Shoestring Marketing From Business Librarians
Networking: New Tack for GetContactX
The Family that Votes Together
Corrections or additions?
This article was prepared for the October 31, 2001 edition
of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Public Relations: Getting Ink and Air
It’s a common sin. You spend a fortune on the design
and of an embossed folder, fill it with glossy four-color photos of
your staff, projects, and facilities, and send it to every media
outlet
that reaches your target customers. The hope is that it will attract
enough attention to get your organization some air time or ink.
The reality? Well, listen to Susan Young. Now a media
consultant,
and owner of East Brunswick-based Susan Young Media Relations
she spent more than 10 years in radio. “People sent kits, glossy
folders, charts, but I was in radio. They were beautiful, but they
were going in the garbage.”
Landing a story in a media outlet gives a company credibility that
ad money only rarely can buy. And the exposure is free. There are
a number of ways to get your company in the news, and it isn’t even
difficult to do so. There are tricks, however, and Young reveals them
when she speaks on “How to Get Free Press: Proven Media Relation
Techniques to Get Your Story Covered” at two upcoming meetings
of the Central Jersey Women’s Network. The first is on Wednesday,
November 7, at 6 p.m. at the Oak House Restaurant in Red Bank, and
the second is on Wednesday, November 14, at 6 p.m. at the Radisson
on Route 1 South at Ridge Road. Cost: $35. Call 908-281-9234.
“Everyone loves a great story,” Young says. She is convinced
that every company has many to tell. A graduate of Quinnipiac, she
has been a stringer for ABC news and the Associated Press, a member
of Christie Whitman’s office of radio and television, and a radio
anchor and news director. On the receiving end of the news, she has
observed successful — and not so successful — techniques for
attracting positive media attention.
Young’s clients include non-profits, manufacturers, banks, and
professionals.
Her work for one client, an eye doctor, illustrates some of many
opportunities
for boosting name recognition and increasing business through
judicious
media placement.
“He was on TV this morning with Halloween safety tips,” she
reports. When the doctor arrived at his office for his morning
appointments,
he found some excited patients. “`I saw you on TV,’” two
couldn’t
wait to tell him. Young has also had him giving 4th of July tips,
and eye care advice to seniors.
Giving advice, generally speaking, is a much surer route to press
coverage than is sending a generic folder of company info. Other good
tactics include letters to the editor tying current events into the
company’s area of expertise, press conferences, press releases, and
public service announcements. Knowing when to pitch each, and how,
is the key. Here is Young’s advice:
Be clear — and brief. “Busy news people don’thave time for a three-page handout,” says Young. As a newsperson,her attitude was: “What’s it about? Tell me upfront, in one ortwo lines.” She didn’t have the time to dig more deeply, or tore-read obtuse text. Decision makers in news rooms may receive severalhundred letters, faxes, E-mails, and phone calls in a day. Vague,over-long, or jargon-filled missives often land in the trash.Find the human angle. “The news is about people,”Young points out. For every story, the newsperson automaticallywonders”how does this affect people?” Framing a media pitch withits effect on people right at the top makes it easier for thenewspersonto see where it might fit in. For instance, the announcement of abusiness expansion may draw more attention if it starts with thenumberof new jobs that will be created. And a breakthrough in dentaltechnologywill get more press if it leads with statistics on how it will cutpatients’ pain, or time in the chair, or number of cavities.Tailor the story to each media. In pitches to the media,one size does not fit all. It’s a lot easier to send the same pamphletto everyone, but most often a waste of time and money. For radio,Young was most receptive to a six-sentence story accompanied by asound bite. A magazine with a small staff often is swayed by a promiseof photographs. A television station wants a story with fresh visualelements.Study each outlet within a media group. Some magazinesand newspapers cover events and write about them afterwards. Otherslargely, or only, write previews of events before they occur. Tryingto pitch the story the other way around, a common occurrence, islikelyonly to annoy an editor.One television program may have a regular feature highlighting localhigh school athletes, while a trade magazine may run photos oftradesmenreceiving awards in every issue. Study each media outlet, learn thenames of its editors and reporters, and notice regular features. Themore you know about each, the more likely it is that your pitch willbe accepted. Or that you will save time by avoiding sending