{"id":89835,"date":"2016-06-27T13:05:59","date_gmt":"2016-06-27T13:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=89835"},"modified":"2016-06-27T15:25:08","modified_gmt":"2016-06-27T15:25:08","slug":"amanda-ruiz-pr-coach-and-consultant-answers-your-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/amanda-ruiz-pr-coach-and-consultant-answers-your-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Amanda Ruiz, PR coach and consultant answers your questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week<\/strong>\u00a0Amanda Ruiz,\u00a0PR\u00a0coach\u00a0and consultant led an insightful webinar <\/a>discussion about how to get\u00a0creative when it comes to thinking of press hooks. From learning how to\u00a0find the right journalists for your audience, getting journalists to respond to your emails, calls, and tweets to getting the\u00a0right angle for your story, our webinar covered it all.\u00a0<\/strong>Having created<\/strong>\u00a0The 7 Secrets on How to Get into the Press<\/a> and with over 25 years of experience in the PR and marketing, Amanda\u00a0<\/strong>gave expert advice during the webinar on how to fine-tune your approach and maximise the value of your PR. As the webinar generated lots of conversation online, Amanda has returned to the Vuelio platform to answer your questions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Amanda<\/a><\/p>\n

When pitching to a journalist, would you send the full article and images with the email, or simply send an overview of your idea?\u00a0<\/strong>Journalists are very rushed for time so I would recommend not giving a \u2018teaser\u2019 or overview but a short and snappy email with concise bullet points backed up with statistics (if available). You also need to consider your email subject line, which must capture their attention and not be \u2018vanilla\u2019. Take a look at this\u00a0blog post<\/a>\u00a0I wrote on how to get an awesome headline. \u00a0Also, do not send high-resolution images as this will clog up their inboxes and they are unlikely to click on them.<\/p>\n

If you can send your press release (ie the bullet points and\u00a0brief\u00a0intro on your idea) along with an image or two in the body of the email (not as an attachment), this would be the best option. I have a very successful press release template which gives you the layout and format for you to create your own press release.<\/p>\n

Do you tend to be more successful with email pitches or cold calling?\u00a0<\/strong>Whilst journalists will tell you to NOT call them as they are on deadline and don\u2019t want to be swamped with calls, I personally have found the call followed by sending the press release to be the most effective. Don\u2019t forget you will have to be short and sweet on the phone, and try to \u2018Nail it in 8<\/a>\u2019, do an eight\u00a0word\u00a0elevator pitch\/biography before you talk about your topic. Read my post about how to pique your target\u2019s attention without letting their eyes glaze over!<\/p>\n

Do you have any specific advice for a B2B medical business?\u00a0<\/strong>I would recommend you get to know the client avatars of the company you are representing, and by doing this exercise, you will get to know your target audience much better and discover which publications they read and therefore the ones you should be approaching. Keep up to date with the press and be ready to react to a story that is current. How about doing a survey with your medical findings? Surveys are in the press daily and this is an excellent way to get coverage.<\/p>\n

How do you appeal to bloggers and tap into the influence they have?\u00a0<\/strong>Bloggers and Vloggers tend to do reviews in exchange for payment or free samples, so be prepared to set up a \u2018Bloggger\u2019s\u00a0Budget\u2019 if you want to go down that route. Otherwise, try to be creative and get to know how they talk and write, what they write about and try to make your pitch resonate with how they are as people. Try to be as human as possible – ie appeal to the human connection you may have with them. For example, are they from your\u00a0home town? Did you go to the same school? Do you have the same outlandish hobby?! You never know! See if you have things in common \u2013 and bear in mind they are approached daily \u2013 rather like journalists, so think about approaching them in the same concise yet eye-catching manner possible.<\/p>\n

