The pitch – that irreplaceable tool that PR practitioners across the globe use to advance the message of their brands or clients – is an elemental and powerful strategy for building your audience, stimulating awareness and broadening your reach in our digital age.
One of the most authoritative voices peddling the pitch these days is Bill McGowan, media coach for Facebook, and for executives, celebrities and artists ranging from Kelly Clarkson and Eli Manning to Thomas Keller and Tim Gunn. McGowan has also worked with major firms to help PR professionals hone the art of the pitch.
In McGowan’s latest book Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time, he draws on decades of experience working in front of and behind the camera to offer tips and tools on how to deliver a message efficiently and confidently.
PRNewser, a digital publication of Mediabistro, a leading media industry research firm, recently discussed the art or the pitch with McGowan, and here are some highlights from that interview:
What’s the biggest mistake people make when communicating in public?
They may do a decent job preparing talking points, but they don’t put the same amount of prep into the visual stories and examples that illustrate their points. They think they can pull the real content out of thin air, and that just doesn’t happen.
PR in particular needs to be able to speak experientially about the customer –what his or her problems are and how what you’re offering solves those problems – rather than relying on canned key messages and brand propositions.
The client’s default mode may not be to speak in relatable stories and examples, but it’s my role and the role of PR to compel and challenge them to do so.
What’s the most important topic you address in terms of media relations?
Helping to craft the soundbites that I know will interest the journalist.
Using analogies is always helpful: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was recently discussing women in politics and said: ‘While we understand macro-economic issues, we really excel at the macaroni and cheese issues.’
Yes, it was obviously written ahead of time – but that didn’t stop the journalists from using it.
It works because you don’t have to explain the concept for people to understand. That’s my goal with PR clients and their clients.
Generally speaking, what does PR need to do to better appreciate the journalist’s perspective?
Sometimes there’s an unrealistic expectation that the reporter will be a megaphone for your brand proposition, but his/her first response to every pitch is ‘How can I poke some holes in this narrative?’
Also, I have rarely read a suggested Q&A document in which I’ve seen one question I would legitimately ask as a reporter.
It’s important not to confuse the notion that they’re happy to let you help them do their jobs with the idea that they’re willing to let you tell them what the story should be.
What’s the key to pitching a product/campaign that might not be a legitimate story unto itself?
In announcing a new product, there’s not enough discussion about how your customers influenced the launch. You’ll never go wrong in highlighting the pipeline between your company and your customer and how it influences the decisions you make.
In the Don Draper chapter, you begin with his famous quote about changing the conversation. What about the art of gently guiding the conversation?
There’s an erroneous assumption that being good at media relations is about never answering the question – but that’s what makes you sound like a politician.
You want to steer the conversation, but you don’t want to hijack it. This is known as bridging, and the ultimate clumsy bridge is ‘I’m not here to talk about that today; what I am here to talk about is…’
There must be some conversational connective tissue between the reporter’s question and topic Y. For example: ‘There’s been a lot of conversation about this and rightfully so, but one of the things we’re also taking a look at is Y.’
The overwhelming number of questions you get from a reporter will be pretty benign, and for those loaded questions you want to address the broader topic without getting into the granular nature of the question.
In the book you mention working with PR executives. What were the biggest challenges they faced?
We have been retained by firms to teach teams going out to pitch clients.
Most people don’t go into a client meeting doing enough listening and figuring out what the client wants to accomplish.
Many junior account executives in their 20s also haven’t received proper mentoring in how to convey an executive presence, or get rid of filler words and ‘uptalk’ to increase gravitas. The big question is ‘Do you have conviction behind the pitch you’re selling?’ but it goes much deeper than that:
• Are you being an attentive listener?
• Are you sitting or standing with an executive presence as opposed to leaning back in your chair and flipping your hair?
• How do you begin the pitch with a compelling thought and end it with a bang?
• How do you interact with your slides?
Facebook Dives Deeper Into News Game
Facebook has launched a new feature called the FB Newswire that is designed to give media outlets and journalists a real-time feed of newsworthy content. But who benefits most from that kind of relationship — those news outlets, or Facebook itself?
It seems Facebook isn’t happy to just have a News Feed that is designed to be a newspaper, or a mobile app called Paper that is also supposed to be a newspaper. So it has launched a new feature aimed at journalists called FB Newswire, which is just what it sounds like: a real-time feed of content related to news-worthy events. And what would Facebook like media outlets to do with that content? Why, share it and embed it on their news pages, of course.
The new wire service, which debuted recently, is partially powered by a partnership with Storyful, a social-news verification service that News Corp. acquired in December for $25 million. The service highlights content that has been posted by users and media entities that are reporting on breaking news events around the world, and comes complete with an easy-to-use “embed” function.
It’s pretty clear that Facebook wants this new feature to be seen as a goodwill gesture towards the media industry.
It also seems fairly obvious that Facebook is trying to elbow its way into the market that Twitter has mostly dominated for some time now when it comes to being a source of real-time and “user generated” news content. The FB Newswire even has a dedicated Twitter account, which either seems clever or desperate, depending on how you look at it. And using the resources of Storyful to verify all that user-generated content is definitely a smart move.
Golden Mic | Boston Marathoner Benjamin Maenza
Benjamin Maenza is the epitome of tenacity, valor and perseverance. After he lost both legs to a bomb while fighting as a Marine in Afghanistan, he returned to the United States undeterred to be a positive influence. He finished his first marathon – using a handcycle – only a year after he lost both legs below the knee. And he hasn’t looked back. He’s completed seven 26.2-mile marathons. After last year’s Boston Marathon tragedy, he vowed to race in that race to honor all those who lost limbs or died – not defending their nation overseas, but as a result of heartless terrorists who detonated bombs at the finish line of the world’s most famous marathon. Maenza raced side-by-side in solidarity with survivors of the bombing, and in doing so sent a ringing message of triumph over tragedy that no one – not even cowardly terrorists – can steal our freedom!
Each week, The Spin Cycle will bestow a Golden Mic Award to the person, group or company in the court of public opinion that best exemplifies the tenets of solid PR, marketing and advertising – and those who don’t. Stay tuned – and step-up to the mic! And remember … Amplify Your Brand!