soulati.com

Digital Marketing Strategy, PR and Messaging

  • Home
  • So What is Message Mapping ?
  • Services
  • Hire Me
  • Blog
  • Presentations
  • Get a FREE E-Book
  • Contact
  • Home
  • So What is Message Mapping ?
  • Services
  • Hire Me
  • Blog
  • Presentations
  • Get a FREE E-Book
  • Contact

Soulati-'TUDE!

Is Conflict Good Public Relations?

10/16/2019 By Jayme Soulati

ALT="Marc Veyrat, Restaurateur and Chef of La Maison des Bois"
Screenshot from www.marcveyrat.fr

Conflict is well, conflict, usually not a good thing. As public relations goes, conflict ranks as bad…except when it isn’t. Sound confusing? No problem; let me share a story about conflict that could be regarded as a PR ploy to grab some PR on the global stage, especially in my view as a PR professional.

Michelin Guide Causes Major Conflict For Restaurateur

Marc Veyrat, 69, chef/owner of La Maison des Bois in France, slammed a lawsuit at the Michelin Guide for reducing his restaurant’s three-star rating to two stars.

Mr. Veyrat’s attack on the Michelin Guide puts his feud front and center on public display.

His beef, which is probably a cuss word in Mr. Veyrat’s vocabulary since his cuisine is plant-based, centers around the lack of transparency by Michelin in sharing how stars are awarded or reversed.

To show just how much drama encompasses Michelin Guide ratings, Mr. Veyrat’s comment in a magazine (reprinted in the New York Times) surpasses any doubt he’s kidding.

“I feel like my parents died a second time,” said Mr. Veyrat to a magazine. “Can you imagine the shame I feel: I am the only chef in history to get a third star and then to lose it the next year.”

In Michelin’s defense, they say Mr. Veyrat’s “accusations are baseless.”

Most interesting, the downgrade to Mr. Veyrat’s business by Michelin did not affect La Maison des Bois. Its business actually increased 10 percent over last year. Mr. Veyrat mentioned “his anger stemmed mostly from his wounded pride.”

Understanding The Importance Of Michelin’s Stars

The Michelin Guide awards three stars to the most elite restaurants. In 2019, 27 restaurants received three stars and 84 received two stars. Quite a dichotomy, right?

Along with stars comes great prestige and pressure on the chefs to maintain their 3-star elite rating. When a star is removed, conflict obviously becomes the name of the game.

So, I’ll ask again: is conflict good PR?

Conflict As Public Relations

ALT="La Maison des Bois restaurant with alpine view"
Screenshot taken from www.marcveyrat.fr

Let’s take a look at the main fact of this story: Mr. Veyrat’s business increased 10% over last year!

Perhaps his lawsuit contributed to that and perhaps not. Seeing the “shame” Mr. Veyrat feels about his demotion from a three- star to two-star restaurant, his bark and lawsuit certainly contribute to this public relations debacle.

On the other hand, Michelin Guide offers no flinch about their decision to remove a star from La Maison des Bois. Their chief critics stand firmly by their decision, although no one really knows just how those decisions get made. The latter forms the groundwork for the lawsuit by Mr. Veyrat who will see his nemesis in court late November.

In thinking about restaurant public relations as a profession, communications pros must be diligent in their strategy. It takes consistency with events and news to attract and keep patrons. Add to that that arrogant chefs who may also own the restaurant, ahem, Mr. Veyrat, and challenges abound.

If there’s a lawsuit, this conflict brings the curious in droves. More people want to know what the big fuss is all about because people generally are nosy creatures.

Conflict Where There’s No Conflict

In my opinion, this story plants a big giggle on my face. It got the attention of the New York Times, and that’s certainly a huge achievement in media relations circles. Mr. Veyrat’s escapades feature in both print and digital editions of this global publication.

If you know media relations, we work hard to get our clients featured in the New York Times. Here comes a winy restaurateur filing a lawsuit over removal of a star, and voila (literally because he’s French), he lands a story about his shame. On the flip side, the New York Times published a photo with the article of Mr. Veyrat accepting his three stars last year from Michelin Guide. No ruckus there, eh?

