An insider reveals 7 secrets to PR success

I really enjoyed reading this post on why the media isn’t telling your company’s story.  Here, PROFIT editor Ian Portsmouth reveals seven keys to getting the coverage you crave.  Ian says it’s likely because your company, like the vast majority of businesses, doesn’t know how to get its story told. I concur.

Too often I work with clients that want me to pursue media profile when it is really just a thinly veiled attempt at advertising a product or service. No one wants to read a blatantly self-serving story filled with promotional marketing messages.  That’s what ads are for and you can buy ad space.

To secure a news story, the media pitch has to be newsworthy.  It must be timely, relevant, informative and interesting.  Ian uses the acronym TRII and it’s a formula that he uses to decide (in 10 to 15 seconds) whether or not a press release or media pitch is worth pursuing.  Relevance is key and often the one criterion that many companies and PR folks don’t nail.  By this Ian means that the story has to matter in some aspect of his reader’s life.

The real key is simple: his readers (and ultimately your target audiences) want to know, “what’s in it for me?” Tell them. If you don’t do that, no amount of pitching pizazz and dazzling marketing material matters.  Ian provides several good tips and I encourage you to read his post.

I would also add one more tip:  it’s important to be personable, meaning that you should talk like a real person, rather than blather on in corporate speak.  Who wants to sound like an institution?   You know what I’m talking about.  A press release that includes gobbledygook like, “ABC company, a leading provider of best-in-class widgets, launches a robust, end to end, customer-centric, mission critical software platform for the SMB market”.   Huh?    Maria Loscerbo