Pursue articles/placements to generate leads
Good marketing public relations helps overcome
the fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) factor that many customers
harbor: The beauty of effective public relations is that you
gain third party credibility through editors and analysts. The
articles and product reviews these people generate provide some
of the most qualified sales leads a company can get.
One client of ours, Database Solutions, received
a product review in InfoWorld magazine that generated so many
leads that the company actually had to reduce its other marketing
communications tactics to allow its sales force to catch up
with all the new prospects generated by that one article.
Results like this are no accident – savvy
marketers realize that 20 percent of the individuals in a market
will influence the other 80 percent. So they first identify
the most influential publications, editors and analysts within
the segment of the market who are most likely to purchase their
product or service.
Here are some popular vehicles to consider for
your journey.
Core List. It's best to begin by developing
a core list for each clients’ marketing public relations
programs. This is a list of 20-30 key media players including
print and broadcast journalists and industry analysts at the
top firms like Forrester Research, The Gartner Group and The
Yankee Group. Then cultivate long-term relationships with these
leaders to place stories that educate your target market and
their readers and subscribers. You then become a resource to
them.
Media Training. Your spokesperson should
be the highest ranked executive possible and he or she should
have the technical expertise and media training to handle the
toughest questions. Your media training should include the process
of finding the key message points that you want the press to
relate back to you. In interviews, use bridging techniques where
you answer the question that you are asked and then bridge back
to a key message point.
Press kits. Press Kits are important because
they help editors do their jobs more effectively. Anything that
makes an editor's job easier increases your opportunities for
exposure. A good press kit includes the following:
- Recent press releases
- Case histories
- Article reprints
- Product or service information
- Company background information
- Biographies of spokespeople
- Customer or reference list
The final consideration before choosing your
marketing PR vehicles is to decide if your goal is to better
position yourself against other products, other markets or
other companies. Each PR vehicle is designed to assist in
different positioning.
Press releases. When writing press releases
for editors and analysts send them through the medium they most
prefer – mail, fax, e-mail or courier. Then remember the
WIIFT rule – What's In It For Them?
If an editor looks at the headline of your press
release and asks himself, “Why should I care?” it's
not a newsworthy topic and you might as well save the paper and
use it for something else that's going to get his attention.
It also helps to write your releases in the style
editors are used to – the inverted pyramid. Put the most
important information in the first paragraph and use the following
paragraphs to fill in the details. If someone is getting a hundred
press releases across his desk every single day, you want to make
sure that yours captures him in the first paragraph.
Editor briefings. Face-to-face meetings are
a great way to build company recognition. If you can take a knowledgeable
executive with you to answer editor questions, all the better.
Use your meetings to develop long-term relationships with editors
rather than a one-time pitch and run.
Tradeshows. Since you're making a huge financial
and time commitment by exhibiting at a tradeshow, break through
the clutter of all those competitors by pre-briefing editors with
your announcements before the show. This not only gets you more
attention, it actually causes editors to specifically search out
your booth. Save some information for the show itself however,
so you have a reason to meet with the press again. You should
also leave your briefing materials in press rooms, information
kiosks and post them online through the organizer of the show.
Case histories. By showing how your product
or service solved a real-life customer problem, you not only add
credibility to your message, you help editors flesh out stories
by providing them additional sources. But make sure you get approval
before you use one of your customers as a reference. Also, try
to get them on board with the message points you most want to
stress. Its great publicity for their company too, so it's a two-way
street.
Speaking engagements. Promoting the experts
within your company through speaking engagements at conferences,
association meetings or seminars also captures attention. But
remember that these are not self-promotional excursions. You really
want to make sure that you're speaking to the audience and giving
them information they can use.
Awards. Corporate awards and product awards
add credibility to your organization and message but they rarely
“just happen” on their own. Learn about the nomination
process by speaking with the review boards, past winners and judges.
The time spent researching and applying can be the most productive
time you ever spend.
Authored articles. These bylined articles
help position you and your company as authorities in your market.
They don't necessarily have to be written by the individuals at
your organization. Good PR agencies work with freelancers who
ghost write articles on behalf of their clients. So if an opportunity
arises where an editor is looking for an authored article, your
expert doesn't have to take the time to write it herself.
On the marketing public relations journey, the ultimate
goal is receiving a feature article about your company, product
or service. A great suggestion is to take your core list of publications,
gather all the editorial calendars and create a master editorial
calendar using all the opportunities relevant to your company.
You can then contact the publications to pitch your angle and
increase coverage.
With knowledge of all these public relations vehicles,
even missed opportunities can become opportunities. For example,
if you see an article that's written about one of your competitors
or a technology trend story that you think you should have been
included in, this is a great opportunity to make a new friend.
Call the editor and tell him you saw that article, your company
is very heavily into that market and you'd like to tell him a
little bit about what you're doing. After all, the editor's primary
function – like yours – is to inform the marketplace.
Robyn Sachs is the president of RMR & Associates, a full-service
advertising, marketing and public relations firm based in the
Washington metropolitan area that specializes in the high tech
industry and is known nationally for its innovative campaigns.
She can be reached at rsachs@rmr.com.
The Marketing Advisor is published quarterly. We welcome yolur
comments or questions.
