KR: How does your news desk manage story selection? How do you decide what to cover and who makes the cut?

My story selection is often determined by a combination of the news flow, main areas of the financial world that I find most compelling and what is most likely to interest our readers. Whether or not their names end up appearing in a story and the timing of the story’s publication can sometimes be up to the editor, not the reporter.

How do you decide who to source in an article? How do you find your sources?

I find sources for my articles through a variety of methods, including through colleagues, pitches by PR reps and by seeing their names in print and on TV elsewhere.

What are you looking for in a pitch from a company?

The most helpful pitches for sources are emails that feature individuals who are directly related to topics I have recently covered. Phone pitches may interrupt reporters on deadline and put them on the spot.

How is your Editor involved in the story and source discussion?

After pitching a story, I often receive guidance from my editor for specific areas to focus on, types of sources to reach out to and ways to make the story more understandable.

What are you looking for in a source, during an interview?

The best interviewees have an in-depth knowledge of the topic at hand, answer questions candidly, don’t veer off topic and are able to succinctly sum up their thoughts in quotable nuggets.

What can frustrate you during an interview with a source?

In general, reporters are often frustrated when sources refuse to answer questions directly and only talk about what they want to talk about. That often won’t help the story and just wastes the time of both reporter and source.

It can also be frustrating when sources, in an effort to avoid being quoted saying something controversial, speak in carefully-worded and vague generalities

What are best practices for interviews with you? How do you wish sources would prepare?

The best sources don’t need to prepare much for an interview besides staying up-to-date on the latest news. It may be helpful to see what, if anything, the reporter and media outlet have covered on the topic in the past.

Want more tips? Make sure to check out my past Media Relations 101 posts here.

Voting closes on Friday at 3 PM ET, so there’s still time to enter! Although it’s not as much time to get votes as the contestant who entered the first day, you’ll quickly see that the power of social media and a creative entry could quickly get you to the top spot. Here are some tips on how to create that winning entry.

Display confidence. Know that you have the experience to win this competition, and determine the best way to show that to the judges. Even if you don’t have as much experience in PR or social media as some of the other contestants, tell us that you’re up for the challenge and share similar experiences to show you have what it takes.

Show your creative side. We love seeing these one-of-a-kind videos, but if you’re going to do a photo, make it something eye catching. It might be corny for me to throw in the phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words,” but it’s really true in this case. Weaving in your personality in these pictures will set you apart. This is definitely a different type of job application than submitting your resume and a cover letter, so take advantage of the opportunity to stand out!

Proofread your entry. Proofing and editing will be a day-to-day task for you at Affect, whether it is an internal email, or a document to send to a client. By sharing a well-written and polished entry, you’re showing us that you’re detail-oriented, which is a characteristic of team members at Affect.

Do your homework. Acknowledge that you’ve researched our agency and want to learn as much as you can. Incorporate this into your entry to get that extra gold star. If you’ve worked with similar clients, share that. If you’ve worked on a project that relates to us, by all means tell us about it. If you have a passion for the industry our clients are in but don’t have the professional experience yet, write about it. Show you’ve done your research.

Understand the power of the judges. I’m sure you all have read the contest requirements front to back, but in case you forgot, the judges have 200 votes to allocate to their favorite entries. This could easily change the entire competition and put a new face in the top six. Keep this in mind when you’re putting together that stellar entry!

I can’t stress enough the importance of sharing with your network. If you think you’ve run out of people to share it with, now is the time to reconnect with old friends, teachers, friends of siblings, friends of friends, anyone to get a few votes! Hand out flyers at school, do a flash mob on the campus green, do anything (that is appropriate, of course!) to turn a few heads to get people to support your entry. It’s crunch time now, so every vote counts.

We can’t wait to see where the last full day of the competition takes us. If you feel you have what it takes to be Affect’s newest employee, now is your chance.

Do you have any questions regarding these contest tips or the NYJP in general? Leave a comment, we’re happy to help you out!

Every week, we like to hold mini-training sessions on everything from insider info from local “meet the media” events to the latest features on social media platforms. It’s a great way for our team members to share their expertise with the broader agency and learn valuable tips to help with the daily grind.

Recently, I had the pleasure of leading a session that’s near and dear to my heart – running a PR campaign. Any successful PR effort requires careful planning, flawless execution and a heavy dose of creativity. And while seasoned communicators know this process like the back of their hands, it’s a tall order (and a lot to juggle) for those newer to profession.

So in an effort to break down the process, I came up with ten words to describe the major activities that go into any basic PR campaign:

1. Plan – Before the campaign begins, it’s critical to have a solid media plan in place. What are the goals and expectations of the campaign? Who’s the target audience? What’s the timing? What assets will you need?

