When bloggers attack

Bloggers, whether you like us or not, are here to stay.

While some may have morphed naturally from traditional journalism, where facts must be reported and sources referenced, to online journalism then to blogging, others have organically grown from part time hobby bloggers to full time self published blog writers with no publishers or editors to report to. Lucky them.

The rise of the ‘mummy blogger’ has been well documented, even here, and food bloggers have taken over the restaurant world blogging their opinion of hard working chefs trying to make a living. Some opinions are spot on, others are nothing more than sensationalist views created to increase hits.

Right or wrong, bloggers with a following can help and grow, or hinder and close your business. The online community and social media have given everyone a voice to state their opinion, and lord knows we’ve all got one, myself included.

So it has never been more important to be absolutely clear about your own marketing messages. If you have a product you are trying to sell then know what that product is, why you created it and how it benefits the potential buyer. Don’t bury that message in copy that no-one reads on your website, put it on your home page, make it a tag line on every page, imprint it on a buyer’s brain.

As many of you know, I am an avid skier, I write about it as part of my living and I am an absolute stickler for safety, to the point that I have been abused on my own Fairfax Snow It All blog when suggesting safety changes including not skiing with people who are drugged or drunk. But that’s all part of the online world, if you write and allow comments then be prepared for what comes back.

The ski industry is a tight one and a hard nut to crack into as a British startup company has found out this week. Snow-Beacon is a technical transmitting device that you wear on your person while skiing. The idea behind Snow Beacon is that it is to be worn in-resort only and not in the backcountry (non patrolled out of bounds snow areas far from the resort).

Their target market is cash strapped family skiers who want their children to have added safety should an avalanche happen in the resort.  Admittedly in bound avalanches are very few and far between but a number of inbound avalanches did happen in the northern season just gone and if I had a child I’d want them to have the best chance of survival.  Though it is prudent to point out that they rarely if ever happen in Australia, so perhaps the market should be kept to north of the equator.

An avalanche beacon that transmits and receives for search AND rescue can cost hundreds of dollars and skiing is already a costly past time. Children are not considered capable of performing an avalanche search and the inventor’s idea, right or wrong, is that they should still transmit a signal (that ski patrol can pick up on THEIR beacons) even if they can’t search for one. Why? For added piece of parental mind while skiing in bounds.

Right. So that’s their product, that’s their market and good on them for having the guts to give it a go as a business. However, while their tag line is ‘affordable mountain safety’ and (was, it has now been updated) clearly seen on their web home page the message that this is not for backcountry skiers is not (this has also now been updated). Nor is the message about added peace of safety mind for parents in resorts, nor is the message that it is a transmitting device only.

There lies the problem. The message isn’t clear. Sure, you can read on their Why We Do It Page and on their FAQ page that they also offer a receiving device (which is in the making) but the truth is the message has to be clear from the first impression.

*May 24 - the business owners have since updated their website to say ‘resort based avalanche transmitter’ instead of ‘affordable mountain safety’ since this blog was published

One snow blogger took to the online world this week with his thoughts on why this product is ‘irresponsible’ in the backcountry. He then stirred up a bevy of negative online comments by continually posting his blog in global online forums and Facebook pages, no doubt to increase his own hits which he is entitled to do, a blogger’s advertising lives or dies by their hit rate. I, too, know the power of a sensational headline as this blog attests.

One major website in the ski world, Unofficial Networks, picked up the blogger’s post that he sent them on their Facebook page and ran with it on an international stage. They too didn’t speak to the founder, they don’t have to (yet), everything on the internet is open fodder for comment and this is something we ALL need to be aware of, especially if you are a startup or business.

Only now the startup is launching with a host of negative chat on the internet around their product, which by midday on May 24 had gone completely viral, with debate created by a smaller, and highly vocal, percentage of skiers who ski backcountry that are not the brand’s market anyway.

However the blogger missed the point because it wasn’t there on the original website – the product is not being marketed for the backcountry. How do I know? Because I went to the source and asked the inventor.

“It was developed because some people (my daughter for instance, who is a good skier) is too young to participate in an avalanche rescue but, in my opinion should not be excluded from carrying an active avalanche transmitter while skiing in bounds” said James Aubrey Robson. “”If you do buy this and it is for your family and kids for in bounds skiing then you get them on the educational thought process early.”

So who is at fault here? The blogger for not speaking to the inventor and posting his opinion based on a piece of public marketing collateral, a website, or the startup inventor for not being bang on absolutely clear in the tag line and home page and employing a website writer to get that message across?

