The Public Relations Reason to Always Hold a Ribbon Cutting

by Josh

Congratulations! You’re moving into new office or retail space! 

You’ve already spent a lot of time and money moving in.  For public relations purposes, you really should spend a little bit more to host an open house or ribbon cutting. 

Here’s the part that might surprise you:  the purpose and success of the event has zero to do with how many people actually show up to celebrate in person with you. Here, we share some common misconceptions and best advice around hosting a ribbon cutting event:

It Doesn’t Matter if No One Shows Up.  The event itself isn’t about getting people to attend, it’s about educating people that your company is celebrating a milestone. It’s an opportunity for free publicity to demonstrate how strong your company is and why they should hire or buy from you.

The Event Can Be Months After You Actually Move In.  There is no need to rush an event, as you can hold a ribbon cutting or open house as late as six months after you have moved in. It’s totally understandable to want to get settled in the new office first, but make sure to schedule and promote the event date early, otherwise you will never get around to hosting the event and the opportunity gets lost.

Invite People Who You Know Won’t Attend.  Invite people who live out of state or who you know won’t attend your event.  They’ll appreciate the fact you thought of them, and it will give you an excuse to remind them that your company is doing well and able to help them if needed.

It Doesn’t Matter if the New Office is Smaller than the Old One.  Almost no one will realize it if your new offices are smaller than your previous one. All they’re going to know is you’re excited about your new space and, instinctively, they’re going to assume your company is growing and expanding. 

Let Your Local Chamber of Commerce Do Most of the Work.  We often work with clients who aren’t members of the local Chamber of Commerce. When they move into new space, we always encourage them to join their local chamber- if only for the ribbon cutting. 

The initial response is often that they don’t want to pay the typical $500 to be a member.  I turn around and ask them if they’d pay $500 for the Chamber to promote your event in their newsletters and social media, invite their members to your offices for the event, coordinate with elected officials to attend and speak at your event, and to bring the ribbon and over-sized scissors with them as they coordinate the short ribbon cutting ceremony.  When they say yes, I tell them, great!  And guess what: you get a free one-year membership along with all that publicity and ceremony coordination!

Invite those Key People Who You Want to Thank for Their Support.  There have always been people in your corner cheering you on.  They may be family members, friends, mentors, peers, it doesn’t matter. They deserve to be thanked, and their investment in time to you was so that they can attend an event like this to celebrate your success.  They don’t care if the event is fancy, all they care about is that you’re going to be there and that you’re proud of what you accomplished. Don’t rob them of that opportunity.

Use Social Media Before the Event: Use your social media channels, both professional and personal, to promote your ribbon cutting event.  Create an event on Facebook and invite your contacts to attend your ribbon cutting.  Write a personal note thanking people for their support to help you reach this milestone.  Yes, it may be “humble-bragging,” but you’ll truly be humbled by the warm comments you receive and all the likes congratulating you on this milestone.

Use Social Media During the Event.  If you have a nice crowd, consider recording some video or sharing it live.  Invite attendees to say nice things about your company on the milestone.  Regardless of how many people are in the room, you can live-tweet the event.  Encourage people to take selfies or other group pictures in your offices and share them online, tagging your company in the images.

Use Social Media After the Event.  Share photos and tell everyone how successful your event was, even if it really wasn’t.  It’s okay if it only ends up being you and your staff at your ribbon cutting, have someone take a photo of the group behind the ribbon.Use the photo in a post-event press release or social media posts.  No one will know how many people attended your event- as far as they know there were hundreds of people.

Keys to a Great Ribbon Cutting Photo

  • Have the key company leaders in the center of the ribbon holding the big scissors for the photo opportunity
  • Have people you appreciate/want to thank hold the ribbon on either end so that it’s straight and not dangling—but pick the people purposely as they’ll appear in the photos, so make sure it’s someone you like!
  • Ask EVERYONE in the room to join you behind the ribbon.  Let the company people be up front but have 40 or 50 people in the photo as it makes you look even bigger and stronger. Someone looking at the photo won’t know that there was no one watching.
  • Pose a few photos with everyone looking up before the cutting begins to make sure you have some decent images.
  • When cutting, remind everyone that they need to keep their eyes up toward the camera and not watch the ribbon falling/actually being cut. You’ll dislike the photo if the key people are all looking down at the falling ribbon and it won’t look as good when shared on social media. 
  • Hire a professional photographer to capture the event. The only way to guarantee that you will get great photos is to have someone who knows what they’re doing take the photo. You’ll be using these photos for days, weeks, and years after the event, so it is worth the investment to have a professional on site to capture the event.

