Blow The Dust Off Your VNRs
Tight Television Budgets are a Good Reason to Reconnect with Station
Managers
By: Ralph Wall & Michelle Griffin
Are video news releases worth the cost and hassle? How can you make
them appealing to television stations? What coverage can you expect?
These questions were posed to you, ACI members through the ACI list
serve with some surprising and helpful insight. Read on to see how your
fellow ACIers get their VNRs placed, or perhaps use a slightly masked
strategy to get an issue covered.
Yes, Television Stations Will Use Your VNRs!
As the economy sags, so do television station budgets. There is a
renewed interest in VNRs. However, just any old VNR presented in any
old way won’t get you aired. There are some tested strategies working
for communicators from Texas to Minnesota! Read on to learn the tactics
that work.
Know Your Target Media Outlets
Identifying relevant stations and creating a consistent flow of VNRs
has worked for Texas, Minnesota and Missouri. One state enjoys airing
on 23 stations and reaching over 700,000 households. Another state provides
stories exclusively to stations in exchange for promised air time. They
find themselves in bidding wars with stations and can choose the one
with greatest coverage! Although each state is unique, basically they
all made the effort to personally meet with station managers and news
directors to explain their strategy and story angles. They followed
up with a consistent stream of VNRs that were of high quality and newsworthy
angles.
Choose one station in every major market to focus on and build
a relationship.
This takes the first idea to the next level and works in some states,
but not others. It depends on overlap of station coverage and the effectiveness
of exclusiveness as an incentive to run your piece. However, states
like Missouri, Minnesota, Colorado, and Idaho have found this tactic
to be successful. They offer the exclusive rights to outdoor pieces
on a regular basis and in good faith, the station agrees to run them
consistently. Effective, long-term relationships will result from such
extra effort.
Know thy customer.
When you meet with television stations to establish relationships, be
sure to find out what they want and make it easy for them to get it.
Nebraska found news directors wanted editorial control,
and in no instance did they want the material voiced by someone outside
their staff. It was also effective to send
along extra raw footage of the VNR topic, allowing the station to customize
what they used.
Nebraska also developed a video archive for stations whereby they send
a copy of the video vault – all deer video, all upland bird video, etc.
To reciprocate, the station does not use it commercially or send it
elsewhere, and the station gives credit to the agency for providing
the video. Nebraska is also considering dropping in a small button logo
on all video to ensure they receive credit. Some stations
want statewide stories, some want local – know what your
target station wants and cater to it as much as you can. You should
be able to glean this information when you meet with station managers.
Common VNR pitfalls
In trying to get to a goal quickly, or easily, we sometimes try things
that sound good on paper, but don’t pass the cost-benefit analysis.
You also must be aware of shortfalls within the stations that can lead
to the misuse or no use of your VNR. Read on to get the inside scoop:
Contracting the work out.
Many of you said this was excessively expensive and the return on investment
was poor. Most cited an outside company’s inability to identify a good
story and craft a release that was newsworthy and beneficial to the
agency.
Sending VNRs blindly to stations without knowing what they
want.
Some ACIers who were formerly reporters admitted that television stations
recycled VNRs for work and resume tapes. Make sure the topic is newsworthy
and the quality is good!
Stations run VNR after appropriate date.
Provide obvious and clear date ranges to run the VNR, and follow-up
quickly if you find them running after the fact.
Stations don’t see relevancy of outdoor stories.
Several states claimed their local television stations do not realize
how much their viewers care about outdoor recreational and nature issues.
Keep this in mind when crafting your VNR angle. Also, if accessible,
use viewership numbers from outdoor-related shows shown in the same
market. Oftentimes the numbers surprise news directors on how much people
do like these types of stories.
VNRs Not Working For You?
Try These Alternative Strategies
Sometimes no matter how good your relationship or VNR, the stations
just won’t run your material. Some states have found unique ways to
partner with television stations to still get coverage, and even make
some money for the station – creating a win-win situation.
Partner with stations to sell “wildife spots” to sponsors.
New Hampshire, Nebraska and Montana either have a program, or are planning
to begin a partnership effort with local stations that is clearly a
win-win situation. The agency creates a 60-second piece on a relevant
natural resource issue or simply provides footage set to music. The
station’s sales reps pitch the videos as part of other airbuy plans
to potential sponsors. The sponsors receive intro/outro credits or other
forms of publicity. This became a significant money-maker, bringing
in $250,000 over a three-year period for one station. This is a great
thing to bring up when meeting with the station to show you are looking
for ways to benefit them.
Use “Talent” in your own agency.
Nebraska is having great success using its own field staff. They have
a public information officer in each district to deal with the media
in that region. In some areas, they have this person appearing weekly
on a TV station to go over some current issue or outdoor opportunity
plug. Extra b-roll is often included to supplement the appearance. If
having a representative in every district isn’t feasible, think of sending
what staff you do have on the road, or training some of your field staff
biologists on how to appear on camera. Be creative and use your resources!
Create stock footage tapes on relevant and timely issues.
Missouri used this tactic to provide stations with last-minute requests.
They built up enough of a collection to begin providing it to target
stations on a weekly basis.
If you have an outdoors television show, re-use the footage!
Many state agencies help co-produce television shows related to outdoor
topic and recreation. This is a huge resource for inexpensively creating
raw footage or simplistic VNRs. Remember, most stations don’t want your
voice-overs anyway, unless you have a strong television personality
to offer.
Using just some of these tactics should help get your agency coverage
in the major markets of your state.
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