Starting
your PR Campaign
By Susan Young, President, AimFire Marketing
February 2008
Many people are
perplexed when they think of starting a public
relations (PR) campaign. So here are some tips to get the
ball rolling.
1.
Start
with your PR Strategy First. What are your company's sales
or customer acquisition goals? What is your unique
differentiator (see
my article on building your USP for more info)? What are the
trends in your industry? What are your competitors doing to
market or promote their businesses? Most importantly, what
information about your company or product/service might be
considered newsworthy to a reporter or to readers or viewers of
a specific media outlet?
2.
Build
your Media List. This
is the next logical step in your public relations planning
effort. Think of all of the newspapers, magazines,
e-newsletters, blogs or websites that your target audience might
read. Think beyond local newspapers to regional or even
international publications and trade magazines. Find a list of
reporters and editors who cover your beat (subject matter). Get
to know the publications and the stories they write or cover so
that you can properly pitch them on your idea later.
3.
Develop
your press release and/or story idea. The next step in the
PR process is to determine your method of publicity. Most people
start with a press release. Keep your press release simple and
to the point, trying to avoid technical jargon if possible.
Create a compelling headline and remember the inverted pyramid
rule - put the most important information toward the top. Don't
forget to close with your boilerplate "About XYZ
Company" paragraph with a link to your website and media
contact information (whether it's your PR firm or a marketing
person within your organization).
4.
Create
the pitch. Now
it's time to pitch your story idea to the reporters you have
chosen for the various media outlets. For my clients, I find
that email usually works best for the first pitch. Create a
short synopsis of your story idea in an email draft. Use this to
personalize the pitch to each media contact. Always paste your
press release or story below the pitch paragraph, and never as
an email attachment (reporters hate attachments and your email
will get banned to the spam filters). If you address the
reporter by name and try to show that you have done your
homework (read the publication and know the reporter's beat),
you'll have a greater chance of getting the reporter's
attention.
5.
Follow up.
Although you may get some responses right away, in most cases it
will take some prodding to hear back from any of the reporters.
Some will flat out tell you they are not interested, and that's
okay. There may come a time in the future when your information
will be of interest to them, so don't write them off your list.
The important thing to remember is to not become a pest by
calling and emailing the reporters nonstop. They receive a lot
of emails and calls every day and simply cannot respond to all
of them. Be respectful of their time and understand that your
story idea may not be a good fit, but it's not a personal insult
to you. Just continue to build good relationships with the media
and eventually your efforts will pay off.
6.
Develop
an online news room. My clients find it useful to build an
online media or news room section of their websites. This is a
great place to post your press releases, articles, case studies
or other information such as company brochures for downloading
or headshots or product photos. When you receive media coverage,
you can also post formatted versions of the articles in this
section. Not only are you portraying to your prospects and
customers that you are a well-recognized company, the media may
also discover you when doing their story research, so this
merely adds to your credibility.
7.
Keep
your name out there. Even if your first attempt at PR
doesn't go over so well, keep trying. The next time you send out
a press release, you might just find yourself landing a cover
story in your industry's major trade publication. Keep
submitting articles, case studies or press releases on a regular
basis, and keep updating your online news rooms. The initial
effort will most likely pay off in the end.
Susan Young is
president of AimFire Marketing, an Indianapolis, Indiana-based marketing,
public relations, website development and search engine
optimization company. You
can contact Susan and learn more about Aim Fire Marketing by
visiting www.aimfiremarketing.com.
Copyright
- AimFire Marketing. You can reprint this article on your
website or eNewsletter by including this statement and the above paragraph.
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