Tying a Buzz On

Okay, let’s suppose you don’t have access to movie stars or scooter queens. There are still plenty of ways to get the buzz going. In major cities, parties are the way to spread the word—with, of course, fancy gift baskets that are handed out at major celebratory/commemorative/charity events (the three Cs). If you know people who run those, or can get to them, and the events have some kind of tie-in to your product, give them a call and offer to help as much as you possibly can. Also, remember that influencers don’t have to be on red carpets or shiny scooters. They can be anyone who sways opinion, such as your local mayor, PTA president, or smooth-talking CEO. The key is to find the person who spends the most amount of time administering to the circle you or your idea travels in.

For example, what about that longstanding and much-maligned newspaper institution: the gossip columnist? Cringe all you like, but here in New York, nothing gets the buzz on the streets flowing faster than Page Six in the New York Post. Everyone from Howard Stern to Extra recounts the missives on this page, the fertile soil where buzz takes root and grows.

But you don’t have to track down a Michael Lewittes or a Richard Johnson to get serious hype, since most local papers have at least one rumor mill, if not more, for you to tap into. A note explaining what the buzz is will suffice, and if your pitch is airtight (for that you actually have to read the rest of the book), your big idea should be the talk of the town.

Gossip (see sidebar, “When You Want Someone’s Attention, Just Whisper”) is a powerful tool, and it rarely backfires if you wield it well. One of the first things broadcast producers do every morning is trawl the rumor columns for salacious fodder. If you’ve done the heavy lifting and actually managed to get your item placed with Cindy Adams, Liz Smith, or one of the other columnists out there, clip that piece fast and work it.

And put the power of time zones to work for you. When pitching a gossip piece, unless it’s extremely local in subject, pitch it to a paper on the East Coast. The East Coast works three hours ahead of the rest of the country, so when your rumor hits print, you still have an hour or two to fax it to all the other news stations on the East Coast. Then you have another two hours or more to send it west, before the sun rises and Los Angeles producers broadcast their shows.