“Making the best of the hand you are dealt.”

Several months ago I took a phone call from an executive at The New Deal Playing Card Company. Her husband had just invented, patented and launched a unique line of ergonomically correct playing cards designed to fit the natural curvature of the hand. The woman had come across a magazine article about another client of mine whose new product was receiving some widespread media exposure. “Can you do the same for us?” she inquired. We did and to our delight the campaign was even more successful than the other campaign she had initially inquired about.

We researched and implemented a multi-faceted campaign of publicity and media exposure that quickly spread the news about New Deal Playing Cards through the media market. We generated dozens of features in media outlets nationwide including: every local print and TV medium in their market; large general circulation magazines like Men’s Health, Entrepreneur, Woman’s Day and Child, to name a few; National Public Radio; and several newspapers and TV news broadcasts.

How Did We Do It? Diversified Publicity

The key to a successful media campaign is something I call Diversified Publicity. That is, generating exposure in as many different media outlets in as many different ways to optimize the chances of publicity for the product or business. Here’s how we dealt a winning hand to the
New Deal Playing Card Company:

1) Media Notification
We knew the client had a great product, but consumers simply didn’t know about it yet.
This isn’t advertising; this is “media notification” of an interesting new product that their readers and viewers would be interested in. We let the media be our bullhorn to educate consumers about New Deal. We researched and contacted media outlets whose profiles matched New Deal’s product line and submitted effective feature pitches to appropriate editors, reporters and producers. But that was just the beginning.

The key to generating the most media interest and placements is meticulous media interaction over an extended period of time: weekly/monthly follow-ups; prompt fulfillment of media requests (interviews, photos, samples); ongoing editorial calendar research and pitches, etc.. This is where many publicity campaigns fall short. Many business owners have the misconception that they can simply write a single release, submit it to a media release distribution service and the media interest will pour in. The majority of the media interest comes several weeks or sometimes months into the campaign, after the media has had a chance to see your pitch a few times and determine how/when they are going to lend it coverage. Just like when playing cards, sometimes you have to deal them several times before you win a hand — but that winning hand can be very beneficial to you.

2) Relative Releases
This is an aspect where business owners often fail to take full advantage of the media market. We interviewed all of the principals involved in the New Deal Playing Card Company and came up with information like hometowns, cities where they may have lived or been employed in the past, towns where they attended college, etc.. We then hit the media in those markets with what I call “relative releases” – a pitch alerting them that someone with a connection to their market (native/former resident/alumnus) is involved in an interesting, newsworthy venture –
i.e. “Former Waukesha Resident Launches Innovative Playing Card Company.”
Local media are typically very receptive to features that have a local connection. Those local features many times get picked up by news syndicates that may make the story go nationwide.
It’s a creative and effective way to turn a local story into a national one and generate extensive media exposure for your product or business.

3) Parallel-Media Targeting
One of the biggest mistakes with most publicity campaigns is improperly determining the media market. For New Deal Playing Cards we covered our bets by cross-referencing the entire North American media market to determine potential media targets for them. That is to say, in addition to obvious media targets like Children’s Editors or Feature Producers, we made many creative pitches to gain interest from several other contacts at magazines, newspapers & broadcast media nationwide. For instance, in the New Deal campaign we made three different pitches over the course of the nine-month campaign. We targeted media outlets whose editorial profiles focused on:

a) Games, Hobbies, Toys, Children, Family
b) Feature, Lifestyle, Elderly, Physically Challenged,
c) Business, Entrepreneurial, Consumer Interest,

By hitting these parallel media with our pitch, we were able to saturate the entire media market with newsworthy pitches and generate placements in multiple media outlets, from senior citizen magazines to kids shows to business news features. The key is to tailor the media pitch to the respective media market. A consumer product pitch to family magazines has a much different editorial slant and focus than an entrepreneurial feature pitch to business reporters at newspapers & TV shows.

Much like a game of cards, the success of your publicity campaign comes down how you take advantage of the cards you are dealt. The player who can create a winning hand will be the one who ends up with the most money in the end. And isn’t that the deal you want for you and your company.

———————–

Todd Brabender
President, Spread the News Public Relations
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com/

About the author:
Todd Brabender is the President of Spread the News Public Relations. His company’s campaigns have landed clients in thousands of trade and general circulation magazines, daily & weekly newspapers, TV/Radio/Cable shows & newscasts, and even the increasingly popular media of Internet e-zines and news sites. Todd’s experience in the media is what sets Spread the News PR apart from many other PR/publicity businesses. Before beginning his PR career in 1994, Todd was a TV news producer/reporter whose newscasts received national recognition for excellence.

Whether its magazines, newspapers, TV, radio or the increasingly popular online news outlets, media sources all over the nation are constantly in search of stories from small and large businesses. EVERY business in the world has at least some element of it that is newsworthy. It just requires you to fire up that publicity generator and shine some light on it for the media to see.