So, conflict in this case is certainly good PR for this French restaurant with alpine views bordering Italy and Switzerland.

What do you think?

Filed Under: Media Relations, Public Relations Tagged With: conflict, Marc Veyrat, Media Relations, Michelin Guide, restaurant PR, The New York Times

IKEA Media Relations And Messaging On A Slow News Day

05/26/2015 By Jayme Soulati

ALT="Media Relations And Messaging, IKEA, Soulati Media, Jayme Soulati"This story is about my roots in media relations and messaging. In particular, it’s about IKEA media relations and messaging!

I read the Wall Street Journal paper edition every day. If I can’t get to it in the morning, I’ll scan the headlines. That’s what happened recently — I was on the phone with mom and exclaimed, “You gotta be freaking kidding me.’IKEA Adds Veggie Balls to Menu.'”

It was right there under ‘Business News’ with a full-color image larger than life (about 8 x 10 in inches) with a story right below. I am agog; here’s why.

Media Relations And Messaging

I hail from Chicago’s PR agencies in core media relations as a former purist, publicist, and public relations-only professional. Every day in my Chicago agency days I did media relations and messaging. To those not in the know, that means publicity and story pitching to journalists who hated that word — ‘publicist.’ I sat on the phones for eight hours daily as a captive AE pitching media. I know a slow news day when I see one.

Today, I’m no longer practicing like that on a daily basis; alas, public relations has changed. The messaging and media relations I do is oriented to message mapping and finding the news hook to do media relations the digital way. But, that’s all for another day.

IKEA Got Lucky

Now, I don’t discount the fact that IKEA is a multinational brand and largest furniture maker in the world consumers love. I don’t discount either its likely phenomenal media relations team who also likely consists of young publicists pitching media. Despite the company’s privately held status, the Wall Street Journal would be remiss not to cover the company’s goings on.

BUT…
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Media Relations Tagged With: how to get national media, IKEA, Media Relations, media relations and messaging, messaging and media relations, news hooks, publicist, veggie balls, Wall Street Journal story

National Business Media, PR And Newtonian Theory

01/08/2014 By Jayme Soulati

If you’ve kept abreast of news about national business media of late, you’d know a few are on the auction block while others are undergoing close scrutiny about revenue and future performance. Still more venerable brands are splitting partnerships.

What does this have to do with media relations, the arm of the public relations discipline oriented to earned media – getting stories to appear in news outlets based on the strength of clients’ news?
It is turning the entire media chain on its head; let’s take a closer look:

  • National media need owners with deep pockets.
  • Business leaders in the executive suite are leaving in droves.
  • Journalists writing for the publication know their necks are on the chopping block, too.
  • Editors are trying for business as usual, while crooking the head over the shoulder to see what’s coming.
  • Media relations experts who have built strong relationships with these business reporters now find these relationships drying up with uncertainty and the inability to say “maybe” to a national news story.
  • Clients who shell out oodles of retainer fees to agencies that promise results by way of earned media now may be seeing less positive confirmed responses about media relations projects.

I bet you didn’t know that Newtonian theory applied to national business media and PR did you?

So, what’s a guy to do? I’m just going to come clean and say, “Run, and take cover!”

Forbes is for sale. Fortune is splitting from CNNMoney.com due to a Time Warner divestiture, and Bloomberg Businessweek is under review in spite of its new found success being owned by Bloomberg Media. Time, Inc. is seeking new ways to improve its bottom line while Money magazine is also part of the split from CNNMoney.

Why The Shift in National Business Magazines?

The reason is quite simple; digital. Advertisers are truly hungry for more reach for the dollar, and the way to make this happen is by making websites work on higher digital scale than in the past.
Everyone knows how critical advertising revenue has been for journalism. It’s the elephant in the room. With now playing strong, business media executives are becoming hot commodities for this expertise so magazines can strengthen revenue.

