Category Archives: PR Marketing Strategies

Submitting Press Releases is not a Publicity Campaign

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“Do a press release on the expansion of our company, and another on the new products we offer”. If this is what you think is a pr marketing strategy then get ready”to-fail”.

The reason to do press releases is to enhance an already existing publicity campaign. Just as a pr client would not produce one item or two and think they will sell millions and become rich…with very few exceptions, this isn’t how to run a business. Neither is it right to have a pr marketing strategy be a once or twice a season of submitting press releases.

If you want to get noticed, or be along the same playing field (in pr terms I mean) withmedia room your competitors, then you need a solid pr marketing strategy. To create a pr marketing strategy you should include a lot of press releases, a press kit to be distributed at trade shows, promotional programs (these could be charity related, community projects, sponsorship of events, etc), articles for publication, get into the social media network, start blogging about your company, and many other campaign elements.

It seems that pr clients think of sending a press release to keep costs down, when in reality it can cost you more because the release may or may not get published, or posted online at Yahoo News, then what do you do? Send another press release? Yes, but it should be part of your overall pr marketing strategy. Follow up with related articles for submission, comparisons to show how your new product changes what was to how it makes things better, or more profitable. Getting your company name in front of potential customers is another part of a good pr marketing strategy. Again, it is only part of the overall campaign. Try contacting other related businesses, ask if they would participate with your company by creating an event, or develop an awareness campaign by co-sponsoring an existing event. These can be local, regional, or national, all depending on your objective that is in your Marketing Plan. What? You don’t have a marketing plan. Then maybe you need to get it all together now, while the year is still new and help your company survive with a smart marketing plan. Need help? Give me a call, at 949-477-9400. I’ll make sure you have the campaign to get your company to the next level, and be successful this year.

Your Marketing Plan needs a Marketing Strategy

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When a PR Client asks us to develop a marketing plan, we begin by understanding their core business.

That may sound obvious, but in the life of B2B clients, and B2 Consumers, it is the main ingredient that is put aside as to say, “we know what we do”. Not always, because as amarketing strategy company matures, or reaches different levels in its lifecycle, they tend to go into new directions. This can be a good thing, but unless you know where your core business is, how can a pr client, or any company develop a solid marketing strategy?

There are two main components, according to Michael Porter’s book, Competitive Advantage, they are:

• How your enterprise will address the competitive marketplace

• How will you implement and support your day to day operations

These are simple in terms, but can go much deeper. We dig deep into the marketing strategy to make sure it has a solid foundation before implementing. When creating a marketing strategy, you need to consider many factors. These can vary from the common sense, to more complex. Here are a few to consider:

If your market is very active, you need to make sure that you support your offerings, that is if your company is strong in the industry

On the other hand, if you are weak in your industry, you need to build on strengthening the position by developing offerings that will gradually build a solid position

Establish an effective marketing and sales effort if the market is weak. Now you need to choose a strategy after identifying these. Some may include: A Cost Leadership Strategy, A Differentiation Strategy, and finally a Focus Strategy. To go deeper and explain these I would need a lot more writing and this would be a long article. I prefer you either read Mr. Porter’s book, or call Carson Marketing, Inc. Either way, you will learn a lot about how to establish a solid marketing Plan that includes solid marketing Strategies in order to reach the next level in your business.

Understanding Web 2.0, part two

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This is a second part to the Understanding Web 2.0 series.

You may not always agree with the different perspectives, or the tips given about how to better make use of Web 2.0, but at least I feel this is giving your mind the opportunity to see a different side.

Make sure you review the first series so that you know what we are talking about.social media networks The social media, Web 2.0 as commonly referred to needs to have pr clients, pr agencies and all marketing experts “change their mindsets” on how to improve their marketing. Let’s jump forward to a few more of the 12 steps by Larry Weber.

4. Target behavior. Traditionally, marketers did this by demographics. This is still the practice, because we have been taught that media is bought in that manner. The new marketing changes this pr marketing strategy. The web actually can map the behavior more closely. You can track a visitor’s behavior by the amount of time they spend on a page. Social Web will do much more and provide a lot of informative details about the visitor. Customers are more open on these sites, letting you know what they like, how often they visit a place, or purchase the kinds of items they want. The old strategy was too much a one-to-one targeting. Now we need to see the behavior, know that the individual visits four or five different types of sites. These factors paint a better behavior picture and opens up a new marketing strategy.

