`Sampling' Wins Confidence, Then Clients

Whenever I am asked for tips about breaking into journalism or public relations, one piece of advice that I emphasize can be applied to just about any endeavor: the importance of showing your value, not merely talking about it.

And over the course of more than a decade of self-employment, I have learned that winning new clients comes by way of winning their confidence. That assurance comes when they can see, first hand and not only from client testimonials or my charming personality, how I can help them.

How can they see it? One way or another, I provide them with tangible support, no strings attached, the very first time I meet them.

It may be advice about how to improve their biography, or it might be identifying a part of their story that they've never thought to tell but which I know the media would find absolutely compelling.

And sometimes they can literally "see it," when I shoot a video that helps them promote who they are and what they do. That's what I did a few weeks ago when I met a bright investment advisor, Ted Barnhart, at his office in Oak Brook.

During our meeting, I shot two videos, which I later edited and uploaded onto my YouTube channel for him to review.

I also told Ted how to create his own channel, Barnhart Advisory, which is where the below segment can be found after he selected it over the other clip:



If someone is going to invest their hard-earned money in your service, you want to take some proactive steps to provide them with a sample of what they can reasonably expect in return.

"Sampling" works at grocery stores, at the department store perfume counter and with Inside Edge PR--and it can work for you, too.

A Fun, Feel-Good Story For Christmas

Heart-warming, feel-good stories are great to share all-year round, but especially so around Christmas.

That's why one of my favorite activities this month was telling the story of one local family that moved back into their home after nearly a year away, to accommodate workers building an addition.

One of Inside Edge PR's clients, McAdam Landscaping, helped the mom put a festive, creative touch on the moment.

You can read the story here at Triblocal.com and see a related video below.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

5 Things I Know About Tiger Woods

Millions of words have been written about Tiger Woods over the past 18 days. And billions more will be expended in the time to come.

Here I will share five things that I know about the man and the saga that is unfolding:

1. Tiger's life, as it relates to the press and, more specifically, the tabloids and paparazzi, is forever altered. He will be shadowed, stalked, followed and hounded for at least the next decade.

2. What's more shocking than the revelation of his infidelities is that he kept it under wraps for so long.

And what's even more shocking than that is he thought he could keep it all bottled up forever, particularly since it's looking more and more like he did not confine his extramarital activities to only one woman (to say the least).

3. Amid all the PR counsel flying about, the most important piece is this: Tiger shouldn't lie to the media. So rather than commit that offense, he has circled the wagons and communicated only through written statements.

Insufficient to satisfy the media wolves? You bet.

But at least he hasn't compounded his mounting PR problems (to say nothing of his other woes, marital and otherwise) with outright lies. Half-truths and veiled language, perhaps, but that's to be expected when you're between a rock and a hard place.

4. This story in GQ, written in 1997 by Charles P. Pierce, explains much that the world either didn't realize, or chose to overlook, about Tiger.

5. I bet Tiger wishes he could turn the clock back to, oh, July 2000. That's when Time magazine dispatched me to the Western Open to provide some background reporting in preparation for a cover story that staff writer Dan Goodgame penned later in the summer.

An excerpt from my reporting:

"Teen-age girls with two-inch thick heels. Pubescent boys seeking autographs and climbing up trees for a better view. Blue-collar, white-collar, tank-top and Izod—all bobbing heads, straining their calves as they go on tip-toes.

Some are golf aficionados, having grown up in the sport with Arnold Palmer and, a short time later, Jack Nicklaus. Puffing on cigars, they frown in disdain when Johnny-come-lately fans move en masse because their favorite has sunk his putt, either not caring or not realizing that it’s a breach of etiquette when one or two others have yet to finish the hole.

Others barely know the legendary names of Palmer and Nicklaus, and just about none of the names or backgrounds of today’s top golfers. They seem oblivious to their faux pas, interested only in getting a good vantage point for the next hole.

This is the diverse face of Tigermania."

Let's Face It: A Key Part of An Interview's `Art'

Someone recently asked me for some tips on the "Art of the Interview."

From a journalistic perspective, I have led all-day workshops on the topic and feel like I barely scratch the surface. So my ambition in this small space will be confined to one key principle that is as elementary as it is overlooked these days: the in-person Q & A.

That's right--I am talking about that old-fashioned, quaint practice of actually being with the person you are interviewing.

In an era where phone calls seem to be viewed as "going the extra mile," I realize that it may seem revolutionary to recommend you go to all the trouble of being in the same physical space as the person with whom you are talking. Especially if it means getting into some mode of transportation and traveling more than a few miles to make it happen.

But it's a really, really powerful thing--whether you are a journalist chasing down a story, a publicist working on crafting a news release or developing a communications plan, or anyone else seeking to foster a relationship. After all, success (or failure) hinges largely on our ability to develop trust in our relationships.

