Many companies think they need to avoid cookie-cutter style public relations strategies. I’ve even been told by clients that one of the things they like most about us is that we don’t do cookie-cutter campaigns.

This might surprise you, but I love cookie cutters and we use them all the time.  Cookie cutters give media stories structure and shape, making it easier for reporters to share your story.

It’s not the cookie cutter that makes your company stand out.   It’s the cookie’s ingredients or the frosting on top of the cookie which make media opportunities unique and memorable.

Let me share a couple examples.

Planning a ribbon cutting event for a new store location is easiest when it follows a cookie-cutter format.  The structure ensures consistency for the brand, and makes it easier for staff from a planning standpoint.  Think of the personalization for the event as the cookie’s frosting.  Partnering on the event with the local chamber of commerce and inviting local dignitaries are what make the event more memorable and newsworthy.

Another example would be if your company hosts special event or training session where it flies in winners, resellers or employees from different parts of the country.  Create a template, or cookie-cutter style announcement about the event.   Take a picture of each attendee standing with the President of the company.  In the background of the photo have a logo or some local imagery (an example of local imagery would be the HQ building for the company or if the event is in Arizona do it outside with cactus or other local images in the background).   Send that photo to the hometown newspapers of each attendee stating that: employee X of CITY attended a special meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona where they met with the company President.

You can send that same cookie-cutter style announcement to 100 different small town newspapers and each one would have a chance of being picked up as a news story.  Local media won’t care or realize that the cookie-cutter was used 100 times. They only notice the ingredients and frosting— someone from their hometown earned a free trip out of town and received special training. Plus it’s a lot easier than trying to write 100 unique news releases!

The fact is, cookie cutters work.  And I’m more than happy to use them if they get my clients positive media attention that helps them achieve their goals.

How many “things” does your company offer?  How many different customers are you targeting right now?  Chances are, it may be too many.

The more niche and focused a business can be, the more successful that business is likely to become. After “owning” that niche, it is significantly easier for a company to add on to its expertise and offer even more. Think of Amazon, which started as an online way to buy books. Only after it began to “own” that industry, winning a huge market share, did it expand into offering other products.

I also share similar advice to our clients. The more focused your services and the more identifiable your potential customer, the more likely you are to grow.  Think about it… if you’re trying to sell to every business in the U.S., that’s more than 28 million businesses (according to stats from the SBA in 2010). Alternatively, if you’re only trying to sell to law firms, there were only 47,563 law firms serving the U.S. in the year 2000 (according to the American Bar Foundation).

When trying to focus your sales team, 47,563 is a much more approachable number than 28 million.  In addition to focusing your sales team, it also allows you to focus your R&D teams on products and improvements that best fit the legal industry. As you build a reputation within the legal industry, you’ll find that potential customers will soon seek you out as well because of your specialty.

But once you “own” the legal industry with your product, think of all the other markets that follow the similar business model that can be your next target audiences, such as accounting firms or insurance agencies.

So if you want your business to grow, follow Amazon’s book by starting off focused on being the best in your vertical and expand from there.

Excuse me if this comes out wrong, but I have a confession.

For nearly 20 years, I’ve worked in public relations. I’ve seen a ton, and I’ve done a ton.  Over the years I must have placed hundreds, even thousands of news stories for clients.   Yet every time a client story runs… I still get excited.  Sometimes more excited than the client.

You know the saying about how the sausage tastes good until you see how it’s made?  Reverse the process and that’s what it feels like when I read some of the stories that we’ve helped place.

The process is the hard part.  Some people get scared by it, but it’s my favorite part of the job.  How do you help make a clearly negative story less threatening to a company’s future?  How do you get what started as a small yet positive mention into a larger feature that will be re-shared for years?

It’s one of the reasons I love my job so much.  The story’s end result doesn’t always showcase the strategy, time and energy put in behind the scenes.  It’s why some of my favorite stories aren’t necessary the same favorites that my clients may cite. It’s also why a client sometimes can’t understand why I get more excited about some stories compared to others.  But maybe I’ll just keep that secret to myself.

What legacy do you choose to forget, or simply to ignore?  As I write this, Kobe is playing his last basketball game as a pro. Media are praising his career. There are lots of celebrity tribute videos and he’s taking his victory lap of interviews in closing his 20-year career.

But do you remember Kobe’s original story?  The one created June 30, 2003? 

