Tag Archives: articles

Are Your Publicity Clients Prospering?

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PR Clients need to deliver more

I have written several blogs and articles about involving the publicity departments with the marketing departments. Well is finally catching on. But only in few situations, usually when a company cannot meet its sales goals.

publicity incentivesPublic relations firms need to step-up to their pr clients and request meetings with the marketing staff as well as the sales departments. Discussions about how each is handling their departments to increase sales will open conversations to work collectively. Competition is not going to get less, but more intense, no matter your industry.

We are seeing that end users (customers) are expecting more from manufacturers. For example, when you make a major purchase like an automobile, you expect more than the rebates. You may negotiate for free oil changes, or extra large tires, etc. When you buy furniture, or appliances, you expect the company to provide free shipping, or some other added incentive. One of our snack food clients will be offering an “instant rebate coupon” that is on the package. It is this type of quick gratification that customers are looking for.

At PowerPR, the company’s blog also had a comment about this. The blog titled "Publicity to a PublicCelebrate incentive that wants More". PowerPR’s clientele is mainly in the manufacturing industry, so they see this as a need for publicity people to get more creative with clients to help sell products. They refer to the extras as being “surprised”.

As professional publicity people we need to address issues like this in order to have clients gain more visible and favorable publicity. 

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Link Your Site Before You Launch It

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How to generate traffic

Sometimes it is difficult to explain to pr clients how to get more traffic to a company’s web site in these short blogs. The reason is that it takes more than just a few keywords or phrases embedded into the HTML codes. It requires a plan to get fully indexed and recognized by search engines (SEO).

For those of you who understand the behind-the-scenes, and for those who have a fair knowledge of web marketing, then this is for you.

Before launching your new web site, or your updated site, you need to make sure the following has been completed.

  • First, make sure your domain name is registered, or renewed
  • Review your home page and the other key pages, these could be up to 5 or 6 different pages
  • Make links to your page with other high ranking pages that are already indexed. This will give your site immediate recognition by the search engines
  • Develop a PR campaign with releases on your site. These can be releases that have been distributed to the media
  • START A BLOG SITE! Not that I haven’t said this a few times before, but a blog site with your company web site will build high rankings with search bots as they crawl the different sites and your links
  • Make sure you write articles that are relevant about your company, the products or services you offer. Write articles about topics that you can later submit to other Ezines

One last item for this blog. Get links from other indexed sites to your company site. That completes the cycle.

If you need help with web marketing, give us a call.

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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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Public Relations With The Media

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Get Better Relations With The Media


I’ve written about this subject a couple of times, but in different viewpoints. One of the articles was titled: Working with the press", the other was titled "Know the media". Each identifies specific issues that will help you produce better releases to get them published. Re-read these; you may find something you missed the first time.

Today I will focus more on having good media relations with the press. When possible, I like to use other pr pros that think the same to help illustrate another writer’s viewpoint. That way you can read theirs and possibly pick up more knowledge. One particular blogsite that has this similar viewpoint is PowerPR weblog. Check out his perspective.

As you plan your publicity campaign and finalizing the press releases to send to the media, make sure you have identified who will be receiving these releases and articles. Although it takes more effort, you should make revisions in the releases that meet the criteria of that specific media. Here are a few helpful tips:

  • Identify a specific person, or a couple of the reporters and send the releases to the one person most suited for your release
  •  Modify the release to fit that publications audience. If the media release is being sent to a few trade or consumer media in the foods industry, then adapt the release accordingly
  •  Know the deadlines of the media. Plan to send releases at least 2 weeks before the next issue is due, or a few days after it is published
  •  Check the media calendars. You might see in their editorial calendar that your product or press release is best suited at another time

This one-on-one submission of releases is more time consuming and does require a targeted approach. The results will be rewarding when you treat the media as you do your clients.

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Free Publicity, Does It Exist?

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How to get the most of a PR campaign

GET US FREE PUBLICITY!

These are the words we hear most often from clients. So how Free is it?

Publicity is a powerful method for getting your message to potential customers, but only when you know what you are doing.

Remember, nothing is free. If you have an in-house person, you are paying for that pr director, or manager to spend the time to write, distribute and meet with reporters.

