As you all know, for fun I teach Spinning at Lelia Patterson Fitness Center in Fletcher, NC. Well, this summer, the gym asked me to volunteer my PR prowess to guide their college intern, Chris Janetzco, into getting buzz in the community about their upcoming Hunter Subaru LPC Triathlon. From the beginning, I coached this intern into using members from the actual gym to inspire the community. Viola — not only did we get coverage, but we got the FRONT PAGE last Saturday. It’s not the front page of a section, but rather the front page of the entire paper! I’m so excited. You’ll recall how excited I was to get the front page of the Wall Street Journal last year. Front page coverage is oh so rare in PR. While scoring front page may be hard, ‘spinning’ stories isn’t. It’s simply finding inspiration around you and then opening your mouth to the media. That’s spinning a great story for the media. Just reflect on inspiration not promotion. Who knows? You might be on the road to front page coverage too.
Michelle Tennant Nicholson 
Congrats, Michelle! Can you share details on the pitch?
Sure! Sorry for the delay on seeing this. I was on vacay. Like you always say, Joan … give media an event — a reason to cover you. So, in this case, we gave them an open house and a local couple who broke through a personal challenge. They covered both. There wasn’t “one pitch” but rather a relationship-build. Traditional PR here — we called the reporter, formed a relationship and kept her “up-to-date” over the course of 5-6 months. It’s important to make media contacts feels special, form a relationship and (just like dating) cater to their needs. Be faithful to them, serve them, make them feel and look good and viola, you will be likely to be covered. They just want a scoop. Give them a scoop in an easy-to-use manner and you’ll be covered. And if they’re not interested, as Leigh wasn’t for many months, they’ll tell you. That means, “Not right now.” It usually doesn’t mean, “No, never.”