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Press Release Failures: Rejoice About Them
Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.
My friend Margo Hackett told me that there was a conference
in Aspen called "Failure." It was about how failing is a
positive thing. We all know this, but many of us dread it
just the same. Yet, failure is how we learn fastest.
A Japanese proverb states, "Fall seven times, stand up
eight." When she worked as the Marketing Director of the San
Francisco Symphony, her mentor often told her not to worry
as there were a million ideas available all the time. "But,"
he said, "you have to do one of them."
Another thing Margo's mentor taught her, when she was
obsessing about whether she had the right photo for the
cover of a brochure that was about to go to print for
250,000 copies, he said, "Margo, there comes a point that
any brochure is better than no brochure."
"That simple sentence has saved my life a billion times when
I couldn't make up my mind," she said. Following that advice
had dramatic consequences.... "Through my many mistakes and
successes, attendance at the symphony rose to be among the
highest number of ticket sales in the country."
Let's apply some of Margo's wisdom to your press releases
when they fail to take:
1. Change the headline.
When I spoke recently at a Bulldog
Reporter's PR University Audio Conference called Write Like
a Journalist: A 90 Minute Tune-Up to Give Your PR Writing
More Power, Joe Grimm, one of the other presenters said
something that made me prick up my ears. Joe is Staff
Development Coordinator for Detroit Free Press, a newspaper
that closely monitors its readership online. He told me that
they tweaked the headlines to the articles they post online
several, sometimes numerous times every day to see what
readers respond to. When they find what works they keep it.
You can do the same.
In fact you could use the chapter on titles in my ebook, Get
a 6 Figure Book Advance to inspire you. In it, I give you
formulas that best-selling authors have used for their "jump
off the shelves" books. You'll get dozens of proven
strategies plus how to give your title/headline the sass
factor that will help inspire you to think of headlines
that stick. Get it here.
In addition to using these methods to map out headlines, you
can also take a look at other sources to spark your
imagination. Go to your local bookstore and read the
magazine cover teaser copy for the articles inside. Watch
the teasers (those short enticing blurbs that tell you
what's coming up next) before any national daytime TV show
or evening news show.
2. Change Perspective.
For one client, I wrote a press release from several angles.
The first one was from the viewpoint of a work-at-home mom
who had created freedom for herself with a job that allowed
her the time to jet her son to the emergency room when he
had a bicycle accident. The other showcased her original
survey that showed new data on her profession. The third was
about how she created the largest online community of its
kind that benefited both her members and those members'
perspective clients. When one point of view doesn't work,
flip it upside down, sideways and inside out. That way you
have three chances of getting media attention instead of
just one.
3. Do Research.
Sometimes, all it takes to make something new is a shiny
tidbit of new information. Reporters, editors and producers
are always looking for the next new, new, thing; the
strange, the counter-intuitive, the bizarre, the
controversial. When you pull together some statistics and
facts to prove the point, you're giving your press release a
surprising new shape. For one client who co-authored a book
with her autistic son, we came up with this fresh take:
[While most kindergarteners are picking their noses and
feeding their broccoli to the dog, six-year-old Jace
Richards was publishing his first book.
Atlanta, GA — Last month, over 60,000 grownups attempted to
write a novel (even a really bad one) by participating in
National Novel Writing Month, and nearly 90% of them failed.
Depressing? Sure. Especially when you consider that young
kids all over the country are taking time out between Power
Rangers and, well, time-outs, to write bestsellers.
There's an amazing new trend emerging in publishing: child
authors. These young scribes, with their uninhibited passion
and unfiltered emotions, are turning out profound and
meaningful books that speak to adults as well as kids.]
Packaging the statistics is what made this press release
newsworthy. You'll notice the child author isn't even
mentioned until the third paragraph. We put what the
reporters care most about first—the news. The outcome? We
got dozens of calls from media all over the country that
resulted in articles—and book sales.
Sir Winston Churchill said, "Continuous effort - not
strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our
potential." As you're writing and sending out your press
release, remember that when one thing doesn't work, try
another. Sometimes the smallest tweak makes the biggest
result.
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Susan Harrow, CEO of
http://prsecrets.com, is
a top media coach, marketing strategist and author of
Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul® (HarperCollins),
The
Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah, and
Get a 6-
Figure Book Advance. Clients include Fortune 500 CEOs, bestselling authors and entrepreneurs who have appeared on
Oprah, 60 Minutes, NPR, and in TIME, USA Today, Parade,
People, O, NY Times, WSJ, and Inc. |
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