In part one of this article, we covered the first two Ws of PR, “why” and “what”, using a recent PR campaign Wayfinder launched as an example. In part two, we cover the remaining three Ws:

Who: Who Are You Writing For, a Publicity Service or Editors for Press Coverage?
What’s the difference between getting publicity and getting press coverage? There are big differences, both in terms of whom you will be targeting your media release toward and what kind of coverage you will get.

With a paid publicity service, you will be writing a finished piece for the final audience. While you will get guaranteed results on big search engines, you will have little or no control over the websites, trade journals and news media in which your story is placed.

It’s a lot more work to obtain press coverage, where your audience consists of the Assignment Editors at television and radio stations, newspapers and major websites. But the results can be much more rewarding than for those of a paid service.

Here is the process we used in obtaining press coverage for our recent Wayfinder / Expedition Balance PR campaign:
1.    Researched and developed a target list of appropriate media outlets for our story, capturing the names, email addresses and phone numbers of the Assignment Editors.
2.    Wrote a short, compelling pitch letter (email) that explained our story, why it was unique and offered our contact information.
3.    Sent our media release as an attachment to the email.
4.    Called the Assignment Editors with a 60-second follow up pitch.

When: The Best Times to Get Press Coverage Depend on Your Media Story Timing.
Does your story have a special timing so that it needs to be at a particular time of year? Time of the week? Time of day?

Think in terms of the 3 Ws we’ve covered so far: Why am I pitching this story? What is so unique about it that people will want to hear about it? Who really needs to know about this story?

At Wayfinder, our media story had very special timing parameters and, because of this, it created urgency in getting the editors to develop stories within our timeframe.

As you’ll recall from Part One of this article, CEO Louis Briones’ mission was to raise $100K for Expedition Balance, an organization dedicated to helping our nation’s combat veterans struggling with PTSD. This was done via a fundraising challenge on Expedition Balance.org during the month of April 2010. Because of the immediacy of the event, Assignment Editors were compelled to move quickly to develop room for our story. Within just a few days of pitching, Wayfinder was able to confirm PSAs on nine San Francisco radio stations, one major San Francisco newspaper feature, a SF Bay Area talk show…and the list goes on.

Where: You May be Surprised By the Reach of Your Media Story.
It’s you, the  designated PR manager, who really can decide how far your media story can go, how many audiences it may have, how many communities it may impact.

At Wayfinder, we initially assumed that a local San Francisco Bay Area media story would be most appropriate. However, once we received such acceptance from Assignment Editors at media outlets in the SF Bay Area, we began to look for ways to reach out to other communities that were regional and national in nature.  Remember the headline:
New Wayfinder CEO Takes on a Mission to Help Combat Vets with PTSD.

Now think of all of the different potential audiences and communities it reaches:
-advertising community
-business community
-military and veterans community
-Latino community (Mr. Briones is Hispanic)
-communities where Expedition Balance.org has a presence (SF, Houston, Washington DC, Santa Fe)
-health community
-PTSD community

How far you want to go with pitching your media story and obtaining press coverage is really up to you and the hours you want to devote to this worthwhile effort. I hope our example has been instructive and helps you with your PR planning. I look forward to seeing your media story in the news soon!

Whether you’re pitching a media story about the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or a start-up business, here are the five “Ws” to consider before getting started on your next corporate PR project:

The Five Ws: In a New Corporate World; the “Why” Always Comes First.
Many of you who have studied journalism learned the five Ws in this order: Who, What, Why, Where and When. In today’s ever-changing world of marketing, have you ever wanted to stop in the middle of a marketing project and ask, ” Why are we really doing this project?”

How many campaigns, projects and job orders have gone from beginning to completion, with the “why are we doing this?” getting lost somewhere along the way? Based on my 25 years of experience, I can tell you that a great many have.

In Public Relations today, “Why are we doing this story?” is the most important question you can ask yourself before embarking on a time-consuming campaign. If the answer to your “Why” question will not result in the ultimate reward of press coverage, then take a pass on that story. Dig deeper and find a stronger, more compelling “why” and therefore, a stronger and more compelling media story and PR campaign.

For example, at Wayfinder, we recently launched a PR campaign about CEO Louis Briones and his leadership in launching a new national nonprofit, Expedition Balance, that helps combat vets with PTSD. The WHY in this campaign is that we at Wayfinder want our clients, potential clients, friends and associates to know that Wayfinder is not only a national marketer, but is also a caring, philanthropic leader that gives back to our community.

What: The Substance of Your Media Story (Release).
My college journalism professor was right: if you cannot sum up your media story idea in one sentence—then you should probably move on to another story idea with more clarity and substance.

At Wayfinder, we summed up our PR story idea in one sentence:
New Wayfinder CEO takes on a mission to help combat vets with PTSD.

After you get the story idea captured in one sentence, that becomes your media release headline. The rest of the media release should be written like a short news story, with an interesting angle that grabs your audience’s attention in the first one or two sentences. The next paragraphs should provide a unique idea with enough details to prove its potential as a news story worth their follow up.

In part two of this article, we will cover the remaining Ws of PR: Who, When and Where.