Creating a PR Pitch that Works

September 7, 2011 Leave a comment

An effective public relations campaign can reach your target market, establish you as an expert in your field, and offer you validation and legitimacy that comes with being featured as a news story.  That’s great, right?  But how do you come up with the right pitches and ideas to grab the media’s attention?  You can send out press releases and media blasts all day long, but if you don’t have a compelling story that meets the media’s needs, your PR campaign is not going to work for you.  So how do you go from concept to actually landing TV and print stories?  Brainstorm.  Think like a journalist, not like a business person.

  • Set up a brainstorming session with your PR consultant, or, if you’re doing this in-house, meet with members of your staff that understand your practice.
  •  Allow everyone involved to speak freely.  Start with a list of the obvious stories, then drill down to more unique stories or review different ways to present stories.
  • Think out of the box.  Be creative.  Remember you don’t have to use all of these stories, but the deeper you drill, the better the chances of finding a great story, so let the ideas flow-freely.  You’re pitching TV, so think in terms of the strongest visual stories you can present
  • Divide the stories as per the various media outlets you’ll be approaching.  There will be some stories that are timely, others that are seasonal and others that are evergreen.  Come up with a schedule of when to pitch which stories
  • Divide the stories into local, regional and national.  Different media outlets have different needs.  You want to pitch towards their specific needs.

You want to illustrate why your story and pitch is a perfect fit for their readers or viewers.   You want them to see the value in your story.  To do that you have to come up with a pitch that speaks to each media outlet’s specific audience.  You very well could pitch Vogue, the Today Show, the Wall Street Journal and your local newspaper the same story, but you’d have to tailor you pitch to meet those outlet’s specific needs.  You’d need a female angle, a visual angle, a business angle and a local angle.

Remember, your job is to present yourself and your product or service as a story the media will want to cover, not to do a sales job.  As soon as you try to “sell” a producer or an editor, you’ve lost.  To interest the media don’t pitch your product or your service, pitch a story; pitch your value.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under business, news, PR Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

5 Tips to Creating a Successful Small Business Marketing Strategy

August 30, 2011 Leave a comment

Everyday we are bombarded with news about new apps, new social media sites, and the latest online marketing approaches.  It’s easy to get lost trying to keep up with the latest developments.  It’s also dangerous; you can spend your time trying to stay ahead of the information curve, but fall behind when it comes to effectively marketing your company.  Your main focus needs to be on developing a marketing and PR approach that reaches your target market; sells products, brings in clients and grows your business. 

It’s tough to keep focus when you’re bombarded with information; the myriad marketing options available grow on a seemingly daily basis.   Whereas having a number of choices can often be a good thing, in this case that can cause you and your company to come to a virtual standstill, as you spend the bulk of your time struggling to figure out the most effective marketing approaches.

Strategy Tip #1   Remember, you don’t need to do everything.

You simply need to do some homework, experiment a bit, find out what works best for you and focus on what works.  Just because there are a variety of options available that doesn’t mean you need to utilize all of them.  You don’t eat everything on a menu, you pick and chose, do the same when it comes to your marketing strategy.  You can launch a public relations campaign, start a blog, target every social media site, and launch an online video campaign, ezine, email campaign.  You can also run a pay per click campaign and focus on offline marketing efforts.  Those are just some of your options.  If you try to implement all of those options, most of your time will be spent trying to make sense out of the marketing mix.

Strategy Tip #2 Work on one marketing approach at a time or assign different strategies to different employees in your marketing department.

Especially with online marketing, each program takes attention, strategy, and time.  Watch what your marketing department is doing.  Are they on the same page? Are they too scattered? Get feedback and reports, and manage to make sure they are effectively working each approach, one at a time, or in various organized teams.

Strategy Tip #3 Eliminate approaches that are too cumbersome, expensive or don’t speak directly to your audience from your marketing mix.

Go with a less-is-more approach and keep your focus on where you customers or clients truly find their information.

