Alan Weinkrantz PR Web Log

Free White Paper: Welcome to the World of Social Media. Have You Shown Up?

If your company doesn’t have a social media strategy in place, you’re getting left behind.

Just as websites were the new thing in the early 90s, social media platforms can be an effective communications medium for companies to get the word out about their products, services, the marketplace, and more.  And it’s working – journalists, analysts, and customers are taking notice.

Download the rest of the story here:

Download social_media_white_paper.doc

Photo shot on location at Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi by Alan Weinkrantz (c) 2008

Free White Paper: 10 PR News Year's Resolutions for 2008

Here’s a list of 10 New Year’s Resolutions you should put into place for the new year.

You can download the white paper here:

Download 10_pr_news_years_resolutions_for_2008.pdf

If you have any others, send them along to me – alan@weinkrantz.com

How To Write A Press Release

What's the best way to start writing a press release?

Start with the basics.

Ask your team to fill out the questionnaire below.

It will get you all on the same page, will rank your priorities in terms of what you want to accomplish and most of all will help you stay focused on getting your message in line.

Download news_release_input_form.pdf

Photo by Alan Weinkrantz - shot on location at the Getty Villa(c) 2008 All Rights Reserved

More and More of My Pitches Are Being Sent Through Feedback Forms

The notion of spamming journalists with story ideas and pitches is becoming less and less effective.

I find myself being much more selective in who I pitch - and more important, how I pitch.

Aside from pitching through Facebook, I find myself sending more pitches directly journalists through feedback forms such as the one above.

Take the case of gadget blogger, Ben Patterson with YahooTech.

Want to reach Ben? 

Best way to do this is through the feedback form. 

Make sure you specify why you are contacting him by noting in the subject matter under "Story Tip."

Is Your Media Supply Chain Aligned?

This post was inspired by a friend of mine who asked me if I could help him build a list of journalists he could reach out to and pitch a story idea to.

I politely explained to him that just making a list isn't going to cut it any more than just having a few great contacts would work with and pitch.

You have to think of your potential "list" of bloggers, analysts and journalists as a supply chain.  As with the process of building anything - be it a product, a service or just the germ of an idea, you need to have your supply chain in line.

I will be writing further on this concept later in the month.

You may download the illustration above here:

Download media_supply_chain.pdf

How to Search for And Leverage the Power of Editorial Calendars

Editorial calendars are a simple and straightforward way to generate media coverage for your company.

We use them to pitch story ideas when they are related to specific subject matter that our clients have an expertise in.

The best way to find editorial calendars? 

Go to the publication's web site. 

Here is an example of InformationWeek's Editorial Calendar for 2008

• Once you find a relevant subject matter, send a short email to the editorial contact who is writing the story.  Do not (repeat- do not) send attached files, previous releases, artwork, etc.  Just send a short pitch.
• Start your pitch off with something like:  Hi Joe, I noticed that your February 2008 cover story will be on _____.  Our company, _____ is a leading provider of ____.  We can provide you with interesting product and technology information, plus we have recently briefed several leading analysts who could provide further insight on the subject.
• Offer application stories, real world applications of your technology. 
• Have your press room at the web site up and ready to go with current content, photos, illustrations and any type of material the publication could use to easily develop the story using and crediting your company as the source.
• As you are sending the email, you might try calling the journalist and seeing if you can reach him / her in real time.  I find that more and more, most of our outbound calls wind up hitting voice mail.  Actually, I tend to prefer voice mail so that I can leave a short messaging saying to watch for an email from me in regards to this editorial calendar item. 
• Another way to reach a journalist for an editorial calendar pitch is through Facebook.  Yes, Facebook.  I am finding Facebook to be a very good way to send short pitches.

Five Ways Social Networking is Changing PR

Blogger buddy, Kami Watson Huyse, has a very good post on what she called Five Ways Social Networking is Changing PR.

If you are trying to figure it out, or just get your arms around how Social Media is really changing our business, Kami points to 5 trends including:

1. Flattening Hierarchy
2. Time Shifting
3. Virtual Connections
4. Digital Tools
5. Convergence

Worth Reading!

Free White Paper: The Art of Telling Your Story to the Media, Industry Analysts and Bloggers

Crafting a message that is compelling is much more an art than a mechanical process.

This was part of a message I recently took to current and potential clients in Israel, during my seminar held on July 8, hosted by BusinessWire / Israel.

