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Archive for January, 2011
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 by user
- Do Your Homework – Before your interview, learn what you can about the reporter and the stories he or she does. Is it a “friendly reporter” or someone who does hard-nosed investigative stories? What does the reporter know about your profession and the issues you face? A quick Google search of the reporter’s name and/or a review of a publication’s website can yield useful background.
- Know the Audience – What audience does the publication or broadcast media reach? Your profession? The public? A business audience? Knowing the audience will influence the answers you provide.
- Understand the Context – Make sure you know the context in which your remarks will be reported. Will the reporter also interview someone else with an opposing viewpoint? Is it a short news story or a longer feature? If it is a broadcast story, is the interview taped or live? These and other factors will determine both the content and depth of your answers.
- Interviews Are Not PR Opportunities – This may seem counterintuitive, but remember that the reporter is doing a story that meets the needs of readers or viewers, not your public relations needs. Inform, don’t promote. If you give the reporter what he or she needs, you and your organization will be presented in a positive light.
- Develop Core Messages – It’s critical to develop up to three core messages you want to communicate during the interview. If you don’t, you are at the mercy of the reporter and whatever questions they ask, and you may not be happy with the comments the reporter chooses to use.
- Don’t Talk Too Much – Only a few of your comments (maybe only one!) will appear in a typical news story. Once you have delivered your core messages, don’t ramble on with additional points. You may find that these other points make it into the story, at the expense of your messages. This also helps the reporter by giving them less material to wade through.
- Skip the Jargon and Acronyms – It’s easy to fall into the habit of using industry jargon and acronyms. Make a point to avoid these whenever possible. If you do need to use a term that the average person might not understand, make sure you explain it.
- Don’t Lose Your Cool – No matter what happens, remain calm, cool, and collected. If you get flustered, you are sure to forget your core messages and may say the wrong thing. In a broadcast interview, you will lose all credibility with viewers or listeners. Worse, your reaction may lead the reporter to believe there is more to the story and could cause them to become more aggressive.
- Be Proactive if Necessary – If the interview is about to end and you haven’t delivered a key message, bring it up. Or “bridge” to your message from whatever question the reporter asks.
- You Are Never Off the Record – No matter what a reporter says, you are NEVER off the record. Don’t fall into this trap. Never say anything you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of your local newspaper.
- The Reporter is Not Your Friend – This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be friendly, only that every interview is a professional encounter, not a social one. Don’t let the reporter’s friendly demeanor lull you into a false sense of security, which could cause you to say something you might not want to see in print. (Remember the earlier point about never being off the record!)
- Respect Deadlines and Follow Up – Reporters live and die by deadlines, and you can earn their respect and build a relationship by adhering to them and following up with any promised information in a timely manner. Also, make sure you return all phone calls and e-mails promptly.
- Don’t Ask to See the Story – Reporters want to protect their independence. Showing a story to a source before it runs violates this, so don’t ask! By asking, you show yourself to be naïve about how the media operates, and it won’t help your relationship with the reporter. However, you should offer to provide any additional information the reporter may need and offer to check key facts before publication if the reporter wants to do that. But make it the reporter’s choice – not yours. Some reporters may offer to show you the story, at which point you should conduct a quick review and change only factual inaccuracies. But remember that seeing the story in advance is an exception to the rule.
- Evaluate the Results – After the interview is over and the story appears, critique your performance. Was it a positive story? Did the story contain your key messages? Did you fall into any “traps”? What could you have done differently to improve the story? Any lessons you can take away from the story will help you next time!
Al Rickard, CAE, is president of Association Vision, a Washington, DC-area communications company. He is a member of the ASAE Communication Section Council and Co-Chair of its Cross-Collaboration and Community Advisory Group.
