Category Archives: Public Relations Service

Publicity as Inserts

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Publicity is everywhere

Time to get back to my theory that "publicity is everywhere’.

I read a good study that talks about the influence inserts have on the Internet Age. Come to find out, inserts seem to be a major marketing tool that gets higher results than many people previously thought.

The study by Vertis, states the following:

"Heavy Internet users are even more dependent on newspaper inserts than the average consumer. Also, women of all ages are an increasingly important demographic to target through inserts due to their purchasing power and retail decision making."

The study further tells us that consumers use advertising inserts to help make all types of buying decisions.

So why is this important, and how does it relate to publicity?

It’s a matter of knowing the power of all media. By realizing the importance and influence insert advertising has, we can direct a pr campaign to be tied into this type of promotion.

Remember, publicity is best when it works "with" your overall ad campaign. Making them be independent can be costly, and in some cases, be confusing if the messages are not clear that are being sent to the potential consumer.

Getting back to the study for a moment, it also provides a lot of good stats on the buying of various groups, women, grocery insert ads, home electronics, furniture and home improvement, among others.

Use these types of studies to better understand your market and the customer. Then incorporate this knowledge into your PR campaign, and you will have a winner.

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Publicity Isn’t Free

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Know your media

Clients always refer to publicity as FREE. How does it become free when you need to hire someone to either write the release, or article, or hire a publicity firm?

The definition of free means that you didn’t have to pay for the space you got in that particular publication, or mentioned in a news report.

You’re thinking, hey, that was already known, so what’s your point?

It is the knowing how to get that free publicity. Depending upon your industry, the limited space and airtime the reporters have means a lot of companies are fighting for it.

To get a successful pr campaign you need to know the media. Trade journals are in a narrower field and require the writers of your release to understand the mix of each publication. Some publishers in narrow niches like case studies with the releases, or articles. Others prefer bylined articles, also known as white papers (in the tech industry).

The more general the media, the less likely they are in using your bylined or case study, without them re-writing it from their perspective.

To get favorable publicity, you need to stay in touch with the media, reporters, and publishers. This close relationship will pay off in the long haul of a campaign.

Most companies are not staffed to handle a full time pr person. For this reason, you would be best in hiring a pr agency, or a freelancer. The disadvantage to a freelancer, is they may not always be available when you need them

Now you can see that publicity isn’t free. Eventually you need to pay someone (an in-house person, a pr firm, a freelance pr writer) and then when you see in print or hear on the radio about your company or product, it becomes that free publicity you always hear about.

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Publicity Can Be Good or Bad

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Make the right decisions

People tend to think that all publicity is great. Well, let’s think this through.

If you align yourself with as controversial subject, or company, or person, then you too will inherit that image.

Here’s a good example. In today’s paper, Cindy Sheehan was posing with Venezuela’s president while she continued to show her protest against president Bush’s war program.

I’m not here to judge her, only pointing out, like Dan Janal did in his blog this morning, that this association puts a major risk on her being compared to Jane Fonda during the Viet Nam war. Is this the type of pr you want for your company? If not, then re-think who you team up with and who your company associates with.

Let me go another step further.

Building a positive brand takes positive association. Begin to build a branding program with "co-op". This term means to align your company with a tie in that will garner you good pr and with a positive brand recognition.

Examples are when United Airlines decided to serve Starbucks coffee in-flight, it gained a lot of good pr and approval by the passengers. You also see this in automobiles that use branded names for their stereo systems to let consumers know they are a quality auto manufacturer. It’s the co-op and association that elevates your brand, or in Cindy’s case, lowers her position.

Build branding faster and in a positive pace by aligning yourself with companies that already have customer acceptance. Have a plan that includes co-op, but don’t just do this as a one shot deal. Have a plan that might include other co-ops throughout the year. Then one day someone will knock on your company door asking to co-op with you. It’s good PR.

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Publicity Sells Things Too

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Blogging is publicity

Ever wonder how people find out about web sites or stores that specialize in unique items, or sell unusual things?

I’m sure you already know the answer. It’s word-of-mouth that is now called blogging.

Blogging is another form of telling people about things they might not have heard about. It is PUBLICITY at another level.

