We’ve Moved!
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The MLM site was down for several weeks while we changed host companies to run the latest version of WordPress. We’re now up and running again, and better than ever! Please subscribe to the feed at the new/old site, or update your subscription preferences to reflect this change. Thank you for reading Mopwater PR + Media Notes. See you over there!
Test Drive My Job: James S. Walker
Today’s TDMJ profiles James Walker, an incredible social media specialist who is just starting his career in PR. James is a junior project manager for APCO Online , a division of the global agency APCO Worldwide. James works in Washington, DC and I discovered him through his insightful tweets about PR and his informative blog Gen Y PR Prescriptions.
When he met me recently at a DC Starbucks, James told me how important it is to claim a piece of the social media pie for yourself if you’re a PR person calling yourself a social media strategist/expert (read: start your blog!) Hopefully I’ll be able to get the video footage of that timely interview up this weekend, pending tech support. For now, here’s James:
James S. Walker
Washington, DC
Age: 22
APCO Worldwide
Junior Project Manager, APCO Online
length of time in role: 6 months
Blog: Blog:www.prprescriptions.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jaywalk1
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jswalker
Mopwater: Describe your path to PR. What made you want to get into the field?
JW: I discovered PR right around the time I decided to declare a major at George Washington University. I made a call home to check in and mentioned that I was planning to major in Communication. My mother replied: “What kind of job can you get with that major?” I said: “Umm…(scratching head) you know…Communications positions.” At that point, Communication just seemed interesting, but I knew that I would never hear the end of it if I didn’t come up with a good answer, so I went to work.
After reading books, taking career assessments and browsing hundreds of sites, I decided that PR was it. Glad that I figured it out, I called back home and made a compelling case showing how I would get a job in PR. Her response: “So… what exactly will you do?”
Reflecting back on my answer to her then reminds me of the opening for MTV’s The Real World – “You think you know, but you have no idea.” I have worked (internships and full-time) in a number of Communications roles since then, from university relations and special events to CNN’s Crossfire at GW to public affairs and crisis comms shops to a health care communications firm and now a global communications agency.
In my short time in the industry, I’ve worked steps away from James Carville and Donna Brazile, helped prepare for prescription medication product launches, developed materials for patients with chronic pain and diabetes, and proposed social media strategies for tech giants. Each position taught me something new about the industry and myself, allowing me to grow both personally and professionally.
Mopwater: What aspects of the industry are you most excited about?
JW: I am most excited about the role the PR industry already is and will continue to play in the development, promotion and adoption of social media among businesses and other organizations.
I think the industry is well positioned to not only teach groups how to engage in social media but also to provide communications counsel on how to engage in a way that benefits them and their audiences, the people they serve. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Tips for Responding to HARO Queries
Peter Shankman’s service Help a Reporter Out (HARO) has revolutionized the way publicists and PR practitioners find and respond to reporters’ queries. Based on the premise that “everyone’s an expert at something,” the thrice-daily free email service delivers dozens of queries to a subscriber’s inbox every day. All you have to do is sign up, check your email, and scroll.
But such services have also given any and everyone with an email address access to media contacts. As an advocate of free services, I believe the democratization of media relations is great. But as a former reporter, I know that in the wrong hands, such power can be potentially hazardous.
Dealing with the media requires a certain brand of etiquette, and that may escape an artist or small business doing its own PR. And that’s completely understandable. That’s why there are professionals that do this sort of thing. 
I recently caught up with Jennifer Thomas, a Florida-based travel columnist and editor of an online travel magazine. She regularly posts queries on HARO. Should you ever find yourself responding to a posted query, here are 6 tips from Jennifer on how to respond:
1.PITCH ON TOPIC. I know this sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how often I receive pitches that have zero to do with my query.
2. ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS POSED IN THE QUERY. Please do not say “I have an expert for you, click here,” or “I wrote about this, visit my blog at X”. I want to hear what you have to say about the query and how you think you or your expert fits in. Do not make me work for it. There are too many people responding to posted queries, so those who actually take time to provide relevant information will likely receive follow up questions or be included in the article.
3.MEET THE DEADLINE. If a deadline is included in the query, please, please, please, respond in a timely fashion. Just today, I am still receiving pitches responding to a specific query from 6 days ago. The article has already been written. If by chance you or your client fit perfectly into a story, then start off by saying “I know your posted deadline has passed, but I have a great source for you. I’ve included specific content below in case you might still be working on the article. If not, I appreciate you considering this client for any future article opportunities.” Read the rest of this entry »
Introducing…Mopwater SENIOR COUNSEL
With the economy throwing everyone for a loop, public relations, marketing and media professionals need wise counsel to help us make the best decisions for our readers/clients and ultimately our careers. To that end, I’m pleased to introduce Mopwater Senior Counsel, a column that will feature specific advice from senior-level PR and marketing professionals with at least 15 years experience in the field.
