Oprah Winfrey became part of the national conversation by delivering a rousing speech when she accepted a lifetime achievement award January 7 at the Golden Globes in Beverly Hills.
This is making publicists’ phones ring throughout the land.
“I get a lot of calls from business owners who ask me ‘How do I get on Oprah?’ or ‘Can you get me into Forbes?’” says Michelle Stansbury, founder and CEO of Little Penguin PR. But the answers are not so black and white.
The right publicity can be a game changer for attracting high-paying clients. The credibility of third-party coverage might be just the answer your business needs.
“It's easy to get wrapped up in shiny objects, believing that if you can just get this one thing, your business will grow,” says Stansbury. “Whatever led you to the Oprah or Forbes answer, you need to go back and make sure you have the right question first.”
Stansbury founded Little Penguin PR in San Diego to bring the same resources that Fortune 500 companies use to small and mid-sized businesses to help them succeed.
Here are the first three steps Stansbury recommends to make your business newsworthy:
Step One. Start with your target audience. Ask yourself where they go for information. If you want publicity for your new fiction novel, yes, you should dream of getting on Oprah. If you run a lifestyle consumer brand, yes, social media is a powerful platform to connect with your audience. However, if you run a B2B enterprise focused on engineering companies with a CTO as decision maker, you're not going to gain market share through Snapchat. Instead, you've got to look to where those decision makers go for information. Is it engineering publications? Tech publications? Instead of focusing on the most exciting outlet, focus on the most effective—the ones your customers use.
Step Two. Once you’ve found your ideal publications, do your research when you’re pitching them. Get to know the reporters and editors, the topics they cover, and their style. Since you’re targeting specific publications, you are able to give your top outlets exclusive stories and build relationships with the editors.
Step Three. Think about what messaging resonates with them. Many business owners want to promote their company news—topics like launching a new website or winning an award. Are those types of stories the ones that are the most likely to convert prospects into customers? PR should both build your brand and generate leads. Customer-focused content that positions you as an expert in the industry does both. By offering advice or industry insights, you will build credibility while you are capturing the attention of your target audience.
“Once you’ve outlined your objectives and goals, then you need to think about how you’re going to measure success,” says Stansbury. “What do you want to achieve and how are you going to track it? Make sure you find ways to track the results of your PR wins, whether that is through Google Analytics for digital PR, a specific promo code, or adding in a column to your CRM tool.”
