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4 Tips From A Former Healthcare Reporter

Career changes are rarely easy, especially when you study a field throughout college and subsequently work in it following graduation.

In August, I left a respected healthcare trade journal after nearly four years and ‘crossed over to the dark side,’ as they say.

There were several professional motivations behind the move, but one that excited me about joining the world of public relations (PR) was that I had already worked with numerous agencies during my time on the editorial side.

As I’ve settled into my new role, I wanted to share four observations on the PR strategies that I found most effective while in my capacity as a journalist.

1. Understand who you’re pitching to

Every PR representative should take time to do their research on the journalists and outlets that they’re pitching.

In my time at the magazine, I primarily covered healthcare finance, policy, and revenue cycle, among a handful of other industry-related topics. Still, I received countless emails from aimless PR representatives pitching me everything from CBD oils to a historian for the band Aerosmith. (Yes, this actually happened.)

Even those that understood I covered the healthcare industry for an audience of payer and provider executives would occasionally float article ideas and interview opportunities that simply missed the mark.

If you’re looking to place a byline or secure earned media with an interview opportunity, make sure you know who you’re speaking with and why it’s worth their while. I always found myself most responsive to PR representatives who weren’t just looking for free publicity but could see down the field about how the interaction would lead to a greater result for both sides.

2. Get to the point (and have other options available)

The only thing worse than getting a random PR pitch that’s off-topic is being forced to read several paragraphs to find out it’s irrelevant.

Short, timely pitches are always winners. The pitch should tell me what the topic is, who can speak to it, and when they’re available.

Additionally, a pitch should offer flexibility for both the PR agency and the outlet. If you’re pitching a potential source as an expert on revenue cycle management but they can also speak to the price transparency regulations and the effects on provider organizations, mention that in your email.

You should be providing as many onramps as possible for a client to appear in a story.

3. Relay expectations to your client

Understandably, most clients probably don’t fully understand how the world of PR and media works. That’s fine, but you have to be the one who explains the dynamics at play so they’re not disappointed by outcomes that don’t match their expectations.

Not every interview is going on the front page of The New York Times, but every speaking engagement, written Q&A, or byline adds up to meaningful coverage.

Additionally, media training to refresh even the most charismatic leaders should be the standard. During interviews I conducted as a journalist, I learned quickly which PR contacts had adequately gone over their notes with my subjects ahead of time and which ones threw them headfirst into the fire.

Don’t leave your clients treading water; let them know what the opportunity is about, why they’re qualified to speak on the subject, and prepare them for any extraneous questions.

4. Create a conversation

Some of the most reliable PR contacts from my journalism days were people who didn’t just pitch me and disappear into the night.

They stuck around and actually engaged with me as normal people do. Whether this was sending the occasional email to see what stories I was working on, interacting with each other on social media, or reading my content, it kept them in my purview as I went about my job.

Additionally, whenever I had a story to write on a tight deadline, I knew I could reach out to these reliable PR contacts and get the appropriate sources on the line.

This doesn’t mean that you have to be chummy with every journalist you come across, (odds are they aren’t always going to chummy in response), but breaking down the at-times acrimonious barrier between church and state can be helpful.

I hope that these tips based on my understanding of how media outlets operate can provide the world of PR with some useful tips to be more effective in the work we do.

What Journalists Want: We Read Cision’s 2020 State of the Media Report So You Don”™t Have To

Another year, another Cision “State of the Media” report.

The 2020 edition, which represents the 11th annual report in the series, surveyed more than 3,200 journalists from across the globe to provide a picture of today’s media landscape. While much of the yearly report generally reads like PR 101 for experienced public relations professionals, it often contains some nuggets of interest that are worth further reflection.

In that spirit, following are a few notes and observations after digesting the 29-page report:

COVID-19 did NOT change everything: In the marketing and public relations worlds, things can seem to change fast, so it can get easy to become caught up in the moment and lose a little long-term perspective. Don’t allow COVID-19 to let that happen to you. Yes, our professional lives during the pandemic are undoubtedly different in many ways, but lots of things in the media world remain largely as they were pre-pandemic. Email is still the preferred method of pitching. Journalists still want to hear from local and national experts who can offer perspectives that illuminate their audiences. To cut through the noise, pitches still need to be timely, relevant and targeted. These things are unlikely to change any time soon.