WHERE DOES “PUBLICITY ELECTRICITY” COME FROM?
There are a number of publicity angles, but the most well received publicity campaigns I have ever managed involved “problem/solution” businesses or products. Media outlets, especially trade specific ones, will often profile businesses or products that are uniquely solving a problem in a respective industry. It helps to present the editor with the problem, then provide some brief research or statistics – not sales or ad text, just facts – and show how your business/product can help solve the problem. Case studies work great. Show an editor or reporter how your business positively affected one of your clients and how it can provide similar benefits to others. This may also help get some free publicity for your client as well.

Other great “newspegs” are novelty or human-interest elements. If your business has a product or service that is truly unique, unprecedented or cutting-edge, that lends itself very strongly to an effective publicity campaign. A “newspeg” gives the editor/reporter/producer the reason to run your story as opposed to the hundreds, if not thousands of other story ideas that he/she sees each week. To say that you have a new “widget” is not enough. What is different about this widget? What implications does the business/product have and how would it affect the industry or consumer market? And finally, and most times overlooked, is there an intriguing human-interest story involved? Where did the idea come from? Did anything interesting happen during the business/product development stage? Or do the people “behind the scenes” of the business have interesting story to tell? All of these newspegs are potential publicity generators for you and your business.

PLUGGING IT IN
Now that you have your viable publicity generating prongs, how do you find the media outlets in which to plug them? Conduct meticulous media market research to find those outlets applicable to your campaign. In my extensive research for my clients, I find media outlets whose editorial profiles match the client’s business/product profile and pitch accordingly. You or your staff can do the media research at a local library or you can find a PR specialist or agency that can help you. Another great way is to use editorial calendars of media outlets and plug yourself into those opportunities. If you find that a magazine or newspaper is planning an upcoming feature on Innovative New Office Products, prepare your media kit for your “new widget” and pitch the appropriate editor.

One bit of advice — “don’t expect exclusive and extensive.” Very few businesses or products (with the exception of publicly traded ones) get multi-page stories written exclusively about them. Although that can certainly happen, most mentions are in the context of a themed story or article, but can generate very strong responses.

I’m sure you’ll find that once you generate your best “publicity electricity” — you will be “shocked” at the interest you can generate.

———————–

Todd Brabender
President, Spread the News Public Relations
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com/

About the author:
Todd Brabender is the President of Spread the News Public Relations. His company’s campaigns have landed clients in thousands of trade and general circulation magazines, daily & weekly newspapers, TV/Radio/Cable shows & newscasts, and even the increasingly popular media of Internet e-zines and news sites. Todd’s experience in the media is what sets Spread the News PR apart from many other PR/publicity businesses. Before beginning his PR career in 1994, Todd was a TV news producer/reporter whose newscasts received national recognition for excellence.

To some entrepreneurs and business owners, the answer to this question might be, “it doesn’t matter — publicity is publicity and I’ll take all I can get.” True to a degree, but the smart entrepreneur knows that there is a strong difference between product and business publicity and their respective effects on your bottom line.

Sure, the bottom line is to create consumer/industry awareness of the product or business and increase sales. But how you go about increasing that awareness, that brand recognition, can mean the difference between publicity and obscurity.

Determining which type of publicity campaign you need is really all about timing.
What I recommend to my clients is what I call “Diversified Publicity”. Just as stockbrokers tell their clients to diversify their portfolios, the same holds true for publicity. A diversified publicity portfolio is a vibrant and active portfolio. What I mean by Diversified Publicity is creating different publicity angles based on your business’ life cycle and timing those pitches to the media for optimum exposure.

In a typical business plan, I would recommend PR campaigns/pitches in the following order:
1) Product Publicity – described below in A)
2) Business Publicity – described below in B)

* This cycle can be repeated over and over based on product improvements, additional product launches, business development and expansion, etc..

A) Diversified Publicity typically begins with a nationwide “new product publicity” campaign designed to create multiple media placements and subsequent consumer/industry interest. Many media outlets are seeking the latest in new products and will give you solid product profiles/reviews in their publications or on their shows.

B) A few months after the product campaign, we would launch a “business publicity” campaign or what I would consider a “corporate campaign”. This is a people-behind-the-product campaign, which of course indirectly plays up the product again, further generating sales. In this instance, I like to highlight new developments that have occurred since the product was first launched — product acceptance, sales milestones, the product’s impact on the industry or an individual customer, strategic alliances with other businesses, etc. This is also a great opportunity to play up newsworthy stories that may have occurred during the development of the product or business.

It should be noted that many times, especially in startup businesses, new product publicity IS business publicity — the business for all intensive purposes IS the product. You’ve all read the stories in the media describing an innovative new product. Even though the product is the main focus of the story, invariably the company behind the product is mentioned as well. If a well-known company, say Panasonic, Schwinn, or Kellogg’s launches the product, the reporter won’t go into a whole lot of detail about the company – at least in this story. But if the company or business is new, the reporter or producer will most likely include more information to introduce the company behind this innovative new product. However, a brief mention about the company in any new product stories does not qualify as a corporate campaign. You should still follow up a few months down the road with a quality corporate campaign that will detail the success of the recent product launch.

