Choosing a Web Browser

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Can a web browser be safe?

We are always wondering who out in the Internet world is the villain. Almost every week we hear about a hacker breaking into a database, or some virus, or now the unsafe browsers that hackers are stealing your valuable information.

Just today, I read this article titled "New Flaw Hits Internet Explorer and Firefox". Boy, this headline got a lot of attention. I was even curious to see what this was all about. No one wants to feel that surfing with a browser is going to create a problem. And we don’t expect this to be a way hackers can hit us, unlike email.

Especially companies like publicity firms, marketing agencies, or research companies who rely on using the Internet. Even PR Clients are questioning the safeness of this industry, from the use of spamming through email marketing to downloading research documents to registering for a company newsletter, we are all becoming very concerned about our security.

So after reading this "Flaw" article, it basically isn’t as scary as it intended to be. As a matter of fact, it was probably a press release before being a short article. And guess who was the advisory to this…right Symantec. No further comment.

This just shows you the power of publicity and how a press release, or an article can motivate people. Using a professional public relations agency can make things happen for your company. Both positive or negatively. It isn’t necessary to try and have a scary article published like this to get attention. It is always best to find something of positive value to potential clients. This is the best form of pr you can do for your company.

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Get Your Site Noticed

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Use the SEO’s to get listed

There are thousands of new pages being indexed everyday. Your web site is just one of the millions being asked to get listed and hopefully on the top 10.

So how does a company find the right source to get the site listed on search engines like Google, or Yahoo, or MSN and the other majors? It can be done, but patience is a must. Unless you pay for a position on the "sponsored" page, or bid on key words, or do the pay-per-click method, you need to use smart submissions and marketing.

Just like good publicity, it takes time to get a high ranking and top 10 listings.

Most of the major search engines will allow you to directly submit your web site. Google offers free listings, but then again, you and a million others are listing there.

If you are ambitious and willing to go through a list of seo’s to find other free and paid listings, this is a good place to start…try this link. For those pr clients and advertisers wanting quick response, go to Yahoo’s paid inclusion.

Once listed, you need to make sure you stay there. Oh, one more thing. Be sure your site is correctly optimized. That means more than key words and key phrases. If you want more information on this part just contact me.

After you are listed, put a schedule in your publicity plan to update the site every four months. Keeping it fresh is another good business strategy. Search engine marketing is serious business, and that means you need to treat your site as a business using smart web marketing strategies.

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How To Get More Exposure Without Increasing The Budget

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Publicity and Media Buying

We all know that publicity can generate good sales, and most of all establish a positive image/branding.

So why do so many advertisers, primarily the big companies, spend thousands on wasted media. Wasted media? Let me explain my definition of wasted media money.

We all know the publication industry makes money from its advertising. And the most costly ad placements within publications are the back cover, inside covers and specified placement.

Take this test. Pick one of your favorite magazines. It doesn’t matter what industry, the example will apply. Turn the first page. See the inside cover? It is probably facing another full-page ad, right? Or the ad is a spread. Now turn the page again. Another full-page ad, with another facing ad!

This can go on for 5 to 6 pages, or more until you get to the contents page. Now imagine, these advertisers all paid a premium to be in the front, especially the company that bought the inside cover.

Most consumers open the magazine to find the table of contents to see what interesting articles to read. So as you open the magazine, you skip all those colorful ads, and spreads. The winner is the advertiser who bought the placement next to or across the contents page.

The other smart media buyers are those who bought space next to articles, or within an article.

Imagine, if the company that paid a premium would have bought the space next to an article and put the savings into the publicity campaign, the results would be greater all around!

I’m probably going to get hate mail from publishers, but the reality is that the inside covers no longer get viewer ship or create leads as they did 20 years ago. In my book, it is money wasted. Spend more with the publicity and see the positive results.

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Branding

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Are you Multiplatform with your brand?

Branding a product or licensing a product can be a big step for any company. When developing a branding program for a pr client, or your own company, you might want to look at how your product branding, or company branding is marketed.

Today, we are seeing multiplatform branding by major companies. This can be applied to any size company when implemented correctly.

First let’s back up a step. When branding your company, or product is not an overnight campaign. It usually takes several months and in some cases years to build a solid brand image.

