Ways to a Successful Pitch

Want your pitch to pan out? Consider certain things before you pick up the phone.

Once, I participated in a media training workshop. The instructor asked me and the other participants to each come up with an idea for a news story which we had to pitch to a journalist over the phone.

I chose a hypothetical, groundbreaking story: I was working for Novo Nordisk and I wanted to announce to the world that we had found the cure for HIV. It goes without saying that the journalist was interested in my story. In fact, I didn’t even have to try to convince him about the news value of the story – the story sold itself.

A pitching experience like the preceding one, however, is the exception rather than the rule. Usually, it requires a greater effort to gain a journalist’s interest – and for good reason: journalists are being bombarded by companies with stories of all kinds. Therefore, if you want press coverage on a story – that might not warrant publicity to the same extent as the aforementioned about HIV – the question is: what can you do to increase your chances of breaking through the media gatekeeping? This is where the art of pitching comes into play.

Drop Facebook

Virksomheder, der bruger Facebook til envejskommunikation, burde holde sig langt væk fra mediet og nøjes med at udsende et nyhedsbrev engang imellem.
Jeg gider ikke se på flere ligegyldige og uambitiøse virksomhedsprofiler på Facebook.

Forget press releases – use newsletters

“ – Let’s make a press release…”

The idea occurs almost reflexively, when companies have something new to tell. This way of thinking also involves the expectation, that the media naturally will find the story interesting and publish it. Yet, a lot of companies are taken for a ride.

When you are done complaining about ignorant, posing journalists, you might want to think about other ways for your company to get its message through to those, you want to reach – without depending on the transient agenda of the media.

Ton rent flag

Jeg hørte for nylig en højpandet hipsterklædt socialmedia-nørd med de helt rigtige briller og lidt for rigtigt hår sige, at alle store udviklingshop i den vestlige verden er startet med teknologiske landvindinger. Bullshit. Jeg tror sådan en tilgang blev kaldt teknologideterminisme, dengang jeg bevægede mig rundt inde i elfenbenstårnet.

Det hedder det sikkert stadig. De mere kløgtige og snedige teknologideterminister har dog lært at pakke deres budskaber ind i socialkonstruktivisme; Bourdieu, Giddens, diskursanalyse og så videre.

Food bloggers: What do they really want?

5 usable advices when pitching food bloggers

The new generation of food bloggers rides on the wave of our striving towards a healthy lifestyle. Through their blogging, they have become icons and trendsetters with the power to influence consumers. As PR practitioners, we can’t ignore the fact that we need their help, if we want the consumers’ attention.

By blogging about certain trends within food, health and their experiences with new products, they provide great exposure for companies and brands. And exposure is exactly what everyone is fighting for. But how can we stimulate them to blog about our clients and their products? What do they really want in return for their attention? Based on my own experiences, I have chosen some usable communication advice, which will hopefully give you a head start in the fight for the much coveted blogger attention.

Brands should act more like people

We can’t avoid brands interfering in our daily newsfeed on social media. A ‘like’ here, a ‘like’ there and suddenly all kinds of brands have found their way to your personal social routines. Now your screen features discount offers, product information and purchase invitations to all sorts of products. In my opinion, that’s not what social media is all about. I miss the dialogue and a truly social behaviour by the brands. But what does it really mean to be “social”? For the brands, being “social” often focuses on one thing: More likes, more fans and ultimately a higher turnover.

But why? Why is it that brands expect to increase their ROI by entering the social media landscape? Because it’s a new channel they feel compelled to use? Or because they, in reality, want to make the brand truly sociable? Sociability creates bonds between people – and possibly between people and brands. But it doesn’t make you sociable just being in social media.

Customers as co-creators

One of the strongest tendencies among Danish companies at the moment are to fully integrate the effort on social media with the traditional PR efforts like for example press releases so that the tools complement each other in  the best possible way.

By involving your customers as co-creators of your PR effort you increase the credibility of the overall effort.  For example press releases on the basis of competitions or surveys made on Facebook or on the other hand press coverage of online campaigns that can increase user involvement and the number of valid members of your online network.

As a PR professional I welcome this development because it gives me the chance to work all the way around the relations of my clients and challenges my way of doing things. Essentially I believe that the PR agents that best handles this new reality will be the best advisors in the future

CEO’s want work – youngsters want Facebook

Last week, more or less every Danish media told the story that more than one out of three Danish companies ban the use of social media like Facebook during work hours. The stories were based on a survey from the Danish organisation for directors, ”Lederne”.

Read more about the survey from “Lederne”

There are plenty of reasons to restrict or maybe even ban the use of social media during work hours. But there are also many positive things to be said about the use of social media. Maybe your company doesn´t see the advantages of allowing the use of social media today, but they ought to consider the consequences of banning social media today.

Who do you trust in a time of crisis?

Who do you trust when you want information about a certain company? Experts? Your friends? The company itself? Based on a sample of 5.600 people around the world, the annual Edelman Trust Barometer is the world’s biggest survey of trust and credibility in companies. The 2012 survey has some truly surprising results and though it doesn’t include Denmark (although Sweden is included), Danish marketers and PR people ought to learn a bit.

First of all, the survey shows that the most credible people in 2012 as well as in earlier surveys are academic experts and technical experts in the company. But jumping from sixth place to third place, “a person like myself” has the biggest increase since 2004. Accordingly, CEOs and government officials decline from fourth place and seventh place to seventh and eighth place. We no longer trust company people and politicians, instead we trust friends, family and neighbours.

The target groups prevail after the perfect storm

Finally, I found time to read Peter Svarre’s book ”Den Perfekte Storm” (read: ”The Perfect Storm”). It is excellent. Pragmatically, well written and it sharply delivers the tools at a systemic level, to take on the chaotic social medias that have created disorder in the good old structured and calm media universe. And as Timme Bisgaard Munk from the Danish network of professional communicators ”Kommunikationsforum” sums it up, you will consume this book like a crime novel. I did too.

Just a cautionary note

Peter Svarre has a pool of social media friends that have helped him with the book. But the book suffers from it – because it is seen through the eyes of a group of social media first movers (critics would say digital high brow inbreeds). Give me segments: Blue, green, blurry, faithless, postmodern target groups that speak with many voices. Just to mention a few parameters I miss. Has he totally rejected conventional communications tools as old school and out dated?