Show or Tournament?

Words create pictures and images. Sometimes words that mean one thing to one group of people means something entirely different to the general population.

Just like the word “equestrian” has multiple meanings, as illustrated in my last post, many other common show jumping terms do not create an accurate picture in a listener’s or reader’s mind. 

Show jumping is an Olympic sport. It is a professional sport. Though some of the uninitiated don’t think so, show jumping riders are athletes. Why then would Olympic-calibre and/or professional competition be called a “show”?

Riders start out, usually as children, competing at horse shows. In times gone by, most of these included competitions in which horses were judged only for their appearance. The latter is what a member of the general public would likely picture when they hear the words “horse show”. They would picture something similar to a dog show. However, no other Olympic sport or professional sport uses the world “show” to describe their competitions. Afterall, they are competitions, not shows. If these riders are athletes, why are they deemed to be “showing the horse”.

Unfortunately, when they reach the Olympic level, it is still common for riders to use the terminology with which they grew up. Hence, they call their competitions “shows”. Even worse, from a marketing standpoint, many competitions have official names that include the words “horse show”.

This is just another example of terminology that does not depict the sport to be what it truly is. As a result it can be confusing to the media and the general public.

Media relations is partly image-making. Terminology is a big part of that. 

The Trouble With the Word “Equestrian”

Terminology makes getting good media coverage difficult in many subject areas. Equestrian sport is one of the most problematic subjects when it comes to language. Those involved in the sport have a lingo of their own. It is well understood by them. Many of them grow up speaking it. It is not well understood by the general public, making it difficult to attract new fans, new participants, and those ever-important sponsors.

This problem can easily be overcome. There are plain-English, replacement terms, for almost every bit of “lingo” that is commonly used in the sport.

Surprisingly, however, one of the most problematic words is “equestrian”. There are a lot of different sports that can be accurately described with this adjective. However, the word is most commonly associated with the three English-riding Olympic equestrian sports. But, the dictionary defines equestrian as “having to do with horses”. That opens up a wide variety of ways in which it can be used.

One of the problems is that it is often used as if it is one sport. A good example is the recent broadcast of an equestrian three-day event on a major American television network. They promoted this broadcast as “equestrian championships”. This was particularly problematic because the equestrian sport involved had received some disturbingly negative coverage shortly before this broadcast in one of the world’s largest newspapers. Therefore, it causes all equestrian sport to be hurt by the negative publicity of one. It is a good illustration of how poor terminology can actually cause “bad press”.

Something similar happened in a Canadian newspaper recently, when they reported that Canadian riders were going to compete in the “Equestrian World Cup”. There are World Cups in several equestrian sports. This was not detrimental publicity, but a good example of confusion that can be caused by terminology that is not clear.

It’s easy to see how the naming of the U.S. television broadcast happened. The equestrian sport in question uses a name that is not sufficiently descriptive for the public or journalists to understand. What was formerly the equestrian “three-day event” (also not sufficiently descriptive, as events that are three days in length take place in almost every sport) or “horse trials” (somewhat better) has undergone a name change to “eventing”. The network was clearly trying to avoid the use of this noun-turned-verb that offers no description of what is going to take place.

But, media relations for show jumping is the subject of this blog. The choice of the American network is just offered as an example of how problematic the word “equestrian” can be.

One way to overcome the problem would be to have more descriptive names for each of the sports that fall into the “equestrian” catagory. “Equestrian jumping” or ”horse jumping” would be an improvement over ”show jumping”.

Clear, plain-English terms make anything easier to understand. There will be many future posts on improving the lingo of this sport to make it more media-friendly. 

Schedule Yourself Like a Businessman

Most journalists don’t have a very flexible schedule. They have regular deadlines to meet, whether they are daily, weekly, monthly, or at irregular intervals. That is not always the case for athletes, in any sport. With horses, plans often change minute-to-minute. Show jumping tournaments, unlike some other sporting events, often don’t operate on a rigid schedule.

However, if you want media coverage for yourself or for your sport, be prepared to live by the journalist’s schedule. If you make a commitment to do an interview or cooperate with any media request, don’t take the timing lightly. By the time they book your time, they probably have a significant investment made. That investment may be simply the journalist’s time. It may be travel expenses to meet with you. It may be space they have reserved in their publication and there will be no time to fill it with something equivalent if you cancel. They may already have invested money in photos of you and need an interview to go with them.

