What the Press Wants

Today, I took part in a panel discussion on What the Press Wants at Marketing:TheArtOf conference in Gateshead.

Here I've merged some notes I wrote for the event guide with some extra tips.

The new ways that consumers are using media means the demands of journalists are changing hugely. Good communications workers need to keep up with this rapid movement. But there remain basic things you can do to satisfy journalists and so get the best possible coverage for your organisation:

The Press wants.......

Content relevant to their consumers...

Media products have very specific audiences, know them well. One specific angle to a story/press release probably will not fit all.

Give added value to a smaller number of media, rather than a mass press release mail out.

Other media could still pick up on the story.

Sound and pictures...

Avoid sending out a story without audio visuals, including a primed interviewee, ready to go. Broadly speaking, this will increase your chances of coverage.

Engaging spokespeople...

Always ask, is this the best possible person to offer for interview?

Identify great story tellers in your organisation.

Strike the balance between authority and engaging delivery.

If you intend to do a lot of radio, invest in an ISDN line which will enable you to do interviews in near studio quality.

Video...

All media now exists (thrive) on-line. Offer shareable video to all, including radio. You can also publish this yourself on You Tube etc.

And last, but absolutely critically, the Press Wants...

Great stories...

Does what you’ve got to say pass the "so what" test?

Why is your story relevant to the audience TODAY.

Will the story get a reaction in the listener? e.g. anger, emotion, shock etc.

Aim for stories that readers/the audience will want to tell their friends about.



If you require help in getting your message across more effectively in the media, please let me know. I'd be happy to discuss options. You can email me at justin@newsleadermediaconsultancy.com

(Pic: freedigitalphotos.net)

Inspirational

Tim Smit, the co-creator and Chief Exec of the Eden Project has given one of the most inspirational speeches I've ever seen at a conference.

This was at Marketing: The Art Of in Gateshead.

He talked about the need to fulfill dreams (say "when" not "if") and revealed some of his 'rules' for team building.

Here they are, para-phrased. (They will be lost in the translation but I wanted to share.)

1. Before you start work, say good morning to 20 people. Well, maybe not 20 but don't just sit behind your PC. Get a coffee and chat with colleagues.

2. Read x 2 books - kinds which you would not normally read - every year and write a review for colleagues.

3. Do the same with films.

4. Do the same with plays.

5. Write a speech once a year about how you're still inspired to work for the Eden Project. Present to colleagues.

6. Prepare food for your team and sit down together to eat. By candlelight. Ideas come better by night (and a bottle of red).

7. Share your good fortune with others. Managers should perform guerilla goodwill deeds to people they don't know well and not let them know it was them!

8. Put extra pressure on execs at their busiest times. It allows up and coming stars to perform and creates a new 'supergang' within the organisation.

9. Samba drumming! People forget their individual inhibitions as part of a drumming group, find their rhythm and thrive as a team.

I expect Marketing: The Art Of will post his speech on-line soon but here are some extracts of Tim at the Institute of Directors Conference earlier this year.

If you get a chance to hear him speak - don't miss it!!

Conference fever

Lots of exciting things happening in the radio conference world at the moment, so I thought I'd pull together some news for you.

Firstly, I've just spent a very enjoyable two days in Geneva at the European Broadcasting Union's Training Assembly.


Public service broadcasters from across Europe gathered to discuss the challenges and opportunities posed by our ever changing multi-platform industry.

You can click here to watch sessions, including a presentation by me on examples of local tri-media reporting and effective use of twitter in radio.

As always its great to meet new contacts, share experiences and even more importantly ideas and learning.

With this in mind, I am delighted that a new radio conference for Europe, organised by the European radio industry, has just been launched.

Click here for all the details on Radiodays Europe.



I'm delighted to be on a panel of all sorts of radio people that's been discussing the content and speakers that would go down well.

BUT, the organisers want to hear your ideas. Via the website, you can follow the conference on twitter or become a friend on facebook and I would encourage you to make your own suggestions. These will be hugely appreciated, as the organisers want to make this an interactive experience throughout and, of course, a big success.

Finally, the Radio Academy's 'Radio At The Edge' is getting closer. Its on Monday November 9th in London.

