PublicitySources.ca

A

1. Advice on Hiring a Media Trainer
   Media training is highly recommended for any media spokesperson, whether a novice or a veteran.
2. After the interview
   What to do after being interviewed by a reporter.
3. Answering Machine Tips
   Voice mail needs to be managed effectively.
4. At a Glance - Web sites mentioned in this issue of HotLink
   Quick overview of some publicity-related websites.
5. Award Winning World Wide Web Site
   The Sources Web site awarded four stars as a site of outstanding merit.

B

1. Backing it Up
   If you say something in a media interview, make sure you can back it up.
2. The Benefits of Reaching the Media
   The benefits of being listed in Sources.
3. Blowing Your Own Horn!
   Launching your own public relations campaign.

C

1. Caveat Surfer: Beware When Using Electronic Communication
   Points about electronic communication and online security.
2. Communicating Effectively Through Your Association Newsletter
   An effective newsletter is one that meets your readers' needs and interests.
3. Communications Arts: The Science of Plain Language
   Plain language writing is a process that considers the needs of the readers, the purpose of the document, the message to be delivered and the constraints upon the writer.
4. Contacts: Connecting directly with Canadian journalists
   Factors to consider when selecting spokespersons for your organization.
5. Corporate volunteering
   Corporate volunteer programs.
6. A Crisis by Any Other Name
   The role of communications in a crisis.
7. Crisis Communications
   Being prepared for a crisis is second best only to avoiding one altogether.
8. Crisis Communications Checklist
   Nothing impresses like real confidence, and only advance planning can bestow it.

D

1. Don't be a Time Bandit
   Don't waste journalists' time.
2. Don't forget to write
   Writing letters to the editor is an effective way of getting publicity for your point of view.
3. Don't neglect your presentation skills
   Do not wait until you are about to present. It's not worth the stress, or to risk looking like a fool. Take time to prepare.
4. Don't play that game: Ending telephone tag
   The multitude of communications technologies have actually made it more difficult to get in touch.
5. Dressing for TV
   What to wear when you're going to be interviewed on TV.

E

1. Effective Media Relations
   Nurturing your relationships with reporters
   Our relationships with journalists need to be maintained over time in order to be fruitful.
2. Effective Media Relations
   Media relations is human relations. Journalism is about telling compelling stories about people and their lives.
3. The Eight Best Books for Publicity Seekers
   For those of you pursuing and perfecting the fine art of getting publicity, here's a list of books you can't live without.
4. Enhance your image in novel ways
   Soft marketing supports and image enhancement strategies require as much consideration as any other portion of your marketing plan.
5. Enhance your listing and get the most for your dollars
   Tips for making your Sources listing work most effectively for you.
6. Exhibitors can get more bang for their buck
   Trade shows are effective marketing vehicles when used well.
7. Expand your knowledge by getting advice from the experts!
   Public opinion plays a key role in government spending decisions, and one of the most effective ways to influence public opinion is through the media. A single appearance on television, for example, gets your message across to tens of thousand of people.
8. Expose Yourself!
   A booklet about effective media relations, providing practical advice about getting media coverage and relating to the media.

F

1. Flying High: 5 Sure Ways to Get Your Business Soaring
   Know your audience, know your message, be clear and consistent in that message, then develop a strategy and execute it.
2. The Follow-Up Telephone Call
   Making follow-up phone calls to the media.
3. Free for the asking
   Any organization, corporation or individual listed in Sources has the ability to post news releases to the Sources Web site.
4. Frequently Asked Questions about the Sources Subject Index
   A careful choice of subject headings pays off in leading journalists to you when they need your expertise.
5. Friendly faxing
   When you communicate by fax, keep these tips in mind.
6. From the pages of Sources meet...
   Meet some of the organizations, companies, and individuals listed in Sources.

G

1. Get a Digital Life: An Internet Reality Check
   Use a wide range of tools to reach the media.
2. Get the Internet working for you
   Develop an online strategy
   A Web site works best when it is integrated into a co-ordinated communications strategy.
3. Getting Ink for Your New Product
   Get media coverage of your product.
4. Getting the Most from Interviews
   Tips from a pro for getting the most from media interviews.
5. Getting the most out of Sources Select Online
   The Sources Web site offers a wide range of resources for journalists, researchers, and other with serious reference needs.
6. Getting the most out of your Sources Listing
   You get out what you put in! Extra attention to the content of your listing can result in more calls, more media awareness and greater success. The number of calls you'll receive from the media directly relates to the number, newsworthiness and specificity of your headings.
7. Give your Sources media profile an extra boost
   Creating a link from your Web site to your Sources listing boosts your visibility.
8. Going to the Public -- Ten public speaking tips
   Advice on effective public speaking.
9. A Good File Never Forgets
   Improve your publicity awareness
   Keep track of the calls you receive from the media. Don't rely on memory alone.
10. Guerrilla Tactics for Maximizing the Results of Your Media Campaign
    Strategy and tactics for successful media campaigns.
11. Guidelines for successful interviews
    Things to keep in mind when going into a media interview.

