Introduction


Ah, buzz.

Buzz makes the world go round. Buzz sets and alters popular trends, from the cover of New York magazine to the conversation at cocktail parties in Malibu. But buzz is, as well, central to discussions in front of Ma’s General Store about the best places for beer and nachos in Big Fork, Montana (it’s Sabo’s), or what really caused a slide in sales for that beleaguered Fortune 500 firm, whose profits—or lack thereof—affect millions of folks. Indeed, this thing called buzz is critical to the success of any commercial enterprise.

And that’s why we’re here.

So what is it ... this seemingly nebulous concept that we call buzz? It’s something that influences much of what we think about, talk about, and read about. Why is buzz such a capitalized topic in our quixotic America? To some strange degree, it’s a publicity product of our modern media-centric age, yet it is absolutely not superficial—or superfluous. Quite simply, you need buzz because your competitors are working day and night to generate the same. So, how do they get it—in the media and elsewhere? And how the heck can you get some?

Dreaming about buzz is easy.

Getting buzz is often a struggle for those without resources to hire a publicist or one of those fancy PR firms we always hear about. But very often the difference between success and failure for a personality, business, or product stems from what we refer to as the buzz factor: whether or not you’re on the radar screen of the curious press and the adoring public. And this is the big—ahem—secret of the publicity industry: You can create the buzz factor yourself. Most enterprises probably do not need a large PR budget, no matter what people, well, like us, tell you. The fact is, many don’t need firms to do PR for them. They can do it on their own. This book has a single goal—to show you how to create buzz and make it stick.

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Why We Love PR...

...Simply, because of all it can do for you!

  1. Get people nationwide clamoring for your wares, turning your local father ’n’ son shop into a national, never neglected, constantly referenced, known everywhere, mega brand.

  2. Make you famous for whatever it is you do, no matter what it is.

  3. Send your stock price through the roof. Pass the Cohibas, please.

  4. Get your social concerns in front of your neighbors and your House representative alike.

  5. Set the record straight.

  6. Make a gold album shoot up the charts or get you one “win.” Hollywood types call this a “break.”

  7. Incapacitate the competition and just cannibalize the bastids.

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We believe that the current culture of mass exposure has made this something everyone wants to learn. And why not? Who doesn’t want to know how to make his business a hot-ticket item with the press and customers? And how many people can actually say they have a tool that can show them how to get word of mouth rolling, quickly and inexpensively? Yet for some reason, everyone believes that creating buzz comes from some great scientific formula (ooh) and some elusive mystery (shh). Dare we say—we find that wrong.

There’s no mysterious element involved in the art of creating real cool buzz. You can learn what buzz is, and, particularly important, what it is not. You will, in these pages, discover how to build relationships with reporters so you can give them the stories they want. You can use some of our proactive advice to pinpoint the true “hook” line and sink the news media into your product and service so that the messages work for your intended audience. Once you learn how to find this news hook, you can begin to put some of the other pieces into place. Simply. Before you know it, you’ve got buzz—created by ingenuity, and, most important, follow-through.

Then why, pray tell, is it that the best way to spread the word about your product is through the media rather than, say, through advertising? The real reason is that press coverage is implicitly more powerful. Paid-for messages are so pervasive in our media-saturated society that we often completely ignore them as they roll by. By contrast, the free press actually validates your company or product in readers’ minds. It’s a fact. No matter how jaded readers are, most are more inclined to believe than distrust what a journalist writes. That’s why you should always aim for the legit press. It pays off in spades and is truly the most effective way to generate interest and enthusiasm for your product. Ask anybody who reads papers or watches TV: Do they believe the news or the ads?

The aim of Full Frontal PR is to show you how to take the hype pervading our existence and turn it to your advantage. Taking the exposure you receive and turning it into a powerful tool is the point of a successful media relations campaign. Plainly and simply, this book will teach you to do that—step by really eager step.

The publicity process via the media—television, radio, newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and the Internet—is crucial for any business today. It’s important to be prepared quickly to tell your story. In our approach, the emphasis is on “media relations,” because, as you will soon see, it’s a practically free way to earn media, rather than paying for it through ad campaigns or marketing schemes. Good media-generated exposure can be its own advertising or marketing campaign!

To create buzz effectively and keep it going, you also must know how to work with the media. It’s crucial to understand how to speak with the press so that you (or your top people) can answer press queries on any level. Journalists, ever under the pressure of a deadline or the watchful eye of a suspicious editor, are looking for good stories ... always. They need you as much as you need them. The basic truth is that first you need to get their attention. We’ll take you through all the steps involved in doing that—how to find the right reporter to write about your company, develop a news hook, “sell” your story to her, follow up post-interview, and ensure that you continue to have a successful working relationship—key word—with that reporter and many others.