Sessions include 'Radio with Pictures' discussing visualised radio; 'Spotify: Friend or Foe' with speakers including Radio 2's Music Supremo Jeff Smith; 'What would Google Do' if they owned radio in the UK and, perhaps the biggest radio presenters in the social media scene, Tony Blackburn in conversation with Richard Bacon (worth going for alone I reckon).

So, a number of opportunities coming up to learn, share and make new friends - good, eh?

Cloudy With a Chance of Creativity

We all know the local weather is one of the most important pieces of information you can tell the listener, right? But is there any value in selling it? You bet there is.

Ok, this campaign comes from TV news in Los Angeles but no reason why a news/talk radio station anywhere in the world couldn't produce a similar campaign.

The forecaster here, Fritz Coleman also plays the role brilliantly. So, its part a sell on weather and part a sell on a NBC4 personality.

Creative, memorable and likely to put a smile on the viewers' face - I really like these. See what you think.

Original Journalism Twitter Tips

Original journalism is one of the ways your bulletins and programmes can stand out from the rest. BUT, with tight resources at many stations how do you uncover exclusives? Here are twenty tips posted via @newsleader on Twitter which may help. As always, your own tips are very welcome. So, please post any contributions or comments below.

1. Original journalism is content your listener won’t hear anywhere else. Make this clear on-air! e.g. "Next, a story you'll only hear on station name this morning...."

2. What do you notice about where you live? What are the issues your friends and neighbours are talking about? Everyday life is a great source of potential stories.

3. In a regional patch, ask journalists to represent where they live. i.e. monitor the local papers/websites, bring in leaflets etc.

4. Visit local on-line forums to discover what people are debating or to find useful contacts.

5. Use twitterfall.com – it’s a feed of tweets based on searchable key words and a great source for tip-offs.

6. In seeing/hearing other stories in other media, look for the untold story or missing angles that deserve further investigation.

7. RT @ollybarratt Do a contacts ringaround - someone might have a great story they haven't put out yet or just a titbit you can develop.

8. How often do you invite your listeners to contribute story ideas? Repeat the invitation regularly to ensure the message is received.

9. Credit listeners on the radio when their stories make it to air. Follow up with a reminder of how to contribute.

10. Further encourage listeners who regularly contribute ideas by inviting them in for summer or Christmas drinks and a thank you.

11. Slim resources? A probing interview can be one of the simplest ways of finding original stories.

12. Don’t just ask questions which will get the basic facts, delve deeper, ask why and what if...

13. Ensure you’re following up news worthy calls into talk shows. Are producers passing leads quickly to the newsroom?

14. Set a target for reporters to find an amount of original stories this month. Reward those who meet the target with a prize.

15. Don’t 'punish' those who don’t meet the target. Find out the techniques they used (or didn't) and coach them.

16. Talk to people! Use opportunities like riding on public transport or getting your hair cut to find out what locals care about and know.

17. As an Editor, understand original journalism can take time. Are you able to take reporters off rota even for a day to work on projects?

18. Make the most of your investment in original journalism. Trail significant stories and run across a day or even days.

19. Ensure coverage is carried across platforms – on-line version with pics, extended audio, video possible? Promote via social networking.

20. Get press coverage for your original journalism – send to other media to use on the condition your station’s credited.


(Picture courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

Tweeting for Radio

There's no doubt that Twitter has been the in-thing in 2009. In fact, it's now such a part of people's lives that it seems incredible that many of those people hadn't even heard of it a year ago!

I believe Twitter has a huge amount to give radio. I think it is radio's long lost cousin. They share many characteristics: intimate but still broadcast, fast, responsive, easy to use and concise.

Many stations are using Twitter, with varying degrees of success, and this article is aimed at sharing some of the best practice I've learned in the past twelve months or so. As always, if you have your own tips, please share at the end of the piece.

1. Ok, for those of you who are Twitter newbies, you're going to have to understand how it works and the etiquette. There are many articles on-line that can bring you up to speed quickly. e.g. The newbies-guide-to-twitter.

2. Ask why should my listener follow me on Twitter? You need to offer content (albeit 140 characters at a time) that she won't find anyway else. You may decide to make exclusive announcements, Twitter only contests, forward links to great content on-line, behind the scenes gossip or pictures and videos. In the photo below, @richardpbacon gives the engineer's eye view of a recent Radio 2 show he presented (use applications such as twitpic or yfrog). @tonyblackburn regularly posts videos (TwitVid).



