B2B public relations, like all PR, has evolved quickly over the last few years. Key decision makers at the companies you’re reaching out to are probably a lot like you. They don’t want a lot of clutter around things they don’t need, especially from people who don’t really understand the nuances of their business. And they don’t want to be interrupted by aggressive, self-involved strangers.

Social media has made more intelligent, targeted communication not only possible, but necessary. Some of what used to be essential in the old PR mix is barely a blip on today’s map. Meanwhile, the line between other departments and Public Affairs seems more blurred than ever.

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A great PR campaign includes a killer media pitch that make a story newsworthy. A media pitch is a short written or verbal piece that you use to entice the media to feature you positively in a story. It’s not rocket science, but it is an art. It makes all the difference between getting media coverage and not.

Not sure what goes into a great media pitch? Here’s the skinny:

Target the right media with the right pitch

Imagine if day in, day out, you picked up the phone or checked your email only to get a constant barrage of messages relating to subjects that had nothing to do with you. Welcome to the world of journalism, where people try and pitch you stories with winning opening lines like: “I don’t read your paper but I have this great product that you should tell your readers about.”

A great media pitch reflects the audience that reads, watches or listens to the media outlet and the journalist it is tailored for. A winning media pitch has been tweaked or even crafted with the end audience in mind. If it’s going to a specific journalist, it references what they’ve had to say on the subject and how or why your angle furthers the conversation or adds a dimension of value to his or her readers.

A strong media pitch adds additional insight or solves a problem that the journalist you are targeting has put on the public agenda. It may also introduce something that will be of concern to their audience. Your best shot at getting coverage is to help the journalist by giving them a new angle, or way of looking at a story or topic that matters to them and to their audience. If you do, you will have a much better chance of securing their interest.

Keep it short and don’t bury the lede

You have only a few words before the journalist reading or hearing your pitch decides if they want more or it’s game over. At the top outlets, like The View, if you haven’t grabbed them within about 10 seconds, the call is done. A good pitch starts with the most interesting element first and immediately delivers the “what’s in it for the audience” moment. A rambling pitch that packs a great punch at the end probably won’t get seen or heard in its entirety.

Make it newsworthy

Because you’ve lived, breathed and eaten your story as you’ve researched it, targeted the right media and created great art and video to go with it, you have to remind yourself as you develop your angles for your pitches (different pitches for different media) that the media is not the PR arm of your company. It is not their job to help you sell product or ellicit new donations.

Media need to tell a good story.  And a good cause  or a good product isn’t in and of itself a good story. A good story offers insight into the human condition, or highlights an injustice, or raises an issue of importance, or helps the audience solve a problem, or in some way fulfills a need specific to their audience. Your angle needs to further the discussion on something topical or draw attention to a new problem and how your product or service is the solution.

Give it legs

Think like  a producer or editor. As you flesh out your story and how you’d like the media to tell it, think in 3D. What digital assets do you have or can you create (art/pictures, video/B-roll, podcasts) that you can give them or suggest that will give the story added punch? Don’t just think about your story in one medium. Think about it through out all media channels possible, and get your, um, storytelling assets in gear.

Don’t Take Rejection Personally

No matter how much planning or work you’ve done, your story may just not be a fit for a journalist or an outlet you were SURE would cover it but didn’t. It happens. Move on. Thank them for their time, be friendly and warm, and work just as hard or harder to get their interest with a new product or angle next time. Don’t let your disappointment say or do anything that will cost you a shot at that next time.

It takes a lot of work to land a great feature, but it’s worth it in the end. A good pitch is deceptively short but carries with it all kinds of additional resources ready to be pulled out on a moment’s notice and is the culmination of a tremendous amount of research. But once you’ve delvered a story that engages an outlet’s audience, you will be on the A-list, and the outlet will be more inclined to welcome pitches from you.

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The time to create a Crisis Communications Plan is before you need it, not in the height of a crisis. Every critical person in your company and all of the C-suite should have a copy, have reviewed it at least once in the last six months, and feel free to offer suggestions to improve upon it as time goes on.

