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Interview: Paul Green - A Prolific Media Expert!

19 June, 2007 - Interviews - 3 Comments

Paul Green, managing director of Publicity Heaven Ltd, is one of the UK’s leading experts in gaining free publicity, and using it to grow your business. Having being in media since he left school, he has seen some of the best and the worst publicity stunts.

Jamie: You have spent most of your working career since you were 18 involved in media in some form or another. What was it that prompted you to work in that field?

I spent much of my school time working on school newspapers (called the ‘Gasbag’ and ‘Apocalypse’ - great names!) and doing work experience at Fox FM in Oxford. When I screwed up my A-levels (because I was spending two hours on the newspaper for every one hour studying), it seemed right to work for my local paper in what I thought would be a gap year. Nearly 15 years on, that gap year’s still continuing!

Jamie: After working as an employee for so many years, what sparked the formation of your own business, Publicity Heaven?

Working for myself has always been there at the back of my mind. At virtually every stage of my media career, I had a little side scheme to earn a bit of extra cash! A few years ago I realised the things I just knew could be of great benefit to businesses. And that started me down the route I’m on today. It’s very hard to let go totally; very occasionally I do a bit of writing or present a radio show. It’s a pity you can’t start a radio station as easily as you can start a PR business (well, you can, but it’s very hard to make money from it)

Jamie: You must have seen some truly brilliant publicity stunts. Is there one publicity stunt which really stands out as being your favourite?

I went to the regional charity premiere of the Bond film, ‘The World is Not Enough’, at the Odeon in Kettering, Northamptonshire. 10 minutes before the film was due to start we were all ushered outside to watch the cans of film arrive by messenger bike. But then a load of terrorists turned up firing guns, and stole the film! I will never forget what happened next - a helicopter swooped in and hovered really low over the car park. A Bond-type character abseiled down from the roof, fought the baddies and got the film back. It was a complete shock - you think to yourself “where the hell did a cinema get a helicopter from?”. Of course it got acres of media coverage, because they’d tipped all the TV stations off. Increadible stuff.

Jamie: Now we know what your favourite publicity stunt was, what would you class as the worst publicity stunt?

Well, I didn’t see it personally, but a marketing company in the States left fake bombs around Boston, to promote a TV show. Commuters were re-routed and terrorism fears briefly rose.

Jamie: There are a lot of boring and cliche marketing stunts out there, but at the same time there are some very creative people who come up with some unusual stunts. What are the best unusual stunts you have come across or even done yourself?

I tend to find you don’t hear about the boring stuff as much as the exciting ones. Helicopters are all good and well, but it’s the simple stuff that I like the best. There’s a drilling firm with the website www.yourholeisourgoal.co.uk (safe for work). And the Heart Attack Grill is a brilliant example of making the product so different, it IS the marketing ( Entrepreneur.com Article ).

Saying that, when I ran a radio station in Peterborough we blew an Austin Metro up with dynamite, and made four people live in a tiny caravan for a week… part of their prize was to destroy it with a 10 ton tank!

You’ve got it spot on Jamie with the word “unusual”. Some people are afraid of doing something different to get noticed. Others do different things all the time, and get more than their fair share of attention (Richard Branson; Stelios).

Jamie: Common sense has always said one should start targeting small media outlets first, and then build up to larger fish. However, I recently read that targeting national outlets first and then moving down the chain would be the best way. After a little thought, I guess it made perfect sense. So, please clear it up. Small to large, or large to small? Remember, we’re still talking about media outlets!

Depends on who and what you are and what your story is. It’s often easier to get stories into the local media (as long as it is relevant to their audience) because there is less demand for the space. Sometimes the national media picks up stories from the regional press.

For many businesses. getting into the national media needs a long-term approach. Saying that, if you can come up with a good reaction to a national story, you can get national attention quickly.

Jamie: Journalists are busy people who work to some very tight deadlines. Getting their attention seems to be the single hardest challenge when trying to gain free publicity. There’s plenty of talk about how to write and what to write to journalists, but not much discussion about *when* to write. I’ve always presumed Friday or Monday would be the worst days, because generally the end of the week is spent winding down, and the start of the week is spent plowing through hundreds of emails received over the weekend. Generally speaking, for a daily newspaper, when would be the best time to send your press release?

This is simple to get right for any media title. Find out when their deadline is - the point at which they must finish their work for it to be printed / broadcast - and contact them well AFTER the deadline. Do you think a newsreader will want to talk to you two minutes before they are due into a studio to read a bulletin? No… but 10 minutes later they’ll have time.

Jamie: Without knowing their story, if you were allowed to give just one piece of advice to help somebody gain free publicity, what would that advice be?

Focus on finding a story that will be of interest to the your target media’s audience. The best looking, most well-written press releases are worthless without a great story.

Jamie: Are there any online examples of your press releases or other work?

I’ve just set up a latest releases section: Latest Publicity Heaven Releases

Jamie: If you were to name one business person who knew the art of gaining publicity like the back of their hand, who would that person be?

Richard Branson. He’s the UK publicity king. Editors Note: We all knew the answer to that question, but I couldn’t help but ask it anyway.

Thanks for taking the time to do this interview, Paul.

Share your publicity experiences with us all. The good. The bad. The ugly. Let’s hear them all.

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Posted on 19 June, 2007 by Jamie Harrop
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3 Comments »

Comment by Daniel Haigh

2007-06-20 19:08:23

Great Interview Jamie

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Comment by Jamie Harrop

2007-06-20 19:40:30

Thanks Daniel.

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Comment by Russell Wagner

2007-07-10 03:14:45

Great interview, a good read.

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