Public relations (PR) is an integral part of running a successful brand and business. It is the art of communication and storytelling. It’s about appealing to communities and stakeholders, forging relationships with media and playing the marketing long game.
Yet, as my guest today - PR pro, Meg Treat, of Treat Public Relations - rushes to acknowledge, it often gets a bit of a bad rap.
Well, hopefully we’re going to be challenging those perceptions for you today, with a really insightful take on public relations, earned media and the power of storytelling, that definitely opened my eyes to the vast opportunities events can unlock through a thoughtful and carefully implemented PR strategy.
In this episode:
- Public relations: what it is about and how it relates to your work as an event owner/director
- Paid vs shared vs owned vs earned media
- The importance of securing media exposure for free (=earned media)
- How every race is intrinsically newsworthy and can have a story to tell
- Understanding newsworthiness and unlocking/developing your race's unique story
- Leveraging newsworthy topics: human interest stories, event milestones, brand partnerships.
- Distributing your story/content through online and offline media outlets
- Deciding when to send out (and when not to send out) a press release
- Writing engaging press releases: quotes, the inverse pyramid approach, calls-to-action that work
- The four ways of mining media contact information!
- Crafting effective cover emails to journalists for increased media outreach success
- Understanding journalist lead times and planning your PR content accordingly
- Inviting media to your race using media alerts
- Post-race press releases
- Being your race's spokesperson: making yourself available for interviews and how to conduct them successfully
Resources:
- Meg's media alert template/example & press release template/example for race directors: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jzw8jv0qr21xfmd/AACdD1sj72NhEf3RMJk-jjaAa?dl=0 (make sure to listen to Meg's audio intro in the folder)
Thanks to GiveSignup|RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 22,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use GiveSignup|RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about GiveSignup|RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.
You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.
You can also share your questions about public relations, earned media or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.