Staying on message is a key skill for effective public relations. When speaking to the media, corporate spokespersons should have clear, concise messages (no more than 3-5) that are repeated throughout the interview. Restating the messages increases the chance they will end up in print and not on the cutting room floor.  

Here’s a good example from one of my former Novell executive clients, now heading up Canopy Ventures. This appeared in the Provo Daily Herald.

   “We’ll be investing between $1 million and $5 million per company to help them get their product to market, improve channels of distribution, and reach global markets,” Heinz said. “There are three factors we look at before investing — people, technology and marketplace. Do the prospective companies have a successful track record? Is the technology disruptive? Does it cause changes in buying behavior or ways of doing things? What is the anticipated size of the market? Does the technology have the opportunity to dramatically grow and will the market support that growth?”   

You can bet your bottom dollar that Ron did not wing this interview. Having worked with him while in PR at Novell, I know he prepares well so that statements like this come across as genuine and smooth as glass. Thanks for the example of good spokesperson training, Ron.

Bookmark to:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

This past weekend I was excited to support my son’s first go at the Salt Lake City Marathon. He was pleased with the outcome as part of his long term objective to run a full marathon later this year. To prepare, he sought advice from successful runners, invested in great shoes, and trained for months. The positive outcome was predictable and satisfying as you can see from the smile on his face.  

That same smile has appeared on the face of clients following PilmerPR counsel regarding “sustained” public relations strategies. While some new startups think to dominate their category with a single press announcement, clients like Certiport, Seastone, AdvancedMD among others have seen repeated excellent press coverage of their news due to long term commitment to turn of the PR volume. Whether working on Eco PR or SEO PR, the principle of Endurance is the same. 

Something to think about if you want your company to dominate.

Bookmark to:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

As a marketer and public relations professional over the past decade, I’ve watched the Internet play an increasing role in corporate marketing strategies. When the World Wide Web and HTML had its coming out party around 1994, I created my first web page and learned what the slow, dial up Web of the day couldn’t do. In contrast, Web 2.0 media have now increased the importance of integrating the Internet into all marketing and PR. Blogs are an excellent example of this.  

In our own business, a 2007 redesign and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of the PilmerPR website has increased our monthly web traffic seven fold and increased the number of RFP’s coming to our door. The second most visited page on our website is our self hosted Blog. Although self hosting a Blog may not avail one of certain visibility advantages of other hosted sites, the SEO benefits of attaching your Blog to your company website increases Link Backs to the website, hence improving organic search engine rankings for your company.  

Of course the content must be compelling and helpful if you want return visitors.  Give me a call and I’ll share other ideas to make sure your Blog drives traffic to your website, including key word optimization. 

Bookmark to:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

As PR professionals, our ultimate goal is to get press coverage for our clients.  But not all press hits are created equally.  A truly successful PR campaign will result in a variety of hits in both small and large publications that cross all types of media.  The key is finding the most targeted publications, and then pitching the right editors.Depending on the company and their goals, the press list should have a minimum of three categories. 

• Vertical Trade Press
• Local Press
• Business Press

Remember, in each of these categories you should include social media, print and online publications, and broadcast media.  Then, once you’ve got a comprehensive press list to work from, you can pitch your client’s story.  For a more detailed look at building a comprehensive press list, click here to download more secrets to Building a Comprehensive Press List.

Bookmark to:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The older I get the easier it is to understand long-term consequences. As a father, my young adult offspring have heard many times about “ripple effects” – those unintended after effects of our actions - for good or ill. Well, ripple effects radiate out from the actions, or lack thereof, of companies, governments and people every day.  

Look at the lingering after effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. With its own Wikipedia entry the long term ripple effects of crew negligence ran in to the hundreds of millions of dollars along with devastating environmental impact. There’s an above average chance that Exxon, convicted ship’s captain Joseph Hazelwood, the State of Alaska, and many others would like a “do-over” of that fateful mishap in 1989. Yet, the ripple effects from Prince William Sound continue even today.  If we are to learn from history, states, nations, and companies must consider the long-term Green PR ripple effects of our actions impacting the environment.

