Gary Dahl. Advertising for Dummies
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For example, Vespas are little known in the United States, though these little
scooters are everywhere in Italy. Richard Laermer describes how Vespa
helped make inroads (pun intended) into the U.S. market by hiring gorgeous
models to ride around Los Angeles, stop in at various cafes and have a coffee
while chatting with other customers about their cool mini-motorbikes. The
models weren’t famous, but they were beautiful, and they attracted attention
to themselves first but then to the product they were promoting, and the
whole stunt generated buzz — in a city where that’s tough to do!
Taking advantage of celebrity
endorsements
If you can get the attention of a celebrity — either purposely or serendipi-
tously, you should leverage that attention as much as possible.
Okay, you can’t solicit spontaneous celebrity mentions, but you can leverage
them if they happen on their own. For example, Richard Laermer cites how
Sandra Bullock became a one-woman marketing machine for Listerine
PocketPaks (those little tab-sized breath strips that were introduced in 2005)
when she talked about them nonstop at the Oscars in 2002.
Similarly, Rush Limbaugh created buzz for The Millionaire Next Door, a very
interesting book that was little known until Limbaugh mentioned it on his
radio show, which has an enormous listening audience. The book has since
sold more than 2 million copies, and it was on the New York Times bestseller
list for 3 years.
If I were working to promote either of the above products, you can bet your
last dollar I would do everything possible to maximize that exposure. For
example, I would have copies of the Oscar footage where Sandra Bullock
talked about the Listerine PocketPaks, and I’d send that video and quote her
in all future marketing for that product. And I’d get in touch with her to find
out whether she’d be willing to go further and become a spokeswoman for
the brand or whether I could use her endorsement in future ad campaigns.
Regarding Mr. Limbaugh, if I had been the publisher of that book, I’d have
immediately contacted him to get a written endorsement of the book, which I
would then feature on every future copy and edition of the book and all sub-
sequent marketing, advertising, and sales materials. You should look for the
same opportunities.
So how do you maximize on celebrity exposure? Here are a few things that I
would do:
Get a copy of what the celebrity said about your product or business, or
request a written endorsement.
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Obtain permission from that celebrity (in writing, of course) to use his
comments in your future ad campaigns.
Consider asking that celebrity to be your spokesperson.
Throwing a party
Generating buzz by throwing a big bash is considered a publicity party, and
publicity isn’t advertising, of course, but parties can generate word of mouth
as well as publicity in newspapers, magazines, and other media. The party
itself probably won’t be free (unless you can get friends and fans to provide
the space and the food and drink, and send out the invitations, which you
quite possibly can!). But even if you do have to incur some costs to throw a
party, it can be money very well spent because of the word of mouth it can
generate.
You can throw a party to announce a grand opening of your store, to intro-
duce a new product or invention, or to celebrate an anniversary, such as the
tenth anniversary of your being in business for yourself — or anything else
that’s new with your business. Of course, you should invite newspeople, from
all the local newspapers (your major city paper as well as smaller neighbor-
hood papers, as well as freebies around town), local magazines, and local TV
and radio personalities, but you also want to invite everyone you know who
you think can talk about your product or business in an interesting, exciting
way. If they have a great time at your party, they’re more likely to tell all their
friends, colleagues, neighbors, and acquaintances about it — especially if
you’ve done something unique at the party or given away something fabulous.
For example, one publicity party I attended for a book about a very success-
ful black entrepreneur generated lots of word of mouth. Why? Because the
hostess invited Coretta Scott King — and she came, with one of her sons!
That was exciting: She and her late husband, the Reverend Martin Luther
King, are legends in the world of civil rights, and many people at the party
welcomed this unique opportunity to meet her. Mrs. King’s presence at the
party got people talking, and it helped the book become a business bestseller
and sell more than 100,000 copies, which is terrific for a business book.
Hitting the streets
Another way to promote buzz is to take your product or service literally to
the streets: to pound pavements where people are out and about, walking
and driving. This method isn’t the same as outdoor advertising (covered in
Chapter 11); instead, it’s more about meeting and greeting potential customers.
