Be Responsive

Communicators spend hours emailing and phoning reporters trying to get them to cover their stories. If you’re lucky enough to have a reporter call you, you should respond as quickly as possible! When a reporter phones or emails, she should get a response within minutes—five to ten minutes preferably. Even if your response is a mere acknowledgment of the reporter’s or producer’s call or email, it’s important to follow up quickly. Why? When a journalist or TV booking producer calls you, they are also likely calling other potential sources. Sometimes the trick to getting your group included in the story is by being the first to respond.

When I was working with the Denver-based parent and youth group, Padres y Jovenes Unidos, to promote an intergovernmental agreement with Denver Public Schools and the Denver Police Department, Pam Martinez, co-executive director of Padres (along with Ricardo Martinez), requested a meeting with me to discuss her idea of a successful PR campaign around the rollout of the agreement. Pam had high expectations that she communicated so everyone was clear where she stood. During the conference call, Pam articulated a desire to blanket both state and national press with news of the agreement with the hope that other school districts and community groups were emboldened to achieve the same thing. In response to her request, I promised to

• place an opinion editorial on the agreement bylined by Pam or Ricardo Martinez in the local paper, the Denver Post
• place another opinion editorial from leaders in the movement to end the school-to-prison pipeline in a paper outside of Denver
• organize a media conference with Denver Public School students and officials for the local media and a national press call for members of the media who couldn’t travel to Denver for the actual signing of the agreement
• pitch a front-page feature on the agreement in the Washington Post (Side note: Washington Post education reporter Donna St. George wrote the story, and it was published the Sunday before the agreement was announced. Including the stories of multiple students, community leaders, and school officials, the front-page story turned out to be the crème de la crème of our communications outreach for the agreement. I go into more detail about this in the next chapter, Be Relentless.)

In all, I promised so much that my former colleague, attorney Jason Sinocruz, became fearful I was overcommitting myself. I was nervous as well. However, I knew what it would take to please my partner, and I knew the agreement deserved significant media coverage. Knowing exactly what we agreed to, it was easier for me to focus and be responsive to those promises. Once we developed the communications plan, I shared it with the partner and indicated the deadline for each deliverable. For me, being responsive boiled down to acknowledging all communications, learning as much as possible, following up, and, most important—having and sharing a plan. Luckily, I delivered on everything promised, and the media coverage of the agreement was extensive.

Acknowledge All Communications

When responding, my first goal is to acknowledge the request. I want the reporter to know I received her voicemail, email, or tweet, and will get back with her as soon as possible. I know reporters are often on short deadlines, and I don’t want them to look elsewhere or go with another source. A quick email, text message, or phone call acknowledging the request and providing a time frame by which I’ll follow up is helpful. This is beneficial for both the reporter and the PR pro. For the PR pro, it’s easy to become preoccupied with pressing demands and forget to acknowledge a media request. By stopping and acknowledging requests when they come in, you increase the likelihood that you’ll follow up—especially if you set a calendar invite reminding yourself to do so. For the reporter, you give them the courtesy of acknowledging their email or phone call and a promise to circle back.

Learn as Much as Possible

By promptly responding to the initial request for comment with an acknowledgment and a promise to quickly follow up, I gain time to determine what I want my response to be. First, I learn as much as possible about the interview topic and the reporter (or host, in the case of a radio or TV interview). I want to know the origins of the story, background on the journalist or TV host, and the angle for the story. Armed with this information, I’m able to (a) determine if the interview would be beneficial for my organization and in line with the stories or messaging we’re pushing, (b) determine who from my organization is best equipped to speak with the reporter (assuming I decided to accept the request), and (c) identify the proactive messages I want to advance during the interview. Sometimes this process takes a few minutes; other times it can take a bit longer.

The sooner you acknowledge a media inquiry, the sooner you can decide to accept or decline the request. Not all media inquiries are created equal and, contrary to popular opinion, not all press is good press. You may not be able determine which request is beneficial without following up with the reporter or producer. Nonetheless, responsiveness involves more than determining which interview requests to grant or decline. You’re striving to gain a reputation as reliable. When the media phones, you want them to judge you as trustworthy. In turn, they may reward you with future calls and additional opportunities to have your organization’s perspective included in stories.

Follow Up

Responsiveness is also needed following an interview or discussion with the media. After I arrange one on ones with reporters, editors, columnists, or TV producers, they may request links to reports or other information. (I seldom do one on ones with radio hosts, as they typically don’t do long-form media reports.) Within twenty-four to forty-eight hours after the meeting, I work to compile the requested information and share it with the person who requested it. This helps ensure the wonderful idea you pitched moves from concept to reality. Note, however, that while you want to be responsive, you shouldn’t sacrifice accuracy. If you’re unable to promptly provide the requested follow-up materials, call the reporter or media outlet to give them a realistic timeline for when the material will be ready. The important thing is to be both responsive and accurate.

