Praise for Paul Krupin’s Trash Proof News Releases
In Trash Proof, Paul Krupin once again displays his unique ability to cut through the fluff and provide actionable advice right from page one. This book goes way beyond the competition. I would recommend it for the novice through the experienced publicist, to the “do-it-yourselfer”. There’s something valuable here for everyone.
- Barbara Kimmel, Publisher and Publicist
Wow! A results-only guide to getting free coverage in the media. This is the BEST book on the subject out there! The examples are priceless!
- Joe Vitale, author “The Attractor Factor”, and many other books
Updating his classic “Trash-Proof News Releases” for the Internet era, Krupin once again provides extremely useful guidance (successful press release formulas, journalist interviews, and plenty of examples) useful to both novice and experienced seekers of media coverage--including do-it-yourselfers who don’t do PR for a living.
- Shel Horowitz, author of Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers and other books
This is the best book on writing press releases I have seen. Paul Krupin understands how and why good press releases work. And he has distilled his extensive knowledge into a set of clear practical recommendations. He not only shows you the inner-workings of effective press releases; he shows you how to create them.
- Mark Jerome Walters, D.V.M., Associate Professor, Department of Journalism & Media Studies, University of South Florida St. Petersburg, FL
Regardless of how many years of experience you might have, this is a very valuable book that PR professionals should pick up at least once a year. It’s easy to take the book’s interesting examples and tips, and relate them to communications challenges and opportunities across a wide variety of industries. Paul Krupin is an expert at helping his clients generate visibility and publicity and this book provides his roadmap to PR success.
- Tom Ryan, MillerCoors Brand PR
Advertising is too expensive. News releases cost less and are more effective. The next challenge is having your release result in print and on-air publicity. This book is your step-by-step manual on getting your news releases used. Highly recommended.
- Dan Poynter, The Self-Publishing Manual
A wealth of insider information, coupled with real-life examples, makes Trash Proof a must-read.
- Dana Lynn Smith, author of The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to Successful Social Marketing
* * * * *
TRASH PROOF NEWS
by
Paul Krupin
SMASHWORDS EDITION
* * * * *
PUBLISHED BY:
Direct Contact PR on Smashwords
Copyright © 2010 by Paul Krupin
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any method, or stored in an electronic storage system, without the written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. Copying any part of this book for any purpose other than your own personal use is a violation of United States copyright law.
Feedback to the author: Paul@DirectContactPR.com
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is sold as is, without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, respecting the contents of this book, including but not limited to implied warranties for the book’s quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for any purpose. Neither the author nor the publisher and its dealers or distributors shall be liable to the purchaser, or any other person or entity, with respect to liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Trademark and service mark terms used in this book are the property of the trademark holders. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.
Smashwords Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.
* * * * *
What is a Trash Proof News Release?
A TRASH PROOF NEWS RELEASE is a marketing tool designed with one specific goal – to get you publicity in your target media that achieves a return on investment that rivals and even exceeds your best marketing. It always starts with a clearly stated Call to Action.
In contrast, the old style standard news release contains product and marketing facts and often questionable claims, self laudatory praise, pithy quotes and corporate or technical gobbledygook. And worst of all, it left the hapless media editor or producer to figure out what it all means to people in relation to the media coverage opportunities available and how well suited you and your news were to that opportunity.
A TRASH PROOF NEWS RELEASE is maximally effective because it answers the primary questions for the media:
- How many people in my audience are going to be interested in this?
- What’s in it for my audience?
- How easy is it for me to use this information?
Then it presents your proposed story, the facts needed to support and flesh out the story, your ideas, advice, or comments, your skills, experience, credentials and accomplishments in terms of that objective.
A TRASH PROOF NEWS RELEASE offers media everything they need to run with the story using you and the resources you’ve arrayed and meet their needs in today’s fast paced environment and the ever changing technologies we utilize.
A TRASH PROOF NEWS RELEASE has six essential parts
The Call to Action
A Real Story That Relates to Real People
A presentation of The Value to the Audience
The Crucial Information
The Highlights of Qualifications
Access to Key People
A TRASH PROOF NEWS RELEASE is a welcome breath of fresh air that also provides Internet searchers with the magic words that generate curiosity, desire for engagement, promote direct action to acquire, provide intense personal satisfaction, increases loyalty to your brand, generates word of mouth referrals and sales & profits that build your business.
* * * * *
Acknowledgements
I thank and acknowledge all my colleagues, friends and clients for their support, interest, advice, enthusiasm and willingness to help and contribute to me and this project.
Thank you all! You’re wonderful!
Creating this book would not have been possible without my clients and colleagues. This book is really a tribute to you. It is your creative efforts and the fruits of your labor that are showcased in these pages. I have learned so much by working with you and it is such great pleasure to share so many good things that we have done together in a way that can benefit so many others.
This book took several years to create- day by day, word by word, news release by news release. It’s amazing to think that this book captures the best of the collaborative efforts of several thousand people. But it really does.
To all of you I stand in admiration and say Bravo! Together we have reached out and touched and minds and hearts of millions of people again and again.
To all you media editors and radio and TV producers out there, thank you for being so kind to me and my clients and for sharing your needs and views with me so freely. We try very hard to deliver what you need, and we really appreciate when you respond.
To the members of Independent Book Publishers Association, the Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN) and all the other associations who have been so supportive of our efforts, thank you.
