You’ve decided it’s time to launch your PR campaign.  You’re ready to move forward.  Now you need to figure out who your public relations partner in this journey is going to be.  Believe me, it is a journey (and can be a great one) and in the best of cases the PR company that you choose is going to be functioning as a trusted partner, at least in this one arena.  But how do you pick a firm that fits your particular needs?

The first mistake that you want to avoid is to only consider companies that specialize in your field.  You definitely want to consider them in the mix, but what you’re primarily looking for is a firm that knows PR, that knows how to develop and place stories in the media, if they’re good, they can use their expertise and know-how and apply that to any field.  Remember, PR is a communication business, for it to truly work, you need to be able to comfortably communicate with them and they need to expertly craft your message and communicate that to the media.  The following are a few topics to consider and questions to ask, when interviewing a PR firm.

Questions to ask your potential PR firm:
1)  How long have they been in business and which media outlets have they placed stories in?

2) How they would define a successful campaign.  Get a sense of their mindset and how they view the process.  Discuss how you would define success and see if there is a common thread.

3) How do they work when it comes to developing story ideas?  Are they looking for you to do all of the work?  Are they asking you for the story ideas and then simply turning those into pitches or are they a firm that will work with you to develop creative and unique pitch ideas?

4) What do they see as your campaign’s greatest potential strengths?

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You are only as good as your press list. You can put together the most fantastic press release, but if the wrong people see it, it’s worthless.

Putting together a press list is something my clients struggle with because..well..it’s boring. But it has to be done, so my suggestion is to get on with it, or delegate it to an assistant, confident teenager or intern. Here are some suggestions that might make it easier.

1. Who is Your Target Market
Is it local? Who are you aiming at – parents? Schools?

2. Build A Library
This could be the local papers, national newspapers, local newsletters and magazines, radio stations, what’s on and listing websites. Get copies of any that are printed. If you’re stuck on titles, The Guardian Media Directory, available from the Guardian website, is a good investment at under £20.

3. Set Up Your List
This could be on a simple Excel sheet, or a newsletter service such as constantcontact.com. The advantage of the latter is that you can track clicks so that you know which releases get the most attention. You may have more than one target name for each publication. In the case of a local newspaper you may have the News Editor, a family writer, women’s page editor and Features Ed.  On a radio show you may be contacting the Assistant Producer, Forwarding Programming and Researcher.

4. Get To Know Your Publications
Good PR is not just a case of sending out press releases to everyone and hoping that one of them will stick. Looking at publications or listening to radio show shows and coming up with ideas and angles that suit them is vital. If you have a team you can assign particular publications to particular people.

Boosting Your Press List - Media Requests
They are requests for case studies or quotes from journalists.

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If there’s one way to make sure that you get your PR moving, that’s to give yourself a deadline. And what bigger deadline could you get that a specific date where you meet the press.

Here’s our 7-point guide on inviting press to an event…

1. Decide what it is you will do and put it in the diary. If you’ve got something to eat or drink, organise a tasting. If you’ve got a venue, organise an open day. If you’re exhibiting, invite the press along to your stand at a specific time for a mini press event.

2. Chose a date. You want enough time to be able to organise something different, and yet a date that’s close enough to give some urgency.

3. Find a partner. If there’s a venue that you think could do with the publicity, approach them, or buddy up with someone who targets the same market and split the work.

4. Invite the press - keep the invites personal (no round robin emails), eye-catching and give them a good reason why they should come. Think about whether you want to go for numbers, inviting lots of press (and paying for the inevitable drinks bill!), but ultimately reaching a maximum number of publications in one fell swoop, or target and go for a small intimate group where you can get your message across.

5. Follow up. And follow up again. Speak to them and find out if they can make it along. If they say yes call to confirm a week before and again the day before as a reminder.

6. Think about goodie bags. There’s many a journalist has come along to an event for the goodie bag alone if it’s good enough. Once they’re there it’s up to you…

7. Stay in Touch. If they made it, call to find out what they thought. If they didn’t make it, call to see if they’d like a personal meeting/samples sent over.

One the night…

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Think of Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Dr. Andrew Weil, and Oprah Winfrey.  Now think of where they’d be if they’d never been featured in the media; not one magazine article, not a mention in the newspaper, not one TV appearance - no media coverage whatsoever.  Granted it could turn out that they’d still be quite successful, but they certainly wouldn’t be the larger-than-life, leaders in their fields, mega successes that we know now.    

Most people weigh whether they should launch a public relations campaign.  Will it be effective?  Will it be too costly?  How long will it take?  All of these are important questions.  But what people generally fail to ask themselves is: “What will happen if I don’t lunch a PR campaign for myself or my business?” 

It’s difficult to know what we’ve missed if we haven’t tried something.  What we can do is look at those companies who have used PR and see how they’ve benefitted.  My guess is you will not find a successful company with a well established brand that has not utilized PR.  Media relations is the most important brand-building tool available.   Think of the companies and experts that have been launched by having been featured in Time, CNN, the Today Show, the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times. 

Even when it comes to the Internet and social media, the best known sites skyrocketed after being featured in the mainstream media.   Without public relations, these companies would most likely have reached a certain level of success, but they would have missed out on the validation and credibility that comes with being featured in the news.  They also would have missed the exposure to thousand and even millions of potential clients and customers via media coverage.  Media begets media, so, the more coverage you get 0the more coverage you get.

