Marketing 101: experts share their newest - and hottest - marketing tips - Cover Story

Entrepreneur, May, 1996 by Lynn Beresford, Jeanean Chun, Cynthia E. Griffin, Debra Phillips, Heather Page

Stop The Presses

Winning over customers is one thing; marketing your company to hardened members of the media is quite another. Having helped clients like Gymboree, Boston Chicken and TCBY pitch their stories to the press, Betty Hoeffner, senior vice president at S&S Public Relations Inc. in Northbrook, Illinois, knows the secret. Master the following rules, Hoeffner suggests, to help make your firm a household name:

77. Think like a journalist. Think about how the issues your business deals with relate to front-page news--such as affirmative action and how it might affect your company or industry--and pitch your story that way.

78. Make sure your story suggestion passes the "No kidding!" test. A journalist's job is to tell his or her readers, listeners or viewers something they didn't know yesterday. If you can make a journalist say, "No kidding--I didn't know that," your success rate will be much higher.

79. Know your media. Read the magazines and newspapers, or watch the broadcasts you are pitching to learn what kinds of stories they use.

80. Get editorial calendars by calling the publications you're interested in. If you're turned down on one angle, you may be able to get coverage using a different slant if you know what articles the magazine is planning.

81. Know your stuff. Reporters deal with facts. Make sure you have some and that they're accurate and pertinent to the media you're targeting. Think of every question a reporter might ask, and have answers prepared.

83. Establish a news hook. Define something you do that nobody else does. Some business owners believe reporters should do stories on them because they serve good food or provide good service. That's like writing about a flight that didn't crash. That's not news. If you own a restaurant, you'd better be serving good food, and if you deliver a service, you should be striving for excellence.

84. Be conscious of reporters' schedules. This is particularly important in dealing with newspapers and radio or TV news departments. If reporters are on deadline, the chances of your tracking them down and delivering a lengthy pitch are slim to none. Before you start pitching, ask the reporter if he or she is on deadline. If the answer is yes, ask when would be a good time to call back.

85. Cultivate a trusting relationship with the press. Find common interests; be responsive. If a reporter needs information, get it to him or her as soon as possible. The easier you can make their job, the more they'll want to deal with you.

86. Know who competes with whom. Don't pitch the same story to two competing publications or stations; you may lose credibility with one or both. And don't simultaneously pitch two reporters at the same publication; reporters compete with each other for stories.

87. Ask for referrals. If one reporter turns your idea down, ask if anyone else at the media outlet would be interested.

88. Show appreciation. When a reporter does a story on your company, thank him or her by phone call or card.