Things to remember when speaking to the media

With followers on Twitter, fans on Facebook and the increase of technology making it easier for the public to tip off reporters, there’s a lot of clutter for public relations professionals to cut through and get their story heard. And since reporters receive too many emails to count, a PR pro’s job is even more difficult.

To successfully pitch a journalist, here are a few things to remember:

• Email pitches are fine, but since we all get a number of emails a day, it’s very easy to miss. So after sending an email pitch, pick up the phone and follow up because chances are the journalist hasn’t seen it yet. Besides, it’s easier for them to delete your email than to hang up on you.

• Identify who you are and who you are representing. Journalists want to know who they are speaking with and what the pitch will be about based on the company that’s calling them.
• Be considerate and ask if it’s a good time for them to speak. It has nothing to do with PR. That’s just having manners.
• Research the reporter. Be sure that the reporter you are pitching actually covers that beat. You can determine that by looking at their past work. If not, you are wasting the journalist’s time and your client’s.
• Determine your angle before calling. It’s better to have a pitch crafted before you call so you can be prepared, and based on your conversation, you can deviate as necessary.
• Be OK with rejection. You will hear journalists say no. It’s nothing personal. It’s just a part of the j-o-b. It’s impossible for them to cover every story they are pitched.

Keeping these tips in mind will help sell your story a little better to the media. They’re human too and want to be treated that way.

One day, a scorpion decided to cross a great river. Too wide and swift for him to span, he asked a frog for a ride across.

“Won’t you try to kill me if I do?” asked the frog.

“No,” the scorpion replied. “If I try to kill you, then I’ll die too, for I can’t swim!”

As this seemed to make sense to the frog, he agreed to help the scorpion. So the scorpion crawled onto the frog’s back and the pair slid into the muddy water.

Halfway across, the scorpion stung the frog’s back. Numbness began to creep into his limbs.

“You fool!” croaked the frog, “Now we’ll both die! Why did you do that?”

The scorpion shrugged as they sank into the waters of the river. “I couldn’t help myself. It is my nature.”

This parable demonstrates the value of storytelling for a successful PR and marketing campaign. Recently, research has shown that this approach is superior to all other means of messaging. But far too few employ this strategy.

For decades, PR professionals emulated journalists and simply wielded facts to persuade a target market with sheer logic. On the other end of the spectrum, advertising executives bombarded the public with overt messages that became “white noise.”

Those approaches are so misguided. And now research proves it.

Psychologist Raymond Mar’s work on the impact of storytelling has shown the remarkable influence that good storytelling has on shaping public behavior. He notes that, “Researchers have repeatedly found that reader attitudes shift to become more congruent with the ideas expressed in a fictional narrative.”

Why is storytelling so powerful? Because regardless of the facts, people ultimately make emotional decisions that organize information to fit into their preconceived notions. That holds true in business, too. In fact, a piece by Target Marketing in 2011 claims that, “With emotion stimulating the mind 3,000 times faster than rational thought, recently published findings in neuroscience indicate it’s emotion, not reason, that primarily drives customers’ decisions.”

People tend to listen to facts and then accept or reject them based on their perspective. But when they read a story, their mental shields drop. This makes them more open to objectively consider an idea or message.

Instead of delivering cold, hard facts in a non-emotional manner, smart organizations frame their communications in a storytelling, narrative style. Always tell the truth, but do it in an entertaining, emotional way.

This approach has worked since the dawn of time. The Greeks used myths to teach morality. Jesus Christ often spoke in parables to spread the gospel. Shakespeare themed his plays around humanity’s weaknesses while the flames of American civil unrest were fanned by Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Too often businesses today focus on content with platforms, believing that merely pushing messages through Facebook and their websites will accomplish their goals. They need instead to focus on what they are saying, not how.

The real secret is mastering the art of storytelling. There is no substitute for connecting on an emotional level – because it’s in our nature.