P&G Distribution Model
Advertising vs. Publicity
What other people say about you (publicity, referrals and testimonials) is infinitely more believable and less expensive than what you say about yourself (conventional advertising).
This is why advertising isn’t enough – effective publicity is a vital part of any marketing campaign. You can leverage the power of your existing customers and the media to tremendously increase the impact of your marketing message by making it far more credible.
Let’s start with the simple press release. Most companies do an absolutely terrible job with this. You can’t begin to imagine the quantity of pure drivel that rolls off of editors fax machines and mail slots every day. Most press releases are poorly written, vague and pompous all at the same time.
The Amazing Power of a Great Press Release
Creating a press release does not have to be difficult or complicated, yet a really good one can do amazing things. Once I sent a press release that generated over 200 sales leads from just one trade magazine. These were quality leads, too, because almost every information request came via email. The product we were selling cost well over $1000, and that press release got us into three Fortune 500 companies and many other smaller ones. The best part is, it cost absolutely nothing. Had it been an advertisement, the same amount of space in that particular magazine would have cost six thousand dollars and it wouldn’t have worked nearly as well because it would have been an ad.
When I left my post as a corporate employee, one magazine editor, who works at one of the oldest and largest technical trade journals, sent me the following note:
Perry, it’s been a pleasure working with you. I know you’ll be a success at whatever you turn your hand to (although I’ll admit to a certain sinking feeling at the thought of one of the few, the proud, the savvy PR people I know leaving me at the tender mercies of people who write bad press releases and then call me up and whine
What other people say about you (publicity, referrals and testimonials) is infinitely more believable and less expensive than what you say about yourself (conventional advertising).
This is why advertising isn’t enough – effective publicity is a vital part of any marketing campaign. You can leverage the power of your existing customers and the media to tremendously increase the impact of your marketing message by making it far more credible.
Let’s start with the simple press release. Most companies do an absolutely terrible job with this. You can’t begin to imagine the quantity of pure drivel that rolls off of editors fax machines and mail slots every day. Most press releases are poorly written, vague and pompous all at the same time.
The Amazing Power of a Great Press Release
Creating a press release does not have to be difficult or complicated, yet a really good one can do amazing things. Once I sent a press release that generated over 200 sales leads from just one trade magazine. These were quality leads, too, because almost every information request came via email. The product we were selling cost well over $1000, and that press release got us into three Fortune 500 companies and many other smaller ones. The best part is, it cost absolutely nothing. Had it been an advertisement, the same amount of space in that particular magazine would have cost six thousand dollars and it wouldn’t have worked nearly as well because it would have been an ad.
When I left my post as a corporate employee, one magazine editor, who works at one of the oldest and largest technical trade journals, sent me the following note:
Perry, it’s been a pleasure working with you. I know you’ll be a success at whatever you turn your hand to (although I’ll admit to a certain sinking feeling at the thought of one of the few, the proud, the savvy PR people I know leaving me at the tender mercies of people who write bad press releases and then call me up and whine