Ideas Are the Currency Of The Internet
Remember when the press conference used to be a viable tool of the PR professional. Today, forget it. Unless you have a presidential candidate slandering a competitor or GM admitting they make junk on wheels and are going to change their evils ways, baby, no one shows.
The Internet is a major culprit. And a savior. But you have to use it to make it work for you. The Web that is.
The fact is news reporters want packaged stories more than ever before. So turning out en masse for a press conference, well in most cases, that’s not happening. Most of us know that. Have learned it the hard way.
The question is, what do we do with the knowledge. One sound approach is to spell “press conference” as “webinar.” If you have a message of urgency and importance, the build it and they will come axiom will prevail. Ideas are the currency of the Internet. The really great thing is that by fusing the Web and a powerful idea, you can be a PR direct marketer, taking your message not only to the reporters’ blackberries but to their readers as well.
If the idea is big enough, the bloggers will attend the webinar, the reporters who monitor and\or cover the bloggers will attend and voila, what’s a press conference again?
How do you make this work:
- Save your silver bullets for the really big ideas. If the idea doesn’t have the power to turn heads, you will put on a show no one will attend.
- Remember the old Hollywood rule: Make a bad movie and people will stay away in droves.
- Salt the web with teasers before you run the Webinar. A compelling video clip on YouTube or a podcast that hints at what’s to come.
- Reach out to key movers and influencers, giving them special access to or participation in the Webinar.
- Pull out every stop to bring in a major brand, product or celebrity.
There’s only one Meet The Press and Tim’s not letting you on. That’s the bad news. The good news is that it’s not 1990.
You don’t need him!