Late last month I traveled to Las Vegas to attend the SHOT Show, the largest and most comprehensive trade show for professionals involved with the shooting and hunting industries, on behalf of UTM, a client that manufactures training ammunition systems for military and law enforcement agencies. 

The company organized a demo day for existing and prospective customers where they could learn and interact with the company’s products — gun bolt conversions, which adapt standard service weapons for use in various real-world training scenarios and training ammunition, which includes man marker rounds (MMR), target bullet rounds (TBR) and blanks (SBR& BBR) for use in pistols, rifles, submachine guns (SMG) and select machine guns.

Having practiced PR for nearly 15 years, I’ve seen journalists completely change their tune regarding a product or service once they’ve had the opportunity to try it for themselves.  As such we decided to invite select journalists to the UTM demo in Sin City. 

We’ve all heard the old adage that “great products sell themselves.”  And in a sense we are in the business of selling our clients’ stories.  Our pitch often resonates most when a journalist can have first-hand experience with the product. The UTM demo was a great success with high attendance by customers, prospects and journalists.  We had multiple media appointments booked throughout the day and the feedback was similar across the board.  “I knew your product was interesting and I’d read your press materials but NOW I truly understand it.”

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention what differentiated this demo from the dozens of others I’ve witnessed over the years.  With this demo we actually had the opportunity to shoot a journalist!  UTM’s  Man Marker Round is commonly used in force-on-force training scenarios, where military and law enforcement professionals run through real-world combat situations.  To understand the minimal pain penalty, the impact felt when the Man Marker Round hits protected skin, and to be able to accurately explain the product’s accuracy to readers, some journalists volunteered to have a MMR shot at them.  Of course they followed guidelines and wore two layers of clothing, gloves, a facemask and goggles. 

If your company is planning to attend an industry trade show where various influencers are present, consider scheduling product demonstrations.  And remember to keep the following tips in mind when demonstrating your product to a journalist:

·         Set up an “education” area where reporters can learn about the technology and nuances of the product

·         Think through possible photography shots that might appeal to a journalist and stage those shots in advance (we live in a multi-media world and as a result journalists often wear many hats, i.e. reporter, editor and photojournalist)

·         Set up a demonstration-only area

·         If you are conducting a demonstration that is open to people outside of the media, inform other parties that a journalist will be present while they are at the event (having a customer make an inaccurate statement or joking comment may reflect poorly on your brand)

·         The standard sales pitch will have to be modified for a media demonstration, so speak to how your product fits in with current news trends and angles; think of yourself as a resource rather than salesperson

And remember your efforts aren’t over when the booth or demos are broken down.  Continue to communicate with journalists and influencers after the show to ensure you maximize buzz that started around a product demonstration. 

It’s the most basic rule of media relations: Nothing is off the record. Anyone who has prepared for a media interview –from a start-up entrepreneur to, well in this case, a five-star general — knows that any comment you make during an interview with a journalist is fair game. Why then would General McChrystal jeopardize his military career and his reputation by disparaging the President of the United States as well as other senior administration officials?

Before the article, “Runaway General” hit newsstands on Friday, June 25 General McChrystal had been summoned to Washington and relieved of his duties as the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Social media networks, including Twitter, and blogs around the world suddenly erupted with discussions about the remarks made by the general and fanned the flames. Accounts of the interview process suggest that General McChrystal and his team of advisors got too comfortable with the reporter and they simply let their guard down during a long delay while stranded in Paris following the volcanic eruption in Iceland. Regardless of the circumstances, General McChrystal’s team suffered a serious lack of judgment and set in motion a firestorm that will most likely end more than one career.

We prepare clients for media interviews almost daily. Whether preparing for a basic profile or a sensitive crisis, a core tenet of our counsel is to remember that nothing if off the record. In this case, General McChrystal was not a newcomer to media interviews. Given his past record of newsworthy remarks and blunders, additional preparation was clearly needed. Before the general returned to D.C. for his meeting at the White House, the press aide who arranged the interview with Rolling Stone resigned.

Although we are not always able to control the comments and statements made by individuals, this situation reinforces the need for those of us who prepare clients for interviews to reiterate the basic rules of media training. It never hurts to remind a client one more time that everything they say can be used by a journalist. One thing is certain: General McChrystal will be the example used in many media training sessions for years to come.

It’s that time of year again for pomp and circumstance, caps and gowns, and commencement speeches given by dignitaries.

It’s been widely reported that this year’s college graduates are entering one of the most difficult job markets in our country’s history - though things look marginally better for the class of 2010 compared with the class of 2009. The opportunities seem to be with mid-size companies. According to Michigan State University’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute, companies with fewer than 500 employees expect hiring at their companies to jump 15 percent this year. But it’s still far cry from the robust job market that existed when I began my career in the late 90s during the dot-com boom.

As it was in the late 90s, the communications field — and public relations in particular – continues to be popular among college graduates. I recently read a column in PR Week by Mary Lynn Carver, vice president of PR for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital that provides pointers for new grads and experienced practitioners looking to land a gig in PR. She offers the following guidance for job seekers: add calm to every situation, have a point of view and develop elephant skin. I would also add one rather simple piece of advice – READ.

My colleagues and I hear continuously from journalists who are aggravated with PR pros. Their number one complaint is we don’t know who we’re pitching and what they write about. Recent grads, and all PR pros for that matter, need to immerse themselves in multiple forms of media (magazines, online, TV, newspapers) to understand news value and how to write like a journalist. If your goal is to place a feature in Forbes magazine, then you should read every issue of the magazine, review its blogs and become a follower or fan on social media channels. Simply put, know the publication inside and out.

Just because we have the technology to make media relations more efficient doesn’t mean we can leapfrog the initial research required to effectively place stories. Resist the temptation to pull massive lists and send one email to numerous recipients using the bcc line. After all, the profession is called media relations.