company I worked with had 80% commercial customers, but their long-term goal was to have 80% residential customers. If you were pitching for them, you’d be smart to emphasize a residential angle to further their business goals. If you don’t know their goals, your choices might actually work against them.

Why is there so much jargon in tech industry PR copy?

Unseasoned PR writers may not know their client’s technology or industry, so they use material already crafted by marketing. They move the words around without trying to reach out to an audience. Curiosity and experience eventually make it possible to write in a meaningful way, but some people retain bad habits.

Another reason is that some people come to work wearing a “professional” veneer. When that veneer is on, they don’t write like people; they write like a “company,” in a stiff style.

What can PR agency supervisors do to improve their teams’ writing?

Stop treating the symptom; treat the disease. The problem isn’t grammar and syntax; it’s the thinking behind the writing. People often focus on details like new product features, but there’s a larger story to tell that will improve business outcomes. The writer should look ahead to goals and coming initiatives, and back at important milestones. This puts “news” into context and accomplishes more valuable goals.

Writers need to think critically during the pre-writing phase, and learn who they’re writing for and why. I always say, “Writing is thinking made manifest.” If you can fix the thinking, the writing often fixes itself.

Written by Shelly · Categorized: Journalism, Pitching Stories, PR Writing, Public Relations, Reporters, Uncategorized · Tagged: article, articles, content, journalist, journalists, media, pitch, pitching, PR, press release, Public Relations, writing

Jan 26 2016

30 x 30 x 3 – the Perfect Pitch Package

 

pitch telephone callIn a previous blog post I talked about the email/voicemail duo pitch — how emailing a cold pitch with a voicemail follow-up can trigger a response from a reporter, often within minutes, even if you haven’t schmoozed him first at CES or SxSW.

Since reporters answer their phones less than .0000000001% of the time these days, sending a short, compelling email followed by a crisp, call-to-action voicemail in 30 seconds or less has proven to deliver results.

But what if the reporter answers his phone? Gasp! After the initial shock of hearing a live human, you have 30 seconds to tell him what you said in your voice message, plus three reasons why he should interview the most interesting person at your company.

The conversation might go like this:

Reporter: “Fred Pickleweed” (reporters rarely say, “Hello, this is So and So”) – .5 seconds

You: “This is Paula McHappy with [company X]” – 1 second

Reporter: “What’s up?” – .5 seconds

Now you have 28 seconds to tell Fred why he should care. First, you’ve done your research and you know that Fred covers the clean tech industry and loves batteries.

The problem: Tesla’s new battery for the home is supposed to extend solar power, but it maxes out after microwaving a potato.

1. What’s missing is high-density energy storage.

2. XX company makes a high-density, high-power energy storage device using a simple capacitor – no more toxic lithium batteries. The device can store energy from solar and keep the lights on for just 3 cents per kilowatt-hour – the lowest in the industry.

3. We have a great source for the story (company executive, customer, unbiased expert).

4. Either Fred is underwhelmed or you’ve piqued his interest and he wants to know more. This is where the rule of three comes in. Give Fred three delicious facts about company X’s technology in plain English, give him a metaphor and paint a picture.

If you’ve sold him on the idea, it doesn’t mean you’ve landed an interview for your company yet. Fred might say:

  • “Sounds interesting, but I’m working on several stories right now, so I won’t get to this for a while. Call me in three weeks.”

Or…

  • “Send me the email again and I’ll take a look.”

Here’s how you might respond:

“The inventor had an article published in Battery Magazine recently. I’ll send you the link to give you some more background. And I’ll check back with you in February. Thanks for your time.”

Or if you’ve hit the bulls eye with Fred, he might say:

– “Let me talk to the guy who invented this energy storage system.”

Remember the 30 x 30 x 3 rule for the voice-mail follow-up:

  1. “30” – Think hard to find 30 words that enticingly but plainly sum up the problem ( not easy!).
  2. “30” – Practice introducing yourself and saying you sent an email regarding your 30-word rendition of the problem in 30 seconds or less.
  3. “3” – Have three juicy nuggets on paper in front of you to anchor you if the reporter picks up (or to use later if the reporter calls back).

 

 

Written by Shelly · Categorized: Journalism, Pitching Stories, Public Relations, Reporters, Uncategorized · Tagged: battery, energy, media, media outlets, news, pitching, PR, press, Public Relations

Jan 20 2016

The Phone is Dead. Oh Wait… I Feel a Pulse!

image for voicemail pitchThe common refrain from PR professionals when pitching stories is that reporters just don’t answer their phones anymore. If only I could talk to them… I bet I could sell my story idea.

But their phone message always says the same thing… The best way to reach me is through email. So then we spend hours honing our pitches and crafting irresistible subject lines that make the grade. But for the most part nothing happens. In fact, we’re so used to being ignored even a little crumb from the reporter like a “not interested” is cause for celebration.

Emails vaporize, we’re left out of the media echo chamber. So we try a virtual handshake greeting on Twitter, hoping they reply or RT our tweet.