Bloggers and social media are not going to go away, they are here to stay and I for one wouldn’t have it any other way despite living in constant fear of myself being burned in the judgemental world we now all live in. But it is up to the marketer or business owner to be exceptionally clear about what it is they are promoting. If you can’t say it in one sentence then find a way.

“Snow-beacon – affordable resort safety for snow loving families” or similar may work or it may need more or less detail.

I like this as a cost effective product for kids, I think it’s great to see an inventor offering something that doesn’t cost the earth and I think if pitched in line with skiing safety education for in resort skiing only then it can work but it will be about instilling that message.

I also respect a blogger’s right to state their opinion and avalanches and backcountry issues are a very passionate one for those of us who have lost friends in the ski world, myself included, where safety is paramount. I love how blogging gets a conversation going and that we don’t have to all agree. But I do think this is a great example of the power of online chat and opinion and how it can work for or against you as a startup business.

Be clear, be concise and know your market (and let us know that you know your market). After talking to James, the founder, by phone today he has seen the whole blogging experience as a learning curve with feedback for getting his message clear and how writing specifically for a website is crucial. Albeit an expensive reputation learning curve thanks to the blogging world, one we can all learn from.

So now what do we have? A blogger who has rightly increased his hits and got his message out to his market and a well meaning startup on a steep marketing learning curve who launched their website too early. It’s not hard to figure out who wins in the world of online media.

My tip? Watch Snow Beacon’s space for a reworked home page.

*May 24 - Snow Beacon’s home page has been updated since this blog post to clearly state ‘resort based avalanche transmitter’. We look forward to seeing a sticker on the beacon saying ‘not for backcountry use’…just a suggestion
**May 24 5pm- the Snow Beacon website has updated their product web page to reflect their messages 

Have you been caught out on social media or the blogging community? What are your tips to working with, not against, bloggers? 

Added note – I have been asked why I did not link to any of the blogs written about Snow Beacon. I chose not to enter the debate as to whether it is or isn’t an irresponsible product nor to buy into any negative commentary in the online snow world. Why? Because THIS blog is about marketing and media and how and what we can learn from this experience about marketing and media.

Tags: blogs, key messages, PR, social media, startup

What journos really think of you

If you pitch to the media it helps to know what they are thinking

In February this year over two hundred global lifestyle editors and journalists candidly answered seventy four open and closed ended survey questions in an attempt to make the media and PR relationship easier.

The result? One of the most comprehensive insights into the minds of working journalists in today’s media landscape and a win/win for journalists (if those pitching to the media take note) and a win/win for PRs and in house marketers wanting to get on the good side of the media.

PitchIt2Me’s 2012 Media Survey “Straight from the Media’s Mouth” gives PR professionals, in house marketers and business operators the truth with a thirty two page report on the media’s working habits, likes and dislikes, use of email and phone habits, press releases, newsletters and pitches, events and meetings, social media, video use, image use, famils and press trips and more.

Did you know that over 50% of journalists believe that most PRs don’t know the difference between a pitch or a press release? That journos receive an average twenty five press releases a day? That over ninety percent prefer email to phone communication?

Up to now only delegates of PitchIt2Me PR training workshops have had access to the previously unpublished statistics from former surveys. But now this invaluable information could be yours and is available for any marketer and business owner looking to improve their media relationships.

The report is AU$395+gst and can be purchased direct from our Operations Guru, Kirsten Nicholl kirsten@pitchit2me.com.au

Members of TravMedia.com and Food4Media.com in Australia receive a 20% discount and can purchase the report for AU$295 + gst. Talk to Kirsten for more details.

Now you can save unnecessary tears and frustration (theirs and yours) when dealing with the media with one simple purchase.

“It is an essential guide to improving your media results, every PR professional or business person should read this report”

Caroline Davidson, Davidson Communications

Join our PR Training workshops in Sydney on May 29 and 30. Contact PitchIt2Me’s Operations Guru, Kirsten Nicholl, for more information kirsten@pitchit2me.com.au or visit our website.

Tags: Journalists, media resource, media survey, Public relations

When a journalist asks a question should you answer?

Warm and fuzzy doesn’t sell papers or drive traffic to online news sites.

Warm and fuzzy is reserved for the ‘colour piece’ at the end of the news or for travelling weather reporters who like to serve up the temperature with some local flavour or those Facebook status updates that share the love of the universe wrapped up in a kitten.

