Press Releases – Who Do You Send Them To?
Mary, Alex and Mark discuss who to send your press releases to in different media outlets… and how not to annoy the recipient! Mary, having been on both sides, as both press and public relations, shares insight into how to write a good story to attract attention from the media. Is it wise to send products to reporters? Tune in to find out!
Listen to Episode #8 Now:
Transcript:
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Announcer: This is Pet Life Radio.
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Alexane Ricard: Let's talk pets.
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Mary Tan: Hey everybody, welcome to the Whisker Report.
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Mary Tan: We're a new podcast dedicated to helping anyone in the pet industry, whether you're in animal welfare or a for-profit pet company, get some PR and buzz for your business or nonprofit.
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Mary Tan: I'm Mary Tan, one of the hosts of the shows, along with Alexane Ricard, who hails from France, is living in Canada.
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Mary Tan: She travels the world rescuing cats, primarily getting them fixed so they don't procreate, because we don't want to contribute to pet overpopulation, especially when it comes to cats.
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Mary Tan: So bonjour, Alex.
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Alexane Ricard: Bonjour.
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Alexane Ricard: It's a bit early for me today, because I used to do that podcast around 7 p.m., and now it's 7 a.m.
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Alexane Ricard: So yeah, it was sweet, but I'm a bit tired.
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Alexane Ricard: But we're so excited about this show today.
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Alexane Ricard: Mary has worked as a reporter for years before starting her own PR agency, and today we're going to pick her brain.
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Alexane Ricard: But first, let me introduce you to our producer, Mark Winter of Pet Life Radio, who is the man who gets us to you each and every week.
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Alexane Ricard: Hey, Mark.
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Mark Winter: Hi, how's everyone doing?
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Mary Tan: We are good.
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Mark Winter: I've been watching the Olympics all week and last week.
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Mark Winter: So I know Alex said you were going to be at the opening ceremonies.
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Alexane Ricard: Yeah, I was.
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Alexane Ricard: It was very wet.
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Alexane Ricard: It was raining a lot, and I think you can't see it on TV, but it was actually like, yeah, it was crazy.
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Alexane Ricard: It was like a storm.
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Mark Winter: I noticed when they were showing the coverage of the opening ceremonies, a lot of cats in Paris.
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Mark Winter: I saw shots of a lot of cats walking around.
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Mark Winter: So I was happy to see that, although I didn't see any of them in the gymnastics.
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Mark Winter: But I think they would probably be good for that.
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Mark Winter: Balance beam.
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Mark Winter: My cats, they have a great floor routine here.
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Mark Winter: So I think they would be a good Olympic event.
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Alexane Ricard: We should have the Olympics for cats.
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Mark Winter: They should.
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Mary Tan: Absolutely.
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Mary Tan: Well, so I guess I'm talking about myself a little bit today.
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Mary Tan: Not because I like talking about myself, but because I think I have some background that I'd like to share with everybody.
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Mary Tan: I was a reporter for many, many, many years.
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Mary Tan: I worked in cities like Atlanta, Las Vegas, here in Minneapolis, traveled around the country, did a lot of, contributed a lot to the network, new shows and that sort of thing.
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Mary Tan: And I used to get a lot of press releases.
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Mary Tan: And now we actually send out a lot, don't we, Alex?
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Alexane Ricard: Yeah, we do.
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Alexane Ricard: So tell us what was the worst part about receiving so many press release?
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Alexane Ricard: How did you get through them?
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Mary Tan: Okay.
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Mary Tan: So one of the irritating things was I used to wake up to my inbox and I'd get like a hundred pitches.
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Mary Tan: And I would say 98% of them were just like sales pitches from brands, like a new product and that sort of thing, which I was in a mainstream television station.
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Mary Tan: So I worked at the NBC in Las Vegas.
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Mary Tan: I worked at the CBS station here in Minneapolis.
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Mary Tan: And I worked at Fox in Atlanta.
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Mary Tan: And those aren't news stories.
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Mary Tan: And I get what they're trying to do.
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Mary Tan: So like a lot of news services as there's PR Newswire and all of these different pitches.
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Mary Tan: And so what these newswires will do is they just blanket everybody, every journalist out there who kind of may have some sort of relevance to the topic.
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Mary Tan: And I used to get like pitches for new cars and new dishwashing detergent.
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Mary Tan: And I was a crime reporter primarily.
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Mary Tan: So I really paid attention to like police press releases, anything that came from municipal government.
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Mary Tan: And I really, really placed a lot of emphasis on if it was a viewer from my viewing area, because that's how we got a lot of tips.
