Tag Archives: PR Marketing Strategies

How To Get Listed In Fortune Magazine’s 500 Issue

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To get into this elite club you need to earn a gross of at least $14 billion. Just ask Nike, who this year is rated number 499 with a total revenue of $14,954,000,000 (that’s billion dollars).

Ok, so it might not be in your near future to be on the list, but if you don’t set a goal that is at least attainable, then you are doing business for nothing. So how do you reach those goals? Set some pr marketing strategies that the top executives in your company will all agree on and create a plan. Not just any plan. It should be a marketing plan that includes the marketing strategies, publicity and how you intend to develop your company’s branding.

Hey, if you don’t include branding into your marketing strategy, then your efforts are for what? You need a focus. Oh, you think that increase sales is your marketing goal, right? Ok, that’s part of it. But you cannot sell products alone. No matter how much better or improved your product is than the competition, branding will outsell and outlast all products.

To help illustrate my point, Fortune magazine commented that this years issue people thought the “high tech” companies would be at the top of the list. Well to those people…surprise! It was again the big corps, with Wal-Mart as #1 ($351+ billion), Exxon Mobil #2, BP (Arco gas) #3, General Motors #4, Toyota, then Chevron and the list goes on. No high tech company appears until HP  which placed #33. Microsoft was #140 with $44+ billion in revenue. This is “BRANDING”. These names are all well known. Even Nike which placed #499 has a strong branding campaign. It took years to build these. So don’t think a one-time campaign will establish your brand.

To start a branding campaign, a pr marketing strategy needs to be implemented. Along with an aggressive publicity campaign. Whether you are a local Orange County company, or a national or worldwide company, all PR Clients need to continue with their marketing campaigns to become successful.

If you have a limited budget, then get “street smart”. This is what we do for our clients. We develop programs, campaigns that will focus on the PR Clients core business. Many times companies will loose sight of their core business and then failure kicks in. To stop this from happening, you need to identify your position in your industry. Know your competitors strengths and weaknesses. Develop your product or service to meet customers demands and start a marketing strategy that communicates these benefits/features you offer. The way to capture more market share is to take it from your competitor. If they are on the Fortune 500 list, then it is easier, because as a smaller company you should be more flexible and quicker that they are.

If you want to discuss more about this pr marketing strategy, give us a call. We can make “great” things happen for your company.

Re-Branding for an old Name in Snack Foods

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Building a brand takes a well planned and coordinated effort by the publicity agency, the pr clients and in most cases the marketing department who develops the pr marketing strategies. But when you need to re-establish a name, that can become a different challenge.

branding with pr marketing strategiesRecently we were contracted to help market the Laura Scudder’s brand. Many of you may not remember this name, but it was one of the best known brands in Snack Foods during the early 50’s through the mid 70’s. Although the original company started in the late 1920’s, it wasn’t really popular until the early 50’s. If you are a PR client who was in business during that era, or publicity agency in Orange County during the 60’s or 70’s then you know the name.

In order to re-build back the name recognition, we began with the logo. Keeping the scrip style type is important. The style that is used today is a modification of what was used in the late 80’s. The publicity it garnered over the years was positive, so it was decided to continue with that font. The images will now include many of the “past” illustrations, such as the Mayflower sailing ship, which was used during the 60’s. Other designs will also be picked up from the era past.

No matter the product, re-branding a name requires the same tactics as it would when building a new brand. The only advantage, the name Laura Scudder’s had a position in the marketplace, we just need to re-ignite that name and image through a publicity effort. The literature we created for the newer items, such as the dry dip mixes capitalized on the freshness and the original illustrations from the packages.

As we progress further with the branding of the Laura Scudder’s name, I’ll keep you posted with the pr marketing strategies and creative we use.

Building Web Links with Publicity

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This topic can never get enough attention. The problem with web marketing, or pr marketing strategies, there are too many books, sources and people offering information and you just cannot absorb all that great stuff.

Sometimes we need to go outside for web marketing help. Even PR Clients ask us to do their web marketing knowing they cannot keep the pace and keep up with the many changes the Internet encounters almost weekly. If you are looking to do some of the web site marketing in-house, then go to sources that can guide you along. If you get too deep in this stuff, I strongly recommend sourcing this out.