Here are five essentials of a good Crisis Communications Plan:

1. Keep it brief. It does not need to cover off every possible crisis but be a manageable, readily accessible and actionable document that gives you strategies and concrete plans for handling likely types of scenarios your company might encounter, including, such as injury of a customer, death of a key employee, charges against an executive, legal challenge, accusations of impropriety, product tampering, and illness or death of customer amongst a whole host of other possibilities.

2. Nurture your relationships. In a time of crisis, you will need to reach out to key people who can help you figure out what you’re up against and mitigate the damage. Figure out who you friendlies are, including community leaders, fans in the media and influential bloggers who might help you tell your side of the story. Don’t just reach out only when you need something. It’s ill-mannered, and you’ll turn off the very people you may need in your corner in times of trouble.

3. Be proactive. Break bad news yourself so you can ensure your side of the story is heard. Waiting for someone else to tell it means you will only be responding and not able to contextualize the issue in the most helpful way. Reach out to the media and make your website a destination by updating it with the information the media and the public want, including the bad news.

4. Be truthful. It is imperative the public trust that you are doing everything in your power to make the situation right and ensure that it doesn’t happen again. If you are caught in a lie or have bent the truth, your credibility will be shot. And you won’t have a leg to stand on.

5. Ready your CEO in advance. When something goes terribly wrong, people want to hear from the person in charge. Make sure the CEO is media trained and able to explain the situation and the company’s side of the story simply, with humility and authenticity. Arrogance and self interest will only make the problem worse.

Your Crisis Communications Plan should be critically reviewed frequently and never considered to be set in stone. Your list of friendlies, the most likely possible threats, and channels to get your side of the story out should be revised as needed and as you go to ensure that should a crisis strike, your company is ready to face it.

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Social Media is a game changer.

Social media has taken off because it fits more with how we interact with the world around us, our friends, and it dovetails with how we make decisions.

We know that ads don’t always tell us the truth, that we can’t believe everything we read in the paper or see on tv. But we are interested in the experiences of our friends, what they recommend and why. And we want immediate access to information without interpreters, intermediaries and marketing hype. We care about some of the things our friends care about and we want them to care about what we care about.

Social media lets us change the world one friend at a time. And sometimes many, many more. It is word of mouth in action.

David Meerman Scott, one of the thought leaders in the space of Social Media, suggests thinking of social media like a cocktail party. Many of the same social niceties apply:

• Manners are important
• Don’t be too self promotional
• Be interested in others
• Be interesting
• Be helpful to others if you can be
• Show up, engage and be engaging.

Don’t think social media is important?

Think again. Your customers, clients and donors have already joined the conversation. What are they saying about you? Don’t know? That’s a problem. And it could be a big one.  Take a look at Dominoes Pizza. They’re a firm that had to get their social media act together in a big hurry after workers posted video of themselves on YouTube doing disgusting things to food in a Dominoes Kitchen.

Past that hurdle, Dominoes realized they had an even bigger  problem. Their pizza sucked and everyone was talking about how bad it was through social media.

In the past, poor customer service and bad products were in the realm of “buyer beware.” But in a world where everyone is talking, a lot of with a shared bad experience or shared dislike of a product or service is a very dangerous thing for a brand.

The old adage used to be that a happy customer told only a few people but an unhappy customer shared his or her negative experience with at least 10 people. Social media means your reach can extend exponentially, and often with just a couple of mouse clicks.

Faced with just such a scenario, Dominoes did something radical. They changed their recipe. They came out and essentially said, “we know our pizza isn’t good. And we’re changing it.” It had been the same recipe for almost fifty years. Why did they do something so radical? Watching the comments from bloggers and those on sites like Twitter, they knew they couldn’t pretend that nothing was wrong. And their very survival depended on changing the core of their business. The end result?   Dominoes doubled its profits.

Dell is another company that uses Social Media to help with customer service. And they directly attribute $3 million dollars in sales to one Twitter account. They firmly recognize that social media is NOT the place to push messages out but to solve problems before they escalate. And they jumped into the space, specifically to address the deteriorating customer service their clients had identified. Now they have 40 bloggers and are leaders in the social media space.