The media business continues to be brutal: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated what was already a years-long trend of the media business shedding jobs. Journalism advocacy organization Poynter maintains a depressing and frequently updated list of recent industry layoffs that illustrates the severity of the problem. For reporters and editors, a lack of staffing and resources was cited in the Cision report as the biggest challenge they face. For public relations outreach, this presents a challenge as the number of media outlets continues to dwindle, but also represents an opportunity as individual journalists are under pressure to produce higher volumes of content and could use help finding stories.

Press releases are still relevant: In spite of its obituary having been written a number of times over the years, the humble press release remains very much alive. In fact, journalists who took the Cision survey cited the press release (36%) as the most useful of all brand sources, beating out spokespeople (19%), email pitches (13%) and company websites (12%). For marketing and communications professionals, this qualifies as great news: There is still a place in the world for the well-crafted, well-timed and appropriately targeted press release.

The major takeaway? The more things change, the more they stay the same. Given the barrage of news and information we’re confronted with on a daily basis, separating the signal from the noise is rarely easy for anyone let alone journalists dealing with budget cuts and shrinking staffs. Standing apart from the pack requires the same focus and commitment to timely and relevant messaging that it always has.  

The Basics of Healthy, Happy Relationships

Building relationships with journalists takes time. Smashing them to pieces takes little time at all.

One terrible, irrelevant pitch and you could end up on a journalist’s blacklist and that isn’t where you want to be. Because as any good media relations guru will tell you, we need journalists more than they need us.

To build strong relationships and maybe fix bad ones there are some basic rules of the road anyone out there sending pitches should follow, lest you end up in the SPAM folder where email goes to die!

Know What they Write and What Who they Write for Writes

Sometimes a good tongue-twister helps you to remember a basic principle such as this one do a little research! You need to know who the person and the publication is before you pitch him/her.

This seems like a no-brainer, but it’s actually one of the biggest problems editors run into. If they won’t accept company sources for stories and prefer to limit themselves to end-users and customers, you need to know that. And, more importantly, you need to respect that.

No, you cannot change their mind. Instead, because you failed to know who you’re dealing with and respect their rules, you’ll just end up alienating yourself.

Give publications a call before you pitch them. Or, do what I do, drop a quick email with the subject like “Quick Question” and just ask what it’ll take to get a story covered. And then take the response as a Commandment. It’s as simple as that.

Use the Medium of their Choice

Media relations people are told all the time “you have to make the calls!” Well, that’s true sometimes. And sometimes, it’s not true at all.

The fact is if it’s a solicitation or a pitch editors prefer email almost universally. That said, a quick phone call to remind them you sent one is probably OK for most editors. Don’t, however, overstay your welcome. Keep calls brief. And if an editor tells you they prefer email, keep to that avenue.

I have been yelled at on the phone once or twice for calling someone I shouldn’t have. My advice to avoid this is to 1) check your PR software, such as Cision, and read the notes to see if a journalist explicitly states that they prefer email; and 2) try to limit your calls to work numbers.

Just because you can get a journalist’s personal cellphone doesn’t mean you should call them on the same line. Like everyone else, they use their phones primarily to like baby photos on Facebook and to swipe left on Tinder mirror selfies. They probably don’t want a call on their personal line so don’t do it.

Don’t sound like Rachel From Cardholder Services during phone calls, and don’t make your emails look like marketing blasts. Talk and write to editors as if they are real people and as if you’re a real person (I failed to develop a good tongue-twister, but I tried).

Keep it Real

Keep it real. If you’re writing an email, keep it brief and just offer a story. Don’t drone on and on about a product and how great it is no one cares. And if you’re calling an editor, don’t jump into a monologue, because no one will listen.

Just try to have a conversation, weave in the most important information, and be yourself. If you don’t fall back on your personality, you shouldn’t be in media relations.

People skills are a huge part of the job, and good people skills shine most when those people are being themselves.

The Anatomy of a Successful Pitch

The Anatomy of a Successful Pitch

Nothing fills me with existential dread like sitting down to write a media pitch.