Consider the case of Utah’s environment. With an economy that leans heavily on quality-of-life, skiing, outdoor recreation, and tourism it seems short sighted to this writer that the Utahns, its industries, and governments (city & state) are moving soooo slowly to turn the pollution train around.  Asthma rates are up, due in part to declining air quality. The Utah Tourism industry must recognize the long term image implications of such moves as allowing other countries to dump nuclear waste in the back yard of the “greatest snow on earth.”  

Pesky little things, those ripple effects.

Bookmark to:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Governments and companies are jostling for position in the areas of corporate social responsibility, clean energy, and green.  Visionary players rightfully recognize the urgent need to clean up the environment, reduce oil dependency, and create a sustainable future for the rising generation. Savvy investors are pouring billions into companies and states that are serious about eco-innovation. In their haste though we’ve seen greenwashing and unmet expectations as organizations and their spokespersons rush to the press conference without the long term commitment needed to finish what they start.  

Such was the case when the U.S. Department of Energy moved to abandon its much publicized experimental clean coal generation project — FutureGen — due to soaring cost projections. In this writer’s view, the people of Utah should be concerned if a similar lack of commitment follows Governor Huntsman’s highly publicized eco-accord with the Governator demonstrating Utah’s commitment to cleaner environmental standards. While the camera’s were flashing and the mic was turned on, the message was soothing to the souls of Utah residents tired of “haze” (air pollution) and “red burn days” caused by temperature inversions (air pollution caused by massive auto exhaust and coal burning power plants).  

However, if Utah’s Governor meant what he said to the western governors he will likely have to veto the weak legislation passing through the Utah legislature this week. Relegated to a page much further back than the original press event, this story indicates a weak un-mandated 2025 goal for energy producers in the state.  Can we really compare that to California’s specific and bold mandate for rolled back green house gases to 2000 levels by the year 2010?  

Why should Governor Huntsman and the people of Utah care? Cleaner air is needed today, not in 17 years – tourism and public health depends on it. Cleantech investors are placing billions of dollars behind initiatives that offer great environmental promise in states that remove obstacles for these new start ups to flourish – every state should covet cleantech investment. 

I repeat my question from previous blog entries: Will Utah lead or follow? Will Utah or any other state or company demonstrate environmental staying power or just publish press releases?

Bookmark to:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Editors take just a minute or two to read your business news pitch.   They may only read the headline, or if you’re lucky, they’ll get through a few sentences.  If you have compelling news written clearly and succinctly, they may even read a few paragraphs. 

The February issue of PR Tactics featured an article on brevity written by the PR Maven, Margo Mateas.   The article stresses the importance of grabbing the editor’s attention and conveying your point quickly.   

So remember, keep it short and sweet.  If your pitch is more than a few paragraphs, cut it down.  And when writing a press release, keep the most important information at the top.  Also, keep this PR strategy in mind when planning your entire campaign.  A PR campaign formed around a simple, newsworthy idea is most likely to get noticed.

Bookmark to:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The Race for 2008 is uncovering an excellent case study in using social media in SEO public relations campaigns.  Political campaigns use advertising, public relations and marketing tactics to garner support across the nation.  This year, every candidate has utilized social media as part of a coordinated campaign.   And although the candidates spend millions of dollars, some of these tactics can be recreated by a small business hoping to reach their target audience through social media.

Here are just a few examples:

CNN joined with YouTube to broadcast presidential debates, reaching a whole new generation of voters who frequent YouTube but may not have otherwise gotten involved in the early race for the White House.  This format was specifically chosen to appeal to younger voters and early results show the younger generation is heading to the polls in droves.

From Mitt Romney to Hillary Clinton, many of the presidential candidates started a blog.  This format allows them to be more personal, post pictures and provide short insights into life on the campaign trail.

