ZMarket Scoop

Choosing a Story Format Depends on Your Audience

After deciding on which markets you want to target with your PR campaign, choosing a story format that will fit the largest amount of publications is the trick to a successful PR campaign.

But, before you can decide on a story idea, you must compile a list of publications that cover the market.

Often times my clients can name the top five or six publications in a market, and are unaware that there are 30 or more. In fact, there are often 50 to 100 publications that can be targeted when going after a niche market in addition to the core market.

Media guides are the most valuable tools when it comes to editorial coverage. If you are wondering why you would target more than just the top five or six publications, you may have forgotten that we are talking about free editorial coverage. If you are going to spend the money on writing a story, why not go after the largest audience you can? Limiting coverage to the top five or six publications can mean the difference between reaching 100,000 or 500,000 readers (or prospects).

Beyond listing all print and Internet magazines that cover your markets, media guides also include valuable data like circulation (there's that 500,000 vs. 100,000), ad rates (so you can calculate what your editorial coverage saved you in ad dollars—although editorial coverage is priceless since you can't purchase it), lead times, contact information, website URL's (which lead you quickly to editorial calendars) and profile information (so you know you are reaching the right audience). Something else the profile may tell you is the preferred writing style of a magazine.

Information like lead times, site URL's (equals - quick access to magazine content and editorial calendars) and profile information are essential in deciding which format is best for editorial coverage.

Most media guides today offer instant online access to media lists and cost anywhere between $100. to $500. for a single media list, depending on what you need. The more user friendly they are and the more they allow you to hone your list, the more expensive they are. PR pros often pay thousands of dollars per year to have the most up to date and user friendly media lists. If you want to forego the cost of a media list, you could spend hours on the Internet researching different websites (tradeshow websites, magazine subscription sites, etc) to find most of the magazines. Personally, I think that spending the money on a list you can download in minutes is cheaper than the cost of your time searching the web for that information.

Once you have chosen your media list, the next step is to decide on the style and topic of your article.

Next time we'll talk about editors' number one pet peeve and what to consider when formulating a story that will gain the most of amount of coverage.

 

Secrets to Effective PR

When I first began this blog, I decided that I was going to write a free e-book about effective PR.

There is a friend of mine who is very diligent about asking me how my ebook is going and the truth is, although I started it, it's not "going" at all. So last night I asked myself why.

Bottom line: I don't want to put myself out of business. You see, if I tell you how I am so successful at it, then you will do it for yourself and not need me. At least, that is the irrational reason behind my reluctance.

Over the years, I have been very successful in training many people in the art of media relations and PR account management (2 very different sets of job duties by the way); and, have proudly watched them work their way from green media relations specialists to very effective managers and directors of PR. Of course, I've seen a great many more bomb at it, because just as in any profession, it's not for everyone.

Media relations and marketing publicity management is a skill that is developed over time and is 100% a full time job. So, for those who are determined to do it for themselves anyway, why not give them hints on how to be successful. I have become quite a regular at different sales and marketing blogs, like Copyblogger, to get better at the "sales" and blogging side of business, why not give back to those who need some guidance in PR?

With that said, I will twist my own arm and get "going" by starting with this blog—giving tips on how to determine what type of story to write that will get meaningful coverage, how to get in contact with editors and get them what they need to publish a story and how to straddle the line between promotional and editorial copy.

See you next week.

 

Cashing in on Published Articles

Published articles about your product or company can stretch a marketing budget 10 fold.  Here are some of the ways you can cash in on marketing publicity:

Take the copy to your prospects to establish credibility.

Get reprints and send them as direct mail pieces.

Put links to the articles on your website.

Use them in monthly newsletters to your current clients and prospect list.

Create SEO articles from the original press release to increase page ranking on major search engines.

Frame them hang in the office to increase morale within your organization.

Keep a media book and present it at annual meetings.

Include a list of media placements to your annual reports.

Do You Make These Mistakes with Your Press Releases?

Press releases seem easy enough to write, but marketers often try to apply the same rules they use in marketing pieces in their press releases.

Here are three common mistakes that can kill a good press release:

1. Testimonial from clients instead of quotes.

   The difference between a quote from your client and testimonial is the tone and the subject. Quotes from your clients should address something specific about your product and how it offered a solution. Testimonials, more or less, are company focused and often address how "great" the company is. Would you rather own a car from a company that "never breaks down when you are on the road," or own a car from a company that has "outstanding customer service?"

2. Outrageous "First Ever" claims in your headline.

   Yes, if your company is an innovator, then you need to address that in your press release, but claims like "first ever" in the headline and lead paragraph are red flags for editors that a press release is self serving and quite frankly, they will challenge the claim—always. Editors are journalists and they are trained to question. They also have an uncanning knack for remembering obscure facts and will certainly remember some other product that was "like" yours and disbelieve the claim. It doesn't matter if you "truly" have the first car that can fly, there are other ways to say it that sound more newsworthy. Just think of the difference between how Newsweek would headline a UFO sighting and how a tabloid would report a UFO sighting.