Give me the sweet relief of an 800-word byline ghostwritten under a soul-crushing deadline. Bury me under the gigabyte of bone-dry peer-reviewed research I need to complete an immensely complex white paper. Let me spend eight hours hacking through a labyrinthine approval process just to get sign off on 400-word “new hire” press release.

Anything I do in the PR world is easier than convincing a stressed out and overworked journalist with a trigger finger on the junk file that my story is worth telling and doing it in under 100 very concise and very compelling words.

Below are what I believe to be the essentials of a good pitch, broken out by its main components. Following this advice is not going to guarantee a media hit for your client, but it will dramatically increase your chances.

The Subject Line. It’s true that many maybe even most pitches live or die based on the subject line, but that doesn’t mean you should panic and resort to dumb gimmicks in a bid to win a journalist’s attention. Expending way too many precious words to support a style of writing funny, hyperbolic or scare-quotes clever you can’t pull off wastes everyone’s time.

Think of it this way: The subject line is your pitch reduced to its simplest form. For that reason, I prefer to write my subject lines last. Good pitch writing usually leaves a lot of tasty leftovers that just couldn’t be fit into the final revision an interesting turn of phrase and a good word choice or two that didn’t make the cut can usually be repurposed into an effective Subject Line. If you feel you are really rusty, cut-and-paste your entire pitch, then slowly whittle it to its most essential elements.

The Opening Sentence. When I was a journalist, I was often surprised at the amount of “throat-clearing” in the pitches I received. I’m not a captive audience, dude! Into the trash you go!

If you have done your due diligence carefully researching the outlets and reporters that would be a good fit for your story you can avoid kicking off your story roughly 30 seconds after the newly formed Earth cooled.

Strategies will vary based on the story you are trying to tell, but I have had the most luck just telling the reporter what I want and why they should care: “Hey, [JOURNALIST], I’ve read your coverage on [TOPIC.] This [STORY] for [THESE REASONS] would be useful to your readers.”

If it sounds prosaic, that’s because it is. But by eliminating the throat-clearing, you can simply and honestly convey a.) your knowledge of the reporter; b.) your familiarity with how they have covered their beat; and c.) why your story is relevant to that coverage.

The Body. Most posts filed in the “pitching advice” genre emphasize the importance of brevity. And they’re right! Unfortunately, this can be taken to an extreme. A good pitch will offer a solid framework that the reporter can use to build the rest of the story. Use you pitch to cover the journalistic bases who, what, when, where, why and how. Add relevant links to your pitch to your sources LinkedIn profiles, evidence supporting your pitch idea and/or interesting industry trends, for example. Statistics relevant to a pitch help to ground it in reality. If you’re speaking about an end-user, be sure to provide specific numbers on the improvements they saw from using a solution. The more specifics, the better.

The Closer. A pitch should contain a clear call to action near the end, asking a reporter to specifically consider an interview or byline. A reporter may not be ready for this story right now, but politely ask them to keep you in mind for the future. Second, don’t be afraid to briefly offer to help a reporter with their coverage now and into the future. Many opportunities arise from relationship-building that starts with a single pitch. Lastly, always thank a reporter for their time.

Final Advice

Almost as important as knowing how to write a good pitch is to know when you don’t have anything to pitch. Not everything a client does is a story or warrants legitimate coverage.

This is where client management comes into play. Capturing inbound interview requests the sweet, sweet nectar of media relations is a long and painstaking process of developing a trusted relationship mostly over electronic devices.

Pitching writing is both an art and science which is part of the reason why creating them can be frustrating. Bad pitches are the kudzu of the public relations world, choking out good stories beneath an oppressive monoculture of bad faith and even worse writing. The problem is so pervasive that entire websites and Twitter feeds are dedicated to terrible pitches. However, devoting your energies to the right components of a pitch will ensure a greater level of success.

6 Common Pitching Errors to Avoid

6 Common Pitching Errors to Avoid

Pitching stories is one of the essential skills of a PR professional. Yet it is surprising how many PR people neglect the basics of how to pitch what to whom. In most cases, a little thought and preparation can help PR pros avoid these kinds of mistakes. Yet they continue to be made on a regular basis, as any working journalist or editor can attest. Here are some common pitching errors and how to prevent them.

