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What Your Press Release Has in Common with Hurricane Katrina

Hurricanes happen. While you can't predict them, you can prepare in advance for the inevitable. While you can't always plan your press release when news breaks, most of the time forethought could be the thing that saves face in the whirlwind that's the media.

1. Prepare for disaster.

The best way to get ready for the unexpected is to expect it. When ordained Voodoo & Yoruba priestess Ava Kay Jones heard that Katrina was coming through New Orleans, She packed a few things, her bird Tweety, then she and a group of friends drove straight to Houston. Knowing that the media sometimes doesn't tell you the whole story when they invite you on a show is more typical than not. When Ava Kay was invited to be on 20/20 with John Stossel they didn't tell her it was going to be a show that poked fun at and debunked spiritual matters. When Stossel asked her to put a hex on him, she refused and instead did a spiritual blessing at a cemetery. One of her colleagues didn't fare so well and did as he was told. Bad idea. Know your boundaries and what you will and won't do. You're not a performing seal.

2. Have your systems in place.

One client of mine is raring to go. She wants me to get her press releases out in a big way, nationally ASAP. I've refused. Even though she's already being interviewed by major magazines she doesn't have the systems in place yet so she wouldn't maximize her publicity. Opportunities would be wasted.

First she needs simple things like having a newsletter sign up page on her website, her website store in running order, a database set up and/or fulfillment house for sending her products, prices and descriptions for speaking engagements, etc. We need to get all of the basics up and running before we go public in a major way. After we do that we'll define the niche markets we want to target and write the press releases accordingly.

3. Be resourceful.

If one thing doesn't work, try another. Ava Kay Jones waited in line for three days in Houston for assistance from the Red Cross. Every day they sent thousands of people home telling them to come back the next day...and the next, and the next.

When my sweetie and I flew her here to visit as a respite from the storm. Ava Kay and I went to the Red Cross in Marin County, but the door was blockaded and there was a sign that stated we had to go to San Francisco or Oakland for assistance.

We drove the hour to Oakland and we waited patiently as they asked inane questions about Ava Kay's past, filled out 5 separate forms by hand, and then asked us to get them a bill to prove her residence in New Orleans as her passport wasn't good enough.

We had to fax a bill (thankfully, she brought some with her and my sweetie was around to do it) in order to get a debit card for a measly $360, which wouldn't be operative for 24-48 hours and must be used within a month.

But first we had to wait for the fax machine to be fr.e.e and then it was broken and had to be fixed. Can you imagine the thousands of people in Houston and throughout the gulf states spending 1.5 + hours getting paperwork filled out to get a pittance? I found out from my mother that one of her friend's who volunteered to help out is being flown from California to Baton Rouge and put up in a hotel. That's where all our Red Cross money is going, not to the people who need it.

When things don't go as planned for you when you send out a press release have a Plan B. And then be willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done--which is to get your message out to the audience you want to help.

Copyright (c) 2006 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Susan Harrow, PRSecrets.com, is a media coach, marketing strategist, author of *Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul.* Clients include CEOs, authors, entrepreneurs who have appeared on/in Oprah, 60 Minutes, TIME, USA Today, NY Times.

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