Advice for the Media Tour Do-It-Yourselfer

The snow on the airport runways may be eleventy feet deep, the thermometer down in the IOU range, the forecast for more wind than even the US Senate can generate (at least their air is mostly hot), and it's so cold out that you can see dogs frozen solid to hydrants, but this is nevertheless a time when many people in your position think seriously about getting on a plane to go calling on the press. Perhaps this would be a good time to review the basics - and maybe get a little creative - about media tours.

Welcome maths.

It's always best to come bearing gifts, and preferably gifts of news. If your news hands are empty, is there something else of professional (but not personal) value you can offer? The more you have that speaks directly to that journalists need to deliver appropriate, interesting stories, the more welcome you'll be. The less you bring, the sooner you'll outstay your welcome, and the shorter the visit you should plan.

Discoveries.

So what can you bring if not new product news? There are other corners to this gift shoppe. Check your product-by-product and channel-by-channel sales versus six months ago, a year ago, whatever; see any trends? Ask your research and development people about coming technologies that will affect your products in the months or years ahead, and gather whatever supporting materials you can about them. Get copies of the last speeches your top company executives made. Ask your technical and customer support people about what new questions they're hearing these days, and which have gone away. And as you gather the information these many resources will proffer, acknowledge your own sense of discovery, and try to recreate it in the members of the press you'll visit.

Collecting to kit.

Unless you're bringing a brand new, still-under-wraps product for hush-hush undercover, embargoed sneak peeks (and often even then), the journalists you visit will expect you to leave something behind. In practical terms, they'll likely anticipate that most of it will be useless, but you can anticipate them with a little careful preplanning. The secret is to divide and conquer. Make your package in fact a well-organized set of very small packages: technical information, ad slicks, competitive comparisons, market studies, copies of relevant articles on the same theme about the market overall or about competing or earlier products, words of wisdom from analysts, Beta site contacts, briefed analyst contacts, committed distributor or reseller contacts and so on. Do all you can to make coverage easy to prepare, no matter which direction it takes, 
and make the material you're providing easy to identify.

Gift rap.

When you arrive, don't make assumptions or presumptions about any amenities you're planning to bring. Consider the faux pas if you bring donuts to someone who's allergic to wheat, pastries to someone trying hard to diet, cigars to a vehement antismoker, flowers to someone who's especially sensitive to sexual innuendoes, small gifts to someone who assiduously wishes to avoid the ethical question of bribery, or quid pro quo.

Travel arrangements.

Before you go, of course (and, of course, we wouldn't mention it if there were no precedent), call to make sure that the editor you're planning to visit is the right person, still on the right beat, still with the publication, not out of town or really strapped for time when you're coming (too many "really not sure" or "going to be really busy" responses are a subtle way to say they really would rather you didn't come), and interested. See who else might be appropriate; for example, your visit should include the right product editor or reporter, the industry editor or reporter on the same beat, the review editor and perhaps others. Ask the one you know best about the others - and record the information you get for your ongoing contact rosters. Most editors enjoy the one-on-one time that these visits allow; some don't, and would rather you send information and discuss stories on the phone; and even those who do can only handle so many per week or per month, and may not be able to see you this time round.

Moderation.

Don't overdo it. A few people tend to spend too much time on media tours, to knock on the same doors a little too frequently, and to come bearing not so much news after all on each trip. The open joke in the press is that they're collecting "frequent fooler" miles.

Tease.

If there's time, you may want to consider a small "tease" campaign. You could parody a film promo with a poster that says "Coming soon". You might also parody a political campaign ("Campaign Train to stop at..."), a manhunt, a storm tracking report, a space launch, a news story, a science fiction invasion tale or... you get the picture. Make it cute, direct and fun, but again, don't overdo it.

If you must leave home, don't forget the loved ones you're leaving at home. Make time for a call a mandatory agenda item; the same for a few moments to pick up mementos. And send the kids a postcard, even if you get home before it does. As the guy on TV almost says, don't leave home without them, or at least thoughts of them topmost in your heart and your mind.