24
Shock and Awe
NEWS OUTLETS STILL HOLD A LOT OF POWER. People consume huge quantities of news each day. It plays too big a role to simply ignore, although most businesses do.
Generating publicity is typically hit or miss. It is very unpredictable. It's not a strategy I recommend spending a lot of time and energy on unless you've got some of the other strategies in this book nailed down.
The problem with buzz is that it doesn't last. (Insert your own “buzz doesn't last” joke here.) This is why you want to take advantage of any publicity you can get.
The good news is that generating publicity and buzz about your brand is a great way to grow your audience and your authority. When you're being quoted or written about in the media, you are establishing some powerful credibility. There are also a lot of opportunities out there to generate free publicity.
One of the reasons publicity works so well is that it's not seen as marketing. You're not shoving a marketing message in their face, so prospects don't feel as threatened. Many times the media comes across as a third-party endorsement.
Sadly, the reason most brands never receive any publicity is not because they aren't doing anything buzzworthy, although that doesn't help. It is because they don't get proactive in their attempts to generate publicity. Sitting around waiting for Matt Lauer to call you is not a good strategy. Plus, it sounds a little creepy.
It is up to you to take the first step. You must bring the story to the news ...
