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Special to SMPS-NY Newsletter
By David M. Grant
President, LVM Group Inc.
"Media -- Mystery or Opportunity?" First I'd like to mention three real-life examples to show how the media can unfortunately indeed be -- if not a mystery, then certainly a blown opportunity. These are what are known as horror stories.
Number one. Several years ago we represented an engineering firm out of an Eastern state -- not, I'm proud to say, New York. In the course of getting to know the head of the company, he told us of a marvelous system his firm had been developing to help prevent building fires. We asked him some questions, and it sounded like an excellent story. The next time we were talking with Engineering News-Record, we mentioned it to one of their reporters. She loved it and said she'd like to meet with our client. They got together and she was even more enthralled with the story -- until, until she began to check the story with E-NR's customary thoroughness. Lo and behold, the client's mouth and imagination were larger than reality. The story turned out to be a nothing. The reporter was understandably sore at our client. As a matter of fact, so were we. All in all, I would say this was an example of how not to deal with the press.
Horror story number two. Again, with apologies to my co-panelist, Howard Stossman of E-NR. We used to represent a major construction company. At one point we arranged a lunch between the president of the company and an E-NR reporter. It was supposed to be nothing more than an exploratory meeting. Unfortunately -- and I hope you in-house marketing people are listening to this one - the in-house head of marketing, in an attempt to curry favor with his boss, told the president the interview was for -- a cover story! The president soon found out otherwise at lunch. He was disappointed, of course. His manner turned chilly. Then, being human, the reporter's manner turned even chillier. The upshot was no cover story, no story at all, and lots of bad feeling. Again, a good example of how not to deal with the press.
Now for the third horror story. An engineering client of ours -- let's call him Mr. Smith -- told us of a good story he was involved with in Boston. To us, it sounded like a natural for the Boston Globe. At the mention of The Globe, our client Mr. Smith became ecstatic. If we could get the story in The Globe, he said, he would be delighted. That was his number one dream for this project. It was as if we had promised his kids free tickets to a Michael Jackson concert.
Well, while we appreciate that kind of enthusiasm for our work, sometimes when a client becomes that enthralled, we become a bit nervous. After all, how did we know we could actually get the story into the Globe? And how would we face Mr. Smith if not? Believe me, public relations people have nightmares about such things.
Ah, but as luck would have it, The Globe editor loved the idea. Yes yes yes, he said, please put Mr. Smith in touch with us.
And then began that horrible experience known to all of us in public relations. The client became pre-occupied with other things. And he found himself out of the office a good deal of the time. For some reason, he did not have time to call The Globe. Worse still, The Globe began to call us. Where is Mr. Smith? Why hasn't he called me -- Desperately, we kept leaving messages for Mr. Smith. And when finally he did get back to us, The Globe was icy -- very icy. The editor felt led on and betrayed. Not only did he never want to hear from Mr. Smith again, but he sounded distinctly as if he did not want to ever hear from David M. Grant Inc. again either.
The moral of these three stories? Public relations may be great, but -- know what you're doing before you undertake it.
OK. Now let's talk about the media in terms of genuine opportunity. Concerning how to obtain publicity in the media covering the a/e professions, you will be receiving direct advice on that subject from key editors with two of the most prestigious of those media -- Engineering News-Record, and Corporate Design.
What I'd like to discuss, then, is how to get into media other than magazines like EN-R and Corporate Design.
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