To prove my point, I read a blog from Dan Janal that talked about a site that competes with eBay but not head-on. Unlike other companies that didn’t succeed, as Dan mentioned, this unique site specializes in technology stuff. Mostly electronics. They prefer to call themselves the Scientific Marketplace. The site is called LabX.

Not the easiest name, but short enough to remember for the most part.

I checked it out, and yes, a lot of things are listed, as well as you can post your own items to sell.

This bit of information is again to remind us all that publicity comes in all forms and is everywhere. You just need to identify how you want to get the message out. And blogging has definitely helped this site as it has for many others.

Blogging is definitely getting into the main stream of business. It has become a business tool. Look into the benefits of a good business blog site to see how it can help your company grow.

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Publicity Numbers Lessons

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Publicity errors

Ever wonder if the numbers that reporters publish about a sports figure, or political issue are accurate? Probably not. That’s because we pay money for magazines, newspapers so we can get information that answers our questions.

Well, it’s not always that simple. It seems that reporters, publishers are jut not as accurate as we would like to think.

I came across an article that talks about this issue. It seems a person named Richard Holden, who was a longtime editor at the Wall Street Journal, started collecting poorly presented numbers that showed the figures did not clearly represent the facts.

For example, in Carl Bialik’s article that I read, mentioned an article of a baseball manager was seeking his 1,000th career victory. Mr. Bialik went on saying that the reporter didn’t specify how many he’d amassed so far.

If you get a chance read the entire article by Mr. Bialik. He provides several examples that you can "play along" to see if you spot the errors.

What does this have to do with PR? Good question.

It means we tend to sometimes act too quickly to get that important message out to the media that we don’t stop and make sure our "information" is accurate.

Poor or weak information won’t get a reporters attention. And making numbers sound better than they are could get your publicity campaign the type of recognition than you do not want.

II strongly recommend you hire a professional PR firm. It doesn’t mean they are all mighty and cannot make mistakes, but it means another set of eyes and ears outside of your company might challenge your information for accuracy. And that can be the value when paying for outside talent.

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Publicity in all places

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Your Mission Message

I was wondering this afternoon if any companies have taken publicity to another level.

Well I think I found one.

I saw Dan Janals‘ blog that spoke about the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas using publicity at, and what I call, the next level pr.

He mentioned that when he purchased water from the hotel (Wynn’s own brand) it tasted so good that he complimented the worker on its fresh smooth taste. The worker’s reply was "does it make you want to gamble?’

According to Dan, he thought "now that’s a mission statement!" He also realized all of the workers and the different sections of the hotel (registration, restaurant) all gave you the feeling of wanting to be there. That in turn will get people who enjoy the gaming part want to stay longer.

Then as he entered the elevator, he noticed all the buttons had names of the floors, like spa, casino, rather than First Floor, etc. This is another way of re-enforcing their mission statement…which is all connected to their BRANDING.

You will notice more and more that building a brand has become essential in building a successful business.

Make sure you include with your publicity a branding program. It’s the smart way to do business.
 

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You Need A Blog Site

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Blogging is the new business model

It’s the fastest growing medium in the tech industry–BLOGGING.

Why? A lot of reasons. Most important is the fact that you can tell you’re story instantly, and target it to the audience you want to reach.

Too many PR firms are still not getting the concept. They think this is too much work for nothing. They’re dead wrong!

Ok, it is a lot of work to maintain a weblog…blogsite. But the rewards are overwhelming. Most publicity firms prefer to do the traditional "calls and letters/emails" to reporters, editors, publishers than seek new methods of telling their clients stories.

Those firms will soon fade away or will need to work extra hard to just compete in the near future…actually that future is already here!

So what do others think in our business.
I saw a great article by Lloyd Trufelman and Laura Goldberg on "Pitching Blogs". They already realize this technology is not going away and have outlined a few tips on how to pitch your blogs to the media.

Another blog called the PRMachine takes a humorous look in comparing "Squeeze the Charmin" to today’s search engine. Basically, we are "squeezing the (information) Charmin (toilet paper) by relying much more on search engines as customers did when comparing a hands-on test in stores. He also explains that blogs are helping to let customers know about products, the good and the bad. Although you need to make your own judgment, people are reading blogs to get an idea if a product is worth checking out.