pitchesto outlets unlikely to have any interest in your story.Follow up. This is a tough one, Young admits. “Thereis a very fine line between being persistent, and being a pest,”she says. She suggests starting each call to a media outlet by asking”Is this a good time for you?”Establish relationships with the press. As in every otheraspect of business, placing stories sometimes comes down, at leastin part, to who you know. Instead of calling a reporter repeatedlyto pitch the same story, try to make his job easier by finding outthe kinds of stories he needs, and supplying them.Pitching stories is a numbers game. Some percentage of yourproposed stories will not find a home. “There are noguarantees,”is the way Young puts it. Your company may have come up with a pillthat cures baldness in a single dose with no side effects, but ifit hits the market on a day when Prince Charles elopes with a localconvenience store clerk and Bill Clinton enters a monastery, the storymay not get much play.Top Of PageShoestring Marketing From Business LibrariansYou don’t buy the same tool twice. It’s dumb. If somerookie purchasing agent stepped out and bought three crates of hammerswithout taking note of the five crates already cluttering up yourwarehouse, you would probably fire the fool, right? So why shell outthousands on a marketing research plan when you’ve already paid formost of the data once — through your taxes?Ah, but how to mine the information? The answer to this and many moremarketing questions will be revealed on Thursday, November 8, at 6:30p.m. at a dinner seminar, “Market Research for Your SuccessfulBusiness Plan,” sponsored by the New Jersey Entrepreneurs Forumand held at McAteers Restaurant, 1714 Easton Avenue in Somerset.KenangAu, business librarian at Rutgers’ John Cotton Dana Library inNewark, speaks on the wealth of information and expertise availablein his library and other institutions. Cost: $40. Call 908-789-3424.The odds of your having an in-house marketing professional with thecapabilities of Rutgers’ Au are slim indeed. And if you do, you areprobably not paying him enough. Au grew up in Tara, Malaysia, andmoved to Canada, where he attended the University of Guelph inToronto,studying business management and economics. From those northernclimes,he headed south to Rutgers where he earned a master’s in librarysciencein l986. Since then he has become a tenured business librarian, oneof five on Rutgers campuses who can answer the most amazing questionsright over the phone, while you wait.”But please don’t phone,” says Au, “because the kind ofmarketing question you should be asking is not one that can beansweredover a machine.” Instead, Au prefers people with marketingquestionsto come in for an interview, which typically takes 20 to 30 minutes.For example, if you want to know how to sell figs from Northern Africain New Jersey, the answers are out there, but the questions arelegion.Print and online data hold most of the answers about your competition,their prices, and what percentages of figs currently are selling intowhat outlets, Au explains. Government databases can provide you withfood shipping and import guidelines.Here is how to make the most of these resources.Determine your target. “A good private market researchplan for a small business product will cost the entrepreneurapproximately$2,000 to $5,000,” says Au. “We at Rutgers have already spenttens of thousands on business databases so you won’t have to.”He admits that free searches may not be as exhaustive as the $5,000effort, but for most needs, the target can be as well delineated.So, who wants figs in New Jersey? You might search various ethnicgroups, find out which ones use them in their cooking. Then, usingcensus demographics, you could find out where high concentrationsof these fig lovers live.Work out distribution. There are more than half a millionbusinesses in Au’s business listing database. Each is cross-codedaccording to zip code, product type, size, age, and a panoply of othercategories. If high concentrations of, say, fig-eating Italians,Greeks,and Lebanese live in certain segments of certain counties, it is asimple matter to cross reference and seek out potential specialtystores. (Simple for Au, at least, and his five cohorts, a groupaveraging15 years research experience.)Re-ask the right questions. “One of the biggest flawsI see,” says Au, “is business people getting so focused onone method of research they refuse to change the approach regardlessof the evidence.” Maybe you shouldn’t concentrate on selling figsto individuals, but should target one of the three chains and 23specialtystores that already handle them. Or maybe you can simply end all yourproblems by dumping your product at a wholesaler’s door. A goodmarketingplan keeps engendering new questions as it evolves; and it may wellchange the avenue of your product flow.Interestingly, Au insists, “nothing beats human contact.Statistical marketing is an excellent tool, but too many people donot take advantage of their trade and professional associations.”You can learn a lot more in the company of the right business veteranthan your computer could ever tell you.