Strategy Tip #4 Begin a basic and effective PR and media relations outreach to offer your company the validation and credibility that comes with being featured in the media. 

Implementing a basic PR campaign can be as simple as writing a press release, and pitching targeted media outlets.  Follow topics that are trending in the media that relate to your area of expertise. Write a one page press release that includes an angle that will serve the media’s needs.  Email pitch and follow-up. Find more details on communicating with and pitching the media here.

Strategy Tip #5 Develop a presence online.

You’re job is to figure out which online direction serves you the best.  Study the various approaches.  You could perhaps benefit from article marketing; perhaps a blog is a good fit, study how you can best utilize social media and what sites work best for you.   Be selective, keep your focus on your market and stay targeted.  Build an individualized promotional campaign that serves your clients and reaches your prospects.  Don’t get lost in the marketing maze.  Stay focused and develop a marketing success formula for your business.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under business, Marketing Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Small Business PR Success Tips

August 27, 2011 Leave a comment

Brad Pitt’s publicist’s job isn’t to pitch him to the media, but to coordinate media for him.  Brad Pitt commands media because, well, he’s… Brad Pitt.  He’s a star and the media is going to cover him or his new film, whenever he’s willing and ready to talk.  But if John Smith is starring in a new film, that’s a whole different story.  No one knows who John Smith is, except for maybe his friends, family and Twitter followers.  So John has a different job cut out for him, unlike Brad whose main job is figuring out what media interviews he wants to do, John needs to convince the media that it’s worth their while to run a story on him and his film.

As a small business owner you’re in the same position as our friend John.  He has a great film that he can’t wait to promote, you have a great business product or service that you want media coverage for.   And, like John, you’re not Brad Pitt, which means you need to come up with a compelling reason why the media will want to cover you and your story.

The first thing you want to do is figure out what your main stories are.  Reviewing the following check list will give you a good start.

1)  How do you present that in a way that separates you from the competition and makes for a good news story?

2) What makes your story interesting?

3) What is it you do that solves problems?

4) Do you help people lose weight, make money, save time or find a relationship?

5) Do you have a strong local angle you can pitch to your local media?

6) Is there a national story you can tie in to.  Can you discuss or address a story that’s already in the news?

Effective public relations all comes down to effective story telling.  Remember you’re not pitching you or your product, you’re pitching the media outlets a story that will interest their readers, viewers or listeners.  You want to entertain, teach, instruct, or solve problems.  The last thing you want to do is try and sell the media, because the media doesn’t want to be sold.  Media coverage not only reaches your target market it offers you the  validation and credibility that no other form of media can offer, which is why it’s so important that you present the media with a news story and not a sales pitch.

Being a small business doesn’t have to be a PR liability.  It can actually work in your favor if you think creatively and come up with interesting stories that solve problems, educate and inform.  Focus on your strengths.  You don’t need to be Brad Pitt to make it onto the evening news; you just need to learn to be media savvy.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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Is All Publicity Good Publicity – Well, Maybe If You’re Lady Gaga

August 22, 2011 Leave a comment

There is perhaps no bigger myth than the one that states all publicity is good publicity.  PT Barnum is said to have made that statement along those lines.  But who knows.  If it wasn’t PT, whoever said it certainly made an impression, since it has now become a part of our lexicon.  If he did say it, I’m not sure you want to take branding and image advice from a guy who owned a circus and made a living out of promoting what he referred to as freaks.   If you own a circus, maybe your PR standards are a bit different, but even then, all PR is certainly not good PR.

For example, being caught with a hooker, that’s probably not going to do a heck of a lot for you or your career; getting caught sending lewd photos on Facebook or Twitter isn’t one of your better brand building approaches; and having a YouTube video in which you’re shown ingesting huge quantities of drugs would maybe be somewhat of an image mistake.  There are politicians with sex and money scandals, sports figures with sex and drug scandals, actors and singers with a Chinese menu of scandals.  The list is a long one.

