Publicity Tips – Velocity Media

11 June 2018

How to use bridging phrases to get your message across

Whether you are in a media interview, investor pitch, sales meeting or speaking in front of a crowd, you need to know how to handle questions and get your point across calmly and effectively.

But how do you get back on topic when a question leads you down a different path? Or when an interviewer has different intentions to you? One way is by using a bridging phrase – but beware not all bridging phrases promise an easy way to cross back over to your key messages.

So what is a bridging phrase?

A bridging phrase helps you transition from one topic to another seamlessly (if done correctly), making them valuable for any business owner, spokesperson, salesperson or professional to have up their sleeve to use when the moment requires.

The first part of the sentence needs to acknowledge what has been said or asked while still allowing the opportunity to change the subject or add information. The second part of the bridging phrase provides the chance to change the message while sounding as though you are about to deliver valuable information. In other words, you want a sentence that will help you bring the conversation back to what matters to your target audience. Here are some examples:

While it has been that way…
People have said that but…
Yes, I agree though would add…
I’m not sure that is the case, let me tell you why…
We/I take a different approach…
While that has been public opinion…
That reminds me of…
While we are on the subject…
I wouldn’t say that, but what I would say is…
Let me put that in context…
To put this in perspective…
That is a common misconception…
What is more concerning is…
What I believe is…
It has been my experience that…
I have found that…
What many people don’t know is…
What you may not be aware of is…
What people need to know is…
What our customers have found…
What this new research suggests…
The heart of the matter is…

While it sounds simple, mastering the art of bridging can take a lot of practice. As you converse today, look at how you naturally change the subject. Chances are you may say one of the following:

“So…”
“Anyway…”
“Keep in mind that…”
“However…”
“Chances are…”
“That said…”

Granted not all will be appropriate in a professional setting but it is essential to be in touch with your authentic voice. When you are, you can start experimenting with bridging phrases that sound like your natural voice or at least feel more natural to you.

Beware of bridging to avoid questions

If you want an example of someone using bridging phrases to avoid a line of questioning, listen to a journalist interviewing a politician. You will no doubt hear a few of their favourite bridging phrases like:

“What the most important point/issue here is…”
“What we need to remember is…”
“What we need to consider is…”
“Before I answer that I need to explain…”

When someone uses a bridging phrase to avoid a topic, it usually comes with no (or minimal) acknowledgement of the question asked. It is also undeniable that they are trying to spin things in a different direction – and generally for self-serving purposes not for the value of the target audience. While this approach can help to get some points across there is a high chance the journalist or interviewer will hit the issue harder in the next question they ask.

While your customers may not press you like a journalist if you bridge to avoid their questions you can lose trust and credibility in their eyes.

Try reframing the question

If you come across loaded questions or more confronting objections try reframing the question in your mind to still acknowledge and answer it, but give an answer that is more aligned with your messaging and interests.

For example, if a customer was to question “How can you justify the price of your product when [your competitor] only charges $X?” You could reframe the question to “What value can you provide that is over and above what [your competitor] offers?” You will still answer their question but from a more powerful and positive position.

The bottom line is you need to be prepared

To be able to bridge topics effectively you need to be prepared. Know what you want to get across, plan for questions and objections, have some bridging phrases ready and practice reframing questions and answering them from a more positive perspective.

Amanda

20 April 2014

How to make your business newsworthy (with steal worthy news angles to try)

With journalists bombarded with hundreds of pitches and media releases each day, your ability to generate media coverage is directly determined by how newsworthy and interesting you can make yourself, your business or your topic.

But with so many different media outlets with differing opinions on what is newsworthy to them, how do you choose the right angle to make sure you don’t end up deleted?

Here are some tips to help you find the best newsworthy angle for your business and some steal worthy news angles to get you started.

1. Know why you want media coverage

The first step in making your business newsworthy is to determine why you want to generate media coverage in the first place. Is it to build brand awareness and get people talking about your products or services? Is it to raise awareness for a cause or issue? Is it to gain credibility and be able to say that you or your business have been “featured in…” or perhaps it’s to be the go-to source on your area of expertise?

Why you want to generate coverage will not only impact what media outlets and journalists you target but also the angle you use to make it more newsworthy to each of them.

For example if you want to be an ongoing source you wouldn’t send off a media release about how great your product, service or business is. You would be leading with statistics, figures, trends, industry insights and other valuable information that will prove your worth and credibility.

2. Determine who your target market is

Like any form of promotion you need to know who you are targeting and why. While the journalist will be the first point of contact, they won’t necessarily be the primary market you want to target, unless your goal is to become their expert source.

So think about it, is it that you want to reach new potential customers and persuade them to buy your product or service? Do you to attract more wholesalers to stock your products or high quality staff, licensees, franchisees and investors into your business?

When you know who you are targeting you will easily identify the best media channels to use to get your message across and the right angle to ‘hook’ both the journalist and your target market.

