In my recent interview with Buzz Media’s Elizabeth Pereira and Fritz Chaleff, we discussed the basics of these not-so-basic approaches. Read on to get plenty of attention for your story, using these wise investments of your time and money.
Kelly: When should people consider public relations in their marketing efforts?
Elizabeth: Public relations should be included in every marketing plan you develop…from the start of a new product launch or the publication of a policy. Use it a lot at first to set a mark, then level it out over time. It is also a good tool for handling crises in the future.
For consumer-related messaging, PR really does build credibility quickly: 40-50% of your budget isn’t unreasonable.
Fritz: The traditional view is that product marketing should accompany ads, not PR…and that position and theme launches should use opinion pieces and PR. But actually I see it as the opposite… for example, a good story on NPR will do more than, say, ads. Think of public relations to launch a brand and advertising to maintain it.
Kelly: What advice do you have for someone just learning public relations for their business or organization?
Fritz: PR is a process, it’s not a one-time hit or a magic wand. Just like in networking or social experiences, it takes time to build trust and credibility. So just a press release in a vacuum won’t do it. This is truly a cornerstone. One thing that really helps is planning, even if it’s a year away… you need to think about it now.
In reality, you really need to be thinking and talking internally about it all the time. All of your employees are diplomats and ambassadors for your company. So all internal communications need to be aligned, with policies on whether or how to talk to the press, the general public… talking points are key, as is training. Protect your brand by getting everyone on the same page.
Kelly: So what is one thing you wish your clients would do that would make it easier for you to help them with their advertising efforts?
Elizabeth: Get us into the planning process early on. Clients often sit down early in the year when they get their budget and plan, but don’t bring in their PR team until much later. You need to think about angles and launches early on, and think strategically…not just tactically.
Fritz: Then there’s the media scheduling: If you want to go big in February, keep in mind that you’re competing with the Super Bowl, the Grammys, and the Oscars. Even if you are local and on a smaller scale, there is an annual cycle that you should be aware of.
Elizabeth: There are things you have to plan for, unless you can relate your theme to these things.
Fritz: The other thing is for customers to understand the difference between the story and how it is presented. We had a client who shot themselves in the foot by not allowing the media to ask them about a particularly hot topic: it has to be about what the public wants, not what you necessarily want to say.
Kelly: So how much should a small business budget for public relations if they want to build a regional presence?
Fritz: That’s a great question…and again, it depends on who you’re trying to reach. You have to look at the scope of what you want to do. What is your dream list, and then narrow it down and budget realistically. Earn smart PR dollars and don’t waste your investment. Therefore, television interviews may not be necessary, when radio will be more effective.
Kelly: Let’s talk about radio in a minute. But first, what are SMTs and VNRs…and why are they beneficial for PR campaigns?
Fritz: A video news release (VNR) is a pre-packaged news segment. It looks like anything you’d see on the local news: with a reporter in the field, a voiceover, and it’s edited like it’s a news story. Then send that to any newsroom and they can publish it, like any news. So instead of the station having to go out and cover their story, it’s saving them time and expense. News production has gotten a lot more expensive and the workload on producers has tripled… so this really makes sense because you make their life easier, as long as it’s a balanced piece. You can even make a specific style for a specific network.
The SMT is a Satellite Media Tour. This is doing a series of interviews in a studio, with a satellite link that connects to any affiliate in the country, with a reporter doing 2-3 minute interviews. You’ll hit a dozen or two markets in a couple of hours, which would have cost you a lot more in travel, accommodation, downtime, etc. Smaller businesses don’t tend to go this route (there’s a cost of entry that starts at about $12k), but once you find out what it can do for you nationally, the dollars make sense. You can also use it for local and regional markets, targeting only the audiences you want to reach.
Elizabeth: Yes, if you want to launch something within a state (for example, a new public transportation system in a region), it’s much more efficient. Local elected officials may not have time to tour every station in their market, but they will have time to go into a studio for an hour or two and talk to eight different local or regional stations.
Kelly: Okay, back to the radio. How can radio raise awareness of public relations campaigns?
Elizabeth: Radio is a great option for clients with smaller budgets. Also good to mix with SMT. Radio is a different audience: they tend to be captive and in the car. There are many different types of programs that are very specific, making it easier to reach a specific audience.
Radio is also much cheaper (costs about 50% of SMT) and has a lot of credibility…it’s really a promising tool.
Again, you need a lot of lead time for radio, though it’s less complicated than TV. We recommend 4-6 weeks delivery time to help with orientation and courier. And sometimes radio is better because it’s not a visual story.
Fritz: With radio, you can be so specific in your target demographic…so the more you know about your target audience, you can really focus on how you spend your money.
Kelly: Do you have any thoughts on the difference in effectiveness between a direct radio interview and a direct interview? an audio press release based on the publisher?
Elizabeth: I prefer radio media tours more, because you can attach a person’s name to a story and interact with the presenter…and connect better with the audience to build trust.
Kelly: Do you have a specific PR success story you’d like to share?
Elizabeth: We did a satellite media tour for the National Museum of the American Indian. The launch was a huge success… we had 21 interviews scheduled for the museum director that turned into 91 broadcasts across the country. One place we really helped was by targeting radio stations; many of the ones we found were on Native American reservations.
Kelly: So how should people think about “success”? What are the metrics we should consider for public relations?
Elizabeth: It really depends on what your goal is: to raise public awareness? increase visits to the museum? sell more books? So we provide stats on airtime… and we scramble our streams to see how long they are… and then compare them to ad dollars. The publicity usually ends up being much more expensive than what they put into the tour, not to mention the difference in credibility you get from PR vs. advertisements