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Mary Tan: But the brand ones tended to fill up my inbox.
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Mary Tan: And I can tell you, I would look at them for two seconds and delete unless the headline captured my attention.
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Mary Tan: Then I wouldn't read it.
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Mary Tan: And frankly, I just didn't have time, because newsrooms nowadays have such a bare bones staff that everybody's doing multiple stories a day.
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Mary Tan: There's so much news time to fill.
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Mary Tan: I used to tell people, I fill the holes between commercials.
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Mary Tan: And the news hole is getting bigger and bigger.
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Mary Tan: Like today, morning news shows are from 4 a.m.
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Mary Tan: to 10 a.m.
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Mary Tan: And that's a big news hole to fill.
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Mary Tan: But they want specific kinds of news.
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Mary Tan: And a lot of, I would say, a lot of brand marketing people need to understand what a news story is.
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Mary Tan: And a news story is anything that's new, trendy.
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Mary Tan: It gets people talking, something emotional.
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Mary Tan: Like if you watch the news, you'll understand what a news story is.
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Mary Tan: And so as somebody who is new to PR, new to marketing, trying to get your brand out there, trying to get your animal rescue out there, it's really important that you study the news and watch the news.
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Alexane Ricard: Ben, yeah, I just want to jump in there and say that, at least for France, which is the market I know best, we are not as into fluffy stories as you guys are.
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Alexane Ricard: So if you want to make the news in Europe about pet products or pet rescue, I think it really, really needs to be a really good story, something that really interests people.
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Alexane Ricard: And I think it would be much harder than for the American market.
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Mary Tan: Yeah, the American market is very fluffy, primarily in the mornings, because the research behind the morning shows is people, they want to find out what happens overnight, but they don't want to be pelted with bad news right away in the morning.
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Mary Tan: You know what I mean?
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Mary Tan: Like, if you watch most stations, they've got the headlines, you know, there's usually like some dead body overnight or something in most markets.
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Mary Tan: But then, you know what?
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Mary Tan: They go to the person who's at the water parks swimming because it's such a hot day out, you know?
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Mary Tan: And I worked morning shows too at one point.
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Mary Tan: And like, I would do like silly things.
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Mary Tan: I did a piece on skajoring, which is cross-country skiing with your dog and that sort of thing, because this is Minnesota, you know?
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Mary Tan: But animals really sell.
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Mary Tan: I think in Europe, it seems to be more hard news, or it's got to be an issue.
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Mary Tan: Like, in Australia right now, they're doing feral cat hunts, which is horrible.
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Mary Tan: If you're in Australia, stop it.
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Mary Tan: Yeah, stop it.
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Mary Tan: Yes, it's just horrible.
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Mary Tan: But, you know, as a reporter, I was a reporter for 13 years, I actually, 90% of the PR people I dealt with in my career used to drive me absolutely baddie, because they would call me, they'd send me their press release.
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Mary Tan: Chances are, I deleted it.
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Mary Tan: They'd call me and say, did you get my press release?
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Mary Tan: And then I'd usually just say, yeah, because I got hundreds of press releases.
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Mary Tan: And they're like, are you going to cover it?
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Mary Tan: And then, you know, my standard answer is I don't know, because we don't decide things till most news stations don't decide what to cover until the day of.
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Mary Tan: The morning shows that have features, they'll plan their content out, you know, a week or two before.
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Mary Tan: But to get on the traditional evening news cast, they don't decide that till the day of.
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Mary Tan: And so these PR people would call me up on phone, are you going to come?
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Mary Tan: Are you going to come?
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Mary Tan: And, you know, a lot of times I would have to say no, or a lot of times I just wouldn't pick up the phone and I would wait to hear a message.
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Mary Tan: And a lot of journalists don't return phone calls.
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Mary Tan: So that's another thing to everybody out there who's new in the PR world is you're not, chances are they're not going to call you back unless there's interest.
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Mary Tan: And so there's a lot of rejection and I mean, Alex, you and I talked about this when you first started in PR, you said to me, no, nobody called me back.
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Mary Tan: Nobody emailed me.
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Mary Tan: I've heard crickets and that's pretty standard.
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Alexane Ricard: Yeah, and I'd love to talk more about it right after a little break.
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Mark Winter: Here's Daryl Michelson, owner of Purniture Cat Furniture.
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Daryl Michelson: Back in 1990, I was in the market for some cat furniture.
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Daryl Michelson: And as looking at the cat furniture available, I realized that most of it is basically overpriced junk.
