The Press Tour

I just returned from L.A. for a quick 1.5 day tour and I thought it would be a good time to note some of the tricks for a successful media tour. The press/analyst tour is a fundamental part of the PR consultant’s service. Taking your client on the road to meet with target media requires high energy and attention to detail. During recent years we saw budgets get cut and among the first to go were travel budgets. So many press tours became teleconference tours and money was saved for the one important launch or trade show of the year. Budgets have thawed a bit and I’ve seen myself and my colleagues hit the road more this year. Each PR consultant brings a different style and point of view to a press tour. Here is my routine. I’d be interested in hearing some of the tricks you’ve picked up a long the way for a successful trip.

As we know, the tour begins weeks before with planning sessions where the news value is outlined and the key messages are prepared. From there we prepare a target list and get a rough sense of how the tour will flow. This will change many times over the weeks leading up to the tour as everything depends on our targets’ availability. Cities will move around and the days will probably shift a bit as we pick up the phone and begin. This usually frustrates clients as they want to book travel early and get a sense of how the week will play out. Sometimes it all maps to the “best case scenario” but often there is some juggling right up to the departure date.

Once the tour is booked it’s time for the briefing book. At Voce we continuously evaluate our briefing books and tweak them to provide the most important information possible for a great tour. It’s fair to say that a client’s perception of a tour will often be shaped around the briefing book. If the itinerary is wrong or the directions are poor, it doesn’t matter if you get there on time, the client will take as a sign of sloppy work. And rightfully so. Executives don’t have time for a book full of date/time discrepancies and bad directions. Talking points and background info are another biggie. This is where the PR consultant can demonstrate value. Inside tips on the journalist or publication is huge. Why else do they have you along if all you’re going to do is cut and paste MediaMap info into a Word document (all due respect to MediaMap – it’s great info but it should be complimented with our own knowledge, experience and recommendations). The briefing book is the media tour Bible. It’s the one place where all tour questions should be answered – travel logistics, appointment dates/times, journalists/analyst background information, key messages and talking points. Here’s a tip: bring some extra copies. You can bet they will be accidentally left in a hotel room, cab, rental car or airport lounge.

When the day comes and it’s time to drive to the airport and lead your client/executive on a tour everything should be water tight. Appointment confirmations have been sent, directions have been checked and rechecked, hotel and flight reservations have been confirmed one more time. Make sure you have some spending cash and a credit card with room to grow. I remember being a young buck in PR and traveling with executives before I was given a company credit card. I kept a few of my own for travel use to make sure I wasn’t caught at a hotel check-out desk or restaurant with no money.

It’s the PR person’s job to make sure the tour goes well. What does that mean? It means all the logistics are locked down. But that’s jus the beginning. It also means that you’ve read up on the market and the folks you’re meeting with so you can have intelligent conversations with your client to fill down time at the airport, hotel lobby and en-route to a briefing. It means keeping the energy level high so each briefing is fresh and exciting and the journalist/analyst walks away feeling like it was worth the time. Press tours test PR people. It’s your job to have a RedBull or Diet Coke in your bag if the executive needs a pick-me-up. You should have some aspirin if they’ve got a headache. A band-aid if they develop a blister walking around Boston or NY. A snack if their blood sugar drops. Their job is to tell a great story and hit the messaging points. Our job is simple – we take care of everything else.

I’ve read about PR consultants sitting in interviews and not taking notes. That just floors me. What value do you bring if you don’t document the briefing? If you’re smart, you’ll write the next version of the Q&A by just taking notes. When you leave the briefing and the exec asks, “How’d I do?”, what are you going to say? These are basic rules but they are sadly forgotten and the folks that forget them give our profession a black-eye.  Many companies have tours and events planned in September and October. It’s going to be a busy few months. Jump in here and drop me a comment with other tips and tricks to make for a successful media tour. It’s important that we all take this seriously. We all benefit from doing good work.

Comments

[Kevin Dugan]

Matthew - Another tip is to hire a driver/limo service. Boston can be a pain for analyst tours and I always had a driver deal with directions (but you still need to know them yourself). This gives you more time to focus on the client.

I tell people the client is basically a rock star on these tours...they just need to show up. We do the rest. The limo (which is actually just a towne car) helps with this approach. It’s one more logistic for us, but one less thing to worry about once they show up.

Briefing Book: In addition to talking points, you need to put them through a round of “what if” questions where you play devil's advocate and ask them hard questions.

Not only should you be taking notes, your client should not have time to ask "How'd I do?" You should have (based on your notes) a quick, substantive review for them. If you're not driving, this is even easier for you to accomplish.

And you are learning as you go on the tour so be sure to apply the first interview to your second and tweak accordingly. Everyone should be familiar enough with the material so you can all improvise.

You probably have this in your briefing book, but in addition to talking points, I like to have a couple of recent articles from the reporter or articles where the analyst is quoted.

My best briefings included executives that were smart enough to work in specific references to these articles as appropriate when making a point during the meetings. It always made a difference when it worked and everyone comes out of that meeting feeling like a rock star...reporter/analyst, executive and pr person.

To finalize this ramble, if the client is the rock star, what are we? Everything from roadie and sherpa to shaman and rabbi. If they’re the wizard of oz, we’re the man behind the curtain, and so on.

Great post. Hope this helps.