Campaign News Releases - The New "Online Advertising"

Reaching The World For the Price of A News Release

Ned Barnett

I've been reviewing David Meerman Scott's excellent 4th (2013) edition of his seminal "The New Rules of Marketing & PR" and was impressed by the impact his views can have on a political campaign's media and public outreach efforts.  He maintains that while "press releases" should continue to target campaign and political news media gatekeepers (editors, producers, reporters), "news releases" should be targeted to information users - donors, volunteers, voters - rather than to those traditional news media gatekeepers.

He makes that distinction in naming - "Press Release" (for the press) and "News Release" (for those who want to read the news), and I think it's helpful in understanding, how the role of these releases has changed.

This role- change is at the heart of what I call "Political Campaign PR-Marketing 2.0," and in this (as in most political marketing and Earned Media/PR concepts), David and I are of one accord. For more than 15 years now, I've been encouraging clients to embrace the use of "news releases" - distributed across the Internet into places where real people are really looking for news - as a way of getting "the word" out to potential donors, volunteers and voters - the very lifeblood of any campaign.  Properly handled, news releases can be posted on the many news websites. 

One way of doing this is by using commercial press release placement services, such as BusinessWire (which I usually use, though PR Newswire is the other market-leader).  These services have, under contract, news aggregator sites such as Yahoo, Marketwire and a host of other news (and news release) aggregators. With BusinessWire, you get placement everywhere online from MSN to the Albuquerque daily newspaper - and 293 other sites as well.  In addition to being sent to geographically and topically-selected political news reporters and editors, your news release is sent all over the Internet, where people looking for your news can find it.

Some political news media will occasionally pick up a well-written wire-distributed press release - one which contains real news. They will turn it into an article, or use it to justify an interview-based feature - which, for the campaign, is even better. However, when I want those results, I find I get more placement success by emailing specific editors, reporters and producers directly - or by picking up the phone (if they accept phone calls from campaigns and candidates) and pitching them directly. 

 

But wire-distributed news releases do get picked up and used by those nearly 300 online news aggregators, and when potential donors, volunteers or voters key-word search, they will find those news releases.

After reading David Meerman Scott's insights, I had one of my own. 

 

Political, campaign and candidate news releases that are placed over one of the major wire services  are nothing short of a new online advertising medium. Without quite intending to, these wire services have become a fee-based way of getting your news out, through the Internet, to news-reporting places where potential campaign donors, volunteers or voters can find that news.

Here's what I mean. In traditional campaign advertising, your ad-buy guarantees that your message (in print or broadcast form) is placed in a certain medium, generally at a specific time and often in a specific location. However, in traditional campaign Earned Media - better known outside politics as PR - you were not buying a message placement.  Instead, you were buying a means of reaching out to a news media gatekeeper, asking for campaign or candidate coverage, and using the news value of the release as justification for that coverage. If you used a wire service such as BusinessWire, you were increasing your odds of being picked up, but you were not buying placement. 

That was then. This is now.

Today, when you place a release on BusinessWire or one of it's competitors, you are buying the placement of your message - not only in a direct feed to reporters and editors, but also in a direct feed to Yahoo Business and Marketwire and all the other hundreds of news aggregator sites that contractually agree to place releases provided by the wire service - including your campaign's press releases. 

 

You are, in essence, buying an ad on Yahoo and all 294 of those other sites.

For as little as $400 on BusinessWire (and less on some of their competitors - but believe me, in this, you get what you pay for), you get a very controlled, up-to-400-word message placed in some very prestigious and well-traveled websites. So if you're following David Meerman Scott's recommendation to put out campaign or candidate news releases on the Web to reach donors, volunteers and voters directly, then - when you use one of the wire services - you are, in essence, buying a guaranteed placement in specified locations and at specified times. 

 

In short, advertising. A different kind of advertising (more like an advertorial than a traditional print ad), but still an ad.  You control the content, the timing, the placement.