Ok, back to multiplatform branding. Why is this new catch phrase important to publicity and public relation campaigns. Because if you are not watching how the consumer, or your customers are reacting to today’s activities, then you are missing out on how to reach them.

Multiplatform brands make use of the different forms of what consumers, like kids, are doing. They are multitasking!

We are all multitasking. It has become a way we do business, how we have business relationships, how we interact with families, and how we buy goods.

It is necessary for you to identify the market you are in, research your audience and then identify what multi-markets, or multi-activities those potential customers are involved in.

This is one way to keep your brand awareness high with potential, and existing customers. Customers will now see your brand in all the places they visit and are multitasking.

Your publicity program can then gain extended exposure with reporters, editors, and various media. How? Because you are reaching out into those customers other markets they are multitasking in. So get your media together and have the pr people start a multiplatform branding program for your company.

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Why RSS Is A Great PR Tool

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Twelve reasons to use RSS


RSS is here and you need to make this tool part of your business plan. Why?

If you need to ask, then maybe your company or pr agency is not ready to become a leader in your industry.

But if you are considering the advantages, I’ll give you about twelve reasons how RSS, Blogging, or a Blog site can improve your image, and gain favorable pr AND increase sales. Now remember, that publicity or an ad campaign cannot close a sale, but it can bring traffic to your site, or to your office.

Reasons to get a blog started:

  • Because blogs are short articles, they are best read when you have a strong headline.  Create news type headlines and make the article a story…but short, about 300 words and not more than 750 words.
  • Tell pr clients, or customers about upcoming events through your blog
  • Choose a specific day that you just have your thoughts expressed. It can be about a competitors product, or about the industry in general. All from your point of view
  • It’s a great way to announce new products, or the addition of staff
  • Tell potential and current clients about unique sites that they can benefit from, show the links to these sites
  • Newsletters. You probably do one now, or have a lot of saved information that can be written easily in short articles. Share that information and become recognized as a company helping customers, or pr clients with problems that usually arise in your industry

Well, I only have time to give you six of the twelve. Need to know the rest. Contact me and I’ll share that and more with you.

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EMail Marketing

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Improve your image with better emails


The old saying that "Timing is Everything" is true in advertising, publicity and now email marketing.

How do you get better responses to your emails? This is a question we are asked many times by our pr clients and advertising clients. The answer is to make sure your emails are timely. This sounds like common sense, and it is. But think about how many emails you receive daily from customers, clients, and friends, and which ones you open first to read. Even junk emails campaigns use this technique to get you to respond.

An article by Robert Bly gives illustrative examples about this same topic. He mentions that some financial companies use this technique wisely. Another interesting point is to use news embedded into the copy. Make your email or publicity release (the one that goes to clients and potential customers) be somewhat newsworthy by including a current item that relates to your email.

An example was when a financial publisher used a photo of Martha Stewart and the "subject" was "Stay one step ahead of the stock market, just like Martha Stewart…but without her legal liability."

This is clever thinking and good use of publicity in email marketing.

Another good tip by Mr. Bly is to give something away in your email. Not necessarily a product, but information. Provide a tip, or something useful in the market you are in.

Why? Because people expect to receive free stuff on the internet. Knowing this, offer them something of value, and the potential client may read further and contact you for more information about your service or product.

Try these simple tips and then read Mr. Bly’s article for a third tip.

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Getting More Out Of Your Camapign

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Mass media and Online Media


When you take advantage of the tools you have for publicity and marketing you can extend the life of a pr campaign a lot longer. This in turn will get you more publicity for pr clients and increase your product or service awareness.

How do you integrate the two?

One example is to make use of the print or TV campaign and integrate that into your web site. For example, Hardee’s, a known hamburger chain that is owned and operated by Carl’s Jr., made use of a clever TV campaign.

They, Hardee’s, is known for very large, monster burgers. This particular ad focused on their new Philly Cheese Steak ThickBurger. The web site home page was the platform of their new commercial. The commercial could be uploaded to an iPod, added to a MySpace.com page or sent to a friend. Hardee’s invited customers to comment on the TV spot.

