Doing the Two-Step


Let’s look at successful two-step source filing, another technique you may want to consider. The FeedRoom, a very unusual high-speed technology company, was launched in 1999. Amidst a huddle of narrow-band news sites, The FeedRoom had a unique approach to broadband, as well as its team of broadcast news veterans. The FeedRoom proposed aggregating video “feeds” from leading networks, local TV and radio stations, cable channels, program producers, and print sources, and placing all of them into a consumer-friendly, easy-to-find location on the Web.

At its inception, The FeedRoom had to overcome rumors that “broadband isn’t here yet,” and that it had yet to sign partnerships of note. Also, the company was just a month old and had no customers or finished technology. Yet, it was determined not to be another “dumb” dot-com.

Step One, Step Two

To fuel expansion and ensure survival, the source filing methodology highlighted not The FeedRoom but Jonathan Klein, its founder, former executive VP at CBS News and an originator of 48 Hrs. He wanted people “in the know” to realize that he was out of TV, forever. That in itself was interesting enough to create a storm of interest in meeting him. But as a source, Klein also needed a more enticing angle to really rev up interest in The FeedRoom.

Klein wanted to talk to the media about the future, and do this without seeming as if he didn’t have a product! The solution was not a news story but a concept to shop around to the media. The concept was that one person—a TV veteran—can “own” the broadband news space by creating a first interactive, broadband television news network and by providing personalized rich-media (a form of online-accessible text) newscasts to Internet users through a website and affiliated partners. The concept was crystallized in this intriguing trademark: TV 2.0.

In an effort to show its faith in this brand-new broadband medium (remember, this was 1999), and to distinguish the company as a true leader in the rich-media news arena, The FeedRoom sent out a letter spinning out this concept to a select group of journalists. One week later, The FeedRoom followed that up with an actual broadband-accessible video press release to announce the first two Klein partnerships. The notion was to take what Klein had—broadband itself—and bring it to the press, who already were familiar with him by virtue of the prior letter.

The press release contained The FeedRoom’s major partnership with NBC Interactive, a part of the media giant NBC (and the Tribune Company, another major broadcaster). This webcast was easy to access for anyone who had a decent Web connection. The final product consisted of all three representatives—FeedRoom’s, NBC’s, and NBC Interactive’s—speaking about the value of The FeedRoom to their news organizations, surrounded by interactive links to other press releases and information.

One day before the release, the same reporters who had been sent the original source filing memo were alerted to watch their e-mail boxes. The following day, an e-mail message with a link to The FeedRoom site and the video release was sent to them. These journalists were then able to see the power of video, broadband, and The FeedRoom for themselves, and no one was unwilling to give Klein a few minutes to learn his whole story.

The following month Klein was featured in a number of publications, including the New York Times, CNNfn, Chicago Tribune, Broadcasting & Cable, Forbes, Electronic Media, and several others. That was followed by additional coverage in the Associated Press, Advertising Age Global, PRWeek, AdWeek, News.com, San Jose Business Journal, and Wired. From this initial source filing effort, The FeedRoom was then able to develop its leadership position in the broadband news industry. Journalists began calling more frequently for follow-up stories on TV2.0.

An Alternative Scenario

What about something simple—without a high-profile character as the source filer? Let’s take New York–based startup Social Science as an example. When Social Science’s group of five twenty- six year olds (yes, they were all twenty-six) came to RLM to sort out the release of Net Discussion, a gorgeous but difficult-to-explain chat software, we knew that this was going to be very tough. The people behind the newfound technology were, well, really green. They were a bunch of guys who’d been in graduate school together and were aiming to become the next great software producers in New York.

Naturally, it was essential to sit down with the creators and marketers and ensure that they were forthright and totally realistic about whom they were trying to partner with and what their guarantees were. The reason for all this soul-searching was that reporters would need to be assured that Social Science was not just another company that would go up in smoke in five minutes. It was also important to discuss the competition—rich, to say the least—and of course, real numbers: the cost of the software; the upgrade fee; and especially, since they were selling to corporations, the maintenance cost.

Once we were satisfied that the group had a viable product, we decided to source file them as “rock stars,” even though they weren’t. In the ’60s and ’70s, kids left school to become rock singers or guitarists; in the late ’90s, they left school to become producers in the new media world.

Media players immediately understood the message—the idea was that in the early Net days, these guys were getting together not to be rock stars but real Net players. That worked well as a media metaphor in the heady Internet days of the late ’90s. And since the founders of Social Science were smart and able to communicate the well-honed message, an interview with them was easy to parlay into success.

Net Discussion set up a special URL for reporters, allowing them to try the chat software. By the way, setting up a special URL is easy—and it makes you look like a heart surgeon. Take the Internet address you currently have and add a “/media” to it. Add one page of easy HTML, which the press can use to gather information, and voil ! You’ve established your Net-savvy credentials.

