Tag Archives: PR

Journalists Caution When Using GenAI to Write, Beware of Dullness

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By Michelle McIntyre

A panel of business journalists gathered at Microsoft in Mountain View, Calif., last night as part of a San Francisco Press Club event to discuss how generative AI has affected their jobs.

One participant, Michael Nuñez of VentureBeat made bold predictions. He’s an advocate of using GenAI regularly at work. The other participants seemed to have more of a ‘proceed with caution’ attitude.

Nuñez predicted that Generative AI will be bigger than Google. 

He went even bolder saying that GenAI is as big as the smartphone.

On top of that he quipped, “In one year AI will have touched every aspect of the journalism process.” Yes, he used the word, “every.” 

Nuñez went into detail about how he uses AI as sort of a smart intern to do some research and writing to save him and his team time. He and the others agreed that it’s important to edit and fact check all AI work. 

They also agreed that prose could be biased.

Although most of their newsroom teams were using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in some way and already had guidelines for its use, none thought that AI would replace them in their jobs in the next five years.

In addition to Nuñez, the journalist panelists were Mr. Boone Ashworth of WIRED, Krystal Hu of Reuters, Julie Jammot of Agence Free Press, Mr. Chris Matyszczyk contributor to CNET and ZDNet, Ben Pimentel of San Francisco Examiner, and Jon Swartz of Marketwatch. Rachel Metz, now with Bloomberg, moderated.

100 Million Downloads in Two Months

It was nice to walk into the event with the Reuters group, by chance, since we arrived at the same time. What a beautiful campus by the way. I was happy to get to know Krystal Hu a bit since I had been frequently quoting data from her GenAI story several times recently in business conversations.

Hu had written that ChatGPT, the most popular flavor of GenAI, had the fastest growing user base of any consumer app. It achieved 100 million downloads in two months. This is faster than both Netflix and TikTok. 

Have a ‘Wild West’ mentality when using GenAI

Panelists advised the audience to keep in mind that AI could produce misinformation, and it is helpful to have an AI-use company guidelines.

Jon Swartz said you have to deal with GenAI with a ‘Wild West’ mentality because it’s something new. 

He added that he likes talking to other humans in the newsroom to brainstorm clever phrases. He said, AI can’t do this. 

AI Needs to Lighten Up

My thoughts mirror Swartz’s. We’re in Wild West territory. I  asked Bing chat to write me a biography and it was good but not special. It referenced five sources, but it didn’t have that special pizazz or flare. 

Like I might write, “Michelle likes tossing tennis balls to her big dog, Ringo.” If Bing were clever and funny, it would have added that to my bio. However, I was impressed that Bing spelled out the word “veteran.” It said, “McIntyre is an IBM veteran.” That’s more proper than “vet.” I always write, “vet.” 

Why Delegate Something that’s Fun to Do?

AFP’s Julie Jammot said that she’d never want AI to replace the main writing that she does, calling that task fun. She said that the problem with AI writing is that the language is too uniform. 

Got Misinformation?

Columnist Chris Matyszczyk offered clever quips summarizing his attitude which was that AI is sort of badly useful. He mentioned misinformation a few times, and others readily agreed with his points. 

Boone Ashworth said that WIRED did a good job at laying out their use of AI guidelines. Most of the others on the panel said their newsrooms have guidelines as well.  Ashworth seemed the most chill about using AI. For example, he said, it can be useful if you need to ask AI for a recipe of what dish to make as a meal.

Attribute or Don’t Attribute? That is the Question.

There was disagreement about whether or not a story needs to have AI attribution. That means putting, “Written by AI.” Most said it’s essential that AI be mentioned in attribution for many reasons. Nunez disagreed saying, it is just a tool. You wouldn’t note that Adobe Photoshop was used to make an image.

Krystal Hu from Reuters smartly brought up the infamous “stop progress letter.” She said, “The smartest minds are ringing the alarm on AI.” Ben Pimentel added that a pause in advancement is not practical, but it is good that the letter generated conversation.