Yet on two occasions this past week I have experienced disbelief, even outrage, that a journalist in traditional media would dare to ask “inappropriate questions” and to print “only a minor part of my entire forty minute interview.”

The first referred to a profile piece in a Saturday paper supplement on a high profile person. The piece in question was, from what I understand, a feature for readers to understand more about the person in question. But if they wanted a piece with no colour or shade then they could have just run the person’s bio provided by the PR firm, but then that would be advertising.

Instead, the journalist does their job. Asking questions to find the person behind the public face, to give their readers the conflicts and flaws and juxtaposition that creates both a rounded piece and reveals more depth to the individual than what the PR team wants you to see.

What sparked my interest was the reference to ‘inappropriate questions’. But that’s what they are, questions, and the interviewee doesn’t have to answer them with what the journalist wants to hear (be warned, saying ‘no comment’ is like feeding tuna blood to sharks).

The trouble is the average person doesn’t understand this. Even in a supposedly media savvy world where those same people are devouring media driven by inappropriate questions we still act surprised when bitten by the media bug.

I get it, I learned my own lesson with the media the hard way. But what is inappropriate to a lay person is not inappropriate to a journalist trying to write a story of interest. The inappropriate questions in this instance turned out to be any question that didn’t refer to the person’s career. Perhaps they should have just published the piece on the person on LinkedIn instead.

The second experience this week was the uproar from the blogging community about a feature piece in a Sunday supplement. You can read both the piece and what I wrote about it, here. But what amazed me was that many of these bloggers were up in arms at the interviewer who dared to run only a portion of their interview.

Yet there are four people in the one piece and a set word limit. A forty minute interview of quotes would have doubled that word count and, that’s assuming that those quotes were even interesting.

The bloggers had hoped it would be a warm and fuzzy piece about how great the world of blogging is. But I can read that on any blog promoting blogs. This was a magazine which means the readers want a story not a promotion.

The other thing that amazed me was how the bloggers were shocked that they shared so much with the interviewer and that the interviewer then published what they shared. But that’s what it was, a media interview, not a cup of tea with your aunty’s best friend on a Sunday.

I do feel for them and I understand they were upset at the tone of the article but it is a valuable lesson for anyone wanting to get promoted in editorial. How do you manage a media interview once you’ve been burned? You can choose what you do and don’t reveal to a journalist, this is how you manage your key messages.

KNOW what it is you want to say, what you want to communicate, what you want the readers of the media to know before you commence an interview. When you find yourself off track come back to those messages. A good interviewer will want you to be candid, want you to reveal more than you had intended, will make you think you are having a ‘conversation’ not a recorded interview. A good interviewee will be very clear with themselves about that they are going to reveal and what they are not BEFORE they are interviewed.

But be warned, reveal nothing and you’re likely to end up on the cutting room floor so be prepared to offer some exclusives that no one else may know. It doesn’t have to be your father shot your pet dog in front of you at your fifth birthday party, it may simply be that you volunteer at an orphanage on Tuesdays or you’ve never been in love or that your left leg is shorter than the right and you have to be shot from a unique angle to hide it.

You can also ask the media for a list of sample questions they are going to ask so you can prepare but remember, they are sample questions and the journalist is not obliged to stick to them (unless you’re Kim Kardashian and YOU send the questions to them!).

Yes, you can take a PR person with you to an interview but most journalists, myself included, will just ask the PR person to leave while the interview is in progress. Plus it seems odd to have a PR person in the room unless you’re Jack Nicholson or Robert de Niro.

Key messages are ‘key’ for a reason. Stick to them and you should be able to make it alive through the battlefield of the media without a fatal wound. If in doubt get some media training or don’t do the interview.

Discuss this and more at our PitchIt2Me workshops in Sydney on May 29 and 30. Choose from tourism PR; press releases; pitching and social media.

Enrol now to secure a place. Email our Operations Guru kirsten@pitchit2me.com.au

Have you ever been interviewed by the media and shocked to see how much or little of your interview was published? How do you manage media interviews?

Tags: bloggers, interviews, media quotes, news, traditional media

You don’t win hide and seek with the media

If you have a press site on your website, and you should, then please put your press contacts on there. Common sense, right? Apparently not.

As a journalist the internet is my best friend. It’s the first thing I wake up to and the last thing I say goodnight to, it is attached to my phone, my tablet, my computer and my laptop and I use it religiously.

