Just recently I munched bagels and toast with some high-caliber business professionals. We dined on the 28th floor of a spectacular marble-floored office in Chicago.
The event was a breakfast to benefit a non-profit in Chicago, and the people involved included top-level professionals from high-profile companies in the area.
Across the table from me sat a seasoned PR veteran, a wordsmith fly fisherman, who had spent a lifetime pitching stories to all kinds of reporters and media people.
“With all your experience in public relations,” I asked him, “what is the best way to get through to reporters and bloggers?”
The man munched on his bagel for a minute.
“Just look at the biggest mistake of companies,” he said. “They tend to promote themselves too much. But it’s not about them.”
“So, what’s the answer?” I asked.
“Look at it from the reporter’s perspective,” he said. “He says, ‘Tell me something that I don’t know.'”
So there we have it – reporters, bloggers, and consumers alike are looking for news, or a trend, not a product shoved in their face.
They don’t want a man with a megaphone.
So the idea is to start with the mind of your reader and provide information, or entertain, and then deftly talk about your own product.
Some time later, I met with other PR people – the communications department of a non-profit in the area. I was surprised to find how the same principle could be applied to them.
I had studied their Facebook page, newsletter and their website. I showed them my instructional slide program and gave them tips on making key improvements.
As I talked, I watched their pens scurrying across their notepads. They were learning a lot.
And then I said something that may have taken them by surprise. I told them that they had made one key blunder in their Facebook presence, that stood out like a sore thumb.
I also showed them three little-known facts to enhance their public’s involvement. These were insights, based on our years of experience here at TreeFrogClick, that I adapted to their marketing situation.
Want to find out about their one key blunder, and three simple strategies that I shared? It’s a mind-bender. Read the rest of my article,
