PR Success: Meeting the Media’s Needs

January 19, 2011 Leave a comment

You have a busy schedule, you have a job to do, a business to run, products to sell. Your time is valuable.  Sure you want media coverage, but who do they think they are telling you when and where the interview is going to take place?  Well… they’re the media.  Sure, you want press coverage, that’s why you’ve launched your public relations campaign.  Working on their schedule might be inconvenient, you might think it’s not fair, but it’s reality and if you play it smart, it can pay off for you in a big way.

Although you will often have time to plan and arrange your schedule before an interview, there are going to be times that the media wants to do an interview immediately, or wants to schedule it at a time that is inconvenient.  Even worse there will be times when the media reschedules an interview at the last minute, forcing you (once again) to change your plans.  One PR client told me that he was willing to appear on the Today Show, but that they had to come to him and that the only available time he had was between 1 and 3 p.m. on Saturday. Needless to say, he and I had a long talk.  He did the Today Show and not on a Saturday.

There may be times that you’re just not going to be able to accommodate the media’s schedule. There are going to be some interviews that you’ll have to miss. But only miss an interview if it’s completely unavoidable; the plague, an alien invasion, you get the picture. You may be annoyed, and you may be angry at having to revolve your day around their schedule, but if you can possibly arrange your schedule so that you can make the interview, do it. The press isn’t purposely trying to inconvenience you. I’ve worked as an editor and a producer and wouldn’t believe the amount of times that journalists have to switch from one story to another on a moment’s notice. A million things can come up that change their schedule; a fire, an international breaking story, a Presidential speech, any number of stories are going to change their day, and yours.  This is just the nature of the business. It happens all the time.

It does you no good to take your anger out on the interviewer or the producer. It was not done to harm you. The decision was circumstantial. Always keep your objective in mind, which is to establish your brand, build your business and create success through media exposure. You’re going to accomplish your goal by reaching as many people as you can. Your objective is to do those interviews, not to alienate the press. Remember, press begets press. Every interview you do is helping to pave your way to greater success.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under Marketing, Media, Press Release Writing, Public Relations Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Your Gratitude To-do List

December 28, 2010 Leave a comment

“The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now.  And the more grateful you are, the more you get.”  So says Oprah.  Now whether you are an Oprah fan or not, one thing you have to give her is – she knows how to succeed.  So maybe there is something to this gratitude business.  At the very least, it’s worth a try.  We’re taught to strive, struggle, plan, work, toil… you know, all that fun stuff,  Then we focus on making as much as we can, The one with the most toys wins, or so the saying goes.

It’s easy to get lost in the struggle and spend the rest of our time resentful that we’re not accumulating as much as we want, or as much as we feel we deserve.   But in between the struggle and the accumulating we often forget the best part.  We forget to enjoy, to relax, to appreciate, to be grateful.

Generally I write about how to pitch your product or service, how to actively grow your business, and how to use social media and public relations to establish your brand.  Important stuff; useful stuff.  But that’s just a part of the equation.  A gratitude how-to list is the business focus for today.  To grow your business you have to not only actively work towards your goals, you also need to learn how to let go, relax and be grateful for what you already have.  It sounds counterintuitive, but think about it.  When driving a car do you simply push harder and harder on the accelerator in order to reach you destination?  There is a certain recipe for failure, to put it mildly.  If you’re smart you speed up, slow down, stop, look around and enjoy the scenery as you travel towards your destination.  If you’re really smart, you’re grateful that you even have a car and if you don’t have a car, you’re grateful for what you do have.

We’re generally going through the motions in our day.  Our actions become route robotic, or anxious and frenzied.  We are so firmly focused on where we’re going we forget to pay any attention to where we are.  We are so focused on what we perceive as the final goal or the brass ring, or whatever we choose to call it, that we forget that the journey truly is the destination.  We never arrive at that magical “there”, because that place doesn’t exist.  We move through a series of destinations; but the sad part is we generally ignore or minimize them because they are not “the” destination.

Just as launching a marketing or PR campaign takes some work, research and brainstorming, so does learning how to practice gratitude; so, for now forget about your business plan or your marketing plan or your to-do list.  Make a different list this time.  Make a list for everything you have to be grateful for.  And don’t be stingy here; be lavish, extravagant.  If you end up with a small list, go back and add some more points.

