Category Archives: PR Clients

How To Get High Ranking On Google

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It is no surprise that one of the most effective methods is to have a solid pr marketing strategy that consists of published press releases. I am not saying this because I am a publicity professional and use publicity to promote my pr clients web sites as well as their products and services. On the contrary. I feel that there is a wall that separates the people in the IT web department and those in the publicity department. This is true in advertising agencies, publicity agencies and at pr clients.web site ranking

For some reason the people in these departments do not like to share their information, nor help each other. That’s because each wants to show how great they are. Well, if they work together, they might be more productive and more successful for pr clients, or themselves.

Ok, time to get into the meat of high ranking on Google. To get your web site ranked high on Google, or any of the other major SEO’s such as Yahoo and MSN, you need some background on how this process works.

Ever wonder when you do a search and type a keyword or phrase into Google how all those results pop up? It starts with a massive “index“. That is where the Google crawlers begin their search. Google uses Googlebots that search updated pages on their index, as well as new site. There are billions of pages on the web and this process isn’t easy even for a Googlebot.

A query is found by Google by matching the results to your query that are the most relevant. There are over 200 factors that rate this, and PageRank is only one of them. This brings in publicity. Yeah, a long way around to get here, but it’s important to know in simple terms how the process works. Since you now know the basics of website page rankings, now you can use this to improve the publicity releases you write. Remember what I said several days ago, that a press release needs to be optimized as well in order to help your web site get higher ranking–listing. Knowing that relevancy is important, make sure you have good content in your press releases and they are submitted to all the proper online media outlets.

You should look into having a professional publicity person help with the distribution if you want to get noticed and ranked/listed higher on Google. Remember, I’m here if you need the help to get your company noticed in a positive way. Just contact George Carson at Carson Marketing, Inc.

Use Web Marketing as part of your Publicity Program for Clients

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I guess I’m on a web marketing kick. My last blog told you about web marketing and how to optimize a pr clients site for Google. Well, I want to now tell you how publicity can be part of your web marketing campaign.

First you need to realize that web marketing is not a once-in-a-while job. It requires an web marketing strategyon-going effort with savvy web people to make it all work properly. If you have a PR Client that is asking to get their web site ranked higher, such as on page one of Google, you better make sure you fully understand web marketing. Look at the definition of web marketing in wikipedia.

Web marketing has become a major career that an association, webmarketing association, was formed in 1997. Visit the site, it has some good information.

A Web Marketing campaign can consist of:  SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (Search Engine Marketing), banner ads, email marketing, among a lot of other elements. That brings me to publicity. Finally got there! Press Releases written properly can help a pr clients web site gain higher page ranking. But it is how the press release is written and optimized. Yes, even a press release needs to be optimized. Then the distribution channels you use are also critical. Just sending it to a free distribution service may not get you full exposure on Google Alert or Yahoo News. Even local pr clients who want local publicity, this can be an excellent marketing tool.

Another publicity effort should be social networks. Using sites like Facebook, or MySpace is good, but you need to make sure the podcast, or video has something solid to tell. It cannot just be an ad campaign. Places to test market would be on YouTube. Writing articles for Internet distribution is another great way to incorporate publicity into web marketing. There are many other ways to make a publicity campaign more effective when you use the power of web marketing. Need help? Call George Carson for a free one hour consultation. He can be reached at: 949-477-9400.

Carson PR gets Clients noticed

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Publicity clients rely on their pr agency to provide various services such as press releases, promotional events and articles. As these are necessary, it is the innovative pr marketing strategy that we use to get pr clients noticed. There are many other marketing strategies that can be developed in a campaign to be successful. That’s what makes Carson PR and Carson Marketing, Inc. unique.

It is the ability to be proactive. The foresight to see market conditions and respond accordingly. It is the knowledge of knowing how to reach an audience. That’s what makes us different.pr clients

Am I bragging? Maybe. Why am I telling you this? Because I am frustrated in having new pr clients come to us after being hammered or taken by traditional pr agencies for thousands of dollars, then we only have very limited budgets to make things happen. And we do! Our direct pr marketing approach isn’t unique, but it takes on-going efforts (rather than pumping out press releases, or articles and sitting back waiting for them to be published like traditional pr agencies) to get pr clients noticed.

