Author Robert Deigh's book, "How Come No One Knows About Us?" hits stores today from WBusiness Books. Though not specifically aimed at the adult industry, it purports to offer tips on how to deal with the media, including:
• How to get your employees to stay on message and speak with a single voice.
• How to pitch stories to reporters.
• How, why and when to hold a press conference.
• How to exploit Web 2.0 websites to build a viable online presence.
These tips come from Deigh, a PR pro who boasts the likes of AOL and PBS on his resume, along with a stint as an associate editor at U.S. News and World Report.
But despite any good advice that may come down from on high, PR professionals around the adult industry caution that public relations is best left to the pros.
"Public relations is as much about contacts and credibility as it is about skill," said Wayne Hentai of Plan 9 Media Group. "People who work in magazines and news shows are busy and, quite frankly, people who represent themselves when it comes to publicity have a hard time separating their ego from what's really newsworthy — it's like what they say about a lawyer who represents himself. “These people in the media also don't know you, so they don't know how much they can trust you as a source. Granted, you can build an excellent relationship with the press on your own, but this takes months, if not years. A professional can bring the skill, the contacts and the credibility to a company immediately."
Digital Playground Director of Marketing Adella O'Neal added that employing a PR rep can add a feeling of legitimacy to a fledgling company.
"It's good to have 'people,'" she told XBIZ. "As in, 'I'll have my people call your people.' It's kind of a smoke-and-mirrors effect."
Both O'Neal and Versatile Media Group's April Storm agreed that good public relations work takes a lot of time — time that might be better spent by company leaders guiding their business.
But Storm also said that a persistence and a sound base might make for viable self-representation.
"If you have the contacts, you can handle your own PR because no one cares about your career or product more than you," she told XBIZ.
Deigh's book is available at Amazon.com.