Online publications designed for smart devices create opportunities for media to build new ad streams, too. If these, sometimes archaically thinking executives don’t get on board with digital and online publishing, then opportunities are weak to maintain a healthy bottom line.
I subscribe to about 25 different news outlets and other magazines monthly. The majority come via hard copy to my door because the deals I get are too good to pass up; something like $10 for the year with a gift subscription. Sadly, I’ve seen the ‘zines I rely on get thinner and thinner and then consolidate with sister publications. So, this shift in media is not just happening with the national business press; it’s happening in the verticals, too.

Media Relations Professionals

What this means for we who pitch media is the need to absolutely be on the money with stories reporters can’t refuse. Have you ever seen HARO lists of the queries reporters are seeking to write stories? They’re so bizarre and unconventional I’ve nearly stopped scanning for pitching opportunities.

It’s no wonder journalists are complaining every more forcefully about we who pitch stories. If you’re being paid by a client to pitch a story regardless of whether there’s news value, then please push back on the client and take a look at other ways to get that story some air time.

It will save your reputation; trust me. Meanwhile, media relations and public relations professionals need to and identify outlets, content marketing strategies, and other communication vehicles to share client news.

Because we come from a creative profession, this shouldn’t be too hard to do. I would look to content marketing and digital marketing as an opportunity to get some creative legs on client stories; it’s the next big thing in PR.

Related articles
  • Three Reasons Why Media Relations Still Matters
  • Why Sponsored Content’ is Here to Stay in PR
  • The Give and Take of Media Relations
  • A Reporter & A PR Guy Were In A Bar
  • Startups Should Hire PR Early

Filed Under: Media Relations Tagged With: Bloomberg Businessweek, Content Marketing, Earned Media, Journalist, Marketing and Advertising, Media, Media Relations, Public Relations, Sir Isaac Newton, Theory of Motion

How To Message Map E-Book Debut

10/14/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Message-Mapping-Book.jpgWhat is a message map?

In Jayme Soulati’s (that’s me) new e-book, Message Mapping: How to Sizzle External Communication with a #RockHot Tool for Leaders, I explain the concept of message mapping and why any company small, solo, mid-sized, or large needs this tool.

The e-book, available only at https://MessageMapping.co, also provides a step-by-step example of a message mapping exercise for a fictitious company. Readers are walked through the exercise to create messages that form the foundation of external communication.

Message maps are born in the media relations field within the profession of public relations. I have been doing message maps for 20 years for a broad brush of companies in all shapes and sizes with expertise from Chicago’s agencies.

Those people who work in the crisis communications field also use message maps to ensure that spokespeople are on message and less apt to stray from the approved messaging platform.

In this era of social media, companies may be in the spotlight of journalists less. This doesn’t mean preparation is not required or necessary; to the contrary. Spokespeople need to be ultra prepared today to ensure they can answer questions from many different channels. Having a message map is the first step in ensuring that comfort.

My book teaches marketers, public relations executives, business owners, and more how to work with a facilitator, the steps in the process, how messages are developed, and finally the step-by-step process to making a message map come alive.

Buy my e-book now, right here.

It’s a tool every company needs for copywriting, social media, media relations, website development, internal communications, and more.

Big Thanks

A team was instrumental in bringing this book to market. Without the help and expertise of Scott Quillin of New England Multimedia; Glen Moyes of Glen Moyes Design; and, Jenn Whinnem, this book would still be a seedling. My heartfelt thanks.

Two Books

Within six months, I have authored two books.

The first, “Writing with Verve on the Blogging Journey,” available as an e-book or softcover via Amazon or Greyden Press, is a three-year collection of blog posts about blogging. It was a book that needed to be published first, and it showed the steps through the world of self-publishing.

Message Mapping: How to Sizzle External Communications with a #RockHot Tool for Leaders, is not available via Amazon or a publisher’s store. It is only available on https://MessageMapping.co in an e-commerce setting.

Once I understand more about this journey in the online world of e-commerce, I will have more learnings to share with you. For today, I’m so happy to launch my second book in 2013, and I’m hopeful it will be a hit for the business world.

