Approaching the media should ONLY be done if there are no ongoing legal proceedings.
If you want to attract the attention of the media with your bailiff story, you will have to approach them professionally.
These relations consist of all your contacts with reporters, editors, programme producers, and others in the print and broadcast media. Your aim is, of course, to generate favourable coverage of your bailiff experience.
The stronger and more sensational your bailiff story is, the more likely the media will cover it.
Remember, media producers will always edit to their own agenda, not yours.
The media's primary concern is with what is newsworthy. This is why working with the media requires a lot of hard work. You cannot get to know the media overnight. You cannot expect maximum coverage unless you spend time communicating by mail, telephone, and in person.
Keep in mind that the duty of media professionals begins with their publication or station and with the interests of the people they reach — their market.
They also have a responsibility to maintain editorial distance from the story they cover. They try very hard to remain objective, not to play favourites, and to be emotionally detached from outside contacts.
Your story begins with your bailiff experience and how to convey your interests to your audience. When you work with the media, you must perform a balancing act between what you want to say and the needs of the media.
That is the way it always will be. To you, your story is special; to the media, it is merely one among many. This is why, in addition to getting to know editors, reporters, and broadcast producers, you need to take certain actions or develop certain attitudes that will allow you to play with the media for the best results.
If you call media people with a story idea, they will require you to send something in writing. It is much easier for them to take a straightforward chronicle of your story than to piece it together from a telephone conversation.
Also, they can look at your material when they have the time to focus on it. Your approach letter is your formal introduction to the media person.
In it, you will describe yourself and your story and explain why your story would be of interest to their audience. You want to convince the media that your story is worth covering and is of public interest.
Target the media you think will be interested in your story and then call to ascertain who would cover this type of story.
Get the precise spelling of that person's name, their title, the correct mailing address, and a phone number if it is different from the one you called. This may sound elementary, but professionals in the media constantly complain about receiving letters with misspelled names and incorrect addresses.
If you make errors like these, how do they know that you are not just as careless with the information you are sending them?
Your approach letter must be concise and should be restricted to one A4 page of information.
You send it to the main editor of a local newspaper, the news director of a local radio station, and usually the person in charge of the assignment desk for a local television news programme.
You can also approach a newspaper feature editor or the coordinator of an afternoon radio talk show. Once you develop a media kit (discussed below), you can enclose it with your approach letters.
Press releases are an important part of a PR campaign and the primary means of getting your story to the media. All press releases are structured the same way.
The press release should be double-spaced and printed in black ink on plain white paper. Editors look at hundreds of press releases every day, and if yours is difficult to read, they will bin it.
Your letterhead should also be at the top of the first page, to establish your identity. You can make a special letterhead for this purpose if you choose.
No typos or grammatical errors — a press release containing such errors will get a negative reaction.
It should be typed, not handwritten. Print out a fresh copy for each recipient. Do not send poor-quality photocopies with dark staple marks or blotches.
Who
What
When
Where
Why
How
Put the most important facts in the lead paragraph, with the facts decreasing in importance as you go down the page. Why? If your press release is too long, editors will trim it from the bottom.
You need a contact source. In the top right-hand corner of the first page, include a line that reads: "For further information, contact..." followed by a name and telephone number.
The best press releases have a dateline — the date the release is written — before the text begins. Editors need this to know how current the story is.
If your release runs longer than one page, write "more" at the bottom of each page except the last, and "end" at the end of the final page. Number each page in the top left-hand corner.
You can usually improve your chances of receiving media attention if you include a picture or screen grab of a bailiff document with the written material. Newspapers will use black and white images; magazines prefer colour slides or prints.
Speak to a BAILIFF Expert - £35Bailiffs causing or threatening breaking and entering when no rules provided for it
Charging thousands in fees for work not done
Bailiffs causing personal injury or an assault
Children being exposed to civil enforcement
Businesses forced to shut down due to unlawful or wrongful bailiff action
Bailiff crime committed in the presence of police officers who failed to intervene
You are a victim of enforcement for a debt that is not yours
Bailiff companies that repeatedly break the same regulation over and over again