- SCOOP's Premiere Seminar -
Public Relations Skills and Techniques:
Tools of the Trade

SCOOP offers 10 Scoops to PR Success:

SCOOP 1: The Role of Public Relations

• What's the difference between public relations and publicity?
• Is public relations really the same as marketing?
• How is publicity more valuable than advertising?
• The downside of publicity.
• Public relations target groups.
• How is public relations a management function?
• EXTRA : The publicists' code of ethics.

SCOOP 2: The Marketing Mindset

• What does a marketer do?
• What is the essence of a brand?
• What is the strategic branding process?
• What are collateral materials vs. PR materials?
• How the advertising and promotion functions relate to PR.
• EXTRA : Why does a PR professional need to know marketing basics?

SCOOP 3: Media Relations

• How to develop key contacts.
• Appreciating the media mentality.
• Understanding the job of the media.
• What's the difference between press and media?
• Strategies to get your release read.
• Strategies to develop a rapport with key reporters.
• Knowing who does what in the media.
  EXTRA : Managing the unmanageable.

SCOOP 4: The PR/ Publicity campaign

• Three critical planning steps for every campaign.
• How to make your campaign newsworthy.
• Identifying your target media.
• How can you best package your story?
• The stages of a campaign.
• The timing of a campaign.
• Long-range planning essentials.
• Quantifying your campaign results.
• EXTRA : The broad scope of publicist's day to day activity in a concise list.

SCOOP 5: Writing for Public Relations

• Messaging as the fundamental principal in all forms of PR writing.
• The two overall concerns in effective messaging.
• The six qualities of successful messaging.
• Tips to effective PR language.
• 12 Principles of press releases.
• Essentials of press release structure and etiquette.
• Overview of key elements in PR writing --basic and advanced.
• What's in a press kit?
• Sample press kit format.
• The Four Cardinal Rules for writing press kits.
• The two places for subjectivity in the press kit.
  EXTRA : Words to beware. Essential words to guarantee credibility.

SCOOP 6: PR Writing Shortcuts

• Writing tricks of the trade.
• Personnel releases, bios and executive intros made easy.
• How to write a media advisory to land the camera crews.
• Format for the Facts Sheet and the One-Sheet
• Email pitch pointers
  EXTRA : When do you use a media advisory vs a press release?

SCOOP 7: The Art of the Verbal Pitch

• The three parts to every professional pitch.
• How to increase your chances of a successful pitch.
• The process of pitch preparation.
• The significance of tone.
• Learn the technique of the grabber.
• Making it harder for the media to say no.
• The email cover note as a strategic pitch tool.
• What to do when the reporter answers the phone.
  EXTRA : Using sales techniques to land the placement.

SCOOP 8: Planning a Media Event

• Determining the event content, goals and budget.
• Media relations as an additional component to event planning.
• Planning visuals to maximize event coverage.
• On-site requirements for camera crews.
• Preparing speakers, executives and talent.
• Staffing allocation to handle multiple target groups at once.
• The job never ends: what to do the day after.
  EXTRA : A checklist of dozens of details from A/V to valet.

SCOOP 9: Conventions and Trade Shows

• Selecting the shows for your company presence.
• Media relations tactics to distinguish your company from the clutter.
• Ideas to best utilize your booth for media.
• How to work the show trades and dailies.
• Ins and Outs of press room etiquette.
  EXTRA : How to create a media presence when your company is not an exhibitor.

SCOOP 10: Media Training (as time allows):
A comprehensive handout will be supplied with fundamentals of training your executives for print interviews:

• How the media works.
• Understanding the interview process.
• Knowing your role and your rights as an interview subject.
• Organizing for the interview.
• Preparing your objectives.
• Winning the interview.
• Interview techniques for a variety of questions.
• Using "off the record", "for background", and "not for attribution".
• Diffusing Hostile questions.
  EXTRA : You can't control the media - but you can influence it.

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