NAA Affiliate Public Relations. Toolkit

Transcription

1 NAA Affiliate Public Relatios Toolkit

2 Itroductio: What is PR? We ve created this Public Relatios Toolkit to help you, our affiliates, raise your local profile through media coverage, cotet geeratio ad social media. Use it as a referece whe writig press releases, speakig with the media, postig to social media or promotig your members ad evets. This toolkit is a guide, ot gospel. It icludes best practices ad strategies i public relatios. Give that PR is always evolvig, so too will this guide. If you ever have questios or cocers about tactics or procedure, we are here to help. 1

3 2 What is PR? Defiitio Public relatios is a strategic commuicatio process that builds mutually beeficial relatioships betwee orgaizatios ad the public. This is how the Public Relatios Society of America defies the disciplie. For you, this defiitio meas three thigs: 1. Public relatios should be a ogoig commitmet, rather tha radom activities doe at radom itervals. 2. Public relatios should help log-term or strategic goals ad ot be used oly for a quick piece of coverage. 3. Public relatios should coect your orgaizatio to multiple audieces icludig the media, affiliate members ad the public at large. What It s Not While the defiitio of public relatios is always evolvig, what it s ot is more straightforward. Public relatios is ot: 1. Advertisig If you wat a full-page logo of your orgaizatio i the local paper or 30 secods of uiterrupted TV time to say exactly what you wat, that s advertisig, ot public relatios. 2. All about you Public relatios is about mutually beeficial relatioships. There are o mutually beeficial relatioships that are just about oe perso or orgaizatio. 3. Oe-way coversatio Advertisig is a oe-way coversatio. PR is about ope dialogue ad coectig with audieces as much o their terms as yours. 4. Spi Shows like Scadal or House of Cards make may people thik that PR = spi. While messagig is importat i PR, spi is cosidered uethical ad couter-productive by the idustry s best practitioers. What It All Meas to You Now that you have a better idea of what PR is ad what it is t, how does that relate to you ad your orgaizatio? How ca you coect your missio ad work to PR ad how ca PR help improve your work ad missio? 1. Goals Orgaizatio goals should help set the directio of public relatios efforts. Coversely, PR should help your orgaizatio meet its stated goals. 2. Beefits Depedig o your goals, PR ca beefit you i may ways, icludig but ot limited to: a. Icreased membership b. Icreased visibility i the commuity c. Greater busiess opportuity for your members d. Improved relatioships with media ad key stakeholders e. Egagemet through social media f. Higher orgaizatioal morale g. More well-defied orgaizatioal missio ad goals 3. Challeges As with ay ew edeavor, PR will have bumps i the road. You ca expect to ecouter some, or all, of the followig challeges: a. Mixed messages b. Uresposive jouralists c. Lack of stories d. Bad publicity e. Ureceptive audieces f. Difficult iterviews 4. Opportuities The great opportuity that PR presets is iheret i its defiitio: buildig mutually beeficial relatioships betwee your orgaizatios ad the public. PR is a chace to grow your reputatio through third-party validatio while providig these third parties with valuable iformatio. PR should be a wi-wi. This toolkit will help make that happe.

4 Photo Credit: Mark Hiebert, HiebertPhotography.com Before You Start Before you dive headfirst ito a PR campaig, this sectio will help you better uderstad: What makes ews ad what does the media wat? What you have to say ad who will say it? Basic press collateral. How to coordiate with NAA. 3

5 4 What Makes News? We all kow a good ews story whe we see oe. The bad oes we usually igore. But what elemets go ito makig ews ews? 1. Timely News is what just happeed, is happeig ow or will happe soo. If somethig is last week s ews, it s irrelevat. Make sure the ews you preset to the media or public is curret or coected to somethig curret. 2. Local For your purposes, all ews is local. For evets happeig withi your geographic area, this is easy to preset. For atioal evets, it gets trickier. A paper i Housto is t goig to care about a shortage of apartmets i Orlado. That is, uless you ca coect what s happeig atioally to be relevat to the local market. 3. Sigificat Is the story importat eough that it has to be covered? Are the lives of your audiece affected by what is happeig? If you do t kow about this, will you be at a disadvatage? 4. Sesatioal I ca t believe that just happeed! These are the ews stories that go viral. The feel-good or shockig stories that you discuss at the office the ext day. 5. Emotioal While ews is iformatioal, it s also there to etertai ad make us feel. A great ews story will elicit emotio of some kid. 6. Weird/Out of the ordiary Dog bites ma is ot ews. Ma bites dog is. These are stories that are usually reserved for the ed of a broadcast ad make you say, I ve ever heard/see aythig like that! What Does Media Wat? The media is ot out to get you. They just wat to do their jobs, which is to brig iformatio of iterest to their audiece. Successful public relatios efforts will help members of the media do their jobs better. To do that, you eed to kow what the media wats from you: 1. Hoesty The media wats hoest commetary o subjects so that the audiece ca make iformed decisios. There eeds to be trust betwee the audiece ad the media outlet. Your hoesty builds this trust ad therefore stregthes your relatioship with the media. 2. No-biased iformatio While ot a outright lie, there are may thigs you ca say to the media that they cosidered biased. The media is ot iterested i promotig your orgaizatio. They wat to share the wealth of iformatio you have built up over years i the idustry. Give the facts ad preset them with NAA messagig but do t preset them as if they are the oly aswer. 3. Iformatio their audiece wats Media outlets would ot exist without a audiece. Every oe has fie-tued its messagig ad focus to appeal to a specific audiece. Discover who that audiece is ad preset your iformatio i a way that egages them. This makes the outlet look good ad deepes their comfort with you. 4. Star quality Like i politics, ame recogitio meas a lot i media. People tue i to see/read someoe they ve heard of. If there is someoe well kow i your orgaizatio or who will speak for your orgaizatio, use him/her whe appropriate. What Do You Have to Say? I real estate, it s locatio, locatio, locatio. I PR, it s message, message, message. With messagig, cosistecy is key. Have key messages, orgaizatioal teets ad positioig writte dow ad easily accessible. This will greatly help your spokespeople kow what to say ad how to say it. NAA wats to help you craft your local messages. We ve icluded i the appedix our atioal messagig poits. They are what we believe o a atioal level, ad will help formulate positioig for your affiliate. We ve also icluded Fast Facts that quickly aswer frequetly asked questios about NAA. Who Will Say It? If you ve ever oticed that the same hadful of experts are always o TV or quoted i prit, you re ot too far off. Media teds to gravitate toward those who are: Media friedly Telegeic Ca provide a great soud bite