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For example, Richard Laermer recommends doing such simple and low-budget
advertising as putting stickers on every lamppost to build awareness of your
brand. Here’s an example he offers in Full Frontal PR: When The New York
Times started its online service, it hired a small ad agency that gave out
paper spoons with the company’s Web site (www.nytoday.com) on them,
and when those people logged on, they could print out a coupon for a cheap
but yummy meal at Daily Soup, a popular café in midtown New York City.
That strategy generated buzz about the Web site.
Figuring out where to find your big mouths
In addition to finding the right type of big mouth (see the preceding section),
you need to know where best to reach him. Finding your market maven
requires creative thinking on your part, because you know best (or at least
you should!) where your customers are most readily found.
For example, Malcolm Gladwell offers insight on this, too, by way of a great
example. He writes how a nurse in San Diego wanted to make more black
women aware of and knowledgeable about diabetes and breast cancer. She
began in what she thought was the right place, by targeting black churches,
but she found that the women who stayed after services were already knowl-
edgeable, and the rest of the congregations just wanted to get home.
So she thought about finding a place where black women would have more
time and be more relaxed and therefore be more open to receiving informa-
tion, and she realized that the best place for her to generate word of mouth
was at the beauty salon. So she taught hairdressers to be her mavens, her big
mouths, and she generated the buzz she wanted in order to educate women
about these diseases and to encourage them to get mammograms and find
out even more about how they can protect themselves.
Creating a blog about your business
WOMMA (see the section “Getting the Terminology Straight” in this chapter)
also offers a Womnibus (another great name) that posts useful information on
the WOMMA Web site for people interested in word-of-mouth marketing trends.
WOMMA touts the Womnibus as the primary resource for advertisers wanting
to get involved with word-of-mouth strategies. One Womnibus described a
study conducted by the Pew research organization about the prevalence of
blogs (short for Web logs) as of mid-2006. Among the key findings:
Eight percent of consumers (12 million U.S. adults) keep a blog, up from
7 percent in 2005.
Thirty-nine percent of consumers (57 million U.S. adults) read blogs, an
increase from 27 percent in 2005.
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Pew concludes that blogs have become one of the key media for word of
mouth. Maybe this strategy is something that could work for your business, if
your target market spends a lot of time on the Internet.
As new technology comes along, so will new ways to communicate with an
ever-widening circle of friends and acquaintances who can potentially be
influenced by individual ideas, recommendations, and suggestions on prod-
ucts, services, businesses, and stores. So, keep current on the technology
trends and jump at the chance of putting one to work for your business.
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Chapter 18
Leveraging Your Advertising with
Public Relations, Publicity,
Specialty Items, and Events
In This Chapter
Working public relations like a pro
Mastering publicity by writing an effective public release
Using specialty advertising items and promotions to get your name out
I
n addition to the myriad ways you can advertise your business, you can
find other marketing activities that are closely related to advertising. This
chapter covers four of these options: public relations, publicity (especially
via press releases), specialty item advertising, and promotional events.
Before diving in, you should understand the difference between two of these
terms, which people often confuse. Although closely related, public relations
and publicity are two different things. Public relations (PR) is the ongoing
process of promoting yourself and talking yourself up. Publicity is the occa-
sional process of using a much bigger tool (usually in the form of media) to
promote yourself.
Here’s a simple analogy illustrating the difference between public relations
and publicity: If your business sponsors a Little League team for kids who live
near your store, that is public relations. You’re endearing yourself to the kids’
parents (the public to whom you’re trying to relate), who may, as a result,
become your customers. If, on the other hand, you send your local newspaper
a written story bragging about your Little League sponsorship in the hopes of
having it printed, that is publicity. You’re now blatantly (some would argue,
cleverly) trying to endear yourself to everyone who subscribes to the paper. A
public relations campaign may cost you money — uniforms and equipment for
your Little League team, for example — but publicity, for the most part, is free
(the media doesn’t charge you to publish or broadcast your story).
Of course, this chapter is only a quick primer into the ways and means of PR,
publicity, specialty items, and promotional events. If you’re really interested
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in knowing more about these types of marketing, check out the Public
Relations For Dummies, 2nd Edition, by Eric Yaverbaum, Ilise Benun, and
Richard Kirshenbaum (Wiley). To get the basics, though, read on!
