Making The Most Of Media Placements
Miss Manners may warn against bragging, but in the real world
, a little bit of boasting can go a long way. This is especially true in terms of public relations and media appearances/placements.
First, let's dispel a myth about PR: PR is NOT a substitute for advertising or marketing. While both lend a hand at increasing name recognition and exposure, advertising and marketing are designed to build sales, and PR is designed to build credibility. When the public sees you in the newspaper or on television or hears you on the radio, they perceive that appearance to be an "official" endorsement by the media: "Hey, this company is for real I saw an article about them in the paper." However, if you rely on that one appearance in the single instance it takes place, you're passing up an opportunity for increased exposure.
In August of 2007 Michelle Tennant Nicholson of Wasabi Publicity, Inc., sat down to speak with special guests Fred Hueston and Lyna Farkas, hosts of the Internet talk radio program Growing Your Business, to talk about more about ways to maximize media placements, post-interview.
Heres the transcript:
Michelle Tennant:Hi everyone, its the Wasabi Club and it is 1:00 on August 29th, 1:00 Eastern, that is. Im Michelle Tennant, co-owner of Wasabi Publicity Incorporated and weve got a really great show for you today. And Ive actually got two radio hosts with us. Im really excited about it. But we want to really talk about making the most of your media placements after the interview. Everybody really works very hard to get the interview but then after you have the interview, what do you actually do with it? So well get to that in just a minute.
Lets take care of some housekeeping. Everyone whos on the call remember, to mute yourself you hit star or the asterisk 6 and to unmute yourself, you press star 7, thats asterisk 7. It would be a good idea to actually make a note of that right now cause its not both star 6. And then also what were gonna do this is not a traditional many of you all know, (beep) if youve been with us before, its not a traditional meeting or teleseminar, it really is a club atmosphere.
So, were gonna talk for the first 15 minutes about what Wasabi Publicity actually is doing for their clients not making the most of media interviews, but were also going to be opening up the call so that others can participate about the15 to 30 minute marker in the actual meeting. And then in the last part of the call, were actually gonna take any kind of suggestions or challenges or whatever you are up against. Traditionally on the call, we have publicists and small business owners who are really just trying to learn (beep) todays secrets of publicity.
So, you should just feel comfortable if you want to say something to participate at that point. You can also email me later and either suggest a topic for the future or if you want to get in touch with someone whos been on the call then I can connect you that way. So, again, welcome. I hear people joining and thats just kinda what happens in our calls. So again, if you want to mute yourself you hit star 6; to unmute yourself is star 7. And just let me go ahead and introduce who we have on the phone cause Im really excited about them. Especially since I dont -. I dont think Ive ever had -.
Maybe one time Ive had a guest whos actually been in North Carolina. While Wasabi Publicity is located in all corners of the world, we even have somebody on staff in Germany, most of the action happens in North Carolina, because thats where I choose to live, near the Smokey Mountains. And I have Fred and Lyna with us and let me just talk a little bit about Fred Hueston. Hes the co-host of the internet talk show, Growing Your Business, and if you want to check that out while youre online with us, you can go to GrowingYourBusiness.net. And hes also the host of a home improvement show on AM radio in Western North Carolina.
He has run several small businesses and is now recognized as an expert in his field. So Fred not only started the first training center for marble and stone craftsmen in North America, but he is also the most requested consultant and expert witness in the stone industry. Fred has written over 30 books and hundreds of articles for nationally recognized magazines such as This Old House. He has been seen on HGTV and The Discovery Channel. Welcome Fred.
Fred Hueston:Thank you. Glad to be here.
Michelle Tennant:And then let me introduce his partner, Lyna Farkas. She runs her own decorative painting business and has authored two books on the subject as well as various magazine articles. Shes an experienced promoter and event organizer. Lyna has appeared on radio and TV, including PBS and local news stations and has taught in various schools around the Southeast. Lyna has also done work for Martha Stewart and Bernhardt Furniture. She is currently assisting a motivational singer/songwriter by helping him build his career and is on the Board for Community Inspirational Center in her home town. Welcome Lyna.
Lyna Farkas:Hey there.
Michelle Tennant:Now that Ive actually bored everyone to death by reading your bios, how about you all actually tell us what youre really passionate about. Fred?
Fred Hueston:Oh, boy. How long did you say we had on the talk?
[Laughter]
Michelle Tennant:We have about an hour.
Fred Hueston:Okay. That might be enough. One of the things that I truly love, I mean, you know you mentioned that Im in the stone business. Thats one thing Ive been doing for the past or probably close to 25 years, but media is my passion, both radio and TV. Im currently up in New Jersey right now, as we speak, filming a week long segment for an instructional video showing how to put in stone in a bathroom, etcetera, etcetera. I really enjoy the media. I really enjoy the radio show, really enjoy being on TV and right now, thats pretty much my passion.
