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August 8th, 2007
Editorial Contribution by Les Blatt
It’s a common complaint: you open a newspaper, or click on a news website, or turn on your local TV news, and there’s your competitor, featured in a positive news story about a service or product that competes directly with yours. You wonder: how did his product get so much more attention than mine?
The answer may come down to a matter of studying your approach to publicity: are you trying to push your product or service? Or are you telling a compelling story? In the end, that’s what communications is all about today. It’s the difference between advertising and public relations, the difference between promotion and news. It’s a difference that can play to your advantage if you find a new way of looking at what you are trying to do.
Every reporter, every publication, every news website is open to hearing about something that is new, intriguing, great and unique. On the other hand, every reporter, every publication, every news website is completely UNinterested in promoting your product or service. They will politely suggest that you get in touch with their organization’s advertising sales department.
What’s the secret? Try looking at your product or service as if you were an outsider. Ask yourself, “What is different about my product, what makes me stand out?” Or, at an even more basic level, “Why am I in business? What makes my company different, why should the public come to me and not to my competitors”? Let’s say you’re the CEO at Acme Gizmos. Other companies make gizmos, but without the style and flair that your gizmos have. Or perhaps their gizmos have only a 45% energy efficiency rating from the Federal Gizmo Ratings Board, while yours are at an astonishing 98%.
You will find that pitching a reporter to do a story about your gizmos generally brings only a glassed-over look to their eyes. But suppose you can say, “In a world desperately seeking a solution to the problems of efficient energy use, the Federal Gizmo Ratings Board finds that the kind of gizmo you use can make a real difference.”
Go on and talk about that difference. Quote somebody at the Ratings Board. And, of course, make it clear that Acme Gizmos are the gizmos with a difference. Maybe quote yourself (if you have to), “If major US factories were to switch to Acme Gizmos, we could save the total energy output of 85 power generating plants.” Pitch that story to an energy reporter, and you stand a better chance of getting some attention, particularly if you have a good video clip or even a series of photos of real people using your gizmos efficiently.
The bottom line: look at the story as if you were an outsider, unconcerned with gizmo sales. Would you pay attention to the story? If you can answer, “Yes,” then you’re probably on your way to positive publicity.
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