How To Use PR To Strike Media Gold & Grow Your Business
Synopsis: Pitch the media according to its needs, not according to yours. Be creative; give your pitch a makeover. Make it newsworthy. Help them meet producers and editors needs and they in turn will help you build your business, sell your products and establish yourself as one of the experts in your field
The media wants good, entertaining stories. Editors and producers want to interest as many readers viewers or listeners as possible and if you’re willing to work to help them do that, the media can become your greatest ally. Help them meet their needs and they in turn will help you build your business, sell your products and establish yourself as one of the experts in your field. But in order to do that you need to think not like a business owner, but like a journalist. You have to study the various media outlets, review the different formats, study the types of stories they’ve run in the past.
You’re going to succeed by learning how the media thinks, not by assuming you think they know what they want. You have to prepare, do your homework, study the various media outlets. The bottom line is a good story, but it has to be a story that the media finds of interest. Don’t assume because you find your particular story fascinating that the media will like it as well.
Think like an editor, think like a producer. Work backwards. Look at the particular media you are targeting. Who is the audience? What is the basic age range? Does it appeal to primarily men or women? What type of stories does it generally run? Now put yourself in the place of the editor or producer – how could you fit a story on your business, product, or talent into the format of that media outlet? What story would work? What would the focus be?
For example, let’s say that you are launching a new beauty product. Okay, the women’s publications such as Vogue, Allure and W are naturals, but you need to give them a pitch that works. Every beauty company is shooting to get in those magazines. What makes your product different? What’s your hook? Don’t just shoot for the majors. Consider the beauty trade publications. Pitch your local media a story about a start up beauty company that’s in their own backyard. Find some statistics about the beauty business and pitch a business based story to the Wall Street Journal and business sections of newspapers. Develop a good visual hook and pitch a holiday new-look-for-the-New Year TV beauty segment. With a little persistence and creativity you can come up with a number of hooks and story ideas that can work.
Pitch the media according to its needs, not according to yours. Be creative, give it a makeover. Make it newsworthy. Take the time to create compelling stories and you can become the media’s best friend. By doing that you can use the validation and credibility of being featured in the media to build your business, sell your products and establish your brand.
Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010
Tags: business, media, pr, public relations