Michelle Tennant:Good. Lyna, is there anything that youd like to add?
Lyna Farkas:Yeah, its funny how life always changes and it just kind of expands and stretches. Where Freds getting to do a lot of videoing for his stone industry, Im starting to come up with a new concept where Ill be videoing people and interviewing them on their healing stories and this will be with more a TV film, also. So, I think we both have a passion for really getting the word out there in whatever were passionate about. We realize that media is just a fantastic way to do it, either through the audio or especially with You Tube and things, through the films.
Michelle Tennant:Oh, its true. I mean, You Tube is, I dont think weve even seen whats that capable of yet. I mean, thats really exciting and as technology continues to grow, its always -. You know, when I always tell the story. I learned PR when I was 20. Im now 2 years shy of 40, but I remember doing PR in Chicago on a Brother Typewriter, not the old, old guys, but the ones that was considered state of the art, word processors where you had three letters. It would remember like three (beep) styles and so we would put our current pitch letters in those three and then we would just work on those three pitch letters and then mail them out.
We had three pitch wed go through ten a day now. Its just constant, technology has just changed everything. And everybody whos on our call, Im just amazed at what PressKit247.com has really provided Wasabi Publicity and if theres any publicists on the line and if youre looking for efficient pitching tools, then PressKit247.com does not get any better than that and its a lot less expensive than the other tools that are out there, and PR tools can be expensive. But I want to bring out to the first 15 minutes of our call, usually is like a little glimpse into what were dealing with at Wasabi Publicity and it kinda serves as a diving board for the conversation. So, I know that the two of you are really interested in helping small business owners, especially understand not only how to get an interview, but then also how to maximize what you do after the interview.
Now Fred, it occurs to me that I just missed a wonderful pitching opportunity with you. We just represented the Las Vegas Market, at World Market Center out in Las Vegas, where they debuted tons and tons of home industry trends. They had a big green pavilion and I mean, we did a whole view on all this great stuff. So, I shouldve made a call to you cause you wouldve been so interested in what they were up to. So lets start with that as an example.
We scored a wire placement for them, a really prestigious placement in the PR world is getting somebody like the Associated Press or the United Press International, and we got a placement from the United Press International. So, UPI is what we all call it in the industry. So, what do we do now, with that, Fred? I mean, you know, weve gotten the placement and that particular client only had a event PR media. Theyre just doing it out, so what are some of the things that were wrapping their final report next week, well actually this week, right? Cause were at the end of August. What do you think we should put in our report? Like, be sure you do this client with that placement.
Fred Hueston:Well let me back up a little bit and talk a little bit about, you know, right now there is a ton of opportunity out there for people to pitch their product through an interview and when were talking interviews, we are talking both print and media, meaning radio, TV, as well as newspapers and magazines. And if youre able to get to that particular point which with a lot of persistence, with organizations like yours, that can really, really help. But unfortunately, what a lot of people do is, you know, lets take an example. Lets say youre interviewed on a local talk show, for example, and you get on the talk show, you tell all your friends.
You tell all your customers and then you sit there and do your interview and then you sit back and you wait. You wait for the phone to ring and guess what happens? It rarely rings. And why? Because youre not following up after the interview. A good analogy I like to use is if youre used to sales and you know what sales is like, you know, you contact the customer, you follow up. You follow up after the sale. We have to do the same thing with any kind of an interview.
So what are some of the things that you can do? In your case, you have an event that occurred, okay? Im sure thats not the last event thats gonna happen, youre probably gonna run another event in the future, whether its a yearly event, whether its a monthly event or whatever the case may be there, okay, use the past event as a marketing tool to promote the future events. And with events, I do have some experience doing some trade shows. What I see all the time with events, of course, this was in the past, you know it hasnt happened, but in the future, you want to make sure that you promote the future event during that event, if you know what Im saying.
Michelle Tennant:Yeah, let me just interject, Fred. This is really great because one of the things that this particular client of ours is they are the exhibit hall. They are the ones putting on the conference for the home furnishing industry. So, we had to select the trends that we thought were hot and we chose something called an e-bulb, which is sort of like our fluorescent lights but much, much more efficient. So, of course, the media latched onto that and they were kind enough to say they viewed it at the Las Vegas Market.
So one of the things that I think is very important for us to include in our report is maybe something like, you know, Heres an example media placement that could result from you being at our conference next time so that youre not only paying for your booth, but then youre also going to be exposed to national media in this way.
Lyna Farkas:Exactly.
