Effectively Using PR Tactics: Seven Tips To Boost Brand Awareness

By Maggie Chamberlin Holben, APR

In my opinion, the greatest sin in the public relations realm is the sin of doing absolutely nothing and then wondering why the media aren’t paying attention to you (or, in the case of a crisis, are eating you alive). As a small business owner or manager, you can arm yourself with a copy of Full Frontal PR: Building Buzz About Your Business, Your Product, or You or Public Relations For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance)) and engage in “do it yourself” PR. Or, you can contract with a PR consulting firm to assist in the process.

Whatever the case, it’s up to you to make use of proven PR tactics to help build awareness and credibility of your brand. Here are seven tips to help jumpstart your PR efforts, or improve existing programs:

1) Focus On Your Newsworthy Attributes

The news hook is an important information trigger that actually interests news editors and reporters, not something contrived or self-serving that you think should interest the media. You’ll have far greater success garnering news coverage if your announcement is based on a proven news hook, rather than being full of puffery and information only of interest to you.

2) Keep Your PR Tools Up-To-Date

The basic tools for being reporter friendly are: well-written news releases, media/press kit (both online and hardcopy), fact sheets and Q&A documents, backgrounders and history documents, bios of key employees, milestone recap and related timeline, photography (high resolution required for print reproduction), and technical documents such as white papers and case studies. The more information you are able to provide an interested reporter, the more likely your encounter will result in thorough, accurate and engaging coverage.

3) Utilize Newswire Services

Newswires – effectively selected, written and timed – turn up the volume on your media announcement. Specialized dissemination services -- such as PR Newswire, Business Wire, PR Web, PR.com and PR Leap – can give your news release added exposure to both the media and potential customers searching the Internet for your products or services as the release remains posted online.

4) Become Skilled At E-mail Campaigns

E-mail is, on the whole, the most preferred form of communication for reaching the news media (versus unsolicited phone calls, text messages or podcasts to busy journalists). Where do you get the e-mail addresses? Check the contact section of the media outlet’s website or subscribe to a media contact data source such as Bacon's MediaSource, Burrelles Luce MediaContacts or Bulldog Reporter MediaBase.

5) Make Use Of Leads Services

The leads service is a special PR tool that allows reporters on deadline to reach out to companies and individuals for information and interviews. Examples of these services, available by subscription, are PR Newswire’s ProfNet and PRSourceCode. Here’s an example of a recent Profnet Query: “I am writing a story for a national business publication roughly titled 'Sales 2.0.' The article looks at how some of the new tools such as LinkedIn, Jigsaw, and other Web 2.0 tech stuff are changing the way companies prospect for sales, contact and woo sales, close sales, and then keep customers happy. I am only interested in talking to small and medium-sized businesses (with 1,000 employees or less).”

6) Share Your Expertise Via Articles

Bylined articles, like you’re reading now, are when you write articles for the print media (usually at the invitation of the editor) about your area of expertise. Opportunities can range from a 250-word squib to a 2,000-word feature. A short paragraph at the end of the article usually recaps the author’s credentials, explains his/her company or organization title and affiliation, and provides the reader with website contact information.

7) Win Awards To Attract Attention

Receipt of an industry or community award is a legitimate news hook that can help attract the attention of editors and reporters and ultimately gain valuable media exposure. The focus of the award gives the recipient a reason to expand on the particular topic by providing additional information and related photography. Quite frequently, the prestige of receiving one or several industry awards offers the “awareness lift” necessary to secure a profile or full feature about your company or organization.

A skilled practitioner can assist you with your PR initiative and help you understand the many tactics
available to you.

Happy awareness building of your brand!

About the Author:

Maggie Chamberlin Holben, founder of Denver-based Absolutely Public Relations www.absolutelypr.com, is accredited by the Public Relations Society of America and a member of its Counselors Academy. A Colorado native, Holben serves on the board of directors of the Colorado Bioscience Association, receiving the association’s 2006 Partner of the Year award. In 2005, she was certified as an industry analyst relations practitioner. Frequently interviewed as a PR expert by the media, Holben’s “expert profile” is available online at Expert411.com.

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Using a Newswire to Distribute Your Release

Find out which newswire service is ideal for your PR objectives

If you are looking to get your press release distributed to a large and/or targeted network of media outlets, than using a wire service makes good business sense. Many reporters subscribe to these services to get access to breaking news. Short of having your own media list (built from experience, personal relationships, or via reporters who have covered competitors in your market), a newswire is one of the best options for distribution.