The president of San Francisco Press Club, Curtis Sparrer of Bospar, introduced the panelists and Microsoft executives served as gracious hosts with warm welcomes, intelligent remarks and a nice food and beverage spread. 

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Michelle McIntyre is a Silicon Valley public relations consultant, IBM veteran, and head of editorial content for PRSA SV. She’s a ranked future of work influencer who likes to play fetch with her big dog Ringo. Photo descriptions: 1) Entire panel with ‘AI’ on the screen in the back. Credit: San Francisco Press Club 2) Curtis of Bospar with a microphone 3) Jon of Marketwatch and Julie of AFP, the side of Rachel’s face 4) Boone of WIRED with the navy shirt 5) Chris with a gray t-shirt 6) Ben of SF Examiner with the green shirt
Photos 2-6 were taken by Michelle McIntyre with her new iPhone 14 Pro. Watch the entire panel discussion by visiting this link.

5 Tips to Help You Get Paid On-Time as a PR Freelancer by Michelle McIntyre

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Here are five unique tips on how to get your freelance PR work bills paid on time. 

After 10 years in business, I have never had a client not pay me and only one payment was late.

I noticed many PR and media changes over the past decade. Paid content like the infamous Forbes Council has become more acceptable in PR plans. More ‘non journalist’ contributors are being viewed as serious reporters. The line has blurred between analyst and writer. Podcasts were popular, then unpopular and now they are back in style again, or “fire” as Gen zs like to say. Tech reporters have too many assignments and seem way overpitched. One reporter told me he typically had to file five stories a day. That’s 25 a week and 100 per month.

The best idea to get some media attention for a company is to hire an experienced PR pro, one who has kept up with all of these changes.

Once you do PR for a client, what can you do to make sure you get paid at all, and on time? Here are five tips:

  1. Tag on a late fee. Don’t be afraid to tell someone who just hired you or plans to hire you that if payment is significantly late, that you are going to charge a late fee. Notify them ahead of time, not after it’s late. Ten percent is fair. I had a data analytics client that ran out of funds while waiting on new VC funding. The CFO told me that because of my late fee, I was literally getting paid first among the list of vendors. 
  2. Assign a number to each invoice. If you assign each a number, accounts payable can quickly refer to each invoice later if there is a problem. I had a minor issue with a longtime European client. Assigning invoice numbers is a life saver time wise. Why? If you label it “February” you can’t tell if it’s for work performed that month or the one prior. And which year? I had sent them 60 invoices over five years so that is five Februarys. Once a European bank started tagging on big money transfer fees after three years. In order to get the client to reimburse me I had to articulate which invoice the fee related to.
  3. Check the fees before agreeing to use a particular service for payments: I tried using PayPal with a Canadian client and the fees were outrageous. They were a percentage of the amount tagged on and it came right off the amount I was getting paid. I seem to recall the number being over $100! The client was so frustrated over Canada to U.S. PayPal business transactions that he opened a bank in the U.S. to pay me, and probably other vendors. I use Bill and Zelle now. That brings me to the next tip.
  4. Automate. Use a service like Bill or Zelle. I use Bill sometimes and it works fine for freelance invoices: Its basic service has no fee. Bill tip: If you have trouble signing up, switch browsers. I love Zelle for paying service providers. I have not used it yet to receive client money, but that may be in my future. I paid my personal trainer via Zelle. I like that it’s fee free. There are a few limits: Zelle is only available in the U.S. A small business can use it as long as their bank offers it through their mobile banking app or online banking service. You can only send up to a certain amount via Zelle in a particular timeframe. Other tips are only pay people you trust with Zelle and treat it like cash.
  5. Get creative to avoid spending hours problem solving. I comped an early-stage startup because solving the billing problem would have cost me a lot of time. A CEO from London asked me for a meeting. I gave him launch advice. He insisted on paying me for two hours. We disagreed on how I’d get paid because I didn’t want to give a stranger my bank account number for the transfer. We had no mutual friends, and he didn’t have a LinkedIn photo. Due to the low amount of dollars, I said, I waive the fee, and have a great day. Otherwise, it would have cost me 10 more hours and a lot of stress.