3. Product focused vs. solution focused.

   Many press releases end up reading more like a spec sheet rather than a press release. Specs are fine in press releases, but they should include the benefits or give comparisons. For instance: Why is it important that a car has an 18 gallon gas tank? Compared to most vehicles that have 13 gallon gas tanks, the larger 18 gallon tank gives drivers 1/3 more driving time between fill ups. (That's not a real fact—just one I made up).

The thing to remember about press releases is that they are written for the press—you know—the media. The closer your press release is to a story that the media would write the better chance you have of getting the attention of editors and writers.

3 Easy Ways to Stand Out from your Competitors

Does it sometimes seem like you can't compete with your competitors full page ads in trade magazines?

Many of today's major brands, including The Body Shop, Starbucks, Wal–Mart, Red Bull, Oracle and Yahoo!, were built with virtually no advertising.

Feature articles in trade magazines can't be purchased, but the cost of having a feature article written and then pitched and placed in trade magazines is about one third of the cost of a full page ad.

Here are three ways to stand out from your competitors:

1. Write a feature article, or contract someone to write a feature article, about common pains in your industry and how solve those pains. Addressing specific problems in the industry will catch the attention of readers. Remember the last time an article specifically addressed a problem you were trying to solve?

1. Include quotes from one or two of your customers in the article. Getting your customers to talk about how your product solved their problem builds credibility in the readers mind. What others say about you is much more important than what you say about yourself.

1. Pitch the story to several publications in vertical markets to stretch your marketing budget and expand the reach of your message. If you are in the widget industry and your story includes quotes from an automotive company and a buzz saw manufacturer, pitch the story to widget magazines, automotive magazines and buzz saw magazines.

Standing out amongst your competitors doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. Sixty seven percent of readers take some type of action as a result of reading or looking into specific feature articles—even if it is just passing it along to another person.

Mass Emailing - How to Ensure Your Press Release Will go Unnoticed

While working in the field of media relations for past 7 years I have had the opportunity to speak with hundreds (if not thousands) of editors. And the one comment I am always guaranteed to get from at least one editor per day is, "I get hundreds of emails a day." They are not exaggerating.

Many companies know the power of editorial coverage and those who know, want it. In the pursuit of editorial coverage many companies write a press release (most often a very promotional press release) then mass email it to hundreds of editors hoping for some type of coverage. Or they place it on a news wire and hope that it will be noticed by a writer. It doesn't work.

It's an honest attempt to do what is suggested by so many "experts" out there. Once in a great while it may work, but that is the exception. Every now and again, I'll still try it in an attempt to boost a campaign for one of my clients who doesn't have the money to pay for additional pitching—a freebie so to speak "just in case" something has changed out there. Even with the best cover letter and dazzling subject line, it's a shot in the dark.

Media relations. Re·la·tion: a meaningful connection or association between two or more things, based, for example, on the similarity or relevance of one thing to another.

Mass Mailings. Mass: a body of matter that forms a whole but has no definable shape.

Making a story stand out above hundreds of others requires special skills that develop that meaningful connection between an editor and the person pitching the story. Knowing how to talk to editors, respecting their time, how their editorial process works, the types of stories they publish and a very succinct pitch that will allow them to decide in that 30 seconds whether or not it is a story that interests them is key.

When an editor is anticipating your story, it has a much better chance of being read than one that gets buried among the hundreds of unsolicited press releases.

Industrial PR – It Isn’t About the Contacts, It’s About the Story

Often I see PR companies touting their "media contacts." But having "media contacts" doesn't amount to a hill of beans if the story isn't right for the publication.

There are several elements that can make or break a public relations strategy. First and foremost, the story must be right!

A story must match the tone of the industry. That may seem simple enough, but it takes a good amount of research to make sure the story you will be writing meets the needs of the publications in the industry. Without research into media calendars and into the pages of the magazines themselves, you may end up writing a story that just doesn't fit their editorial style or choosing a angle that has recently been covered; and, now you have a dead story.

The type of story is also important: case history, tips article, application, technology, issue. If you've decided to write a case history and that isn't what the publications are printing these days, you end up with a "filler" story that will gather dust waiting for empty pages which almost never come.

After discovering which story is best for magazine coverage, the story must be carefully crafted to engage the reader through the end while still positioning the client's product or service as a solution without being overly promotional. Overly promotional articles almost never make it to the magazines pages and if they do, readers end up not disbelieving the content anyway.

The closer a story is to a publication's journalistic style, the better chance it has of getting published.

You Got ‘Em, Now What?

Okay, so you've gotten comfortable making your calls, your pitch is pushed to the side, your thinking about what you're going to do over the weekend as you dial the numbers like a drone and suddenly someone actually answers their phone.