6 It s your job to fid those people from withi or outside your orgaizatio who will speak o your behalf. 1. Iteral spokespeople Usually seior level staff, these are the mouthpieces of your orgaizatio. They are experts i their field/topic ad have deep orgaizatioal kowledge. 2. Exteral spokespeople Third-party validatio always looks good to the media. Idetify friedly allies who are willig to add commetary ad isight to stories. Provide them with messagig ad help shepherd them through the media process. Reporters will be grateful for the additioal, o-biased isight. Spokespeople do ot have to be seior level. They do eed to be willig ad have a iterest to speak to the media. If they are ot comfortable, their performaces will hurt, rather tha ehace, your relatioships with the press. Whe i doubt, refer to the three thigs media gravitate toward. Does your spokesperso possess these qualities? Not all people will be great for all media. You might fid the TV star i your raks is less gifted at a phoe iterview. Play to the stregths of your staff ad spokespeople. Do t be afraid to have multiple faces of the orgaizatio. COMMON ARARTMENT INDUSTRY TERMS These are the official NAA approved terms you should use whe talkig to the media. Press Collateral Reporters ad editors are busy ad ofte workig agaist deadlie (the time by which they eed to tur i a story). The more iformatio/collateral you ca provide them, the easier it makes their jobs ad the more likely they are to ru your story. Some basic pieces of collateral you should always have o file are: 1. Headshots High-resolutio (1MB or larger), digital color photos for ayoe who might speak with the media. 2 Press bios Short (1-3 paragraph) professioal bios for ayoe who might speak with the media. You ca arrow dow what you sed the press from this larger profile. 3. Logos High-resolutio images of your orgaizatio s logo. 4. Stock photos May outlets will look to iclude photos of apartmet commuities i stories about your orgaizatio or your members. Havig some at the ready will ot oly save the reporter time, but give you a chace to preset your orgaizatio as you wat it to be see. What Is Your News? After you ve decided o your messagig, lied up spokespeople to talk ad created media collateral, it s time to actually figure out what you will talk about. What is your ews? While we will get to this more i-depth i the ext sectio, there are two key thigs to cosider whe selectig what to publicize: 1. Would it iterest you? 2. What outcome do you wat to achieve? 5 Use: Ower Residet Apartmet commuity Apartmet Lease (as a verb) Do t Use: Ladlord Teat Complex or Property Uit Ret If the ews you have does t iterest you, it s probably ot ews. Trust your isticts as a cosumer of media ad as a expert i real estate. Will the geeral public or a specific real estate audiece care about your ews? If the aswer is, Yes, you re good to go. If it s, No, sped some time tryig to fid a differet, more appealig way to preset it. You should have some outcome i mid for ay PR effort, eve if it s just to get somethig o the

7 record. By workig backwards from the outcome you wat to achieve, you ca work to idetify the correct tactic(s) that will get you there. More o this i the ext sectio. Coordiatio With NAA The last thig before you get started is to check i with Laure Bosto, NAA s Maager of Public Relatios. You ca cotact her at laure@aahq.org or NAA would love the opportuity to support your PR iitiatives or serve as a soudig board for ideas. We re here if you ever have questios about: Press releases Media alerts Press requests/iterviews Messagig Crisis situatios Collateral FAQs Aythig else relatig to your public relatios campaigs We d also love the opportuity to help expad the visibility of your media coverage. So whe you get that first iterview published, please sed it our way. We ll pass it aroud ad be able to show more people the great work you ve doe. 6

8 Begiig Public Relatios Strategies ad Tactics You ve created your messagig, lied up your spokespeople ad are ready to start your public relatios campaig. So where do you start? How do you start? To whom do you tell your ews? This sectio will provide begiig strategies ad tactics that will help you: 7 Idetify appropriate outlets to cotact. Select reporters to cotact. Compose press releases. Write media advisories. Distribute press releases ad media advisories.

