Don't Hire a Publicist Until You Know This...

I get a lot of requests from new and existing clients to write press releases, help them find a publicist, and get the all-important "media attention" they crave. I write great press releases, but as I tell my clients — a great press release will get you attention, but if you don't understand WHY you want that attention, then it's attention not worth getting.

For example, I'm a ghostwriter. I write books. But books are TOOLS. They aren't the end-all, be-all. If you aren't using that book to establish credibility, get known, get speaking engagements, establish yourself as an expert, meet other thought leaders, or find clients, then you're wasting a resource. When I help a client write a book, we spend more time on determining the JOB they want that book to have, and the problem(s) it should solve, than on the book itself. Why?

If I told you to go into Lowes and "Buy a tool" your first question should be, "What kind of tool? What do you need it for?" You'd want to know if I'm building, fixing, or repairing something. What kind of JOB do I have that I want this TOOL to help with? The same is true of books, press releases, even hiring a publicist. What JOB do you want them to accomplish for you? Once you understand that then you know what kind of book to write, what kind of press release to write, and what kind of person or company to hire to help you achieve it.

The "Spray and Pray" press release is my most hated kind of release to write so I no longer write those—even tho they're my most requested type of release. Why do I hate them? The Spray and Pray is a generic press release that the client sends to everyone, every outlet, every industry HOPING to get attention for themselves, and/or their business or product. What a waste of time and money. They haven't identified their product's job, nor their target audience.

Spend that money on something better and get a PLAN for that press release, or book. Understand what you want that release or book to DO for you. Are you releasing a new product, sharing research information, educating someone about something you realize most people don't know, but would benefit from? Do you want to get your product, service, expertise in front of people willing to hire you, or pay for your services, or just hope they do?

Who is in the audience you want to reach? Industry pros, newbies, DIY'ers? What do they read? Where do they go for news? This is where journals and industry publications come in. They have the audience you want, and media attention from them won't oversaturate the media market. You'll be able to create a long-term potential for your product over months and years by identifying different markets wanting to know about how your product/service can help them.

Once you determine the job you want that press release to accomplish, ie. get your local newspaper to do a story on you in order to raise awareness of you and your business, decide what about you and your business is most beneficial to the publication's READER. Too often as a journalist I received hundreds of press releases a week from businesses that were all about how great the business was. These were essentially resumes of the business and their accomplishments, and nothing for my readers. I do remember one company mentioning that their CEOs secretary had recently won a popular bake-off. They were digging for any kind of award they thought would get our attention. I contacted the woman and found out more about the bake-off and the world of cooking competitions and THAT became my story. That she worked for so-and-so was a single line at the end of the story. Readers loved the story and a few even went into the business to meet and talk to her about her baking. The executives still failed to understand what happened and continued to send us boring press releases we continued to ignore or send to the sales department to get them to buy an ad from us.

There was nothing in the release to suggest how a story about them would help MY readers. Those releases ended up in the trash. The press releases I turned into stories were releases that shared stories, information, products or services that benefitted MY reader. If it benefited my reader, ultimately it helped the business as well.

Case in point. I received a series of "press releases," hand-written, by a young boy with a lemonade stand. He wanted us to write about his lemonade stand. It was a small town and a slow news day, so I finally went out there to find out more about his stand. I learned that he was selling lemonade to raise money to help an elderly neighbor with home repairs to her wheelchair ramp. THAT was the story, not the lemonade. being a kid, and it being the 80s, he didn't know to tell us WHY he was doing what he was doing.

Within a week of the story running people had donated time and money and lumber and rebuilt the small ramp (in a weekend!) for the neighbor. The JOB of the lemonade stand was NOT to sell lemonade, but to help the neighbor.

If you don't understand what you want your press release to DO, then don't waste your time. Are you opening a store? Don't announce you're opening a store, but explain how neighbors in such-and-such a neighborhood will "no longer have to drive 20 miles to get XYZ." Explain the benefits of your new location, how it will impact the area, what it will do for neighboring businesses.

Non-profits generally know this rule. They tell the stories of those their services benefit, why they do what they do, and how help their neighbors. They KNOW what the job of media attention is.

I tell my more famous or celebrity clients that while media attention will be easier for them to get, they can get too much attention and oversaturate the media market, making future attention more difficult to get. Unless you're a narcissist you don't need EVERYONE'S attention. You need the attention of the readers who will want your product or service. THEY can then tell their friends (who most likely need the product too) about you. Think of media attention as priming the pump to get the audience who then will prove the most effective at bringing you business.

I watched an episode of SharkTank where Mark Cuban and others scoffed at an invention a Lineman had made for connecting high powered lines with ease. The #Sharks told the Lineman he was delusional for thinking he had a product of value. My roommate a few years before that episode had often complained about the effort it took, how often lines needed connection, etc. so I understood more than most, what was involved. The linemen did a great job of explaining the process, but the #sharks failed to grasp the value.

That was the episode that made me realize these "brilliant investors" were morons and I never watched another episode of #SharkTank. Cuban and the others had NO vision of the extent or value of the product and the linemen were pitching the wrong audience—but the right audience was watching and I think they did go on to manufacture their connector. Pitching SharkTank is often like pitching a nursing home a product made for NFL linebackers. Rarely appropriate or useful.

So, what's the JOB and the story behind YOUR press release? Tell me in the comments what you want attention for (product or service) and the JOB you want, or want to discover, and let's talk.