2. Assign – In a team setting, it’s absolutely critical to assign responsibilities to individual team members. Who’s going to 1) write the press release and/or the pitch? 2) create the media lists? 3) be the point person for updates to the internal team and/or the client?

3. Research – Are there stats/trends that could make the pitch more compelling? Who are the relevant reporters/pubs and how will you find them? Is there anything, competitively, that you could tie in to the pitch?

4. Build – Create all of the materials that your team will need, including media list(s), a briefing document outline, talking points for spokespeople and more.

5. Write – Now is the time to put your thinking cap on and draft that press release or media alert, customize your pitches, come up with a unique byline abstract—anything you’ll need to make the campaign a success.

6. Distribute – What’s the best approach for your campaign? Will you distribute news via a wire service? Send the news or story idea to select journalists using a media database? Or, do custom emails make the most sense? What type of media follow-up is appropriate?

7. Communicate – With everyone! Share feedback/challenges/opportunities with fellow team members and managers, and always keep your client informed on progress and next steps.

8. Search (for coverage) – While Google Alerts are useful, go the extra mile and check the pub’s website or look at the reporter’s twitter handle (many reporters tweet out their stories). And if you’re expecting something longer-lead, put a reminder in your calendar to check in at a later date.

9. Recap – It’s also important to document everything you’re seeing or hearing from your contacts – coverage, feedback/interest, requests for follow ups and more. Establish a recap frequency with the client, and stick with it.

10. Measure – Whether you have a simple process in place, or need a more detailed analysis, measure, measure measure! Keep track of the number of articles, interviews conducted, share of voice, notable spokesperson quotes—anything that helps move the mark for your client, and raises the bar for your team the next time around.

While this list isn’t exhaustive (and every campaign is different!), I hope this simplifies the process a bit for people that are just dipping their toes into the PR world. Happy pitching!

A few worst case scenarios (taken directly from my own nightmares):

• You are at Kinkos running copies of your press kit at midnight the day before the show opens. In this situation the copier always jams, the kits look unprofessional and everything ends up costing way more than what you were planning to spend. You show up at the booth the following morning looking haggard and empty-behind-the-eyes.
• You make a shameful visit to a competitor booth during show set-up to borrow sharpies and electrical tape. Pro tip: Should this happen, remember to take off your badge.
• The furniture vendor has no recollection of your order – and therefore no furniture has been delivered to your booth. You’d love to track down the invoice in your inbox, but alas, the exhibit hall has no wireless access.

I think we’ve all been there.

Even if you aren’t physically setting up the booth – maybe you’re handling press or part of the sales team – it’s important to make a list of must-haves before you leave for the show. You should assume that tracking down last-minute items will be complicated and time consuming. It’s critical to expect the unexpected. Remember, the purpose of the show is to build your brand, sell your product, garner media attention and network – you can’t do that effectively without preparation and the right tools.

Here’s a simple list of tradeshow must-haves – personally speaking, this list has maximized my time in the booth while saving me from running all over a new city in a frustrating scavenger hunt. Note: this list will be much more extensive if you are charged with managing all booth logistics and staff.

Public Relations:

• Media list: highlight the contacts that you pitched pre-show for easy reference
• Briefing books: send briefing books electronically to spokespeople before you leave. Bring two physical copies per spokesperson and one master book for yourself
• Map of exhibit hall: highlight the press room and press booths. Bring an extra copy because someone will inevitably borrow (and misplace) yours
• Press releases: bring several physical copies of every release to be issued during the show and organize them for yourself in order of release date. Email yourself electronic versions
• Press kits: ship these to the show at least a week prior. Email yourself a copy (just in case) and additionally bring at least 10 physical copies with you
• Business cards: bring a ton. If you are with an agency, write your client’s name on the cards in advance so the reporter makes the association afterwards
• Reporter ‘wish list’: make a list of reporters that you’d love to meet at the show – use the list as a quick reference for when you are pitching from the show floor

Sales Tools: 

• Booth demo: bring a copy on a USB and email a copy to yourself
• Collateral: ship physical copies of your sales collateral to the booth in advance of the show, and bring a few physical copies with you. Email yourself copies of all
• Partner/customer appointments: Consolidate all bookings into one master document and bring a physical print out to the show with the locations and times for all appointments
• Booth schedule: Create a master list of who will be staffing the booth each day during the show. Slot in breaks for meals and 15 minute “rest” periods
• Giveaways: make sure to ship prior to the show. Personally, I always ship these to myself at the hotel – as a smaller box is more likely to get lost in the shuffle

Vendor Information:

• Vendor invoices: bring a physical copy of every single invoice associated with the show. Additionally, put all of the invoices in a folder in your email inbox for easy access
• Shipping invoices: bring your Fed-Ex and USPS tracking numbers along with the dates and places where items are scheduled to arrive
• Vendor contant information: bring the phone numbers and email addresses of all of the third-party vendors that you worked with for the show (including designers, agencies and logistics suppliers)

Electrical supplies:

• Dongle to connect your computer to the HDMI cable on your LCD: this is particularly important if you have a Mac
• Power strip with multiple plug-ins: bring at least one, more if you think you’ll need it
• Laptop: bring yours and make sure whoever is responsible for the demo has theirs

Office supplies:

• Box of pens
• Box of sharpies
• Blank fed ex shipping forms
• Tape: bring scotch tape + masking/electrical tape
• Stapler and extra staples
• Notebooks
• Post-its
• Scissors
• Shipping information for booth breakdown: you’ll need the address and contact information for anything that will be sent back to your organization

Miscellaneous:

• Business cards: if it’s a large show, consider emailing yourself an electronic version of your card just in case you need to run off additional copies
• Bottled water
• Cough drops
• Gum/mints/hard candy
• Purell hand sanitizer
• Pain reliever (e.g. Tylenol or Advil)
• Coverage on the homefront: make sure someone in the office has your back while you are on-site for last minute shipping or if you need help tracking items down
• Directions to the nearest Kinkos, Staples and Starbucks (trust me on that last one)

Did I forget anything? What’s on your list of tradeshow must-haves?

1.     Keep your media lists current. Even if you’ve got a bulletproof pitch and a rock star spokesperson, you won’t get far working off a stale media list. In addition to making sure you have an updated master list of the usual suspects, keep an eye on who’s covering topics that are tangential to your or your client’s business; often, that’s where unexpected opportunities will surface.

2.     Double-check your stats. In a breaking news situation, a reporter may not have time to interview your client or even follow up on your pitch. It’s not unusual (especially in the case of bloggers or reporters for online publications) for a contact to pull language or information directly from an email pitch and drop it into a story – so make sure you got it right before you hit send.

3.     Confirm your spokesperson. There’s no faster way to burn a good media contact than to promise him or her a plum source for a breaking story, and then pull the rug out because your spokesperson is on vacation, stuck in meetings or otherwise unavailable. A quick phone call to your spokesperson (or his or her assistant) to get a read on his or her schedule before you begin outreach can save you a big headache later.

What are your top tips for pitching during a breaking news event?

Hosted two Social Media Week events
Pitched our mobile & security clients for on-site briefings at both Mobile World Congress and RSA
Attended the hugely successful user group of our client, Kony Solutions
Helped our client INTTRA launch and secure press for their e-invoicing campaign
Secured briefings and coverage around a client’s major new acquisition
Managed Digital Signage Expo for one of our clients, including everything from booth design to securing on-site briefings
Kicked off with some fabulous new clients!
Survived speaking and awards season!
Prepped for the launch of our contest, The New York Job Project!

A huge thanks to all of our team members, vendors and clients that we worked with to make the above possible. And now onwards to March!

Powered by Strutta, an interactive promotions company offering an intuitive contest builder, interested candidates can submit a compelling video or photo entry to the NYJP website by April 12, 2013, describing why they should be Affect’s newest hire.

Candidate entries are then posted to the site, where fans can vote for their favorite. The voting will remain open for six weeks, during which Affect encourages candidates to share their entries via social media to solicit as many votes as possible.

By sharing their entry with their networks, the top six entries with the most votes will move forward to next round interviews. Six semi-finalists will be determined by number of votes from the public and the top three finalists will be chosen by a panel of esteemed judges. This year’s judges include Tiffany Guarnaccia, senior director of communications at Huffington Post Media Group, Mark Ragan, CEO and publisher of PRDaily.com and Ragan.com and Lea-Ann Germinder, president of PRSA-NY, as well as Affect executives Sandra Fathi and Katie Creaser.

The winner of the contest will receive a full-time, salaried position as an Account Coordinator at Affect. As an Account Coordinator, the winner will have the opportunity to contribute as a core team member on client accounts, support media relations and work on social media programs and become a fully integrated member of the team.

The winner will be announced the week of April 29, 2013.

We look forward to seeing your entries! Good luck!

You can access a recording of Sandra’s presentation here (registration required) and view her slides on Slideshare. Thanks to all who attended and to Critical Mention for hosting – happy blogging!

As communications professionals, we look at these situations and think what’s the next step? How would we resolve this issue and recover from its reputational impact? The following mishaps serve as reminders of what not to do to be a successful PR pro in 2013. 

