100301 ALR Remarks at NRB PR Workshop, “STEPPING OFF THE CURB INTO MEDIA TRAFFIC”

NRB 2010, Opryland Hotel, Nashville,

3:45 – 5:15 PM

Dan Wooding, Founder/Chief Editor, ASSIST News Service

Larry Ross, President, A. Larry Ross Communications

Synopsis

If navigated properly, getting into a news media vehicle can take a ministry much farther down the road of public awareness than it can travel on its own. But without proper orientation, it is just as easy to get hit by a car – or even a bus!

Led by two seasoned professionals – one a journalist, the other a public relations counselor -- this session will cover related strategy and tactics on this important topic from both perspectives.

It will also address the foundational questions regarding whether, or when, a ministry should engage in media/public relations by anticipating in advance corresponding risk/reward, reward/redemption and pain/gain ratios.

SLIDE 1 - (Stepping Curb into Media Traffic @ I/S of Faith-Culture)

· Good afternoon. It is good to be with you for another NRB seminar. I want to thank NRB for their invitation to my esteemed journalist colleague, Frick, and me – Frack – to present a media/public relations/communications track today. From a height standpoint, the two of us make the rest of you just average.

· But I also want to thank each participant here for your interest and attendance, which will hopefully be stimulating and engaging for you as we talk about navigating media traffic at the intersection of faith and culture.

· Unlike previous years, when we posted a transcript, we didn’t think it would be necessary, as we assume many of you will be twittering all that we say in real time – knock yourselves out.

SLIDE 2 – Presenters

Dan Wooding, Founder/Chief Editor, ASSIST News Service

Larry Ross, President, A. Larry Ross Communications

· Larry Ross Communications was founded in 1994 to help restore “faith in the media,” by helping churches and parachurch ministries tell their story in context of traditional news values that reporters need to communicate with their audiences. In the process, hopefully we have been able to give Christian messages relevance and meaning in mainstream media.

· The Agency regularly operates at the intersection of faith and culture, through crossover communications efforts emanating from or targeted to the Christian market.

SLIDE 3 (ALRC CLIENT LOGOS)

· For nearly 29 years, I have had the opportunity and privilege to handle media and public relations for evangelist Billy Graham. Because of that relationship, we have represented numerous other individual organizations in the Christian arena.

But, we have also operated in the reverse direction, representing individuals and organizations with a vital message targeting the Christian community, such as working with Mel Gibson and Icon Productions on crisis communications and publicity for “The Passion of The Christ.” More recently, we helped The Discovery Channel in crisis communications and positioning of their stunning series, “Planet Earth” among faith audiences.

· Our job is to extend the influence of Mr. Graham, Pastor Rick Warren (and other Christian leaders) and the impact of their ministries to a broadened group of target audiences, with minimal demands on the principle’s time.

· Whenever possible, we try to speak to reporters as well, to let them know the reality of the Gospel in our own lives.

SLIDE 4 – Presenters (Again)

· Dan shares bios and professional creds and stories

SLIDE 5 - Stepping Curb into Media Traffic @ I/S of Faith-Culture

· Raise your hand if you are in:

- Full-time communications

- Part-time communications

- A Church or parachurch ministry

- Perhaps in the media…

- Don’t know the difference between PR, Advertising and Marketing

- Any others expecting an Amway discussion, or are looking for a twelve-step meeting, you are in the wrong place.

SLIDE 6 – Deciphering Communications Disciplines

· If you are in the last category, maybe I can help you out:

· What is Marketing?

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say, "I am very rich. Marry me!"

That's Direct Marketing.

You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says, "He's very rich. Marry him."

That's Advertising.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and get her telephone number. The next day you call and say, "Hi, I'm very rich. Marry me."

That's Telemarketing.

You're at a party and see a gorgeous girl. You get up and straighten your tie; you walk up to her and compliment her hair. You open the door for her, pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her a ride, and then say, "By the way, I'm very rich. Will you marry me?"

That's Public Relations.

You're at a party and see a gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says, "You are very rich..."

That's Brand Recognition.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say, "I'm rich. Marry me." She gives you a nice hard slap on your face.

That's Customer Feedback.

SLIDE 7- Stepping into Media Traffic @ I/S of Faith-Culture

§ They say that “Satan keeps trying to keep men (and women) from knowing the Truth.” In reality, I think he is “trying to keep men with the Truth from each other.” But this annual gathering of NRB is a good antidote to that.

§ Your presence here confirms your interest in how you can better tell your ministry’s story to and through the media.