To those of you who respond to my posts on the many mailing lists we are on together, thank you. Were it not for your questions, many of the answers would have not been researched and written. Keep on asking those questions!
To all you book authors, publishers, inventors, speakers, artists, musicians, business people, and other incredibly creative people, thank you for bringing me your creative works and the fruits of your labor, and for allowing me the honor to work with you. It is a privilege to assist you and to know you.
* * * * *
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Part I: Creating a Trash Proof News Release
The First Order of Business is Your Business
The Magic Formula (DPAA+H)
Helping the People You Can Help the Most
Targeting the Right People & the Right Media
Using Search-Engines to Evaluate Opportunities in the Right Media
The 3-I Technique
Selecting the Right Trash Proof Content
What is a Trash Proof News Release?
The Six Essential Parts of a Trash Proof News Release
1. The Call to Action
2. A Real Story That Relates to Real People
3. The Value to the Audience
4. Crucial Information
5. The Highlights of Qualifications
6. Access to Key People
Part II: Sample News Releases
Problem Solving Tips Articles
Radio & TV Talk Show Interview Releases
Major News Event Release
New Product Releases
Event News Releases
Fundraising News Releases
Road Tour News Releases
Book Releases (Fiction & Non-Fiction)
Cookbook News Releases
Children’s Book News Releases
Independent Film, Theatre and Video News Releases
Music & CD News Releases
Travel News Releases
People Announcements
Query letters
Part III: Trash Proof Publicity Planning & Strategies
Why News Releases Fail
Communication Strategies for Prime & New Media
Localizing—The Key to Increasing Your Publicity
Event Publicity: Double Your Exposure, Double Your Profits
Creating and Executing a Simple Publicity Plan
Hitching a Ride on Current Events
Following Up With Media
Media Request—What to do now that you have media nibbling on the line
Tracking your publicity success and effectiveness
Leveraging Your Publicity
Strategies and Tactics for Self-Published Books
Getting Publicity with Awards
Getting Publicity for Products and Inventions
Special Publicity Tactics for Health Services, Chiropractors & Wellness Facilities
Publicity for Fundraising in Organizations and Non-profits
Afterword
Part IV Appendices Straight From the Horse’s Mouth –
Media professionals explain what they want in their own words.
Appendix A: The single most important piece of advice about a news release
Appendix B: Does calling make a difference?
Appendix C: Getting your book reviewed
Appendix D: Media comments about Ebooks
Appendix E: Media comments about self published books.
Index
* * * * *
Foreword
I first met Paul Krupin in the early 1990s. At the time, it seemed we were the only two people in Washington State on the Internet. Paul was on the east side of the cascades in Kennewick and I was on the west side in Port Townsend.
I don’t recall where we first bumped into each other. Most likely, it was on CompuServe, although Paul and I both had accounts on several online services, including GEnie, Prodigy, The WELL, and, eventually, America Online. We were a couple years ahead of the World Wide Web. Paul was selling a database of media contacts at the time, and I was using his contacts to pitch books to journalists. We became fast friends and shared information with each other about what was and was not working in online news releases.
The first thing you should know about Paul Krupin is that he is an scientist. By nature, Paul is compelled to break down complex routines into their basic components, study them, reassemble them, and test the results. In Trash Proof News Release, Paul goes through a sort of demon kaizen routine -- continuous improvement loops -- until he arrives at a formula and a process that can unlock the power of media coverage for all those who seek it.
The second thing you should know about Paul Krupin is that he is a once-upon-a-time attorney. He knows how to make a persuasive case for any person, product, service, event, or cause. He shows you how to build compelling arguments into your news releases that journalists can’t resist. As example after example unfold in this book, Paul shows you how clever language and clear goals lead to media coverage time and again.
Paul has always been generous with his knowledge. For many years, he has written articles for trade publications on how to pitch journalists. I relied on his observations when writing my first book, “Publicity on the Internet,” in 1996. Paul’s theories were backed with hundreds of case studies from his wire service, Imediafax.
Paul always wanted to put the power of the media into the people’s hands. He is a capitalist and a populist, a social scientist determined to share his discoveries for the benefit of the species. Yes, the benefit of the species, because in Paul’s view, publicity happens when you do something good for others, and they tell others about it, either through the media or word of mouth. Paul is an eternal optimist that the desire for coverage will lead people like you to be generous with your knowledge and expertise.
Paul created Imediafax with that scientist’s brain of his and the heart of a philanthropist. Imediafax allowed users to upload a news release, select the media from Paul’s database, and swipe your credit card to magically have the release faxed and/or emailed to the selected media contacts. In Imediafax, Paul gave the common person the power of a wire service at a fraction of the cost.
There is only one problem with Imediafax. No matter how good the technology, no matter how accurately-targeted the media contacts, you can’t get coverage from a poorly crafted news release. Even with all the benefits of Paul’s magical mechanism, none of it works if you can’t write a good news release.
So Paul again put his mind to work analyzing the news release. He studied which news releases were most effective, and tried to discover why. He studied how print, broadcast, and online journalists create news -- the stories they pick to cover, the amount of time or space they devote to different stories, the archetypes that attract journalists, the stories that consumers can’t resist. Then, like an engineer, he built news releases for hundreds of clients and tinkered with headlines and the arc of the story and the contact information and the format. He watched and measured and made charts and graphs and lists and summaries.
