media relations

Media relations: prepare for the story

Rae Hostetler · Oct 8, 2025 ·

Our team has been supporting the Fluor staff that’s design building the new LP1 facility in Lebanon, Indiana, since 2023. Our scope of services includes all facets of public relations, internal, external, events, community relations and the list goes on.

Recently, company owner Rae Hostetler joined our client Fluor project community relations director Jeff Wagner for a local podcast. Host Joe LePage supports communications for the Town of Lebanon and lead our conversation. LISTEN HERE.

While many listeners probably don’t give a thought to the content, public relations professionals know it’s been discussed and determined in advance to ensure we stay on message. If you’re preparing for a similar interview (podcast, television, newspaper, radio), here are tips to ensure you’re ready. Media interview prep

Know your messages. What are the three to five messages that you want to be sure are included? Prepare. Write down talking points and think them through. Maybe even do a mock interview to be ready. A good reporter will ask questions and end an interview with, “What else do you have to add?” If your talking points were not totally covered this is your opportunity to share more information. And if that question isn’t asked, offer information before the interview is over. Just say, “Before we wrap up, can I add a few things?”

Remember the rules when working with a reporter. While an interviewer might seem friendly, often there are certain things that can and cannot be said based on the company, business or non-profit you represent. If a reporter asks a question you don’t want to answer, it’s easy to say, that’s interesting and divert to one of your key messages. Saying no comment sounds harsh. Know your messaging and use them well.

Know when the story will run and what it’s about. It’s your right to know what a reporter is writing about or producing. Just ask. Often reporters on deadline get in touch and ask a direct question because they need a source and they’re on deadline. They’re trying to get the story (fast) and can forget to give the big picture. It’s not on purpose. Just ask the story angle, who else is being interviewed and when it will appear.

And be sure to have fun sharing your story!

Why pitching a reporter is like making a sale

Rae Hostetler · Sep 20, 2025 ·

Indianapolis PR Company Public relations has several areas of practice. While the P in PR does not stand for press (it stands for public or audiences an organization needs to reach) reporters are often one group a client needs to reach to earn stories in the paper or on television news.

At the start of my professional career, I worked as a reporter. That experience has stayed with me for decades as my public relations career progressed. I’ve been inside a newsroom and part of the daily news cycle. I’ve heard from public relations professionals who were trying to place and share their stories on air. We call it being “pitched.”

If you’ve worked with a public relations professional, you’ve probably heard the term “pitch a reporter.” Easily defined, a pitch is about selling what’s newsworthy to get a reporter to write a story or create a package for the evening news. And yes, in the prior sentence I used the word selling strategically because placing a story is much like making a sale. Here’s why the two concepts are similar:

1) Build a credible relationship. Sales people know: cold calling is tough. The person on the other end of the email, call or text doesn’t know who you are or what you can offer. Once you meet with a company rep and build a relationship, earning and maintaining credibility is everything. Working with a reporter is similar. They’re all on deadline, have a certain need to fill and are moving quickly to build out the newscast. The daily news cycle is like a supply chain that must come together to deliver a final product. The key to building a credible relationship is getting a reporter what’s needed as soon as possible and keeping the process as easy as possible for them. And be sure the story you’re selling is really a news story.

2) Offer a quality product. Pitching a story means having a credible newsworthy angle. News stories aren’t about you, your product or service. A business professional once told me they weren’t happy with a local publication because the reporters wouldn’t write a story about him. I suggested he consider these questions: is your idea timely and trending to current information; is the idea you’re selling localized; is it a human interest story; is it relevant to appeal to the public?

3) Follow up. When a sales person is trying to get through the door to meet and greet a company representative, they follow up. Reporters expect the follow up. Many say they get too many emails. They see an idea and it moves down into the email box or it’s saved for later. A reminder: be sure to make the follow up professional.

4) Get the specs. When a customer places an order, there’s a process and most likely it includes questions on the specs before the order ships. If a reporter contacts you about the story pitch or another story, you get to ask questions to know the angle of the story and how you fit. For example, I’ve worked with reporters doing stories on national research and looking for a local comment. Knowing that information in advance and getting the research allows the client to think through their response before the interview.

5) Be ready when the order comes in. Given the current state of public health, many reporters have limited contact with the public. In “normal times” a reporter and/or photographer could show up at your door step to get what they needed for a story. Now they need photos, video and talking points supplied to them for the story. If you’re pitching the story, talking points and back up data should be at your fingertips and supplied to the reporter to use. And be ready. Today we had a successful story pitch. The reporter contacted us around 10 a.m. for a noon interview to build out a story for 5 p.m.

6) It’s ok to hear no. In sales, I’ve always been told to “beg for the no.” It keeps the pipeline filled with true prospects. The same applies to working with reporters. If they don’t want to do the story, that’s ok. There are others who do. Focus efforts on those professionals. I’ve heard stories from reporters about people who won’t accept the no. Refer back to number one above. When you have the credible relationship, it’s so much easier to make the pitch and close the sale not just today but for the next story idea that you have well into the future.

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!