If you want to keep a lose and casual schedule, it might suit your own lifestyle. But if you schedule something with the media, keep a strict schedule and always be on time.

Their deadlines are based on technical requirements of either printing a publication or editing a show for broadcast. Both are expensive undertakings.

Put yourself in their position. what if someone reserved your time or equipment and then cancelled? This is just another important reason to understand what journalists do and how the media works. If they want your time they are making an investment in you. If you respect their schedule, they will want to cover you again. If you don’t, you will reduce your chances of more coverage in the future.

Don’t Announce Negative News

It seems obvious, but don’t put out a news release unless you have news. In a previous post I talked about not using the same document for internal communications and for reaching out to the media. In several previous posts I have talked about the importance of understanding what constitutes news. Both of these errors contribute to a common mistake. That mistake is announcing something that gives the media an opportunity to write a negative story.

People within the show jumping community might be awaiting the results of a particular competition, no matter what those results are. When it comes to show jumping, the general public in North America is not. However, if the result is good or it becomes part of a bigger story, then it is news. Then it can be made into a story of public interest. It does not warrant a news release if it is not news.

The same organizations who would be the first to complain about “bad press” often unknowingly create it. For example, a news release that announces an athlete was the best Canadian at an international competition, then goes on to say that “best” performance was actually 27th or 28th place, is inviting negactive coverage. Yet, this happens. This “news” is appropriate for internal communication. Members of the equestrian community wants to know this. But, it feeds the media an opportunity to say the athlete “failed, “faltered”, or “choked”.   

I will talk more about how “bad press” happens in future posts. There are many things that cause negative publicity and many come from within an organization. The results of an international competition are usually in the public domain. Any journalist who is following the sport can access the results. Any athlete should be ready to be under media scrutiny. But don’t invite it by putting out official announcements of something that is not news.     

Every Win is Not News

Show jumpers compete more often than many athletes. That’s true even if you exclude lower-level competitions for young horses. A top rider and a top grand prix horse compete more frequently than other Olympic and professional athletes. While this is necessary due to the training and development of the horses, it means that every win is not newsworthy – at least not to all news organizations.

News for mass-market media, like newspapers, must be of public interest. Whether or not something is of public interest is a subjective decision. That decision will be made by their editor. However, they will appreciate it they don’t get spammed with news that will clearly not interest their readers or viewers.  If you have the courtesy to do that, they are more likely to read your news release when you send them something that will interest them.

For example, the winner of the Welcome Stake at a tournament in a small city is not news to the major daily papers in big cities. But, it probably would be to the newspaper in the city or town where it took place. And it probably would be to the newspaper in the town where the rider lives. 

Even with a big win, it is more newsworthy if you find a strong “hook” to make it a story. Whenever possible, tailor that hook to the type of media outlet you are targeting. One of the biggest mistakes people make in an attempt to get media coverage is having one standard e-mail list. The same rider winning the same competition can constitute two or more entirely different stories for different media outlets. It’s up to you to present it to them in that way. They may not find those stories without a guide.

If you are involved in organizing tournaments and have been disappointed that every day’s winner isn’t covered by some media outlet, don’t be. What’s news in the equestrian community is not always news of public interest. But it can be more often if good stories are recognized and targeted in the right way. It’s all part of learning how the media works.   

 

Facts, Information and Accuracy

Whether you are an individual, an organization or a special event seeking publicity and exposure, it is vital that you be armed with an arsenal of facts and figures and background information.

Journalists are in the information business. Therefore, so are those of us who provide them with potential stories. It is surprising how many representatives of organizations and events can’t cite vital facts and statistics about their own organization. It is equally surprising how many athletes don’t know important statistics about their own career.

It is not enough to simply feel knowledgeable about the your sport. Facts and figures and statistics must be accurate, up-to-date and easy to understand. This takes on-going research.

A sport, an organization or any other group can easily lose credibility to the extent that it undermines and deters media coverage, if they develop a reputation for inaccurate facts. A lack of a good, credible information source will have the same effect.

Good journalists take their credibility seriously. Their subjects should do the same when providing them with information. If you cause a journalist to lose his or her credibility, they will not be anxious to cover you again. If you give them interesting facts that make a good story, they’ll probably come back for more.

