Spiegel & Associates - Chemical Sales

In its broadest context, news releases and feature articles are valuable parts of an annual marketing program. These materials can broaden the firm's effectiveness locally, nationally and in the international arena. Chemical marketers who ignore public relations as a tool to build business miss big opportunities in today's highly competitive marketplace.

Here are just a few of the benefits to be gained from a well-designed public relations program:

Public Relations-commonly called PR-involving chemical products encompasses far more than product publicity. When used with other company communications such as personal selling, direct mail, print advertising and trade show participation, PR can enhance the effectiveness of the entire corporate marketing effort.

Because PR comprises such a diverse range of communications activities, this article's purpose is limited in scope. Excluded are discussions about speeches, newsletters, press kits, videos, Internet web sites, educational materials, seminars, community affairs, special events and a host of other programs, all of which can fall under the public relations umbrella.

Instead, this article focuses on news releases and feature articles-frequently used public relations tools for the chemical industry. In the past, "press release" referred to written statements that appeared primarily in newspapers or trade journals. Today, however, industry communications go well beyond printed information. So a more appropriate term is "news release," which can also take the form of a narrated audio or videocassette that can be transmitted via electronic media, including the Internet.

News releases most often announce product developments or organizational information to industry trade publications. Feature articles (longer texts) are placed in publications to position companies as specialists in a particular technology-or to provide insight regarding trends within an industry. Typically, the feature article does not carry obvious commercial messages about the author's company. This helps to ensure that the content is relatively objective and, thus, benefits the reader. Nor will the more-respected journals accept articles that carry pre-conditions of final review by the author or demands for particular page placement within the publication.

In today's economic environment-both in the United States and in Europe-chemical marketers are under constant pressure to reduce communications costs. The public relations discipline has benefited from this pressure. Generally, PR delivers the biggest return-on-investment compared to the costs for other promotional expenditures such as publication space advertising.

Yet, as cost-effective as PR can be, it does not automatically confer efficiency and economy. As with advertising, direct mail, sales promotion or other communication methods, getting the most from a public relations budget requires specific skills, experience and procedures.
At minimum, a PR program should consist of bi-monthly news releases, one or two feature articles a year and a quarterly newsletter. These would work in tandem with trade show participation and regular direct mail contacts with customers and prospects to ensure effectiveness.

There are several steps chemical marketers should take in promoting business through print media.

First, maintain a current media contact list. Start with a comprehensive directory of publications, which is available in most public libraries. In the US, the most widely used directory is titled Bacon's Publicity Checker. It lists virtually all trade periodicals published in the nation, organized by industry and subject. This directory, and others like it, are available on CD-ROM and accessible through the Internet.

Second, develop a list of business editors' names with the trade journals important for your chemical market segments. Keep the list current; editors often change jobs. Cultivate personal relationship with these editors. Besides directories, finding the current editor of a publication can be as simple as checking the masthead of the appropriate trade journals read by company colleagues.

Trade journal editors are essential contacts for PR professionals. Part of the editor's role is to serve as "gatekeeper" for their publication. Editors tend to be insatiably hungry for industry information while simultaneously being selective about what information they use and how they use it.

The challenge for the chemical marketer is to provide editors with company news written so that it brings benefit to the publication's readers. If your company is the only firm likely to benefit from the message, the editor will probably refer you to its advertising department-and rightfully so.

Some editors request press releases be sent by e-mail instead of standard mail. It pays to find out these preferences and act accordingly. The wise PR practitioner also does not make follow-up telephone calls to ask an editor if the release has been received. This can annoy editors because they typically receive large numbers of releases every day. If a press release doesn't inform an editor how the message directly benefits the trade journal's readers, chances are that the editor will discard the material.

A news release should contain just that-news. Leave out overtly promotional phrases such as "landmark," "exciting" and "revolutionary." Also omit extraneous commentary such as, "We are pleased and excited to..." Try to keep it to a single page-and, most important, be totally accurate.