Paul Duning is the founder of the DC-area’s communications resource Capitol Communicator. Duning founded CC after he lost a senior communications job during the economic downturn of 2001. Instead of getting defeated, Duning got busy creating one of the most exciting platforms for communications networking in this region. Read more about Duning’s creative lemons-to-lemonade story of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Mopwater asks: What do you do when you get laid off from your media or PR job?
Answer: Take time to regroup, get creative, and get to work on a completely new endeavor.
Paul Duning, Founder of Capitol Communicator
Prior to starting Capitol Communicator, I spent 30 months as the merger & acquisition lead for a company consolidating communications-related companies in three markets. During that period, I met with several hundred communications companies across a broad spectrum of disciplines and was instrumental in bringing together 17 companies.
Then came the bust of 2001 and 2002.
My role quickly changed from integrating to re-organizing, which resulted in multiple rounds of difficult layoffs including, in the end, my own.
So I took a bubble-imposed sabbatical and spent the summer traveling with my family. During that time, I was struck with this idea to create a resource for communications professionals. [I wanted] to bring a community back together that had been terribly fragmented by 911 and the economic downturn that followed. Read the rest of this entry »
HOW TO PITCH: Brian Reich of Fast Company Experts, Etc.
Happy Monday, everyone. I’m excited to present another Mopwater “How to Pitch” exclusive, this week with Brian Reich, a freelance media writer and blogger. Brian is an amazing writer, blogger and author of a few books about media. The blogosphere has been abuzz of late with talk about how to work with bloggers, and to answer those questions, I will soon be introducing an e-book : the Mopwater Guide to Blogger Relations. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, here’s how to pitch Brian Reich.
Mopwater: What is your name, news organization, current city and beat? What types of stories do you write? How long have you been writing on this topic?
BR: My name is Brian Reich. I am a blogger and freelance writer. I post daily/regularly on WeMedia.com, Fast Company Experts, and my own blog – ThinkingAboutMedia.com. I contribute to other publications on a freelance basis. I live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. My focus is on media, technology, how political and non-profit organizations use technology to community, and similar. I have been blogging for 5+ years, and writing about these topics for nearly a decade. My book, Media Rules!: Mastering Today’s Technology To Connect With And Keep Your Audience, was published in December 2007 by Wiley &Sons.
Mopwater: What kind of stories are you most interested in covering, and in what context?
BR: I am most interested in covering the individuals and organizations who are making substantive contributions to our society and/or facing the most significant challenges because of the changing times. I write a lot about newspapers and the future of media, about nonprofit organizations, how different communities are using technology/the internet, about the opportunity for political organizations to leverage technology to address social issues, etc. Here’s an example of a recent post.
Mopwater: What’s the best pitch you’ve gotten recently and why?
BR: Honestly, I haven’t gotten any good ones lately. I’ve been really disappointed by how PR professionals try to pitch me, as a blogger. I get emails that say ‘Dear blogger’ — when my name is clearly listed on my blog, and everywhere else. The opening line from a recent pitch read “I know you will be interested in this, so I figured you would want to write about.” I’m not sure where they got that idea from, the topic (foreign policy) is not something I write regularly about. No attempt was made to try and develop a relationship with me… it was just a blanket email that included a press release and some other background materials. I ignored/deleted it. Read the rest of this entry »
Pitch Engine: PR 2.0 At Its Best
Whether you’re a journalist or PR professional, you should be using Pitch Engine. It’s another one of those great 2.0 applications that makes all our lives easier. Pitch Engine allows journalists to browse thousands of social media press releases, and gives publicists the chance to house their SMPRs online for free. The press releases are easy to link and share on Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, Technorati, etc. You can even upload photos, video, and audio.
I wanted to try out the service on myself before using it for clients. Check out my social media press release before it expires.
Test Drive My Job: Kara Bussabarger
Yes, that’s an elephant.
You can imagine my surprise when I opened my e-mail message and this amazing photograph appeared on my screen.
Kara Bussabarger has one of the coolest PR jobs I’ve ever heard of: she is the public relations manager for a zoo. When you think about it, zoos have a lot of PR needs; there’s always something going on and they’re always in the news. I know people in DC were obsessed a couple of years ago with the pandas at the National Zoo. Seemed like those bears were on the news every day.
Read how Kara’s career path wound its way from criminology to public relations.
