InsidEPR

Start Making Sense!

By Stephanie Gallagher

As a PR professional in technology, I am always swimming in a sea of tech speak. 3GPP2, EVDO, HDSL, PDSL, SNR, TD-SCDMA, ToIP, WiBro—what does it all mean?  Over the years, I have learned to worry less about memorizing acronyms and to focus more on finding the real meaning and value of what my clients are trying to say.  The old adage “less is more” can be effectively applied to PR.

Explaining complex technologies in English can be a challenge and is one of the reasons I continue to work in high-tech.  One of my favorite exercises with clients is to ask them to describe what they do in one sentence.  The answers always vary, and oftentimes it’s painful for them to come up with a one-sentence response.  This process is important, though, to help develop that elevator pitch to the media.  When talking to reporters, every minute counts—sometimes you only have a minute to make a pitch so it better be clear and concise.  Even though a reporter may be writing about technology, it’s PR’s job to help make sense of it all.

Depth vs. Breadth—What’s Right for You?

By Gail Farrell

As writing director, I work with more than a dozen clients—and there might be weeks between assignments from any one client.  All the other PR professionals in the office work with just two or three clients, so they have a chance to get to know the people and the companies more in depth than I do.  Recently a colleague asked how I managed to write about so many very different companies and products and technologies without losing track of everything.

I could say the answer lies in my early work experience.  I started out as a journalist at McGraw-Hill’s Boston bureau, writing for Business Week and Electronics magazines, so I had to cover a lot of ground, from semiconductors to ARPAnet, from banking regulations to jet engine manufacturers.  The first story I ever reported on for Electronics—in my first week at work—was about laser safety laws.  I didn’t know how to control an interview (as a result one of my contacts went off on unrelated tangents for two hours) and knew nothing about lasers or laser safety, but I somehow got the assignment done.

My most memorable Business Week article took me and a photographer to Vermont’s wild and wooded Northeast Kingdom for a weekend to report on a new company with a patented process for turning wood waste (which otherwise would be burned in open fires) from local lumber mills into a soil enricher sold at garden centers around New England.  We stayed in a 100-year-old lumber mill dormitory, picked milkweed shoots in the back field for salad, and had a dinner at the home of the company’s owner that featured milk from the goats his family raised.  Because the patent was in the public domain, the story generated hundreds of letters to the editor from people around the world whose communities needed a solution for their wood waste problems.

The Write Way

By Becky Frost

Let’s face it; no matter the client’s size or expertise, not every day will be a red-letter news day.  In PR we face the challenge of getting our clients in print – whether in the physical or online sense – as often as possible. Of course, news, reviews, and interviews help us meet client media expectations, but there comes a time when something extra is needed.

That “something extra” can come in the form of contributed articles. Contributed articles, also know as bylined articles, serve as a great way for clients to provide a snapshot of trends affecting their industry instead of a close-up of their product or service. Moreover, it gives executives a chance to provide expert thoughts on the market, thus providing additional clarity and insight to readers.

No matter how long I’ve represented a client or worked in their respective industry, I’m guaranteed to learn something new with each contributed piece. The one constant about technology is its rapid evolution. Who better to discuss its advancements than those involved on the front lines of change?

A New and Improved Press Release?

By Becky Caudill

Over the last several months, there has been a push within the industry toward a new style of press release (read about it here, here, and especially here) that addresses emerging trends in social media (including search engine optimization). It is also intended to make it easier for a journalist to put together an article summarizing a client's news.  This “new and improved” release should include links to important information from the company, multimedia content mapping to a client’s specific technology or an industry trend, links to archived Webinars, and trackbacks to company and/or industry expert blog posts, to name a few. 

How to Write a Good Press Release

By Gail Farrell

Understand what your client is announcing
Rule number one - if you don’t understand the topic, you can’t write about it.  I can usually tell when someone is writing about something they don’t understand by the long, complex sentences that don’t make grammatical sense, or when I see paragraphs composed of random bits of information that don’t flow together.  Before drafting the press release, discuss the topic with your client and supervisor in advance, find out what you need to know, and read background material.  If you find you’re still missing information, ask for advice as you write the release. 

First things first
Once you understand the topic, make sure you understand what is most newsworthy about the announcement.  Use that information for the headline, subhead, and first paragraph.  Organize your material in a hierarchy of importance.  Don’t bury the news in the third paragraph of the release.  Your audience will have moved on.