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This year, management has enhanced its vocabulary with words and phrases such as “downsizing,” “career regression,” “fiscal consolidation,” “asset realignment” and “negative career development.”  They were developed by some MBA-types to say that a company down like the economy and entire industry, had missed its projections, fired people and made cutbacks.

There’s a new business climate and sense of urgency in every sector of industry and commerce.  The “good old days” are gone forever.  It wasn’t that many years ago that nearly anyone could make money in business and consumer PC/CE marketing.  Almost no one could fail. 

To put it another way … in a hurricane even turkeys can fly.

Well, the hurricane has passed.  It has changed the landscape.  Our emphasis on product innovation has placed us at the mercy of a constantly changing customer base. Profit margins for “brands” are being driven down by the high cost of marketing (PR, sales literature, advertising, promotion, etc.), defensive product line extensions and the competition.

In this new environment, management is confronted with the need to survive in conditions that they often don’t understand, and generally cannot control.

The New Marketing Strategy

When many think they have a marketing problem, the first thing they do is a barrage of news releases, an editorial tour, a brochure or a corporate ad campaign. 

Wrong.

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The most cost-effective and successful means of building your business and attracting customers is through public relations, and in particular getting media coverage. The reason that PR works is that it provides third-person credibility not obtainable through paid advertising. In fact, it is said to have 10 times the impact of traditional, paid advertising, placing you above your competitors as the “top of mind” choice for customers, investors and business partners. There are a number of ways to go about getting media coverage and seeking journalists to call you for comment on industry matters or issues relating to your business.

Media releases are a great way of distributing relevant and topical information to a group of targeted publications (think about which media outlets your target audience get their information from). The release must be newsworthy and cover the “who, what, where, why and when”.

Case studies provide an ideal platform to leverage business success and tell your story to the media through your customers. Many trade publications publish case studies and you can use them as testimonials when speaking to journalists. 

Pitching is where you contact specific media outlets to offer them either an exclusive story or an opportunity that is more specific than a media release topic. You can pitch via email or phone, however before contact develop a clear outline of your story and ensure it is succinct and compelling. 

Special features are published in most printed media and cover specific topics relevant to readership. They are an excellent avenue for reaching a specific audience. Contact the feature editor or the journalist in charge to see what angles, topics and issues they wish to cover and then develop a story, case study, or offer comment. Be proactive and contact features editors well in advance of publishing deadlines, as often they are pre-printed.

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Popularity and Responsibility
Just about everyone knows that something is very wrong with the world in which we live. Problems are compounding everywhere. While we may be tempted to look for someone to blame, that effort, at best, will do nothing to alleviate the problems and, more likely, will only contribute anger and frustration to the mix. Blaming is not constructive. A better approach is to take personal responsibility for the situation, and look for opportunities to make a positive contribution to the solution.

Certain industries already occupy positions that have more opportunities than others. Advertising, marketing, public relations, and other associated promotional industries enjoy the privilege of having many such opportunities. This industry focuses on both capturing and shaping opinion, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. The work of this industry is not value neutral. While it appeals to commonly held values, morals and attitudes, it also works to shape them.

Responsibility
While it is true that the companies and manufacturers are legally responsible for the products they make and sell, that does not mean that those who advise them about things like packaging, marketing and advertising are without any associated responsibility. Manufacturers are legally responsible for their advertising, and those who assist in the advertising effort are also responsible for their recommendations. However, the concern here is not with imposed legal responsibilities, but with voluntary moral responsibilities.

The issue is not whether those who shape messages and place them before the public in someone else’s name have a moral responsibility, but only how that responsibility is exercised. That responsibility can be accepted, or it can be rejected. It can be done intentionally, or it can be done accidentally.

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Spam was not invented on the Internet
The Internet just helped give it a name. It’s been around for a long time. Essentially spam is unwelcome advertising. The problem with the Internet is that you get a lot of it, and it’s VERY LOUD and in-your-face. TV’s not much different. Then there’s junk mail. Very few people even read it. In an effort to get our attention, advertisers are using the two tools that seem to work best—loud and obnoxious.

Hey, they work, don’t they! And whatever works must be okay because more and more people are willing to do whatever works to succeed. But does it really work? A successful bulk mail campaign would be ecstatic to get a five percent return rate. But, say a campaign is wildly successful, and gets a fifteen percent return rate. That means that it has an eighty-five percent failure rate. Yet, they call it a success because someone can make money at it.

Problem is when everyone is trying to succeed by being loud and obnoxious, things get pretty loud and obnoxious. Then, loud and obnoxious doesn’t work anymore because no one can hear anything. So, they get louder and even more obnoxious. People in an argument often assume (or at least act like they think) that being loud improves their position. And advertising follows suit.

Surely, there’s a better way.

Shallow and Immature Self-Centeredness
The values of loud and obnoxious have to do with image and impression. Loud and obnoxious want to create an image, and make an impression. And they do! But what are the underlying values of the image and impression they make? What is really being communicated is shallow, immature self-centeredness. If you think that I’m suggesting that the values of the reigning advertising and marketing wisdom are shallow, immature and self-centered, you’re right.

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