Josh Bernoff of Forrester has “a new model for PR and influencers.” It’s a fantastic idea and one that I really hope will take off. Actually, I wished it had taken off two years ago.

You see, back in 2007 I started researching ways to improve the quality and relevance of PR pitches. I spent 6 months interviewing journalists and bloggers about how PR pros could serve them better. Based on that research I built Newsvetter, an online platform (not this blog) that improves the quality of PR pitches by asking users to answer ten basic questions every time they share news with the media.

But that’s not all. Journalists could also create their own profiles and specify how they liked to be pitched. They could also direct all pitches through the Newsvetter platform and then rate and comment on the pitches. I even created a profile badge so bloggers could feature it on their site to encourage on-target pitching. It was all quite wonderful.

The site launched in 2008 and had the fortune of getting some initial positive reviews from influential PR people like Shel Holtz, Sam Whitmore, Jon Greer and Kevin Dugan. But it was short lived.

Only a few journalists took the time to fill out their profiles. PR people started using it as a free press release site paying little attention to the quality of their pitches. A few PR people complained that the questions were too hard (they are not). In other words, laziness killed it. So I took it off line.

Now Josh Bernoff has HIRPS (Herpes?) which stands for Highly Relevant Pitching System. It proposes a profile system for influencers, a pitching system and ratings for PR people. Already he has floated the idea to the big wigs at Cision, one of the largest PR database companies. Cision would be an obvious choice and they would certainly have the resources to build and market it. Personally, I think this approach would be better suited to HARO, where this would be a nice add-on service for the journalists.

But the problem of laziness remains. If they build it, will PR and journalists come?

I wouldn’t count on journalists and bloggers to participate in any great numbers. That said, they would certainly welcome higher quality content from PR people.

It will be up to the PR pros to take the first step. Unfortunately, I have seen little movement on that front since 2007.

Maybe all that is needed is for a well-connected person like Bernoff to get things moving in the right direction. I sure hope so.

P.S. For those curious, here’s a slimmed down version of my PR pitching platform.

If you want to poke around without registering, use:

un: johndoe

pw: johndoe

I know. This probably isn’t a real trend (yet), but fake PR cases seem to be on the rise.

The most notable of course have been the following: the fake BP Global PR Twitter account, the General Mills press release hoax, and now, the fake PR account for AT&T.

My personal favorite is the Heishman Flillard stunt which is an obvious spoof of the well-known PR firm, Fleishman Hillard. It’s less an attack on Fleishman and more a commentary on how large PR firms are struggling to reinvent themselves in today’s world. Heishman has a Facebook fan page, a Twitter account and they recently launched a slick website complete with multimedia content and humorous copy like: “the most strategic, powerful and award winning tradigital force in public relations and social media in the universe.”

Although fake PR is not a new phenomenon, I believe PR professionals need to start preparing for more cases of it for three reasons:

• It’s really easy to create and distribute official-looking content via social media.
• It’s time consuming and challenging to shut down or remove fake PR off third-party sites.
• There is an audience for it, as evidenced by the 180,000 people that now follow the fake BP Global PR Twitter account.

So, how does one manage fake PR? Here a few steps to consider:

Step 1: Don’t bury your head in the sand. Issue a quick statement (preferably on your blog) acknowledging the existence of the fake PR.

Step 2: Talk to your legal department. Are the interests (not egos) of the company being seriously harmed by the fake PR? If not, is there a way your company can use the fake PR to its advantage?

Step 3: Consider fighting fire with fire. Don’t only consider serious solutions (e.g., cease and desist letters), consider using a humorous one. The real AT&T ought to engage the person running the fake AT&T Twitter account. For example, why not send him/her a Tweet that he/she’s been selected as employee of the month but needs to pick up the award in person?

Step 4: If the situation is highly sensitive (as in the case of BP), simply acknowledge the fake PR (Step 1) and leave it be (although continue monitoring for serious legal issues). Trying to silence the instigator is not likely to work in your favor.

Most of the fake PR cases that I’ve come across are not purposely malicious and don’t harm the company or its interests. They are meant to simply entertain and get attention for the author (at your expense of course). I don’t think there is any harm in that.

I think for most people the fake BP Twitter account served an important purpose. It became an outlet where people could vent their frustration through humor. And that’s probably a good thing.

