media relations

Reporters value public relations professionals

Rae Hostetler · May 17, 2018 ·

Just like bell bottom jeans, public relations and communications trends tend to come and go. One thread remains consistent quality communications planning and execution.

I’ve been working in the communications field for about 30 years. When I worked as a journalist reporting the news, I relied on the AP wire, good information from sources, well-written and informative news releases and background information to bring the news to our listeners and viewers.

Over the decades working in public relations, I’ve seen the advent of the Intranet, blogs, websites, social media, texting, emails and more for communications tools. A recent study impresses on me that regardless of the communications tool, it’s the message and quality information that continues to be appreciated by journalists.

According to a 2018 Cision study: 78 percent of American journalists surveyed say that ensuring content is 100 percent accurate is the most important element to their stories in 2018.

Some say there’s a benefit to the fake news phenomenon.

21 percent saying that’s increasing the importance of journalistic standards.
9 percent said that it’s improving the popularity of trusted and established media brands.

When everything else in the media industry is being disrupted, journalists continue to trust press releases for high quality, authentic and relative information. And reports say relationships with public relations professionals are more valuable now than ever before with:

63 percent saying news announcements and press releases are what they want from PR contacts.
44 percent saying press releases are the most trustworthy source of brand-related information.

To read the full study, click here.

Public Relations–More than working with the media in Indianapolis

Rae Hostetler · Jun 18, 2013 ·

Public relations is often misunderstood to mean media relations–working with reporters to get editorial and/or broadcast coverage. Truth is, it’s how your company or business communicates its image to meet your communications goals. Those goals are unique to every organization–earning customers, gaining awareness, raising funds. I’ve worked in this business for 20-some years and am still educating clients that public relations professionals do so much more that just talking to reporters. So here’s a sample of a typical work week for an Indianapolis public relations counselor (me).

My firm typically works with six to eight clients and/or projects at one time. Most clients are retained partners, which means we have a plan that’s been outlined, developed and reviewed on paper. We agree to it and we work it together. That said here’s an overview of public relations projects for our Indianapolis-based clients.

Brand development: Working in partnership with another Indianapolis public relations firm, we are assessing a client brand to create a marketing/communications program. Through my partner company Roundhouse Resources, we are sourcing a public relations/marketing communications professional who will be staffed to execute the plan. We’ll manage and mentor the staff member. This assessment involves client/vendor interviews, a top line report and recommendations based on their perceptions and feedback.
Website development. We’re working with a new client that has an old website. The site itself has all the correct information. It needs some polish–updated messages/story about the business, new photo graphs and updated key terms for search engines.
Public relations planning: In conjunction with that website, we’re also outlining a consistent plan for the client to manage communications through 2013. The goal is to gain more customers. We’ll work on social media, blogs, media relations, events and more together. This client doesn’t require an assessment for brand development–only public relations housekeeping for a consistent program.
Service outreach/communications: Another client has a service line that needs to be brought to the forefront to gain more communications. This is being managed through social media, blogs, website updates, an email newsletter and possible direct mail to their customer based. We’ve sourced the vendors, written the communications and project managed the graphic design to ensure consistent brand and message to their publics.
Sales kit: A business-to-business client needs a sales-team tool kit. They want a mix-and-match system that includes PDFs, printed documents, bios for team members and company information. Once the kit is complete, each sales rep can pull the information they need from the file to ensure a consistent message for RFPs and sales presentations.
Media relations: One of our clients sponsors a statewide non-profit youth program that kicks off at their client site tomorrow. The program involves several partners. We support the media relations, update the client’s website and social media. We’ll also be onsite to take photos to use in marketing/communications materials for their prospects and clients.

In each of these examples, the public outreach and work is very different, yet the end goal is the same: communicating the client’s image professionally to meet their unique goals and needs.

Words make your brand

Rae Hostetler · Jan 11, 2011 ·

I confess! I’m a geek. I read promotional materials, FAQs, website copy and more. I like to see how people write and couple words together for maximum effect and impact for their brand. Do they really say who they are or do they use buzz words? Alliteration is one of my favorite devices to use in writing… for those scratching their heads that’s when you put words together that start or end with the same letters. It makes an elegant effect.

Anyway… because I like reading various words and copy, I tend to notice words and phrases that are overused. One of my favorite pet peeves is the word… solution. Everyone has one… and apparently every company thinks we have a problem they can solve with theirs. For every person I tell about this phenomenon, they come back to me within days and say, “Wow. You were right. Everyone’s got a solution.”

I also don’t like words and phrases that are under delivered, which could go one of two ways.

1) You’re talking to yourself. Too many business owners write their own copy for letters, brochures and other promotional stuff. They end of writing in their own jargon… often customers and prospects don’t understand what they’re reading and why they should care.

Look around my website. It’s designed to make fun of the words the public relations profession uses. We talk about “pitching” the media. That means selling them a story idea. Not throwing a ball for them to hit. And yes, I do find myself using that word in client meetings. YIKES.

2) Your words represent the real company. There are many business owners who work hard to write their own promotional materials, but realize they don’t know what to say. So they make it up. Problem is when customers are asked if their statements are really true… they find out the truth– maybe not. The word use PR people use there… authentic. Is your brand authentic to your customer? On the flip side some business leaders are humble and don’t want to talk about their expertise and/or successes. It’s ok to talk about yourself.

So what’s the “solution” to these problems? If you’re a non-PR person reading this blog… it’s called messaging. Us PR people are great at helping companies through research methods to determine what’s real and what’s not. It’s so important to weave a real story and run it through every piece of communication the same way. It’s just like using your logo and company colors the same way and place on every piece of marketing material printed. It’s the words that help communicate your image as much as the graphic image. And that’s why I love words!

Make sure you can fulfill your marketing…

Rae Hostetler · Nov 18, 2010 ·

I’ve seen it happen too many times. Companies and business owners want more business. So they embark on a marketing/communications program BUT they aren’t prepared for what happens next. Customers!

Hopefully by now you’ve heard of Groupon. It’s a simple social media marketing idea that’s taken off. Business owners partner with Groupon. Groupon sends out a daily email with the business offer specific to your region. If so many people buy, “the deal is on!” Last week a local restaurant was featured on Groupon. A group of friends bought and went to dinner. The restaurant wasn’t ready. Bottom line, after sitting for an hour and a half… one of four couples got their dinner. The rest were left to their own hunger watching two people eat. Bad news for the restaurant because this group came to a party of about 50 to 60 people. They were hungry and frustrated. They shared the experience with everyone, including me. Now I’m sharing it with you. I will leave out the name of the restaurant hoping they fix the err of their ways.

Conversely, we worked with a client for about two years to market and brand his company. We used a host of tactics for his marketing campaign: internal communications, media relations, website, email marketing, direct communications for referral groups and more. The client business boomed once systems were in place and chugging along. We could see further growth and expansion. The client said “uncle.” We basically worked ourselves out of a job. Good and bad news for us. Bottom line … this client knew when and how he could fulfill customers generated by his marketing. He knew if we kept going customer satisfaction could become at risk.

If you’re thinking about a public relations or marketing/communications campaign, whether it’s through our firm or another, I encourage you to think about results and would-if scenarios. Would if you generate too many calls and appointments? There’s nothing worse than putting yourself out there, generating business traffic and then not being able to fulfill the customer’s expectation.