Public relations is not advertising. It's better. When you do good things and get the media to take notice, you get attention. Keep to it, and you get known.

Becoming a public relations expert, as with any profession, requires years of education, training, and experience. Nonetheless, we thought we'd share a glimpse into how the AIA national component staff approach public relations for your Institute.

Here are several examples from AIA Media Relations Director Mike Janes of actual pitch letters and emails sent to news outlets such as ABC World News, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal.

Here, also, are a few pointers on how to create an image—for yourself, your firm, or organizations to which you belong—by understanding what news people are looking for and how they are used to finding stories.

• Introduce yourself. This is one of the most critical aspects of reaching your selected media outlets. Trust is absolutely essential if editors and reporters are going to accept you as a news source. That begins with knowing who you are and finding out that you appreciate the importance of their time and, ultimately, credibility. The first step is an introductory letter. [Click for sample]
• Media people want to find interesting experts when a news story breaks. If you maintain a listing of colleagues by expertise and follow regional news, you are in a position to help news managers find the interviews they want when they want them by offering your media guide. [Click for sample] They'll remember you later, too.
• Editorials (op-ed pieces) define a newspaper's community involvement. You have the best chance of placement when your opinion essay relates to a hot issue of the day. Still, you can always raise important issues [Click for sample] too.
• Keep the press aware every time you and your colleagues do something worthwhile and interesting. Pitching your best and brightest [Click for sample] is always a good idea.
• Business reporters are looking for reliable sources who can comment on current market conditions. This template [Click for sample] shows how the AIA national component offers its experts.
• Key your story ideas to the news cycle! Pitches run the gamut. They can be, for instance, seasonal [Click for sample], a tie to a national-news anniversary [Click for sample], or a topical [Click for sample] pitch.
• You can get national media outlets interested in regional stories, if the pitch is right. Here's a note [Click for sample] to the Wall Street Journal, enticing them to an AIA event in northern California.
• At many newspapers and magazines, reporters cover a specialized topic area, a "beat." Here is a pitch [Click for sample] to a reporter covering the health/medical issues beat.
• Television producers are always looking for high-quality guests [Click for sample] who can engage in spirited discussions on local issues. Or you can interest them with a timely topic [Click for sample].
• Sometimes you will find that a multi-part story pitch is in order to offer several ideas in one succinct package [Click for sample].
• The press releases [Click for sample] is the tool of choice to get your message out quickly to all your media contacts.
• Press advisories are notices you send to your media contacts prior to an event of interest to give them time to assign a reporter and camera crew. Draw their interest with news tie-in events [Click for sample] and with events of extreme regional importance [Click for sample].

Copyright 2001 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.