How to Manage the Media

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  Sreeja04/03/08 Report as spam
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  Manage the media

  Very practical article with exaples of how others have achieved !!

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  CharleneNS04/04/08 Report as spam
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  RE: How to Manage the Media

  I work for a non-profit seeking ways to communicate our successful partnerships with private business. Maybe managing this is easier when you have a big multinational, but we recently announced a great partnership with a local brewery, a big employer in our province, who had been reducing their environmental footprint quietly, out of the limelight, has been very proactive with managing their brand, which ties in with our province's cultural identity -- they made a very proactive investment in our environmental non-profit, part of which is purchasing a large number of home energy evaluations to give away in a sweepstakes across the province. This is an expensive undertaking, but shows a deep understanding and commitment to the environment--in comparison, another brewery is giving away a lightbulb with each case of beer during Earth Month. (Lightbulbs are done to death).
  So, how was our announcement received by the business media? With utter disdain and cynicism. The local daily business editor I personally contacted sent our partner a very snarky note implying it was all a PR exercise. We do not greenwash!
  
  How the heck do you overcome that?

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  bzeitlinger04/04/08 Report as spam
  3

  Overcoming media cynicism

  Charlotte:
  
  I could tell you more about overcoming media cynicism in a phone call, but the editor's reply -- while a little over the top -- is not too surprising. There are a number of ways to address it and a number of factors that could have helped cause it.
  
  Addressing the editor first: If you and your partner are sincere about your efforts, it may be best to have a dialog with the editor and simply ask him/her: why would you question this as just a stunt? Hopefully, you'd be able to point toward a long history of community service and environmental causes. The editor may have been burned by another company which pulled a PR stunt, and which didn't follow through on its plans, which the editor or a reporter had written about. I chose the word "dialog" carefully. Too many communications professionals pitch stories at editors, and fail to have a true dialog. At this point, you're not trying to place a story as much as you're trying to build an understanding for future story pitches to this editor. Believe me, it's amazing how most editors will have a true conversation and exchange of ideas with you when he/she believes they are not being "sold" a story idea.
  
  
  Addressing the cynical and frosty reception to your story: Do you have a track record with this editor? Before your story pitch, did he know you or your company? If not, he's going to you (and any firm he has never heard of somewhat suspiciously). Also think about your partner, the local brewery. Has he had bad experiences with that firm? I don't know much about the brewery business, but are there environmental hazards with the creation of beer? As the brewery been on the wrong side of stories this paper has published in the past? You can't change these past occurences, but you can be mindful of them when you pitch a story.
  
  OR ... the editor can just be a jerk. They have them in any business. If so, you need to find a way to work with him/her; find another more receptive editor at the publication; or pursue other publications.
  
  If it's a newspaper you're dealing with, you may have an opportunity to submit an op-ed type story that accomplishes the same goal. But it's all in how you write the piece. A sure way to rejection is writing directly about your partnership. It will be viewed as an attempt to promote yourself and the brewery. You can come in through a side door and write a story about how important it is for companies to reduce their environmental footprint in your region ... and promote how companies are being creative in doing so. You can point to examples other than your partnership, but in doing so, also mention the work you're doing with the local brewery.
  
  I good public relations professional will be able to tell you different methods for gaining your desired result.
  
  
  Bob Zeitlinger
  Managing Director
  B To Z Communications
  www.b2zcommunications.com

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  cyclonestar04/04/08 Report as spam
  4

  Your brewer partner

  The brewer needs to look at step three. Building a relationship with the press is a long-term process. The press by its nature is cynical and will view one-time promotions suspiciously. Keep at it. If you are genuine in your messages, ultimately it will show through. If not, that will show through as well.
  
  Cheers,
  
  Scott

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  tothl@...04/04/08 Report as spam
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  RE: How to Manage the Media

  Excellent info. Every CEO should read this!

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  Pizza Man04/04/08 Report as spam
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  RE: How to Manage the Media

  After 37 years in corporate communications, my counsel to CEOs is that they cannot manage the media. They can manage their messages and the business performance in all facets that support the messages. We are no more able to manage the media today than we were 40 years ago -- and it's self-delusional to think that we can.

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  739604/04/08 Report as spam
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  RE: How to Manage the Media

  ok

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  vpiazza@...04/04/08 Report as spam
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  RE: How to Manage the Media

  Great stuff.

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  PIMM04/04/08 Report as spam
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  Agreed

  At the Panama International Merchandise Mart, we monitor our online presence constantly. Feedback on the net should not and cannot be ignored. Also, we have been able to convert sceptics to believers many times, just as this article suggests.
  
  One final point, the size of your company doesn't always matter...

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  Richard M.04/07/08 Report as spam
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  RE: How to Manage the Media

  at our company we are consistently inviting the media into our operating areas ... at least two - three times a year at eackh location. We have no fear of telling them that we messed up because they know so much about our other more consistently positive activities that they write articles that encourage more public empathy than synicism. It does reduce the need for us to hurry and correct he issue ... it just reduces teh stress! We do the same with our environmental lists ... we have a very deep environmental program and as such we use the expertise of the would-be environmental activists as a part of our decision-making systems ... thus we get calls asking what is wrong (and an opportunity to fix it) long before we get any attacks against our brands!
  
  It pays huge dividends to treat the media as a part of your business instead of shutting them down or creating reasons for them to dig ... even if it is none of their business.
  
  It doesnt hurt that the company's vison is big on people ... irrespective of thier function ... just people! We are a hotel group! People are our business!

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  jpaladino04/08/08 Report as spam
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  RE: How to Manage the Media

  Good, comprehensive, chekclist type article.

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  WULAIMOT05/02/08 Report as spam
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  RE: How to Manage the Media

  How can Personal Assistant to CEO assist his/her boss on PR of the company especially where PR is single handed by CEO i.e. where there is no PR executives?