It’s Friday.  After a long week of dealing with colleagues, managing your clients, setting the monthly budget, and doing your weekly timesheets, the last thing that you’re thinking about is securing a placement in the New York Times.  While that would be ideal and on any client’s wish list, it’s surely not on your list of things to do on a Friday afternoon.  After all, why pitch on a Friday when you can wait till Monday? Reporters are probably on deadline or just checked out.  If you’ve thought this before, then let’s change your mindset here.

Several Fridays ago……

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The relationship business is a hard one, but that is what separates the good and thoughtful public relations professionals from those who bombard you with emails. Two of the most stressful tasks that all public relations professionals, no matter their career level, are charged with is pitching their clients to the media and developing new business pitches. The key to successful pitches is building relationships with key influencers in the media who can help build a solid case for your client.

In this week’s PRSA “Friday Five” post — an analysis of the week’s biggest public relations and business news and commentary — we explore the various elements of smart pitches, advise against a number of pitching missteps, and look at one freelance writer who successfully garnered the skill of pitching, resulting in a 500-word piece for a travel publication.

5 Traps You Have to Avoid When Pitching Bold Ideas (Fast Company)

For public relations professionals, pitching is most closely associated with the media, but what about pitching other important stakeholders, such as clients? When pitching an innovative idea to clients, you may find that challenges can persist, especially if the client is resistant to the idea. Winning the client over has more to do with how you present the idea. Fast Company contributor, Mark Rolston, provides tips on how to re-frame your pitch. Here are a few of his suggestions:

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As public relations professionals delve into the reality that the media landscape they once knew very well is evolving due to increased digital and social media components, identifying opportunities to fine-tune skills you already have and building on those skills with professional development and key learnings has become the way of the future.

This week’s PRSA “Friday Five” post — an analysis of the week’s biggest public relations and business news and commentary — explores some great “how-to” and “top” tips that are aimed to help keep any public relations pro’s game sharp. We look at how improved focus can win over clients and colleagues in various social situations, provide tips on how to improve your writing and offer ideas on how to land your pitch in the right hands. Here are some pointers that can put you on the right path to improving your communications performance.

How To Reverse Your Hard Wiring For Distraction (Fast Company)

We all know that charm and charisma go a long way in creating genuine relationships with customers, clients and even our own colleagues. Charismatic behavior can be broken down into three core elements: presence, power and warmth. Have you ever felt, in the middle of a conversation, as if only half of your mind were present, while the other half was busy doing something else? Do you think the other person noticed? Although many of us try to fake presence or pretend like we are listening, others can easily pick up on our body language. This means they know when our presence is lacking, which can be perceived as inauthentic. Fast Company’s Olivia Fox Cabane offers three simple techniques to boost your charisma in personal interactions, and discusses why, on occasion, our brains find it difficult to remain present.

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Editor’s note: In celebration of Black History Month in February, PRSA invited prominent black leaders in the public relations profession to offer their views and ideas for achieving greater racial and ethnic diversity in the profession. This is the fourth post in the series. A compilation of previous PRSA Black History Month blog posts can be found here.

An old faithful in the industry, media relations mastery is a necessary skill for PR professionals. Social networking and other digital platforms are hot topics, but many clients still want their product or event splashed across headlines. As midsize outlets are muscled out by online giants like Huffington Post and New York Times, smaller publishers are forced to get more and more niche-oriented. Those newspapers and magazines cultivate large readership bases when content is developed for a specific audience, not the masses. And with $1.1 trillion in projected African American spending power by 2015, black people across the U.S. are a market well-worth reaching. What does this mean for your media relations campaign? Whether local or national in scope, black publications are necessary components.

Having worked at a black newspaper, I know why pitching these publications can present challenges. First, most of the largest black outlets have fewer on their editorial staff than general market outlets. You will likely find one editor or writer responsible for covering multiple news topics. More responsibilities mean they have less time to hear your pitch, and a smaller newspaper or magazine means fewer stories get published. The good news is that publications are hungry for content. Tighter staffs mean reporters only get sent out to cover major stories. Editors often depend on PR pros to feed them relevant content for their audience. Here is how to maximize that relationship and get your stories published:

Write your press release as a story

Editors and writers have less time to develop a story, so do the work for them. Mainstream publications usually see the press release as a jumping-off point – they will take the content and follow up with their own research or interviews. Black publications do this as well (for larger, or investigative stories), but are also open to publishing your full press release. Editors appreciate when they only need make a few copy tweaks before a release is ready to print. The more your release reads like a completed story, the better.

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