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July 22, 2004
How To Prepare For Media Interviews
Both my wife and I were dancers in college; me specializing in flashy international folk dancing like the Russian Hopak and the US Clog plus ballroom dancing like the quickstep, waltz and jive. She specialized in Latin and American Ballroom like the samba, fox trot and swing.
So when we heard that the world champion international collegiate ballroom dance team was performing not far from us, we decided to attend, both to relive old memories and to show our high school senior daughter another possible aspect of the college experience.
We were there on opening night of a two-week stint. The dancers were just getting used to the hot lights, the small stage, and the inadequate quick-changing rooms in this facility.
As former members of a internationally competitive dance teams, we know that performance perfection is lots more than each dancer knowing and dancing their routine flawlessly. That alone takes many hours - I literally spent 2-4 hours on a dance floor virtually every day of my college career.
It also takes hundreds of hours working as a team to ensure that every line is perfectly straight, every hand is raised to the exact same height, every kick is smaller for the tall people and larger for the short ones so that it looks uniform. Then once you get that done, you've got to work on stylizing - smiles, the flick of the head at exactly the right moment, the seemingly casual placement of the flower in the hair, even the way you hold your mouth as you dance to make it look like fun, not work.
It's those little things that make the difference between finalists and champions.
And those little things are the elements that go first when performers are nervous or things start going wrong.
Posted at 11:49 AM
PR Basics: Emailing Press Releases
In reviewing our email, I realized that we frequently receive the same questions over and over. So we are starting a new PR Basics section in this newsletter, where we will answer the questions lots of people seem to want covered.
The first question: "Can I send my press release as an attachment to my email?"
Posted at 11:45 AM
What's That Again? Stupid Criminals
Here's two more from police blotters:
"HyVee, 3800 Lincoln Way, reported June 1 that they believe a male subject had stolen a lobster by putting the lobster down his pants."
Sometimes the crime is worse than the punishment...
Or check this genius out - "As he ran out of the bank, he stuffed the gun into his waistband, accidentally firing it into his pants. The bullet missed him but when he stepped into the street, he was hit by a van, investigators said. Jones managed to stumble to a waiting car, leaving two gold teeth, his gun and a hat lying in the street."
I guess he can say that he a bad day that day.
Posted at 11:43 AM
July 16, 2004
Tomorrow's PR Today - Where PR is Going and How to Make Sure You Get There First
To predict the future of PR it's first important to assess the forces that are shaping the media today:
1. The Internet is becoming the default news source for millions
People are turning not only to direct sources like CNN, The Drudge Report, and targeted niche operations like BusinessKnowledgeSource.com; but to indirect news sources like Google News Yahoo! News, and Topix.net which aggregate news from other sources. Increasingly, people are choosing to view the stories (and frankly to get the entertainment) they choose to receive on their schedule, rather than reading a paper or watching / listening to news.
2. This trend has already and will increasingly cut into media revenues and profits
Posted at 01:36 PM
July 15, 2004
7 Must-have Elements in Every Crisis Communications Kit
Chances are incredibly high that your company is going to experience a crisis of some kind in the next 5 years. It's how you handle that crisis with the media which will likely determine whether that crisis builds or seriously damages your company.
That's why it is vital that you develop a crisis communications and management plan that prepares you in advance for this eventuality.
In preparing this plan, keep in mind that this crisis may allow you to continue business as normal, or it may result in a situation where you aren't able to get access to the tools you normally use to do your job (natural disaster, lockout, etc.) so your crisis communications kit needs to provide the capability for you to provide the appearance of normality even in the most abnormal situations.
Thus it's important for your crisis communications kit to not only be duplicated in some offsite location, but to also include information, disks, graphics, computer files, photos, etc. that are normally readily at your fingertips in your office.
Here's a starter list of seven items that should be included in any crisis communications kit:
Posted at 11:57 AM
July 14, 2004
The five stupidest PR tactics almost every company tries - don't waste your PR budget on these money pits!
