Pitch Power: Momentum Without News

(Dit is een kopie van een helaas verdwenen artikel van Internet Day)

by Peter Fuller
Editor's Note: This is the fourth article in a series

Review

In the last three articles we covered the pitch, various audiences that need to be considered when writing one and how to craft a pitch for real news. This time, we'll address what separates the pitch people from public relations experts: the ability to maintain momentum when there is no news being generated by the company.

Assessment: What haven't you got?

Few companies, even the large multinationals, can generate real, hard news every week (daily barrages of press releases aren't news). Smaller companies struggle to issue a press release each month. As the PR person, you're challenged daily to keep the company in the press. Period. If the company only generates news sporadically, then it becomes more imperative (job security) for you to reach out and work the editorial schedules and in some cases, create news. It's the essence of true public relationsÐand it can be a lot of fun.

Think about your company. Is your CEO or CFO speaking at any conferences and trade shows? Have you hired someone noteworthy? Did your sales team land a new customer? Is your company's anniversary coming up soon? What other noteworthy dates, such as the advent of a relevant industry or product, a special event within your industry or some historic decision of significance are on the horizon? How many ethnicities work together in your office? The answers to these and many other creative questions can help lead to some very good stories in publications far outside your normal beat.

Riding the Wave of Current News

To ride the tide of a current news cycle, you have to read the news. All of it, every day. If you don't know what's going on, then you'll have a hard time creating news.

Here are some valuable news resources:

  • Venture Wire: find out who is getting funded and what's happening in many industries including biotech and technology.
  • Dow Jones News Library: For $69 per year, this invaluable online resource tracks thousands of publications daily. Searches are free. Plus, it has automatic newsagents that you can use to get the news of your choice delivered to your email box everyday.
  • Brandweek: It has a free newsletter worth getting.
  • Internet.com (the publisher of this site): With dozens of newsletters on hundreds of topics, this is one of the best resources on the web.
  • For people with a fat budget, check out Factiva (www.factiva.com). If you can afford it, get it.
  • The New York Times: Get the latest headlines from this leading newspaper for free delivered to your PDA or email (www.nytimes.com).

Hundreds of other news sources exist on the Internet, most for free. Check with key publications in your industry and subscribe to the free newsletters they probably distribute.

Once up on the news, the next step is to align company strategy and goals with current events. Current today is the crisis in the Middle East, the Enron scandal, a sluggish economy, news that the Japanese have once again trumped American computer prowess by designing a supercomputer that is seven times faster than the fastest IBM, the adoption of G3 wireless standards and the list goes on and on.

For illustration, Company A has three former Intel executives on its board. Company B has three former IBM executives on its board. As an avid news reader, the PR professional at Company A reads a press release announcing that the Japanese are once again on top of the processing speed heap, a place they've traded with their American friends several times over the last two decades. The PR professional at Company B doesn't read the news and misses the press release. News as big as this is going to get noticed by The New York Times and most other publications. In reality, it was probably pitched well in advance of the press release date. For this illustration, the press release was distributed to the major outlets the same day it was put on the wire.

Company A's PR person gets the news through his internet.com news subscription. With three former Intel executives on the board, the pitch person immediately writes the New York Times:

Jon,

You're most likely covering the recent news regarding the Japanese advancement in computer technology. My company has three former Intel executives on its board who can comment on the chip architecture and overall multiprocessor design chosen by the Japanese and why it is seven times faster than what we have in the U.S.

According to one of our board members, the Japanese design originated in the U.S. in the late 1970s, but was discarded for another design thought to be more effective for military use. The Japanese computer is built to forecast weather, not guide satellites and bombs.

If interested, I can set up a call with you and Dr. Smith, our leading chip architect.

Feel free to call me anytime. My cell is 555-5555.

There's a good chance Company A will get call from the journalist who is short on both resources and time. An old axiom says, "A bird in the hand is with two in the bush."

Be the bird and let other companies stay in the bush.

Creating News

Creating news does not have to be directly tied to the current news cycle. Don't use some of the techniques below in a vvacuum however. As mentioned above, look for newsworthy events or historic moments to frame you news creation efforts. Every little bit helps.

The Survey

Surveys are perhaps the most powerful news generation tool in the PR arsenal. Surveys cost money, but if executed correctly, can reap many times their price in PR value. The best surveys are those whose outcomes are pre-determined. For instance, if you have a strong suspicion that your product is the market share leader, issuing a survey to a random sampling of your market should reveal that market lead. One company I worked with surveyed IT managers to find out which storage system they used most. The company already knew they owned 70 percent of the market. The survey came through and revealed that yes; indeed, most IT managers still trusted their data to once source. Various trade publications ran the survey results and wrote interpretative pieces on why IT managers have remained faithful to one technology for more than a decade.