— Bart JacksonTop Of PageConference for FundraisersNearly one-third of fundraisers answering a survey sentto them by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) saythey have experienced financial setbacks that they attribute to theaftermath of September 11. The AFP is finding that many organizationsare experiencing reductions in charitable giving as the public shiftsits focus to disaster relief related to the attacks.Add to this a spate of high-profile corporate lay-offs, announcementsthat year-end bonuses will not come near last year’s level, and thestill-unfolding anthrax attacks, and there is reason to worry thatmany charities will come up short in their important year-endfundraisingefforts.These obstacles to giving will be on everyone’s minds as the NewJerseychapter of AFP holds its annual conference on philanthropy onThursday,November 8, at 8:15 a.m. at the Hanover Marriott in Whippany. Cost:$250. Call 609-585-6871.The first session, at 8:15 a.m., “The Effects of the New JerseyBusiness Climate on Philanthropy,” is headed by JoanVerplanck,president of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, and by J. MichaelSchweder, president of AT&T New Jersey.At 11 a.m. Ron Brown, director of planned giving at PrincetonUniversity, will join a panel on “Getting Your Share of Majorand Planned Gifts.” At 2 p.m. Steven Rusk, managementsupervisorat Russ Reid Company, speaks on “Tales from the Direct ResponseFundraising Laboratory.” At 3:30 p.m. Charity Poth,executivedirector of SuitAbility, will be part of a panel on “Filling inWhen the Government Moves Out.”In addition to these sessions, attendees have a choice of a numberof concurrent seminars throughout the day.Top Of PageNetworking: New Tack for GetContactXWith dotcoms and technology stocks faltering, few wouldbe surprised that to learn that — barely more than a year afterit opened on Princeton Pike — the Global Electronic TechnologyContactX Association has moved to be closer to the home of itsfounder.Steven E.C. Sroczynski has moved the organization to Pottstown,halfway between Valley Forge and Reading, Pennsylvania, and withinfour months he will move it again, this time to Orlando, Florida.Sroczynski promised that GetContactX would be the “largest globalcommunity for professionals and organizations in the technology andother industries, a dynamic middle ground between traditionalprofessionalvenues — filling the market void between community event andlarge-scaleindustry events.” At that time there were plans to go nationwidewith events and seminars plus a website with customized news deliveryand the opportunity to post member news releases.The website shows that the busy schedule of New Jersey-based eventshas taken a temporary hiatus (one is scheduled for November), butthe free newsletter delivery continues, and Sroczynski promises theevents will soon be in full swing. This time, though, going alongwith his goal to go nationwide, the same event will be produced atdifferent locations, and area licensees of GetContactx will do theproducing.For instance, a seminar from Register.com, one of the larger domainregistration companies, will be staged in six locations fromMassachusettsto Virginia; in New Jersey it will be at the Newark Airport Marriotton Tuesday, November 13, at 8 a.m., and will cover complex domainportfolios and custom registration portals (CRPs). It is free. CallDave Antrim at 610-718-9810.This ambitious for-profit organization parallels many of theactivitiesof the larger New Jersey Technology Council, a five-year-old nonprofitgroup based in Mt. Laurel. But GetContactX was founded to helpcompaniesmake sales contacts, rather than to directly serve technologycompanies,and the cultures of the two groups are very different. “Thereare certainly members on the business development side, but we arealso seeing growth from non tech companies — Mercedes Benz, BMW,Aventis, and Cendant — that use technology in their ownbusinesses,”Sroczynski says.Sroczynski claims several licensees to collect memberships and stageevents in New Jersey and is announcing one in Hawaii. Of the moveto Orlando, he says, “that particular city is the most visitedby international visitors. Since we are global, that gives us a chanceto see prospective clients without their making an extra trip.”Sanguine about the move and the reduction in staff from the peak ofseven people to three, he points out that then he was setting up theinfrastructure for the organization. The income comes frommemberships.One small retailer in Princeton paid $350 last October, but listedfees were $499 for a nine-person company up to $1,899 for 200 people.Go to the website to look for members by geography and it starts outby asking you to pick a continent. Searching by geography or industryis available on the website, and it does has an alphabetical listof members