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You start a new company, launch a new product, hire a new marketing director – that’s not news. News is Britney Spears Gets a New Haircut and Hillary Clinton Throws a Gutter Ball. It’s pathetic, but that’s news.
It’s unlikely that the media will be interested in any sort of news about your business. Yes, you may be able to get news about your company published in an industry trade journal, but what good is that? Your customers aren’t reading trade journals. They are watching TV and reading USA Today.
So how do you get on television and in the newspapers?
You start by understanding what they are looking for. Grossly speaking, they are looking for two things:
News about subjects their readers are already interested in (i.e. Paris Hilton – not you)
Captivating and/or curious tidbits to fill in the gaps
It is only into this second category of “news” coverage that you can hope to find a welcome place for your public relations campaigns. In taking advantage of America’s obsession with lottery winners, Joe Vitale’s trickery propelled his book into national prominence in a matter of weeks.
So begin with this: What you won’t do. You won’t waste your time and resources sending out press releases to the national media about company news. And if you do announce corporate news in the industry periodicals, it will not be with any hope that it will boost your sales.
What you will do is figure out, first and foremost, what news media you want to be in and then figure out how to create curious and captivating stories that relate to your business.
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