Archive for press releases
Media Relations Tip #23: Prep Before You Get the Call
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I was recently quoted in Wearables magazine about how to prepare a company for publicity. Here is a condensed version of one of my answers:
Q: What is the best way for a business to generate and leverage PR opportunities?
A: You need to be prepared ahead of time to tell your story. That means having your company’s key messages and talking points in order well before you receive the phone call or email asking for a comment.
The PR team should help the media do its job by having information about your company and products readily available, and today that means having a current and easily accessible press section of your website that’s stocked with bios, product fact sheets, recent press releases and images. One of the most important elements of a press room is the press contact – not a generic “info@companyname.com” email address, but a real name, an actual person’s email address and their telephone numbers. That’s typically one of the media’s top complaints about press rooms – there’s no real person to contact when a reporter is on deadline and needs to know someone is available and working to get a response.
Finally, you need to keep your press releases up to date. If the date of your most recent press release was nine months ago, it communicates a lot about what’s going on at your company – or not – whether you like it or not.
Media Training Tip #8: Watch ‘Meet the Press’
Posted by: | CommentsNBC’s Sunday morning ‘Meet the Press’ is among our favorite media training tips because of its nearly unfailing showcasing of basic but key interview tips including bridging, flagging and counting. David Gregory asks questions while the guest then acknowledges them before offering information about topics/issues that s/he prefers get aired.
In our opinion, taking control of a media interview, as guests routinely do to one extent or another on such interview shows,
should always be the goal. A media interview is your opportunity to communicate your messages using tips and techniques designed, crafted and time-tested to help you do so clearly, concisely, consistently.
On an upcoming Sunday, view “Meet the Press” or similar programs with an educated eye and ear towards the guests and their skill with taking control of the interview. You’ll see the results of media training at its best, happening right in front of you.
Is Your Website Press Room Missing Something?
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Does your website press room offer the information the media expects to find there, including an image library, useful contact info for your spokesperson and easily-printable fact sheets and background material? If not, you’re making a journalist’s job more difficult and that could reflect poorly on your brand.
Here’s a link to an informative blog post based on research on “what journalists really want from an online newsroom,” by David Bowen of Bowen Craggs & Co. and posted on the MyNewsdesk customer blog. [Thanks to Keith Childs for sharing it on the FIR FriendFeed room.]
This Hit Never Gets Old
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One thing that never gets old in our business is getting a client mentioned in the media, otherwise known as a “hit.”
Today we got our hands on the August issue of Baltimore magazine and inside is an article about seniors housing communities that includes our client, Crystal Spring. It’s a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) coming to Annapolis in 2012 that will also include village center-style townhomes for people of all ages and a destination retail village with shops and outdoor cafes, as well as a cultural arts center and village green. A boutique inn and spa is also being considered. It’s all on one “campus,” and is the new way CCRCs are being designed and built vs. the old stand-alone model that isolates the residents from the broader community.
Sawmill has been working with the writer for many months. In fact, the paragraph were I am quoted comes from an interview I did back in January. Proof that publicity also requires patience.
The Same Old Story – This Time from Inc. Magazine
Posted by: | CommentsInc. is a favorite magazine of mine because I always learn something and enjoy a good read as I do so. Imagine my chagrin when editor Jane Berentson
took the PR profession to task with yet another trip to the woodshed for irrelevant pitches and obvious email blast pitches.
When will we learn?
Ms. Berentson shares that, for her, the best story ideas “unfold in a conversation about this and that” which provides valuable insight into her approach for exploring and discovering stories that reside beyond the obvious and the expected.
Our challenge is to find a way to be a part of one of her conversations about “this and that” and in so doing, uncover a story that neither one of us knew was there.
Remaining at Attention for a Writing Seminar
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I was a featured speaker yesterday at the Boeing Military Aircraft communications team meeting in Arlington, Va., appearing on the agenda under “writing seminar.” Talk about a challenge! I followed an Admiral and then a panel of journalists (Bloomberg, Aviation Week, Flight International), taking the stage just before the afternoon break.
The talk seemed to be well-received and they even stayed awake! As promised here are a few links from the workshop:
The Readability Tool, by David Simpson — drop in your copy, click on the box and you’ll see an instant analysis of Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease, Flesch Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog Score and more.