The seminar was geared towards CEOs and VPs of Marketing at leading Israeli high-tech and bioscience companies and covered topics including how to create a message that resonates with a company’s many audiences, such as the media, customers, and industry analysts. 

Download the rest of the white paper below:

Download the_art_of_telling_and_selling_your_story_to_media.pdf

Photo of Tel Aviv by Alan Weinkrantz (c) 2007 All Rights Reserved

BusinessWire Offers Webinar on SEO and Social Media

BusinessWire is offering a free webinar later today so you can learn more about Learn more about EON: Enhanced Online News -- Business Wire's suite of services, some new and some already available, which improve the online display, availability and interactivity of your news release turning that page of content into a direct-to-consumer online marketing tool for your company's products and services.

In this webinar you will learn how to:

• Get FREE Search Engine Optimization on your Business Wire release.

• Use the latest tools to find the best keyword phrases being searched online.

• Incorporate social media links and tags into your news release.

• Utilize the wire to reach out directly to your customers using new media.

Title:  EON:Enhanced Online News Webinar
Date:  Friday, August 10, 2007
Time:  noon - 1:00 pm CT

Systems Requirements

PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.3.9 (Panther®) or newer
Click here to Reserve your Webinar seat

See you there!

Focus on Being a Story Teller

There's way too much news.

Your publics have way too many options in which they consume their news.

And chances are, your news isn't really reaching your intended publics.

So how do you break through the clutter?

Think about becoming a story teller.

What's your story?

Send me an email to alan at weinkrantz  dot and let me hear about your story, or the challenges you face in telling yours.

Photo shot on location in San Miguelle de Allende, Mexico by Alan Weinkrantz (c) 2007

Pitching (And Getting Coverage in) "The Wall Street Journal" Takes Time, Creativity and A Willingness for Patience

Last October, I made a pitch to Mort Meyerson, former President of EDS and Perot Sytems, and to Ben Trowbridge, President and co-founder of Alsbridge, an outsourcing consulting firm.

The goal, of course, was to win their business, which I did.

In the pitch, I was going through sample media coverage we had generated for thought leaders that we'd worked and I showed them an example of how we worked with IP Communications innovator, Jeff Pulver. 

I politely explained to Mort that while it was certainly an impressive feat to get Jeff profiled in The Wall Street Journal, the reality was that our team spent almost one year working with several Journal reporters in the concept and development of what became a great story and great exposure for Jeff.

I also demonstrated how I've personally been quoted in the Journal as a source for my other blog, 3Screens.

Multiple Approaches and Multiple Pitches...

The fact of the matter is that we tried several approaches, with multiple pitches for Alsbridge and its leader, Ben Trowbridge. 

I knew there was something to the Alsbridge story in their approach with re-inventing the whole way outsourcing was being done, coupled with the interesting personalities of Mort and Ben.  Mort is a hugely successful businessperson who's morphed into other businesses and does some pretty interesting philanthropic work through his Morton H. Meyerson Family Tzedakah Fund.  Ben is a former Marine and a straight-shooting, very exacting businessperson who keenly developed a sense for what made for good press. 

Being persistent and being a regular Journal reader, I finally tracked down one of the reporters, Jim Carlton, who happened to be doing a story on EDS and its Agility Alliance program.

I Didn't Pitch Our Client; I Offered to Help the Reporter Who Needed An Expert Source For A Related Story.

Rather than pitching Alsbridge, I offered Ben as possible source for insight and comments to the story.  Ben knew EDS well, having been a former executive at the company and working with EDS as an outsourcing provider to Ben's own clients.

Three months into the dialog of going back and forth with Jim, he finally interviewed Ben.

Even While on Vacation, I Still Worked the Story.

I happened to be in Moscow on vacation with my family when Jim reached out to me and I coordinated the interview. 

With the help of a few time zones, support from Alsbridge's VP, Jeff Anderson, and my handy BlackBerry, it all fell into place.   

Yes seven months into the pitch, and finally the coverage.  See the story below.  Ben's quote is on page 3 / paragraph 7.

Download hire_eds_get_microsoft_oracle_sun... - WSJ.com.pdf

Don't Forget to Register For My Upcoming PR/Social Media Seminar in Tel Aviv on Sunday, July 8

We still have a few seats left for my PR Seminar in Tel Aviv on July 8 that will focus on integrating Blogging and Social Media into your communications strategies. 

