5 Tips for Great Story Angles

Journalists hate receiving generic story angles – it is essential to research the publication and the type of readers before you contact the journalist with your story idea.

1. Brainstorm using the newspaper or trade journal.
Get into the habit of reading your paper with a notebook and pen in hand. Scan the headlines of each section and ask yourself, “What is in the news today that ties in with what I want to promote?”

2. Use surveys to craft solid story ideas
The media views quantitative data as newsworthy, accurate, and sidebar-friendly. Launch a survey, or piggyback on survey results that relate to your industry to create a strong story.

3. Listen to questions your clients and customers ask you
Are you suddenly hearing lots of people asking the same question? A trend may be starting that you can tie into.

4. Read trade publications to spot industry trends
What is the buzz in your trade publications? What are new developments in your field? Use your access to this information to shape a story.

5. Find story ideas in the course of your daily routine
Keep a notebook and pay attention to story-worthy events that pop up in the course of your day. You’ll be surprised at how many arise.

Why Use PR?

 I often get asked why PR? What can PR do for my business that advertising or marekting can’t.  Whether you are a small business, start-up company, or simply expanding into a new country or geographical area, PR is an important tool for you. Here is what I think…

Credibility – Public relations holds a powerful position in the communications suite. One of the major impacts of PR is media relations, which assists you in achieving editorial coverage. People in your target market may see editorial as an independent and objective evaluation of your company. Due to the perceived objectivity of editorial coverage, PR is said to hold more credibility than other forms of marketing communication. Editorial coverage is trusted more than running an advertisement.

Cost Effectiveness – Public relations can be less expensive than other forms of paid communication, even if you hire an external public relations agency rather than performing this task in-house. Whilst you are paying for the services of a PR specialist, what you are achieving in the way of media coverage and changes in public perception may have otherwise cost you much more.

Exposure – Media coverage achieved through PR is likely to be more extensive than that which you would achieve through advertising, given a similar budget. Specialist PR people know which media to target for which message (and often have cultivated incredible contacts), what content the media want, when to pitch them which story and what is the best way to deliver your message.

Flexibility – Public relations has the benefits of being flexible in message content and being responsive to news. A skilled PR professional can turn around media releases in reaction to news or crisis situations within hours.

Should you hire a PR agency?

A public relations campaign can help your business enormously and it doesn’t have to be expensive. You basically have two choices when it comes to a PR campaign: you can either do it yourself or hire a public relations agency.

Assuming you can afford it, and assuming the agency is reputable, you can gain much by working with a PR agency.

An agency may be able to pinpoint those aspects of your business which would make it interesting to various publications, for instance. It can also allow you to focus on your day-to-day operations, and handle much of the work involved in running an efficient campaign.

Of course, there are disadvantages to using an agency, as well. First, it can cost quite a bit. You may be too small to justify the expense of using a PR agency.

Second, you will lose some control over your promotional efforts. Although the agency can do a great deal of work toward promoting your business, you do need to stay involved in the whole promotional process.

Even with these possible disadvantages, however, if you do not feel that you have the time and skill to organise a successful publicity campaign, it is better for you to seek competent, professional advice than to fumble with your public relations efforts.
Once you have decided to hire an agency to handle your public relations, you must determine which agency will provide the best service for your account.

10 tips for virtual meetings

To assist you to maximise your video conferencing experience, here are some tips from industry expert, Carol Daunt, on professional presentation and etiquette during virtual meetings:

Wear standard business clothes, though “busy” patterns should be avoided – as these will blur and make the picture “fuzzy” – and pastel colours are better than white. Also, avoid bright, flashy jewellery as it can reflect the light and be distracting to other meeting participants.

Consider the image to be conveyed (e.g. business suit for formality, or casual clothes for a more-relaxed atmosphere), and think about whether it is more appropriate to sit or stand for the meeting – bearing in mind that leaning back in the chair looks informal, while sitting or standing tall appears more formal.

Do not walk around during a presentation so participants remain in-shot at all times. Instead, participants should sit or stand in a comfortable position, with their support materials nearby.

Set the camera to a medium shot , with the key participant/s in the centre of the screen and some space visible around the perimeter. This will allow facial expressions and personality to be conveyed effectively, but prevent inadvertent movements out-of-shot.

Where there is an audience at the same site, participants should avoid concentrating solely on their on-site audience. Adopting the approach of regularly scanning past the screen displaying the other site/s – and speaking directly to it at times – will maximise the collaboration experience.

Use a range of graphics to support a presentation – simply being a “talking head” does not engage remote meeting participants. Leveraging a document camera to display small objects and graphics such as text, diagrams and photos, or transmitting presentations via computer, will have more of an impact.

Break down long presentations into 10-15 minute segments, with space in between for questions and comments, to prevent other participants from “drifting off” and losing concentration.

When presenting to several sites, it is a good idea to appoint a leader at each location to distribute material and organise participants to ask questions, in order to save time. (Where numerous sites are connected, a limitation of one question per site may need to be set upfront.) Each reply to a question or comment from a remote site should be made looking directly at the screen, so it appears to be a personal response to the party who posed it.

The microphone/s in the room will pick up and amplify sound so meeting participants do not need to raise their voices or shout to be heard, no matter how remotely the other participants may be located. Instead, it is important to concentrate on speaking clearly and distinctly – as mumbling does not transmit well through microphones – and to vary pitch and the pace of delivery to avoid sounding monotone.

These are from Carol Daunt from LearnTel, a leading provider of training and consultancy for the application of collaborative communications technologies.