It is the combination of web marketing, social networking, blogging, as well as online publicity programs that creates a successful campaign to get pr clients more than noticed, but gets results.

When a pr client really needs a successful campaign, that’s when we are called. Why are we the last resort? Because we don’t take clients for granted, but work harder than most of our competitors to “make things happen“. If you are ready for success, give George Carson a call at: 949-477-9400. It could be the best call you make before you spend your budget foolishly!

Is listening part of your PR Marketing Strategy?

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A few months ago I had the pleasure of presenting to the faculty and administrators of the California Community Colleges a lesson on “Power Listening“. It was geared to students to better understand pr marketing strategieshow to “listen”, not just hear, what is being said. This was a critical lesson when entering the business industry.

Today I saw a great article in Marketing Pros, that addressed this same issue about listening. It was from Todd Defren who has a blog called PR Squared. Todd puts the listening concept more in tune with the business world of marketing. Publicity professionals may hear, or listen to what is happening in a PR Clients market. But do they have the power, or knowledge to implement a program that responds to what they hear.

For example:

Defren says there are two ways you can “listen” to your customers:

  • Many savvy brands use active listening to monitor social media and respond when appropriate. Defren on active listening: “Quick! Somebody said something about us! Say something back!”
  • The next step is actionable listening. “The difference here,” he notes, “is that the folks doing the listening/responding are empowered to effect change within their organization, on customers’ behalf.

Much of what Todd is speaking about is social media. Knowing when and how to respond is critical. Having the power to do the response to what is said is necessary. By not acting quickly to social media comments about your pr clients product/service is a missed opportunity to gain a stronger brand and image. This is another example of showing a need to include social media and social networking in a pr marketing strategy for pr clients. If you are a PR Client, it is time to get your publicity campaign in gear with today’s pr marketing tools. Listen to what is being said about your industry, and products. Make sure you have a publicity professional or pr agency that can meet your needs.

Can corporate blogging increase your publicity awareness?

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If you need to ask this question, then your publicity campaign must need help. The answer is a simple, YES, corporate blogs can help improve and increase awareness.

I have mentioned how blogging is more than a place for people to vent, or comment about what they like, their lives and hobbies. It has become part of the mainstream businessbusiness blog site cycle, which should be included into your publicity plan, or marketing plan. All publicity professionals and most pr clients understand that awareness is what makes or breaks a company. So why not get in control? With a corporate blog site, you and your publicity professional, or in-house pr staff can now control what is said about the company. When a blog site is part of your PR Marketing Strategy, it will further create a solid branding for your company, or PR Client.

An article in the Washington Post by Sarah Halzack discusses the corporate world is getting into blogging. I have said this many times before, and again we are seeing more of the mainstream media addressing this topic.

So why should a company, or PR Client want a blog site?

There are many reasons, but before you make the plunge, see if a blog site is going to help or benefit your company. Not everyone needs it, but most pr clients will benefit.

• A blog will allow executives in a company become more visible and voice the concerns that customers are having

• By addressing customer issues you gain control on harmful rumors that could spread and cause a decline in business

• It is a smart marketing strategy and a vehicle to introduce customers to new products

• It can attract good employees by becoming more visible

These are just a few reasons to have a corporate business blog site. When designing a blog site it needs to be different from your company’s web site. In addition, you need to have someone dedicated to maintain the blogs on a daily or weekly basis at the least. Keeping the blog site active shows the company is interested in informing customers about them and adds credibility to their brand.

If your company needs a blog site, or writers to maintain your site, give George Carson at Carson Marketing, Inc a call: 949-477-9400. He can get you noticed quickly!

How to use publicity to increase sales

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The first thing you probably thought I was going to say was creating a series of articles, or press releases, right? Wrong.