If you are reading this and have a business, then you need a blog site. I’ll show you how to make it work and how to get "noticed". It isn’t all smoke and mirrors anymore, it’s blogging!

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Each Word Counts in PR

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Be proefficient when speaking

Publicity is more than a form of media. It is an art.

Knowing your target media and the industry is essential in developing a good and successful publicity program. Just as important is knowing how to speak to reporters, journalists and editors.

Choosing the right words when talking to these people can help you gain favorable publicity. But before you can speak to these media reporters, you need to send pr releases, articles or stories to them to get their attention.

That means the written word is powerful. It can make a reporter  contact you to further learn about your product or service, or it can be tossed out like most releases.

Learn what to say by choosing the right words is something that everyone needs to know. One person in particular, Ann Wylie has several tips on how to prepare and write a release. Some of the issues she explains are: Write a Feature lead; Lead with Benefits; Try a Tipsheet; Give a Bio and use Human Interest to name a few of her suggestions. I tend to agree with much of that information.

Another great source in learning better public speaking is Arie Galper. Although he teaches you how to "Unlock The game" for sales calls, he has a vast of experience in teaching people how to present themselves, which can easily be applied when meeting with the media.

After learing these powerful lessons, you need to make sure that you have a PR Plan in place. I strongly believe a solid publicity program coupled with your on-going marketing program will create a successful image. And that’s what you should be developing. The results of a positive image will then build the business.

To implement a PR program, seek the help of a professional company. There are a lot of good pr firms who can help you achieve your goals. If you need help in finding one, contact us. We will direct you in the right direction, whether we can do it for you or find a company that best meets your requirements.

 

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Become an Expert

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It builds your brand

Our clients have enjoyed the position they hold in their respective markets. That’s due in large part from the branding and marketing we created to establish their position.

I’m not bragging, just want to make a few good points about what you can do to help re-position your company in a specific market.

First, as always, you need a plan. Don’t just be a bull and charge ahead without knowing the path you want to take, and what you hope to accomplish.

Ok, now that we mentioned a plan, this is something to consider.

One of the publicity programs that you have in your plan, should include a series of articles on topics that you are an expert in. These should be sent to reporters, publishers and other important media (trade journals, newsletters in your industry, etc).

Become more visible in the community, and in your industry. Contact the different associations in your industry and become a speaker, or ask if you could conduct a workshop at one of the meetings.

You could write a book on a subject that you are very knowledgeable in. Then self publish the book, or submit it to publishers.

I noticed the other day when surfing different blog sites that Dan Janal’s blog, he mentioned that he encourages clients to do teleseminars. That’s a great marketing and pr tool. Teleseminars are easy to do, no major costs involved such as renting rooms, providing drinks, or traveling.

Dan also says he sells transcripts, CD’s and it makes the program profitable.

I am a true believer to use technology when it can benefit a company. Just like your web site, which should work for you, let a teleseminar do the same.

That’s the tip for the day, become an expert. Need to know more, or how to do this, give me a call. We’ll get you going in the right direction!

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Reporters and Emails

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Get your email releases read

One of my previous blogs discussed the issues of email and reporters on how it is difficult to get their attention unless you have photo or quote from a celeb attached.

It seems that a publicity pro named Paul Krupin disagreed with my comments.

He states that in his 20+ years of creating and sending releases taught him the secrets to getting your newsworthy emails noticed. Paul sent me an email listing 23 errors, or mistakes that pr people do when writing a release. Although I agree with many of them, he basically repated a few of the problems by offering a different example.

It is true that many writers use a lot of fluff and don’t offer the reporter enough reason to feel the article or release has any newsworthy information. One of the points he identifies is that companies tend to focus on themselves and not let the readers know how the information in the release benefits them (the readers).

That’s basically what Paul says will make a release noticed. Yes, it must be well written, and that should be common knowledge. Having a publicity plan, as I keep telling you, is important. It becomes your road to a successful pr program.

I have always said that you need to understand your audience, the media to whom you are sending the release or article, and be as factual as possible with a call to action. Paul feels that releases need to reach a broader base of readers, I disagree. If you are in a specialized industry or market, then you need to speak in that language, not for the masses.

So go back to the drawing board and review what your objectives and goals. Then make sure you have all good facts that will get a reporter to contact you for further information.
That’s the secret.

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