Oh Crap! You nearly knock over your coffee cup as you reach for your pitch and attempt to launch into your introduction as your eyes try to catch up to where you are in your script. You frantically attempt to get your pitch out before they hang up on you.

Wrong.

Calling people is not about the pitch and it's not about the numbers. It is about communication. The following tips are so basic, it almost seems silly to write them, but because it is so easy to get caught up in the actions of selling (whether it's "selling" an editor on why they should run your story or selling your product or service) we all need to be reminded of the basics.

• Greet the person on the other end of the line
  • Always start the conversation with a simple introduction (name and company) and ask them how they are doing. The truth is, they are not really listening to you anyway at this point. Most of the time you'll just have to repeat yourself anyway. They'll most likely say, "fine" and wait for you to tell them why you are calling, but now they are waiting and listening.
• Listen to your prospect
  • If they say anything but good or fine, respond to it. If they say, "not so good," or anything else, take it up. You say something like, "rough day, huh?" You'd be amazed at what they might tell you. They might say their computer just crashed or their email is wigging out. Relate to it. "I hate when that happens." Remember, your job is to communicate with them not at them.
• Briefly state the reason why you are calling and ask if this is a good time.
  • Propose an either/or question. When I call editors I tell them I have a story I want to run by them and ask if they have a moment or are they on a deadline. They are always on deadline but now they know that I care about their time (and I really do). If they are busy, don't try to shove the pitch down their throat, ask to call back (give them specific days—again either/or). Most likely they'll let you talk or they'll take your call at a later date.
  • Be real about how much time you'll need from them and get their agreement. If you say a couple minutes and keep them for ten, it will irritate them and they won't be listening anyway.
• Continue to listen to them.
  • If they sound distracted or you can hear them typing as your trying to pitch them, say something. "You sound like you're really busy right now, is there a better time for me to call?" Most people will stop and give you their attention. For those who don't, finish your pitch (without speeding through it).
• Thank them for their time.
  • Seems simple enough, but it is so important.
• Ignore the bad calls.
  • Sometimes you get someone on a bad day and they are not very pleasant. That doesn't mean they'll be the same way next time you call. Resist typing "jerk" or "don't call" in your database. If you need to follow up with them, call them first next time. It's better to get those calls out of the way first rather than thinking about avoiding the call all day. Most often, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how well the call goes.

Good luck! Now that I preached at you, I must go practice.

7 Tips for Building Momentum on the Phone

Most people, regardless of how good they are at what they do, have a hard time confronting the telephone. 

Being in media relations (publicist) I'm on the phone with editors all the time and I've trained droves of other media relations specialists how to be successful at getting media coverage over the phone.  Now that I own my own business I also have to make those dreaded "cold calls," to make sales.  There really isn't much difference, I'm either selling (no monetarily) a story or I'm selling my service. Most days I have replay all the rules that I constantly recited to my staff of media relations specialists.

Here are some of the rules.  They apply to sales calls or media relations (and any other calling you need to make):

1) Pick up the phone.

Seems pretty basic, but that is the first and most difficult step when avoidance kicks in.

2) Do nothing but make calls for two hours.

Working in two hour blocks allows you to build up momentum. You'll be amazed at how many more calls you will make if you're not distracted by getting up to go to the copier or answering that email you've been avoiding for a week. 

3) Move through your list quickly.

It's easy when you get a wrong number to start surfing the net for the correct number and then get distracted "surfing the net." Doing nothing but dialing the phone for two hours will get you through your list.  Set aside some time later in the day to look up the numbers (and then do it).

4) Don't use calling time as research time.

If you try to do your research as you call, you'll waste hours of valuable calling time and won't build up that momentum.  You know how it goes, you check out one thing and then the next.  The next thing you know a half hour has passed.

5) After you get voicemail, hang up and dial the next number.

It takes about 30 seconds to get a voicemail (except when your calling the CEO).  Believe me I have timed it over and over again.  Calls to the CEO about 1.5 minutes. That doesn't mean you'll make 240 calls in two hours. Because if you call like this, you will reach someone.

6)  After you do reach someone, send the materials right away if it's via email (if it's any other method wait until the two hours is finished--again, don't leave that phone!) and dial the next number.

7) Track your calls (even by hashmarks).

At the end of the two hours you will feel much better about your success if you can see your progress on paper.  Now you can go the the restroom, get your coffee, go to the copier--then get back on the phone for another two hours. This time it won't be so bad because you've had some success.

I've been making media relations phone calls, training media relations specialists and managing them for nearly 7 years.  I've seen it all and I still need to remind myself of these rules when I make calls--any calls.  Even the most seasoned media relations specialist (or sales person) need a boost from time to time.

Give it a try.  Come back next week for what to do when you do reach someone on the phone.