Monday, May 19, 2008

Putting the "Public" Into Public Relations

Long gone are the days when publicists needed the blessing of media outlets to get a story told to the masses.

While media coverage is a welcome development, it's hardly the only game in town.

Posting your own video content onto YouTube, as I've done is a simple, free way of connecting with large numbers of people--and it puts the "public" squarely in the middle of "public relations."

It's also an effective way of showing, not simply telling, the media about a given story suggestion. I've begun incorporating video clips with my e-mail outreaches, to help decision-makers literally see what I'm talking about.

A recent case in point was my posting videos of Scheck & Siress prosthetists aiding a 16-year-old by fitting him with a new artificial leg---his first in nine years. The links serve multiple purposes:

1. They tell the story directly to the world, without needing any intermediary's approval or being subject to any intermediary's mistakes of omission or commission.

2. They offer the media a more compelling story suggestion, and can tip them across that intangible line, from somewhat interested to very interested, which means all the difference between taking a pass on the story to passing along the story idea to the assignment producer or editor.

3. If the media pursue the story, it provides them with a resource to share with their audience, further expanding your reach via both traditional (media) and non-traditional (user-generated websites) means.

All of that being stated, it only makes sense that I offer some links to the fine work being done by Scheck & Siress, the Range of Motion Project (ROMP) and Healing the Children.

http://tinyurl.com/6ky89s

http://tinyurl.com/5sv4r9

http://tinyurl.com/6pzk9q

http://tinyurl.com/5o2lwk

To learn more, visit http://www.scheckandsiress.com/ and http://www.rompglobal.org/.

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