| During hard economic times, businesses and | | | | often doesn't work. What I mean by that is that if you |
| entrepreneurs panic and start making marketing | | | | pitch your "need" to sell products or increase your |
| decisions with their lizard brain. It's an understandable, | | | | client base to the media, you're going to lose their |
| but costly mistake. When times are tough, companies | | | | interest from the start. They don't care that you need |
| look to grow their businesses as quickly as possible. It's | | | | to build your business, what they care about is a good |
| during those times, that most have a tendency to | | | | story that meets their readers' or viewers' needs. |
| forget that marketing is a subtle art and revert to the | | | | Launching an effective PR campaign all comes down |
| hard sell. Particularly in the PR and the media world, the | | | | to telling effective stories with a strong narrative. |
| hard sell is generally the least effective approach. Yes | | | | People listen to good stories. Effective stories get |
| you want to sell your product or service; yes you | | | | people to feel, act and react, whereas pitching a |
| want to reach your target market, but you want to do | | | | run-of-the-mill, our-product-is-the-best type of story |
| so in a manner that the media can understand. You | | | | generally only leads to yawns. |
| need to meet the media's needs in order to meet | | | | So don't just think of your PR and media relations |
| those of your company. | | | | message when you're ready to pitch the press. Keep |
| An effective public relations campaign can build a | | | | your message in mind each step of the way. You |
| brand, add value to the company, increase the bottom | | | | never know where you'll find your most effective |
| line, build the client and customer base, and increase | | | | stories. Keep your PR hat on even when you think it's |
| sales. It can also help change minds and attitudes. It is | | | | not a part of the game, for example, when purchasing, |
| the most powerful marketing tool available. | | | | during sales activities, employee hiring or training, and |
| Yes it's important that a PR campaign helps build and | | | | during trade shows. You never know where you'll find |
| perpetuate the company. But there are times that | | | | that one great story that opens the media floodgates. |
| business owners miss the mark by not understanding | | | | If you skip the hard sell and take a more creative, |
| that meeting the media's objectives will eventually | | | | more subtle approach you can meet their objectives, |
| meet business objectives. If that formula is reversed, it | | | | which in turn, will meet yours. |