Francis Moran & Associates — We bring technology to market

By Linda Forrest

This morning’s Bulldog Reporter Daily Dog newsletter, a daily missive that shares PR news, views and tools, had an interesting article about online newsrooms and shares some anecdotes about companies that are good examples (Apple) and bad examples (Dell) of how to provide your media information online. The piece is an interesting companion to my post from yesterday and indeed drives home the importance of providing valuable, relevant and timely information to the media through your web site.

Technorati Tags: public relations, PR, media relations, online newsrooms, press center

By Linda Forrest

At the outset of an engagement with a new client, we have a checklist of materials that we need to develop for the media and analysts to whom we are about to roll out the company, in order for these influencers to gain a comprehensive understanding of the company and its offerings. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, backgrounders on the company and the technology, biographies of key spokespeople, a fact sheet that provides information at a glance, and a news release to front the information package. Still, there are additional materials that are of great value and that ideally should be available at the time of the launch.

Chief among these additional materials is images. We work hard to ensure that the printed words that we’re sending out on our clients’ behalf do a good job of telling their story, but as the adage goes, a picture tells a thousand words. If your company offers products, have available high-resolution (minimum 300 dpi) images of the product in action that would be suitable for printing alongside your product announcement. If your key spokespeople will be quoted in the media, or if you plan on sending out hiring announcements, high-resolution images of your company’s executive team or that new hire will be requested. It’s also good to have your company logo available to any outlet that might be interested.

Rather than sending all of this information unsolicited to media and analyst targets, just have materials at the ready and when requests come in, they’re easily fulfilled. Another, and perhaps the best approach, is to have a fully stocked newsroom on your web site that houses all of the components I’ve listed above. I’ll address our best practices approach on web newsrooms, and links to some sites that do it particularly well, in a future post.

Technorati Tags: media relations, public relations, PR

By Linda Forrest

Arguably one of the least favourite tasks that we PR folks must do is database maintenance, ensuring that media and analyst contacts and corresponding contact information (phone number, fax, email, address, etc.) are kept up to date. This is one of those “invisible to the client” tasks that we undertake on your behalf that greatly impacts the effectiveness of your campaign or program, but cannot be seen by the naked eye.

There is a wide variety of database programs that media relations practitioners can use, from software solutions like Filemaker Pro and ACT! to online solutions like Salesforce. One attribute they all share is that the inputted data needs to be kept relevant and up to date in order to be of real value.

Inevitably, people change roles or publications or leave the field entirely while new outlets appear and need to be added to your database. Keeping on top of these changes can be difficult if left for too long. Best practices would suggest that routine maintenance is the best way to stay on top of changes that affect your database.

Because we at inmedia never assume that we have the right contacts already in our database for a new client, we do extensive research at the outset of our engagement to build a relevant media and analyst list, with current contacts and accurate contact information. Still, despite our best efforts, a few of the emails may bounceback when we initially send out the release. We immediately get on the phone to find out whether the contact has moved on, whether the outlet has ceased publication or if there’s a new email address that we should be using. By inputting the new data as soon as we learn that what is currently in the database is out of date, and resending the materials to the corrected address, we ensure that we’re keeping on top of this activity before the task becomes unwieldy.

There is no easy, one-step solution to maintaining one’s database. Even the online media databases that purport to be comprehensive are wildly out of date in areas and unreliable. It’s absolutely imperative that your agency does the legwork to maintain its database so that your materials are reaching the intended recipients in a timely fashion. If there’s a new relevant outlet or contact, they should be added promptly so that the appropriate contact details are in place for when your agency sends out your next news release, is looking for suitable story pitch targets or scanning editorial calendars for pertinent opportunities. It’s not glamorous, but it’s important.

Technorati Tags: media relations, public relations, PR, contact databases, database maintenance

By Danny Sullivan

I’ve been approached by a few companies over the past few weeks, all of whom were offering some PR tool or another designed to make the life of the PR consultant that little bit easier. Often at first glance, these tools seem to offer some snazzy new features, but after you sit down and think “what is this actually going to do for me, and more importantly, my client” you begin to realize that, in many cases, these tools offer little in the way of true value.

Now, of course, I’m not saying that we should all arm ourselves with nothing more than a phone, pencil and paper. Technology is a marvelous thing and there are some great PR tools out there, many of which I use myself, but some careful discernment should be used when making the decision to add a new one to your arsenal.

The technology products and services available to PR folk are many and varied and many of them perform the same or similar tasks as others. Don’t end up in the position where you are paying for three separate tools that all provide the same basic functions. And never assume that some great-sounding features will mean the thing actually delivers on its promise… always try before you buy.

Also, it must be remembered that, while software, web services, outsourced resources and so on can go a long way in helping lower the poor flack’s workload, they still do not understand your client’s stories the way that you do. Putting your faith and your client’s PR program in the hands of a piece of code is risky business.

By all means, use technology, but remember who is supposed to be the expert here.

Technorati Tags: public relations, PR, media relations, technology tools