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Archive for the ‘PR for Small Business’ Category
Thursday, April 4th, 2013
I’m a big believer in press releases. I think they can be very effective in getting a new business enough publicity to get off to a good start. Even for established businesses, they can give you a boost that revitalizes the business and create new enthusiasm among the staff.
However, I have seen many businesses use press releases as SEO tools rather than as publicity tools. This is a sure way to defeat yourself.
It’s not that a good press release can’t add a new link to your website and help you achieve better rankings, but if that’s the reason you want a press release, then I think you’ll be disappointed in the results.
Google Panda virtually killed article directories. Press release distribution sites are directories for press releases. As such, they suffer from some of the same weaknesses – weaknesses that killed the article directories after Google rolled out Panda. Some of those article directories bounced back, but not all of them.
I’m surprised we didn’t hear a big kerfuffle at the time about press release distribution sites. One reason could be that Panda affected them but not as badly as it did article directories.
Link building is good. So are press releases. I’d advise you to send out your press releases to a list of media professionals directly. Then, if you want to add a few press release distribution sites on top of that, go right ahead. Just make sure your press release is a good PR tool first.
Tags: link building, press releases, SEO, SEO tools
Posted in PR for Small Business | No Comments »
Monday, March 25th, 2013
Press releases are just as effective online as they are off line, but there is one major difference. Your online press release has to be well-optimized for search. Otherwise, it won’t be as effective for your online promotions. Otherwise, online press releases are just like traditional press releases.
Here are the 5 essential elements that every online press release should have to be effective in promoting your business:
- Optimized Headline - News stories have headlines. So do press releases. Make sure your press release is short and succinctly states what the release is about. Also, it needs to grab your reader’s attention, so make it interesting. Give it some impact. And use your primary keyword in the headline as well.
- Lead paragraph - In addition to being optimized for search, your lead paragraph needs to provide the essential information. It needs to provide the who, what, when, where, why, and how of your news story.
- Press release body content – The best press releases are structured like news stories. That means putting the most essential information at the top and the least important at the bottom. Journalists call this “the inverted pyramid” structure. It’s the structure of all news stories, and it should be the structure of all your press releases.
- Quotes – Quotes add flavor to press releases. Provide at least one quote, preferably two, from a credible source that backs up the information in your press release.
- Contact information – You need to provide your contact information so that journalists who want to run a story can reach you. Sometimes news sources just run your press release as is. More often than not, however, journalists will contact you for an interview. Make it easy for them. Provide your contact information and the contact information for your public relations firm.
If you ensure that all of your press releases contain this basic structure, then your online promotions will be a lot more successful.
Tags: online promotions, online publicity, press releases, search engine optimization, SEO
Posted in PR for Small Business | No Comments »
Monday, May 7th, 2012
You need killer content to survive! I bet you have read that a hundred times. What exactly is killer content? If you can create content that catches the attention of the masses to the point that it is shared, then you’ve produced killer content. That content could text based, videos, images, or the latest fad, an infographic. So why publish killer content? Here are five reasons to consider:
- Social - killer content will be shared and in so doing, will help to build the number of people following you.
- Branding – the more often your content is viewed, the more it exposes your brand.
- Sales – the more visitors you receive to your website, the greater the opportunity to build sales.
- SEO - killer content gets shared, and the more often it is shared, the more inbound links you are likely to receive.
- Trust – when your content is shared, it’s similar to a recommendation. This can help to build your reputation and that all important trust factor.
You don’t need to publish killer content everyday. Timing is important – as one piece of killer content starts to wane in popularity, that’s when you publish the next piece. This keeps your business and your brand in front of people’s eyes. It also has people talking about you for an extended period of time.
Creating killer content isn’t always easy and it should be created as part of your overall online marketing plan. If you have the marketing dollars, you can always outsource your contents creation. Most businesses outsource video productions, and it makes sense to do the same if you have an idea for an infographic. There’s no reason why you can’t have text based content outsourced as well if you don’t feel confident in your own writing skills. Produce that killer content and you business will reap huge rewards.