Ribbon cuttings and open houses are great opportunities for business owners and staff to reflect on how far a company has come, and to demonstrate confidence in the company’s future. Celebrate your milestone and allow others to celebrate it with you!   

Awards Add Credibility to Your Business – Here’s How to Win Them

by Josh

How do you stand out in your industry? One way is to apply for industry and community awards that recognize your business savvy, your community involvement, or your individual leadership. Anyone can apply for these awards, but to actually win them takes a lot of planning, effort, and time. We would know, as already this year we have submitted dozens of award nominations on behalf of our clients and ourselves.

Just this month, 10 to 1 Public Relations swept the PR category at the American Marketing Association’s 2019 Spectrum Awards, the Valley of the Sun’s only award ceremony dedicated to recognizing both the art and science of marketing. Of the four award nominations we submitted for different public relations campaigns, we won them all!

10 to 1 Public Relations went four-for-four sweeping all the awards in the public relations categories at this year’s AMA Spectrum Awards in Phoenix!

We’ve become masters of crafting the perfect award nomination, so we thought we’d share a few tips with you to increase your chance of winning that next one on your bucket list:

  1. Be strategic – Don’t waste time applying for every possible award available. Think about where you’d like to enhance your credibility and focus on awards that would highlight that area. For example, if you want to be better known for your excellent customer service, identify awards with that specific focus.
  2. Absorb the judging criteria – Every award will usually list specific judging criteria. Spend time really understanding what the judges will be looking for in an award application, and make sure to include all appropriate information.
  3. Bold or highlight keywords or phrases in your application – You never know who will be looking at your application and under what circumstances, so make it easy for them to give you a favorable review. By bolding or highlighting keywords or phrases, you make it easy for the judge to find the content that they are looking for in their judging rubric.
  4. Plan ahead – By doing research on the available awards that make sense for you and your business ahead of time, you can create an annual award calendar so you can plan around deadlines. A rushed award application is rarely a winner, so make sure you realistically allow yourself enough time to submit a winning application.

Bonus tip: If you’re selected as a finalist but you don’t win, know that you’re still a winner! You can market and brand yourself as a “Finalist” in that award category, which is still a great accomplishment and something to be proud of.

Then, once you’ve secured that Finalist or Winner award, don’t just put the award on the shelf and forget about it! That’s when the public relations campaign kicks in, where you can promote yourself as a leader in local and national outlets within your community and industry.

It’s also worth noting that our “batting average” on award submissions is nearly .500, proving that we know how to attract the interest of selection committee judges. If you want some help in putting together an effective awards strategy to differentiate your business from the competition, we are here to help.

By Erica Fetherston, Sr. Account Exec at 10 to 1 Public Relations

Look at the Calendar to Generate Newsworthy Company Stories

by Josh

A common refrain among companies is that they can’t get positive stories from media unless it’s for something really big like a major new product launch or a new facility opening.  They couldn’t be more wrong. 

Sure, big announcements can make great stories.  It’s the small stories where the true PR pros really shine.  The secret for these pros isn’t really a secret. Companies already have an important tool to success that they look at daily. They just need to look at it differently.  That tool is a calendar. 

When we start working with a client, the first thing we ask for is calendars because looking at what the company already has upcoming allows us to start building the PR calendar we intend to follow for the coming months.  Beyond the obvious stuff (like launch dates or major conferences you’re attending), look deeper at the calendar to identify story opportunities.

Hard dates on the calendar.

Start by looking at the dates on the calendar that don’t change.  Halloween, Christmas, July 4th, Valentine’s Day, all of these dates happen every year like clockwork.  You have no excuse to claim you didn’t know they were coming, so the question is, how can you create an event around those hard dates? 

