Pirozzolo Company Public Relations

To Reach Next Level PR, Go Beyond News Writing Basics

This public relations how-to article explains how to push the limits of news.

In the rush to get out that next news release, blog post or tweet it’s easy to ignore the fundamentals of journalism.

That’s okay, but only if all you want are PRNewswire mentions, web content and, hopefully, some inbound links.

But if you aspire to Next Level PR—the kind of public relations that generates exposure in A-List traditional and online media, establishes your CEO as a thought leader, influences stakeholders, builds brand equity and generates qualified leads, then you must push the parameters of journalistic fundamentals to their limits.

MediaCollege.com lists the five basics of a news story to which Pirozzolo Company has added an additional five to help you get your client to Next Level PR. 

Let’s consider each one and how they can turn a ho-hum public relations campaign into a news-making powerhouse.

 Timing – people want to know what’s happening now as in “what’s new?”

As Media College states, “A story with only average interest needs to be told quickly.”

However, the enemy of corporate public relations timeliness is a multi-level review requirement for every routine release, tweet and blog post. It is far better to establish corporate guidelines for news releases as well as Social Media behavior, than having to review every bit of external communication. Sure mistakes will be made, but for the most part they can be corrected. Overall the campaign will be more effective if the C-Suite empowers employees serve as ambassadors of the brand and communicate with the best interests of their organization in mind.

Significance – A plane falls from the sky and everyone is killed; now that’s news. If everyone walks away, as they did in Miracle on the Hudson, that’s really big news. Walk away from a car crash in the Vons parking lot and it’s a snore.

Significance. though is in the eye of  the beholder. Let’s say you’re promoting a new app. Think about who the product matters to and focus on its significance for that audience. Too many news releases tout new technology as a state-of-the-art world-changer and a disrupter. Overreaching is counter productive, reduces creditability and will turn off editors and your target market.  

Dick Pirozzolo and Ted Kennedy, Jr. at American Polyfilm Grand Opening

Likewise, don’t think about significance only in terms of the market and investors. How does the new product impact employees and their families, does the new technology make the company a more progressive employer and thus more attractive to job seekers, does it open up opportunities for speaking engagements, how does the new product square with the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility culture and goals?

In the case of American Polyfilm's grand opening of its new manufacturing facility in Branford, Connecticut we capitalized on the national effort to encourage "Made in America" and hit all the notes in terms of significance to the local community, market reliability, and underscored the company's commitment to being a good corporate citizen, thus epitomizing the future of American manufacturing. CEO Victor Cassella underscored the importance of government-business cooperation in his remarks at the event. 

Cassella told well-wishers, “We have received ongoing support from the U.S. Small Business Administration, and Community Investment Corporation as well as The Guilford Savings Bank.

"The cooperation we experienced between our business and government agencies, clearly demonstrates the role government can play by encouraging forward-looking, energy-efficient, clean industries that support well paying jobs to locate and expand in the U.S.”

Proximity – Proximity isn’t only geographic. Media College advises that proximity can also describe a cultural, historical or social bond. Australians care about events in Singapore, because of its geographic proximity and the UK because of its cultural and historical proximity. Similarly, an event occurring in Israel will have more of an impact on Americans than one in Iceland.

Prominence – Pirozzolo Company has represented clients that are international household names. We have also established our clients’ prominence within geographic proximity or a community of interest such as the financial services,  foreign exchange, cybersecurity, or medical electronics sectors. 

Human Interest ­– Human interest stories, says Media College, “… often disregard the rules of newsworthiness; for example, they don't date as quickly, they need not effect a large number of people, and it may not matter where the story takes
place…”

For example, when Boston business leader Jeffrey Ornstein, CEO of J/Brice Design, was about to lose a valued employee whose visa had run out, he  launched not only a legal battle, but retained Pirozzolo Company to fight her case in the court of public opinion. Ornstein won and the employee, a talented young designer, remained working in the US, thanks in-part to a number of media outlets that underscored her value to the American economy including Wicked Local.

In addition, to these news fundamentals, consider Pirozzolo Company’s Next Level PR Basics: Controversy, Humor, Story, Consistency and Simplicity.

Controversy –  More than anything, the media love controversy, something the President of the United States has mastered to control nearly every news cycle.