There are many wires available on the world wide web. Certainly one of the most popular is PR Newswire which calls itself the largest news and information distribution network. However, other distribution services are available for free such as PR Web.

To deliver the most effective results, it is recommended that you use a combination of established sources as well as free distribution sites that may reach a different audience. Keep in mind that many of the "Free" distribution sites offer enhanced services for a fee. Sites like PR Web (one of the top 3 distribution sites on the Net) will only give you adequate distribution if you pay around $30. However, this is much less expensive than a formal service like PR Newswire with fees starting around $150.

PR Newswire Snapshot:

Effective
Sending your press release over the wire is the most effective way to get your news to the media. All press releases distributed by PR Newswire are delivered directly into the central editing computers at daily newspapers, newsweeklies, national news services (like the AP, Dow Jones, Reuters), trade publications and broadcast newsrooms. Additionally, all releases are archived in over 3,600 web sites, databases and online services (like Yahoo!, MSN.com, and AOL.com) where they are accessible by millions, including journalists, investors and general consumers. This is important to our members because their press releases are accessible in the locations where the media go to get raw material for their stories.

Credible
For 50 years, PR Newswire has been viewed by the media as a valuable source for legitimate and accurate news. Distributing your news over PR Newswire can help smaller companies gain credibility and visibility as their news is intermingled alongside releases from major corporations.

High Visibility
Each day savvy consumers and investors turn to the Internet to gather information. Search engines are becoming the most popular way to gather this information, in fact, everyday there are approximately 550 million searches worldwide using 50 million keywords. PR Newswire has the capability to optimize each release to make them most attractive to the leading seach engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Ask Jeeves, providing a completely new level of visibility for press releases.

Saves Time and Money
Sending your release over the wire is less than the cost of postage. The standard news release that runs about 400 words can be sent to all media in your state, plus trade publications, and also distributed to more than 3,800 websites, online services and databases for as little at $160. If targeting a national audience, you can send to more than 22,000 media points across the country for only $635. Additionally, as a member of PR Newswire you will receive these benefits and many more:

* Access to the world's largest news and information distribution network
* Extraordinary Internet and trade media reach with every press release
* Dedicated media relations staff that cultivates an audience for members' news
* Complimentary monitoring and feedback to gauge success of communications
* A 24/7 customer support network
* Valuable member-only webzines and industry newsletters
* Consultation and guidance to maximize targeting efforts
* One-on-one Feature News counseling
* Sophisticated interactive news release technologies
* Unique opportunities to interact with members of the media
* Secure upload site for releases, images and other files at www.prndirect.com
* PR Web Snapshot

PR Web™ is the only service on the Internet that provides free global news distribution services. There are other services that claim to provide free press release distribution. In reality these "distribution services" do little more than post your news release on their web site and in some cases spam your news to a handful of editors.

Successful global news distribution is a complex endeavor. Since 1997 we have invested thousands of man hours in developing a state of the art distribution system. Each day we email press releases to between 60,000 and 100,000 global contacts points including journalists, analysts, freelance writers, media outlets and newsrooms. In addition to email and FTP distributions PR Web™ operates a proprietary syndication network, XML feeds and a network of robust media Web sites.

PR Web™ came online as a press release distribution system and has quickly grown into one of the Internet's most popular press release Newswire services. Third party online metrics show that PR Web™ is the second or third most popular press release wire service.

PR Web™ is your wire service. We stand by our reputation as providing professional and valuable service to all of our users. To this end, we are continually enhancing our features and improving our tracking tools to meet your needs.

Here are a few reasons that you should consider using the services of PR Web™.

High Capacity
PR Web has unmatched network capacity. Our proprietary distribution servers are designed and tested to deliver over 14 Million emails a day. To ensure maximum deliverability and avoid spam filters we do not use multiple TO, CC or BCC addresses when sending your press release. This is where our high capacity servers step in. Each journalist receives a personalized email containing your press release based on their unique profile.

Our servers deliver over 15 million press release views each month. These monthly press release views are in addition to press releases which are distributed by email and third party syndication networks.

Quality Assured Deliverability
Our media database is opt-in. This means that the contacts in our database have asked for our press releases and provide valid and current email addresses. Even so, members of the media move around. Therefore, we have staff devoted solely to ensuring proper deliverability of your press release. Their job is to keep our undeliverable deliveries as close to zero as possible.

As more organizations, including media outlets, employ spam filters to sort through the mountains of email that arrives each day it is important to have experienced editors working with you to advise you when you release contains keywords, phrases or content that will trigger a filter and cause your release to be deleted before it reaches the media. Our editorial staff reviews your release to make sure that your news item does not contain keywords that will trigger spam filters.

