Source: Marketrends

Bob Zeitlinger, Managing Director of B To Z Communications in Dumont, New Jersey, gives this advice to accounting marketing professionals.

A managing partner may be surprised by a newspaper article in which a competing accounting firm was quoted, but the managing partner’s firm was not. The MP knows his firm has as much knowledge on the subject as the featured firm. He wants to know why his firm was not quoted. The answer is the reporter didn’t know the firm.

PR is not necessarily time intensive. To make sure the right reporters are aware of your firm, introduce your firm to them and stay in touch. An incident like the above may be an opportunity to contact the reporter and recommend a different perspective on the subject. Ask the reporter if you can introduce him or her to your firm’s partners who may be sources for future stories, and outline the subjects of their expertise. You might suggest a future story. Of course you should contact other media sources with similar offers. But after a reporter agrees to write a story using your partners as resources, don’t offer that story to anyone else.

Sending press releases without news that is valued by the publication can be counter productive. Editors and reporters become conditioned to expect information from you that they cannot use. However, you don’t need news. For example, you might suggest a story about succession planning, offering a unique solution to a problem, such as how to handle temporary succession (e.g., when the owner is temporarily unable to manage the business). Or, you might do some research on Google to discover stories that may have been used in other cities.

Partners are often anxious about being interviewed by reporters, and there are ways to alleviate their discomfort. Prepare a summary of the story and a list of anticipated questions. Collect some other stories written by this reporter. Ask the reporter what kinds of questions will be asked, but don’t ask for a written list. Work with the partner(s) to formulate answers and significant ideas to be communicated.

The marketing professional can moderate the interview and initiate discussion prior to the interview to make the partner feel more comfortable. During the interview, the marketing professional can raise issues the partner may have omitted, and suggest that the partner discuss them.

After the interview, contact the reporter with an offer to clarify any issues. Offer a photograph of the partner. Find out when the story will be published. Review the story with the partner and contact the reporter if corrections are required.

From Marketrends, May/June 2006, p. 1, Association for Accounting Marketing, Inc., Kansas City MO, 816-221-1206, www.accountingmarketing.org.