The public relations function typically constructs media pitches based on the story that the company wants to tell. These stories tend to be pristine narratives — the sun is shining; birds are chirping — that dull the senses. That largely explains why 95%+ of pitches to the business media fail. Instead, we should be thinking …more
Talk about a mismatch in supply and demand. Thousands of companies strive for feature stories in business publications like Businessweek, Fortune and The Economist. Supply can probably accommodate 1 percent of demand (at the most). So how do you help your company or client be that one in a hundred? Create a pitch that aligns …more
Mark Twain famously said, “I never quarrel with a man who buys ink by the barrel.” Now that the internet has ended the correlation between barrels of ink and reach of audience, companies are more inclined to “quarrel” with the media. In the old days, if a company took issue with a critical article, it …more
The grab bag returns for the second time this year. Three micro takes coming at you — Who vs. Whom vs. That Frank Bruni’s beautifully crafted essay in The New York Times laments the sloppiness in language that has seen “that” become a synonym for “who” and “whom”: “This bit of wreckage particularly bothered …more
The relationship between the media and PR can resemble a tug of war. But it’s not like the tug of war at your grade school birthday party when the mom splits the kids into two equal teams ─ also making sure that the big kids are equally divided ─ and shouts, “Go”! Instead, the media has a clear …more
Look at the construction of any major feature story in Fortune, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Atlantic, Wired, take your pick. What element is likely to underscore the narrative? Here’s a hint. It starts with an “F.” Failure (if you guessed frickinmess, you were in the ballpark). Something going terribly wrong — the bigger the “train wreck,” …more
I talked about the communications savvy from UPS earlier in the year. By applying storytelling techniques to a topic that typically falls under the dull category, UPS secured a feature in The Wall Street Journal entitled “UPS Thinks Outside the Box on Driving Training.” I am a sucker for puns. Lest you think this was a one-off success, check …more
The concept of advertorials is not new. I’m sure if the early publishers of the Bible accepted advertising, we would have seen pitches for flint stones packaged as psalms. Fast-forwarding to today, it stands to reason that the never-ending economic pressures on publishers causes them to wade further into the gray area in exchange for revenue. Still, the …more
