pr briefs

5 reasons to try search engine marketing

In 2008, North American advertisers spent $13.5 billion dollars on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and the World Advertising Research Center estimates that SEM will increase by 30% by the end of this year. Why should your business invest in Search Engine Marketing (and what is it)?

SEM promotes your Web site through paid ads on search engine results pages like Google, Bing or Yahoo. The benefits of SEM are vast, but some of the most important are:

1. The ads are highly targeted and reach the right people—they will show up when someone searches for information about your service. In essence, you’re marketing directly to someone who’s looking for you, practically waving a flag in front of someone who needs you.
2. SEM is extremely cost-effective. You can drive traffic to your Web site and raise awareness of your business, products and services for as little as one dollar a day!
3. The results are measurable. Using campaign analytics provided, you can directly measure your advertising success in real time. You can track how many people responded by clicking to your site and even how many actually performed an action, like purchasing or signing up.
4. Changing direction is easy—if you want to respond to a trend or change your promotion, you can easily modify your SEM message on the fly, without paying to reprint a brochure or worse, waiting up to a year to change a phone directory ad.
5. SEM can by far outreach most other forms of marketing—millions of searches are conducted on the Internet each day, giving you the opportunity to capture any segment of a regional, national or worldwide audience that is looking for products, services or information. 

Every small business should include SEM in their ad budget. Most consumers actively use the Internet to guide them in their buying decisions, and for such a minimal cost, you can’t afford to miss out.

—Special thanks to Brittany M. Miller, guest blogger!

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5 point checklist for every email campaign

Emma Web-based email service put together an easy to use checklist to help you make the most of your email campaign (excerpted):

1. Does your subject line entice readers? They’re the most important 8-10 words in your campaign. Make sure yours is a clear, concise introduction that entices your readers to look inside.

2. Are you making the most of the preview pane? At first glance, many of your recipients will just see the first few inches of your campaign, so make your point—and your brand—stand out there.

3. Is your email easy on the eyes? With simple, intentional font and style choices, you’ll help grab and keep your readers’ attention.

4. Does the message come through even without the images? Since many email clients don’t automatically display images, balancing yours with text will help you make your point in any display possibility.

5. Does the email have a personal touch? Whether it’s with a personalized greeting, warm tone or specialized content, make sure your email feels like a conversation with people you know, not a “blast” to a list.

Our agency is a huge fan of Emma. The program is simple to use and takes care of ensuring our email marketing is compliant. The analytics enable us to measure the success of our campaigns and over the years we’ve been able to use this data to improve the open and click-through rates of our emails.

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A significant 64% of marketers are using social media for 5 hours or more each week and 39% for 10 or more hours weekly.

2pm

At the end of the interview, remember. . .

Getting an interview with a reporter is an opportunity to give your opinion, promote a cause, make an announcement or introduce an idea. When the interview is over, make your case and restate it. Reporters will often ask if there’s anything else you’d like to add. Use this opportunity to repeat your message—redundancy will help the reporter accurately get down your information and lead to more informed readers/viewers.

10am

News coverage: who has final say on what's printed?

Don’t expect the opportunity to approve the text of your interview with a reporter before it’s printed or broadcast. Journalists are not obligated to share their stories with you or even read back your quotes, although they may ask you to repeat specific points to ensure they have taken down the correct information.

What do you do if a mistake is made in a news story?

Don’t expect a retraction for a minor inaccuracy that doesn’t change the integrity of the overall story. But if there’s a serious mistake, immediately contact the reporter to report the error and discuss a retraction or correction.

If you feel you were discredited or seriously misquoted, you have the option of writing a letter to the editor. Send a concise correction, and include facts to back it up. Don’t attack the reporter or the newspaper in your letter; it’s not necessary and will distract readers from your information.

10am

When a reporter calls: 6 tips

Communicating information to the media requires a good strategy and an understanding of what the media expects from you. Here are six tips to help you be prepared when a reporter calls:

1. Call back promptly. Last week someone I know got a request from an editor and replied with an email that he would “send his response by the end of the week.” If there’s a reason for a delay, let the reporter know. Otherwise, prepare your response and get back to the reporter immediately.

2. Ask what information the reporter is seeking and what information he or she has already obtained. This will help you respond fully without sending more than what is needed.

3. Determine whether you’re the most knowledgeable/responsible person to speak on the subject. If you’re not, help the journalist get to the right person.

4. Clarify exactly how the info will be used if possible: does the reporter need a simple quote, or does he/she need background information for a large article?

5. If the reporter wants to conduct an interview with you, take the time to prepare yourself beforehand. Call the reporter back immediately and schedule a time for the interview that allows you some time to compose your thoughts.

6. Find out the reporter’s deadline and give them as much time as possible before the deadline to prepare their story.

2pm

Fineman PR releases 15th annual Top 10 PR Blunders

Love this list compiled by Fineman PR; it’s a great tutorial on how to (or not to) handle a crisis from a PR perspective.

9pm

3 things to remember when "pitching" a story

One of my favorite clients doesn’t have a large marketing budget, so we focus our efforts on generating editoral coverage by pitching his story to magazines. The results have been impressive: over the past year he’s been covered in a number of local, regional and national magazines—without having purchased a single ad.

Public relations can be extremely effective but there are some things to keep in mind if you want to get results.

1. Know the publications you pitch to. Understand who their readers are. Suggest how they can use your information for their readers. For example, point out a certain section or column in which your information would fit.

2. Be helpful to the editors. Send 2-3 supporting photos (high-res), a Web site link and other information that will help them quickly assess your product or company. Get back to them immediately if they request more information or send questions.

3. Don’t be a pest. I generally track down the contact information for the editor of a specific, relevant section of a publication. They are the most likely to be interested in my client. I send a quick, polite email with my suggestion for a story that I believe would interest their readers, and offer to be their contact for anything they need.

Keep in mind that the job of an editor is not to advertise your company—it’s to inform and entertain their readers. If you focus your information this way, your chances of getting covered will definitely increase.

10am

market unto others . . .

Amid the advertising, emails and calls I’ve received at the office lately, a recent, simple marketing gesture really stood out. It wasn’t an obvious marketing tactic, and it cost less than any traditional ad.

After our local newspaper ran an article about an award our agency had received, the owner of a local Chick-fil-A sent a kind, hand-signed letter and a card for a free sandwich combo. I’ve kept the card on my desk as a reminder that in today’s cluttered, fast-paced environment, small acts of kindness set companies apart from the competition.

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