I feel both blessed and cursed to have spent my life selling a product (publicity) that is consistently overlooked. It’s a blessing because there’s not much competition to speak of, but a curse because it’s difficult to persuade marketers to buy. It seems they are always chasing something different: 20 years ago it was advertising, 10 years ago it was websites, today it’s social marketing. Couple that with the PR industry’s hourly billing model, which is about as senseless as selling pizza by the hour, and most marketers aren’t all that interested.
I used to think our Pay Per Interview Publicity® business model would change that. I was sure that once businesses found out there was a company charging per story for the publicity they arranged, customers would flock to us. The customers came, but not in droves. I guess I shouldn’t complain. We’ve sold about 60 million dollars worth of Pay Per Interview Publicity®, but I thought it would be hundreds of millions by now.
Publicity as a promotional channel seems to be hidden in plain view. There are those who spot it and those that don’t. The ones who do represent two extremes: They either have a small marketing budget and are seeking a cost-effective way to teach the masses, or they are big companies maximizing every promotional channel available.
Many of our clients have been with us for more than 10 years. Ask yourself why would a company buy something every month for a decade or more? That’s a pretty obvious clue. Small clients want 20 or 30 stories per year and large clients want hundreds.
Yesterday I was in the office of Heather Champine. Heather is our VP of media production and manages our publicists. She said, “You know Lonny, one thing you wrote in one of your marketing letters years ago that really struck me was that doing a media interview is like standing at a podium telling your product’s story to a sports stadium filled with people. You should say that again. Do you know how much money it would cost clients to bring that many people together for a speech?!” She’s right. So there, I’ve said it again.
It’s a good visual and the vast audiences would be near impossible to assemble. Doing a media interview is deceptively easy. If people could actually see the size of their audience, they would probably pass out from stage fright. A few years ago my wife chaired a nonprofit organization and gave a speech to 2,000 people. I walked to the back of the room to take a picture and was struck by what appeared to be a sea of people. Imagine what 20,000 would look like, or 200,000.
There’s no more effective way to build your brand than having reporters tell your story through publicity. Fortunately for you, and unfortunately for me, publicity is an unlikely secret weapon. Most likely you are getting only a trickle. We can change that quickly. Call Heather Champine at 952-697-5269. She will explain how we work and help you get started.
