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Archive for the ‘PR for Small Business’ Category
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 »
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 »
Saturday, January 29th, 2011
Public relations is an area that most small businesses don’t address nearly enough. When it comes to an online presence, the emphasis in recent years has been on reputation management and social media marketing. Yet little things like your About Page and Your Contact Page can mean the difference between developing trust, and having visitors depart for other websites.
In most cases, About pages seem to be non-existent. Yet they provide a perfect opportunity for business owners to tell the world about their business. You can talk about your businesses history, what your vision is for the future, why you promote a certain brand of products, and who you are. In any language, that’s PR.
Chris Brogan wrote an interesting post on his site that addresses this very subject. While tongue in cheek, he made one important observation – his About Page was the most trafficked page on his web site. It didn’t matter which page they landed on when they arrived on his site, a lot of visitors clicked through to his About page.
Make your about page interesting and informative, and give it a bit of your personality – don’t make it dry and formal. Visitors want to know about your business, but they also want to know about the people behind it. If you have several staff members, write a bio on separate pages that are linked from your About Page, you’ll be surprised how often they are clicked on as well. About pages can work well to link to more important internal pages so put any relevant anchor text to good use.
Contact pages are another area that is often underused. If you sell products, set up a range of email addresses, three or four at most, that are labeled to address various areas of your business. Sales@, CustomerService@, Returns@, Inquiries@ – are just examples, but they can help your website look professional. They can also act as a filing system when it comes to receiving emails from customers or potential customers. A snail mail address, fax number, and telephone may also be appropriate for some businesses.
Optimize these sub-pages for your users’ benefit and your website looks more professional, and helps to attract more customers. PR doesn’t have to be off-site. It all starts on your own website.
Tags: about page, contact page, landing page, social media marketing
Posted in PR for Small Business | 4 Comments »
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
When it comes to public relations, do you have a plan beyond writing a press release and sending it to the local newspapers? If not, you should.
Social media is fast becoming a useful PR tool. When you consider that most journalists these days are using social media websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter then it seems to reason that these can be used for public relations. But how?
Keep in mind that blogs are also considered a part of social media. So how do you use these tools for public relations? Here’s one way:
- Find the most prominent bloggers in your industry and read their blog daily. Make comments when appropriate.
- After establishing a relationship with important bloggers by being a frequent commenter, send them an e-mail – a brief e-mail – that explains what you do and ask if they’d be interested in a story about it. NOTE: Make it something that is newsworthy just as you would when writing a press release.
- If the blogger says send more information then send a more detailed e-mail. Don’t send a press release. It’s too formal. Offer the blogger an opportunity to interview you and offer to write a guest blog post. Many bloggers do allow guest bloggers and you never know which way they will go. You might get an interview or a guest blog appearance – or both.
- Once you’ve been published on a blog, help promote the blog post through social media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and social bookmarking.
- If there are social media personalities who don’t blog then follow them on the social media sites they post to. Similar to the way you did the blogger and follow up the same way as well.
Social media is the new PR tool. Don’t overlook it.
What ways do you use social media as a PR, or public relations, tool?
Tags: public relations, Social Media
Posted in PR for Small Business | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 4th, 2010
Businesses that have operated in the traditional brick and mortar world are used to doing certain things like sending out press releases. But are press releases effective as online marketing tools? You bet they are.
In fact, press releases can even be more effective online. Here are some reasons why.
- Any links you gain from the press release to your website can serve to improve your website’s search engine rankings.
- Press releases may be picked up by online news sources and reprinted just as you wrote them and those links will help improve your website’s search engine rankings, not to mention drive new traffic to your website.
- A press release can capture the attention of sources you never would have thought about on your own, which can gain you new notoriety that you had not planned for.
- An online press release can incorporate moving images and other multimedia and graphical attention getters that traditional press releases cannot incorporate. These may include videos, podcasts and infographics.
- By submitting your press release online to several press release directories, you’ll increase your chances of getting the attention that you seek and deserve.
Online press releases can be very effective PR and marketing tools. I highly recommend that you use them and incorporate them into your online marketing plans.
Tags: online publicity, press relases
Posted in PR for Small Business | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
In my business I’ve spoken to hundreds if not thousands of small business owners who have switched from spending loads of money on public relations strategies off line to online PR instead. In just about every case the result has been less money spent on the efforts and a greater return on investment. There are several reasons for this.
If you haven’t heard, there’s a revolution going on. People are ditching the Yellow Page for the Internet and their mobile phones. If they use the Yellow Pages at all, it’s for a booster seat at the table for their toddler, or a stepping stool.
Yellow Pages ads cost money. In some cases, a lot of money. And I talk to small business owners every day who say they haven’t got any calls from their Yellow Pages ad in (1, 2, 3, 5, or fill in the blank) years. So why spend the money?
If you’re spending $500 a year on your Yellow Pages ad and you’re not getting any return on that money, why not take it and put it toward an online PR campaign instead? A couple of online press releases generally generate enough buzz to put that Yellow Pages ad to shame. I’ve seen it too many times.
In the future, every business will spend money online. The only question is how much.
Tags: online PR, small business, yellow pages
Posted in PR for Small Business | No Comments »
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