Hiring a publicity firm has basically the same costs.
When you place an ad into a publication, or run a spot on radio or TV, those are controlled forms of media which can become costly for smaller companies.

When you get a release or article published, in comparison, it didn’t cost anything to have that visibilty in that, or those media. The cost was in the preliminary stages of developing the article and getting it to the right media.

Knowing how to write an article, or a press release (these require different writings) is critical of getting something published. Reporters and editors want to publish stories of interest and be informative for their audience.

I spoke about distribution before. This is also important. Shot gun mailing to all media will not do you any good. Targeting specific media will help to control the distribution and makes follow up more productive. Use the Internet news media whenever possible. Here you can modify the press release or articles and use keywords in the body of the information. Using a professional pr firm can help a public relations campaign become more successful, because they have the contacts and knowledge to get these published.

Bottom line. Is publicity free? I guess It all depends on what you consider free.

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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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Press Release Distribution

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Get your release to the media

Writing a press release that has newsworthy information is a task. Once accomplished in developing this newsworthy bit of information, you need to get the word out.

Not as simple as many thought. Yes, there are a lot of Internet companies claiming to send out releases for you. And yes, you can look up all the reporters and create a database of media yourself.

The cost needs to be evaluated in these different processes.

For example you can join organizations such as Business Wire (which was bought by Warren Buffet’s company about a month ago) and pay their yearly dues. On top of that it will cost anywhere from $300 to $800 to send out one press release.

Other companies like Mass Media Distribution will send your release to 100 newspapers for about 100 bucks. But these are limitations, restrictions; you need to read the tiny print and what you are getting.

Don’t misunderstand me, these are good places to get the news sent out, but that’s all they do. No follow-up, no help in getting you a possible article, or even get the release published as written.

Whatever path you take, it requires a lot of follow through, relationships with the media, and creating the releases/articles that are written to their audience.

The solution is to get professional help in getting that news into the hands of the media. And those pros will work to get articles, follow-up stories and do a lot more than just being a glorified mailing source. A good pro will develop a pr plan that will include press kits, event planning, interviews with the media, press conferences, distribute kits and attend many trade shows in your industry to arrange for reporters to meet with you, among many other services.

You will actually save money this way, which will be a better investment than trying to go the other routes.

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How to get publicity ready for the media

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If you are following the publicity tips from yesterday, then you are ready to develop the press release, or story.

The headline you create for these should grab the attention of the editor, but not mislead them. Keep it short, to 12 words or less. Sometimes you might need to include a sub-head to help further make your point about the uniqueness of your product or service.

The format should also be easy to read. For example, if the release has urgency, put the words “for immediate release” on it. Have the contact information for the writer to call if he or she needs more information, at the top right side of the first page.

All body text should be double-spaced. Don’t type in all caps; this is annoying and difficult to read. Don’t use a lot of bold type either. Whenever possible have quotes from a senior level person of the company, or a third party who is endorsing the product.

It is best to have the release or story presented on company letterhead; this adds credibility to your presentation. For press releases, keep it to a maximum of two pages. Unless you are providing a chart or other visual aid. Articles and stories should be limited to 5 – 8 pages with support materials like photos, graphs, or charts. Always include any references to support your claims of the products uniqueness.

In all, keep the information you write factual, not sales copy. If you reviewed your media list, consider re-writing some of the body copy, or modifying the titles to fit the publication’s target audience. Send those re-written pieces to specific publications. For example, if your product has two market applications, the “consumer” editor will want to see something that is directed to their readers. Unlike a trade publication, they would want to see a product that not only fits a consumer demand, but shows retailers how it can increase sales.

Preparing your release or story like I mentioned will get you further into an editor’s or writer’s hand than someone who types a wordy letter and includes a “sales pitch style” release with dinner tickets to get their attention.

Now you’re ready to mail these out, right? Yes, go ahead. When a reporter calls and asks for additional information or a media kit what will you send them? You don’t know? You don’t have a press kit? For those who need to know what to say, and how to prepare a press kit, watch tomorrow’s article. I’ll explain that process.

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