But whatever you decide to do, don’t wait. Time is the enemy.

I really don’t like press releases. So when Portland-based search engine marketing firm Anvil Media posted something about press release optimization I was immediately skeptical.

But this post was refreshingly different because Anvil Media was honest about one thing: no amount of optimization is going to help a press release that isn’t newsworthy to begin with.

You can’t just wave a magic wand and presto your press release is optimized. It actually requires a lot of creative and strategic thinking. This became very clear after speaking with one of Anvil’s search engine experts, Nick Herinckx.

After a lengthy discussion with Nick, I came up with these four basic steps to better press release optimization:

• Step 1: Build a compelling story that influential journalists and bloggers will want to cover. This is a must-have before any reputable site will link to your company. There is nothing more wasteful than gratuitously stuffing your boring press release with a bunch of links and then paying for it to be distributed. Simply stop doing it and you’ll be better off.

• Step 2: Know your keyword search terms. This is best done by a trained search engine professional (hint: Anvil Media) but you can start off by using Google’s free Keyword Tool. Tip: Don’t just look at the number of monthly searches for a particular keyword. While the temptation is to think more is better it also means there is more competition around that term and will make it much harder to get noticed. If you have the time, create a list of all the search terms that describe your company and then manually go through them weeding out any terms with lower than 100 monthly searches.

• Step 3: Add links to your press release that reflect your top keyword search terms. For example, Anvil uses the anchor text “social media marketing firm” in their press releases (rather than just “Anvil Media.”) The reason for this is twofold: 1) To help search engines associate that term with Anvil; 2) To provide a hint to the journalist or blogger reading your release to use the same link or anchor text in their coverage of your company. The key is to get inbound links to your site from reputable sources. Again, the best way to do this is by carrying out Step 1 every time. Tip: Don’t over link. Search engines will only count one link with the same anchor text. Instead, limit yourself to two or three links, one using the exact anchor text and two using variations.

• Step 4: Use a quality newswire services to distribute your press releases. Yes, these are the ones you pay for although PitchEngine offers high quality news distribution for free. You can also post your press release to free distribution sites but know that they aren’t looked upon as favorably by search engines as the paid sites. In either case, make sure that the distribution service permits you to customize your anchor text (see Step 3).

Still, the biggest obstacle to press release optimization is determining what is newsworthy in the first place. There are no shortcuts here either.

But there is one thing you could try. You may remember that I developed an online news vetting system a few years back to help communicators identify the most newsworthy elements of their stories. It was developed after much consultation with journalists and bloggers. It doesn’t look pretty, but it works. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

If you still need a compelling reason to explore humor in PR, this post is for you. This week, a company called SonicMule decided to do add humor to a new hire announcement and it resulted in a major PR victory.

For those of us who work in PR, writing and pitching the new hire press release is akin to selling encyclopedias door to door. It’s an exercise in futility as few journalists, if any, are ever interested. But, as SonicMule proved, it doesn’t always have to go that way.

By injecting a little humor into their new hire announcement, an editor at the Wall Street Journal’s Venture Capital Dispatch blog took notice and not only covered the news but thanked them publicly for it. Let me repeat that: THE EDITOR THANKED THEM! Here’s the actual headline: “Thank You, SonicMule, For Having Fun With A Press Release.”

Perhaps more interesting is that SonicMule didn’t have to go overboard with the humor to score that killer headline.

For example, instead of issuing a typical quote like: “we are delighted to have [insert name] join our company,” SonicMule CEO Jeff Smith opted to poke fun at the new hire. And that’s all that was needed. As the editor himself pointed out: “The genius here is that they didn’t go over the top with it.”

Here are a couple of good points to remember when using humor in your PR efforts:

1. You don’t have to be Jon Stewart to get results with humor.

2. When using humor in PR be careful not to take it too far as it may cast doubt on the veracity of the news (or overshadow it completely). PR firm Elasticity experienced this first hand when their unorthodox but hilarious new hire announcement caused major confusion over at BusinessWire and PRNewswire.

