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Demystifying the Publicist's Job
Most people assume that a publicist with good media
relationships will "make everything happen." You simply hire
one with the right connections and media coverage will appear like
magic. Right? Wrong! Read on to learn more.
—Shannon Wilkinson, President, Cultural
Communications
Preparing for
Publicity. Of course, maintaining relationships with
journalists is
central to our work. But publicists also
need good content to interest the media.
That means interesting, newsworthy or
riveting information about events, books, business news,
exhibitions and your other projects.
We also need to know your goals. If you want to be on Oprah,
in The New York
Times or in The Huffington Post, your publicist will tell
you whether they are viable possibilities. (If they are not, we will
suggest other options…or recommend a
publicist that is better suited to your goals.)
Most publicists specialize.
What are you targeting? Television? Radio?
Blogs? Newspapers and magazines? If you are promoting
visual culture, radio may not be your first choice. If you have
a new book coming out, a blogging campaign is key.
All publicists keep a portfolio of the media coverage they have
generated. Evaluate them by how their samples match your
goals.
Publicity campaigns take
time. Unless your news item or event is
pegged to a specific date, it can take weeks or months for coverage
to begin appearing. That is especially true for companies and
enterprises seeking general media coverage,
and it's why some PR companies require a year contract to represent
a new client.
Strategic publicity
planning.
Every publicist has their own approach to publicity campaigns.
Here is mine:
- Identify the ten most
important media outlets. I ask clients to
identify their
ten most prized media outlets...and then supplement that list with
fifty or more additional options.
- Develop a succinct
pitch. A pitch is a ten-second sound bite, or a
three-sentence e-mail, that conveys the essence of your story and
is designed to interest journalists. If they like the pitch,
they might read the press release. Journalists from three
different major publications have recently made a few comments to
me that emphasize why the pitch is so critical:
- "We don't write stories from releases...but if
you give me the basic
idea I might look into it."
- "I was on the escalator in [a building in
Midtown] and couldn't read the press release on my
Blackberry. Can you explain it in five
seconds?"
- "What are the facts? I don't have time to
read the press release."
- Pitching.
Once the pitch is established, we approach the media outlets on
your top ten list. Sometimes one is approached before any of
the others. If journalists know they have first crack at an
exclusive story, they will be more likely to cover it.
We then contact dozens more journalists from our extensive list of
contacts. The bigger the net, the greater the range of
coverage.
My strategy isn't glamorous, but it produces
results. Following those steps can generate interviews,
feature stories, illustrated items and reviews in major
publications, Web sites and radio and television shows, as well as
other forms
of publicity.
And the impact on your book, business, exhibition or
event can be tremendous. Nothing opens doors like media
coverage, which is why it is so sought-after.
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About Cultural Communications
Cultural Communications promotes clients in the arts,
book publishing, financial services and related lifestyle industries
serving high–net worth consumers.
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