9 Idetifyig Media Outlets Idetifyig the correct media outlet(s) is the first step i tellig your story. What good is media coverage if it appears i a outlet that does t fit with your goals or match the audiece you wat to reach? A few questios to ask to make sure a outlet is appropriate to pitch: 1. Is the outlet local? Sice most of your PR stories will revolve aroud local issues, make sure the outlet i questio covers that particular geographic area. 2. Does it have a audiece you wat to ifluece? Coverage for the sake of coverage wo t help you achieve your goals. Research a outlet s audiece to make sure it is a audiece you wat to see your story. 3. What is its reputatio? Is it a respected outlet? Is it kow for quality ad hoest coverage? 4. Is it pay-to-play? Some outlets will happily ru your story, if you pay them to. Avoid these if at all possible. They are usually less reputable ad ca ed up hurtig, rather tha helpig, your affiliate s image. That s what to look for. But how do you actually fid outlets that meet these criteria? 1. Iteret search The same way we search for aythig else, a simple Web search ca tur up great iformatio about media outlets i your area, what audiece they reach, their reputatio ad if you will eed to dig ito the expese accout to be covered. 2. Media databases Services such as Vocus, Cisio or Meltwater are great tools for compilig media lists. However, they are t cheap to use ad typically require a yearly commitmet. NAA ca assist with this. 3. Staff kowledge You ad your staff have a wealth of kowledge about local media simply from livig i the area ad beig part of the real estate idustry. Selectig Reporters Oce you have pipoited the correct outlet(s) for your story, you will eed to idetify the correct perso(s) to cotact. Start by idetifyig which reporters or editors are assiged to the beat, or geeral area of coverage, that pertais to your story. Most ofte, these will be reporters who cover real estate or busiess. But, depedig o the story, you may wat to cotact reporters who cover geeral iterest, local ews, law or persoal fiace. 8 PITCH(.) vs. PITCH(v.) I public relatios, pitch is used as both a ou ad a verb. Pitch(.) A writte or spoke appeal created for the purpose of explaiig a ews item or story i order to attract media coverage. e.g.: I m writig a pitch about our upcomig groud breakig ceremoy. Pitch(v.) The act of cotactig a media outlet. e.g.: We should pitch this idea to TV because it has some great visual opportuities. THE AFFILIATE THAT CRIED WOLF Figurig out who would wat to cover your story is oe of the trickiest, yet most importat, aspects of public relatios. If you pitch stories too ofte that are irrelevat to the reporters you cotact, you ru the risk of beig blacklisted from that outlet eve whe you have relevat iformatio to share. Reporters remember who seds pertiet iformatio ad who blasts out ews like a spammer. Do your research ad you ll stay o the media s good side.

10 As with idetifyig outlets, the Iteret, media databases ad staff kowledge will help idetify reporters ad editors. Other ways iclude: 1. Publicatio websites May media outlets have a About Us or similar sectio o their website where they list their reporters/editors ad what they cover. 2. Social media Social media bios ad cotet ofte provide isight ito what reporters cover or are iterested i coverig i the future. 3. Past coverage Read a reporter s previous articles. Are they writig about your topic area? Have they writte about it recetly? What s their take o the subject? Past coverage offers a wealth of kowledge o what iterests a reporter. I idetifyig the correct outlet or jouralist to cotact, make sure your ews is relevat to what they cover. You do t like telemarketers callig you with irrelevat iformatio. Jouralists feel the same way about the pitches they receive. A top complait of may jouralists is how may stories they are pitched. Some get 500-1,000 s every day. Make it easier for them to say yes to your story by makig your pitch relevat ad ot wastig their time with stories they would ever cover. Press Release Oe of the easiest ways to tell the media about your orgaizatio, evet or ews is with a press release. Writte properly, it ca be a key piece i your PR strategy. Writte poorly, it ca istatly tur off jouralists ad hider your PR efforts. The purpose of a press release is to cocisely ad precisely aouce ews from your affiliate. It is a formal way to get ews o the record. Whe draftig a press release, always keep the audiece i mid. Make sure to use commo laguage ad explai idustry termiology. The mechaics of writig a press release are more formalized tha a blog or social media post. We ve icluded a template i the appedix that you ca use to format press releases. The basic elemets of a press release break dow ito these compoets: 1. Headlie The first thig a audiece reads. This should be a short (65 characters or less if possible) overview of the release. Headlies should give a reader a idea of what the ews is ad a reaso for them to read it. 2. Subhead Comes directly uder the headlie. A subhead expads o the headlie ad offers a few additioal ad importat details about the ews. 3. Datelie Idicates where ad whe you are aoucig the ews. For example: Arligto, Va. May 2, REPORTER OR EDITOR? Should you cotact a reporter or a editor? For prit, the more specific you ca get the better, so try ad cotact a reporter first. For TV or radio, stories are ofte assiged, so pitchig to a assigmet editor or producer is ofte recommeded. ELDERLY AUNT RULE A rule of thumb is to write a press release usig laguage you would use to describe the ews to your elderly aut. Be careful ot to fill your press release full of idustry jargo or acroyms. Ay audieces outside of the real estate field wo t be able to relate to such writig ad therefore the release wo t have the desired impact. Be clear ad explai the ews i plai laguage that ca be quickly uderstood by everyoe.