Once you begin to get out there, you’ll learn how to create exposure instantly in different markets—for example, by taking a small mention in a local paper and using it to “source file” yourself nationwide. What’s source filing? A crucial term in this book, it means positioning yourself or your spokesperson as an entertaining, interesting expert, someone reporters like to have in their (electronic and otherwise) Rolodexes, to call upon for comments on future stories. Ultimately, that means more press for you and your company, and it’s a great relationship-making tool.

Then there’s technology, which is all over Full Frontal PR. The Internet has become its own exposure-generating tool, and everyone is free to take advantage of its power and reach. It can be used effectively for marketing and advertising, sure, but Web content is also the genesis of lots of exposure in its own right. As a place for exposure to start, this still-new medium is increasingly on a par with what news junkies call “the dead-tree media.” Look at Matt (“President Clinton Has a Mistress”) Drudge, who was once an unknown quantity in the buttoned-down world of big media and Washington politics. With his muckraking website, aided by his uncanny ability to get scoops on Beltway scandals before the big boys, he stirred the world of pundits and of national politics into a frenzy by unabashedly breaking stories before anyone else. Now Drudge is a media (old and new) player, rubbing shoulders with those who only a few years ago may have dismissed him as a hack.

In this age of the worldly Web, you can get yourself noticed by allowing key websites and magazines access to your story. Many sites package exposure on the Web as content, and millions of people flock to these key sites every day. Plus, chat rooms, bulletin board services, and other non-“brick and mortar” techniques can be used quite easily to generate quick-hit exposure. The traditional media invariably notice the latest must-know topic on the Web, and suddenly there you are, on every PC and on every page.

But keep in mind that the best exposure still comes from good old-fashioned word of mouth. It is a fact that the best way to generate serious buzz is to get—and keep—people talking. No matter what the project, word of mouth can take on a snowballing life of its own and make the impact of other press and marketing efforts seem comparatively small. The surprise success of movies like The Blair Witch Project (an 8 mm hangout in the woods?) and Sixth Sense (die-hard Bruce Willis?) are amazing examples of this phenomenon, and we talk about this as soon as you turn to Chapter 1. Word of mouth is crucial, and it’s stunning in its potential.

Unfortunately, exposure/buzz/PR/word of mouth is not always positive. Happily, it is not static, and bad exposure or yucky press needn’t control you or drive you out of business (or crazy). Learning crisis communication is important, too, and this book tells you the best way to address those situations. We also tell you how—and show you why—sometimes it’s important to go with the flow.

Let’s get serious. In the past year or so, corporate responsibility has become the hot issue. (Why suddenly it has, and not before, is anyone’s guess.) Corporations have, in some cases, experienced serious trouble, and one of the reasons is they have not been very open with the public and the media. You often hear bigwigs at companies talk about so-called good PR, and in our estimation, spontaneity is the key to good PR. Discussing the facts and figures instead of hiding from them—showing candor instead of evasiveness—will mean reporters then want to know you. Contrary to popular belief, facts and figures can work in your favor.

The negative publicity that has happened in the besieged world of business is surely not a failure of PR but a real failure of corporate ethics. These days you see all sorts of stories that say how PR folks are keeping their clients “off the page,” and yet we always believe that the best foot is one pushed forward. Forward—meaning on the mark. After all, the whole point of dealing with the media is being able to say something before it actually happens—not hiding behind “no comment” and waiting for the chips to fall.

In Full Frontal PR we speak forthrightly about a revival of the “front page rule”—meaning, if you can’t bear to see your actions reported on the front page of the dailies, then you should rethink what it is you’re doing. We are fairly sure our moms taught us that concept when we were kids. The simple rule of thumb following the fiascos of WorldCom, Enron, and the like is: If your internal communications differ from what you tell investors and the press, disaster is looming!

The right—often ethical or courageous—thing is to be on the lookout for potential PR disasters and avert them. Be proactive about faulty tires, questionable accounting, bad customer service that leads to customer fallout, and yeah... cease the practice, change the product, make sweeping changes, and darn it—go public with the facts before disaster strikes. Disastrous moments typically take place when you hide from a hungry media. In the business of media this thing called honesty is our friend. Say it three times.

Nothing happens by chance, especially exposure—don’t believe it for a second. Big buzz has its risks, but mostly it delivers rewards, and it’s important to understand that once you generate it you have to control the beast with fierce determination.

