Polly's Power-PR

If you are targeting a columnist at a major publication to write about your client, be patient. Persistence is the cornerstone of Power-PR. Making a major hit for a client can take anywhere from four months to a year. In today's Washington Post is an example of a major hit for my clients, Matt and Judy Curry of Curry's Auto Service. They are featured in Tom Heath's "Value Added" column 

To pitch a story to a major business columnist, you need to have a good story about a company that has some traction. Present facts and figures to tune up your presentation. And you need to stay in touch. Keep sending reminders. Consider the old marketing adage: the Rule of Seven. A prospect has to see your marketing message at least seven times before that prospect will take action.

Tom has been writing his "Value Added" column for about three years now. He is the only writer on the Washington Post whose domain is local business. I'm not talking about Capital Business, where he writes another column called, "Capital Buzz." I'm talking about the A Section in the Washington Post.

I told Tom I was going to write a blog post about his column and asked him, "What kind of stories are you looking for or what makes a good pitch to you? I am writing the blog from the PR perspective. I thought I would talk about persistence…."

"My motto: Persistence is everything," he said.