Ze’ev Ze’ev
One of the most famous of Aesop’s Fables is the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, called "Ze’ev Ze’ev" in Israel. In the story, a shepherd boy who is bored decides to entertain himself by shouting out "WOLF," which results in the townspeople coming to save him. He does this several times, until one day when there really is a wolf. He shouts "WOLF," and the townspeople ignore him, sure he is trying to trick them again.
So what does this have to do with the craft of public relations?
In my 15 years in this industry, I have had the privilege of speaking to the media regarding incredible stories, such as the launch of Oscar Mayer’s fat-free hot dog and the growing popularity of a currency designed to reside only on the Internet. I have also had the opportunity to speak with the media about stories with far less appeal and newsworthiness. As we all know, there are many such cases. In fact, a former colleague of mine from San Francisco once said that certain news releases are to be thought of as "market-texture" releases, rather than true news items. His feeling was that there are times when a company has to be "on-record" as having a specific technology or product, even though it’s not major enough for journalists to sit down and write about it.
His point is an important one, and ties back to the story of "Ze’ev Ze’ev." When your company has an announcement, it’s crucial that you ask the question – to yourself or to those who are working with you on communications strategy – Is this only important to my company, or will the larger industry I serve care about it also?
This is not an easy question to answer, because your R&D team may have been working on this new product, or feature, or service for the last six months or longer. So you have to think 100% objectively when answering the question and you have to surround yourself with media relations professionals who are focused on, in essence, two customers.
Who are these two customers? Well, obviously, you are one. You are paying them to do the job of media relations, whether it is an agency or an in-house head of communications. But who is the second customer? The media, of course. The media need to be given information that helps them write interesting, meaningful stories. It’s actually similar to the way sales are done in business. The product you sell must ideally answer a need, but at least must be something that the customer would find useful.
It’s no different with media relations. Let’s take a look at today’s average scenario and then we’ll examine how it should be done.
Today, if you have an announcement, you send it to the reporters who cover your space.
You then call (or have someone else call) the reporter and ask, "I sent you a news release about x,y and z … Did you receive it? Oh, you did? Okay. Well, are you planning on writing about it?"
Now, let’s think about this. What has taken place there is the same as a salesman calling a prospect and saying, "I have a product and I sent you an email about it. Did you get it? Oh, you did? Okay. Well, are you planning to buy it?"
Do you see how ridiculous that approach is? Now think about this: Israeli reporters have PR people contacting them day-after-day with this same approach. It’s no wonder they have no confidence that we are providing them with solid stories. We’re not.
Now let’s take that same scenario and do it the correct way.
If you have an announcement, the first thing you should do is ask yourself the question:
Why is this important for the readers of the reporter I will be calling? Then, ask yourself a few more, such as:
How can I quantify the importance of this announcement? Is there a value to the deal? Will it cut down on operational costs for companies?
What trends are in place today that this relates to?
How does this impact the world? Does it impact the world at all?
Once you know the answers to these questions, you will either have a much better story to offer the media or you have the alternative … You can send it to the reporter and call him, saying the following:
"Hi, I just sent you a release about x, y and z. I don’t think it’s important enough for you to write about it today, but it will give you a good sense for where this company is going and what it is doing. So it’s worth reading it just to understand that. When I have a story that will be worth your time, I’ll let you know."
This approach will give you exponentially more credibility with the media, and will enable you to get the important stories covered when you need them to be covered.
It’s nothing more than a lesson in Ze’ev Ze’ev. If you shout "Wolf" when there is no wolf, none of the townspeople (the media) will come running to help you when there really is a wolf.
But if you only cry "story!" when there really is one, the media will pay attention. And they’ll begin to look at you as a credible source of information, rather than someone looking for free advertising.
Novel concept, right? Actually, it’s not novel at all. And it’s not a fable of Aesop either. It’s media relations done right.
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