3. Know the media you are targeting

Once you have a list of the media outlets that attract your target market, get to know each one. What stories and topics do they cover? What do they find newsworthy? How do they put stories together? Are they factually based or more sensational? Have they covered anything recently that you could give more detail on or an alternate opinion? How much information do they require? How long is each story or segment? What segment, section or journalist will find what you have to share the most relevant?

Keep in mind too that there will often be multiple opportunities within the one media outlet that will also require a different approach or angle. Take a magazine for example, which has editorials and features, personal or business profiles, real life stories, product features, reviews and competitions, opinion pieces and letters to the editor.

Each of these segments can offer you media coverage though which one you choose will depend on your purpose. If you want to establish yourself as an expert you may want to go for a profile or editorial article. However, if you want to launch or promote a product you may opt for a product feature, review or competition.

4. Find your angle

When you know why you want coverage, who you are targeting and what media you need to use to reach them, suddenly finding your angle, hook or “in” is a lot easier.

Keep in mind that the media want to appeal to their audience just as much as you do in order to boost their own ratings, hits or sales, so think about what information you can provide that will help them achieve their goals so you can, in turn achieve yours. Always take a win/win/win approach when it comes to targeting the media.

To help you start thinking about angles you can adapt to attract media coverage in your own business, here are some examples categorised by three types of coverage you might be looking for.

A personal or business profile – Include stories of rags to riches, David versus Goliath, overcoming adversity, something or someone lost than found, successes (like winning an accolade, achieving something that is thought to be difficult or “impossible”, making a discovery, achieving a milestone or attaining a big goal), business growth (franchising, licensing, winning a large contract, expanding nationally or internationally) or even key lessons you’ve learnt (what to do or not to do) in any of the above (or other) scenarios
Becoming a source – Provide valuable information people need to know but aren’t told or have no way of knowing like key industry insights, research findings, breaking news, whistle-blower confessions, examples of real world consequences when it comes to new regulations or legislation (or a layman’s guide to understanding it), upcoming trends, public announcements, scams or lawsuits
Product feature – New products, themed products (summer/winter essentials, must-have tools for business owners, products every new mum needs etc.), gift ideas, decorations or recipes for celebrations and events (like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter, Birthdays or Christmas) or products that are endorsed, used or spotted on a celebrity

A good news angle will be relevant to your the audience, interesting to the media and add value to everyone. Remember that the objective is not to push information out but to draw people to you, a concept that can take more thoughtful planning, but will generate more results and sales.

Amanda

20 April 2014

Five tips to help you pitch more effectively to bloggers

When it comes to getting your message out to a large audience, the first response for most business owners is to target the media. Though what more brands are starting to realise is that bloggers can be equally powerful, if not more powerful, at spreading the word.

Not only are they powerful influencers with their loyal audience, they also provide valuable link backs to your website, give you greater flexibility with more promotional posts than the media and can be a lot easier to gain coverage on – provided you do it right.

There are a number of ways you can work with bloggers, from sponsored posts, link placements and advertising, to guest posts, reviews and giveaways. You will find most PR friendly blogs will have a PR page that lists the opportunities available with them and how they like to work with brands.

Since this is such a great way to get the word out about your business, I thought I would share five tips on pitching to bloggers as both a blogger and publicist, so you can improve your chances of gaining coverage on blogs and building an ongoing beneficial relationship with bloggers.

1. Personalise your email

It is important to understand that bloggers, like journalists, can receive hundreds of PR pitches a day so it is important to stand out from the crowd. To do this take the time to find out their name and interests (you will normally get this from reading their posts and ‘About’ page).

Don’t send out a blanket email to hundreds of bloggers with ‘Dear blogger’ as the header, general statements like this immediately strip any personal touch from your email and can be skipped over in a sea of emails if there is no powerful subject line or headline to capture attention.

2. Read their blog

There are a number of reasons why you should read the blogs you are targeting. First and foremost you need to determine if they are someone you want to associate your brand with, secondly you want to double check they have your target audience and lastly you want to get to know them as a person to make a targeted pitch.

3. Keep your pitches relevant

Just like the media, don’t send bloggers every bit of information or news on your business. Only send products and services that are relevant to them personally and their audience and do it sporadically. If you email them too regularly or continue to send them irrelevant information they may get into the habit of deleting any email that comes through or block you altogether.

4. Make it win/win/win

Often many businesses get caught up in focusing on the win for themselves and the win for the blogger’s readers that they completely forget the blogger! But bloggers work hard to build their audience and like any human being, want to know what’s in it for them.

So before you approach them think about what you can offer them. With reviews you will obviously give them the goods or services to keep for the review (though make sure it is of a monetary value that is worth their time) and sponsored posts you pay, though what about guest posts? Could you provide them with promotion by promoting their blog and the article across your social media? Could you offer them a reciprocal guest post on your blog or in your newsletter? Think about what they might like or what would help them.

5. Build a relationship

Instead of aiming for a once off mention on their blog, look to build an ongoing relationship with the bloggers you target. Attract their attention by interacting with them on their blog and social media and continue to build rapport by engaging with them.

