Effective Public Relations

The Oscar Race is On & Hollywood’s Media Machines Rev Up

anthonymora37 — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:01:48 +0000

Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo,” came away with eleven Academy Award nominations, and “The Artist,” which won the Golden Globes received ten. The two films, which are both about the bygone days of film making, head the list of best picture Oscar contenders announced Tuesday. Ironically there is a belief in Hollywood that films about films, particularly films about film making are doomed to die at the box-office. If true, at least this year they’d do so in style.

It’s interesting to sense the difference between the Golden Globes and the Oscars. As one well known film critic recently put it, the Golden Globes are so much fun, because they really don’t matter. The sense is that people go to the Globes to see and be seen, party, have fun, say things you’d never say at the Academy Awards and possibly help create a bit of a media buzz for your film. The Golden Globes is a PR vehicle. A feel good party where the winners hope to influence the Oscar voters.

The Academy Awards remain the main event. This will always remain the award the public views as the golden ring in the film business and it’s hard to tell the influence that the other awards have on the Oscars.

The best picture category is an interesting one with heavy hitter Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse,” going against, among others, Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.” Allen’s film hit a chord this year, and could result in an (all is truly forgiven) embrace from the Academy. Perhaps the most interesting inclusion is Terrence Malick’s (either love it or hate it) “The Tree of Life;” but it’s good to know mystics can climb the Hollywood heights.

Superstars Brad Pitt and George Clooney go head to head in the best actor category with Pitts’s “Moneyball” and Clooney’s “The Descendants” garnering a number of awards. Those two are where the glitz and glamour is, but that’s not always where the awards go.

The best actress category includes Meryl Streep’s performance as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady” and Michelle Williams’ role as movie legend Marilyn Monroe in “My Week With Marilyn.” It’s always a gamble bringing an icon to the screen, but in both cases the gamble paid off.

Now that the nominees have been named, the Hollywood movie machine media relations blitz goes into high gear. From here to the awards date the publicity and media campaigns run 24/7. Public relations, and some subtle and often not so subtle arm twisting are the staples of race to the Oscar. As long as Harvey Weinstein is involved in the race, it will be interesting.

Seib, Al. “Plaster Oscar statuettes used for rehearsals.” Photo. The Envelope. Jan. 2012. 27, Jan. 2012.

Starbuck’s Spirited PR Gamble

anthonymora37 — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:14:33 +0000

A Big Mac along with a glass of chardonnay? Who knows? That could be on the way. Starbucks is heading in that direction. The chain will soon be selling beer and wine in select locations. Four to six stores in the Southern California area will offer alcoholic beverages by the end of this year, as will some stores in Atlanta and Chicago

The chain began testing its new spirited approach in Seattle in 2010. Starbucks now offers beers for $5 and wines by the glass for $7 to $9 in five locations in that city and one in Portland, Oregon.

The questions are: what will this move do to the Starbucks brand? And how will customers have to change their habits in order for it to pay off? Currently the chain makes most of its daily sales by 2 p.m., which explains the foray into the spirit business. On the other hand around 75% of Starbucks customers are there for take out. That won’t work in the beer and wine business. These customers will have to say and enjoy their beverages in-house. And what about the kids and teens that have made Starbucks one of their staples. Will mom and dad be happy sending their kids to a beer and wine establishment?

If this were Europe, there would be no issue. There families are used to going to pubs or cafes where coffee, food and spirits are sold. But, the U.S. isn’t France or England and we generally have a different take on where liquor should and shouldn’t be served. And what happens when a Starbucks barista has to 86 someone? What will be the protocol for that?

Starbucks has built an amazing worldwide brand. It has regularly changed its menu offering different types of drinks and food items, but a jump into the world of beer and wine is a big one. Adding a new pastry, sandwich or fruit drink does not risk compromising the chain’s brand, but offering a happy hour where sprits flow freely will challenge the way many of its customers view the company.