For me, the follow-up after an interview is time consuming yet exciting. I truly love it. There’s something about delivering on a promise that fuels a sense of accomplishment. After a meeting, event, or discussion with a reporter, I find an excuse or reason to follow up. The follow-up could be sending the material the reporter or editor requested during the meeting. It could also be sending a simple thank-you note showing my appreciation for their time. In rare instances, depending on the nature of the meeting, I’ve also been known to send flowers. For instance, after MSNBC president Phil Griffin hosted my organization for an editorial board meeting with the producers from dayside programming, I sent him a bouquet of flowers.

Have a Plan

It should come as no secret that public relations professionals serve multiple constituencies. In addition to working with the media, PR pros also work with leaders in their own organizations, as well as external constituents. So the principle of responsiveness applies to internal and external stakeholders, as well as the media. For instance, when I served as communications director for SEIU District 1199 (WV/KY/OH), I was accountable to union staff, union members, and the media, as well as allied organizations. In my work with Advancement Project, my constituents included organizational lawyers and staff, partner organizations such as the NC NAACP, Tenants and Workers United, Padres y Jovenes Unidos, members of the media, and allies in the movement for racial justice. If I focused on being responsive to my colleagues alone, I would harm my relationship with our partners, the lifeblood of the organization. If I narrowly focused on the media, I would alienate partners and staff.

So what’s the key to being responsive when one is dealing with competing demands? When it comes to working with organizational leaders and external stakeholders, I find it is easier to be responsive when I am working from a comprehensive communications plan that outlines core objectives, tactics for achieving those goals, and an agreement on what success looks like. I want to know what will make the partner or leader I’m working with happy from a communications standpoint. While this is time consuming, it proves beneficial. The cost comes in time spent up front but pays off later when I can easily prioritize opportunities and respond accordingly. If I am unclear of the expectations of partners, I cannot possibly meet their needs. Or I can set out on a path to accomplish certain goals, only to realize in the end that the goals I’ve accomplished are not actually ones that are important to the allies on whose behalf I am working. Moreover, once I know the goals of each ally, I am better able to prioritize the tasks depending on the delivery date for each.

It is often impossible to achieve success without first understanding what success looks like. Without an end in mind, there’s no way to know where you’re going or when you’ve arrived. You’d be surprised how many times communicators are given the vague assignment of promoting a campaign or generating media coverage without a corresponding discussion clearly articulating how to define success. Being tasked with “generating coverage” is squishy. It isn’t a measurable goal. There have been many times in my career when I generated media coverage and patted myself on the back for what I thought was a job well done only to have people in the campaign lament the fact there wasn’t more coverage. Often campaign leaders did not articulate specific goals in terms of volume and type of media coverage. I included the stories that appeared in small media outlets as part of a successful media campaign only to discover that the leaders were thinking exclusively of large national papers. Or the organizational leaders had one paper in mind as a media target but hadn’t clearly communicated that desire to the press team. If the goal is to generate media coverage, decide what type of coverage is desired, how much of it is sufficient (e.g., is there a certain quantity of articles or TV hits?), and whether you are targeting traditional media, digital media, or both. You should also determine the desired media outlets for coverage (print, TV, radio, the web). Are your teammates seeking coverage in a particular print newspaper? Further, if you’ve been tasked with generating media coverage, know that all media opportunities (e.g., interview requests) aren’t created equal. Rather than simply seeing your organization’s name in lights, you want to see the group in lights for the right reason. If a reporter calls you requesting comment on an issue that may not advance company goals, it’s okay to decline. For instance, there are times when we receive interview requests when the reporter wants us to critique another group or leader. Unless we have an axe to grind, and we rarely do, accepting the bait to criticize others distracts us from our mission and simply isn’t worth the trouble.

Being clear about what success looks like saves loads of time and avoids confusion and disappointment. Your primary objective is to come to an agreement on what constitutes success at the outset so you can responsively pursue it.

Responsiveness in Action

When I worked with the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, whom I mentioned earlier, the big-picture goal was to encourage the North Carolina legislature to abandon an avalanche of regressive and extreme policies. A secondary objective was to ensure regressive policies weren’t passed in a cloak of darkness, devoid of attention and public awareness. From a communications standpoint, success meant highlighting in the court of public opinion the destructive policies being put forth by the North Carolina legislature and the fusion movement that had emerged to challenge them. We wanted to ensure the story was not confined to the borders of Raleigh, where the weekly protests were held, or to the Tar Heel State for that matter. Instead, we wanted to share the movement with media outlets across the country. We also wanted to inspire activists in other states to begin challenging injustices in their own communities.