In summary, employ smart invoice and accounting practices from the start. Thinking that the worst can happen will help you get paid, and on time.

Good luck to all of the new PR freelancers out there.

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Michelle McIntyre is a Silicon Valley PR consultant, IBM vet and the new head of editorial content at PRSA Silicon Valley. @fromMcIntyre

Full disclosure: The new PRSA SV president Meghan Fintland does PR for Early Warning, owner of Zelle.

This story was edited for brevity on March 7, 2023.

3 Tips on Pitching Podcasts for the Second Half of 2022

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During the pandemic, podcasting experienced stunning growth, and podcast audiences diversified. According to Business of Apps, more Americans listen to podcasts than have Netflix accounts. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that SiriusXM bought Conan O’Brien’s podcast network for an estimated $150 Million.

Every major media outlet seems to have them; some like Adweek are launching podcast networks; and many companies wants their executives on as guests.

Here are some tips on helping podcast producers find guests

  1. Consider a podcast sponsorships budget. Think six months ahead with podcasts. Ask your client or CEO if they want to set aside some budget to sponsor a podcast or a few of them. CXChronicles is a top 10 customer experience podcast. The last time I spoke with the host, he said that he required a quality, timely guest and a few hundred dollars to promote it.
  2. Listen to at least 10 minutes of a podcast before reaching out to the host. It’s way easier to place a client on a show after you listened to it. You can hear the person’s tone and personality: Would it click or clash with your spokesperson’s? Better yet, listen to a couple of full episodes. Let it play in the background while you work.
  3. Know which ones don’t interview guests. Be careful about pitching using an expert’s biography when the podcast is two journalists bantering about news and trends. One example is Mike Malone and Scott Budman’s The Silicon Insider podcast. I know Malone from a volunteer gig. It’s an awesome podcast by the way. It focuses on what’s super timely at that moment.

As an aside, it’s wise to always read or listen to a media outlet before you get in touch with its editor.

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Michelle McIntyre is a public relations consultant, IBM vet, and member of the PRSA Silicon Valley chapter. Her advice on Quora has garnered 1.2 million views. Follow her on Twitter @FromMichelle [“Mic” photo credit: Canva]

7 Steps to Help You Get to Know Business Press in a Post Pandemic World

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I help a variety of business journalists with their stories on a regular basis: I enjoy seeing these people at events, which are now mostly online, chatting with them daily at Twitter, and reading the interesting things that they write.

I subscribe to a lot of daily newsletters, such as Morning Brew, and check the Twitter feed often. Reporters are often smart and funny, so I enjoy my job.

Think you know how to do media relations? If you’ve been a publicist for more than five years like me, it’s important to refresh the way that you do things in this post pandemic world. Tip: We are now in an epidemic.

The PR profession has changed quite a bit since the pandemic hit: It’s five times harder to develop relationships now because there are very few in person meetings and conferences. Previously you’d run into a reporter a conference or party, or you’d hold a mixer, like a wine tasting, with journalists. That rarely happens anymore in the technology business world.

Here are seven things to do to develop better relationships with business press in modern times:

  1. Make the note short. I was advised in a media relations refresher class at Stanford Continuing Studies to make emailed pitches no longer than 250 words. The instructor a former San Francisco Chronicle reporter, was very good. This tip works.
  2. Personalize the pitch. Make it friendly to their time zone, location and topics they seem to really like covering. Consider a journalist as your client, not your client as your client. Read what they tweeted in the past hour. If you pretend that a journalist is paying you, you’ll treat them with more respect and in turn get better results.
  3. Write a compelling subject line. But don’t make it click bait. People don’t like being tricked. An example is, “The shocking news about Prince William” when it is about how he likes Nutella on his bread instead of the more appropriate and healthier avocado, not true probably, but I’m trying to make a point. Your mind jumped to, “The prince is having an affair.” Treat journalists with respect. They are people. Treat them the way you want to be treated.
  4. Always read a journalist’s Tweet or recent story first. Looking up their stories helps because sometimes you find out that they haven’t written in a couple of years and took a corporate job. Then don’t waste the outreach time, unless you want to network with a peer.
  5. Be brave but not annoying. A follow up by text or LinkedIn direct message might be needed. If you have hard news that you know is major, but the reporter hasn’t opened the email note yet, figure out a polite but direct way to get their attention.
  6. Be sensitive to COVID concerns when setting up meetings. Don’t push an in-person coffee meeting on someone who is more at risk for COVID. “Read the room” as the saying goes. I set up an in-person meeting with a reporter who tweeted, “I would like to meet c-suite executives in person” recently. Note that an online tip has less of a chance of getting canceled. A reporter or executive with breakthrough COVID might still attend the meeting.
  7. Don’t overpitch your favorite journalists. I need to keep reminding myself of this. I’ve heard two editors say that they like hearing from certain PR people no more than four times per year.  This one is hard to follow if you serve a large number of clients. I typically serve between two and five PR clients at any given time.