  1. Doesn’t know the publication. When a busy editor gets a pitch from a PR person who doesn’t know his or her publication, it’s an immediate turnoff. The pitch might be for a consumer story when it’s a business or trade publication, or the story might concern a sector of the industry other than the one that the magazine or website covers. In either case, the editor is unlikely to consider the pitch and will probably delete future emails from that publicist. To prevent this error, all you have to do is read sample articles in the publication or just glance at its home page.
  2. Doesn’t know the publication’s editorial policies. Even among trade publications, there is a wide range of different policies on how guest columns and news stories should be written. Some publications will not allow any mention of a client’s name or products. Others actively solicit promotional pieces (usually in exchange for ads), and there are variations in between those poles. The publications that take a strict stance against product promotion are more desirable for thought leadership, but some clients may want placement in publications that allow a mention of how their products helped their customers. The important thing is to know a publication’s editorial policies before pitching its editors. Usually, those policies are on its website. A PR firm should also ensure its writers follow these rules; if not, the publication may reject the piece.
  3. Doesn’t understand the publication’s slant. Depending on its audience, a publication might be looking for very specific kinds of stories and opinion pieces that cater to its readers interests. For example, a publication for CISOs will be receptive to pieces that focus narrowly on security but not on topics of general interest to CIOs, even though CIOs are also concerned about security. The editor will also look for trendy topics in that field, such as blockchain’s potential use in security. But if the publication has covered something frequently in the recent past, such as how to foil ransomware attacks, it may not be interested in that. To prepare for this possibility, do a keyword search in the publication’s archives or on Google.
  4. Doesn’t keep up with changes in direction. Some publications change their editorial direction, either because of a change in leadership or in response to market forces. Publicists should not assume that because a publication accepted certain kinds of pitches in the past, they will in the future. Keep up with what’s happening with key publications by reading them regularly, and also take note of personnel changes. When a new editor or journalist joins the publication, introduce yourself and ask what kinds of stories that person is looking for.
  5. Doesn’t pitch stories in a timely way. In the competitive field of journalism, timing is extremely important. If you pitch a news-related story too late, it will be rejected because no one is interested in that topic anymore. If a client has an important news story, it’s always a good idea to give key editors the news just ahead of its release on an embargoed basis. But don’t provide the release to just one editor, or the others will feel slighted and will remember that the next time you pitch them.
  6. Fails to present the pitch concisely and intelligibly. Any PR professional should know how to write a good pitch, but it is surprising how many emailed pitches fail that test. In some cases, they go on interminably before getting to the point. Other pitches are so poorly written that they’re difficult to understand. You should always remember that editors time is limited and that they may have to read hundreds of emails each day. Just as in a published article, a catchy headline and a cogent lead will go a long way toward getting an editor’s or journalist’s attention.

None of these mistakes are difficult to correct. With a fairly minimal effort, publicists can learn what publications want and how to deliver it. By doing so, they can vastly increase their chances of having their pitches accepted and of placing articles in sought-after publications.

Advice for Journalists Considering a Career in Public Relations

Admit it, reporters and editors: Many of you are a little curious to learn about tips for journalists considering a career in public relations, or at least you have been at some point.

That’s OK. No one could blame you and you’ve got plenty of reasons:

  • Newspapers have hemorrhaged so many jobs over the last 10 years that a major industry trade group threw in the towel on tracking job losses.
  • Before you say, “Everyone knows newspapers have been bleeding jobs, but that’s been offset by growth at digital publishers,” consider one factor: That statement isn’t true. Hiring at digital media outlets “pales in comparison to the number of journalists laid off in the newspaper industry,” according to Columbia Journalism Review.
  • The occupation “desktop publisher” (sounds a lot like a journalist to me) appears on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics list of fastest-declining occupations between 2014 and 2024, along with telephone operators, mail carriers, sewing machine operators and a lot of other occupations that aren’t very appealing to young people.
  • Most disturbing, perhaps, is the absolute dominance of Facebook and Google in the advertising market. Between 2012 and 2016, the two giants alone accounted for 70 percent of the growth of ALL advertising revenues, a figure which is inclusive of radio and TV ads. If we focus only on the U.S. digital advertising, the numbers are even more bleak: Last year, Google and Facebook accounted for an “astounding” 99 percent of the growth in that market last year.
  • Further, with Facebook and Google controlling 65 percent of new digital ad revenues, don’t expect a big surge in hiring from other digital publishers any time soon.

