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The energy at a company when one of their assets goes viral is… well, contagious 😉 and it’s easy to get caught up.

Almost since the phrase was coined and long before Remedy was started here in San Diego, clients and potential clients have asked PR and marketing firms to help take a video or infographic viral. And usually, the firms sigh…

In reality, we do feel you compelling web videos and infographics are worth creating. But before you add one into your marketing plan with the hopes of breaking a million views on YouTube, you need to be realistic with what your content is and if you have the resources for it to be done the right way (Spoiler Alert: There is no right way, but there are guidelines that can help).

With all the buzz around the #XMASJAMMIES video from the Holderness family, we thought it’d be appropriate to use them as an example if you’re looking for your own brand’s video or image to go viral in 2014.

But first, if you haven’t seen the actual video from the Holderness family, you definitely should check it out here.

As of right now (a week after it was uploaded) this video has more than 8 million likes and 25,000 ‘thumbs up’ on YouTube, in addition to incredible editorial and Facebook impressions we don’t care to count.

The video was well produced, had a message about their brand (watch it until the end) and depending on how you count, had two of the three things we feel you need to take your video viral.

When creating a video or infographic you want people to watch or share, as yourself “will people outside my company and core user group really care about this?” and if the answer is no, reconsider. This is a good rule to consider for any marketing campaign when going outside of your industry’s endemic media.

The Holderness’ video was fantastic. It was professionally produced, well written, funny by most people’s standards and had great visuals. It drew you in and waited until the end to even mention their new video production firm. They’re selling their brand, but paying attention to what an audience on the web wants first.

What didn’t it have? A true celebrity endorsement. While the family has been in the media before, they’re not Hollywood A-listers. They’re attractive and their kids are cute, but they by no means have the pull or network of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

Again, web videos are great tools and a fantastic way to help spread key messages about your brand and their success should not be judged by views alone. However, if the end goal for your video IS to have a massive amount of views by a broad audience, ask yourselves the following three things:

1. Is our content compelling? Honestly… is it? Or is it just selling? Go back to the tips we posted here for ideas.

2. Will people outside of our core user base find this interesting and worth sharing?

3. Do we have the financial resources to afford a creative agency that can produce a video or the in-house capabilities?

Most agencies will tell you, regardless of if they’re a San Diego PR firm or an ad agency, allocating enough resources to the firms budget is imperative if you want the job done right. This isn’t because these agencies simply want your business (although we all do) and can’t work on shoestring budgets (many of us can). It’s because when you rely on shoe strings for heavy lifting, sometimes the results are disappointing.

The answer is… you’re asking the wrong question. In fact, you don’t need a press release to secure great media coverage.

The cost of writing a press release is one of the top searches when it comes to public relations.

Depending on who you ask, it could take $1,000 or it could cost you $7,500 (here’s BusinessWire’s take), depending on the time involved. And this doesn't factor in distribution via a wire service or PR firm.

That distribution and intended use of the press release is what you want to focus on, not the release itself.

If you’re sending out a press release via a wire service to add SEO value, that’s one thing. And depending on who you ask, that may not be as relevant as it used to be, at least according to these experts.

Good PR people know press releases are just tools and sometimes, unnecessary ones. We have one client, for reasons we cannot discuss, that does not issue formal press releases. That hasn’t stopped us from securing great media coverage for them in outlets such as CNET and Engadget.

How did we do it? We emailed particular reporters that cover this client's space relevant info (about four paragraphs) and a JPG of their in-store marketing collateral, and then let the story go from there. There wasn't a hard sell on our part because the story didn't warrant it. It was relevant to the reporters and they ran with it. Was it as groundbreaking as the iPhone 6z (Disclosure: We have no idea if there is an iPhone 6z on the horizon or not ;-)? No. But our news was relevant enough to warrant some great coverage on two outstanding news leaders in the tech space.

Getting back to the earlier question, and presumably how you found this post, are press releases worth the cost of producing them? The answer is that it depends on the release and your needs.

We also recently had a client in the New York Times, stemming from a press release we sent to a reporter. The release itself focused on trends and issues in their field and how our client could help. We didn’t use an excessive amount of buzzwords or over-the-top language to intrigue the reporter. Instead, we presented the facts, recent and timely developments and information how our client is working in this new situation. We didn't call our client "the best" or "the most innovative" or "paradigm changing". Instead, in the release, we presented the issue, recent developments and one way our client is contributing in a positive manner. The release was written in about three days (including client edits), sent to a reporter on a Thursday and we received interest the following Tuesday. The story ran about 10 days later.

The secret to securing great news coverage isn’t a killer media list or over the top press release. Simply put, it’s reaching out to the right reporters with a story idea relevant to their coverage topic.

Sound confusing? It really isn’t, but we’re happy to talk if you’d like to discuss more. You can reach us here!

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For potential clients, we’re always asked about our ‘lists’ and who is on these ‘lists’. While it’s great to have relationships with journalists in a key segment, no one has them with everyone. It’s probably impossible. Similarly, editors and reporters change beats and employment regularly. You simply can’t rely on these lists or the ones you purchase through a third party (which can be helpful though).
What you can rely upon in the PR world is creative and targeted outreach. In the past we’ve scored coverage of robotic innovations on CNN and a professional skateboarder in Field & Stream.
Both times, the contacts we approached were new to us. But that didn’t stop us from approaching them with story ideas that were appropriate for their audiences.
We’re not saying that we don’t have great lists of contacts, because we do. But just because CNN, Field & Stream, Maxim, Women’s Health, CoolHunting or HypeBeast featured one client, that does not guarantee they’ll feature another. Don’t be misguided.
A better way to judge a firm’s media-savvy would be to ask about creative pitches or projects they worked on that had less than tier-A media appeal.
For more of our thoughts on the infamous PR ‘lists’ and ways to conduct media outreach, check out these other blog posts (blatant plug) that we have on the Remedy site:
http://remedycomm.com/2012/04/why-your-press-releases-dont-get-you-coverage/
http://remedycomm.com/2011/04/pr-lessons-from-a-journalist/