This article was previously featured on Box Pro Magazine, the leading source for CrossFit and HIIT facility owners and marketers.

We're channeling Sesame Street here and asking who are the people in your neighborhood?

These days we spend such a a huge amount of time marketing on a macro level, we often forget that we can see huge gains simply by targeting those close by. Whether it's your local community newspaper or just the people in your local community, you'd be surprised how much return you can get when you put the effort in.

With that in mind, we're sharing this article from Box Pro Magazine that one of our directors, Bill Byrne, contributed. The focus is on simply leveraging the groups around you strategically for a mutually beneficial return. Click the article below (will open in a new window, then click again to resize) to see the full piece.

Like this post? Please share it.

Interested in hearing more from Remedy? Sign up for our newsletteror drop us a line.

what does a PR firm do? who is the best PR firm in San Diego?

San Diego Public Relations (PR) And Social Media “San Diego PR”

Not too long ago we executed a NASCAR®-related product PR campaign for a client. This was a first for us.

While successful, it solidified a few things we already preach regarding public relations, with one overarching theme…

Executing a PR / media relations campaign in one industry is the same as executing a public relations campaign in any other.

The publications and channels may change, but their basic needs and rules remain the same. Here’s what they are:

1. The More Time You Give, The Better
Believe it or not, journalists are not waiting around for PR people to contact them with story ideas. They have their own deadlines and content obligations in terms of the number of stories they need to publish or want to publish.

As great as your story may be for your brand, that doesn’t mean you can simply expect an outlet to make room for it or that a journalist will want to make time for it.

2. There Has To Be A Fit And If There Isn’t, You Bend
It’s a widely held belief that NASCAR fans fully support the brands their favorite drivers endorse.

While that may be true, the NASCAR related media outlets themselves don’t cover new product launches or brand news in the same way we think of general consumer and business publications as doing. Their focus tends to be on track drama, fines, equipment changes and paint scheme changes.

Some early, and later, extensive research into their media channels brought this to light. Along with extreme disappointment because we thought this would be a layup of a pitch.

So did we abandon the campaign? No. As the entrepreneurs and ‘influencers’ of today are fond of saying, we decided to pivot.

In addition to traditional media, we targeted people with large and engaged social media followings (we’re hesitant to every say someone with a lot of followers is an actual 'influencer') to secure coverage. While most of the popular accounts were owned by drivers and their pit crews who had  competing endorsement deals, there were many other people we could target, ranging from on-air broadcast talent to super fans.

3. The Easier You Make Their Job, The Better
Journalists, like the rest of us, are busy. Having all the details and assets ready and at your fingertips can go a long way in helping secure interest for a story.

Speed is a big component of grabbing the checkered flag on race day and in PR.

4. All Media Want The Same Thing
They want a compelling story for their audience that at the end of the day, will drive page views, clicks, increase ratings, increase their street cred, etc.

It’s that simple.

When that isn’t available, sometimes cash works. Advertising, sponsorships, etc. Old school PR professionals shudder at this notion, but it’s the reality of our industry today. Thankfully, we didn’t need to go this route.

When planning any PR campaign, keep these four tips in mind. They won’t guarantee success – as nothing can in PR – but they’re good steps to take to help prevent failure.

Like this post? Please consider sharing it.


Interested in hearing more from Remedy? Sign up for our newsletter or drop us a line.

nascar san diego public relations remedy communications action sports surf PR craft beer social media experts California

This is the biggest misconception people have when launching a PR or media relations campaign. It's common even among seasoned marketers.

But it's the truth.

Here's a tip: Journalists are not sitting around waiting to regurgitate what they’re sent by PR people. They are not parrots.

We were reminded about this we saw this Tweet linking to The Walking Deadline from Billy Brown, a journalist we work with fairly regularly.

Billy, like many journalists/bloggers/content creators/whatever you want to call them, is not a parrot. Also, Billy is not an idiot and can think for himself. Why is this important to keep in mind?

If we put in the headline of a press release or subject line of an email “This Is A Game Changer!” or "This Is The Best Thing Ever!" then it better be a game-changer, or else Billy will think twice before looking at our pitch next time around. Keep in mind that we can send things to Billy that aren’t game-changers, but before we do, we better be able to explain why it’s worth his time or else we're going to sour the relationship.

Simple enough? You'd think so, but time and again PR people are asked to push things to media that either aren't newsworthy or so overstated that they turn off the intended media targets.

Here’s what you need to keep in mind when trying to forge relationships with journalists and what you need to do to ensure your efforts are deemed newsworthy.

• For the most part, media outlets need make money: They accomplish this based on selling advertising in some shape or form, the rates for which are calculated from publication sales, website traffic, Nielsen ratings, headline clicks, etc. It’s the journalist’s job to create compelling stories, relevant to the media outlet’s specific audience, that will help with this.

• What may be a good story to you and/or about your brand may not help with the point above. You need to consider that. And while your pitch doesn’t have to be a game-changer to secure coverage, you do need to explain what value it has to offer.

Personally, when looking to hire consultants for our partners, we’ve found that the best PR people are those that can secure coverage for the brands that aren’t the leaders in their space. Our overused phrase in this instance is that anyone can pitch an iPhone to the media. Everyone wants to cover the next iPhone.

• Journalists are busy. They’re not waiting around for your news, regardless of their need to drive revenue for the media outlets they're working for. They’re most likely not going to drop what they’re doing unless what you’re offering is incredibly monumental in the total scope of their relevant news world. And the more time you can give them, the better.

Even that Instagram personality with 100k that you so desperately want to feature your brand using a VSCO picture may work days, if not weeks in advance. Local media have their own deadlines, as do journalists who write for magazines and websites.

• Everyone is your competition for media coverage. Every brand, regardless of newsworthiness, if they're engaging in PR, they're potentially blocking you from securing media coverage.

• Journalists have their own coverage areas and interests. This gets overlooked often. Some will cover a range of topics, others not so much. Some just don't like certain brands. It happens. A finance reporter at one publication may cover everything from credit cards to mortgages, but at another media outlet, those topics could be spread across multiple reporters. This leads us to our next point...

• You need to go to the right person at the right publication with the right pitch. At your own company, you don’t drop off a creative brief for a new logo design with the accounting department, do you? Sure, they may pass it onto the right people, but why would you ask them to do that? They’re busy handling accounting related tasks and your request, in addition to being annoying, may cause them to think twice about getting back to you in the future.

• Send your news at the right time. We can't stress that enough. This is going to vary by what sort of media you're targeting, but again, Billy and others like him aren't just waiting by their laptops for emails from their favorite PR people every minute of the day.

We'll close with this because potential clients often ask about media lists and networks.

Relationships matter,  but the story being pitched is more important.

Remedy has developed some incredible relationships and in our network of colleagues, it's fairly easy to connect to journalists we've never worked with before. The same goes for many other PR consultants and firms and a lot of them will agree that the relationship won’t matter if we don’t follow some simple points outlined above.

If you want to secure editorial coverage for your brand, you need to look at it from the reporter’s perspective and go from there. Give them a relevant story for their coverage area(s), presented in a way they want to see it and with time to consider it.

Need a second opinion on the topic? Check out this article on PRNewser for some similar examples to what we outlined above.

public relations social media san diego marketing outdoor retailer healthcare PR guru experts craft beer startup convergence wework adweek advertising tips marketing hacks