Unmatched Search Engine Presence
We are heavily invested in search technologies. Search engine traffic plays a vital role in the success of your news release. Journalists increasingly rely on major search engines for their research. Consequently, every press release distributed through our network is optimized for maximum organic search engine inclusion. Search engines can then crawl naturally and efficiently to index your press release. Our exclusive technology and unmatched infrastructure provides the best available search traffic directed to your news items.

We are so confident of our service that PR Web™ is the only newswire service to guarantee the inclusion of your press release in major search engines.

Yahoo Press Releases
We are the only wire service that has three different methods for getting your press releases into the Yahoo News system. In addition to feeding press releases directly into the Yahoo News search through our network feed, we have special agreements in place that make it possible to inject your press release directly into the press releases section of the Yahoo News site. Additionally, through our special relationship with PR Newswire™, we have systems in place that can provide prominent placement for your release.

PR Web & PR Newswire Synergy
With the addition of PR Newswire to our distribution network you can now leverage the best of the top two press release newswires. Each release sent out through PR Web Newswire with the PR Newswire upgrade receives a free report showing exactly where releases have been used online.

• Blogs

Is your company blogged? Once thought of as a trend, participation in blogs is now essential to your media relations. We have been leading the industry with our blogging technology. The easiest way to make sure that your company is taking advantage of the online buzz associated with online blogs is to distribute your press release with PR Web™.

• Syndicated Network News Feeds

We manage our own syndicated network news feeds and employ third party syndicates to assist in distributing your news release.

Regardless of which service you use, be sure to research the newswire distribution options via the Internet. You need to make sure that you are using the option that meets your public relations objectives.

by marketingscoop.com

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Need Help Uncovering The PERFECT Business Idea?

Start With This Special Quiz...

What do planting roses, learning how to box, making balloon animals, and running a half-marathon all have in common?

Nope, they're not all "Amazing Race" challenges! ;-)

For starters, they're the topics of websites that a few of our clients started from scratch in just five days...

... but MORE importantly, they're websites that are all based on each owner's particular hobbies, interests, and experiences.

And that's the key to ANY successful Internet business: Build your website around a topic you LOVE, one you already know something about, and one you're eager to learn MORE about.

You'll have a FAR greater chance of success!

That's because, when you build an Internet business around something you already know a lot about, you can forget about wasting valuable weeks or months trying to get up to speed on your subject.

That leaves you with more free time to focus on creating your website, so you'll have it live, and earning serious profits, MUCH sooner. And if you decide to sell an info product, like an ebook, you'll be able to create that product -- and have it ready to sell -- almost right away!

If your website is a labor of love, you'll be MUCH more likely to stick with it, and give it your all. You'll want to write articles, blog posts, and so on, because you genuinely have a hunger to learn more about the topic yourself, and a strong desire to share that knowledge.

So instead of being "work," your website will feel more like your fun hobby (but one that you can make potentially a LOT of money with)!

Even better, the passion you have for your subject will show in your site's salescopy, and your unbridled enthusiasm will be bound to get your visitors excited about your subject, too, which will translate into healthy sales.

Finally, when your site is built around something you know a lot about, you'll be able to speak about it with authority, which is a surefire way to establish your online credibility... something that's critical when you do business on the Net.

So before you even think about what you're going to sell online, or who you're going to sell it to, take inventory of yourself:

* What are you interested in?

* What are you passionate about?

* What subject or topic do you have a lot of knowledge about?

* What are people always coming to you for advice about?

And don't go thinking that you interests or hobbies have to be "serious" or life-changing, either, like curing disease or ending climate change.

As we've just shown you, successful websites can be created around any interest imaginable... including balloon animals!

Now, if you happen to be one of those people we hear from all the time who claim they don't have any areas of interest or expertise, let us just say this: Hogwash!

EVERYONE has something they're passionate about, and everyone is knowledgeable about something...

... it may just take a bit of digging to uncover it.

To get you started, we've developed a 20-question quiz you can use to zero in on your passions and interests, guaranteeing that you start your lucrative website off on the right foot.

We recommend you spend some "quiet time" reading carefully through the questions, and then allow yourself time to answer them thoroughly and truthfully. If you have time, give it a few days. By the end, we're willing to bet you'll have uncovered at least a couple of ideas to get you started on the road to Internet success.

