Marketing Communications

332 CHAPTER 10 PUBLIC RELATIONS

Table 10.5 Rules of good media relations

Learn about what a medium considers newsworthy:

z^ Make sure the story is accurate

z^ Only timely stories or those on the latest developments are news – old facts are of no use

z^ The facts or news of an event should be perceived as important by the readers of the medium

z^ Everything that deviates from the ordinary is potential news – everyday events are not news

z^ Facts endorsed by an authority (CEO or marketing manager) are perceived as more important

than facts presented by a junior employee

z^ Human interest is important: to whom does it happen; who is involved; how important are they; is

the story fun and/or emotionally engaging and does it strike a chord?

z^ Tension or drama created by conflicting points of view attracts media attention

z^ Include the name and phone number of a contact person who can answer questions

z^ Do not expect a medium to copy your release as presented – it will be checked with other sources

and modified

Sources : Based on Burnett, J. and Moriarty, S. (1998), Introduction to Marketing Communication. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice

Hall; Duncan, T. (2002), IMC: Using Advertising and Promotion to Build Brands. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

Table 10.4 Writing a news release

z Indicate the release date

z Answer the following questions in every news story: who, what, why, where and when

z Focus and clarity: know what you want to say

z The lead paragraph: structure your story – get the main news points in the first paragraph

z News story body: flesh out the details – use short paragraphs with only one point per paragraph

z Journalistic style: use short sentences and active verbs

z Imitation: follow the style and construction of existing articles

z Completeness: document all the facts and quote from reliable sources

z Editorialising: do not give your opinion

z Names: use proper style for spelling out names

z Include illustrative materials

z Closing: add a final paragraph

z Editing: review your copy twice, then review it again

z Accuracy and simplicity: strive for a perfect news release

z Contact details: give details of the person who can be contacted

Sources : Based on Smith, J. (1995), The New Publicity Kit. New York: Wiley; Pickton, D. and Broderick, A. (2001), Integrated Marketing

Communications. Harlow: Financial Times/Prentice Hall; Duncan, T. (2002), IMC: Using Advertising and Promotion to Build Brands.

Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

Marketing public relations

Product event sponsorship, i.e. sponsoring an activity in which the product plays a major role

(for instance, the Camel Trophy), is discussed later (see Chapter 11 ). Newsletters distributed

to retailers, suppliers and other business contacts can be important instruments of PR,

complementing and reinforcing salespeoples’ eff orts and sales promotion activity. Placing

products in TV shows or movies is an increasingly popular type of communication that is at

the crossroads of PR and sponsorship.

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