Sending pitches electronically is an efficient way to deliver a message to your media targets. But if that’s the last step in your efforts to gain press coverage for clients, you are forgetting a vital step in the process – the phone call. Relationships matter, and the best ones are built by using your voice, not your keyboard.

The topic of “How Do Journalists View Follow Up Phone Calls?” has been addressed by Jeremy Porter on his Journalistics blog – after surveying comments from more than 50 journalists, he found that 88% of journalists still say they welcome follow-up phone calls.

A direct approach via phone will help you to:

• Stand out from the crowd: Since e-mails outnumber phone calls, this step alone will help your pitch to stand apart from the rest and receive individual attention.

• Confirm the best contact: If you are pitching a particular editorial calendar topic, a call is the quickest way to find out who’s working on that article. This can save you time by ensuring that you are going after the right contact and avoiding follow-up with the wrong person on staff.

• Go beyond a press release: A conversation offers an opportunity to maneuver your pitch in the direction of the listener’s interest. By listening closely, you can pick up on cues about the type of article the writer or editor may be interested in. If you are following up on a press release, a future article may not have anything to do with the announcement. In this case, the release becomes a conversation starter and you’ll likely be sending follow up information.

• Build a relationship: This is an opportunity to engage the editor or writer in more than a conversation about your client. You are also building a relationship and establishing your credibility as a resource for information.

So you’ve decided to contact the editor of a target publication by phone. What now? You’ll need to prepare a clear, concise pitch that draws interest – you may want to prepare a written draft of your pitch in advance to refer to.

• Introduce yourself and the client that you are representing. Confirm that this is a good time to talk. If not, schedule a future day and time to call them back.

• In no more than 2-3 sentences, discuss your story idea and what makes it interesting or informative for the publication’s readers.

• If you know of a future editorial calendar topic that’s a fit for your idea, refer to the issue date and topic and explain that you are hoping to serve as a resource for that article.

• The editor will likely do one of the following: ask you for more information, tell you when she will contact you, refer you to another writer, or tell you that she’s not interested and why.

• Thank her for her time. If there’s interest, follow up with an e-mail that further elaborates on the details about the story idea and your client.

With these benefits in mind, a phone call is great investment of your time and effort. In best case scenarios, the press will be contacting you proactively when researching a future story.

Early in my career, when I first had the responsibility of hiring an employee, I spoke with a colleague who was a longtime HR director. His advice? Look for attitude above all else. Skills are important, he said, but can be acquired or enhanced on the job to some extent. Attitude, on the other hand, is tough to change.

In today’s economic climate, folks are either struggling to maintain their businesses, grateful for the job they have or anxiously looking for work or clients. It’s not an easy environment for a great attitude, I know.

Having a positive outlook is like jet fuel – it provides you with lift and can take those around you up a level as well. A good attitude inspires energy and enthusiasm on the job on the good days, and it keeps you moving toward higher ground when times are tough.

Think back to your first week at a desirable new job – you were excited to be there and eager to contribute and learn, remember? That’s the attitude that we should strive to keep. This is the backbone of working toward a common good with colleagues and clients alike.

What creates a good attitude?

• Enjoy what you do. If you need to revitalize your career, find something new to learn, whether it’s through a book, a webinar or a colleague. If you need a change, look into other options – action steps will improve your view of the current situation.
• Keep the team going. Work diligently and creatively. Be liberal with praise when it’s due. And if someone drops a ball, help them toss it back in the air.
• Find the silver lining. Even the worst situation will bring something positive, even if it’s only a lesson or new insight.
• Maintain a sense of humor. Laughter is a universal bond, and it keeps good energy flowing through the day.
• Balance confidence with humility. It’s important to believe in yourself and your skills, as long you don’t ram your accomplishments down everyone’s throat! Be aware for opportunities to assist the common good.

In the world of marketing, advertising and PR, a good attitude is essential since it transmits to a much wider audience. It eases collaboration in the creative process and keeps you flexible and patient through each round of edits or press pitches. And it’s absolutely mandatory in social media conversations. Remember that your words may be floating on the Web for years! Your thoughts and opinions are important but use diplomacy when sharing them.

So what’s the big deal about attitude? Everything. It’s something you carry with you, from day to day, job to job, person to person.

What do you think makes a good attitude on the job?

PR communications to the press have become instantaneous through e-mail distributions, social media interactions and Web sites. Yes, it’s efficient. But in an effort to hasten the steps that drive publicity, some PR practitioners or self-promoting businesses have gotten sloppy.  They are depersonalizing the recipients/users of the information they are producing.

The reality is that the publishing world is suffering in this economy too.  Editors are taking on more work as their staff of reporters and writers is smaller than ever.  Some are editing multiple publications simultaneously.  And all of them are striving daily to meet deadlines with quality content.

Savvy PR professionals can take advantage of this editorial state of affairs by falling back upon the core methodology of our trade:  content is king.

This means you should:

• Personalize each individual pitch. Spam e-mails inundate writers and editors and can harm the reputation of the sender and the client they represent.
• Make their job easy.  This means that your media contacts should never have to dig for basic information.  A company backgrounder should present the basic facts about a business: including its history, competitive niche, products/services, key executives etc.
• Present story ideas proactively. Sending a pitch with a tenuous tie to an editorial calendar topic for the publication is weak draw for publicity.  Do the research on both competitors and previously published articles to know what’s missing from the publication’s content.  Then present options for the reporter to use your client as a resource OR offer a by-lined article.

It’s a version of the Golden Rule.  Pitch onto others as you would have others pitch unto you.

As marketers, we appreciate the need for conducting accurate research whether it’s for an opinion poll about a product or to gauge the mood of voters for a candidate or issue during local and national elections.

