How to Use Public Relations to Get on Prospects’ Radar
by Dawn M. Barclay  |
You have a great travel agency. You offer terrific products and services, do a superior job, and your customers love working with you. So how come no one knows about you? That was the question Robert Deigh of RDC Communication/PR LLC and author of “How Come No One Knows About Us?” posed during a recent Meeting Professional International Webinar.
Deigh pointed out two reasons to try to get placed in the media.
“High visibility among your potential clients makes you top-of-mind, and brands you in the minds of buyers,” he said.
And secondly, article reprints make great sales collateral pieces and constitute a form of free advertising.
He offered the following tips for travel sellers seeking editors’ attention.
Communicate in the Same Way that Reporters Gather Their Research
Reporters don’t care about businesses, products, services, team members, or the travel industry in general, said Deigh. What they do care about are great stories involving all of the above. Come up with an idea that will affect readers of a publication and wrap it in a nice package, he said. “When pitching the story, offer the reporter a few people they can interview, people who are experts in the industry and preferably ones they haven’t spoken to before,” Deigh said. Remember that all compelling stories are about people; people relate to people, he added.
Create a Four-Part Message Document
When doing interviews, you should have the following at your fingertips, said Deigh: an ‘About Us’ paragraph (who you are, what you do); an elevator speech that encapsulates in a sentence or two the true essence of what you do that’s easy to understand; “Must Say” messages, which are five or six pieces of information you want to get out during the interview — “they’re the core of any press campaign”; and finally, everything else — a two to three-page fact sheet with relevant information that your team needs to know about your products, services, issues. Make sure this fact sheet is “e-mail-able” and accessible to all staff members so they can be on the same page when discussing your company with clients and the media.
Understand How to Best Pitch a Story
Don’t be afraid to call a reporter and in twenty seconds, tell them that you have a good idea for a story and then ask if you could have a few minutes of their time, said Deigh. If the reporter says yes, follow up with an e-mail providing the details. That way, they will be expecting your information, he said. The e-mail should say something like, “I’ve been reading your stories and here are three reasons this would make a good story….” Then include the names and short bios of those you are suggesting should be interviewed.
Know Where to Go with the Information
If you’re wondering where to find the right editors to pitch, consider those who write the stories you or your clients read on an ongoing basis, he said. If you attend panel discussions at industry events that feature reporters, consider them as another potential media source. When exhibiting at trade shows, ask the management for a list of expected press, and then try to make appointments with them during the show. “You might meet people that you’d never get over the phone,” said Deigh.
Be Creative with the Types of Stories You Pitch
Not every story should be a milestone, such as a company anniversary or the procurement of a new account.
Here are some other ideas Deigh offered:
* Use your organization’s products or issues as examples of trends, even if you also have to offer your competition as an additional resource.
* Consider commissioning a survey about an issue and then reporting the results to the media. You might co-sponsor the survey with a well-known industry organization to increase visibility. Deigh mentioned Surveymonkey.com and Zoomerang.com as software products that simplify survey-taking. Just make sure that the results you are aiming for with your survey will be newsworthy.
* Look for “First in a Series” articles in publications and if you qualify, offer up your company as an entity to cover in an upcoming part of the series.
* Consider your staff: Do they have unusual hobbies or interests that might be covered by a publication that writes about those topics? The article might end up in the Home or Lifestyle section of a publication that prospective clients read.
* Write your own “expert” column, based on a white paper or speech you might already have in your office. Order reprints and include them in your sales and marketing materials.
* If you send out press releases to publications to garner press, they should ideally be around 400 words and be written without too much “fluff and spin.” Ask yourself, if you were the reporter, could you write a story based on this information?
If all of this seems a little overwhelming, you can always do what Joseph Lipman, president of New Jersey’s Summit Management Services, did and hire a public relations firm. Lipman said that working with MSCO.com is part of a comprehensive marketing campaign that includes direct mail, social media and radio advertising, and it’s helped him get his names into such publications as Entrepreneur Magazine, the New York Times and Planyourmeetings.com.