11 10 4. Itro paragraph Also called the lede (or lead), this importat first paragraph should preset the who, what, whe, where, why ad how elemets of your aoucemet. 5. Body The remaiig sectios of a press release should add additioal details to the lede. The body is a chace to tell the story of your ews ad iclude affiliate messagig, rather tha stickig just to the bare-boe details. 6. Quotes Quotes from iteral or exteral spokespeople add isight ad color to a press release. For ay quote drafted, be sure to get the approval of the perso to whom it is attributed. 7. Boilerplate Located at the ed of a press release, a boilerplate is a quick overview or descriptio of your affiliate. The laguage remais the same for each release. 8. Cotact iformatio Whe you put out a release, you wat people to cotact you for more iformatio. Make it easy by icludig cotact iformatio (at least , phoe ad full website address) i every press release. Other thigs to cosider: Hyperliks Are there relevat materials you ca lik to that provide the reader additioal iformatio? Is there a specific page o your website to which you wat to drive traffic? SEO keywords If your press release will live olie, iclude strategically placed keywords for search egie optimizatio (SEO). These might be the ame of your affiliate, key leaders or terms such as Dever real estate. The closer to the begiig of the press release, the more affective the keywords are. Media Advisory Related to the press release is the media advisory. While the former is a complete tellig of a particular ews item, a media advisory is a quick ad effective way to ivite a media outlet to a impedig evet. See appedix for a media advisory template. Whe writig a media advisory, there is some overlap with the mechaics of a press release. 1. Cotact ifo Placed promietly at the begiig of the advisory, this should iclude ifo for how to cotact you both i the office ad at the evet. 2. Headlie Quick ad to the poit, the headlie must give the reader a reaso to atted the evet. 3. Four W s a. Who is goig to be at the evet ad whom ca media talk to? b. What is the evet about? What is happeig? What is the ews? c. Whe is the evet? d. Where is the evet? 4. Evet Details Aythig else the media eeds to kow about the evet? 5. Outlet-Specific Iformatio a. TV What visual ad audio opportuities are available at the evet? b. Prit Are there additioal opportuities to talk with the audiece? Should they brig a photographer or will pictures be provided? c. Radio What soud (both iterviews ad ambiet) is available at the evet? 6. Other Iformatio a. RSVP Do outlets eed to reply i order to atted the evet? b. Parkig Is there assiged space for media vehicles? Ca TV trucks exted their broadcast trasmitters without iterferece? c. Media guidelies Are there ay people, topics or questios that are off limits? Will media be cofied to a stagig area or allowed to roam the evet? Be very upfrot ad hoest about what media ca/ca t do. d. Story agles With media i a rush, provide some story agles for them. They might ot adhere to them, but it gives you a chace to frame the evet ad potetial coverage. e. Bios If there are importat people attedig the evet, provide backgroud or bio iformatio o them.

12 Distributio of Press Releases ad Media Advisories The press release or media advisory is writte ad approved. How should you distribute it? 1. Wire services The classic way to distribute a press release is to put it o a wire. These wire services compaies cotract with etworks of media outlets to provide them ews. Some of the more established/reputable wire services are PR Web, BusiessWire ad Marketwired. a. Beefits These services add validity ad credibility to your ews. Your ews lives olie o a third party s website. b. Drawbacks - They ca be expesive ad ot actually lad your ews where it will make the biggest impact. 3. Blog/website May compaies are shuig the traditioal wire service distributio i favor of postig press releases directly to their blog or website. If you have media ad followers costatly checkig your site for ews, it s a great tactic. If ot, you still eed to make sure the correct people receive your ews. 4. Social media Social media, such as LikedI, Facebook ad Twitter, is a easy way to distribute your ews to a audiece that follows you. 2. Those meticulously researched media lists you compiled are perfect for press releases or media advisories. These ews items ca help you build relatioships with jouralists. a. Persoalize it - If possible, sed a idividual to each cotact. If it s ot possible, use the Bcc optio. Never expose the fact that you ed multiple ad competig outlets at the same time. 11 SHOULD I TWEET A PRESS RELEASE? Sharig a press release or media advisory via social media seems like a great ad iexpesive way to distribute your ews. However, press releases ad media advisories are, by their ature, formal ad ot very social. Try writig a blog post about the press release or breakig dow the ews ito a series of tweets. Make the ews as shareable as possible if you choose to distribute via social media.

13 Itermediate Public Relatios Strategies ad Tactics Writig ad distributig ews via a press release or media advisory is step oe i your public relatios process. Hopefully, your ews geerates iterest ad the media cotacts you for more iformatio. This sectio will prepare you for: How to hadle a iterview request. How to respod to a iterview. How to coduct a phoe iterview. 12 I additio, we will review media relatios beyod the press release, icludig: Pitchig evets or ews. Creatig multimedia collateral. Usig multimedia collateral.

14 Icomig Press Request It s always excitig to receive a request from a reporter watig to kow more about your ews or askig for a commet o a story. But before you aswer or provide a quote, there are a few questios you should ask: 1. Timeframe By whe do they eed a respose? Are they workig o deadlie? 2. Story agle What type of story are they writig? Do they have a particular agle(s) i which they are iterested? 3. How will your affiliate fit ito the story Are you beig used as a expert to commet o a larger tred, aother orgaizatio s ews or is your ews the ceterpiece of the story? Whe you kow more about the story, you ca pla your messagig. You do t wat your messagig to be all about your affiliate. This will appear biased ad will be of little use to the reporter. But, if you aswer the questios without icludig your messagig, you lose the opportuity to reach a wider audiece. Match what you wat to say to what the reporter wats. Strikig this balace is key to beig icluded i the story. After decidig o your messagig, the ext step is decidig who will deliver it. Who will talk to the press? WHAT IS DEADLINE? Beig o deadlie meas that the reporter has to file the story by a specific time. Make sure you kow whe that deadlie is ad get iformatio to the reporter i plety of time to icorporate it ito the story. Remember, deadlie is whe the fial story must be completed, ot whe you should get them iformatio. 1. Attributig vs. quotig Ofte, your spokespeople are busy or uavailable to draft resposes themselves. I these situatios, it is advisable to speak with them directly, edit their resposes ad the attribute the quotes to them. Of course, this oly works with writte resposes. 2. Soud bites Whether respodig via , phoe or i perso, preset your aswers i easy to uderstad soud bites. Start arrow with a specific aswer to the questio. If eeded, you ca expad your aswer to provide greater cotext or additioal iformatio. Remember that you ca say o to media requests. Reasos for turig dow a media opportuity iclude: 1. Negative story about your affiliate If the outlet or reporter is clearly biased or you believe your words will be used agaist you, you ca always declie the request. 2. Coflict of iterest The reporter might wat commet about a rival orgaizatio or a former affiliate member. 3. Not i area of expertise Sometimes reporters are t iformed about NAA, your affiliate, your members ad the missio of all three. Their story could be irrelevat to your affiliate ad outside your area of expertise. 4. Not relevat to orgaizatioal goals A story about which apartmet commuities are most decorated for the holidays might seem like a fu piece, but does it advace your affiliate s public relatios or members goals? If there is ay questio about whether or ot you should respod to a media request, please cotact NAA s Maager of Public Relatios, Laure Bosto. She is here to talk through the opportuity, help craft messagig, draft a respose or provide a writte statemet. Laure is also here to support you i your decisio-makig process ad, hopefully, spread the good word whe you do lad that great piece of coverage. ad Phoe Iterviews Each type of media request has specific do s ad do ts. For iterviews: 1. Attribute quotes As metioed above, aswers do t have to be composed directly by the perso to whom they are attributed. Talk through the aswers with the appropriate perso(s), get the message correct ad the 13

