“Thanks to Michelle Tennant’s PR tenacity, I’m now an Inc.com regular contributor.” Ari Zoldan, CEO, Quantum Media Holdings, LLC (New York).
I scored Ari a regular gig with Inc. and in this post, I’m going to reveal the hottest PR secret ever so you can score yourself a regular blog, column, or job with your favorite media as well. Want to know what it is? Wait for it. I know you’re sitting on the edge of your seat … it’s …. “persistence.” Note I didn’t say, “PEST assistant” which the media often complain about. LOL. That’s someone who thinks being a pest assists them in getting any job done. Let’s look at persistence and break it down so you can see how it works with PR.
per·sist·ence
noun
1. the act or fact of persisting: to continue steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, etc
2. the quality of being persistent: constantly repeated; continued.
3. continued existence or occurrence.
4. the continuance of an effect after its cause is removed.
Truly the only difference between those who get regular gigs and those who don’t is persistence. So, evaluate your organizational skills. Does your calendar have followup reminders in it? Do you followup your phone calls with emails so it’s easy on the person you’re pitching to get in touch with you? Do you give up after 1 or 2 contacts? Studies show the average “pitch” cycle on any sales/enrollment endeavor takes 7 contacts. That means a media person needs to hear of you 7 ways before even paying attention to you once.
So when you’re evaluating whether or not your PR is working, ask yourself if you’ve even been persistent enough? Avoid being a pest, too. The way to do this is to add value to each connection. Provide a new piece of news, statistic, report, research or source each time you followup. Listen to your media friends. They’ll tell you what they want, how they want followup and what type of information they can use. If you listen, build a relationship with your media friends and actually make their jobs easier (not harder) you’ll land a regular gig too. If you need to write reminders in an old-school calendar using an old fashioned pen, then so be it. Getting ink for your Inc. couldn’t be easier even if you do have to use ink printed in ink. Organize how it’s comfortable for you and do the same for your contacts. Soon, you’ll have credible ink all over the place for your Inc. Maybe you’ll even be lucky to score Inc. Any coverage is good. I mean credible. Incredible. I mean INC credible; that’s what you get then. And that’s what I got Ari. Let me know how it goes and I might even give you some more ink on your Inc. (You say you feel you’re watching a Three Stooges movie? You can thank me later for the extra value.) 🙂
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Michelle will be joining us as our #SpeakerChat guest on December 17th at 4pm PST