The most profitable way to increase sales is to develop an in-house publicity programemail marketing designed for your current clients/customers. Most publicity professionals will have these in-house programs for their pr clients. Sounds simple, but this is one of the most overlooked areas of publicity. Think about it. Just because you have a customer base, or just sold that new account, doesn’t mean they will continue buying your service or products. Many other competitors are constantly after your customers. The best way to retain and grow your sales is with your existing customers. This should be part of your company’s pr marketing strategy. Whether you are a local orange county publicity company, or a national hardware store, this is something all companies should practice.

Here are a few tips:

• Develop a follow up program. When a customer purchases a service or product, be sure to contact them within a week after the purchase to see if everything is ok. You may find that this can be very rewarding. You might find that the delivery was delayed, or the product was not working properly or had some problems when arrived. When you follow up the customer feels that they are important and will be confident in purchasing more from your company.

• Thank you note. Again, this is not brain surgery, but how often do you receive any thank you notes from a company that you made a purchase? If you did, you probably would consider them more often than their competitor. Thank you notes, or thank you emails are very powerful publicity  gestures.

• Send a gift that relates to their industry. Depending on the purchases, one example would be a book. There are dozens of books on all business situations. Consider something that deals with communication, leadership or customer service. Or a bio on a leader in their industry. Make sure you include a short note with the gift telling them “thank you” for purchasing your product/service.

• eNewsletters. I have written about this several times on how a company newsletter is a sure way to keep your name in front of existing customers. It is good practice to mention these good customers in your newsletter, but make sure they are willing to be recognized as doing business with your company. Some customers prefer to not have others know whom they do business with.

If you company needs an in-house publicity program, call George Carson at Carson Marketing, 949-477-9400. He will show you how to retain and increase sales with a publicity program.

Publicity helps new search engine get noticed.

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If you haven’t already heard, there is another new search engine, called “Cuil“. It is an Irish word meaning, Knowledge. PR Clients, as well as all publicity professionals, public relations agencies, even local orange county publicity professionals should keep an eye on this new SEO. Why? Because this could be a publicity opportunity for pr clients to gain recognition as this new SEO gets more attention.

Ok, let’s look at this new search engine to get a better understanding. The company was started by former Google engineers. Top notch people, not the sub-level engineers. eWeek article tells more about this.search engine marketing

Cuil feels they have listened to the users of search and decided to provide a better indexing of pages. Here is the catch. There are over 120 billion web pages. That’s a lot of pages to try and create a better search platform. Anyway, these engineers have the support of investors who poured over $33 million into the development. Already, since launch day on July 28, the site has had unexpected traffic causing it to lock up for a time.

What makes this search engine different…Cuil provides tabs to better clarify subjects, they organize the features better so that images are identified by topics with a search refining suggestion area. Is this a better mouse trap? Possibly, but it takes some time learning how to get the most use of this new search. TechCrunch states it is an overrated site and may not live up to what the former Google staffers think it really is.

In any case, publicity professionals should include this search engine as part of their pr clients marketing and publicity program. If you are unable to keep up with all the new search engine changes and need to get noticed, or ranked in the top, then give George Carson a call at 949-477-9400. Carson Marketing, Inc is a solid web marketing company that knows how to get your company noticed. Call today for a free consultation, and just maybe you will learn the secrets to being a top ranked web site.

Is your social network campaign working for you?

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A good pr marketing strategy is to keep current and use new technology when it is hot. Just like online social networking. But are you using it? If so, are your pr marketing strategies in place? Do you use banner ads, or is it a place you visit once in a while?

If your pr marketing campaign consists of only placing banner ads on these social networks, then it’ssocial media networks time to re-think your pr marketing strategy. I have written several articles about using this hot media, to help pr clients. For example, banner ads on social networks only benefit the media, such asMySpace, or Linked-In, or even Facebook. Unless you have a very generic product or service, your wasting money. The first rule in marketing is to understand and know your audience.

A recent article in iMedia Connection by Michael Estrin speaks about this. I share a lot of his views about using social media web sites. This can be a productive media source when understood and planned correctly. One example in Mr. Estrin’s article is how Visa worked with Facebook, not using banners, but for downloading an application. The deal was worth $2 million to Facebook. This is one way to gain maximum exposure and get your customer to react to your product/service.

