Full Frontal PR: Getting People Talking about You, Your Business, or Your Product (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Michael Prichinello (Author) "A FEW YEARS BACK, the low-budget box office battering ram The Blair Witch Project swept through suburbia and became the chatter around town..." (more)
Key Phrases: source filing, clip book, media tour, New York, San Francisco, Wall Street Journal (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For a public relations professional, Laermer might have succeeded too well with this book: it could threaten to put firms like his own, RLM PR, out of business. After all, write Laermer and co-author Prichinello in this do-it-yourself guide for snaring publicity, the PR industry's dirty little secret is that "you can create the buzz factor yourself." Among the tips: adopt a media-friendly approach that cultivates friends rather than making enemies; use a host of tactics like embargoes, leaks, source filings and exclusives to your best advantage; and give yourself a leg up by knowing what time-pressed journalists are looking for and handing it to them on a platter. The authors bolster their case with examples of good and bad PR: e.g., how BigStar, an online movie retailer, spun its competition with Blockbuster into a David and Goliath tale, or how Kozmo.com's reliance on the media's love affair with its CEO compromised its ability to deliver on its promises. Some troubling references slip in (Laermer's own staffers watch the movies Wall Street and Boiler Room to get revved up for pitching journalists, and the authors admit "someone once told us that media people often dislike PR practitioners a lot"), but, that aside, this is a valuable road map to the land of buzz.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A great PR overview, ideal for newcomers to the industry or for veterans who want to enjoy interesting case studies. -- PR News, 6 January 2003

An essential read for anyone seeking buzz. -- David Neeleman, CEO, JetBlue Airways

Armed with Laermer's public relations know-how, you can start promoting like a pro. -- BookPage, February 2003

Demystifies the task at hand by stripping the PR process of 'spin' and 'sound bites' and teaches what really matters. -- Jonathan Norman, producer, Charlie Rose

Informative, elegantly aggressive, and right on target. -- Jodee Blanco, author of The Complete Guide to Book Publicity

The best-written, most interesting, most up-to-date manual on the PR field. -- Al Ries, co-author of The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Bloomberg Press; 1 edition (February 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576600998
• ISBN-13: 978-1576600993
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #550,930 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packed with useable tips, December 25, 2005

By	Benjamin Figgis "Ben F" (Qatar) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Full Frontal PR: Building Buzz About Your Business, Your Product, or You (Paperback)

I found this book to be packed with practical ideas and information. After reading it I felt that I had a sound basic knowledge of how the news media works, and was confident about how to prepare materials for them to use. Of course every layman thinks they know how the media works, but after reading this you realise how intricate it can be.

Strengths of the book:
- Covers the whole industry - print, TV, internet
- Fairly up to date (2003), with a better Internet chapter than a 2005 PR book I just finished
- Dense with tips and practical information
- Written in a fun, up-beat style
- You will walk away from this book and actually use many of the suggestions. I've had a top-name PR agency on retainer for a year and I now realise how uninspiring and lazy they have been.

Weaknesses:
- Information isn't logically laid out. The first third is set out as an encylopedia in alphabetical order, rather than a logical narrative, which I find is a poor way of "teaching". Overall it is a collection of tips rather than the step-by-step guide it claims to be
- Assumes you are in US and only deal with US media
- A little bit too up-beat at times for my taste (no shortage of exclamation marks)
- Assumes quite an advanced understanding of the media to begin with - reads like he's talking to a fellow PR buddy over a coffee
- I think case studies are especially useful, but there aren't many in here.

Overall: Highly recommended, it really gave me a "quantum leap" in terms of my understanding of the media, inspiration, and practical ideas for how to get my material out.

Incidentally: Much, much better than "Media Relations" by David Henderson which I finished last week.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn how it's done, August 3, 2004

By	Nathan Schock (Sioux Falls, SD United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

From someone in the biz...I found this book full of helpful hints and reminders. Laermer's years of experience come through in a book that is useful for the pro as well as the business owner who looks at a great product and wonders why no one knows about it.

Despite being packed with practical tips, this book is actually a quick read...full of interesting stories and personal anecdotes from the CEO of RLM Public Relations. My copy is dog-eared and underlined. It's one of the few books that has earned valuable space on my desk.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Non-pictorial Textual Book for Buzz Builders (if you were worried), March 25, 2007

By	M. Swinney "Marc My Words" (Flower Mound, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Full Frontal PR: Building Buzz About Your Business, Your Product, or You (Paperback)

Richard Laermer, PR pro of a New York City Public Relations firm, spills the beans on the secrets of the buzz-building industry in this concise and easy to read book. "Full Frontal PR: Building Buzz About Your Business, Your Product, or You," is a perfect little concise guide, one that is very readable by the way, for those medium to small businesses that may not have it in their budget yet to hire a marketing or advertisement firm.

I have been in the Public Relations field for three short months now and picked up Laermer's book from Amazon to delve into some professional reading on my new-found profession and I must say, it didn't disappoint. I found myself learning a lot and tried to hone in on the chapters discussing on-line ways to build buzz as its very much an interest of mine as well as directly related to my professional job. If your marketing and communications budget is tight, you could easily pick up Laermer's book and take a few suggestions (in your spare time right?) and run with them to get your business more exposure in the press and the public eye. After all, you've got to find some way to get your product, service, mission in life out there. I used to do non-profit management and I have to say, I wished I ran across Laermer's book upon starting that job. I think it would have given our non-profit better tools to court the media than those we were using.

One of the best features I liked about the book is the invaluable web site recommendations collected at the back and scattered throughout the book. I haven't had time to peruse them yet at length but plan on book marking them and using them at work. Some of his advice was covering known ground so the book might not appeal to the PR pros who have been in the industry for 3 or more years I'd say. But I'm sure for the open-minded among you, there are things you can pick through from "Full Frontal PR," that might jog some thoughts and ideas. I think for some folks who have been practicing PR for awhile, there is a reluctance to embrace new media formats for getting the message out there in the papers, on the web, and on the streets and in the homes...this book may just open some of those windows for you.

Good book. Catch a buzz in your local bar while reading this book and then follow-through with some of Laermer's advice. You never know what just might pop up? ...mmw