News and Internal Communications Should be Separate

Increasingly in the show jumping community and other “niche market” groups, I see the same documents being used simultaneously as news releases and internal communications. In the show jumping community, these internal stakeholders might be horse owners, riders, members of the national federation, sponsors, or other interested parties. This approach makes it nearly impossible to satisfy the needs of all recipients.

I frequently see newsletter-style documents, complete with an invitation to subscribe, being used as news releases. Without question, the stakeholders and other interested parties in any sport want to hear promptly of anything that is newsworthy. But their needs are not the same as that of the media. It is hard to make a single document fill both needs.

A news release should be written in the language of sport, not in the lingo of a particular sport. It should contain only the essential information needed by a journalist, and not a lot of extraneous detail that will deter them from reading further. That extraneous detail, however, may be of great interest to those who understand the intricacies and want to know exactly how the news unfolded.

Maintaining an appropriate e-mailing list is one of the biggest tasks facing anyone who generates news releases. But that list should be targeted based on your publicity goals. Any interested party with an e-mail address is not good criteria for establishing your target market.

Please Be Patient

No, “please be patient” isn’t a tip on how to deal with the media. I’ve had a lot of e-mails in the last couple days in response to this portion of my blog. I am currently en route to do some show jumping media relations business in the U.S. and hope that you will forgive me if I don’t get time to post for a couple days.

For those of you who visit this blog because of your interest in show jumping, I strongly suggest you visit the main page of www.jhmediatips.com too. All of the general media relations tips there apply to any subject.

I’ll post on both again as soon as I can. Thanks for visiting and thanks for your e-mails. Feel free to leave a message or comment for everyone to see too.

 

Does Speaking “Insider” Language Make You Smarter Than Your Fans?

 I was planning a post about a conversation I had recently with a colleague. Today, I was given an additional reason to write this post. My colleague felt a television show about horses would have to be “dumbed down” to appeal to the general public. I’ve encountered this concept a lot in my professional experience with equestrian sport. The general idea, among the “insiders”, seems to be that you have to be one of them to do a proper job of telling their stories, producing sports television about them, or marketing the sport. But how many people, whose specialty is riding or training horses, also excel at writing, television production or marketing? 

Today a thread started running on an internet forum for the equestrian community. It is about a former television commentator who covered equestrian sport. Some of the posts seem to adhere to this same concept. I’m not going to comment on the particular commentator. However, the impression some had was that the commentator could have been good, but she had to talk down to the ordinary viewer, who is not involved with equestrian sport.technicalities of the sport, explained in the lingo of the sport, will only turn away potential fans, journalists, readers and viewers.

 

Language and terminology is one of the greatest barriers that equestrian sport and some other niche market sports face in attracting fans from the general public. It is also a huge barrier in media relations. It is something that will come up often in the tips on this blog.

 

The truth is, the general public likes stories that are interesting. And nothing is interesting to them if they don’t understand the language. A well-crafted story will be interesting to both people who know the sport and those who don’t. Using words by their literal meaning, instead of the insider slang of the sport, is one of the top ways to make yourself and the sport more attractive to the public, the media and sponsors. Human interest stories about almost any subject draw attention. The technicalities of the sport, explained in the lingo of the sport, will only turn away potential fans, journalists, readers and viewers. Those technicalities can be stated in plain English and in language that is common to other sports. That will attract and hold interest until, one day, the slang of the sport may be as well understood as the slang of mass-market sports already is.

If You Hope to be Newsworthy, Plan Early

If you are organizing a special event or you are in a position that might put you in the public eye, don’t wait until you are making news to plan for it. 

If you are an up-and-coming athlete, now is the time to learn to skills to be a good interview. Don’t learn it from your coach. Many experienced athletes and coaches have a lot of experience doing interviews, but have formed some bad habits along the way.

For those who organize events, think of the media in everything you do from the outset. When naming your event or individual competitions within it, think about how media-friendly they are. Do they give the right impression? Are they easy to understand? Does it require an explanation, as to what it is, or is it self-explanatory? Will the sponsor portion of the name be used by the media or is it easy to drop?

When you design the layout of your grounds, think of the media’s needs then. It will be too late once it is built.

When you plan your schedule, think of the media. Will your schedule suit their deadlines and work schedule?