Your next assignment is to find signposts that remind you to practice this.  There is a tree that stands on top of one of the hills in Griffith Park, not far from my office.  It stands by itself.  To me, there is something magical about it.  I see it about once or twice a day as I’m driving.  It’s my gratitude reminder.  Not only am I grateful that that tree exists, it reminds me to be grateful for everything else I have.  So that’s the last item on your gratitude to-do list.  Find your tree

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010

 

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

Brainstorming Secrets for Success in the New Year

December 23, 2010 Leave a comment

Start the New Year with a new attitude and a new marketing plan.  The best way to do this is to step back and look at your business in a whole new way.

Set up a Brainstorming Session Time for the New Year.  Block a couple of hours, or better yet half a day and invite your marketing team or PR consultants to look at your business in a whole new way.  If you don’t have a marketing team, that’s fine, you are now your official marketing team.  Invite your employees, associates or anyone you trust, who you feel has some understanding about your business.  This is not a “business meeting”.  This is to be a fun, adventurous time to play with ideas, options, feelings, new approaches, and interesting story angles.

The purpose is to come up with new, unique ways that you can market your business and tell your story.  Remember the best marketing campaigns tell good stories.  You don’t want to simply say “buy my product or service because it’s good”.  Everyone says that and because everyone says it, no one listens to those messages, or at least very few people do.  You want to use the Brainstorming Session to help you go beyond that roadblock.  Don’t hold back; be creative.  Remember you don’t have to use all these ideas, but if you don’t allow yourselves to really let the creative ideas flow; you could end up missing out on some of your best marketing and media relations stories.

Look at your business, product or service from all angles.  Is there a story in how the product or company was founded?  Is there a unique journey story that tells about how you came to develop the product or service?  Maybe you started the company because of a personal experience you had.  Did you jump from one career track to follow the road less traveled?  What type of challenges did you encounter?  What inspirited you to start your business?  Was there an “aha” moment that changed your direction in life?  There is a whole range of human interest stories that can connect with the public.  By telling a compelling story you get others to listen, to understand and bond with you.

And what about the business, service or product itself?  Is there a different approach you use?  What problems does it solve?  How does it differ from others in the field? Has it been updated or modified in any way?  Is it smaller, larger, brighter, less expensive, more user friendly, or more effective?  How could you present it that’s somewhat different?

And don’t forget the most important focus; how has your business or product affected others? How has it helped change lives?  Has it made life easier?  Has it made people richer, thinner, smarter, faster, or happier?  Do you have clients who would be able to tell their story to the media?  The best public relations campaigns are those that tell transformational stories.  If you have some that illustrate how your businesses has affected the life of others, you’re on the right track.

Awhile back we represented a long term health care center.  The basic stories there had to do with the various aspects around that type of care, along with the challenges of caring for those with dementia and Alzheimer’s. One day while I was visiting the client, we held a brainstorming session.  While we were meeting, I noticed that there was a small dog that followed one of the nurses form room to room.  Something clicked and I wrote a press release about the dog as one of the facilities’ favorite employees.  The dog didn’t see old age, didn’t care whether someone was in a wheelchair, or had memory problems.  The dog loved them all the same.  By presenting it this way, I was able to shift what could be seen as a depressing story to a warm and fuzzy tale (so to speak).  It worked.  We were able to land coverage in Time, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, NPR, NBC, ABC, the Discovery Channel and other media.  Without the brainstorming session, none of that would have happened.

So block some time, have fun with it and have your own Brainstorming Session. Believe me; it’s worth it.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010

Filed under Marketing, New Years Resolutions, PR Campaign Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

PR Strategy: Rethink, Re-energize & Re-ignite Your Business

December 6, 2010 Leave a comment

It’s that time, the year is drawing to a close.  The new year is looming and with it comes new opportunities.  For most businesses, December is a slow time, for others it is the busiest time of the year.  Regardless of where your business falls in that range, as the year comes to a close, put some time aside to rethink, reenergize and reignite your business’s PR and marketing strategy.

Use this time to take your business matters into your own hands.  If your business isn’t coming to you the way you would like it to – go to your business.  Reach out.

Some Quick Tips:

1. Speak to them directly.  Let your potential consumers, clients and customers know not only that you’re there, but what you offer.

2. Separate yourself from your competition.  Develop programs and services that are new and captivating.

3. Present your products in a new way.

4. Speak to your clients or customers needs.  Address their problems and let them know how you offer solutions.  Become a problem solver, a trusted expert in your field.  Be the person or the company that your target market turns to.