On a final note, use these tips for trade reporters as well. Trade reporters need to be treated with respect as well. Don’t save the “weak pitch” for the trades. Give them strong spokespersons and relevant news as well. Trade press cover business topics as well.  ###

Michelle McIntyre is a Silicon Valley-based PR consultant who helps startups and their VCs get valuable attention. Prior to that she was the West Coast PR manager for IBM. @fromMichelle on Twitter

Want Press Coverage? Do Your Homework

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Jon Arnold is a long-time independent industry analyst, and his boutique analyst firm, J Arnold & Associates, focuses on communications and unified communications.

Mr. Arnold, who has his own newsletter and Future of Work podcast called “Watch this Space,” writes for and is quoted by the likes of No Jitter and is speaking at Enterprise Connect on March 21.

Even though his primary role is as an analyst, the other day he inadvertently offered me some media relations tips.

First Mr. Arnold complained that often PR people find him on a media list and pitch him without doing their homework. “They just send the same pitch to the full list,” says Mr. Arnold, “assuming they’re all journalists writing news stories.” While he does write regularly about the industry, they are thought leadership analyses rather than journalistic reporting on news of the day.

“Since most PR people won’t ever get to my website to review my work, this important distinction will never be understood, leading only to wasted time at both ends. If instead, they did their homework, they would know better.”  The end result is usually a curt reply from Jon Arnold, followed by an I-should-have-known-better apology from the agency.

I did comment to him that the line has blurred between analyst and journalist. It is confusing, even to seasoned folks. 

He said he can tell when they have no idea that he’s an analyst which frustrates him.

Another thought he added had to do with timeliness. He said journalists quote him in stories because he is able to get back to them by 5 pm the same day. Bingo. He said the words that I have heard over and over. Journalists often need comments the same day. And he obviously knows how to help journalists within their tight deadlines. He’s quoted widely on important industry news like mergers and acquisitions. 

Therefore, to be a super media relations professional, try to have both the reporter and executive on speed dial.

How do you know what they might ask? Ask yourself, what is making headlines? Right now, I expect journalists to ask, do you have employees, customers, or suppliers in Russia or Ukraine? What’s your pandemic or endemic work policy? Also, if you are in certain fields, prepare your answers before you are asked or asked again. Like if you are in fintech, be able to answer questions about the crypto market.

If you are in the collaboration space, prepare an answer so you are ready when asked by a journalist about conducting business in the metaverse. 

Independent versus Large Analyst Firms

During the conversation Mr. Arnold told me the key differences between large and boutique analyst firms. Formerly with Frost & Sullivan, he said the big firms will offer large reports, rankings and awards.

As an independent analyst, Jon Arnold does not do awards. He is paid by vendors to speak at events and write white papers and trend reports. Sometimes he is asked to rewrite a report that an engineer wrote, so it is palatable to key constituents. Topics might relate to things like hybrid work, artificial intelligence-enabled technologies, doing business in the metaverse or Web 3.0, unified communications and contact centers. I noticed Mr. Arnold was quoted in stories about the failed Zoom Five9 acquisition. 