You can come up with a litany of media train wrecks and image disasters that convincingly illustrate that all PR is certainly not good PR. Entrepreneurs and PR consultants that look to generate interest through shock and scandal are walking a tightrope.  Pushing the envelope can pay off for some.  Lady Gaga would not be where she is without controversy.  But how many Lady Gaga’s are there?  And even she wouldn’t welcome any media coverage.  Plus, how many business owners and professionals want to foster that particular image?  If you do, great, take off the gloves and go for it.  But if you’re looking to build a different type of image and create a strong lasting brand, I’d suggest perhaps considering a different approach.

PR can grow your business, bring in clients and customers, build your brand and establish you as an expert in your field.  It is the most important marketing tool available because it offers you the credibility and validation of being featured as a news story.  With that in mind you want to create a list of objectives and develop a game plan and launch a targeted well thought out campaign.  You also want to control what you can.  In this age of blogging and social media, never forget that what you post on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or any other social media site is most likely going to be there for a long time to come.

When it comes to traditional media, think long and hard about your stories and how you want you and your company to be perceived.  Remember a good story is what effective media relations is all about.  Transformational stories are the best when it comes to garnering media placement.  How have you made someone’s life easier, more fulfilling, healthier, etc?  You want to establish yourself as an expert and your product or service as one that positively affects people’s lives.  Focus on your strengths and expertise.  Present yourself as a problem solver.

Those are the areas you want to focus on when it comes to your PR and press coverage. Media train wrecks are good news for the tabloid magazines and sensational TV programs.  They sell magazines and build ratings, but that’s about all they’re good for.  Unless, of course, you’re Lady Gaga.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under business, Marketing, PR, small business Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to Maximize Local PR

August 18, 2011 Leave a comment

Whereas I’m a big believer in going national if you have a strong story, there is a lot to be said for regional and local PR coverage.  If you live in a major media city such as Los Angeles or New York, local media placement can be challenging because in a sense many of the outlets in those cities offer a more national slant; plus, simply because of the sheer numbers in those cities, the competition is fierce.  But, even in major cities, if you shift your focus from the primary outlets and concentrate on the smaller more community based newspapers and magazines you can launch a local-oriented campaign.

Keep in mind what interests local media are local stories.  You need to understand their audience and their needs.  Their focus is community based.  For example if you are based in or you were born in Boise, Idaho and you’re pitching the local newspapers or TV stations, your tie to that city is your lead.  If you were pitching the Today Show or Time magazine, where you’re from or where you were born is generally incidental, unless it directly impacts the story.

Reference local events and/or partner when possible.  When putting on your own event, use local resources.  Pick a person or a brand that is well recognized in the community.  If there is a local cause you can get involved with, do so.  Connect with causes and charities that directly impact the area.

If you have a personal story that has a local slant to it, use it.  Maybe a story as to how you built your business, or a story about how your product, service or company helped transform the life of someone else who lives in the community.  The media loves transformational stories, so offer them one with a strong local hook.

Study the local media outlets.  Research the types of stories they do, the style they use as well as their tone and approach.  You want to pitch towards their needs.  The more you study and learn about your local media outlets, the better prepared you’ll be to pitch them stories they can use.

Remember to tie in holiday oriented stories and pitches.  Do something fun or different or interesting.  Give it some thought.  Don’t just stick to the main holidays; remember St. Patrick’s Day or even April Fools Day.  But always give your pitch a local slant.  Remember you’re drilling down, pitching narrow, not wide.

