When it was harder than hell getting publicity, when I was in the publicity game… that’s when getting publicity was the most fun… and the most satisfying.
Nowadays, it’s such a cinch… it’s so easy as pie. How can it possibly be any fun, anymore?
All someone has to do, is hand out advice. That’s all it takes, from what I can tell. That’s the secret sauce.
Someone’s constantly spewing advice about the five healthiest diet regimens; the five secrets for maintaining mental clarity; the best arm, back, knee, and body core exercises; the top 10 meditation techniques; the best places to retire…
Judging by my online newsfeed, that’s what’s getting publicity.
Oh! Almost forgot to mention opinion polls, those too. If you’re in the PR game, and you want to get instant publicity, get your clients to pay for polls.
How easy, but boring, grabbing on to… what do they call it?… low-hanging fruit? Getting… what should we call it?… ‘publicity slam dunks?’
That’s got to be plain, old boring, and unsatisfying, for publicists, when they never have to toss and turn, at night, wondering if they’ll get even a smidgen of publicity.
I can remember rejoicing, getting just a few words or sentences in the news, about whatever I was attempting to publicize. Getting a bit more than that, a few paragraphs, was pure nirvana, as long as the news about whatever I was promoting was positively nice.
Back in my day, you had to almost relentlessly pitch publicity to editors and reporters. And if you couldn’t handle rejection, you were out of luck. You had to brush yourself off, and keep on trucking.
Without constant stress, how’s anyone in PR having fun anymore?
Grabbing low-hanging fruit… would I even consider doing that, if I were to return to PR?
Well… I did happen to stumble on a story in Salon, about mushrooms being able to talk to each other. “They get extra chatty after a rain.”
If we somehow could know their views, I’m wondering what advice they might have for us humans… that maybe we should slow down, some, catch our breath and look into ourselves, and our own self-interests? And add mushrooms to our healthy eating regimen?
Maybe taking advice from mushrooms would get our most madding, mad politicians, and their acolytes, to cool their jets, and let us humans just get along?
Could advice like that be some mighty fine secret sauce to hand out, and a publicity bonanza, to boot?
It’s got potential… let me tell you!
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.