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Describe your job.
I'm special sections manager for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
in Atlanta, which is part of the Marketing Department. Our
team is the "mini-newsroom" that produces about
100 advertising-driven sections a year about festivals, special
events, grand openings of shopping centers, holiday gift guides
and that sort of thing. We also do weekly sections on the
real estate and automotive industry in the community zones,
a monthly magazine for health care professionals.
What
time/day is best to call?
...after you've looked up our special sections calendar online
at www.ajc.com to see what kinds of publications we're doing
and what the deadlines are. I'm not kidding. Both the newsroom
special sections and the marketing special sections are listed
on our online Special Sections calendar (Special Sections
can be used interchangeably with "Editorial Calendar").
It's a wealth of information. You'll never have to call the
paper again to find out when our Back to School or Brides
sections will run, whether or not accessAtlanta is doing dining
guides this year, or when, Homefinder is doing a special focus
feature on Executive Homes.
In all
fairness, the Special Sections Calendar on ajc.com needs to
be redesigned because it's a bit clunky to find, but at this
writing here's how to find it:
- Go to
the ajc.com home page
- On the lefthand column of the home page, click on "ajc
services," then scroll down to "advertising in print"
and double click.
- "Advertising with the ajc" menu page pops up.
At the top of the menu on the left, doubleclick on "newspaper."
- "Newspaper Advertising" menu page pops up...In
lefthand column of the page, doubleclick on "Special
Sections Calendar"
- Special Sections Online Calendar 2004 pops up. Doubleclick
on it and it will automatically download.
How
do you like to be contacted? (e-mail, phone, fax, mail)
If you are pitching a story, E-mail is a wonderful time-saver,
and I'm much more likely to answer an e-mail than a voice
mail message. Playing phone tag is a terrible waste of time
for both parties. I usually can find time to return e-mail
queries.
Which
topics are hot right now? Which are not?
Diversity and Aging and how we define them (or how they define
us, for that matter) are hot topics. The word "diversity"
will increasingly be eclipsed by "inclusiveness"
and what that really means in all aspects of our lives.
Aging
is so hot it sizzles right now as Boomers march toward 60
- from extreme makeovers to the size and accessibility of
our homes, how we all handle getting older, or caring for
aging parents, and so on.
What's
not hot?
People who talk on cell phones while driving.
What's
your most memorable experience with a PR person?
Good PR people are smart and resourceful. It would be impossible
to mention one isolated incident.
Anything
else you'd like Atlanta's public relations industry to know?
1) Don't rule out the Special Sections Department when you
develop a media list. Many of our sections are for specific
clients, such as festivals, so our content is pretty specific.
But if you represent a rock group that is playing at the festival,
or an artist who is in the festival's juried art show, be
sure to supply good information to the festival's PR person,
or contact us directly. Also, Marketing Special Sections does
the AJC's Holiday Gift Guides, and we scramble to find great
gift ideas at retail outlets throughout the metro area.
2) Relentless
pitch calls are a waste of everyone's time and your client's
money. Accurate, well-written information by mail or e-mail
is still the best strategy. And when you follow-up with a
call, do it once, do it well, and you'll be remembered for
your professionalism whether or not we bite on your story.
3) Media
Web sites offer a wealth of information. You can find out
who does what and target your press kits better if you consult
the staff directory on newspapers' Web sites. We still receive
an awful lot of press releases addressed to people who haven't
worked here in years, and I'm not sure why.
Our thanks to this month's Media Pro Guest Columnist.
Ms. Martha Foster
Special Sections Manager
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
PO Box 4689
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-4689
Mfoster@ajc.com
404-526-5750
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