Tags: communications plan, conveying your message, how to interview, media plan, PR, reporter interviews
Posted in PR Media | 13,143 Comments »
Thursday, January 20th, 2011 by user
By Randy Townsend
If you are serious about converting to a paperless workflow, hopefully you have (1) assembled a strong team of individuals that span across your organization and have (2) been asking questions critical to managing the transition. In case you are not sure about how to begin, please see Part 1, “The Road to a Paperless Workflow.”
The next thing you want to do is control your testing environment. Here are a few tips that will strengthen the foundation of your new workflow:
1. Start Small
There is no need to involve the entire organization when you are in the testing phase. Take baby steps confidently with as few people involved as you can manage. This will allow you the freedom to gauge intermediate successes and failures, and respond accordingly.
Avoid turning departments upside down with bold assertions strapped to explosive deadlines (We will be paperless by next Friday). Change can be a scary thing to many people. If done properly, your colleagues will have been a part of your program for some time before they truly realize the scope of the changes.
2. The Carriage Before the Horse
Be willing to reorder procedural steps. Transitioning into a paperless workflow constitutes a dynamic change in daily operations. Reassess the need for procedures structured to respond to the physical limitations of a paper-dependent workflow.
3. Redefine Roles
Some proposed changes might seem crazy, requiring redefining the some of your colleague’s job descriptions (or even your own). Be sure to discuss such possible changes with your Human Resources department. Remember that you are not changing the business itself, but rather working to improve the overall performance of our organization, which should be a common goal for everybody on staff.
As your testing is underway, your road towards paperlessness should appear greener!
Randy Townsend is a team leader in journals production at the American Geophysical Union. He is currently securing a Master’s Degree in Publishing at The George Washington University. Randy is also a freelance writer. See his interview with Basketball Wives’ Shaunie O’Neal in the latest issue of A-Game Magazine.
Tags: digital delivery, paperless office
Posted in Next Generation, Print Outlook | 12,498 Comments »
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 by user
By: Tony Rossell
Happy New Year! It’s time to develop, or at least review, your marketing plan, so I thought it might be useful to outline the marketing planning methodology that I use to brainstorm and develop strategies for organizations.
We are all familiar with the four “P”s: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. They are established tools in marketing to help define strategy, but I find that they do not serve membership groups as well.
So to serve membership organizations better, I have adapted the four “P”s to the following:
Market – Answers the question, “WHO?”
Product – Answers the question, “WHAT?”
Promotion – Answers the question, “HOW?”
Economics – Answers the question, “WHY?”
Let me make a few quick comments about each of these.
First, any sound marketing strategy needs to look at “who” we want to reach. I have found it helpful to break most markets down visually using a triangle or pyramid.
At the top of the triangle are the best prospects for the product that we are offering. If properly defined, this is almost always the smallest segment. As we work our way down to less qualified prospects, we have increasing numbers of potential members or customers – hence the wider triangle. The goal, of course, is to be sure that we flow our scarce marketing funds first to the best prospects and then down the triangle to generate the best ROI.
Taking the time to carefully define who is in each market segment and how many people are in the segment is fundamental to planning.
Next, define “what” you are offering. Should your product be bundled or sold a la carte? What are your best price points? What is your unique selling proposition (USP) to each market segment? What enhancements can be made to the product to make it unique or more valuable? How does your product compare to the competition?
The third element is promotion or “how” we go to market. Unfortunately, many marketers start at this point without doing the earlier leg work. I sometimes, for example, hear that “direct mail doesn’t work for our organization.” It is possible, but it is more likely that the channel is not to blame, but the message went to the wrong person. You cannot sell ice to Eskimos.
 Sometimes, the communications vehicle is not to blame; try examining your audience and tailor-fitting your message, regardless of the medium. Promotional decisions look at how best to connect the product and the market. What marketing channel should you choose (personal sales, telemarketing, direct mail, space ads, broadcast FAX, email, search engine ads, or retail)? Each channel offers unique advantages, cost structures, and response rates.