And that's pretty hard to accomplish when all you've got to work with are words on a screen or a voice on the other end of a phone.

I've written extensively on this topic, so if you are interested in more tips, drop me a line at Matt@InsideEdgePR.com

Super Shopper Spotter: The Commercial

Usually, my PR work involves more time on the keyboard and less time dashing to and fro in public while wearing a cape and red boots.

With that in mind, if you were in the Downtown Oak Park area a few days ago, you might have seen some especially bizarre behavior, even by Super Shopper Spotter standards.

Thankfully, Joe Kreml, producer of the Village of Oak Park's Cable Channel 6, swiftly created this 52-second segment to help explain Triple S's antics:

`Super Shopper Spotter' Picks Up Steam

Off to a good, fun start with Shop the Village, in my alter-ego character, Super Shopper Spotter.

Above is a photo and below is a video from my Saturday excursion, featuring a visit to Val's Halla Records on Harrison Street in Oak Park:

Pigs Get Fat, Hogs Get Slaughtered, PR-Style

"Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered."

In other words, don't get too greedy.

From the standpoint of creating something that is a legitimate, well-rounded piece of news, rather than a wholly self-serving PR piece that may turn off the media, the pigs/hogs axiom certainly applies.

There simply are times when it's best to share the spotlight rather than try to hog all of it. A current example illustrating that truth is a recently issued Inside Edge PR news release on an event called "Pancakes for Soldiers."

I learned of it from Pat Liss, the concierge at Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Burr Ridge. You can read the release at Triblocal.com here.

Here is a photo gallery that I assembled, with great support from organizer Tina Vandenbosch of Willowbrook.

Over the last three years, Pat has been a great source of excellent story ideas, often human-interest in nature.

And in this case, Pat was also part of the story, as it turns out. Of course, because Five Seaasons is a client--and because it played a key role in supporting the cause--the release included prominent mention of the club.

But it's not at the exclusion of noting others' support, from a local Starbucks to another company that donated a propane griddle.

Shop the Village & Super Shopper Spotter

It's a bird...it's a plane...it's Super Shopper Spotter!

A new superhero has descended on Oak Park and he's on the lookout for people shopping locally. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to yours truly, S-3 (for short) is one of the new, fun wrinkles to the 2nd installment of the "Shop the Village" program whose implementation I will again be overseeing.

Check out more details at Shop the Village's official website, which has links to a news release, a YouTube channel and other specifics.

When One-Sided Claims Masquerade As News

During my most recent "PR Secrets From a Media Insider" workshop a few days ago, a local businessman asked what time of day deadlines typically happen for the media.

Ten or 15 years ago, I could have easily laid out some specific windows of time, I replied. But these days, I added, the answer is literally “all the time.”

That is one of the most profound effects of the Internet and the media’s collective rush to be first with news, even if it’s incomplete, unbalanced and, in some cases, the hasty airing of publicly filed records without any discernible thought as to whether it is actually newsworthy.

Some so-called news group's apparent rationale: "We'll contact XYZ Company or ABC Source when we get around to publishing a story in our print edition--that's the `real' version anyhow."

Having been in newsrooms for most of my career, this insensitive illogic is galling. It fails to consider the impact that Internet content has on an individual or organizational reputation. The Internet is forever and everywhere. Print is limited, both in collective memory and geographic scope.

Compounding that sin, some draw extra attention to these “stories” with yellow, sensationalistic headlines that take highly questionable assertions and portray them as fact.

And then there's the recent element of using social media to draw online eyeballs to breaking stories. This is terrific...except when it puts the spotlight on pieces that are woefully under-reported and unfair in their treatment of one side of an issue or another.

The moment that journalistically slipshod content appears online, the damage has already been done. As previously mentioned, the Internet is forever and everywhere.

In the long run, I am confident, such reckless behavior will hasten the demise of shoddy journalists and half-baked news outlets that are little more than cut-and-paste hacks. Those in the community to whom such outlets render this brand of disservice will simply shift their trust--and advertising and circulation dollars--to those that treat information, especially those relating to volatile, one-sided claims, with care.

But what to do in the meantime? When those situations crop up, it is essential for advocates, such as PR professionals, to move quickly and forcefully in demanding ethical accountability and professionalism from the offending media outlet.

It surely doesn't reverse the damage, but at least it slows the bleeding.

Writing On `State of the Chicago Hotel Market'

It's been awhile since I wrote about hotels.

I've written about events at hotels, provided feature reporting for Time magazine on boutique hotels--and even went into one hotel room, right after a police officer, to report on a young man who had fallen to his death from a ledge.

But it wasn't until 10 days ago that I wrote about the hotel industry as a whole. It came in the form of a summary report of "The State of the Chicago Hotel Market and Its Reflection of Economic Conditions," at an Urban Land Institute meeting.