Tracking down press contacts should be easy for a journalist. If you are a business wanting editorial then you should make it easy because if you don’t then the journalist looking for you will just start looking for someone else. That’s a lost opportunity you didn’t even know you had.

Tourism companies may complain about the number of illegitimate requests they get for ‘free hotel beds’ or ‘free adventure activities’ or ‘free flights’ and that may be the reason they don’t put their contacts on the site – but that’s the job of the in house PR person, to vet the legitimate journalists from the free loaders. You won’t know either if we can’t find you.

There is nothing more frustrating than a game of internet maze. While perusing a hotel website recently I clicked on ‘press’ and was taken not to the individual press page for that hotel but to the main page for the hotel brand. From there I had to click another press page where there were no press contact details.

Right, so how do I know who to talk to? I clicked on a press release listed on this page only to find the press release had no contact details either. What are they trying to hide?

Another similar site had a generic contact “Director of Corporate Communications” with no name and a generic PR@xxx.com address.

There is nothing worse than a PR sending a journalist an email starting with “Dear Media Friend” or similar, the inference being they don’t know my name, don’t know who they are pitching to and don’t know my publication. Do they expect the same rudeness in return?

Dear mystery PR person at the generic office (no doubt read by the work experience minion employed to vet emails from media she doesn’t know or care about) can you please respond to my email.

Needless to say I went searching in another direction to another hotel where to my delight I found not just a press page but a list of appropriate contacts with name, email address and phone number for the global regions and for each hotel.

I don’t have to tell you who got the editorial.

Why make it hard for a journalist to find you? Yes, I may want something from you – a quote from your CEO on a media related topic, an image for a story or even a night in your hotel, all requests that help you. But if you make it too hard then you lose out.

So please, help us help you for a win win.

PitchIt2Me is holding four workshops in Sydney on May 29 and May 30 – Tourism PR, Social Media, Press Releases and Pitching. Visit our website for details.

Tags: PR, press releases, websites

Why the media aren’t calling you back

It is official, ninety three percent of journalists prefer to communicate with PRs and in house marketers by email, not phone.

How do I know this?  Because I’m collating all the results from the PitchIt2Me Media Survey 2012 as I speak (well, type).

So if you want to know why the editor, journalist or blogger you are so desperately trying to get hold of (because you just know your pitch is better than anything they will have received) has not returned your call or email then watch this space.

Seventy five percent of surveyed media only respond to emails and calls that are relevant to them. Is your pitch REALLY relevant to their publication and specialty?

Forty nine percent of surveyed journalists say they only open press releases that are relevant to them. Is your press release subject heading short, sharp, to the point and targeted to the relevant journalist?

When it comes to pitching, eighty two percent of surveyed journalists say they do not want to be pitched to by phone, only email. Are you leaving long winded pitches on voice mails and answering machines just because the journalist won’t pick up the phone?  Well, they’re not picking up for a reason.

I’m really excited by the survey results so far. They are a great teaching tool to show how journalists and media actually work and how PRs can work with them.

Hundreds of journalist from around the globe, both on staff and freelance have kindly given us their time to answer a host of questions that PR folk want answered.

PitchIt2Me workshops use these results exclusively. If you want to know more results then book in to one of our half day training courses on Tourism PR, Social Media, Write On Press Releases and Pitch Perfect Pitching.

Our workshop calendar for 2012 is locked in and we’re coming to Adelaide, Cairns, Perth and Hobart. Don’t worry, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, you’re on our calendar too!

Tags: Journalists, media survey, Public relations, relationships

Melbourne, come on down…

What a year it’s been for our team at PitchIt2Me.

We’ve hosted workshops around Australia and New Zealand with some fantastic feedback from our delegates. PitchIt2Me launched our Crisis Communications in a Social Media World workshops this year and continued with our half day tourism PR workshops, press release writing workshops and pitching workshops. Plus we’ve launched a new website and blog.

We’d especially like to thank the folk at Snowy Mountains Tourism, Mornington Peninsula Tourism, Tourism Dunedin, Gold Coast Tourism, Destination Melbourne and Margaret River Tourism who employed PitchIt2Me to create specific workshops just for their tourism operators in their regions.

Melbourne is our final destination for 2011. Join us for the half day Tourism PR workshop (AU$395) on November 28 from 9.00am to 1.00pm or on November 29 for our three hour Write On Press Release workshop (AU$295) from 9.00am to midday.