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Daryl Michelson: The big difference between our furniture and other cat furniture is the fact that we use plywood and all other cat furniture is made with some sort of a particle board.
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Announcer: You can see the Purniture difference online at purniture.com.
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Announcer: That's P-U-R-R-N-I-T-U-R-E.
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Announcer: Let's Talk Pets on petliferadio.com.
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Alexane Ricard: So, Mary, can you tell us, because I had a hard time at the beginning when I started working with you, because sometimes you would say, my pitches were too salesy, or my headline wasn't grabbing attention enough.
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Alexane Ricard: So what would be the best practices as someone who just starts, and they want to do their own PR, what would you recommend for them to do?
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Mary Tan: Well, first of all, never put out a press release that's really salesy, unless it's going to specific media.
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Mary Tan: So the pet trade media, that can be salesy, because who's reading it?
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Mary Tan: It's retailers, it's pet store owners, it's distributors.
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Mary Tan: That's their market.
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Mary Tan: But to the typical American magazine, like your People magazine, your Women's Day, if that's still around, your Red Book, your Oprah magazines, what you want is you've got to try to generate something, an attribute of the product that is not, that doesn't sound salesy.
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Mary Tan: So for example, we have a client named Snoozer, right Alex?
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Mary Tan: And the thing about their products is it's an orthopedic bed, and it also helps anxiety in pets.
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Mary Tan: And you know, during the 4th of July, there's tons of issues with pets and anxiety.
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Mary Tan: So instead of pitching the bed, you're gonna pitch pet anxiety and all the symptoms that go along with that.
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Mary Tan: And then at the end, you're just gonna throw in and a possible remedy for this is the Snoozer pet bed.
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Mary Tan: It's about the pets, not the beds, but the beds get a mention, which ultimately can help because you're pitching Snoozer as a solution to the problem.
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Alexane Ricard: And Mark, you also receive a lot of press releases for people to, so you can talk about their product or they can get on a show.
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Alexane Ricard: And so I was just wondering for you, what are some of the things that you just cannot stand?
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Mark Winter: Well, it depends.
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Mark Winter: Like what you were just saying about your product, if it's a product, I mean, it's okay.
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Mark Winter: I don't mind getting those press releases because then I just forward them to Michelle Fern, who has best bets for pets, which is our pet product show.
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Mark Winter: So that's all well and good.
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Mark Winter: The thing that I hate is the thing that Mary just said that you do is that you're disguising a pitch for a product into an article for something else.
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Mark Winter: And I hate that.
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Mark Winter: And also PR companies, listen to me, I'm talking to you guys, that you send a press release about a company that has a celebrity.
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Mark Winter: Like Taylor Swift is now working with us for our new cat food and then we contact and say, yeah, well, we'd like to have Taylor on, you know, to talk about our cats and everything.
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Mark Winter: Oh, well, Taylor's not available, but we can put you in touch with someone from the company to talk about the cat food.
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Mark Winter: No, no.
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Mark Winter: The reason that we want Taylor is the same reason that you did, because she's a celebrity and brings people in.
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Mark Winter: So don't send us to somebody from that's boring from your company to talk about food when we want Taylor Swift.
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Mary Tan: Yeah.
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Mary Tan: Oh, my God.
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Mary Tan: Yeah.
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Mary Tan: We talked about that earlier.
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Mary Tan: It's the bait and switch.
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Mary Tan: Don't pitch what it is.
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Mary Tan: Mark, how you were telling me like you don't like the products at the end.
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Mary Tan: That's because it wasn't done well.
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Mary Tan: If the press was written really well, it should be disguised because I have gotten some publicity that way when they didn't really realize that they were promoting a product.
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Mary Tan: It might be that you don't talk about the product at all.
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Mary Tan: But you have it.
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Mark Winter: I get those where they say, this person from this company wants to come on and talk about summer safety tips for your dog.
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Mark Winter: And I'm like, well, that's a sneaky way of getting your product in there and forward it to different hosts if they want to do what they can.
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Mark Winter: But that's like a bait and switch to me.
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Mark Winter: I don't like that.
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Mary Tan: Yeah.
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Mary Tan: Yeah.
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Mary Tan: And Mark's kind of hardcore.
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Mary Tan: You know what?
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Mary Tan: He is very, very representative.
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Mary Tan: But I really think when it comes to journalists reaching out to them, either direct messaging them on social media or emailing, I don't know any journalist that likes phone calls.
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Mary Tan: Like Mark, do you get calls from PR agencies?
