How would you like a ¾ page newspaper article that speaks highly of your company? Yeah, wouldn’t everybody. Such publicity helps locally in recruiting and reinforces a culture of pride within the organization. In an earlier blog I mentioned that our company quite often gets such favorable press and the weekend edition featured us again. We hired a person who was deaf. The newspaper article featured a nice picture of the employee and more than a dozen quotes from me. The quotes used were a compliment to the entire company but also mentioned directly 8 other employees. Today there are many copies of this article floating around the office and the new employee bought 5 for himself! The first coach I ever had on dealing with the media was Lorrie Allen, the SoundBite Coach (www.soundbitecoach.com). She has a particular savvy for training people not only what to say to the media, but also how to say it. Within a few short weeks of her seminar I found myself in front of the media answering questions concerning an employee who lost both legs in an industrial accident. This was in a major metropolitan area that was hundreds of miles away from our corporate headquarters and my home. Her advice was invaluable. The second coach was Jeff Crilley (http://www.jeffcrilley.com/) who wrote the book, Free Publicity. I treasure my signed copy of his book as well as the knowledge that he shared during a seminar. Jeff is an Emmy Award reporter and shares his inside expertise on what makes news and how. None of us want to wait until our workplace is afflicted with a disaster to capture headline news. We have a multitude of good stories that we would like to see covered. If you think a well-written press release is all you need, then you desperately need Jeff’s advice. The CFO was talking with me about this article and mentioned that another company in town had previously employed this person and yet received no publicity. The CFO then said, well they should have hired an HR professional! Nice compliment but the truth is I only followed the advice of the media experts who had so diligently shared from their own expertise. So today, I lost ground on the mountain of paperwork sitting on my desk. I dropped further behind on emails and phone calls; those daily tasks that are part of all of our jobs. And yet, this one accomplishment has pleased my boss and many others within the organization. Please, in your own job, tackle the big, unusual, and extraordinary. There is so much more recognition and satisfaction. Also, constantly learn from others. Labels: Countdown to Success, Free Publicity, Success is Free |
A link to the article would be helpful.