3. Journalists are desperate for press releases or pitches that exhibit some originality.

In the comments section of the WSJ article, one reader warned that thousands of PR people will now try to emulate SonicMule’s approach when pitching WSJ journalists: “…what was once novel will become as hackneyed as the precursor versions of press releases…”

But the reply from the editor was pure gold: “…but at least the releases will be more creative and entertaining to read.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Rich Becker of Copywrite Ink has an interesting post today about how the lines between advertising and PR are blurring. I’ve been noticing this as well but I wonder if all this blurring could eventually lead to the replacement of many PR functions by advertising.

Here’s why I think this:

• People in advertising are better at telling interesting stories.
• They are not afraid to be provocative.
• They are free to explore all kinds of creative solutions to problems.
• They know how to create content for today’s attention spans.
• They are students of human behavior and culture.
• They are adept at using multimedia esp. video online.
• They have a strong background in the arts.

We are a content obsessed society looking to share the next piece of what Peter Shankman recently described as “finder’s candy.” In other words, that entertaining or remarkable piece of content that you just have to share. Who is best to feed this beast? In my opinion it’s advertising.

So what does PR bring to the table? The most important thing is crisis communications (and perhaps investor relations).

But in all honesty, drawing lines in the sand between PR, advertising and social media is kind of a useless exercise. What we really should be focusing on are skill-sets and the individual or group who is best suited for the job.

What are your thoughts?

Update: Some further reading:

(Many) Advertising Agencies (Still) Don’t Understand Social Media

Excerpt: It is far easier to spend millions on something cool and creative and hope to generate some short-term buzz that might lead to a measurable sales boost. But then what? What is the next call to action?  If the next campaign is not as fun or relevant, will those fans still rise to the bait and help promote it, or, will they fail to engage and ignore it?  Will someone who became a fan thanks to this fun campaign have reason enough to rally around the brand in a crisis? Advertising agencies don’t think such thoughts.  It is not in their DNA.  It’s not their fault, but neither should they fool themselves into thinking that this stuff is easy. Relationships buoy campaigns.  Campaigns do not create relationships.

Is Social Media Too Boring for Advertising Industry?

Excerpt: Whether “PR” or “Advertising” drive Social Media strategy has very little to do with which discipline better understands the New World Order.  It has more to do with which group is better prepared to wade in — and never leave — the proverbial community pool.

I’m going to make a bold statement: HubSpot would be nothing without humor. Ok, maybe nothing is too strong a word but the company is certainly more successful because of humor.

How did HubSpot do this? Simply put, they took their humor public. Early on the company made a decision to let humor become part of the company’s official corporate identity. If you don’t know what I mean, just watch this.

It was a risk but it was a risk worth taking. HubSpot’s public display of humor helped differentiate the company from its competitors and even land new customers. Yep, that’s right. Turns out there IS an ROI for humor.

Recently, I spoke with Mike Volpe, HubSpot’s VP of Inbound Marketing, to explore how humor has defined and helped the company:

Q: To what extent does HubSpot use humor internally/externally and why?

We use humor whenever it helps communicate and spread our content. Adding humor to your content makes it more likely that people will forward it to their friends and share it online. Most business content is really boring, so by not being boring you instantly stand out.

Internally, we work really hard and have an intense focus on results, so we also like to laugh to break up the stress. We have a whole section of our internal wiki dedicated to chronicling the funny things that happen at the company. There have also been a few internal pranks in the company…one that went sort of public and viral and ended up generating a bunch of leads and even a new customer.

Q: Do you feel that humor has helped to define the HubSpot brand and corporate culture?

I think it has become part of our brand for sure. People often mention to us that they like our funny videos or our cartoons when they talk to us. I think it helps make the company a lot more human, which makes the interactions with our customers and prospects a lot better. It also helps when we make mistakes – people don’t expect us to be perfect, because we make fun of ourselves and others, and the company has a personality.

Having a brand that stands out among all the other boring brands out there does help you grow. We have accumulated over 300,000 views on our YouTube videos, and a lot of that is driven by the funny ones. We also see traffic spikes most of the time when we publish our cartoons. This humorous content really spreads far and wide online, and helps build our brand and also generate traffic and leads and sales.

Q: Do you believe humor has helped HubSpot retain and get new customers?

Yes! I know for a fact that some customers mention our humorous videos as a reason they contacted us when they talk to our sales people. And we get a lot of virtual fan mail for people who like our loose and humorous style on our HubSpot TV marketing podcast.

Q: Why do you think humor has flourished at the company?