Brainstorm Your Stories: You’re not going to reach your market by waiting for them to come to you.  You need to reach out and speak directly to them.  Set aside some time this month to schedule a brainstorming session.  If you have a public relations company on board, or a marketing team, have them in the meeting.  Otherwise bring in some of your employees or associates. Block a couple of hours where you can be undisturbed.  Make this a fun experience.  Now throw out every marketing and PR idea you can think of.  I’ll be writing an article devoted strictly to brainstorming, but you get the basic idea.  Don’t hold back; be creative.  Remember you don’t have to use these ideas, but if you don’t allow yourselves to really let the creative ideas flow; you could end up missing out on some of your best marketing and media relations stories.

Define and Refine Your Target Market(s): Now define your target market, or target markets.  You hopefully know your primary market, but has it changed?  Is there another way you could approach it?  Are there secondary target markets that you’re missing?  If your’s is primarily a male oriented market, is there a way that you can broaden your scope to attract female clients?  Can you repackage your marketing to attract a different age group?  You get the idea.  This is an extension of the brainstorming concept, but here you’re not focusing on the type of marketing promotion or public relations, your focus is on who your clients and/or customers are.  Focus not only on who they are, their age, sex, interests, etc., but also on where you can reach them.  What do they read?  What do they watch? What do they listen to?  What sites to they visit?

Create Your New Marketing Mix: This leads you to your final step, creating your marketing mix.  Once you’ve brainstormed your marketing and PR ideas, and have defined (and hopefully redefined your target market) now focus on how you’re going to reach your market with your new marketing ideas.  What marketing programs and campaigns will best meet your needs and reach your customer base.  Again, continue in brainstorming mode.  List all of the ways that you can reach your target market such as advertising, direct mail marketing, public relations, email marketing, social media and blogging, etc.  Although every company will have a different marketing mix, every company should have a program that includes public relations and social media.  Combined those two approaches reach your target market and offer you validation and credibility.  But your exact marketing and media mix will be specific to your company’s needs, so take some time to study your market and promotional avenues.

Now that you’ve brainstormed your ideas, your target market and defined your new marketing mix, you are ready to make this your best, and most financially rewarding, New Year on record.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010

Filed under Business Strategy, Marketing, PR Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Long Term PR Strategies To Make More Money

November 11, 2010 1 Comment

An effective public relations campaign takes planning, time, and work. You need to mine your stories and use the media you garner to land more media. A truly effective PR campaign cannot be launched or realistically measured in two four or even six months. Once you do decide to move forward, begin with some clear specific objectives.

Study your business plan. How can media placement help you meet your objectives? Do you want to increase your business by a third in one year? Do you want to open another store or branch? Do you want to take a product national? What are your long term goals? Without such goals, you have no way to measure the success of the campaign.
Keep your eye on the future. Remember, media placement is a long-term, cumulative process. If you are only looking five weeks or even six months down the line, broaden your scope. Write down your short-term and long-term objectives. Where does media placement fit in? How can an effective media relations campaign help you achieve your objectives?

A plan that has you appearing on Oprah, The Tonight Show, or in Time Magazine and The Wall Street Journal within the first two months of your campaign, is not a plan, that’s fantasy. One particular client we’ve worked with for several years has been featured in Time Newsweek, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, NPR and countless other media outlets, but those placements did not come about overnight. They were part of a long term commitment to achieving her PR objectives.  If the client had stopped her campaign in two or three month’s time, she would never have been in Time or the Wall Street Journal and would never had known that her campaign was on the road to success. That indeed would have been a waste of time and money.

Approach your marketing as a part of your overall business strategy.  Remember launching an effective PR campaign for your company is not a luxury, but a necessary powerful, key marketing tool. Think of it as being an integral part of your company’s long term marketing strategy.
Copyright© Anthony Mora 2010

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Six (More) Insider Tips to Pitching the Media

October 6, 2010 1 Comment

In a previous article I listed five secrets to pitching the media.  Those work.  Give them a try.  But there are a variety of different ways to interest producers and editors.  Remember your job is to meet the media’s needs; to give them stories that talk directly to their readers, listeners or viewers.

When pitching, put yourself in the place of the editor or producer you’re pitching.  Before you pitch a story to Vogue, the Wall Street Journal, the Today Show or the local media, figure out what stories they’re looking for as opposed to simply concentrating on the stories you want to pitch.  Remember they are looking for new and unique angles that will interest their audience.

Develop your primary story:  Your basic story may well stay somewhat the same, but you need to modify the pitch to meet the needs of each magazine, newspaper, radio show and TV outlet.  Develop a number of secondary pitch ideas

If you work it right, you can position it so that they need you and your story ideas as much as you need you need them.  When crafting your media pitch don’t limit yourself to one angle or approach.  Develop a mix of story ideas.  Some of your pitches might be serious; others might be fun or lighthearted.  The following are six more PR secrets to placing stories in the media.