Want to make sure that the resources you spend on public relations (both time and money) are spent effectively?
Then avoid, or at least very carefully weigh the downsides, as you consider the following commonly-used PR tactics.
(Note: some of these are going to strike a nerve. There are many publicists and PR professionals who have created job security for themselves by constantly executing these very tactics. And there will be many who will point to one specific time that they've used this tactic with unquestionable success. But this raises the question - what about all of the other times?)
Posted at 12:33 PM
July 13, 2004
How to instantly get your business blog postings to show up in the search engines and generate tons of free search engine traffic to your site
Search engines love blogs.
Blogs tend to be frequently updated, contain fresh insights on hot topics, link to other sites, and provide resources for further topic exploration.
That's one reason why blog entries tend to predominate over regular website pages for many search topics.
There are two things that you should know to make sure that you optimize the search engine placement for your blog. First is how to write your blog entry so that it does well in the search engines. Second is how to make sure the search engines find your blog.
How To Write Blog Entries So They Rank Well In The Search Engines:
Posted at 05:10 PM
July 12, 2004
The New PR: How to Use Your Blog to Get Placements With Key Media Sources
Let's face the facts - the Internet has changed the way the media gathers stories.
Today reporters and producers can uncover all kinds of information about you, your experience in the topic area, your ability to contribute to their story, and your stand on key issues simply by performing a quick and easy Internet search.
Which gives us the opportunity (arguably the obligation) to actively manage our online reputation.
Blogs are one of the best ways available to do exactly that.
Posted at 11:53 AM
July 09, 2004
Rapids, Whirlpools and Crises
I just got back from a great vacation / business trip - putting 4216 miles on the vehicle in the process.
Part of that trip involved a family reunion in good old Antimony, Utah, population 94 (when I asked why the sign outside the town said 168, I was told "they was wrong"), at the Rockin R Dude ranch. I recommend it, it was a great place for a reunion.
Rockin R came complete with cows, horses, goats and all that good stuff. I got to play cowboy, chase a calf, race to put clothing on a sheep (which was fine until we got to putting the pants on the back legs...) learn some country line dancing, and even did an exhilarating bungey launch.
But one of the highlights of the trip was a tubing run down the Sevier River.
Now the Sevier River is normally a meandering streamlet,
But last week, after several days of rain, it was running high and moving fast.
Posted at 05:57 PM
What's That Again - It Must Be A Guy Thing
From a police blotter column:
Auto Theft: The owner of a $2,000 Oldsmobile station wagon reported to police that his girlfriend had taken his car without permission from the 3800 block of E. Cudahay. The man told police he didn't know the woman's name, though they had been dating for about three weeks.
Posted at 05:55 PM
Join Us At Global PR Blog Week 1.0
Next week's going to be an exciting one - it's the week where we will participate in something that's really revolutionary.
Next week (July 12 - 18, 2004) I and 27 others are joining in Global PR Blog Week 1.0.
It's a unique conference. You don't have to travel, pay to register, or even sit through any yawner lectures.
You simply read the participant's posts on their individual blogs. Read, learn, then implement.
I've elected to participate each day of the conference. (See the whole program here)
My participation includes:
Posted at 05:54 PM
Back Issues Now Blogged
Over the past two weeks we have added virtually all of the back issues of our GreatPR newsletter to this blog. We encourage you to check out the articles you may have missed. They're searchable and available for your viewing pleasure.
Posted at 05:51 PM
July 01, 2004
Generating Powerful Publicity For Small Business
Looking at the paper, it seems that only the big, multi-million dollar companies with huge PR firms and budgets have any hope of getting their businesses publicized online.
Can small companies really get any meaningful publicity?
Absolutely, says Jeff Zbar, The Small Business Administration's 2001 Journalist of the Year.