Representatives from BusinessWire will also be presenting at the event which takes place at the David Intercontinental Hotel.

If you are a CEO or VP of Marketing of a high tech company, and want to learn more, please contact Joan Weinberg in Tel Aviv at 03-575-5448 / jow at internet-zahav dot net.

Here is the news release in English which ran today on BusinessWire:

Download businesswire_event_news_release_2_final.doc

Here is the release in Hebrew which ran in the Israel media:

Download june_27_07_bw_events_news_release224_hrs24_juneheb__2_.pdf

According to Rubel, The Future of PR is Participation, Not Pitching

Steve Rubel has a great post as he articulates so well:  The Future of PR is Participation, Not Pitching.

Worth Reading....

Free White Paper: How to Work With Bloggers as Part of Your Media Outreach Strategies

Do you have a blogging outreach strategy in place?

If not, you should.

Start thinking about a blogging strategy as you begin to enter the second half of 2007.

Download this free white paper to learn more.

Download working_with_bloggers.pdf

The New Information Dissemination Cycle

The illustration below from Monitor 110 illustrates the new information dissemination cycle. 

While the illustration is focused on the financial investment community, the principles about reaching industry ecosystems through blogging and social media clearly point to the need to be "found" by journalists, analysts and other thought leaders who influence media coverage.

I will be speaking more about this at my PR and Social Media seminar in Tel Aviv on July 8.

So Who Are Your Publics?

Every organization has numerous “publics.” To figure out who your “publics” are, think about who has a role in helping your organization achieve its goals and objectives.

The most obvious “public” or target audience for public relations is the customer or prospect. But there are many others who play roles in your success: suppliers, strategic partners, resellers, integrators, venture capitalists, bankers, end users, educators, competitors, investors, employees and their families, and the community in which you do business, as examples.

Even if you have a tightly defined customer market for your products and services, don’t underestimate the importance of raising awareness of your company and your products and services within each of your target audiences.

Public relations can take many forms, for example:

    • PR can highlight new or improved products and services and promote them to customers or potential customers.
    • It can announce changes within your organization.
    • It can be informative and instructive.
    • It can address industry issues and offer your company’s position.
    • It can highlight applications and the successes of your customers.
    • It can inform the industry and the business community of alliances and strategic decisions.
    • It can acknowledge and promote the local interests of your workforce. 
    • It can spark interest among potential investors or provide assurance to bankers, investors, and business partners you already have.

Let’s examine the roles of these “publics” in assuring your company’s success.

    • Customers buy your products and create cash flow for your company. Making and keeping customers is your ultimate reason for being in business.
    • The larger business community and others in your industry are attuned to changes in your organizational structure and in new hires. Key personnel changes or structural realignments can signal the direction your company is taking, its growth status, and its position in the industry. Attracting new talent to your company is a statement of achievement and stability and reflects your strategic planning. Name recognition can also spark a desire on the part of investors and prospects to investigate your company or look at it anew.
    • Likewise, the strategic alliances and partnerships you forge can tell your publics a lot about the strength and direction of your company and can attract investors, customers, and other potential partners.
    • Informative PR can help educate your many publics about the kind of business you are in, the issues your company or industry niche are dealing with, technological innovations, applications for your product or service, and your company’s or product’s position in the marketplace. It can also correct misapprehensions about your company or business and get your side of an issue before your publics in a positive way.
    • Your customers may appreciate being highlighted in a broader industry venue or to have a particular element of their operations receive recognition.

For example, a hospital’s IT department might not get much attention in the traditional medical press, but its innovations can be applauded in a specialty IT industry forum. This reflects well on the hospital and its employees and on you.
    •  Employees like to see the company they work for headlined in local or industry media. It fosters pride and helps them feel a part of their local community and the industry. Raising awareness of your company in the community means when the employee says, “I work for XYZ  Corporation,” their friends and families have an idea what that means. Being known as a good place to work is a valuable commodity.
    • PR in the communities in which you do business positions your company as a good corporate citizen. People like to do business with others who share their interests and concerns and those who give back to the communities in which they operate.  Employees also take pride in working for companies that support their communities. It’s a wining situation and one that your company can justifiably take pride in and talk about.

So don’t think of PR as simply a way to push your product or service.

Strategic PR is a versatile, flexible, and creative tool to package and deliver your company’s well-defined and managed message to your many audiences.

The more they know about you, the more effectively they can help you achieve your organization’s’ goals. 