Many businesses that have launched product campaigns over the past few months or even years have never followed up with the corporate campaigns. They only rolled one of their publicity bowling balls and there are still pins standing in this frame. Perhaps the business simply tried to ride out the product publicity as long as the media would allow and now are just hoping for continued sales. As good as the product may be, it must be understood that product publicity has a shelf life – meaning you can only take advantage of new product publicity angles for a limited amount of time. Once that shelf life is over, it is time for the next step in you Diversified Publicity campaign. As a former TV reporter and producer, I can tell you from a media standpoint — I always wanted fresh meat, different stories and new angles. Whether a reporter/editor/producer used your new product pitch or passed on it, hit them again with how the product is now impacting the industry – a newsworthy angle that has developed since the product was launched a few months back. Ideally, you’ll get coverage from both pitches.

The media targets for these campaigns differ greatly as well. The new product campaign is going to have a strong consumer and general interest editorial base. The corporate campaign will have a much stronger business/industry slant and will therefore be focused toward completely different editors or producers. Researching the expansive media markets and outlets to find the most applicable media targets is the key to your publicity success.

Whether you are at the new product publicity stage or the business publicity stage, use these tips of diversified publicity to take advantage of the ever-increasing media market –keeping you, your product and your business in the equally diversified public eye.

————————

Todd Brabender
President, Spread the News Public Relations
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com/

About the author:
Todd Brabender is the President of Spread the News Public Relations. His company’s campaigns have landed clients in thousands of trade and general circulation magazines, daily & weekly newspapers, TV/Radio/Cable shows & newscasts, and even the increasingly popular media of Internet e-zines and news sites. Todd’s experience in the media is what sets Spread the News PR apart from many other PR/publicity businesses. Before beginning his PR career in 1994, Todd was a TV news producer/reporter whose newscasts received national recognition for excellence.

One of my favorite things to do is educate my clients about their “media market.” Consider this, in North America there are more than 75,000 media outlets and almost one million reporters, editors & producers in the entire media market. However, only a small percentage of those may be appropriate and applicable to your business/product. But which ones? Unfortunately, too many well-intentioned entrepreneurs are either uninformed or misinformed regarding what it takes to attract media attention for their business. I recently surveyed 100 business owners and entrepreneurs who contacted my business about a publicity/media exposure campaign. Here’s what I found:

11% – “Are Admittedly Media Market Clueless”
19% – “Have Unrealistic Media Market Perceptions”
29% – “Think Local & Large Media Are The ONLY Media”
41% – “Have A Good Grasp On Their Potential Media Market And Its Benefits”

Here are the descriptions of these categories and the lessons I try to teach those who fall into each category:

11% – “Are Admittedly Media Market Clueless”
These are the business owners who know their product and market inside and out, BUT they have never thought about launching a publicity/media exposure campaign before now. They know very little about their potential media market or how to generate publicity therein.

The Lesson: For these types of business owners I recommend asking for help from a smaller PR agency or publicity specialist who is willing to “hand hold” to get the client educated. Research to find one who doesn’t mind spending the time to educate you about what should be included in your specific media market and the pitch. Make sure the agency or publicist understands the product/business as well as you do and can in turn educate you about your media market – one that will be able to benefit your business for years to come.

–

19% – “Have Unrealistic Media Perceptions”
These are the business owners who are CONVINCED that EVERY newspaper, consumer interest magazine and TV show will run a feature on their new products when they launch a publicity campaign.

The Lesson: No product or business, no matter how big or great can be assured media coverage in every outlet in a media market. But you can get coverage in a good number of them given the right media tending. Every media pitch will be weighed against the media outlet’s editorial lead-time, its available editorial space, and availability of an editorial staff member to cover your pitch. It is totally up to the discretion of each media outlet as to whether your pitch makes it to the pages or on air. It can be an uphill battle if you target the wrong media with the wrong message. But you can greatly increase the chances generating those media placements with a little expertise and media market know-how.

–

29% – “Think Local & Large Media Are The ONLY Media”
These are the ones who think of their media market in two simple terms: LOCAL & LARGE
LOCAL, as you might imagine, means the media outlets in their city or surrounding geographic region — the local newspaper, a regional business magazine or two, a few shows at local radio/TV stations. LARGE, on the other hand, are media outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Good Morning America, Oprah or your other favorite large circulation, trade specific media outlet.

The Lesson: The reality is local and large are indeed part of your media market, but not the only ones. The best media market opportunities may well be the dozens of other smaller scale papers, magazines, newsletters or TV/radio/cable shows that may generate more customer interest and sales than a placement in the big media might. Because of a lack of media market knowledge, many business owners don’t even know these smaller, more targeted media outlets exist. This is where a PR agency or publicity specialist can be integral in your publicity campaign. They know the media market very well and will be able to find those media members who will be the best for generating editorial features on your business or product. They also have great media contacts that can turn one feature into a syndicated story that runs in multiple media outlets nationwide.

–

41% – “Have A Good Grasp On Their Potential Media Market And Its Benefits”
These are media-savvy entrepreneurs and business owners who are realistic and knowledgeable about how the media can benefit their business. They know that they have to narrowcast their media pitch to a select segment of the media in order to get coverage that will increase exposure for the business.

