Thank goodness for editors who take the time to listen to stories that we think will interest their readers. This amazing two-page article in the current issue of ForbesLife is the result of an email sent to a new publisher more than a year ago. It wasn’t a mass email sent out to a list of random editors. This publisher was singled out because my client had something that I knew would interest his readers, and I knew this because I read the magazine. Now, a small and unique company that builds hand-crafted sea skiffs and delivers them in person to each client is today the subject of a feature story in a world-class publication, all because of a personal pitch that started more than a year ago with an email.
How an editorial calendar can help your social media
So many businesses jumped on the social media bandwagon, thinking it was the greatest marketing tool ever invented. The trouble is, once many of them set up their Facebook and Twitter pages, they assumed that their fans and friends would keep a steady stream of conversation going.
A tip we learned early on was that, similar to magazine editors, social media managers can benefit from an “editorial calendar.” Planning saves a lot of time when you’re creating new content, and having a calendar of content on hand along with target dates will help keep your social media sites moving in the right direction with the least amount of delays.
Everything on your (Web) site needs to show that you can be trusted. Real contact information. Showing your photograph. Displaying seals for anti-hacker technology and the Better Business Bureau on your shopping cart. FAQs that actually answer questions. Clear, reassuring calls to action.
Facebookand Twitter have become essential components of many companies’ online marketing strategies, but there are a number of other sites on which customers comment about or rate their experiences, which may not always be positive. A question or complaint left unanswered on a site can easily tarnish your company’s brand and scare away potential customers. Find out what people are saying about your business by using free tools like Google Alerts, Twitterfall and Social Mention to monitor your online mentions. Then, make a conscious effort to respond to every question and every complaint. (By the way, research shows that consumers put more trust into sites that include negative posts.)
How to create a great About Us page on your Web site
“It’s one of the most important pages on a company’s Web site,” writes Chana Garcia for Inc.com, ”and also probably one of the most undervalued: the ubiquitous ‘About Us’ page—that section on your site that has been collecting virtual dust because you haven’t bothered to read it since, well, you first wrote it.”
You may not be paying it much attention, but visitors to your site are. And considering that your About Us page is where the world clicks to learn about your company and the services you offer, which can mean the potential loss or gain of a customer, it deserves a little more consideration and a lot more respect.
Its primary purpose is to provide information about your business, so include the basics, such as who you serve, how long you’ve been around, and your goals and mission. Don’t forget to include your address. And if your company has multiple locations or does business globally, this is the perfect place to mention that information, or at least link to a page on your site that does, such as your Contact Us page. But don’t stop there, which is a mistake a lot of businesses make. What results is a stale, unoriginal, and downright boring About page.
Garcia shares several tips for using your About page to promote your business; among them:
1. Reflect your company’s personality. Let your employees write their own bios and include links to their personal blogs and Web sites. Include their email addresses so clients or potential clients can reach them.
2. Incorporate social media. Use your About page to post videos of you and your company, link to your blog and place Share buttons to your Twitter and Facebook pages.
3. Brag a little. Consider posting testimonials or listing big-name clients you’ve partnered with. Include their logos. Mention awards and recognitions, community service work, green initiatives, and interesting facts. And timelines, company history, and major milestones are attention-grabbing
One easy way to increase the odds of getting a journalist’s attention
Personalization is a great way to grab attention, and if you’re not taking the time to personalize your media pitches you may be hurting your odds of getting noticed.
Sure, you can quickly distribute your news release to all of your media contacts at once using a mass email. But think about what message you’re sending to them: chances are they’ll feel the same way you do when you get an envelope via snail mail addressed to “Occupant.”
Instead, focus on the individual journalist or producer. Read their columns or listen to their broadcasts. Then determine if your information is really relevant to them. If it is, send a personal pitch to them and give them a reason to be interested in your news.
Public relations can build awareness of a new business, but it can also be used to change existing perceptions that may already be associated with your business. If your company has been around for a while, your important publics have likely already formed an opinion about it based on things they have read or heard in the media or through word of mouth.
Many times, that’s not a bad thing. But sometimes a well-established company may not realize that because it is well-established and hasn’t actively pushed out current information, it may be perceived as outdated, low-tech, even old-fashioned. Or that a past negative media mention may be the only thing sticking in the minds of the public, and that this may be keeping potential new customers from calling.
Over time, a consistent and strategic PR effort can help you change the public’s view. Being an established business is a positive factor, especially when you shift public perception to viewing you as a leading edge, world-class business. Make it happen by pitching relevant, current, newsworthy information consistently to the media that reflects the image you want to convey.
No SPAM please! And who originated using the word “SPAM” to refer to unwanted email messages anyway? Mashable reports in their “10 Fascinating Facts About Email” that the “term spam is widely thought to have come from the above Monty Python sketch, where its incessant chanting by Vikings (naturally!) drowns out all meaning.
“These days, while the term refers to nuisance e-mail, it seems the phrase pre-dates e-mail as we know it, and has been traced back to online role playing chat rooms from the ’80s called MUDs. Generally, the term refers to any type of abusive online behavior.”
This custom USB drive for a Gulf Coast yacht club automatically activates a dashboard that links to high-res photos, story ideas, news releases, fact sheet, bios and even a personal invitation to attend a special event and media tour.
PR Briefs is a blog of tips, resources and case studies for the public relations professional and the PR novice. Feel free to comment, re-post or ask questions—I hope you enjoy your experience here.
PR and marketing have been the focus of my career for the past 30 years. As an ad agency client during the early years, I got to experience a birds-eye view of agencies and the experience wasn't always a good one. When Ideaworks opened in 1995, we were determined to break the mold, and after 15 years, more than 300 awards and hundreds of client referrals, I think we're starting to get there.
—Caron Sjoberg, APR, CPRC
