At times, relationships between PR pros and journalists might be contentious, yet building more positive connections and relationships should be a goal of both the communications professionals and the media.
An infographic from Precious Communications and My News Desk lists seven ways PR pros can make reporters happy, seven ways to make them angry, and the five components of a good story.
For experienced communications professionals, this information might not be news, but the tips and advice are important to keep fresh in mind.
Infographic via Young Upstarts
When working with journalists, do:
- Write a great headline. Copywriters spend years and years learning this art. So should the PR people.
- Have an interesting angle. I would add that your take on angles gets better with experience, but also reading the media you are about to write for is a good start.
- Provide contacts. No-brainer. Ignore at your own peril.
- Tell the story visually. I used to think that the copy is the alpha and omega of success, but the habits of news consumption have changed. Readers scan through the text and news articles must rely on powerful visuals to grab readers’ attention. Great copy retains it.
- Spell check. Refer to my commentary on the third point.
- Set the story in context. Most of the copy you write is not going to make it to the media. All those backgrounders, profiles, bios and fact sheets will constitute less than 10% of the final article. Without them, however, there will be no article at all. It’s these meta documents that help the journalist find the right tone and style. You cannot ignore them.
- Provide interesting quotes. Include quotes from sources other than your CEO. Ideally, you should include third parties to make fact finding easier on the stressed journalist.
Do Not:
- Go over 500 words. Less is more. If you have a more voluminous story to tell, choose a different format – an interview, a profile article or a commentary.
- Vanish without trace. Remember the third point of the “DO” section? Make sure that those contacts are accessible and ready to answer the journalist’s enquiry.
- Be hidden on the Internet. Regardless of whether one works in journalism or not, we all google when we are interested. Invest some time and money in SEO, so you are seen when the time comes.
- Frankenquote.
- Be like others. Angle matters the most, as you will see on the infographic below. I would also recommend looking at a recent article about redefining unique content.
- Say what only you want to say. Consider the readers and their need to be informed as well as their utter unwillingness to consume corporate messages. The pressure from within the organization / client is often enormous. The good PROs don’t yield, because that would endanger them to fulfill their key performance indicators.
- Give crappy visuals. Low-resolution images, big files, unknown extensions. All that decreases the chances of the article being published and consequently of your information being included in the article.
