Cloudy with a 97 Percent Chance of Failure

I have always loved public relations (PR). The very first PR “people” were reporters hired by the Magtag Corporation to write about their products. Today, PR is a big ‘ol $134 billion business in this world. And it’s far more complicated today than when I started. But I still love it even though it’s said we have a 3 percent chance of success with any pitch today—which is also known as a 97 percent chance of failure. Why would anyone DO this?

Today, PR is really all about creating exactly the right mix of paid and earned media as well as amplification of content from social media (including blogs, videos, infographics). Wait, did he say PAID?

I did. And due to the fact that our country has lost more than 2/3 of working journalist and media jobs over the past two decades, (you know, all of those consolidations and layoff announcements that you’ve seen out there) you’d better have a PAID strategy in place to supplement what is possible on the EARNED media (publicity) side of things.

Let’s take an example from my own recent client files. I’m now working with a doctor in San Diego who wanted to elevate his profile, sell more copies of his book and get more patients for his stress reduction courses online. For this program, we did:

  • Subject Matter Expert/Commentary Media Pitching
  • Mat Release (PAID) (I love this tactic, it’s a way to get a solid feature article placed in more than 2,000 newspapers and online sites. This differs from a press release in that it doesn’t have to be news-driven and it shows up as a paid feature, not a press release)
  • Social Media Amplification
  • Website Messaging

And the results so far…

  • Profile elevated with 30+ national articles
  • Mat Release resulted in 2,717 placements (of our feature story)
  • Social Media engagement is up
  • Clear website messaging means the traffic will convert more easily to sales/revenue

So in an industry with a 97 percent chance of failure, we were able to score a 100 percent chance of success over 30x nationally with more on the way! I’m actually looking for more experts (attorneys, financial advisors, cybersecurity, IT) to take advantage of this type of program. I think it’s a win-win too because the expert gets the coverage and the media get the expertise they need to complete their stories. And that’s the kind of PR results that build TRUST and CREDIBILITY for the expert.

PR is very different today and I know it’s very difficult for some businesses to get results. But results can happen under the right conditions and with the right representation!