I am not going in any specific order that Mr. Weber wrote, so if you want to view all the 12 steps now, you can do so by clicking here.

5. Invert your strategy. For all those pr marketing strategy people, and marketing strategy people, listen to this. Traditionally you worked from the top down. Now it is to be from the bottom up. Companies should test ideas and products, and let the strategy bubble up from there, rather than trickling down from top management. For example, using Social Web you can test quickly, and learn from those results. You can ask questions as to what the customer would pay, where to find the product, etc. This should be part of an overall marketing strategy, such as in the automotive or soft drink industry that relies heavily on traditional marketing strategies. Using Social Web can open your marketing eyes and help build a strong pr marketing strategy.

I’ll point out more of the 12 steps in another blog. So for now, do your homework. Start thinking non-traditionally and get into the social network. When you want results and are not sure how to building a solid pr marketing strategy, give George Carson a call. Carson Marketing can make things happen for you.

Understanding Web 2.0

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The “social media” network is neither a trend nor a fad. It is real and it is changing how businesses think their pr marketing strategies.

Businesses have changed their approach on marketing as new technologies emerge. Look at radio and television. It made marketers, pr clients; all change how to reach their audience from traditional print media. Then came direct mail, telemarketers, and catalogs. This again forced marketers to re-think their approach. If you do not change your pr marketing strategy or your overall advertising plan, then you will be left in the dust as your competitors move forward.

I have written several articles on this web 2.0 subject for the past 8 months. Warning pr clients, ad agencies, and publicitysocial media web 2.0 firms to “open their marketing eyes” and look what the Internet is doing. For example, no longer is the marketer in charge of telling the consumer about their great product or service. This doesn’t make the cut anymore. It is the consumer who is in control. They tell you what they want, when they want it, and how they will buy it. If your pr marketing strategies are not including this process of the consumer, then you need to re-think about changing to another marketing company that is sensitive to the Web 2.0 and how it affects pr clients.

I read a great article in Brandweek that made me realize marketers, and pr clients alike are not addressing this new social media correctly. It’s called “The 12 Steps to the Interactive Future”. It mainly highlights the 12 steps written by Larry Weber who is an expert on social media. His book titled: “How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business”. I will give you a few of the steps now, then a few more in another blog.

1- Change your marketing mindset. Marketers still define target markets by communicating with prospective customers, building loyalty. These old techniques are not going to work today. Your pr marketing strategy, or ad plan needs to re-think, get out of that old box mindset. You need to be more transparent to the customer. Don’t try to brag about whom you are and your product. It is about nurturing relationships and dialog with customers, prospects and all those active in the community.

2- Make your brand come alive. To make a branding program successful today you need to recognize that brand equity is shifting away from brand essence and brand recall. Mr. Weber points out that branding is a living thing. Something that marketers cannot accept, at least not yet. A good example of this new dialogue is GoogleTalk, Google Groups and Blogger. Oh, did you notice these are blog type-sites. Something I have been pushing for two years! Google keeps asking customers what they want and then responds. That’s making your brand come alive!

3- Out with the old Segmentation. It doesn’t surprise me that marketers for the most part, still segment their pr marketing strategy by demographics such as age or gender. Ok, some products and services need to do this. If you are promoting an assisted living complex, yes, then some of the traditional methods work. But today, you need to segment by behavior, attitudes and interests. Forget the age and gender. These groups are what are important, not age, or gender.

These three points of the 12 should make you realize that the Web 2.0, or social media, or Business Web (all are the same, just different tags) shows how you, as a pr client, or marketing professional needs to re-think your mindset. If not, then read my next three steps. Happy marketing!

How Small Businesses Can Use Publicity To Grow

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Companies still think that publicity is only for those large companies, or pr clients that have offices all across the country. No True!

The size of your company should not be a factor in developing a pr marketing strategy.publiciy for small business What you need to understand is that publicity when implemented correctly, can actually help any size company grow. When you see articles on the larger corporations, like Microsoft, pr clients tend to feel that only “those guys” get all the glory. If you have a solid pr marketing strategy, and your publicity agency is equipped to implement a pr campaign, then you too can be “in the news”.

Just make sure what you offer is newsworthy. And above all, keep your company away from legal issues or personnel issues that can have a bad reflection on your business. For years we have provided pr clients with a host of programs designed to accomplish their goals. Here are a few tip that you should include into your pr marketing strategy campaign.

