Switch your Pitch

Editor's Notes

• #4: [bio]
• #5: Stress the alternate part Way around barriers → forward progress
• #6: Graduated in December 2007, same month the Great Recession started Job titles in bios Link to Hire Me page Well-wishers, freelance offers, even consulting offers Dream job in a matter of weeks, spent $200 in ad fees
• #7: Rose through marketing ranks Saw how biz could find side doors Wrote a book about it Helped a lot of people find their own social media side doors Today we’re focusing on social PR side doors
• #8: Every single one of you watching this webinar today is a source for a story being written right now. Today’s webinar is all about making sure the gatekeepers in charge of the media know you’ve got the information they need. Social media makes it easier than ever to access and influence journalists and other media pros by using social media side doors
• #9: 2 sep. dimensions Easier to reach Harder to influence Attention fragmented
• #10: As the playing field flattens, it get wider. Since everyone can now compete, you have more competitors for the same audiences.
• #11: Imperative to stand out Be the signal, not the noise
• #12: Made me literally stop in my tracks to watch the video. Mix of rich media and access is really powerful
• #15: earn credibility & name recognition Your best results will come from building long-term relationships and credibility. Here are a few ways to do it.
• #17: Stress the alternate part
• #18: -What content interests aren’t being served? Build authority over time by maintaining a niche blog. That’s what Brian Stelter, the man on the screen did. He started blogging about the news media business while he was in college. It became an indispensible resource for medias insiders and other journalists, and soon he had access to the biggest names in the industry. He was the first blogger to join the New York Times as a journalist, and now a host on CNN.
• #19: Leave intelligent comments on articles and blogs. This one’s easy. Plus, comments make them feel good! Mention HBR.
• #20: These little social signals are the building blocks of a social relationship. Add to lists, monitor for opportunities to engage.
• #22: Build an outpost that proves your credibility and makes it easy to contact you. Some of the elements you should consider: A section about your previous media coverage. I call these “brag banners.” The one on the right is tasteful; I found it at NotYourTypicalFootballMovie.com. Video of your media appearances. The one on the slide is from my friend Jeremiah Owyang’s press page. Relevant contact information, including social links. This screenshot is from the press page of a company called LiveFyre. If you’ve picked up buzz on social media, consider embedding some of that social proof on this page, too.
• #23: When the direct approach just isn’t working, try to get your message delivered by a trusted 3rd party. LinkedIn ads story.
• #24: Like the rungs of a ladder, every media outlet is connected to smaller outlets lower on the ladder. The lower you go on the ladder, you’ll find smaller audiences but easier access. Higher on the ladder, these outlets mine story ideas and material from the rungs beneath them. It’s a symbiotic relationship, since the higher rungs get the material they need to keep up with demand, and the lower rungs get precious links and referral traffic.
• #25: How the cycle works
• #26: Walk through it, recommend Trust Me I’m Lying by Ryan Holiday.
• #29: 5 questions to ask before adopting a new platform for PR: Do the journalists I care about use it? Will I need to pay to reach them, or will it be free? Can I use it to give them something of value? Does it duplicate something I’m already doing, or does it fill a gap I need filled? Can I be a big fish in a small pond?
• #30: Cheaper and more effective than most digital – great targeting.
• #31: Create custom ads for each outlet Link to something that shows why you would make a good guest / source Make it absurdly easy to contact you Results mixed: Clicks but no contact, which tells me to optimize my landing page I know YOU can innovate on it and make it work better!
• #32: Enhanced by social proof Promises and delivers value Let your content do the talking. The only thing you want to push is your content. The content you create should have value to more than just your target audience, so you create content that works even if your ads don’t.
• #33: Here’s a great case study I found online. Parachute media wanted Buzzfeed to feature Instagram content from their in-house brand Camping With Dogs They wrote a Buzzfeed-style post called 25 Reasons Why Dogs Are The Best Camping Companions, and they pegged it to National Camping With Dogs Day They posted it to Facebook, collected social proof in the form of likes and shares, then started the paid promotion. Targeted by job title and employer – mix of relevant brands like REI and media brands like Buzzfeed Inbound request from Yahoo Travel the day after the campaign ended
• #34: Lists require at least 500 entries. The same targeting options available for the ads you create on Facebook are available for Instagram ads, so if what you’re promoting is highly visual, consider that.
• #35: Rand Paul is using the Twitter tailored audiences feature to reach journalists. According to The Hill, Harris said: “We have even created lists of journalists in early primary states, working with the communications team. And it’s a really good cheap, effective, targeted way to get a piece of content out there in front of people that you want to see it — journalists who are going to help with their megaphone push a piece of content out further.”
• #36: Now I want to run through a hypothetical scenario to show you some strategies in action. I figured I’d make this one about my favorite place in the world… CLICK Belize! Pretend you and I work for the Belize Tourism Board, and we’re in charge of generating media interest in our tiny Carribean nation. That’s pretty much my dream job, by the way, so if you know anyone at the BTB, let them know I’m interested. ☺
• #37: We’d want to focus our efforts on travel media. We probably already have a list of key target outlets and writers, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg. Find by beat, outlet, location, interest Free and paid tools can help you do this, as well as helping you find coverage opportunities. Here’s a travel writer I found by searching Twitter bios on followerwonk BBC and National Geographic link to his blog
• #38: Another way to find influential people and outlets on lower rungs is to look at who follows who. I found these two in 5 seconds looking at CNN Travel’s Twitter followers. Here’s a tongue twister: To influence an influencer, influence their influencers You can do this manually, or pay for tools like LittleBird and BlueNod.
• #39: Yes, I spelled Mennonites on the left Two effective ways to appeal to journalists: Tell them why they should put something on their radar Tell them something new about something already on their radar
• #40: Facebook is great for targeting based on demographic data, and has some employer-level data. But: Employer isn’t a mandatory field, like it is on LinkedIn, so it’s not complete. LinkedIn has more reliable targeting based on employer, job title, and group membership data. I suggest targeting by two or more qualifying criteria, especially when one of them is membership in an open group that anyone can join. In general: LinkedIn audiences are more expensive, but more qualified.
• #41: In the last season of Breaking Bad, Belize is used as a code word for assassination on the show.
• #42: The BTB and their agency Olsen Engage did a great job of newsjacking, which is a term David Meerman Scott invented. I highly recommend his book of the same title. They also took out a full-page NYT ad 300 Million positive media impressions “Online sentiment around Belize –which had been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons in the weeks leading up to the episode– improved dramatically, jumping from 1:1 positive-to-negative mentions in the week prior to the episode to 8:1 during the week that followed. The program contributed to an overall rise in Belize tourism that has occurred in the months since.”
• #43: I want to close with this reminder. It has never been easier to reach journalists, and they’re hungry for anything and anyone who can help them meet skyrocketing content demands.
• #44: 20 years ago, advertisers, tech companies and publishers found themselves in a similar position. They focused their innovative energies on creating a bigger megaphone, instead of making sure ads were valuable to audiences. This is why so much of the Internet today is such a bad experience.
• #45: Part of me hesitates when I talk to people about using social media for PR. I worry that people will use these exciting new tools to do the same boring things in PR, and some of them will pour their creative energies into building a bigger megaphone, instead of dreaming up better ways to deliver value. So please don’t use these strategies and tools to trick or mislead people. Don’t try to stand out by shouting louder. Contribute to the conversation, keep social media social, hold your colleagues accountable and celebrate those who lead the way in creating value.