When News Breaks, Be Ready to Rock ‘n Roll

I heard the news at 5:30 Wednesday afternoon: Dick Clark was dead.

I was stunned; I really didn’t believe it. My Dick Clark?

We went way back, he and I. Growing up in New York, I tuned into “American Bandstand” every day after school. When you’re 12 or 13, it’s not always easy to find a place where you fit in and the resident grown-up takes teenagers seriously. The “Bandstand” studio full of regular kids dancing away to cool new artists was friendly, fun and completely enjoyable. It was the perfect place to escape from worries about tests, boys, and who you’d sit with in the lunchroom the next day.

Which was why, when I heard the news on Wednesday, I was shocked – and saddened.

I had about 5 minutes to indulge those feelings because our office started jumping immediately.

At EMSI, we’re as much a newsroom as we are a public relations firm. To get the best media placements, we closely follow breaking news and trends. We’re constantly looking for issues to which our clients can add context, depth or opinion for journalists. It’s what I always preach to people looking for publicity: Follow the news and plug into it when it relates to your message (more on that in just a bit).

One of our longtime clients, executive producer Michael Uslan – best known for the “Batman” box-office hits – is also a prolific author. In 1981, he co-wrote with Clark “Dick Clark’s The First 25 Years of Rock & Roll.” I may have grown up watching “the world’s oldest teenager,” but Uslan actually knew him.

By the time I’d acknowledged that the horrible news about Clark’s passing was true, our Radio Campaign Manager, Rich Ghazarian, was already on the phone with KNX in Los Angeles getting Uslan scheduled for that very evening.

Ginny Grimsley, our Print Campaign Manager, was putting a fresh spin on his bio to package with a quote from him for distribution to some of her entertainment contacts. The rest of our creative team and I were exploring other media possibilities.

By Friday, Uslan had been interviewed by a few major market stations. Ginny had fielded inquiries from a host of publications, including People magazine, Newsday, Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood.com and Radar Online and had already set up interviews. Unfortunately, Uslan was at a film festival in Nashville and unavailable for live national TV.

It was an exciting few days. Not only were we securing great placements for our client and great content for our media contacts, we were doing it by thinking fast and acting fast.
And yes, you should be doing the same thing. Whether you’ve written a novel or a guide to financial independence, whether you’ve developed a health food supplement or an interactive website, there is always a way to plug into the news. Think about your themes and your message – go beyond the nuts and bolts of your book or product and identify the bigger picture. Stay on top of the news and use your imagination! What can you offer print, radio or TV? How can you comment on your social networking sites?

Three quick tips for plugging in:

• Be ready to pounce NOW. The news is often fleeting, and even when it sticks around awhile, it gets stale pretty fast. The time to offer yourself up is when it happens – not a few days later or next month.
• Round up email addresses in advance. Research various media outlets, TV and radio shows, and journalists who might have a beat relevant to your message. Have their email addresses at the ready so you don’t waste time tracking them down when you need them.
• Be available! Be ready to change your schedule, if necessary, to accommodate interviews. There’s nothing more frustrating to a journalist than being unable to reach you – especially if you’re the one who reached out to them.

Dick Clark’s passing marks the end of an era and the loss of a wonderful American icon. While that saddens me, I’m glad we at EMSI could help contribute to the nation’s understanding of the man and his contributions, thanks to Michael Uslan’s insights.

Rock on,
Marsha