How to get Your Name in the News
Do you think Lady Gaga, marketing genius, achieved the distinction of being the most-searched woman on Google without a PR plan? According to ReadWriteWeb.com, “Lady Gaga was ranked 3rd overall in news coverage, in magazine websites and music blogs, with 4,326 articles.”
Most businesses barely have a marketing plan, much less a written, strategically developed PR Plan. Yet it could be the very thing that helps you save advertising dollars AND gain an edge over your competition.
Review Last Year’s PR
If you received PR coverage, review it for its content. Compare it to last year’s plan. What got the media’s attention and what didn’t? Which editors gave you positive coverage and which gave you negative coverage? Can you tell why? Consider calling them to discuss it.
Search online for all results that include the name of your business. Now do the same thing for your closest competitors. Why did they get the coverage? Were their stories particularly interesting in some way? Did they target media that you didn’t target? Make a list of these angles and media targets to add to your list of PR objectives.
Articulate Your PR Objectives
When you take a vacation, you choose the destination first, right? So start by putting your PR objectives in writing. It can be simple – even a bullet-pointed list will suffice. Topics to cover will depend upon the type of business, your customers, your competition, and your target media.
Example objectives might include:
- New product or service launch coverage
- Company events announced
- Employee promotions or additions spotlighted
PR Tactics and Tools
With your written PR objectives in front of you, brainstorm activities that will help you plan and execute effective and consistent PR tactics. Consistency is the key, so get out a calendar or create a timeline as an integral part of your plan.
Try these additional PR tactics:
- Create a comprehensive PR contact list, with their preferred method of being contacted (ex: email or fax?)
- For each media, list their deadlines. If they come up short for content at the last minute, your press release just might fill that need.
- Schedule time on YOUR calendar for PR activities. Make an appointment with yourself!
- Call the media contacts and introduce yourself. Offer yourself as a subject matter expert. Sooner or later, they’ll likely call you when they need a quote on a story ion your field.
- Don’t forget about blogs and social media. These days, PR online might even eclipse PR offline.
What PR tactics have worked for your company? What should others avoid?
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ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:
Ms. Chapman’s new book, How to Make Money Online With Social Media: A Step-by-Step Guide for Entrepreneurs will be available very soon. With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com
Are press releases still the most effective tool for communicating your “news” with industry contacts? What are some effective alternatives? I feel like press releases more and more are just becoming “noise” and there must be some emerging trends that yield better results.