It’s no coincidence that PR stands for both Press Release and Public Relations; the two are inexorably connected. Writing a press release is something you have to do to get your thinking straight. It helps you define your message, it focuses you on what it is that you’re trying to convey to the world, it places the details in order. Reasonable people can read your release and get a sense of what it is you’re promoting. But it’s only one step in getting your message before the public, and usually not even the first step. Before you commit pen to paper (well, today’s equivalent) you will have worked on a business plan, on the competition’s message, and on your own marketing strategy. In all probability you will have created some presentation material and will have lined-up your spokespeople. Not only lined-up, but also coached and briefed. If you’re launching a technical product you will have an engineer ready to explain, someone who’s prepared to tailor his or her lexicon to varying audiences. The Wall Street Journal may be interested in your encryption algorithm as a safeguard for financial institutions, but the elegance of your formula is not likely to be fully appreciated.
So now you have everything in place and you’re ready to tell the world about your product or service. But wait – what are you going to do? Unless you’re part of a large, well known corporate institution (in which case you hopefully know what needs to be done) you need to take certain steps before you release your information. Let’s back-up for a moment. Have you pinpointed the media you want to go after? Do you have a short list? Does anyone on your short list expect an exclusive? What kind of exclusive? Have you made a note of the media that requires a prior briefing, and have you forwarded the relevant material, duly embargoed, to specific reporters and editors? We will not go into the requirements for releasing a story if you’re acting on behalf of a public company, but just in case, beware – you certainly cannot release financial information to anyone before you release it to everyone. Anything else could be construed as insider trading.
Okay, we’re getting there. You’ve briefed publications A, B, and C. You have forwarded presentation material, photos, videos, etc., to X, Y, and Z. “Draft” copies of your release have circulated here and there. Everyone you contacted is aware of zero hour. At precisely the right time your story goes out over the wire service and you get ready to deal with whoever gets in touch. The icing on the cake. Maybe. The truth is that releasing a story over the wire service may get you some coverage, and links will direct some traffic your way. But if you want your press release to work for you, you have to engage in public relations work. There’s no other way.
You wrote the release - now to get the story published - To learn more about this author, visit Joe Gagliano's Website.
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Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development.
Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit.
He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine.
He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball.
He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Dianne Crampton
Dianne Crampton is an Executive Leadership Coach and Team Building Consultant and creator of the TIGERS team development model. For the past twenty years she has helped leaders and teams achieve goals with high levels of collaboration and teamwork.
Crampton is a published author. Her contribution to Working Together: Diversity As Opportunity was endorsed by Stephen Covey. She has written for trade magazines. Merrill Lynch nominated her business for Inc. Magazine’s regional small business and entrepreneurial awards. Her work with Native Americans was recognized at a United Nations sponsored conference in 1994.
The TIGERS model passed two rigorous validation studies in 1992 and 1994. The TIGERS Survey is able to measure and track team development over time.
Dianne is also the creator and distributor of the TIGERS Team Wheel game. This game helps groups identify behaviors that build collaborative groups and behaviors that cause conflict, morale problems, production failures, and misunderstandings.
For more information, or to subscribe to TigerTracks, a free monthly leadership and team newsletter go to http://www.corevalues.com - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Joe Gagliano
(Visit Joe's Website)
Joe Gagliano began his career as a
communicator with advertising and public
relations activities for consumer accounts
such as Hotpoint, Concord Electronics,
Dodge Dealers Group, and Southern
California S & L.
In the late sixties he moved to the U.K.,
where he assumed the position of
Advertising & PR Manager, Europe, with UCC
subsidiary Computer Instrumentation Ltd.
He later joined Memorex Corporation in
London, where he had full promotional
responsibility for Western Europe and the
USSR.
After leaving Memorex Joe moved to
Interdata, and eventually he formed an
advertising and PR agency partnership in
London, England, with a clientele that
consisted mainly of U.S. high technology
companies operating in Europe.
After returning to the United States, Joe
instituted a PR division at the Sunnyvale,
California, advertising agency Imahara &
Keep, holding the title of vice president.
In 1986, he formed Gagliano Public
Relations to serve clients in
business-to-business and service
industries. After a brief spell as
publisher of a lifestyles magazine in
Silicon Valley, he returned to high-tech
PR and advertising with encryption chip
manufacturer Hifn. He currently operates
webpr.com.
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