Slow day? Stop the presses!

[henrik_o]

So, I had a slow day when a material delivery didn't turn up and I thought, hey, it's been some time since we were in the press. A phone call and a local daily were on their way.

It turned into a full spread in their 'glossy' weekly supplement which is a lifestyle magazine-style deal aimed at high earning professional women. Saucy!

So, consider this a kick in the butt if you're not doing this already. Call the press, do it now, do it often. It's free advertising and they love the little guy like most of us.

Hey, if nothing else, it forces you to pick up that broom and clean up a little...

Shameless self-promotion:


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[magic]

What's the angle? David Vs Goliath? Home town boy comes back? The Calvary comes to the rescue? Everything that's old is new again?

I don't have the slightest idea why anyone would want to do a story about cutting dimensional lumber.

[myxpykalix]

Don't you think you are "raining on his parade"?

[butch]

Henrik

That is a good suggestion. I know it works around here. Some of our local news groups like to promote the small business's that operate locally. Good idea!

Butch

[gerryv]

Magic, Maybe it's because some people just cut wood, still others assemble it into things to add more value and a few master craftsmen turn it into art for greater value still? My guess is that Henrik is doing his best to provide us with a way to get some invaluable free advertising to help in these toughening economic times. These "write-ups" are known to have far more positive impact than paid adverts. Just my thoughts anyway. Thanks Henrik.

[harryball]

Henrik,

Very good suggestion. I've tried several of times over 3 years to get an article written and had marginal success. But when it did run it's always had positive results. I don't think our local paper will ever run an article, it's a very odd mess.

/RB

[magic]

A. I am not raining on anyone.
B. These are the questions a reporter should ask.

There has to be an angle the editor likes before an article makes it in his/her paper so those are legitimate questions.
The same could be true of someone who makes a movie. What's it about? Why would we as a movie studio or newspaper put out a story, What's the angle? Why would it be interesting to our viewers.

To have a "flat" story about a craftsman, that's not in a small community based newspaper, isn't enough to make press. The editor is in charge of making sure that the content is interesting enough to sell papers.

So my questions are perfectly legitimate. Except for small town papers the Who, What, When, Where, and Why are not enough to sell copy.

And the How ..... is the shopbot!

[billp]

Magic,
The "How" IS the story...!
Sometimes we get tend to take for granted what it is we are actually doing with the Shopbot. I know that over the years when I try to explain to people what the CNC process involves it usually leaves them boggled.....
While communities such as this Forum are filled with like minded people, just run down to the local mall and see how many others are out there are using a computer to program a robotic tool...
I am sure that at one time or another you have had people in your shop who are stopped in their tracks when they see the 'Bot do it's thing for the first time...
THAT'S the story, and Henrik has nailed it very well. It's new to most people, it's different, and it's the kind of story that every local paper looks for...How many time have you glanced past the "community/local news page" and thought "what's so different about that?".
Build something unique, call the paper, and let them do an article about "the guy who has a robot in his garage/shop". Most owners can't BUY that amount of advertising ,which is there for the asking...
PS- To get maximum mileage out of this approach , be SURE you have a web page that takes the story further...

[bleeth]

From previous posts by Henrik it is clear that he is a master woodworker who is using the bot to enhance his skills as well as keeping a market going for his product. The type of work he does would certainly be interesting to some feature editors and he is fortunate that his local paper responded positively. Robs experience is probably more typical. The last time I had contact with a "reporter" for a local paper it was the weekly in Boca who wanted to run an article on our company. All I had to do was help them write it and take out a year's worth of advertising!!! Other Metro papers, hopefully, have a different qualification criteria.
What is interesting to one editor is fertilizer to another. Take a look at the work on Henrik's site as well as some of the projects he has posted and you may see the news-worthiness of it. His chair legs remind me of the work of another Scandinavian furnituremaker.

[henrik_o]

No, no, no, I am not a master woodworker. I'm reasonable, if I may say so, but my employees are really top notch; studied under the best teachers at the best schools and so on. Also, please recognize that most of the items on the webpage (which *really* could use an upgrade, alas) are designed by Carl Malmsten (the man in the lefthand bottom corner in the second pic above). Malmsten was a good friend of my father and the man Krenov studied under, btw.

Anyway, I think one point of my experience here is that you never know -- and if you don't pick up the phone and call them, you certainly will never know. I didn't expect that article to be featured as it was, but it turned out I was not the only one having a slow day, they did as well, and it grew from there.

What would it have cost me to take out the same space as ads? Maybe 20k or so. I could never do that on my own dime. Sure, I struck gold in that they made the article that large and in how they positioned it, but you gotta get lucky sometimes.

Magic's observations are absolutely legitimate. Before calling, one should have an idea of what's in it for them. I happen to believe there's almost always an angle of interest if you look long enough, though. Like magic mentioned, and Bill P repeats, the Shopbot itself and small scale cnc-ing is an interesting thing on its own.

Another thing I have learned in dealing with the local journalists is that like with so many things, being insistent tends to pay off in the end. There are some papers that I call every year. Some are easy to get to, others are more like what Robert describes. But call them enough, and they'll usually come around. Of course, I'm not suggesting harassing them, but a couple of calls each year just takes some minutes and you never know.

For some reason it seems like female journalists/editors that are in their forties/fifties are by far the most likely to do a decent piece on my business. I have had very little success with male j/e's of any ages (though the shopbot/cnc angle may play well to them) or with younger women. This may be something to keep in mind, or maybe it just applies to me over here, I don't know.

[henrik_o]

Maybe we could brainstorm some storylines that would apply to many shopbotters in how we make the sell to the journalist over the phone?

I have to hit the sack but I think that would be interesting.

[jhicks]

Nice idea Henrik. As far as magics comments I get it but it's not too difficult to come up with a headline these days IF its POSITIVE in a very negative economy.
I always think about the unfortunate folks being laid off with no options other then want ads and job fairs.
So I'm pretty thankful that while business may be a bit slow, at least there is a way to generate some income. A far cry form the unemployment lines in many ways.

So if the story is not about the product it could easily be about "Home based automation" as Bill suggests or "Making it in a tough job market the old fashioned way: Earning it"
A simple human interest story is a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy economy. These days that's probably enough.

Good suggestions I need to consider for a few calls to see what turns the editors on. Thanks

[magic]

How about... "Local man makes something from nothing."

We're focused on a business where, in these hard times, a very resourceful business can literally take a scrap of wood and turn it into art. Now if we could just do that with the rest of the economy.

Now for the rest of the news.