We constantly scan the media for current events and issues. More recently we capitalized on the controversy involving Russia hacking our elections and tied it to the Republican National Convention to generate coverage for Stealthcare, a cybersecurity consulting company. The firm's CEO appeared on CBS-TV Cleveland and other national business and professional media outlets where he commented on the foreign involvement. 

Humor – There are times when funny will get you a lot more positive exposure than deadpan.

Washington Post humorist and syndicated columnist Gene Weingarten once interviewed our client Hilla Ovil-Brenner, founder of WhiteSmoke, a turbocharged writing engine that includes advanced editing and spellchecking.  

Columnist Weingarten quipped that Ovil-Brenner probably didn’t like it when people learned to spell because it would hurt her business.

She quipped back, “If I sold plus-size fashions, that would not mean I want women to be fat, it means I want them to feel good, look good and be successful in their lives. Just like WhiteSmoke helps people with become more successful communicators….”

The WhiteSmoke-Weingarten interview was hilarious and got picked up by newspapers nationwide. Product sales soared. 

Story – Too often organizations forget that their CEO is a real life person whose heart, skills, challenges, obstacles and conflicts make for far more interesting reading than canned quotes about how, “Delighted we are to announce Rebecca as the new VP engineering at Techno Pants Corp.”

Stop sanitizing CEOs. Let them be human, let them talk about how they resolve conflicts with the board of directors, investors or the government and include information about their personal relationships and activities. Make them come alive. We love knowing about Ben and Jerry, Jobs and Wosniak, Bill and Melinda and Richard Branson because we see them as real people with exciting, committed lives. Few people know anything about the CEO of Dell or American Airlines and their PR suffers.

Consistency – While representing institutional investment managers, a journalist once mused, “How come 75% of all money managers are in the top quartile when it comes to their performance releases?” That’s because the poor performers hide in the weeds when their numbers are down and emerge only when their numbers are up.

Want to win the respect of journalists, build credibility and generate positive press over the long haul? Be accessible when the news is bad. Get it out, get it done and move on. When it’s time to deliver good news, you will be far more credible and will have a trusting relationship with the editors and reporters. They will credit your for your candor and their coverage will be more positive and prominent when the news is good.

Simplicity – Keep it simple. How many times do we use jargon like OEM, FX or Q4 without thinking that the journalist who makes the first cut on a news release might be new to manufacturing or finance to say nothing of the reader. Journalism critics note that The Wall Street Journal, whose readers are supposed to be mostly business types, does better job of explaining business and financial terms than a The New York Times, whose readership is more general.

Kim Wallace of the market research firm Wallace & Washburn in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and author of “Why People Don’t Buy Things,” puts it this way: “Liken new concepts to what we already know. If you want to reach customers who had never seen snow tires before and need to explain their benefit say: They are like snowshoes for your car. Everyone will understand the concept instantly." 

Try to incorporate these news-making criteria into your next public relations foray—if you want to establishes your company’s CEO as an influencer, maximizes awareness and build brand equity.

That’s Next Level PR!

Dick Pirozzolo is Managing Director of Pirozzolo Company Public Relations in Boston, whose PR campaigns have helped startups become publicly traded companies or be acquired by major public corporations. Dick lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

On Letting Go - to Move Ahead by The Rev. Sarah Robbins-Cole

It was a distinct honor to have been included in the Easter Sunday homily at St. Michael's Episcopal Church, in Holliston, Mass.

Earlier last week, I was chatting with Sarah—my friend and neighbor—who is otherwise known as The Rev. Sarah Robbins Cole. She told me she was working on her sermon for Easter Sunday, the theme was letting go. I suppose the idea is there cannot be rebirth without letting go of those things that tie us to the past.

"Any thoughts?" she inquired. 

Not missing a chance to plug "Escape from Saigon - a Novel," I mentioned that "letting go" is a theme running loosely throughout the story.  

The struggle with letting go is voiced by Billy Freda, the high school friend, who has to let go of the moment he scored the winning point in the championship game, US Ambassador Graham Martin who cannot let go of South Vietnam that had become intertwined with his identity, the reporters who devoted their youth to covering the war and have to find a new life elsewhere, and of course, the two Vietnam veterans who wrote the book—myself and Michael Morris, who saw combat in the Vietnam War as a young soldier in 1967.

That war ended on April 30, 1975—42 years ago on the last day this month.

