All true PR Rainmakers faithfully practice this fundamental every time they design a story proposal for news media.

By FACE, PR Rainmaker means:

 F: Feelings

 A: Analysis

 C: Crisis

 E: Energy

These are elements of a well-crafted story proposal. Let’s look at each part one by one.

1. Feelings are emotions that your story stirs within reporter, and thus reader.

The seven basic emotions are love, hate, anger, fear, sorrow, envy and greed.

There are endless degrees, combinations and variations on these seven. (For example, “pity” is fear blended with sorrow.

“Rage” is an extreme form of “anger.”). Your story must strongly arouse one, and only one, of these basic emotions. (Note that only one of these emotions, “love,” is positive. This is one reason why news is almost always negative.)

2. Analysis provides logic that sells story. Feelings open door with a reporter, but logic closes sale.

Greed versus fear. Risk versus reward. Truth versus deception. You can find it all in a late night session of Texas Hold ’Em.

There are two basis approaches to playing poker. One type of player believes that victory is possible with any hand, if you know how to read your fellow players and how to skillfully execute a bluff. The other believes in waiting for a certain combination of cards that indicate a high probability of victory, then betting aggressively on those strong hands.

In Texas Hold ’Em, you receive just two cards before placing your first bet. The best players will avoid betting at all unless those first two cards are strong cards. They will bet only if they have some combination of aces, kings, queens, jacks or tens, or if they draw a pair.

Anything less, and they fold their hand.

This strategy is called “tight and aggressive.”

It’s tight, because player will bet only in very specific circumstances. It’s aggressive, because (once player gets combination he wants) he plays hard to win, giving up only when it becomes obvious that another player has a stronger hand. When dealing with reporters, PR flacks and their clients play as if they can win with any hand they are dealt.

They begin with some vague notion that they have a bit of news that someone out there is eagerly waiting to publish. So flacks hammer out a press release, which passes through a committee that usually includes top executives and legal staff.

If release contained any real news value before it went to this committee, it is now buried under a pile of ego and adjectives. Next, flacks transmit release to a long list of media outlets, not bothering to target any specific reporter or editor, hoping information will find its way into right hands.

They are then shocked when their story idea finds few takers.

They are playing a loose game of PR, betting on any hand and hoping to bluff their way to victory. They play like amateurs.

PR Rainmakers play “tight and aggressive.” Like professional poker player in a game of Texas Hold ’Em, PR Rainmakers insist upon having certain cards in their hands before placing a bet.