The Lesson: Don’t let a PR agency or publicity specialist tell you they will send your pitch to 20,000, 30,000 or 50,000 media outlets. The reality is, of the 8,000 daily & weekly newspapers, 11,000 magazines & newsletters, 15,000 radio/TV/cable stations and 7,000 Internet news sites in North America, only about 25% of those accept press releases from outside their geographic area. They cover only LOCAL issues, businesses and products, and it is a waste of time to target them. The key is researching to discover which media outlets will be receptive to your pitch and knowing how to parlay those media contacts into positive consumer interest features that will educate and entice customers about your product or business.

Just like marketing to find the right customers, one should be equally diligent about finding and pitching the right media market. Bottom line – whether you have a general interest product that has widespread consumer appeal or a trade specific business with a very narrow customer base, knowing your appropriate media market can mean the difference between product/business publicity or product/business obscurity.

———————–

Todd Brabender
President, Spread the News Public Relations
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com/

About the author:
Todd Brabender is the President of Spread the News Public Relations. His company’s campaigns have landed clients in thousands of trade and general circulation magazines, daily & weekly newspapers, TV/Radio/Cable shows & newscasts, and even the increasingly popular media of Internet e-zines and news sites. Todd’s experience in the media is what sets Spread the News PR apart from many other PR/publicity businesses. Before beginning his PR career in 1994, Todd was a TV news producer/reporter whose newscasts received national recognition for excellence.

A number of strategically generated features or product mentions in magazines, newspapers and TV/radio/cable shows nationwide can lend strong credibility to a new product. That “media bullhorn” can also do wonders toward educating consumers about your product. But does your product — and its media pitch — have what it takes to attract the media into giving you coverage in their pages or on their airwaves? As I mentioned, many products or businesses can generate some type of publicity and media interest, but in my professional experience, the types of products and pitches that lend themselves to the best media exposure include:

• home/garden products
• kitchen/cooking/food products
• consumer electronics
• automotive accessories
• home repair/DIY tools
• personal health/medical/fitness products
• recreational/outdoor products
• experts (business, health, technology)

If you have a new or under-publicized product in one of these categories, the media could be a good friend to you. However, you first have be a friend to the media. Your product (and pitch) needs to have what the media calls a “news peg” — that gives them a logical and newsworthy reason to feature YOUR product as opposed to the 200 other media pitches that are on their desks right now. Additionally, you need to make it as easy as possible for them to do your story or they WILL move onto a competitor’s pitch and product that is easier to cover.

• Can you provide a media sample?
• Do you have quality photos of the product?
• How can the product be purchased: in stores, catalogs, online, by phone?
• Can you arrange a quick interview if needed?

Products/services that don’t really lend themselves to media interest or publicity are things like:

• website developers
• cell phone/printer cartridge sales
• vitamin supplements
• insurance
• financial planning
• realtors
• MLM/downline schemes

I’m not implying that these types of businesses aren’t media worthy. I’m simply saying that from a media interest, editorial standpoint, there are thousands of competing product and businesses like these on the market and unless they are offering something truly unique, they lack that “news peg” that will attract the media’s attention. If you are launching, let’s say, a new garden tool that is very similar to many other garden tools on the market, don’t expect much interest from the media in putting together a feature. You can create that news peg by answering a few questions:

• How does your product differ from competing products already on the market?
• Why should the media and subsequent consumers be interested in your product?
• Does it provide a solution to an existing problem for consumers?

Bottom line – a properly maintained publicity campaign can help forge wonderfully reciprocal, mutually beneficial relationships with the media. Reciprocal, in that the media constantly need interesting information to put together their product profiles and business features — and YOU need constant media exposure to get the word out. If your product or business can meet the media standards mentioned above, you could benefit greatly from some solid nationwide media exposure. Getting your product mentioned in print articles and on TV/radio shows nationwide will help spread the word to customers — and at a fraction of the cost of a nationwide advertising campaign.

————–

Todd Brabender
President, Spread the News Public Relations
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com/

About the author:
Todd Brabender is the President of Spread the News Public Relations. His company’s campaigns have landed clients in thousands of trade and general circulation magazines, daily & weekly newspapers, TV/Radio/Cable shows & newscasts, and even the increasingly popular media of Internet e-zines and news sites. Todd’s experience in the media is what sets Spread the News PR apart from many other PR/publicity businesses. Before beginning his PR career in 1994, Todd was a TV news producer/reporter whose newscasts received national recognition for excellence.

Whether you pitched the release yourself or hired someone to do it for you, you need to know whether the release made contact. Sure it arrived, but is that the release that editor needs that day, for that article or for that issue? Hopefully so, but many times that is not the case; the release is either saved for future use (again, hopefully), or more than likely it is set aside, trashed or deleted. The releases and pitches that get used are the ones that are newsworthy, media-friendly and that arrive at opportune times. As you might imagine, a perfect combination of all three translates into your best chances of media coverage and publicity.