The speakers I chronicled offered a good news/bad news report--with the good news coming only after some immediate-term bad news the industry is grappling with.

Fittingly enough, the session was at a swanky hotel known as theWit in downtown Chicago. Previous ULI summaries I've done are linked from a prior Inside Edge PR blog post.

Sharing Client's Tennis Success a Team Effort

Last week, on the heels of some significant success among girl's tennis players who have been coached for years at Five Seasons Family Sports Club, I wrote a round-up and shared it with the local media.

Along with the news release ("Five Seasons Sends Top Frosh Crop to IHSA Tennis Tournament"), which you can see at Triblocal.com, I created a photo gallery to provide online visitors another way into the story.

That's Alysa Straub in the photo accompanying this post--she's had a spectacular season at Nazareth Academy in LaGrange Park.

Often, the difference between little or no publicity and solid P.R. is cooperation from clients. This outreach, for example, came about thanks to excellent collaboration with Ernesto Faisal, a longtime coach who provided me with the background information for the story.

In all, he invested over an hour of his time to help make it happen. Over the coming weeks and months, I firmly believe the time that he devoted will reap a solid return in the form of increased awareness of, and enrollment in, the stellar tennis coaching that goes on daily at Five Seasons.

`People Are More Interesting Than Things'

"People are more important than things."

My wife and I issue that truth to our children all the time--especially when they argue over who should be able to play with this block or read that book.

In the PR world, there is this variation: "People are more interesting than things."

In short, individuals are far more newsworthy than incidents. And events are much more likely to attract media coverage when you highlight people involved in the event.

Anyone can convey the time, location and other basics of an event. But it takes diligent effort to craft a compelling story linked to that event. This comes to mind on the heels of my current work on behalf of Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Northbrook, where on Sunday, Nov. 15 there will be an indoor triathlon in support of a bone marrow registry drive.

A key figure in the effort is Jim Kepka, a Glenview man who received a bone marrow transplant three years ago (that's him pictured, during the transplant). He and his wife, Angela Russian, are triathletes as well as founders of an organization dedicated to helping others receive the same life-saving gift that Jim got around Christmas 2006.

You can see the story here at Triblocal.com.

Showing, Not Just Telling, At Business Expo

Last week, I was an exhibitor at "A Passport to Success," the business-to-business Expo sponsored by the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce & Industry and three other chamber organizations (Bensenville, Villa Park and Addison.)

At the same time, as the event's publicist, I took close to 100 photographs and about 20 videos.

You can see some of the fruits of my video labor at what I call my "miscellaneous" YouTube channel, not to be confused with my Inside Edge PR channel or any of the other dozen channels that I have created and maintained for clients and others.

I also posted a release, drawn almost entirely from an Elmhurst Chamber write-up, at Triblocal.com and, on the same Tribune-owned site, created a photo gallery of the Expo.

Additional links can be found on the home page of the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce & Industry website.

Serving as the event publicist was a fantastic way to meet people and to adhere to one of my mantras: "Show, don't tell."

In short, I was able to introduce myself as a publicist even as I was in the midst of acting as one. It sure beats relying solely on my business card, brochure and a firm handshake (though those are no doubt helpful, too).

I am hardly unique: it's precisely what was done by many others who demonstrated their service and products.

They included stellar restaurant exhibitors (like Bob Tercall of Two Chefs in Bensenville, pictured) that provided food samples as well as my new favorite massage therapist, Anne Lucas of Pure Harmony Massage (also pictured), who let her hands do the talking via chair massages.

Kudos to all the chambers and participants for fostering such a dynamic networking environment. The ones that did at least as much showing as telling will surely be reaping the most benefit.

E-Mail Interviews Can Aid Shoestring PR Budget

As a reporter, I rarely used e-mail to conduct interviews.

Among other drawbacks, it eliminated the opportunity to elicit insights that would take the interaction in an unanticipated and even more interesting direction. And in potentially adversarial conversations, it prevented me from catching a slippery source off-guard with a tough question or observing their body language and tone of voice.

But as a publicist, e-mail can be a tremendous ally, especially when working with clients on a limited budget. As a means to gather basic background information that helps put flesh on the bones of a news release, an e-mail exchange can be tremendously effective

Instead of taking upwards of a half-hour or more to extract that information, I can take five or 10 minutes to toss some queries at an individual and let them provide written responses.

The utility of this approach hinges largely on the client's ability to offer detailed answers in a timely manner. If they don't give enough detail--and don't do it quickly enough to meet some looming deadlines to ensure the timeliness of a release--then trying the e-mail shortcut can backfire and result in an even longer, costly process.


A recent scenario in which this avenue worked very well: a news release I crafted for Brian and Jun Benakos (pictured), owners of George's CARSTAR in Chicago.