Social Science also created several key partnerships with local companies, particularly in the media arena that we knew the press loved to sink their keyboards into. Reporters and, notably, some high-level local TV producers began clamoring to meet a tiny software group in Manhattan’s Lower West Side that put out good-looking chat software while working with some of the top software developers in their crowded field. Their quotes started appearing in Forbes.com, the New York Post, the New York Observer, and eWeek, which described the twenty-somethings as a team working to develop a useful product for all new media companies.

After two months of sourcing them around New York as rock stars to the business world, we stopped using the rock star angle. Eventually Social Science simply became known as the easier, cheaper alternative to popular Net accessory I-Chat and other softwares that were hard to install, expensive, and standard (read clich ).

The founders of Social Science eventually nailed an interview with the editor of the Wall Street Journal “Under The Radar” column. The Journal gave them a thumbs-up in a story, describing them as a company that was putting “all their chips” into the Web world. In its first few months, Social Science (soon known as Site Bridge) had learned how to develop its new product purely for financial sites to use—and pay for. This was a new tack, and as such it garnered a plethora of press.

Make Yourself Accessible

If you remember nothing else about source filing, remember this: access. By that we mean that you must make yourself accessible to the press once you’ve set the source filing wheels in motion. If you are constantly unavailable, you send out several messages, all of them negative: that you’re not interested, that you don’t take the press seriously, that you don’t want to play the game, or that you’re not the real thing. It’s a simple equation: Any one of these “nots” equals “no press coverage.” This is where you have to be careful, because once you burn the media, you rarely get a second chance at source filing.

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It’s Not All about You

Our parents’ idea of success was to land a job with a great company. It didn’t matter what job, as long as it was in the right building. Success came from working for IBM or Western Electric or wherever for the long haul, climbing your way through the ranks and making a name for yourself within its halls.

During the past decade (give or take a few years), that formula for achievement bit the dust. Thanks to a hyperactive market, short-lived businesses, and experimentation, people don’t stay in the same place for very long. In the mid to late ’90s, executives (and everyone who thought they could be) began courting the media in ways never seen before. The idea was to build a clip book not only for your business or product, but for yourself as well. There was plenty of money to be spent on talent, and every start-up wanted the hottest Web designer, CFO, COO, CMO, and CEO. Workers were hell-bent on creating demand for their talents, knowing the next job was just a phone call away. And how!

Once the market took the deep dive, the “cult of personality” went buh-bye. Guys like Bill Gross of Idealab, who went through great pains to become household names, soon were the notorious poster boys of the Web’s demise. The previous publicity frenzy was a bad use of the media. It was never real news, and being in the spotlight ultimately proved to be hazardous to professional health.

Thankfully, a smarter, more experienced PR market approach emerged from the lesson of the ’90s, and you should always keep that in mind when you’re source filing yourself. The concept of plain self-promotion has evaporated. Smart business people and entrepreneurs aren’t promoting themselves anymore; they’re using the media to create a profile and thus a market for their services. Demand is no longer centered principally on name recognition. Instead, it’s steeped in new types of services and insight. Building media awareness about your business, rather than yourself, is the new way to drive deals.

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We worked with a company we’ll call Clic Vu during the dot-com heyday. Nearly every entrepreneur can get mired in the idea that he or his product is the greatest thing ever, but the founders of Clic Vu suffered from an extreme case of self-importance. Our source filing expedition led to a phone interview with iMarketing News, which was the most influential trade publication for Clic Vu. One founder insisted that he and his fellow founder both be on the call, but once the call started, the reporter noticed that the voices and the responses sounded too much alike. Here’s what ensued:

Reporter (nice guy): “Okay. I’ll tell you what. I’d like to hear from only one of you.”

Cofounder #1: “Let me tell you how it’s done.”

Reporter: “I’ve got to go now. Thanks.”

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Immediate Impact Zone

The following dialogue took place between coauthor Richard Laermer and saxophonist David Sanborn in 1987. Keep it in mind when you’re considering the best ways to source yourself in the media.

Laermer:

So I see you everywhere, David.

Sanborn:

You do? How’s that?

Laermer:

Every time there’s a jam session, there you are with your interlude, jamming along or playing as soloist.

Sanborn:

Nah. Not true. I only do about two appearances a year.

Laermer:

Then why do I think I’m seeing you everywhere?

Sanborn:

Because I am very selective about taking only the highest-profile gigs. Otherwise, why bother?

Laermer:

Sensible.

Sanborn:

No other way to be, man.

Maximum impact, minimum effort. No other way to be.

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The bottom line: It won’t work if you think that you have all the answers. Reporters have a job to do. Help them out. In other words, make it easy for you by making it simple for them. Before you know it, you’ll become the source you always knew you could be.




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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