Drop Kirsten, our Operations Manager, a line expressing your interest kirsten@pitchit2me.com.au

Tags: media training, PR workshop, press release writing, tourism

Clients that ruin good press releases

As a journalist I get sent some hilarious press releases each day. Trouble is, they are not meant to be funny.

Press releases with long winded subject headings, uncaptioned image attachments, unchecked facts and pages of useless information.

I cringe for the poor publicist whose name appears at the bottom for I know this may not have been their work (if it was then they should know better or come to our PitchIt2Me press release workshop) – even the best press releases can go wrong when a client gets their hands on it.

If you are going to employ a public relations professional then trust them to do their job. I assume you have employed them because you don’t know how to write a press release or pitch a story to a journalist.  So, why, then when the PR professional gives you the press release do so many clients feel they need to make their mark on it?

I ghost wrote a press release for a PR company recently. Kept the subject heading to five words, limited the release to one short page, got to the point in the first paragraph and wrote what I, and my surveyed journalist friends, would have opened and read. Isn’t that the point?

What was returned to my client by his client was a complete rewrite that stretched the press release across two pages, increased the subject heading to nine words and added floral brochure style copy to the first paragraph followed by CEO quotes in the second.

A journalist would have to have read to the fourth paragraph to understand what was going on. Trust me, they won’t have read that far.

Things can get even worse when untrained tourism operators and small business owners take it upon themselves to write their own press release without a public relations professional or in house marketer who understands media.

If you are going to take it upon yourself to write one then make note of this blog or enrol in our press release writing workshop.

Journalists don’t respond to generic contact details like info@  admin@  bookings@  marketing@  and especially if there is no contact name associated with the email address.  We want a specific name of a professional who will handle our request and you’d better make sure your release is telling the truth or you will get seriously caught out.

That’s what PR professionals do – they double check your facts and get approval from everyone mentioned in the release itself unless you are quoting a published piece. There’s a reason you can’t speak on behalf of someone else without their knowledge – it’s called libel.

Team work is when everyone listens to those who are the leaders in their field within that team and heeds the advice they have paid for.

Are you a PR professional whose releases have been ruined by a client? Are you a tourism operator wanting to know the tips to writing a good release that will be read by journalists every time?  Post your comments on our blog below.

Workshops: PitchIt2Me PR training is holding a half day Tourism PR workshop on November 28 and a Press Release writing workshop on November 29 in Melbourne.  Visit our website for more details or contact kirsten@pitchit2me.com.au

What PR professionals can learn from Qantas

Ah, Qantas, the airline that split a nation.

Much has been written in the media about Alan Joyce’s decision to ground Qantas flights. Geoff Lemon penned the best opening line of any opinion piece this year in his Tie Me Bloody Kangaroo Down op ed supporting the industrial action and David Penberthy pondered his thoughts supporting Joyce’s actions in this pro  Alan Joyce  piece but both agreed it was a PR disaster.

Whether you are for against these industrial and CEO antics, you have to admit the entire Alan Joyce and Qantas debacle is a lesson in how not to handle PR, brand management and social media during a crisis.

PR crisis rule number one – timing is everything

CEO salaries and bonuses always make front page news simply by their seven figure nature in a world dominated by recession and an Occupy Movement that is addressing corporate greed around the globe and making the nightly news in the process. In the current climate Alan Joyce’s multi milliondollar bonus was destined to make the papers, that’s a given.

Whether he chose to accept the bonus or delay the discussion of bonus until six to twelve months after the grounding of planes he had set into place for the next day would, as it turned out, make the world of difference to the public perception of Alan Joyce the person, a perception that is driven by opinion pieces, editorial and social media.

Should he have chosen to forego a bonus for the next six months (a bonus he would inevitably be given) to show his personal commitment to addressing Qantas’ current financial road downhill he would have created a great positive PR story.  He may even have created a feeling of empathy for his position.

The grounding of Qantas planes the next day became as much about his bonus and salary as it was about saving Qantas. The reasons for his decision were lost in the fury from those shocked by his ‘corporate greed’, which was never the real issue.

PR crisis management rule number two – empathy is everything.

Sixty eight thousand travellers were impacted by the ‘not so sudden’ decision to ‘suddenly’ ground the Qantas fleet worldwide.  I have no doubt that Alan Joyce and the board at Qantas have far more experience at a multi national level than the rest of us and a right to address their business issues in a way they feel effective for them.