But there is more to social media than customer service. It is one of the best places for market research possible. It provides an immediate source for information, news, opinion – and even feedback on products, services, trends, both current and emerging. It is a place to see if and where the world is shifting, moving, and headed.  Those new to the space are anxious to talk. Those who have been there for a while are just as interested, if not more, in listening.

Various social media channels provide fertile research ground to get an advance look at upcoming trends and emerging conversations amongst key social and economic demographics. In short, you’d pay a lot of money for this research from a marketing firm – but it’s something you can do yourself and be better informed about your clients, customers and donors, and the people that matter to them.

This article is an excerpt from the White Paper called “What is Social Media, ” available for free download by signup on any Babble On webpage half way down on the right side of the site.

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It’s not unusual for people to wonder if bigger name bands would ever play a private, corporate or charitable event.  And the answer is: yes,  if the price is right. The fee range is huge and, of course, the bigger the name of the band, the higher the cost. Some bands are in the tens of thousands, others hundreds of thousands.

Charities often want to know if name bands will do events for free or a reduced rate. Sometimes. But usually only if they are already deeply invested in a cause or a person involved with the event.  If a name band does agree to play for free, there is a risk. Bands that are getting paid have a much better chance of appearing than those that don’t. They may even have some kind of arrangement with their agent that if a paying opportunity comes up on the same night that there’s a pro bono gig, the paying gig must be accepted.

Let’s say everything is going along perfectly: the band is available on the date they’re needed and the fee has been agreed upon. Then what? A whole lot of reading. The event planner has to read the contract and every rider that came with it – forwards and backwards.  She has to understand exactly what she is getting her company or charity into and what it will cost to proceed with this band.

There are usually additional, sometimes hidden costs, and knowing what those are can be the difference between a responsible event and a financial disaster.  Even the flight. There’s a big difference in the cost between an economy airline ticket to Calgary from Vancouver and a private jet from Japan.

In fact, there’s a very good possibility that members of the band will be coming in from a variety of cities and may have to be picked up separately. Some name bands will have riders about ground transportation and will require limos or town cars and professional drivers.

Name bands often expect per diems, intended  to cover certain costs when traveling. Sometimes bands prefer large per diems and pay for all of their expenses out of those. Other times, travel, accommodations, maybe even some meals will be covered, in which case per diems will be smaller.

Name bands usually have green room requirements, the first one being that there be a green room. A green room is simply a (usually) private room put aside for bands to gather. It is usually stocked with food, drink and other amenities. The items required are usually listed in a document  from the contract, often called a hospitality rider – and that document needs to be reviewed very carefully to ensure there’s nothing in there that will break the bank.

The technical rider is another standard document that accompanies Band contracts. It outlines sound, staging, lighting and other similar requirements that the host must provide.

Once a deal is signed, the event is obligated to provide the band whatever has been agreed upon in the contract and any riders that accompanied it. That can be anything from table space in the lobby for one star ‘s (Amy Grant)  favourite charity  to metal detectors and inspection of venues by police K9 unit for another (Barbara Streisand).

How seriously do bands take the riders? Very. The standard performance contract used by Van Halen famously had a line item for M&M’s with all the brown candies removed. Brown M&M’s were cause to cancel the show but still be fully paid for the gig. The band claims to have snuck that article in the  technical rider to see how closely local crews were reading the contract and riders.   If brown M&M’s were present, they felt they had a good indication that there would be problems ahead with the show.

Of course, most events can’t afford big name bands. The good news is,  a myriad of options are available at almost any price point. If the boss has his heart set on the rolling stones, however, start saving now. They come in at several million dollars.

Sharon Barwick is an award-winning event and wedding planner with Simply Elegant.

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The answer is yes. And here’s why. To blog is an excellent way of engaging your core audience in what you do. To blog is to give your audience insight into your opinions, your productions, your company. To blog is to connect — if you do it right.

To blog, and to blog well, establishes you as a “thought leader” in your field and connects your audience to you. Remember, people don’t buy from companies. They buy from people.

