Use Web Marketing as part of your Publicity Program for Clients

Posted on by

I guess I’m on a web marketing kick. My last blog told you about web marketing and how to optimize a pr clients site for Google. Well, I want to now tell you how publicity can be part of your web marketing campaign.

First you need to realize that web marketing is not a once-in-a-while job. It requires an web marketing strategyon-going effort with savvy web people to make it all work properly. If you have a PR Client that is asking to get their web site ranked higher, such as on page one of Google, you better make sure you fully understand web marketing. Look at the definition of web marketing in wikipedia.

Web marketing has become a major career that an association, webmarketing association, was formed in 1997. Visit the site, it has some good information.

A Web Marketing campaign can consist of:  SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (Search Engine Marketing), banner ads, email marketing, among a lot of other elements. That brings me to publicity. Finally got there! Press Releases written properly can help a pr clients web site gain higher page ranking. But it is how the press release is written and optimized. Yes, even a press release needs to be optimized. Then the distribution channels you use are also critical. Just sending it to a free distribution service may not get you full exposure on Google Alert or Yahoo News. Even local pr clients who want local publicity, this can be an excellent marketing tool.

Another publicity effort should be social networks. Using sites like Facebook, or MySpace is good, but you need to make sure the podcast, or video has something solid to tell. It cannot just be an ad campaign. Places to test market would be on YouTube. Writing articles for Internet distribution is another great way to incorporate publicity into web marketing. There are many other ways to make a publicity campaign more effective when you use the power of web marketing. Need help? Call George Carson for a free one hour consultation. He can be reached at: 949-477-9400.

Is Your Web Marketing and Optimization Using Google?

Posted on by

Every web marketing person uses the grand daddy, Google, as their guide to making web site pages rank high. So what is all this noise about PageRank, and why is Google the page rankingpacesetter? Because in just a few years, Google has set the path and standards for page ranking. To better understand how page ranking helps a web site, you need to know what PageRank is. Make sure that your pr marketing strategies include a PageRank campaign.

This is a description that I found which Akinola Akintomide wrote. He explains it as this:

“PageRank is a patented algorithm written by Larry Page (Page-Rank). It is a trademark registered to Google. It is a numeric value that represents how important a page is on the web. According to Google “PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value.” In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links, a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.”

Sounds techy, and it is. Google changes this process every three months. That’s why it is necessary to have an on-going web marketing program, otherwise your web site will loose its position in the rankings. If you are interested in knowing about the algorithms, read this description in Wikipedia’s page on it.

The new pr marketing strategies for web marketing now include a variety of methods. Just last year you could do these to get high Page ranking on Google:

Updating pages frequently

Registering on DOMZ and Yahoo listings

Adding linked sites that you purchase with these endings: .edu, and .gov

It now requires, in addition to the above, to find pages that are reputable and relevant that is linked to your site. In addition you need to make sure the “links” are truly relevant. For example if your company is a cosmetic, or snack food company, just mentioning a manufacturer, or a recipe and linking to those sites will rank you lower. Why? Because your site, or the text only mentioned the link as a reference, it did not have a lot of dialogue on the subject. That shows you how sophisticated their whole process of optimization, and web marketing has become. It is a full time effort to keep your site looking good in the eyes of Google. All the other SEO’s follow this same path.

Need help in getting to the TOP? Give George Carson a call at Carson Marketing, Inc. 949-477-9400. He will provide a one-hour consultation free and explain to you in easy to understand terms how web marketing will benefit your web site.

Carson PR gets Clients noticed

Posted on by

Publicity clients rely on their pr agency to provide various services such as press releases, promotional events and articles. As these are necessary, it is the innovative pr marketing strategy that we use to get pr clients noticed. There are many other marketing strategies that can be developed in a campaign to be successful. That’s what makes Carson PR and Carson Marketing, Inc. unique.

It is the ability to be proactive. The foresight to see market conditions and respond accordingly. It is the knowledge of knowing how to reach an audience. That’s what makes us different.pr clients

Am I bragging? Maybe. Why am I telling you this? Because I am frustrated in having new pr clients come to us after being hammered or taken by traditional pr agencies for thousands of dollars, then we only have very limited budgets to make things happen. And we do! Our direct pr marketing approach isn’t unique, but it takes on-going efforts (rather than pumping out press releases, or articles and sitting back waiting for them to be published like traditional pr agencies) to get pr clients noticed.

