Ms. InterPReted

Allison Lester -- Fletcher Marketing PR's director of media relations (and a former news director in broadcast media) -- joins Kelly Fletcher and Mary Beth West on this episode, discussing best-practices in developing media relationships and forging positive, fair, informative coverage for clients.

Allison is a dynamic leader and communication specialist with 13 years of experience in newsrooms across the country.

Most recently, she served as the assistant news director at WBIR-TV – Knoxville’s NBC affiliate – for six years.

An award-winning journalist and newsroom manager, Allison has covered big news in her career including the April 2011 tornado outbreak during her time producing in Huntsville, AL; the Aurora, CO theatre shooting while working in Denver, CO; the Gatlinburg Wildfire in 2016; and she also led a team of 62 journalists through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Focused on research-driven decision-making to recruit audiences and customers, Allison has a proven track record of strategic execution of media projects that have reached millions of people across television broadcasts and digital platforms.

Allison graduated from Auburn University in 2008 with a BA in Communication and Psychology. She has won multiple media awards including the 2017 National Edward R. Murrow award for Gatlinburg Wildfire coverage, and Regional Murrow awards for Overall Excellence in 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019. She won Emmy Awards for Breaking News for wildfire coverage and for coverage of April 27th tornadoes in Alabama.

Allison is passionate about the East Tennessee community. She has devoted time to the school system as a community partner with a local Title 1 school, and volunteering with Leaders for Readers, and was awarded a Knoxville Young Professional of the Year award in 2017 for her community efforts.

Show Notes

Allison Lester -- director of media relations for Fletcher Marketing PR -- shares insights on transitioning from the pressures and challenges of years working in a media newsroom environment to the front lines of PR strategy and media relations execution for a PR firm.

Among her remarks:
  1. How deadline-driven environments of the newsroom differ from deadlines / workload in PR
  2. Ways in which lifestyle / work-life balance stresses differ on the two "sides," particularly given the pandemic
  3. What "pet peeves" she encountered from PR firms back in her newsroom days
  4. Aspects of pitching for topical / timing relevance to be realistic and newsroom-friendly
  5. What it means to deliver for clients on media relations content and availability 
  6. Best-practices in media contact-development
  7. Practical considerations (such as lead times) that build parameters around what a news outlet will (or even can) cover
  8. How to "turn lemons to lemonade" when media rejection of a pitch can still present a relationship-building opportunity with a reporter 
  9. Differences between needs / opportunities for newsrooms working across different formats (print, broadcast, digital)

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What is Ms. InterPReted?

Public Relations stands as one of the most misunderstood, misinterpreted areas of business and organizational management. With Fletcher Marketing PR Founder and CEO Kelly Fletcher and Senior Strategist Mary Beth West, we’re here to turn around PR’s own bad PRess, cut through the nomenclature, and demystify public relations as the best pathway to create, grow and amplify the roots of positive management, communications, culture and careers -- for success that matters.