However, when crisis occurs, and the grounding of an airline is a crisis for those impacted, empathy for the victims is the first emotion a company must purvey. Alan Joyce could well be media trained by Anna Bligh’s approach during the Queensland floods when addressing a press conference. Body language and presentation can mean the difference between saying ‘sorry’ and meaning ‘sorry’.

Our television screens were infested with smiling images of Alan Joyce showing Sixty Minutes the method behind his decisions while unsmiling travellers still sat stranded.

Empathy FROM the company creates empathy FOR the company.

The scripted mechanical social media handling of the Qantas grounding created more bad PR as written up by Fairfax in this piece.  While Qantas were handling social media with an empirical corporate voice, Virgin were addressing the stranded with a personal voice of compassion as the saviours of the day.

Again, it’s all in the language. Emotive language can go a long way in keeping your customers (and the media) onside.

Qantas have some excellent internal PR staff who understand media relations, social media and public perception but one can only wonder if the guys at the top dictated or listened.

The PitchIt2Me Crisis Communications in a Social Media World workshop will be held in Brisbane on November 14, Melbourne on November 28 and Sydney on December 1. Visit our website for more details or email Kirsten@pitchit2me.com.au

Tags: alan joyce, Public relations, qantas, social media

Pay up or pay the price

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me to work for free I’d be a millionaire just like them.

Early on in my travel writing days, after years as a lifestyle journalist, I was summonsed to The Observatory Hotel by a woman who described herself as a travel writing genius.  She was to be the editor of a new online magazine for those who ‘understand luxury’ (or some such such yawn worthy prose). She told me to bring samples of my work and wear my Sunday best.

I showed up in polished shoes and clean underwear in the hope of securing some paid editorial work only to be greeted with earl grey tea in bone China as the said genius wafted on about her abundant life before pointing out in the same breathe that she has no budget to pay me but I will get to stay in the world’s best places ‘for free’.

The genius described a life of room service, spa treatments and turn down service, neglecting to mention hotel inspections, dinner with public relations professionals who would rather be at home with their kids and interviews with chefs and hotel managers that will never end up in print. The hours I would spend turning out a thousand words on the experience were considered payment by me to her for giving me access to such a glamorous life.

Needless to say the moment she mentioned ‘no budget’ I declined the second cup of tea, thanked her for wasting my time and went on my way. Bylines alone do not pay my rent.

Now when I hear the word startup I bring out my rates card to send them scurrying in the opposite direction. It is not my responsibility to help you make your millions at the cost of my own (well the millions I would have if I had learnt this lesson earlier, which I wish I had).

I believe people should be paid for their work in dollars or equity.  If you want to ‘pick my brains’ then pay me, and no a slap up lunch is not a worthy exchange for intellectual property that could earn you big dollars while it just contributes to my thighs. Of course friends and family are negotiable.

I loathe the word ‘intern’ when really it’s just a glamourised way to say ‘unpaid work experience person.’ I understand people trying to break into an industry may ‘give away’ their work in exhange for a byline or a referral or a testimonial but companies that base their entire business model on interns are making a statement on how they really value other people’s time and work.

I am not a charity and last time I looked your business doesn’t have charity status either,  though in my experience not for profit companies not only pay but pay on time.

It is a lesson that Moleskin learnt recently only too well, as noted by Mumbrella in this report. Moleskin notebooks, a personal fave, are coveted by hip urban designers, writers, journos and those with creative flair.

A recent competition launched by the company for Moleskin fanatics to create a new badge for the Moleskinerie blog. The company claimed ownership of all entries and the winner’s badge would be featured on the blog.  That’s a lot of hours of design work for free.

It backfired as graphic designers took to the Moleskin Facebook page, blogs and Twitter to expose the blatant free labour competition. All credit to Moleskin who listened to their customers, released an official statement and then changed the rules of the competition accordingly.

A lesson the Association of Freeski Professionals could take heed of.  The association is looking for an online content manager to report on the ground from their seven global platinum events in Breckenridge, Killington, Aspen, Snowbasin, Tignes in France, Whistler and the like.  That’s not all, the content manager will also remotely update the AFP standings from all AFP events around the world (there’s fifty a year).

It is a fantastic opportunity for someone with sound online media skills. This kind of job would pay anything up to $80k, normally. But the lucky winner of the Best Job Ever competition won’t get paid. Instead they’ll receive $10 000 to cover their travel, room, board and other expenses to attend each of the seven platinum events.