15 attribute to the perso(s) you wat to preset to the media, such as your affiliate s Presidet. Keep the process trasparet withi your affiliate ad iform everyoe ivolved of his/her role. 2. Write i soud bites The first setece of every respose should aswer the questio. Everythig else supports that aswer or adds additioal details. 3. Grammar, spellig, puctuatio Edit, edit, edit! Have several people read over resposes to make sure there are o copy mistakes or typos. 4. No attachmets Reporters do t wat attachmets. Uless they specifically ask for them, do t sed them. Iclude everythig i the body of the Offer images or other collateral Outlets are focusig more o the images that accompay a story. Offer to supply relevat photos or images, but do t sed them usolicited. Do s ad do ts for phoe iterviews: 1. No eed to aswer immediately If a reporter calls ad asks for commet, buy yourself some time to properly prepare. Ask for their deadlie ad what the story is about. Say that you ll be back i touch with them shortly. BLOCKING AND BRIDGING Whe a reporter takes the iterview to a place you re ot comfortable, blockig ad bridgig helps get you back o track. Ackowledge the questio but aswer with the message you wat to preset. For example, a reporter asks about risig costs of ret forcig out lower-icome residets i your city. A block ad bridge aswer could be: While affordable housig is a cocer, it s importat to remember that apartmet commuities still offer some of the best values i real estate ad allow idividuals ad families opportuities they might ot otherwise have. 2. Preparatio Research the outlet ad reporter to see what types of questios they usually ask. You ca also ask the reporter directly for sample questios, but they are ot obliged to share those with you. 3. Practice Do mock iterviews with other staff members. Have someoe play the role of the jouralist ad aother liste to rate your performace. The more you practice, the less ervous you ll be for the actual iterview. 4. No distractios a. Tur off the computer. a. Do t check . c. Be i a quiet place where you ca hear the reporter ad he/she ca hear you. d. Use a ladlie phoe if at all possible. e. It s OK to have a set of referece otes if eeded. 5. Body laguage a. Stad up. It gives you more eergy ad presece eve o the phoe. b. Smile. It makes the toe of your voice happier ad more persoable. c. If you move your hads whe you talk, feel free to do so while o the phoe. It will make the experiece feel more atural ad comfortable. 6. Blockig ad bridgig If the iterview gets off track because either the iterviewer is askig questios you were t prepared for or questios that are irrelevat, you ca take cotrol of the coversatio by blockig ad bridgig. Pitchig News ad Evets Beyod composig a press release or media alert, public relatios ad media relatios revolve aroud the pitch. This is a short appeal created to explai a ews item ad covice the media to cover it. Most importat whe writig a pitch is to idetify what makes the ews or evet ewsworthy. 1. Just because somethig happes, does t make it ews Refer to the Before You Begi sectio of this documet. Does your ews or evet meet the criteria for what is ews? If ot, how ca you make it more ewsworthy? 14

16 2. Agles, ot spi To preset somethig as ewsworthy, work to discover what agles or storylies will iterest a particular outlet. This does t mea exaggeratig or misrepresetig your ews. That gets ito the world of spi or mischaracterizatio, which is somethig to avoid. 3. It s about the audiece, ot about you Outlets care about what their audiece wats to read/hear/watch, ot about what you wat to say. Do t make your pitch all about you. Make it about how your ews affects/iterests the outlet s audiece. Whe you ve worked out what you re goig to pitch, there are two thigs to keep i mid whe actually creatig the pitch: 1. Keep it short Research idicates you have less tha 10 secods to grab someoe s attetio. Keep pitches short ad to the poit. Place importat iformatio at the begiig. 2. Make it relevat A reporter should kow i the first setece what your pitch is about ad if it s relevat. If it s ot clear, re-write it util it is. Research ad persoalize your pitches for each outlet ad reporter. MAKE IT SHORTER! A great first pitch is aroud 150 words. Whe draftig, here are elemets you ca leave out: 1. Formal greetigs. 2. Log itro seteces. Just get to the poit. 3. Proper ames, titles or orgaizatioal ames. Other ways to make pitches shorter are: 1. Use bullet poits. 2. Lik to additioal details rather tha writig them out. 3. Iclude details i subject lie. Whe you ve created your pitch, how should you pitch it to the media? 1. A large majority of the media prefer first cotact via . Make sure to iclude a descriptive ad cocise subject lie. Sed ay to yourself first to check if it s properly formatted. 2. Phoe If a pitch is time-sesitive, or you kow a outlet/reporter prefers to be cotacted via phoe, call them. Ask if it s a good time to talk. Get directly to your pitch just as you would i a . It might feel awkward at first, but reporters will appreciate your directess ad efficiet use of their time. 3. Social media Be careful whe pitchig a story via social media, such as through Twitter. You eed to be certai that a reporter wats to be cotacted that way. Social media ca be a good tool for keepig i touch with people with whom you have a strog relatioship. If/whe you do t hear back from a reporter, it s time to follow up. Here are several ways to be persistet but ot bothersome: 1. Wait Like i a romatic comedy, you ca call too soo. Give the reporter time to read or review the ews before you re-pitch the story. Uless the pitch is very time sesitive, ivoke the rule of datig ad wait at least three days. 2. Short Via , a great follow up might be simply, Ay thoughts o this idea? 3. Do t call ad ask if they got the previous If they did ad did t respod, it probably meas they were t iterested. If they did t get it, the you ve just made them look bad. 4. Re-pitch as if it s the first pitch Istead of askig if they got your , use a phoe follow-up as a ew chace to make a great first impressio. 15

