Making More Spaghetti Stick To The Wall

Posted on by Christina Hamlett

Spaghetti

“Hi there! How’s it going? I just discovered your website and I have to say it’s really great. The content really shows that you’re the best in the industry. I’m sure you receive hundreds of emails like this but mine is the one to pay attention to because with the introductory SEO package I can offer you and your awesome sales team, you’ll be driving even more customers to your store and excellent products!”

Any guesses how long it took me to hit the “delete” key on this ground-floor opportunity?

For starters, I wasn’t personally addressed by name, nor was the name of the website referenced. Flattering to know the sender thinks I’m the best in the industry…and yet doesn’t identify what my particular industry is. And while it’s true indeed that I receive hundreds of emails making the same glowy promises of global exposure, where exactly is this store stuffed to the gills with trendy merchandise supposed to be? For that matter, who’s on my awesome sales team? I should take them to lunch.

Like many a salesperson on the hustle, it’s the old “Let’s just throw a big plate of spaghetti against the wall and see how much of it sticks.” While now and again an accidental noodle and some sauce might get someone’s attention, it’s more often than not an enormous waste of pasta (and probably broken plates). To make matters worse, they never even think of varying the recipe before they’re skipping off to the next wall, thus perpetuating a messy cycle of trial and error.

Let’s apply this for a moment to writers. A colleague of mine was recently lamenting her history of copious rejection letters. Her style, I learned, was the scattergun approach of ignoring submission rules and simply sending out the same manuscript to every magazine she could think of. While an impersonal “Dear Sir or Madam” photocopied letter should never be cause for tears, I asked what she did about the ones where an editor actually took the time to offer some constructive advice. “Oh, I just need to find the right editor,” she dismissively replied. In other words, “I like my spaghetti recipe exactly the way it is and I refuse to change it for anyone.”

In the arena of sales, how much do you really know about your customers’ interests, needs and wants? Do you really expect them to take seriously any mass-produced “Hi there! I’ve been thinking about you” letter that was stuffed without any thought into an envelope or distributed with even less thought via an electronic mailing list? Do you ever consider when you throw your spaghetti that some of your customers might be vegetarian? Or gluten-intolerant? Or on a tight budget and unable to afford artisanal marinara? Are you averse to switching up or swapping out ingredients just because “this is the way we’ve always done it”?

Takeaway lesson: Whatever you think you’re saving by doing generic, one-size-fits-all advertising may actually be costing you much more than you realize in terms of building customer trust and a belief that you sincerely care about what they’re really hungry for.

*****

Here’s my line-up of stellar guest bloggers this month:

Giving Back Made Easy – by Lee Romano Sequeira

How Your Name Is Your Most Important Brand – by Rainier Fuclan

Challenging The Disconnect Between What Science Shows And Business Does – by Linda Ray

5 Ways to Simplify Scheduling During a Busy Season – by Brett Duncan

Building a Culture of Health at Start-Up – by Jill Gambaro

 

One Size Does Not Fit All

Posted on by Christina Hamlett

 

One Size

In my line of work, I often hear from authors who have written a novel, memoir or theatrical production and want my advice on how to adapt it to a different medium, typically a screenplay. The rationale behind this isn’t just that movies represent the gold standard of fame and fortune; it’s the perception that if an idea is really spiffy, it should be able to shine in multiple venues.

Hollywood, of course, is replete with examples of why this isn’t true. How many times, for instance, have TV shows that were popular in their heyday been expensively repackaged for the silver screen, only to flop miserably? Likewise, how many adaptations of your favorite books have turned out to be a disappointment because the director’s vision wasn’t the same plot that played in your head while you were reading? And who among us doesn’t have a friend or family member who pens hilarious emails but would be a total deer in the headlights if s/he were encouraged to pursue a career in stand-up comedy?

How can these variations fail, people wonder, when the source material had so much going for it?

Individuals and organizations tend to view media outlets in a similar, one-size fits-all context. Because these entities are all in the business of promoting products, services and events, it’s not uncommon to assume that their procedures, timeframes, expectations and rules of etiquette are interchangeable. The small business owner who is accustomed to submitting newsy notes to a weekly newspaper on Monday morning for publication in that Thursday’s edition is, thus, thrown for a loop to discover that magazines and trade journals have lead-times of several months. The bloggers whose comfort zone has always been a casual chat with virtual fans may be daunted by the inherent structure of doing a live show, despite their familiarity with the topic. Even something as commonplace as email – a ritual that most of us take for granted – is foreign turf to those who have never learned how to type nor mastered the skills to type particularly well.