So let’s say you’re sold. Now what?

A good question. And one that is inevitably followed by the Hamlet-lode of blogging to-be-or-not-to-be’s: “How’s anyone ever gonna find my blog? What’s the point? Should I just pack it in now? When did I start talking to myself? Is there cake and beer in the fridge?”

Forget the cake and beer (for now).  And don’t worry. It’s a blog, not subatomic physics (come back next week).

In fact, the news is good: To blog effectively enough to drive traffic and repeat visits to your page isn’t that difficult.  Honest.

“My blog went from getting around 10 visits and 0 comments a day to getting 1,000 visits and 50 comments a day in just under three months. And without going to the gym or dieting.”

Me (written a few seconds ago)

My writing partner, John, and I managed to drive lots of traffic and loyal readers to our humour blogs Crabby Old Fart and Sick Days by making sure we covered some basic guidelines. There’s nothing new or revelatory here, people, just four basic rules that can really help new bloggers, regardless of your topic…

1. Content…

…Is king.  Always has been. Always will be.

If your blog content is strong, you will get regular visitors and decent traffic. If it isn’t, then you may as well start all your blog entries with “Dear diary” because you’ll be the only person reading it…

Whether you’re going to blog about health or a new business venture, it’s important to remember the following:

• Pick a single topic or theme and stay on it. Assume your readers are looking for something specific and not a meandering wander through a series of subjects. Think about what topics will have relevance to your target audience, and write about that.
• Readers tend to scan blogs. They want to be able to get information quickly. How can you help them?
• Keep your sentences short. And punchy. Don’t use sub-clauses and consider bullet points to lessen the amount of work your readers must do to read your blog.
• Try and keep your blog postings in the 200-500 word range. You can write a longer post if you have to, but try and make this the exception, not the rule. Also, ensure your post isn’t rambling or repetitive. Only leave in what you need to.
• Make sure your writing has a conversational feel to it. Blogging calls for a more familiar form of writing. Use of both the first person (ex. “I”)and  second person (“you”) are generally acceptable in a blog and usually preferable. Save third person writing (ex., “one should…”) for white papers, business proposals and other more formal forms of communication.
• Write well. The words on your blog page need to be compelling and tight so that your reader becomes engaged.
• Think of blogging as having a conversation. Engage your readers. Let them get to know you.   So if you’re a budding author this means you don’t have to blog exclusively about promoting your book. You want to win readers with your sparkling personality and exceptional writing style.
• Never try and sell your reader anything. They won’t buy it. Engage them, build trust, offer them advice, lift their spirits, move them, touch them, anger them, provoke them, but never try and sell them…Offering someone advice on how to use the products you sell, for example, provides excellent value to your consumer, shows your company to have excellent customer service and generally tells your community you care about their experience. Telling them to buy your product does not.
• Post regularly. If you have time to go to events, you have time to blog. Think of it as an online networking opportunity. Most sane bloggers aim for two or three posts a week and still have time to live full and fascinating lives. Of course, the more often you post, the more likely it is your blog will grow. Frequent posts keep readers coming back. It also gives them a reason to subscribe to your RSS feed and/or email subscription.  Regular posting also moves you up in online search results. And that makes it easier for new readers to find you.
• Oh, and watch out for typos and grammatical errors. They drive some readers totally batty.

2. Leave Comments that further the conversation at Other Blogs.

Building an audience takes time – and strategy. An effective way to attract new readers is by visiting similar themed blogs to yours. And after you’ve read some posts don’t forget to leave comments. Bloggers love comments.

It goes without saying (but I’m gonna say it anyway) that while self-promotion is important, it’s waaay more important to keep your comments relevant. Don’t just drop in and abuse the comment system to push your blog.  Nobody likes spam.

A common etiquette blunder of trying to drive traffic to your blog is posting off-putting, pointless and self-promoting comments on other people’s blogs. All that will do is turn off readers. Get a load of this one that I received a few months ago: “Yo Mike, I’m really happy for you and I’m gonna let you finish, but my blog is one of the best blogs of all time!”