Make certain your press release appeals to the audience of the trade journal. Editors claim that many of the releases they see have no news value outside the particular firm that sent it. It is beneficial if you already are a regular reader of the trade magazine, or at a minimum, it's a good idea to read a couple of back issues of the publication you are targeting to familiarize yourself with its various sections and departments. This will help you customize your release to meet the magazine's particular style.

When writing the press release, double check that it contains all the pertinent information the editor will need to publish the release and accurately answer the questions "who, what, when, why and where." This should be placed in the first paragraph, also called the "lead," because this is often all that appears in the publication. Also make sure you include a contact name and telephone number (usually at the top of the release) for the editor to call for more information.

Even with all of the electronic spelling and grammar checking programs available, journalists continue to receive press releases that contain errors. Sometimes the names are misspelled or the numbers do not add up. Whatever the case, journalists admit that errors in a release affect the credibility of the entire story. Avoid sending editors releases that look like advertising or self-promotion.

The key consideration must be, is your topic newsworthy? Is it a precursor of a trend? Does it represent perceived innovation? Does it describe new technology that will benefit the industry as a whole? If not, it probably holds insufficient interest to the readership and will not be accepted by the editor. Understanding your target publication's format and style and learning to think like its readers enables you to better tailor your sales pitch, most often put in the form of a "query letter."

Don't write an article before you receive a commitment that it will be published, unless the article will be prepared for some other reason. Many editors are willing to discuss openly what they are looking for and what it takes to be published. After all, you are helping them to do their job. Editors usually trust and respect marketers and publicists who promote story ideas and articles they can print in their magazine.

It is beneficial to review journalistic guidelines from the publication to ask up front about the publication's deadlines. The length of the article is a consideration for most publications as well. If an editor is looking for a feature of 2,000 words, our advice would be to constrain your story to this particular range.

The best PR practitioners read the industry trade magazines and have a "feel" for the stories that would be of interest. When numerous publications cover the same industry, the magazines usually target readers with different job functions, such as research, product development, or sales. You should study the publication to determine which feature article is right for which magazine.

Industry trade journals publish a helpful tool called an editorial calendar, which lists the publication's focus for each issue in the upcoming year. It provides targeted topics for feature subjects listed by month or issue date. You normally get this information from the advertising department, but you also can ask the editorial department to send you a copy of the latest version. Editorial calendars are helpful in determining the issue best suited for your news release or feature article. Keep in mind that an editorial calendar changes yearly, so keep your copy up-to-date.

Why is a formal, written PR program necessary? Because it imposes a discipline on both the plan and carrying it out. The act of formalizing company public relations into a plan of action program is itself a productive exercise. It helps refine the underlying logic and feasibility of the
proposed actions.

Once PR objectives are established that match the annual marketing plan, it is important that the tasks for achieving them are laid out in a written program, complete with budgets, responsibilities and timetables.

Establish realistic objectives. Too often, managers neglect to ask themselves what public relations should do, or what problem public relations should solve. Is the problem one that public relations can solve with a single release? Or might other marketing tactics be more effective? The answer to these questions, of course, depends to a great extent on a given company's business and market
circumstances.

Develop strategy and tactics. Keep in mind that agreement on objectives will drive the strategy. It will be difficult to determine what public relations techniques are most cost-effective if you
do not first determine the results those techniques should deliver.

Maintain a continuous effort. Smart communicators know that frequency is essential to message penetration and retention. A communications program is an investment over an extended period, with increased budgets as revenues and market conditions warrant. The audience may not respond the first time they hear the message, but chances for a response improve with every impression.

Measure program effectiveness. If the budget allows, build objective measurement into your programs. This is a good way to find out how well the program works by checking what actually happened in the market. A simple, yet often overlooked measurement technique is the built-in response mechanism. Offer a free brochure. Is there a post office box number or a dedicated toll-free telephone number to receive inquiries? The company will learn if it is reaching prospects in a given target market when mail arrives.

Targeted PR reaching customers and prospects can boost sales effectiveness by reducing the selling cycle. PR can help to make the prospect aware of the chemical company's products in advance of a sales visit. PR can qualify sales leads and can reinforce the company's image, its products and customer services. Chemical marketers who fully exploit these cost-effective tactics gain big sales rewards.