I think being a startup helps because we are not encumbered with an older and more “buttoned-down” culture. We were able to take some risks, because we had less to lose, and now that risk-taking is part of the culture. We are also encouraged to do it internally and people have come to expect it externally.

Q: Do you think there is a risk of integrating humor into PR and/or marketing programs?

There’s always a risk that things will backfire or be misinterpreted, but I think the bigger risk is not trying new things! Sticking with your old marketing techniques and mediocre results is safe, but you’ll never break out and really grow by only doing the things proven to work over the past 20 years.

Q: Do you agree that humor can generate serious business results?

Yes!  People like to laugh. Anyone who takes themselves too seriously seems like they have something to hide. In a world dominated by boring business gobbledygook and where online content and social media award authentic personality, humor is a great way to stand out.

Q: Who in your opinion is HubSpot’s reigning class clown?

Wow. That’s a tough one. There are a lot of strong contenders…but I guess if I had to pick one it would be Rebecca Corliss just because she has sung and acted for most of our music videos about marketing. Dharmesh Shah might be the runner up since he has worked on the majority of our cartoons, but he’s a co-founder so he already gets lots of airtime so I’ll stick with Rebecca as the #1 class clown!

Last week I posted a toon about Twitter selling ad space on the Fail Whale. At the time it was just for fun, but a few days later I started to wonder if Twitter should consider it a legitimate revenue opportunity.

Though the frequency is a lot less than in the early days of Twitter, I still get a visit from the Fail Whale several times a week. And if I see it, so do millions of others who are on Twitter at that time. That smells like an opportunity to me.

Now the question is who would buy an ad on the Fail Whale and what would they be willing to pay for it? I asked a few ad people and also posed the question on Twitter.

Jason Falls, a former ad guy at Doe Anderson, pretty much captured the prevailing opinion:

“I think selling ad space there would be dumb. It’s monetizing your screw ups for nothing more than monetization. You don’t want the Fail Whale to show up. If you did, you’d make the system crash more often, which would drive users crazy. Wait, Twitter does that anyway.”

However, there were a few brave thinkers who thought it might work given the right brand and/or product and, of course, the right sense of humor. This is where I think the opportunity lies. Why not market the Fail Whale ad space to companies whose products or services address failures?

For example: say you work at an auto repair shop like Meineke that either fixes failures (e.g., brakes) or tries to prevent them (e.g., regular maintenance). An ad on the Fail Whale could serve as a clever way to get that message across to millions of people. Imagine a text bubble coming out of the Fail Whale’s mouth or blowhole with the message: “Check your brakes or die! [insert company logo and link].” Sure, it wouldn’t be easy to pull off. But I think many ad agencies would love the challenge (e.g,. Wieden Kennedy).

Would people be annoyed? I don’t think so. At this point, most people have come to terms with the Fail Whale. There’s even a Fail Whale Fan Club with thousands of members (you can even buy Fail Whale products). But, even if you were annoyed, would it be enough to make you delete your Twitter account? Of course not.

So what could Twitter charge for an ad on the Fail Whale? I’m still waiting to hear back from the ad experts on that one.

I, for one, hope Twitter gives some serious thought to this idea. After all, hasn’t the poor Fail Whale suffered enough. Give the Fail Whale a chance to become the “Cash Whale.” It’s the right thing to do.

Begin rant.

What is it with all these angry memes aimed at the PR industry? Kill the press release, fire your PR firm, death to the embargo, all PR people are idiots etc.

Unlike other professions that simply ignore them (e.g., lawyers), we PR people love to jump on the bandwagon (me included) and share the crap out of these memes. Not because it does any good but because it informs everyone around us that we’re the ones doing it right: “It’s not me, it’s them.”

I presume the hope is that if the meme gets circulated enough the person who is doing it wrong is going to eventually wise up. That’s not likely.

The only way to correct the quality issues within the PR industry, is for the PR person who is doing it right to find the PR person who is doing it wrong and kill them. I don’t mean literally kill the person, just the way that person practices PR .

So how do we do this? We kill them with higher standards.

Part of the issue with PR is that anyone can claim to do it. There are no barriers to entry. No required certifications, no degrees, no “bar exams,” nada. We devalue the profession by not requiring a minimum level of proficiency. Some trade associations like the PRSA and IABC have discussed this issue at length but as far as I know there are no mandatory requirements.

