All the ways you can promote your product fit neatly into five channels called the promotional mix. Those channels are: advertising, publicity, website, social media and personal selling.
Surprisingly, one channel is almost completely ignored by most marketers. That’s publicity. Publicity has always been a marketing gem hidden in plain sight, even though it is arguably the most powerful channel in the promotional mix. Why is that? What is it that keeps most products getting far less media coverage than is available?
There are a couple answers to those questions. First, you can’t purchase publicity. It has to be finessed. If you think about it, anyone can build a website, buy an ad, post something online or hire a salesperson. It’s simple—pay the money, get the item. But publicity is different. It doesn’t matter how much money you have. Reporters and producers don’t take money in trade for doing stories. They can’t, because if they did, their publication or show would lose its credibility. And without credibility, they would lose their audiences. And without an audience, there goes the ad revenue.
You might think that PR firms would be skilled at handling this for you. But the truth is, arranging media coverage is not really in their wheelhouse. Think of PR firms more as mediators than marketers. Their job is to act as a liaison between a company and its many “publics” such as Washington, the community, investors, employees, and yes the media but not in a sales capacity. And when they do act in a sales capacity, you can be sure their hearts aren’t in it. PR firm employees don’t see themselves as working for a sales organization.
So publicity ends up a promotional mix orphan. The ad agencies don’t sell it and PR firms aren’t any good at it.
So where does that leave you and your product? Honestly, you’re left out of the news.
Unless, of course, you hire us: Media Relations Agency. Here’s why.
Forty years ago, I didn’t know a thing about PR firms. I was working as a marketing manager for an financial company spending millions on direct market advertising. We were a lean, mean selling machine. All my department cared about was leads and sales, leads and sales. All day long, lead and sales. And guess what produced the most leads at the lowest cost? Yep, publicity. And guess what my problem was? You guessed right again—ad agencies didn’t sell it and PR firms weren’t any good at it.
I got to thinking that a person could make a buck if they could figure out how to sell publicity like ads. So I did. That’s when I started Media Relations Agency. It was 1987.
Have you ever seen a Bengal cat? It’s a domestic cat that looks just like a leopard. It comes from breeding a wild Asian Leopard cat with a tame cat. The results are amazing. You get this friendly little house cat that looks like it walked right out of the jungle.
Well that’s kinda like what I did. I bred an ad agency with a PR firm and came up with an amazing new animal. To start with, we charge per media story we arrange, not by the hour. That was one rub I had with PR firms. They charge by the hour but don’t guarantee any coverage. With us, you always get media stories for your money. We also think of ourselves as an ad agency. We’re not PR counselors or practitioners. We sell stuff. Like an ad agency.
So if you want to balance your promotional mix with some publicity, now you have a way.
In the early years of our agency, I worried that other PR firms or ad agencies would try to copy my business model but that hasn’t happened. It’s been smooth sailing for decades with almost no competition. I think it’s just easier for them to sell ads like an agency or bill hourly like a PR firm. Or maybe it’s just that publicity is simply off their radar. Whatever the reason, I’m thankful. We’ve arranged tens of thousands of media stories and our clients love us.
If you’ve ever wondered how to get media coverage for your product, you should call Heather Champine. Heather is now a partner in our agency and heads up our staff of publicists. No one in the world knows more about how to get a product in media than she does. Her number is 952-697-5269. You’re sure to get some good ideas when you speak with her.