One particular person who is very helpful is Aaron Wall. He is an expert on SEO and does seminars all around the country. His SEO Book is an excellent read, but again, not for the novice. PR agencies as well as pr clients doing their own pr marketing strategies, should also consider contacting a professional to get the web marketing program started. Then once implemented, you can maintain the program yourself.

His book and tips concentrate on Links. How to create them and how to get them. Sounds easy, and in a way it is. But like any project, you need to devote the time necessary to really benefit from a web marketing program. Publicity alone, and having web site alone cannot generate sales. You need to have solid pr marketing strategy to make things happen. And that’s another subject I will talk about later.

Marketing Strategies for Web Sites

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If you are reading this blog, then you probably have a web site. Whether you are a pr client, a pr agency, a local public relations agency in Orange County or a national company, you need to know these marketing strategies.

All companies want visitors to their site, but how many are converted to sales, buying products, or subscribing to your service? If the percentage is less than 4 or 5%, you may need to evaluate how you are using the pr marketing strategies. You have probably heard about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how it can generate traffic. Done correctly, this can improve sales. Done poorly, it is then money and time wasted.

web marketing strategySEO is one part of a comprehensive pr marketing strategy for web sites. You need to constantly update the sites pages. This can be done moderately, not complete re-designs. Next, re-evaluate the keywords, phrases and update those. Another tip is to make sure all the out bound links are still valid and are with higher page ranking sites.

Here are a few more tips for pr marketing strategies for web sites. Linking is still one of the best ways to gain a high positioning and ranking with Yahoo, Google and other search engines.

Listing your web site on the proper directories and with the major search engines is also important. These should be done by a person (webmaster), not software.

Finally, the last part of these tips is to have a business blog. Not just any blog, but one that actually speaks to your audience. Business blogging is more important today than it was just five months ago. It can be easily set-up and monitored. Writing the daily blogs might be a task for some companies, but there are professional blog writers available to help with your writing.

These are just a few suggestions. If you need professional help with your web traffic and are on a limited budget, then give us a call. We want you to be successful, let us show you how.

Promotional Marketing and PR Strategies

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If you want to give your pr clients exposure to any of the new products or services they offer, create a promotional marketing program. The PR strategy is to get the ultimate customer involved with your pr client’s product. Sounds rather obvious, right? It should if you are a pr professional. If you are a pr client looking for ways to increase visibility, then consider using this pr marketing strategy.

Promotional PR marketing strategiesI’m sure you have all seen these types of “consumer involvement” campaigns. Currently there are many showing up on television, direct mailers, and in print media (magazines, newspapers). One example is the show “Smallville”. Toyota has discovered to compete in a crowded auto industry you need to get the consumers attention and get them involved with your product. They run a series of “superman cartoons” and ask the viewer to figure out the next sequence. Another is for the new release of the movie”Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.” This time Verizon Wireless has learned quickly that customers love to play games. In this promotion, which the media, Promo Magazine calls Buccaneer Marketing, asks the participants to choose their own adventure for the game. Based on the movie, it is a first for this type of game-movie tie-in. Read the article and the others that offer good suggestions to gain visibility through promotional marketing strategies.

I have been a believer that when you get your audience invloved in the products that pr clients offer, your return is greater. We did this for years with our client’s in the auto dealership industry.

When done correctly, you can create a pr marketing strategy that can be very powerful when you include publicity.

Get more PR from your web site

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PR Clients need to look at their web site for media attention and traffic

Publicity, publicity! All you want is some FREE pr, but your pr agency is just not getting the job done–as least you don’t feel they are.
Get more PR, Get Noticed!
If you want to get attention, then consider using your web site. This can be a powerful source to building a company’s image, establish a position in the market and can generate massive awareness. How? I’m glad you asked.

Whether you are a pr agency, or if you are a pr client who handles all publicity activity in-house, then it’s time to put some serious action in making your web site become part of the publicity team.

There are some current changes in SEO’s (search engine optimization) that are making it more difficult for company’s to get listed, but at the same time, it has opened a wide door for publicity.

Remember when I spoke about keywords? Well, I did. The fact remains that if done correctly, you can get your web site listed at the top of any category your company is doing business. Yes, I can assure you this is possible. We have been working with several SEO people and have tested and re-tested our secret strategies and it has worked every time.

