• Try not to offend anyone (this is the marketing equivalent of the medical mantra, “do no harm”); and
• Think before you speak, or write, or communicate information in any form on any platform to anyone.

Let’s start with the basic concept underlying this promotion - that puppies are like toasters or any other ‘freebies’ companies might give away to promote their products or services.  Passionate animal rights activists aren’t the only ones likely to be offended by that idea.   Puppies aren’t toasters (a distinction that should be obvious to anyone who has ever seen either one.  While most people don’t much care what happens to unwanted toasters, many are likely to care a lot about what happens to the puppies that owners decide they don’t want or don’t like.

The announcement of the puppy raffle noted that all the puppies would be “healthy” and “immunized” (better, I guess, than “sick” and “possibly contagious”) and would include pugs, beagles, boxers, shih tzus and Labradors. Bulls Eye!  Not only did they manage to offend dog lovers generally, they also infuriated lovers of these breeds in particular. 

What were the folks behind this promotion thinking?  Not much and not very clearly about how the campaign would be perceived by the target market (Colombian consumers) and by the billion or so people all over the world who read about the puppy raffle in newspapers or on countless social media sites, where it generated days of publicity (all of it bad) for the wireless company.  This is the worst kind of bad publicity, because it is self-inflicted and avoidable. 

 It is also a case study in what happens when the people responsible for communicating fail to consider how the message they are communicating will be received.   The designers of this campaign thought only about half of it – “everyone loves cute, cuddly puppies.”  They didn’t think about the other half – most people don’t think cute, cuddly puppies should be given away like toasters.   And they won’t have a favorable view of a company that thinks this is a good idea. 

It is essential to ask tough, detailed questions about every public statement you make – in ads, marketing material, press releases, on billboards, social media sites or any other communications platform.  What message are you trying to convey?  Is the message consistent with the corporate image you want to project?  Do the words and images you’ve chosen communicate your message clearly?  How will your message be perceived?  Could it be misinterpreted? 

Obviously, there are limits to how far you can go to avoid giving offense.  In these days of hyper sensitivity and taking ourselves oh-so-seriously, almost anything you say will offend, irritate, infuriate or be misconstrued by someone.  Pleasing everyone has never been a realistic goal and is even less so today; offending as few people as possible is reasonable, however – and a very good idea.

BECOMING A MEDIA SOURCE: NOT AS HARD AS YOU
THINK AND MORE VALUABLE THAN YOU MAY IMAGINE

No news may be good news if your goal is to avoid media attention, and speak when spoken to may sound like good advice if anonymity is your goal. But unless you are leading the double life of a secret agent, or engaged in activities that could (and should) get you arrested, anonymous probably is not what you want your company to be.

If you’re looking for ways of keeping your name in front of existing and prospective clients and customers without advertising directly to them, there is much to be said for attracting media attention rather than avoiding it. And becoming a media source can be a very effective strategy indeed.

Media sources – the “experts” quoted in articles, interviewed on television and radio, and cited regularly on the Web understand the value of this strategy. They become media sources not by accident but by design, by carefully cultivating relationships with the reporters, editors, producers and bloggers who come to rely on them when they need quotes for news reports or talking heads for television.

Media sources share several important characteristics:

They understand what reporters – for print, broadcast, and web-based news platforms – need.

They know their “stuff” whatever that stuff happens to be.

They are articulate as well as knowledgeable – able to share what they know so that it is comprehensible and interesting to non-experts, and able to resist the temptation to talk about themselves or their company. A media interview isn’t a platform for pitching your services; it’s an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and establish your credibility.
Of course, being knowledgeable, articulate and credible won’t do much for you if reporters, editors and producers don’t know you exist. How do you attract their attention? Here is at least the beginning of a battle plan:

1) Identify the media outlets that target the audiences you want to reach. Hint: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and major broadcast networks probably are not your best bets, at least, not initially. If you’re trying to reach consumers, concentrate on the regional, metropolitan, daily or weekly publications and the local television and radio news channels (don’t forget the cable channels) serving your geographic markets. If you’re targeting businesses, trade publications can provide excellent exposure for you. Make sure you include on-line media resources on your target list.

