Would you buy a piece of “oceanfront” property in Hawaii that was 3,000 feet under water and wouldn’t be inhabitable for 10,000 years? Me neither. But the Associated Press (www.ap.org) would buy it as a news story. Why? Because it’s got all the elements of a great story. We call it the media S.U.R.E. bet.

In this case S.U.R.E. is an acronym that serves as a guideline for measuring the news value or “coverability” of a story idea or public relations tactic. It stands for Simple, Unique, Relevant and Easy to Cover. If you have every element of S.U.R.E., you can pretty much guarantee your story will garner some coverage — and sometimes three out of four ain’t bad either.

In the case of the uninhabitable Hawaiian paradise, Lo’ihi Development Co. hit on three of the four, but the story was so unique that its lack of real relevancy wasn’t an obstacle. The story is simple. Just like the old “swampland in Florida” analogy, people get it right away. It’s definitely unique. Relevant is a bit of a stretch, but with all the details laid out, it made it easy for reporters to cover. And cover it they did.

What’s crazy is that some people might actually buy the properties – especially given all the media coverage. A Web site will be renovated in the next couple of weeks to officially begin selling parcels for an introductory price of $39.95. Not a bad gag gift, huh? Buyers will receive a brochure and a “deed,” but much like Internet groups that claim to sell stars, they probably can’t call themselves owners. Still, the bragging rights alone make it worthwhile.

So if you’re thinking about buying some land on an underwater volcano called Lo’ihi, you don’t have to be all that certain about your purchase. But if you want to get some media coverage for selling it, you better be S.U.R.E.

“You have to embrace your critics and your competition” is just one of the lessons I’ve learned over the 10 years I’ve spent building my own company. A big part of what we do is help other companies achieve thought leadership, and leaders always have more competitors and critics than non-leaders. If you listen hard enough and look deep enough, you can almost always learn something from those who don’t see the world the way you do.

So when I read a thread of posts on Guy Kawasaki’s blog about start-ups working with PR firms, I went looking for a lesson. Believe it or not, it was right there on the surface. Here is the most recent (abridged) post from a guy who thinks entrepreneurs should NOT hire an agency. Brace yourself, it’s a long read but one that strikes true and can actually serve to enhance our value as PR professionals. There’s a lesson at the end of this post…promise.

Just the other day a newspaper’s technology editor told me, “It’s just so hard to meet entrepreneurs these days. You always get their PR people.” A dozen entrepreneurs sprang to mind who would kill to tell their stories. All have agencies. So what I am recommending is not howto manage an agency, but something more radical: not hiring an agency at all. Here are ten reasons why.

1. The truth will set you free. Over and over, publicists tell their clients to stick to the agreed-upon message to avoid mistakes but this guarantees you’ll never say anything thoughtful or spontaneous.

2. The rolodex is already online. Almost every journalist publishes his e-mail address, and many have a blog. You can also use LinkedIn and Jigsaw.

3. You don’t have to seem all grown-up and boring. Every entrepreneur feels vaguely disreputable. Maybe you drive a crappy car. Maybe you never went to prom. There are enough stuffed suits in this world to fill fifteen Wall Street Journals a day.

4. Ideas are the precious things. Most entrepreneurs are bursting with unconventional ideas.

5. Let the fur fly. When proposing a story, consider Michael Jordan’s response when asked how much to bet on golf: “Whatever makes you nervous.”

6. Nerd-to-nerd networks are where it all happens—and value speed in everything you do. Most publicists feel threatened by the Internet’s systems of attribution, glorification and punishment, where Digg can make an obscure posting more important than the evening news.

7. Even bad coverage isn’t so bad. I was once profiled in a national business magazine doing odd things in my underwear. It was terrible; I lay face down on a couch for an hour after reading it. And you know what? It wasn’t that bad.

8. Go in alone. It’s hard to make a move when your dad drives you on a date or to sound contrite about the neighbor’s begonias with your mom standing behind you. It’s just as hard to connect with a journalist when a publicist is always at your side.

9. Passion + expertise = credibility. A publicist will never have your passion for your project, and she’ll never have as many colorful customer stories as you do.

10. Make time. Most entrepreneurs say they don’t have time for DIY PR. Sure, it takes a while to spam 100 journalists with every press release. But that doesn’t work anyway.

Yes – this is one of my longest posts ever, so thanks for sticking with it to this point. This also might be one of my most important posts yet – for the PR community at least.

Here’s the point: we can teach our clients every one of these things without losing our value. In fact, we probably should. (I especially love the point “passion + expertise = credibility” – quite a few of our clients could learn from that.) What a start-up or small business or major corporation gets from us as agencies is (or should be) fresh thinking and diverse points of view. They get a perspective on what is newsworthy and how messages can be crafted to meet strategic company goals.

A member of our team went to see Seth Godin present his book, The Dip, a few weeks back. Someone in the audience asked if he was ever afraid to give away his ideas, to have them stolen by someone else. Seth answered that if you have a good idea, you can write it on a piece of paper and send it to your 50 biggest competitors. They will never be able to implement it the way you will because they don’t understand it like you do. I would argue that what we do as PR professionals – provided we do it well – is the same thing.