When you compare the relatively nominal costs of a BusinessWire placement to the relatively astronomical costs of an advertisement in any mainstream medium, even with campaign discounts, this becomes a huge bargain. One ad on an ABC/CNN/Fox News program costs tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars - even in a local cable market, those can run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars - and those campaign messages are here and gone in 15 or 30 seconds. 

 

However, a much longer campaign or candidate news message placed via BusinessWire lives on up to 295 news-aggregator websites for 30 days, 90 days or an infinite number of days, where they are there to be found by any Google, Bing or other key-word search.

In the world of Campaign and Candidate Earned Media/PR-Marketing 2.0, a traditional low-cost PR distribution tactic has evolved into an incredibly cost-effective targeted-voter, targeted-donor and targeted-volunteer advertising tactic, making use of the way that press release distribution wire services ensure that their clients generate coverage through their news-feed contracts with Yahoo and hundreds of other other online news aggregators.

If you need help with your campaign's Earned Media (PR), speechwriting, strategy, ghost-writing, or many other campaign-winning services, contact me at ned@barnettmarcom.com - or 702-561-1167

The Seven Deadly Sins of Campaign and Political Public Relations

or ... Why is it We Never Have Time To Do It Right ... 

But We Always Have Time To Do It Over ...?

Ned Barnett

In the promotion of your candidate or campaign through Earned Media - better known as public relations, publicity or PR - there are a number of “fatal” mistakes you can make that will kill or distort your coverage.
Of these, there are the “Seven Deadly Sins of Campaign and Political Public Relations” that will ruin your chances of success, and probably lead to bad press. So do as I say, not as I’ve done …

1. "No Comment"

The worst thing you, your candidate or your campaign can say to a reporter is “No Comment” – that has become a tacit admission of guilt. And while the reporter may not know what you’re guilty of, this is like a red flag in front of a bull … he or she will take this as a personal challenge to find out what you’re hiding (and we’re all hiding something).

Practice saying something like this:

“I’ll have to research that question and get back to you – is next Tuesday soon enough?”

Don't just say you'll get back to them - give them a date/time-certain. That builds credibility and trust - but don't blow that deadline, or you're guilty as charged.  Or give them some other answer that promises a future answer, but isn't a "no comment."

In short, give a “real” answer that doesn’t answer the question, but makes it clear that you are not dodging or dissembling. One important caveat: You must pick an answer that is honest – they will check up, and nothing (not even “No Comment”) is worse than self-aware lying to a reporter. They will crucify you, your candidate, your campaign – and by their professional standards, they are both right and honor-bound to do so.

2. Spin Control

Even professional political spinmeisters are having an increasingly hard time persuading the press that what they think they heard (or read, or saw) isn’t what was really said (or printed or acted out). If your candidate's or Campaign Manager's or chief donor's wife likes to go skinny-dipping in public fountains at 3 a.m., you are not going to spin your way out of the embarrassment – especially if the reporter has witnessed this. Better to have her admitted to Betty Ford, then explain she’s had a rough time recently, but is being helped. That really is better than try to pretend what they “saw” isn’t what was really there.

Once, this approach was so brazen it actually worked, but from over-use, it has become a serious negative.   For instance, in the '50s, Georgia governor Gene Talmadge, father of the late Georgia Senator "Hummun" Talmadge, was caught taking beef cattle from prison farms for his own ranch.  When confronted by the media, he invited them all to a barbecue, where they helped him eat the evidence.  But those days are long gone.

3. Disinformation

This is a favorite government tactic – often manifest by “leaking” information about a political or bureaucratic opponent that isn’t exactly true (or it may be completely false, though if so, it will be impossible to prove it's false). As with spin control, this technique has become increasingly discredited – and a righteously wrathful media actively seeks out and punishes the disinformants (whom they deem no more worthy of fair treatment than politicians caught with their hands in the public till).

