It is, in my opinion, one of the toughest aspects of working in PR. Let me tell you about a slightly traumatic encounter I had with a newspaper editor several weeks back. I was asked to call up all the editors to whom we had delivered press releases. The conversation went like this:
Me: Hello sir, this is John. I'm calling to ask if you received our press release.
Editor: Umm... I'll look out for it.
Me: Pardon?
Editor: I said I'll look out for it!! *slams phone*
I don't remember learning phone etiquette in class, but I guess its one of those things you pick up on the job. No matter how rude or inconsiderate the person on the other end may be, it is our job as PR professionals to be calm and rational. As Julie Andrews' character said in the Princess Diaries movie: "Manners matters".
Calling up the media is a fairly simple task - in theory! In execution, however, our task is complicated when the journalists or editors we are trying to reach are on leave, at lunch, in a meeting, or out on assignment. I've had to make three kinds of media calls so far: one, to ask if they will come to our events; two, if they received our press releases; and three, if they will publish the information we sent them.
I've noticed that magazine editors are not as tightly wound compared to newspaper editors, probably because they do not produce daily publications. One tip that my colleagues gave me about calling up newspapers is that the best time to contact them is between 11am and 12pm, which is after morning meetings and just before lunch break.
Adios,
John.
6 comments:
Your colleague is absolutely right!!I got most of them about this time. Once after lunch it is hrd to get them again. That's my experience haha
could'nt agree more to that John,some things appear very easy in theory but come to practice its another thing making calls being one of them. i would not say i know how you felt when someone hang up the phone on you but i can only imagine!
its a good thing though,by the time you start working after graduation you would already know how to handle all sorts of calls....they say forwarned is forarmed!practice practise practise!
Hello!
John, your post was extremely entertaining and I couldn't agree more! I find contacting the media very intimidating, and although at Pigeonhole we contact journalists mainly by email, my supervisor insists on proof reading and editing every email to make sure our business comes across well. I am glad that she does proof read it as I'm always worried about what to say, whether it sounds idiotic or pushy, etc etc!
I will definately keep that tip in mind, it will come in handy for my journalism stream too!
Best wishes,
Rachel P
Hi John,
Nice post! As my friends always say, “You will meet all kinds of people once you start working”. Yea, it’s true and that’s life! I guess the editor might not mean to be rude. He/She might just be too busy at that moment. Let’s imagine, how many similar calls he/she will need to answer a day? So it’s hard to blame them for losing their patience, right?
By the way, your colleagues did give you a useful tip! Thanks! *I am now learning, hehe*
Cheers,
Jenice
John,
handling media takes astronomical patience. We had to handle 1 particular journalist today, in fact, who wrote us a very rude email saying how she was disappointed to not be included in an upcoming media event.
to begin with, she failed to respond pre-deadline, and we still had to somehow compensate for her "emotional damage" because after all, she DOES represent the media. Bad press is BAD NEWS for ANY company.
**these lips get tired and bruised from kissing so much you-know-what.
xoxo
fate.
Ah yes, the media calls! I've been making media calls for the past four weeks, and I still don't look forward to them. I've just finished making a few calls to journalists to invite them for an event that we're having tomorrow. As usual, I approached the telephone with the usual dread, but instead of calling the media houses as I usually do, I called specific journalists on their cell phones, and it went quite smoothly, except for one very gruff journalist who said "why are you calling me, send it straight to the desk..." and that was the death of that conversation! For all the other journalists that I called, I found a formula that works:
Give them a cheerful and confident, "Hi, so and so, how are you?"- at this point the only response they can give is a positive, "I'm fine thank you, how are you?"
That's the point at which you dive in and give them the one sentence summary of your call i.e
"I'm so and so, calling from XYZ and I was calling to inform you about an event that ABC is having tomorrow at ..."- this is said at lightning speed with no chance for interjections. When you're done, all they ask for is event details to which you respond, “let me send you the media invite with more details, what's your email address?” and there ends your successful media call.
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