In figuring out how to tell and retell this story so that the campaign was successful, I had to think about the selling points of the movement as well as the architect of the movement, the Rev. Dr. Barber. From a media relations standpoint, he was a communicator’s dream: a gifted orator, inspiring theologian, historian, and scholar. If we arranged the media interviews and appearances, he could easily score home runs. But first, we had to come to agreement on how to frame the work. Barber explained our work together in this way: “I challenged Jennifer on framing, and she skillfully heard me and allowed me to be myself. She also adjusted accordingly while teaching me and the staff foundational communications techniques.”

The takeaway here is that I couldn’t promote the movement without also promoting its leader. To do this, I had to understand his preferences for messaging and framing. For example, Barber was very clear from the beginning that we not describe our work or opponents from a political frame. We made a conscious decision to abandon political labels such as Republican and Democrat. I also had to remember that he was a pastor, scholar, and theologian, and give him the freedom to communicate in a way that was true to his calling.

To be responsive to our campaign leaders and ensure regressive policies weren’t passed without widespread attention, we needed to develop a multipronged campaign that included informing the public of the legislature’s restrictive policies, as well as of the entities leading the pushback. We had to consistently garner national media coverage and ensure the movement was not characterized as a fringe or isolated protest. The fact that protests recurred weekly helped tremendously because it gave us multiple opportunities to attract media attention. The continual protests allowed more and more reporters from state, national, and international outlets time to cover the movement. Moreover, the weekly protests offered a sort of credibility. People covering the issue quickly came to realize the work in North Carolina wasn’t a fly-by-night operation but a sustained campaign. Lastly, we were aided by the fact that the movement was racially, economically, and politically diverse.

A North Carolina State Highway Patrol trooper arrests a woman for participating in a protest organized by the North Carolina NAACP, as a General Assembly police officer monitors the crowd inside the rotunda of the North Carolina General Assembly building.
Photo credit: Jennifer R. Farmer.

To responsively meet the needs of my partner, I couldn’t simply create a checklist and methodically cross off goals as they were achieved. I knew I had to spend time with Barber and his team to earn their complete confidence and trust. This couldn’t be accomplished from my office in Washington, D.C. My team and I had to be on the ground in North Carolina. I needed to be immersed in the NC NAACP and have multiple conversations with Barber and his closest advisors. I made it my business to be there as much as possible and to have communications staff in North Carolina on occasions when I couldn’t be physically present. For more than a year, my former colleague Cynthia Gordy and I traveled to North Carolina each week to be with Barber and his team and to promote the weekly protests.

Rev. Dr. Barber II with Mary Evelyn Rider O’Neil during one of the Moral Monday protests at Bicentennial Mall in 2013, as Ms. Rosanell Eaton (in black hat), a member of the NC NAACP, looks on.
Photographer and copyright owner: Phil Fonville, all rights reserved.

In the realm of communications, my task was to convince state and national media that what was happening in North Carolina was transformative, the beginnings of a moral movement. To do this, I needed the work in North Carolina to consistently make national news. I knew if the story was limited to North Carolina, it would be hard to gain momentum and achieve the goals of the NC NAACP. It would be easily dismissed by opponents. I wanted the eyes of the nation to focus on North Carolina. Armed with a goal, I crafted a winning strategy to reach and engage state and national media.

While the work is far from complete, our communications support played a role in elevating the profile of Barber and the Forward Together movement. This has helped the group to hold elected leaders accountable. Moreover, after a lengthy three-year legal challenge to North Carolina’s monster voter suppression law, the NC NAACP finally won the case in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The win can be attributed to many factors—skillful attorneys, wonderful witnesses and plaintiffs, a robust grassroots movement led by the NC NAACP—though our communications around and about the cases undoubtedly was a contributing factor.

Once a goal has been defined and you understand what success looks like, you can responsively map the plan to get there. You do not need a multimillion-dollar budget to be responsive. You’ll need to check your email, cell phone, and social media accounts regularly to ensure you aren’t missing media inquiries and communications from internal and external stakeholders.

In some cases, being credible, creative, and responsive isn’t enough alone to tip the scales and garner media attention. When this happens, it usually indicates a need for persistence: sticking with your pitch, pitching different reporters at the same or different outlets, and generally never giving up. I’ll elaborate more in the next chapter.