holiday special Get Nie!otcd


You’ve got an extra special holiday event planned. Or a special product that is just begging to get some air time. How do you get the media— and therefore, your customers—to pay attention? Here are some tips. Taryn Scher


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Be prepared. Don’t start reaching out to the media until you have a website that clearly represents your brand, clean product photographs (photos of products you are carrying that are great gift ideas, tablescapes, etc.) and a digital media kit. Typically the media kit should include all bios (owner of shop), company info, sample brands that you carry, and photos. Have all these ready to go and available at the click of a button.


Know who your spokesperson will be. Are you camera shy? Do you freeze during interviews or fumble with words? Ideally the storeowner is the spokesperson but in certain circumstances you might want to think about someone else who is qualified: your head buyer, best salesperson, etc. This should be someone with a “fun” personality who is engaging and creative and will positively reflect your brand.


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Specialty Retail Report n Fall 2013 SpecialtyRetail.com


Drop everything when the phone rings. If a reporter calls you, call them back within hours, minutes if possible. The same goes for an email. Do not expect a journalist to sit around and wait for your call back; they will call someone else, probably a competitor. Be sure and let your staff know that anyone calling from the media must be treated as urgent. One of the companies we worked with lost a huge front-page opportunity because an employee took the call and never passed it on.


Build a relationship. Think about developing a relationship with the journalist you are trying to pitch, rather than just blindly reaching out. Invite them out to lunch (and be sure to pick up the tab!) to get to know them. Don’t use that hour as an opportunity to just talk about you, find out about them. Then, send a nice follow-up note thanking


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