Last week Press Association Sport hosted a morning briefing for the public relations representatives of Olympic sponsors.
The briefing was organised to give the PRs insight into how media organisations plan to cover the London 2012 Olympics and how they can work best with journalists during that time.
The panel was chaired by Scott Dougal, Olympics Editor, Press Association and included Jacquelin Magnay, Olympics Editor, Telegraph Sport; Lewis Wiltshire, Olympics Editor, BBC Sport Online and Social Media Editor for BBC Sport and Mike Baker, Sports Editor, Western Morning News.
After presenting their London 2012 plans, the panel shared tips with the audience about how PRs could work with them more effectively. The journalists all said they received numerous emails everyday, so an eye-catching subject heading will always help an email get noticed. However, bulk distributed emails often go into spam folders so this was something to avoid. A phone call to pitch a story is also effective and appreciated.
Most news organisations have allocated journalists to the different sports. PRs were advised to start forming relationships with these people now. Having established relationships can help as it gets closer to Games time, as journalists are more likely to read your emails or answer your calls if they know you.
Providing access to athletes is helpful and thinking forward with athlete access could also ensure coverage. In the weeks before the Games, athletes' availability for media will be very tight so giving a journalist access to an athlete earlier to write a piece that can be carried in the weeks prior to the Olympics could be beneficial.
Regional papers are unlikely to have accreditations for the Olympics and lack the resources of the national media. This can be used to PRs advantage as any access to athletes or information that you can give regional papers is likely to be appreciated.
Space on newspapers are going to be tight, so PRs were advised to be creative, try and bring out the human side of your athletes and make it as informal as possible. If you have an athlete that is short on time, offering interviews to the Press Association means that articles carried on the wire will be sent to all broadcast and print media in the UK.
Finally, if you are pitching for online coverage make sure your content is worth using, you can be creative and unique and still get your sponsors' message in.
Contact PA Sport for information on our Olympics products and services sport.info@pressassociation.com or 0207 7963 7888.
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