One common (but largely unrecognized) way of putting forth disinformation is to talk about your competitors. You cannot be objective (who could) – and the more bitter the rivalry, the more your honest emotional outrage will color anything you say … however, unless it’s scrupulously honest and easily proven, reporters will assume (generally correctly) that it’s disinformation. They’ll lose respect for you while assuming the competitor is the “good guy …”

Bottom line - if you're bound and determined that you're going to leak something about an opponent, make sure that it's honest - and also make sure that it doesn't come back to bite you.  Better not to do it, but that's like telling a college kid that it's better to study than to go to a kegger.  Good luck.

4. "Baffle them with BS"

This is sadly familiar in sports and in politics, governance and campaigns. When information about a law or regulation or issue is technical or hard for a layman to follow, it is easy to use jargon or inside-the-beltway techno-babble to confuse the reporter. This is also done to try to make the techno-babbler appear larger-than-life and far more knowledgeable than he likely is. This is a poor strategy with a huge potential for boomeranging - just ask Al Gore. The full quote is “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with B.S.” – and in PR, that’s an inside joke, but it's also a measure of contempt for those who cannot present brilliance and who have to resort to confusion.

Don’t go there.

5. Playing (media) Favorites

This may seem harmless, right? One reporter’s been good to you. One has been stern-but-fair (or maybe not quite so fair). You’d rather feed a good story to the nice guy/gal, right? Short-term, that’s a good idea. But long-term (and long-term can be pretty short in this day of instant communications), it is a campaign or candidate suicide pact. Despite playing favorites, you're probably not going to be able to really curry favor with your favorite reporter. However, you can bet your pension and your wife's inheritance that you will earn the disfavor and disrespect – and in many cases, the active enmity – of the reporters you snub.
One of the first lessons in PR school, one that especially applies in politics and political campaigning is this: “Never pick a fight with anyone who buys ink by the barrel.” Reporters and editors ALWAYS get the last word. So respect them all (at least outwardly) and play no favorites.

OK, some campaign PR people can do this and seem to get away with it – they do it by juggling, and they succeed (sometimes) because a professional who really knows the rules can sometimes break or bend them. Others do it because their candidate is so "big" that the media really wants to earn a few favors.  Some pros can get away with this - at least in the short term – by knowing the risks and rewards, and by playing the game with skill and finesse. This is another game you don’t want to play at home, or in your campaign. Play it straight with reporters, and more often than not, they’ll play straight with you.

If they don’t, write a letter to the editor (really – it often works).

6. Demanding Coverage

This is one of the worst failings of amateurs, and of self-important candidates who have more power in their mind than they do in reality. They somehow think, perhaps by the divine right of kings (and candidates) that they actually do deserve favorable coverage because:

• Their parents raised such wonderful children

• It's their turn – hey, the other candidate was covered last month, and fair’s fair, right?

• Their story is devastatingly important (or, it’s vital to help launch their campaign, or turn a corner, or steal a march on an opponent, etc.)

• The big boss (the candidate's spouse) is demanding it

There are other excuses – pick yours. Then understand this. While reporters and editors need stories and news, they almost never need yours, no matter how important you think your candidate or campaign might be. They have what is called “editorial judgment” – which means that absent libel and slander, they can write and publish (or ignore) just about anything they want – and they do not have to answer to anybody.

If you must know why your story didn’t run, you can ask – if you do it right. Here’s what I do.

“Sir (or ma’am), apparently I did something wrong – I thought it was a good story, but clearly it wasn’t good enough. If you have a minute, I’d appreciate it if you could tell me what I could have done different or better to make this worth your time and interest.” In this case, the fault is yours (probably true – it is with PR professionals, so why not with candidates or campaign professionals … good as we are, we can miss some big point or subtle nuance). But it’s better not to ask – some editors get real defensive. And if you “demand,” kiss your future positive press coverage, and maybe even your campaign, goodbye.

