Making a Successful PR Pitch - Part II ( Recon Thursday/Promotion)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy for Once a Day Marketing.  Today is Recon Thursday and we are concluding our series on developing a successful PR pitch.  I encourage you to get a story about your business in your local newspaper, on the radio or on television.

Publicity, or PR, is one of the 7Ps of Marketing under promotion and it is often underutilized.  PR has the advantage of not being paid advertising, however, you have to do some work to get the coverage.  Additionally, the fact that the information comes from a source outside of your company may lend credibility or legitimacy to it for the customers and potential customers who read it.  That is why I ensure PR is always part of any marketing campaign that I create.

Now let’s look at the remaining five tips to create a successful PR pitch.  Number six is to develop the points you want to feature.  Consider the: who, what, when, where and why.  Identify the elements of the story that will excite the interest of the writer or reporter when they see your outline.

Next craft a short e-mail that includes all of the pertinent story information at the top.  Your goal is to intrigue the recipient with the opening remark.  Again, give them the facts that you want to feature.  You may also want to include company information or background.

Then develop a very concise verbal pitch.  Media representatives are going to call you and ask why your story warrants their attention.  You have to be very good at answering their questions and convincing them the story has merit.

Lastly, pick up the phone; this is where the execution happens. Call writers/reporters and talk about your story. Position it to be so compelling that they will think they are going to miss out if they don’t cover it.

If the media outlet doesn’t cover the story this time, you will still have the benefit of creating relationships; we’ve talked about the advantages of networking in the past,. The next time you talk to that writer or that reporter it’s going t be easier for you to pitch your idea.

Do your preparation, remember that is 98% of the effort, and then have fun with the last 2%, the execution.  You should be confident that your story has merit and that the particular channel you have chosen will be interested in covering your story.

That concludes Recon Thursday.  Be sure to stop by tomorrow for Digital Friday.  To discuss an online or face-to-face service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com.  I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing and we’ll see you next time.