When you use a release distribution service, your release gets pitched ONCE. However, the most successful campaigns are those that are strategically and effectively maintained and/or re-pitched with calculated frequency. Most media outlets either don’t or can’t respond to your initial release or pitch. Based on my professional experience as a PR/Publicity specialist, I would estimate that media placements occur in the following manner:

• 25% occur after the 1st – 2nd pitch
• 50% occur after the 3rd – 5th pitch
• 25% occur after the 6th – 8th pitch

Sometimes (in fact most times) a strong placement happens when a release hits an editor at the right place at the right time. Sure you may have pitched that media contact three times over the last few weeks, but perhaps that reporter/editor/producer didn’t have the time or the editorial space to work your release into a placement. Your opportunity for placements increases with meticulous media follow-ups and re-pitches. What many business owners/entrepreneurs don’t realize is that the majority of media outlets fail to respond until after the third or fourth pitch. I continue to be amazed and amused at the editor or producer who, upon receiving a pitch for the fourth time, says, “I’m so glad you reminded me of this release!” or “Great timing! This will fit perfectly in a feature we’re doing this week!” If the release had been pitched just once, and not followed up on, those placements would not have taken place.

So make sure your PR staff isn’t afraid to wind up and pitch your campaign multiple times. Just like in baseball, the more pitches there are — the better chances you get to make a hit.
_______
Todd Brabender
President, Spread the News Public Relations
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com/

About the author:
Todd Brabender is the President of Spread the News Public Relations. His company’s campaigns have landed clients in thousands of trade and general circulation magazines, daily & weekly newspapers, TV/Radio/Cable shows & newscasts, and even the increasingly popular media of Internet e-zines and news sites. Todd’s experience in the media is what sets Spread the News PR apart from many other PR/publicity businesses. Before beginning his PR career in 1994, Todd was a TV news producer/reporter whose newscasts received national recognition for excellence.

One of my favorite things to do is educate my clients about their “media market.” Consider this: in North America there are more than 75,000 media outlets and almost one million reporters, editors and producers in the entire media market. However, only a small percentage of those may be appropriate and applicable to your business/product. But which ones? Unfortunately, too many well-intentioned entrepreneurs are either uninformed or misinformed regarding what it takes to attract media attention for their business. I recently surveyed 100 business owners and entrepreneurs who contacted my business about a publicity/media exposure campaign. Here’s what I found:

• 11% – “Are Admittedly Media Market Clueless”
• 19% – “Have Unrealistic Media Market Perceptions”
• 29% – “Think Local & Large Media Are The ONLY Media”
• 41% – “Have A Good Grasp On Their Potential Media Market And Its Benefits”

Here are the descriptions of these categories and the lessons I try to teach those who fall into each category:

• 11% – “Are admittedly media market clueless”
  These are the business owners who know their product and market inside and out, BUT they have never thought about launching a publicity/media exposure campaign before now. They know very little about their potential media market or how to generate publicity therein.The lesson: For these types of business owners I recommend asking for help from a smaller P.R. agency or publicity specialist who is willing to “hand hold” to get the client educated. Research to find one who doesn’t mind spending the time to educate you about what should be included in your specific media market and the pitch. Make sure the agency or publicist understands the product/business as well as you do and can in turn educate you about your media market – one that will be able to benefit your business for years to come.
• 19% – “Have unrealistic media perceptions”
  These are the business owners who are CONVINCED that EVERY newspaper, consumer interest magazine and TV show will run a feature on their new products when they launch a publicity campaign.The lesson: No product or business, no matter how big or great, can be assured media coverage in every outlet in a media market. But you can get coverage in a good number of them given the right media tending. Every media pitch will be weighed against the media outlet’s editorial lead-time, its available editorial space, and availability of an editorial staff member to cover your pitch. It is totally up to the discretion of each media outlet as to whether your pitch makes it to the pages or on air. It can be an uphill battle if you target the wrong media with the wrong message. But you can greatly increase the chances of generating those media placements with a little expertise and media market know-how.
• 29% – “Think local and large media are the ONLY media”
  These are the ones who think of their media market in two simple terms: LOCAL & LARGE, as you might imagine, means the media outlets in their city or surrounding geographic region — the local newspaper, a regional business magazine or two, a few shows at local radio/TV stations. LARGE, on the other hand, are media outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Good Morning America, Oprah or your other favorite large-circulation, trade-specific media outlet.The lesson: The reality is local and large are indeed part of your media market, but not the only ones. The best media market opportunities may well be the dozens of other smaller scale papers, magazines, newsletters or TV/radio/cable shows that may generate more customer interest and sales than a placement in the big media might. Because of a lack of media market knowledge, many business owners don’t even know these smaller, more targeted media outlets exist. This is where a P.R. agency or publicity specialist can be integral in your publicity campaign. They know the media market very well and will be able to find those media members who will be the best for generating editorial features on your business or product. They also have great media contacts that can turn one feature into a syndicated story that runs in multiple media outlets nationwide.
• 41% – “Have A good grasp on their potential media market and its benefits”
  These are media-savvy entrepreneurs and business owners who are realistic and knowledgeable about how the media can benefit their business. They know that they have to narrowcast their media pitch to a select segment of the media in order to get coverage that will increase exposure for the business.The lesson: Don’t let a PR agency or publicity specialist tell you they will send your pitch to 20,000, 30,000 or 50,000 media outlets. The reality is, of the 8,000 daily & weekly newspapers, 11,000 magazines & newsletters, 15,000 radio/TV/cable stations and 7,000 Internet news sites in North America, only about 25% of those accept press releases from outside their geographic area. They cover only LOCAL issues, businesses and products, and it is a waste of time to target them. The key is researching to discover which media outlets will be receptive to your pitch and knowing how to parlay those media contacts into positive consumer interest features that will educate and entice customers about your product or business.

