Those of us who are plant enthusiasts scoff at those who live in this country's more temperate climates and brag about their gardens. Throw out a handful of flower seeds in, say, San Diego, and you'll be rewarded with a profusion of flowers in no time. Live in the Chicago area as I do, and your garden is subject to blazing heat and freezing cold -- all in the same day. You have to carefully nurture your plants -- and then pray for good weather.
PR's a lot like that. If your client is a local charitable cause, you'll likely get media attention with some good spokespersons and interesting stories to tell. If your product is sexy or involves celebs, reporters are welcoming, even friendly. But what if your client offers a service in a category that exhaustively pitches the press -- lawyers, book authors and management consultants come to mind -- or offers a pretty average product that has no distinguishing characteristics -- a household appliance, for example? The response can be non-existent or negative, despite short, pithy pitches and polite pleas for coverage.
That's where PR pros can shine. Doing PR for the commonplace takes some creativity and a dogged refusal to give up. It's where the PR rubber meets the road. Some ideas:
- Timeliness. If your client can respond to local or national news very quickly, there's a chance that he/she can speak to a situation or a problem and get some coverage. You'll both need to work fast on a plan and talking points.
- Something wacky. If your client's product does have a distinguishing feature, make it stand out! Blendtec was just an ordinary, if high-powered blender, but a YouTube video series garnered all sorts of media attention, with Tom at Blendtec pureeing cell phones, an Ipad, Old Spice, XBox 360 and just about anything you could imagine. The company even has a web site devoted to these adventures.
- Slow and steady. OK, you're promoting a product that's good, but not exciting. And sometimes you can't make it more than it is. Something solid, dependable, quality. That just means that you'll need to brief your client appropriately and plan for regular media contact and making sure that your client is included in the inevitable round-up, review, or profile. It's not a matter of scads of clips and online mentions, but coverage when and where it matters.
Have you promoted the ordinary in a creative way and gotten extraordinary results?
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