The Wax Blog

Last September I ran this post -  as we get into one of the busiest seasons in PR I thought it was a good idea to remind ourselves that a) we’re probably not going to ever be truly original b) our products and service are not story ideas and c) being annoying never works. Enjoy! (PS – there were some great comments last year, so check out the original post for those as well)

I would never imply that the media are a bunch of babies.

Ever wonder why some people get instant press and others languish? Despite all the reasons you hear (bad publicist, bad timing, dumb media, war, famine, smallpox outbreak..) it’s because their pitch is not nearly as interesting as they think.  If you think you don’t have to read this post because you KNOW this doesn’t apply to you…you probably need to read this post. So bear with me… here are the top five reasons why pitches get ignored: (more…)

Last week I wrote about how hard it is to break through the clutter and capture the media’s attention. I though I would publish a few pitches that worked well for us in tough markets, with supposedly “boring” clients. Enjoy!

For a management consulting firm, with the email subject line “Boxers or briefs?”

No I am not suggesting underwear.  Rather I am suggesting a story idea involving a business that is co-founded by a female and a male; not married to or dating each other, both under the age of 40.  Ashish Gadnis and Jill Kolling are co-founders of Forward Hindsight, a firm providing business strategy and IT-based regulatory compliance consulting. While interviewing these two characters you may hear heated discussions on the pros and cons of boxers vs briefs.  You may also hear “dude” on a regular basis, followed by laughter.  Yes you can interview them about boxers and briefs, but I suggest you interview Ashish and Jill because of Forward Hindsight. Here’s why they’re interesting:

In their first and only year of business (2004), Kolling and Gadnis reported revenues of $605,000 and are expecting revenues to top $1.2 million in 2005.  It’s hard to imagine numbers like these coming from a business that was started in a parking lot.  Only seven employees, but already working with clients like Accenture, Famous Daves, and AirTran Airways. Want to hear more? Call me!

Here’s a book pitch for a self-published life coach – we had to talk her into using her modeling background as the hook but it worked

Subject line: from Playboy to the boardroom: a new book on remodeling your reality

Kim Fulcher went from modeling for Playboy straight to the executive boardroom. In her mid-twenties Kim reinvented herself from a Playboy and swimsuit model, to a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Now she’s using her own life experiences to help others as founder, president and CEO of Compass Life and Business Designs, a professional coaching, training, and publishing company.

Here’s a pitch for a really fun corn maze that got very little interest:

Sever’s Corn Maze and Fall Festival in Shakopee returns in 2008 with a patriotic theme and an extra weekend. This year the team at Sever’s Corn Maze has created a true masterpiece, with more corners and curves than ever before.  Visitors in 2008 will learn fun facts about the White House as they navigate their way through each twist and turn of this giant maze. At fourteen acres, Sever’s Corn Maze is one of the largest and best known mazes in North America.  It’s huge so if you get tired, take a ride on the new horse-drawn hayride!

Here’s how we rewrote it the next year and got a much better response:

Calling all scallywags and buccaneers!  The 2009 theme of America’s favorite corn maze is Sever’s Pirate Adventure.  We’ll be flying the Jolly Roger proudly at Sever’s Fall Festival and Corn Maze this year. Join us and be sure to hear lots of “avast ye hearties” as pirates of all ages try to make their way through one of the finest mazes in North America.

I know I’ve harped on these points many times but just once more, here’s what will get their attention:

• Be creative. Many media people are bored and anything that makes them laugh or scratch their head will get noticed.
• Tell the backstory not the benefits of your product. Make it sound fun/quirky/strange etc.
• Be quick and to the point. Hook them with something fun/quirky/strange and then quickly tell them what you want.
• Have a GREAT subject line that draws them in. We’ve had people use ours as the eventual headline of the story.

After last week’s posts on pitching, I was surprised to receive this pitch today from a huge “fan” of my blog whose name will remain secret but the domain of her email was balsamhillco.com.  Okay let’s see what you’ve learned. What’s wrong with this pitch?

[stextbox id="alert" bcolor="000000" bgcolor="fddaa4"]

Thank you for providing such an excellent resource.  I have been following
Wax Marketing for quite some time and have been appreciative of the
variety of strategies and information regarding the latest advances in
social media. Blogging especially is an evolutionary practice and articles
like, “Commenting Etiquette” provide extremely helpful advice that I
find myself using almost on a daily basis! I noticed that you like to
include perspectives and experiences from your other readers, and I was
writing to you today to offer a potential guest post.

When it comes to social media and blogging, we tend to write what we know.
Why wouldn’t we? We can provide the most information about the things we
are passionate about. However, by only writing what we know, we can
actually pigeon hole ourselves into a niche. And once that happens, it’s
very difficult to make your blog relevant and appealing to a wider
audience.  Working for a company whose product is only desirable for about
two months out of the year, I’ve had to get creative keeping our blog
and website desirable all year round. As I put these to practice again
after the holiday season, I felt compelled to share which is why I written
a short synopsis in, “When You’re In A Niche – Increase Relevancy to
Increase Traffic” which I thought would be relevant to your readers. If
you agree, I would be happy to send it your way to review.[/stextbox]

There are tons of workshops and e-books out there from supposed “experts” who will teach you (usually in a couple hours of course) how to do their own publicity. I got a postcard  the other day from Steve Harrison that even said he could teach you everything  so you wouldn’t have to use a ‘fancy publicist’. And another Facebook notice for a workshop that promised after attending, ‘you would never have to hire a publicist again.’

Seriously, learn to write a good release, build your contacts, etc but there’s only one thing you need to do in order to get the media’s attention. (more…)

A while back I interviewed Satellite Sister Lian Dolan in a very well-received post on pitching mom bloggers. (Keep an eye out for her new novel Helen of Pasadena out November 1st!)

I just realized something this week after doing a great piece with MckMama …you really can’t pitch mom bloggers. Not only are they the most influential buyers in the market, they’re the most discerning as well. You can definitely pay them to promote your product…and like all good bloggers these days they’ll reveal that fact to their readers.  Companies like Mom Central charge clients $20,000 or more to engage their network of mom bloggers. But that’s advertising. We all know it’s editorial coverage that gets often gets the highest return.

So if you can’t pitch them like other media, how do you reach these women (and men…I’d like to include the growing group of dads as well) Here are a few common characteristics that may help you get your product, book or service on their radar screen: (more…)

Food writers and bloggers are a persnickety lot. On the newspaper side, many food writers are being blended into the lifestyle sections. Or if they have survived, at times they can be prickly due to the circumstances.

On the blogger side, the fact that there really isn’t any need for impartiality in most cases lands you with a group that can have some very strong personal biases. (Of course this is true of many bloggers, not just foodies.) Even though chef TV shows are some of the most popular reality series on air, print cuisine magazines are still struggling both nationally and locally. Even Rachael Ray’s magazine lost circulation this year! That means editorial guidelines are tighter than ever and cross-promotions with advertising take precedence.

Add to that in most markets there is a very clear pecking order in terms of who to pitch first, and you’ve got a complicated pitching situation. That’s why so many PR agencies like Sauce Communications focus strictly on food and drink. It’s hard! (more…)