A rookie's advice

Photo by Eagelton Photography

A rookie’s advice

Michelle Huff gives tips to future PR professionals

Last year, just as we are now, Michelle Huff was approaching the end of her capstone class and thinking about graduation. Was she going to be able to find a job? And, if so, did she have what she needed to be able to succeed as a public relations practitioner? I sat down with the first-year PR professional to hear her thoughts on what we need in order to excel in our future careers.

Having only worked less than a year in the PR professional field, the assistant account executive for SPM Communications in Dallas, Texas has found herself managing several different clients and gaining incredible experience.

“I work on foodie clients from fast food to fast casual along with major B to B businesses from corporate real estate, technology to retail and luxury air travel.

“I've worked on clients that require national and international media relations from Puerto Rico and Canada to Greenland, Iceland, London and Germany,” Michelle said.

Since working on such diverse and demanding clients, Michelle has gained a knowledge for the skills needed for any hopeful PR professional.

Huff stresses the need to learn how to be concise but all the while detailed and ahead of the game. She also suggests the PR professional learn how to think like a reporter and to “understand target audiences and content for each and every publication you pitch.”

In addition, Huff gives some advice to future PR professional about how to succeed in the industry.

“Most companies will hire you as an intern before full-time and it’s almost better because you’ll have a chance to ease your way into the company culture and get a chance to work on multiple clients,” Huff stated.

Michelle also urges future PR professionals to read every news article in your clients industry.

“If it’s batteries become an expert, if it’s food try your competitors LTO’s or even your own clients food,” Huff explained.

Michelle ended our interview by encouraging PR hopefuls to stay positive and always strive to do better.

The Loudest Voice

The Loudest Voice
by Linden Chalfant

My team’s client is “OU Nightly.” We have had a really positive experience thus far researching background information about the client, developing a campaign to raise awareness and increase viewership and shaping goals and objectives to implement our detailed plan.

We have learned that “OU Nightly” is a wonderful and credible source for news that is applicable to both OU students as well as members of the Norman community. We decided on a large scope of publics to reach all ends of the spectrum.

I think that one of our most interesting publics is elementary school parents. In doing our benchmark survey, we found that no matter what some motivating factors are for people to watch the news (weather, politics, entertainment, etc.), seeing their child featured on the news would be reason enough to watch…and hopefully continue watching. Our research supported this and has provided solid reasons for targeting this certain public.

Many parents are very involved in their children’s lives, especially at the elementary age. Because of this, we decided to make an impact on 80 second-graders’ lives in order to reach their parents. “What did you do at school today?” is one of the most common questions that a parent asks a child after school. Our goal is to make initiate a child’s interest in “OU Nightly” through a short presentation and activity by some of the prominent anchors from “OU Nightly.” In doing this, we hope that the child goes home and tells their parents about their exciting day, and as a family, they sit down and all watch “OU Nightly” that day and for many more days beyond.

Pitching to broadcasters: some must-know results

Pitching to broadcasters: some must-know results

Katie Puckett

Pitching to broadcasters and reporters is a well-known strategy of any public relations professional. In May 2007, DS Simon Productions asked 79 participants in a nationwide survey of reporters and broadcasters, to rate PR pros and give insight on how story decisions are made in the newsroom. The respondents also address the growing role of management in newsrooms. If you want to get your client in the news, here are some things to think about before pitching to a broadcaster:

   56.4% of broadcasters love to be pitched by e-mail;

   41.3% hate being pitched by telephone, and 27.6% hate being pitched by fax;

   38.4% think that only 1/3 of PR people are knowledgeable about their programs

   95.7% of reporters and producers work on stories that appear on their Web site;

   52.2% said that their station's Web site could be pitched separately from newscasts;

   95.5% said that their Web site uses multi-media content;

   Only 16% of stations are banned from using third-party video; and,

   Healthcare stories are still in most demand - 79.1% of respondents expressed high

   interest in health stories.

 

As the results show, when pitching to broadcasters and reporters PR professionals should use multiple outlets such as the station’s Web site to get the client and story out there. PR pros should also keep in mind that, when pitching, they need to give the reporter or producer tools to sell the story to their manager. The story or press release should be newsworthy and timely or it won’t have a chance ending up on air. If you want feedback, the phone is the most important part of an effective pitch, but the results prove that broadcasters prefer e-mail pitching above all else.