Archive for journalism

Rate My Plan for Spotlighting Animal Performers

December 27, 2009 at 2:30 am · Filed under advertising, communications, email, journalism, media relations, public relations, publicity, social media, social media marketing, tourism, traditional media, travel journalism

Last Spring, I travelled to a rural area in the upper Midwest to visit a live animal entertainment venue whose owner was seeking a publicist.  I attended a matinee performance, then sat down with the owner to get to know each other and learn what was needed for the venue to be successful. 

 

Situation

The venue is a dream come true for the age 50-something owner, who has loved animals since childhood.  Masterfully costumed and choreographed, the animals present 90-minute performances in an arena-style theater.

 

Strengths

  • Dedicated owner and staff.
  • Great, short distance halfway between two major metropolitan cities.
  • Las Vegas-style show features variety, sparkle and dazzle.
  • 90-minute length is just right.
  • Arena-style seating ensures no bad seating.
  • Web site is beautiful, well branded, and enables online ticket sales.
  • A 2-minute feature report-style video was recently produced and  is posted on YouTube.
  • Ancillary revenue streams are generated by concession stand and gift shop sales and tour group bookings.

 

Weaknesses/Threats

  • Approximate $700K annual operational costs exceed average $300K revenue.
  • Due to strict local ordinances, lack of roadside and front entrance signage along the road make it easy for visitors to miss.
  • Fluctuating audience levels in a venue with seating capacity for 300.  On the Saturday that I visited, 40 people attended the performance.  The venue’s high season is May through October; low season is during winter months.
  • Branding suffers from inconsistencies in visual image quality and exposure.  Several fliers, posters, postcards, and print ads have been produced over the years with varying logos, fonts, and color schemes.
  • Some lack of acceptance, support, and collaborative partnership among segments of the local community despite owner’s membership in chamber of commerce and tourism bureau.
  • Some disapproval and/or lack of understanding from animal rights activists.

 

Opportunities

  • Increase general audience interest and attendance through greater buzz-generating publicity across multiple traditional and new media platforms targeting primary audiences in the two metropolitan cities and secondary audiences throughout the Midwestern U.S.
  • Increase awareness of venue among private event coordinators and corporate meeting planners who are always looking for new and unusual sites to book for their clients.
  • Expand the repertoire of performances to feature new themes and ideas that move and inspire audiences.

 

In the months preceding my visit, the owner had considered taking a one-year contract on a billboard along a major interstate highway at a cost of $5,000 per month.  Also, several salespeople had pitched for ads in various local community newspapers and regional visitors’ guides at costs ranging from $1,000 to $3,500 per placement.  The owner stated these opportunities were too expensive, and the preference would be to “get booked on talk shows” and featured in “news and human interest stories that don’t cost anything.”  The owner declined to specify a budget for my services, so we agreed that I would simply propose a plan  with a menu of options from which to choose.

 

The following is the plan that I submitted.  None of the options was chosen.  The venue owner subsequently decided to go with the interstate highway billboard.

 

Did this plan miss the mark?

 

1.      Pitching Stories – Initiate contacts and pitch newsworthy and feature- oriented story ideas to diverse journalists.  Emphasis will be concentrated on targeting coverage from media in the two metropolitan cities but strident efforts will also be engaged to reach greater audiences through popular media throughout the U.S., including magazines, national broadcast networks, and syndicated radio/TV shows.  This will involve constant building of a database of contacts from which I will initiate frequent personal phone calls, emails and other direct contact and networking activities with editors, producers, reporters, writers and other media professionals.  I will use skills honed from my own extensive professional background experience to “push buttons” that will generate interest leading to the quantity, quality and variety of feature reports across all media to generate “buzz” leading to heightened audience numbers.

 BUDGET: 20 hours per month at $50 per hour = $12,000 for 12 months (plus 4 hours per month pro bono)   

 

2.      Wire Service Mass Distribution  – Not only do I want to pitch; I also want to catch loads of inbound inquiries from curious media.  To pique media curiosity, I will write and edit newsworthy announcements, alerts and bulletins for about the venue.  The releases will be disseminated through a large news wire distribution network specializing in the delivery of multimedia content to the media and the general public.  Targeting its vast Midwest Distribution that includes tens of thousands of media points and individual recipients, the wire service will facilitate the distribution 24 releases – each with unlimited word count so we can tell the stories of this animal entertainment venue in many ways with lots of details.  This will include 24 photos through and a custom news archive that will match the look and feel of the venue’s web site.

