Building A Web Site For Publicity

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Publicity is everywhere

Companies large and small are building web sites that contain too much information, or create a nightmare to navigate.

I read an article about this problem titled "Analytics that Boost Web Revenue". The author of the article, Karen Vogel, uses an airport to illustrate how web sites are getting so large (depth in pages) that if an airport didn’t have signs and sections for you to enter, you would be lost.

I believe that if you are a company that offers a lot of information, such as a financial institution and want feel you need to have all the services explained. Or your company sells automotive aftermarket accessories and you put your entire catalog on the net.

That is ok, if you build the site so customers can navigate back easily, or are able to not "get them lost’.
Too often companies add links upon links to take you deeper, or to another site for support information. That’s how you will loose customers.

A web site is part of your publicity campaign. It is what people will think of your company. It’s that image building I spoke about many times before.

To keep a positive image when you are facing this problem with too much information, I suggest building a separate site, maybe three different sites that can link to each other.

This will keep specific information in one place, and provides you the ability to market your company in several markets through different web sites.

Remember, customers are looking for information, or something to buy, solve a problem. Don’t give them a reason to hate your company because you put everything inside the site.

Maybe it is giving customers a summary of the information, about the services or products you offer. Then give them the option to contact you for further information.

Customers like choices. Make this work for you and that will be the publicity reward– a positive name (brand) in the industry.

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Are Customers Finding You Through Search Engines?

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Your Customers Are Probably Going To Your Competitors Site

Ever wonder why your site isn’t getting all the traffic you want? Notice that your competitors are listed higher in the search than your site? How can this be when it is your key words?

A recent study found that "Fifteen percent of people who search for a company’s brand name end up going to Web sites of the brand’s competitors, affiliates or to price-comparison sites because those sites rank high in the results, according to a study to be released today by online competitive intelligence firm Hitwise, New York."

The study goes on to tell you that you need to buy more of the keywords that fit your company description. But what if your competitors are already paying for those key words?

In my opinion, that’s the problem with bidding wars for keywords.

Ms. Prescott, a senior analyst for Hitwise, said. "People are searching more navigationally than they used to."

Some even suggest buying your brand name that might be spelled incorrectly. This actually helps customers find you. People don’t use a spell checker in the search navs for Google, or Yahoo. So this could be a good suggestion.

Unfortunately, you can be spending a lot of money bidding for your brand name, or words that relate to your brand. Is there another solution? Yes!

I’ve said this before, blogging. But not just a blog site. You need one that has the muscle and wisdom behind the site. It is the special ingredients of how the site is structured, how the key words are inserted into the daily blogs, how it is found by search engines.

Let your competitors pay for the keywords and phrases, while you establish a blog site that will get your company, brand name, listed at the top of the searches. It’s time to let blogging work for you!

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Important Points When Publishing Newsletters

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This is an excellent way to keep in touch with clients

Writing a newsletter is not an easy task and most companies try to do them monthly, only to quit after the first year.

The reason is that they try to write them at the last minute. That may bring timely information into your newsletter, but it eventually creates the reason to abandon the process.

Here are a few helpful hints about writing a newsletter.

1- Plan to keep a schedule
Decide if the newsletter will be monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly. Remember, whatever you choose, be sure to stay with that schedule. Being consistent builds a better reputation.
2- Write Information that relates to your industry
Having articles that are rich in content and speak about your industry will help to position your company as an expert in the field.
3- Be Timely
All the articles do not need to be current, but they should be timely. Even information that is a year old might relate to a "timely" event that can help your readers make better decisions. Keeping a handful of subjects and information on file for future newsletters can save you the frustration of having to do research the last minute for another newsletter.
4- Accurate Information
Don’t write something and then inflate the story to make it more interesting. Or add figures that are not correct to again show you know it all. That will only hurt your credibility.

When you have a regular newsletter schedule, and it is filled with rich content, it becomes something customers will look forward to and want to read.

This is another form of publicity. Unlike a press release that may or may not get published, your story, or release can be put into the newsletter. This gives you more control of letting customers know about positive things happening inside your company.

Get noticed by having a regular published newsletter. It keeps your company name in front of prospects and current customers.


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Rich Media, Streaming Video and Podcasting

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Use these new media tools for publicity

The Internet is no longer that slow machine that uses dial-up. Ok, some people are still in that Dark Age, but broadband is quickly becoming the norm.