Be Sensitive in Times of Tragedy

It’s always exciting to see a story hijacking or trend intervention opportunity that is the perfect place for your spokesperson to comment, but it’s of utmost importance to be sensitive with particular news stories. No matter where you were located during Hurricane Sandy, everyone was aware of the devastation that slammed the East Coast. Very soon after the storm hit, I received an email from American Apparel encouraging me to take advantage of a 20% off sale if I happened to be “bored” during the storm. This may have seemed like a good opportunity initially, but tying a promotional message to a devastating tragedy was viewed as insensitive, and resulted in a lot of backlash. Do your research and identify the situations where you need to be most sensitive.

Keep Personal Opinions Under Wraps

When it comes to representing a company via public comments or appearances, it’s typically best to check personal opinions at the door. The Ken Coleman Show maybe wasn’t the best place for Dan Cathy, president and COO of Chick-fil-A, to make his objection to gay marriage known. While there is an appropriate way to incorporate personal opinions, make sure your spokesperson has solid media training. Walk through which topics are appropriate and which should be avoided. If your spokesperson hasn’t had a media briefing in a while, suggest a quick refresher so they are ready to respond to any curveball questions.

Be Aware Of The News

Hours after we all learned about the tragic Aurora shooting in July, The National Rifle Association tweeted “Good morning, shooters. Happy Friday! Weekend Plans?” Apparently, the individual who posted the tweet was unaware of the previous events in Colorado, which is a perfect example of why you should be aware of the news before you make a remark on social media, whether it pertains to a tragedy or not. Make it a daily to-do to look at the news a few times a day, and set up the appropriate Google alerts so you are in the loop with the news, industry specific or not!

Ask For Public Feedback If It Will Be Primarily Positive

McDonald’s launched a Twitter campaign in January that asked users to tweet their favorite #McDStories. Little did they know that this seemingly harmless campaign turned into an area for people to post their personal complaints and terrifying stories related to their McDonald’s experiences. If you have a spokesperson that is active on social media, be sure they are careful when asking for opinions of their followers. While increasing engagement is a common priority, cater your opportunities to engage with users to solicit positive engagement.

Which PR “disasters” did you learn from in 2012?

1. Stop Working. Stop working on the things that don’t contribute directly to the success of your business. In other words, if you are wearing 10 hats at work that include, sales, marketing, accounting, human resources, operations, etc., figure out how you can delegate or outsource these items and perhaps gain an additional 30% of  your work week back. Maybe you’ll use that time to develop new products, focus on driving revenue or even, take some time off. This is the time for you to plan how to work smarter, not harder.

2. Spend More. Earn More. Although many businesses look at this time of year to tighten budgets, it’s also a good time to evaluate which expenses are helping you grow your business and which ones are just keeping the lights on. If you know that hiring another sales person would increase your revenue and cover the costs of the new hire, that’s where you need to invest. If you saw an uptick in sales after last year’s trade show, plan to increase the number of shows you attend. If your employees seem happier and more productive now that you offer free meals at work, keep the food coming.

3. Experiment. If you are rolling in the dough and completely satisfied with your business, well then, why try anything new? But, if you are like most entrepreneurs, you never feel truly satiated. Take a good look at your businesses and figure out what you could be doing that you are not doing and set aside some financial and human resources to experiment with. This may be an investment in new product or service development, direct marketing, social media or some other activity that could provide a significant payoff if done right. Stagnation is the kiss of death for most businesses so constantly experimenting and finding new opportunities can lead to new revenue sources, productivity increases or cost deflection.

4. Execute. Execute. Execute. If you ask, most CEOs will tell you that they know exactly what needs to be done in order for them to be more successful. The problem is that the business plan gathers dust instead of being executed. Make this year the year of action. Take the business plan out of the filing cabinet and focus everyday on bringing it to fruition. Allocate the time, team and money to make it happen – including aggressive deadlines – and hold yourself and everyone in your company accountable.

5. Meet Your Future Customers. It’s true that it takes more effort to bring in a new customer than to keep an existing customer but, your business can’t expand unless you are constantly ringing the new business bell. Moreover, with natural customer attrition, your business may actually shrink if you are only keeping your current customers satisfied. If you don’t have a plan for new customer acquisition, you need to get one today. Short-lead direct marketing emphasizes trackable, measurable results that call on your prospects to take action now. Long-lead tactics like public relations can help plant a seed of awareness so that prospects will call on you when they are ready to make a purchasing decision. Whether your budget is large or small, there are so many channels to help you reach your target audience that it should never be an obstacle.

I hope these tips help you achieve your 2013 business goals – which I assume you have already set. And if you haven’t, that’s recommendation number 6: Set Your Goals.  And when you meet them, raise the bar even further.

Photo Credit: Tarale