Starting a Public Relations Campaign
From the sponsorship of a local Little League team to allowing local service
clubs the use of your store or conference room for their meetings, PR can
take many forms. Public relations is just that — relating to the public, which,
in this case, means your current and future customers. Your PR effort doesn’t
have to be grandiose and expensive — it can be modest and still be highly
effective. If you own a pet-supply store, you can offer free dog-training classes
or low-priced vaccination clinics (these offers could also be defined as pro-
motions). If you own a restaurant, you can offer your banquet room free of
charge to the local Toastmasters or Rotary Club (of course, you charge them
for the food and beverages). And regardless of your business, you can offer
free goods for charity auctions or buy ad space in the high school yearbook,
ticket books for worthwhile raffles, and so on.
One of my clients, a furniture store owner, donated a very expensive dining
room set to a local fundraising auction and, as a result of his generosity and
the ensuing publicity, he has been enjoying new cash customers from the
sponsoring club ever since.
The trick to PR is to do good works for the community while gaining at least a
subtle recognition for yourself and your business.
Unlike the immediacy of a press release, where you’re looking to get a story
published right away, PR is a continuing process just as your advertising
campaign is (or should be) a continuing process. Your PR campaign is an
integral part of your entire communications course of action and is no less
important than a blockbuster TV or radio commercial or a full-page ad in the
local daily. And, if yours is a small to mid-size retail or service business, a
solid PR effort in your community is doubly important. A well-planned PR
campaign keeps your name in front of your customers (and prospective cus-
tomers) even when you’re not actively advertising.
So how do you make friends and influence people; create understanding,
acceptance, and awareness of your business or product; and gain a favorable
response from your marketplace? As with all aspects of advertising, know what
messages you want to communicate (see Chapter 4 for more details on forming
your message). Think about what your various audiences need to know about
your product or service. What is it that makes what you sell better than, or dif-
ferent from, anything else consumers can get elsewhere? Are there audiences
who should know about your community involvement, your environmental
record, your particular expertise that adds value to your sell? Should people
know about the comprehensiveness of your offer, key endorsements you have
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received, the credibility of your investors, the partnerships you’ve formed, or
the promotional tie-ins you provide with other organizations?
Your messages should directly answer the question: “Why should anyone
care about what you offer?” When you know what you want to communicate
through your PR, how do you go about delivering that message? You can use
many different vehicles for communicating with the audiences you want to
reach. Here’s a list of potential communications vehicles:
Publicity or press releases targeted to mass, trade, or community media
(see the next section on publicity for more information)
Article reprints of publicity you’ve received from various media, which
you then mail to specific lists
Professional-quality photography to accompany your press releases
Volunteer participation in community and charitable organizations or
foundations
Scholarships you’ve awarded and that carry your name
Seminars, speeches, and lectures you give to various groups
Web site and Internet postings of publicity you’ve received
Contests you sponsor that carry your name
Newsletters you write and send out on a regular basis
Donations of products or services to community causes, events,
and clubs
Understanding How Publicity
Can Bring Customers
Apart from the single article or broadcast segment you may notice and envy,
what you may not realize are the many benefits that an organized and contin-
uing publicity effort adds to your other advertising endeavors. If you’re using
paid advertising, articles in which you or your company appear help infuse
your campaign with credibility and detail. Plus, publicity adds reach and fre-
quency to your message that you may not otherwise be able to afford.
Most people understand the power of favorable news coverage, whether it’s
The Wall Street Journal, the local daily, Time magazine, local radio or TV, an
industry trade journal, or a community weekly paper. Restaurants receiving
positive media coverage are swamped with phone calls for reservations.
Companies get a flood of orders for their well-reviewed widgets. Designers
become “hot.” New respect is derived from customers, competitors, family,
and friends.
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The publicity blitz I conceived to put the Pet Rock on the tip of everyone’s
tongue (see the nearby sidebar) was accomplished at absolutely no cost. I
never spent a dime to advertise the product, and the national and interna-
tional publicity was free. I must admit that I had the advantage over other
inventors: I had an advertising and public relations background and knew the
various steps to take to obtain free publicity. But you’re in luck! I’m sharing
these insights with you in this section.
