Big Gnome

Strategy 5: Build relationships with journalists who cover your field.

If you are the CEO, owner, or decision-maker in your company, take the time to research and get to know the key journalists and/or bloggers that follow and cover your industry, whether this is on a local, regional, national, or international level, as well as a consumer or trade media level.

Just because the journalist covers your industry, though, does not guarantee they will do a story on your company. But, you can try to build a relationship with them initially in a well-researched, genuine way.

First, do your homework. Research and identify the journalists. Read several of their past articles. Know what they are writing about. You may decide upon closer inspection that they may not be interested in what you have to offer.

If the journalist is a good fit, get in touch through their preferred method of contact. Respond to or offer a comment on their most recent story. Begin building rapport. Don’t pitch them. Don’t pull a Mikey and blow up their voice mail. They are badgered by people—public relations folks especially—all the time. Treat journalists like real people.

Also, start small. I get a kick out of prospects that say, “I want to be on the cover of Men’s Health.” That’s great and possible. It may be a wise strategy, however, to approach smaller publications initially. Why? Because they have time for you. And often, big publications or higher profile media outlets look to smaller publications for story ideas. That story could be yours. If it is newsworthy, the story will sell itself.

Building rapport with journalists is important because they will probably cover your business in some way, and it may reach a point that you are not calling them anymore. They’re calling you.

Strategy 4: Don’t jump on the bandwagon.

Say you’re one of the many companies who said, “Blogs are big right now. We need a blog.” You create one and all you do is share news about your business. And, you update it even less than your company website’s “News” or “Press” page. Blogs should be places where people who want to pay attention to you can get useful, insightful information on a regular basis.

Are you concerned that you will fall into obscurity if you do not use social media to share information? Outlets such as blogs, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter offer cool, new opportunities to promote your business and interact with your audience; however, businesses jump on the bandwagon too fast without first examining the need to do it, the benefits, and the possible consequences.

It is important to thoughtfully develop and protect your image on the web. Negative publicity or projecting the wrong image can cost you. So, be sure to research and examine the opportunities and to make prudent decisions about what’s best for your company.

No matter what, when your marketing or public relations campaign is carefully developed and focused on identifying the best communications tools to meet your objectives, the rest will fall in place. Social media may or may not be the answer.

I’d like to tell this to some people, but I play nice. Not because their current firm isn’t good…I think businesses do not always need a PR firm to get great PR. Jason Calacanis, founder and CEO of Mahalo, and who also founded and ran both Weblogs Inc. and the Silicon Alley Reporter, wrote a solid guest column for GSATC last week, “How To Get PR For Your Start-Up – Fire Your PR Firm.”

As a public relations professional, is it bad that I agreed with Jason? He offers advice to CEOs of startups on how to secure and manage PR including: picking up the check, approaching smaller publications and web outlets; being “everywhere,” and being a human being. That’s my number one.

Being human isn’t putting the hard sell on a prospect every time you see them – it’s interacting, listening, and developing a rapport and relationship with that person, whether it’s a potential client, or a journalist or editor. We all want to be listened to, acknowledged and cared for. And, everyone has a need.

If a PR firm or person is not the right fit for that need, then you’ve “saved” some bank for something more critical. However, what if a business owner doesn’t know what to do and needs help? First, read Jason’s article. If you need more hands-on guidance, then maybe we should talk.

While having lunch with Alison Lee, owner and lead consultant of Hullabaloo Events, she recalled a Big Gnome blog post from November 2007 that she said stuck in her mind (in a good way). It was cool that she’d remember a mere posting, which had been inspired by an article I’d read and thankfully not by true events.

So here it is again, dear reader.

“Once upon a time, there was a firm that wooed a potential, beautiful client. The firm presented said fair client with gifts, like concepts, logos and taglines, that could be theirs with two simple words, “I do.” Well, the client wanted more than the firm could give. Discounted rates. More spec work. And no clear idea as to where the relationship stood.

This is a nightmare. The quickest way to wake up from it is to click your heels, drop the deal, and cut your losses. Don’t do free consulting, even when you want to show a client how much you know and how much you can help. They’ll take it and run.

Taking time to qualify potential clients in terms of agreements on costs, expectations, and commitment to the relationship, may mean you say no to more work than not. It’ll save you from having to kiss frogs.

We’ve all been there. If you haven’t, shoot us a post, so we can all learn from your infinite wisdom.”