that show distribution, upon quick perusal, of from NewYork to Pennsylvania and Virginia. Princeton area members includeCarrier Hotels, DBS, Document Depot, Paula Gould Consulting, theMiddlesexChamber, and Gil Gordon, the telecommuting consultant.Members receive discounted admission for seminars and networkingeventsplus access to the free newsletter for posting press releases andwhite papers. One area member said he gained a couple of clients fromthe networking. Another was disappointed at how few of the eventswere in Central Jersey. “Though the premise wasn’t bad,” shesays, “he was never clear on what he was delivering.”Sroczynski claims nearly 9,000 newsletter subscribers and aclick-throughrate — to read a press release or learn about an event — ofone from every five recipients, “a pretty impressive number,”he says, and that the “staying time” of 12 minutes hasremainedthe same.About 160 people per month sign up for the newsletter through thewebsite or because it was forwarded to them. He attributes his low”unsubscribe” rate of three tenths of one percent to atelemarketingprogram last summer, when he and his staff (including two temps) made1,500 calls to track down bad E-mail addresses.So Sroczynski remains his always-optimistic self. Prospective clientswant to take advantage of both venues, he says, the bricks and mortarmeetings and the electronic newsletter. “We are offering whatthey want at a price point they want, and the market is working.””We have lived through the tech industry downtown, the generaleconomic downturn, and the events of September 11,” he says.”Thetech industry has not yet begun to show the depth of the hurt.”That means sales departments are going to be hungry: “I am gettingmore unsolicited requests to do business.”— Barbara FoxGetContactx, 247 High Street, Pottstown PA 19464.Steve Sroczynski, president. 610-718-9810; fax, 610-718-9811. Homepage: www.getcontactx.comTop Of PageCorporate AngelsD>Chili’s Grill & Bar on Route 1 South participatedin the “Dine For America” program on October 11, a nationwideeffort to raise money for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.The owner of Chili’s, Quality Dining Inc., is donating $10,000 andwill be collecting donations at its 74 restaurants.Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey has createda $1 million fund to pay help pay for health benefits for New Jerseyfamilies and members of its New York health plans who lost a husband,wife, or parent in the September 11 terrorist attacks.Assistance through the fund is available to New Jersey spouses andchildren, regardless of their insurer, and to members of Horizon’sNew York insurance plans who lost a family member. The fund will payfor extended health coverage, including replacement insurance or theincreased cost for continuation of existing coverage. Call800-224-1234.Members of the Cultural Events Team at Bristol-MyersSquibb,Plainsboro, joined students from the Cambridge School in Penningtonin gleaning apples at Terhune Orchards. Farmers Against Hungerwill distribute the apples.Farmers Against Hunger is a hunger relief program started by localfarmers through the New Jersey Agricultural Society to make use ofexcess fruits and vegetables that can not be sold at market. Theproduceis distributed to churches, food banks, and senior citizen centers.This year, Farmers Against Hunger will collect 1 million pounds offood.Gleaning, a practice that goes back to Biblical times, is now usuallydone after mechanized reapers go through fields gathering up crops.Gleaners gather up the produce that is too small, or too oddly shaped,for the machines to pick.To help kick off Check-Out Hunger 2001, employees from areaFleet Bank branches volunteered at the warehouse of the MercerStreet Friends Food Cooperative during two days in October.Check-Out Hunger is a joint campaign of food retailers, Fleet Bank,community volunteers, and the state’s food banks to raise funds forhunger relief.The Princeton Forrestal Village office of Reed Smithfieldeda team of attorneys, staff, family members, and friends to participatein the Eighth Annual Komen New Jersey Race for the Cure. Includedon the team are breast cancer survivors Christine Manuelli, a staffmember, and June Bilenky, a friend of Reed Smith staff members, whocelebrated her 10-year, cancer-free anniversary.Top Of PageThe Family that Votes TogetherThe Ford Foundation is sponsoring a Take Your Kids toVote/New Jersey project aimed at upping participation in electoralcontests. The foundation finds voter turnout in the United Statesamong the lowest of any democracy, with younger adults especiallyunlikely to cast a ballot.Walking into a polling place holding on to a parent’s hand makes alasting impression on children, according to the foundation, makingit more likely that they will take up the voting habit as adults.The foundation urges all parents to have their children join themon November 6 as they cast their votes.Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
