8-Second PR: New Public Relations Crash Course

Kelly (Smart Man Hunting), founder of the Goody PR agency, shares her tricks of the trade in this useful manual. With studies reporting the human attention span has shortened to eight seconds (down from 12 seconds in 2000), Kelly contends that entrepreneurs “must be able to tell a powerful story with magic that moves people to want to know more.” To craft a narrative for a brand, Kelly recommends focusing on the human element behind the business, which might include discussing “life-changing moments that drove you towards your personal mission” or “what really inspired you to start your company.” The advice is laced with anecdotes recounting Kelly’s own professional successes, such as when she helped Sprint PCS fend off Motorola’s competing mobile service in the 1990s by maintaining a consistent message across communication channels and preempting potential customer objections (which meant emphasizing that the “ ‘first minute of incoming calls [is] free’ when there was a per minute cost”). Elsewhere, she details how to select images for promotional materials, pitch reporters, and update “media hooks so they are relevant and timely.” The guidance is thorough and broken up into easy-to-digest enumerated lists (seven steps for making a good impression during a media interview, for instance). Entrepreneurs looking to establish a personal or corporate brand will find much of use. (Self-published)