PR 101

I don’t get as many comments on my wine blog as I do personal Emails…

Why I don’t get as many comments on my wine blog

as I do private Emails…

I don’t write a blog to elicit extensive comments on what I’ve put out there. Controversial stories always elicits emotions and that’s when people jump right it.

I write in order to distribute information. Then I tend to get private Emails on whatever the topic was, because there’s a shared bond. And, this is actually a great set up for those PR 101 moments I’m looking for. My writing is more akin to when I was teaching and people took notes. That’s because I had the text book in front of me, and was explaining in great detail info for comprehension, not controversy. It’s hard to have a contrary opinion on say, this example:

  • the 12 cranial nerves
  • whether they were sensory, motor, or mixed
  • what muscle they were sensory motor or mixed to

Who’s going to argue with that? Many times, the things I’ve written on my blog are like that. It’s just an inside view from a wine veteran, distributing that which is real and happening. It sparks something within other wine execs, who then send off an Email. And, this sets us all up for great PR 101 moments.

A blog post I wrote about cork recently elicited this E-Mail from Jeffrey S. Lloyd, Ph.D., Sitrick And Company.

Jo,

In case you missed the following, thought it could be of interest:

Wine & Spirits’ 25th Annual Survey of the Top 50 Restaurant Wine Brands (http://www.corkqc.com/S-mat/Top50.pdf) asked wine directors at 218 restaurants to name their 10 best-selling wines. Their responses were compiled into a list of the Top 50 Restaurant Brands. Results were presented for 2013 and for the previous 10 years. The results for 2013 by closure type showed that brands primarily finished with cork accounted for 90 percent of the Top 50 Restaurant Brands, up 21 percent, as compared to ten years ago. Brands primarily finished with screw caps showed a 39 percent decline and brands using synthetic closures were down by 70 percent, as reported by wine directors. (Please see attached news release for more information.)

By way of introduction, we are working with the Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR) to help communicate the advantages that cork stoppers have over artificial closures. Please check out our Web site (http://100percentcork.org/) for additional information on our campaign.

Best wishes,

Jeff Lloyd

This is how a lot of information comes to me, and it’s great PR , and I’m able to share (like I did the one above… and it wasn’t a press release, but just an exchange of information). Jeff’s content enriched the content of this blog before (as inspiration), during (helping to building a case), and after the input (continuation of the conversation).

NOTE TO PR PEOPLE: Reach out via E-Mails, and make your case to someone… personally. Your odds are greatly increased for coverage… regardless of how labor intensive this may seem. It’s the best way to get the attention of today’s busy writers. The press releases are rarely working (too much to read in this fast paced world). The delete button takes even less time than the act of throwing something physical away.

What might be around the next corner is publicity for you.