Perfecting
the Pitch
A new book explains how colleges and universities can increase media exposure.
By Tim Goral
B
universitybusiness.com
ILL TYSON HAS BEEN ADVISING COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES ON getting media attention for more than 30 years through his firm Morrison & Tyson Communications. Now he’s taken some of that knowledge and put it into Pitch Perfect: Communicating with Traditional and Social Media for Scholars, Researchers, and Academic Leaders (Stylus Publishing, 2010), a how-to guide for thoughtful communications planning that can increase the likelihood of national media coverage. He spoke with University Business about common misperceptions toward the role of public relations, and how effective partnerships can help get a message out to the broader public.
ey think their peers won’t view it favorably if they are seen commenting in the mainstream media. e other reason is simply that there are a lot of bashful people who feel their work wouldn’t add new knowledge when, in fact, it probably would. A friend once gave me some advice on that theme of being bashful: ‘Get over yourself.’ e discussion with media
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UB: ere’s a tremendous amount of expertise in colleges and universities that could and should be shared with the mainstream media. Yet scholars are often hesitant to advance their work outside academia. Why is that? Tyson: ere are two broad reasons. One is that they feel it’s uncharacteristic to go outside the academy to talk about their work.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - October 2010