Public Relations in a Nutshell

PLAY GOLF AMERICA NEWS BUREAU

PUBLIC RELATIONS IN A NUTSHELL

· WHAT IS PUBLIC RELATIONS?

· HOW CAN PUBLIC RELATIONS HELP ME?

· WHO ARE MY TARGET AUDIENCES?

· WHAT SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT THE MEDIA?

· WHAT INFORMATION DO I OFFER THE MEDIA?

· WHICH MEDIA SHOULD I CONTACT?

· HOW CAN I BECOME A RESOURCE TO THE MEDIA?

· HOW DO I MERCHANDISE MY MEDIA COVERAGE?

· HOW DO I KNOW MY EFFORTS ARE WORKING?

· GLOSSARY OF PUBLIC RELATIONS TERMS

· ASSOCIATED PRESS STYLE TIPS

· PUBLIC RELATIONS REFERENCE MATERIALS

WHAT IS PUBLIC RELATIONS?

Public Relations deals with attitudes and opinions. It positions your facility and The PGA of America, building awareness that you are an expert at growing the game of golf.

HOW CAN PUBLIC RELATIONS HELP ME?

Many people within your community don’t realize the value of a PGA Professional and your golf facility. Placing yourself in the media will build recognition and establish credibility, bringing an increased demand for tee times, lessons, merchandise sales and corporate sponsorships. Public Relations can effectively set the stage to help make the sale and bring more business to your facility by promoting your player development programs.

WHO ARE MY TARGET AUDIENCES?

· Current and potential golf clients (tee times, lessons, merchandise sales)

· Local media (daily and weekly newspapers, city magazine(s), newsletters, radio stations, TV stations and the Internet)

· Business leaders (corporate sponsorships)

· Golfers who have expressed a desire to play golf

· Occasional golfers who play between 1 and 7 times per year

WHAT SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT THE MEDIA?

Journalists are extremely busy people and demand accurate and concise information. Because of this, an e-mail may be the most effective way to communicate with them. They typically need VIP treatment, though often are suspicious that you are using them as an advertising tool. You are! However, developing a reputation with your local media as a responsive and truthful source on golf in your area will make you invaluable to them. Soon, they’ll be calling you for information!

WHAT INFORMATION DO I OFFER THE MEDIA?

Your knowledge as a PGA Professional already makes you a valuable resource and an expert in the golf industry. Expertise you can offer includes:

· Tips on technique and fitness

· How to stay motivated

· The latest on the Rules of Golf

· Trends on the latest course design and tricks on mastering the course

· How does the weather affect the course

· The latest on equipment, fashion trends

· Preview of upcoming events, results and fundraising efforts

Other potential stories:

· Any Player Development program you are conducting

· Link Up 2 Golf

· PGA Free Lesson Golf Month

· Golf: For Business & Life

· National recreation and Park Association

· Executive Women’s Golf Association

· Golf Range Association of America

· Programs for women, seniors, families, couples and business professionals

WHICH MEDIA SHOULD I CONTACT?

· Golf or general sports reporters

· Sports business or general business reporters

· Lifestyle (entertainment, women’s, etc.) reporters

· Community pages, section reporters

· Career reporters

· Nature (lawn & garden, weather, etc.) reporters

HOW CAN I BECOME A RESOURCE TO THE MEDIA?

1. Call to introduce yourself, set up a visit

2. Ask them what they need or are interested in, and establish yourself as an expert

3. Invite them to play at your course

4. Call or e-mail periodically with story opportunities

Goals: Build relationships. Become a resource.

HOW DO I MERCHANDISE MY MEDIA COVERAGE

Good stories are worth their weight in gold; leverage them with your membership, patrons or influential individuals.

Consider the following options to ensure widespread awareness:

· Display newspaper articles on a bulletin board in the Golf Shop or heavy traffic areas. Include a color copy of the newspaper’s front page banner (masthead), including the date, atop the article. If the article is a real “keeper,” frame it for permanent display

· Sometimes it is possible to purchase a videotape of a television news story from the station that ran the story. If the station can’t help you out, try calling Video Monitoring Service (VMS) in the city closest to you they may be able to assist you. (You can also check out www.vmsinfo.com.) Once you have the tape, run it on “continual loop” on a VCR/television monitor in, high traffic area for a week or two

· Conduct a special mailing with a cover letter from you (or appropriate individual) explaining significance of article to your membership

· Include the mention of the favorable publicity in your club newsletter

· Include the article in your membership package

HOW DO I KNOW MY EFFORTS ARE WORKING?

