I know I say this often but I’m always amazed when I look back at my life and wonder, “How the heck did
If you’d asked me 12 years ago when Michelle and I started Wasabi Publicity where I’d be now, I’m quite clear that leading a book launch event in Budapest for one of our clients would not be my first answer. In fact, if you’d suggested such an idea, I might have thought you were crazy. I didn’t really know where Hungary was on a map, let alone Budapest.
So there we sat last Friday at the Design Terminál working with the best and brightest young entrepreneurs out to make their fortune and change the world. It was amazing having the opportunity to talk about PR, why it’s an important part to any business equation, and sharing what we’ve learned over the past 12 years. We told the attendees – if you know how to send an email, you can launch a PR campaign. But in order for that campaign to be effective, you first must answer two fundamental questions: why should the media care, and why should they care now?
A friend who worked with us leading the event, David Trayford, shared how entrepreneurs tend to be like new parents. They think their child is the cutest in history and that absolutely everyone around them is as excited about every sound and smell that comes out of that baby.
Well, I have some enlightening news. The media is not as excited about your “baby” as you think they should be. Is anyone ever? No. Let’s be honest – we’re all excited about what WE are doing most, right? So, if you want to execute a successful PR campaign, you need to get more interested in the media’s baby than your own.
What’s their baby? Their column. Their show, their podcast, or blog. The media is committed that what they cover will make a difference for their readers, viewers, or listeners. So yourjob is to step back and figure out what value you can bring to their baby. Just like parents, journalists are insanely busy and they really only care about what’s right in front of them. What will be of interest and value to their peeps now? If you have a new winter glove that allows you to access the internet in the palm of your hands, you should be pitching the media when the trees are budding. Beach body pitching starts in winter. Holiday pitching starts in August.
Take a little focus off your baby and put it on theirs. And there’s an easy way to do that; ask them. If you want your baby to grow up and change the world, you need the world to know about it. And the best way to make that happen is PR.
If you need help figuring out what’s great about your baby from someone who knows, check out the contest to win a full-scale PR campaign that we announced at the event!
