Finding new clients is always a challenge. Lately, I’ve been using an online clearinghouse where customers needing help finding qualified professionals are connected to professionals seeking customers. For a small fee, the pro in almost any field submits a bid. The cost to bid ranges from about $6 to $20. I’m registered under “Marketing/PR.” At least a dozen bid requests arrive daily. I respond to a small percentage. I’ve gotten a few clients.

Since I’ve been in PR my whole life, it never occurred to me that others find it difficult to write or “do PR.” The types of requests in my inbox are eye-openers. Here are a few to which I did not respond: A speech for an NBA player; admissions essay for an MBA program applicant; a father’s wedding speech giving away his daughter; a “humorous and heartfelt” 60th birthday speech; combining two resumes to make a bio for a website; a grant to buy a horse boarding farm in Arizona; Dr. needing an acceptance speech for a major award; a security brief appeal. They all sound like fun, but…really?

Here’s a recent request from someone seeking marketing help (verbatim): “As an event planner, I do instructional classes for students aspiring to start their own business with full training at workshop, I am needing someone who can write a paper containing all the necessary information that can be taught in class and they can also have the paper to take home after the class/training. I do the same training for makeup artists who wants to start their own business, I am needing the same paper for the students regarding the nitty gritty of makeup/bridal services and starting their own business.” At least she knows she can’t do it herself!

Changing topics: If you’re promoting your company via a marketing program, make it easy and worthwhile. Example: Emily Rose, our cat, eats Purina Cat Chow. The bag promotes My Cat Perks rewards: earn points toward valuable prizes. Emily Rose likes it. When the last giant bag was empty, I noticed we earned 300 points and visited their the purrrfect website. I was excited to see what we’d get for 300 points. For a $1.00 coupon toward our next bag, you need 10,000 points. A food dish requires 30,000 points. A cat tree: 750,000 points. Guess how many points for an iPad or a Dyson vacuum? One million points each. It would take 333 bags to reach one million points. We use 5 bags a year, so it will take us 60 years to earn those points. Even Emily Rose with 9 lives would never use that much chow. We could start breeding cats for a living and the points would add up faster. But then I wouldn’t have time to write. That promotion left a bad taste. 

And here’s an idea to help you gain positive and timely PR: Pay closer attention to the news – whatever your source for “real” news – and think how you could piggyback or coat-tail on that to call attention to what you do. 

Then, ask a proven PR pro to help you create buzz to build your brand! 

Stanley Hurwitz is principal of Creative Communications, Stoughton, Mass.