That’s one doozie of a claim. Oh, and thanks for letting me finish. What the heck, it is my blog.

Comments like this are considered bad form. They aren’t going to win you any friends – let alone readers.

A good comment that’s on theme will not only peak the blogger’s interest but possibly some of his/her readers as well. And that can translate into potential new readers for you.

It’s easy enough to find the blogs that are a good fit for you. You’re trying to promote your awesome cookbook?  A good starting point is to zip over to WordPress and check out the cooking tags… That should lead you to all kinds of like minded chefs – and potential new friends and clients.  While you’re at their blogs, check out their links.

When you comment, remember to fill in the fields that will come up so that your blog is hyperlinked and readers can click back to your blog.

3. Link Up

Now that you’re producing superb posts and leaving thoughtful comments, the time has come to start linking to blogs that you really like. You should be choosing ones that match up thematically with yours. There’s nothing wrong with being choosy. Slapping up hundreds of links is ultimately meaningless and it can slow down the loading time on your blog page.

Figure out who the players are in the blog arena you’re writing for. Seek out like-minded bloggers who already have solid audiences and write a post that was inspired by one of theirs. Be sure to include a link in your post to their blog. Their stats counter will point them to your link and chances are good they’ll drop by to see what you’ve written.

If they like what they see, it may inspire them to point their readers to you, the new kid on the blogosphere.  And now that they’re aware of you (and your awesome blog), it’s very possible they’ll find something on your blog that they want to mention on theirs.

Now you’re in link-back territory. This means that some their readers are going to swing by your place to check you out. And some of them will stick around.

4. Talk With Your Readers

Once your blog has readers, make sure they can participate. Make sure your blog comments are on and respond to the comments left on your blog. Try and avoid just saying “Hey, thanks for visiting!” Get involved. Raise other interesting points. If they have questions, definitely answer them. The comment thread can be a lively place and if people know you’re responding thoughtfully to their comments they will return.

Now that you’ve done all that – isn’t there cake and beer in the fridge?

Mike Erskine-Kellie is a writer for TV and a partner at Babble On Communications. He and his brother, John, write the humour blogs Crabby Old Fart and Sick Days.

Other good sources for blogging tips and info:

Pro Blogger

Copy Blogger

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The good ones make a TV Interview look easy. So what exactly makes a good tv interview? Here are ten top tips for you to remember for your next tv interview or to keep in mind as you gear up to secure or execute one:

1. Know the show before you go on. Make sure you have a sense of the feel of the show, how long the segments are, who the hosts are, what their energy is like and what the character is of the show. You can ensure you fit in much more readily if you’ve done your homework.

2.  Be topical. Make sure you have up to the minute info on your subject. If you can, relate your subject to something trending in news to give it that much more relevance.

3.  Be Visual. If your segment isn’t visually engaging or appealing, you’re radio.  Nothing wrong with radio — but if you want to to TV interviews, give them something that moves. The visuals must make sense on their own and be fine to run with someone takling over it (which is how much of it will be used).  Your footage must be active and require no real explanation. Beta-SP is the preferred format for tape, but increasingly, producers will accept other formats.

4.  Remember a TV interview is not a commercial. Make sure your segment offers value to the viewer beyond pushing your messages out. This is not a paid ad – so it’s important what you’re doing and saying fits the show.

5. Be somebody – be you. Don’t try and be something or someone you’re not. You will have a terrible time trying to remember who you’re supposed to be and the audience will be hard pressed to connect with you.

6. Be upbeat and energetic. Unless you’re on a show where chairs might get thrown (and we’d seriously suggest giving that a second thought if that’s you’re plan), try and fill the screen with good energy. You may well find yourself remembered and even invited back.

7. Be interesting and transparent. And unless you’re really outrageous, no one likes to watch a braggart.

8.  Always be truthful and ensure you are well versed in the subject at hand. Your job is to make the host look good and if you do that, you will find yourself with more tv interviews before you know it.