 BUDGET:  12-month subscription at $1,700 per month = $20,640

 

3.      A) Liaisons through professional media associations – I will initiate memberships in professional journalist organizations that provide programs aimed at promoting productive and mutually beneficial fellowships, relationships and information exchanges. Membership in such organizations as the metropolitan area press clubs, Society of Professional Journalists, North American Travel Journalists Association and others will also provide me access to the membership directories that can become part of our database library.  I will also be eligible to register and attend local luncheons as well as regional and national conferences, conventions and other business gatherings providing maximum interface with media people to target for interest and coverage of the animal entertainment venue.

 

B) Business Partnership Marketing – The owner should continue to build relationships through existing membership in the local chamber of commerce and the tourism bureau.  Meanwhile, I will initiate membership in Meeting Professionals International, which will enable me to receive opportunities to build professional relationships with key contacts within the meetings and events industry. MPI will mean business via exposure for the venue to over 10,000 planners with average budgets over $1.5 million. The recommended category of membership for the venue is as a Supplier Meeting Professional in order to provide and/or sell the services and features of the venue to the meetings industry.  Others in this category of membership include destination management professionals, hoteliers, audio-visual professionals, florists, transportation providers, and convention and visitors bureaus.  The chapters in the nearby metropolitan cities empower their 1,200+ members to increase their strategic value with education, professional development and business growth opportunities.

 

BUDGET FOR 3A) AND 3B):  $5,000 for professional association membership dues, conference registrations, transportation, lodging, meals.

 

4.      Host at least two “Media Appreciation Day” events on-site at the venue to foster casual social interactions that will reinforce our relationships with journalists who have provided past coverage and/or who are interested in developing new story angles.  My role will be to set dates, disseminate personal invitations, coordinate RSVPs and coordinate logistics (including catering, program scheduling, and preparation of formal remarks/talking points for the venue owner). BUDGET: 2 events at $500 each = $1,000

 

5.      Social Media Marketing - I will initiate, build strong brand presence and maximize targeted online consumer communications outreach for the venue through active platforms on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, MySpace, WordPress.

 BUDGET: $0

 

6.      Email Marketing – Sending an email newsletter, a high-impact email promotion, an email event invitation, an online survey, or building the email list, my partnership with Constant Contact can help get it done. Email marketing and online surveys make it easy and affordable to connect with new and past audiences. Email addresses can be obtained from the existing database of visitors who purchased tickets online through the venue’s web site.  With more than 300 easily customized email templates, a step-by-step wizard, and point-and-click interface, high-impact email newsletters and promotions can be created in just minutes. It’s also easy to manage contact email lists and measure results.  Additionally, real-time email tracking and reporting will enable me to know how many emails were delivered, which addresses bounced, and why—within minutes of sending the email campaign. I will also get reports on who opened the email, which links generated the most interest, and who clicked on each one. This valuable information will help determine contacts’ interests, the best day and time to send the email campaigns, and much more.

BUDGET:  $0 for initial 60-day trial, then $50 per month for 10 months = $500 (assumes email list of 501 to 2,500 contacts)

 

7.      I will also coordinate plans for the venue to host at least two “Event and Meeting Planner Appreciation Day” events on-site at the venue to foster casual social interactions that will reinforce our relationships with event and meeting planners who have previously utilized or expressed interest in future utilization of the venue for their clients. My role will be to set dates, disseminate personal invitations, coordinate RSVPs and coordinate logistics (including catering, program scheduling, and preparation of formal remarks/talking points for the venue owner).  Through the following recent informal communications, it’s clear that some event planners are already excited about the opportunity to find out about the venue:           

 

If my calendar is open, I would be happy to come to a venue tour.  I am an event and wedding planner/coordinator.  I have set up many tours of venues and may have already had a personal tour. 
Thank you,
Conni Hofeldt-Rowe
Event Designer/Bridal Consultant/Coordinator 
 
 
 

 

Good evening!  A to E Wedding Coordinators assists brides, grooms and their families with the plans and coordination of their upcoming wedding event.  I have a background in catering and still work for a large catering company who handles the events of Fortune 500 companies in addition to weddings.  Thank you! 

Reyeh Aguilar, Wedding Planner

A to E Wedding Coordinators

 

BUDGET: 2 events at $500 each = $1,000

   

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Media Relations Best Practice: Interview Summary Notes

September 6, 2009 at 8:55 pm · Filed under communications, journalism, media relations ·Tagged , , ,

A recent article in the Chicago Tribune profiled people who use part of their summer vacations for volunteer humanitarian service (link below). Among those interviewed was Paula Amenta, who had worked as a counselor at a camp for at-risk kids.

What country had Paula stated that she visited? Zambia.