In our brand new audio CD (it's so new that we're editing the recording as we write this!) "The Fastest, Easiest, Cheapest Ways To Publicize Your Small Business -- Even If You're a Solo Entrepreneur," Jeff shares a series of tips and techniques that apply both to small businesses and large, including:
Posted at 07:04 PM
Sell More Products and Services by Getting and Giving Powerful Testimonials
Don't just ask people to do business with you. Give them a reason to do business with you. Offer a third-party endorsement from someone who is delighted with your product or service.
They're called testimonials, and they're a free and powerful tool in your publicity arsenal. Yet they're one of the most underused and misused marketing tactics.
Time and again, I see people offering great testimonials at their web site and in their e-zines and marketing materials. But they never mention the name and company of the person giving it. "Gee, I wonder if they just made up that quote," I say to myself. Or they use somebody’s initials, as if the person offering the testimonial needs to go undercover. Why do they even bother?
If you're going to do it, do it right. Here are tips for getting, giving and using testimonials in your marketing and publicity campaign.
Posted at 07:01 PM
The Power of Differentiation
I don't fly first class. And I'm 6'4" tall, so coach class seats and I don't get along very well.
So it is normal for me to look with some trepidation at the 4 hour flight like the one I'll be taking tomorrow to a speaking engagement in Los Angeles.
But not this time, because I get to fly my favorite airline - Midwest Express Airlines.
Now, those of you who don't live in the Milwaukee, Omaha, or Kansas City may not recognize Midwest Express. That's too bad, because you're missing out.
Midwest Express ( http://midwestexpress.com ) is one of those rare airlines, offering: - 100% first class seats - Real food! Crab, steak, champagne for breakfast (I'm still trying to figure out who would want to drink at that time of day!), and other delightful food, served on china. - All at coach prices...
- And cookies baked fresh on the plane during the flight.
Freshly baked cookies? Yep - Chocolate chip
Posted at 06:58 PM
Case Study - http://www.scorebrowniepoints.com How To Develop and Promote A New Idea
I just got off the phone with a bright new friend of mine, Jodie Gastel, who's recently done a great job of identifying a market need, creating a product that fulfills it, promoting it in a very clever way, networking well, and scoring 27 radio interviews and a Wall Street Journal writeup in just the last few days.
Here's her story...
Jodie's been running http://www.virtualattache.com for awhile now, becoming more and more frustrated with the concept of selling her time for money.
So she was looking for an idea. And sure enough, as happens so often when one has seeded their mind with the need for an idea, her subconsious worked on it until it put a bunch of little pieces together.
Then, as the subconcious mind oftentimes does, it presented her with that idea in a most inopportune moment (great ideas rarely come when you're sitting there with a pencil in hand - they come in the shower, the car, anytime your mind is unoccupied, so the subconcious can get a word in edgewise.)
Posted at 06:50 PM
What's It Costing You NOT To Do It?
As you may or may not be aware, we do a great deal of consulting and coaching to help people build their business. And, because we've seen the value of an outside observer, we also use coaches and consultants to help us build our business too.
Last week I was being coached and had one of those "duh" experiences that was so powerful that I decided to share with you an exercise that we often use in our coaching (trust me, there is a PR application here...)
I encourage you to set aside an hour to do this exercise sometime in the next 72 hours - it may just make a huge difference in your life.
Step 1: Pull out a piece of paper. On it, write the answer to this question "what are the three things in your business, that if you were to do them, would have more potential to build your business than anything else?" (By the way, this works for lots of other things too - spousal relationships, achieving personal goals, etc., but for now let's do business).
Posted at 06:39 PM
(Pitching University) Pitching Stories To Competitive Media: To Exclusive or Not To Exclusive...
As we recently mentioned, we're dedicated to helping you work all aspects of your PR business. One key area, too often overlooked in formal training programs is story pitching. That's why we've started the periodic series we're now calling "Pitching University."