Just like marketing to find the right customers, one should be equally diligent about finding and pitching the right media market. Bottom line — whether you have a general interest product that has widespread consumer appeal or a trade specific business with a very narrow customer base, knowing your appropriate media market can mean the difference between product/business publicity or product/business obscurity.

______
Todd Brabender
President, Spread the News Public Relations
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com/

About the author:
Todd Brabender is the President of Spread the News Public Relations. His company’s campaigns have landed clients in thousands of trade and general circulation magazines, daily & weekly newspapers, TV/Radio/Cable shows & newscasts, and even the increasingly popular media of Internet e-zines and news sites. Todd’s experience in the media is what sets Spread the News PR apart from many other PR/publicity businesses. Before beginning his PR career in 1994, Todd was a TV news producer/reporter whose newscasts received national recognition for excellence.

Holiday publicity opportunities
If your product/business lends itself to increased holiday sales, the next few weeks are a perfect time to get a publicity campaign launched — given the right media targets. Many holiday issues are already being laid out for magazines, and many other media outlets are feverishly seeking information/pitches on innovative stories for the holidays. Some media outlets even reorganize or beef up staff around the holidays to allow for an increase in stories on products. Have your publicist help you take advantage of this increased media opportunity.

Planting publicity seeds now for first quarter results
Some business owners may be of the mindset: “I think we’ll wait to launch a publicity campaign until after January 1st.” The problem is — if you wait to launch your publicity campaign until the first of the year hoping for a quick media interest blast in January, you may be in for a quiet month. Keep in mind most media outlets have editorial lead-times of a few weeks to six months. Also, what some entrepreneurs don’t realize is that, because of the increasing number of publicity pitches media outlets receive, anything you send out is subjected to what I call the “media digestion period” — simply put — a period of time (sometimes weeks, sometimes months) that it takes media outlets to:

1. See/understand your release and decide if they are interested;
2. Find space/time in their editorial calendar to place the article/news story/show segment.

The potential placement is also directly dependent upon how quickly and efficiently your publicist or PR agency can help the media secure the placement. Media relations is crucial. Your publicist’s job is to make the reporter/editor/producer’s job as easy and effortless as possible — which will lead to quicker and more numerous placements for your business.

When it comes to publicity pitches, the facts are: placement is totally up to the discretion of the particular media outlet and very few media responses are immediate. I have, in fact, had media outlets respond even before the media release seemed to settle in the fax machine tray. Conversely, I also had one media outlet that responded 17 months after a pitch; I had to ask the reporter what the YEAR was on the release! NO placement is guaranteed, but you can definitely increase the odds. Even if your product/business is a dead-on perfect match for a media outlet’s editorial profile, you are not guaranteed placement without some hard work and media relations. That’s why timing of your publicity pitch is so critical. Have your publicist get your pitch to the media, allow the editorial staff to digest it a bit, and strategically and professionally “rattle the cage” over the next several weeks to generate as many placements as possible.

What we are trying to do is plant seeds in media outlets’ editorial garden so they will bear fruit — in the form of articles/show placements — continuously over the next several weeks and months. Like the plant that comes from a seed, publicity placements can also grow roots and lead to other arterial media placements in other media outlets. Given the right tending, the publicity seeds you plant over the next few weeks/months will indeed germinate and you’ll reap a wonderful harvest for your business well beyond the first quarter of next year.

Originally published on Bplans.com.

Todd Brabender
President, Spread the News Public Relations
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com/

About the author:
Todd Brabender is the President of Spread the News Public Relations. His company’s campaigns have landed clients in thousands of trade and general circulation magazines, daily & weekly newspapers, TV/Radio/Cable shows & newscasts, and even the increasingly popular media of Internet e-zines and news sites. Todd’s experience in the media is what sets Spread the News PR apart from many other PR/publicity businesses. Before beginning his PR career in 1994, Todd was a TV news producer/reporter whose newscasts received national recognition for excellence.

He is not alone. It’s a common conversation. Although many entrepreneurs or business people know a bit about publicity or media exposure, the majority of them simply don’t understand the full benefits of “publicity placements” or how to go about generating them successfully. Publicity placements have always been a cost-efficient way to market a product/business and generate clients or customers, but because of lack of knowledge or a misunderstanding of what publicity is and does, many entrepreneurs don’t take full advantage of publicity opportunities — and that can lead to missed marketing chances.