Could you advise us about successful subject line words like ‘exclusive’ that provoke action? <\/strong>I love writing subject lines \u2013 I was advised by a prominent journalist that they don\u2019t like \u2018jazz hands\u2019 nor do they like you to do the headline writer\u2019s job by being too clever. If you want to use \u2018Exclusive\u2019 make sure it is exclusive to that publication, and follow it up with them personally to see if they will be using the story. If they aren\u2019t going to use the story<\/a>, then you can go to the next best target and do the same until someone bites!. Another thing that always captures journalists\u2019 attention\u00a0are\u00a0the stats, eg 95% of women don\u2019t do\u00a0xyz\u2026.!\u00a0 Then talk about this very stat in the body of the email so you are consistent with the headline. I mentioned this controversial headline on the webinar I recently wrote for a client: \u201cFinally you can LOVE having your period\u201d. It got lots of call outs for samples and high-resolution images but one person got in touch to say she thought the headline was over the top and who could ever love having their period? When you raise your head above the parapet, be prepared to get shot down, and if you are, it means you have caused a stir!<\/p>\n

\"Amanda<\/a><\/p>\n

Do you have advice for PRs with no budget who want more visibility?<\/strong> I\u00a0launched my knitwear label with zero budget yet I managed to get into Vogue, Marie Claire,\u00a0Woman\u00a0and Home, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times. This is why I am passionate about teaching as many people as possible how to get publicity for free and to not spend a penny on advertising.<\/p>\n

How do you use your ideas to persuade senior colleagues who are afraid to issue light-hearted press releases and ideas? <\/strong>I think that\u2019s a matter of\u00a0confidence\u00a0as well as\u00a0testing. So firstly, have the confidence to believe in your release, so write it, and then present it to the senior colleagues. Then, you can test it against the serious press release. The one that gets the best results for that specific story will win the day. My preference, as you may have gathered, is for the more light-hearted approach, but it really does depend on your industry. Even light-hearted press releases can have lots of \u2018sexy stats\u2019 the journalists can\u2019t ignore, so when you pitch it to the colleagues, show them your statistics which will give weight to the release. Just think back to the \u201cFinally you can LOVE\u2026\u201d press release!<\/p>\n

\"Amanda<\/a><\/p>\n

How do you get the balance right between being persistent and over-contacting?\u00a0<\/strong>Great question \u2013 if your release instantly stands out from the crowd and they are interested in it, then you should get a reply in the hours or day after you send it. If not, wait three days, then you can call the journalist up but never ask: \u201cDid you get my press release?\u201d. This is a journalist\u2019s pet hate<\/a>.\u00a0Firstly, do a bit of twitter \u2018stalking\u2019 \u2013 see what they are talking about, read their articles that they will have shared online and try to \u2018get to know\u2019 the journalist before you speak to them. When you do call up, do your short and snappy 8-word intro, then lead on very briefly about the angle or the press hook. They may say, sorry, we are not the right publication or that\u2019s interesting, please send me a press release. So send off the release and wait patiently. If they are interested, you will be contacted within three days. The golden rule according to my journalist source, \u00a0is if you send out a press release to the same person three times (over a period of time) and you haven\u2019t received a response, then you will not get a response. Try to change up the title and your target journalist, then\u00a0start\u00a0the process again. Please bear in mind that you don\u2019t want to get\u00a0black listed\u00a0like I was when I was promoting my knitwear brand \u2013 I didn\u2019t have a PR Plan of Action and I called the same poor journalist three times (by accident as I wasn\u2019t taking proper call notes) and on the third time she asked me to never contact her again!! I think enough water is under the bridge now that I can approach her again if only I could remember her name!<\/p>\n

What would be the best time to send a story to a journalist in your opinion?\u00a0<\/strong>It really does depend\u00a0on\u00a0which publication you are trying to get in contact with. For the Sunday papers, I was told by the correspondent there that Tuesday is a good day. For the dailies \u2013 that really does depend on which publication and time-wise, that also\u00a0depends. Some journalists like to go through \u00a0their\u00a0in boxes\u00a0in the evening, others will reply instantly, so there isn\u2019t the perfect time. So my advice would be, call up the journalist and say that you are looking to share a\u00a0story,\u00a0when would be the best time to get in touch via email or phone? And by saying \u2018email\u2019 they can\u2019t rebuff you and say, \u201cDon\u2019t call me!\u201d as you have given the option to be able to send an email (which is mostly their preference). Be prepared for them to ask you what the story is about, so by simply doing your research call, you may have turned that into a Pitch to the Journalist call! Which also means, have your press release and statistics up your sleeve to crib off when speaking and to email once the phone is down. This approach should ingratiate\u00a0yourself\u00a0with the journalist as it shows you are not treating them like a number, but a human!<\/p>\n