But there are dozens of social media platforms, trade magazines, general interest publications, English and Spanish media (very relevant in Miami), newspapers, radio programs, blogs, etc.
How on earth do you separate your company from all the noise?
Is a small story in a large, but circulation-bleeding daily newspaper better than being the top article in a snarky but popular blog? Or is it vice versa?
In Miami, do you want to be the lead story on a Spanish language TV station with low ratings, or the last little throw in story on the second ranked English Language TV news program?
There are too many variables to say which is best for each unique situation.
What I do know is that you do need to toot your own horn to separate yourself from the competition.
But unless you’re an echo maniac with no shame, you better play some darn pretty be bop notes when you sound your trumpet to your clients, competitors and the public.
In other words, don’t create a blog, press release, story pitch, smoke signal, branded sand castle, you tube post, Facebook update or other self-promotion – that is based on all sizzle and no steak.
For more than a year of serving as Communications Manager at PlusUrbia Design in Miami, I have found that flashy attempts at media attention get you nowhere.
Storytelling, based on facts, trends, innovations and relevancy to everyday life get tens of thousands of dollars in free media.
Take this thumbnail case study on the Wynwood Neighborhood Revitalization District created by PlusUrbia.
It took dozens of email and phone calls, with dozens of different angles, to get an editor I know to assign a Planning Magazine expert contributor to a story on planning for Arts Districts.
Today, the story posted – and it’s the main feature in the prestigious monthly magazine published by the American Planning Association.
Here's a link to a Planning Magazine story that dedicates 450+ words and the story-ending memorable quote block to PlusUrbia Design:
https://www.planning.org/planning/open/2015/artsculture.htm
PlusUrbia is an amazing collaborative that has gotten tons of local work in the past year, not to mention an APA award for its collaborative work in Wynwood with the City of Miami, Wynwood BID and Akerman firm.
PlusUrbia’s “Cabin in the Grove” design studio is the perfect place for me to work as a teammate with brilliant designers while we: earn media, focus RFPs, sharpen writing, streamline contest entries, clarify web content, expand brand and share success on social media.
Including the prestigious main feature story in Planning Magazine, PlusUrbia has become quite the global, national and local media darling.
In the past 90 days, my work with this firm has gotten lead television stories in Spanish and English, nearly two dozen major blog stories (including Curbed), more than one dozen print feature stories (Herald, SOFLA Biz Journal, Miami Today) and NPR multiple interviews.
We have also placed a pair of expert op-ed pieces on essential urban design issues that are important in Miami, but relevant to hundreds of cities around the nation and beyond.
If PlusUrbia’s designers didn’t create great work, there would be no story to tell.
Thanks PlusUrbia. The partnership has been amazing.
WWW.PLUSURBIA.COM
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