Only time will tell if this gamble will pay off. Because it directly impacts their brand recognition, it could either turn out to be a PR miscue or a public relations homerun. Chances are it will land somewhere in the middle. Since they are only experimenting with a handful of stores, if the publicity effect is extremely negative, they can quickly shut the program down. But if the reaction is simply lukewarm, or only somewhat negative, they will most likely give the news stores a fair shot and launch a media relations campaign extolling the virtues of this new approach. If it works, it could become a one stop shop for buying one’s stimulants in the morning and depressants in the evening. The next big question could be, how are they going to get people to leave?

Sato, Kiichiro. “Starbucks’ alcohol menu being tested in a handful of shops in Seattle and one in Portland, Ore., includes Rogue Dead Guy Ale, a Pinot Noir from Oregon, a Prosecco from Italy and a Malbec from Argentina. Above, a Starbucks in Chicago. ” Photo. Los Angeles Times. 24, Jan. 2012. 25, Jan. 2012.

Gingrich Teaches the Media Political PR 101

anthonymora37 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:59:59 +0000

When on the ropes, go on the offensive and shift the story. Just a few weeks ago Newt Gingrich was pretty much counted out. He was in the race, sure, he kept it interesting, but he was certainly no front runner. And that wasn’t the worst of it; there was all of that baggage. Then the media came to the rescue. Gingrich reversed field. He shifted his attack. No longer were his opponents in South Carolina Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. His opponents were the interviewers.

Gingrich is a sharp politician; he knows that if you reframe the story you can shift the focus. Suddenly his opponents became the members of that dastardly evil empire – the media. Newt saved his most blistering attacks for John King of CNN, Juan Williams of Fox News and Brian Ross of ABC. These were the culprits that ended up in his crosshairs. It was the media, not his rivals in the presidential race, that Mr. Gingrich relentlessly attacked and those attacks ironically drove that very same media to keep him in the headlines. His media assaults gained him standing ovations from audience members at the debates.

It was CNN’s John King that Gingrich saved his heavy ammo for. King questioned Gingrich about Marianne Gingrich, whose ex wife told ABC news earlier that day that her ex-husband had asked her for an open marriage while he was having an affair with his eventual third wife. Gingrich certainly knew the topic was going to surface. It had been buzzing through every major media outlet that day. And he was prepared. After King asked the question, Gingrich paused and then fired back saying that he was “appalled” by King’s decision to begin the debate with that question, describing it as “close to despicable.” Gingrich himself explained that his criticism of the media was helping to position him as an anti establishment candidate and was endearing him to voters.

South Carolina was his prize. Whether he can continue with his media relations savvy to deflect the questions and reframe the story remains to be seen, but he has certainly proven himself to be one savvy media manipulator.

Somodevilla, Chip. “Newt Gingrich makes a point as he participates in the NBC News, National Journal, Tampa Bay Times debate held at the University of South Florida on Jan. 23, 2012 in Tampa, Florida.” Photo. ABC News. 24, Jan. 2012. 24, Jan. 2012.

Daily Tips On Using PR To Establish Yourself As An Expert In Your Field- Strategies D & E

anthonymora37 — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:55:09 +0000

Strategy D: You want to present yourself as an expert in a particular field. You can address a number of topics in your field, but you want to remain specific. If you try to present yourself as an expert on everything, chances are you’ll be perceived as an expert on nothing. The trick is to keep your focus, but broaden your scope. Can you present new ways of looking at or approaching your field? For example, if you run a company that produces skin care products, your main pitch is obviously going to be on how effective your product is, but can you develop a pitch about how your company is going green, or how the industry has changed in the past decade?

Strategy E : Work on presenting yourself as someone who not only understands your product or service, but as a resource who can explain your field to others. Are there new trends or new approaches that you can discuss and explain to the media and the general public? For example if you’re a musician or are launching a new record label, can you address how the music industry is shifting and explain how the various new trends in music are impacting the culture at large? Every industry has trends and shifts, position yourself as the expert who can explain them and discuss how they impact the public at large.