Finally, marketing planning requires an answer to the question, “why.” Does the plan make economic sense? This involves looking at realistic projections of revenue and costs and calculating the Life Time Value, Cost of Goods Sold, and Maximum Acquisition Cost for a member or customer. I provided these calculations in a membership marketing context in my post on September 10th, Membership Marketing Calculations and Formulas.
I hope that these thoughts get your strategic marketing juices flowing. If you need help in planning for your 2011 marketing efforts, please feel free to contact me.
Tony is Senior Vice President at Marketing General Inc and can be reached at tony@marketinggeneral.com
Tags: Marketing, Membership, Planning
Posted in Membership, Membership Marketing | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 by user
By Barbara Meyers Ford
Thad McIlroy, President, The Future of Publishing and keynote speaker at the Cadmus 2010 Executive Management Retreat, gave these ten guidelines for publishers looking to survive the current climate of publishing.
- Don’t Think “Either/Or.” Think “AND” where and = evolution.
- Trends are not linear. There is no evidence that print will die, but there is tons of evidence that its decline will continue. What we haven’t determined is the extent of that decline.
- Data formats remain a problem. Why didn’t XML go mass media? Its growth is happening in a non-algorithmic fashion.
- iPhone, iPads, and Notebooks can not all survive. There is a limit to the number of separate digital devices that people want to carry and that limit = ONE.
- People won’t deal with complexity. They would rather have a simple answer that is inaccurate than a complex one that’s true.
- Digital sales are gross. They don’t bring about the same unit revenues as print so there must be a change in the business model to create a tighter cost structure.
- Free is overrated. Most people will pay a reasonable amount for content. DRM increases the attractiveness of providing free samples, however, which are good.
- Traditional educational institutions are KAPUT; they are on a road to change in spite of their conservative nature.
- Don’t be defensive or you’ll attract predators.
- When there is a level playing field, GOOD content always wins. Problem: the field is rarely level.
Event Date: October 27, 2010, Baltimore, MD
During her 35+ year career, Barbara M. Ford worked for societies and consulting companies before establishing Meyers Consulting Services (MCS), specializing in society management and scholarly publishing. Since starting MCS, Barbara’s work with commercial and non-profit publishers (as well as organizations in allied industries) ranges from a day of advice to months or years of service as adjunct staff in senior positions.
A co-founder of the Society for Scholarly Publishing and a past President of the Council of Science Editors, she has devoted considerable time to all the organizations serving our industry and continues to do so. Her most recent contributions are as adjunct faculty in the Masters in Publishing Program, George Washington University. More information can be found at www.bmeyersconsulting.com.
Posted in Communications News, Digital Delivery, Print Outlook | 14,264 Comments »
Thursday, January 13th, 2011 by user
By Nikki G. Bannister, principal, Nik Scott.
For some companies, social media means corporate exposure, with the expectation that “fans” or “friends” will immediately become familiar with a product or brand. However, social media subscribers should exhibit corporate responsibility, and more important, social responsibility.
Suppose you’re the PR or communications manager of an organization contracted to provide utility assistance or construction project management for a small city. The responsibilities of your social media team become intimidating as you try to just make your potential audience aware of what you do, in terms of support. Now you have the daunting and unenviable task of convincing your potential audience not only of what you do, but how you do it, and in with contemporary focus on “going green” and conservation, people just want to know how your organization’s operations can result in saving their money and their earth.
Whether it’s a blog, tube, or social network, every service of public relations should be dedicated to providing a message for your audience; from corporate responsibility to community relations. Here are three small and simple, yet important tips that can help you get started:
Research trends. You have to know what’s going on around the world before you let the world know what’s going on with you. Having outdated information isn’t going to help anyone except those who don’t utilize the Internet; and who doesn’t?
Are you a social media butterfly or wallflower? You may not be able to reach your targeted audience through a site such as Twitter, so use Facebook to exhibit your product, but be strategic. If your audience is more academic, blog, blog, blog, but please, don’t overdo it with the blah, blah, blah.