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Mark Winter: I get calls all day long.
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Mark Winter: I don't answer them.
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Mark Winter: I only answer my phone for people that I know.
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Mark Winter: I mean, send me an email because it's less invasive and I can read it while I'm doing something else.
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Mark Winter: I very rarely will return a phone call.
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Mark Winter: But when I get press releases in my email, I always forward them to the show host who show best matches the story in the press release.
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Mark Winter: So I always forward them.
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Mary Tan: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
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Mary Tan: But yeah, so it's really like my whole goal in my PR is to make sure I'm not annoying the press person or the journalist.
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Mary Tan: And I really think like my background, my vision of myself as a PR person is solely due to how I was treated and how I dealt with PR people in the past.
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Mary Tan: And so I think it's really great to hire former news people as PR people.
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Mary Tan: But there are a ton of exceptions.
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Mary Tan: There's a ton of wonderful PR people like Alex, who don't come from media background, but just get it.
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Mary Tan: You know, the key is to understanding the reporter or the journalist challenges.
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Mary Tan: So their challenges are number one, there's so many cuts in the industry that now journalists instead of covering one beat, they may have to cover five beats.
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Mary Tan: So like, for example, here in the Twin Cities, they used to have a reporter for like, you know, every city had its own reporter at one point.
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Mary Tan: Now, they split it into a region.
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Mary Tan: And so a reporter might cover the North Metro.
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Mary Tan: So that's like 10 cities they have to cover.
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Mary Tan: So as a PR person, your job is to make life as easy as possible for that journalist.
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Mary Tan: And so some of the things that I would suggest is they want real people.
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Mary Tan: They want an expert and they want a great visual typically.
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Mary Tan: So make sure you provide that.
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Mary Tan: So if you are a rescue and you are talking about your, you know, your pet walk, your fundraising pet walk, make sure you showcase an animal that would be a beneficiary of those funds.
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Mary Tan: Make sure you have an expert talking about why those funds are so needed.
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Mary Tan: If you had a veterinarian or your executive director who can make a plea.
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Mary Tan: The key is emotion and storytelling.
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Mary Tan: If you can come up with a story that sparks emotion in people.
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Mary Tan: So you want to make people super happy.
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Mary Tan: You want to make them super sad.
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Mary Tan: There's a reason why, Alex, you may not know this, but the ASPCA used to have these Sarah McLaughlin commercials.
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Mary Tan: I'm sure Mark remembers them.
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Mary Tan: Super sad.
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Mary Tan: They made millions of dollars off of this ad, and people were so sick of it, but you know what?
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Mary Tan: It worked.
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Mark Winter: I used to turn that off because it was so sad.
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Mark Winter: I couldn't watch those animals.
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Mark Winter: You want to adopt all of them, and you can't do what you feel bad.
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Mary Tan: Yes, absolutely.
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Mary Tan: And so that's what you need to do.
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Mary Tan: You need to take your product or your rescue, and you need to find some way to create an emotion.
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Mary Tan: And Alex, you kind of did that with your rescue.
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Mary Tan: So a lot of people don't know that Alex runs an animal rescue.
00:16:55.238 --> 00:16:57.198
Alexane Ricard: Yes, I do.
00:16:57.198 --> 00:16:57.598
Alexane Ricard: I do.
00:16:57.598 --> 00:17:02.278
Alexane Ricard: And it was really hard to get any fundings or to get...
00:17:02.278 --> 00:17:05.758
Alexane Ricard: So I run my rescue in Greece, and it's me.
00:17:05.758 --> 00:17:08.878
Alexane Ricard: I'm French and Amber, who is English.
00:17:08.878 --> 00:17:16.918
Alexane Ricard: And it was very hard to get any media attention, at least in Greece, because we're just two foreigners trying to come to Greece, trying to save cats.
00:17:16.918 --> 00:17:19.918
Alexane Ricard: And for Greek people, I was like, yeah, well, that's like an everyday story.
00:17:19.918 --> 00:17:21.558
Alexane Ricard: Everybody's trying to do that.
00:17:21.558 --> 00:17:28.978
Alexane Ricard: But we did manage to get some PR and some media hits once we reached out actually to our local media.
00:17:28.978 --> 00:17:34.258
Alexane Ricard: So I reached out to friends and I was like, yay, I'm just me, you know, French girl, trying to rescue cats in Greece.
00:17:34.258 --> 00:17:35.838
Alexane Ricard: And they're like, well, that's super interesting.
00:17:35.838 --> 00:17:36.958
Alexane Ricard: No one does that.