9.  Be nice to everyone you meet. Tomorrow’s producers have to start out somewhere, perhaps on the reception desk. Be respectful to everyone you meet.

10. Don’t expect to get materials back from press. You may ask but assume you may not get it back, particularly as stress levels rise and budgets decrease. The more self sufficient you are, the easier it is on everyone and the more likely it is you will be asked to do more tv interviews.

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Being Twitter follow worthy isn’t rocket science. In fact, successful twitter follow really comes down to the some simple etiquette basics with a little dose of treating others as you’d like to be treated thrown in.

Twitter is a form of social media. The emphasis is on social. As others, including David Meerman Scott and Jim Tobin and Lisa Braziel are fond of saying, think of it as a cocktail party. Follow basic rules of human interaction and twitter follow will come seamlessly and organically. Here are some helpful guidelines to follow:

1. Jump In!

The best way to learn about twitter is to jump right in. Go ahead and follow people. You can unfollow them later if you don’t like their tweets. If you get followed by someone who makes you uncomfortable, you can always block them. You are in control.

2. Be authentic and be interesting

Be engaging, be fun, be serious, be real…be you at your best. People engage with people, not a product. Don’t try and be something or someone you’re not. Twitter follow depends on you being a real person connecting with people in real time in real and meaningful ways.

3. Show us what you’re made of!

Put some thought into your twitter page. Make sure your bio tells us who you are and get a picture up of yourself pronto. Do not leave the default avatar – that’s a sure fire way to kill your chance at twitter follow. Find or create a background you like and make sure that as you are following people, you have posted something that gives potential followers a glimpse into who you are. Start watching the conversations of those you are following and jump in if you have something helpful or meaningful to add.

4. Follow H.A.L.T. rules

Never tweet when you’re too Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired. Remember the needs of your audience always and don’t tweet anything you might regret later.

5. Be conversational and remember your manners

Twitter is not a broadcast medium. It is a conversation. It is about engagement and NOT about pushing messages out. Engage in the conversations of others and others will engage in your conversations as well. If you are simply letting other people know what you are doing or thinking, chances are very good Twitter will not work for you. Thank others when they help you and engage in niceties like “Follow Fridays” where you acknowledge others who bring value to you through their tweets. Thank those who acknowledge you and the value you bring to them.

6. Be helpful

You’ve probably had or have a friend who takes and takes and takes. It doesn’t feel good in real life and it doesn’t feel good in Twitter either. The good news is in Twitter, it’s much easier to disengage. To be truly Twitter follow worthy, make sure you help others, offer advice where you can, and re-tweet messages that you think will be helpful to those following you. Do it because it’s the right thing to do. But know also that those you’ve been helpful to will be much more inclined to be helpful to you too.

7. Think twice about an auto follow program

There is great value in choosing who you follow. Sadly, an increasing number of people resort to pyramid-like services that will automatically get them new followers. It is popular with spammers and people looking to get big numbers of twitter follows fast. The end result? Not a lot of meaningful relationships but many new spammers looking for fast sales and big Twitter follow numbers. Slow and steady wins the race.

8. Tweet in Real Time

There are programs that let you set tweets for later – but setting your tweets on auto pilot has a serious downside. You are missing out on real conversations. Even if you try and make these auto tweets sound interesting, you’re really just broadcasting and are less likely to engage others.

9. Avoid Auto Direct Messages

If it’s worth thanking someone, it’s worth thanking them personally. Take the time to thank a twitter follow who is a real person engaging in real tweets and let them know that you’re following them too. See if there is a point of interest between you in their bio or on their twitter page. It’s a great relationship starter and you never know where it might lead.

10. Take it off line

There are opportunities to extend your twitter experience in the real world. Take advantage of the chance to step out into the real world and connect with the twitter followers you have. Opportunities will include conferences, conventions or informal meet ups when you’re visiting a new city. Twitter can open up whole new worlds for you if you want it to.

Twitter is what you make of it. It’s a fabulous way to meet new people, some of whom may be very interested in what you have to say. First and foremost, it is about relationships. If you remember that, you will have great Twitter follow and an all around terrific Twitter experience.

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