When Paul Krupin completed his comprehensive analysis of the news release, the result was this book. Trash Proof News Releases condenses everything down to one simple formula: DPAA+H -- Dramatic Personal Achievement against Adversity, plus a little Humor. It’s not easy to remember until you see it work, over and over, to bring news coverage to any person or organization.
Let me give you an example. Let’s say your business made a profit of $1 million last quarter. Is that newsworthy? No. What if you beat Wall Street’s projection by a mile. Is that newsworthy? You’re getting warmer. What if the surprising gain was in part the result of an employee suggestion? Now you have a story of the line employee who’s smarter than management, a dramatic personal achievement against adversity, a story that vast numbers of people can relate to. That’s a story that warrants coverage.
It’s sounds simple, and it is. Yet you would be stunned at how often people fail to put these incredibly powerful triggers into their writing.
In Trash Proof News Releases, Paul Krupin cooks down everything he knows about creating an effective news release into a simple formula, then builds it back up into devastatingly effective news releases for a variety of purposes. He provides samples from real campaigns, including the phenomenal publishing success, the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series, the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case, and an earthquake relief fundraiser for China.
Trash Proof News Releases represents the life’s work of one of America’s most brilliant marketers, Paul Krupin. Anyone can write a news release. Only a select few, however, can write a release so perfect you can’t put it down. You can be one of those select few, those who are blessed by the media with priceless coverage. Let Paul Krupin show you how.
STEVE O’KEEFE
Author, “Publicity on the Internet” and “Complete Guide to Internet Publicity”
Adjunct Professor, Internet Public Relations, Tulane University
Executive Director, Patron Saint Productions, Inc.
* * * * *
Introduction
How Important is a News Release?
A news release is the key deliverable for those seeking publicity (much like a résumé is for job seekers, or a contract is for contract seekers).
If a news release works you can get an article in a newspaper, an interview on radio or TV and information about you will be placed in front of an audience of people who can take action based on what they learn about you.
With publicity comes increased interest, name recognition, calls from prospects, sales, and profits. Compared to advertising and direct marketing, publicity is very, very inexpensive to acquire.
The publicity you can generate with a news release can be phenomenally valuable. You can inform people and generate interest in your products and services, educate and entertain hundreds, thousands, even millions of people, drive traffic to a website or get people to attend an event and as a result acquire fame and recognition.
But if the news release fails to capture the attention of an editor or producer, your business, event, or idea may wind up in the trash along with it.
When I published the original Trash Proof News Releases in 2001, the primary ways you could send a news release were:
1. street mail
2. fax
3. e-mail
4. in person
5. telephone
Internet based media platforms and personal communication devices have evolved considerably in the past seven years. In addition to those outlets listed above, we now have:
1. web pages
2. regular search engines
3. news search engines
4. specialized search engines
5. online libraries, directories, databases
6. newsletters and ezines
7. discussion groups and mailing lists
8. forums
9. audio and podcasts
10. video (You Tube)
11. chat rooms
12. blogs
13. social media (MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc)
14. cell phones and PDA’s
The technology continues to evolve, get smaller, and faster. The way we receive news continues to change.
But the message you create when you send a news release to persuade media to give you exposure is the crucial starting point. What you write, say, or look like influences their decision and if they decide in your favor people get to read, watch or listen to some version of your message. Your news release to the media is the key – the crucial proposal that determines what media do.
What you place into a news release determines whether you get media coverage. If the message is deemed newsworthy, you can fly across the media and soar to majestic heights like an eagle in the wind.
If the message fails to incite media interest, then it sinks like a rock in a pond, never to see the light of day again.
The successful news release provides a story arc, anticipates questions (who, what, where, when, why, and how?), triggers an emotional connection, and leads the media who reads it to a decision to share you and your message with an audience of people.
In the face of the hundreds and even thousands of other people competing for media attention, this is no easy task.
Oftentimes, you’re trying to capture all the most meaningful aspects of your life’s efforts in one single phrase. You must outshine all the other twinkling stars in the night.
The success of a news release resides primarily in the quality of the copywriting. It must address the needs of the media outlet, its sponsors, and its audience. Those audience members can tell the difference between content and advertisement pretty easily, so your news release must be pitched perfectly if it’s going to accomplish both your aims and the media’s. It must be concise, easy to understand, interesting, believable, value-laden, and actionable.
In Trash Proof, I don’t just tell you how to create this perfect news release, pat you on the back, and send you out the door. I show you how. The examples in this book have been proven to work because they’ve generated significant news coverage for my clients.
By using these news releases as models, you will avoid countless missteps, unreturned phone calls, and rejections. You will learn to craft a unique, marketable message that does you and your organization justice.
It would be great if you could create just one perfect news release and then shuttle it off to every dispersal outlet. That’s not the case. The content, format, and delivery mechanisms need to be customized, based upon the qualities and limitations of each media outlet, but first you must have a strong, compelling message. That’s the base upon which all else is built.
* * * * *
Part I: Creating a Trash Proof News Release
The First Order of Business is Your Business
A Trash Proof news release can get you publicity, but are you ready for it? Is your book ready for publication? Is your product ready for sale? Is your practice ready for clients? You may not get a second chance from some media outlets if you don’t meet their expectations, so before focusing on the release, focus first on the readiness of your product and your business.
How do you know when you’re ready? Simple: when you hear the musical ring of the cash register. That’s the best indication that you have a remarkable, publicity-worthy enterprise.
Here’s the kind of purchasing magic you’re looking for from customers:
1. They read an article in the newspaper or a magazine, and it motivates them to search high and low for the product mentioned.