But there’s a 1-2 punch that could bring surprising results if done with efficiency, honesty and humility.

Say hello to the voicemail-email duo. Next time you email your pitch to a reporter, try placing a call immediately afterwards and let that person know you sent it. State the idea for the story you’re proposing, the time stamp, the subject line and your phone number. Oh, and boil your voicemail down to 30 seconds. You may even want to write a script so you don’t fumble in the rush to meet the 30-second time frame.

You’d be surprised at how often your email gets read and a response shows up in your inbox, oftentimes within minutes of leaving your message.

There are no guarantees you’ll get a message back every time but it’s worth the experiment.

And stand behind your story proposal; that you’re not doing it for the boss or a client. You authentically believe your story carries an important message for readers. You stand behind your conviction that your story idea has teeth.

At WriteCulture I teach PR agency account teams to pitch stories to the media which covers the 1-2 punch.

Next up: what if the reporter answers your call? What should you do?

Written by Shelly · Categorized: Journalism, Pitching Stories, Public Relations, Reporters, Uncategorized · Tagged: journalists, pitching, PR, Public Relations, reporter

Feb 06 2014

How to Bond with Today’s Freelance Journalist: a Q&A with Healthcare and Business Writer James Ritchie

With hybrid expertise on the business and healthcare beats, James Ritchie has earned himself job security at a time when journalism keeps changing. “Business journalism is never going away,” he explains. “People need business information to make decisions.” What’s more, Ritchie says, “I have a broad background in covering healthcare; that’s my competitive advantage.”

Ritchie has more than eight years of experience covering healthcare, including medical practices, health IT, insurance companies and hospitals. After working as a staff reporter for the Cincinnati Business Courier, Ritchie became a full-time freelance writer for a variety of media and corporate clients. He continues to write for American City Business Journals in several capacities.

I asked Ritchie about the role of PR in his day to day work as a journalist.

How has journalism changed for you in the last 3 to 5 years? 

“The pace has changed. Throughout the media world, you see a lot more short pieces on the web to break or update news. Headlines need to scream, ‘Read me!’ Quite a few stories can be told with infographics and bullet points. It’s harder to get and hold people’s attention, and if you’re planning to write a long narrative piece at many publications the bar is very high. It had better be a remarkably interesting story.

“Of course, it depends on your audience too. In the traditional daily newspaper you have sports, business, news, comics, etc. But now a lot of people are reading about what they’re interested in and tuning out nearly everything else. If I own a restaurant, I’ll read a trade publication on restaurants. And if you’re writing on business and particularly in specialized areas – in my case, usually healthcare – you’re more likely to publish the stories of 700 words or more, because the audience is hooked by virtue of the topic.

“But there’s still no room to be boring.”

What makes a great story?

“What I’m going for is something inherently useful to the reader. They’ll take the information and do something with it; it’s not a passing interest.

“There are a lot of ways to tell good stories. News today is often recursive, where one outlet is quoting – and linking to – another. If you can show your readers something interesting or useful in that way then you’ve done them a service. For investigative stories, you often see data journalism, where you’re trying to pick out trends from a big data set. If you can analyze the databases, you can tell stories that you couldn’t have gotten to in the past.

“But there’s still a place for going out and looking people in the eye and getting stories. We have to be careful not to move too far away from that. You need humans to tell the stories.”

How often do you deal with PR professionals? 

“Quite a lot. There are many cases where PR people help me to get in touch with executives, physicians or other sources in their organizations. And I listen to their pitches as long as they’re relevant to something I might write.

“Of course, you can’t respond to everything. A healthcare reporter shows up on all kinds of lists. When I was in a staff reporter job, I would probably get 200 emails a day. But most of them wouldn’t be relevant to me. They may have personalized the email with my name, but it was going to a whole lot of people. One time I got a pitch about a health screening van in a parking lot in Montana. I would delete that.

“Things that are pitched to me specifically, I read.

“I like Help A Reporter Out (HARO); I put queries out. If it’s a hot topic you get a lot of response both from PR contacts and directly from sources.”

What can PR people do to improve their relationship with you?

“Probably the main thing is to focus on the person-to-person relationship. Build a social bond. You might not be best friends, but you can position yourself so your email gets read. Send a sentence or two. Say, ‘I have a story I think you might like.’

“If you can provide an exclusive story that’s in line with what the publication does, that helps. Journalists work hard for exclusives. If a PR person says, ‘I’m going to give this to you first,’ that’s of interest. Barring that, at least bring a new angle.”

Do you value the PR-Journalism relationship?

I value the relationship. If you call an executive at a hospital or large company, in many cases they’ll refer you back to a PR person. The PR person can often get you the access you need. The second thing: They’re there, and people internally are feeding them stories that you might not hear about otherwise.”

James Ritchie image: provided by James Ritchie

 

Written by Laura R. · Categorized: Healthcare PR, Journalism, Pitching Stories, Public Relations, Social Media, Uncategorized · Tagged: article, articles, health, healthcare, journalist, journalists, media, pitch, PR, press, press release, Public Relations, social media

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