For example, doing a story around Tax Day (April 15) is an obvious opportunity for a CPA firm.  It could be last minute tax filing tips, or a story about how the company got all their filings done early so the entire office went out for lunch together on the filing deadline day since they had nothing to do because they’re simply so great at their job. 

Another idea would be a care facility taking advantage of Valentine’s Day to focus on a couple that met and married at the facility or some other appropriate love story.

Media are always going to acknowledge hard dates on a calendar, and media are often looking for a unique way to talk about it.  Find a way to insert your company within that hard date to increase your chances of generating a positive story for your organization.

Soft Dates on a Calendar 

While the exact date each year might change, school always starts around the same time of year.  The baseball season always starts around the same time of year. High School prom and graduation always happen around the same time of year.  Take advantage of these annual events and identify a tie-in for your company.  

For example, if you work for an air conditioning company, look up what days of the summer are historically the hottest, and watch the temperature.  If you’re in Arizona, have a story ready to pitch for the first time that summer the temperature tops 110 (you’ll notice I didn’t say 100 because anyone in Arizona a few years will tell you that 100 isn’t considered that big a deal). 

Scheduled Dates on the Calendar

Look at the events your company is scheduled to attend in the next year or any travel key staff may be making related to work. Take advantage of travel plans and other events to generate stories.  For example, if your company is exhibiting at an event for disabled Veterans, identify some appropriate involvement stories or employees that are veterans that you can spotlight as part of your acknowledgement of that event.

Made up Dates

It seems like there’s a made-up date for everything.  Talk Like a Pirate Day.  March 14th is Pi (3.14) Day, May the 4th (be with you) is Star Wars Day.  But there are also days, weeks and months for different issue topics. Construction Safety Week is in May.  Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. Do a search and read through the lists of all the different days, weeks and months.  Identify any that could relate to your company or an issue that is consistent with the company’s values and find a way to be part of that calendar event. 

There are story ideas everywhere if you’re willing to look for them. Start by looking at the calendar. 

by Josh Weiss, President of 10 to 1 Public Relations

10 to 1 Blog

How to Prepare Before an Interview

by Josh

How to Prepare Before an Interview

I was recently rereading a New York Times article about Terry Gross, the host of NPR’s Fresh Air who is widely acclaimed as an amazing interviewer. The article was entitled “How to Talk to People” and it included several examples of her interview techniques that she uses to engage her interviewees and deliver an informative and inspirational story.

Many of Terry’s interview suggestions mirror what I coach clients before a media interview, so I thought it might be helpful to list some of my own tips here. 

Six Interview Tips for Executives and Spokespeople:

  1. Don’t be surprised by the questions a reporter is likely to ask. Even for interviews on the happiest of topics, most reporters will refuse to share a list of questions they plan to ask ahead of time. That doesn’t mean you can’t be prepared in advance to answer them. Create your own list of likely questions and prepare an answer for each. You may not get asked each question on your own list, but the preparation will give you confidence that you’re ready with the answers, which will result in a better overall interview (and minimize the “ums”). 
  2. Decide your boundaries before any interview begins. Before ever talking to a reporter and participating in an interview, know your own boundaries. Decide in advance what you’re NOT going to say and, regardless of how many ways you might get asked, stick to your plan. Knowing your boundaries and limitations in advance will make it easier not to accidentally share information you later regret providing.
  3. Pivot when necessary.  Sometimes you’re going to get a question where you don’t have a good answer. It’s not that you’re trying to hide something, it’s simply that you don’t feel knowledgeable enough to answer the question and you don’t want to get it wrong. A great way to pivot is to say: “Let me give you an example of how we handled a similar scenario in the past.” In setting up the scenario and focusing on your strengths of how it was handled, you can often successfully reframe the question in an appropriate way where you’re more comfortable answering the root of the original question, and the reporter will likely move on to the next question.
  4. Don’t fill dead air. It’s the reporter’s job to keep the conversation going, not yours. Once you’ve answered the question, stop talking. Some reporters use an old interview trick of not saying anything when they were looking for a different, or less rehearsed sounding answer. It often makes the person being interviewed uncomfortable so that they start speaking again. The second answer to the same question often isn’t as polished as the first—thus sometimes making a less flattering quote—or that’s when the person being interviewed sometimes offers up more information and details which they otherwise would have preferred not to share.
  5. It’s okay to refuse to answer a question. Sometimes questions are uncomfortable on a personal level, or legally on a professional level. It’s okay to not answer every question, but you do need to acknowledge it was asked. If the question is appropriate and you simply don’t know the answer, tell them that but offer to try and get them the answer after the interview. If it’s something that you can’t answer, or don’t want to provide an answer later, it may help to simply be more blunt. It’s okay to say you’re not comfortable discussing the topic, or that you only have permission to discuss the topics that were the original reason for the interview. Another tact might be to refuse to answer because you’re afraid the answer will hurt someone’s feelings.  Don’t be defensive when answering, but also don’t be angry that a reporter is asking. They’re simply doing their job, and most reporters will accept your decision not to answer.
  6. Take the Open Question– twice.  You often will have two opportunities to frame the interview. The first is at the very beginning of the interview when they often ask an open-ended question like: why are we here today or could you tell us about your big announcement? This lets you share your good news unfiltered, and it’s from this initial answer that the reporter will ask follow-up questions for additional details. Lay it all out upfront for the reporter and don’t assume they already know what questions to ask. Without getting in to too much detail, give a good outline of what’s happening that’s worthy of this interview. The second opportunity you’ll have is often at the end of an interview. When a reporter has finished asking all their prepared questions, they will often ask: anything else?  You should ALWAYS answer this question with any important details you think were missed that you want included in the story, or simply to give one last short highlight recap of your big news which could ultimately be used as a quote.