H

1. Helping journalists finds you: Getting the most from the Subject Index
   A careful choice of subject headings pays off in leading journalists to you when they need your expertise.
2. HotLink Resouce Shelf: In the News
   Review of a book on media relations in Canada.
3. HotLink Resource Shelf - #16
   Reviews of books on writing and presentations.
4. HotLink Resource Shelf - #26
   Reviews of public relations books.
5. HotLink Resource Shelf - #27
   Review of a book about handwritten notes.
6. HotLink Resource Shelf - #29
   Here's a list of new releases that will keep you busy for a while.
7. HotLink Resource Shelf - #30
   Start by accepting the fact that the media moves faster than you do, so be prepared. Always.
8. HotLink Resource Shelf: Going for Gold!
   Review of Going for Gold, a book on marketing strategies for speakers.
9. HotLink Resource Shelf: The Art of Cause Marketing
   Review of a book on how to use advertising to change personal behaviour and public policy.
10. How does your Web site rank? Alexa tells you
    Find out your Web site's reach and what other sites are popular with the people who come to your site.
11. How Embarassing when your messages unravel
    The Emperor's New Speak
    Analyze your messages to make sure their will hold up to critical scrutiny.
12. How many spokespersons?
    Speaking with one voice means your spokespersons should deliver the same message. It does not mean use only one spokesperson. If the news media representative knows your experts are available and reliable, you are more likely to be called and more importantly, to be believed.
13. How Media Relations Helps the Marketing Plan
    Using media relations to support your marketing strategy.
14. How Sources magnifies your Internet visibility
    How the high Internet ranking of the Sources Web site helps magnify the public profile of organizations and companies who are listed in Sources.
15. How the Media Can Be Positive For Your Business
    If both you and the reporter benefit, the chances are you will do business with that reporter again, good business.
16. How to Build a Media List
    Often your desired target audiences are diverse so this should be clearly defined before beginning to build your media list.
17. How to Lobby Like a Pro
    To reach government with your message you need to lobby like the professionals do.
18. How to Make Your B-roll Work
    Getting a videographer or camera assigned to your story is a challenge to say the least. If you're lucky, you may get one or two cameras out to your news event. That leaves another three or four stations, not including the networks that will not cover your story because they are not there with a camera. PR practitioners can maximize their TV impact by investing in B-roll and hiring a news videography service.
19. How to Make Your PR Photos Work
    There is a real art and science to the news photo.

I

1. Improve Your Publicity Awareness
   Tips on networking for success.
2. In Print: Maximizing Coverage in Community Newspapers
   How to get coverage in community newspapers.
3. In Print: Maximizing Coverage of Charity Activities in Community Newspapers
   When it comes to getting coverage in the local newspaper, presentation is paramount. Tto maximize your profile and get your story or event covered, give the newspaper what it wants, when it wants it.
4. In Times of Crisis
   As anyone facing a crowded room of reporters during an emergency will tell you, effective crisis communications is paramount in overcoming the predicament.
5. The Intangible Benefits of Media Training
   One of the greatest frustrations of media relations specialists, and news media, is the slow response to interview or information requests. Many times I've noticed that executives don't understand the rapid timelines that the news media operate under - they don't understand how quickly something ceases to be "news" or how quickly the media may lose interest in a proactive media relations venture.
6. Introducing the Sources Calendar
   The Sources Calendar enables you to inform the media of your newsworthy events.
7. Involve Your Audience During TV Interviews
   People who are watching the news are usually doing something else as well, like washing clothes, eating dinner or helping the kids with homework. It’s up to you to get their attention.
8. Is Your Web Site Media Friendly?
   How to make your Web site media-friendly.
9. It's the Law
   The laws of media relations.

K

1. Keeping Current
   With a blog, a piece in the Globe or an appearance on a cable show that only two percent of the population watches, you can get a bounce or multiplier effect. Mainstream networks and cable news shows are reading blogs on the air to viewers, thus giving them legs.
2. Keeping current with today's newsletters
   Newsletters concerned with public relations, fundraising, and speaking.

L

1. Learning how to live with editors
   Pay attention to editorial fit, readership relevance, and good writing.
2. Letters to the Editor
   The Letters page is one of the most popular sections of any newspaper, and is therefore an ideal way to keep your name and your core message in front of the public.

