If you still think that every media story needs to be a home run if it’s going to help you build your brand, think again. “If you ever want to leave a window wide open for your competition, ignore a story opportunity that doesn’t fit your product exactly,” cautions CEO Lonny Kocina. He explains it’s easy to use just about any media opportunity to build a brand, especially when you’re following the SAM 6® marketing process.
After more than 30 years of arranging media coverage for clients, we know that it’s common for interview opportunities to not be exact fits. Nor will reporters always ask the perfect questions. But smart marketers know how to take advantage of every media opportunity. Your target audience might go online today and read five stories. If you’re mentioned favorably in three or four of them, imagine what that might do for your business.
Media stories can stay out there forever. If you’re consistent with your messaging in every story, your audience will pick up and retain the different things you want them to remember about you. The SAM 6 process teaches you how to do this. It’s about learning how to communicate your best messaging through all your promotions. Kocina gives simple instructions for following the six-step SAM 6 marketing process in his best-selling, award-winning book, “The CEO’s Guide to Marketing.”
After arranging tens of thousands of media stories, we’re accustomed to rolling with what the media want and how they operate. Our publicists are talented at identifying and creating media coverage opportunities. Sometimes these may not seem like obvious fits. So we teach clients how to use this publicity to their advantage.
We advise clients to always answer what reporters ask. In the case of this Forbes.com article, writer Kate Harrison wanted advice for small business owners. If Kocina wanted the story to run (and the media always have the power to kill a story), it was essential for him to give Harrison exactly what she needed out of this interview. He had to speak directly to her audience with his responses.
Kocina explains that he can still communicate his key value points within an interviewer’s parameters. As he points out, if you follow the SAM 6 process, and you know what you want to get across including your primary value points, it soon becomes natural to pivot your responses to what you want to say and still give reporters what they need.
Kocina says, “Granted, it’s fun to be the star of the show. But I’ll take a piece of a story any time because I have a real passion for getting my message out.”
If you share that passion, contact us today and let our 30 years of experience work for you. All you have to do is call us at 952-697-5269 or complete this short online form.