In summary, do your homework on a writer before you pitch and figure out a way to get them a response the same day. Also, if you are pitching an analyst be careful what you say when you reach out, if at all. [Photo credit: Jon Arnold]

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Michelle McIntyre is a freelance public relations professional and future of work microinfluencer. Follow her on Twitter @fromMichelle. Jon Arnold’s Twitter profile is @arnoldjon. He’s also a future of work influencer. Chris Fine co-hosts the Watch this Space podcast with Jon Arnold.

The US Demographic is Fast Changing; 3 Tips on Reaching Ethnic Communities

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The demographics of my town of Saratoga, a quaint village nestled in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains – and by the way close to Apple, Cisco, Intel and Netflix headquarters — switched from mostly white to Asian probably around 2018. According to 2019 Census data, Saratoga is 49 percent Asian and 43 percent white.

This data is important and educational. Marketers need to realize how big the ethnic communities are in the U.S. and utilize smart tactics for reaching them.

If someone wants to reach the diverse audience here in my Silicon Valley village, made up of affluent technology executives, engineers, software developers, doctors and lawyers, teachers, plumbers, retirees, stay-at-home dads and moms, singles with no kids, and families, it’s wise to also talk to ethnic media when they are pitching stories.

Here are three tips on smart media relations or “PR” outreach to these groups:

  1. Tailor messages to community values. Vietnamese values are not necessarily the same as Indian ones. By the same token, some are.
  2. Use a trusted spokesperson. A colleague was the one that reached out to Sing Tao Daily for a PR campaign recently. I handled the main Silicon Valley newspaper as well as the broadcast networks like ABC, Fox and CBS. When it comes to Sing Tao Daily, my associate speaks their language and two of the people she highlighted in the story pitch were Chinese. Her help was greatly valued.
  3. Offer a stipend to trusted journalists at multi-cultural outlets. Julian Do who drives ethnic media services for clients like Blue Cross gave a unique tip during a gathering of PR professionals in Clubhouse recently. He said these media outlets are hurting for money and giving financial help by way of stipends helps immensely. He said it works adding that it does not influence the story. He compared it to buying advertising.

A good rule of thumb no matter what community you are trying to reach is to give something to the group that its constituents want or need.

Journalists like stories about the people they serve: Their readers or viewers, e.g. if it’s broadcast, like to hear “like” examples. Instead of pitching your standard U.S. company press release on a new product to an ethnic media outlet like Telemundo TV, form a story pitch around an interesting Latinx person at your organization who has impacted the community in a positive way.

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Michelle McIntyre is an award-winning public relations consultant and IBM vet in the Silicon Valley. She’s @michelle408 in Clubhouse and @FromMichelle in Twitter. Some of these tips came from a PRSA-SV Clubhouse panel event.

7 Online Event Tips for Marketing and PR Professionals

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Here are seven easy to follow video meeting best practices designed to massively improve your next online event. This will also boost the quality of your everyday remote work. The first one will take you “back to the future.”

Ethernet Wire Internet Connection — I first heard of using an Ethernet wire instead of wireless during my son’s freshman year at University of California Berkeley in the dorms. Amazingly, this was just last year. Ethernet is from the 1990s! This Back to the Future-type trick leads to faster and more reliable internet. Then I heard it again from a VLAB volunteer. VLAB has brought their emerging tech panels from in-person to online.

Back to the Future film photo credit: Alamy via BBC

Headset for Audio — Headsets or earbuds bring a microphone closer to the participants mouth. Make sure a headset is charged before an event. 

If Video Quality Fades Switch to All Audio or Phone — Immediately switch to all audio or turn off the online chat and dial in by phone if there is video disruption. Thanks Cisco Webex for this tip.

Shift Your Schedule — Join a video meeting five minutes early. This may mean setting your last meeting to end 15 minutes before the hour.

In Your Face Light Source — Webcams work best with a lot of light. It’s important that it not come from behind the participant like via a window. If there is a window there, close the curtain or shade. A lamp behind a laptop will help brighten a face evenly.

