Ever hear of drafting?
It's what geese do when they fly in a V - the front goose does the bulk of the work of cutting through the air. Behind him there's a pocket in the air where another goose can sit, and with something like 20% of the effort, keep up the same speed as the poor guy in front.
They do it cooperatively, (everyone gets their turn to be in front), others, like bicyclists, race car drivers and swimmers do it competitively. They let the competitor do the work and glide along behind. Then at the last minute, they dart out and take the flag.
Is is possible to draft in the public relations business - letting your competitor do the work while you enjoy the benefits?
Funny you should ask...
3 ideas jump immediately to mind:
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1. Let your competitors show you who's writing about your type of business.
Reporters have beats, favorite subject areas, and expertise in certain areas. Not only does this make them write more in that subject area, it means that they know more about it, so it takes less work for you to help them create their story.
The next time you see an article about a competitor, don't scream at your employee / publicist, take special note of who wrote it...
Then pitch that reporter with your own angle on the story.
Don't complain that you weren't included in the original story, rather give them something else that their audience needs to know on the subject.
This also works well to help you capitalize on related-story ideas:
"I noted with interest your excellent report yesterday on drug coated stents and their role in opening clogged arteries. I believe your readers would also be interested in another painless technology that allows us to detect that clogging long before the normal first symptom of this problem appears - a heart attack..." Then go on and pitch your story, inviting them to interview several patients who found out that they days weeks away from a heart attack and never knew it until they took your test.
A great way to find out which reporters are writing on your subject matter is to search for it on news.google.com
We ran an entire article on this subject about 6 months ago which contained step-by-step information on how to use Google News to build your PR presence.
Another great way is to regularly visit your competitors' online media room and look at the list of articles written about them there, paying attention to the reporter's bylines.
Plus, take unique keywords from their press releases and search on them in the search engines to see who ran their releases.
It's a great way to let your competitor do the hard work then to step in and grab the easy results later.
Sneaky, but ethical, and it works!
2. Make sure that you have content available and listed on the search engines for each of your key topic areas
The Internet has become many reporters' best friend. It's a natural place to turn any time an assignment is made to find out who the key experts are in that particular area.
You'd better be listed in the search engines.
And you'd better be listed close to the top of the search engine rankings.
You can do it through pages in your website, but an even better way to do this is with a blog.
Blogging allows you to easily publish content on a wide range of subject areas. That content tends to do well in the search engines, and you have a higher probability of getting found when a reporter looks for information.
I recommend that you create a list of key topic areas in your category, then write a blog entry (or three!) on each of those topics within the next month.
That way you have something on record in any area where a reporter may search for information.
Don't have a blog yet? Get one today! Blogging for Business tells you everything you need to know to get started and to make it work for you.
3. Use your relationship with key reporters to get quoted as an expert in any story your competitor originates
Reporters are trained to utilize multiple experts in a story. While that has disadvantages when you want to be the only expert quoted, it can work to your favor when the other guy's the expert of the moment.
Your desired position is to be first on the list of experts in your topic area for the 10 top reporters in your target niche. That way, if they are putting together a story based on a pitch from your competitor or a news story originating with your competitor, they're likely to call you to get a comment.
I see it all the time - comments from someone else in a story about their competitor.
The key is your relationship with the reporter. The reporter has to think of you as the default information source in that subject area.
Then, you must be wise in your words when they call. Comment generically about the situation, strategy, issues, rather than attacking the competitor. The attacks will rarely get printed. Comments that add value to the story get run.
In fact, they sometimes show up in the first 3-4 paragraphs of the story.
Now that's cool! Your competitor generates the story, but you get the publicity!
But generating this relationship is like trying to get someone to go out with you the first time. The equivalent in this industry is generating a great story pitch, which helps the reporter / editor get to know you, so they can continue to work with you in the future. A great tool for that is our audio How To Write a Pitch Letter That’s More Powerful Than a News Release
and
Secrets of Perfect Pitching to Reporters
Drafting's a wonderful practice - helping you to get great results with a minimum of effort. I strongly encourage you to utilize these techniques. Are there others you're using? We'd like to know - drop us a line.
Posted June 01, 2004
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