Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Mattie,

It would be worth the money to hire someone to do this for you. If it's that important, you want to do it right.

Over on the right under "Hire and Expert" it says "Post a Project" Seriously, do this right.

Michael

I agree with Michael. I would suggest doing a well-written news advisory with the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW ARE YOU DYNAMIC, and contact information.

You want to get the format and contacts correct, however. If you're on a tight deadline and you want to come across professionally, invest in a professional's time and efforts.

gail

You're going to need assistance...you don't just write a letter of request and get a million dollars worth of exposure.

What is your budget for this?

There are a number of people who do this media thing very well. And there are a whole bunch of hucksters.

If you have time, I suggest your read Tom Peric' book Wacky Days before you start on your journey. If not, at least be very sure to check into the past, check references before you hire.

Also - make sure that the viewership for the network may be interested in your message before contacting each network (and the viewership is your target demographic). Otherwise, your message is going to the wrong set of eyeballs.

Thanks for asking. I looked at your profile and you have not provided very much information about your company or your position. If you give us more information we can be more helpful in our responses.

I do not know if you are a seasoned marketing professional or a new hire is getting your feet wet. If you are a seasoned professional and this is a new area for you it is probably best to hire an expert as the above folks have recommended.

However, you may be in a very different situation. I may be all wet here, and pardon me if I'm way off base, but it is also possible that this is your first marketing job and you are trying to get your bearings. If this is your first job or first marketing assignment it may be dangerous for you to recommend that the firm hire an outside expert. If the firm is looking to you for marketing and you start out by saying we need to hire someone else they may start second-guessing their decision to hire you.

Certainly no one knows everything about marketing. It seems to me the more I learn about marketing the more I need the help of specialized experts. That is one reason I enjoy this forum so much.

If you are in a new position and folks have unreasonable expectations of your performance then you are in a bad way. Again, I'm trying to read between the lines here and I could be completely wrong. If I were in your shoes, and it were politically possible for me to hire an outside expert, I would certainly do so. However, if this were not an option, I would spend six or eight hours with Google to find all that I could. I would not expect the well-meaning folk on this forum to be able to invest the hours it would take to give you a personal course in this highly specialized area.

Good luck to you.

I can understand why YOU might want this live coverage, but role play for a moment and put yourselves in the shoes of the producers at your target outlets: "Why would WE want to air this material? What's in it for US?"

Your first step - and the first step of any professional you hire - will be to ask that question.

Have you thought of just buying spots on those networks? It's not as expensive as you might think ... especially if you just run locally in the markets that are most important to you. And that way you are guaranteed to get the air time you want.