Focus on Eyeline — Placing your webcam at eye level looks best to viewers. Stack books underneath your laptop. This brings the camera more directly in front of the eyes as opposed to below. 

Work Outside the VPN — Turn your virtual private network or VPN off for higher quality online meeting or event service. I found this tip on the Webex website. They are known for security among other things so I’ll take their word for it.

Good luck with your next online meeting. I encourage you to share your tips with others. Thanks go to VLAB Volunteer Ms. Avery Hudson and Cisco’s Webex Collaboration website for these tips. 

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Michelle McIntyre is a Silicon Valley tech PR diva, IBM vet, founder of Michelle McIntyre Communications LLC, and a long time community volunteer. She’s the media relations lead for the Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council of Boy Scouts of America and has served on several executive boards including district PTA. 

PR Advice for Tech Startup Founders With One of A Kind Products

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by Michelle McIntyre

As a seasoned public relations professional, I’ve enjoyed many productive and passionate discussions with genius technologists who want their “one of a kind” startup product covered by the media.

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Here’s a tip for inventors. Quality feature stories are written because something is societally relevant, interesting cocktail conversation fodder or a unique problem solver. Journalists do want to know, how will this change the world?

During an initial consultation with a founder usually I start out by asking what is different about their new product or service.  Sadly 75 percent of the time the answer is, “There is no other product like ours.” And it’s hard to respond without objection because  99 percent of the time that’s not true. Usually I can find an example of several similar products via a simple internet search.

The secret to a company getting coverage is simple. Leave the ego at the door. Quit thinking a product is the only one of its kind and ask others like an experienced PR professional what is really interesting about your story.

One founder I met with was finalizing an app that tracked a child’s to-do list. I searched and found another app that made the exact same claim. They in turn switched to a communications plan that made more sense having to do with showcasing their expertise in productivity instead of touting its uniqueness. It had a beautiful interface by the way.

Another tip is when you share information with the person you have assigned PR to don’t hold back on the good stuff. One founder I worked with waited a few weeks to disclose he was born with a serious medical problem and had several surgeries to correct it. Through diet and exercise he overcame it. His online fitness community he created was partly born because of this rough start in life. As soon as he told me, I told a Business Insider writer. She liked this angle about the founder and wrote a feature about him and his co-founder.

This app was also quite unique though. It weeded out bully comments automatically. That in fact was an impressive feature and resulted in nice coverage in TIME. But when you start with a claim, that a new product is super unique, unless you have a third party expert saying it, it’s usually a turn-off to writers.

To quote Journalist Dean Takahashi via a story he filed on PR tips in Venturebeat a few years ago, “What I love is finding something unique and interesting to write about. I want to find something magical, and I think most journalists, even the most cynical of the bunch, share the joy of discovering something really cool. Sometimes the real story isn’t the game itself. It’s the person who made it.”

I don’t mean to call out a founder who is a hard working, award-winning and an obviously smart inventor. The point is be very careful about telling someone your product is one of a kind. It probably is not.

I worked with a brilliant technologist with an artificial intelligence startup who wrote a celebrated technical paper years before the formation of the company. The technological phenomenon discussed in the paper was “in” iPhone’s Siri. When I pitched a writer I started with that detail, its impact on technology that tens of millions of people use. (Last I checked around 41 million people used the Siri voice assistant.)

This business reporter filed a story soon after. And that story focused on the startup solution, the funding and its venture capitalist. But the hook was the impact of what was in that paper.

In summary, journalists get pummeled with hundreds of pitches and press releases a day. Make sure you leave your ego at the door when talking to them: test your story line or pitch on a friend or family member to see if they say, “That’s interesting.”

Let others decide what’s interesting about your startup story, trust their feedback and go with it. Be careful going down the path of saying it’s a one of a kind product. It likely is not.

Photo: Shutterstock

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Michelle McIntyre is the president of Michelle McIntyre Communications LLC, a seven year old tech PR consulting firm. She’s the recipient of 11 awards for outstanding results mostly from IBM. She’s held numerous nonprofit executive board positions focused on enhancing the lives of children. @frommichelle on Twitter

 

3 Ways to Stink at PR And How To Improve

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Some people just stink at PR for example by offering boring spokespersons. As background, PR stands for “public relations” which typically means getting press coverage. It’s coming up with messages and then passing those on to the press. If you went to PR school like me you learn that what PR really means is changing someone’s mind about something. But the modern definition is media relations.