7. "I was only following orders ..." (doing what you are told, rather than what is right)

This only works if you're not the candidate yourself - unless you can persuade someone that you were following your Campaign Manager's edict.  If you are doing your campaign's or candidate’s PR and are answering to someone else, you may find that the candidate or the Campaign Manager is asking or expecting you to do things that your gut instincts say avoid, and these brief lessons tell you to steer clear of. Do not be tempted to follow bad advice - or worse, bad orders - just because it comes from the top. However, if you do as your told (and it blows up in your face with the reporters or editors), take the heat with integrity. Don’t blame others (or cop out with “I was only following orders …”) – its amazing how little damage comes from admitting you were wrong – and moving on. Almost all reporters and editors respect that, if only because it’s so rare.

Conclusion

OK, so you’ve seen the Seven Deadly Sins – and you know what your candidate or campaign should avoid. You’ve seen how to choose between targeted and broadside distribution of releases, as well as how to prepare and distribute a pitch. Now, let’s go out there and get us some good, solid campaign Earned Media PR, OK?

The reporters are waiting for you … Good Luck!

And if you need help with campaign Earned Media relations, PR, speechwriting, strategy, or ghost-writing/speechwriting - give me a holler - ned@barnettmarcom.com or 702-561-1167

The Perfect News Media Pitch To Move Your Campaign Into the Limelight

Pitching the News Media in the Electronic Age 

Or ... How You Can Get On Cavuto ... or Imus ... (we did)

Ned Barnett

Introduction

I spend a great deal of time educating my political clients and allies on what PR (aka Public Relations or Earned Media Relations) - really is, and how they can go about getting favorable campaign and candidate press coverage. I'd like to distill those ideas – honed over my professional PR career of 40 years – and present them to you in a fashion you can quickly and easily use. I'm going to start by answering a few of the more commonly asked questions (along with those really important questions candidates are afraid to ask – but really should). Then I'm going to offer you a crash course in the very essential basics in pitching and submitting a campaign or candidate news story, or in some other way generating favorable press coverage.

But before you do anything, go look at – and really read – the political coverage in a newspaper or magazine - any publication in which you’d like to have your candidate or campaign written about. Read – really read – the political news items, articles and features. Then take a step back, away from self-interest, from ego and from your normally unshakable faith in your campaign or candidate – and ask yourself this:

“If my news item, article or feature idea was about any other candidate or campaign (a political opponent or some campaign completely out of your market space) instead of about me or my campaign, would it still be newsworthy enough, or compelling enough to be published in my target newspaper or magazine?”

If the answer is honesty “yes” – great – you’re on your way to success. If the answer is honestly “no” – that’s great, too. Because you’ve not only passed the honesty test (essential for those candidates or campaign who do their own PR), but because you’ve begun to see what “real” political news is – and with that understanding, you’re ready to seek it out in your own campaign, or for your own candidate.

Preparing the “Perfect” Pitch

OK – you’ve found the story. You’ve lined up a positive quote from one of your own supporters – and maybe (if you’re playing in the big leagues) a favorable comment from a professional political pundit or campaign/candidate analyst. You have the facts, the figures and the human interest that transforms facts into stories and news. Now what?

Now you go down this five-item checklist and prepare yourself for success.

a. "Perfect pitch" - the note you need to strike in your news media pitch

When you pitch a story, you’re selling an idea – an idea about you and your candidate or campaign. You’re selling this political news - so seemingly fresh and exciting to you - to a jaded individual who’s been there and seen that.  However, you’re also selling that news story to an individual who NEEDS story ideas and leads. Not yours – he or she is flooded with potentially interesting leads and ideas – but still, the self-interested reporter or editor is always looking for the next good story.

Your job is to tell that story briefly and compellingly – just as if you were trying to hook a donor or voter during a 30-second elevator ride. To do that, you need a “perfect pitch” – a brief, compelling and well-told story that will link your candidate's or campaign's publicity needs with the reporter’s rational self-interest. If you sell - or have ever sold - for a living, or if you know how to quickly grab the interest of a prospective donor or voter, you already have the basic skills of successful news media pitching. Now, put your real news into a context the reporter will quickly grasp and you’re ready to go.


