Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Hello aguilford: I have not heard of many busy publicists who cold call corporate clients out of the blue they do not know. The first questions I would ask would be about their background:

1) How did he/she happen to find your company? Were they referred? By whom?

2) What do they know about your company and how would they pitch you to a producer?

3) What other clients have they represented?

4) What other bookings have they secured for these clients?

5) Ask them for a producer referral. Someone that they've worked with before who you can email or call to find out how they were to work with.

Successful publicists have good ongoing relationships with producers and assistants (even as producers change shows and networks, the publicists continue to work with them at their next show.)

If you are satisfied that they are on the up and up, then ask them questions about your story angle.

1) What about your company, product, or CEO do they think is newsworthy?

2) What would be their pitch to the local station? What would be their pitch to a national like the Today show?

3) Producers like the new, the controversial, the trendy, the counter-intuitive--make sure you know where the publicist intends to go with their news hook.

If your CEO doesn't want the world to know they were a high school drop-out, then make sure your publicist isn't going for a ("Is high school necessary? 10 millionaire CEOs prove otherwise" kind of story.

4) If they are going to pitch your CEO or need a spokesperson--make sure he is media-trained and ready to make appearances.

5) Also if the publicist's intended pitch relies on having some video footage (b-roll) to go with the story you'll have to produce that.

If you are satisfied that the publicist has a good reputation in the industry, a good track record, good, working relationships with television producers and that they understand your company's vision and story, then you can get into the nitty-gritty details.

1) Ask for an independent contract that spells out their relationship to your company and their scope of work and fees. Will they go after just television placements or newspapers, magazines, and radio too?

2) Ask them for a timeline for pitching--if your story is seasonal for example, they will have to pitch before the Christmas season. Give them a timeframe for placing your story--6 months for example.

3) Ask them for a weekly report of who've they contacted, what action was taken (voice mail, left message) or the outcome (sorry, not interested.)

Feel free to email me if you have other questions--
rpenovich@yahoo.com