Great PR is about knowing journalists’ wants, needs and deadlines and actually doing what they ask. It’s so simple: learn what they want and give it to them. For example the IDG media will tell you they value CIO/chief information officer viewpoints on timely trends as well as customer case studies that are interesting and relevant. Henry Norr, formerly with the San Francisco Chronicle said something that stuck with me: “Your client is the media. It’s not the company that pays you. Make the media happy and you will do well in PR.”

Back to not giving reporters what they want. How many times have I seen a PR manager or director try to put a triangular peg into a round hole? The journalist wants a story: they want to discuss a problem and a solution relating to something timely. They want eyeballs on their story. Make sure what you pitch them falls within their beat. If they need to interview a venture capitalist by 4 pm about hot collaboration startups then by golly, get them that exact thing or keep quiet.

What is too common is bad PR people announce a third generation me-too beta product via long press release just to get some news out. It fills up journalists’ inboxes. It gets ignored. It makes it far less likely that they will open an email from that PR person again.

I watch some people crash and burn in their PR jobs by never innovating on what the marketing lead wants which is typically product advertising and churning out press release after press release of garbage.

What are the three main problems contributing to bad PR, and how can you avoid them?

1) Spokespersons cannot tell a story. I have 30 years of PR experience and a boat load of awards for results mostly from IBM. I can lead a horse to water but brothers and sisters, I cannot make them drink. If you are insisting on a boring spokesperson who cannot story-tell or your only key message is boring, you will not get a story. I repeat. An interview does not mean a story. A spokesperson can easily kill a story. I’m very good at securing interviews. If you blow it, I can’t save you. How to fix it: do better media training or use a different spokesperson. When I was working with a large company often I’d “hand pick” my own spokesperson even if they were the non obvious choice. Once in a while the obvious choice was the best one though. (I love when that happens. There was a sales VP in a software division who could story-tell like Burl Ives. He was my favorite.)

2) A boring press release. Issuing a news release with boring non-news will get you blacklisted by some writers. They will open one blah press release and probably ignore your next email. Another route to take: If you need to get something out there so your company gets attention, try a feature press release instead of saying you are on your fourth product version, or “Here’s our beta product.”  Make it an interesting story: tie to something happening in the world that is conversation-worthy. Test the story on a family member. Teens will give you candid advice. I can make a commodity technology product interesting by discussing something interesting related to it. The writer then has a real headline and angle. Did you really expect them to write a story saying, “So and so company announces a second generation beta product with no new technology that is not shipping yet”? If they wrote the truth you’d probably be pretty angry. Unfortunately those types of details are often hidden in press releases. The writer finds this out in an interview and then they drop the idea of doing a story.

3) Re-announcing something. Years ago as a consultant I was asked to pitch a story about a new division of a large Asian company opening  up in the Silicon Valley. I placed a nice story within 30 minutes which made everyone happy. However, I found out a little while later that this was the second time they announced this exact news. Now I did  place that story, a win, but the reporter took my word for it and filed fast. After she found out it had been issued previously she was a bit put off. No one else filed a story. Now I know to do an internet search for that news before I pitch it. If I see an old press release on the same news, I change up the way I talk about it. Perhaps it’s a news pitch, “A look at where this new division is six months later.” The way to prevent this: search the news online before taking someone’s word for it that it is news. If  it’s not change your pitch strategy and tactic.

 

 

So if you aren’t getting press coverage, ask yourself, am I giving journalists what they really want? And review your press release schedule and choice of spokesmen. Tell an interesting story or discuss a trend. Pick the non obvious person to tell it if necessary.

Making a simple change might save your PR program and your job.