If your publicity agency isn’t performing, or you’re a pr client who just needs some outside objectivity, give us a call. We have the secret tools to get your company at the top, which will get media attention as well as making it easier for reporters, editors, and publishers to find you. So give us a call.

We are not going to offer this to every company, so call to see if you qualify.

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Is It Publicity or Marketing?

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YouTube and Google

Google and YouTube purchase Google likes being in the news and takes a lot of chances. But that is one of their marketing strategies, to keep in front of the computer user public.

I have read many articles lately about the purchase of YouTube by Google. Some good, some are not.

One interesting viewpoint was by Bill Wise of Did-It, a search marketing agency.

He tells us that Google could have made a blunder in the $1.6 billion purchase. Bill gives three reasons for his theory:

  • YouTube is still young and in a market that has attracted a young audience and still hasn’t turned a profit
  • YouTube has only 65 employees compared to Google with 8,000 and MySpace with 300
  • Last is the legal issues that YouTube and Google are facing with copyright infringement

No matter your perspective, Google will win in the long run. It is possible that YouTube could be a short lived fad, or be taken over (in the market share) by Microsoft’s version (Soapbox), or other networks like CBS allowing downloads of shows and who knows, maybe videos. What Google is gaining is a lot of Publicity. You cannot pick up a publication, newspaper or watch TV, listen to radio without hearing something about this acquisition.

So the question remains, Is google creating a major publicity campaign around YouTube? If so, I think they will get back their investment just by the fact that many new people will now be attracted to YouTube and be exposed to the advertisers that Google hopes to reap the profits from. I’m also sure that Google learned it’s lesson with the failure of the ad venture, GooglePrint. Maybe they can apply the right marketing with this new venture.

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Regal Medical Group Chooses Carson

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Medical account sees positive marketing

Not very often do we get the opportunity to shout and let the world know of our new accounts. But this was one we need to mention.

Regal Medical GroupRegal Medical Group is a new company that offers the services to its doctors and patients’ bringing them health plans and government programs for better family healthcare.

As we do with all new accounts, we had a fact-finding meeting to review the goals and objectives with the different marketing and publicity strategies to make "positive things happen" for Regal Medial Group. Priority for the company was to develop several brochures for the doctor’s directories for the different regions in Orange County, CA. The challenge was to meet a rigid deadline. It was successful and we did it all in record time, and within budget.

The medical program has quickly grown and now we are developing literature for the Inland Empire. Regal Medical is having us work closely with them to identify the best marketing and pr strategies to target their audience.

I’m telling you these things, because it is great when clients fully trust your input and work together as part of an overall team. It is this open relationship, which we started from our first meeting that will have positive impacts on both sides.

We will be working on all areas of web marketing, publicity, direct mail, incentive programs, literature and marketing.

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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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Are Keywords Important?

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Buying Keywords, is it for you?

Companies are always trying to get more out of their web sites, and they should. But too many times, when the site isn’t generating enough sales, or leads, marketing executives turn to buying of keywords.

Is it right for you?

You need to seriously think about this before putting marketing money into these types of programs. Yes, it can bring "people" to your site. Notice I said people, not customers, or clients. There is a BIG difference.

The search engines make their millions, or billions on ad dollars. One of those ad dollars is the purchasing of key words. Google has a program called AdWords. It is a bidding process that you do when you want a key word.

A good article explains this in more detail from MarketingProfs.com. They tell you that you need to be careful in selecting, or choosing a word to bid on. If it is too general, such as coffee (let’s say your company sells something like this), then you don’t want that keyword. Of course a lot of people will be typing that word into the search, but that means this word will be very expensive. You need to find a niche or specific coffee that cost of your competitors would not purchase.

After you do all this experimenting, and buying different keywords (hey, did you think you’re going to get a lot of business buying only one keywrod?), you need to track your results and compre it to the sales.

That’s just one thing to consider. Read the article to get the full scoop and then decide.

My reason for bringing this to your attention, is that keyword bidding can be good, but it can be costly. The return can also be good, but at what cost?

I suggest that if you really believe in this media, then be sure to follow it closely.

I also recommend that you have a strong media mix in your plan. Let’s day blogging! I like that suggestion, or other web marketing strategies.

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