So thanks to Guy and Glenn Kelman of Redfin (who wrote the post) for sending it to our competitors and customers. We – and our clients – are only going to be better for it.

I like a PR tactic that stands up, walks in a room and makes its presence known. It’s not something you try on – it just kinda fits.

That’s exactly the kind of move Saks 5th Avenue made last week when they announced that their newly expanded shoe department now has it’s own zip code. From the AP:

The quintessential Manhattan store is revamping its shoe department, and when it moves from the fourth floor to the eighth floor in August customers will be able to send mail to 10022-SHOE.

“We believe it’s such a big move for us it deserves its own ZIP code,” Saks spokeswoman Lesley Langsam Kennedy said Thursday. “We wanted to make it a destination.”

The U.S. Postal Service said it worked with the retailer on the new ZIP code, which is just promotional. Only the last four characters, which aren’t necessary when you’re mailing something, are specialized, and they won’t be read by sorting machines. The rest of the midtown neighborhood, which includes St. Patrick’s Cathedral, shares 10022.

So what made the AP and millions of readers latch onto this quirky and completely unimportant event? It’s sticky. If you read my post on Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath, you’d know the requirements for stickiness: Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions and Stories. Saks’ zip code announcement has 4-5 of these attributes, depending on who you ask.

It’s simple. There’s no need to explain a zip code. More importantly, it goes to the core of Saks’ message – that the new shoe department is big. Really big.

It’s unexpected. What other shoe department do you know that has its own zip code? I’ll get back to this idea of unexpectedness in a minute.

It’s concrete. You know what a zip code is, you know what it means, you can see it, you can write it. You can talk about it with someone you’ve never met before, and they’ll know what you mean.

It’s credible. Saks’ new zip code is backed by the U.S. Postal Service, the authority on zip codes. I’ll come back to this in a minute too.

And depending on who you ask, it’s emotional. For some people, shoes always are.

Ok – so back to unexpected and credible. What really struck me about Saks’ new zip code was that they dared to ask the question. So many of us sit in brainstorming sessions, come up with really good ideas and immediately dismiss them because “that’ll never work,” or “the USPS will never go for that.” Yes – Saks took a risk and it paid off. And now they’ve got a great idea that’s off and running.

A successful public speaker has the ability to push a controversial subject to near the tipping point, but not a bit further. They introduce topics or messages which might spark a wide range of emotions including shock and awe. What separates an effective public speaker from just another shock-jock is the ability to communicate a continuous message reinforced with knowledge and facts that ultimately motivate an audience to act or consider a change of opinion—while maintaining respect for their values.

On the other hand, there is The View’s Rosie O’Donnell who has once again successfully managed to deliver an unsuccessful message to the audience of The View. Monday, Rosie O’Donnell and her conservative co-host, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, argued combatively about the war in Iraq – covering topics ranging from the casualties of war to whether our soldiers in Iraq are terrorists. O’Donnell’s remarks became so inflammatory that ABC actually bleeped her live on the air. I can’t say I blame them. Rosie lost any remaining shreds of credibility the moment she showed an utter lack of respect for the opinions of her fellow panelists, live audience, and viewers at home. What is an audience (or television network) to do?

I wonder if O’Donnell’s agreeable NY audience motivates the frequent rants which usually end in co-host alienation or embarrassment. Would she continue her tirades in a different, more moderate setting? While settings and audience loyalties matter, successful public speakers don’t force the audience to emotionally choose their way or the highway… they build their point of view gradually, highlight tangible facts, offer solutions and results and ultimately invite the audience to become advocates and evangelists for their cause.

Would I consider Rosie O’Donnell a thought-leader on public policy? No way — especially not when she treats others with so little respect. A well-thought-out industry point-of-view that invites me to consider all sides of a topic is far more trustworthy and compelling than an empty, emotional one-sided rant.

As Harlan McCraney, President Bush’s fictitious speech writer in the Presidential Speechalist skit, Andy Dick asks the poignant question, “What’s more powerful than words?” His answer: “No words.” The phrase has become a fun joke around the office to help break through a slow point in a brainstorm or in any number of other situations.

And while Andy Dick meant it, and we take it, as a joke, there’s one medium where it should be the golden rule and not the gag. That place is PowerPoint presentations. And the “No Words” rule was never more evident than during a viewing of the world’s top presentations as presented by online presentation community, Slideshare.

The presentations were eye-opening. Whether they were addressing the changing face of the world’s population or introducing a new food product, each of the winners demonstrated complex topics in a clear and concise manner. How? With interesting visuals and minimalist text that grips the viewer even without the aid of an actual presenter.

So next time you’re doing a presentation, remember: PowerPoint is a visual aid designed to accompany a speaker, not a book on a screen. A picture is worth a thousand words. Make it simple, make it surprising and make the text sparse. Because just like Harlan McCraney says, no words can be a powerful thing.