And don’t forget to amplify and magnify your local media coverage using social media. Whenever you get a newspaper or magazine story, or a segment on local TV, make sure and place links to those media hits on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media sites.  And guess what, by posting your story on the internet; you’ve now turned that local story into a national and even international story.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under business, Business Strategy, Media, Media Exposure, Media Relations, PR, social media, traditional media Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Taking Your Business’ Marketing In Your Own Hands – and Winning

August 9, 2011 Leave a comment

There hasn’t seemed to have been much positive economic news for quite a while.  Wall Street seems to do fine no matter how much of the rest of the country is suffering, but it’s the rest of the country that matters when it comes to growing the economy.  Wall Street is more akin to Vegas than Main Street and you have a better chance in Vegas unless you’re one of the chosen.
Still its small business that generates the ideas, the products, the services that make our economy grow. But how can a business grow at a time when marketing and promotional budgets are being slashed?  Right now, when every penny needs to be accounted for, unless you’re in politics or Wall Street, it’s more important than ever to reach your target market, to build a bridge between you and your customers.  Advertising is expensive, social media and online marketing is extremely important, but unless you have a real handle on exactly what you’re doing, you can end up spending an awful lot of time and money and end up with nothing but unqualified friends or followers.

PR is a relatively inexpensive approach that’s tried and true.  Unlike advertising which is paid for and appears clearly in the advertising section of a magazine or newspaper, media relations lands you in the news or featured pages of a magazine, or newspaper.  On radio or TV, your story likewise is presented as a news story.  If you are interviewed you’re presented as an expert in your field.  The credibility and validation that comes with such coverage is remarkable.

That is not to say that advertising is unimportant.  If you sell tires and you’re having a buy three get one free sale, advertising can be a perfect medium.  The biggest downside to advertising is that everyone knows that the ads or commercials have been paid for.  It can be a great way to get a message out there, but it ranks pretty low when it comes to building credibility for a business or brand.   Think about it, if you see a commercial for a product on TV, or see a news segment on that same product, which approach is going to most likely gain your interest.  It’s not necessarily an either or, but more a knowing when and how to use the various marketing techniques.

If you’re a professional such as a physician or an attorney, public relations is your best bet.  Likewise if you’re a fashion designer, or jeweler or beauty expert, your best bet is to launch a targeted PR campaign. Needless to say if you’re a filmmaker or musician, launching an effective media campaign to create a buzz is imperative.

The fees that are involved with launching a campaign and garnering PR coverage are the fees that you pay to a public relations firm or PR consultant.   PR is not a fire sale, so it does take some time.  To expect to reap the benefits in a month is unrealistic, but a firm that understands you and your story, can gain you the type of media coverage that can build your business and establish your brand.

So even though economic times continue to be tough, with some creativity, ingenuity, determination and a (comparably) modest investment, you can launch a PR campaign that can reach your customers, sell your products, grow your service and build your business.  While those around you are trying to figure out what to do, or are looking at Washington or Wall Street for answers, you can take your business matters in your own hands – and soar!

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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Filed under business, Marketing, marketing strategy Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

When Should You Launch A PR Campaign?

August 5, 2011 Leave a comment

If you’re reading this in real time, it’s early August, the talk shows are gearing up and getting ready to start production and the monthly magazines are turning their attention to their holiday issues.  There is no greater time to launch a public relations campaign than now.  But what if you’re reading this in December or early June, should you wait, move forward? What is the best time to launch a PR campaign?

The answer is, it depends on your specific needs.  Unless I’m dealing with a seasonal or holiday oriented product, I seldom decide when to launch by looking at the calendar.  What I focus on are my client’s needs and objectives.  If you have a product, or service that is ready to launch, do it now.

If you’re a larger company and are launching a fashion line or new toy line, your timeline is different, you want to launch in time to hit whatever your primary season is, or your industry’s particular timeline.  But if you’re a newer company, or are launching your first PR campaign, your primary focus should be on establishing your presence.  At this point, forget what the big players are doing, your focus and your intent is different.  If you’re a new clothing line, your PR strategy should not mirror that of Ralph Lauren.  That company is currently on a different trajectory than yours.  It has different goals than yours.  If all goes as planned you could be launching that style of media relations campaign in a few years, but for now focus on your own unique objectives.

