How to Stay on Message with the Media

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias

Politicians are notorious for not answering the question. Journalists ask the yes or no question, and they scramble to another topic instead of staying on the message. Here’s how it came across recently when an MSNBC reporter asked candidate Scott Walker a simple yes or no answer.

KASIE HUNT: Do you think that birthright citizenship should be ended?

SCOTT WALKER: Well, like I said, Harry Reid said it’s not right for this country — I think that’s something we should, yeah, absolutely, going forward-

HUNT: We should end birthright citizenship?

WALKER: Yeah, to me it’s about enforcing the laws in this country. And I’ve been very clear, I think you enforce the laws, and I think it’s important to send a message that we’re going to enforce the laws, no matter how people come here we’re going to enforce the laws in this country.

HUNT: And you should deport the children of people who are illegal immigrants?

WALKER: I didn’t say that — I said you have to enforce the law, which to me is focusing on E-Verify.

The Importance of Staying on Message

I work with many tech startup entrepreneurs who are typically less media savvy. Their delivery frequently works to their advantage because they are authentic, but this isn’t politics. If you’re trying to promote your business or service through the media and you have a reporter listening to you, it’s important to stay on message and to continually sell your services.

Don’t learn the hard way. A video client recently told me that she was interviewed by NPR, which is a national news organization that reaches influential and educated listeners. She told me a reporter spent two different days on the phone with her but she wasn’t mentioned in the story. She asked me what she could have done differently.

I wasn’t listening to that interview, but if a reporter calls you twice – he or she is rooting for you. They want you to give them the context or sound that they need for their story. Journalists are inherently self-interested, which isn’t a negative stereotype in this situation. When it comes to writing their story, they need to be self-interested or every other person will influence the direction of their message.

Media Advice for Interviews

This is why it’s so important to stay on message during an interview with the media. You have little time to persuade this journalist that you belong in his story, so measure that time well. Don’t spend 15-minutes giving background on facts if the reporter didn’t ask for that. Facts don’t sell the story. Context sells your story. Perspective brings commentary and color to any story. Reporters want color and context because color brings a story alive and context makes it relevant.

Remember that the next time you get a chance to sell your tech or business story to the media. Stay on message, the clock is ticking.

Macias PR was named the 2015 “PR Consultant Firm of the Year – USA” by Finance Monthly. The firm was founded by Mark Macias – a former Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. Macias is a weekly contributor with CNBC.com and author of the communications book, Beat the Press: Your Guide to Managing the Media, which has been featured in the NY Times, Fox Business, NY Post and others. Macias PR has run media campaigns for tech startups, financial groups, service providers, nonprofits and politicians.

Case Study on Mobile App PR

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias

It’s difficult for all mobile app developers to stand out – unless you have the media behind you.

Our passionate team is proud to say our new mobile app, Blush No More, is the fastest growing communications app on the app stores, according to statistics from Mobincube.

And that growth came without any advertisements. Our entire user acquisition campaign was driven by organic news coverage with the tech, national and international media led by Macias PR.

The Daily Mail in the UK called Blush No More the “ultimate dinner party app – able to feed you a conversation starter at just the right time.”

Yahoo News said the “App ‘Blush No More’ Helps Keep the Conversation Rolling.’”

Channel 11 in New York City aired a 4-minute story on the mobile app, saying it suggests “perfect ice breakers to keep the conversation going.”

Channel 11 also tracked down a Blush No More user and asked him what he thought of theapp. Here’s what Iwan Lubberts from Holland told their reporter on TV:

“It really makes you feel like a local. If you look up the lines, they are pretty American. It’s helping me out to understand American people and how to deal with American people in language,” Lubberts said.

That Channel 11 video on Blush No More went viral within hours and was picked up by AOL, spreading the word around the world. Since then, other news publications have run stories on how this is a genius idea that everyone can use.

Yahoo China, AOL News, Yahoo News, GQ Italy and Metro Global newspapers all wrote glowing, positive stories about Blush No More and how it can help consumers.

LovethatMag – a popular US online publication that covers the latest trends, wrote this review: “If you’re someone that tends to find yourself not knowing what to say amidst an awkward silence, then new app ‘Blush No More’ could be your one stop shop for ice breakers, and a whole lot more.”

That is publicity and endorsements that no ad can buy.

How the Media Drives App Downloads

Blush No More has seen exponential growth in downloads following this international and online media exposure. The percentage of downloads has grown more than 1300 percent following just 3 days of media exposure. It maintained that momentum throughout July and August 2015, becoming the fastest growing mobile communications app, according to its publisher, Mobincube.

So the next time you’re looking at your app analytics, wrinkling your forehead, wondering what can you do to make your tech startup stand out – take the initiative and reach out to Macias PR. If the green box at the bottom of your screen shows we are online, ask for Mark and I’ll give you a media strategy after learning more about your app.

Channeling Steve Jobs – An Entrepreneurship Lesson

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias

I frequently come across old stories I wrote for different publications. This morning I read a story I wrote for an entrepreneurial magazine after Steve Jobs died. As one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time, we can all learn from his vision, execution and tenacity.

Here’s a shorter vision of that story I wrote on Steve Jobs shortly after his death – in my attempt to become a better entrepreneur.

I think I know what Steve Jobs would say about all of this news coverage.

“Write something different. Obituaries are for dead people.”

When I write, I want to learn. I want readers to walk away with something they didn’t know, but how does a writer accomplish that when every news outlet on the planet is covering the Steve Jobs death in the same way.