And remember: don't censor yourself! You're just brainstorming here, so there are no "dumb" answers... :-)

Here's the quiz:

1.Do you play any sports? Which ones?
2.If you had a million dollars and a week's worth of free time, what would you do? List the first activities that come to mind.
3.What websites do you visit when you're just "surfing around" online? What topics do these sites cover?
4.Have you ever won a trophy or award? What for?
5.Have you ever been recognized for a contribution of services? What did you do?
6.Do you have pets? What kinds? If yes, did you train them a certain way? Shows? Clothes? Hunting? Tricks?
7.Do you have kids? What do you like best about being a parent? What do you find most challenging?
8.Do you have any specialized education? Have you ever taken a class in a subject like pottery or sailing?
9.Have you ever volunteered anywhere? What did you learn through this experience?
10.What lifetime accomplishment are you most proud of? What did you learn from this experience?
11.Do you have firsthand knowledge of any medical illnesses or issues? If so, which ones?
12.Do you collect anything? If so, what?
13.What television shows do you enjoy? What kind of music do you listen to? Do you ever attend theater events or other events related to the arts?
14.Is there anything you've ever really wanted to do or learn about, but just haven't had the time for?
15.At a party, when you're talking to a stranger, what's your "fall back" topic of conversation?
16.At work or with friends, on what subject are you the "go-to" person?
17.What is you academic background? Any degrees or certificates?
18.What was your favorite job? What was your role?
19.What would your best friend say you're best at?
20.Have you done any renovations to your house yourself? Have you built or designed anything you're proud of?
And that's it! Simple, right?

After you go through the list, you'll likely find that your challenge will no longer be coming up with any interests, but rather to narrow your list of interests down to just a few!

Then, once you've got your list of interests and passions, we can show you how to turn them into a profitable website in just 5 days!

We can work with you to teach you exactly how to find a lucrative niche market based on these interests...

... and then help you build a professional website complete with compelling salescopy, even if you don't know a THING about HTML.

In fact, we'll walk you through every single step you need to take to start a profitable website from scratch, so you can repeat the process yourself for your other interests, and create MULTIPLE websites all directing money straight to your bank account.

We've helped hundreds of our customers already (including the ones we told you about at the beginning of this article), and we're happy to report that at the end of five days, every one of them was already getting eager shoppers visiting their brand-new sites!

Unfortunately, we can only help a few people at a time, so you do need to apply in order to be considered. It's free, and only takes a couple of minutes.

We'll look over your application, and if we think you have the necessary aptitude and motivation to succeed with our help, we'll be in touch!

Please note that whenever we announce we're taking new applicants, the available spots fill out really quickly, so we recommend you fill out the brief application right away.


To your success,

The Internet Marketing Center Team

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Improve Your Marketing With Social Bookmarks

Generate word of mouth with powerful social marketing tools

As an Internet marketing professional, I try to keep on top of new marketing avenues and opportunities for leveraging word-of-mouth. In recent years, the method by which individuals get their information has evolved and so have the tools for sharing information from one individual to another. Social bookmarking is now a popular method of communicating among younger audiences and is proving to be an effective marketing tool for increased exposure of products, services, and brands.

Imagine telling your friend about a recent story you just heard. That story could be newsworthy, provide information about a given topic of interest, or perhaps an online video you watched that had you rolling around in laughter. Once you communicated that to your friend, he went ahead and sent an email out to 4 of his friends who then forwarded that email to dozens more – and so the story goes.

Word of mouth is one of the most powerful forms of marketing. With the help of the Internet, this type of marketing has grown in importance and has been accelerated with the advent of social bookmarks.

Popular bookmarking sites allow users to identify, with just the click of a mouse, online content that they deem worthy of sharing. As more and more individuals identify the same content, it receives a higher priority on social bookmarking sites and continues to grow in importance. Social bookmarking sites are like a multi-level marketer’s dream!

The most popular social bookmarking site is Digg.com which has an Alexa ranking of 98 and boasts more than 8 million monthly visitors. Other popular sites like Technorati (1.4M monthly visitors), and Del.icio.us (1.3M montly visitors) illustrate just how big social bookmarking has become. Taken collectively, these sites are continuing to garner more supporters and changing the way consumers share information they deem valuable.

From a marketing perspective, this creates an opportunity for improving the effectiveness of our marketing practices. Word of mouth has always been an effective means of marketing but has been difficult to initiate and manage. Today, with the help of social bookmarks there is now an easier way to encourage and promote the sharing of your information.

Recently, I added a footer on my blog to encourage users to “share” information they deem valuable. This has created an opportunity for users to interact with content and start the viral marketing effect all online marketers seek. When considering the merits of social bookmarking, there are a few guidelines to consider.