Oh, and if you ever find yourself being interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air, I want an autograph. Not yours, hers! She’s simply masterful at getting people to share their stories, whether it be celebrities, politicians, media members or scientists. If you’ve never listened, I highly encourage you to download a podcast or listen on your local NPR station.

It’s OK to Be Strategic About Corporate Social Responsibility

by Josh

Guest blog written by Toby Cox

Strategy and authenticity are often viewed as opposing forces in the business world, and it’s not difficult to see why: Businesses, by definition, are for-profit organizations with a primary goal of generating revenue.

Because of this, companies and CEOs who give back to the local community are often unsure of how to tell others about their good deeds.

“One of the biggest challenges that I see from a public relations side is that a lot of companies are committed to corporate social responsibility and are doing it for the right reason, but they don’t promote it enough,” said Josh Weiss, CEO of 10 to 1 Public Relations, one of the leading PR firms.

Many companies fear seeming boastful and inauthentic if they talk too much about their socially-responsible policies or how they give back to the local community.

In the name of humility, however, they’re doing themselves and their community a disfavor.

It’s actually OK to be strategic about corporate social responsibility (CSR) and here are 3 reasons why:

CSR Can Elevate Your Brand

All companies will face criticism eventually and, unfortunately, it takes a lot of positive things to make up for one negative. However, companies can collect these positive stories and draw on them when they need to.

“We believe that it takes 10 good things to be said about a company to make up for 1 negative,” Weiss said. “You have to build up a goodwill bank of positive stories to protect and inoculate yourself.”

Promoting your dedication to CSR and giving back to the local community doesn’t have to be a huge campaign every time. It could be as simple as a photo with a caption shared on social media or as in-depth as a feature story.

“All of these little stories add up and can have a huge impact,” Weiss said. “It’s like drips out of a faucet. If you collect the water, you can use that water any way you need it going forward.”

Customers Want to Support Companies That Share Their Values

A recent study by Clutch shows that people are likely to support or boycott companies based on their brand values.

Seventy-five percent of people (75%) are likely to start shopping at a company that supports an issue they agree with.

Conversely, 59% of people are likely to stop shopping at a company that supports an issue they disagree with.

People tend to view their buying decisions as an extension of their beliefs.

When they see a company promoting their CSR endeavors, they won’t see it as overly self-promotional. Rather, they’ll notice the company helping the local community and associate its brand with social responsibility.

Strategic CSR Benefits the Local Community and Cause Your Company Supports

The cause your company donates resources to actually needs you to be strategic.