Trouble is the competition advertises the opportunity with the tagline “Travel the world like a VIP”.  They will need to add an extra zero to that $10 000 cheque for that to happen.

All the entries so far are impressive.  Young males (where are the chicks?) obsessed by skiing who can obviously film, edit and compile a story, some have already been published as journalists (hope they were paid).

I applaud the creativity of AFP to inspire the freeskiing community but come on, give one of these guys a real job and pay them what they are worth.

I’d enter but I’m too old to consider a shared room in the youth hostel ‘VIP living’.

Take a note out of Moleskin’s book (pun intended) and learn to work social media to your advantage in times of crisis. 

Book in to our PitchIt2Me Crisis Communications in a Social Media world workshop in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in November and December. 

Email kirsten@pitchit2me.com.au for more details and visit out pitchit2me.com.au website

Photo credit: ozpetshop.com.au – buy the bling for your pooch!

Tags: association of freeski professionals, interns, moleskin, money, work experience

Freelancer is not a dirty word

I am a freelancer. Translated? I juggle editors in the air, careful not to write for one lest the other freeze me out and I end up with unpaid bills and a life on the street.

No, I am not on staff (though my editors receive the benefits of me being on staff, ie  not writing for the competition – see previous paragraph for explanation) and I do not receive holiday pay, sick pay or a regular paid on time income regardless of how many words I write each week.

Phew, glad we got that out of the way. Now, how can I help?

If you work in travel PR or are a tourism operator I can help you, a lot. Freelance travel writing is, for me, a career. I need to make a set amount of money per week to stay alive and cover my overheads. This is where I work in your favour (not to be confused with I work for you, I don’t).

For every day I am out of my office I need to sell at least one story. If I am in your region for three days that’s at least three stories – three more than someone on staff is required to file for being away.

So, let’s do the maths.  If I write a full page story on your hotel, your ski resort, your tourism adventure in a metropolitan newspaper in Sydney it would cost you roughly $32 000 for an equivalent full page in advertising.

But we know that editorial is more powerful than advertising, let’s say roughly three times as powerful. Voila, you’ve just scored yourself $96 000 of advertising value equivalent space.

Either way, $36k or $96k, it’s not bad for the minimum investment required. Two nights in a hotel that is already at sixty percent occupancy really only costs the price of housekeeping and a lift pass at a ski resort is ‘free’ if the lifts are already turning.

Now let’s say I was paid $500 for that editorial (before tax and expenses). It is clear to see who is winning – not that it is a competition – but five figures outweighs three figures, always.

It is also clear to see why I must, as a freelancer, sell as many stories and angles as I can in order to survive.  The famil is not, contrary to some PRs (and journos) belief, a holiday. If it was I’d be lounging in the sun with my boyfriend/husband/bestfriend/mother/sister, not inspecting hotels after the official end of a business day.

The maths says that a good relationship with a freelancer that delivers is as imperative to keeping the travel editor of the number one media outlet in your target market on side.   A good freelance journalist can provide the output of three on staff writers if you provide them with enough editorial angles on a famil.

Yet there are some tourism companies that still have a ‘no freelancer’ policy. Now, I know there are plenty of freelance (and on staff) journalists out there who have promised the world and delivered nothing and made it difficult for the rest of us but all you have to do is Google a freelancer’s name to see if they are legit. No Google results, no support.

You can also ask for their commissions, though as a prolific freelance writer, and former travel editor, explained on Facebook recently – “it is easier to pitch more stories once you’ve been on the famil.” If the journalist is tried and trusted, or if you have invited the freelance journalist on the famil not the other way round then some ‘slack’ may go a long way in securing you future editorial, and lots of it.

But back to the circus. PR professionals juggle too. They juggle the expectations of their clients and the needs of the media on what is at times, no doubt, a precarious tight rope.  Sometimes they match, sometimes they don’t but the PR relationship with the journalist is crucial to future editorial for future clients.

Get a journalist off side and it can mean being stonewalled for life, get a freelancer on side and it can mean triple the editorial for a third of the work output (at your end, not mine).

Think of a good freelancer as your new BFF but remember it’s a two way street.

Author: Rachael Oakes-Ash

Freelancer, David Whitley, also writes about the role of the freelancer in tourism. Have a read of this post for some perspective for small tourism operators.

Register for a PitchIt2Me workshop this November in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne for an inside track to securing positive editorial for your company.