What did the paper report? Zaire.

oh no u dint

 Ouch!

OK, it’s easy enough to bring this to the reporter’s attention and ask for a correction to be published in the next edition. However, papers usually publish corrections in some obscure corner of an inside page.

As a best practice, I write my own summary notes memo, either before or following an interview, and submit it to the reporter. If someone else is the designated interviewee, I am always present during the interview – whether it’s in person or by phone.

Before the interview, I ask the reporter for a preliminary list of questions or, at least, a topic outline. This enables me to gather internal information and prepare talking points for myself or the designated interviewee. I prepare talking points regardless of the level of the level of expertise. Those talking points then become the post-interview summary notes — attached, of course, to your friendly “thank you” note to the reporter.

reporter notebookIt’s a supplement to the reporter’s own note-taking and helps prevent misspelled names, misstated job titles, fact-flipping, and other inaccuracies.

Is it spoon-feeding? Do reporters balk? Sure, initially. I’ve found, however, that this practice can foster better relationships with reporters, even entice them to become beat reporters on your organization. Providing your summary notes can make reporters perceive you as helpful, responsive, and especially resourceful on sensitive issues or technically complex topics.

My memo also goes to the organization’s board members as well as cross-departmental/divisional managers and executives, who may decide to share it with their staff members. This way, I am the first and best news source. No need for them to turn on the news or open the paper and go, “What the…?” or, “I didn’t know….!”

adPreferably, by the time it hits print, broadcast or online media, it’s old news. Beyond the headline and a lead sentence, there’s little or no need for busy people in my organization to invest much time digesting the media’s take on something I’ve already fed through my internal memo.

What do you think?

Oh, and by the way, Chicago Tribune:  Zaire was the former name of the African nation known today as Democratic Republic of the Congo. The name was officially reverted in 1997.

Ouch again!

LINK:

“For more vacationers, getaways are a chance to give,” by Andrea L. Brown, Chicago Tribune, August 28, 2009 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-vacation-volunteer-nzone-28-aug28,0,6706831.story

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You, Me and We the People: The New Media

June 8, 2009 at 3:53 pm · Filed under journalism, new media, public relations, social media, traditional media

new mediaAfter a century characterized by mass production – automobile assembly lines, fast food chains and media – we’re now heading into the era of thinking – and doing – small. This is prompting some sobering pronouncements about the collapse of traditional media – newspapers in particular. 

In the past year, the nation’s top ten daily newspapers have lost a combined total of nearly one million subscribers. Some analysts predict that in the next ten years, there will be fewer than ten metropolitan dailies left in the U.S. 

But on a positive note, “The new media is you.  You are the media, if that’s what you choose to be,” said longtime technology journalist Paul Gillin, author of The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide to New Social Media.  Gillin was on the panel during the recent PRSA-sponsored forum titled “Reaffirm, Regain, Renew: Public Affairs’ Role in Remaking America.”  He was joined by Robert Hastings, former principal deputy assistant secretary of public affairs, U.S. Department of Defense; Garrett Graff, editor-at-large, The Washingtonian; Margery Kraus, president and CEO of global public affairs firm APCO Worldwide, and Torod Neptune, senior vice president and head of U.S. Public Affairs Practice, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide.

A podcast of the panel discussion is available at http://www.prsa.org.

“The technology shifts that have taken place now enable individual publishers to become influencers,” Gillin said.

I can definitely relate to this. 

Back in “the good ol’ days” of my PR career (circa late 1990s through early 2000s), I worked with reporters to meet their late afternoon deadlines for the following day’s newspaper. If I had a strategy that I wanted to articulate, the press release was my vehicle.  I either had a full 24 hours to target newspapers in the morning or perhaps a month if I was thinking about a traditional magazine.  

Well, that process of targeting such influencers has changed with the advent of blogs, wikis, podcasts and other social media.  Becoming an influencer has become as simple as creating a Twitter account and joining the conversation by providing credible, relevant information – in 140 characters or less. 

This means the traditional news media are now often the last to get the story instead of the first.  Bloggers and Twitterers report a trend, then the newspapers, magazines, TV and radio pick up the story.

Reporters read hundreds of blogs looking for interesting stories.  At the same time, bloggers are commenting on stories that the mainstream media create.

My challenge now is to be on both sides of this.

I want to be there watching what the stories are online that are going to make the leap into the mainstream media in a couple of days.  At the same time, once the story has come out, I need to engage online and help change perceptions of what the story is, or reinforce the perception of what the story lays out.

And this creates tremendous opportunities for me to become a trusted brand as well as make my client organizations trusted brands.

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