Hello Out There: Why Letters to the Editor Are Pure PR

Dear Bad Pitch Participant:

You have to remember that all democracy truly guarantees us is death, taxes and (says Mark Twain) good ole Letter to the Editor. The latter is one of the most effective ways to get coverage in your favorite newspaper or magazine.

I, however, do not recommend death or taxes.



But remember: There are hundreds of more subtle plugs in the Letters section!

If you’re like most people, whether you flip through Vogue, The New York Times or Computer User, you set up camp for a few minutes on the LTTE section to read what people are griping about, snicker at the journalists’ boo-boos — where publications run their corrections — and other lurid pursuits.

But there’s another side to the section. Besides being a great place to rant, it’s also a good spot to shift opinions-at-large and plug your business to boot! It’s PR through and through.

Pick up any publication — let’s say BusinessWeek — and take a long, hard look at the letters. In this particular and randomly selected issue, neatly tucked onto page 19, Richard J. Martin, EVP for Public Relations and Employee Communication at AT&T, takes up a full page (small print, naturally) to grind an extremely angry ax and truly straighten out, he says, the “blatant distortions” served up in an article the week before. Now, there are two sides to every story, and Mr. Martin decided that his side should be long, packed with juicy sound bites and free of editorial banter. Martin got away with sentences such as, “AT&T Broadband’s combined telephony, high-speed data and digital-video growth leads the industry,” and the hearty “After AT&T Broadband spins off and merges with Comcast, AT&T will have one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry.”

Amen.

I’m sure that after BusinessWeek printed these sentences, Martin and his pals were high fiving each other in the conference room, sparking up Churchills left and right.



The AT&T incident was a pretty obvious example, but there are hundreds of more subtle plugs in the Letters area. You don’t have to be a big muckety muck setting the record straight or call a journalist on a blunder. There is plenty of space to write in support of an article you’ve read and then (aren't you good) work your message, subdued, subliminal, or totally “out there,” into your point.

Here’s an example: In 1998, I (author of Native’s Guide To New York) ogled a cover story in Time Out New York. The writer of that article claimed Giuliani was closing nightclub after nightclub - trashing city’s economy without taking the requisite early evening nap!

Said New York expert recognized the mud slinger as the PR guy for a nightlife association and wrote a strong letter in response, stating that thousands of partiers frequented one night club or another on Friday eve, but about 100,000 day trippers visited one of the dozens of museums and galleries (a la Native’s Guide) daily. He (“I”) mentioned how it was unfortunate to sight Disco Stu writing under guise of a wholly unbiased reporter.

One more, to make you realize how crucial the LTTE is: In 1990, aging singer George Michael released a CD (“Listen Without Prejudice Volume I”) and then announced how much he hated being on display, as though being a pop singer meant he should be completely private. It was the ultimate display of gosh-you’re-kidding chutzpah.

If you heard him whining — claiming he would not tour, do videos or even promote his downer collection of ballads — you weren’t alone. Oldster (he was alive) Frank Sinatra felt the same way and made it known in a classic and quite frank Letter To The Editor appearing in the LA Times after Hollywood’s paper of record published George muttering about his so-called problems. Frank told Michael that he was, without mincing words, a wimp who should be thrilled that fame had brought him to such heights. Inferring that he didn’t know the singer — his work nor existence — Ol’ Blue Eyes exclaimed how “he [Michael] should have it all taken away from him” and reconsider how sad his life was then. The letter was referenced in court years later when Michael ironically sued Sony for, uh, not promoting him enough. With this in mind it’s good to remember people read, collect, e-mail, tweet, save for posterity, and use these often-passionate missives.



The specific purpose of the Letters section is to give readers the opportunity voice their opinions on what’s going on in the publication and in society at large, so make use of it, turn it to your advantage, and make yourself and what you’re up to relevant at every opportunity. Also, reporters, dare I say, check Letters and snatch up story ideas and sources using letters as inspiration!

So that’s it. Be the letter writer. As Samuel Clemens said: use that gift to learn its value.

Yours truly,

Laermer
(@laermer)

Summer, Baby, Is Coverage Time: Tips for Real PR

Some are saying this is going to be a non-news summer. Hard news seems to only happen when it’s about the economy—and that’s even dimming some. That leaves a lot of domestic space to occupy! More space means plenty of opportunities for coverage in daily papers, on network affiliates, and in trade, consumer and business magazines (especially those weeklies!), not to mention blogs, vlogs, and the whole ‘og world from now till the end of the slow-w-w summer months. Below are 5 tips to help you maximize your coverage in this time of our need.