So once you’ve got the buzz going, how do you sustain it? Sustaining buzz means constantly massaging and updating your image with fresh publicity in the general press. We’ll explain that, too, but in the end, you must be the one always thinking about your message: Does it work? Is it consistent? Do journalists get it?

In this book you will read scores of examples we’ve culled from our own experiences and those of our peers we really dig. We present these in order to show you how to use your—and your company’s—best ideas to get the press you want and deserve, and how you can work with the media to get crucial exposure now. Our approach is practice driven. In fact, the theories are only here to make sense of the examples! This book is meant to be inspirational and “aspiration-al.” You see, media relations is hard-hitting, aggressive, and provocative. This is its reputation, and this is real. There’s nothing about it, however, that you cannot learn. You know, nose and grindstone and all that. Learn through education, learn by doing—if you’re serious about reaching maximum exposure.

About Bloomberg

Bloomberg L.P., founded in 1981, is a global information services, news, and media company. Headquartered in New York, the company has nine sales offices, two data centers, and 87 news bureaus worldwide.

Bloomberg, serving customers in 126 countries around the world, holds a unique position within the financial services industry by providing an unparalleled range of features in a single package known as the BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL service. By addressing the demand for investment performance and efficiency through an exceptional combination of information, analytic, electronic trading, and Straight Through Processing tools, Bloomberg has built a worldwide customer base of corporations, issuers, financial intermediaries, and institutional investors.

BLOOMBERG NEWS , founded in 1990, provides stories and columns on business, general news, politics, and sports to leading newspapers and magazines throughout the world. BLOOMBERG TELEVISION , a 24-hour business and financial news network, is produced and distributed globally in seven different languages. BLOOMBERG RADIOSM is an international radio network anchored by flagship station BLOOMBERG WBBR 1130 in New York.

In addition to the BLOOMBERG PRESS line of books, Bloomberg publishes BLOOMBERG MARKETSTM, BLOOMBERG PERSONAL FINANCE , and BLOOMBERG WEALTH MANAGER . To learn more about Bloomberg, call a sales representative at:

Frankfurt:

49-69-92041-280

Hong Kong:

852-2977-6900

London:

44-20-7330-7500

New York:

1-212-318-2200

San Francisco:

1-415-912-2970

S o Paulo:

5511-3048-4506

Singapore:

65-6212-1100

Sydney:

612-9777-8686

Tokyo:

813-3201-8910

About the Authors

Richard Laermer is the founder and CEO of RLM Public Relations in New York. With a background as a magazine and newspaper journalist for fifteen years, he has been published in more than fifty newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, the New York Post, USA Today, and Saturday Review. Mr. Laermer is a commentator for Public Radio’s Marketplace, and writes for AdWeek, Media Life magazine, and the back page “Toy Box” column for PR Week magazine. In addition, with Michael Prichinello, he cowrites the monthly column, “Full Frontal PR Report, for MediaMap’s Expert PR newsletter. He is the author of several other books, including trendSpotting (Perigee, 2002) and Native’s Guide to New York (W.W. Norton, 2002) now in its fifth edition. Mr. Laermer is a sought-after speaker and media expert at conferences nationwide.

Michael Prichinello is vice president and director of media strategies for RLM Public Relations. He has managed a host of successful media campaigns, online and off, for companies including Amazon.com., Flatiron Partners, Audible.com, LookSmart, Barnes & Noble, Kozmo.com, and E*TRADE Financial. In 2001 Mr. Prichinello was named one of PR NEWS’s “Top 15 PR Properties.” For MediaMap he currently writes the monthly column, “Full Frontal PR Report,” with his coauthor Richard Laermer. His professional background includes appointments as spokesman and strategist for public officials of the state of New York.

RLM Public Relations, selected by PR Week in 2001 as one of the fastest growing agencies in America, has a specific expertise in using the media to turn issues, companies, products, and people into cultural phenomena. Founded in 1991, RLM is a firm known for “getting its hands dirty.” From focused outreach to campaigns with global recognition, RLM has launched and represented companies and products from wireless devices to national magazines to political causes to Fortune 500 companies. Clients include major brands such as E*TRADE, Allergan Inc., LookSmart, United Nations Development Program, and Mandalay Entertainment. RLM has also represented some of the most important and unique names in the worlds of media and publishing, including Barnes & Noble, Reed Business Information, Amazon.com, CTW, iUniverse, SparkNotes, Audible, Space.com, Alley Cat News, and Nerve magazine.




Full Frontal PR[c] Getting People Talking About You, Your Business, or Your Product
Full Frontal PR[c] Getting People Talking About You, Your Business, or Your Product
ISBN: 1576600998
EAN: N/A
Year: 2005
Pages: 105

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