In the Name of Positive Press Coverage

Working with journalists can be very difficult at times. Simply put, they can be a pain in the butt to deal with and one reason is big, fat egos. Sure journalists have similar complaints about publicists too. Regardless of how big the ego is or how difficult they are, it is very important to keep your cool. After all, the image of your company is in the journalists’ hands. Pleasing the journalist without being taken advantage of is a complicated balancing act. If done well, the positive press coverage and high-fives you’ll get from your peers is priceless.

For the past month, I have been pitching to media to secure coverage for a great restaurant. The restaurant had new menu items that were worth talking about. After securing the media, scheduling their dinners and preparing the chef for possible interview questions, I was ready for the positive reviews to start pouring in. A few days after the media dinners, some comments, tweets and other short articles were published. However, nothing was published in the larger outlets I had focused on. Then a last minute follow-up interview was requested by one of the journalist that dined a few weeks ago. This was the big publication that we needed too. As always, the writer was a tight deadline. Within twenty-four hours an interview with the head chef and photo shoot were coordinated so the story could be ready for next week’s issue.

The following day, I arrived at the photo shoot with a colleague of mine. We arrived early in order to do a quick walk-through of the restaurant and make sure the space had been prepped for a photo shoot. It also gave us a chance to meet briefly with the staff to review the do’s and don’ts of interviewing. Everything was in place. We spent so much time prepping for this opportunity. You can imagine my disappointment when the writer arrived late and without any questions. The writer was more interested in tasting the food that was going to be photographed than asking his follow-up questions. Never mind the fact that this writer had dined there recently. I was ready to flip-out! However, I knew I had to keep my cool if I wanted this review to be a great one.

Eventually the writer did complete a great interview with the staff and had more than enough info to publish the story next week. It helped that we worked with an amazing photographer who was more than prepared. I have never worked this hard to secure a story before. I imagine I’ll encounter similar situations in the near future on The Strip.

Once all the coverage is in, I will be able to update this post and reveal the name of the restaurant. Stay tuned!