Make it timely

As you develop story angles for the season, remember it is summer. Whether you’re talking about a summer gadget (easy) or a medical device (hard), tie your pitch to something relevant to the here and now. For example, a lot of travel goes on this time of year, so tie your company, product, or service to summer travel (airfares…heat, sun..SPF..etc.).

Work the holidays

July 4th falls on a Saturday this year, creating opportunity for a fantastically long weekend, so most will take the 6th off — including experts who might otherwise be available to appear on TV. Make your company expert (you do have an expert?) available on holiday weekends—especially the 4th of July and Labor Day—when producers have a tough time finding guests.

Think smallish

Coverage in smaller markets or in smaller-circulation publications can be just as effective in achieving business objectives. Getting coverage in key markets is easy if you take the time to understand and include a local summer angle. For example, Milwaukee has a lovely lakefront where many denizens spend their summer weekends — can you tie that to your story? Milwaukee might be a second-tier DMA, but it’s only an hour’s drive from Chicago!

Present company

If you haven’t submitted products to relevant holiday gift guides, get going! Today! Many long-lead monthlies have deadlines any day now; some have already passed, but there are plenty out there for you to crawl onto. Just make sure you have images and specs at the ready.

Agency review, friend

If you’re not getting the coverage you merit — or, if you’re not seeing clear return on your PR investment—summer is the time for the ole agency review. Identify five companies and simply ask them what they would do for you—and who would do the work—given the chance to take it on. Compare this to what you have now. Even if you stay with the old firm, it’s good to hear new thinking, particularly about angles and opportunities. Time spent researching is never a waste! Just ask the folks at RLM, and they’ll tell you: “I research, therefore I am.” (Apologies to Descartes.)



You see, dear participant, although the lean summer months are considered by many to be a barren media wasteland, with the right attitude and some out-of-the-box thinking, they can be just as fruitful as any other month. As usual, though, success is up to you. It is merely a choice – a tough choice, sure – but what about the PR business isn't tough?

If you need something MORE to do this summer, call me. I have a lot of filing for ya.

Okay, a nicer ending: Tweet me @laermer.

What Are We-- Meeting Planners?

It is unavoidable. No matter who your client is, or what demographic they are a part of -- old line companies with brand pedigree, start ups with deep VC funding, or a nonprofits dedicated to doing good – they will have their internal meetings during your weekly PR conference call. Write it down and file it between “The sun will rise tomorrow,” and “Paris Hilton is annoying.”



The scenario works like this: Your agency team is assembled around the speakerphone, breathlessly eager for the weekly client conference call. The call begins and the account manager is effortlessly traversing the agenda like clockwork. Then it happens.

Innocently enough, the client’s public affairs officer remarks to someone in charge of online marketing, “Did you know that division one’s marketing campaign starts on Monday?”

“We didn’t know anything about it!” responds the online marketing guy.
The train has now left the station. Before you know it, the client team is chatting amongst itself about budget, collateral and everything else under the sun, all the while forgetting – or ignoring altogether -- that the purpose of the call is external PR.



What are we, Mr. Client? Chopped liver? Last night’s dish water? I think we should add a meeting coordinator fee to our monthly retainer. If you want to pay us to get your inside ducks in a row, we are happy to help, but that isn’t our business and it surely isn’t in our contract. We are PR pros, not meeting planners. And you are wasting everyone’s time.

The agency team had worked tirelessly to execute last week’s objectives and to move forward on any new tasks. The team has questions, too, and they need to get them answered in order to be effective service providers.

The intrepid account manager, responsible for using everyone’s time efficiently, is sitting there befuddled; she wants to make sure this call isn’t bogged down in a morass of minutia.

She has to regain control of the call—this instant. Although the client team appears to enjoy the chatter and might bristle at first when you rein them in, they will ultimately appreciate how much you value their (and the paid-for) time.

It is very easy to simply press the mute button on the speakerphone and make silly faces at the cacophony on the other end. Resist the urge. That’s too easy. Use the opportunity to demonstrate leadership skills and gain the client’s respect by getting the call back on track.



When the leader of the call takes a breath from his tirade, interject with a hearty, “As we were saying…”

If, perchance, someone on their side of the call says something germane to your PR efforts while they’re musing on their own, use that to your advantage. Say, “We’d like to piggyback on what so-and-so said,” or, “He has a good point…” The goal is to get back in the conversation and return to your well-planned agenda.

If none of the above works, then “Team, let’s get back on track” should do the trick. If that doesn’t work—hang up. You owe it to your client to keep them on task. Plus, you have PR to provide. Let someone else plan the meetings.

