Pirozzolo Company Public Relations

Yes, You Can Get International Press on a Budget

Part I of a two-part series covering global media relations strategies and tactics 

Want to get press for your trade fair booth in Jakarta? Did your company do a deal in Tokyo that would be news in Asahi Shimbun? Is there an international angle to a company achievement here in the States?

 If you think it takes a big international PR firm to generate international media coverage, think again.

PR pros who have an international orientation can launch successful global media campaigns. It takes developing word-wide relationships with local PR firms and journalists outside the US, along with a few unconventional approaches and a lot of legwork. For example, we were named the Boston affiliate of HFN Komminikation in Frankfurt a few years ago and maintain ties with PR firms in the UK, Tokyo, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Kong. Additionally, the personal relationships we've nutured with correspondents from Agence France Presse to Japan's NHK and Qatar's Gulf Times have paid off in news coverage around the world.

PR firms in foreign cities are often willing to work on an ad hoc basis – say for a trade fair presence or CEO visit, which keeps the scope of work and budget sharply focused. If you are starting from scratch, PR networks, alliances and individual firms are easy to find using LinkedIn, Google or references.

United Kingdom-based Ranbir Sahota, for example, works with us on overseas projects.  Sahota knows the media terrain in the UK, Europe and India. Her Vitis PR, Ltd.(www.vitispr.com) is part of a network of independent PR firms such as Globalcom and ECCO international Communications. 

 Where to Start

While alliances are extremely helpful there are other avenues available to generate international press coverage.

A good place to start is with the US State Department’s Foreign Press Centers in Washington, D.C. and New York.

Contact the media liaison sections, which will, depending on overseas news value, contact the foreign press corps for you. It’s not automatic; one needs PR skills to persuade the State Department’s media liaison people that the event, issue or news will interest the foreign press.

The State Department is particularly keen to promote US events with an international angle rather than, say individual media interviews. For example, the State Department helped marshal the foreign press corps for  us when we promoted a news conference on Carbon Offset Trading in New York that had international implications and the International Boston Seafood Show that draws government-sponsored exhibitors from 95 nations.

 Tip – For stories with a public policy angle, contact The Washington Foreign Press Center, National Press Bldg., Suite 800. For business stories – since New York is the media and financial center of the nation – contact the New York U.S. Department of State New York Foreign Press Center 150 East 52nd Street, Fifth Floor

                
        Pirozzolo Company promoted US-Vietnam trade. (Dick Pirozzolo © 2010

Outside New York and DC, The State Department has International Press Centers in Chicago, Seattle, Houston, Atlanta and Cleveland that will help facilitate foreign journalists' coverage of the American scene. Visit http://fpc.state.gov for State Department contact information.

Another approach to kicking off an international PR campaign is to contact the foreign consulates in major cities. The consulates promote economic activity and cultural exchanges and can be a treasure trove of introductions to journalists from their respective countries.

Other ways to build overseas press relations include contacting the local bureaus of major international outlets such as Associated Press, Bloomberg and Reuters and ask for the names of the bureau chiefs and contact information for their overseas offices. Most news agencies are glad to help.

Don’t forget old-fashioned legwork. Check the online telephone classified listings in New York, Washington and Los Angeles for foreign news bureaus, usually listed under news agencies, news bureaus and TV broadcasters. Doing so will provide contact information for the major US bureaus of Agence France Presse, BBC, Japan’s NHK Broadcasting, Wall Street India and numerous other international news outlets. Typically the bureau chiefs and editorial staffers will be more than willing to introduce you to their counterparts back home.

With ingenuity you can generate media attention anywhere in the world – without busting the budget.

Check back next month for Part II covering more international media relations tactics and journalism traditions in Asia that can help break through the PR clutter.

This article by Dick Pirozzolo, first appeared in its entirety in PR News Media Training Guidebook - Volume 4.  Pirozzolo Company Public Relations (www.pirozzolo.com) offers global Public Relations services and PR executive training in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the US. Pirozzolo Company represented the Vietnam government during reconciliation and Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the US. Other international engagements include serving clients in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Germany, the UK and China as well as Japan, Singapore and Indonesia.

Want More Sales Leads? Integrate PR with your Website

Too often, PR professionals focus on media relations, speaking engagements, white papers, bylined articles and other reputation-building efforts, without fully incorporating the Website into the public relations program. 

