October 26, 2013

• We can’t help you get your first job, but the advice you hear could help get your second!

Why Media Relations Matters to YOU!
Tips from Colleagues in the Field
• Being a “Pitching Ace” makes you marketable and promotable (and can lead to more $$$).
• Everything in PR is pitch-like, including client correspondence, content creation, copywriting.
• An early brass ring media hit instills confidence in both the pro and her client (in an agency setting) or boss (in a corporate setting).

Meanwhile….A Great Media Placement Makes You
Feel Like a Champion – No Matter How Much
Experience You Have
Credit: New York Times

Today’s Moderator: Adam Dvorin
@AdamDvorin
• Media Director of Winning Strategies, a
Newark, NJ Agency that handles PR, Advocacy and Digital Services for Clients.
• My Job is Part-Media Pitcher, Part Staff Coach,
Part Strategist. All Exciting.
• Have Placed Stories on CBS, Wall Street
Journal, USA Today, MSNBC, CNN and More.

• In-Person Final 15 Minutes of Session.
• Via Twitter. @AdamDvorin
• #BeyondPressReleasePRSSA

Tracy Davidson – WCAU-TV
@tracydavidson10

Tracy Davidson – WCAU-TV
@tracydavidson10
• Winner of five Emmys, including the prestigious “Best
News Anchor” Emmy for the Mid-Atlantic Region in
2008.
• Created and hosted hundreds of community events such as NBC10’s “Get a Job Events,” “The Great
Shredder Event,” “The Money School,” small business seminars, DTV Transition help clinics and Phone Banks.
• Member of NBC-10 News Team since 1996.

Tracy Davidson – WCAU-TV
Three Tips for Beginning PR Pros
• Timing is everything, shorter and shorter news cycles, you have to react quickly to news of the day.
• Pitch has to be about enhancing the story .
• Know the journalist’s specific beat/ station format/philosophy.

Michael Days – Phila. Daily News
@MikeDays
TIMING IS EVERYTHING.

Michael Days – Phila. Daily News
@MikeDays
• Named top editor of Daily News in 2005 – among a handful of African American top editors at daily papers.
• Under his leadership, the Daily News won a Pulitzer
Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2010.
• Briefly Served as Managing Editor of the Philadelphia
Inquirer, 2011-2012.

Michael Days – Phila. Daily News
Three Tips for Beginning PR Pros
• Relationships matter, and they are easier to cultivate now that we are blessed with social media. Figure out who covers what. Then get a rep as someone who can deliver.
• Don’t send an editor or reporter a blind fax/email. It will not get read unless your client is a Very Big Deal.
• Timing is everything. Most reporters won’t care about what you are pitching unless it will enhance their story, due TODAY.

Gillian Kocher -- @gillianak
Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation

Gillian Kocher -- @gillianak
Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation
• Hired to her present position after sending an email
AT THE EXACT RIGHT TIME when the Foundation happened to be looking to hire a new in-house public relations specialist. Proves timing is everything.
• Has earned major national media coverage of the
Foundation in top-tier outlets such as People, US
Weekly, The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show.
• Formerly worked at the NY Agency Dan Klores
Communications – rising from entry level to account executive in three years.

Gillian Kocher -- Alex’s Lemonade
Three Tips for Beginning PR Pros
• Keep up with the news -- not only to look for relevant story angles for your clients, but also so you aren’t bothering reporters who are covering breaking news.
They will remember!
• Know who you are pitching. If you have a media resource, like Cision, utilize it, but also do a quick search on the reporter to see what they have covered in the past.
• Keep track of reporters who write about your topic. It’s easy to set up a Google alert for any topic that might be relevant to your work!

Frank Kummer-- @frankkummer
Philly.com

Frank Kummer-- @frankkummer
Philly.com
• Coordinates online news coverage with the goal of posting stories as quickly, competitively, and accurately as possible.
• Has been a journalist for more than 25 years, both for print and online.
• As a reporter, covered a school cheating and financial scandal in Camden, N.J. that resulted in the school superintendent’s resignation and jail sentences for two principals.

Frank Kummer – Philly.com
Three Tips for Beginning PR Pros
• Review the outlet you are pitching – especially when online-based. 90 percent of pitches received miss the mark.
• DO contact when you can connect your expert to a breaking news story.
• Be flexible. Unlike a print news cycle, an online news cycle is continuous. Be prepared to be available early mornings, late evenings and weekends. Online media is always on deadline.

Maria Fernanda Trochimezuk
JELena Group maria.fernanda@jelenagroup.com

Maria Fernanda Trochimezuk
JELena Group maria.fernanda@jelenagroup.com
• More than 15 years of experience creating successful outreach campaigns for both general market and diverse audiences.
• Manages media relations activities in support of corporations, non-profit organizations and international associations.
• Has worked with Hispanic Business Magazine and
Nissan and been interviewed on outlets such as
Univision, Telemundo and CNN.

Maria Fernanda Trochimezuk
JELena Group
Three Tips for Media Relations Success
• Understand the differences between the different ethnic groups. The biggest mistake is to think that
Latinos are all the same.
• Younger Hispanics tend to be bilingual and look for and read news also in English.
• Hispanic reporters are community advocates so they like to know how the story affects Hispanics and the overall US economy.

• Identify SOMETHING to Pitch to Media – Pet
Adoption, Fundraiser, PRSSA Agency Client,
Class Project. Anything.
• Consider your campus resources – PR office, school paper, athletic communications, the cultural arts departments.
• Stop by Michael Smart’s “New Secrets of
Media Relations Success” Panel at PRSSA NC.