Here’s how I would cover this story if I were still a journalist with NBC or CBS. I would try to channel Steve Jobs.

I never met Steve Jobs nor do I claim to know his thoughts, but I do promise these quotes are directly from Steve Jobs’ mouth. Their analysis – however – is from me, which means only time will reveal if these insights are true for you. For now, go along with the journey.

Steve Jobs: “I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started?…What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

Mark Macias: Every entrepreneur, journalist, and businessman wants to be creative, but few know how to achieve it. Steve Jobs is the inventor of creativity, so let’s take his advice. Creativity is about losing yourself. When I was an Executive Producer with WNBC, I learned that power is an aphrodisiac and once you taste it, you never want anything else. That’s fine if you can sustain the habit, but fame and power are both fleeting. Sooner or later, it will escape your grip. Steve Jobs learned something at an early age that every person in power fears: Power constricts your creativity because you are so focused on the act of maintaining control. Creativity and control are juxtaposed. They don’t work together. As a man who gained and lost power, I can tell you when a person loses power, his ability to think becomes clearer and as your mind becomes clearer, the spirit of creativity is manifested.

Steve Jobs: “When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation…On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself.”

Mark Macias: So many of my friends worry about losing their jobs and it’s an understandable fear. But rather than fret about the unknown, let’s apply Steve Jobs’ advice – “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” When we are hungry and foolish, we have nothing to lose and that’s how entrepreneurs succeed. When we have nothing to lose, we will take the gamble because we know inside, there is no place to go but up. When you’re hungry, you work harder to find food. When you’re foolish, fear disappears. The only thing I fear – right now – is the day when I lose this foolish fear of hunger pains.

Steve Jobs: “Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new…Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Mark Macias: Steve Jobs left behind a fortune worth billions of dollars. He could have done anything he wanted or traveled anywhere, met any person. Luckily, he grasped the big picture of life and that is, in my analysis: Life is just the first act, and as soon as you realize that, it suddenly gets fun. You don’t worry what people say or believe and as a businessman, journalist, or entrepreneur — you don’t follow others. My Dad always told me to create my own path. I didn’t understand that as a nine-year-old. I thought he was trying to tell me to get lost in his own polite way. Now, as an adult, I think he was telling me what Steve Jobs told us: Have the courage to follow your heart.

Thought Leadership PR Campaigns

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias

Thought leadership is one of the best ways to distinguish your tech startup or business from its competitors, especially if you are a CEO. Your experience brings credibility while personal case studies can teach other tech startups or entrepreneurs how to do it better, which makes for a great business story.

When speaking with potential clients, I always try to get into their minds quickly to identify how credible they will be when speaking with the media. This is particularly important with tech startups that historically enter the business with little credibility. In these situations, it can be helpful to find unique personal stories that can help your narrative.

For example, we work with the CEO of a major lending organization who is also a Latino from Queens. Yes – his expertise is in financial, but he also brings a new dimension of expertise based on his life experiences. How does a Latino rise to the top of a lending organization that was founded by JP Morgan more than 100 years ago? How did he use his culture to help grow his customer base among Hispanics? How did he assimilate into a financial industry that is not known for its diversity? What did the streets of Queens teach him that he applies to the board room?

We used those same questions to get that CEO in the NY Daily News (story above) and later this week, he will be on CNN en Español in prime time, talking about what he learned on the streets of Queens and how he is applying it at work. Thought leadership is about introducing new ideas and life experiences so next time you’re brainstorming on publicity ideas, go back to your roots and work backwards.

Crisis or Publicity Campaign – Which is it?

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias

I always want to keep politics out of business. It rarely helps close a business deal, but I recently wrote a story for CNBC on the difference between publicity campaigns and crisis campaigns. In today’s world, anyone can call him or herself a “crisis media consultant” or “publicist” but that doesn’t mean they will deliver better results.

In fact, the wrong media campaign can actually hurt you, as I described for my CNBC analysis story on the Hillary Clinton campaign. Her public opinion numbers are plummeting, and at her current rate, she will lose to Bernie Sanders. But why is that when she was the front runner with supposedly the brightest minds in politics?

It’s because her PR team is running a publicity campaign when they should be running a media campaign. Want to know the difference so your business doesn’t make the same mistake? Click here to read my CNBC analysis on how to know whether you need to run a publicity or a crisis media campaign.

B2B PR Campaigns

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias

Our PR team works with clients in different industries – tech startups, financial, nonprofits, service sector and retail. Business to consumer (B2C) media campaigns are usually easier to run from a conceptual perspective, but many Business to Business (B2B) campaigns are even more effective with a better ROI than B2C campaigns.

I frequently meet hedge fund managers who want to reach fund of funds, which is a B2B campaign. They usually tell me a media campaign won’t work for them – and on the surface, I can see why they would believe that. They aren’t pushing a service that the consumer can buy like many tech startups, but many fund managers do read the Wall Street Journal and watch CNBC and Bloomberg to hear where the markets are going. Fund managers must always be informed and they usually get their news from the business publications.

It may take time to see or understand how this new PR marketing approach can help hedge funds or private equity groups reach new investors and institutional money, but when you look at your news tomorrow morning, ask yourself: what is this information that is swaying my judgments? When I speak with clients or potential clients at the next networking event, will I discuss the news market?

Here’s an example of a story we used to help our compliance client reach targeted hedge fund managers. It’s in The Wall Street Journal and it involves hedge fund regulation. Sounds like a story you may want to discuss with your colleagues tomorrow. Click here to read the WSJ story.