How To Do A Media Tour. – The Nicole Jordan Interview
on Apr 15, 2009 - 7:00 AM PSTHow well are you using public relations to promote your business?
In this program, we learned public relations from Nicole Jordan, Director, PR & Communications at the Rubicon Project. Here’s an edited excerpt where Nicole talks about a media tour:
For PR people, media tours are a very disheartening process. They’re really exciting when you get good meetings with people who are relevant, reporters who are interested in you, especially new relationships.
But you have to call them, you have to pitch them. It’s like doing a cold sales call. It is absolutely no different. You look at what a reporter wrote. You see if there’s something that relevant to what you’re pitching. Their email is usually down at the bottom, it’s not too hard to find a reporter’s email.
It’s also not too hard to search and find a general phone number for Newsweek or Businessweek, or any of those. If you know the reporter you’re looking for, you call them, you catch them live, and say something like, “Hi, I’m calling from the Rubicon Project. I saw your story about media’s transition to digital and ad strategies. I wanted to talk to you about the Rubicon Project and the success we’ve had for Ganet, and USA Today….”
It’s a pitch process.
You send emails too, but keep them short, especially when the CEO at a small startup is doing double duty as a PR person, they tend to get overexcited and want to put everything into an email. And there’s nothing more scary to a press person than opening an email and seeing a wall of text.
The full program includes:
- More about media tours.
- Specific tools for doing public relations.
- How to use awards to build your brand.
- Discussion of what PR means today.
- Andrew freaking out that PR is not a simple process.
Give your feedback:
Your turn to teach. If you’ve had a PR success or failure, tell us about it in the comments so we can learn from you.
the full program
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April 15th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Hey Andrew,
I’m a journalist and business person, so I’m always willing to listen to and to learn from all sorts of people.
There were some useful points in this interview but it was too corporate and cold for me. “Integrated marketing through strategic communications“…..yawn!
Such a different feel to your usual interviews with the most interesting, world class, passionate, talented, warm entrepreneurs who make a difference through their businesses and lives.
You made the best of it for us though Andrew.
You’re an inspiration and your passion and teaching are appreciated!
Cheers,
Ian.
http://www.twitter.com/ianaspin
April 15th, 2009 at 11:37 am
When I started doing interviews on Mixergy, there were a few that I
thought just weren't for me. Months later, I'm not sure why, those
interviews ended up being some of the most useful for me.
Nicole didn't just do PR for the companies we talked about. She helped
promote all of Los Angeles tech. She put it on the map. I bet there's
a lot I can learn and use from what she taught. I hope you can too.
Glad you posted this comment. You've been a supporter of what I'm
doing here. I always want to hear your opinion.
Thanks.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Thanks Andrew.
I appreciate your reply.
You've set the bar high in terms of the quality of people you have on mixergy.com and I learn something with each one.
Love the passion, enthusiasm, and authenticity of these interviews and your ability to pull out masses of really useful, practical information.
Best regards,
Ian.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
I started to write how I was sad that I came across corporate and cold to Ian but then I re-read it and am actually totally offended. I know everyone is entitled to their opinion and him saying I wasted his time and such is one thing but this is another:
“Such a different feel to your usual interviews with the most interesting, world class, passionate, talented, warm entrepreneurs who make a difference through their businesses and lives.”
Ian, you have no idea who I am or what I do, clearly. And I'm not talking about “publicizing” the company I work for. I have given a lot of personal time to helping build the LA tech community, do “PR” for SoCal (think those articles about LA are a coincidence?,) and take time to meet with VCs, entrepreneurs and start-ups to offer advice or connections. You reply strikes me as the “old style” of journalists who like to stereotype a PR person’s job as being only about serving people like you, which it isn’t.
My whole point for doing this call was to talk about the broader impact of Public Relations. Boiling PR down into bulleted execution points (like for a media tour or what a pitch should include) is not easy especially since it isn't something cookie cutter. Every company needs its own style but I needed to provide examples so I did, on the spot. Your response demonstrates part of the reason PR is going through an identity crisis: you dumbed it down and pigeon-holed the industry into “publicity” when it is so much more than that; and what a legion of PR people are fighting. In your opinion, “publicity” might be simple, but, sir, the art of Public Relations is not, especially when done well.
“Publicity is simple but not always easy: Have a good story that matters and interests people. Be authentic, passionate, helpful. Find people (journalists, bloggers, Twitterers etc.) who need slots filled with your relevant story or unique perspective. Build genuine relationships with those people to help meet their needs and the needs of their audience. Repeat.”
Yes, this is a part of Public Relations but only a part. Public Relations isn’t just about building relationships with journos and bloggers and mediums to push a message. It’s building relationships with your customers directly, and partners and industry influencers. It’s much larger than your simple equation plus a “Repeat.” Or maybe that’s just been your experience with bad PR people. So sad.
I apologize I wasted 77 minutes of your time. I'm going to take comfort in knowing that I did help other people as they let me know but thanks for reminding me why I don't do these very often.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Nicole, thanks for doing this interview.