Daily Tips On Using PR To Establish Yourself As An Expert In Your Field- Strategy C

anthonymora37 — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:41:30 +0000

One of the main values of a public relations campaign is that it helps establish you as an expert in your field. But you need to help the media help you. Your job is to let them know why you’re an expert and make it as easy as possible for them to use you as a resource. With that in mind, this week, I’m going to focus on daily tips you can use to use PR and media relations to establish you as an expert in your field.

Strategy C: Breakdown the various ways you can present a topic. Review how the topic you’re discussing impacts women, men, children, seniors, etc. You can pitch the same basic story to a large number of media outlets, but you can’t use the same pitch or angle. For example, there’s a chance that you can pitch yourself to Redbook, CNN and the Wall Street Journal, but you’re not going to do so successfully unless you modify the pitch to meet each media outlet’s specific needs. If you can present yourself and the topic in different ways and to different audiences, you’ll have a much greater opportunity to garner media coverage as an expert in your field.

Daily Tips On Using PR To Establish Yourself As An Expert In Your Field- Strategy B

anthonymora37 — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:21:35 +0000

Strategy B You’re not going to be able to successfully pitch yourself as an expert if you don’t know what the media’s looking for. Study the various media outlets you’re looking to pitch yourself to on a regular basis. Understand the types of stories they cover and how they present them. Then practice pitching your story accordingly. If you can address any topics that are currently in the news, go for it. That offers you a perfect opportunity to present yourself as an expert. For example if you are an attorney and a lawsuit is garnering media coverage, pitch yourself as an expert who can address and explain different aspects of the case.

Daily Tips On Using PR To Establish Yourself As An Expert In Your Field -Strategy A

anthonymora37 — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:21:15 +0000

One of the main values of a public relations campaign is that it helps establish you as an expert in your field. But you need to help the media help you. Your job is to let them know why you’re an expert and make it as easy as possible for them to use you as a resource. With that in mind, this week, I’m going to focus on daily tips on how to use PR and media relations to establish you as an expert in your field.

PR Strategy A: You can’t expect the media to see you as a resource, unless you’ve positioned yourself as one. With that in mind, job #1 is to present yourself as a resource who will resonate with the media’s readers, listeners and/or viewers. Begin by making a list of the topics that you can address. You have a specialty; a topic or area that you’re expert in. That’s the main area you want to address, but if you move a little right or left of center, chances are you can come up with a much wider list of topics you can discuss. For example, if you’re a cardiologist, can you discuss the various ways that social media and the internet are changing the practice of medicine? That’s not exactly a cardiology story, but it does deal with medicine, the culture at large and can help establish yourself as an expert. Remember the bigger the media bull’s-eye, the greater your chances of success.

How To Approach Your PR and Marketing Campaign

anthonymora37 — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:08:44 +0000

Marketing, whether it be in the form of public relations, advertising, email marketing, social media or direct marketing, has to be a part of your business plan. Which mean it has to be a part of your budget. It’s important to view marketing as a part of your hard costs, as opposed to a luxury. Promoting your business is not an option, it’s a necessity. Cut out your marketing budget and chances are you’ll end up with a great business that stalls at the starting line. Either budget for some form of marketing campaign, or prepare to have your business stall, sputter and ultimately fail.

Regardless of the type of marketing campaign you choose to launch, keep in mind chances are you’re not going to hit a home run your first time at bat. There are those situations where you score big right off the bat, but don’t count on it. The most effective campaigns are long term, cumulative approaches. They need to be refined, adjusted, and modified. As you go, you learn.