Personally, I feel PR people should be required to have a Master’s Degree. This may sound extreme, but if we want PR to be taken seriously and have a seat at the executive table (next to the MBAs and JDs) then we need to have the proper credentials – ones that are universally recognized and accepted (esp. by non-communicators).

Now before you head down to the comment section to tell me that you didn’t need “credentials” to become a senior PR pro at a big agency, let me say this: This is not about you. It’s about creating a noticeable improvement in the overall quality of the profession as a whole. I believe this can be done by simply demanding more schooling from new PR hires.

So what do we do with all the idiots currently hurting the PR profession? Not much. Hopefully a new generation of better trained PR pros will surface and eventually replace them. But in the interim, support academics like Bill Sledzik and others like him. Invite them to speak at PR conferences or better yet at your Agency’s annual meeting. Get Bill to offer an online course in the Summer and make it mandatory for your junior PR staff. Pay them lots of money too. They deserve it.

Demand that Kevin Dugan and Richard Laermer write more posts at the Bad Pitch Blog. These guys are the only ones in my opinion who consistently blog about what’s wrong with PR in a constructive manner (e.g., using real examples etc.). By the way, these guys do this as a public service so throw them some coinage next time you pass their virtual home.

Lastly, if you know someone who’s a PR idiot, lend them a helping hand rather than circulate yet another anti-PR meme which does nothing but make the profession look bad.

End rant.

Most of you by now have viewed one or more of the brilliant viral YouTube videos titled: United Breaks Guitars. This topic is of special significance to me because I too was a traveling musician (violinist) who battled often with the airlines to ensure that my instrument didn’t suffer a gruesome death at the hands of Conan the Baggage Handler.

Dave Carroll, the creator of the videos, and his fellow band members were not so lucky. They got to witness the cruel treatment of their instruments by United’s baggage handlers first hand. You can read the whole story here.

Let me put this in perspective for non-musicians. The bond between a musician and his/her instrument is akin to that of the bond between parent and his/her child. You see your instrument being mistreated it’s going to piss you off in a major way. United Airlines failed to understand that and got what they deserved.

But my interest in United Breaks Guitars goes beyond just empathy. When Dave Carroll’s frustration with United Airlines customer service reached the breaking point, he didn’t get mad, he got creative. By doing so, he got what he wanted and more. The video campaign attracted millions of visitors, boosted sales for his music, raised awareness for instrument care on airlines, and birthed a forum where people could share similar customer service nightmares.

United Breaks Guitars has made Dave Carrol a very busy man. Luckily, I managed to snag a quick email interview with him last week (thanks Dave!). What follows is a great example of how to use creativity (and humor) to achieve amazing results.

Are you crazy? Who checks their instrument on an airline?

Some people have called me crazy but checking a guitar on many airlines is the only option. Air Canada’s policy for instance has been to force passengers to check guitars. I don’t recall for sure but I don’t believe I was told I had a choice with United Airlines. They certainly didn’t offer me the option to board with it.

Was writing the song more a form of therapy or did you have a specific goal in mind (e.g., raise awareness and help others with similar problems etc.)?

Both! I was frustrated by the customer service maze. I promised them (United) the three songs as a way of taking back my power as a customer. Worst case scenario I’d find a creative outlet to release some of that frustration. If they (videos) were successful then there would be an opportunity to affect real change. My goal was to enjoy doing it and not judge the success of it by the reaction of others.

Can you outline the steps you took to put the whole United Breaks Guitars campaign together? For example, how many people were involved? Did you put together a formal marketing/PR plan? How much did it cost?

There was literally very little planning put into the marketing for UBG. I wrote the first song and called some musician friends and said: “United broke my guitar and I’m recording a song about it. Do you want to play on it?”  They all said yes. When the song was done I sent it to my friends in the film industry here in Halifax and said: “Hey, United broke my guitar. Listen to this song and let me know if you’d be into making a funny video to put on YouTube.” They said sure. I called a few friends (all with no acting experience) and asked them to be in the video.

In June 2008 I went shopping and bought three sombreros, some white gloves, a globe, some mustaches and few other props. The entire production budget for the first video was $150. We met at the Waverley Fire Hall, where I am a volunteer fire fighter, at around 9 a.m. and we shot all the outdoor scenes that morning. We spent the afternoon at Curve Productions studio for the inside shots and finished at 6 p.m.