1- Put together an eNewsletter. This can be monthly, or bi-monthly. Write informative “how to” or “tips” that your customers will enjoy and learn from

2- Get involved in community programs or events. This is what the press are looking for. You can submit your photos of an event your company sponsored or created and invite the press to attend. If they don’t, send photos of the event to the reported covering community stories in the newspaper.

3- Become a guest speaker. Look at local Chambers of Commerce, community and civic groups to see if they will let you speak on topics you know. It makes sense to discuss about your industry. But don’t SELL your services or products. Instead, discuss how your industry, and your company) is improving the area, or helping to change things for the better.

Many other tips can be found in various articles that discuss publicity. One in particular is an online site called Direct. You can also find tips at the PR Insider. And if you want to get a professional group to get your small business noticed, give us a call. We can show you how to make your company grow using publicity. It is an affordable solution for small businesses.

Keeping up with Social Media

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I am constantly being asked to give more information about this growing Internet media called “social media”. To help further understand the power this new media offers you need to read my other articles on social media and also this article. Then maybe you will get a better perspective why your pr client needs to become active in social media. If nothing else happens with your pr marketing strategy campaign, make sure you consider adding a blog or other social media network to the program.social media networking

To begin, it is important to know exactly what is Social Media: Defined by Wikipedia (a type of Social Media site) defines it as “the online technologies and practices that people use to share content, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives, and media themselves. Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video. The social media sites typically use tools like message boards, forums, podcasts, bookmarks, communities, wikis, blogs etc.” This quote was in a white paper from More Visibility.

Notice how it describes the different types, and forms this media takes. Such as message boards and forums. If you recall, the web originated from old BBSes (Bulletin Board Systems) and Chat Rooms. In a sense, social media is a more advanced network of chat rooms. But today, anyone can create a post, write a blog– from teens to mature adults in their 80’s and make comments. Unlike chat rooms that were by invitations to friends. Yes, some social media like Facebook, and MySpace keep outsiders out if you don’t know them.

How many different types of Social media web sites exist? A lot. For starters there are:

Social Network Sites. Mainly web sites that are becoming a community with the intent to create a social involvement.

Picture Sites are another. You may already be using them. These are pictures you post online to share with others, family and friends.

Video site. Same as pictures, but use videos. The most popular is YouTube. But many other new sites are emerging daily.

Blogs. Most popular among the youth, now is part of a business network. Companies are blogging faster than ever to get the name out.

Many other types are happening like music sharing sites, podcasting (the next big growth area) and gaming sites as well.

Knowing just this information should help pr clients develop stronger pr marketing strategies for their campaign. If you are a pr client and your publicity agency is not getting you to the social media front, call George Carson at Carson Marketing, Inc. He will get you in front of the line.

Podcasting. The next best Marketing Strategy.

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The Internet is constantly moving fast forward, and your pr marketing strategies need to keep the pace.

If you are an aggressive pr client, or publicity professional, then you are probably a savvy Internet person that knows the power it offers. But are you aware of social media? Do youpodcasting marketing understand how to use this media? Are you prepared to get into the hottest next media? If you answered yes, then Podcasting needs to be part of your pr marketing strategy. The word podcast is made from two words, “iPod” and “broadcast“.

Not all web sites are created equal. Those that know web marketing, like Carson Marketing Inc, understand the power a blog site has and when you add podcasting, it brings a new dimension to the Internet. If you are a pr client and your ad agency or public relations service agency doesn’t recommend your company to have a blog site, then it’s time to look for another marketing agency. Why? Becasue you are then missing out on increasing your company’s position in the market. In order to increase sales, you need to get more visible. You need to tell the story about the company, its services and products. The most cost effective way to do this is with a blog site and podcasting. Unlike ads in a publication, or press releases, blogs can be controlled and changed daily. This keeps the information fresh and current to perspective customers.

Isn’t it time your company sets the pace in your industry? If you want to be the leader, then start a professional blog site that is well supported with qualified marketers who can get you noticed. Call George Carson at 949-477-9400.

How to increase brand awareness. Create an Event.

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Be sure the pr marketing strategies for your company includes promotional events. It can be an excellent media for building a company’s brand.

You can develop a local publicity event that can be as effective as a national campaign.