A recent U.S. government survey throws a wrench into the usual telephone survey methodology. The study estimates that up to 17 percent of adults have ditched their landline phones, nearly doubling the trend of cell-only users since 2003. Another recent survey by The Pew Research Center reports 23 percent of landline users say they are “very or somewhat likely” to go cell-only.

Both of these studies present considerable challenges for researchers conducting public opinion polls – whether it’s a news organization striving to obtain an accurate snapshot of how people are going to vote, or for thousands of corporations that depend heavily on market research for product development.

With cell-only users significantly less accessible than landline respondents, many in the public opinion research community wonder if the polls conducted this election season are reflecting true voting trends, especially among the 18 to 29 age group, which represents the largest portion of cell-only users.

To address this issue, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press conducted three major election surveys using cell phone, landline, and “dual user” samples. Each survey resulted in small but not statistically significant differences compared to the polls by major news and research organizations. However, the younger age group – the largest proportion of cell-only users – showed a consistent pattern of more support for Obama. This raises an important question for pollsters about whether or not the difficulty in reaching the younger demographic group will impact their expected results on Election Day.

“Even though the omission of cell phones from election polls does not currently make a large difference in the substantive results, Pew’s surveys this year suggest at least the possibility of a small bias in landline surveys. Such a bias could be consequential in an election that appears to be very competitive right now, especially if significant numbers of young people turn out to vote.” ( http://pewresearch.org/pubs/964/).

The challenge in obtaining information from cell-only users will only increase as more households become wireless. The biggest obstacles facing researchers right now are associated with costs, as federal law prohibits automated dialing to cell phones. Another costly factor is the time involved reaching eligible respondents since many children carry cell phones and random calls will frequently reach those under voting age. Polling organizations may also have to prepare to reimburse respondents to answer questions, as cell phone users pay for airtime and may be reluctant to stay on the line.

Political and market researchers are anticipating how the outcome on Nov. 4 will reflect the polling data and what changes will have to be made in reaching a balanced proportion of Americans for future surveys. We in marketing should all keep a careful eye on the election results tomorrow as they are measured against the polling data, which could very well influence how we move forward with our own market research projects.

Editors and reporters have less and less time to listen to press pitches and a few precious moments to scan news releases. They’re wearing multiple hats, working on unforgiving deadlines – especially as news organizations continue to lay off employees.

Every second counts when pitching the press these days, which is why at CCA we’ve developed an e-media kit.

Our e-media kit is an innovative way to open doors to newsrooms. It presents an easy and fast way for an editor to get a comprehensive snapshot of a news opportunity, providing everything from a client’s current news release, to FAQs and company history, to recent news clips, to management bios and head shots, and the company logo. In short, everything you would put in a traditional printed media kit, plus video clips and sound bites! All of it ready to download in seconds.

I was on the phone with a producer for a national broadcast news program last week. She initially said she didn’t have time to talk to me, but I asked her to log on to our client’s e-media kit, and we were soon in conversation. Our new approach converted “no time” to “tell me more.”

We’ve designed our e-media kit along the line of a web site’s home page, displaying branding and links to top line information and resources, and news releases and fact sheets, and video clips in an attractive design that fills the screen without the need to scroll. Reporters instantly see everything they might need, right at their finger tips.

This innovation has proved so useful that we expect it quickly to become the norm. And it’s no coincidence that we developed the first one for an alternative energy client—-eliminating the need for paper and printing required for a traditional press kit.

No folders. No stuffing. No postage. No sealing yucky tasting envelopes. No rushing to the post office. No reprinting to fix typos or to update information. Send it out 24/7, anywhere in the world. An unlimited supply. The digital media kit is here it’s all good.

Everyone wants to make the most of a media opportunity, yet much preparation goes into a successful interview. At your best, you finish up knowing that you said what you wanted to say, the way that you wanted to say it. At worst, you’re uncomfortable, say the wrong thing, or after the fact wish you’d made points that didn’t occur to you in the moment.

The goal, then, is to be ready – to be proactive rather than reactive. Here are three critical steps in preparing for an interview that can help you convey your thoughts more clearly and confidently:

Think

Knowing your audience, or audience analysis – is primary. Who’s doing the interview and what do you know about this person? Also important: who’s your target audience, what do they care about and need to hear about? The more you can find out on both fronts, the better.

Write

Potential questions
Think about and write down the questions you expect to be asked. Consider the context of the interview and what’s been going on and write down everything that come to mind. You also need to face up to questions you dread, that you hope not to be asked – the ugly and awkward, the embarrassing and controversial, the ones you have no idea how to answer. If you do this step, you’re half way home.

Potential answers
Now look at those questions and jot a few notes. Don’t write out answers and memorize them – you’ll sound scripted and phony. For questions you have no idea how to answer, turn to the people who can help you – with facts and an approach that is positive and neither apologetic nor defensive.

Key messages
Sometimes reporters don’t know much about your business, or choose to take the interview in a negative direction. Yet you know what your audience needs to hear your story. Jot down a few points you intend to get across. Then, listen for opportunities to work these messages in during the course of the interview. This helps shape the direction of the interview that simply responding to the questions as given will not. It also enables you to move from defense to offense when the going gets tough.

Talk

Practice, but don’t rehearse. You don’t really know what you think until you hear what you say. Have someone ask you the questions you’ve written down and see how it goes. Better to hear what you’d like to say differently in practice rather than wait until the interview and be surprised at what comes tumbling out of your mouth.

Media interviews can have a significant impact on your story, your company and your reputation as a leader. Take time to prepare effectively and you’ll likely have a positive media experience.