2. They’re driving down the highway in traffic faster than the posted speed limit. The announcer on the radio says something so intriguing or remarkable that they take their eyes off the road and stare at the radio, as if the call numbers will give them additional insight. They might even wish that hitting a button on their radio would allow them to purchase the item!
3. In a bookstore, they look at the front cover of a book, then the back cover, then skim a few pages. Done deal! Without any further hesitation, they head straight to the cashier.
4. They hear about a product or a service from a friend, expert, trusted colleague or consultant, and they know in advance that this is what they need to have. Sight unseen, they buy it.
5. They’re the kid in the supermarket aisle, holding a box of sugar cereal, with shiny eyes that say please, mom and dad, please!!!
To create this kind of magic (what I call the “clutching response” or “hoarding syndrome”), you have to test your ideas and products on real live people. You have to identify your end-users and the people who will buy the book for these users. Not just once or twice, but repeatedly and reliably.
Have your current customers explain what produced the magic for them. What did you do or say that convinced them to buy? Document exactly how successful business transactions occurred. Better yet, have someone else—a third party (either hidden or present)—provide an objective, step-by-step account. When did the customer nod her head, when did she look away, when did she laugh, when did she reach for her purse?
The more you’re able to identify and document the successful communications ingredients, the more likely you can reproduce them or even improve upon them. It’s important to know what about your communication process isn’t working, too, so that you can change up the sequence, refine it, or start over.
In short: If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t work, stop doing it.
The bottom line is that you build to sell. You create to sell. You design to sell. And you must redesign to sell, and redesign, redesign, and redesign until it sells, easily and continuously.
What’s even more important is that even once you have created something good, you now have to tell people about it.
You create a conversation to sell. You refine what you tell to sell. And you must refine, refine, and refine what you tell until it sells, easily, reliably and continuously.
The Magic Formula (DPAA+H)
America is known as the land of opportunity. In fact, right now there are about 300 million people and as a result of the media and the nature of our educational systems and technology we are for the most part universally trained to read, watch and listen to media quite naturally as a part of our daily lives. You could even say that we are homogenously programmed to respond to media the same way as well. We laugh at the same jokes, cry at the same sad stories, and react strongly to the same shocking facts and situations.
The media has learned how to push our buttons. They do it day in day out. This is how they survive and thrive.
And if you want to be featured in the media, you have to learn how to do it as well. This is the opportunity which I call ‘the miracle of the microcosm’ because you can learn how to turn people on anywhere. You can be in the smallest town in the middle of nowhere. All you have to do is learn what to say to get even one other person truly galvanized – interested enough to take the action you want them to take. Then you practice it again so you get the same response out of more people, small groups, and then larger groups.
Once you develop a sequence of communications that produces a known action reliably and repeatedly, you can roll it out again and again to produce the same action response again and again wherever you go. You can use all the available communications technologies at your disposal as a force multiplier to repeat the message so that you reach more people with the same proven action causing message.
But first you have to develop that magic message.
If you’re having trouble selling, it could be because your communication is not giving your audience what they want most: a remarkable, emotional experience. Yes, they want physical satisfaction, but what people really crave is intense emotional satisfaction. They want information, education, or entertainment that allows them to experience dramatic personal gain, pain, suffering, or pleasure. They want to feel what others are feeling. They want transcendence.
Media are experts at creating this feeling. Editors and producers are always looking for useful, educational, entertaining and inspirational content that evokes remarkable, emotional experiences. This is how they make a living. This is what drives them. Daily. It’s a heavy demand, but it doesn’t make them desperate. It makes them experts at detecting content that will engage their audience members emotionally vs. content that lulls them to sleep.
These experts want publishable material that will generate enthusiastic thank-you letters for the information and insights and repeat subscriptions or increased sponsorship. This is what you need to provide.
Thankfully, there is a magic formula:
DPAA+H or “Dramatic Personal Achievement in the face of Adversity, plus a little Humor”
Take a look at the front page of USA Today, Olympics coverage on network TV, stories on the evening news, an episode of King of Queens, or an ad for Coke. You’ll see DPAA+H in action. It’s what the American public craves, again and again and again, because it triggers strong emotions.
As a culture, we don’t want to feel lukewarm emotions. We want to see the human spirit triumph in matters of the heart, through hardship and even tragedy. We ask to be transported from daily drudgery into the powerful personal exhilaration and extreme emotional states of those living life on the edge. It fills us with hope and intention.
It also gets us to open up our wallets and pocketbooks.
As you watch and listen to the media, all forms (soap operas, shock jocks, reality TV, Cosmo), ask, “Who is achieving, over what, and what did they do to make me smile or laugh?”
Humor usually stems from an awareness of one’s own vulnerability or weaknesses. It makes high achievers relate-ably imperfect. It makes their achievements seem more possible for the rest of us.
Now look at your products or services, your news releases, advertising, and promotions. Look at how you and your people communicate with prospects and customers. Are you engaging them emotionally? Does your organization’s story seep into your communications? Does that story feature drama, achievement, adversity, and a little humor?
If it does and you present it well, you’ll not only increase the mental engagement of prospects and customers, you’ll get the attention of editors and producers, who will expand your audience even further.
Helping the People You Can Help the Most
Maybe you’ve learned to recognize DPAA+H (Dramatic Personal Achievement in the face of Adversity, plus a little Humor) on TV, radio, online, or in print, but you’re not sure how it applies to you. What if you didn’t experience a ton of Adversity in creating your product or service? What if you can’t think of a Dramatic Personal Achievement off the top of your head? What if you’re not good at making people laugh? Not to worry.