No doubt, it’s hard out there for a journalist. So, naturally, you may be thinking about transitioning to a new career that builds on many of the skills you’ve developed as a reporter and editor writing, interviewing, editing, researching and the like. Lots of us have been there.

I spent nearly a decade in journalism, and worked in corporate communications and public relations for about the last four years. As someone who has seen how the sausage is made on both sides of the industry, I offer the following thoughts, observations and tips for journalists who are interested in a career in public relations.

Continue to think like a journalist: That’s not to say that after starting in PR you need to think exactly like you did as a journalist. Once you acquire more PR experience you’ll have an advantage over others in the field: You’ll have the ability to think both as a journalist and PR professional. Your guidance on what does or does not capture media interest will serve you very well with clients, who typically have a wealth of knowledge and experience in their own industry and are anxious to learn how journalists work.

Become more client-focused: Journalist are a bit like a lone wolf: Largely self-reliant and able to chart their own course to find the nourishment they need to survive. For journalists that nourishment comes in the form of stories that will attract readers and clicks (“publish or perish,” after all). Corporate culture is a bit of change from that, and in many cases, the change is positive. You’ll actually get to work as part of a team rather than primarily writing articles by yourself although that cooperation with and reliance on others may take some getting used to at first.

Another difference is the number of approvers. In journalism, it’s essentially you and your editor. In PR, there is your internal team, and there is the client team, which often includes members of the marketing department as well as individual subject matter experts. Everyone in the process brings their own perspective, which may not always align with what you may have been taught in journalism school. That’s ok, though. It helps you expand your universe and the ways you can communicate.

Stress out less about deadlines: No matter the profession they’re in, everyone seems to think that they’re faced with constant deadline pressures and always rushing to get to the next task, whatever that task may be. However, in my own experience from working in journalism and with corporations, corporate deadlines are usually longer than “today” (unlike journalism), and are more likely to get pushed back when needed. Why might this be? I suspect it comes down to organizational focus. A media outlet or publishing company is in the business of publishing news. Articles are the “widgets” that these companies produce to pull in revenues from advertisers.

For corporations that are clients of PR firms, publishing content is not their primary focus. The content is part of a larger plan with many moving parts. In other words, content isn’t the “widget;” it’s support for the widget, which means content deadlines are dependent on when the widget is ready. Further, corporations typically have more layers of approval that any given piece of content must pass through before seeing the light of day.

Get used to being the pursuer, instead of the one being pursued: As a journalist, PR professionals are constantly vying for your attention, all looking to obtain media coverage for their clients. It’s ok to confess that that felt good sometimes. Well, forget about that feeling. In PR, the tables have turned and you may be expected at times to pursue inexperienced journalists from small media outlets who nonetheless aren’t particularly interested in what you have to say at the moment. If your ego can’t handle that (not to mention lots of your pitches being met with rejection or indifference) PR probably isn’t the best field for you.

Maintain your journalism contacts: Attending a conference or other gathering with a number of fellow journalists? Grab some business cards not only from potential sources you’ll be writing about, but from other reporters, too. Those journalist contacts you make will serve you very well in public relations, and because they’ve seen you as one of themselves, they may respect you a bit more when you’re pitching or sharing story ideas.

Confession time – this is one area where I fell short as a reporter. When I attended conferences, I was so preoccupied with building my network of sources and finding stories that I neglected to interact as much as I should have with journalists – aside from the times we spent together sitting in the press area. So take a step back from your articles, interviews and research and spend some time getting to know the reporters you’re working shoulder-to-shoulder with. If and when you join a PR firm, you’ll be glad you did because you’ll have a pre-built, solid network of journalist contacts the first day you walk in the door. And that’s invaluable to the clients who are depending on you to get their stories told.