We had no real shot list just a few ideas: the guitar with the chalk outline was one, and the idea of having a handler throw the guitar like an Olympic hammer throw was another. Steve Richard had the idea to create an airplane fuselage out of white foam core but many of the shots were staged on the fly with one or two takes at the most.

Lara Cassidy edited the video but there weren’t that many shots to choose from because of the limited takes we had. I uploaded the video the first chance I had (July 6) and sent out a message to around 1000 Facebook fans and everyone in my outlook express email list. The rest is history.

Why did you choose to add video as opposed to just using the song alone?

I wanted to share the song with as many people as possible and songs don’t typically “go viral.” The visuals combined with a song are what gives people the strongest experience and I knew that Curve would deliver a great looking video. I knew that if I created a well written song with high production values in the recording and the video than it would be enjoyable to watch and one you would want to tell your friends about.

How well versed in social media were you prior to the United Breaks Guitars campaign?

I used Facebook and Twitter and understood the potential behind YouTube but the beauty of social media is that you don’t need to be an expert at all to use it effectively. If you make something relatable, that looks good, sounds good and makes people want to tell their friends about, others will do the work of spreading the word.

Were you surprised by the success of the United Breaks Guitars campaign? Can you tie a sales figure to this campaign? How has it opened doors in other areas for you?

I thought the potential was there to reach 1 million views with the three videos in one year. I had seen plenty of videos with more than a million hits with poor production value that were completely forgettable. I was convinced that because UBG was funny with great production value that it could get the numbers. What I didn’t foresee was how strong the reaction would be with traditional media and how people would watch it so many times. Sales jumped dramatically both online and with physical CD sales and I have had offers for record deals and publishing deals.

When putting together social media campaigns, what do you think is the most important consideration?

Relatabilty, high production value and humour draw people in. People will be attracted to shocking things and violence but if you can make them laugh the experience will resonate more effectively.

Do you believe you’ve had an impact on the customer experience for people flying United? In other words, are they more careful with musical instruments after the United Breaks Guitars success?

I met three Vice Presidents at United Airlines in September and suggested that a clearer policy be implemented on guitars. I’m told that that has been done and that musicians can bring their guitars on all United Airline flights if they are within a certain length. However, UBG has had an impact worldwide across most industries. Any big company stands to experience a similar customer service nightmare if they ignore the needs of their customers and have poor recovery plans in place. Mistakes will happen in every industry but there is a wide range as to how big companies are reacting. Since July changes are taking place. I understand United is doing better in both the industry and with long time flyers who say it’s better across the board. It’s gratifying to know you’ve had a positive impact.

It’s a good day when you discover someone who is doing exactly what you want to do successfully. Kathy Klotz-Guest, is the owner of Powerfully Funny, a consultancy based in the Bay Area, whose mission is none other than: to help individuals and organizations of any size improve the impact of their marketing and communications through humor.

She’s been doing it since 2003 for such stalwart brands as Cisco and IBM. She also does stand-up on occasion at the Rooster T. Feathers in Sunnyvale (although I’d like verifiable proof of that).

But can she do cartoons? Doh! Now I must kill her.

I will be doing a more extensive Q&A with Kathy in a future blog post, but while I was digging for dirt about her I came across a great article she wrote about humor in PR. I’ve reprinted the article in its entirety below (with permission of course). I’d love to get a discussion going about this, so please share your thoughts in the comments.

Use Humor in PR to Be Heard – Not to Be One of the Herd

by Kathy Klotz-Guest

Humor works. I got your attention! Sadly, there’s a dearth of humor in public relations efforts, especially from technology companies. There’s a reason Dilbert skyrocketed to fame – it’s rife with truth!

High-tech suffers from terminal seriousness. It’s an insidious problem and it means that most tech companies fail to take advantage of opportunities to stand out. Over 80% of everything we hear daily is filtered, and humor helps you be heard in a crowded market.

It’s time to think differently about marketing. “Me-too” strategies just won’t cut it – unless you aspire to mediocrity. Companies spend millions on technology, but can’t spend a few creative brain cycles to do justice to their PR? It’s like spending a ton on collateral, without having an effective 30-second pitch!