The media is less interested in your achievements than they are in your ability to help others—their audience members. So rather than think of your personal achievements or the adversity you faced, think of others. Ask:
“WHO ARE THE PEOPLE I CAN HELP THE MOST?”
Once you’ve answered that key question, then ask, “HOW EXACTLY CAN I HELP THEM?”
Answering these questions will allow you to appeal to people at a deep personal level and create a lasting impression. Why? Because these people need your help! They also remember exactly where they get help. When they get really good help, they tend to trust the source of that help, and carry these feeling over towards anything and everything this person has available for sale. They trust it so much that they are much more willing to buy whatever that person has for sale.
There’s a fine line between helping and selling, but it’s an important distinction. Rather than seeing you as a peddler of products and services, the media and their audience members will see you as a truly helpful and giving person. You are there for them, not vice versa. Helping others not only creates a feeling of goodwill, but also a sense of reciprocal obligation. If you help others, they will want to help you—by purchasing your products or services! This is the secret of personal and professional branding.
So let’s focus on what it means to help others. In order to provide help, there first must be a problem. Write down problems your customers are having in as much detail as possible. Next, establish why these customers aren’t able to help themselves. Then describe the steps your customers must take to alleviate these problems OR how your product or service will do it for them.
Problem Solving: Helping Means Overcoming Barriers
A problem is simply a barrier to progress. It can take any number of forms: physical, mental, material, social, or financial. Here are ways you can address each of these types of barriers:
Physical
Go to them
Go with them
Be with them
Lift them up
Transport them
Shelter them
Protect them
Bring whoever they need to them
Bring whatever they need to them
Mental
Guide people to better choices
Provide counsel or advice
Listen
Console
Teach people how to do something better
Explain how to do something important
Tell people exactly how to build, create, develop, find, or achieve something
Tell people how to avoid disaster, pain, anguish, or negative experiences
Simplify a complex issue
Explain a mystery
Tell stories to demonstrate a concept
Material
Give people what they need or want
Give food, shelter, materials, water, or tools
Provide tangible aid, support, or resources where too few are available
Provide personal or technical expertise
Volunteer time, expertise, or services
Send manpower
Canvass a neighborhood for supplies for the needy
Collect and store supplies for the needy
Deliver supplies to the needy
Social
Introduce someone to others who can help them
Communicate with others on behalf of someone
Enlist others to help someone
Raise awareness of a need or situation
Get an organization to focus their resources and efforts on a problem
Financial
Give money
Give time to help raise money
Tell people about someone else’s financial needs
Create a fund for someone
Conduct or support a fundraiser
Get other involved, motivated, and committed to give or raise money
No doubt there are lots of other ways to help people, but these approaches are tried and true. Some fall under the category of IDEAS, ADVICE, or GUIDANCE, but most are ACTIONS. News releases typically focus on advice, but actions are what really get an audience’s attention.
And some of the best salesmanship, best marketing and best publicity, I’ve found, comes from coupling good advice with timely action and letting people in the media know about what you are doing.
So get on your feet and start helping!
Targeting the Right people & The right Media
Don’t worry just yet about solving the problems of the world or a nation or even a zip code. Think of one particular customer you helped overcome a barrier. When you solve the problem of one, in all likelihood, you have a solution for many others who are similar to that person.
If you’re still having trouble pinpointing a customer’s specific problem or need, step back and think about the characteristics of your prospects, your customers or the target audience you are aiming at:
Age
Sex
Race
Class
Personal characteristics
Social characteristics
Employment characteristics
Religious characteristics
Physical characteristics
Education
Professional credentials
Professional affiliations
Hobbies
Now arrange these customers into groups or pools and then arrange them from most valuable to least valuable. In other words, put the customers who spend the most or are vigorous advocates for your brand at or near the top of the pile. See if there are common characteristics among the profiles, particularly among your most valuable customers. The goal here is to identify the similar demographics of your customers.
Let’s say that your best customers are primarily highly educated, white-collar families, who live healthily, are church-goers, live in outer-ring suburbs, and are risk-takers in terms of their hobbies (white water rafting, long bike treks, safaris, etc.). Your business, leading rafting trips, can help them get the adrenaline rush they’re looking for, but how could you better cater to their needs? What problems do they face? And how can you address those problems?
What if you offered church-affiliated rafting trips that ask participants to reflect on water-related passages from the Bible? That would address the separation that now exists between two of their interests: rafting and religion.
Once you know the demographic information that your customers share, you are not only better equipped to brainstorm and craft solutions to problems they are facing, developing and presenting ways to address their needs.
You must also now seek to identify and learn what forms of media they subscribe to. You can ask them one at a time, go to their offices, attend their meetings, participate in their activities and online discussion groups, learn where they hang out online. You goal is to specifically determine what media your customers read, watch, or listen to, particularly when they are receptive to receiving information that they use to make decisions about buying what you have for sale.
The list of prime media includes:
Daily and Weekly Newspapers
Magazines
Radio Stations and Shows
TV stations and Shows
News Services and News Syndicates
Freelance Writers
Internet media counterparts to all the above
Media columnists
Media Blogs
You must seek to identify and include the top editors as well as the appropriate specialty editors. There are several media databases available to help you target and utilizing the skills and abilities of a professional publicist is invaluable when you seek to target effectively.
