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Don’t Be Afraid To Pitch Your Competitors

Sometimes, when you’re trying to get press coverage for your company or product, it pays to include your competition in your pitch. You might at first think that you wouldn’t want to do anything to help your competitors get press coverage, but if you are the one to make the pitch, you can position your own company as an industry leader and you’re more likely to get coverage. Let me give you an example.

One time, several years ago, I was handling PR for a very high-end tour operator that did personalized itinerary planning for visitors to the State of Maine. There was a similar company that was doing itineraries out West in Colorado. I pitched the travel editor of Ski Magazine on a story about a new tour operator in Maine. Had I only given them one example, the editor might not have recognized that there was an emerging trend in personalized itinerary planning. He might also have hesitated to give coverage to my client only, thinking that it was overtly promotional. However, since I provided the name of another company doing the same thing, the editor not only recognized an emerging trend, but he respected me for not being afraid of divulging the name of the competitor. In the long run, earning the respect of an editor will pay off in terms of positive coverage because they’ll consider you as a credible source for other stories.

Providing information on the competition not only helped to enhance my credibility as a resourceful PR person, but it also helped me position my client. Yes, we gave away our competitor’s information, but had I not given the name of the competition, we probably would not have scored a mention in the magazine at all.

Remember: your job might be to promote your own company or product, but the editor’s job is to share information with his or her readership or viewership on what’s new and newsworthy. If you appear to be blatantly promoting yourself, they’ll direct you to the ad sales department where you can pay handsomely for an ad. On the other hand, if you share information that is useful to the editor and his or her audience, you’re more likely to score some ink. And that’s the goal of an effective public relations program, isn’t it?

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