Let's face it, if you wrote a press release that was so clever it was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 99.99% of the journalists who got it would still
probably toss it. Mike Lazerow, CEO of the golf site GolfServ, knows this, and hence eschews press releases altogether. Instead, every month he pulls together nuggets of
interesting news about his Chicago-based company into a single email to journalists. Mind you, the man does budget for a PR firm's services. He just believes that the media
is much more likely to appreciate - and respond to - his "less is more" approach. "It takes no more than one or two minutes to read [the email]," says Lazerow. "And it's a great
way to maintain a close contact with the journalists who cover our industry, in good times and in bad."
Keeping the media up to speed in the "bad" times has helped Lazerow get some good press. One of his monthly emails last year revealed that GolfServ's parent company was going
to that great dotcom graveyard in the sky. Lazerow says most other companies would've been reluctant to include the word "bankruptcy" in a news release. However, a local
publication saw his release and ran a cover feature on GolfServ, which bought out its former parent. "We were used as an example of what a good company needs to survive in this
market," Lazerow says. Now that's better than par.
(Lazerow, GolfServ, 773/755-0551)