There is also an ever changing suite of Internet news release posting services for those who wish to post their news release online and make it available to news search engines.
Remember to Target Non-Media Targets
While you want to assemble a list of newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV programs, news services, syndicates, and Internet media that will help you reach your target audience, bear in mind that these aren’t the only places that people congregate. Here’s a list of non-media venues you ought to consider:
Interest Groups
Associations
Clubs
Institutions
Foundations
Support Groups
Search engines, list brokers, and online subject directories/databases will help you find these non-media targets.
Be sure to break down your search by region—nation, state, region, county, city/town—so that you don’t miss any relevant organizations or outlets. You might, for instance, search for “family parenting” “support group” and “San Diego”.
Micro-targeting these regional groups works well for two reasons. First, these groups are not approached nearly as frequently as mainstream media, so they are more likely to give you publicity. Second, these groups are often structured around a specific type of help that they need. If you can provide that help, everyone benefits!
using Search-Engines To Evaluate Opportunities in the Right Media
Once you know the people you can help the most and how exactly you can help them, it’s time to study how your topic is covered by the media. You can use demographic info to help you identify and target specific media that you know will prove valuable, but don’t be afraid to cast the net further.
News search engines visit media web sites from all over the Internet and use computer algorithms to select stories for inclusion. They cluster the stories and accompanying photos into an online magazine format. As the news changes, the news search engines keep you informed of the latest developments.
Google News (http://news.google.com), Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com), and
MSN News (http://msnbc.msn.com) are some of the biggest, most helpful news search engines, but there are many others. Some search engines are country-specific and others focus on a particular topic (politics, business, finance, health, computers, sports, entertainment, etc.).
Here are some other types of search engines that are available to you and will prove useful:
* Regular search engines
* Magazine search engines
* Library search engines
* Photo search engines
* Audio search engines
* Video search engines
* Blog search engines
* Forum search engines
* Newsletter and ezine search engines
* Association search engines
* Podcast search engines
* Social networking search engines
Search capability on news search engines is generally limited to a short time window: two weeks to one month. Some of the news search engines, though, allow you to customize the news sources you select from; you might, for instance, limit your search to influential national outlets, industry journals, or regional newspapers. Others operate like a meta-search engines.
To prevent being overloaded with material, it helps to take a systematic approach:
1. Review news releases by other companies on the topics you care about—the competition, in other words;
2. Skim headlines to keep track of late-breaking news and spot trends;
3. Use keyword searches to see who is publishing material related to your business;
4. Find out what is being published about you, your business, your employees or contractors, and your competitors, events and issues that affect what you do to make money, and the technologies you use or care about;
5. Pay particular attention to how the media is treating your industry’s products and services. What are they advocating and why? What are they discouraging and why?
6. Sign up for email alerts (or news feeds) for topics or keywords of particular interest to you.
Using search engines efficiently requires knowledge of specific search tools and techniques. If you’re looking for “chiropractor” stories, for instance, you should search on all possible permutations of that word/practice: chiropractor, chiropractic, chiropractics, etc. Putting a few words in quotation marks (“chiropractic training”) will limit the search to documents that use those terms in that exact sequence—helping you zero in on the results you want. In some cases, there will be a glut of articles on a given subject, which appears to totally occupy most of the media coverage. Use the minus sign (-) in front of a keyword to eliminate it from your search (“baseball fans” -Yankees), so that you can work with a more manageable and varied sampling of stories.
The goal is to find out what is being published in your field and by whom.
The first thing you should when you see the results of a search is identify the prime media and separate them out from the less important media and from the news releases posted on the online news release posting sites.
Don’t spend too much time reading hard news that covers criminal issues, frauds, scandals, and lawsuits. While these are interesting to read, they aren’t likely important for your business. Focus instead on feature stories, events, and helpful-tips articles. Save the good ones: bookmark them, print them, place them in a three-ring binder, and build up a file that you can use for ideas and strategic guidance. These will be extremely useful to you when you use The 3-I Technique.
The less important media and even the news releases you find will also reveal to you critical business intelligence. You can see what others in your field are doing to promote and market similar products or services. You can study the competition.
The more you use search engines, the more refined your searches will become. You will learn the keywords and you will find the media that are most valuable to your business. In the process, you will become better prepared to write news releases that will get you more, higher quality media coverage.
While the focus of this book is primarily on news releases, once you identify who you can help the most and how to help them, the spinoff avenues for outreach using the magic words you develop are numerous:
News releases for articles
News releases for interviews
Content for ezines and newsletters
Content for web page content
Content for blog posts and blog tours
Content for mailing lists and discussion groups
Content for forums and article posts
Social media
Marketing communications
Email offers
Business proposals
Phone conversations
Street mail
Brochures
Pamphlets
White papers
Audio/podcasts
Videos
Live, taped, telephone or web presentations, speaking events, workshops or seminars
So if you want to stay ahead of the news and expand your business, make “searching” the media a high priority.
The 3-I Technique
You have honed your product or service, figured out how to help the people you can help the most, and established your target media and non-media venues. Now it’s time to learn how to employ the 3-I Technique.
Try this simple three-step (3-I) process:
1. Identify a successful model;
2. Imitate the structure and content of the success model;
3. Innovate with your own information.
Naturally, the presentation of this information varies, depending on whether you’re trying to crack into print or broadcast media.