If you choose to bring on an agency or public relations company, work with them. It’s a collaborative process. It’s important you work as a team to develop story ideas, media pitches and create a campaign that meets your needs but also allows your PR firm to meet the media’s needs. Don’t look to your friends and acquaintances to give you marketing and PR advice. Advice is cheap and easy to give. Everyone believes they’re marketing mavens, but few actually have a clue. If you start listening to everyone’s advice you’ll continually be in reactive mode. Your marketing campaign will function like an old fashion pinball machine, shooting to the right and then to the left with no focus, no point of view and no concrete direction

I read recently that, if a marketing approach makes you nervous, you’re probably on the right road. There is truth to that. Keep that in mind. If you need to invest a bit more than you planned, or you’re feeling uncomfortable about having to expose yourself a bit more than you’re used to, take a deep breath and move forward.

Before you take and action, define your target market. Initially focusing on one niche and one market is generally more effective than trying to cast a huge net. Focusing on satisfying everyone can be a problematic approach.

Listen to the market. The marketplace continually gives us feedback. If a particular marketing approach or media relations campaign isn’t working the way you’d hoped, it might not be the campaign itself, but the focus or the approach. Sometimes all it takes is some minor tweaking to go from a stalled marketing approach to an amazingly successful campaign.

Politics and the Death of the English Language. How Moderate Turned Bad:

anthonymora37 — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:58:40 +0000

One definition of moderate in Webster’s Dictionary is: “kept within due bounds; observing reasonable limits; not excessive, extreme, violent, or rigorous; limited; restrained”. From this definition, moderate would seem to be a positive attribute. Some synononyms are: reasonable, sensible, and judicious. Sounds like a good thing, eh? Well, think again, the language is shifting. From the attacks that rival Republicans are mounting on Mitt Romney, moderate is now a dirty word. A few years ago, a politician would have been praised for being moderate, now he or she is being accused of it. Who knows? Maybe this is just the start of the dismantling of the English language. Next election one of the slings and arrows that may well be volleyed by rivals will be that they have the audacity to be reasonable. Another word bites the dust.

How to Effectively Work with your PR Firm

anthonymora37 — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:24:24 +0000

Media relations is about building bridges between you and the media through effective storytelling. It’s not about selling or hawking or smoke and mirrors. It’s about showing the media why the story you have to tell will resonate with and impact their readers, viewers or listeners. The secret is to make your story work for the media and for their audience. Before launching a PR campaign, the job is to start thinking in terms of stories, hooks, and angles.

If you choose to hire a public relations firm, which you should if your budget permits, keep in mind that it’s still your job to help create the stories. No PR firm or public relations consultant will know your business the way you do. Yes, they can and should help you brainstorm ideas and angles, but you’re the one who knows your story and your business. Their job is to effectively tell your stories and build the bridge between you and the media. Your job is to help them find and develop the stories. I’ve worked with some clients where six months down the line they tell me about an amazing story that makes for a perfect media pitch. It’s great that I finally learned about it, but things could have moved much more quickly if I had known about it when the campaign started. Remember the job of a media relations firm is to tell your story and get you in front of the media. Your job is to give your PR company the tools, information and the stories to work with.

When looking for a PR firm, search for you that specializes in media relations and media placement. It’s more important whether the firm you choose knows how to pitch and place stories than whether they specialize in a particular field. Yes, you want a firm that knows and understands your field and your story, but more importantly, you want a firm that understands the media. You can always teach them and bring them up to speed about the ins and outs of your field and your company, but you can’t teach them how to pitch or place stories. Find a company that knows how to pitch and then work with them to develop the stories that work for you and your business.

The first thing I generally suggest is to place some stories on online media outlets to help demonstrate the relevance of your story by generating some initial coverage. Also, look for topical news stories that you can connect your story to. If you can tie your story to an issue that is getting coverage, you’ll have a much better shot at interesting editors and producers.

Paid wire services, like PR Wire, Business Wire and PRWeb.com, can be helpful, but you don’t want your PR firm to focus on simply placing press releases on the paid wire services. These generally work if you have a breaking story, or if your story is tied in with some type of celebrity news. If not, the best way to garner media coverage is to have your PR firm contacting the media via emails and phone calls directly. By actively working with your PR firm, you can develop a campaign that interests the media, lands you interviews and builds your brand and your business.