That can be confusing, because chances are the feedback you’ll get from others will be based on what other companies are doing.  Remember, right now chances are you’re not competing with Paramount Pictures, Facebook, Harry Winston or Revlon.  You might be playing in the same arena, but you’re playing a different game.  Don’t get steered in the wrong direction.  Chances are you’ll end up wasting quite a lot of time and money.

If you’re launching a new product or service, or are a relatively small company and are doing PR for the first time, your objective is to get yourself on the map.  You want to establish yourself and your company.  With that in mind, unless your product is specifically seasonal or tied to a particular holiday, your focus shouldn’t be on when you’re going to launch your campaign but on whether you have your stories, release, media list, bio, pitches and game plan ready to go.  Your focus should be on starting your campaign now.  The media never stops.  They are always looking for new stories.  So, put the calendar away and get ready to launch.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under business, Marketing, Media, Media Relations, Public Relations Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The PR Business Model Approach

August 2, 2011 Leave a comment

The World Book Encyclopedia defines public relations, or PR, as “an activity aimed at increasing communication and understanding between an organization or individual and one or more groups called publics.” That is a good start. A good PR or media relations campaign also informs and educates. If you think about it learning how to communicate, explain and educate the public about you and your company, service or product really drills down to the basics of business. And this is true whether or not you’re looking at launching a PR campaign. Whether you’re launching a public relations campaign or building a strategy for the overall communications, marketing and branding for your business, following the PR blueprint is an invaluable exercise.

Why is PR such a valuable tool?

Simple. Referrals, or the lack thereof, are what make or break most businesses. Business growth basically comes down to that very low-tech, old-as-the-hills strategy known as “word of mouth.
If you have a great product or service, but are unable to communicate what makes it great, who it’s for and why anyone should buy it, you’re in trouble. The basic steps for launching a PR campaign make for a great blueprint for any business owner to follow. Once you’ve outlined these you know what your message is, what your target market is, how to reach your target market and what your primary selling points are.

The Basic Questions To Answer Before Launching A PR Campaign Include:

Who are your target markets?
Why is your product or service valuable?
What problems does it solve?
What value does it offer?
Who is your primary target market?
How do you reach that target market?

When developing a media relations campaign, we then focus on the media outlets, when and how to pitch them and what angle to pitch where. But, even if you don’t get to that stage, simply answering the above questions can be invaluable. We’ve consulted with clients where our focus has been on defining the message, market and brand, without actively launching a campaign.

A successful campaign is based on lucid, crisp, to the point communication. You clearly appeal to your target markets’ wants and needs, and you illustrate how you, your product or your service meets those needs. You also need to throw in a little imagination and creative brainstorming.

Communicate your message in the shortest amount of time with the greatest impact. This is an important business skill, as well as a media skill; because we live in a 24/7 world and we’re assaulted with up to 20,000 images a day. Our attention spans are short – only about 10 seconds – so you need to engage the listener and you need to do it quickly.

For a campaign to be truly effective, it needs to be well strategized and thought out. It is a cumulative process that builds day by day and month by month. I have seen both businesses and careers launched through public relations, but I have also witnessed campaigns that went nowhere. The latter is usually due to ignorance of the process.

Know your market(s). You may have the best product in the world, but if you’ve picked the wrong target audience, or don’t know who they are, they’re needs, what defines them, it’s not going to work.

So, whether you’re launching a PR campaign, or are simply putting together the building blocks for your business, marketing and branding, follow the PR basics and develop your business game plan.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under business, PR, Public Relations, Target Market Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Multidimensional PR Approach

July 19, 2011 1 Comment

Whereas traditional media is still as important as ever, you can now utilize it in a variety of ways.  For example, as opposed to focusing solely on traditional media, you can target some specific media outlets and use those validating mainstream media hits to enhance your online media campaign.

