What Subjects Do You Have of Interest?

I heard a news report a couple of days ago that “unlike upscale stores, Wal-Mart reported an increase in profits during the past month of 10%.” The reporter made a big deal about how this means that more people are shopping at Wal-Mart, even in this down economy. Since reports of increases are rare these days, this news story continued to be big news and was the lead story of every broadcast, repeated frequently throughout the day.

As the day progressed, reporters felt compelled to explain Wal-Mart’s increase and offered that it was due to more sales of groceries. Now I don't know precisely what contributed to Wal-Mart's increase in profits. I can take a guess. What I can tell you is that these reporters do not know the difference between profit and revenue. A business having an increase in profit does not mean that there was a corresponding increase in revenue. While there could be an increase in revenue leading to an increase in profits, there could just as easily be no increase in revenue. The business may have cut expenses and had profits rise. Since Wal-Mart bases much of its profitability on its distribution system, something as simple as gas prices decreasing could have significantly contributed to a rise in profits. Knowing the margin of grocery items, I strongly doubt that a rise in grocery sales raised profits to that degree.

Whatever the cause for Wal-Mart's increased profitability, take a look at how much Wal-Mart gained from sending out a press release telling the news media about it. Wal-Mart dominated the news for a twenty-four hour cycle, and the message communicated by the news was that more people are shopping at Wal-Mart. According to the implications by the media, during these economic times more shoppers are turning to Wal-Mart. As consumers get this message, they will be inclined to think, "Hey, I'd better shop there, too!"

The publicity personnel at Wal-Mart knew that reporting an increase of anything in this economy would get the news media's attention. They selected the right time to send a press release. They also selected the right subject. Furthermore, they knew that, due to Wal-Mart’s size, when they sent a release, all news media paid attention. I suspect that they also knew that most reporters don't know the difference between profits and revenues. They knew that the news media would get excited about an increase in any figures from any business, especially one of Wal-Mart’s notoriety. Thus, they sent a release.

Most small businesses do not send press releases. They do not tap into what Wal-Mart did. They do not realize that they, too, could get coverage by the press. While the press normally would not cover business increases, in this economy they do because what is happening to businesses is of interest to the public. Right now, the health of businesses is main news. While you may not have an increase in revenues or profits to report, you do have something that is of interest to the public and, therefore, the media. I’m not talking about a subject near and dear to your heart, such as making more sales, but a subject of interest to the public. That includes such subjects as the environment, the weather, and ways to live more easily and simply. Seasonally, the holidays and winter are also of interest. This is a very brief and small list. In reality, the subjects are endless.

Look around your business. What subjects do you have that are of interest to the public? Identify them, write a release, and send it to the media.