Your mom has begun to compile a scrapbook of your newspaper clippings, your kids’ friends recognize you as the golfer from TV and your spouse keeps asking for your autograph. You’ll begin to see increased media coverage surrounding your PGA events, Professionals and programs. Next you’ll experience adult golfers coming out to play golf and participating in your Play Golf America programs and an increase in tee time bookings, customers requesting lessons, you can barely keep the golf shop stocked and major corporations are beating your door down for the opportunity to place their logo next to yours.

GLOSSARY OF PUBLIC RELATIONS TERMS

· Press release - Document written to state an organization’s official position, having one overriding purpose: to influence a publication to write favorably about the material discussed.

· Fact sheet - Short document that compactly profiles an organization and/or a brand.

· Biographies - Lists of factual information in a straightforward fashion in a descending order of importance, with company-oriented facts preceding more personal details.

· Pitch letter - A sales letter, pure and simple. Its purpose is to interest an editor in a possible story, interview or event.

· Editorial calendar - List of upcoming stories in publications to notify organizations about the possible need for information.

· Media monitoring - Constant observation of various media including newspapers, magazines, trade publications, online publications, etc. Done in order to follow an organization’s progress in the media, as well as competitors and recent trends of the industry.

· Media advisory – Brief, one-page document that alerts the media of upcoming event. Uses the simple who, what, when, where, why format.

AP STYLE TIPS

AP (Associated Press) Style is the rules of punctuation, capitalization and verbal usage to live by for the media. Below are a few tips to simplify their job and make you look like a PR professional:

· Ages - always use figures. Ages expressed as adjectives before a noun or as substitutes for a noun use hyphens.

Examples: A 5-year-old boy, but the boy is 5 years old.

· a.m., p.m. - lowercase with periods, avoid the redundant 10 a.m. this morning.

· Cities and towns - capitalize them in all uses followed by a state.

· Datelines - datelines on stories should contain a city name, entirely in capital letters, followed in most cases by the state.

No State for the following:

ATLANTA / MINNEAPOLIS
BALTIMORE / MILWAUKEE
BOSTON / NEW ORLEANS
CHICAGO / NEW YORK
CINCINNATI / OKLAHOMA CITY
CLEVELAND / PHILADELPHIA
DALLAS / PHOENIX
DENVER / PITTSBURGH
DETRIOT / ST. LOUIS
HONOLULU / SALT LAKE CITY
HOUSTON / SAN ANTONIO
INDIANAPOLIS / SAN DIEGO
LAS VEGAS / SAN FRANCISCO
LOS ANGELES / SEATTLE
MIAMI / WASHINGTON

· Months - capitalize the names of months in all uses. When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Spell out when using alone, or with a year alone.

· Numerals - spell out whole numbers below 10, use figures for 10 and above.

Examples: They had three sons and two daughters. They had a fleet of 10 station wagons.

· State names - when used standing alone, spell out the names of the 50 states. The names of eight states are never abbreviated: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah. When used in conjunction with the name of a city, town, village or military base, the following abbreviations are required:

Ala. / Md. / N.D.
Ariz. / Mass. / Okla.
Ark. / Mich. / Ore.
Calif. / Minn. / Pa.
Colo. / Miss. / R.I.
Conn. / Mo. / S.C.
Del. / Mont. / S.D.
Fla. / Neb. / Tenn.
Ga. / Nev. / Vt.
Ill. / N.H. / Va.
Ind. / N.J. / Wash.
Kan. / N.M. / W.Va.
Ky. / N.Y. / Wis.
La. / N.C. / Wyo.

· Television program titles – put quotations marks around show title. Example: “The PGA Today”

· Times - use figures except for noon and midnight. Use a colon to separate hours from minutes: 11:30 a.m.

· Titles - confine capitalization to formal titles used directly before an individual’s name. Use lowercase and spell out titles when they are not used with an individual’s name.

PUBLIC RELATIONS REFERENCE MATERIALS

· "PGA Communications Handbook" -- available on PGALinks.com

· "The New Publicity Kit" by Jeanette Smith

· "Public Relations Kit for Dummies" by Eric Yaverbaum, Robert Bly

· "Personal Publicity Planner: A Guide to Marketing You" by Marion E. Gold

· "The Dream Job: Sports Publicity, Promotion & Marketing" by Melvin Helitzer