We talked about writing “snack sized” copy and using PitchEngine as a tool to create press releases in a format that delivers information in easy to read bits and pieces.
On Facebook, these groups are worth tracking to keep up on discussions about grammar: Association of National Advertisers (ANA); Good Grammar is Hot; and I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar.
Twitter is an excellent source for keeping up on the topic. A few I follow: @AdvicetoWriters; @Quotes4Writers; @GrammarGirl; @APStylebook; @GrammarMonkeys; @johnemcintyre
Finally, I have been a fan of Grammar Girl since its (not it’s) launch a few years ago. Listen to Mignon Fogarty’s “Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing” podcast and read this excellent guest post on her blog, by Julie Wildhaber, on “How to Write Clear Sentences.”
Maryland PR Firm Selected by GBAHC for Baltimore Public Relations Campaign
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BALTIMORE, Md. (March 8, 2010) – Greater Baltimore AHC, Inc., (GBAHC) has selected Baltimore PR firm Sawmill Marketing Public Relations for a public relations campaign to increase awareness of the firm’s development and property management expertise in affordable housing in the greater Baltimore area.
The Baltimore-based PR and social media company is implementing a comprehensive public relations campaign that includes media and community relations programs including the upcoming grand opening of the newly renovated, MonteVerde, a 301-unit affordable apartment home community for seniors and non-elderly people with disabilities in the lower Park Heights neighborhood of Baltimore.
About Greater Baltimore AHC, Inc.
GBAHC is part of AHC Inc., headquartered in Arlington, VA. It is a private, non-profit developer of affordable housing in the mid-Atlantic region that has been providing quality homes for low- and moderate-income families since 1975. GBAHC, located at 1501 St. Paul Street, has been in the greater Baltimore region since 2002. It currently has developed five properties offering approximately 1,000 affordable apartments. For more information, visit http://www GBAHC.org.
About Sawmill Marketing Public Relations
Sawmill Marketing Public Relations is a Baltimore PR firm and social media marketing communications agency established in 1995 specializing in the development and execution of marketing public relations programs as business development strategies for business-to-business, business-to-consumer and professional services clients. The Maryland public relations company specializes in social media, traditional media relations, media training, and crisis communications. For additional information, visit www.sawmillmarketing.com
2010 Winter Games Recall Our PR Work at Salt Lake
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Ok, it’s corny but conducting media relations during any Olympic Games is unlike any other professional experience we’ve undertaken and being glued to the tube these past two weeks brings much of it back into sharp focus.
Sawmill handled media relations for a luxury inn and resort that was also home to many of the cross country and biathlon teams competing in the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. The intensity began to build two months before the start of the games and continued to the end of the closing ceremony. The only time we left the property during the three weeks we were on site was to drive into a nearby town to do laundry.
We spent our days and nights servicing the needs and requests of the who’s who of international major media — from The Today Show that arrived on site @ 1 a.m. to be ready for Al Roker to do his weather segments from the property 6-1/2 hours later to The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, Ski Magazine, Newsweek, Chicago Tribune and countless international media outlets doing live remotes throughout each night.
Our job, of course, was to get every media outlet possible to the property and to then assist them in every way once they arrived. A steady dose of adrenalin was a constant and important companion.
There was a consistent and, in many ways, unparalleled level of professionalism between us and every reporter, producer,
camera crew, sound truck driver that we worked with.
During these past two weeks, as we’ve reminisced about the good old days of the 2002 Winter Games, we’ve wondered how the impact of social media — as well the dramatic change in the number, size and financial health of traditional media outlets in the past eight years — has affected, if at all, the professionalism among media outlets and the PR community at the 2010 Winter Games.
We welcome your comments and anecdotes.
‘Tis the Season for Holiday Cliches
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One of my favorite blogs, “You Don’t Say,” by former Sun copy desk chief John E. McIntyre, offers a preview of worn-out holiday cliches that editors and reporters – and press release writers – will be tempted to use in the coming weeks.
If you’re thinking of leading off your piece with “‘Tis the Season…” or “Yes, Virginia,” John has a news flash for you: we’ve seen it already. Same goes for “white stuff” (are you listening, AMS certified meteorologists?), “Christmas came early…” for good news stories and references to “The Grinch” in stories about holiday thefts. It’s a list worth reading (and checking twice).
Image: George Eastman House

