Public Relations for Caterers during the Corona Virus
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Now more than ever, public relations (PR) is essential to the success and sustainability of the event community. It is an important tool for staying top-of-mind so you're in a good place for recovery. We asked Meghan Ely owner and seasoned publicist from OFD Consulting to offer this guest webinar especially created for caterers.
Public relations and media coverage can help you and your business stay top-of-mind during the current CoronaVirus crisis and put you in a powerful position for recovery. Many caterers are currently serving their communities through feed-the-front-lines programs, home delivery options and even take out. Getting media coverage for these efforts can help you in the short term by raising awareness about your fundraiser or services and help in the long term by boosting brand awareness and generating good will among potential clients.
Here are for key steps you can take to start getting local, regional and even national coverage of your business.
First, Prepare
Consider your Strengths
Consider your Strengths
Before you dive into pitching, there are a few housekeeping items you’ll want to address. The first is to identify your strengths. Think about what you’re good at. Are you a strong writer, and if so, are you best at short quotes or long-form articles?
Do you prefer live public speaking, or perhaps audio? Taking some time to think about how you best show up will guide your strategy. For example, if you don’t have the bandwidth to write extensively, pitching guest articles won’t be the best fit. Similarly, if you’re self-conscious on video, trying to get on your local TV channel may not benefit you.
Do a 15 Minute Website Update
The number one rule to great public relations outreach is to remember that journalists are busy people who are often short on time. Positioning yourself and your online channels as journalist-ready can go a long way in getting your story picked up. You want to make it as easy as possible to include you in their story. Start with a quick-and-dirty audit of the following pages on your website:
Start with your about page
Journalists often mine a business’ “about” page for details they need but don’t want to email back and forth about. Make sure your about page is up to date with the following information.
Number of people on your team
The number of years you’ve been in business
Association Membership, especially leadership roles
Awards, especially recent awards (Pro tip: remove dates from older awards)
Create a press page (if you don’t already have one)
A press page is essential if you’ve had three or more media placements because it validates you as an expert. During a time of a crisis, you’ll want to update this page frequently or as the press comes in to showcase your expertise. Be sure to include a press contact on this page, even if it’s just your email address.
Pro tip: Include “Media Resources” at the bottom of your page. This can be a simple Dropbox or Google Drive folder with your headshot and a document with your bio.
Your Contact Page
Include your email and phone number, even if you typically encourage everyone who visits your site to fill out a form. Don’t expect a journalist to fill out your inquiry form to reach you, especially if you ask for a number of event details not pertinent to their request.
STEP 1: Determine your goals and messaging
Goals and messaging are crucial to any content strategy but become even more important in PR because a journalist has to take enough interest in your story to include it. To increase your chances of getting media placements, consider if your stories and experiences address a question or an issue that nobody is talking about or is not being addressed.
You’ll also want to consider your own goals as a business owner and industry professional. Ask yourself: Why are you doing this? Are you trying to be an educator? Am I trying to be a calm port in the storm? Am I trying to get the word out about a project you’re doing?
STEP 2: Introduce Yourself as an Expert to the Right People
Start by researching. Before you start creating pitches, you’ll want to do some light research to find and select media outlets that are best to reach your audience. If you’re trying to reach out to your peers as an educator, check out industry associations to see if they run blogs that welcome guest articles. If your market is local, look to those channels that connect you with the audience- be it regional sites, magazines, TV shows and/or radio stations.
Start small. Find 3-5 local outlets to start. Go to their websites, search for the word “Corona Virus” and “COVID” and identify the people that’s covering that topic. Find the person most likely to use you as an expert, for example journalists talking about COVID and how it relates to business.
Email like a pro. Once you’ve identified a few media outlets to pitch to, it’s time to email them. Remember they are very busy, and especially so during a crisis when the news cycle is drastically shortened.
Show that you’ve done your research by greeting them by name. No mass emails here! Next, explain why you are writing, and then include 2-3 lines on why you are an expert. If able, include a brief paragraph explaining additional resources you may be able to provide. A great strategy for building relationships with journalists is to let them know if you can introduce them to other experts or industry professionals. While this may seem counter intuitive, it can go a long way toward generating good will and could lead to media placements in the future.
Finally, include your contact information. That’s it. short and sweet.
And be sure to make your subject line clear. Let journalists quickly know what your email is about in the subject line. Clarity beats clever every time when it comes to getting your email opened. .
Pro Tip: Consider your “angles” In addition to introducing yourself as an expert, feel free to offer them a couple of compelling stories, such as How COVID is impacting clients, how it’s affecting the industry, how it’s been impacting entrepreneurs or even working the parent angle. You can add this paragraph after introducing yourself as an expert.
Pro Tip: Be mindful of What You’re NOT Qualified to Talk About In the event industry, many of us are people pleasers, but when a journalist asks us a question we’re not sure of, it’s tempting to answer the best way we can. Unfortunately, this doesn’t serve people in the moment. For example, talking about contracts and insurance should typically be only be covered by lawyers and insurance professionals
Pro Tip: Don’t just say no. Just like your offer to connect a journalist with a colleague in your pitch, if you can’t answer a question, offer to connect the journalist with someone who can. Remember, be helpful. It goes a long way in generating good will with journalists and may lead to a strong relationship that wins you placements well into the future.
STEP 3: JOIN HELP A REPORTER OUT (HARO)
HARO is a platform for journalists to connect with people like you for upcoming stories. Signing up as a source is free. Once you sign up, you'll get three emails a day full of requests from journalists for stories that they are currently working on. Although you’ll still have to pitch, the beauty of HARO is that you know exactly what story they are working on and what they are looking for, so you can tailor your pitch to meet their needs.
In fact, tailoring your email is essential for success with journalists requesting information and stories on HARO. Make sure you follow the directions exactly, including meeting deadlines and answering their questions exactly. Don’t pitch something else. You will waste you time and theirs and likely get ignored.
STEP 4: EDUCATE THROUGH PODCASTS
Podcasting is one of the fastest-growing media platforms around, right now and it allows you to showcase your expertise and your personality. Think of podcasts like a radio show, delivered on a smartphone or computer. Many podcasts, especially business and industry-related ones, are interview-based and are looking for expert guests like you to interview.
Like any media pitch, you’ll want to start by asking yourself your goals for being a podcast guest and then run a search for terms like, ”event industry podcasts” or wedding industry podcasts. Some top ones include: Catersource, Wedding MBA, and BizBash, as well as wedding-related podcasts such as Weddings for Real, This Week in Weddings and
To ensure your success as a guest, listen to 2-3 episodes each. Ask yourself how you can add to the conversation and offer an angle or story not covered before.
Once you’ve been invited to be a podcast guest, just like with any journalist, try and be as helpful as possible.
Ask for the questions in advance so you can prepare or offer to provide the host questions. Also provide your bio, a script for their introduction, your headshot, your website and any social media links you’re active on.
LIFE AFTER COVID
Quarantine will end. Life will go back to normal. It’s good to start preparing for recovery now, so you can hit the ground running.
Real wedding and event submissions. Editors are going to need event wedding submissions, especially after a gap in events help. Start planning your submissions soon, especially if you run a venue.
Guest articles. Consider writing planning articles for other websites or even colleagues’ websites. It helps get the word out about your services and often results in links back to your website, which can be great for SEO.
Lighten the mood. Start planning for lighter content in a month or two. When we get back to business as usual around the globe, lighter content will be more appropriate, including real wedding features, fun tips and tricks and any other “back-to-normal” content.
