When I conduct a media training session I always say: “It’s your responsibility to make yourself understood, not the responsibility of others to understand you.” Yet, recently I was caught myself breaking this rule.

I answered a client’s question using industry jargon. He politely pretended to understand which only made the problem worse. A few days later, in our next conversation I realized we completely didn’t communicate in the previous discussion.

In this case, I was lucky to be able to explain. While I have learned my lesson, I thought this entry should be dedicated to some media relations jargon ….just in case.

Media release: This is not an ‘article’. Rather a short summary of what a journalist could write about. We generally keep our releases to one page and write it in story format including quotes. If a journalist wanted, they could cut and paste our release into their paper. If not, it will provide them with a good idea about what can be done with the idea.

Media advisory: This is a shorter form of a release that is generally used for announcements (events, management changes, etc.). It may or may not include quotes and it is supposed to just cover the basic who, what, where, when and why.

The pitch: This can be written in a cover letter to media or made verbally. It’s a succinct and compelling argument why media should cover the story. A good pitch is arguably equally or more important than the release.

Fact sheet: This is an informational document (one to two pages max) that should be dedicated to explaining one specific thing such as company highlights, tips, etc. A backgrounder is a form of fact sheet generally dedicated to further explaining an issue.

Media follow-up: I wish that after we sent a media release to journalists we could call them and they’d always answer their phones or, at least return our calls more frequently. The reality is that most media hide behind voice mail – perhaps because in addition to being on tight deadlines – they have PR professionals sending them dozens of releases a day. The follow-up, if you are able to ever get media on the phone, needs to be done skillfully. You better know what they cover before calling. You better understand news and why the story you are calling about is worthy of their attention. And, you better talk fast. There is about 10 seconds to make your point before they tune out and try to get off the phone. The tough part is that the less follow-up that is done, the less chance of a story being written. Follow-up is a necessary evil in our industry to help rise above the clutter….presuming of course, that your idea isn’t part of the clutter!

Last week I asked my daughter who was turning five what she wanted for her birthday. She said, “I want you”.

While seemingly an innocent and sweet statement it is actually heartbreaking. At five she should want the latest and greatest toy, her first sleep over or an extra large treat.

The challenge facing working mothers is not new and this is not a new version of the story. But that doesn’t make it hurt any less. So, for her birthday, she got her wish. I took the day off and volunteered in her class. I sang songs, read books, glitter glued crowns, printed capital and lower case letters and helped put on snowsuits. It was the best day, for both of us.

I don’t think working mothers need to change their career aspirations or leave their jobs. There are far worse role models for our daughters. What we do need to do more, however, is find ways to be more present when we are around: no blackberries, no scanning newspaper headlines or running errands.

Today on the way to school my daughter asked if, now that she is five, she can have her first sleep over. The answer? You bet.

Return on investment (“ROI”). This is something our industry continuously struggles to illustrate to clients. How do you put a financial value on work that doesn’t always immediately translate into sales, membership, change of behaviour, etc.?

There are several ways our industry measures ROI. While none are ideal, some are better than others.

Some PR firms track impression – which means calculating how many people were potentially exposed to your coverage (its reach). This is done by adding up the circulation for that day or the number of viewers during the time the story ran. Often PR firms multiply this number by three to account for papers being passed-on or multiple viewers. But if the readers/viewers aren’t all your target audience or if they were not impacted by the article/segment, is this really a proper calculation of ROI??

Calculating advertisement values is another way our industry tries to demonstrate its worth. Basically, media coverage is measured (literally) with a ruler, and then compared against the cost of advertising: how much would the coverage have cost if it was a paid advertisement. It is said that the value of third party endorsements is three to 10 times as valuable as advertising (essentially, the value of someone else saying you are great rather than you saying you are great). Based on this, PR firms are known to multiply the ad value figures by anywhere from three to 10 times. Most agree this system is lacking. You also can’t buy front page coverage!

The Canadian Public Relations Society has a new Media Relations Rating Points (MR2P) system that is executed by News Canada www.cprs.ca/membership/e_mrp.htm. In my opinion, this is the best tool on the market. While it has its limitations, it does have some great advantages. Criteria for judging a campaign is supposed to be worked out in advance with your client. Then you enter a list of coverage received in a designated period of time. An ROI is produced by the program that gives the cost per contact (this is the quantitative analysis which allows you to compare with advertising). Then a percentage figure is given base on overall tone and whether the predetermined criteria were met. This qualitative side is a great compliment to the quantitative analysis and shows the true value of PR versus advertising. This doesn’t provide a measure, however, for services like crisis management where perhaps you’re paid to keep clients out of the news. We have had clients say they hired us as ‘an insurance policy’ – how would this system calculate the value of that? Nonetheless, it is as good as it gets and it is great when, like me, you deal largely with financial services clients who actually understand the term ROI and how to calculate it.

It is also very helpful for organizations that report to boards of directors or middle management who have to report to superiors – they will love you for this tool that can prove, as best as possible, how dollars are being spent.