00:17:36.958 --> 00:17:38.158
Alexane Ricard: And the same for Amber.
00:17:38.158 --> 00:17:42.878
Alexane Ricard: So yeah, you just have to really know your market and try to reach out to the right market.
00:17:43.078 --> 00:17:45.438
Mary Tan: Can you talk a little bit about the story?
00:17:45.438 --> 00:17:52.538
Mary Tan: Because the post that you put out went viral and it just tugged at your heartstrings.
00:17:52.538 --> 00:17:54.018
Mary Tan: How did you do it?
00:17:54.018 --> 00:17:56.018
Alexane Ricard: Well, I guess that's exactly what you said.
00:17:56.018 --> 00:17:58.158
Alexane Ricard: You know, it's just to find the right story.
00:17:58.158 --> 00:18:03.778
Alexane Ricard: So when you rescue animals, of course, you have a ton of stories that are like, you know, heartbreaking.
00:18:03.778 --> 00:18:09.298
Alexane Ricard: But ours was really special in the fact that it was heartbreaking, but it was also full of hope.
00:18:09.298 --> 00:18:13.978
Alexane Ricard: So we found that little kitty cat completely paralyzed from the whole body.
00:18:13.978 --> 00:18:15.658
Alexane Ricard: She couldn't walk, she couldn't do anything.
00:18:15.658 --> 00:18:18.358
Alexane Ricard: So of course, the vet said we should put her to sleep.
00:18:18.358 --> 00:18:22.398
Alexane Ricard: But you know me, I don't follow instructions and I just push.
00:18:22.398 --> 00:18:23.818
Alexane Ricard: I mean, I could see it in her eyes.
00:18:23.818 --> 00:18:24.678
Alexane Ricard: She really wanted to live.
00:18:24.678 --> 00:18:25.818
Alexane Ricard: She wanted me to help her.
00:18:25.818 --> 00:18:27.118
Alexane Ricard: So I did.
00:18:27.118 --> 00:18:30.578
Alexane Ricard: And a few months later, she just started to walk again.
00:18:30.578 --> 00:18:33.618
Alexane Ricard: And thank God because we filmed everything.
00:18:33.618 --> 00:18:36.318
Alexane Ricard: So we filmed it from the beginning until the end.
00:18:36.318 --> 00:18:41.358
Alexane Ricard: And that was the key point because thanks to that, we made a little video, you know, from the beginning until the end.
00:18:41.478 --> 00:18:43.198
Alexane Ricard: But it was just like a random video.
00:18:43.198 --> 00:18:46.438
Alexane Ricard: And then I woke up the next day and I had like millions of views.
00:18:46.438 --> 00:18:50.838
Alexane Ricard: And then Dodo reached out and I was like, oh, wow, okay, I guess I went viral.
00:18:50.838 --> 00:19:01.778
Mary Tan: If you Google Alexane and Saving Lives, S-A-A-V-I-N-G, lives, you'll see all the media coverage she got in Europe.
00:19:01.778 --> 00:19:06.578
Mary Tan: And it was just completely and the story was completely heartwarming.
00:19:06.578 --> 00:19:08.018
Mary Tan: And that's what you need to do.
00:19:08.818 --> 00:19:12.778
Mary Tan: And I'm sorry, but you could create a story for everything.
00:19:12.778 --> 00:19:17.758
Mary Tan: If you can't come up with a story for your product or your rescue, you're not thinking hard enough.
00:19:17.758 --> 00:19:18.298
Alexane Ricard: Yes.
00:19:18.298 --> 00:19:29.358
Alexane Ricard: And I also have a question, Mary, because I found that when I was trying to get, you know, media hits in Europe, it's also the fact that you need to kind of create, like, a relationship with the journalist.
00:19:29.358 --> 00:19:36.178
Alexane Ricard: So because one of them interviewed me, and then the interview went really well, and we started chatting, and, you know, like, told him a little about my life story.
00:19:36.178 --> 00:19:40.818
Alexane Ricard: And then he was like, I would actually like to interview you for another newspaper, for another media.
00:19:40.818 --> 00:19:42.898
Alexane Ricard: And then that's how I got even more hits.
00:19:42.898 --> 00:19:45.738
Alexane Ricard: It's just like, I feel like, and you taught me that as well.
00:19:45.738 --> 00:19:55.678
Alexane Ricard: It's even if we're doing pretty much everything remote, you know, it's just by emails or, you know, text messages, you still have to try to create a connection with the reporter.