Follow me @laermer

For breaking Bad Pitch news, follow @badpitch

The Pitch That Cried Wolf

There are only so many reporters and bloggers covering the field or industry you play in, whether it’s automotive technology, software, clothing, or architectural design. With time and experience, you will wind up speaking to them all one day—or their brethren. In a world of instant communication and shrinking inner circles, a PR person who cries wolf with a few off-the-mark pitches is blackballed in a hurry.



There’s nothing the media dislikes more than vapor (a non-story), so don’t pitch it. Click over to Business Wire, PR Web, or any of its ilk on a given day and you can count up hundreds of thousands of dollars spent propagating vapor news. “Small Company A Signs Agreement with About-to-Fold Company B” or “InterSliceTech.com Launches Bleeding-Edge Customer Tracking Functionality.” Find us a journalist who actually wants to write about topics like that (how do they affect anyone else besides the people who wrote the releases?) and we will tip our hats to that PR person (who has a reporter cousin, of course).

The danger in vapor is that it builds a name for you quickly. The wrong name. If you’re dabbling in handheld technology, say, and you pitch Jason Kincaid, well-known gadgetry guy from TechCrunch, on every software upgrade, he’s going to learn very rapidly not to take seriously any pitch you send his way. Who cares? The danger is that when you have real news, the kind that matters, such as the launch of your new device that makes the iPac shake in its boots, Jason will not pay attention because you’ve proven yourself to be a vapor merchant.

Before you blast out a cluster bomb of e-mails or send that release over the wire, consider long and hard what’s interesting about it. Is it fascinating just because you’ve spent three tireless months working on the content? Is it amazing because your latest noodling brings you one step closer to a competitor that no one’s ever heard of? If that’s the case, hold off and wait ’til you have something worthier of the presses; in other words, don’t believe your own story too much.

Larger public companies are especially guilty of pushing vapor into the press. There’s a theory out there, one we don’t subscribe to, that if you don’t have a steady, weekly stream of information crossing the wires—also known as “the machine”—your business’s progress has sunk to an uncompetitive pace. Remember that with public companies, their news unfortunately engenders an article or two (unfortunately, because it makes the firm think that what they put out is urgent, and so it compels them to keep the vapor machine oiled).

Yet when this non-urgent-news-pushing firm truly has something worth chatting about, the press may not bite. Everyone at the firm scratches their heads and wonders why. But reporters and analysts are glazed over from the hundreds of newsless missives shot through that PR cannon. And they are all too familiar with firms that cry wolf.

The take-away is that vapor works only rarely. For example, it did for the whole of Seinfeld. If what you desire is respected coverage continually, sit on the vapor (“CEO sneezed today!”), and don’t put it out. You’ll only numb the reporters who should care and who should notice that what you do is important. Being important is paramount.

For more topics like this, follow www.twitter.com/laermer

Making of a Media Darling: A Simple How To

It’s no coincidence that some companies and products receive constant media coverage, while others never see the light of day. While a solid, innovative product has a lot to do with the coverage a company or product receives, there are other crucial factors affecting a successful media campaign. Below are the top four reasons that companies become media darlings.

Creativity (when a straight product pitch won’t cut it)
It’s all about how the story is pitched. Since there are only so many latest, most innovative, sexiest companies or products, creatively positioning a pitch can be the difference between getting coverage and getting a dial tone.

For example: RLM formulated a pitch for a lip balm. Instead of pitching the gooey product as its own story, we used a dermatologist as a spokesperson, and pitched a TV segment on keeping your skin healthy during the cold, dry winter months. As the dermatologist was giving tips, she worked in the lip balm as a great preventive measure and therapy for dry lips. The producer was happy because she had an expert giving her audience free advice and our (thrilled) client got a brand mention on live, and then viral, TV.

Uniqueness
Of course, if a product is groundbreaking or completely different, media coverage is all but guaranteed. My five-year-old nephew could have placed Viagra or BOTOX stories.

Timeliness/current events
Timeliness is always a key factor in securing optimal media coverage. For example, there is no better time to pitch a digital camera than December for the holiday Gift Guides.
In addition to leveraging reoccurring events such as holidays or seasons, using current events like a really unusual election (read: recall) can also pay nice dividends. For instance, we pitched a “career expert” client so that she could give commentary on life-changing careers as she promoted her new book.