Kara Bussabarger
Louisville, Kentucky
Age: 32
Public Relations Manager for the Louisville Zo0 http://www.louisvillezoo.org
Company Size: 150-300 employees, No. 1 non-profit tourist attraction in the Louisville, Kentucky region
What made you get into public relations? I came to public relations through a different course than most. I actually have a degree in criminology and psychology. In that course of study, I would ask a lot of questions to find out the heart of the issue and how to solve the problem. That actually led me to journalism, which intrinsically asks a lot of questions to find the heart of the story. So my background seemed to weave well into where I am today—public relations in a non-profit organization. I like working in the non-profit sector because I am not just working for a bottom line, but also a mission. I feel my work really matters, and there are always wonderful stories to tell.
What do you like best about the field? Being a storyteller. I am a storyteller. But to be a storyteller, you have to have an audience and a story to tell. The degree to which that story grabs and forms a relationship with your audience is the degree to which you are a successful storyteller or not. So to be able to tell these stories, I have to have relationships—with my media contacts and the people on my staff. I couldn’t tell stories without them.
What aspects of the industry are you currently most excited about? I love learning and getting the word out about the Zoo and the great work we do for animals and conservation. So probably the most exciting thing now is the interest in Web 2.0. Read the rest of this entry »
When Bad Times Happen to Good Clients
It doesn’t feel very good to have your client call you up and break the news that they’re cutting back. But since we are well into what appears to be an ever deepening recession, it’s something you’ll probably experience this year if you haven’t already.
It happened to me a few months ago. One of my clients relies heavily on government funding; about $31 million or so worth of it. By and large, their programming dollars come mostly from one government agency. Our city government, like many others around the country, is facing the prospect of furloughs, so millions are getting trimmed from the operating budget. Naturally, my client’s twice-removed $31 million program ended up on the chopping block.
I knew something was up when I could never reach my contact directly. When I finally did get her on the phone, she informed me that my invoices were being held up by the funding agency for further review. The funders wanted more details about what I was doing (that hard to define PR work), etc. At the same time, the agency’s financial woes had been leaked to the papers and were all over Internet. I’m no dummy. I knew where this was going.
My contract, which was actually up for renewal, was put on hold. One of my specialties is multi-month, multi-year, multi-tier communications and marketing programming, so I couldn’t stop working cold turkey without letting a lot of time and effort go to waste. Pulling the plug meant that quite a few irons I had in the fire would not only cool, but go cold all together. A few projects that had stretched out over several months were finally nearing completion. But I was no longer receiving payment, so what was I to do?
Read the rest of this entry »
Test Drive My Job: Aerial Ellis
Soon after I got my twitter account, I began following Aerial Ellis. Her profile intrigued me because she was a.) a cool looking brown girl like myself, b.) doing some interesting PR work and c.) living in Nashville-my hometown! I have love for anyone who is living and working in “the ‘Ville” and contributing to its evolution as a truly world-class city. So many people don’t know about the many treasures of Nashville, but that’s another blog post all together.
Miss Ellis is definitely one to watch as she’s only 26, and is already running her own successful shop in Nashville. This definitely won’t be the last time you see her name.
Aerial M. Ellis
Age: 26
City: Nashville, TN
PR Consultant/Owner
Urbane Imagery
Since 2004
http://www.urbaneimagery.com
http://aerialellis.wordpress.com
Twitter: @AerialEllis
Mopwater: What are your typical work hours?
AE: A typical range of work hours for me could be from 5am until midnight or later. Lately I’ve been attempting to end my day by 10 pm, although that doesn’t always work.
Mopwater: Describe a typical work day.
AE: Honestly, my days can be quite unpredictable but I’ll give it a shot…A typical work day begins by reading tons of emails on my Blackberry. Once I get to a computer, I send and answer more emails and check news clips for client coverage. I check in with clients at some point then respond to any requests from editors, producers and journalists as a result of sending pitches or press releases. Throughout the day, I monitor the execution of any PR campaigns we’re conducting at the time, making sure anything is on schedule and conceptualized creatively. At any given moment, I may get a call from a fellow PR colleague to discuss a project, a returning client needing more help or a prospective client requesting a proposal.Many of my clients and colleagues IM me so we chat about business several times a day.
Mopwater: Describe your office environment: Do you work from a busy office in the city, do you work mainly from home/a coffeeshop? Do you like working this way?
AE: Initially, I worked from home and some of my favorite coffee shops & bookstores. Then a colleague/mentor who was also working from home suggested we move into an office and share the space. I prefer working from an office. While I enjoy the freedom and comfort of working from home, I do like the structure and flexibility an office provides. I feel more comfortable holding meetings in an office instead of at Starbucks or my living room.
Mopwater: How many co-workers/employees do you have? How do you best collaborate with your team (standard board room meetings, conference calls, BaseCamp or other project management tool, etc.)
