Broadening Your PR and Media Bull's-eye

The best way to launch a successful media campaign is to give the press options. You have a story that you want to tell through the media. Chances are you have one or two main angles or story ideas that you want covered. Those are where your focus lies, they are your primary objectives. But what if you were to broaden your scope a bit? Let’s say you own a cosmetic company. Your primary pitches to the media have to do with your products, your latest line of color cosmetics. Great. But what if you also pitched a story on how inner beauty can enhance outer beauty? You could come up with a pitch on the top four ways to boost your inner beauty. Not exactly the angle you want? Maybe. But what if that leads to more media coverage which gives you more opportunities to mention your new beauty line?

We all have different expressions, different moods, and different topics we enjoy discussing. None of us have one-note personalities, but so many people try to launch one-note media campaigns. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pitch your main ideas, but that you expand them, come up with new angles, think beyond the obvious. Remember, your job is to meet the media’s needs. Broaden your scope. Come up with other ways to pitch your story. You’ll be able to talk about your story, but not until you interest the media. And to do that, sometimes you have to use the indirect or back door approach.

If you are a landscaper, you may have to pitch a story that has you critique the pros and cons of the White House grounds. That’s not the story you probably particularly want to address. You want to tell people that you are a wonderful landscaper and that they should hire you, but there’s no story there. By talking about the White House grounds, you have added another dimension. You have raised the stakes. You’re not just discussing how to landscape Joe Blow’s home, you’re outlining how to best landscape the First Family’s home. These are grounds that everyone has seen (at least in photos or TV) and can relate to. More importantly, you are establishing yourself as an expert in your field.

Be open to new ideas, brainstorm. Come up with as many ideas as you can. Let them be as crazy as you want – don’t edit yourself. Now review your list and start to edit out the ideas that don’t work. Formulate two or three new story angles. Write them up as releases. Broadening your scope will help ensure your success.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011