Relationships
At the risk of sounding self-serving, which I risk every day, a good PR firm with established relationships is a key component to placing a story. As with anything in business, strong relationships will take you far. Developing mutual trust and respect with producers and editors will not only increase the chances that they will take a call from a PR pro, but it also increases the likelihood that they will cover stories that have less “headline appeal.”

Yes, of course, these four factors do not guarantee media coverage (or lack thereof), but understanding them will increase your chances of being the next big thing.

Simply put, at that point you can decide if autographs are allowed, darling.

What Just Happened To The Long Tail?

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson has been the rage for a while. It’s actually a fad. I keep hearing from people who want to “reach the long tail.” Some big journalist types—those who have not read the book—seem to be under the misguided impression that Chris and his people sure know how to coin a catch phrase. It is a catchy book title, but let me clarify the term for you:

Wikipedia says: the long tail is the colloquial name for a feature of statistical distributions.

The phrase refers to the appearance of a line graph where the left side is high on the Y axis and tapers down quickly to a sustained lower level. As the lower level is maintained, it cumulatively equates to more than the initial short-term burst. (Here, Yellow > Green.) It sounds like calculus (ugh!), but it really is just common sense. Commonsensical, helpful knowledge.

In a nutshell for PRists out there, Anderson has postulated that smaller niche audiences have more cumulative value to businesses than larger audiences reached over a short timeframe. Being editor-in-chief of Wired probably has something to do with why Anderson’s book puts everything in the context of cool tech.

I’m sure The Long Tail is well-written and insightful—I haven’t read it, but you knew—and groundbreaking for what it says in the long run. (Rimshot. Try the veal!) But I can’t help but roll my busy eyes when someone thinks they’re giving me something so unbelievable and ground stopping as they inform me about the importance of niche audiences and the fabulousness of blogs. I’m told the sequel will tell me the sky is blue.

As a blogger: “Really?”

See, in PR we’ve been dissecting audiences for many years. Look, tailees, blogs are not the first long tail (italics mine) form of communication. Some consider this example archaic but the “fad” of the weekly newspaper is still one of the best long tail communication tools.

The weekly newspaper reaches a niche who cares: community. That’s saying a lot. I wonder if that’s just a little too old-fashioned for Anderson groupies to grasp. Alas, I’m grateful to Anderson because his statement will influence the suits and help them finally get that “PR By The Pound” is a 1990s concept. Yes, you want to reach a lot of people with a message. However, doing so indiscriminately will not work since there’s no power in the message-less story that gets to the wrong (untargeted) individual.

Targeting is back! Which means that as with other trendy pseudo-new ideas, The Long Tail has made a core componentof PR fashionable.

Uh, again.

Unfortunately it leads some CMOs to believe that a successful PR program can be based entirely on niches. Smart practitioners of our field know that PR delivers return when it reaches both broad foundation of the pyramid and the specific audiences that inhabit the top.

Let me tell you how PR works. (Yes you can laugh.)

A Brief History of PR and Audiences

A while ago—think no computers and only 12 channels—we all tended to talk about audiences in general terms. Our demographic breakdowns included sex, age and geography. There were consumer stories (we called them features) and business stories (we called them business stories). News was by its definition new, and we were intimately familiar with the outlets we patronized because there were comparatively few.

As the sheer number of outlets increased we shifted focus to less tangible angles and discussed corporate reputation ad nauseum. Newsworthy events became stunts, some of which kinda worked.

Then online came into being. Those of us who had enough coffee knew early that the Web would change PR and once again we turned it into a process story, and fell in love with discussing it to death. Now we seem to be having a hard time moving past any discussion but that one.

Reality Check, Please

Online media is not in the least new. It’s not at all mysterious. It simply is. We must get over treating blogs – even this one that you love– as Brightest Shiny Object in the toy box, and get on with integrating what used to be new (and is now fairly old) media outreach into our programs. If you don’t understand how “new” and “traditional” media interact by now, let me come over with my portable White Board.

Dear Martha Stewart: It is not complicated.

So what about Anderson’s elongated extremity? Congratulations, sir, for stating the obvious. I’m staring at some of it on Amazon and (my gosh!) he has used a lot of fancy words. Then again Dickens got paid by the word so what can I say?

May I sum up? Niche audiences are important to people in PR—they always have been, always will be, bla bla bla—pointing it out seems to be a big hoohah moment. But niche is not the be-all-end-all.

At the acclaimed, wondrous and decades-old (!) RLM PR, we use what we have dubbed an Audience Matrix to identify how to reach niche audiences. Outreach is not conducted in a silo. If hardcore online gamers are important for one of our fabulous (read: paying) clients, we ensure that our tactics also appeal to the broader audience—like 20 year-old males who don’t play online but might be one of their eventual consumers. So we are reaching the whole tail and then we are also going after the head and torso.