PRINT MEDIA
Step 1: Select one or more articles you wish could be about you from your target publication.
For each article, establish:
* the number of total words
* the number of words per paragraph
* the number of sentences per paragraph
* the number of paragraphs
Next, calculate the averages for each and create a target word, sentence, and paragraph count.
Step 2: Choose your favorite article and imitate the structure and content of this model.
Develop a general outline of the structure and purpose of each sentence and paragraph in the model article. As you read along ask: What are the readers’ likely reactions? What are the author’s intentions? Why might the editor have approved this material?
Step 3: Innovate with your own information.
Now write sentences, one at a time, which match the length, tone, and function of the sentences and paragraphs you see in the published article. Replace pertinent information with yours.
This exercise may seem mechanical, but it really works. As you step into the other writer’s shoes, something very magical will happen. You will come really close to matching the editorial style and readership interests of your target media, whether it’s The Wall Street Journal, Wired, or Martha Stewart Living.
Your news release should come as close to a final finished article as possible. In doing so, editors will recognize its worthiness and, more importantly, how little work will need to be done on their end.
BROADCAST MEDIA (RADIO & TV)
You can use the 3-I Technique the same way to develop a set of talking points, and a question and answer script for an interview on radio or TV.
Listen or watch your target media and learn what the producers want and demand of their guests. Study how interviews are conducted. Pay attention to the questions the host asks, how the guest answers, how long the guest talks and how long the interview goes.
Then use the 3-I Technique to design your news release and create an approach that will be persuasive with the media decision-makers. Match their needs and do your best to give them what they want. Use your news release to show them you’ve done your homework and addressed their needs.
Why the 3-I Technique Works
Very simply, the 3-I Technique helps you evaluate how a given media outlet provides coverage to their audience. You will find out whether they like their material long and wordy, or short and punchy. You will learn specific content needs and preferences: publisher or book info (such as page length or ISBN), cost, contact and ordering information. And you will learn what to avoid. Some publications, for instance, refuse to provide contact or ordering information in their articles.
Use the 3-I Technique to evaluate the style, editorial and audience interests, and the nature of the information your target publication needs. If you recapture this magic in your Trash Proof News Release, you’ll give the editors exactly what and they in turn will give you what you want: publicity.
Selecting the Right Trash Proof Content
In studying your target media and employing the 3-I technique, you will see that news coverage is largely predictable. Consumers and editors are drawn to types of stories that have worked well in the past. If you want to receive coverage, it’s important that you’re familiar with these content patterns and do your best to replicate them.
The following list of most commonly featured content is derived from analyzing media coverage of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV for many years:
1. A dramatic personal story that describes achievement in the face of adversity plus a little humor.
2. A problem-solving-tips article on a timely topic that shows how you can help the people that you can help the most.
3. An innovative product or service that people want because of the remarkable benefits offered.
4. A dramatic and interesting photograph that tells a 1,000-word story at a glance.
5. A new development or situation that affects lots of people in a unique way.
6. A personal battle between the forces of good and evil, or David and Goliath.
7. A truly heartwarming tale with a happy or remarkable ending.
8. New effective techniques or tactics to improving a problem or situation that is commonly faced.
9. New form of creativity that makes people feel good or experience heightened emotions.
10. A story that makes people cringe in fear, howl with delight, or experience intense desire or want.
11. An explanation of a mystery that confounds a lot of people.
12. News, analysis, and commentary on a controversial issue or topic.
13. Localized stories and media access to the local people involved.
14. Innovative and new ways to have fun, save money, help people, increase their enjoyment, protect the environment, and help them get more out of life.
15. Unusual, hot, and wacky ideas, products, activities, and situations.
16. Mouthwatering recipes, food, culinary delights, or opportunities.
17. Educational, unusual, hard-to-believe, never-before-revealed, or fascinating news, data, information, or stories.
18. Record-breaking achievements, competitions, paradoxes, dilemmas, anything that confounds the human spirit.
19. Knowledge, ideas, or information that astounds, enlightens, and inspires people to experience new feelings.
20. Remarkable little things people may not know about, that will make their dreams come true.
These are weapons of mass persuasion, in part because readers and viewers know the arc of these pieces by heart. This familiarity soothes them and allows them to concentrate on the particulars of your story.
The Six essential Parts of a Trash Proof News Release
Most of the books on publicity tell you that a news release has a Lead, Body, and Conclusion, or a beginning, middle, and end. They recommend using either the pyramid-style or the inverted-pyramid-style of presentation. Blah Blah, blah. This is pretty much useless guidance.
The problem with these blunt academic ideas is that they fail to address media needs. You can’t present anything that requires an editor or producer to do too much work, figuring out how your information will appeal to their particular audience and fit with their particular media needs.
A Trash Proof News Release provides editors and producers with what they need in an immediately actionable format. And, in turn, they will provide you with the publicity you need by:
* publishing your story or information in a favorable way; or
* interviewing you.
At the very least, if they are interested you will get a request more information so that they evaluate whether to proceed with your story or interview.
The three key questions the media asks when they receive a news release are:
1. How many people in my audience will be interested in this?
2. What’s in it for my audience?
3. What is the cost, time and effort to create what I need?
The answers to these questions have to be:
1. a lot
2. a lot
3. very little.