It is the combination of web marketing, social networking, blogging, as well as online publicity programs that creates a successful campaign to get pr clients more than noticed, but gets results.

When a pr client really needs a successful campaign, that’s when we are called. Why are we the last resort? Because we don’t take clients for granted, but work harder than most of our competitors to “make things happen“. If you are ready for success, give George Carson a call at: 949-477-9400. It could be the best call you make before you spend your budget foolishly!

Start using Web Marketing as a publicity tool

Posted on by

Web Marketing may not be new to pr marketing people, or web developers, but pr clients do not truly understand the power it has. For example, it takes weeks sometimes months to get a press release published, or even an article in a trade or consumer magazine. When you use web marketing correctly, your publicity efforts can happen within days, sometimes hours!

It is important if you are a pr client to not forge ahead and start calling your publicity agency to do web marketing. That’s not their strength. What you need to do is have your pr marketing strategy team web marketingdevelop a solid web marketing campaign that targets your specific audience. If you do not know how to implement a web marketing campaign, who do you call? Web designers are not likely to know or want to do this. Your publicity agency isn’t prepared to create online campaigns; they are best at submitting traditional media. It is best to contact a company that knows what and how to get your company noticed.

Web Marketing is more than sending out press releases to online newswire services. It is a complete program that analyzes your web site and does more than optimize it. Knowing the language on each page that has links to those sites and pages within your site is critical in optimizing a site. Keywords are not the big thing anymore. You can include them, but keywords or key phrases alone will not get you noticed. What about buying adwords? I prefer to not do this. Yes, we would consider buying some adwords for clients that really can afford it, we prefer to use specially designed programs at Carson Marketing, Inc. to include a vast array of elements. These may include the optimizing I just mentioned, marketing to social networks, writing blogs, to publicity releases, links with credible sites that are ranked high, to an on-going publicity program for online media. These are just a few examples to let you know that web marketing isn’t the simple task of sending a bunch of press releases to the online media. It’s time to get noticed so that you survive this slow time in order to be on top of the competition. Let us show you how without burning a whole in your wallet. Call us at 949-477-9400.

Is listening part of your PR Marketing Strategy?

Posted on by

A few months ago I had the pleasure of presenting to the faculty and administrators of the California Community Colleges a lesson on “Power Listening“. It was geared to students to better understand pr marketing strategieshow to “listen”, not just hear, what is being said. This was a critical lesson when entering the business industry.

Today I saw a great article in Marketing Pros, that addressed this same issue about listening. It was from Todd Defren who has a blog called PR Squared. Todd puts the listening concept more in tune with the business world of marketing. Publicity professionals may hear, or listen to what is happening in a PR Clients market. But do they have the power, or knowledge to implement a program that responds to what they hear.

For example:

Defren says there are two ways you can “listen” to your customers:

  • Many savvy brands use active listening to monitor social media and respond when appropriate. Defren on active listening: “Quick! Somebody said something about us! Say something back!”
  • The next step is actionable listening. “The difference here,” he notes, “is that the folks doing the listening/responding are empowered to effect change within their organization, on customers’ behalf.

Much of what Todd is speaking about is social media. Knowing when and how to respond is critical. Having the power to do the response to what is said is necessary. By not acting quickly to social media comments about your pr clients product/service is a missed opportunity to gain a stronger brand and image. This is another example of showing a need to include social media and social networking in a pr marketing strategy for pr clients. If you are a PR Client, it is time to get your publicity campaign in gear with today’s pr marketing tools. Listen to what is being said about your industry, and products. Make sure you have a publicity professional or pr agency that can meet your needs.

Can corporate blogging increase your publicity awareness?

Posted on by

If you need to ask this question, then your publicity campaign must need help. The answer is a simple, YES, corporate blogs can help improve and increase awareness.

I have mentioned how blogging is more than a place for people to vent, or comment about what they like, their lives and hobbies. It has become part of the mainstream businessbusiness blog site cycle, which should be included into your publicity plan, or marketing plan. All publicity professionals and most pr clients understand that awareness is what makes or breaks a company. So why not get in control? With a corporate blog site, you and your publicity professional, or in-house pr staff can now control what is said about the company. When a blog site is part of your PR Marketing Strategy, it will further create a solid branding for your company, or PR Client.