00:19:55.678 --> 00:19:58.698
Alexane Ricard: You need to try to, yeah, just kind of become friends.
00:19:58.698 --> 00:20:01.398
Alexane Ricard: And that's how you will get more hits, right?
00:20:01.398 --> 00:20:02.398
Mary Tan: Absolutely.
00:20:02.738 --> 00:20:11.658
Mary Tan: So I always tell people, especially if you're like a pet store or you're, you know, work with your local media first.
00:20:11.658 --> 00:20:18.578
Mary Tan: So, but you want to do some research, look on their social media, see, does this reporter have a cat or dog?
00:20:18.578 --> 00:20:21.158
Mary Tan: If they do, that's going to be your golden ticket.
00:20:21.158 --> 00:20:23.658
Mary Tan: Cause you know, they love pets.
00:20:23.658 --> 00:20:38.718
Mary Tan: And reach out to them and, you know, maybe ask them to go out to lunch or dinner, happy hour, something like that, or, you know, say, Hey, would you like to come and I'll give you a tour of my factory or whatever you do, or just, you know, you can reach out to them.
00:20:38.718 --> 00:20:41.398
Mary Tan: You don't even have to have a story idea.
00:20:41.398 --> 00:20:50.698
Mary Tan: You can say to them, Hey, I'm really interested in knowing how your newspaper, how your TV station, how your website comes up with story ideas.
00:20:50.698 --> 00:20:56.638
Mary Tan: And so in Alex's case, you know, say, you know, you're talking to somebody remotely.
00:20:56.638 --> 00:20:59.298
Mary Tan: And where was the reporter based, Alex?
00:20:59.818 --> 00:21:01.458
Alexane Ricard: My hometown, Wapf.
00:21:01.458 --> 00:21:08.778
Mary Tan: See, so the next time Alex is in Wapf, you're going to reach out to that reporter and say, Hey, would you like to meet for coffee?
00:21:08.778 --> 00:21:16.578
Mary Tan: And then Mark, do you think you're more likely to respond to a pitch for somebody that you have a relationship with?
00:21:16.578 --> 00:21:17.798
Mark Winter: Absolutely.
00:21:17.798 --> 00:21:22.638
Mark Winter: Because you become friends and then, Oh, can I interest you in this story?
00:21:22.638 --> 00:21:24.698
Mark Winter: And I'm like, okay, that sounds interesting.
00:21:24.698 --> 00:21:27.838
Mark Winter: I'll send it to the show host that goes best with it.
00:21:28.218 --> 00:21:36.338
Mark Winter: But companies, PR people, they can always, on PetLife Radio, on every show page for that show, it says you can contact the host directly.
00:21:36.338 --> 00:21:39.438
Mark Winter: There's an email and you don't have to go through me.
00:21:39.438 --> 00:21:43.878
Mark Winter: You can pitch to whichever show you think your story goes best with.
00:21:43.878 --> 00:21:47.518
Mark Winter: And a lot of times they'll do it because they're looking for things to talk about.
00:21:47.518 --> 00:21:48.858
Mary Tan: Yeah, absolutely.
00:21:48.858 --> 00:21:54.698
Mary Tan: You know, journalists can come across as cold because they don't return messages because they're super busy.
00:21:54.698 --> 00:22:00.678
Mary Tan: But I can tell you once, if you have the right press release, they like it, they cover it.
00:22:00.678 --> 00:22:03.818
Mary Tan: Continue to nurture that relationship, right?
00:22:03.818 --> 00:22:06.518
Mary Tan: Find out, thanks for covering this story.
00:22:06.518 --> 00:22:10.238
Mary Tan: What other kinds of stories are you or your editors looking for?
00:22:10.238 --> 00:22:16.838
Mary Tan: The other thing I want to point out is that, like for example, on TV, you see reporters and anchors.
00:22:16.838 --> 00:22:21.178
Mary Tan: Those are the people that you see on TV.
00:22:21.178 --> 00:22:23.818
Mary Tan: But actually, they're not the decision-makers.
00:22:24.338 --> 00:22:27.338
Mary Tan: The people who are really pulling the strings.
00:22:27.338 --> 00:22:34.098
Mary Tan: And in a past episode, we interviewed Maria Rattan, who is a former news director of multiple TV stations across the US.
00:22:34.098 --> 00:22:35.998
Mary Tan: I urge you to listen to that.
00:22:35.998 --> 00:22:47.858
Mary Tan: You want the news directors, you want the vice VPs of news, you want the producers, the producers of every newscast, you want the editors of the various sections of the newspaper.
