Food/Wine Story Ideas for the Newspaper

You still have a couple of weeks to pitch the newspapers with Christmas story ideas. If you get your ideas to them soon, they may consider them for the holiday edition.

Last Wednesday's AZ Republic demonstrated how to think of creative variations on the Thanksgiving theme. We can use this to come up with new ideas that can be submitted to the papers to get coverage for our businesses.

Food section front page story:
"Chefs elevate Thanksgiving leftovers to grand gourmet".
This article wasn't about cooking turkey. It was about how local chefs create gourmet meals with leftover turkey. Three chefs from the Petite Maison in Scottsdale were asked to create three gourmet meals from leftovers. The chefs created the meals, and the AZ Republic published them. Included in the article were:

• The chef's names and photos
• The restaurant's location
• The owner's name
  

It would be good to get that kind of exposure, wouldn't it? Well, nothing's stopping you! The owner of the Petite Maison probably contacted the Republic and suggested a story idea, and got asked to do something with T-day leftovers.

If I were going to contact the AZ Republic with a Christmas Dinner story, I'd come up with something a little different, such as variation on the side dishes, or unusual ingredients instead of the standard potatoes and yams. The more unusual and interesting, the better.

Sidebar Story:
"Help for Baking Pies"
This little sidebar, also on the front page, posts a toll-free phone number that hurried and harried home chefs can call to get help with their baking. It's sponsored by Crisco. This hotline helps with everything from soggy crusts to weeping meringue.

Here's a secret: Local newspapers like to cover local businesses before they write about big national companies. It builds community, and the reporters like to help out local businesses.

Therefore, if you set up something like this, you could very well get some coverage. And why not? Again, nothing's stopping you!

• Wineries and wine stores: Set up a hotline to help home chefs select the perfect Christmas wine.
• Restaurants: Set up a hotline to help with Christmas dinner preparation (or to suggest new ideas for home chefs who want to do something different).

Does this work? You bet it does! Consumers LOVE to have a phone number to call when they need help. If you provide a "help line", it places your business firmly in their mind - they'll remember you.

Remember: Our job is to get and keep clients coming in our door, buying from us, and then coming back for more. By providing this kind of help, we're showing that we care about the customers. They're not just a credit card number (!), but someone we really want to help have a great dinner.

And the beauty of it is....if you're the only one doing it, one quick call to the newspapers could generate enough interest that they'll cover your story. And that's a winning scenario for everyone: the paper, the customers, and you.

Best Marketing Techniques at the AZ Wine Festival at the Farm

The AZ Wines Festival at the Farm happened last Sunday, and it was awesome! A large number of the Arizona wineries and winemakers were there, showing off their excellent wines. Great wines and great people! A good time was had by everyone. I'm looking forward to next year!

Public-oriented events like this are perfect opportunities for good marketing. Everyone did a great job, and I'd like to point out some of the best marketing techniques I saw.

1. Flyers and handouts. Almost everyone had something to give to the people who stopped by their booths. That's very good. Always give your visitors something to remember your wines.
Special Mention: One winery handed out a list of "Our 2010 releases", circled their name, and told me the month the wines would be available. Very good move. It made me remember them.

2. Collecting email addresses. Almost everyone had an email sign-up sheet to collect the email addresses of the visitors. Great! You always want to collect the contact information of people who stop by your booth.

3. "Best Method": The best marketing technique went to one of the wineries who handed out a card that entitled the bearer to a free gift when it was brought into the winery. Excellent! Makes me want to visit them. Plus, they weren't handing them out to everyone, so I felt like I was "special".

Good job, everyone!

A couple more ideas:
I'd like to add a couple of ideas that could make your marketing efforts even better (If you don't mind, of course. I *have* had a little practice doing it: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/gordon-parlova/0/1a/4a3 ).

1. Actively encourage people to sign up for your emails. Everyone had their sign-up sheet there, but nobody pointed it out to me.

1. Work it into conversation with the tasters: ("If you sign up for our email newsletter, we'll send you recipes to go with this wine").
2. Print out a copy of the newsletter (so they can see what they'll get), and a short "pitch". That'll sell the newsletter without you having to talk. It's a "silent salesperson"!

2. Immediately send an email to the people who signed up. The next day is best. People will remember you better if you remind them of you right away. We all see hundreds of ads and meet lots of people so we're going to forget who we met and what we did. If you email them right away, they'll remember you. A couple of tips:

1. Send them a "Thanks for Stopping By Our Booth" email the next day.
   
   
2. Two to three days later, send them a coupon or a recipe via email. Anything that has *value for the recipient*. This will cement your winery in their minds, and they'll look forward to the next email they get from you. This is also an excellent time to send them a list of stores where they can find your wine.
   