Ridiculous, right?! Great PR doesn’t have to be expensive – just creative.

A lack of great PR can be deadly. Many great products and services go under the radar not for lack of quality, but because they have failed to attract attention in a noisy world. The king of the market does not necessarily have the best offering. You must not only have great quality, your marketing must take a strategically different approach to stand out. Humor can help!

Humor is not a 4-letter word. Ok, it’s a 5-letter word, but the point is if done right, humor can help with the most important aspect of PR – garnering visibility. Most of the editorial press corps read far fewer than half of all releases sent to them. Why? Because companies don’t think about content from a perspective that matters to their audiences! Press releases aren’t written for your benefit. If the trade press can’t glean why their readers should care, you haven’t done your job.

Most releases end up in the “circular” file unread  — because they stink! They are painfully dull, uncreative, self-promotional and without value to readers, lack news, and if your press release floats–
its got more “foam” (read: lack of substance) than a styrofoam cup! And at least they are fun to play with! Hey, sometimes you gotta be cruel to be kind. What was the last great release you read? Exactly!

Questions you need to ask about your PR include:

• What’s in it for my audience?
• Do I have a great hook? Do I have an interesting angle of value to readers?
• Is this release part of a well-balanced, integrated marketing program?
• Is my announcement newsworthy? As my favorite 1980’s fast-food commercial lamented,“Where’s the beef?!” A little sizzle is fine, but you must include the steak!

The good news – by daring to do something different, you’ll stand out! Humor isn’t the whole meal, but it makes a great appetizer! And there are risk-mitigation strategies any company – or individual – can employ.

A Great Headline Gets Attention

A great headline gets attention, but relevant news will get the press to continue reading the release. A headline should be short, creative, and stand out.  It should highlight the news in your announcement. Example: a woman came to a seminar I gave on adding humor to marketing with a topic as dry as a bone: Sarbanes Oxley compliance services. The original release draft she brought, “Firm XY Announces New SOCS Services.”  Yikes! Serious yawner!  And how many SOCS releases do you think the press gets?!

After a few quick exchanges, we came up with: “Don’t Get Caught With Holes in Your SOCs!” The copy then explained why the new service was needed, and what was different about it. But that hook is key! You are asking people for their valuable time to read your release. Make sure it’s worth it.

Relate Humor to a Benefit or Issue/Problem Relevant to Your Audience

A humorous headline should relate to a benefit or differentiation. Humor for humor’s sake is a tough sale. For example, a PR colleague helped a client with a PR campaign around quality. The crux of the campaign: “Quality is boring and boring is cool!”

Was this risky? A little, but the campaign worked because the company backed it up with quality – a key product benefit. The news angle wasn’t the technology per se– it was that the client had the highest quality in the industry for that particular product. We only hear about quality issues when there are defects. My colleague’s client had a stellar record for quality. So “boring quality” was newsworthy: it spoke of innovation that was unparalleled in the market.

Test It!

Third, my colleague with the “quality” campaign did her research. She interviewed a sample from the editorial press and asked for their opinions. The vast majority responded well to her idea because it was a fun and different angle that was backed up with a real story.  Hence, my next caveat and this is a biggie…

Humor Must Be Supported by a Real News Angle

A humorous headline will catch attention, but won’t interest press in covering your company – or keep your audience reading – unless a real story is involved. The foundation of any great PR campaign must be real news. Not sure what makes a great release? Ask the press! The press is constantly bombarded with “vaporware”— known in high-tech for its lack of news. Humor never substitutes for vapor. What’s news to a company might not be news to the editorial press. For example, a new large client or partnership may not be worthy of press coverage. However, if the partnership is novel and different, it could be. Be creative.

Example: “Company XY launches workshops to educate kids on STDs.” That’s interesting, but it could be better. How about the following re-write:

“Company XY Joins Forces with The Improv Comedy Store to Educate kids on STDs.” Then, the story is about a unique approach to education using humor. This is a new, fresh, even fun approach to a serious topic. You bet you’ll stand out and generate some press to boot!

Bottom-line: even a little humor makes a big difference. If well researched, backed up by a real story, and focused on product benefits (like quality), humor can help a company cut through the noise and garner visibility with trade press, customers, and prospects.  Isn’t that the point of PR?!