#AspirePR and #Dire PR, Barbara Chandler at Interiors UK 2012

Barbara Chandler or @Sunnyholt as she tweets by is a photographer and journalist (London Evening Standard, Homes & Gardens) so is well educated in the world of PR dos and don’ts ….

YOU are the best person to do YOUR PR, no-one else knows your work as well as you.

The four C’s of good PR:

1.  Communicate
2. Connect
3. Cooperate
4. Consolidate

 Connect with the journalist and the media. Communicate via a Press Release. Cooperate with professionalism and efficiency. Consolidate what you know.

Press releases: Don’t faff about with the old trend of holding a ‘Press Reception’ – its an expensive way of giving journalists an opportunity to chit-chat about everything but YOU. Instead, use the 1+1+1 approach.

1+1+1: Get to know 6-8 journalists personally. Use them and their contacts to add another to your network and use that new contact to gain their contacts, thus 1+1+1.

Buy the magazines and papers you want to be featured in and take note of who writes the relevant sections. Research them, get a direct contact if you can. Tailor what you’re doing to each individual journalist.

Communicate:

• Use the email subject box – snappy, to the point, interesting. Not just ‘Press release’.
• Avoid attachments OR put the detail of the attachment into the main body text of the email.
• Avoid large files, keep images small but have higher quality ones to hand if required.
• Include a map with the postcode or tube stop.

Discs:

• Include a portrait shot of yourself – head and shoulders.
• Include a shot of yourself with your products.
• Cut-out shots of products on a white background is essential.
• Some ‘lifestyle shots’ – your products in situ, e.g. cushions on a sofa/bed.
• Label the disc – too many discs arrive unlabelled.
• Accompany the disc with a print- out of thumbnail images.
• Include the press release document on the disc.
• Include your contact details!!!!

Other good practice:

• Set up a ‘signature’ line for all your emails which include how to contact you and links to your pages, e.g. telephone, email, blog, twitter, facebook, website, portfolio.
• Have a Press page on your website for the Press to use which includes a short biography of yourself; information which can be copied and pasted by journalists.
• Don’t have a ‘Press’ link which is just showcasing press cuttings – journalists find this infuriating!

In a nutshell, a press release should say: 

• who
• what
• why
• where
• when
• a bit of how
• how to contact you!
It should give the facts. It doesn’t need to be well written, that’s the journalists job. 

Occasionally @sunnyholt tweets #aspirePR and #direPR – I’d take note if I were you.

Barbara Chandler (1992) Equal Love, London

“Whilst pursuing my photography, I have also worked extensively as a journalist, writing mainly about interiors and design for many newspapers and magazines. For example, I have worked for the London Evening Standard for over 20 years, and currently have a design column in Homes & Gardens. My book LOVE LONDON with 180 photographs of the capital was published in summer 2011.” Barbara Chandler, http://www.barbarachandler.co.uk/about.html