1. Your content needs to provide value or be unique. Social bookmarking doesn’t happen on its own. You need to provide content that’s worth sharing. Whether that content is helpful to someone seeking guidance, unique, funny, or just plain novel, it needs to provide value in order to be shared.
2. Make bookmarking easy. Have you placed the appropriate social bookmark icons on your webpage in a place that’s closely aligned with the content you wish to share? Are the bookmarks easy to identify? Make sure your customers and prospects don’t need to work all that hard in order to share your information.
3. Encourage communication. Don’t just paste some social bookmarking icons on your website, ask for support. Common phrases like, “Share this” or “Bookmark us” are a great way to get the wheels of social media moving.

If you’re not leveraging social bookmarking tools then you’re word-of-mouth campaigns aren’t being optimized. Reach more people, more quickly, by leveraging your website’s visitors, prospect, and customers. Ask them to share your information and create valuable content that encourages viral marketing. Utilizing social bookmarking as a preferred marketing medium can help improve awareness of your products and develop a preference for your brand..

Michael Fleischner,

MarketingScoop.com

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7 Ways to Improve The Stickiness Of Your Website

Today more than ever, consumers are overwhelmed with choices, and distractions. The cost of attracting users to your website continues to increase and keeping them engaged is more important than ever.

Engagement doesn’t end with an individual browser reading content or clicking on an ad. Rather, engagement is an ongoing process that results in loyal customers who come back again and again, becoming more vested in your web site.

How can you make sure you’re engaging and keeping customers?

In order to create a loyal following, there are some basic principles you need to consider. From first impressions to life-long membership, put yourself in the shoes of your browsers and make their experience a valuable one.

1. Reduce Clutter. How many times have you visited a website only to be overwhelmed and confused? What is this site about you may have asked yourself. Or perhaps you found yourself asking, ‘Where is the information I’m looking for?’

Don’t ask your browsers or potential customers to figure this out. Make your site clutter free and create a visual priority that emphasizes the information, resources, or actions your browsers want. By reducing obstacles you build trust among new web site visitors and allow for simple decision making – which benefits everyone.

2. Make Navigation Intuitive. There are many ways to navigate a web page but intuition rules the day. Don’t try to get fancy with your navigation or overuse java script. Basic navigation that follows current convention is the best way to lead individuals through your web site to the information they’re looking for.

1. Make The Initial Site Interaction Relevant. When a browser reaches your web site, you have less than seven seconds to get them engaged. Making your initial site interaction relevant to what individuals are looking for is essential for keeping them interacting long term.

If you are promoting your web site with Google Adwords, or any pay per click advertising for that matter, be sure to create customer landing pages that are truly relevant to the individual who clicks-through your ad. Once you’ve established relevancy, you can move them deeper into your content, tools, and resources.

2. Ensure That Your Content Is Up-to-date. Web site content that isn’t up to date does not serve your audience and browsers are likely to move on. One way to ensure that information is timely is by providing a feed of relevant news or information. If including static text on your web pages, try not to include specific dates. However, if you must publish dates, be sure to update this information on a regular basis.

3. Start An Interaction With Your Users. Each time a browser views your web page, you have an opportunity to interact with them. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. One great way to interact is to offer something of value at no cost. This can be a white paper, access to an exclusive list, or simply a 30 day free trial. Be sure to capture an individual’s valid email address and include them on your mailing list. An auto-responder is best if you wish to engage these individuals on an ongoing basis.

4. Provide Plenty Of Support. Don’t hesitate to offer support right from your home page. Prominently display your 800 number, support email address, and additional information for your prospects and customers such as mailing address. This information is viewed favorably by search engines and also creates a sense of legitimacy. Contact information builds trust among prospects and elicits interest in your company.

5. Make Sharing Easy. Once you’ve made your web site easy to use, don’t hesitate to offer browsers the ability to share your web site with others. This can be in the form of a simple widget that allows users to bookmark your page, subscribe to an Rss feed, or submit your content to popular news sites like Digg.com.

Individuals are much more likely to visit a web site based on a friend’s recommendation versus some other type of marketing initiative. Leverage the power of viral marketing with easy sharing tools.

Your web site can be your greatest asset. Unfortunately, many marketers and website owners are so focused on increasing traffic that they lose site of the audience that’s already visiting their web pages but are simply not converting.

Don’t make the same mistake. Improve the quality of you site through relevant content that is up-to-date and easy to find. Once you’ve engaged users, encourage them to share. Doing so will make your site perform better, increase conversions, and deliver value for all involved.

Michael Fleischner,

MarketingScoop.com

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