In last week’s newspaper, an article about Linked-In told how the company grew rapidly with advertisers (banners, etc). This is great for the company and it’s founder, Reid Hoffman, who is making money, but are the advertisers? Again, this is fine for the few major companies. It is best to target your audience, and get them involved. That’s the way to establish a strong branding image for pr clients. All professional publicity companies know the power of marketing and connecting to your audience. But are these professional publicity people really using the media or are the media buyers at the ad agencies just rushing in on this trend? I feel most ad agencies and many publicity professionals do not understand the social network market.

If you are a pr client or publicity professional, don’t just launch into this media, be sure that you, guide clients by learning how to utilize social network to the max.

Medical community recoginzes the power of the Internet

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Web sites are more than places to buy electronic products, or collect information about a company. All industries, including the medical field, understand how important it is to have a visible image on the Internet as part of their pr marketing strategies.

Recently our company, Carson Marketing, Inc., was contracted to design a web site for a boardInternet Marketing certified internist. The web site was created for Dr. Hedyeh Golshan. Unlike the typical site that is sometimes difficult to find what you are looking for, this site is geared to be extremely user friendly. The clean graphics, and bright, yet subtle colors, creates a strong image for the doctor. We used her photo on the main page so that patients can feel they have a personal relationship with the name. This was all part of the pr marketing strategy we used in developing the web site.

The site is simple, with few pages, but enough information to help those seeking a medical doctor, like Dr. Golshan, to feel comfortable enough to further contact the doctor to arrange for an appointment. When discussing the site development with our pr client, we made sure to communicate in the site what was necessary for potential patient’s to know. This included listing a chart that shows the provider ID# for the different insurance plans. As simple as this sounds, it has helped those seeking a doctor by eliminating unnecessary phone calls to Dr. Golshan’s office asking for the doctor’s ID#’s.

So how does this all fit into a publicity campaign? As I have been saying for years, “Publicity is Everywhere”. That includes a pr clients web site. The Internet may be your only visible contact with potential, and existing customers, clients, or in this case, a patient. Having a clean and uplifting web site can enhance a company’s image and establish a branding identity. If your company needs to freshen up an existing web site, or need a new web site, call George Carson at 949-477-9400. Our creative and web marketing programs are designed to get you noticed!

How to get more publicity from your web site

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PR Clients should use their web sites more often as a publicity tool. If you are a pr client and you have a publicity agency, then be sure to include web marketing into your pr marketing strategy campaign.

Why do publicity professionals choose to not use a pr clients web site in their publicity strategy just doesn’t make sense to me. Maybe publicity professionals are not secure withweb marketing cyber marketing. Or they feel more in control doing traditional publicity such as press releases, articles, press conferences, or other promotions. These are great, but if a pr client has a web site, why not include that as part of the pr marketing strategy? Yes, it does take a lot of work, planning and coordinating the web marketing of a web site. But then again, like I said, many pr companies, or publicity professionals rather not go into areas unfamiliar because it takes more work than they want to do.

I’m not saying that all publicity firms do this or ignore a pr clients web site. It just seems common business sense to me to include cyber marketing to drive traffic to a site. This in turn will build awareness, increase sales, and will build branding for any pr client.

Ok, let’s get to some things you can easily do to market your web site as part of your publicity campaign.

First, are you a local company, such as a local Orange County, or Chicago business? If so, you can target regional customers by using Google’s “geographic box”. The Google algorithm has the smarts to determine the query calls for results that are local. If you have several locations across the US, this works for each area you have a location. An example would be if you type the words “Orange County Publicity Agency“, or “Chicago gyms”, you will see at least 10 results with maps showing these businesses.

Second would be do a series of press releases to reach specific local areas. This sounds like more work to write a main release, then custom tailor it to fit different geographic regions, but it works.

These are just two ways to do web marketing. There are many others, including, business blogging, article submissions, offering webinars on your web site, and more. Try these, if your publicity professional just isn’t ready to make this work for you, call me, George Carson. I’ll make sure you get noticed! Carson Marketing, Inc, 949-477-9400.