When you choose a cause that aligns with your brand and then promote your work in giving back to that cause, you are raising awareness for the cause itself and the organization(s) you’re working with.

“We often tell clients that it’s about their power as a company to promote those other organizations,” Weiss said. “If you’re collecting food for a food bank, don’t view it as promoting what your employees are doing for your company’s benefit. Think about how the company is helping promote that food bank.”

When companies approach CSR strategically, everyone wins – the company gets good coverage, consumers see the company positioned as a socially-conscious brand, and the cause/organizations its supporting gets extra coverage, boosting people’s awareness.

You Don’t Have to Sacrifice Authenticity for Strategy

Being strategic about CSR doesn’t mean having to sacrifice authenticity.

You can preserve authenticity by identifying your brand’s values and then choosing a cause that not only closely aligns with those values, but is also one you and your company can stand behind, unwavering.

“There’s nothing wrong with corporate social responsibility being a strategic decision, but it should also be one that you strongly believe in and are willing to stand up for,” Weiss said.

Strategic corporate social responsibility benefits not only you and your brand, but also your customers and the cause you’re supporting.

About the author: Toby Cox is a content writer and developer at Clutch, a B2B research and reviews firm, where she covers topics relating to public relations. 

How to Use Engaging Video to Land Media Coverage

by Josh

A unique opportunity arose for one of our new clients, Casago which is a leasing and vacation rental company in resort communities across Mexico and the U.S..  While holding a staff retreat meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, news hit of Hurricane Willa rapidly approaching them. Our team took quick action and was successful in leveraging the situation to land several key media placements in local and national markets for our client, including Good Morning America and World News Tonight!

How did we make this happen? The key was dramatic and engaging video provided by the client. This video is from nearby Boca de Tomatlan before Hurricane Willa reached land but after more than 30 straight hours of rain, with flood waters coming down the nearby mountain.https://www.youtube.com/embed/oRgB8AjtZS4

There were a lot of factors that went right (and that we had prepared for) for us to see such success. Here are five tips for how you can leverage engaging video to land national media placement.

  1. Anticipate Trending News – We were aware of Hurricane Willa heading towards Mexico, and based on previous hurricane coverage knew that there would be a decent amount of attention on this story. We pitched our story before Willa made landfall to take advantage of the full timeline.
  2. Shape the Story to be Relevant – Know the audience of the outlet you are pitching. For Arizona media, we pitched the story as Arizonans dealing with the storm in Mexico. For national media, we pitched the story as Americans in the path of Hurricane Willa. We also used the opportunity to help share the good works of our client, who ahead of the storm spent their time helping renters in their facilities get to safer locations more inland as well as sandbagging homes in the community to help protect against flooding.
  3. Stay Up To Date on Your Client’s Whereabouts – Making sure you have a schedule of where your clients will be at what time ensures that you can make the most of opportunities that come up. Had we not known that our client was in the path of the storm, we wouldn’t have been able to identify the story opportunity.
  4. Set Up Systems for Retrieving and Storing Videos – Prepare and train your clients to make sure they understand the importance of video and photos in telling any story. Make sure you have a plan for how videos get delivered to you and stored so that you can have access to them. Without the incredible video from our client, there would not have been a story!
  5. Act Quickly – In public relations, it’s true that the early bird gets the worm. By pitching this story before Willa made landfall, we could bet that we were one of the first ones to be talking about this story idea with local and national media, and were able to generate a lot of interest very quickly.

When it comes to engaging content, video is critical in helping to tell your story. Always have your camera or phone ready to capture video so you don’t miss an opportunity!

Finally, while unrelated to the tips above, let us take a moment to brag: It’s because of strategies and efforts like this, not only did we garner national coverage for the client, but if helped 10 to 1 Public Relations to recently be recognized as a top Public Relations Company on DesignRush!

By Erica Fetherson, Sr. Account Executive at 10 to 1 Public Relations

Why PR Campaigns Should Be Run Like Political Election Campaigns

by Josh

A lot of people are rejoicing that the elections have ended.  Their elation isn’t necessarily about who won, but simply that they’re thrilled that the campaign ads are finally over!  For me, campaign season never ends, because I believe that the best public relations campaigns should be run like a political campaign- and that’s how we set our strategies for our clients. Let me explain.