Become your audience. Sit on the other side of the fence for a minute. Remember, in order to serve your audience, you have to know what your audience wants. If you don’t, they won’t give a hoot about your fan page, site, tweet or post.
Nikki G. Bannister, is the principal of Nik Scott, an “editorial consulting” firm, and freelance reporter, based in the bayous of Louisiana.
Nik Scott is an editorial consulting firm created to “set the stage” for associations to they can take flight, set sail or get running. Find out more about Nik Scott.
Tags: association PR, social media
Posted in PR Media, Social Media Matters | 14,520 Comments »
Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 by Autumn Jones
That is the big question in the association world right now. Some experts laud the mobile applications as THE NEXT BIG THING in association publishing, while others suggest it’s not really worth the effort unless members are banging down the door requesting one. The decision will ultimately lie with the communications staff, and will be based on association size, aim, resources and membership response.
If you DO however decide to embark on a journey into the iPad-friendly App World, here are some tips to aid in the design:
- Remember that the most innovative and ambitious apps are not always the most highly functioning. Find a balance between the two.
- Incorporate the use of links to featured music and movies, as well as transactional capabilities (iTunes, Amazon), and the ability to drag and drop selected items to a “Favorites List.”
- Embrace interactivity to the fullest extent. Popular magazines have released apps that employ the use of animation on the cover, links to articles from coverlines and a pop-over Table of Contents, as well as large photo-montages with which hundreds of images, allowing navigation in any direction and amplified viewing, with accompanying details, for any one image. The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses released the Healthy Mom & Baby app, which includes video, online quizzes, and information pertinent to each stage of pregnancy presented in interactive formats.
- Have your app cross-checked. Services like iValuate™ by McPheters & Company help project quality control issues before an app is launched. The greatest app in the world is of no use if the screen ends up crowded, links don’t work, or videos are slow to load.
Tags: application functionality, association mobile apps, iPad, mobile apps
Posted in Digital Delivery | 11,951 Comments »
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 by Joanne Harap
Most magazine and commercial printers are entering 2011 cautiously optimistic after an improved Q3 and Q 4. The Publishers Information Bureau reports that the publishing industry experienced a 5.3% growth in ad revenue over the same period in 2009. Ad pages also grew 3.6% over the same time period.
Many printers have experience a healthy fourth quarter with plants at full capacity. This is traditionally the busiest time of the year with catalogs, annual titles and publishers rushing to get titles out by the end of December. As a result, printers are seeing some stabilization in pricing.
Commercial printers continue to find more ways to increase efficiency with reduced labor. They are investing in new equipment that will produce a lower cost per impression. Most capital investment is going towards the purchase of high speed digital presses. Purchasing decisions are based on a thorough assessment of longevity of the equipment against the investment.
What does this mean to publishers?
This is still a good time to go out for bid if you have not done so since 2007. Prices are considerably lower than they were three years ago and that will yield impressive savings to your bottom line. It is doubtful that prices will go any lower; this is the right time to start a contract renewal discussion or a printer selection. Printers will also focus on offering publishers value added services including:
• Competitive pricing digital magazines
• Development and production of Smartphone and iPad applications
• PURLs and personalization of direct mail
• 2D barcodes
The start of the new year is an excellent time to set up a meeting with your print sales representative to discuss pricing and value added services. Let your printer know about your business plans for growth and new initiatives throughout the association. This will give them the perfect opportunity to strengthen their partnership with you.
Joanne Harap is the president of Production Matters, a consulting firm that provides evaluation, management and problem-solving services related to publications production and printing. She specializes in producing cost-efficient and cost-effective association publications. Joanne is an adjunct professor at the George Washington University, teaching production management for the College of Professional Studies Master’s in Publishing program.
Tags: Print Outlook, Printers
Posted in Print Outlook, Vendor relationships | 13,817 Comments »
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