MySpace launched a U.S. political campaign site, and each candidate participated by creating a MySpace page.  John McCain’s MySpace page boasts 44,822 “friends,” or individuals who have chosen to read and participate on his page.

Barack Obama’s campaign recently announced they raised an impressive $32 million in January.  But a staggering portion of that money was raised online - $28 million.

Bookmark to:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

When Marriott Alumni Magazine called asking to do a profile on me and PilmerPR I was flattered. When I saw the hard copy issue with our story sandwiched between stories on Stephen R. Covey and Bart Oates, I was humbled. In 1982 entering the Business Management program at BYU seemed like a good idea, but my mind was greatly unsettled as to the final direction of my career. That career has had some interesting twists and turns that much later revealed my passion for Public Relations. Only in the last few years did the idea of starting my own company appeal to me. I’m glad that I did. With a motivated top notch staff, we have been able to score some great press hits for our clients. It is greatly satisfying that our custom public relations plans have raised the visibility of client companies like Avamar, Mozy, and AdvancedMD that have achieved successful investor harvests totaling hundreds of millions of dollars in the past couple of years. 

Young aspiring professionals can take solace in the fact that most people need a few years to figure out what they have passion about and what they are good at. If there is any magic counsel I could offer them it would be network, network, and network with people seeking excellence in their lives. Over the years I have learned great lessons and made helpful connections associating with many great mentors and leaders including Eric Schmidt, James Huntsman, Chris Stone, Hyrum Smith, Paul Allen, Alan Hall, Greg Warnock, Ron Heinz, Governor Michael Leavitt, Governor Jon Huntsman, David Saedi, Richard “Dick” Smith and spiritual mentors like Jack Christianson and Marshall Hayes…to name just a few. Add value to their lives and the lives of those you want to help you. Give back to the community and put family first!

Bookmark to:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

At last week’s monthly PRSA luncheon attendees sat at the feet of pitching guru and BYU national new director, Michael Smart. Since serving with Michael on the local PRSA chapter board, we’ve enjoyed sharing PR ideas and successes.  One passion we share is the need for developing a customized public relations package for each national editor we approach. Michael shared strategies to avoid the following common blunders people make when pitching the national press. It should be noted that these relate to building new relationships more than to existing editor relationships.

1. Don’t give background first – Those less experienced with the press may be tempted to launch into their news pitch without any context. First take a sentence or paragraph or 20 seconds to build background and context for the editor before talking about how cool your news is.

2. Use a ”we do stuff” pitch – Editors care more about what you have to say if you have a newsy angle that relates to their area of interest. If you use multiple examples or sources to establish a timely issue or trend, you also increase editor interest. Using metrics, research, or surveys related to current events further ensure successful pitching.

3. Ask if they are on deadline – Some may disagree that this is a blunder, saying you need to find out if you are interrupting when you call to pitch. Michael’s point is that if we have done our homework we will know the publication’s news cycle and hence know ahead of time if the editor is likely to be on deadline. In addition, we should always assume they are busy and be prepared to quickly deliver powerful, well thought out messages that engage the editor and leave them wanting more – even if on deadline.

4. Rely on emotion and emphasis – Raising our voice, increasing intensity, or using adjectives like “biggest, coolest” won’t impress media veterans. Get facts straight, do your research and deliver powerful messages if you want coverage of your news. ‘Nuff said.

5. Focus on yourself – Know your journalists and focus on what interests them. This shows you have done your homework when you call and that you genuinely want to help them. Michael cited an example when then PilmerPR staff member, Devin Knighton, began delivering a series of pitches to Wall Street Journal tech editor and industry titan, Walt Mossberg. Devin had done his homework and wrote the pitch in the context of Walt’s world, not Devin’s or my own. The result was the Mozy CEO and me sitting in Walt’s office and that eventually landed an article in Mossberg’s busy calendar.  

Good reminders for effectively pitching the news. Thanks Michael.

Bookmark to:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!