'Golden nuggets' from PRINZ Meet the Media event
In October HMC Communications joined PR practitioners from all backgrounds at the annual PRINZ Meet the Media event. Some 'top tips' we took away from the journo panelists include:
- Think big: As news moves online, this means journalist are writing for a national audience. Your story needs more than a local appeal.
- Make 'clickable' content: Robots are in control of what you read. Stuff and the Herald, have computer algorithms that choose which stories appear on its home page and other pages and it's all based on what stories are most popular. If your news isn't 'clickable,' don't expect to see it in the online headlines!
- Be relevant: Community papers want ultra-local news. If it's happening outside the city limits (or in major cities . . . the suburb limits!) they don't want to know.
- Bye-bye print: Days of the printed paper are nearing an end.
- Get creative for radio: Think outside the box when it comes to radio; Breakfast shows are open to discussing how radio could help you with innovative ideas beyond just advertising. Approach them with a PR campaign idea!
- Consider exclusivity: Exclusives matter to some journalists and not to others.
- Understand the change: We're seeing the end of journalist 'rounds.' Stuff refers to national verticals (business vertical for all of NZ or farming vertical) and locally-based reporters are writing stories of interest to a national audience.
- Social media matters: Social media matters - if your story has social media appeal, it has a greater chance of being picked up.
- Hurry hurry: Deadlines are now! Journalists are constantly writing and submitting stories through their online portals all day long. That means you need to respond to media queries faster than ever before or risk the story being printed without your comment.
- Influence is shifting: The influence of channels has switched. TV coverage used to be the Holy Grail. But TV viewership is declining and your best bet is to aim for Stuff.co.nz or NZHerald.co.nz. Also TVNZ's new app has seen tvnz.co.nz jump up into the top five most visited websites in NZ, just behind Stuff and the Herald.