The Wax Blog

Here’s the first of a series where I tackle journalists on the street and make them tell me what they want. Want to know how to pitch a freelancer?  Elizabeth Millard writes about business and technology for a range of publications.  I stopped her on a busy street last week and amid planes, trains and automobiles (ok maybe not trains but it sounds like it)  asked her some questions about how she likes to be pitched, what stories she likes and  her BIGGEST pet peeves. Elizabeth is based in the Twin Cities, but her advice will hit home in any market, local or national. I encourage you to watch the video for all of Elizabeth’s tips - including the phrase that makes her delete your email from her address book forever.

But for those of you too busy to watch, here are the main highlights:

• A pitch gets her attention if the writing is really good in the pitch, even more so if it makes her laugh
• Don’t use marketing speak in your pitches ever
• If a freelancer tells you “no” don’t be relentless in trying to change his or her  mind
• Only pitch product stories to writers who specifically write about product news
• Do favors for freelancers – help them find sources even if its not for one of your clients or for your business. They’ll pay you back in the long run!

I  had coffee with a fairly new client today. We had a great talk that included his experiences with a previous PR firm. Although he spent thousands of dollars he didn’t get his expectations met. And so at the end of the contract he was discouraged and the PR firm had a dent in their reputation. Now it’s up to me to redeem his belief in our industry. You know what? I may not do that much differently from the old firm except that I refuse to ‘do the dance.’ Here’s what I mean.

PR is a squishy, unpredictable business. You can make a quick phone call one day and land a huge fish or you can spend three months sending elegant pitches, following up on time, and get nothing. Most business owners know that but you can’t help worrying when those placements aren’t coming in…after all it’s your money. Here’s where the problem starts. Many PR firms decide what they need to do at this point is make you feel good. They come in with some great charts, reports on the flurry of activity that’s going on, hints at big things that may happen….you know…it’s THE DANCE. You feel really good after the meeting but then a week later nothing’s changed and you worry again. And worse, you start to feel like a nag for asking all the time.

I’m telling you, trust your gut. This isn’t rocket science and it’s really easy to see if things aren’t going well. If your PR person is good, they’ll be knocking at your door looking for new angles or trying to expand the media list, or even trying new channels. If things aren’t working, they’ll tell you and ask for your help to find more interesting hooks.

If they’re not so good, or a traditional firm that’s just interested in adding up retainers each month they’ll do the dance. So when your meetings start to look something like this…

it’s probably time to look elsewhere.

A decade ago I sat in meeting after meeting in Silicon Valley hearing about the new economy and how the ‘old school’ IT companies were dead. It’s so funny to me now, listening to all the social media experts and Web 2.0 pundits say that ‘traditional PR is dead.’ I venture to say that lazy people hope by saying traditional PR is dead, maybe they can make it so. After all it’s a whole lot easier to sit in your jammies and tweet and facebook the night away than it is to call Patty Neger at Good Morning America to find out if she likes the latest book you’ve sent her. Believe me, I would much rather be trading snarky barbs with folks like @CLE84 than getting rejected for yet another story idea by a crusty print reporter. (more…)

Since I recently listed several of my favorite PR sites – I thought it would be a good idea to post some of my favorite sites on the marketing side here too. I love RSS feeds – not only is it easy to stay up to date it shows me how prolific and smart many of my colleagues are in this business. Here are some of the blogs I’m following right now – and why. If you don’t mind, take a minute and list your own favorites in the comments section.

If I was only allowed one blog to read, for sure it would be Marketing Profs Daily Although many of us on Twitter are quite familiar with the brilliant Beth Harte, there are TONS of great posts on any marketing topic from sales to social media. The archive is huge and easy to search. I don’t pay for the “premium” option but I’ve been told it’s well worth it if you have the time. I try to read anything by Stephanie Miller and Kim Stearns but the site also links good posts from other blogs as well. It’s  a great collection of articles on just about any topic I need from a broad range of experts.