Related articles
  • E-Commerce For The First Time
  • Blogging Is No Longer Enough
  • E-Book Pricing Help Needed!
Enhanced by Zemanta

Filed Under: Business, Marketing, Media Relations, Message Mapping/Mind Mapping, Public Relations Tagged With: Chicago, E-book, Media Relations, message mapping, message-map, Public Relations, RockHot Tool, Sizzle External Communication, Social Media, Tools, Verve

Anatomy Of Feel-Good PR Stories

05/14/2013 By Jayme Soulati

desert-tortoise.jpg

advocacy.britannica.com

The single-best place to find the single-best headlines in addition to feel-good PR stories is the bottom feature story on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Within these pieces are sensational and zany stories about topics you can’t imagine. Today’s story is one of the best feel-good features I’ve seen there in awhile as it melds the rough and tough U.S. Marine Corps with the desert tortoise.

Yes, our nation’s military dual as conservationists. Hard to believe, eh?

The Story

On a training exercise in the deserts of California, in Twentynine Palms to be exact, the troops were charging a hill and shooting at targets until one of the softer-hearted screamed “tortoise alert!” (Those last four words are speculation.)

The exercise ceased and the turtle doctor was called to the scene; he’s part of “a little-known army of biologists and other scientists who manage the Mojave desert tortoise and about 420 other threatened and endangered species on about 28 million acres of federally managed military land.”

When the tortoises are scared, they pee themselves. I’m only telling you that so I can use this word I’ve never seen from the story…”an unplanned micturition can cause dehydration and even death.” (The best explanation for that is the turtle wets the bed, and BTW? My spell check did not like that word.)

So, the biologist shows the Marines how to soak the reptiles in water until they drink enough to carry on. Apparently, these desert dwellers don’t need a drink for about two years, and when they dribble from fear, their supply of water is exhausted.

Elements of a Good PR Story

Let’s look at why this story works for national news:

  • Endangered species protected on federal reserves
  • A team of biologists functioning within the military under a bit of secret cover
  • The Marine Corps doing drills in the Mojave desert
  • The Marine Corp as conservationists; ceasing all ops until the tortoise families are safely moved to distances away from training sites.
  • Background about the reptile and its habits (the water factoids)

And, that really good headline tops it off, “The Few, the Proud, the Tortoises: Marines Protect Endangered Species; An Army of Biologists Are on Nature Patrol at Military Bases; ‘Walking Ravioli’

Your Good PR Story

Considering trying for national news with a good media relations professional? Here are some elements you can’t be without:

  • Hard news with a soft news twist
  • Current events angle; news that ties in with world affairs
  • Data: could be new research, patterns of behavior
  • Third-party Spokesperson: academic, scientist or other expert to vouch for the data
  • Consumer: Person who receives the service, uses the product with a good story
  • Company executive: Someone with the Message Map in hand who can present the company in proper light

The final item on your list is to have a professional pitch this to national media. It will be a huge challenge if you try to do it yourself.

By Jayme Soulati

Related articles
  • DESERT TORTOISE: There’s an app for that
  • Unwanted Pet Desert Tortoises Spur New Rule
  • Storytelling And The Media Relations Pitch Revisited
  • Five Tips About Earned Media
Enhanced by Zemanta

Filed Under: Media Relations Tagged With: California, Desert tortoise, Endangered species, Marine, Media Relations, Mojave, Mojave Desert, PR, Public Relations, United States, Wall Street Journal

Next Page »
ALT="Jayme Soulati"

Message Mapping is My Secret Sauce to Position Your Business with Customers!

Book a Call Now!
Free ebook

We listen, exchange ideas, execute, measure, and tweak as we go and grow.

Categories

Archives

Search this site

I'm a featured publisher in Shareaholic's Content Channels
Social Media Today Contributor
Proud 12 Most Writer

© 2010-2019. Soulati Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Dayton, Ohio, 45459 | 937.312.1363