Order of the Phoenix Meeting Recap 

by Riley Mason

UGA PRSSA was honored to host Alison Ilg and other PRSA representatives for the annual Order of the Phoenix meeting. The Order of the Phoenix is the highest honor awarded by the PRSA Georgia Chapter, recognizing individuals for their contributions to the public relations profession. This year’s recipient was Alison Ilg.

Alison Ilg, president of Ilg Communications

Ilg is the president of Ilg Communications and the past president of PRSA Georgia. She helps businesses create and implement media relations, internal communications and social media programs. Her firm focuses on B2B and B2C initiatives. 

From your experience working at Kechum, can you explain what someone in a media relations role does? 

At Ketchum, Ilg explained that the media relations team always had 3 things happening at once. Although her job was primarily meeting with clients and figuring out how to get their message across. Ilg had to sift through what the client wanted to communicate. Was their message going to be announcing their new products or getting in some publications’ top 10 list? Ilg said that you have to be a multitasker in media relations because you have to come up with a lot of ideas. To be creative, you must be curious. 

How did the media relations role at Ketchum prepare you for later in life? 

For Ilg, working for a great agency was beneficial because it had structure and well-rounded teams. When working at Ketchum, she could hear someone else’s pitches and take inspiration from what she would hear. She was learning from her co-workers and considering their methods. At Ketchum, she said, they also had team meetings where employees could share what they had achieved. She noted that you must share your successes to be recognized, which can be a daunting feat at first. Additionally, she is still connected with people at Ketchum, which has been important for her current company. 

At Ilg Communications, how do you pitch new clients? 

Ilg said her goal is to have two or three clients at a time and grow with them, without having to obtain new clients. Last year, after losing one of her biggest clients, she had to start networking to find new clients. When she pitches, she said she uses a capabilities pitch. This means she pitches to the client what she can do for them and her capabilities as a PR professional. However, to get to the client meeting, Ilg starts by calling her networks and finding people who know someone in need of her expertise. 

 

Below is content from Alison Ilg’s slide deck on “Mastering Media”: 

12 Tips for Securing Media Coverage 

  1. Believe in your story: make sure to believe in your story when talking to your clients and networks. 
  2. Know your target
  3. Know your client’s industry: Smart Brief comes in handy here
  4. Have a good spokesperson and a backup 
  5. Secure a third-party endorser/expert and case study: to help the reporter, you want to come with the spokesperson and an expert who is a third-party endorser for a story
  6. Practice your pitch 
  7. Start small: start at the local or industry scale. 
  8. Be persistent: call then, don’t wait. 
  9. Respect their time: know their deadlines.  
  10. Talk like the reporter: if the reporter talks slowly, you talk slowly. Mimic their speech pattern to be likeable. 
  11. Keep organized 
  12. Have other story options available

Other Resources: