Imagine standing in a tee box and looking out at nothing but deep brown fairway, gravel, and clumps of grass in the distance. The sound of gunfire erupts overhead as helicopters patrol the perimeter. This is golf, “Green Zone”-style, in Baghdad.
I first learned of this walled-in mound of dirt three years ago while reporting for WPBF, the ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach, Fla. The golf pro at The Boca Country Club in Boca Raton, Fla., Joe Demino, told me that one of the club’s members had a son who was serving in Iraq and enjoyed hitting balls in his free time, as did many of his other fellow soldiers. The problem was getting enough balls, clubs and equipment to all of the troops who would like to use them. That’s when I explained to Joe the value of using the media to his advantage.
Our lives are built on relationships. A reporter doesn’t know who you are unless you make them aware of what you have to offer and how you can help them do their job. Granted, many people don’t want to talk to the press—but for savvy GMs and others on club or resort staffs who are looking to promote a member cause, charity event or a chef whose cooking is out of this world, here’s some useful background information on how television reporters think and work.
Every day, my colleagues and I would show up at the TV station for a morning meeting where each of us would present three story ideas. These ideas could be about anything, but all of them had to pass the “so what” test. This meant they had to have an appeal to to the masses that could get viewers talking about them around the water cooler.
Finding stories is never easy. Sure, you can steal a few from the paper or piggyback off the national news. But overall, they come from everyday people who have problems or events they want to promote.
Think about the power of free promotion. If your club is hosting a charity golf outing, you can take out ads and tell your members. But a simple story on the 6 0’Clock News will open the door to countless more who can become aware of your cause and help to increase the chances of success for the event.
Gaining this added exposure, however, is not as easy as sending out a press release and voila, your story gets covered. It always comes back to the “so what” factor. How are you going to sell this story to the media? Do I have a character to build the story around? Why is John Q. Public going to want to contribute to this particular event, as opposed to others? This is where characters, stories and emotion come in.
Characters are critical. Children’s stories enlighten us with three bears and the quest to get the most comfortable bed. They don’t inundate us with statistics or give us the conclusion, without getting us to first buy into the plot.
To gain that buy-in, you have to make your pitch compelling. Ideally, you want to be able to provide a reporter with real people they can talk to—not “suits” or so-called talking heads. These characters usually need to have a cause or struggle they’re willing to share that everyday people can relate to, as well as an appreciation for how you have championed their plight. Once you have all of this in place, the next step is thinking about the kind of exposure you want to get for the story, and how a reporter can help you provide it.
If you’re targeting a specific TV station for coverage, call its main number and ask for the assignment desk. The people on this desk are the gatekeepers of which stories get pitched and which ones don’t. They typically create a folder with every press release they have and introduce them in the morning meeting. The good ones that are timely and have the “so what” factor get covered; the bad ones end up in the trash. Trust me, reporters and the assignment desk get pitched with hundreds of releases each week: save this, do that, donate here, etc. Your job is to make them care and to make your release stand out.
Some other useful tips: Send press releases to a specific person, and not to a random or general e-mail; be brief, listing “who, what, where, when and why” in the first line, or using a bullet-list format; always include your contact information with a cell phone number, so you can be reached when needed.
Send your release out about a week out before an event, and then follow up with a phone call. You can find out the name of an assignment desk manager simply by asking the receptionist or the person who answers the phone in the newsroom. If you’re sending a release to a reporter, follow up with a phone call or e-mail. And don’t forget to also reach out to the other key target in newsrooms: producers.
Each newscast has a producer who has a large say in what the reporters in their shows will cover. You can find out who you want to target simply by asking “Who produces your [time of] show”?
Once I helped Joe Demino understand these facts about the inner workings of television coverage, his story, and his mission, quickly got the coverage it needed to go mainstream. After it aired, The Boca Country Club received tens of thousands of golf balls, and two hundred sets of clubs. Now the club had a new problem: how to ship everything to the troops. It decided to host a special golf tournament, “Operation Iraqi Range,” to raise proceeds that would go towards sending the gear overseas. Joe and I once again collaborated to use the full power of the media and successfully take the appeal of another good story to the general public.
One final key point after you have been successful in getting coverage: remember that this is a two-way street. Be sure to send a thank-you note for any coverage you have received. As hospitality professionals know, a simple thank-you can always go a long way and make a world of difference, even with the most cynical reporters. A thank-you note will make you stand out from among the many companies and organizations that crave media attention, and help the reporter feel good about the work that he or she did.
This step can also help to create an ongoing relationship that will only make things even easier the next time around. It will then be your call on how to successfully foster and maintain these relationships—and like another children’s story, you want to make sure you don’t ever “cry wolf,” and only pitch new stories that also have genuine “so what” appeal. But having the press as an ally is never a bad thing—and with the right approach, you can successfully bring the media over to your side, and your causes.
A former Emmy-nominated and AP award-winning journalist, Corey Saban now works with the staffs of country clubs, resorts and hotels to help them master the art of public speaking, learn to use the media to their advantage, and formulate crisis management plans. To learn more, visit www.csmediaworks.com.
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