Friday's Tech PR True Confession #5: "We Work For the Media, The Analysts, The Bloggers, and Not for You.

This week, I am making a daily entry confessing to the realities of what we do in serving our clients and pitching new business.

Got any confessions of your own?  Send them along to me at: alan@weinkrantz dot com.

Confession #5 for Friday, April 6  "We work for the media, the bloggers, and analysts and not for you."

1. OK....this one is sure to get me into big trouble.  Yes, we work for the media, the bloggers and industry analysts who could and should cover your company.

2.  Our job is to be of help and service to this community so they can produce compellig and interesting content about compelling, interesting, and hopefully disruptive companies like yours.

We don't shove our clients down their throat and push them to write. 

We pitch good ideas with substance, trends, research, end user stories, real customers, and real data that supports what our clients are doing and why they matter.

4.  Our job is to help this community do their job, even when it means that it does not directly result in getting coverage.

5.  Sometimes, we recommend briefings, just to bring a journalist up to speed in an industry segement.  Maybe they will use the information; maybe they won't.  It's really ok.  In almost 25 years of doing this PR thing, I have learned that working for the media, the analysts and the bloggers, winds up working for our clients.

 

Tuesday's Tech PR True Confession #2: "Much of what we do is by discovery..."

This week, I am making a daily entry confessing to the realities of what we do in serving our clients and pitching new business.

Got any confessions of your own?  Send them along to me at: alan@weinkrantz dot

Confession #2 for Tuesday, April 3:  "Much of what we do is by discovery."

Or put another way, we'll figure it out as we go along.

1. As good as I think we are at what we do, I firmly believe that you have to allow for the principle of discovery as a PR program evolves.

Sometimes, we try things that just strike a chord and resonate.

Then, we know we are on to something. 

And sometimes, we get a blank stare at the receiving end when we pitch.  (Time to adjust the message...)

2.  Yes, we do strategic plans, but they are just that:  they are plans. 

And plans change. 

So be flexible.  Be patient.

And be sustainable in your PR outreach efforts.

3.  Sometimes our clients compete in markets, but most of the time we help create new ones. 

It's not Coke vs. Pepsi. 

It's about our client creating a new market, or disrupting one.

And when you are creating a new market, you sometimes just have to figure some things as you execute. 

This is not to say we execute with reckless abandon.  By keeping our eyes and ears to ground and listening to the feed back we get from journalists, bloggers and analysts, we can adjust when and if we need to.

I tell the client to be: 

'Don't hire us because our initial plan is so good. 

Hire us because we believe in the principle of discovery.

Monday's PR Confession #1: "No, we're not personal friends with everyone at CNN, WSJ, NYT, Reuters, etc."

This week, I am making a daily entry confessing to the realities of what we do in serving our clients and pitching new business.

Got any confessions of your own?  Send them along to me at: alan@weinkrantz dot com.

Confession #1 for Monday, April 2: "No, we're not personal friends with everyone at CNN, WSJ, NYT, Reuters, etc."

When making new business presentations, I am always very clear about one thing:  yes, we have good contacts, but the truth is that we're only as good as our last pitch to that particular contact. 

1. Just because we got client "x" a story in The Wall Street Journal, does not mean we will do likewise for you.

2. The "media" is a huge marketplace. Yes, we have connections and good relationships in place, but don't expect us to know everyone on a personal basis.  Large agencies and boutique firms alike have the same issue.  We are only as good as our last pitch.

3.  I would rather you let us cultivate a relationship with a great story idea to pitch, rather than your thinking that we can call someone up shove a story down their throat.

4.  No, we are not going to call someone up to see if they got our press release.  Huge No-No.  If we have something important to pitch, we'll pitch it before it goes on the wire service or via emails we might send to the media.

I tell the client to be: 

'Don't hire us because you think we are so connected.

Hire us because we're really creative and very good at what we do."

Why You Really Don't "Need" Media, Blogger, or Analyst Contacts in Order to Do Effective PR

Usually, the first thing we are asked from a prospective client is this:  "do you have the right connections and contacts in the media in order to get our story out?"

Good question, but not the right one to start off with.

Are we connected? Yes.  But if your message isn't right, it's not going to matter.

Do we know a lot of analysts, bloggers and journalists? Of course.  But we are only as good as our last contact with them. 