Some of you may know that in the late 90s I used to work in politics— hardcore Illinois “machine” politics at that– before moving to Arizona and formally starting my career in public relations.   Working on multiple campaigns across the State, I learned several lessons which I still use today.

Plan backwards. What does a politician want when they start running for office? To win!  In order to do that, the candidate needs 50 percent of the votes plus 1 on election day.  Not today, but on election day.  So if election day is 15 months from now, circle election day on the calendar and start planning backwards to reach your goal.  For example, if the vote were held today and you were only at 35% and the vote was 15 months away, if you increase your percentage 1% each month you’ll be at 50% on election day.

When we first engage with a client, we want to know their end goal, and when they want to achieve that goal. We then plan backwards to get them there on time. It won’t happen the first month, but if we do our job right, we’ll get closer to their end goal every month and ultimately achieve our client’s desired result.

Make your negative your positive. Every candidate has a flaw that will be attacked or something which might turn off some voters.  The best politicians can acknowledge the negative and the best campaign managers will prepare a response to an attack in advance and will even work to turn that perceived negative in to a positive.   We view our role as a PR pro as the company’s campaign manager- identifying flaws and dealing with them head-on before they become fatal.  Sharing with media and the public how a flaw was fixed is often a great way to build confidence, gain support and grow a company.

Know what you want people to remember before you start talking. A good politician walks in to any speech knowing what they want to tell their audience before they say a single word.  A company needs to know what take-away they want their customers, prospects and employees to remember and feel before any action they take.  The public relations strategy and wording used needs to mirror the intended take-away.

Be consistent. It’s hard to trust a flip-flopper, so repeat the same message as often as possible.  Only then will people hear it and remember it.

Own it. In the rare cases where you must do a flip-flop, own it.  Explain why the change was the right thing to do.  People are more than willing to forgive a mistake, but only if you own it and don’t hide it.

There’s a lot more I learned working in politics which I credit to how we create strong, effective PR campaigns for our clients.  But, for the rest of this month, let’s all take a deep breath and just enjoy the end of the non-stop political attack ads.  Please?!?!?

Written by Josh Weiss, President, 10 to 1 Public Relations, [email protected]

Why You Should Care That We’re Part of IPREX

by Josh

I highlight IPREX on my website.  I have an IPREX icon in my email signature line.  If you weren’t sure, YES we’re proud to be the sole Arizona member of IPREX!

But I was recently asked: What is IPREX?  More to the point, he asked why he should care.

Shame on me for not better explaining why it matters not only to our team, but more importantly why it benefits our clients.  Let me try and do that now.

IPREX is a global network of 65 independent public relations firms across the world.  As a group, we have 1,600 employees and the annual billings of several hundreds of millions of dollars.  Size-wise, the agencies range from around 15 employees up to 200.  The expertise of the group spans multiple industries (like healthcare, technology, crisis communications, consumer, etc.) and various service lines (traditional PR, digital media buying, graphics, public affairs, etc.).

A little more than a year ago, 10 to 1 Public Relations was accepted in to the network.  In addition to being the exclusive agency member in the greater Phoenix area, we’re currently the only partner in Arizona and the entire Southwestern U.S.   Other agency partners are in New York, L.A., San Francisco, Boston, Hong Kong, Australia, Finland, and beyond.  (To see the entire list of IPREX members, check out the map on the IPREX website.)

While we are committed to each other’s success, we all remain independent and make our own decisions for our own companies and clients.  As an exclusive group we don’t view each other as competitors.  That’s why most partners are the only one in their primary market unless they allowed another agency to join, often because their target clients are different.  Instead we view one another as resources and allies.

When I sought to join IPREX I wasn’t 100% sure of what to expect, but I did have high expectations. Both of how it would help my agency, but more importantly how it would help our clients.  I can confidently tell you that our participation is paying off.

Our current clients are benefiting without even realizing it. If we have a client launching a product or holding event in another city or country, we may reach out to the local partner agency in that area for specific feedback and advice to ensure we achieve the maximum success for the local effort. We can even bring in other agencies for specific tasks or projects when needed, just as we’ve been introduced to some projects by our IPREX Partners that we otherwise would not have even known about.  IPREX also allows its members to team up on proposals and RFPs where they may not qualify on their own, allowing for more business opportunities. Our involvement with IPREX gives our clients endless resources and access to global and industry expertise.

