Understanding Niche Publicity

by Marcia Yudkin 

Everyone keeps their radio tuned to station WIIFM - What's 
In It For Me. This fact and its implications hold a valuable 
secret for multiplying publicity opportunities.

Let's put ourselves first in the position of the editor of a 
magazine for floral shops. His assistant has collected the 
day's press releases for her, and he gives each headline a 
scan before either reading more carefully or tossing it. His 
foremost concern during his five-second screen: Is this 
relevant to florists, my readers?

Naturally anything with the word "florists" or "flowers" in 
the headline commands a thorough read. And since his readers 
all own or operate a small business, anything with "small 
business" in the headline catches his attention as well. 
Without these key words or phrases in the headline, the 
editor is forced to translate, to think whether a general 
message about a trend, a law, a new service or an event 
holds significance for her market.

Likewise, when the editor of a portal site for financial 
service professionals peruses the day's business releases, 
anything with "finance" or better yet, "financial 
professionals" compels her to click through. In browsing 
mode, her brain might not think quickly enough to see "E-
Learning Grew 40% in 2001, Expected to Double in 2002" and 
understand that this relates to her readers' ability to 
obtain continuing education more cheaply and efficiently. 
However, if she saw "Financial Services Professionals Keep 
Skills Tuned Through Rising E-Learning Trend," she wouldn't 
ever ignore it.

Now let's explore what this means for the smart publicity 
seeker. If you want to maximize your media coverage, begin 
by making a list of professions, industries or consumer 
segments that would benefit from what you're promoting. Then 
craft a general press release and change the headline and at 
least part of the contents for each niche so that the 
relevance to that group jumps out unmistakably.

For instance, a few years ago a client of mine released a 
new video on the home and family life of the Amish. I 
watched the video and took notes on the kinds of magazines 
that would be interested in different aspects of the 
material, then fashioned a headline for each angle. The 
reference to "happiest" in three of the headlines refers to 
a scientific study mentioned in the video narration.

1. Travel - New video, "Amish Values & Virtues...Plain & 
Simple," reveals the everyday life of America's happiest, 
most picturesque community 

2. Country - New video, "Amish Values & Virtues...Plain & 
Simple," reveals the beliefs underlying America's happiest 
rural lifestyle 

3. Parenting - New video, "Amish Values & Virtues...Plain & 
Simple," reveals the child-rearing practices underlying 
America's happiest lifestyle 

4. Christian - New video, "Amish Values & Virtues...Plain & 
Simple," shows Christian values shaping a way of life.

About half of the release text stayed unchanged from version 
to version, and the rest elaborated on the travel, country, 
parenting or Christian content. Thanks to the niching, this 
video took off faster than any of my clients' previous 
releases.

Marcia Yudkin <marcia@yudkin.com> is the author of the 
classic guide to comprehensive PR, "6 Steps to Free 
Publicity," now for sale in an updated edition at Amazon.com 
and in bookstores everywhere. She also spills the secrets 
on advanced tactics for today's publicity seekers in 
"Powerful, Painless Online Publicity," available from 
www.yudkin.com/powerpr.htm .