· Several years ago, I heard comedian Dennis Miller on “Fox & Friends,” encouraging Chris, the portly, wavy-haired “American Idol” contestant who got bumped off the show the night before.

· Using an Everest mountain climbing metaphor, he said, “Most people who get into show business want to plant their flag on K-2 (the summit.) But, if all you get to do is boil water at the base camp with the Cherpas – you are doing all right. Just enjoy the view.”

· The same is true for media and public relations. The media summit is often seen as getting your principle on “Larry King Live” or “Oprah”

· Those seem to be the two shows in vogue; many prospective clients start there, even if they haven’t previously crawled or walked in the media game – they want to start with a full-out sprint.

· How does the perception of their ministry compare to the reality of who they are?

· Does their walk match their talk

· Do they have the character and conviction of their calling to weather the inevitable criticism?

· Whenever you enter the fray, you can become prey

Overview

o The title of our session today is, “Stepping off the Curb into Media Traffic at the Intersection of Faith and Culture.”

Today we are going to talk in broad strokes about how church/ministry communications can intersect with the media, limiting our discussion to primarily third party or earned media.

SLIDE 8 - PICTURE OF DAVE AND ELEPHANT IN RIVER

First, I want to share a simultaneously touching and powerful story I heard recently:

In 1986, Dave Harrison was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University in Illinois.

On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Dave approached it very carefully.

He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.

As carefully and as gently as he could, Dave worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.

The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.

Dave stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

Dave never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Dave was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenage son.

As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Dave and his son, Dave Jr., were standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Dave, lifted its front foot off the ground, and then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Dave couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant.

Dave summoned up his courage climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Dave's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

(SHRUG) Probably wasn't the same elephant!

PAUSE………..

I hope that yarn touched your heart like it did mine. 

Seriously, so, why did I share this ridiculous story?

Let me suggest three reasons, or possible take-aways; some of you may have more – but please, no emails from the elephant advocates.

1. This is an example of the power of story, and how you can be pulled into a narrative in just a few moments and greatly impacted. Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and we are going to talk about

2. Another media take-away from the elephant story, like Dave, you may have had a good prior experience with the media, but the next time you tried to get friendly, were trampled to death. That doesn’t mean you should shy away from media liaison, but rather find the right way to approach and attract media attention. What is the right way and wrong way to deal with the media? We will hopefully answer that in this session.

3. Thirdly, some of you might have thought that Dave was rather naïve in his assumption that “an elephant never forgets.” Elephants DO forget, and people do, as well. But once you have a negative story out there, thanks to the Internet and bloggers, it will probably be ensconced in databases and remain in the public domain for a long time.

§ Some negative stories even resurface after months or years, as “news.” You can be trampled by a revived story from the past.

Ex: Last fall, there was a very misrepresentative headline on a story about one of our clients in the local paper-of-record. As much as we wanted to get it corrected, we were concerned about opening up unwarranted criticism to readers who never saw the first story. But, we didn’t want it to live on in infamy on Google searches. The solution, we negotiated for them to make the correction to the headline on-line, which was a win for all.

Case Studies:

o “Everybody is good for something, if only to serve as a bad example.”

SLIDE 9 – Toyota

o Everything a company does (or doesn’t do) is PR

o From first receptionist greeting to customer service

o Can’t separate brand trust/reputation from management decisions – what did they know and how long did they know it before it become known.

o Secretary of Transportation – stop driving Toyota’s – damage done, stock plummeted

o Saturday at Starbucks – had right of way but thought twice about crossing.

SLIDE 10, 11, 12 – Tiger Woods I, II, III

o SNL – Tiger hit a tree and women started falling out

o What could have been a minor accident in the driveway became an international sex scandal

o At some point he has to run through the fire

o If he doesn’t answer questions, he faces a lifetime of stonewalling

o When he did make a statement, scolded he media for reporting on wife and kids – he put them in play; or covering rumors – he could have stopped

SLIDE 13 – John Edwards

SLIDE 14 – Ski Twins (Lindsey Vaughn/Barb Mancuso)

o Both accused the other of being drama queens – which pot is calling the other black?

o Barb miffed after Lindsey’s first fall as story is not, “Mancuso takes silver, but Vonn didn’t win gold.”

o Insult added to that injury when she had to redo her slalom run

SLIDE 15 – Michael Phelps

SLIDE 16 – Jay Leno (starts back tonight)

SLIDE 17 – Conan O’Brien

(Now twittering)

o Had a television show’; got another television show; got a Twitter account

o Interviewed a squirrel in my backyard today, then threw it to a commercial

o Connected the freckles on my arm this afternoon and it made some interesting letters.