It wasn’t even a year ago that people were downloading movies and TV shows illegally from non-approved sites.

Today, TV stations are "asking" you to download some of the hottest TV shows just after they air…literally after it airs. Shows like Desperate Housewives and Lost are among the two hottest shows you can get directly from the stations and approved sites.

What this is telling you is that rich media, pod casting and even streaming video (which has been around but is now catching on) are in high demand.

If you use your new marketing tools correctly, you can have video releases, or releases with images sent via mail faster and easier than traditional methods.

Reporters and editors are still holding off on using this technology at its fullest. That doesn’t mean they will not change, it just will become too much for them to handle when this media is more of mainstream for their access. The reporters will need to learn how to sift through the releases, pitch stories and submitted articles to find what is really important to them.

An article today by Jim Meskauskas talks about the use of Rich Media being the only media. He has some good points, and does a short walk down memory lane of how we went from 9600 or 14,000-baud rate to the broadband industry.

Jim reinforces my belief that we are moving at such a fast pace that in order to keep up, we need to use the new tools available. And that includes blogging, RSS feeds and Pod casting. So hold onto your computers, it’s going to be a wild ride these next two years.

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Interviews on Radio

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Radio is a good medium for publicity

Getting your message out can be done using a variety of media. Newspaper, magazines, TV and radio. And of course the Internet.

Whenever possible, try to get yourself, or a representative from your company have a radio interview. This is an excellent media. It is done live, and the questions asked by the Host can provide you the opportunity to explain more about a new service or product than someone reading about it in a press release.

These types of interviews can be done. It takes more than one or two letters or phone call to the radio station. You need to be pushy, without being a pest.

But before you start making those calls, the interview needs to be planned. What I mean is that the subject you want to discuss should be relevant to the listeners of that station. And that the subject is of interest to the station as well. Otherwise, you’re wasting everyone’s time, and building a poor reputation for your company with non-relevant topics, or issues.

Radio can enhance any publicity campaign. It should be used as a media to help ignite your campaign. Another important thing to consider.

If you want to get an interview on the radio, make sure that you have been sending publicity releases prior to them and other media. It helps to have published releases, or an article written about the company, or yourself (if you are promoting you) before you make those calls. This adds to the credibility and name recognition.

Last and just as important. If your story you want to tell on the radio isn’t of a timely manner, then be patient and make follow up calls. If you have a subject that is critical to the timing, make this known. Just remember, broadcast media is a timely industry. News happens immediately, so sometimes your interview may get pushed back a week due to current events. That’s why it is best to discuss a topic that isn’t as timely but has a lot to offer the listeners.

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What Makes a Good Press Release

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Writing a press release for the media

This same old problem still exists. No matter how many articles or blogs or books you read, people still forget the basics to writing a good press release for the media. The focus is the "media".

I’ve seen pr people say that there are 10 tips, some say there are 7 tips, publishers will write an entire book with lots of tips. So who’s right?

Everyone. What makes a good release is that you first make sure it has news value…newsworthy, to the reader.
If you feel this is what you have then you need to identify your media. Trade publications should be identified differently than consumer, or general media. You need to write the release differently, not just the opening statement.

Now, rather than give you 7 top points, which is how Joan Stewart describes her point of writing a release (and I am not commenting in a negative way, she has good points), I will give you the brief version.

Make the release accurate with all the information. This includes your contact information should the reporter or editor want to contact you for further information.

Keep the release short, not more than two pages. And keep the "sell" out of the release. This is to be an informative writing, not a sales letter or sell sheet.

Now you need to distribute the release. This can be done via email, traditional mail, and/or fax (if it is high priority and needs immediate attention). Keep in mind the reporter, or editor reading the release is a person who has a lot to read to decide if YOUR information is something of value to their readers.

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Getting The Word Out

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Branding is important so is blogging

All companies are fighting for the same thing. An Identity.

Without this, you can’t be visible, you will have a difficult time selling a product or service, and it will be very difficult to stay in business.

Today’s competitive market (in all industries) is looking for better and more efficient methods to creating this identity.

The word "Branding" has become a popular term in our business language. This is what an identity is for a company. Although branding does encompass more than the traditional identity program. All businesses need to have a serious look as to how they are perceived by customers, competitors and the media.

When developing a branding program, you need to look at all aspects of the company. When you have placed a true branding program in place, you then need to get that image, brand into the marketplace.