Tags: killer content, SEO
Posted in PR for Small Business | 7 Comments »
Thursday, March 29th, 2012
Customer reviews can be pure gold if they are left on third party websites. Their downfall is that they are only available to readers of that third party site. Unless that website is Twitter. Twitter has become a great source when it comes to reviews and recommendations, and they don’t have to be wasted, you can make use of them.
If you have a website or blog, then you can embed individual Tweets into your pages. The code itself is easy to find – just go to the Tweet in questions page, click on embed, then insert the code into your pages. If that review has become a conversation, you can embed the whole conversation in much the same way. If you need any icing on the cake, your readers can join in the conversation, right there on your page.
What makes these reviews important is the fact they are independent. Reviews that are left on site are often viewed with a little skepticism by readers – I have even seen comments that suggest a positive review was left by the business owner, not a customer. Tweets are independent. You can see who left the review, and even follow them back to their own pages to check their bona-fides. Because they are independent, they are trustworthy.
When placed on your own website, visitors can see at a glance what others are saying about your products or services. You can also grab comments that have been made into topics that are relevant to your site or business. Embedding Twitter Tweets is one of those easy tasks that could potentially add to your business’s reputation.
Tags: Social Media, Twitter
Posted in PR for Small Business | 6 Comments »
Friday, January 20th, 2012
Have you taken a moment to check out Google’s latest offering to the general public? Is has the simple but apt title of “Good to Know” and has been well packaged with both text and graphics on the opening screen. It is, to a certain extent, a repackaging of content that Google has published over the years. It’s generally related to Internet and data security for users, and the tips are well worth reading. The whole concept is an excellent piece of public relations bordering on a public service announcement. I won’t go into the actual information published by Google, I’m sure there are many others who will – what interests me more is the concept, and whether or not it could be replicated on other websites – and I think it can.
Most websites, whether it’s parenting, photography or pets, for example, publish advice. The ‘Good to Know’ concept is a great way to bring all of that information together, and you don’t need just one ‘Good to Know’ article or page. Most websites could break their content into sections; for example, we could have a ‘Good to Know’ series that covered SEO, social media marketing, branding – I could go on, however, I think you get the idea.
By publishing pages that link to this information, you are helping your readers find information quickly and helping to link related content for SEO purposes. This kind of content, especially if you can utilize graphics in a similar way to Google, is also easy to promote through social media. It’s certainly a novel way to present content to your visitors and certainly worth considering for your own websites – it could also be a great PR tool for your business.
Tags: SEO, social media marketing
Posted in PR for Small Business | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
Mikal Belicove makes a good point when he says that not all publicity is good publicity.
Are you still sending out press releases to every online source you find? You might want to rethink that strategy. Reputation matters and if you get associated with low quality spam sites, that will be a hard reputation to shake. It could stay with you for the rest of your online life.
Mr. Belicove mentions four specific ways that bad PR can hurt your business:
- Promoting to audiences not likely to become your customers.
- You could drive traffic away from your website with bad PR practices.
- Placing your news article or press release on bad sites with unfocused content, cheap PPC ads, or other issues.
- You could benefit the other site more than you benefit your own.
These are all valid concerns. You don’t want to take on the practice of just publishing anywhere you can get a byline. Rather, you want to examine and analyze every website you find to determine whether or not that website is a good place for you. Don’t publish content anywhere it could hurt your business.
In an age of online content marketing, public relations is not all good. Some can hurt you long term.
Tags: content marketing, online reputation, public relations
Posted in PR for Small Business | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, August 17th, 2011
Do you have an online media kit? Do you need one?
I think, if you are an expert in your niche and you have a website, then you should have a section of your website that is set aside just for the media. Call it a media kit, or call it what you want. But you should have it. I have one and I call it a media kit.
Your media kit can be as basic as providing a bio and publishing your press releases to something more dynamic that involves video and multimedia presentations. No matter how you do it, you should present information that media professionals, journalists and reporters, and potential publication editors would be interested in as background information on you.
Amy Lynn Andrews does a good job of telling you how to put together a media kit for your small business. And I agree with her that you should keep it simple.
