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Media know-how
Learning To Live With Editors
By Al Czarnecki
Editorial line-ups
Periodicals have editorial calendars, writers' guidelines, readership
profiles for advertisers. Study these and back issues. Editorial
fit, good writing and readership relevance will interest an editor.
Canadian Index
The Canadian Index lists stories from hundreds of periodicals, showing
title, publication, issue, date, page reference. Study it for keywords
and to see how stories have played. (ISSN 1192-4160)
Response Time
A journalist may need to play voice mail tag with twenty sources,
do a dozen phone interviews, draft and polish a 2,000 word story…for
a one-week deadline. Return all media calls within 20 minutes. You'll
make friends.
Contact Log
Start a sheet on every story: create date/time - journalist - paper/station
- phone - fax - e-mail - topic - approach to story - also contacting
- deadline - run date section/program - action, date, time, person,
comment. Use it to stretch your goals in being responsive.
Co-ordination
The benefits of coordinated media relations are: response time fast,
story lines identified, background information available, the right
spokespeople involved, people and locations prepared, approvals
determined, PR counsel available.
In-depth interviews
Imagine a conversation where the other person is pulling written
sentences out of a hat. When you generate media interest, you should
be prepared to do in-depth interviews. Genuine leather has creases,
grain, character. You can be both real and positive at the same
time. You'll gain credibility.
Al Czarnecki is an accredited public relations professional with
30 years experience. You can find tips and resources on public relations
and social marketing at his website: http://topstory.ca
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