It is certainly okay to have PR professionals and Web professionals focus on their respective areas of expertise. But they do not work as a team, the missed opportunities will be too great to overlook

Harry Bartlett, of Bartlett Interactive in Concord, MA puts it this way, "PR can generate high-quality links to your Website that will boost your position in Google searches."

Adds this greater Boston Web design and marketing expert, "I emphasize quality over quantity. Ten articles with links to your URL appearing in online media such as Forbes.com, Bloomberg.com and CNBC will generate more traffic than 100 paid links in what I call black hole sites and dubious directories." 

Your Website is the front door to your organization. You let customers in, but your Website has to welcome journalists too. A few questions to ask: Are you making it easy for reporters and editors to find latest news about your company on your Website? Is the PR and IR contact information easy to find? If a reporter is on deadline, could he or she quickly find the biographies of senior managers to include their background in a news article and confirm the spelling of names? Would a journalist visiting your Website come away thinking that at least one or two people in the organization are "thought leaders" who could discuss broad industry-wide issues?

Since 1998 Bartlett's firm has developed and enhanced hundreds of Websites for a wide range of industries including clean tech, bio-pharma, software and non-profits. "Keeping the Website fresh is a challenge," says Bartlett adding, "A regularly updated dynamic Website with content that is both interesting and current will generate visitors and encourage journalists to check out your organization for article ideas. Managers always promise to update the Website in-house but get waylaid by other responsibilities. Too often the person charged with the responsibility has to go through a cumbersome process to get new information posted. The key is to develop and fund a mechanism for regular updates. If need be, use outside specialists to get the job done."

Online Newsrooms

 To keep the company's face in front of the media, some companies, such as Intel, have turned to stand-alone Websites (blogs) that function as online newsrooms, offering the kind of information journalists want. Check out the Intel Newsroom.

Making your Website interactive or offering something of value -- such as current financial data or research on timely topics – keep people coming back.  For example, Fast Company created a Word Cloud for the State of the Union Address and compared the words the President used this time with his previous address as well as the words US Rep. Michelle Bachmann used in her rebuttal. Visit bit.ly/fvIKBi

Bartlett Interactive developed an online eValuator to keep people coming back. The eValuator is self guided and assesses the effectiveness and health of any website using a range of indicators -- search engine rankings, technical issues, marketing components and the inclusion of analytics to name a few. 

Give the Bartlett eValuator a try at: http://www.bartlettinteractive.com/evaluator/site/

If you are disappointed with your results, Bartlett offers seven ways to boost your Website's impact and visibility; many of them rely on integrating the management of your PR program with the management of your Website.

1. Use paid syndication services to distribute news releases and be sure to include the URL of your organization high in the release. The leading services are PRWeb, PR Newswire, Business Wire, and Send2Press. Each service offers special plans and can tailor releases to specific geographic regions. Numerous add-on services such as inclusion of photos, Twitter feeds and PRNewswire's ProfNet boost effectiveness.

2. Participate in Social Media -- Create a blog and keep it fresh with valuable content. Include a link to the blog on your Website to cross-reference the entries. If the CEO cannot do this, get the PR Director or agency involved. It does not take long for a skilled PR writer to capture and write in your CEO's "voice." 

3. Establish one or two people within your organization as authorities on subjects relevant to your mission or industry. Produce white papers, commentary and op-ed pieces on current issues. Have your PR department scour the Web for opportunities to comment in other respected blogs with expert comment and opinion to generate links back to your organization’s Website.

4. Embed video in your communication whenever possible. Video increases the number of viewers and the number of times the viewers will take the action you desire by 50%.

5.  Send regular email blasts to stakeholders with links to your Website and include video in your email communication to enhance impact.

6. Reinforce all news releases on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

7.  Include an RSS FEED.  An RSS or "Really Simple Syndication" feed is an excellent way to share news and content from your site with others, extends the reach of your content and increases Internet visibility.

Some of the more technical ways to enhance your Website are to include an XML Sitemap, up-to-date analytics and indexed pages, says Bartlett.

No matter what you do technically though, remember your information has to be compelling, interesting, current and relevant. In a nutshell, says Bartlett, "Content is king."

Harry Bartlett and his team of Interactive media experts can be reached at:

Bartlett Interactive Communications, 152 Commonwealth Avenue, #5, West Concord, MA 01742 USA 1 (978) 369-2472. www.bartlettllc.com