Robert Deigh’s New Book Shakes Up PR

In today’s world where name recognition and brand identity are vital components for continued business success, individuals and executives alike must possess the marketing knowledge to meet the challenge. The global and regional giants have marketing and P.R. groups that make NFL teams look tiny, and the little guys are left to claw their way onto the field through limited means. And for those of us in the latter group striving to play the game, acquiring visibility for ourselves or companies without the enormous budgets to dedicate to the cause seems insurmountable—until now. Robert Deigh has come to the rescue with his new book, “How Come No One Knows About Us? The Ultimate Public Relations Guide: Tactics Anyone Can Use to Win High Visibility”.

With a quarter century of expertise in public relations, marketing, and journalism, Robert Deigh has enabled firms and individuals to connect with the right segments of the marketplace by maximizing visibility and establishing strong brands. As a consultant, speaker, and writer, Mr. Deigh trains the savvy executive and layperson alike.

In an exclusive interview with ExecutiveBiz, Mr. Deigh talks about his new book, “How Come No One Knows About Us?”.
What motivated you to write this book?

Robert Deigh: Actually I didn’t set out to write a book at all.  I wanted to buy a comprehensive public relations book — a whole case of them, as a matter of fact — that I could give to each of my clients as a tool to support the strategic communication plans I had created for them and the PR tactics we were using to help them win visibility in the press and elsewhere. Although there are thousands of marketing books, there are comparatively few PR books and I found virtually all of them to be narrow in scope. One was about doing interviews, another was about doing publicity stunts, and so on.  So, like any entrepreneur, I sensed an unmet need — to put all the good stuff in a single book. I made a list of the most practical, cost-effective and up-to-date tactics that I have used successfully in PR over the past 25 years, the ones that any business person can do themselves.  It came out to 23 topics.

What is the most difficult public relations obstacle for an individual or small firm to overcome?

Robert Deigh: Too often, when I first meet with companies — especially small ones — they explain to me that they have a great product or service and a great team of people.  But their sales figures don’t reflect their quality, so they want to know  “How come no one knows about us?”   I heard that comment so often that I used it as the title of the book!  The most difficult PR obstacle is visibility.  Take a typical medium-size software company.  They work hard but the competition is killing them.  Most potential customers can’t tell one software company from another.  The truth is that prospects are not as interested in what a company IS as “What can it do for me?”  I help them create effective messages in plain English, get those messages into all of their communication and then go after press and other audiences.  The result is high visibility.

In establishing a brand identity, what are three actions successful companies do well?

Robert Deigh: Actually, I can think of a few, but four spring to mind right away, if you’ll allow me:
1) Successful companies do the market research to understand exactly who their audiences are, and they can identify the specific traits of the decision makers among their potential customers.
2) They create truthful, effective messages that resonate with potential clients and then use those messages in all of their marketing, PR, advertising, sales, business development and other communication.  Every member of the team and all materials are “on message.”  Pretty soon, the public has heard the messages enough that they stick.  Sticky messages help build strong brands.
3) Successful companies know how to tell a compelling story.  People relate to people, and all good stories are ultimately about people. How does your product or service make lives better?  What makes you better than the competition?  Reporters, especially, don’t care about our businesses, our products or our services.  They only care about STORIES about them.  Brands with great stories include Apple, Microsoft, Disney, McDonald’s, Starbucks, FedEx and Harley-Davidson, among many others.
4) Great businesses know how to pitch those “people” stories mentioned above to the right reporters.  In the book, I say that if you only read one chapter, read the one (Chapter 11) on how to successfully pitch stories.  It’s not that difficult to do but it is critical to your success. Anyone can do it.  I’ve seen people who had never talked to a reporter before become very good at getting stories placed.  Learn to pitch and pretty soon you’ll be seen as an expert in your field and a dependable source for stories.

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