This gets their customers involved with the product and gets the word out at the same time. Hardee’s had an email sign up form to become part of their loyalty marketing program, which has benefits.

This is one company that understands integration of publicity, web marketing and reaching mass media. They are one of the few to make this work for them. Other companies shy away from their publicity departments and marketing departments. Keeping them separate. This can only slow your process to gain favorable publicity.

Learn how to make use of these media. It can only help promote your company further.

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Who Is Getting Your Press Kits?

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Do you know the right person?


Sending out press releases or press kits to editors, publishers take more than addressing a label. You need to make sure the person receiving your media kit, or article is the right person.

Depending on the industry you are in, it can be a guessing game. And if you are sending to the trade media, or consumer media make sure that person is still working at the publication or broadcast station.

Finding The Media
There are many sources to locate the right publication and get the name(s) of the individuals responsible to receive your information. You can go to the public library, buy an SRDS (the cost for the subscription is costly), or do some surfing on the web. Another source is Gebbie Press.

Once you find the right person, make sure you spell their name correctly, and then call to verify that reporter, or editor is still working there.

If you are interested in getting TV or radio exposure, you can call your local affiliates. Many times, they will direct you to the proper producer who is in charge of programming.

Again, be sure to write the name of the person, their phone number and email correctly.

After all that research, you need to contact these people and ask if the story is one that will fit their station. It is always a good idea to have someone in the company, or ask your pr client who would be best suited for an interview.

Follow Through
You can send the reporters or producer a letter, which is probably best in the beginning. Then follow-up in about a week to see if they received your request.

A good public relations service is having the media right people in your contact file. Otherwise, it is time wasted for you and your pr client. 

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What’s New In Marketing?

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PR needs to watch this new media


We are in a fast moving world that sees changes on a daily basis. Once we learn of a new technology, or a new media like blogging, we are quickly discovering another media. This time it is "Viral Marketing’.

As usual this new form has been embraced and popular among young web people. It is the video content that anyone with a cheap video camera and some editing equipment, will post onto a web site. This is not just a fad. Tens of thousands of videos are already in the ultimate Short Attention Span Theatre. These will range from the bizarre of car crashes and Jackass-like stunts to musical performances by classic rockers.

In a business environment, there is gold at the end for them. For example, you are already seeing how this new media is creeping into our homes by the TV commercials from MasterCard. I am sure you noticed their new TV spots that invite consumers to fill-in the blanks on their "Priceless" campaign.

There will soon be more high profile companies using this approach in their ad campaigns.

Another popular viral video that has become one of the hottest is YouTube, based in San Mateo, CA. Last April the YouTube had averaged 6.6 million unique viewers a month. That shows you the power this phenomenon is having. Several other exisit like iFilm. Just type the words into Google and see what comes up.

How does this relate to publicity and your public relations campaign? Well, if you do this right, you can probably get some great publicity for your pr client, or your own company by doing something unique using viral video. I suggest doing something that is legal, otherwise the publicity you get from the press and other media will not be what you hoped for.

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Make Networking Work For You

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People Knowing People


Publicity is basically the networking of people. Whether they are reporters, publishers, editors or broadcasters, you need to communicate with people.

When your network grows among the media, the more people you meet, the better opportunities you have in getting the story published.

If you are a professional publicity agency, or a pr client, then you need to make your network becomes a priority when establishing  your contacts. If you are in a vertical market, then your task is much easier. If you are in a more general consumer market, then you need to be more selective on the media that you network with. Why? Because you can’t expect to have a very large network and stay in contact without giving them nonsense stories. These people are just that, people. Just like you, they too do not like being sent stories or releases that try to sell a product or a company. Make the content be informative, something that their readers will enjoy.

Another tip, you don’t want to oversell your company, or your pr clients. Too much selling, or pitching, is like the salesman who doesn’t know when to stop selling. Your network of media can become a friendly one. Not meaning a social thing. Why? Because getting too close to the media as a social group puts you in a different perspective. Then they, the media, feel you are only getting their attention to get stories published. Keep your relationship professional.

I saw a journalist who has an article about this subject and offers some other interesting insights that expand on my thoughts. Basically, be honest, keep in contact with your network through eNewsletters, and follow-up as needed.

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