You may be keen on getting your business into the media. But what makes a good story, what format should it be in and which journalists do you go to? Martin will run through some basic ideas and misconceptions about how to get yourself in the press (and sometimes when you shouldn't!)

1. PR 101 – A Guide to Public Relations
Martin Dyan
(Online Version)

2. A little about
me…
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan
• Almost a decade in PR
• Media specialist
• Supporting agencies and
businesses
PR
EXPERTISE

4. What we’ll
cover…
 1) What is PR
 2) When you need PR
 3) Your objectives and your audience
 4) Messaging
 5) Building a media list
 7) What makes a strong story
 8) Media interviews
 9) Metrics
 10) Three key principles
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

5. WHAT IS PR?
Public Relations (PR) is the way organisations, companies and
individuals communicate with the public and media.
It can also be known as building PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
• Proactive campaigning
• Reactive ‘issues management’
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

6. PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

7. WHY DO WE NEED
PR?
DOES SIZE
MATTER?
Reputation matters.
It’s what counts.
“KNOWING COMMUNICATIONS
IN TODAY’S ENVIRONMENT TO
ME IS EQUAL TO IF NOT
SCARILY MORE IMPORTANT
THAN UNDERSTANDING
FINANCES” GARY VAYNERCHUK
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

8. BE CLEAR ABOUT YOUR OBJECTIVES
What are you trying to do?
- Drive traffic to your website or app?
- Raise funds, attract investment?
- Hire the best of the best?
- Make social change
- Change the world?
Whatever you do…
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

9. MAKE A POINT
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

10. THINK ABOUT YOUR
AUDIENCE/STAKEHOLDERS…
• Employees?
• Customers?
• People you’re hiring?
• Government/Lobbying?
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

11. BUILDING A LIST OF INFLUENCERS
• Follow everyone relevant on twitter
• Go onto forums, who’s talking about what?
READ AND LISTEN AND WATCH
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

12. MESSAGING
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

13. Remember this
slide?
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan
• Almost a decade in PR
• Media specialist
• Supporting agencies and
businesses
PR
EXPERTISE
TOPLINE
MESSAGE
KEY MESSAGE 1
KEY MESSAGE 2
KEY MESSAGE 3

14. MAKE YOUR MESSAGING CLEAR
Before you go to media make sure to have a clear narrative along with key
messages, you must:
• Succinctly outline your business
• Grabs people’s attention
• Be easily understood (avoid the jargon)
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan
Tip: Think about pulling
together an ‘elevator pitch’
which perfectly sums up who
you are in 10 seconds or
less.

15. …AND WHAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE TO
THEM IN YOUR NARRATIVE
YOUR BUSINESS:
• What problem does it solve?
• How is it different?
• Are there high profile investors or partners?
• Is it topical to the current news or a global rend?
• What will be the impact on your sector?
• What’s your opinion?
YOU:
• Where your idea came from
• How you’ve overcome
difficulties
• Were you inspired by a local
teacher or businessperson?
• What would your business
success mean for local
people?
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

16. FIND THE RIGHT
JOURNALISTS
• Find someone who has covered
a similar story before
• Take a personal approach
• Don’t forget the power of social
media influencers in reaching
your audience
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

17. A MEDIA LIST LOOKS LIKE…
Publication Name Telephone Email Twitter Notes
Campaign xxx xx xx xx xx
Wired xxx xx xx xxx xx
V3 xxx xxx xx xx xx
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

18. PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

19. JOURNALISTS AND STORIES
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

20. WHAT MAKES ‘NEWS’
• Launching a new product
• Looking for funding
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan
• Being shortlisted for an award
• Endorsed by a celebrity
What do journalists say…

21. FILM
&
PHOTOGRAPHY
• Good visuals can help push your story over
the line
• Get professional pictures of you with
something that represents your business
(product or service). If you’d rather not pay for
it, then get a friend with a good quality camera
to take some shots. Or even try the local
college or university and offer yourself as a
project/case study for a student
• If you’re making video content, make it
engaging! It can have a comedy element to it,
it can be professional, it needs to be emotive
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

23. A STRONG MEDIA PACKAGE
• You need a good headline with your key messages
following
• What other supporting info is needed?
• Do you have visuals in the release or to offer?
• Is there an embargo?
• Are you offering an exclusive?
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

24. A press release format looks like….
1. Headline
2. Description of new product or service and date it’s due
out
3. A bit about the company
4. Quote
5. Boilerplate
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

25. Always pitch:
• On the phone first
• Then by e-mail
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan
What else can you do?
• Pitch using a gif
• Pitch via twitter

26. Journalists love meeting founders so...
• What can you get across that shows you’re an expert and
passionate about what you do?
• Are there any trends they should know about?
• Think about a journalists’ target audience, what are their readers
thinking about (Daily Express demographic is different to V3s!)
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

27. DON’T
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan
• USE TOO MUCH JARGON (unless it’s a specific tech publication)
• USE AWFUL IMAGES
• THINK YOU’RE THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD WITHOUT
BACKING IT UP (Confidence is one thing but you’ll have to back-up the
figures)
• BE PATRONISING OR SNARKY TOWARDS A JOURNALIST (don’t
burn bridges!) – even if they’re snarky to you and yes, they can be.

28. PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

29. PREP FOR INTERVIEWS
• Think about the three key things you want to get across
• When you meet, enjoy it and be personable
• Take your time to think about an answer
• If you don’t know the answer, say you will find out and get back to them. It’s ok to do
this, don’t make it up!
• Don’t be pushed in to giving information you don’t want to be out there
• Remember that if you’re discussing a story with a journalist there’s no such thing as
‘off the record’
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

30. Try not to be
like this guy…
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

31. And make sure
you know your
presenter and the
angle they’re
coming from…
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

32. Bylines/op-eds
PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

33. PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan

34. PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan
METRICS

35. PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan
METRICS

36. PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan
OBJECTIVES MESSAGES TRAFFIC
METRICS

37. PR 101 – A guide to PR: Martin Dyan
MY THREE KEY PR TIPS
1. CREATE YOUR FOUNDATION
2. MAKE THE PITCH RIGHT FOR THE AUDIENCE
AND PUBLICATION
3. MAINTAIN THE MOMENTUM

38. PR 101 – A Guide to Public Relations
Martin Dyan
Thank you (find me on LinkedIn)