I was on my way out when I read Ian's comment, so I didn't fully
absorb it. I'll talk to him offline. I'm sure he didn't mean to say
anything offensive.
Frankly, I want to interview you over the rest of your life. I've
known you a long time and I've seen how good you are.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Hi Nicole.
I would like to personally thank you for your time. I was part of the live event, and the one with the most tweets during. I was also one of the 2 people to ask Andrew not to stop half way through.
the information you relayed was insightful, it was helpful and i can assure you there is at least one person out there, that now understands that PR isnt just about press coverage but its about strategic communication.
Yes, ive heard the term used before differently, but i know you didnt mean it to be cold or corporate, and you were intending to make a point to open our eyes up this idea that PR is more than just press coverage, and thats its about finding creative ways to relate to our intended audience or collaborators who speak to our target audience.
It certainly wasnt 77 minutes of my wasted time, i can assure you.
So i want to personally thank you for your time, and i look forward to any more interviews you do here on Mixergy, and please DO come back!
Khuram of the Malik's
April 15th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Thanks. And thank you for all your feedback during the live recording.
You're a big help Khuram.
April 15th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
by the way, i didnt mentionthat the only thing that i have tried remotely in terms of PR so for is just a plain press release to free press release sites.
1 or 2 sites accepted the release, but the major one which was openpr.com that i wanted to get my release into didnt take on the story.
Im trying to think of ideas that i could use for strategic communication for either of my projects but currently drawing a complete blank.
April 15th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Thanks.
When you tweeted that, I clicked the link and meant to bring it up,
but I didn't have time.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Thank you very much for the feedback and encouragement Khuram. I greatly appreciate it. I shouldn't let his feedback and opinions rankle me so but I am passionate about my industry and seeing the profession add more to the overall business structure. So, when distilled down to being a publicist after making an impassioned pleas that we/I are so much more than that comes across as someone who wasn't listening to the bigger message being told. Ah well. Ian altered his comment so I will likely need to alter or add an addendum to mine to clarify the change. Khuram, thank you again. It brings me great relief that the message I really wanted to get out most certainly didn't fall on all deaf ears. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
April 16th, 2009 at 4:12 am
You're welcome.
Im pretty sure i wasnt the only person, there were a fair few tweets from that day, that i remember clearly said they thought the interview was very good
April 16th, 2009 at 4:13 am
No problem dude.
You did a great job of multi tasking, i dont know HOW you did that!
If i had been in your situation i would have fried!
April 16th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Hi Nicole,
I’m grateful you bothered to do the interview with Andrew, made yourself available, and shared your experience with the Mixergy.com community, of which I’m glad to be part.
I love debate and discussion but most definitely did not want to offend you in any way. My comment was not intended to be taken personally so I’m sorry you were upset.
We both want to help others and make a difference, though we might have different perspectives on some stuff.
Anyway, I hope things are going well for you and all your projects.
All the best,
Ian.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Thanks Ian! I really appreciate that.
Different perspectives is what helps us work together to solve the problems that bother us. I always welcome different opinions, it's when they cross over to personal that i get riled up. However, thanks for clearing up that you didn't mean to convey that from your original comment. Hopefully we'll meet someday and laugh about it over a beer.
Cheers,
Nicole
April 17th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Well said.
June 6th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Thank you Andrew and Nicole for taking the time to shine some light on PR.
Could you refer a link regarding Ad Calendars? You kept mentioning Ad Cals and I was wondering where it can be found. Tried to Google it. Got nowhere.
@Andrew. I think it would be a good idea if you could list links of all the companies and websites discussed in your summary. Would be very helpful as a quick reference.
Great job as usual. Thanks.
June 13th, 2009 at 4:59 am
It has some very good points but I have beeen trying to locate the North America Press Syndicate and failing. If anyone has their details please give me a shout.
She also spoke of a social media site for kids which I was not aware of, I will go back to the tape to see what I can make of it.
I think the intereviews on Pr have been the most insightful, I like this website, how fo you manage to get such good interviews.
July 17th, 2009 at 2:35 am
It's been awhile but hopefully this is still helpful.
@monocat. The Term is “Ed Cals” and it's PR lingo for editorial calendars (http://www.publicityhound.com/free_publicity/Ar....) Just google the term and a mess of things will come up. They are tied to the broad advertising/editorial themes the magazine plans ahead of time.
@khuram I might have something for me. Email is nicole (at) rubiconproject.com – no spammers please.
July 17th, 2009 at 9:35 am
It's been awhile but hopefully this is still helpful.
@monocat. The Term is “Ed Cals” and it's PR lingo for editorial calendars (http://www.publicityhound.com/free_publicity/Ar....) Just google the term and a mess of things will come up. They are tied to the broad advertising/editorial themes the magazine plans ahead of time.
@khuram I might have something for me. Email is nicole (at) rubiconproject.com – no spammers please.