I posted an item earlier this week about how to fight bias in the media, and one of my tips was to write a letter to the editor of publications you think have treated you unfairly.
This morning, I came across a perfect example while reading the Jan. 30 issue of PR Week.
Ronn Torossian, president and CEO of 5W Public Relations, was miffed that the magazine didn’t include his firm in its shortlist of “Small PR Firm of the Year.”
So he wrote a letter to the editor ticking off all the reasons his firm should have been chosen:
—For the second year in a row, it was the fastest growing PR firm in the country, and it is willing to open its books and compare its numbers against those of any other PR firm.
—It has one of the lowest employee turnover rates in the United States.
—It was featured in a two-page story in the Sunday New York Times last year in which Torossian was referred to as “the consummate hard-driving, scrappy New York publicist.”
—It has won 87 percent of its new-business pitches.
—It has a more racially and ethnically diverse staff than other firms.
And finally, “The exact reason we experience such success is why the judges wouldn’t vote for us—we are threatening to them because we are providing more for our clients.”
Sour grapes? Not as far as The Publicity Hound is concerned. Toroissian got 13 inches of type in PR Week versus the other firms, whose names were mentioned in teeny-tiny print at the bottom of the list.
Letters like these can often get generate more exposure and get your message across far better than being named as one of the finalists on a “best of” list.
Way to go, Ronn.
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