So your news release must demonstrate that your ideas, advice, book, event, product, or business will:
1. Interest and possibly even expand the media outlet’s target audience;
2. Provide unique added value;
3. Be easy to verify, trust, and work with.
A Trash Proof New Release communicates to the media: I understand you’re in business to satisfy your customers and sponsors, not me. It’s an important distinction to make, as editors and publishers weigh your news release against stacks of other similar requests. Ideally, you want the media executive to say or think,
“Wow! Finally someone who knows exactly who is in our audience, what they want, and they are even giving me what I need to do my job quickly and easily.”
The media will not give you free advertising. They only will publish something that fits within the spectrum of news, education, or entertainment that their audience wants and will pay for, and that their advertisers won’t object to. In addition to meeting these criteria, your news release must also create a vivid word picture of the finished product, describe ancillary media incentives, provide contact information, and identify exactly what you’re asking the media to do (step by step). Oh, yeah, and it must be LEAN! Otherwise, it’s headed for the trash.
A Trash Proof News Release Has Six Essential Elements
1. The Call to Action
2. A Real Story That
Relates to Real People
3. A presentation of
The Value to the Audience
4. Crucial Information
5. The Highlights of Qualifications
6. Access to Key People
* * * * *
Writing Your Trash Proof News release
Put all the photos, data, and files you have to support and flesh out your news release into one folder (on a computer, preferably), so that it’s all easily accessible. Then get to work on the news release. With that one initial cornerstone in place, you will spin off and create additional marketing and publicity materials, depending on the type of media you’re approaching.
When you write a news release in real time, you will start, skip around, build the pieces and revise and rewrite the key sections until it all comes together.
The Call to Action
There are three key pieces of information in the Call to Action:
1. Action Line
2. Media Incentives
3. Media Contact
Most people who write news releases do not make full use of this section, even professional publicists. With email news releases in particular, the Call to Action allows you to tell media why your news release is valuable and easy to use. It’s the first point of contact, so don’t underestimate its impact or potential.
ACTION LINE: The first words at the very top left of the first page are usually one of the following:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
* For Immediate Release
* News Release
* Press Release
* New Product Release
* New Book Release
* Public Service Announcement
* Media Advisory
* News Conference
* Photo Opportunity
* Available for Interview
Select the one that is most appropriate for your offering. These words are not just window dressing. In some cases they expressly appear to grant the media permission to print as is. In other cases, it invites media to take notice, or take an action. You must think about what you want the media to do upon receiving your news release and select the right call to action, for the right media, and for the right purpose. It sets the stage for media action and response.
MEDIA INCENTIVES: Space down two lines so that you begin a new paragraph.
In this section, describe what materials are available to the media and how they can be obtained:
* Media kits, high resolution photography, and interviews available upon request.
* Unique local photo opportunity by arrangement please.
* Interviews with key people available after the press conference by arrangement please.
* Media passes available upon request.
* Limited comp tickets for media available. Please call.
* Product review samples and additional information available by email.
* Additional information may be requested and will be supplied in pdf file attachments.
* Feature story inquiries welcome. Special topic assignments or topical inquires welcomed.
* Shorter or longer versions available to meet your specific needs.
* This article may be used freely in whole or part with attribution please.
You present the best series of incentives you can possibly offer to the media—incentives that will save them time and make their jobs easier. In some cases, this may be all it takes to get media buy-in. At the very least, it demonstrates that you have their interests at heart.
MEDIA CONTACT: List the name, phone, and email of the contact person. If the news release is being transmitted by email, I recommend using the following format:
CONTACT: Paul Krupin 509-545-2707 800-457-8746 Paul@DirectContactPR.com or simply hit reply to this email and provide us with your best street mail address or tell us what you are looking for.
With email news releases, media will often simply hit reply. Assure them that answering by email with a quick click is just fine.
Who is the best point of contact for the media? If your news release offers someone (e.g. an author of a book) for an interview on short notice, you probably want to use the author as the contact, provide 24-hour phone numbers, and also indicate that they are available for interview on short notice. If you offer direct contact, you need to be reasonably comfortable that the contact with the media will produce favorable results. If you do not have the necessary degree of confidence, don’t do it. The theory that “Any press is good press” isn’t entirely true. A bad encounter can be damaging.
If the news release offers opportunities for interviews by arrangement (because of time, schedule, or distance constraints), you can utilize a publicist, the author’s publisher, an executive assistant, a receptionist, or even an answering service, provided you’re confident in their abilities. Whenever possible, avoid voice mail or message machines. The contact number ought to deliver a real, live, knowledgeable person if the media calls.
If the release offers free review copies or media kits, the contact person need only take down a name and street address.
When wealth, social stature, and celebrity status begins to affect the appearance and image you want to have with the media, may be time to use a professional point of contact intermediary (such as a executive assistant, a professional employee or a publicist).
VERIFY: Always call the contact phone number in advance to ensure that the phone number works and is correct. You’ll also get a sense of what will happen when the media calls that same number. If the call is answered poorly, you can bet that the media experience will be similar, unless you provide some training.
TRAIN: Make sure the people answering media calls know to take down the following information: names, titles, media organization, phone numbers, fax numbers, e-mail addresses, street addresses, the best time to call back, and the best way to get the requested or desired information back to the media.
Train people who answer media calls to offer something valuable for free on every call. Teach them to specifically fish for the answer “YES” to an offer which allows for further engagement. Have them ask the media, “What can we provide you?” or “How can we help you?” or “Can we send you a free review copy or media kit?” or “What can we do to book an interview with you?” The goal is a positive, affirming interaction that also anticipates future interactions.