The professional benefits of IPREX membership to the 10 to 1 Public Relations team are excellent as well.  All 1,600 employees of IPREX agencies have access to a private members-only website where we can ask questions of one another and review best practices.  There are also several (more than 125) case studies, samples and resources that are openly shared.  The website also holds several recorded (and live) webinars led by different partner agency staff, which provide great opportunities to learn best practices from one another.  Topics vary but an example would be tools and techniques PR and social media pros can use to improve outreach to social media influencers.  As an owner, IPREX also provides me an informal network of business advisors and mentors, giving me even greater confidence as 10 to 1 Public Relations goes through our current period of growth.

Participation in IPREX is not just about connecting remotely through online platforms.  IPREX has several face-to-face meetings each year. I recently returned from Raleigh, North Carolina, where I attended this year’s conference of agency owners from across the Americas (I also was at last year’s meeting in Dallas, Texas).

There are other meetings yearly for other global regions like Asia and Europe. IPREX also holds a global meeting for all agency owners. A couple months ago it was in Dubai—no, I didn’t go–but next year’s global meeting will be held in Washington, D.C., which I do plan to attend. There are also special leadership training meetings for different staff levels at various locations around the world. This global network allows 10 to 1 Public Relations to have a unique advantage over other Arizona-based PR firms.

I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed getting to know these other agency leaders from around the world.  I’m very proud that our small yet growing firm has earned our seat at the table and that we’re fully contributing to the discussions. IPREX is making our company stronger, and our clients are seeing the benefits.

by Josh Weiss

Are Reporters a Pain in the Ass?

by Josh

This recent exchange between a reporter and Senator Lindsey Graham applies to business too, not just politics.

Reporter: Do you believe the news media is the enemy of the people?

Sen. Lindsey Graham: “No, I think the press in America is a check and balance on power. … Sometimes you can be a pain in the ass, but you’re not the enemy of the people.”

I often am asked by clients if they can have a reporter’s questions in advance or if they can review a story before it runs.  I do understand this from their perspective. They want their story told in a certain way and want to look as good as possible.

But reporters aren’t writing advertisements for your company.  If you want an ad, go pay for it.

Reporters are supposed to give their readers information that they believe is timely and important for them to know. It’s not their job to care if you like the final story or not.  Their job is facts and accuracy, and making sure the reader sees value in what they learned from the story.

The truth is, not every story is worth telling. I hate being a buzz kill, but pretty often I have to pop a client’s balloon and tell them their story idea won’t get the coverage they desire.  Yes, a good PR strategy can put “lipstick on the pig” to make an otherwise tired story more interesting, timely and worthy of a reporter’s consideration. We do that all the time with excellent results- but that’s a different blog for a different time.

The point is, reporters are the main gatekeeper to what’s ultimately a story and what’s not. Respect that and use it to your advantage, don’t fight it, because you’ll lose.

And yes, I can agree, sometimes reporters ARE as Lindsey Graham put it, a pain in the ass. Why?  Because it’s their job to dig in and find the real story, to share new information that hasn’t already been told that they can give to their readers.  After all, it’s called NEWS not OLDS.

  • If your business wants a story about a major purchase or contract win, the first thing the reporter is going to ask is for detailed numbers. It’s a legitimate, important detail of their story.  Don’t be surprised if they push you for an answer.
  • If you make a claim in an announcement that something is new, you better be able to easily explain how it really is new and not the same story you tried to share six months earlier.
  • If you want coverage on your company doing a food drive or participating in a 5k during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Figure out what makes your effort unique and different from all the other companies doing similar things. Why should a reporter choose you for the story over someone else, or even worse, why should they do the story at all when it’s already been told several times?

The reporter isn’t being an pain for asking hard questions or questions you don’t want to answer.  They’re doing their job. If you want good stories, give good answers. When we are pitching stories, we always look for a unique visual way to describe the story. We offer stats and details. We give them different story angles to choose from.  The easier you make it for them (and us) to tell the story you want—the full story—the more likely you’ll get the story you want.

