Public Relations Paves the Way for Sales and Marketing Success
By: T.J. Tedesco
For: High Volume Printing
Published: August, 2000

For years, graphic arts leaders have known that business success starts with front-end sales and marketing excellence.  What about public relations?  Saying it’s de-emphasized is too kind.  Forgotten, ignored and undervalued is more like it.  Fortunately, there are some printers out there who have discovered that PR paves the way for higher revenues.  Isn’t it time you bought a ticket on the yet undiscovered PR train?

Some printing companies are in the news.  A lot.  Aren’t you jealous of their new presses, new employees, fat contracts and rapid growth?  Is it luck?  Hardly.  PR is like a positive vicious circle.  When you have accomplishments, you’re in the news.  And when you’re in the news, you have more accomplishments.

Successful PR begins with understanding and respecting the needs of the media.  Top-flight publications need news and useful information, not blatant self-promotion.  This means that “sellers” to the media need to carefully walk a fine line between the two.  Like customer service representatives at growing printing companies, publication editors have too much to do and too little time to do it.  They simply don’t have the resources to decipher unclear messages or clean up poorly written copy: You must!

The First Three Steps

One – Start your PR program by assessing the sustainable “news-worthiness” of your company and outline a list of achievable objectives.  If your company is small and suffers from poor name recognition, it’s unlikely you’ll generate enough good material to be in the news every month.  If this sounds like you, a reasonable goal may be quarterly press releases and occasional participation in feature articles.  On the other hand, if your company is large or is rapidly growing, you’ll probably have an easier time getting quality coverage and keeping it.

Two – Familiarize yourself with appropriate trade publications.  Not surprisingly, our $150 billion graphic arts industry has dozens of “major” publications and literally hundreds of “minor” ones.  Some will be important to your PR success and others will not: It’s up to you to determine which are which.  For example, does it make sense for web printers to focus on High Volume Printing?  You bet!  How about Instant and Small Commercial Printer?  Unfortunately not.  Should a web printer develop relationships with specialized non-printing industry publications that are read by their customers?  Yes.

Three – Like good salespeople, PR professionals need a “selling” strategy.  Introduce yourself to the key business influencers of the publications you chose in step two.  For publications with small circulation sizes, you’ll probably need to contact the primary editor or managing director.  For larger ones, your key contact may be an editorial assistant, department editor or even a beat reporter.  As in sales, the title of the decision-maker doesn’t matter: What’s important is that you properly identify the right person.

Press Releases

Once you’ve laid the groundwork for your PR campaign, shift into “do” mode.  Your PR efforts will probably include a healthy dose of press releases.  Choose newsworthy topics such as equipment installations, major contracts won, new key employees, cutting-edge promotions, new market expansion, new facilities, mergers and acquisitions, etc.  Use descriptive headlines and sub-headers to make it easy for your editors to quickly understand the nature of your releases.  If you have photos, post them on a website in a printable format (avoid low-res jpegs).

There are a lot of factors that determine whether a press release will run – some are within your control, but others are not.  If yours is poorly written, sent to the wrong publications or has non-compelling content, you have only yourself to blame.  However, if editorial space is gone, about the only thing that can make a difference is a strong relationship with a key editor.  For graphic arts publications, editorial space is at a premium when major industry events occur.  For example, drupa 2000 consumed lots of room in the April, May and June issues of many publications because of pre-planned event coverage and sky-high demand for trade advertising.  (PS. Look for more of the same just before, during and after Chicago’s Graph Expo 2000 show in September.)

Every time your company appears in the news (for good reasons at least), you’re sending a message that you’re on the move.  After the PR legwork is done, you should find that maintaining a press release program becomes easier.  Once in a working rhythm, your releases shouldn’t take much time, only discipline.  Then, the cumulative effect of having your company’s name frequently in print will make it easier for your sales reps to get appointments and win more business.

Feature and Opinion Articles

For more complex stories, writing a “feature” or “opinion” article may be the right choice.  Be prepared for some work though.  Since these longer pieces usually range between 500 and 3,000 words, you’re in for a significant time investment.  In general, 800 to 1,200 words is the sweet spot. 

As in press releases, feature and opinion article placement success is more likely if the copy is slanted toward the editorial needs of your targeted publication.  For example, some publications are very interested in technology while others aren’t.  Some want management related material and others like to cover niche markets.  Editors know what they’re looking for and their publications ooze clues about their preferences.  If your copy fits the editor’s style like a glove, your piece will run. 

A few days after your initial query, call the editor and find out if they have an interest in your piece.  Most will tell you right up front.  If they start talking about publication dates, then you know you’ve made a sale.  If they sound non-committal, then only you can decide if you should look elsewhere.  Before moving on, let the first editor know your plans.  In the PR world, all you really have to sell is your integrity.  Once that’s gone, the PR game becomes infinitely harder.  Only approach one publication at a time.  Don’t make the rookie mistake of sending out a dozen letters and placing the same article in more than one publication.  Editors are like elephants: They know when they’ve been burned and take a long time to forget.

Before photocopying anything that’s been published – even your own material – be courteous and ask for permission first.  Even though they’d rather sell you reprints, most publications will allow you to make a few copies for your own use.  Whatever you do with your piece, cut and paste the publication masthead in full size and place it in a prominent position on the photocopy.  Plugging them is the least you can do in return.

PR Homerun: Be A Columnist

If you have a knack for the written word, a desire to be an industry “ambassador,” and significant writing experience, you might want to consider being a columnist.  If you get the opportunity to be one, you will find that your industry profile rises quickly.  A columnist’s commitment level is very high, but so too are the rewards.  There are examples of companies that took off shortly after their owners took the plunge and became columnists.  Coincidence?  Unlikely.

Be forewarned: After being a columnist for a while, life at industry functions never is the same.  You’re opinion is in greater demand and you’ll probably be asked to give speeches and write more articles.  Even though you’ll be working harder, your company will be better known.  Then, it will be easier for the rainmakers in your organization to nail down appointments and win more business.

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In the hands of a skillful publicist, PR can pave the way toward sales and marketing success.  With few exceptions, no matter who you are, or the company you work for, there is room in the media for your expertise.  Approach PR the right way and you’ll help your company win top of mind position.

T.J. Tedesco is a “hands-on” marketing, sales, coaching and training consultant to the post press industry. He is the author of Binding, Finishing & Mailing: The Final Word, and Win Top-of-Mind Positioning, both published by GATFPress and available at Amazon.com. T.J. can be reached at (301) 294-9900 or tj@growsales.com.