One of the biggest dilemmas is deciding when to pitch an idea to just one media outlet as an exclusive, versus pitching to all media on your contact list, including competitors. Even though there are no hard and fast rules, Joan Stewart recommends these 7 tips to help guide you.
- It's generally best to avoid pitching exclusives. Rather, suggest different angles of the same story to different media outlets. For example, if you're publicizing an event, suggest a food angle to the food columnist at your local metropolitan newspaper. Pitch a story about how your event affects tourism and the business community to the local business journal. Pitch a profile story about one of the organizers of the event to the local weekly newspaper in the community where that person lives. Let the media know you are pitching different angles so they understand they all won't have the same story.
Posted at 06:35 PM
Recycling Your Publicity
Did you get mentioned in a newspaper or magazine article recently? Savvy public relations people are always looking for ways to turn one hit into multiple hits. Here's how:
- Make reprints of the article and include them in your media kit.
- Post articles by and about you at your web site.
- Send an e-mail to business associates with a link to the article posted at your site.
Posted at 06:29 PM
Looking Great On TV
You've successfully made your pitch, you're standing in front of the hot lights, the show host introduces you...
Look Ma! I'm on TV!
Have you ever had the chance to say this? I can tell you, it's a rush.
And as you well know, it can be great for your business or cause...If you do it right. You could:
A) Introduce yourself like a car salesman, throw out some outrageous claims, smile REAL BIG, and say, "Order now!"
Posted at 06:26 PM
Counteracting The Economy
After watching my IRA take another hit this week, and more big companies getting pounded because they weren't hitting their numbers in this tough time, I realized the obvious...
Most of you are getting your marketing budget slashed to the bone. Actually, that happened last quarter, now the slashing is reaching the marrow, and that's not a pretty sight.
It's in times like these that publicity can take on a much more powerful role. But at the same time, you probably don't have the money to go out and hire a firm to do it for you.
So that means that you're on your own...
And you probably don't feel comfortable that you know everything that you need to know.
Posted at 06:20 PM
Profitable Publicity Tips to Jump-Start Your Consulting Business
Lots of the readers of this newsletter are consultants or plan to be consultants at some point in the future. Those who are, already know the challenge of keeping the client pool fully stocked, those who aren't, will understand it very clearly, very soon.
Here's some tips on how to use PR to jump-start your consulting business:
Strategic Alliances
Make an informal agreement with other non-competing consultants in your community or your industry to refer the media to each other when appropriate. Reporters often want multiple-source stories and will appreciate the referral. It will help position you as a source, and will mean more publicity for all of you.
Posted at 06:14 PM
Three Reasons Why You NEED An Electronic Media Kit
I just got done listening again to one of our best-selling audiotape/CD programs "Electronic Media Kits - How To Create Them, Deliver Them, and See INSTANT Results" and I can't tell you how cool the information Bev Harris supplies in it!
Rather than rave about it, here's three quick reasons she brought up, why you need a media kit on your web site:
- They save you lots of money.
Think about all the times that you've sent out media kits to reporters, knowing full well that they're going to dump every piece of that kit into the garbage except one piece of paper - and that's if you're lucky and your whole kit doesn't hit the round file un-perused. If a reporter calls and says "send me your media kit," you can simply say "I'll have that out tonight, but you can find exactly what you're looking for at (and you give them the exact URL to that page)". They'll be thrilled and you'll save yourself the money required not only to produce the media kit, but to overnight it out.
Posted at 06:11 PM
Screening Publicists and PR Agencies
As you recall, last week we asked what you'd like us to include in future issues. We received some excellent questions. One came from Michelle Present, author of "Do it! or DIET". She asked, "How do you check out a publicist?" Actually, she gave us a name of a specific one she wanted checked out, but we won't be going that far in this newsletter...
I wish I could say that it was easy to call up a publicist rating service, type in the name, and there you would have a rating for them. As far as I know, that doesn't exist. So, finding the right publicist generally involves a bunch of footwork, but in our experience, the more you put in before you sign a contract, the happier you will end up being happier in the end.