The fact that today’s media opportunities can arrive in any size, shape or format makes it incumbent upon you to stop clinging to yesterday’s outdated practices. When the chance to tell the world who you are comes knocking on your door, your ability to respond with confidence, flexibility and professionalism will dictate how smoothly the experience flows and whether you’ll be contacted again in the future.

Suffice it to say, the latter scenario is often based on the spin-off value of what you represent as an entertaining, informative and reliable commodity. It’s not so much how many names and phone numbers of media personnel you have in your office Rolodex but how many of them have your contact information on file. On many occasions, for instance, I get calls from newsletter and magazine editors who suddenly have a spot to fill as the result of another writer missing a deadline or delivering a story that just doesn’t click. Having already demonstrated my ability to write material that resonates with their readership, I’m among the first people they think of to come to the rescue or to liven up a slow news day.

That same strategy is essential in fostering mutual trust with your own media contacts. Be the person they know they can rely on to consistently give them what they want, including fresh ideas for what they may not even have thought they want yet. In the words of Mickey Spillane, “The first page sells your book. The last page sells your next book.”

Never give them a reason to stop reading…and anticipating.

*****

Here’s the line-up of this month’s guest bloggers:

Why Old-Fashioned Media Still Rocks – by Dr. Neryl East

Event Safety and Risk Assessment – by Mike James

Calming the Crisis, or Fueling One? – by Philip Owens

Releasing Your Project at the Perfect Time – by Alijah Villian

Un-Googling the Art of Online Ads – by Ben Bradshaw

Springing Into Media Readiness

Posted on by Christina Hamlett

leap

Ah – Spring! That time of year when we roll up our sleeves, take stock of our accumulated clutter, and commit to the task of getting better organized. Obviously this would be a less daunting exercise if we simply kept our house in order all the time and ready to entertain guests at a moment’s notice.

Could your in-house PR plan pass the same test of readiness?

Whether you’re an author, entrepreneur or nonprofit, getting – and staying – prepared for a call from the media is job #1.

This blog comes on the heels of a perplexing – and poorly conceived – response to an offer I’d recently made to a small business owner who also happened to be a personal friend. In these tough economic times, I knew that she and her staff were struggling to stay afloat and, further, she couldn’t afford the expertise of a PR firm to help with shout-outs about the products and services she provided. “Tell you what,” I said, “if you can provide me with the answers to a few interview questions along with a great photograph to accompany the article, I can get the story out there within two weeks.”

She was appreciative and effusive in her enthusiasm and promised that she’d put all of her energy into the questionnaire on her upcoming days off. Time passed. When I followed up to see what was accounting for the delay, she replied, “You know, I’m way too tired on my days off to spend them doing any work but maybe I can throw something together for you by the end of next month.”

Throw something together?

In my mind, this prompts three disturbing questions. The first is whether she felt it wasn’t necessary to treat the offer that seriously because it was coming from someone she knew, someone who could say, “Oh, there, there. Really, it’s all right. Take your time. And when you get back to me, I’ll just drop everything else I’m doing.” Secondly, was there some naiveté in play which led her to think that media opportunities come along like busses every ten minutes? If so, why are they not regularly making stops outside her front door? Thirdly – and perhaps the most alarming – how can anyone who has run their own business for more than 24 hours not have a press kit available in case someone requests it? There should be no mad scramble to assemble clips, get testimonials, compose snappy quotes, or grab a digital camera.

Sadly, though, this slapdash mindset isn’t uncommon, particularly with small business owners who either never expect to garner media attention or fail to understand that press deadlines aren’t fluid.

For future reference, they’d be wise to take a page from HR specialists who recommend keeping your resume up-to-date. Even if you’re happy as a clam in your current job and have no plans to leave, a dream opportunity with a short window could suddenly present itself. Such was my own experience many years ago when I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen for a while. She was lunching with a colleague who let it drop she had a position to fill and was dreading the upcoming process of advertising it, then interviewing candidates. By the time she returned to her office, there was a fax waiting for her: my resume. Not only did I get the job but I also met my first husband, started an acting company, and was able to return to college.

If being prepared can produce that magnitude of life-changing fortune, imagine what could happen to your business if you’re prepared when media opportunities knock?

Here’s the lineup of this month’s blogs by my guest contributors:

Spring Cleaning Your Email Inbox – by Erika Taylor Montgomery

Adapting Entertainment Publicity Techniques to Your Situation – by Steve Thompson

7 Reasons Why Businesses Hold Their Event in Las Vegas – by Melissa Page

Brand-Building Basics – by R. Travis Shortt

Using a P.R. Strategy to Gain Great Inbound Links – by Thomas Farley