Hint: If you want to pitch your candidate or campaign's position on some breaking news story, it helps to first write a quick and compelling (and well thought-out) blog-post on that position.  Then, if you get a glimmer of interest from a reporter, you've got something to show her, beyond your 30-second elevator pitch.  This applies to news stories you're trying to gin up as well, but it's especially effective for breaking news.  

That's exactly how I landed on Cavuto and Imus five times during the 2008 campaign - by writing an article or blog that was published in American Thinker, then pitching myself to their show producers - so when I say it works, trust me.

b. Shotgun vs. Deer rifle - focusing in on the right media

You may not be a hunter (I’m not). You may not have ever even held a firearm, except to pose for an NRA-approved photo op. But you know – thanks to the media – the difference between a shotgun and a deer rifle. One, the deer rifle, sends a carefully-aimed shot for a long distance – if your aim is true, you hit your target. The other, useful at short range, sends a large number of shot – like a handful of gravel – out at a target as long as it's not very far away. Because of the number of shot, if the range is close and the aim is reasonably accurate (not precise – why bother) you’re bound to hit something. 

 Both approaches have impact – but which is right for your story?

Shotgun releases – those sent out over Businesswire or PRNewswire (http://www.businesswire.com and http://www.prnewswire.com) – reach thousands of reporters and wind up on hundres of online databases - from Yahoo Business to the Albuquerque daily newspaper's website - where they can be found. To work with a shotgun approach, the news should be either really compelling (you’ve just gotten Reagan's beyond-the-grave endorsement) or so un-compelling that it makes more sense to cast your bread on the waters in hopes that somebody, somewhere will take a bite.

Deer rifle releases are sent out (or rather, the pitches are made) to very select news media – and generally to specific reporters at those newspapers and magazines, or political reporters in your target geographic or ethnographic market. You choose the targets after reading the publications – and the stories your target has written (a quick web-search on Yahoo should help you find online copies of those stories). Deer rifle stories are generally important stories, but they are also stories that require a special familiarity with your reporter's or editor's political slant and area of interest - defense, immigration, family issues, etc.

One is right for you – but it will be a different one at different times. For a really big stories, both approaches may be right – five to ten targeted media followed by a shotgun-blast release over BusinesWire or PRNewswire (but not both, as they provide very similar services).

NOTE:  There are many lower-cost news release distribution services. Some, like MacReport Media, excel in a specific area (in their case, business and stock news). Others are lower-cost general issue services, but let the buyer beware. You really do get what you pay for, and if you get it for free, it's worth every penny you'll ever pay for it, but not much more.

c. Phone vs. e-mail (or even antediluvian fax?)

Recent studies show that as many as 80% of reporters prefer to receive a news media pitch via e-mail. This is a major change from past procedures, and even from preferences of just a few years ago (when many reporters were gun-shy of e-mail). Of the remainder, the antediluvian fax (yes, they still exist) is preferred to a phone pitch, according to the study by two-to-one. Since you’re not likely to know the reporter and know his/her preference, go with the default setting and send the pitch by e-mail (NOT as an attachment – those still tend get deleted un-read unless a reporter has asked for and is expecting an attachment). 

If you want to further insure success, send a FAX, too. But do not call unless you know the call will be welcome – that’s the fast track to failure.

NOTE:  Oddly, in this day of instant communications, sometimes the old-school works best, only because it stands out.  For a pitch (not for a news release - they will NOT retype it), sending it FedEx has a cachet - it tells the reporter, "this is important enough to be worth the cost."  So if you do this, make sure the pitch is important enough to be worth the cost.

d. Initial contact and follow-up
 
As noted, make your initial contact via e-mail or fax. Depending on the timeliness, send a brief follow-up e-mail (or fax) in 24-48 hours, or even a week later if the story is timeless. DO NOT CALL – not unless the reporter has told you that phone pitches are OK. 

And if you do phone, do not wear out your welcome, or try to be Ms. Personality. As Sergeant Joe Friday on Dragnet used to say, “Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.” 

