What Do Research Skills Have to do With Media Relations?

When I do presentations about improving media relations, I stress the importance of having good research skills. On my website bio, it talks about my experience as a researcher for television productions. I am often asked “What does this have to do with media relations?”. In a nutshell the answer is “A lot.” Media relations requires many other skills too. I used to get annoyed with a client who always referred to me as ”a good statistician”, but never praised my ability as a publicist. You can be a good statistician without being a good publicist. But you can’t be a good publicist without being a good statistician. 

 

A good journalist has good research skills. A good media relations representative, or publicist, has good journalism skills. One of the primary functions of a publicist is to recognize a good story angle or story “hook”. In order to do that you need to have a lot of information about the subject and recognize the strongest story, with the strongest “hook”. If you are seeking publicity, arm yourself with information. If you have a wealth of information you are more likely to be interviewed or to be successful in pitching a story idea to a journalist. Without rock-solid, current information, there can be no story.

 

Once a journalist is working on a story, a good publicist can also provide much of his research for him. This will be mostly by directing him to sources and supplying statistics, facts and figures. 

 

Just working in, or being part of, an organization does not mean you are equipped with this kind of research. Broad-based knowledge is different than the kind you gain from on-going, in-depth research. If you continually research the kind of facts and figures that appeal to journalists, you will recognize stories quickly.

 

Good research skills mean being able to take a subject about which you know very little and quickly become an expert. It means having the skills to find and verify the most current data on the subject. Such skills involve more than putting the subject name in a search engine.

 

In sport, a good statistic can be a story in itself. Due to the volume of show jumping research I have done over many years, I have recognized record-settiing achievements approaching. One, that received a large amount of publicity, was recognized nearly two years in advance. No journalist would have known about it otherwise. Building anticipation is a great way to generate publicity.

 

Show jumping is one of the few sports that has no single source for basic statistics and information. If you do a Google search for “golf statistics” or “tennis statistics”, you will find some quality sources of this kind of information. The same is true of most other sports.

 

Listening to commentators on an American show jumping broadcast recently, I was shocked at their lack of facts about the subject. Inaccuracies were abound, ranging from the way the jumping order is created to the way riders qualify for the World Cup. They had no facts and figures on the competitors. “He’s a great guy” was the most frequently-heard commentary about various riders.

 

Statistics that are available about show jumping are often scattered between different sources, not kept up-to-date, or lacking key information such as scores. This is one of the ways in which the sport of show jumping needs to modernize in order to successfully interact with media and sponsors.

 

It was this void in the sport that prompted me to create a website with just such information. www.equestrianjumpingcanada.com is still a work in progress and will continue to grow. Current information will be added while it is current.  

 

Media Training Vital at All Levels of Equestrian Sport Organization

Most media relations problems have a reason behind them that is pretty glaring to anyone who understands the media. Members of the equestrian community (and many other niche-market sports) complain if they don’t get coverage. They also complain if they get covered but the story isn’t exactly what they would have liked. It’s interesting to hear and read the rationale of some of those who are first to complain about no coverage or less-than-perfect coverage. It only proves the need for media training at all levels of an organization – especially if that organization is seeking sponsors, spectators and higher visibility. Media training is about changing a mind-set, as much or more as it is about skills.

 

I’ve written here before about how you can’t develop a relationship with the media unless you get the facts straight. You must be equipped with accurate facts. Journalists don’t like to be made fools of by printing or broadcasting your inaccurate facts. I’ve also written before that good media relations begins at the grassroots of any organization. Change the mind-set at that level and you pave the way for a brighter relationship with the media in the future. I also always stress the importance of not blaming the messenger if you don’t like the news. All of these rules of thumb came to light today.

 

I was reading an internet forum for equestrians. It’s not media coverage, but it is in the public domain. And, these presumed-to-be-young participants are the grassroots of the sport — the future of the sport. Someone had made a post about the #1-ranked show jumper in the world, with a headline exclaiming that he was the “World Champion”. I logged in and pointed out that, while being the #1-ranked rider in the world is an outstanding achievement, it does not constitute holding the title of World Champion. Rankings constantly evolve and the only person who can claim the title of World Champion is the person who won that contest. Just like the only person who can be called the Olympic gold medalist is the rider who won the gold medal at the Olympics. The same is true of the Pan American Games, the World Cup or any other sporting event. My point was only to help these presumed-to-be young equestrians understand what these titles mean.

 

A couple of responses pondered the situation, one noting that she had picked up on the same error. Then several responses served to illustrate the systemic mind-set that is the root of most media relations problems. One posted “WHO cares about all of the technical BS” and commented that it made her need a smoke. A chorus joined in in agreement.

 

Technical BS? These young equestrians will grow up someday (with any luck) and may  play a role in the administration of the sport. Or they may be competitors who speak to the media, representing the sport. Hopefully, they will no longer believe that you can arbitrarily ordain someone “World Champion”. Sport does not work that way. By comparison, I cannot say I am an Olympic athlete because I’ve been to several Olympic Games. I was there as a journalist, not a competitor. The difference is not “technical BS”.

 

Good media relations begins at the grassroots level. Accurate facts are near the top of a journalist’s list of needs. The line between accurate and inaccurate is not “technical BS”.

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.