3. Twitter is great at allowing the listener to get closer to your presenters. Presenters, Twitter is great at allowing you to reveal more of your personality. Don't just tweet when you're on-air, send updates out of hours. Give the listeners a peak at what you do when you're not in front of the mic.

4. Who's account is it anyway? This is to say, a conversation needs to be had about whether the presenter's account is personal or 'belongs' to the station. Let me give you a few examples... Presenter, Mike could start @mikeontalkfm and build a following of 2,000 but if he leaves talk fm that account is useless. When he joins rival station chat fm he's going to have to start from scratch. Bummer. On the other hand, if I am the PD of talk fm and @mikeonair builds 2,000 followers (many of them my listeners), I'm likely to be very upset if Mike uses @mikeonair in his new role at rival, chat fm. Its a tricky area which James Cridland first highlighted. WARNING even if the presenter's account is personal, he/she still has some responsibility to the station he's on at any time. So, I suggest an agreement has to be made stating what can and can't be discussed, particularly no political comments.

4. Use Twitter as a new source of information. Follow people and groups that will become useful contacts. Use Twitterfall for a feed of tweets containing searchable key words. A really useful way of finding out what people are thinking about certain issues. News teams - this is a great way of finding out what is happening in key places in your tsa.

5. Use Twitter to flag up unmissable content coming up on the station. 'Pls RT' means you're asking the recipients to forward the message to their followers. Be careful here, junk tweets aren't allowed on Twitter and will end up losing you followers anyway!

6. Use Twitter to generate on air content even if followers (and non-followers) aren't listening to the radio! Ask for contributions or ask specific questions at any time.

7. Make it clear if this is not an account always personally updated by the presenter. i.e. the production team may send tweets from time to time on behalf of the presenter. The introduction of the producer etc. can actually be attractive as one of those behind the scenes peaks.

8. Follow @newsleader for the latest on my business and free news/talk tips from time to time! (ED: no, junk tweets remember!)

newsleader Oct-Dec 2009

I thought I'd let you know what I'm up to between now and Christmas - and its busy!

SPEAKING

There are a couple of chances to hear me speak coming up.

Firstly at the European Broadcasting Union's Training Assembly in Geneva on Oct 27 and 28.

I will be taking part in a panel discussion exploring the talents needed to go from radio to multi-platform. I'll also be facilitating workshops focusing on career development within radio.

Please let me know if you're attending, so I can say hi!

Then, I'm speaking much closer to home, at the incredible Sage Centre in Gateshead.



'Marketing: The Art Of' attracted big name speakers including Max Clifford in its first year. Now, the conference is back on November 12 and I will be taking part in a panel discussion about 'What The Media Wants'.

I've also been asked to write a piece for the programme that delegates will receive. Again, email, facebook message or tweet me if you're going.

I'm on facebook at facebook.com/newsleader which is a new page and tweeting at twitter.com/newsleader

FREEBIES

The benefits of using Twitter are still being realised for some stations.

Recently, I found myself sitting with a radio producer and taking her through the basics. Although it seems like Twitter has always been here, I have to remind myself its explosion only happened about a year ago (e.g. @stephenfry sent his first tweet on Oct 09 2008).

So, I hope to do a free piece on best practice for using Twitter on radio. Keep following me for updates.

I've also pledged to do a day of free advice on Twitter about creating original journalism and I'm planning an on-line advent calendar sharing the very best tips of 2009!

BBC/GMG

All this, plus I'm back at Real, Rock and Smooth Radios in Manchester. I also return to BBC London 94.9 to train reporters. Myself and Assistant Editor, Gareth Roberts are planning something memorable for these sessions. It should be exciting, and good fun, for those taking part.

Finally, Tony Cowell will be reporting for Real Radio from 'The X Factor' live shows in the coming weeks. I'm an executive producer on this project helping give Real an X-clusive edge to its coverage. I'm currently developing similar ideas for next year. Again, please follow me for the latest news.

So, busy, busy, busy! There is some availability in December if you require any festive coaching, consultancy or training and I'm booking now for 2010.

As always, any feedback or questions are welcome.

Thanks for your continued support,



Justin.