Oh...and with thousands of possible candidates to work with, it's a huge universe, and no agency no matter how large or small is going to have relationships with every possible person who may cover your company.

And one more issue:  journalists, analysts and bloggers are deluged with pitches, requests, story ideas, and proposals to look at the next big thing. 

But "knowing" someone does not always make us successful.  What matters is this:

1.  Be patient.  Journalists, analysts and bloggers are busy and backlogged.  You are better off cultivating the relationship and helping the journalist write something interesting, relevant, timely and perhaps even exclusive.

2.  Be timely.   Send out news on the day you announce something and it's old news. In other words, send your news out early, before its live, under embargo to selected journalists.

3.  Sustain. Counting on one announcement to make you famous is not going to happen.  We find that on-going outreach results in longer-term and media coverage of substance.

4. Populate your newsroom with timely and interesting content. Have a newsroom with screen shots, white papers, executive bios, and of course your most recent news releases.  Also, don't forget to have media contacts listed with contact info so you can be found when they need you.

5.  Consider blogging.  This is a great way to have journalists find your company's human face and quote your executives who are blogging.

Photo copyright (C) 2007 by Alan Weinkrantz.  All Rights Reserved.

Contributed Stories Lead to a Position of Thought Leadership

We've been working with our client, Waves Audio, in placing contributed stories on technical-related web sites who specifically target design engineers interested in emerging audio technologies.

Here is a contributed story in DSP Design Line.

Working with the journalist, developing the story, making sure the content is fresh and exclusive to the publication- and most of all- ensuring targeted information for a specific readership are all factors to keep in mind.

Also, because of the volume of pitches and story proposals journalists receive you should allow a 2 - 3 month turn around in making the initial outreach, writing, editing, follow up and general backlog to seeing your contributed story appear.

How to Prepare for Tradeshows and Events

If you are exhibiting at a major tradeshow, make sure you contact the tradeshow organizer 90 days in advance of the show in order to maximize your potential for media coverage before, during and after the event.

Here is an example what the CTIA Show that takes place in March offers PR firms and companies in order to support your media relations efforts.

Tradeshow organizers work hard to help their exhibitors maximize media coverage from the reporters, bloggers, and industry and financial analysts who attend these types of venues.

Make sure that before you launch a product or service or make a company announcement you do your homework in advance.

Most tradeshow organizers aggressively recruit print, online and broadcast news organizations from business, consumer, entertainment, telecommunications and IT beats.

And leading up to the show, most tradeshow organizers distributes press releases and media alerts announcing keynotes, important conference sessions, major exhibits, special events and other "official" activities surrounding the show.

With all the advance planning you do, make sure you are registered as the right media representative so you can be sure to get the pre-registered press list. 

Highly Recommended

10 Questions To Ask Before You Update Your Messaging for 2007

So we are off to a new year.

Don’t forget that your business deserves some attention and follow up to your New Year’s resolutions.

One of the most important things to do as we move forward in this new year is examine the core messages of your business: your purpose and mission, your marketing slogans, your PR boilerplate — all your statements about who you are, what business you’re in, what you stand for, and how you relate to your various publics.

Here are a few questions to which you should seriously ask and if need be, update and refresh your message:

1.   Has your market broadened or differentiated over the past year?

2.   Do the words — especially any jargon — you use in your messages still mean what 
      they did when you first used them?

3.  Has your target customer changed or have the applications for your products shifted to new uses?

4.   Are the data in your boilerplate still accurate and complete?

5.   Have you re-read your “current” materials to be certain they still make sense and
reflect your products in an appropriate light for today’s market?

6.   Do your print materials and your website look like they represent the same company?

7.   Is there a consistent thread or theme throughout the components of your public image?

8.   Would your customers recognize your company and products from your PR,
advertising, packaging, and sales presentations? Would their reaction be positive?

9.   Do your employees know the company’s purpose, mission, etc.? Would they agree it is accurate?

10. Do industry analysts, the media and bloggers have a mental image of your company that is coherent with your own?

And there are more relevant questions, as you might imagine.

While businesses should engage in this type of self-evaluation on an ongoing basis, there’s no better time as we approach the beginning of the year to schedule such a review.

Take what you learn and design a program to address the elements systematically. Your goal should be to have a message and image that are fresh, dynamic, and reflective of your market and your position within it, and that honor the core values and purposes of your company.

Refresh this new year’s resolution annually and you will maintain an accurate, exciting, and dynamic message and culture in your organization.