Although most people bow down to the OTHER Chris, I really like Chris Garrett’s site. He’s taught me a ton about new media, and blogging in particular. I wouldn’t say his posts are for blog neophytes or those just dabbling in it, but for someone who’s really trying to become adept at blogging and using the new media toolset, ChrisG is an excellent resource. I haven’t shelled out the $397 for his Authority Blogger course – anyone out there tried it?

Everybody knows that Seth Godin is brilliant – although I think his books are MUCH better than his blogging, I still love to read his blog. (Everyone should read Tribes, by the way)  The guy can say more in a few sentences than anybody else I know.  One thing that drives me nuts is his insistence on just continuing to put several posts on one page, so you end up scrolling around alot. But that’s just a nit. Seth’s a god of marketing.

John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing is not a blog that I read daily, but it is required reading for my small business clients. This blog manages to take the mystery out of marketing and really boils it down to its simplest (but most effective) elements for small business. Case in point – his post on marketing strategy points out the critical questions every small business should ask themselves when planning a marketing campaign. Really good, back to the basics blog with some fun personal musings. Again, if you own a small business this should be a daily read.

Finally, maybe it’s because I’m the daughter of a pathologist but I love Brand Autopsy. The dramatic readings are hysterical and it’s a bit pop but it’s a fast read. The author, John Moore, is a former Starbucks/Whole Foods marketer who seems to know his stuff as far as word of mouth marketing goes. And it’s fun – I particularly like his “brands I would miss” series. Again, a fun, fast read.

AdAge’s has a great list of 150 marketing and PR sites if you’re looking for a specific topic.

More proof the media is totally changing. Last week I pitched a story to an online pub that’s really popular in its niche. I guess my hook was pretty good since the editor called me in about five minutes. (Another thing I love about online media – you usually hear back fast if you’re gonna hear back at all)

The editor did like my pitch. In fact he liked it so much he asked me to write the article. For free. I’m used to providing custom content from my clients as industry experts. But this is the first time an editor has asked me, the publicist, to actually write the article. To be fair the guy knew I had written for Gannett in the past but when I asked if it was okay to use my clients as sources he said “sure!” So not only do I get a fabulous hit for two clients I also get to craft the entire placement in their favor. This bothers me a little. At the same time I wondered if I should be offering to write free articles every time I pitch. There have been white papers and article writing services around for years. But this is different.

Maybe I’m making too much of it – maybe it’s a one time thing.  I’ve been writing segment outlines for TV talent for a couple years now as they’ve lost their producers in the field to budget cuts.  This is just the next step I guess, and after all it’s not the Wall Street Journal.

One print reporter said he was headed straight for the painkillers after I told him this. Like I said – the media is changing.

Okay, this is also a thinly-veiled – well I guess it’s not veiled at all now – attempt to get more followers on twitter. I’m waxgirl333, in case you didn’t know. 

But the 5 million people on twitter are learning a valuable lesson – how to communicate your message in 140 characters or less. People still write pitches the old fashioned way. We used to call the reporter, get them interested, and then send a long backgrounder with all the detail. And today many of the old school publicists still send out horrifically long emails as their first contact. Guess what? If you can’t get them hooked in the first sentence these days, you’re done. They won’t read the rest unless they know you very well or they are incredibly bored.

You’ve got to have a good hook. That hook may not have much to do with the rest of your message. Or it may be a tiny detail that just happens to grab attention.  For example, I got a ton of hits about a successful restaurant chain by telling the reporters that the owner had to sell her car to come up with the money to buy her first cafe. That certainly wasn’t the core message but it got their attention. Then I could reel them in.

Use twitter and see if you can create meaningful messages in 140 characters. Then take your email pitches and read the first 1 or 2 sentence to someone else. If they’re boring, write it again. It’s all about the hook. THEN you can thrill them with your dynamic and compelling message.