Again, the AZ Wines Festival was great! Arizona has wonderful wines and wonderful winemakers! Let's do this again and show the world how great our wines are!

Put Your Logo at the *Bottom* of Your Press Release

You should always include your logo and your contact information in your press release. Just don't put it at the top of the release.

Why? Because the top of the release is the first place the reporter looks for the "newsworthy" item - the potential story. He/she is looking for the *headline*, not your logo. Reporters are always looking for stories, so you make sure that they see one the moment they look at your release.

Reporters are very busy people. They don't have time to read every release line-by-line looking for the story. They glance at the release quickly, and if they don't see anything interesting, they move on to the next one.

Therefore, the first thing they should see is the potential story. That belongs in the headline, and the headline should be at the top of the news release.

"But Gordon..." you say, "I was told in my 'marketing your brand' class that I should always put my logo at the top because then they start to recognize my brand". Trust me, they don't care about your brand. They care about finding good stories.

I was a TV news anchor for eight years. I looked for the story in the headline. I didn't care who sent it to me. If I found a good story then yes, I cared who sent it. But not before.

So our lesson for today is: Make the reporters like you. Put the story idea in the headline where the reporter can see it. Put your logo and contact information at the *bottom* of the news release. If the reporter likes the story idea, they'll look for your contact information and call you.

Start Pitching Christmas Stories *Now*

Thanksgiving is this week, so the chance to get a story in the papers or on TV is pretty much over. Now is the time to pitch Christmas stories to the newspapers and TV. Newspapers have a 3 - 4 week turn-around time, whereas TV programs have about a 1-week turn-around time (meaning, they can get you on in about one week). So now's the time.

For prioritization, I recommend that you pitch the newspapers NOW. Right now. November 21. Put together a press release and email it to them right away so they can start consideration. Then I'd start pitching the TV stations: programs like Your Life A-Z on Channel 3 and Arizona Midday on Channel 12. These people like cooking ideas, recipes, and wine.

What types of stories do they like? Interesting and unusual items work best.

• Wine pairings for smoked or deep-fried turkey (not just roasted).
• White or red for roasted turkey? Two experts offer their opinion.
• Cook all the "trimmings" in under an hour.
• How kids can help making dinner.
• Christmas Souffle' for dessert!
  
• An elegant dinner on a budget.

Interesting variations on the wine and food theme will get the attention of the reporter.

So start pitching your stories now. That'll give you plenty of time to get it to press before Christmas.

"Why doesn't the media call me back??"

Here's something I hear frequently:

"I've sent press releases to the newspaper/magazine/TV/radio, but I didn't hear back. Why not?"

There can be several answers to this, but the most common one is this: the story you suggested to the media probably doesn't fit their definition of "newsworthy". So what's "newsworthy", you ask? Look at it this way:

The root of the word "news" is NEW. The type of story that will get the attention of the media is about something NEW. Something new, unusual, and/or different. Anything that will make the reporter go "Really? I didn't know that!" will get their attention.

In the world of food and wine, that means new flavors, new combinations, new pairings, new uses, new methods of growing grapes, new methods of fermenting/bottling/etc., a major change in the decor' of a restaurant, a major change in the food, etc. Something NEW.

For example, here are a few story headlines from a few recent food and wine magazines:

• "Christmas Dinner in Under an Hour (Really!)"
• "Oak Meets Smoke: Great Wines for Grilled Food"
• "Crafty Competitor: New Restaurant Concepts Stay Ahead of the Pack"
• "Five Tasty Glazes for Your Thanksgiving Turkey"
• "The Valley's 50 Best Dishes"
  

Christmas dinner in under an hour?? How can that be done?? Turkey *glazes* instead of just "turkey"? Sounds interesting! The 50 best dishes in the Valley? Oh yeah?? Sez who??? They're all unusual and attention-getting.

The media creates interesting and compelling stories to keep their audiences interested. If you can provide that unusual twist to your stories, you'll get more notice from the media.

So the next time you release a new wine, add a little creative spin to the press release. Don't go with the standard "....handcrafted wine....flavors of black cherry and cinnamon....smooth finish....". Instead, think of some creative ideas for interesting pairings.

Make sure the creative ideas are *real* of course - don't just make things up. But be creative in your approach. I promise, if you send a press release with a headline that reads "This Wine Pairs Great with Peanut Butter and Jelly", you'll get some media attention!