Our pr client, Extreme Karting, held their first promotional event at K-1 Speed in Irvine, California. It was an indoor racing go-karting event. The turnout was great and the fungo kart event promotion was at an all-time high. Drivers ranged from dad’s to son’s who participated. As usual, the younger group showed the dads their skills by outperforming them. The event gave an opportunity for new customers to experience go-karting while getting to know our pr client. This was a great pr marketing strategy that worked.

We completely handled the publicity with K-1, developed and created the special eMail invitation to the event, and coordinated the activity including taking photos. In addition to the promotional event, Extreme Karting has a shifter GP go-kart on display for all to see. The kart was set between a formula race car and an off-road race vehicle, making the display area more exciting. Potential customers took handouts from the go-kart display giving more branding exposure to Extreme Karting.k-1 speed indoor racing

Branding for Extreme Karting was lifted several more levels as many of that company’s customers and potential customers became familiar with the Extreme name and products. We are planning other promotional events as part of our overall pr marketing strategies for this year and next. We enjoy seeing our pr clients get results.

If your company needs to uplift its branding image, then it’s time to contact Carson Marketing Inc. Ask for George Carson. He can create a special event to make you smile from the results.

Search Engine Marketing. Use it with your PR Marketing.

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This is another “Publicity Is Everywhere” series.

Why is search engine marketing (SEM) so popular? Because without it, a pr clients web site cannot compete with all the other Internet eCommerce web sites. Whether you have a traditional brick and mortar store and a web site presence, pr clients need to implement a search engine marketing effort that is part of the overall pr marketing strategy campaign.

As I have said many times, “publicity is everywhere”. This includes the web. And itsearch engine marketing doesn’t matter if you are doing B2B marketing or consumer direct marketing, SEM can improve your web site traffic. Although many companies try to do SEM in-house, it cannot be as productive as those companies who are experts in Search Engine Optimization. SEM is a full time position and requires dedication that continually researches the competition, keywords, and source codes to keep a web site ahead of the competition. The New York Times defines SEM “as the practice of buying paid search listings with the goal of obtaining better free search listings”.

In 2003, a non-profit organization was formed. It is called Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO). The purpose of this organization is to promote search engine marketing and provide educational resources to members and consumers.

Some of the SEM tactics are paid placement and paid inclusion. Both are acceptable forms of getting a pr clients web site ranked high and listed on Yahoo and Google. But other methods should also be included. These are social media, blog sites and a public relations program. The later are more affordable than paid rankings and will add to the branding of any pr clients marketing strategies.

Review some of the other tips and articles I have written about seo, keywords, and optimization to better understand the complexity of developing a solid SEM program. If you are a pr client that wants to jump ahead with a proven pr marketing strategy campaign, then call Carson Marketing Inc. Ask for George Carson. He will show you how to get noticed and build traffic to your web site.

Web Sites. Build it and they will come!

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Everyone wants a successful web site. But if you build one without a pr marketing strategy plan that includes web marketing and optimization, they won’t come!

pr clients and pr marketing web sitesMany factors determine if a web site is search engine friendly. For example, optimizing meta tags, title pages, text in the body of the site (each page is important), the url, alt tags, among many other things.

If you are a pr client, or a B2B company in today’s competitive Internet business world, you should include social networks. These may include Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and many others.

A PR marketing strategy campaign for a web site should include inbound links, site submission to directories and search engines submission. If you want to outpace the competition, then social media and blogging need to be part of the overall media mix.

Ok, let’s get back to being “user friendly” and “search friendly”. Your site might look good, but is it designed for the crawling of search engines? Make sure you have the following:

1- Use text that is rich in content. Use the keywords and title that are in your source codes. Don’t have a home page that is an “only registered’ page without text.
2- Develop a domain name that says what you do. It is getting more difficult to create a domain name that isn’t already taken. But there are creative solutions to that problem. If you face this issue, give us a call. We can suggest alternate domains that will work for you.
3- Keep the site simple. A lot of content is ok, but if the site has too many pages deep to get to a specific area, then it will turn off customers, as well as SEO’s.
4- Design the site for users. Although SEO’s do not read images, or videos, you can still build a good site with these and have good content. A poorly created site is a sure way of not getting recognized by search engines as well as users.

Those are some of the basic rules to follow. Now all you need is traffic. Be sure to read many of our other tips and topics that can help you achieve your goal. Or contact us for a free, one-hour session on how to build a solid web site.