17 Multimedia Creatig videos, photos, ifographics or other multimedia cotet is a great way to commuicate with iteral audieces ad provide extra value for the media. Several optios for creatig videos are: 1. Log ad polished These are traiig videos, advertisemets, trade show videos or other professioally recorded ad edited pieces. They look fatastic ad showcase your affiliate. However, they ca be expesive, time cosumig ad usually require a outside resource. 2. Short ad dirty Just about ay mobile device ca be used to shoot broadcast-quality video. Just look at how ofte you see iphoe footage o CNN or your local ews. For shorter videos, you ca use: a. Video camera, smartphoe or tablet for recordig. b. imovie or similar software for editig. c. YouTube, Vie, Istagram or other social media platform for postig ad distributio. While the quality of a video somewhat affects its ability to garer coverage, the cotet matters more. Shoot video that appeals to the media outlet you are pitchig. Your videos should add isight ito a evet or story. The same priciple applies to photos. Photos ca be used to: 1. Capture a evet These ca be used to tell the story i real time via social media, or as a wrap up after the evet. 2. Help gai post-evet coverage Sometimes outlets are too uderstaffed to cover every evet they wat. Providig them with photos makes it easier for them to write about your ews. May outlets also have photo-oly sectios to which you ca submit for coverage. If your ews is complex, such as a retal housig survey, a ifographic ca preset that data i a fu, easy-to-digest format. How to use it Multimedia cotet ca be used i a variety of ways to support your PR efforts: 1. Social media What do you see o your Facebook timelie or Twitter feed? Mostly photos ad videos. This is how we express ourselves ad share iformatio. Multimedia cotet will stregthe your social efforts. 2. Blogs A picture is worth a thousad words. Addig multimedia to blogs makes them more iterestig, readable ad adds iformatio ad cotext that the writte word ca t. 3. Pitchig Outlets are strapped for time ad resources. Yet they wat to iclude as much multimedia i stories as possible. You ca provide it for them. Just remember ot to sed aythig usolicited ad othig as a attachmet uless istructed. 4. Marketig ad affiliate collateral While they might ot be used i the momet, multimedia ca add color to future marketig materials. You ever ca have too may photos to choose from. 5. Stregthe coectio to members Your membership wats to feel coected. Usig photos or videos ca build commuity ad stregthe bods betwee members ad your affiliate. LANDSCAPE NOT PORTRAIT 16 Hold a smartphoe i ladscape (horizotal) rather tha i portrait (vertical) whe shootig video or pictures. This is the way that TV or olie video displays best.

18 Advaced Public Relatios Strategies ad Tactics As you become more comfortable with public relatios, there will be opportuities to provide commet o curret evets ad establish your members as experts i their field. I this sectio, we will itroduce you to the advaced strategies ad tactics of: 17 Live iterviews. Pitchig tred or topic stories. Discoverig editorial opportuities. Developig thought leadership. Trackig media coverage. Extedig the life of media coverage.

