Published: April 14, 2008 09:30 am         

Information bubble up

By Lacie Morrison

lmorrison@mineralwellsindex.com

With bubbles, a Bart Simpson Pez dispenser and music, Jeff Crilley educated several community members Friday about the benefits of “branding” their business and getting their stories in the media.

Crilley, a television reporter with FOX 4 TV, initially discussed the concept of “branding,” or brand recognition, by playing theme songs from older television programs or commercials.

He then broadened the topic on where businesses and individuals can take their message to get it before the public.

“I encourage you to dream big,” he said.

Crilley’s presentation was part of a “Coffee with the Chamber” educational series sponsored by the Mineral Wells Area Chamber of Commerce and hosted at First Financial Bank. There were 47 registered attendees to the Friday morning event.

Drawing from his own 23 years of journalism experience, Crilley shared insight into a typical newsroom and the fate of press releases. In a room of soap bubbles, he compared the bubbles to press releases – they float out “there” but the originator never knows if it reaches where they want it to go.

“Press releases have become fairly ineffective,” he noted. “In every newsroom, they have gatekeepers that read the press releases.”

According to Crilley, good story ideas can become lost if buried in a poorly written press release. To increase the chances of getting story ideas to reporters, he encouraged the audience to try different methods.

“The Internet’s convenient. The phone’s effective,” he said.

Hand-in-hand with effectively getting a story idea across is knowing the reporters and what type of stories they cover, Crilley said. He asked Famous Water Company’s Bill Arneson how many times a television crew from WFAA in Dallas did stories about their water.

“They came out twice,” Arneson said.

“That’s great!” praised Crilley. He pointed out the company pitched the idea to the medical reporter, a natural fit for covering their water and its qualities; it was so effective, he noted, that a crew from the Metroplex came to Mineral Wells twice for the story.

Crilley shared his own son’s experience in creating a book and getting publicity for it. His son’s book, he explained, originated from a financial need. One phone call to a feature reporter for the local paper set off a chain reaction that ended up getting his son, Dallas, published in a newspaper with a circulation of 100,000 and sold 800 copies of his book so far.

“We’ve raised a generation of entitlement,” Crilley observed. “This kid is going to pay his way through college on a book about paying your way through college.”

“I thought he was incredible [and] had a lot of good ideas,” remarked businesswoman Charlotte Medina. Medina owns Charlotte’s Christian Book Nook in the downtown district.

Sabrina Littlepage added, “He has a lot of good tips.” Littlepage added that if everyone got together to incorporate the ideas, the group could pitch ideas as a community to media outlets to draw attention Mineral Wells.

“I thought it was great. He has a lot of great ideas you can really use,” remarked Palo Pinto Nursing Center Director Paula Clifton. “You’ve got to reach the customers … not just advertise.

“I really enjoyed it. Sometimes you get so caught up in advertising, you forget to tell them [the customers] your story.”

“Learning how to get free publicity is a topic that appeals to everyone,” remarked chamber director Beth Watson. “There were people from non-profits, big corporations and small businesses in attendance. The chamber hopes to continue to provide this level of quality programming.”

Crilley has hundreds of news appearances on his resume, including on stations CNN, CNN Headline News, FOX News, The Discovery Channel, Good Morning America and The CBS Early Show. He is also an Emmy Award winner and general reporter who’s covered topics from presidential campaigns to Spam cooking contests.