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hi i'm sarah kitsos i'm the director of corporate communications in north america for kaspersky i've been with the company for over eight years and i've been in pr for over 15. i have a husband and two wonderful kids who i love spending time with and when i'm not doing pr i love reading and going on hikes i actually hiked a couple weeks ago in maine at a national park called acadia beautiful park absolutely recommend it wonderful hike wonderful views um really really nice in the summer time and especially in the fall [Music] individual emails to reporters that are customized to their beat their interests and and what they cover for their publication is is always best social media is a good component to individual pitching over twitter sometimes conversations can happen i would say less over other platforms but emails is especially the easiest and best way to reach uh to reach reporters here in the region [Music] you certainly can it depends on if they will then respond um but i would say that trying over email to contact them or even giving them a call on the phone would probably be a first start that i would take compared to trying to contact them over social media i remember starting in pr and calling reporters sometimes you catch them on the phone sometimes you have to leave a quick voicemail or follow it up with a pitch via email but sometimes sometimes you catch them and you have a good conversation and you get that immediate feedback so pr is an evolving industry and what works 10 years ago is is not working today when reaching out to journalists the shorter the pitch i think the better getting to the point why you've reached out to them what your piece of news is and why you think it's relevant to them is ultimately what should be in a pitch press releases you know really one to two pages has always been the standard or traditional length anything longer than that you're you're adding an extra information that may not be appropriate for a press release and maybe better for something like a white paper or a longer lead piece that on a blog that's on your company website but really when it comes to pitches and it comes to press releases it's what is the most important information what do you want message wise fact wise uh what do you want journalists to know and what do you think is going to be interesting to their readers and that's the type of information that they're looking for you want to hopefully catch them at a point where they're looking through your email they can really scroll through it and then make a decision yes i want to learn more about that i'll follow up or no that's not a fit for me right now and and move on [Music] i think it depends on the the audience the target audience that you're trying to reach i would really be surprised if the press release ever goes away it's a evolving tool that really will always be utilized in some format five years from now the press release may not look the same as it does today um so it's really still a traditional tried and true way of issuing news now reaching out with news via social media may not be the best way to reach journalists with with a piece of news but it could be to reach your consumers the the people um or the companies that are looking to purchase the product or or read about the news so i would say that social media has always been a tool for supporting the news in a press release and helps you reach a variety of audiences with a different format [Music] how important is storytelling as a pr professional it's it's kind of everything you always want to be a reliable resource for your journalists so sometimes that is bringing the story to them because you think it is a story that they are the right person at the right outlet help you tell and other times it is about helping provide the facts in the background and supporting pieces for a story your company can be a part of but maybe not fully about you and then sometimes it's finding an interesting angle to either a trend or a different opinion on a widely talked about topic that you want to share with them and you think that they would be interested in so storytelling from a pr perspective really has a lot of different angles in which you can work with journalists as ultimately you want to help them tell a story and to be part of it so whether that's you're fully the story uh or you are supporting an expert to it storytelling is really what our whole industry is about [Applause] when i think about video and written communication i look at video content as a form of communication that will always coexist with the written form and and kind of coexist alongside other ways that we communicate right video is a great way for sharing certain types of content but not every type of content just the way written form is not the perfect way to share every type of story so certainly video has expanded over the years and especially the last few years and people are looking to consume content in so many digestible ways you know 30 second videos you know it feels to feel sometimes you know too long where it was like five minute videos used to be the norm when it comes to written communication i don't see that ever going away but being supplemented and supported by other forms of communication like video i would be so sad if like i just can't imagine a world that where books don't exist um so i think the written form of communication is still gonna survive and video will be a component of it that we all learn to work with and how to best share our content and and share what we want to put out there for news on behalf of our company or our clients when it comes to digital fatigue as a result of so many digital events from last year and continuing into this year i think the most important thing from the pr perspective is providing value there's so many things happening virtually that you really have to have quality information that is standing out above all the other noise and you really want to make sure that if you're inviting press to attend something that they're going to get something out of it moving forward we really haven't seen in-person events come back fully and that may not happen for a long time so figuring out a hybrid event that is both safe but also informative not too time consuming and still ultimately provides that content is really what's going to make a successful pr event [Music] do i agree with the saying that there is no tomorrow in pr i think that's certainly true for mainstream topics as media today is extremely fast-paced something that's a story in the morning may not be a story by the afternoon so if you're looking to be a part of that and add your insights to it and expertise then you really do need to move as fast as humanly possible [Music] what helps me concentrate when i'm working from home is my to-do list i like to map out what i have to do each week what i have to do each day questions i have for my team projects i have to work on with other execs and really making sure that i'm going through the list checking things off and prioritizing the appropriate campaigns and work each day and then certainly at the end of the week there's nothing better than checking things off and having everything completed and another thing that helps me concentrate when working from home is great pair of headphones [Music] my most favorite part of pr is seeing a story i've worked on publish i think there is nothing better as a pr professional of when you come up with a story angle you reach out to a journalist you know is going to be interested in it they are interested in it and you're able to work on that dialogue develop that article have your experts as part of it have your research as part of it all of your good content and then you see that article hit and a bonus to that is also when it's well received internally um you know when executives give it praise uh when it's shared widely over social media when the expert that you've worked with is really happy internally i think when it all comes together in a positive way is is still one of the most satisfying things within pr [Music] my advice to young professionals network there is no shortage of benefits to knowing others within the pr industry as well as executives in the industry that you may want to do pr for my other advice would be to always be reading and keeping up on your writing skills as well as really understanding the media landscape and how journalists work today it's not the same as it was last year it's not going to be the same next year so really keeping up on how our industry operates is really going to help you once you land that job if you're it's still in school i recommend internships at different types of organizations it can really help you figure out what type of work you may want to do for your career but then also what you may not be as interested in and those internships give you that glimpse into an organization or a type of organization an industry that will really help you figure out and better narrow down where you could see yourself in your career once you graduate i also recommend to young professionals to find a mentor whether that's at the organization you're currently working at at your college through a professional organization talking to somebody who's in the field that you want to be and can really help and really give you some insights that may go beyond the classroom go beyond internships and go beyond what you think the media and and the industry are like [Music] [Applause] [Music] you