19 Live Iterviews A staple of media coverage, the live iterview ca be oe of the most importat yet erve-wrackig elemets i public relatios. But, like a or phoe iterview, there are specific tactics you ca follow to prepare that will calm the ervousess ad help you deliver a great iterview. 1. Preparatio Watch the show or segmet o which you will appear. This will give you a sese for camera agles ad physical positioig alog with the host s iterview style. 2. Practice Like ay other iterview, the more you practice the better you will perform. Create a replica of the show s set ad have a staff member iterview you. Film it ad watch it back. Focus o: a. Message What are you goig to say? a. Soud bites How are you goig to say it quickly? a. Body laguage ad positio How will you look o camera? 3. Presetatio TV is a visual medium. How you preset yourself is equally, if ot more, importat as what you say. Presetatio aspects to cosider iclude: a. Proper dress What is the dress style for the show? What style do you wat to preset? Rule of thumb: Dress how you would for a meetig with a importat cliet. RADIO IS LIVE, TOO Suggestios made i this sectio ca be applied to radio iterviews as well. While may people focus o TV whe talkig about live coverage, there are may local radio programs that ca help you reach relevat audieces. May times these programs are more log form ad give you additioal chaces to discuss a issue i depth. 9 SECONDS The average legth of a TV soud bite is ie secods. That s all the time you have to get across your major messages. b. Eye cotact Focus o the iterviewer. You will make a istat coectio ad show the audiece that you are focused ad egaged. c. Igore the camera The audiece does t expect you to talk directly to them. Keep your attetio o the iterviewer. d. Speak steadily Not too fast ad ot too slow. Speak i a authoritative voice. You are the expert ad your toe should reflect that. e. Slow your gestures Movig your hads is fie, but do so at a slower pace tha usual. Make your movemets fluid. Fast, jerky movemets preset as ervous or aggressive to the viewer. f. Liste Egage the iterviewer, ad therefore the audiece, by really listeig to what they ask. g. Block ad bridge The same techiques for a phoe iterview ca be employed if a live iterview starts to veer off track. I advace of ay live iterview, make sure the producer or host has your correct ame, title ad affiliate ame. You ca ask for this iformatio to be displayed o scree, i what is kow as a Chyro. Pitchig Tred or Topic Stories We ve discussed ways to pitch ews ad evets created by your affiliate. A more advaced tactic is to coect your affiliate to curret evets, treds or topics that are already i the ews. Whe decidig what tred or topic you should pitch, ask yourself these questios: 1. What is happeig i the world? What stories, treds or topics are the media already primed to cover? 2. How does a tred/topic relate to what you do? Fid a legitimate coectio/agle betwee what your affiliate does ad the larger story. 3. How ca you add value/isight? What ca you say that a reporter ca t get aywhere else? Oce you have idetified a larger topic or tred that fits these criteria, you eed to tailor the pitch to the specific outlet. 18

20 Take for example a icrease i local foreclosures. You wat to commet o this tred s impact o the local retal market. A busiess reporter/outlet will care most about the ecoomic impacts of the story, a real estate reporter about the direct ramificatios to the housig market ad a geeral iterest reporter will wat to tell the story of a family directly affected. To help tailor your pitch, offer to provide reporters with examples they ca use i their story. 1. Residets People directly affected by the ews. 2. Experts Bakig or other fiacial experts who ca talk to the ecoomics of the situatio. 3. Owers Have they see a icrease or decrease i available apartmet uits i relatio to the foreclosure rates? 4. A employee Who at your affiliate is best positioed to talk about foreclosures? 5. Study data Are there valid third-party sources that will support your messages? Part of tailorig your pitch is to make it local. Outlets are always lookig for local examples of atioal stories. They are also iterested i what local stories/people have the potetial to go atioal. NAA is here to help coordiate these atioal-tolocal ad local-to-atioal agles. We have a wealth of data ad experts from aroud the coutry that ca aid your pitchig efforts. ARE YOU DOING GOOD? A powerful way to gai coverage for your orgaizatio is to focus o the good that your members are doig i the commuity. Is ayoe coected to your affiliate: 1. Doig outstadig charity work? 2. Sittig o commuity boards? 3. Ivolved i other philathropic edeavors? Lookig for Editorial Opportuities Outlets have two basic types of coverage: what s happeig ow ad what they plaed to cover i advace. For each type of story, there are ways to discover what the media is coverig. 1. Editorial caledars Editorial caledars are listigs of what a outlet is scheduled to cover throughout the year. Be sure to ote lead times, or the cutoff date, for submittig iformatio to be icluded i the story. Depedig o the outlet or sectio, this could be aythig from a few days to a few moths. 2. HARO HARO (Help a Reporter Out) ad similar daily ewsletters iclude iquiries from reporters lookig for story sources. May are o deadlie ad eed iformatio ASAP. Be sure to validate the outlet makig the iquiry. 3. Networkig evets May outlets hold ope houses or etworkig evets with local PR groups. Atted, ask questios about coverage iterests ad itroduce yourself to reporters who you might pitch i the future. 4. Readig the ews Read/watch the ews every day. This gives the best picture ito what outlets are coverig ad helps you pitch the right story at the right time. Thought Leadership Thought leadership is a pillar of successful public relatios. Beyod iterviews or pitchig ews ad evets, thought leadership is a opportuity to establish your affiliate members as respected, forward-thikig experts i their field. It s a chace to showcase kowledge ad gai logstadig credibility. A promiet way to demostrate thought leadership is with cotributed cotet, which ca iclude: 1. Bylie articles Writte to jouralistic stadards, bylie articles help a audiece better uderstad a issue, help them solve a problem or preset a visio of what will happe ext i your idustry. 2. Guest blogs Less formal pieces, these are articles that reside o the blog of a separate, o-media orgaizatio. They are a good way to reach a wider audiece without relyig directly o the media. 19