That’s it for me. Drop me a line – and not one in the sand, please.

*****

Twitter @laermer; that’s where I’ll be. Rubbing my tail - naturally!

Tag, You’re It: Answer your phone now!

“You have reached the voicemail of…. I am out of the office until…” How often have you gotten voicemail when you’ve called a friend, your client, a reporter [your mother!]? At that crucial moment, the important question: Should you leave a message?

Let’s say no. Because unless you are calling your mother, you don’t truly expect a return phone call. Sometime between eagerly waiting by the phone for your crush to call and screening your cell phone caller ID so you can avoid the loser from last night, we became a society that doesn’t returns calls.

That’s where our disconnect lies. Media relations thrives—no, survives—on a practitioner’s ability to woo a reporter or a blogger or your mother on the phone. Crafting a perfect pitch is successful if you have a human on the other side to talk to. You can’t tell the client you scheduled an interview with BusinessWeek if they don’t pick up.

As children, we used to run around the playground during recess trying to catch all the other children running away from us, just so we can stop chasing. [I still do that.] As adults, how much of your day do you lose re-dialing the same people…reporters to schedule an interview, clients to confirm a time, third-party sources to give their expert opinions, friends for dinner? But, with so much technology at everyone’s disposal, they’re all running and you’re “it.” Good luck getting someone on the phone.

There is strict etiquette about answering a call before the third ring, keeping your cell phone on vibrate on the bus, and not texting during a dinner party—but why not a rule about calling someone back? Professionally it’s frustrating while personally it’s maddening! Returning phone calls is an essential part of building strong relationships. It is the foundation for a successful feature and a lucrative future, so how did we become a culture lacking this most common courtesy?

So, PR pros, I challenge you to buck your impulse to delete your messages and ignore the incoming. This is karma talking. Pick up your phone! Be the person who answers the ones who call you, be the one who returns those messages. Start a trend that will persist throughout the season and check your voicemail, review your caller ID, make the effort to see who it was that wants you on the phone. People will be so impressed with class and don’t be surprised when your phone rings off the hook.

Oh my. Look at that! It’s the Times calling you back.

I’m now Twittering with karma in mind at www.twitter.com/laermer

Is it Dating – or Pitching?

As media relations professionals, we pitch all the time. We sell ourselves...to sell the story built to deliver the messages my client needs his target audience to hear. Similar to say, mm, dating. More analogous than you might think. You need a bit of proof?

1.Call, Baby: If you are going to pick up the phone and call, have something intelligent and interesting to say. Know a little about the person you are calling — with reporters be ready to reference a recent article; with a potential date it is always helpful to be aware of the win-loss record of their favorite team.



2.Do Not Make It All about You: Ask about what the reporter is writing (or what the date prospect is working on)…and better yet, what else they read. This will get you to interview (date) 2, rather than leaving you dead in the water after the first.

3.Know When to Walk Away: Recognize disingenuous Call me back later. Journalists, like those you date, will sometimes lie in order to let you down easy. Get your lie-dar going and always be straightforward with journalists (dates). They appreciate it.

4.Do Not Use Any Stupid Pick Up Lines: Have a point. Say it. Enough Said.

5.Do Not Filibuster: We have all sat across from the guy/gal/not-sure-which talking on and on and on….and on. That is the last thing a journalist wants to hear on the other end of the phone or during the lunch he took the time to have with your client. Deliver your message. Illustrate it. Move on to the next one. Repeat. (Dates like that as well.)



6. Make That Date Already: Set up the interview and get the heck off the phone. Never dillydally or think the strength of a relationship is measured by the how many minutes you spent on the phone. You both know why you are talking — in both cases.

7. Be Considerate: Never — ever — call during deadline or when the date is in the shower. Or at 5:00 on Friday. Or in the middle of the night (date wise). Offer to have your client do the interview over the weekend if it helps the journo out. Be flexible with both parties!

8. Do Not Compromise Integrity: If the story does not fit, or if you could never see yourself with this guy or gal for more than a couple of shoddy minutes, do not try to make it work. Walk away and look for the better fit now.

9. Make A Lasting Impression: Position the client appropriately and personalize your story angle. Talking about the CEO as the CEO is not going to get you anywhere. Use first names. With dates, use nicknames. Uh huh.



10. Show Intelligence: Nobody likes an idiot. I have said what everyone is thinking.

I’m Twittering like no tomorrow at www.twitter.com/laermer