M

1. Mailing list know-how
   Your mailing list is one of the cornerstones of a good communications strategy.
2. Managing the Media
   Case study of media relations strategy.
3. Media Events - Maximizing Your Attendance & News Pick-up
   Maximizing your attendance and news pick-up at media events.
4. Media Exposure
   Promoting your magazine on a shoestring.
5. Media Relations - Behaviours Unbecoming
   What NOT to do when dealing with the media.
6. Media Relations: Rule of Engagement
   Rules for dealing with the media.
7. Meeting the Media Face-to-Face
   What to do when a reporter calls or when meeting the media face to face.
8. Michael Levine's Ten commandments for Dealing with the Media
   Rules for dealing with the media.

N

1. New Legal Landscape Affecting PR
   New laws affecting public relations.
2. New Media... Endless Possibilities
   Using new media to get your message out.
3. New on the Bookshelf
   Reviews of recent books on publicity and media relations.
4. News releases that work -- and those that don't
   Media relations know-how: effective media releases.
5. Newsroom tips from The Canadian Press
   Newsroom tips from The Canadian Press.

O

1. Off the Record
   The reporter always has the upper hand when you make an 'off-the-record' statement.
2. Oh, the Mistakes Spokespeople Make: Ten Sure-Fire Ways to Blow an Interview
   Mistakes to avoid when being interviewed by the media.

P

1. Point and Click
   Services that can help you write and distribute news releases.
2. The Power of public relations
   An overview of the role of public relations practitioners.
3. PR Industry launches new standard for measurement and ROI
   A new standard for measuring editorial coverage and return on investment.
4. The Princess and the Press
   How to write a news release that will make you the belle of the ball
   Your relationship with the press might not be a fairy tale, but it definitely doesn't have to be horror story: How to write a news release that will make you the belle of the ball.
5. Public Relations Strategy a Valuable Fundraising Tool
   A case study of using public relations to enhance a charity's fundraising activities.
6. Put it in writing
   Top five tips for writing press releases.

R

1. Relax a Little!
   Learning how to relax can mean the difference between a serene sense of accomplishment and a pounding headache.
2. A Reporter's mindset
   Remember that reporters have a job to do. If you help the reporter, you are really helping yourself.
3. Resources that will help you get the most out of the Internet
   Expand your Internet skills.
4. Resources: PR World Wide Web Sites
   Web sites of interest to people doing public relations.
5. Review: Leadership from within
   An outline of skills and leadership techniques.
6. Review: Secrets of Power Marketing
   A lively book, with a streak of practicality that reveals itself in an impatience with hoity-toity notions of marketing that have little impact on the bottom line.
7. Review: World Wide Web Marketing
   A book for those whose jobs involve creating and maintaining corporate Web sites.
8. Review: Your Guide to Public Speaking
   A no-nonsense guide to public speaking.
9. Reviews from The Sources HotLink
   Reviews are in alphabetical order by title.
10. Reviews: The HotLink Bookshelf
    Resources for communicators.

S

1. Secrets of a worthwhile presentation
   Preparation is the key to a successful presentation.
2. Seven golden rules for more effective speaking
   Tips to be a more powerful, memorable and successful speaker.
3. 7 Tips for Effective Speeches
   How to make your speeches more effective.
4. 7 Ways to Get More Mileage from a Case Study
   Case studies are a valuable addition to your public relations' arsenal. They not only explain the success of your product or service in action, they also tend to have high editorial acceptance and readership rates.
5. 6 Tips for Writing a Successful VNR
   A video news release(VNR) is essentially a press release on video. The key difference is how it is planned and written.
6. Smooth Talking! Explore the Paid Speaking Market
   Becoming a professional speaker.
7. Sources gives you powerful tools to help you stand out from the crowd
   An overview of how you can use Sources to amplify your message.
8. Sources listees collaborate
   Individuals listed in Sources collaborate.
9. Sources media training
   Media training courses to make sure you're fully prepared to meet the media.
10. The Sources Select Online Story
    In SOURCES SELECT Online (SSO) we attempt to provide true diversity: access to people in organizations large and small, for-profit and not-for-profit, from low-tech to high-tech, long-established to just-launched.
11. Sources works!
    Out of curiosity I recently did a Google search of my name on the Internet. I was amazed to see what came up! Not only did my Sources listing appear first on the list, but also I am quoted in a number of online magazine articles and appear on Web sites sponsored by some of the television shows I’ve been on! I can’t believe all the media coverage I’ve gotten, just from listing in Sources.
12. Speaking to the Media
    A special report from Sources with articles from The Sources HotLink
    Being seen, heard, and quoted in the media is perhaps the quickest, best, and most lasting way for a speaker to become better known and more sought after. This booklet offers advice on handling media calls and interviews well.
13. The State of the News Media
    Journalists are older, smarter, generally more educated, and usually more cynical than their predecessors. Cynicism often breeds distrust making the current generation of news reporters more suspicious and more formidable than ever.
14. A Step-by-Step Guide to Being a Successful Consultant
    A practical guide to becoming a successful consultant.
15. Successful Event Marketing Strategies
    Tips for marketing your events.
16. Successful news releases: 7 must-know tips
    Make it short, make it make, make sure it's important.
17. Surviving and Thriving in a Crisis
    Surviving and thriving in a crisis means joining hands for support and sharing information clearly, effectively and with respect for the human condition. Remember, you're never alone in a crisis — it just feels that way.

