How to be media friendly
A great deal of public relations effort still goes into courting media coverage and to maximise your chances you naturally need to be media friendly. So try comparing your organisation against this ten-point checklist and see how you perform. I’ll be very surprised if you can say you’re doing all of this and more! read the full post »
17 May 2013 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Comment on this post »
Tagged : communications strategy, journalists, media coverage, media relations, public relations.
Possibly the best piece of PR advice your company will get this year
A corporate brand doesn’t have to huge to become ubiquitous although a colossal marketing budget is clearly a factor. It also helps if you have an outspoken, maverick chief executive as Ryanair or Pimlico Plumbers do. At a personal level, another tactic is to present yourself (and by extension your company) as the counterpoint to what most others are saying on a trending topic – journalists usually welcome contrarian views ... read the full post »
23 January 2013 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Comment on this post »
Tagged : communications strategy, diversity, marketing, media coverage, reputation.
How to launch a ‘boring’ product
I once worked with a guy who was boasting about winning blanket international publicity for a new product, the first British-designed-and-built sports car for 30 years. I think his success had more to do with the quality of the story than his personal involvement. Rarely do we get the chance to work with story material of such obvious appeal; ... read the full post »
06 December 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Comment on this post »
Tagged : adding value, creativity, media coverage, product launch.
Preparing for a media interview: ten starting points
This post was inspired by the closing remarks of Harry, the 'difficult client' in this clip from Absolute Power, a BBC comedy series about a public relations firm starring Stephen Fry. I've posted the entire clip but the salient comments are towards the end. Most people, I'd hope, would be starting from a stronger position than ... read the full post »
12 October 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Comment on this post »
Tagged : interviews, media coverage, media publications, media relations, public relations.
Using dead bodies and kitchens to get your message across
If you find yourself having to explain something important but potentially boring, it can be tough to find the right language and keep people listening. It gets worse when the subject also happens to be abstract and complex. And the pinnacle is when you’re called upon to do it live, in front of many of the country’s most influential people. ... read the full post »
14 September 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | 2 Comments »
Tagged : BBC, BBC Radio 4, communications strategy, media coverage, media relations, message planning, Today programme.
A journalist calls asking for your comments. What should you do first?
Most business people are understandably wary of talking to journalists because they know they don’t control the outcome. They worry about looking stupid, being misquoted or misunderstood. There are techniques you can deploy to minimise all of these possibilities but for this posting I want to talk about another danger: finding you’ve ended up offering the unintended ‘contrarian’ viewpoint. This happened recently to a university professor who was invited alongside ... read the full post »
30 May 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Comment on this post »
Tagged : communications strategy, media coverage, media relations, public relations, selling.
Pleading and humour aren’t enough to get you into editorial pages
Some people find this Youtube video of a mock-plaintive junior at PR agency Ten Yetis amusing. Maybe it did the trick but it left me feeling a little embarrassed for her. If I was her client, I’d be wondering if that’s all there is to pitching journalists – and wondering if I didn’t need a little more marketing savvy injecting into my PR efforts. read the full post »
03 May 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Comment on this post »
Tagged : adding value, media coverage, media relations, pitching, PR firms, reputation, selling, USP, YouTube.
The crucial role of subject lines in email pitches to editors
There was a good illustration recently of why it’s so important to think carefully about the subject line when pitching story ideas by email to journalists. It arose at a recent breakfast briefing organised by media information firm Gorkana with The Independent on Sunday’s Julian Knight. Knight edits the newspaper’s money and property section. He’s got ten pages to fill each Sunday on his own, so it quickly becomes ... read the full post »
18 April 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Comment on this post »
Tagged : Independent Newspaper, media coverage, media relations, pitching.
How to use the Freedom of Information Act in your PR activities
Whether or not you’re a fan of Tony Blair, one of the welcome things that came into being under his watch was the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) in 2000. This gave UK citizens a legal right to information held by most public authorities. American citizens have had this right for some time, of course, and the UK is now one of about 85 countries that have introduced similar rights. ... read the full post »
08 March 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Comment on this post »
Tagged : adding value, communications strategy, Freedom of Information Act, media coverage, public relations, The Financial Times.
Should I call my new agency Puff-pedlars, Spindarella or Barking Mad?
Are PR agency founders on a mission to outdo each other when it comes to naming their firms? In striving to be memorable and achieve standout, I think we’ve now crossed the line between clever, creative branding and plain silliness. Here’s the evidence and all of them, except one, are genuine business names. A few ... read the full post »
17 February 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | 4 Comments »
Tagged : agencies, agency management, branding, media coverage, PR firms.