Surveys can also be used to build a perception of leadership and market expertise. A company that makes water purification systems, for example, can survey municipal water conditions across the nation. Naturally, the results would show that cities, despite improved water treatment facilities, still spew poor quality water that can contain lead, bacteria and other hazardous contaminants. To add an air of credibility to the results, the purification company must sponsor the survey through the EPA or some other neutral organization that has a perception of credibility, but also profits greatly from increased water treatment regulations. Conducting the survey directly would be a waste of money since most journalists would discount the results and unscientific and self-serving.

Surveys can also be used to highlight public issues. A birth control manufacturer can sponsor surveys dealing with teen sex. In this instance, the results are self-serving, as they would likely highlight that teens only practice safe sex occasionally, are more promiscuous than past generations and that an aggressive public health policy based on contraceptive education needs to be established-in addition to abstinence education. If the company has real stake in protecting public health, the risks are pretty low that a self-serving survey such as this would create a backlash in editorial coverage.

Leadership Forums

This is one of the few hidden gems in public relations-the crème de la crhme of PR techniques. It can be your secret weapon because hardly anyone takes the time to put these forums together and even fewer people know how to do them effectively. A leadership forum is a chance for your company to invite its competitors---you read correctlyÐand others in its market space and journalists to come together in a semiformal forum that allows the journalist freedom to learn about the market space, competitors and key industry personalities all at one time.

Your CEO would never go for it? You're right. But that's because he or she doesn't understand PR. The company that cuts through the spin immediately gains the credibility and respect of the journalist. Put yourself in their shoes. Wouldn't it be nice if you could get free access to all the players in your field at one time to answer questions about the industry, products, companies and even key players? How would you feel toward the company than went through the trouble of putting all those players together? Ah, now we're getting somewhere.

Case study: The Radiate Internet Roundtable.

To test this theory, my firm put together a leadership initiative for Radiate, a company in the Internet advertising space. We used news cycle analysis to identify that inconsistent audience measurement techniques among the major ratings companies was causing publicly traded companies that depended on "eyeballs" to lose or gain valuations rapidly. The numbers were so inconsistent, one metrics firm issued ratings on Alta Vista, the large search engine, that were three times lower than another rating firm's estimates.

Enter the RIR. We recruited The Wall Street Journal and nine competitive companies to this informal roundtable dinner in New York. Meeting notes were taken; lest anyone think nefarious collusionary intent was motivating the session. After the meeting, we issued a press release on its results. The press picked up the story and other companies started to join. With very little recruitment efforts, 21 companies joined the leadership forum named after its sponsor, Radiate. Who the heck is Radiate and why was the company now the leading force behind Internet audience measurement? That's a natural question journalists asked and we weren't afraid to answer. In fact, the RIR drew many journalists to Radiate for advice. But that's not the most amazing part of the story. The CEO of Radiate was a 26-year-old graduate of Rose-Hulman University in Indiana who had just moved to Silicon Valley. Through the forum, he became respected source on one of the most contentious debates of 2000.

Community Relations

Large companies usually are very active with community relations. Apple, for instance, is a huge player in public schools. At one time Palm was handing out free PDAs to teachers. Community assistance programs, transportation vouchers for the poor and other needed charitable efforts are underway by large companies in most cities in America.

Community relations, however, doesn't have to be for big companies with big bucks. San Francisco, for instance, has the largest pedestrian mortality rate in the country. If you've been to the golden city by the Bay, you know why. Joggers, bikers and walkers roam the city with seemingly reckless abandon. People leap from alleys, dodge trolley cars and cross streets as if they own them. The city is a haven for pedestrian insanity. It also has a press-savvy mayor. Willie Brown, the flamboyant derby-hat wearing king of the most liberated city in the nation wields the press corps more effectively than seasoned Washington politicians.

Deadly streets. A flamboyant mayor. And now a freebie: take the issue, partner with the mayor and get your employees out on the streets of San Francisco for a pedestrian awareness day. Get models and local celebrities to pitch in and help the elderly cross the most deadly intersections. Make sure everyone is wearing a shirt emblazoned with your logo, Willie's smiling face and the words "Pedestrian Awareness Day 2002: It Shouldn't Kill You to Cross the Street." The result: saved lives, instant press, instant community good will and instant awareness of your company. The cost: a couple shirts.

Wrap-up

The most fun a public relations pro can have is when there is no company news to pitch. It's in this quiet time that creativity can speak volumes.

Opportunities exist-go get 'em.

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