21 3. Letters to the editor Do you disagree with a recet article or opiio? A well-formed letter to the editor ca preset a couterig opiio or preset your side of the story. 4. Op-Ed pieces Op-ed articles address a issue affectig the larger public. They offer a specific opiio ad course of actio, e.g. oppositio to a ew retal tax. Cotributed cotet should: 1. Take a positio If it s ot about somethig, it s about othig. 2. Share kowledge This is a chace to show how much you really kow about real estate ad the retal market. 3. Provide isight Is your take fresh or is it somethig ayoe could write? 4. Be about a topic, ot about you Cotributed cotet is ot advertisig. Ay outlet you wat to be i will ot hesitate to reject your cotet if it appears biased or self-promotioal. Trackig Media Coverage As importat as gettig a iterview or writig a bylie article is keepig track of if/whe it is published. This helps you gauge the success of your PR program, track goals ad aalyze what topics, pitches ad cotet resoate with the media. The easiest ad most cost-effective way to track coverage is to set up Google Alerts. Google will sed you automatic alerts whe it detects a metio of a keyword, e.g. your affiliate ame or ame of a promiet member. Services such as Cisio, Vocus or Meltwater that offer media research also typically provide media moitorig. They will ofte catch more tha Google Alerts, but come at a price. There are also specialized moitorig services if you are geeratig a high volume of TV or radio coverage. ca help publicize your ews or kowledge to a atioal audiece. 2. Share i social Create social media posts highlightig the coverage. Ecourage affiliate members to share through their persoal accouts as well. a. LikedI Make copy professioal i toe. b. Twitter Short ad more casual copy. Iclude reporter s/media outlet s Twitter hadle. c. Facebook Tag reporter ad/or media outlet s Facebook page. d. Google+ Tag reporter ad/or media outlet s Google+ page. e. YouTube Create a video about the coverage. 3. Post to News sectio of website Put the coverage o your ow website with a quick descriptio ad lik to the full article/segmet. 4. Write a blog Add additioal details or more affiliate-focused messagig by writig a blog post about the coverage. 5. Put out a press release Treat the coverage as the ews item ad distribute a press release o a wire service. 6. Add to sigature Highlight coverage with a quick lik that goes out to everyoe you to key cotacts Prompt people to actio. Coverage ca serve as a great excuse to check i with key cotacts. 8. Thak the reporter Taggig a reporter i social media or sedig a quick, direct thak you message ca help build that relatioship. 9. Order reprits Order professioal reprits to display promietly i your office. 10. Iteract Ecourage members to write commets directly about the story. 11. Video Create a short video about the coverage. Iterview the perso quoted or who wrote the bylie. Add the video to a blog post, social media post or press release. 20 Repurposig ad Extedig the Life of Media Coverage Public relatios efforts do t stop oce you get media coverage. Your ext priority is to esure as may people as possible see that piece of coverage. 1. Sed coverage to NAA We re here to help promote your affiliate. Our extesive etworks HELPING THE REPORTER Promotig your coverage does as much to help the reporter as it does to help you. Reporters are ofte judged by how may times their stories are read or shared. Aythig you do to help icrease those umbers is oticed.

22 Social Media Almost all of us use social media i our persoal lives to coect to family ad frieds, gather ews or coverse about curret evets. But how ca you use social media to help with your PR efforts? This sectio will: Review social media policies. Offer a overview of social media platforms. Explai social media do s ad do ts. 21

23 Policy Attached i the appedix is our NAA social media policy. It outlies acceptable behavior ad practices for NAA social media accouts. You ca adopt it as is for your affiliate or use it as a basis for writig your ow. It s as importat to have a social media policy as it is to have ay other HR-related policy. It sets clear expectatios for staff ad ca help to mediate ay disputes or icidets that might occur. Platforms New social media platforms seemigly sprig up every week. Curretly, here are some of the most popular etworks ad how to best use them to coect to your audieces. 1. Facebook The largest social etwork, Facebook has the potetial to reach a broad audiece. The platform is visually orieted, so posts with images or videos ted to get more iteractio. 2. Twitter At 140 characters or less, Twitter is a way to share iformatio i quick bursts. May jouralists are o Twitter. Followig them ca provide useful iformatio o what they are coverig or might cover. 3. LikedI A professioal social etwork, LikedI is a place to share idustry kowledge ad thought leadership. Cosider joiig ad participatig i groups dedicated to the apartmet idustry. 4. YouTube For sharig video cotet, YouTube is oe of the largest search egies. Videos from YouTube also display promietly i Google search results. 5. Google+ Google+ serves as the social hub for all of Google s products ad platforms: YouTube, Places, Hagouts. It eve itegrates with Gmail. Iformatio o a Google+ profile will populate search results. 6. Piterest A visual social etwork, Piterest users pi or share images ad ideas they fid useful or aesthetically pleasig. The platform ca be used to share images or provide audieces with ideas relatig to costructio or redecoratig. 7. Istagram What started as a photo-sharig platform, Istagram ow allows users to share 15-secod videos. Istagram cotet ca be shared o Istagram or itegrated with most other social media etworks. 8. Vie Vie allows users to create ad share six-secod videos that loop. May compaies have used these to film very creative stop motio how-to videos. As with Istagram, Vie videos ca be shared across a umber of platforms. So, which social media platform is right for you? It depeds. 1. Where is your audiece? Fid which platform the audiece you wat to reach uses most. Make that your primary focus. 2. You do t eed to use them all Pick a couple etworks that you wat to use ad maitai them. Post regularly. Become experts i what works ad what does t. 3. Sig up for the rest Eve if you do t actively use them, it is a good idea to establish accouts o other social media sites because: a. They show up i search results. b. If you ow them, it keeps others from misrepresetig your affiliate. c. If you decide ot to maitai them, be sure to poit visitors to sites you do update regularly. Do s ad do ts What are the best ways to utilize social media ad what practices ad behaviors should you avoid? 1. Do a. Make it social The purpose of social media is to be social. It should coect o a huma level ad ispire others to egage with it. b. Make it iterestig Would you read that post i your persoal life? If ot, why would someoe else? Make posts egagig ad iterestig. Social media allows you to be freer ad more coversatioal. c. Make it visual Social media is shiftig more toward visual platforms. Photos ad videos are prove to icrease egagemet over text-oly posts. d. Make it relevat to the platform You have to iclude liks to articles o Twitter. O Facebook, you ca erase the URL ad still have the article appear i the post. Craft each post to match the uique characteristics of that specific platform. 22