Here is what The Rev. Sarah Robbins-Cole, Rector of St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Holliston, Massachusetts told her congregation about letting go on Easter Sunday Morning 2017.

 

 Easter 2017

Marie Kondo of the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing is perhaps one of the best known books that has come our way from the field of decluttering and home organization. If you have not read the book, the basic premise of the book is to get rid of things that do not spark joy. Marie Kondo recommends taking out every item you own, in a particular sequence, and touching each item, and if it does not spark joy – out it goes. She has other helpful hints such as not buying more specialized storage containers to hold yet more clutter, and folding your clothes, for example your shirts, in a way that finding a shirt is as easy as flicking through record albums – because they all are standing on end.

The desire to hold on and to accumulate is as old as time and man. Perhaps it’s because we falsely equate accumulation with security. If I just hang on to clothes, household items, food, photos, books, I will never be in want. Who knows? I might need one of these things later.

Or we mistakenly believe that if we throw things away or recycle them – somehow we won’t remember or value what that item represented.

Or sometimes what is harder is we hold on to emotions and memories - something that has hurt us deeply. Maybe you are holding onto a grudge, or an imaginary contract with someone (that is, unless they do x, I will not forgive, move on, or be nice, etc.,). And somehow letting go would be to admit defeat.

When people have asked me this week what I am preaching on this week – and I tell them that I am working on a sermon about letting go – it has been interesting to hear people’s response.

When I told my neighbor Dick Pirozzolo, who has just published the book, Escape from Saigon - a Novel this year, he said, “funny you should say that”. He is himself a Vietnam Vet, but he said in his research and during his book tour, while he has encountered many veterans who live full and rich lives, he also said that he has met a fair number of veterans who live and breathe their days in Vietnam every day—even though the end of this month will mark the 42nd anniversary of the ending of that war. “After all,” Dick commented, “you are 19 years old, your friends are all back home working in a shoe store, and you are in a strange country, surrounded by people speaking a foreign language, and you are getting shot at.”

But he said, the problem is that what happens to some of us is that we get stuck at 19. Our entire identity is formed around being a Vietnam Veteran and that does not allow a new identity to form. Our lives are dedicated to remembering that time – from the stories we share to the social media platforms we belong to and contribute to.

Another friend of mine, who works with students, said to me, “that is such an important message” because she finds that some of her students cling to ideas, ideologies, and identities in ways that are unhealthy because they perpetuate their sense of being powerless victims in a hostile world.

Or another friend talked about a woman she knew who was the team mom of a volleyball team – and she did everything – she organized uniforms, social events, coaches gifts, the booster club – but at the end of her son’s junior year, at the end of season party, when he was not elected captain by his peers for the following year, she was absolutely devastated. She refused to talk to anyone for the rest of the party and her son never played volleyball again – so attached was she to the idea of her son being captain.

I am sure we all have examples from our own lives - elderly parents who cling to the idea of unrealistic independence, or children who can’t seem to quite realize they have actually reached adulthood, a parent who cannot let go of their adult children, etc., etc.,
The subject of letting go is not just a superficial self-help issue. They are deep spiritual concerns – which come to the very heart of our gospel lesson for this morning. Jesus tells Mary – do not hold on to me. Literally – do not cling to me as I am now. I am yet to ascend to the Father. Jesus is telling her that she must not cling to him because his time on earth is done. And why that is important is that first of all, after the crucifixion they can’t just go back to the way things were – and secondly, the ascension is necessary so that the work of Jesus will no longer be constrained to his little corner of Israel – but will spread to the four corners of the earth.

And it’s not just the idea of the physically present Jesus she is going to have to let go of. If she wants to share in that resurrected life of new life and rebirth – she is going to have to let go of everything that is holding her back – she may have to let go of her anger at the Romans for crucifying Jesus, she may have to have to let go of her feelings of resentment at the disciples for handing Jesus over, betraying Jesus, and falling asleep while Jesus was praying when he very clearly asked them to stay awake. She may have to let go of her bitterness toward a world that allows an innocent man to die. She may have to let go of her wrath toward her own people for their maleficent fickleness – who on Palm Sunday lauded Jesus as King – and then jeered Jesus just a few days later when he really needed them.

