Doreen Clark, Director of Public Relations at SmartBug Media, shares some of her secrets to generating great press coverage, coaching executives to communicate more effectively, and the intertwining of PR and Marketing.
According to Doreen, public relations is a powerful tool and that we should, “Communicate in a way that is not just beneficial for us, but also for the people we’re reaching out to.” This forms a trifecta of solid media relations that comes together when we understand and communicate:
She notes that, for media relations professionals, it’s easy to deliver the facts that journalists need. But journalists also need us to offer an opinion, because that helps them craft stories with perspective and emotion.
Doreen has trained a lot of senior executives to be better spokespeople for their organizations. When she provides media training for senior executives, some of the key lessons include:
Coaching leaders on speaking to the common person, by using language they can understand. Executives are used to speaking with other experts in their industry; they frequently use jargon and technical language that the man on the street might not understand. Shifting their focus to be able to communicate with those who are not experts in their industry takes work, but helps them be much better communicators.
Helping executives learn to speak in soundbites during interviews. Long-winded, detailed explanations allow the speaker to be precise, but they run the risk of losing control of the messages that will come through in the final news report. Making the information digestible by giving clear, but concise quotes, helps ensure their most important messages are included in the story.
In an age of social media and 24-hour news cycles, everyone connected to an organization essentially is a spokesperson. Having a strategic plan, in which everybody knows their role and what they are expected to do, is key to success in public relations. Doreen also recommends that we identify the subject matter experts in our organization, train them to be effective spokespeople, and that will lead to more opportunities to engage the media. It’s important for communication in an organization to be “by all, for all” and not just downward from managers.
When asked what she is most excited about, Doreen said that working with freelance writers has become a secret weapon. Her force-multiplier tip is to build relationships with freelance writers. It’s common for them to write for many different media outlets, both online and off. These relationships can help us get more coverage, if they are willing to share the work they do for us with their contacts in these outlets.
Looking into the future, Doreen expects that “Public relations and marketing will become even more intertwined and might become synonymous.” She sees a blurring of the lines already, with paid advertising taking the form of earned editorial coverage. She sees a future in which PR will have more pay-to-play coverage, as advertising does now. While such changes could present signification challenges for those currently working in both PR and marketing, it could have certain beneficial effects, as it will drive improvements on both sides. For example, she notes that, “PR measurement tools are getting better and will eventually be on par with marketing measurement.” “
Doreen also sees a future in which podcasts and videos that are engaging, but brief, will become more important. After all, journalists need things to write about and to share as examples within their articles.
When asked what she knows now that would have been good to know when starting her career, Doreen said, “You don’t have to be everything to everyone; hone your craft; it’s okay to specialize.”
“If you really pay attention, you can become an expert in anything.”
“Relationships are everything.”
“Stay up to date on your craft; you have to always be a learner.”
“PR is necessary, 100%.”
“PR is about elevating reputation and building credibility.”
Jered Martin discusses OnePitch, which he co-founded with Rebecca “Beck” Bamberger in San Diego. OnePitch serves as a matchmaker to help journalists and publicists find each other with the right story idea at the right time. Think of it as eHarmony meets Bumble, but for communication professionals. OnePitch screens out the vast majority of pitches that are not a good fit for a particular journalist, and delivers only those story ideas that are closely matched with the journalist’s interests. The journalist can browse pitches anonymously and connect with a publicist when they see a story idea that interests them. According to Jered, “We’re offering a platform that’s relevant, but not invasive.”
Jered described the value proposition that OnePitch offers journalists in that the use a categorization process to tailor pitches to journalist’s needs. “You are going to receive at least one email a day that is going to have only the most relevant things you want to write about.” He noted that, “The beauty of OnePitch is that, as a journalist, you can expect to only receive the most relevant inquiries.”
For publicists, OnePitch helps them connect with the journalists who are most interested in their story. Say goodbye to the “spray and pray” approach of blindly sending releases and pitches to every journalist in the hope that one will be interested. Jered noted that, “We care if their story gets coverage.
In discussing the rise of chat bots in a wide range of customer-facing businesses, Jered noted the unique value of engaging a human being. “One thing we pride ourselves on at OnePitch is the high level of customer service and personalization.” He pointed out that, “It’s really important to understand how folks communicate and why they communicate.”
Prior to co-founding OnePitch, Jered earned a BA in Communication Studies with a minor in Marketing from Cal State Long Beach. He gravitated to a career in communications out of a deep desire to help people. He entered the public relations and marketing world through work with BITE San Diego, which he described as “A walking food tour with history.” He started as an intern and worked his way up to eventually being the head of operations for BITE San Diego, as well as working for Beck at BAM Communications.
