What Makes Media Magic
What truly makes this process magical is that when you appear in the media, regardless of how big or how small the outlet, you never know who’s going to see it or what opportunity is going to come your way because of it.
A local Los Angeles-based newspaper once ran a story on my company, which elicited almost no response. I was a bit disappointed, but it was a great article and made for a wonderful tear sheet to use in my media package. A few weeks later I received a call from an author in Florida who had been sent a copy of the article and wanted to hire us. Florida? In three weeks I had not received one call from the Los Angeles area in response to the article, and here I was receiving a call from Florida. Apparently a friend of the author, who lives in Southern California, had seen the piece and mailed it to her.
The author explained that the article, which focused on my firm’s ability to place clients on national talk shows, interested her. Her book was about to be published, and she wanted to appear in the national media, especially talk shows. She signed with us, and we were able to launch a very successful campaign for her. Our relationship with the author led to a relationship with her publishing company, which resulted in us working with other authors they represented.
So, even though, the article only brought us one phone call, that one call was a great one. Because of that one piece, we developed a working relationship not only with the author, but with her publisher. The article also served as a great tear sheet which I can send to other media outlets as well as to prospective clients.
So look at the big picture when viewing your public relations campaign. You never know who is going to see or read a particular story, and if you don’t do the interviews and utilize your press, you never will.
