Pulse Legacy Archive March / April 2012 | Page 8

Pulse preview

“Courting
the media is,
without doubt,
a laborious
process.”

—MAE MAÑACAP-JOHNSON, EDITOR

6 PULSE

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March/April 2012

PHOTO © TIFFANY BROWN

F

or years, most people view media and public relations as the
perfect marriage. PR crafts the message; media tells it. This Pulse
issue looks at this union, and explores how spas and businesses
can use this “marriage” to engage and build relationships with
customers.
Conversation’s (page 19) guest expert, Edelman Vice President Jennifer Pfahler,
nailed down the key role of PR when she said: “Public relations is about storytelling, and I believe every company and brand has a story to tell.”
But storytelling is an art, and not everyone can captivate, engage or bring us
into a fantasy island through the stories they tell. Ask media editors who hear
story pitches from PR people on a daily basis and they would be first to tell you
that there’s nothing worse than someone pitching a ‘story’ that isn’t a story (see
“Selling a Pitch” on page 36 to read
more).
Courting the media is, without
doubt, a laborious process. But there
are several avenues that create opportunities to meet, network and build
lasting relationships with the media,
one of which is ISPA’s 18th Annual
Media Event slated on Aug. 16 at
Gotham Hall in New York City.
I encourage you then to reach out
to ISPA Director of PR Trish Dever
and look into sponsorship opportunities at the ISPA Media Event in order to connect with highly respected industry
journalists and national and international media outlets. The numbers of last
year’s ISPA Media Event tell the story of its success: more than 120 journalists,
150,000 page views from the Associated Press (Source: Meltwater News) and an
estimated 702,000,000 page views from multiple news coverage.
Beyond the numbers, the real measure of success is the lasting relationship
built with the media which could open up more publicity for your spa or business
down the road. Now, that part is what I call “priceless.”

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