First of all, you need to know what a publicist is and isn't. A publicist is someone who does what we talk about in this newsletter for a living. Because of that, they, like most other consultant-types, conceivably have a bank of knowledge and what's more important in this industry, established relationships with the reporters in your industry.
Posted at 06:06 PM
Pitching Reporters
I got an interesting call this week from one of the subscribers to this newsletter who said something I found interesting:
"I have a degree in PR and have taken a number of courses since, and, after reading your newsletter, have realized that nobody, in any of those classes, ever taught me how to pitch a story. Yet, that's what I spend my life doing... Thanks for all of your great information on pitching reporters."
That conversation made me think back to my PR classes. They taught us how to write a press release, how to find a story angle, and how to handle disasters, but I honestly can't remember ever being taught the key PR skill of pitching stories.
If there's any professorial-types out there, maybe a syllabus change is in order...
Posted at 05:59 PM
Tips for Letting Reporters Experience Your Story, Not Just Write About It.
It was one of my most memorable assignments as a reporter. It was in Ohio, and the daily newspaper where I worked was bringing in "Damon the Hypnotist" who promised to help people lose weight or stop smoking by conducting hypnosis sessions on audiences as big as 150 people. For every $100 admission, Damon would give $50 back to the newspaper’s holiday fund drive.
At the time, I was tipping the scales at well over 170 pounds and saw this as a chance not only to write a great story, but (if Damon’s magic truly worked) to finally see my waistband.
So there I was a few weeks before Christmas in the giant hotel ballroom along with more than 100 other people. The room was dark, and Damon was on stage holding a simple red Christmas ornament that reflected the light from overhead. We were told to focus our eyes on the ornament and listen as his soothing voice took us deep, deep, deeper into a trance.
Posted at 05:45 PM
Preventing PR Humiliation
I remember one day in my early teen years, I was in a reading class. Part of each day was spent in open reading time. During one of those open reading times, I somehow managed to fall asleep while, of course, sitting in the front row. To make matters worse, I had one of those dreams that makes you kick awake suddenly. You know, the kind that always seems to happen when your in an important meeting, or in church...
I woke up VERY quickly. And in the process, I kicked the leg of the desk creating huge crashing noise accompanied by my uttering the word "WHOA!". (Actually uttering isn't the right word, and shouting isn't either, but it was clearly somewhere in between.) And, if that wasn't bad enough, the instructor (who was also a good friend of my mother) was standing just a few feet away from my desk.
As you can imagine, I became the source of scorn a ridicule for weeks afterwards.
Ever been there? Then you can probably understand how it might feel to look really dumb in the media.
Posted at 05:40 PM
Heat Wave Spins Public Relations
This has been an exceptionally warm year. Summer has brought out the worst in temperatures in many places. Where we're at, the humidity makes it seem like we're breathing water instead of oxygen. But that's not nearly as bad as what's going on in France.
In France, air conditioning is fairly rare. Why? I don't know...perhaps it presents a moral dilemma. Anyhow, the heat wave over there has caused over 15,000 deaths! That's not just a problem, that's an emergency!
France has decided that they will need to find a better way to finance their health care system so people who need continued care will actually get it. In order to finance it, they are considering getting rid of a major holiday so that more money moves. Rumor has it that the holiday in question is Christmas. Does that make you furious? It should.
Now...Would you like to know why they chose Christmas? Because they knew it would anger people enough that the prospect of raising taxes looks far less ominous. How long do you think it will take before it is decided that raising taxes will solve the problem? Not very long.
Now, to the PR standpoint...
When trying to convince someone of something (such as raising taxes), and you need to highlight the alternative to get your point across, what do you do? Use the most visible and controversial option available. The reason is simple. Contrasting the two options is very effective. Nobody wants the extreme alternative and it makes what is best the most palatable.
Posted at 05:28 PM