I think another important aspect to a media kit is highlighting your successes. If you look at my media kit, you’ll see that I do quite a bit of that. It’s not bragging. OK, maybe it is, but it’s bragging with a purpose. Successful media campaigns tell the world that you are an expert in your niche more than any other tool. If other media professionals think you’re an expert, then shouldn’t the one that you are pitching to right now?
It takes a little time to put together a good media kit, but it’s well worth the effort.
Tags: media kit, public relations, small business, website design
Posted in PR for Small Business | 3 Comments »
Saturday, June 18th, 2011
2K Games hired a PR firm to seek out reviews of its new game Duke Nukem Forever. The reviews weren’t so good so the PR firm representative tweeted his frustration. He lost his job too.
James Redner isn’t the first person ever to be disappointed with a negative review. He won’t be the last. And he wasn’t the first to challenge reviewers publicly over them, nor will he be the last. But what he did was inappropriate for a PR firm.
That aside, however, are bad reviews good? Can they be? My contention is that, yes, bad reviews can often be good. Maybe even most of the time.
The purpose of seeking reviews is to get your product or service in front of consumers. It’s free publicity. That said, even if you get a bad review of your product or service, you’ve still achieved the goal. People know about your offering. And some people will buy your product or service just to see if they agree with the reviewer.
What Should You Do If You Get A Bad Review?
If you do get a bad review, try to learn from it. What didn’t the reviewer like, and why? When you make your next product, try to keep those things in mind and build off of your previous successes.
Of course, reviewers can be wrong. There have been plenty of successful products, movies, books, etc. that reviewers hated yet the consumer public really loved. So don’t just rely on professional reviewer opinions.
Bad reviews are going to happen. Don’t sweat them. If you feel you must challenge them publicly, be respectful and explain why you think the reviewer is wrong. Offer a public discussion and not an angry tirade. You may even get the reviewer to change his or her opinion.
Tags: bad reviews, good reviews, PR, reviews
Posted in PR for Small Business | 3 Comments »
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
I’m no Einstein. I know that. But according to one media website online – Social Media Today – I’m one of the Web’s best thinkers on social media. Yee-haw!
Remember the article I wrote on Quora, the one comparing it to Twitter? Yeah, that one. It’s been reprinted by Social Media Today. And it’s getting a lot of traction to boot.
Social Media Today is an independent online community for PR and marketing professionals. That’s why I’m honored to be featured on the website there. It means that I have been recognized by my peers within the profession as a person who is at the forefront in thought on the matters that are important to our profession. It’s truly a great honor.
So what’s it got to do with you? I hope you find it encouraging. After all, you could have similar accolades for your work within your industry.
It’s one thing to be regarded as smart about marketing and PR matters by my customers. It’s quite another to be thought so by peers within my profession, many of whom are also competitors. It takes a lot of hard work to get those achievements, but when it happens, then you know that all of your efforts have paid off. Here’s to hoping that you receive similar honors in your chosen profession.
Tags: marketing, PR, Quora, Social Media, Twitter
Posted in PR for Small Business | 6 Comments »
Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
One of the biggest mistakes online marketers make is the overuse of jargon, or phrases that don’t mean anything to journalists. This is actually more prevalent than you may think, and it is avoidable.
Jargon can be anything from industry speak to catch phrases like “touch base.” Do you include these types of phrases in your press releases and other public relations documents, either online or off line? If so, then I’d encourage you to rewrite those releases and documents.
Jargon has a tendency to put you on the inside while your audience is stuck on the outside. Why alienate the very people you are trying to reach?
And I’m not necessarily talking about journalists. Though, to be honest, journalists should be considered when crafting your public relations pieces. Any journalist that reads your press release full of jargon will have to decide whether or not to use it and foist it upon their audience. Chances are, if it is off-putting to the journalist, then the journalist isn’t going to use it, thinking it will be off-putting to his audience. So it’s important to cut out the jargon and make your public relations efforts appeal to as broad an audience as possible.
Tags: journalist, press release, public relations
Posted in PR for Small Business | 1 Comment »
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