T

1. Telling Journalists Who You Are
   Getting the most from Sources
   A well-written descriptive paragraph in your Sources listing tells journalists why they should call you.
2. Ten Tips for Working Faster on the Internet: Part Two
   Tips for handling your E-mail.
3. Ten tips for working faster on the Web: Part 1
   Do you feel like you're working slower and less efficiently now than you were before you had a computer and Internet access?
4. There's no such thing as a slow news day
   The news media are always looking for news.
5. 3 Keys to Keeping Your Marketing and PR Writing on Strategy
   How do you ensure that your marketing and PR piece isn't just pretty prose?
6. Thriving in hyerchange: A study in personal stress control
   Occasional changes, in work or personal life, are exhilarating and challenging. Past that point, rapid, unpredictable change is simply wearing and stressful.
7. Tips for Getting the most from E-mail
   The E-mail I receive from journalists seeking assistance with their research and from organizations listed with Sources is often puzzling. Many messages are unaddressed, unsigned and written in haste. Some queries require detective work before I can send a proper response.
8. Tips for Making the Call
   Tips for making follow-up calls to the media.
9. Top Ten List of Media Relations
   Top ten recommendations for becoming (and remaining) media friendly:
10. Top Ten Questions to Ask When a Reporter Calls You
    When you're respoding to a reporter's call, take time to think and ask yourself these questions.
11. Top Ten Strategies for Appearing on a TV Talk Show
    Prepare yourself to appear on a TV talk show.
12. Top Ten Things to do Before a Radio Talk Show
    Be prepared when you go on a talk show.
13. Twenty-five Years of Sources
    From the beginning, Sources was seen as a public service as well as a tool for journalists.

U

1. Use Internet as public relations tool
   Establish an online presence to complement your other PR tools.
2. Using History to Write Powerful Leads
   Using history in writing marketing and PR communications.

V

1. Video News Releases
   Video News Releases (VNRs) are just that: broadcast-quality videos intended for release to television stations. They typically contain a "story" in television format, complete with reporter, just as a news release imitates a news story.
2. The View from the Press Room
   How charities can sell their stories to the media.

W

1. Watching the News
   Watching the news to learn what the media are interested in.
2. What are journalists up to on the Internet?
   Internet reosurces are becoming a primary vehicle for journalists looking to find new sources and experts.
3. What Does a Reporter Want?
   What does a reporter what when they interview you?
4. What is Public Relations?
   PR should be the guardian of an organization’s brand, and that concept of brand is not just reserved for a private sector, product-oriented company. The concept of brand, what an organization is, what is it about, what it wants to say, is the organization’s being, and PR is often its protector.
5. What Makes a Good Story?
   What makes a story interesting is often a combination of the interests of the audience, the interests and abilities of the reporter, and a long history of journalistic tradition.
6. When & How to Hold a News Conference
   So before you decide to call a news conference, make sure that the circumstances meet ALL of the criteria.
7. When Bad Things Happen to Good Spokespeople: Handling Tough Interviews
   How to handle problems that arise in a media interview.
8. When to Contact the Media
   Advice on when to contact the media.
9. Why I Am Listed in Sources
   Over the years, I have turned to Sources time and time again to track down experts to interview for whatever newspaper or magazine article I happened to be researching at the time. So when the time came for me to position myself as an expert it was immediately obvious to me what I had to do: take out a listing in Sources.
10. Why Print and Online?
    Why does Sources still produce a print directory when all the information in Sources is available online for free?
11. Why Publicity Sometimes Fails
    You've done everything you can think of to publicize your new product launch, event, or small business. But nothing seems to work. Barbara Florio Graham explains why.
12. Writing a Successful Case Study
    Readers love a good story. That's why these chronicles of success will often stand out on the editor's desk while press releases, media kits and other media communications fight a tough battle just to get noticed.
13. Writing for broadcast
    Avoid the common pitfalls.

Y

1. You, Sources, and Getting the Most Out of the Internet
   Including Six Internet Fictions to Consider
   Internet facts and myths.
2. Your virtual storefront: Your telephone
   Don't let a poorly thought out phone system interfere with your media relations.