1. What is your message?
1.1. Be specific!
1.1.1. Identify individual messages
1.1.1.1. Separate combo messages
1.1.1.2. Create talking points
1.1.1.3. Choose words carefully
1.1.2. Know your message exactly!
1.1.3. Pick the right message
1.2. Be brief!
1.2.1. Boil it down and make it simple
1.2.2. Consider your audience
1.2.2.1. Use language that is clear to your audience
1.2.2.1.1. Include or avoid jargon
1.2.2.1.2. Don't go over their heads, but don't condescend either
1.2.2.2. Tailor message for different audiences
1.2.2.3. Keep asking yourself: What's in it for me?
1.2.2.4. Principles of news and newsworthiness are helpful in understanding audience needs and desires
1.3. Be honest with yourself!
1.3.1. Do you believe your message?
1.3.2. Can you promote it?
1.3.3. Can you keep it straight?
1.4. Get everyone on board!
1.4.1. Everyone in the organization needs to know the message
1.4.2. Everyone in the organization needs the exact words and talking points
2. Principles of News (for perspective on information and messages)
2.1. What is news?
2.2. Traditional criteria still apply
2.2.1. Prominence
2.2.1.1. Plane crashes involving Kennedy family in Boston are more interesting than plane crashes involving the Andersons in Pocatello
2.2.1.2. Argue this point all you want. Prominent people become prominent because they are interesting.
2.2.2. Importance
2.2.2.1. Some things are important and you need to know them.
2.2.2.2. Totally unsexy, but important things: economy, government, infrastructure...
2.2.3. Proximity
2.2.3.1. Plane crashes in New York are more interesting than plane crashes in Turkey
2.2.3.2. Think closer to home
2.2.4. Identification
2.2.4.1. Stuff that you notice because you identify with it
2.2.4.2. Personality profiles
2.2.4.3. Features that hit close to home: school kids, families, warm and fuzzy stuff, tug at your heartstrings stuff.
2.2.5. Oddities (Freakshow)
2.2.5.1. Bus Full of Nuns Holding Babies
2.2.5.2. Blind golfer
2.2.6. Relevance
2.2.6.1. What's in it for me?
2.2.6.2. Why should I care?
3. Plan your strategy
3.1. Messages identified
3.1.1. Keep them consistent
3.1.2. Stay on message
3.1.3. Do not hint at knowing anything you don't know
3.1.4. NEVER, EVER, EVER SPECULATE!
3.2. Audience defined
3.3. Contact lists assembled
3.4. Now what?
3.4.1. PR materials
3.4.1.1. News release or advisory
3.4.1.2. Post on your organization's Web site
3.4.1.3. Twitter
3.4.2. What not to do
3.4.2.1. Don't stage anything...ever!
3.4.2.2. If you publicize a scheduled time, stick to it.
3.4.2.3. Don't embellish your offering
3.5. Protect what you've got and stay on message
3.5.1. Don't let media get in the way
3.5.2. In PR, your job is to work with the media, but also to protect your agency and let them do the work that needs to be done.
3.5.3. Set rules and boundaries
4. What the media wants
4.1. Information
4.1.1. This is limited
4.1.2. This takes time
4.1.3. Media won't wait
4.1.4. Keep ahead of them!
4.2. Discussion
4.2.1. Columbine
4.2.1.1. HUGE EVENT
4.2.1.2. Justified live coverage
4.2.1.3. Facts are limited
4.2.1.4. They need something to discuss
4.2.2. Outside features
4.2.2.1. Victims
4.2.2.2. Students
4.2.2.3. Teachers
4.2.2.4. Neighborhood, etc.