At a time when more and more TV news outlets are looking for extra content to fill the air, companies are turning to satellite media tours (SMTs) as a digital lifeline to the public and the consumer.
And if there's one rule about creating SMTs, it's this: Glitz just doesn't cut it.
"You're sure to alienate yourself if there's blatant commercialism," said Bill Jackson, president of Austin-based Chanticleer Communications Inc., a 14-year-old company specializing in SMTs. "If the product or event is the only story, forget it."
So stick to the communications basics: finding an affable spokesperson to put on camera and a message that can be condensed and potentially fed to millions of people.
In the world of SMTs, experts say the product or event should end up taking a second seat - becoming ancillary - to who the guest is or what the topic coverage is, according to Jackson. That's because by the time you dole out the $15,000 (if it's a tour in a studio setting) to $35,000 (if it requires a large number of cameras, phones, equipment and staffers at a remote site) and pay as much as $1,000 an hour for satellite space, you'd better be sure you have a meaty news clip and not a promotional piece.
To make an SMT worth your while, at least 10 TV stations should pre-book time slots. What makes an SMT a particularly important communications vehicle is that it calls for blending three key elements: the client's vision; the PR agency's handling of the logistics and its role as a strategic liaison; and the production house's technical know-how.
John Uppendahl, communications director of Humongous Entertainment, a children's software company in Woodinville, Wash., said an SMT can be one of the most effective and efficient PR approaches because it allows you to reach a large audience with very tweaked information.
In the past two years, Humongous has used three SMTs for the premiere of a number of products tied to the launch of Windows '95 as well as two CD-ROM games - with all three SMTs generating millions of impressions.
Creating the SMT
It generally takes between two weeks to several months to complete an SMT. However, one can be put together in a day in the case of a crisis.
Making sure that your SMT is successful requires striking a consensus between what the client wants and what the TV stations will use. And separately from that, you have to factor in other components - including the hundreds of cold calls, usually made by staffers at a PR agency, to alert stations of the SMT date and to gauge marketplace interest.
Most importantly, as the client, you need to remember that the TV stations using your SMT want something that will fit into their programming and not be seen as a flashy promotion.
Some of the important questions that need to be answered before embarking on an SMT are:
- Who will be interviewed?
- Will the SMT tout a product or event?
- Is it something that can be relayed adequately with 7-second sound bytes and visual snippets?
Any credible SMT company will tell clients if an idea seems workable and will send them back to the drawing board or to another brainstorming session if something doesn't seem feasible, said Suzanne Romaine, a production manager with Beyond Pix Communications, San Francisco.
The Star of Your SMTTo decide who the SMT featured speaker will be, PR professionals and corporate execs need to remember that:
Source: PR NEWS |
"A good production company will counsel a client on what's best and will provide that kind of guidance," said Romaine.
The PR Show Goes On
After the message and guest have been decided, that's when the PR company or a news broadcast service steps in and begins calling TV stations on a target list (usually culled from proprietary databases) and sending out broadcast faxes to trigger interest in the SMT. "You need to play this close to the vest," added Jackson, "because if you try to be tricky with the TV stations, they will act accordingly."
Jackson said that part of what has made the SMT such an often-used PR tool today is because an increasing number of execs at TV stations view them as part of their day-to-day business operations.
According to Jackson, there have been several issues which have influenced that in the past five years: the reduction in broadcast news staffs, which has created a groundswell for content from outside sources; and fewer debates over the legitimacy of SMTs (there was a time when some broadcast execs merely viewed them as fillers).
Before the actual day of the SMT, many companies will produce accompanying B-roll which, according to Romaine, requires one to two days of shooting, to net about three hours of footage, and then one to two days of editing. Once again, this is one of the stages where it's crucial to have what Romaine calls "news-style shots."
The most time-intensive part of an SMT is the day of the tour when the crew, the guest and the client are on site at about 5:30 a.m. Staffers need to have an updated list with the stations' and producers' numbers (even those who might want to come in at the last minute) on hand. And you also have to be equipped with the realization that one to two stations are likely to drop out and that a national event such as a plane crash or explosion will supersede the SMT.
(Beyond Pix, 415/434-1027; Chanticleer Comm., 512/338-0095: Humongous, 206/951-2127)