PR Tips: Television and Radio Spots for Your Client

As public relations professionals, clips are the primary measure of success. It is our duty to get our clients the maximum amount of exposure to reach the most people. Radio and television interviews are both outlets with enormous reach, and provide opportunities to brand clients in different ways than print or the web could ever do.

Developing and delivering message points with focus and poise on-air will transform these interviews into strategic and effective opportunities for your clients.  However, it is not easy to land a radio or television spot. To gain exposure, your story must include newsworthy and visual elements.

Newsworthy Elements:

1. Television reporters have a tough job to do. In typically under one minute, they must tell a news story that describes who, what, when, where, why and how – that is accurate and timely and keeps an audience interested. To do this, they look for the following newsworthy elements:

• Change 
• Children 
• Confrontation 
• Conflict 
• Current events 
• Danger 
• Drama 
• Editorial perspective 
• Extremes 
• Failure 
• Human interest 
• Impacts people, animals or the environment 
• Link to bigger picture 
• Local angle 
• Mistakes 
• Reporter’s interest 
• Secrets 
• Statistics and figures 
• Unusual 
• Weaknesses

Visual Elements:

1. The best way to supplement your story is by using the visual elements available. Think creatively to use available resources to reinforce the point of your story. 
2. Use demonstrations to engage and educate viewers. Demonstrations should be general, and not necessarily super specific to appeal to a huge audience.
3. Demonstrations should be quick, flashy and used as an attention grabber.

While on-air, it is important to keep in mind that everything communicates! What you say, how you say it, what you don’t say, how you look, how you sound and how you feel about the message will all come across to your audience.