PR Does Not = ROI

The good news.... Public Relations efforts are great for business.

The bad news.... Public Relations efforts will not put Benjamin's in your pocket.

If you're looking for your Publicist or PR company to give you some tangible means of measuring their success.... or failures, you'll be waiting a long time. If they tell you they can do this for you.... run, run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. My job does not exist to make you money! I exist to build you a reason why people should spend money with you.

I'm here to build, maintain and manage your reputation. If you think you can do this alone, by all means.... that is your decision. It can be done but it isn't going to be easy. Public relations efforts are time consuming. Strategy isn't as easy as writing a check to pay your employees or signing for a package. Writing press releases that are compelling and announce more than "I exist, I exist... come talk to me!!!" is not a ten minute project. Building a press contact list and keeping up with those who come and go in newsrooms is not a lunch hour task.... These things take time... and for you, time is money.

There is no "Return On Investment" in public relations. The return you get needs to be measured with a whole different yard stick. It can't be measured in the number of articles written about you... or who you landed a radio interview with. It can't even be measured with a LIVE TV truck outside your business. If any of those things happen.... that is the sweet spot., the icing! If you want to measure how well or, maybe not so well, your publicist or PR firm is managing you and your business.... Ask yourself these questions.

A. Exposure - Has your publicist created exposure of any kind for you? This can be in the form of a simple press release to a media outlet, regardless if they do anything on you. You will never know when an editor or assignment editor will call you, maybe months later because they need you as an expert.

B. Opinion Shift - Has your publicist changed the perspective of how people see you? A good publicity professional will create a great message about you... one that will shift your audience's idea about what you do and how you do it. For example, I'm working with a health care company right now. They are holding town hall events all over the country and need media attention. Well, as I told their Senior Marketing Director, if you tell the media that they should come to the event because they are a great company and there will be food and a great mariachi band, you can guarantee you'll be thrown in the trash before even making it to a newsroom meeting. News people despise being "sold." I have decided to alert the media about the events... but coupling that with experts and real people who can speak about issues that seniors, in that area, are concerned about. The "shift" is taking a dominate Health Care company... and positioning them as experts that truly CARE about their members and the population they serve.

C. Call to action - Has your publicist created a message that has a call to action? Does the message motivate people to do something? I'm working with a client that is raffling off a custom home (500k) to benefit charity. The idea is to get people to buy $100-dollar raffle tickets. My first order of business is to get the raffle itself "exposure".... from there.... I am creating story angles with the charities to get people motivated to purchase tickets.
Use some of these tools to measure your publicist or PR firm and how well they are doing the job for you. Don't be angry if you're not seeing your business in lights every month.... that's not how media attention works. Unless you pay out the nose for it. Don't be discouraged if you're not getting a TV appearance every 6-weeks! Creating awareness with meaningful messages... and creating a call to action is far more valuable to you. If you want a more direct return.... dig deep in your pocket... and call your closest TV station or advertsing firm. They will be Happy to take your money.

Risk and Reward

It recently came to my attention that the information I pass along here is actually being of use to some of my loyal readers. Trouble is…. I have very few.

So… I’m asking all of you who do find these blogs helpful, inspiring or just plain useless…. please take a risk… and pimp my blog out!

Blogging is a fantastic way to reach out across multiple industries, on multiple platforms and build bridges. I consider myself a major bridge builder…. Sometimes I do this for people…. sometimes I do this for my clients…. it’s really what I thrive on. The connection.

If you really want to build your brand… blogging is a great way to do it! This allows your potential clients a chance to establsih a “relationship” with you. A blog should be very professional, but by no means stiff…. ridged…. or come off to uptight. Blogging is a chance to speak plainly to your readers…. show them that not only are you bsuiness savvy, you’re human, reachable and touchable!

Blogging for business is a great tool…. it’s a trust building marketing tool that can give your business some unique publicity. Customers, clients and potential B2B entities can use this tool to find out what your brand is…. how you opperate… those potentials can connect with your current blog readers and clients…. who can be your “testamonial” of good business folk!

Take a risk and start a business blog…. and while you’re at it, talk about and post about my blogs! The REWARD will be well worth it….. afterall…. it’s all in who you know and what I can help you accomplish in this crazy world!

WildFire

As a publicist…. one of the toughest parts of my job is creating wildfire for my clients. I’m challenged each day to find information that is compelling so there is no way the heat can fizzle out.

And, it’s never ending…… becuase just as you tell your first story to a member of the media… they are moving right along to the next best thing.

So…. a lesson in publicity pyro-101…

1. Do you have a publicity calendar? This calendar should reflect potential press release dates…. personal media outreach to solidify media relationships…. events your business or organization might be doing that might be interesting to media professionals…. etc.

2. Are you doing your homework? What is making news in your industry? Some of my best advice for gaining local media attention is finding the “national” angle…. if you can take a national story that pertains to your business or organization and make it local…. you will be 5 steps ahead of your competitor or competing stories!

3. Get human! If you’re the owner of a small business, then chances are you are an expert in your field, right? Media pros love experts, but they love “real” people more! So…. when pitching your story to a journalist…. be sure to include the “human factor.” A real life person that has had success because of your business…. or can speak to why the public should pay attention to what you’re doing!

4. You might know your audience, and that is very important…. but it’s even more important to know your media outlet’s audience. Why?…. Well, if you pitch a story to, let’s say a TV station… whose demographic is mothers who live on the northside of town between the ages of 35 and 45…. and you pitch them a story about anti-auto theft devices…. yeah, they aren’t going tol take your story! Now…. If you can think outside the box and and turn that story into a something like why mothers of small children should be concerned about leaving their children in cars with anti auto theft devices…. you might get some media attention!

Combine these tactics to bring out your firestorm of a story…. Plan your pitches and allow the media enough time to react to them. Make sure you think national so you can get super local…. Bring out what is human about your business or organization… and make sure you “get” who is watching, listening and reading your media outlets messages! Know thier target audience… and carve your stories out for that audience….

That is how you create publicity wildfire!

Go be brilliant!

Or…. I can help you get to brilliant! Contact me at pur.publicity@gmail.com