An article in the Washington Post by Sarah Halzack discusses the corporate world is getting into blogging. I have said this many times before, and again we are seeing more of the mainstream media addressing this topic.

So why should a company, or PR Client want a blog site?

There are many reasons, but before you make the plunge, see if a blog site is going to help or benefit your company. Not everyone needs it, but most pr clients will benefit.

• A blog will allow executives in a company become more visible and voice the concerns that customers are having

• By addressing customer issues you gain control on harmful rumors that could spread and cause a decline in business

• It is a smart marketing strategy and a vehicle to introduce customers to new products

• It can attract good employees by becoming more visible

These are just a few reasons to have a corporate business blog site. When designing a blog site it needs to be different from your company’s web site. In addition, you need to have someone dedicated to maintain the blogs on a daily or weekly basis at the least. Keeping the blog site active shows the company is interested in informing customers about them and adds credibility to their brand.

If your company needs a blog site, or writers to maintain your site, give George Carson at Carson Marketing, Inc a call: 949-477-9400. He can get you noticed quickly!

How to use publicity to increase sales

Posted on by

The first thing you probably thought I was going to say was creating a series of articles, or press releases, right? Wrong.

The most profitable way to increase sales is to develop an in-house publicity programemail marketing designed for your current clients/customers. Most publicity professionals will have these in-house programs for their pr clients. Sounds simple, but this is one of the most overlooked areas of publicity. Think about it. Just because you have a customer base, or just sold that new account, doesn’t mean they will continue buying your service or products. Many other competitors are constantly after your customers. The best way to retain and grow your sales is with your existing customers. This should be part of your company’s pr marketing strategy. Whether you are a local orange county publicity company, or a national hardware store, this is something all companies should practice.

Here are a few tips:

• Develop a follow up program. When a customer purchases a service or product, be sure to contact them within a week after the purchase to see if everything is ok. You may find that this can be very rewarding. You might find that the delivery was delayed, or the product was not working properly or had some problems when arrived. When you follow up the customer feels that they are important and will be confident in purchasing more from your company.

• Thank you note. Again, this is not brain surgery, but how often do you receive any thank you notes from a company that you made a purchase? If you did, you probably would consider them more often than their competitor. Thank you notes, or thank you emails are very powerful publicity  gestures.

• Send a gift that relates to their industry. Depending on the purchases, one example would be a book. There are dozens of books on all business situations. Consider something that deals with communication, leadership or customer service. Or a bio on a leader in their industry. Make sure you include a short note with the gift telling them “thank you” for purchasing your product/service.

• eNewsletters. I have written about this several times on how a company newsletter is a sure way to keep your name in front of existing customers. It is good practice to mention these good customers in your newsletter, but make sure they are willing to be recognized as doing business with your company. Some customers prefer to not have others know whom they do business with.

If you company needs an in-house publicity program, call George Carson at Carson Marketing, 949-477-9400. He will show you how to retain and increase sales with a publicity program.

Publicity helps new search engine get noticed.

Posted on by

If you haven’t already heard, there is another new search engine, called “Cuil“. It is an Irish word meaning, Knowledge. PR Clients, as well as all publicity professionals, public relations agencies, even local orange county publicity professionals should keep an eye on this new SEO. Why? Because this could be a publicity opportunity for pr clients to gain recognition as this new SEO gets more attention.

Ok, let’s look at this new search engine to get a better understanding. The company was started by former Google engineers. Top notch people, not the sub-level engineers. eWeek article tells more about this.search engine marketing

Cuil feels they have listened to the users of search and decided to provide a better indexing of pages. Here is the catch. There are over 120 billion web pages. That’s a lot of pages to try and create a better search platform. Anyway, these engineers have the support of investors who poured over $33 million into the development. Already, since launch day on July 28, the site has had unexpected traffic causing it to lock up for a time.

What makes this search engine different…Cuil provides tabs to better clarify subjects, they organize the features better so that images are identified by topics with a search refining suggestion area. Is this a better mouse trap? Possibly, but it takes some time learning how to get the most use of this new search. TechCrunch states it is an overrated site and may not live up to what the former Google staffers think it really is.

