Why you need a Business Blog Site

Blogging is still one of the most required media when creating a social network program. PR Clients need to make sure their blogging is done on a regular basis. Business blogs are necessary and helpful. Companies can control what is said about their people, products and services and can use their business blog sites to better understand the needs of employees. When done correctly, business blogs can help pr clients target thier customers needs by “listening’ to what is said. In turn, pr clients should respond to any negative or positive comments so customers feel a connection, which builds trust.

So what is different from a business blog vs a typical blog site? blogging

This important pr marketing tool helps you to communicate more effectively to customers and potential customers as well. Last year in April, a blog I wrote listed of a few companies’ that have business blogs. These will give you an idea of how other company’s use blogging to improve their position and image:

Gizmodo

Google Blog

Loosetooth.com Shop Blog

 If you need more reasons why a business blog can improve your company’s position and image, give George Carson a call at 949-477-9400. It could be the best call you make this year!

How To Write A Marketing Plan

WHERE DO YOU START?

If you have never written a marketing plan, then you can use this as a basis to begin. I urge you to work with a professional marketing individual to help implement the marketing plan if you do not have anyone in your company with the knowledge and experience.

I talked about creating a pr marketing strategy in a recent blog for a company, and that you should first have a marketing plan in place in order to begin your marketing strategy. Many PR Clients think if they just put together a simple plan, or a strategy, they will succeed. This is a crapshoot. You might get by for a short time, but without a definite marketing plan, it is possible to fail. Some of the reasons will be evident when you see what it takes to write a solid marketing plan.

If you think that marketing is selling or advertising, then you are wrong! Marketing concentrates on customers and what they need (or want). Customers are the essence of marketing – they are the source of sales and profits. Now that this is said, let’s move onto the writing.

The marketing plan should be for your company, not a copy or extraction of other plans and fit it into your company. You need to do your own research. These are a few of the things you need to know before writing the marketing plan.

List who are your competitors

Do you know your potential customers (create a profile of your customer base. Whether you are a B2B business, or retail, a profile should be identified.

Describe your product(s) or services that are offered

Know your actual costs and what will it take to get this to market. To do this list your entire overhead and other operating costs to know what profit margins you need to survive and grow.

Once you have gathered this critical information you still need to do more research. For example, you need do the following:

• analysis of your current market
• your business objectives
• key strategies
• steps to achieving your objectives
• proposed budget

• timing

After you have all these facts, you can now begin to do an outline of the marketing plan. Then you can start doing the writing.

As you can see, if you have not written a plan, it takes a lot of serious research and objectivity. I highly recommend hiring a marketing professional to guide you along so the plan is something that is designed to help your company grow, rather than adding information you “think is best” and might not point your company in the right direction. If you need help, call George Carson at Carson Marketing, Inc. He will get you going and prepare you in handling your next level of growth.

Podcasting. The next best Marketing Strategy.

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.

Keep the PR Program Active

Like an ad campaign, publicity needs consistency

So you ran a pr release last week, or was it last month? And maybe you had an article scheduled to be in a publication, but the editor, or reporter had to cancel, delaying the article for another month or two.

If this is how your publicity campaign sounds, then you need to rethink what you’re doing. It is up to your pr agency, or pr staff to continually develop press releases, pitch stories, or arrange for interviews. It is this on-going effort that makes any campaign: publicity or advertising, become effective and gain exposure. The positive results will follow when you have this concentrated effort in place.

Another pr company, PowerPR, has in his blog today a similar viewpoint about handling your publicity campaign. The title of his blog "Have you published a release lately" parallels my philosophy on publicity.

Whether you are a pr client looking for increased exposure, or work as a pr consultant, consistency and repetition is critical. Another good idea is to have a regular eNewsletter that is published and sent to the media. Don’t go wild sending them an eNewsletter every week, or even monthly. It should be sent just prior to submitting a release or pitching a story. The eNewsletter should also be of good information. It wouldn’t hurt to have a short preview about the product or service that will be presented to the media.

Keeping a flow of activity in your public relations program is how to help get recognition. This will also help build brand identity and awareness.

See Also

Are Customers Finding You Through Search Engines?

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!

See Also