These are just one ex-reporter’s tips for journalists considering a career in public relations. There are many paths to PR, and journalism is but one. Regardless of how you come to PR and how you obtain the necessary skills, the abilities that journalism cultivates – writing, interviewing, editing, researching will play a critical role in your success.

Changes around daily newspapers are creating a chill for journalists

The Dog Eat Dog Days of PR in the Internet Age: Part One

Who watches the watchdogs? It’s a phrase that conjures the creation of police commissions or intelligence oversight committees. But if you’re a believer in the sanctity of the Fourth Estate (and God knows we need them now more than ever), then the watchdogs who need watching are journalists. And no one watches or analyzes, or critiques journalists in greater depth and with sharper insight than the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University.

The purpose of the Nieman Lab is to figure out how journalism can adapt to the Internet Age while remaining relevant and profitable. Recently, in “Newsonomics: The 2016 Media Year by the Numbers and a look toward 2017,” the Nieman Lab’s Ken Doctor turned up some fascinating trends that will both bedevil and delight those of us in PR and business who strive daily, with more or less success, to earn the media’s adoration and praise.

Have Your Fake and Eat it Too

The bedeviling side of Nieman Lab’s look back at 2016 is the messy shift from print to digital, a transformation long underway that is weighing ever more heavily on the news media. The industry-rocking trend of 2016, of course, was the rise of “fake news” or rather the rise in awareness of fake news, thanks to the Presidential Election. Doctor takes some easy swipes at Mark Zuckerberg for his much-publicized claim that 99% of Facebook’s content isn’t fake. “Ever heard a publisher proudly proclaim, “We get it right 99 times out of a hundred?” he asks.

But the fake news phenomenon isn’t going to have much impact on the field of technology PR. More significant for the business of Media Relations is the sharp increase in the number of PR “targets” as the Internet continues to make it easier for small, independent content producers to compete with the mainstream media. This democratization of publishing and broadcasting offers both more opportunities and more diluted opportunities for getting the word out about a company, a product, or a thought leader.

The Young and the Restless

Here’s Nieman Lab’s take on one of the biggest online outposts, a not-so-new media that has finally come into its own after a decade of unrealized promise and that is quickly disrupting its Old Media birthplace, radio:

“Podcasting now reshuffles the deck, mixing and matching talent on scheduled airtime and on demand, with unpredictable consequences. The movement of younger talentwithin the emerging podcast economy poses both a great opportunity and threat for public radio as we know it, and is a boon for newer entrants like Gimlet Media, Panoply, This American Life/Serial, and Midroll Media.”

A related trend that accelerated in 2016 and into 2017 is the flight of ad revenue from mainstream publishing as advertisers spread their dollars online in search of eyeballs (and now ears, too).

“The Wall Street Journal lost more than a fifth of its overall advertising revenue in the third quarter of 2016,” Doctor writes. Other blue ribbon outlets suffered similar losses: The New York Times saw print ad revenue decline by 18 percent; McClatchy reported a 17 percent loss; Gannet lost 15 percent; and Tronc (the former Tribune Company) lost 11 percent.

To compensate for those huge loses, publishers are seeking revenue directly from readers in the form of digital subscriptions and add-ons. That requires high-quality content and attractive digital platforms something that “only the national/global dailies have been able to achieve,” according to Doctor. How will the rest of the nation’s dailies fare amid this historic transformation? Judging by the number of journalists losing their jobs, not so well. Nielsen Lab counted just 27,300 journalists working for U.S. dailies in 2016, 4,000 of whom work for the four national titles. The size of the local press has declined by half, according to Doctor.

Heads Up to PR customers

What does that mean for PR? The math is pretty simple. With an ever smaller number of traditional publications managing to keep the lights on, the competition for coverage among the dailies is becoming downright cutthroat. The days of guaranteeing that a successful company in a hot market will be covered by The New York Times or Wall Street Journal are over.

So what’s the answer? How can companies in search of media coverage adjust to this fast-evolving environment?

You can read the answer in Part Two of this post. In the meantime, a few hints: Traditional PR is dead. The press release as many people think of it is a goner. Thought leadership will be a key PR budget priority. Content is (roll your eyes if you must) king.

But in the end, it’s still all about relationships.