Cet the Word Out You can have the

Cet the Word Out You can have the most wonderful product in the world , but if people don ’ t know about it , it ＇ s not going to be worth much . There are singers in the world with voices as good as Frank Sinatra ’ s , but they ’ re singing in their garages because no one has ever heard of them . You need to generate interest , and you need to create excitement . One way is to hire public relations people and pay them a lot of money to sel whatever you ’ ve got . But to me , that ’ s like hiring outside consultants to study a market . It ＇ s never as good as doing it yourself . One thing I ' ve learned about the press is that they ’ re always hungry for a good story , and the more sensa - tional the better . It ’ s in the nature of the job , and I understand that . The point is that if you are a little different , or a little outrageous , or if you do things that are bold or controversial , the press is going to write about you . I ' ve always done things a litle differently , I don ’ t mind controversy , and my deals tend to be somewhat ambitious . Also , I achieved a lot when I was very young , and I chose to live in a certain style . The result is that the press has always wanted to write about me .I ' m not saying that they necessarily like me . Some - times they write positively , and sometimes they write negatively . But from a pure business point of view , the benefits of being written about have far outweighed the drawbacks . It ’ s realy quite simple . If Itake a full - page ad in the New York Times to publicize a project , it might cost $40,000, and in any case , people tend to be skeptical about advertising . But if the New York Times writes even a moderately positive one - column story about one of my deals , it doesn ’ t cost me anything , and it ＇ s worth a lot more than $40,000. The funny thing is that even a critical story , which may be hurtful personally , can be very valuable to your business . Television City is a perfect example . When I bought the land in 1985, many people , even those on the West Side , didn ’ t realize that those one hundred acres existed . Then I announced I was going to build the world ’ s tallest building on the site . In - stantly , it became a media event : the New York Times put it on the front page , Dan Rather announced it on the evening news , and George Wil wrote a column about it in Newsweek . Every architecture critic had an opinion , and so did a lot of editorial writers . Not al of them liked the idea of the world ’ s tallest building . But the point is that we got a lot of attention , and that alone creates value .