You can see the release here at Triblocal.com.

Anything Can Go Viral: `Reporter Turns Ghetto'

PR 101 Tip: act as if everything you say, write, e-mail, broadcast, or otherwise communicate holds the potential to be transmitted worldwide.

Check out this YouTube clip, entitled "Reporter turns ghetto in 3 seconds," that illustrates the point, in hilarious fashion, 4.6 million times over:

A Post-Script to Chicago's Unsuccessful 2016 Olympic Bid

Whether they supported the 2016 Olympic bid or not, Chicagoans are in a state of shock that the city failed to make it out of the 1st round today, let alone did not emerge with the site selection.

And now comes the Friday-afternoon quarterbacking. Among the questions already being raised: Is it possible that Chicago "overdid" the PR push that included President Obama's reversal and decision to speak in Copenhagen?

The International Olympic Committee's 100-odd members vote in private, so we may never know the rationale fully. But I reject any notion that the U.S., embodied by Chicago leadership, tried "too hard."

That's akin to saying a sprinter who finished 4th in the Olympics, just shy of the Bronze, tried too hard. If anything, it was a matter of poor execution.

Next time--if there is a next time for Chicago--they should make sure that the focus is on what's in it for the international community more than how it would benefit Chicago.

As I stress to my PR clients, the key to successful media outreach is focusing on giving reporters, editors and producers what they need. Once you do that, then you will get what you want.

PR On A Five Seasons' Fitness Turn-Around

Sometimes, timing is on your side.

That was certainly the case about a month ago when I was at Five Seasons Sports Club in Burr Ridge to meet with leaders there and develop story ideas to share with the media.

Desarez Carlson, the club's senior sales adviser, handed me photos and notes written by Sharon Anderson, who had lost more than 100 pounds since joining Five Seasons in early 2008. It was the foundation of a terrific story about the club's impact on fostering Anderson's newfound fitness.

But I would need to talk with Anderson. Ideally, it would be in person, to be able to do the story justice and enhance our chances of attracting media coverage. A few minutes later, as I gathered more story ideas, Carlson looked over my shoulder and out the window by the club's stately front door.

"There she is," said Carlson. "There's Sharon walking in."

I excused myself from the meeting. A short while later, a videotaped Q & A ensued. You can see it below, and you can see the news release on Anderson's amazing transformation here at Triblocal.com.

ULI Update: Writing About the Future of Retail

A year ago, I began writing summaries of panel discussions of the Urban Land Institute's Chicago chapter. Two days ago, after a summer hiatus, the ULI resumed those meetings with "The Future of U.S. Retail-How a Changed Consumer Will Affect Retail Real Estate."

As usual, the speakers were brimming with insight, which I did my best to encapsulate, complete with Mick Jagger lyrics, in this written summary, which appears on the ULI-Chicago website.

Of the numerous data points divulged on Wednesday at the Union League Club in downtown Chicago, here's the one I found most intriguing: the year when the United States is projected to be its "oldest" is 2037. God willing, I'll be turning 69 that year, doing my part to justify that collective elder-statesman distinction.

You can also read prior Inside Edge PR blog posts about ULI topics I've covered, from talks the organization held last November, as well as in January, in March, and in May.

Practical Video Offers Great PR Primer

For anyone who wants to learn more about what not to do, when it comes to connecting with the media, below is a fun and practical video, produced by a company called Wondergem Consulting in Grand Rapids, Mich.

I especially chuckled at the editor who pointed out the annoying (and unprofessional) PR ploy of saying that the "client really needs to get this into the paper."

Need schmeed!

As I often tell my clients, and stress in my workshop, PR Secrets From a Media Insider, the focus must be on giving the media what they need (and then you'll get what you want).

Oak Park's Own: My Q & A With David Mendell

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing a top journalist and author for whom I have the utmost respect, David Mendell.

We spoke for 45 minutes, non-stop, on a Scoville Park bench for an upcoming segment of "Oak Park's Own." Produced by Joe Kreml, the village's video production maestro, the segment is the third one that I have hosted for broadcast on the local cable television Channel 6 here in Oak Park, Ill.

I first met Mendell in January 2008, shortly after reading his wonderfully reported, even-handed book on Barack Obama, Obama: From Promise to Power. At that time, I was so fascinated by Mendell's odyssey that I penned a profile on him for the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest.

The piece, "Covering a Phenomenom," is posted on my Inside Edge PR website. I also blogged about Mendell 10 months ago, on the evening of Obama's election.

Among my questions today during taping at Scoville Park:

Does he plan to write another book on President Obama? What was the biggest price he paid in writing the book? Having left the Tribune 13 months ago, does he miss daily journalism?

I'll let Mendell's answers speak for themselves when the Q & A starts airing on Channel 6 and is posted online at the same time.