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Can You Pounce On A Breaking News Event?
By Scott Lorenz
President
Westwind Communications
 Can you pounce on a breaking news event? Not everybody
can, but if your subject has breaking news potential then you’d better be ready to take
advantage of it.
One such opportunity presented itself to Westwind Communications
on February 19, 2008 when Fidel Castro announced his resignation. One of my author clients
has a gorgeous coffee table photo book on CUBA and has made 40 plus quasi illegal trips
to the island nation. He’s an American citizen and expert on CUBA. (CUBA, 120 pgs.,
$65, Corazon Press, Ann Arbor, MI, ISBN 0-9768349-0-1)
Having pitched this book and his story to all major
media from Good Morning America and Nightline to Syndicated Radio, all of the big media
outlets said – I’m not exaggerating - “Sure we’ll cover it… when Fidel dies.”
So, like vultures circling above, we’ve been waiting
for every slip, fall, missed parade, bad medical report about Fidel so that we could
jump on the opportunity. It finally came at 5:30am on the morning of February 19, 2008
with the announcement of Fidel’s resignation. That was almost as good as the dictator
passing on… less drama but still worth covering since it announced a change in power
of the United States’ long time nemesis of 50 years.
So, I dusted off the release about Fidel’s death that
had been sitting in wait for two years, changed the headline to reflect his resignation,
and a few other items and out it went to my carefully maintained and targeted list of
media contacts and put it on the wire by 6AM while everyone else was still sleeping.
The result was outstanding. CBS Radio immediately saw
the release, set up an interview that ran in Detroit all day and night. Then National
Public Radio set up an in-studio interview as did WJR and WCSX radio. Print media got
into the act with interviews in The Ann Arbor News, Detroit News,
Observer & Eccentric
and Oakland Press. We even got interest, but unfortunately no story since the book was
not newly released, from the Wall Street Journal.
Then, one of Amazon’s Top Ten reviewers asked for a
review copy, which, by itself could create a ground swell of book sales. (thousands
have already read his review) A travel writer from
MSNBC wanted to get Kenny's expert
advice on traveling to CUBA and wrote up a nice story. Then four weeks later that same
writer, Christopher Elliott, published a variation of the piece for the
Tribune Media
Service which was then picked up by such notable publications as the Seattle Times.
The best news? The media inquires are still coming in. Interestingly enough, three producers
and reporters called me after they got to their office and found out that Fidel had
resigned, needed a Cuba expert, did a Google search and found my press release on top
of the Google News section. I love technology!
This whole operation was a success because I constantly
monitor the news and set Google Alerts
to watch for key news items. And, of course,
I had the release ready to go. Everything was thought out, my client was ready - for
2 years. The gun was loaded, cocked, and ready to fire.
And you know another upside of this? I can still use
a version of my original “Fidel’s Death….” release later! Don’t think bad things about
me, somebody somewhere might have your obituary already written too!
When should you send out a press release? My acid test
is that if it’s newsworthy and if it’s timely and useful to the reader, send it. It’s
that simple.
There are many factors to weigh when considering the
need to send out a press release. As a publicist I have sent thousands of releases over
the years and while there are no hard and fast rules, the most important factor is that
you’ve got to make sure it’s newsworthy and useful to the reader. Anything else and
it’s just a waste of time for the members of the media.
So what press release do you have in your hip pocket?
Are you ready when breaking news hits?
About Scott Lorenz
Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a
public relations and marketing firm that has
a special knack for working with doctors, lawyers, inventors and authors. His clients
have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC Nightly News, The
New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, NPR, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Washington
Post, Family Circle, Woman's World, & Howard Stern to name a few. To discuss how Westwind
Communications helps its clients get all the publicity they deserve and more, call 734-667-2090
or email: scottlorenz@westwindcos.com
. Visit: http://www.westwindcos.com
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