1. June 16, 2009

    PR Quotes: How Being Controversial, Despite Being Wrong, Attracts Media Coverage

    Mickie Kennedy on Getting Your Quotes in Press Releases [ 1:14 ] Play Now | Play in Popup

    I follow the television industry. It’s a medium I devote about five minutes a day trying to follow largely by headlines and RSS feeds. Today I saw this headline and had to dig deeper: Big Media Sites Like Hulu “Anti-Consumer, Anti-Media Employees, Anti-America”? (Read more…)

  2. May 14, 2009

    Media Training Can Turn Your Clients and Employees Into PR Experts

    Not every client or employee is equipped to deal with the media on an intimate level. When I was a journalist, public relations contacts would sometimes sit in on interviews I conducted with company executives. In most cases, the public relations department was there to lend support — as either a confidant, or a source of additional information. In other cases, however, it was clear that the executive needed his hand held because he could not handle on-the-fly questioning alone. But media training can help clients and company employees prepare for encounters from journalists and interviewers. (Read more…)

  3. May 12, 2009

    Public Relations Basics: Speak Slowly and Carry a Big Stick

    One of the joys of writing PR Fuel is that it helps me think through my own public relations failings. By putting ideas down on paper — OK, a computer screen — I’ve helped improve my own public relations skills immensely. That’s part of why I’ve come up with a set of rules for dealing with reporters during phone interviews. Hopefully, I can follow them. (Read more…)

  4. May 11, 2009

    Public Relations Basics: Tips for Your First TV Interview

    August is supposed to be a slow month for me, one where I catch up on long-term projects that I’ve managed to ignore for several turns of the calendar. This past August I was interviewed on television four times, a public relations coup. The four interviews — on Bloomberg TV, the BBC, CNBC and CNBC Europe — went off without a hitch. I was well-prepared, well-dressed and ready to tackle the subject at hand. Looking back on last week, here are some lessons that I tried to remember before my interviews, as well as ones that I discovered after the fact. (Read more…)

  5. May 8, 2009

    Public Relations Basics: Preparing for a Media Interview

    Recently, I was transcribing a very casual media interview; it was an amiable chat, even when the questions got tough. Listening to the tape, I was struck by my constant “um’s” and “ah’s.” I came to the interview well-prepared, and I still sometimes sounded as if I didn’t know what I was talking about. There are many potential mistakes even a seasoned public relations consultant can make during the most relaxed media interview. Your responses can be too rapid. (Read more…)

  6. May 1, 2009

    How to Keep Your Public Relations Strategy “On Message”

    A politician gets asked about abortion and the answer somehow comes back to education. They’re asked about tax reform and the answer relates to education. Foreign policy is inexplicably linked to, you guessed it, education. What’s going on here? The politicians are using messaging points, the essential and core elements of an argument or pitch. It’s the message that you want to get across, regardless of the subject. It’s like getting a piece of press on “your terms.” Too often, success in public relations is measured by how much publicity you get. But if the publicity isn’t “on message,” what good is it? (Read more…)

  7. April 21, 2009

    Blind Dates: Preparing for a Media Interview

    If you’ve ever been on a blind date, you know it can be a harrowing experience. You’re thrust into a situation — one you may not even want to be in — and the only information you usually have is second hand. You want to make a good impression — unless you’re trying to get home early — so you have to be prepared. A face-to-face media interview or in-person meeting with a journalist is a lot like a blind date. (Read more…)

  8. April 14, 2009

    Public Relations Basics: Mastering the Television Interview Process

    During my first television interview, the producer had one piece of advice for me: Don’t use profanity. During my second television interview, the producer had another piece of advice for me: Be controversial. Public relations consultants should take both of pieces of advice to heart. But there’s a lot more to an effective television interview. (Read more…)

  9. April 10, 2009

    Perfecting Your PR Pitch

    We see experts quoted in newspapers and magazines every day; journalists rely on third-party sources to offer unbiased opinions or to help sort through facts. The most inexperienced journalist can follow a formula and write a story about, say, computer viruses. However, without an expert to validate the subject, the story will ring hollow. Public relations consultants can help position clients as experts through an “expert pitch.” All it takes is a simple email. (Read more…)

  10. April 7, 2009

    Preparing for a Television Interview

    Recently I appeared live on national television. (Well, it was actually cable, but that’s national now.) Using my experience as an example, this installment of PR Fuel discusses the pros and cons of television-based public relations. Hopefully you’ll be able to take away some tips about how to  get your public relations message on the air, how to prepare for that first television interview, and how to make the most of it once you’re in front of the camera. (Read more…)

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