Clients that we’ve place on Dr. Phil, Oprah (well those days are gone), the Today Show, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and other media were able to magnify those media placements by posting or commenting on them in blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, forums, etc.  Utilizing this approach you can achieve one of the primary functions of traditional media – gaining the validation and credibility of being featured in the news.  Once a few traditional placements have been secured, you can then magnify them using social media.  That approach has helped us create an online buzz about our clients.  It separates our clients from the competition, enhances their brand and creates greater awareness about them and their company.

PR is now multi dimensional. There are myriad ways you can develop successful campaigns.  The optimum approach is one that incorporates traditional and online public relations, yet at times, developing a hybrid campaign, or one that focuses solely on traditional or online media, can also serve its purpose.  It all depends on your needs, your business model, your market and your budget.

It is now possible for campaigns to be more targeted and strategic.  For example, a physician we worked with who was featured on Oprah separated herself from the others in her field by using social media and blogging to spread the word about her segment on the show.  A beauty expert who was featured in Allure was able to present herself as a much more credible authority and expert in her field by blogging about and posting the link to the Allure article on various social media sites.

After one or two validating placements you can either continue to focus on traditional PR, or , if you’re on a tight budget, you can shift your campaign towards an online approaching using the magazine, newspaper or TV coverage on you and your company to generate interest online.  Using online PR and social media you can establish yourself as an expert via your traditional media coverage and further establish the credibility of your brand.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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Media Pitching Lessons

July 13, 2011 1 Comment

To have yourself, your service or your product featured in the media, you need to effectively pith the media.  It’s an art.  By appearing in the media you create a bridge between your company and your clients or customers.  You also build your brand by establishing credibility that only comes with being featured as a news story.  Your best bet is to hire a public relations firm or PR consultant to develop, launch and implement your media relations campaign for you.  It can be a tricky business and you can often do yourself more harm than good by trying it on your own.  But, if money is tight and you’re not in a position to retain a firm, you don’t have to wait to get started.  There are some PR tips and secrets you can try.  With that in mind, the following is a pitching overview.

One approach to pitching a story is to use statistics in order to introduce your topic.  Let’s say you represent a skin care company and are doing a pitch to beauty consumer magazines or trade publications. You could start your pitch with a stat similar to the one below:

According to Skin Inc. “The markets in both Europe and the United States have seen positive gains in 2010. Europe has recovered posting a 3.0% increase following a 3.3% decline in 2009, and sales in the United States have increased by 2.7%.”

It may or may not be the right stat to lead with because it entirely depends on the specific angle or pitch you want to present. If you’re pitching a story about how the skin care arena is growing, look for statistics that back that up.  You can use one of two angles, one being that more and more people are using skin care and your product is at the leading edge of this boom, and the other being that your product or services are unique within this growing field.  Lead with the statistics to grab the media’s attention then follow with you particular pitch or angle.

It’s now time to make your specific pitch.  Remember you are not pitching a product or a service, you are pitching a story.  Don’t approach it from your perspective, but from that of the media.  Sure you want to sell more products and land more customers, but the media wants to tell a compelling story that interests it’s readers and helps it’s ratings. So when pitching, appeal to the media’s needs.

Now that you have the media’s interest, let them know that you have an expert who can address their needs.   Give your qualifications and explain why you are indeed an expert. Even it you’re pitching a product; it helps immensely to present yourself as an expert.  Remember, you don’t want to present a product spokesperson, but a true expert in the field of beauty and skincare; one who can talk about the product but can also discuss the latest trends, ingredients and changes in the field.  If you’ve been featured in other media outlets, let them know.  It makes the media feel more confident in your abilities if they realize that you’ve been in the media before.  If you haven’t that’s fine, but establish why you are an expert.

Finally, close with other topics and angles that you can address or comment on. Who knows, they might pass on your original pitch, but book you for one of the other suggestions.  More importantly the media will begin to see you as an expert in your field.  Those are the ones that get placed in the media rolodex, and that’s just where you want to be.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under business, Public Relations, traditional media Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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