As a 19-year-old new player in the league with a wife and six-month-old child, Kobe Bryant arrived at the Cordillera Lodge and Spa in Edwards, Colorado where he allegedly raped a hotel worker.  He admits to adultery with a female hotel worker but denies the woman’s claim saying it was consensual.  After Kobe’s attorneys attacked and blamed the victim, she ultimately stopped cooperating with prosecutors and the charges were dropped.  She settled for an undisclosed amount of money.

So how did we get to today’s version of the story where everyone is praising him?   How does a person or a company repair and move past the early pages of a tarnished legacy?

An important component comes down to unswerving, ongoing public relations.  Rebuilding legacy and changing a story doesn’t happen quickly, it happens through consistency.

Part one is taking a public position and standing your ground. Kobe acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife, but always insisted it was consensual. Instead he let his lawyers do the attacking and talking.  Since he said nothing new, it limited the number of stories on the subject.

Equally important, in the months and years that followed, no new public allegations were made.  Think of it this way. I heard a story about a person trying to recover from an addiction.  The first time someone leaves rehab, their friends will often support and stand by them.  But if they relapse many of those same friends won’t be supportive the second time around.

As far as we know, Kobe didn’t relapse.  In the years that followed he didn’t give the media any excuse to bring back the Denver accusation to remind the public.  And of course, he kept winning and championships were on the line so no one wanted to rock the boat.  Now, an entire generation has no idea the rape allegation ever occurred.

All that said, in today’s media climate I’m not sure he’d be able to escape the initial media onslaught, never giving him the time or opportunity to recreate his legacy.   The NBA did little or nothing at the time, but in 2016 it would be hard for the NBA to not take a hard stance at the onset.  Just ask the NFL in light of the many assault incidents such as Ray Rice and others.

Ironically, I’m also currently watching the Golden State Warriors win their 73^rd regular season game—a new record.  During the same game, their MVP Steph Curry surpassed 400 three-pointers in a single season. Shattering his own impressive record from last year which was just under 300 three-pointers.

By all accounts, Curry is obviously a great player and has that good-guy on and off the court image.  I would expect his legacy of today will remain his legacy tomorrow.  Ultimately it will depend on his future performance, but also his on and off the court actions and how he’s perceived for those actions.  Just ask O.J. Simpson, Lance Armstrong or Bill Cosby what it’s like going from “hero” legacy to “villain” legacy.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering… Kobe scored 60 in his last game and the media can’t stop gushing and praising him.

When it comes to public relations, a lot of companies have good intentions.  They say they are going to put out two or three positive message press releases each month.  Everything starts out great, but they get busy and deadlines start to slip.  Three releases a month becomes one, or even none. The slip isn’t planned, but it also isn’t punished.

It’s a lot like exercising.  Some people love exercising and working out.  They plan their schedules around their work out times.  I’m not one of those people that love working out, but I do swim laps three days each week.  I’m not fast, but I’m consistent.  For the last four years I have swam the exact same distance, the exact same way.  I swim one mile non-stop, which is 33 laps there-and-back (66 lengths).   While that distance may seem impressive to some, it’s really not significant to a lot of swimmers.   A swim team, for example, does several miles in a daily practice.

Unless I’m travelling for more than a couple days (which is rare), there are zero exceptions to my three times per week rule. Why?  Because the first time I make an excuse like it’s too cold, or it’s raining or I have somewhere else I’d rather be, I’ll use an excuse every time I don’t feel like swimming—which is pretty much every day.

This past December I swam on a Thursday night around 7:30pm.  I swim outside (I live in Arizona) and even though the pool is heated it can still get cold, especially after the sun goes down.  The temperature was in the 40s and there was a fog as heat came off the pool into the air. I often use the swim time to think about my day or come up with ideas for my client.

But on this day, as I was counting down the laps until I could go home, I began wonder how many miles I’ve swum.  Based on 3 days per week for at least 50 weeks each year, that’s an estimated 150 miles each year.

I’m not saying that to brag—like I said, I’m not fast and to other swimmers a mile isn’t impressive.  I know that.  But I couldn’t help feeling proud of the cumulative total.  I also couldn’t help but to recognize that my swimming approach mirrored my PR approach.  A consistent and steady effort can lead to big results over time.

One mile isn’t going to get you in shape, just as one press release isn’t going to earn you a reputation as a go-to expert resource to a reporter.  Only as those miles, or press releases, add up will they pay off. And they only add up if you don’t take days off.