1) Position yourself as an expert.  For example, if you’re an attorney and a legal case is in the news, you can position yourself as an expert to discuss the case or the issues. You don’t have to be one of the attorneys directly involved in the case. What you need to do is present yourself as an expert who can address the topic.

2) Find a strong local, human interest-oriented angle to your story. When pitching the local media, keep the emphasis on the word “local.” If you’re a hometown gal or guy that has created a new product or service, talk about your roots to the city or the community. Bring the local angle and flavor to your story.

3) Always keep in mind that you don’t want to pitch your product or service to the media; you want to pitch the outcome and the benefits. For example, if you’re a physician, don’t pitch your expertise, pitch a patient story that the media can follow.  Give them a story.

4) Develop an underdog story, one where you beat the odds and won.  Everyone roots for the underdog and those types of stories have a great narrative.  You’re able to tell a full story complete with the problem, the journey and the ultimate overcoming-the-odds conclusion.

5) Disagree with a popular point of view.  Embrace controversy.  Explain why all the experts are wrong.

6) Use opposites:  men versus women, teenager versus adults, Midwesterners vs. west coasters, suburbanites vs. city dwellers, etc.

Have fun with your pitch ideas.  Be creative and remember, if you meet the media’s needs – you’ll always meet yours.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010

Filed under business, Business Strategy, Marketing, Media, Media Coverage, Media Relations, PR, PR Campaign, small business Public Relations, Your Message Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

How To Create A Niche Market For Your Business

September 8, 2010 1 Comment

It’s tempting to think that your product is perfect for… everyone.  Now, there is a broad market sector.  Generally when a company markets to everyone it’s listened to by no one.

Not only that, if you want to market to everyone, that means your marketing has to be everywhere, which generally means you need to invest millions in your campaign.

There are times where your product or service will define your market for you.  For example, if you produce golf clubs you have a pretty good idea of who to market to, although even within such a defined market you can generally drill down quite a bit and define a variety of different markets within the overall target audience.  Let’s get a little more general, let’s say you develop a line of lipstick.  You’re primary market is female, that is somewhat safe to say, but that still leaves you a rather large terrain.  Is your primary market teenage girls, women in their 20s to early 30s, women over 40?  Are you focusing on women who shop at Wal-Mart, Nordstrom’s, or trendy boutiques? These are just a few of the questions that you’d need to answer before you launched your line of lipstick.

Let’s broaden the scope even more.  Let’s say you’re selling a new brand of bottled water. Everyone drinks water.  Your market is infinite, right?  Wrong.  What you need to discover is who drinks your brand of bottled water.  Are you targeting men, women, teens, seniors, athletes, moms, who are your customers?

Finding a niche market does not mean that you will only focus in that arena, it means you will create a following a loyal group of buyers who know and trust your product or service.  Once you establish yourself in a niche market, you can then branch out and develop customers in other arenas.  By targeting your approach, your odds of success are also much greater and your risks are reduced.

But how do you know what your market is?  First and foremost know your product or service.  What does it offer? What problems does it solve? Whose life does it make easier?  If you truly know and understand your business it will lead you to your customers.  Be honest with yourself. Don’t develop a product that is perfect for college students that are on a budget and then market it to private jet owners.  That is an exaggeration, but I’ve seen companies who refuse to see their true customer base because they had a preconceived idea of the market they wanted to capture.

To start, you need to be sold on and passionate about your product or service.  If you don’t believe in it, don’t expect anyone else to.  Know your business.  As I mentioned, if you truly know your product or service it will help define your market for you.  Take some time to research that there is a need for your product.  Don’t create a business solely because it interests you.  A hobby is not always a business.  In some cases it can be, but make sure you have researched the need and demand for your business.

Now if the demand is there, you’re onto something.  Create the best product or service that you can and go forward.  Figure out exactly who your potential customers are.  Where do they buy?  What magazines or newspapers do they read?  What TV shows do they watch? What sites would they visit on the internet? Once you have that information, you have your direction.

If you’re working on a limited budget start with a targeted PR campaign combined with a social media/blogging campaign.  If you have the funds hire a public relations firm, otherwise, do some homework, learn the basics and start by launching your own targeted niche marketing campaign.  You can broaden your scope and target other markets as you grow, but to start, find a niche, develop your marketing and media relations campaign and grow your business.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010

Filed under business, internet marketing, Marketing, Media, PR, PR Campaign Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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