(One year ago at NRB I was challenged to Twitter by 86 year-old Cliff Barrows….)

If you aren’t already doing it, I encourage all of you here to utilize all the tools available, including emerging media.

SLIDE 18 – Jim Bakker, Benny Hinn, Jimmy Swaggert

SLIDE 19 – Oral Roberts

o Privilege of handling media for his funeral – thought the headline would be “900 foot Jesus,” but reduced to an asterisk on Page A18 on 857 front page stories the next day.

SLIDE 20 – Tim Tiebow

o Props to Focus on the Family for the robust national conversation leading up to Super Bowl.

o Jehmu Greene, president of NY-based Women’s Media Center, “An ad that uses sports to divide rather than unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year – an event designed to bring Americans together.

o Note to J. Greene – the Super Bowl divides into Colts fans and Saints fans. Any questions?

· SLIDE 21 –

Last week, I was at a pastors conference, and one of the speakers challenged the audience saying:

Most Conference attendees are asking the wrong question:

o Not “What can I do?”

o Rather, “What can I become?”

The same is true for PR/Communications

SLIDE 22 –

Last year, I heard a former Dallas Cowboy football player speak challenge a men’s group another question:

o Who names you?

For us today, I would ask

o Who/what defines your ministry?”

(Your ministry calling or media craving?)

SLIDE 23 –

· Is your PR Plan based on a good Life or Ministry Plan?

o The Bible says, “Be holy, because I am holy;” not “Act holy so that others come to Christ.”

o It’s not about manufacturing an image; rather projecting an identity – that already exists

SLIDE 24 –

· What are your motivations for considering/approaching the media?

· Marketing or ministry?

· Sell more books or seek new platforms for your message?

· Become more famous or be more fruitful?

· Enlarge the holy huddle or engage the culture?

· Activist on issues or advocate for the Gospel?

ADDENDUMS

WHAT TO ADVERTISE

People need faith. They can’t live adequately without it. “Sell” them on the idea that the place to gain that faith – without which life is short-changed – is to be found at your place of worship or evangelistic meetings.

People don’t want loneliness; they don’t want alienation from God or rejection from other people. Instead, they want acceptance and companionship. “Sell” them on the idea of fellowship among your people and acceptance by God through Faith.

People have great fear: fear of failure, fear of the uncertainties of life. “Sell” them on the basic concept that “perfect love” casts out fear. Fear Fizzles when Faith Flourishes.

People are concerned with change. However, you can “sell” them by emphasizing that, though the methods and words may change, the basic truths of God are unchanging.

People sometimes express negative feelings about the institutional church. “Sell” them that true religion is not “form”, “system” or “tradition.” It has to do with faith, hope and love. Advert them into recalling that religious faith has to do with that which is good, true, just, right and of good report. Help them think on these things.

People don’t want to be disliked; people want to be loved. “Sell” them on the fact that your community of believers agrees that God is love and your house of worship or evangelistic meeting is one of the best places where God’s love can be experienced.

People need roots. Remind them of the precious heritage available to them through worshipping, fellowshipping, and working together.

A DEFINITION OF NEWS

News is about change. For something to become or qualify as news, it must happen; it may not merely exist. From time-to-time a continuing situation becomes news because it escaped attention until that time. In such cases, the news is the discovery. What happened is that somebody found out.

News is change as seen by an outsider. He may like it or dislike it, but does not consider himself a part of it. He tries to see and talk about what he has seen without reference to whether he likes it or dislikes it. That is the key to professional journalism or journalism as a profession. In this the reporter is never entirely successful. He is a person and not a thing.

All news involves only human beings and their fallibilities -- including the participants, the reporters, the audience.

News is change as seen by an outsider on behalf of other outsiders. These are the people the reporter reports for the viewers, the hearers, the readers. When they are participants, they often tend to dislike the report, usually complaining it is incomplete. They do not mean it did not tell them everything they wanted to know, because they already know everything they want to about what happened. They took part in it. They mean it did not tell other people, the outsiders, what the insiders wanted to be known. But an insider in one situation will be an outsider in all others, and in those outside situations the news he gets is about as much as he wants or is interested in. Otherwise we should not stay in business.

News is change that is interesting. If it is uninteresting it cannot be news. It cannot be news to anyone who is uninterested because he will not watch or listen or read. Importance does not make news, although if enough of the audience thinks something is important that makes it interesting and therefore news. (Reuben Frank, NBC)