00:22:47.858 --> 00:22:50.298
Mary Tan: Those are the people making the decisions.
00:22:50.298 --> 00:22:56.878
Mary Tan: The reporters will get story ideas, but they've ultimately pitch to the editors to see if the editor likes it.
00:22:56.878 --> 00:23:04.798
Mary Tan: One technique I've used is going directly to the editors or producers, and if they like it, they're going to assign a reporter to do it.
00:23:04.998 --> 00:23:07.638
Mary Tan: So there's numerous ways to find out.
00:23:07.638 --> 00:23:20.078
Mary Tan: I think if you look on LinkedIn, put in TV producers in Miami or whatever, and you can find names, and it's going to take some work, but there's also some websites.
00:23:20.078 --> 00:23:20.918
Mary Tan: I can't remember.
00:23:21.338 --> 00:23:23.398
Mary Tan: There's one called, I think, Rocket Mail.
00:23:23.398 --> 00:23:24.378
Mark Winter: Rocket Reach.
00:23:24.378 --> 00:23:26.058
Mary Tan: Yes, Rocket Reach.
00:23:26.058 --> 00:23:31.238
Mary Tan: So you can find out firstname.lastname at company.net.
00:23:31.758 --> 00:23:34.698
Mary Tan: It's actually not that hard to find their emails.
00:23:34.698 --> 00:23:37.058
Mary Tan: That's just a tip that I've used.
00:23:38.378 --> 00:23:42.018
Alexane Ricard: We'll come back with one more question right after this break.
00:23:45.058 --> 00:23:47.318
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00:24:57.578 --> 00:24:58.858
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00:25:20.168 --> 00:25:21.348
Alexane Ricard: And we're back.
00:25:21.348 --> 00:25:28.268
Alexane Ricard: And Mary, I also have a question for all the people who are trying to reach out to reporters with a new product.
00:25:28.268 --> 00:25:32.428
Alexane Ricard: Is it standard practice to offer to send some product to the reporter?
00:25:32.428 --> 00:25:33.088
Alexane Ricard: Can you do that?
00:25:33.088 --> 00:25:34.888
Mary Tan: Yes, absolutely.
00:25:34.888 --> 00:25:42.508
Mary Tan: The thing to know is that, for example, the Wirecutter is a super popular section of the New York Times.
00:25:42.508 --> 00:25:45.008
Mary Tan: It's separate from the newsroom.
00:25:45.008 --> 00:25:47.068
Mary Tan: And what they do is product reviews.
00:25:47.228 --> 00:25:53.168
Mary Tan: And they do like the top 10 dog beds, the top 10 cat beds.
00:25:53.168 --> 00:25:57.748
Mary Tan: But if you read their requirements, they have very high ethical standards.
00:25:57.748 --> 00:26:01.988
Mary Tan: So if you send them product, they're going to look at it.
00:26:01.988 --> 00:26:06.708
Mary Tan: But at the end, their journalists or their writers aren't allowed to keep it.
00:26:06.708 --> 00:26:09.828
Mary Tan: They're going to be donated to a rescue or shelter.
00:26:09.828 --> 00:26:13.548
Mary Tan: Other publications, the reporter is going to keep it.
00:26:14.128 --> 00:26:21.588
Mary Tan: And technically, it depends, like when I was in TV news, we weren't allowed to take anything over a certain dollar amount.
00:26:21.588 --> 00:26:23.948
Mary Tan: In fact, it was like $5 or whatever.
00:26:23.948 --> 00:26:28.788
Mary Tan: But I'm going to be honest and tell you that a lot of reporters will just keep it.
00:26:28.788 --> 00:26:32.768
Mary Tan: And it varies from media outlet to media outlet.
00:26:32.768 --> 00:26:37.028
Mary Tan: If it's an influencer, their influencers want free product.
00:26:37.028 --> 00:26:45.588
Mary Tan: But I advise companies to be careful about just sending out product, because that's a lot of money, right?
00:26:45.588 --> 00:26:48.988
Mary Tan: So you want to be strategic in who you're sending it out to.
00:26:48.988 --> 00:26:53.288
Mary Tan: Is it a media outlet that can help me promote my product?
00:26:53.288 --> 00:26:53.948
Alexane Ricard: Yeah.
00:26:53.948 --> 00:27:02.568
Alexane Ricard: And also it's not because you're sending the product out that you're actually going to get anything in exchange for it, because the reporter could just get the product and then never post about it.
00:27:02.568 --> 00:27:04.028
Alexane Ricard: It's not an agreement.