But let me be clear - there is a big difference between letting go and forgetting. Letting go – means having a willingness to move forward, to not be stuck in the muck and mire of past wrongs. Forgetting is pretty near impossible, and forgiving can be a very long process indeed.

What we celebrate today is the resurrection. We celebrate that when one thing ends – and when we let go and give it to God, and trust that God will do something good and meaningful and life-giving to that of which we let go – we too will live the resurrected life.

God invites us to new life each and every moment of our lives – not to cling to the past – but to be engaged in our lives right here and right now. It is just as Joseph Campbell, the preeminent expert in comparative mythology and religion who wrote: We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.


Along with being coauthor of "Escape from Saigon - a Novel" set during the final days of America's "first television war," Dick Pirozzolo is managing director of Pirozzolo Company Public Relations, an international communication firm based in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

The New Face of Immigration Needs a Makeover

When politicians say they want to staple H1B visas to foreign students' diplomas when they graduate from American universities, most folks think:

Grads from MIT or Stanford with degrees in science, technology, engineering and math.

But it's not all about STEM when it comes to Boston’s international base of talented and highly qualified professionals.
 
Take Iranian hotel designer Afrooz Sahraei Esfahani who was just named an “Up-and-Coming Designer” by Boutique Design for her work with J/Brice Design International, based in Boston’s Seaport District.

Ironically her culture and national origin—which will get her kicked out—is what makes her so valuable. Afrooze is able to drive business to her employer’s Boston hotel design firm and thus contributes to our economy.

Sadly, her parents and siblings are all here in the US, studying and working here legally — she is the only member of her family who is in danger of being sent out of the country and thus separated from her family. 

Afrooz Sahraei Esfahani and Jeffrey Ornstein 

Her employer has launched a time-consuming and costly legal challenge to get her a green card.  One barrier: the law says J/Brice has to replace Afrooz if the firm can find even a single U.S. citizen with design credentials that remotely match hers. 

On paper that’s one thing but the reality is quite different
 
An accomplished professional in Iran, Afrooz brought her talent to the U.S. in 2013 as a student and earned a Master’s degree in Interior Architecture from Suffolk University last year. The 30 years-old designer also holds a bachelor’s degree in Architectural Technology and Engineering from Azad University in Esfahan, Iran. 

Esfahani puts it this way:  My passion for Architecture was developed partly due to the fact that I was born and grew up in Esfahan, a city with historical architecture dating back 600 years or more. I was fascinated every time I looked at arcs of the Khajoo bridge, by the harmony and details of its design. The beautiful colors of tiles and proportion of dimensions in Naghshe Jahan square made me more interested in architecture. I was craving to learn how these huge buildings were designed and built so I chose architecture for my career.
 
“I’m afraid her degrees and all she has to offer will slip between the chairs of government policy making.” says J/Brice founder and CEO Jeffrey Ornstein.

According to a recent article in The Arlington Advocate by Bram Berkowitz:

The fact that someone as impressive as Sahraei-Esfahani is still not a guarantee to get a visa is worrisome to Ornstein and her attorney Shane Parker, a US immigration law specialist. “I’m afraid her degrees and all she has to offer will slip between the chairs of government policy-making,” said Ornstein.

Added Parker, “There is a lot of talk lately about how the US should be run like a business. If this is the case, shouldn’t we be trying to recruit top talent and individuals?”

Her firm needs people who undertand Middle Eastern esthetics. “J/Brice Design specializes in designing luxury interiors for hotels in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Dubai and North Africa as well as the U.S. This makes Afrooz uniquely qualified to not only serve our clients in that region but to contribute to Boston’s economic growth and workplace diversity,” adds Ornstein whose staff of 15 employees herald from the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Korea, China, Haiti, and Montserrat.
 
Esfahani continues, “I know the culture and customs of the Arabian Peninsula—including the business culture— and, as an Iranian, I have an esthetic and color sense that is unique to the culture and region as well It’s something one can learn about if you come from Wisconsin or Massachusetts but it won’t be steeped in your bones.”
 
Boutique Design magazine (BD) is the authority on the boutique hotel, spa and restaurant industry. 

Afrooz's story runs counter to the  current heavy-handed, get-tough Immigration Policy that especially targets people from the Middle East.

by Dick Pirozzolo

Managing Director 

Pirozzolo Company Public Relations

Boston, Massachusetts