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Michelle McIntyre gets attention for companies mostly in the technology space through creative press relations and content marketing. An IBM vet, she’s a micro-influencer on Twitter in the area of future of work and recipient of more than 10 awards for outstanding results. Follow her @FromMichelle

The Surprising Secret to Achieving Excellent Press Coverage

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by Michelle McIntyre

The secret to landing media coverage in a top tier news outlet may surprise you. It could be as easy as picking out the right company spokesperson to do an interview.

Last night, The New York Times Deputy Technology Editor Quentin Hardy was interviewed on stage by Oracle’s Mike Moeller at a Public Relations (PR) Society of America Silicon Valley event in Redwood City, Calif.

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Here are Hardy’s words of wisdom for PR pros who want their companies covered. This seasoned tech journalist receives 200 story pitches daily so pay attention.

My experience working with him has been good. He’s a careful fact-checker and intelligent question asker.  He does his homework so the spokesperson needs to know the topic backwards and forwards.

My key take-away was that you can’t teach someone how to give a heartfelt interview. Top tier media outlets need quality stories that often evoke emotion.   (Think about great TED talks.)

Technology executives pay me to media train them and I have successfully done that many times. However, there is only so far you can go with this. Some people are naturally better at interviews than others.  Quentin Hardy needs a quality interviewee and interesting facts to mention a company.

Here are some other things Hardy said during the fireside chat.

  1. He likes to add value to a story.
  2. Accept rejection.
  3. He wants to explore how things we are doing here in the Silicon Valley or in tech affect other regions. For example, what is it like being a football coach in Texas when everything is being recorded?
  4. Tell him how “big tech” affects everyday life and make it heartfelt and interesting. Database technology helps at the ATM but that’s not interesting.
  5. Be patient. It was okay that a PR guy pitched Hardy a meeting with an artificial intelligence (AI) spokesman after he wrote about it. He didn’t meet with the expert right away though.
  6. He’s interested in cloud computing, AI, mobile, driverless cars, and drones. Here’s a recent Quentin Hardy story, “Reasons to Believe the AI Boom is Real,” (July 18, 2016)
  7. He doesn’t find security that exciting because companies won’t talk about problems.
  8. When he receives a story pitch, he asks himself, have I worked with the person before? He considers circles of trust and knowledge. For example, he says, people trust The New York Times.
  9. Here’s an example of how he researched a story. The topic was how cloud computing is affecting everyday people. He first researched AWS Meetups finding interesting ones in Omaha and Texas. He didn’t want to use a California example because that is not as interesting. He found that Hudl, a technology used by thousands of sports teams to review and improve play was popular. “No one had heard of Hudl” but they were used by 12,000 of the 14,000 high school football schools. The example he used was a team near San Antonio, TX, that regularly enjoyed 15,000 people in the stands.
  10. When he covered drones he used an example related to farming in the Midwest.
  11. Quentin Hardy follows Twitter, and regularly reads the Financial Times and The Economist. He added he does not read The Wall Street Journal as much as he should.
  12. He finds it amazing how much news is taken in via mobile devices.
  13. Event attendees asked him about the future of tech. He says he has no clue what life will be like in five years because change happens so fast.
  14. He was asked about the presidential election. He said he finds it interesting that the economy is doing fairly well but people love to say how broken everything is, especially on social media.
  15. He owns 3,000 books.
  16. He has enjoyed watching some of the Valley’s top executives and companies evolve. In 1999 Steve Jobs called him right after an earnings call asking if he had questions. As a result, the earnings story grew from three to five inches. (Hardy was at the WSJ at the time.) He remembers meeting with Google’s co-founder when the company was just a vision.

In summary, when pitching Quentin Hardy, it helps to say something about how technology is affecting everyday life.  If he needs an interview, make sure the person is able to story tell and connect, and not just robotically convey facts and company messages.

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The writer of this story, Michelle McIntyre is @FromMichelle on Twitter. She took the PRSASV event photo. The emotional woman photo is from Canva.

Also follow @qhardy @newyorktimes @newyorktimesbusiness and @prsasv

Feb. 8, 2018 UPDATE Since this story was filed Mr. Hardy left the NY Times and went to work for a technology vendor.