Keep the call brief – unless the reporter chooses to extend it. Ask: “is this a good time?” or “Do you have a minute to hear a quick pitch?” or “Would you prefer an e-mail, or do you have a minute to hear a quick pitch?” or something like that. Then listen to the answer. And heed it – even (or perhaps especially) if it’s not what you want to hear.

e. Writing the pitch – even if it's a phone pitch

Regardless of the medium (e-mail, phone or fax), you only have one chance to make a good first impression. That means writing and polishing and learning your phone pitch – so that it comes out natural, unforced and honest. Actors rehearse. Successful career politicians and professional speechwriters rehearse. Most effective sales people rehearse. So should you.

Success through Press Releases

Pitching is not always necessary – in many cases, the story isn’t worth the pitch. And not all “shotgun” stories are worth the price of a news wire service. Sometimes it just makes sense to send out a press release (with or without a photo) to a targeted list of media. Using a press release to generate favorable publicity might seem intimidating or presumptuous, but it is simple if you follow these steps.

First, decide on who will speak for your campaign - the candidate, usually, but sometimes the Campaign Manager or the Earned News Media (PR) guy. Then, make sure you have a high-rez digital color photograph of your candidate – you can use what’s called a “head-and-shoulders” shot, but for audience appeal, perhaps use something more casual and natural-looking – to go with each release you distribute. This photograph enhances your ability to generate coverage, since it puts a human face on the news.

Always provide a link to where they can find photos and information online, available to cut-and-paste or download - they will no longer retype press releases, or send a photo to be digitalized, not if they can help it.

Next, identify the publications or other media (broadcast, online, etc.) you want to target. Some suggestions include:

• Daily newspapers in your area - and if the story is big, national political newspapers

• Talk radio and TV stations with local political news coverage - and if the story is big enough, national talk radio and cable news stations

• Weekly newspapers (that include political coverage) in your area

• Monthly local (and national) magazines that cover politics - plan on pitching these well in advance

• Specialty publications or media serving a specific political topic – local, state, national

• Alumni publications from your candidate’s alma mater

Finding out who at a given publication or other news media to send the press release to is easy. Go online and check what’s still called the “masthead” and look for the name of the political editor.

The publication’s or media's address is usually found in the masthead or their website – you may want to verify this information by calling the media switchboard and asking, “Is Mr. Pompous your Political Editor?” – get an answer, then hang up … good switchboard operators may try to put you through – resist the urge (you’re not ready yet).

If you do not have copies of target publications, or have not listened to or watched the media outlet check online.  This is the easiest and most reliable way of getting the information you need.

Distribution Choices

Once you have identified your targets (name, contact information), prepare the press release on your campaign letterhead – and produce an original copy for each news media if you’re mailing it or delivering it by courier - or just cut-and-paste into the body of an email. Using a gummed label (don’t write directly on the photograph), put the illustrated individual’s name, title and firm name on the back of each photo to be included with each release. And always include the link where they can get this information digitally.  In most cases, though, you won't be delivering a physical release.  Cut-and-paste the text into an e-mail, with a brief (one or two lines) cover note to set the stage. Brief and to the point is what works.

Before you send the release, it is often useful to call the reporter or editor, introduce yourself (making it clear you are a candidate or campaign official, not a hired flak) and briefly explain that you’re sending a news release. Ask if there are any special requirements. Do not delegate this task to a secretary. Do not offer to pitch it – you’re just asking a technical delivery question.

Do not ask to have the release used, merely inform the editor that you’ll be sending it over. This simple courtesy may help to elevate your release out of what is called the “slush pile” at many publications – it will help you cut through the competing clutter of other press releases and get initial attention. But be careful – this is not a pitch opportunity. It is just paving the way. If the reporter or editor asks about the release, it’s fine to be truthful … but let the release speak.

There are no guarantees in gaining media coverage – this is a news item, not a paid advertisement, and in news decisions, the editor is king – and there is no appeal from the king’s verdict. However, if you follow these easy steps, your opportunities for success increase significantly. Good luck!