00:27:04.028 --> 00:27:09.828
Alexane Ricard: So you're just sending your product to get known, but actually is anything going to come out of it?
00:27:09.828 --> 00:27:10.248
Alexane Ricard: You don't know.
00:27:10.568 --> 00:27:15.548
Mary Tan: In fact, and when I worked in newsrooms, they would get free product all the time.
00:27:15.548 --> 00:27:21.348
Mary Tan: And 90% of the time, somebody just took it home and they never reported on it.
00:27:21.348 --> 00:27:25.208
Mary Tan: So you have to be careful, like just be strategic.
00:27:25.208 --> 00:27:31.088
Mary Tan: Now, somebody like Mark with PetLife Radio, Michelle Fern has best bets for pets.
00:27:31.088 --> 00:27:34.468
Mary Tan: So she is going to need the product to talk about it.
00:27:34.908 --> 00:27:36.088
Mary Tan: Am I right, Mark?
00:27:36.088 --> 00:27:37.328
Mark Winter: Yeah, we get a lot of products.
00:27:37.328 --> 00:27:45.228
Mark Winter: We've got a ton of vacuum cleaners and water fountains and food, and you should see all the stuff that comes here.
00:27:45.228 --> 00:27:47.128
Mark Winter: But they don't just send it usually.
00:27:47.128 --> 00:27:50.048
Mark Winter: Usually, they contact her first and they want to be on the show.
00:27:50.048 --> 00:27:53.468
Mark Winter: And she goes, if you want to be on the show, I have to see a sample of your product.
00:27:53.468 --> 00:27:54.908
Mark Winter: And so they send it.
00:27:54.908 --> 00:28:00.148
Mark Winter: So we don't really get a lot of like just blind, I'm distracted by the cat in the back.
00:28:01.568 --> 00:28:04.968
Mark Winter: But yeah, we don't just get a lot of stuff just showing up.
00:28:04.968 --> 00:28:06.288
Mark Winter: Usually, they ask first.
00:28:06.288 --> 00:28:06.928
Mary Tan: Yeah.
00:28:06.928 --> 00:28:08.628
Mary Tan: And that's what I would suggest too.
00:28:09.148 --> 00:28:14.528
Mary Tan: And if it's, the reporters do need the product if they're going to write about it.
00:28:14.528 --> 00:28:21.288
Mary Tan: And especially like the magazines and gift guides, in order to write about it, they have to try it, you know?
00:28:21.288 --> 00:28:26.928
Mary Tan: So I would typically ask first before I just blank it product out there, so.
00:28:26.928 --> 00:28:28.488
Alexane Ricard: Okay, amazing.
00:28:28.488 --> 00:28:30.488
Alexane Ricard: Thank you so much, Mary.
00:28:30.488 --> 00:28:34.908
Alexane Ricard: Is there anything you'd like to add as a former reporter for all of our listeners?
00:28:34.908 --> 00:28:39.928
Mary Tan: Yes, to all PR professionals out there, don't be an annoying PR person.
00:28:39.928 --> 00:28:44.548
Mary Tan: Of course, journalists can be jerks too, so they're also at fault.
00:28:44.548 --> 00:28:50.688
Mary Tan: Everybody, but just everybody be cognizant of how you're coming across to the reporters.
00:28:50.688 --> 00:29:00.188
Mary Tan: And I do think that reporters need to be more courteous to PR people as well, because I don't think I treated PR people as well as I should have.
00:29:00.188 --> 00:29:05.288
Mary Tan: So to all those PR people there that I was mean to when I was a reporter, I apologize.
00:29:07.248 --> 00:29:10.988
Mary Tan: So anyways, well, I guess that's a wrap for this show.
00:29:10.988 --> 00:29:15.948
Mary Tan: We've been chatting a lot and we are so excited that you're listening to this.
00:29:15.948 --> 00:29:22.508
Mary Tan: And we're so excited for you, our listeners, that you're making life better for animals.
00:29:22.508 --> 00:29:33.188
Mary Tan: And of course, if you have a question that you want Alex or I or Mark to answer, please reach out to us on social media at The Whisker Report, on Facebook or Instagram.
00:29:33.188 --> 00:29:37.548
Mary Tan: And we'll try to answer your question in a future podcast episode.
00:29:41.748 --> 00:29:43.488
Mary Tan: See you everybody.
00:29:43.488 --> 00:29:44.828
Announcer: Let's Talk Pets.
00:29:44.848 --> 00:29:46.848
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00:29:46.848 --> 00:29:49.468
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