2) Once you’ve selected your media targets, identify the reporters and editors who cover your industry. These are the folks whose attention you want to attract.

3) Watch for published articles or broadcast reports on relevant issues. Send a note (preferably a nice one) to the reporter and the editor responsible, saying you found the article interesting and timely. Suggest another angle or a related topic in which the journalists might also be interested, and indicate your willingness to be a source for future articles. This is not a one-time exercise. You don’t want to send hourly messages, but you do want to periodically respond to articles or broadcasts and suggest ideas (preferably good ones) for future reports. The ideas you suggest should be about newsworthy developments, issues or trends  not thinly disguised efforts to promote your company.

4) Post articles regularly on your Web site designed to demonstrate your expertise, by discussing issues affecting your industry or providing advice to your clients or customers. Use your blog, Facebook page or any other social media platforms (if you have them) for the same purpose – to demonstrate your knowledge and your willingness to share it.

5) Submit letters to the editor or op-ed articles to general circulation publications; offer to write guest articles for general business and specialized trade publications to target business customers. In addition to strengthening relationships with the publications to which you contribute, your submissions may attract the attention of journalists elsewhere, expanding the number of media source lists on which you appear.
Think of these strategies as the equivalent of planting seeds in a garden. You’re trying to ‘grow’ media relationships. Like plants and flowers, media connections need time to take root and they need care in order to flourish. But the ‘harvest’ you will reap – in credibility and sustained (non-advertising) exposure for your company – will more than repay the investment you make.

Buying advertising space is one way to promote your business, but it is also expensive.  Papering premier publications with your press releases is free, but unpredictable.  You can’t be certain that any particular release will be printed by the publications you target or read by the audiences you want to reach. 

One highly effective, though under-utilized strategy for waving your corporate flag is to produce  by-lined articles written by experts in your company, discussing topics of interest to the entities or individuals whose business you have or would like to acquire. 

Like press releases, guest articles are “free” in the sense that you do not usually have to pay the publications that publish them.  But unlike press releases, which typically tell readers who you are, what you’ve done or what you are planning to do, by-lined articles demonstrate what you know.  A press release might say, “We know our business.”  A by-lined article encourages readers to reach that conclusion on their own.  

Free Advertising
Unlike press releases, which most publications view as a necessary evil, at best, guest articles are often welcomed.  And they provide multiple benefits, among them:

• The tag line at the end produces a nifty bit of free advertising.  (“This article was written by John Smith, president of XYZ Company, specializing in all the right stuff, with offices in these locations.”  You’d have to pay a lot for an ad that conveyed the same information.
• Reporters and editors who see the articles will recognize the authors as experts and may use them as sources for the news and feature articles they write, providing favorable and ongoing exposure for your company. 
• The articles can work overtime for you.  In addition to being published in the on-line or print publication you target initially, they might also appear:

*  On your Web site (which always needs fresh content);

*  In a print or electronic newsletter your company produces; and

*  In “thought you might be interested in this” e-mail messages, providing an opportunity (other than an invoice or a sales promotion) for you to contact existing clients or customers.

How to do it: 

To get the most from your by-lined articles:

• Select topics that spotlight the services and expertise you want to promote.

• Choose your authors — either in-house or freelance ghost-writers you hire to write the articles for you — carefully.  Producing poorly written articles is worse than not producing any articles at all.
• Get maximum mileage from every article your write.  Put them on your Web site, in your newsletter, in marketing packages and in e-mail messages. 
• Establish a regular article production schedule and stick with it.  Like any marketing effort, the benefits of by-lined articles are cumulative. 

Producing by-lined articles will require an investment of time (if you do them in-house) or money (if you hire ghost writers to produce them for you) and perhaps both.  But it is an investment that will pay off handsomely in marketing benefits that more than justify the commitment and the cost.