AE: 1 full-time (me), 1 part-time and 2 interns…We do a lot of team conversations. Everyone knows that can call or email me anytime if they need anything. We chat on Gmail almost everyday because we are not all in the same city or able to meet daily. We also have monthly conference calls where I provide an agenda and we recap all client activity for the month and talk about upcoming assignments. Read the rest of this entry »
When Negotiating With New Clients, Alter Services Not Fees
To say that economically, things are rough around here would be an understatement, and at this point also a cliche. For entrepreneurs, things are tougher than they once were, no question. But that’s not to say that there aren’t still opportunities for marketing and PR professionals to turn a profit.
It’s really tempting to get so excited about the prospect of a new client that you underbid yourself. Not to mention the dynamics of this recession. You might start thinking “Wow, things are really tough right now, and I’m sure they can’t really afford my normal rate. We’re in a recession. Let me lower my fees, so that I can close the deal, just this once…”
But you’re never going to turn a profit if you don’t get paid what you’re worth. And you can’t get paid what you’re worth if you hedge every time someone says they can’t afford you. Furthermore, that will really come back to bite you once this recession is over. Your clients (who didn’t know you were doing them a favor) will think that you’re only worth the peanuts that you charge.
Scenario: You meet with a new client. You absolutely love them. They love you and you’re both giddy about working together. You promise them a proposal/quote for your services and they tell you they’re looking forward to it. You go home, happy and start slaving over the proposal. You painstakingly detail the scope of work and deliverables. You decide how long all of this will take, outline the budget and break down your fees. You submit the proposal and wait. Read the rest of this entry »
Mopwater Special Report: “Notorious” Unknown Outshines the Stars
Mopwater does not normally do film or music reviews, but since this was a special DC screening, it’s somewhat appropriate. Maybe I’ll post about the PR people who put on this “red carpet” event later…
I attended an advance screening of Notorious last night in downtown DC. The movie, about the rise and fall of Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls, aka Notorious B.I.G. truly exceeded expectations. This is one of those movies that I would have probably gone to and loved even if I wasn’t already a huge Biggie fan (i.e. Walk the Line-great movie. Johnny Cash? Eh…) Read the rest of this entry »
HOW TO PITCH: Natalie Hopkinson, Editor at The Root
This week’s HTP is again more for the writers than the publicists. Sit tight publicists, I’ve got you covered next week. If you’re an essayist or analyst, journalist, political commentator, or just a thinking person who happens to write about African American issues from time to time, you’ll definitely want to get your stuff in the Root. (I’ve been toying around with an essay for a few weeks, myself). Anyway, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Root, it’s an amazing online magazine full of smart, perceptive cultural commentary. It’s published by Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, and offices are here in Washington, DC. From the site:
The Root is a daily online magazine that provides thought-provoking commentary on today’s news from a variety of black perspectives. The site also hosts an interactive genealogical section to trace one’s ancestry through AfricanDNA.com, a DNA testing site co-founded by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who is also The Root’s Editor-In-Chief. The Root aims to be an unprecedented departure from traditional American journalism, raising the profile of black voices in mainstream media and engaging anyone interested in black culture around the world.
I recently caught up with Root Associate Editor Natalie Hopkinson, formerly of the Washington Post Outlook and Style sections, and co-author of Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip Hop Generation. Here’s How to Pitch Natalie.
The Basics: Natalie Hopkinson, Associate Editor, The Root (www.theroot.com) I assign and edit pieces for this African American interest Web magazine and specialize in cultural essays and multimedia coverage. I started at The Root a week before it launched in January 2008.
What kind of stories/people/companies are you most interested in covering, and in what context? We are African American interest so essays can be pretty much anything under the sun that is of interest to people across the black Diaspora.
What’s the best pitch/query letter/phone call about a story you’ve gotten recently and why? The most recent one that was great was about the cultural-political meaning of the first black Ms. France by a recent college grad who had spent some time there as an exchange student. Also a video series by a comedian.
What are your current “pitching pet peeves”? Too much Obama. Everyone has something to say about him, and we will always have Obama stuff but it gets a little tiring, especially when it is the first piece a new writer is pitching.
What advice can you give writers who are thinking about pitching you? Try to give us stuff that we haven’t heard about. The Ms. France thing I haven’t seen covered much. Also make it unique perspective only you could write about a current topic with enough historical context that will make a 800 word essay both timely and timeless.
What’s your preferred method of contact? My work email is best for the first piece.
Who are your favorite journalists? What book are you reading? What’s your favorite cafe? My favorite journalists. I love Robin Givhan at the Post. No one does cultural criticism better. I also love the New York Times Sunday magazine, always new ideas ahead of the curve and smart. I am reading Patrick French’s new biography of V.S. Naipaul. My favorite cafe is Big Bear Cafe. It is near my house in D.C.