I recently surveyed a few dozen business owners and entrepreneurs in newsgroups and business chat rooms about their knowledge of “publicity placements” in the media. I found that only 37% knew that a simple “product profile” in a magazine was generated as a result of publicity efforts. Most thought the company had paid the media outlet to run the feature, much like an ad. And of that 37%, less than half of them knew HOW to generate a similar placement.

Another interesting fact, because of the recent slowdown in the economy, expensive advertising budgets have been slashed. As a result, many businesses, like your competitors, are turning to publicity/PR campaigns as a more affordable means of marketing to compete with other companies. Here are some ways to use publicity placements to help your business:

Editorial placements/media notification
What some entrepreneurs might not realize is that we see editorial placements from publicity efforts everyday in the media: product profiles, feature articles and contributed by-lined articles in magazines, newspapers, trade industry newsletters, or on TV/radio/cable newscasts and shows. This is not advertising, this is “EDITORIAL Placement” or “Media Notification” of a product, business or industry expert. Notify the appropriate media that your newsworthy product is on the market or your business is offering a unique new service and let them run a feature placement that will spread that message to your consumer market. These placements can detail your product or business very effectively, giving consumers some objective, pertinent information that may well entice them to become future customers.

These editorial placements are looked upon much more credibly than ad placements. That is not a slam on advertising. Paying for advertising placements is indeed an effective way to market your product. But the fact is, a positive editorial placement such as a product profile in a magazine or a newspaper can be much more persuasive than a glossy, over-hyped advertisement — and a fraction of the cost. My point is that editorial placements are an overlooked marketing vehicle for a business, and that entrepreneurs should understand the full benefits of these placements to make the most of their marketing efforts.

Editorial placements are a wonderfully reciprocal way for you and the media to work together for the betterment of your business. The media needs to fill its pages and airtime with interesting information — and you need to get the word out to your market. Research the media market to find those media outlets and editorial contacts with which you can forge that mutually beneficial relationship. But you have to do your part and do it right, or the media will forge that relationship with your competitor. Make sure your media message is solid, contains newsworthy angles and isn’t disguised as overly commercialized ad copy. Have high-quality photos and media samples available and do all you can to make the media’s job of featuring your product as simple as possible. It also helps to have some sort of clipping service in place to track your placements and get you copies so you can use them in your secondary marketing programs.

Expert branding
Generating this type of publicity placement takes advantage of the expert knowledge within a particular business. It is an effective tool for entrepreneurs whose businesses are more service-related, like consultants or specialists. Expert branding basically treats the expert like a product. Alert the media as to your expertise on a specific topic and avail yourself to serve as an expert interview resource for future articles or news feature segments. Additionally, the expert should write a few brief articles on a specialized topic and make them available to editors for review and possible publication. The challenge of this type of publicity placement is the tedious task of finding out which outlets accept “expert editorial contributions” or contributed by-lined articles in their publications. Again, it comes down to meticulously researching your media market to find those media outlets that may be in need of the editorial content that you can provide them.

With some creativity, expert branding can be effective for product-based businesses as well. One client of mine runs a fresh wild salmon distribution business in the Pacific Northwest and was looking to increase consumer awareness of his products. Based on his more than 20 years of experience in the wild salmon harvesting business, we are expert branding him as a viable interview resource to health/food editors for features detailing the differences and benefits of wild salmon over farm-raised fish, as well as other related topics. In this case, my client (the expert) is identified and quoted in features and the name of the business and even a link to a website are often included for consumers to check out. This is great credibility-building exposure at little or no cost.

Overall, when using the media to help market your product or business, take advantage of as many FREE media opportunities as you can. If you lack the expertise or time, a PR agency or publicist can generate the editorial placements for you. The fee you pay them is a FRACTION of what it would cost you to buy similar sized ad placements. And those publicity placements typically lead to a much better consumer response right out of the gate — which is just what you need to boost your business to the next level.

Originally published on Bplans.com.

———————-

Todd Brabender
President, Spread the News Public Relations
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com/

About the author:
Todd Brabender is the President of Spread the News Public Relations. His company’s campaigns have landed clients in thousands of trade and general circulation magazines, daily & weekly newspapers, TV/Radio/Cable shows & newscasts, and even the increasingly popular media of Internet e-zines and news sites. Todd’s experience in the media is what sets Spread the News PR apart from many other PR/publicity businesses. Before beginning his PR career in 1994, Todd was a TV news producer/reporter whose newscasts received national recognition for excellence.

