We’ve been featured in PR on Go’s latest expert article, ‘Mastering the Art of Bold Public Relations: A Guide for Entrepreneurs’. As both a PR and Marketing agency, sometimes we find that folks only know us for the marketing side of what we do. PR, however, is a huge part of our work and one of our favorite strategies to implement for clients. Our focus for all business types is to be bold and help them to stand out in the huge sea of articles and stories hoping to be picked up, which we’re constantly pitching to journalists. Luckily, we have a few tricks up our sleeves to help our clients ensure their bold stories make it into print.
The two parties
There are two parties to consider in the PR world: the journalist and the reader. When creating a story or article that you’re hoping a journalist picks up, you have to consider the why. Why would they be interested in your story? As our agency CEO Aquila Mendez-Valdez puts it, “What is the hook that would make a journalist, not to mention their audience, actually CARE about your story?” Choosing a topic that stands out, or portraying your story in a unique way is the best way to do this.
For the reader, the why is just as important. If you can get a journalist hooked, you can more than likely get readers hooked as well. Making your story exciting, relatable, or at the very least conversation-worthy is a good step in capturing your reader.
How you can achieve this
There are a few ways in which your company can conquer the world of PR.
- Be BOLD. As we have stated, you need to stand out. With the help of PR and Marketing agencies like ours, brainstorming unique ways to stand out in the crowd is achievable. Whether that be with wording, a sales idea, or just a super clever pitch.
- Step outside the box. Although the ultimate goal is never bad press, if you do happen to gain some controversy in a story, it will be okay. With our example of Urban Bricks Pizza, not everyone was impressed with the idea of sending a burnt pizza to an ex. The upside though is that it got a conversation started. That is the main goal.
- Make the journalist’s life easy. You already did the hard part of coming up with a stand out idea. Making the journalist interested and excited about the story is simplest when you provide them up front with all the creative they need for the story, be it B roll video (I.e. the video without sound that you often see overlaid on top of TV news segments) or hi-res photography and headshots of all key personnel.