Writing an effective press release
The backbone of publicity is the press release, which is simply a news story
written by someone other than the editors and reporters of the media to
whom that person submits the release for publication. It is, when written
properly, a valuable tool for businesspeople, because it can generate what
amounts to free advertising. And when your local paper prints your press
release, it becomes an endorsement of sorts by that publication.
Writing an effective release is harder than it looks, so in the sections that
follow, I walk you through each step — from choosing an appropriate topic
that news media may be interested in, to organizing the information you’re
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The Pet Rock: A publicity phenomenon
The Pet Rock was quickly transformed from a
novelty gift with an uncertain future into an
international retail phenomenon, thanks to the
incredible power of publicity. I was unable to
afford a huge advertising budget, so I wrote a
publicity story and sent it, along with photos of
its inventor (me), the product, and its packaging,
to major weekly news magazines. On November
10, 1975, a half-page publicity story about the
Pet Rock and a photo of me were featured in
Newsweek.
Maybe it was a slow news day. Or perhaps the
tongue-in-cheek qualities of both the product
and the publicity story attracted the editors’
attention. Whatever the reason,
Newsweek
printed my story and gave the item media cred-
ibility — in my opinion, the Pet Rock was more
of a media event than a sales event. Although
we sold (literally and figuratively) tons of them,
the media attention generated by the product
far outweighed the sales produced. During its
five-month retailing life span (yep, that’s all it
had), the Pet Rock was referenced in nearly
every daily newspaper in the country, most
major magazines, all network national news
programs,
The Tonight Show
and other late-
night talk shows, most radio talk shows, and
international media, such as the BBC. I was per-
sonally interviewed hundreds of times.
The Pet Rock generated multimillions of dollars
of free publicity that continues to this day. More
than 25 years later, I am
still
contacted by major
media to comment on new novelty items. The
Pet Rock has become a part of the lexicon, a
permanent piece of Americana. The moral of
the story: Don’t doubt the influence of publicity.
Use it to your advantage, and you shall prosper.
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providing in ensure that you cover everything the media will want to know
and in a format they’re familiar with and can use.
You may also consider writing a simpler fact sheet, which is a brief description
of your business, what you do, where you’re located, how to contact you, and
other basic information. The fact sheet isn’t a news story; instead, it simply
answers the who, what, where, when, how, and why of what your business does.
Choosing a newsworthy topic
Press releases have one purpose: to get you free publicity (a form of advertis-
ing) by informing the media that your company has done, or will do, some-
thing newsworthy. Here are just a few of the subjects you could use as a basis
for a press release:
A purchase of a competitor’s business or a merger
A community project your company has sponsored
An industry award won by you or one of your employees
The introduction of a new product or service
A new location or the addition of a branch office
A highly successful year or quarter
A change in business policy, a new affiliation, or a significant new hire
The bottom line is to send news that may be of interest to a broad audience.
To get the best result, however, keep in mind that your press release should
describe something that can really intrigue readers. In fact, some publicists
say the guiding principle for publicity should be a story where “Man Bites
Dog” — in other words, an unusual or unexpected twist. (And keep in mind
the opposite — if your story is “Dog Bites Man,” who cares?)
Reporters and editors all have the same problem: They must fill their pages
or their broadcast news airtime with interesting stories each and every day.
For this reason, they welcome the receipt of a well-written, attention-grabbing
press release from time to time. It helps them do their jobs. They may not print
the story verbatim — instead, they may use your press release as a basis for a
story they write themselves, after interviewing you for more information. But
newspapers always print stories they find worthwhile. Getting good ink isn’t
hard, as long as your subject matter is of interest.
Don’t send out a press release unless you have something important to say.
Make sure the story is interesting, relevant, possibly amusing, always news-
worthy, and, above all, not frivolous or boring in its content. You can make an
editor very crabby with a story about the roof of your store leaking during a
recent rainstorm. If, on the other hand, the roof of your store caved in but
you saved dozens of shoppers from injury, you’re going to get all the free
publicity you can possibly handle.
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