Doing this can be done in several ways. I strongly recommend that companies include with their Publicity Campaign a business "blog site".

Blogging is more than a term; it is now part of our daily lives. Even more so in business.

A good blog site will consist of RSS feeds to attract news about your industry, and market. It will also be created in a fashion to reflect your image–BRAND. In addition it needs to be monitored and produced by a professional blog company that knows the "back end" of the marketing. Doing a blog is only one small part of blogging.

Writing and using links, images, keywords, phrases and many other unique techniques can be a very productive site to make a company gain visibility and brand recognition within 90 days.

So be careful before you just plunge into a blog site. Make sure you work with people who know the techniques of the business side. These are the people who can make things happen for you and your company.

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What To Write About

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Make the story interesting and meaningful

Publicity firms are always asked by their clients to "write something about our company that is great!"

To do this you need to make sure what you are going to write is going to have credible information to that publication’s readers. Just because you or your client feels the information is valid, think of whom you are going to pitch the story to. Go through a list of questions:
1- How important is this information to the readers of XYZ publication
2- Does this offer anything that can help or enhance a readers knowledge to improve their life, business, etc?
3- Am I only writing this to get people interested in the product or service? If so, re-think this and re-write it to be lees self-serving.
4- How timely is this information?

These are but a few points to consider when you need to "get the word out" for a client or if you are a company doing pr internally, then re-think your story or release.

The worst thing you can do is submitting non-informative information in the form of a press release or story to reporters, because the industry hears this type of communication. It can cause a negative effect on you, the company you work for and can cause future releases to be less considered when you get this type of reputation.

Make the words count, in more ways than in numbers. It is up to you to put aside the "sell" and write for the good of the potential readers of a publication.

That will position you higher on the list with reporters.

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Know the Media

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Get familiar with reporters work

It’s been awhile since I sat down and wrote anything, but no excuses but just keeping busy.

With that said let’s move on to some good info.

If you are trying to pitch an article or get some recognition for your company, or a client, it is wise to know something about the reporter you are pitching the article to.

For example you wouldn’t send out a press release about a product without knowing the main features and interesting things it offers the readers. So why would you contact a reporter without knowing his or her writing style or subjects they prefer to write about.

To concur this I saw a blog at Dan Janal’s site that had a comment from John DiPietro who wrote to Dan that "I ALWAYS DID RESEARCH ON THE WRITER PRIOR TO THE INTERVIEW".

This gets you further acquainted with the writer and makes an interview, or pitch easier.

Mr. DiPietro also commented "I always read one of their other pieces, then COMMENTED ON IT TO THEM. This brought me into a more friendly relationship with them."

Reporters like to know that you know their work and will many times be more open to hearing about your company or the story you want to pitch to them.

Now that isn’t the secret to getting a story. This is only a method to help you better get a chance to present the story. The rest is up to how important the story is to their readers; the credible information and how it applies to helping readers improve their business, etc.

So now that you have the story you want to pitch, select a reporter or two, read at least one or two recent articles they wrote and then see if your story fits that reporter’s style and publication. If it does, you’re ready to make the call.

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Forums and more Forums

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Communication Forums

Look around your mail or just check your emails and see how many different forums there are. Depending on your industry, you could probably attend one almost every month.

I’m not just speaking about the Internet Forums that exist. That too can be a lot to read, as there are probably hundreds more on the net. I’m referring to the forums that you attend.

Is that a good thing? I think so. But you need to evaluate each type of forum to decide which will offer you the best value…not just for the money, but what you will learn from it.

These are Publicity Forums, Advertising Forums, Hi-Tech Forums, Automotive Forums, Sports Forums, Health Food Forums, Cooking Forums, the list goes on.

The forums I like the most are about publicity, marketing and other related topics like branding.

I noticed a new publicity forum this week. It was recently held (about a week ago) in Pal Alto, CA.

Reading about it, I discovered that two people started this, named Elizabeth Albrycht and Jen McClure. They call it the New Communications Forum.

From what I heard and read, it went from only 90 people the first year (that’s actually a good turnout) to over 190 people this year.

The forum is definitely offering something good as indicated by the turnout.

So again I ask, are forums good? Yes, and the only problem is now deciding which ones to attend. But as most, you can usually find it on the Internet and read the highlights if you can’t attend all the forums you want.

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  • CorporatePR
    Commentary on the theory and practice of organizational communications from Elizabeth Albrycht