Walter Ocner attended PR Newswire and MultiVu’s Media Luncheon today. His guest blog follows. Thanks, Walter!
PR Newswire hosted a fascinating seminar in midtown Manhattan this afternoon which I was fortunate to attend. The focus was to give a behind-the-scenes look at Fox Business Network and hear from the people who decide what goes on the air. Moderated by Andrew Meranus, Director of Agency Vertical at PR Newswire, the panel consisted of Andrew Hoffman, Executive Producer at Fox Business; Ray Hennessey, Director of Business News; Cheryl Casone, Business Correspondent and Pippa Bark, Business Producer (Money for Breakfast). The room was filled to capacity and the conversation was lively and informative.
Fox Business went on the air October 15, 2007 after months of anticipation and fanfare. Reaching more than 30 million subscribers, the channel has strived to, as Ray Hennessey noted, “Be the business news channel you watch with the sound on!” The aim was to create a channel that brought Wall Street to Main Street and make the message engaging and understandable for the average listener. The channel has aggressively staked its mark on the media landscape by taking the best talent away from other networks, going after offbeat and non-traditional financial stories and being more open to ideas from outside.
Much of the session covered helpful tips and advice on how to pitch the channel. Key points were:
- Know who you are pitching to. If you are sending an email blast, make sure that you have read what you are sending and it is relevant to that reporter. Useless, generic emails that appear to be part of a blast pitch will not only get deleted, but will cause you to be automatically deleted by the reporter whenever your email appears.
- Pitch stories that can help people make, spend or save money. These are the types of stories that they want and will get the most attention.
- Personalize the story. The producers/bookers/reporters will not consider anyone for an on-camera segment unless they can see or hear the person beforehand. They want to see how the person looks and performs on-camera. Television is a visual medium. If they are an “expert” then they must have appeared somewhere before.
- Make the pitch short and sweet. Two or three sentences that tell the story and the person being pitched, with video or background links are best. Anything longer will get deleted.
- Pitching the website is the same as pitching the channel. There is no difference. An on-camera segment can make the website, and a good web story can lead to an on-camera segment.
- Pitch Fox Business through their bookers and associate producers. This is the most effective way to establish initial relationships within the channel.
- Familiarize yourself with the channel, the shows and style before pitching. Nothing is more annoying than people who pitch to the wrong show and are not familiar with the subjects covered.
Other tidbits given were:
- Read the on-air talents’ blogs. Most of the on-air talent host blogs and they give insight on what is top-of-mind. Referencing a particular post can be a good way to get a dialogue started. Ray says that unlike their competitors, they consider blogs to be news sources and are a source of breaking news. He feels blogs can provide a more honest and un-sanitized viewpoint and they have covered them on the channel.
- Be honest about where your interview guest is appearing. Nothing is worse than booking a guest on Fox Business and then the same person appears on multiple outlets that same day without their knowledge. If your spokesperson will appear on other shows or channels, full disclosure is in order. More often than not, the segment will go on as scheduled. If there is no disclosure, the segment can be cancelled and the guest as well as the PR agency can be permanently blacklisted.
- Statistics and studies are welcome. They are always interested in any studies and statistics that come out. If they can be presented in a visual way then there is a better chance of the story being covered.
Finally, no story is too small or quirky that they wouldn’t be interested in hearing about it. If a company has an innovative solution but is considered a “penny stock” on the stock exchange, they will cover them if they find the story compelling enough. They are about building and maintaining relationships that will help them maintain their competitive edge as well as provide them with a resource pool that is reliable and available when they need it. It is this kind of thinking that not only benefits the PR practitioner but also illustrates a clear understanding and appreciation of the symbiotic relationship between PR and the media.
–Walter Ocner
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