The better the relationship you build with the blogger the more opportunities you will expose yourself to – particularly if you build a relationship between the blogger and your brand. If they become a fan of your products or services, there is a high chance you will get extra mentions above what you have asked for or arranged.

Do you have any tips or any questions when it comes to working with bloggers?

Amanda

28 January 2014

How to respond successfully to a media call-out

Media Coverage is powerful. Not only do you gain exposure to new potential customers, it gives you implied credibility acting as a third-party endorsement.

But when you’re wearing a hundred and one hats in your business already, finding the time to develop newsworthy angles, write media releases and then send them out can be a little difficult.

Thankfully though, with the help of social media and websites like SourceBottle.com you can intercept media call-outs from journalists who are looking for sources to input on their story. The angle is set and the story is being published, all you need to do is put forward your expert opinion or experience.

But you won’t be the only person who sees the call-out, so how do you improve your chances of being chosen? Here are seven tips to help you respond to a media call-out successfully and position yourself as a valuable source.

1. Research the media or journalist making the request

Call-outs don’t always include the exact media outlet making the request though if it does, or a journalist or news organisation you are following puts out a request, research them further.

What kind of stories do they do? How long are they normally? What is their news focus – do they cover more hard-hitting news or are they more feature and profile based? This information can help you write your response more strategically.

2. Respond as soon as possible

Journalists are on often on tight deadlines so the sooner you respond the better. Normally each call-out will have a date by when they need people to respond by, though some won’t and you can’t always be assured that they will wait until that date to choose a source, so get in quick.

3. Read their request carefully and answer accordingly

Once you have read what they want, write 2-3 paragraphs of how you could shed light on the topic. It needs to be attention grabbing, so sell yourself but keep the focus on what they want and need. To do this ask yourself what could you do to help them cover this story well? What could you bring to it that no-one else could?

Be as concise as possible without diluting your message, as this too will demonstrate to the journalist your ability to articulate your view quickly and succinctly, something they value in a source.

4. Mention any specific information you could provide them with

Do you have any industry insights, statistics or background information that could help them with their story? If the answer is yes, tell them what you have without giving it all away, you want them to have a taste but still be intrigued enough to contact you.

5. Build your credibility

Build your credibility and position yourself as a good and reliable source by including your expertise, credentials and length of industry experience. Also mention any other media coverage you have gained if applicable.

6. Include your contact details

Remember to include your landline, mobile, email address and website so they can easily get in contact with you for an interview.

7. Be available

Once again journalists are usually on tight deadlines so make yourself available when they need to interview you. Thank them for their time and let them know that you are available for comment again if they ever need it.

So there you have it, seven tips for creating a more strategic and targeted media call-out response. Do you have any tips that have worked for you?

Amanda

23 November 2013

Six ways to generate publicity (that you may not have tried)

When it comes to generating publicity for your business, news releases are by far the most popular option. But they aren’t the only option. There are a number of tools you can use and angles you can take to capture the attention of journalists and editors.

To give you some ideas, here are six additional tools or angles that you may not have thought to use in order to generate more publicity for your business.

1. Trend Releases

Trend releases are often the most valuable to the media and will help you establish a reputation as a source. These releases contain information on developing trends, breaking research or other industry insights that would be unknown to the media or difficult for them to obtain.

These are ideal for industry specific publications though also for mainstream media provided the angle is highly newsworthy and affects or impacts a wide audience.

2. Expert Comment/Piggyback Releases

Expert comment releases are issued when a story breaks that would require a statement or comment from someone with your expertise. These are also great for positioning yourself as a source.

It could be a statement of support with additional information or an opposing view with facts to back up your opinion. Whatever your response, be sure to state you are available for interviews.

3. Letters to the Editor

Writing Letters to the Editor can be an effective venue for establishing yourself as an expert, addressing controversial issues, discussing industry developments, responding to claims and of course offering your opinion. To capture attention and increase your chance of being published make sure your response is insightful, sharp and articulated well.

4. Op-Ed Articles

Op-Ed articles are longer opinion pieces that (usually) appear on the same page as the Letters to the Editor. Just like the Letters to the Editor they are a great way to showcase your level of knowledge and insight. Once again carefully consider your position and make sure the opinion you put forward is insightful, researched, logical and well written.

5. Public Service Announcements

Public service announcements are messages in the public interest sent out by the media without charge, with the objective to raise awareness or change the public’s attitude or behaviour towards an issue or event. While they won’t suit every business, issue or event, it’s good to be aware of this option.

6. Reviews and giveaways

Many publications will review new or existing products for their “what’s new”, “things we love” or “check this out” sections so it pays to send a sample of your products or at least alert relevant publications to your products.

They will also hold regular giveaways either in their magazine, newsletter or on their website. Some happen monthly while others happen around key times of the year like Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Back to School, change of season and so on. So it is good to send out a news release with the option to do a review and/or giveaway around these times.

Keep in mind that most publications will require a reasonable value or specific quantity of product to be included in a giveaway. To decide if the investment is worth it take into consideration the target audience of the publication, how large the audience is and the level of coverage and promotion you and the giveaway will receive.

Have you tried any different ways to generate publicity for your business?