The Making of the Snowball Effect, How to Use Media to Your Advantage
As a journalist, I covered the news, as a business owner I became the news. By understanding how the media works and how to use it for brand credibility, I was able to become successful in my other ventures. I’m sure you’ve heard about the “snowball effect” by now. The snowball effect is when something begins with relative insignificance and builds upon itself over and over again until it eventually becomes large (and in some cases self-sustaining). Media has the power to create this effect and launch a brand. If one media outlet covers you, another media outlet feels safer investing their time. They may not know you, but they know that media outlet and are willing to extend more trust in your direction. By attaching yourself to a known brand, some of that brand’s reputation is conferred to you.
Everyone talks about branding today and they should. Branding is longevity. Branding saves you money. Branding is nothing more than the manifestation of the trust a consumer places in a business or person. It reflects a long-term, consistent record of success and quality. Once someone or something achieves brand status it takes a lot of screw ups to remove that status. For example, it took many years for CNN to build its brand and in spite all of the “fake news” labels being slung its way CNN is still managing to keep the lights on. They successfully created a brand that people trusted.
Before the days of mass media, brands were built over decades. Today, it is possible to build a brand very quickly using the media. I tell all my clients if you can get just one branded media outlet to cover your story in a positive way you can use that credibility to launch your own brand. Once one outlet covers you, others view you as credible and are willing to do the same.
I had a client who owned a Mexican sandwich shop in Chicago. He had already been able to get featured in many food publications as the “must eat” sandwich in town. When Cinco de Mayo came around, I put together a list of hot quotes from the reviews and the publications they were mentioned in and sent that off to local TV stations. I suggested that their chef was available to come in and do a live Cinco de Mayo cooking segment. With just a single email and a one page media kit, I was able to book their chef on three of the five Chicago TV stations for Cinco de Mayo. I could probably not have accomplished that without their shop already being mentioned by other food publications. The sandwich shop was able to receive that opportunity because it was borrowing from the credibility of outlets such as Eater, Zagat and the Chicago Tribune.
So, for the newcomer, the goal is to get that first tiny bit of snow. Once you have that first mention by a branded publication, it’s easier to get into the next publication and so on and so on. All of the major work to build the snowball comes in the beginning because after that, you’re just setting it at the top of the hill and letting it roll down, gathering its own momentum. So how do you do this? How do you get that first mention? As a journalist, I can tell you without even thinking that the key to being mentioned is to have a good story and, more importantly, a good angle. Reporters look for a few things, most specifically the relevance of the topic and the impact that subject has on the community.
Just like with media mentions, your qualifications should be presented in such a way to build off of known brands. Harvard graduate, American Bar Association, Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Culinary Institute, etc are all brands that both the media and the public are familiar with. Many of you already have brands associated with you that you may not even realized can be used to your advantage. Two Marines Moving is a million dollar company started by two Marines. The Marine Corps has a brand. People associate it with being tough and reliable. When people were looking for movers they saw a brand that is familiar and trusted.
In my case, I use “Emmy Award Winning” to my advantage when inviting the public or media to check out something I am doing. Those three words tell people that not only am I a writer or creative person of some kind, but also one that was recognized by his peers. I can add in that I have been on the cover of Crain’s Chicago Business or won their coveted “40-under-40”. I demonstrate my value. As you begin to build that first tiny snowball, the crafting of your story, consider what qualifications you have that people can associate with something trusted, reliable, or extraordinary. Match that to your potential impact on the community (great food, reliable moving) and create a story that the media can look at and instantly know that this is worthy of sharing.