In discussing how the OnePitch and BAM Communications teams maintain high performance, he noted the importance of senior leaders taking the time to mentor their employees, having regular face-to-face communication, and having an internal messaging tool, such as Slack. According to Jered, Slack is a great way to easily keep everyone on the same pag
As for project management for the OnePitch team, Jered discussed how the team ran into scaleability challenges as the team’s work grew. The project management and collaboration solution they settled on is a combination of Hubspot, Trello, and Slack. Jered noted that, “We have to have a solid system to organize and manage everyone, and without Hubspot, I would be pulling my hair out.” He also discussed the importance of tools that work well together, noting that “One thing that is great about Trello is that it integrates with Slack.”
In addition to his work on OnePitch, Jered also is part of Tech Coast Angels, the largest angel capital firm in San Diego. He’s working with them on a volunteer analyst program, in which his team conducts due diligence on start-up firms.
In addition, he is also working with the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative, to support their program for entrepreneurial women. This program brings female entrepreneurs from countries throughout the Americas to Southern California to see how business is done in the United States and to provide them with mentoring opportunities.
Public Relations expert Deb Radman discusses the power of harnessing the four horsemen of public relations: Leadership, Ethics, Intuition, and Courage. She explains why she would advise her younger self to shut up and listen, so she could really understand what’s being said. She contends that there is great power in taking time to think about something before you formulate an answer. We should then leverage the power of persuasion to engage, motivate, and activate.
Because of changes in the media landscape, PR now has “the opportunity to be the primary source of ideas for our companies and our clients as they seek new ways to communicate.” To do this, we have to venture way outside the box we’ve been in for so long, and have the guts and courage to do that.
Deb also is in favor of integration across the communication spectrum. She argues that public relations professionals have “to be strong enough to go to clients with recommendations that transcend specific disciplines; we cannot be afraid to recommend integrated campaigns that include advertising, digital, promotion, direct response, and public relations.” According to Deb, all of these disciplines are part of PR, because they are all part of trying to persuade an audience to do what you want them to do. In her words, “Paid, earned, shared, and owned media all have to work together.” If paid, earned, and owned are not consistent, they will not help people share our message, because it will be fragmented. With this in mind, she argues that social media now is the province of public relations, because it is part of what PR practitioners do in the earned media arena.
According to Deb, mentoring adds tremendous value by helping our people develop creativity and that “it’s no longer sufficient to be able to write; we must also be creative problem solvers.” She describes the PRSA College of Fellows‘ work with educators to create momentum for mentoring. She also urges junior PR practitioners to “Find teachers and mentors who will teach you what they know and what other people know.” While public relations people might be well-trained in communication techniques, they need to be even more capable of understanding what motivates people to engage. Deb stresses the importance of lifelong learning and the value in being exposed to marketers, innovators, researchers, and creatives in the advertising world and beyond.
High points in her career have included winning the USO contract, when she won her first Silver Anvil award, presenting the James C. Bowling Executive-In-Residence Lecture at the University of Kentucky, and serving as project lead for the IBM centennial celebration, which included IBM’s Watson supercomputer competing on Jeopardy.
PR veteran Deb Radman explains the value of non-traditional hires in public relations, the power of intuition, and the necessity of courage. She explains how PR nightmares come from bad decisions. She presented the James C. Bowling Executive-In-Residence Lecture Series in the University of Kentucky’s Department of Integrated Strategic Communication. She also draws on lessons from Harold Burson, Richard Edelman, Betsy Plank, CKPR and the USO.
Interview with “The Measurement Queen” Katie Paine, about the importance of measuring communications and the challenges of linking communication activities to the organization’s bottom line. Better PR Now provides clarity so business leaders can communicate strategically, which creates competitive advantages for the business by creating favorable conditions that maximize long-term profits, by growing mutually beneficial relationships with the people you most depend on (employees, customers, suppliers), which creates opportunities (leads, sales, business intelligence) and reduces costs (employees, customers, litigation, regulation). Better PR Now provides communication strategy for executives.
Discussion with Boston University's Dustin Supa on sharing research, and the importance of bringing Public Relations research to the forefront. Better PR Now provides clarity so business leaders can communicate strategically, which creates competitive advantages for the business by creating favorable conditions that maximize long-term profits, by growing mutually beneficial relationships with the people you most depend on (employees, customers, suppliers), which creates opportunities (leads, sales, business intelligence) and reduces costs (employees, customers, litigation, regulation). Better PR Now provides communication strategy for executives.