Fred Hueston:But then what youre saying there, too, brings up an interesting point and that is current events. Right now the green industry, and Im going to assume everyone knows what I mean by green industry, you know, environmentally friendly, etcetera, etcetera, thats a very good hot topic right now. And whether its that or whether its some other thing thats hot at the moment, you need to take advantage of that and thats exactly what youve done here.
Michelle Tennant:So and I also want to clarify for everybody, when you say follow up so are you saying just follow up with your potential customers or are you saying follow up with the media, itself?
Fred Hueston:Both. Both are very important. I mean the more you get out there in the media, the more -. You know, one of the things you could do with an event like that, lets say the event is done and its over with, why not come up with a press release that announces the success rate of that particular event? You know, XYZ sponsored this event. It was a huge success. We had over 10,000 people, whatever, whatever. and actually reiterate what had happened.
You know, somebody in the media may not pick the up and that could actually lead to an interview, additional interviews, like, You know what? Were doing a show on that particular subject. Lets bring that person in or whoevers in charge of that person to actually interview them about that past event, even though its gone, its really not.
[Cross talk]
Michelle Tennant:Go ahead Lyna, you want to say something.
Lyna Farkas:I was going to say to add to that, cause I was thinking of the same thing, but to add to that, any of the special interviews or things that happen during events such as the e-bulb getting more media coverage, they could include that in the press release and they could also pinpoint certain media people and maybe including in the release, give them a pitch for a different angle for something that happened in the hopes of generating more media coverage.
Michelle Tennant:And I just want to clarify because we have publicists who are part of the Wasabi Club and we have entrepreneur, small business owners or experts or authors that are kind of another distinction who participates. So, if you hire a publicist and theres trouble just drawing a line, were gonna naturally take care of additional angle pitches and your publicist is gonna take care of that. And we, of course, would exhaust pre-event and post-event news angles and coverage based on the contract that we signed with the client. If the client doesnt pay us for additional coverage after the event, then were not gonna be able to provide those services. And if they do, then great, we do.
Nevertheless, whether youre doing your own PR, if youre a small business owner, what were pointing to, I think, is to say a lot of times people think that they have news and its just one aspect of that news. It might be the event or whatever, but oftentimes there are nuances before and after an event, so pre and post coverage. And a lot of times the media cant even get out to an event. Share pictures, share other coverage so that they can actually then get an idea of what happened there so even if they cant attend or participate directly, they can still report on it, cause as we know, the media is evolving with technology changes.
So just because a newspaper says theyre not gonna be at your event, doesnt mean theyre not welcoming a really cool photo that you can get and then theyll actually do a story after the coverage of somebody else or something. And they hate the little handshakes and the ribbon cuttings. They really just want an action, casual shot to kinda help sell the story. But thats really distinct from, lets say we just have one placement, you know, we have a placement in Parents Magazine or we have a placement with a wire service like UPI. We want to make sure, well what is our checklist to that?
And I know everyones got this months newsletter and if you dont for some reason, and youre on the call or listening to a recording of this, you can find the newsletters that features Fred and Lyna at PublicityResults.com. You an also go to WasabiPublicity.com, but people really freak out about spelling Wasabi. So, just Publicity Results is much easier and Results has an S on the end and you just want to go to free newsletters and look at the one for August. And we actually have a checklist on, okay, heres PR isnt advertising.
Youre not just gonna rerun the mention from a newspaper or whatever in your ads, per se. You might highlight something, As seen in New York Times or something like that. But, lets go with the checklist. So, thats coming up in just a minute. Were at the 15 minute marker, so Fred and Lyna, when we come back from opening up to others to share, lets actually give them, okay, where you want to post your placements. Are you integrating it into other marketing efforts? And sort of create a checklist together so that the people can actually take away, cause that would be helpful for me, too. Am I missing anything when Im -?
I think I know what to do with a placement, but then Im not always communicating that to our clients. I think thats whats gonna be really helpful for all the publicists on the line. So this is the time in the call when other people can make themselves known and also bring out the challenge or a question that youd like for us to address in this particular call. Is there anyone who would like to make themselves known or have a question for Fred and Lyna at this point? Oh, and again, if you want to unmute yourself, you hit star 7, to unmute yourselves.
I know we have number of people participating today, but a lot of people just like to put us on speaker and they continue to work, so its fine if you dont want to participate. Fred, Lyna and I will definitely continue. But if you feel that youd like to ask a question or youre dealing with a particular challenge, maybe on topic or maybe with some other aspect of PR, feel free. This is really a great place where people find solutions together. I still hear from people like, Oh you know, we did that last year in the Wasabi Club and its still working for me. So,
Donna Berry:I have a question.
Michelle Tennant:Okay.
Donna Berry:This is Donna Berry. Im in San Francisco.
Michelle Tennant:Hi Donna.
Donna Berry:Hi. Im an independent pub
by: Michelle Tennant
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