Carson and Company

Publicity is not generic

If you received a birthday gift from someone that said "to whom it may concern", or Occupant", you would probably dismiss the gift and be rather upset with the sender.

Well, if that were true, why would you send a publicity release, or a press kit and address a reporter in an email with a generic "subject" title? The best way to have press releases, or pitching a story viewed is to personalize it to the reporter, or publisher. Yes, this takes more time but the rewards to get published are greater.

Your public relations campaign should appear more personalized to the recipient. This means more than the name of the reporter or editor or publisher’s name on the envelope, or email address. Just as you would send a gift and personalize a note on the card, why not do the same to that media contact? If you have to ask why, then you obliviously are not getting the message I am making.

All industries are hit with hundreds of pubic relations agencies sending out thousands of releases every day. To make you stand out, use a personalized cover letter (do this even when sending it as an email), include good photos that tell or describe what the release is about, and make the press release, or story be informative, not a sales pitch.

These are just a few tips for any public relations person to follow. If you are a pr client, then make sure the people who implement your publicity campaign use these tips wisely.

See Also

• Getting your message read and published
  How to get the attention of the media

Intergrate these to be successful

Marketing and publicity need to interact and not be treated as separate departments. Often times, marketing directors and pr directors want to do their own thing in a company to show how successful their creative programs are working.

But this can work against you if you do not pool your talents and work as a team. Many times campaigns overlap, as do the different projects within a company.

By using all the resources from your departments, like Marketing and Publicity, you stand a better chance in gaining a winning campaign for your company, or pr client.

For example in marketing 101, you are told to follow-up to customers at least every 90 days. Publicity people also know that communication is important. For this reason, publicity professionals make sure they contact editors and reporters frequently. The old saying, out-of-sight is out-of-mind is definitely true in business.

Another important point- do not cut back on your publicity budget when it is trade show season, or when sales are increasing. Same is true about marketing. You need to do marketing all the time, not only when sales are low.

Getting a story or an article in any publication is rewarding. More so is when you capitalize on this with the marketing people in your company. Using the resources available can gain more mileage for your campaigns than isolating the two departments from each other.

In summary a public relations campaign is just as important as the marketing you do for the company. Have interaction with the two, hold regular meetings to discuss what projects are in the works, and quite possibly you might discover a new path to success.

See Also

• Make the best of a campaign
  Using Publicity with Marketing