In any case, publicity professionals should include this search engine as part of their pr clients marketing and publicity program. If you are unable to keep up with all the new search engine changes and need to get noticed, or ranked in the top, then give George Carson a call at 949-477-9400. Carson Marketing, Inc is a solid web marketing company that knows how to get your company noticed. Call today for a free consultation, and just maybe you will learn the secrets to being a top ranked web site.

Publicity Professionals secret to “Identifying Publicity Ideas” in your company.

Posted on by

If you are a pr client, and want to improve how to get more free publicity for your company, let me tell you a few trade secrets on how you can do this.

If you are a local publicity professional, like an Orange County publicity agency,publicity secrets or a Los Angeles publicity company, this could be a good refresher lesson for you as well. Let’s look at what your pr agency, or your in-house publicity department might be doing. Then I will point out suggestions to improve your chances to gain more free press. Has your publicity campaign consisted of this?

• After sending our a dozen or more press releases about new employees being hired, you see very little lineage in the press

• You submit articles to the media, but find the reporters do not return your calls, or emails about them and the article is never published.

• You read the local papers (like the Orange County Business Journal, or The Tribune) only to keep seeing your competitors get all the ink coverage, and not your company.

I’m sure as a pr client, this may have happened to your publicity campaign, more than once. And if you are a publicity professional and see this happening, then re-evalute your writing and research. What are the answers to making this right, to get more publicity? If you are not going to hire a good local publicity agency, like CarsonPR.com, then try these simple tasks and maybe you will finally get noticed. Or you can go to the 101 public relations site to learn more.

1- Ask yourself a few important questions. Such as, are the press releases interesting only to you, or does it really have any story angles that relate to a publications audience. Another example, if your company does something of interest to help customers, or the community, then that is newsworthy to local media. One idea would be to promote through an article or press release that your web site offers free newsletters or coupons to help customers be more informative in saving money.

2- If you want local media attention, turn the story into how it affects the local area. Interview customers in a specific area, or local retailers on how your company has helped, or improved their business.

3- Create a news event. Especially today with high costs of fuel, and food, maybe do something to make a person’s money go further. Can’t think of anything, then give George Carson a call. He has a lot of creative suggestions to get your company noticed.

4- Another suggestions is to look at trends. Can your company, or services ride that wave? Social media and networking are hot, look into your company to see how it can be more proactive to this new technology.

Overall, there are lots of ways a publicity professional will do an overview of how to modify a press release to be more interesting to the media. If your in-house publicity department can’t find a way, maybe they have become too “corporate” and can no longer think outside of the company’s corporate culture.

If these few tips can get your publicity campaign off the ground, I’m glad. If these sound like common sense, then why aren’t you doing them. When you need a local publicity professional, give us a call at 949-477-9400. We at Carson Marketing, Inc know how to get noticed, we have been doing it since 1980.

Is your social network campaign working for you?

Posted on by

A good pr marketing strategy is to keep current and use new technology when it is hot. Just like online social networking. But are you using it? If so, are your pr marketing strategies in place? Do you use banner ads, or is it a place you visit once in a while?

If your pr marketing campaign consists of only placing banner ads on these social networks, then it’ssocial media networks time to re-think your pr marketing strategy. I have written several articles about using this hot media, to help pr clients. For example, banner ads on social networks only benefit the media, such asMySpace, or Linked-In, or even Facebook. Unless you have a very generic product or service, your wasting money. The first rule in marketing is to understand and know your audience.

A recent article in iMedia Connection by Michael Estrin speaks about this. I share a lot of his views about using social media web sites. This can be a productive media source when understood and planned correctly. One example in Mr. Estrin’s article is how Visa worked with Facebook, not using banners, but for downloading an application. The deal was worth $2 million to Facebook. This is one way to gain maximum exposure and get your customer to react to your product/service.

In last week’s newspaper, an article about Linked-In told how the company grew rapidly with advertisers (banners, etc). This is great for the company and it’s founder, Reid Hoffman, who is making money, but are the advertisers? Again, this is fine for the few major companies. It is best to target your audience, and get them involved. That’s the way to establish a strong branding image for pr clients. All professional publicity companies know the power of marketing and connecting to your audience. But are these professional publicity people really using the media or are the media buyers at the ad agencies just rushing in on this trend? I feel most ad agencies and many publicity professionals do not understand the social network market.

If you are a pr client or publicity professional, don’t just launch into this media, be sure that you, guide clients by learning how to utilize social network to the max.