Rebecca Allen

— Rebecca Allen is a PR Manager at Lava, an award-winning marketing communications agency in Lincoln. In an expert comment series for The Lincolnite, she highlights ways Lincoln organisations can learn from the London 2012 Olympic Games when it comes to creating public interest.

---

Although the spotlight of the national media has firmly been on London for the past few weeks, I’ve felt the Olympic spirit here in Lincoln too. From the fabulous Olympic screen in Cornhill, to city bars showing the events, and the increase in people visiting local sports centres, the Olympics has created a legacy and brought the nation together. People are talking to each other and making friends in a way that we haven’t seen before.

So, what does that mean to businesses and marketers? How can you use the legacy of the Olympics to inspire your marketing activity?

I’ve identified five simple steps to creating a lasting positive profile for your brand:

Strong branding

As Lava’s design manager, Lisa, alluded to in her latest blog post London 2012 brand consistency wins gold, organisations need strong branding which is consistent across all materials, so not just letterheads and business cards, but also POS materials, advertising, and store front merchandise.

PR strategy

Your PR strategy needs to be current, interesting and creative. Okay, we can’t all get the Spice Girls to perform, but we can capitalise on current popular culture and current interests.

Most pitched features (that’s when you persuade a journalist to write about your idea/story) are written anywhere between 3-10 weeks ahead of publication date, that’s nationals, monthlies and some weeklies, so plan now and get your ideas in early.

Call the press you want to feature in and ask for copy plans, features lists and deadline dates, so you can plan. To give you an idea, we are starting to look at student and Christmas campaigns now, so make sure you plan your ideas well in advance.

Press office

Run a pro-active, yet methodical, press office. Ensure each journalist and publication is profiled, so you can send them the most relevant information.

This is something the Olympic media centre forgot to take note of and consequently didn’t allow media access to The Voice, the UK’s oldest, biggest, black newspaper. An exercise which takes only a few minutes, could have avoided embarrassing column inches.

Administration

Get organised. I know it sounds simple, but look at the issues with the Express and the Mirror printing the wrong images of the Dutch and British equestrian teams. The mistakes were down to incorrect meta-tagging of photos, so be sure that if something is going out to the media it is labeled correctly.

Be prepared for a crisis

Many organisations or businesses think that nothing will ever go wrong, so why should they need a crisis comms plan?

The truth is, problems do arise. London 2012 shows us that unexpected things always happen, from the Met losing the keys for one of London 2012’s main football venues at the start of the Games to LOCOG asking spectators not to use their mobile phones at events because they interfered with the transmission of times to broadcasters.

No one wants to be remembered for a crisis. But often it isn’t the crisis which is remembered, but the way in which it was dealt with. So, to create a lasting positive legacy, make sure you can deal with the unexpected in a convincing and timely fashion.

The basics of effective crisis communications aren’t difficult, but you must plan ahead in order to minimise damage when issues develop, as the slower the response, the more your reputation will suffer.

Start by identifying your communications team; chose your spokespeople; establish notification systems; know your stakeholders; think about potential crises; identify key messages, and develop holding statements. This should help you deal with the unexpected.

I hope these five tips help you plan, but remember everything takes time and effort, and as double gold medal winning Olympian, Mo Farah, said: “It’s all hard work. It’s been a long journey, grafting and grafting.”

— Rebecca Allen is a PR Manager at Lava, an award-winning marketing communications agency in Lincoln. In an expert comment series for The Lincolnite, she explains how to deal with a media interview and gives some top tips in selecting the right spokesperson.

---

Some say all publicity is good publicity, but is it? And is it really valuable?

The main role of your PR strategy should be to build a profile and to manage your organisation’s reputation. But, without planning, or if the wrong spokesperson is selected to front the media, an entire strategy can be derailed.

As discussed in my previous blog post, PR is just free advertising, right?, Media relations is a key way to reach out and talk to your target audiences, and, as such, must play a key role in an organisation’s strategy.

I’ve put together a couple of top tips on how to deal with journalist enquiries, so if the phone rings, you know what to do.

1. Talk to the journalist

The press or media office is usually the first stop for the media.

As the first port of call, you should take time to talk to the journalist and understand what he/she needs. More often than not, journalists are lovely people, so will spend time guiding you through the process.

When setting up an interview, make sure you ask the journalist:

• What do they want to know?
• When do they want an interview?
• Will the interview be used as part of a feature or as an edited piece used in news bulletins?
• Will they be interviewing anyone alongside?
• Will the interview be live or pre-recorded?

Most importantly, take note of the media title, the journalist’s name and contact details.

2. Prepare for the interview

The golden rule is to be prepared. You need to research and provide a concise brief to your spokesperson ahead of the interview.

Obviously every scenario is different, but try to put together a brief which includes:

• Name of the spokesperson
• Key messages (which you must get across in your interview)
• Facts and figures about your company
• Potential answers to the journalist’s questions
• Potential answers to unexpected follow-up questions

It is also worth researching what kind of stories the journalist has run in the past and the style and adapt your responses to suit.

3. Choose your spokesperson

Rarely one solution fits all, so you need to adopt a flexible approach when selecting your spokesperson.

In many cases your managing director or CEO is the most reputable person you can use, as they know the business well and have the final say on all issues. However, if they are not media-friendly then they could end up doing more harm than good.

Also, if your spokesperson is shy or nervous then they could potentially come across as un-trustworthy, so they may not be the best person to represent your business. Another senior manager who is more confident and likeable may be a better option.

Think about your spokesperson’s language and tone; if they can’t string a sentence together for radio or look presentable on camera, then they shouldn’t be your spokesperson. It might sound mean and it’s definitely not all about appearances, but in reality this person represents your company, so you need to consider how you want the audience to perceive your brand.

4. Capture the interview and evaluate

From a learning point of view, it is worth capturing the interview and assessing how well the spokesperson performed (looking about language, tone of voice, body language etc). This way you can give constructive feedback to the spokesperson to improve future interviews.

Everyone gets nervous when approached by the media, but by having a plan in place, your spokesperson will have more chance of giving a successful interview. Learning how to answer questions and how to stay in control of an interview by conveying your key messages can be incredibly valuable and will ensure your organisation’s reputation benefits.