Over the past several months, I have been conducting an informal survey among entrepreneurs and business owners who have contacted me about my services. I have found that due to their lack of information or knowledge on the topic, many businesses typically over-estimate or over-budget the cost of a prospective public relations/publicity campaign. During my PR consultation with them, I asked: “How much do you think it will cost to launch a solid, effective PR/publicity campaign for your product/business?” Of the 102 people I’ve queried:

• 11% – Thought a professional PR campaign would cost $10,000+ per month
• 32% – Thought a professional PR campaign would cost $5,000-$10,000 per month
• 39% – Thought a professional PR campaign would cost $3,000-$5,000 per month
• 12% – Thought a professional PR campaign would cost $1,000-$3,000 per month
• 6% – Thought a professional PR campaign would cost less than $1,000 per month

The truth is — you can get a publicity/PR campaign in all of those price ranges. What you get for your money and how effective the campaign will be is the real question. It is true that the more you pay the more you get. But getting the most publicity/PR exposure doesn’t mean you have to get the most expensive PR agency or specialist.

A good rule of thumb is to align yourself with a PR business that best reflects your business size. Most times their rates will be in line with your prospective PR budget. If you are a small business owner with two employees, you need not hire a high-dollar PR agency with dozens of employees. Find a PR business whose office size and capabilities closely resemble your business.

Case in point — there is a large PR agency in a fancy building downtown a few miles from my office. Frankly, we are not even competition to each other — in fact we have even referred clients to each other. Why? They typically work with large corporations and implement campaigns of around $10,000 per month. My business works with smaller businesses/individuals — a PR/publicity campaign with my company would be about $10,000 for an entire year — not just a month. Mechanically, the downtown firm and my business do the same thing when it comes to PR campaigns: professional media release composition; extensive media market research; articulate personalized distribution to the media; months of media relations (article placements/interview scheduling/media request fulfillment, clipping/tracking of media placements, etc.).

Signing up with the big firm doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily get an experienced associate working on your campaign. So are you getting what you are paying for? A friend of mine who works at a major PR firm gave me the following breakdown of billing fees in his office:

• Interns/junior executives – bill at $75 / hour (Very little, if any professional experience)
• Account executives – bill at $100 – $125 / hour (1-3 years of professional experience)
• Senior account executives – bill at $125 – $200 / hour (Multiple years of professional experience. Agency decision makers.)

Compare those prices to many small PR shops or individual PR specialists. Many have started their own PR businesses after years of experience in the industry and typically charge $50 – $100 per hour to professionally launch and maintain your campaign. Many times, you can get a seasoned PR veteran who will work directly with you and your staff for cheaper than the “Intern/Junior Executive” rate at a downtown firm.

However, one word of advice — when choosing a smaller firm or individual to do your PR, make sure they have the same tools that the bigger agencies do: updated media lists/contacts; personalized media distribution capabilities; professional clipping/tracking services to get copies of each of your media placements (articles, tapes from TV/radio shows) as well as the intangibles of expert communication/media relations skills and professional pitching prowess. If they are cheaper, but don’t have all the tools to help you in the best manner possible, you are probably better off spending a little extra money to make sure your campaign is launched and maintained correctly.

The major benefits of hiring a professional (individual PR specialist or PR firm) to launch your campaign are:

• Proper campaign implementation – Improperly composed or poorly pitched campaigns are the major downfall of many PR efforts. Poorly written, over-commercialized media releases; uncalculated, misdirected mass e-mailing of the release pitch; no follow-up media relations/media request fulfillment; etc. Your first impression to the media is a lasting one – make sure it’s a good one.
• Media contacts – Most PR agencies have established multiple media contacts over several years that can lead to much better and more numerous media placements for your campaign. Let their foot in the door benefit you.
• Efficiency and effectiveness – PR specialists/agencies generate publicity full time, 8-12 hours per day and know the ins and outs, shortcuts and secrets to getting the job done better and quicker. Sure you could hang your own drywall or do your own plumbing, but do you have the tools, the time and the expertise to make it cost-effective? I always tell my clients, “You do what you do well, I’ll do what I do well and we’ll collectively move this business further up the ladder.”

One caveat when it comes to choosing a professional PR agency or individual to work with – signing up for a higher-priced campaign doesn’t necessarily mean you will get better results than a cheaper campaign. And the inverse is true as well. Over the past year or so, many “low-cost PR/publicity services” have begun to pop up all over the Internet. Ones that promise to write and launch a press release for as low as $99. They are low in cost, because, frankly, many are low in quality. Bigger is not necessarily better, and cheap does not always mean a good bargain.

If you have the time, tools and talent to launch and maintain your own campaign, you should definitely do so. If not – there are a number of public relations/publicity firms, specialists and services out there. Research to find the one whose services and fees match your business plan. Once business owners, entrepreneurs, and inventors learn more about their options when it comes to launching a PR campaign — many find that they can’t afford NOT to have one.

Originally published on Bplans.com.

——————-

Todd Brabender
President, Spread the News Public Relations
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com/

About the author:
Todd Brabender is the President of Spread the News Public Relations. His company’s campaigns have landed clients in thousands of trade and general circulation magazines, daily & weekly newspapers, TV/Radio/Cable shows & newscasts, and even the increasingly popular media of Internet e-zines and news sites. Todd’s experience in the media is what sets Spread the News PR apart from many other PR/publicity businesses. Before beginning his PR career in 1994, Todd was a TV news producer/reporter whose newscasts received national recognition for excellence.