The vast majority of reporters are good, honest reporters.  They genuinely try to tell the story minus any personal or political bias. When you read a normal news story, you don’t read it thinking about who wrote it or that their personal opinion was included in the story.

That’s not to say that a reporter’s past personal experiences or implicit bias doesn’t influence what they write, but there’s a big difference of a reporter trying to be anonymous and simply provide facts within a story and a Columnist or reviewer writing in the first person whose job it is to try and “be” the story or create conversation and disagreement.

Let me leave one last thought. Sometimes, even when you get the story, you might find it’s not as robust or glowing as we expected.  The story might leave out information we consider important, but the reporter didn’t include. Complaining doesn’t help.  At worse, it could even result in the client becoming the pain in the butt not the reporter (at least in the eyes of a PR firm!!).

The truth is, we just need to accept it and be happy we got the story at all.  I still rather get an okay story than no story for a client.  Every collected drip of coverage combines to create a pool of long-term goodwill (if you’re unfamiliar with this concept, watch the video at www.10to1pr.com).

by Josh Weiss

How our “No Jerks” Policy Has Helped Our Business

by Josh

How our “No Jerks” Policy Has Helped Our Business

Did you know we have a “No Jerks” policy? It applies to both our co-workers, and our clients.  While the phrase may seem lighthearted or written to amuse, we’re serious about it.  And yes, we believe it’s helped our business.

Here’s what the “No Jerks” policy means. 

From a co-worker perspective, it means saying “Good Morning” when you walk in the door and meaning it.  A willingness to share snippets of your “real life outside of work” and taking a genuine interest in the passions and stories of those you work with.  It means showing mutual respect, knowing that all ideas are worth considering no matter who they come from.  It means having each other’s back publicly, but pointing out mistakes not to impugn, but to improve in private. It means knowing it’s okay to make a mistake, as long as you’re willing to learn from the experience.

As it relates to clients, it means it’s okay to turn down a customer, or even to fire them if necessary.  It means that we get to choose our clients similar to how they get to choose us as their PR Firm. Do we think they are ethical, and that they treat their customers fairly? Will they talk to us with respect and seriously consider our comments?  Granted, they don’t need to accept all our advice, we just want to contribute and help our clients see the potential brand benefits or risks of their decisions.  We aren’t “yes men” and we don’t want to be. Where’s the fun in that!  Our clients needs to know and accept up-front that we’re always going to share our honest opinions and suggestions in private, but they can have confidence that once the final decision is made we’ll back their call publicly 100%.

The “No Jerks” policy follows something else we started a few years ago, called (excuse the language) the “a**hole fee”.  It’s a lot like it sounds… and we only have pulled out this threat a few times.  Here’s how it works:  Let’s say a client who we normally have a great working relationship with is aggressively over-focused on a truly superficial detail or is uncharacteristically being verbally rude to a member of our team.  Jokingly, I’ve told them we understand their issue and we’ll do our best to fix it, but if they keep up being abusive to us I’m going to add on an a**hole fee. In both scenarios the individual stopped cold… and after about 5 seconds started laughing and said okay, I get it, I’m sorry.

We believe that the “No Jerks” policy has helped our company because it allows us to focus as a team and company on what’s really important. It helps us remove all the time wasting headaches and distractions quickly.  For example, it requires us identify staff and partners where their personality and how we believe they’ll interact with fellow staff and clients is considered just as important as their professional talents.  It also makes it okay to pass on potential clients where we fear they have unrealistic expectations, or where we just have a gut feeling that they aren’t a good fit or that we won’t enjoy working with them.

And yes, it is fun to say we have a No Jerks policy too.

Oh, and for the record—the “No Jerks” policy wasn’t our idea.  We adapted it from one of our IPREX partners, Dallas-based SPM Communications.  IPREX is a global network of Independent PR firms, and 10 to 1 Public Relations is the sole Arizona member of this exclusive network. We had the opportunity to meet the SPM team last year and tour their offices where we learned about “No Jerks”.  We liked it so much we “borrowed” it!  We’re pretty sure they won’t think us jerks for doing so!