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