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www.bigpartnership.co.uk
Glasgow
The BIG Partnership
5 Park Circus Place
Glasgow G3 6AH
0141 333 9585
Edinburgh
The BIG Partnership
14 Links Place
Edinburgh EH6 7EZ
0131 555 5522
Aberdeen
The BIG Partnership
11 Thistle Place
Aberdeen AB10 1UZ
01224 615000
Fife
The BIG Partnership
36-40 High Street
Kirkcaldy KY1 1LU
01592 643200
Media Relations The Essentials
Introduction
• Zoe Ogilvie - Director, The BIG Partnership
• Scotland’s leading communications consultancy
• Number 1 in the UK outside London
• Founded in 2000
• Offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Kirkcaldy, Liverpool
• 300 clients across all industry sectors including the Scottish Government, energy operators and supply chain, financial services, professional services, consumer goods, sport and tourism
Introduction
• Elaine Maslin- European Editor, Offshore Engineer
• Previously business reporter at P&J
• Prior to that business editor of Eastern Daily Press
• Offshore Engineer is an internationally recognised,
monthly trade magazine with a global circulation of
37,000
Aims of today’s session
• To gain an insight into media relations
• To understand how the media works and what it needs
• To develop a media relations plan
• To help use the media more effectively
What is PR
• The Institute of Public Relations defines PR as:
‘the planned and sustained effort to establish and
maintain goodwill and understanding between and
organisation and its publics.’
• The BIG Partnership would add:
‘… for the purpose of achieving a specific objective.’
www.bigpartnership.co.uk
1. Reputation Management
• Why is PR important?
• How is reputation created and managed?
• Is it worth investing in?
Reputation Management
Reputation n. 1. The general estimation in which a person or
thing is held by the public 2. What is known, said, or thought
about a person
What makes a reputation?
Reputation
Performance
Products & Services
Innovation
Workplace
Governance
Leadership
Citizenship
Brand
Investors
Analysts
Opinion Formers
Community Leaders
Business Leaders
Government
Regulators
Advocacy Groups / NGOs
Employees
Customers
Suppliers
Business Partners
Reputation considerations
• It’s not all about what you say
• Media / communications is only part of the picture
• It’s about the way you behave towards your stakeholders
• The sum total of your stakeholder’s experience of your organisation
• Across all aspects of your business
Is it worth investing in?
• World’s #1 golfer for 11 years
• World’s wealthiest athlete
• Highly prized, valuable global brand
• Sought after by high-end sponsors
• Reputation – professional, family man, clean living, focused, achiever, excels in field
• Earned $100m a year in endorsements
• Tag Heuer, Gillette, AT&T, Accenture, Gatorade, General Motors, Nike
Cost of reputational damage
• 2009 extramarital affairs led to widespread
media furore
• $23million lost in endorsements in 2010 alone
• Tag Heuer withdrew this year - $10million
• Lost $4.6m for management team at IMG
• Total estimated economic cost of his downfall
to all affected parties estimated at $12bn
Reputation & Value Relationship
• Does this apply to commercial organisations? Yes!
• BP – share price crashed 50% after Deepwater horizon
• £ tens of billions wiped off value
• News Corporation – lost 20% of value since phone hacking scandal
• Had to close News of the World – the UK’s biggest selling newspaper
• Forced to abandon BSkyB bid
• Reputation Institute research shows 50% of public would give a reputable company
the benefit of the doubt in a crisis
Assessing your reputation
• Who are our stakeholders – who can impact on our ability to conduct our business /
achieve our goals?
• What issues do they care about?
• What are your core reputation assets that must be protected?
• Which channels do our stakeholder use and trust to gain information about the issues
they care about?
• What opportunity do we have to enhance our reputation?
• What will motivate our stakeholders to think more highly of us?
Researching your reputation
• What research do you already have in the organisation?
Customer satisfaction surveys
Staff surveys
Analysis of correspondence
Analysis of media coverage
• Commission bespoke research
Opinion polls
Audits of stakeholders
Focus groups
• Measure the impact of business developments / issues on reputation
How did negative media coverage affect stakeholder opinion / behaviour?
What role does PR play?
• A ‘radar’ for your organisation
• PR consultancy has antennae
• Scanning the external environment
• Detecting issues / feedback / reaction
• Feeding those into the organisation at board / management level
• Intelligence to inform decision making
• Planning proactive programmes of dialogue
www.bigpartnership.co.uk
2. Media Relations
• Why engage with media?
• What makes news?
• Top tips and avoiding pitfalls
The media – why bother?
• Media = conduit to the public, your clients, current and prospective
investors and staff
• Perceptions are based on media coverage
• You are all news consumers of news
Benefits of engagement
• It’s a really cost-effective channel – more so than advertising
• Build profile and reputation
• Help them understand the work of your organisation
• Improve accuracy and balance of reporting – get your message
across
• Build a positive relationship which will endure through good and bad
Formulating a media relations strategy
• Identify key publications for your audience
• Consider circulation and readership
• Consider all channels
Print – national, regional, local, trade and technical, community
and in-house channels
Broadcast – TV, national, local and community radio, digital
channels
Online – online sites of mainstream publications, dedicated
online sites, blogs
What makes news?
1.First
2.Biggest
3.Best
4. Human Interest
5. Topical
Elements of a media plan
• Milestone news announcements – hard news, contracts, new
developments, new products, employment, growth, financial results
• Softer news announcements – CSR, charity, people stories
• Forward features
• Soft features – people profiles, recruitment and training
• Platform pieces
• Topical reactive comment
• Technical features
Tools for media relations
• News releases
• Features
• Photo stories
• One-to-one interviews
• Media briefings
• Press conferences
What journalists NEED
• NOW Instant reaction
• EXCITING People, not products or procedures
• EXCLUSIVITY New angles, new hooks, the scoop
• DEADLINE By their deadline
Prepare your pitch in advance – 30 seconds / to grab attention and
convey relevance of your story to the journalist’s readers.
www.bigpartnership.co.uk
Media Interviews
• What do I need to prepare?
• What am I going to say?
• How do I take control of the interview?
• How can I come across better?
Golden Rules
Don’t –
• Lie
• Speculate
• Say anything you would
not like to see in print
• Go ‘off the record’
• Answer off the cuff
• Say ‘no comment’
Do –
• Prepare
• Control the agenda
• Communicate your key
messages
• KISS
• Avoid jargon
• Check facts and figures if you
need to
Interviews – taking control
• YOU are the expert
• Prepare three key messages
• Communicate these messages…
• … and repeat as required
• Back up with examples – ideally using ‘people’
• Don’t wait to be asked!
• Acknowledge the question and move back to your messages
• It is not a conversation!
KEY MESSAGE The health and safety of our workers is our number one priority
↓
EXAMPLE We have invested £10 million in the last two years to improve safety at
our facilities
↓
PEOPLE All of our 2,000 offshore employees underwent rigorous refresher
health and safety training in the first quarter of this year and last week I attended one of our sessions in Aberdeen to see for myself
the new skills our people are learning to keep them and their colleagues safe.
Key Message Formula
Bridging & Signposting
• That’s a really interesting point you raise but what I think is really
important is….
• That’s certainly a factor, but what we’re really talking about here
is….
• There are two key considerations…one…two
• The most important point to make is….
• What you have to remember is….
• The crucial factor here is…
Rules of Engagement
• Don’t be scared of the media
• Build constructive, enduring relationships based on trust
• Expect the bad with the good
• Always deal in facts – never, ever lie
• Have a real story to tell – not spin or marketing puff
• Be available and responsive
• Demand balance and accuracy
