All professions develop their own lingo, the words and phrases instinctively used which mark out the insider. The world of PR is no different but, as the last few years have brought about an explosion in the use of social media, how we do things has evolved and a whole new lexicon has become established. In the hope of de-mystifying what we do, below is my guide to some old and new PR jargon, common words and phrases you are likely to hear in the course of working with your PR professional.
PR: Let’s start at the beginning! PR stands for public relations. This is the process of building an awareness, public image and positive reputation for an organisation, business or person. It is achieved through internal management of communication with the public and the flow of information into the public domain.
How an organisation or individual is represented in the media will have a huge impact on how it or they are perceived publicly. The role of PR is to influence the media (whether traditional print and broadcast media or social media) to represent an organisation or person positively and to effectively communicate its key messages.
Good PR is grounded in good relationships, with journalists, editors, influencers, staff, customers, service users and the wider public.
PR differs from advertising in that it is not paid for directly and relies on a third party, independent endorsement from a journalist. [PR is not the same as marketing or business development….]
Angle: The way in which a story is presented to the media with a specific emphasis which will hopefully interest them/their readers.
Brand: More than just a name, logo or symbol which identifies a product, service, company or business but, how such things are perceived by the public. Put more simply, a customer’s gut feeling about an organisation or their goods and services and whether they like them. Successful PR will enhance a brand.
B2B: Stands for “business to business”. Organisations that provide products and services to other businesses. PR will often focus on trade publications as customers will be reading these.
B2C: Stands for “business to consumers”. Products and services aimed at individuals. PR will be wider – print, broadcast, social media.
Channels: The different ways in which information can be disseminated – Broadcast: TV, radio, Print: newspapers, journals, magazines, Digital: websites, social media, podcasts, video.
Circulation: Total number of print copies available to readers. Higher number indicates more readers and a greater reach.
Content: Words and images created and distributed on various channels.
Copywriting: The written words that convey the message in line with the public image and reputation which is being conveyed. The art of writing content for a press release, website, article etc.
Coverage/hits: An article, blog etc. that mentions your organisation.
Embargo: Unannounced information for example, about a new product or appointment, shared with the media which cannot be published before a certain time or date.
Exclusive: offering a piece of news to just one journalist or media platform thereby providing an incentive for them break the story safe in the knowledge that it will run before competitor outlets have a chance to cover it.
Hook: what’s the unique selling point of the story you are trying to get the journalist interested in, why will anyone else, outside your organisation be interested in this, what’s the wider application?
Lead time: The amount of time between a journalist commissioning a story and publication. Varies according to type of media. Magazines may have a lead time of several months, online maybe several days, newspapers may publish within a few hours.
Pitch: A targeted idea or concept for an article or piece “sold” to a journalist to persuade them to take content from you.
Press kit: Pre-prepared information ready to be given to the media. Usually contains company description, timeline, who’s who, photos, contact details and social media accounts.
Press release: The usual way in which PR professionals share news with media outlets. Generally, an email containing all pertinent information, together with a ready-made quote. Ideally, a journalist can turn this around easily into a story. Hundreds may be received each day so standing out from the crowd is paramount.
Target: May refer to the constituency that an organisation is hoping to communicate information to such as potential customers or, those it is hoping to influence for example, decision makers. Equally may refer to publications they are seeking to place stories in.
Unique users: Also referred to as “unique visitors”. The number of real, individual visitors to a website, measured by IP addresses of the visitors. A way to measure the popularity of a website (the higher the number the better), rather than relying on number of site visits, which can include one person visiting a site several times.
Wire service: A paid for distribution service which sends press releases to several media outlets at the same time. Used for big announcements or breaking news. Pressat, PRweb and Realwire are three examples worth taking a look at.
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