I’m amazed by how many people don’t know what PR is. Sure, I do it for a living, but I’ve always just assumed that most have a general understanding of the concept – boy have I been wrong.
So let’s kick things off with a mini PR course that covers the basics. If you’re reading this post and wondering what exactly the P and the R stand for — then you’re in the right place.
What is PR?
PR is the acronym for public relations. Now I’m no Webster, but I define “public relations” as the combination of activities that go into getting information and/or news about a company and its products to the general public.
PR can include:
* Press Releases
* Product Reviews (on blogs, in magazines)
* Social Media
A lot of times PR overlaps with marketing and social media, so don’t be afraid to blur the lines. They can all work together quite happily.
What does PR try to accomplish?
The goal of public relations is to tap into a wider audience so that they can be introduced to your product. You accomplish this task through any number of media channels. From taking an interview with a reporter writing an article for an industry magazine, to addressing the questions of a blogger posting a product review on his site. Public relations even includes people on Twitter sharing a link to your website because they love it.
PR relies heavily on what some call brand evangelists. These are people who believe in your brand enough to tell others about it. We all have those brands we adore. That we use regularly and tell our friends to use. We’re brand evangelists for those products. You want to create those for your brand, and PR is a great way to kick start the evangelism.
Why you need it
PR is essentially free publicity. Consumers tend to listen more to newspaper articles, blogs, and reviews than banner ads, print ads or Yellow Page ads. They’re looking for more meat, more understanding of what your brand is all about, and PR can provide that (at little to no cost to you! We love inexpensive promotion tactics!)
You want to build relationships with journalists and bloggers and help them become brand evangelists, as well as let them help you spread the word. You can’t buy the value of a well-placed article!
What it can do for you
My clients who get placements in publications and/or blogs see an increase in web traffic almost immediately. They also see a rise in sales. More inquiries, more interview opportunities, you name it. That’s when you know PR has done its job.
The Caveat
All that being said, understand that it’s pretty hard to get into mainstream media. You, your sister, your neighbor and Paula Deen are trying to get on Oprah, so that might not be your best option in terms of effort spent. Go for the smaller publications, industry websites and blogs to get better bang for your buck.
My Promise to you
On this blog I’ll be discussing various aspects of public relations. I talk a lot about press releases, and will do my best to help you navigate doing them on your own should you choose to. I also will cover ways bloggers are emerging as PR’s best kept secret (but not for long), as well as social media’s role in PR and marketing.
Since public relations is changing nearly daily, I’ll cover what’s going on in the world, give you good and bad examples and give my commentary (always more than two cents!) on the PR world.
But the biggest part will be your active participation! I want to know what you want to hear about! What burning questions do you have about public relations? Are you stumped on what to do for your company? Throw them all my way! I’d love to use your questions as fodder for my next blog post. And if you’re on Twitter, you can always tweet me a good topic: @eggmarketing.
I hope you enjoy my posts!
It’s official, social networks are the new black and growing bigger and more valuable to marketers every day. With over 130 Million active users on Facebook alone, the possibility of reaching your target market (and even your future target market) through this one social network is basically a reality.
From fortune 100s to start-ups, companies are flocking to social networks in an effort to connect with their customers in ways that are meaningful and genuine. If you’re a marketer thinking about establishing a presence, you’re probably wondering where to begin.
Should you build your own company profile? Should you hire an agency to handle your strategy? Is Facebook even the right social network for you? If not, then which and how do you find out? And what do you do once you’re officially ON Facebook or MySpace or Bebo…
I mean, how do you build a vibrant community that empowers your biggest fans and generates sales?
Wait. What? Sales? Ummm… Oh yeah, sales – we are marketers, we worship the ROI Gods and stand accountable for the dollars and resources we consume. If an activity cannot be directly attributed to an uptick in sales, is it a worthy course of action or should you reallocate time and resources?
The answer is more simple than you might expect. Ready for it? Okay – the answer is… that depends. As a marketer, really as anyone in business, you’ve got to succumb to trade-offs. The time and energy you expend on executing, managing and measuring social media campaigns is time and energy no longer available for another activity. In the end, it’s about balancing short term goals with long term objectives.
In my opinion, investing time and resources in social media is ABSOLUTELY worth the effort. Social media exists because it is, by nature, social. It is propelled by REAL people engaging in REAL conversations about the things that matter to them. Sometimes, if you’re lucky enough, that conversation turns to your company, your products, your brand. Are you there to join in? If not, shouldn’t you be? Not because you want to control it, but because you don’t want to miss a golden opportunity to influence it.
Whether it’s re-affirming the good things chatted about your brand, or addressing the negative, the important thing is to be there when it matters to prospects and customers. In the end,’it’s less about establishing an online presence (After all, we’ve proven that you’re already there by way of conversations) and more about influencing the role you portray in the ongoing drama.
Brands that respect and empower existing communities are more likely to see their social media campaigns pay off in ways that amount to increased sales. Do you really need to BUILD a community? How about starting with JOINING the one that already exists? Now there’s a concept.
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I’ve written about this before, but it merits mentioning again. The marketplace is C-R-O-W-D-E-D. Your customers and prospects are being bombarded with a continuous stream of competing marketing messages. What is a marketer to do? How do you make sure your messages are heard?
Believe it or not, some companies are successfully penetrating the noise. Their messages are being heard and responded to. What you want to do during times like these is stake out a territory – a position – which your company alone is uniquely qualified to occupy.
The result is an effective positioning that sets your company and products apart from the competition. This competitive advantage gives rise to the clarity and focus necessary to outperform rivals.
Demand Metric is teaming up with MarketingExperiments to launch a new eWorkshop on May 19th about positioning. It aims to provide you with tools and practical guidance to discover and/or refine company and product positioning.
During the eWorkshop they’ll address:
1. What Positioning is and why it is important
2. The role Positioning plays in product launches
3. How to develop a Competitive Product Position Map
4. How to develop Product Positioning and a Product Positioning statement
5. How to leverage your positioning statement in all marketing communications to achieve greater message consistency and effectiveness
Plus, when you register you’ll receive instant access to the Premium Tool-Kit which includes:
· Competitive Analysis Tool
· Competitive Product Positioning Tool
· Market Research Report Template
· Product Positioning Tool
· Value Proposition Worksheet
· BONUS REPORT: Market Segmentation, Targeting, & Positioning
The tools and training you receive will help you understand the value of positioning your company and its products, and equip you to lead a positioning planning process for your organization. Find out More>>
If you decide to register, let us know what you thought of the training in the comments.
In Part 1 we introduced you to the Soup.io microblog and provided reasons why we think it’s a valuable resource for reaching new subsets of people on the web. A microblog is for sharing “bite-size” content, Soup.io is unique in that your reach isn’t limited to your own connections, or even your connection’s connections. Soup.io posts updates on the site’s homepage, for all to see, so you’re only limited by the # of people watching the homepage at the time your update goes up. And let’s be honest, that could mean a ton of exposure.
So how do you make the most of your presence on Soup.io? How can you leverage it for your company? Like all things, there are a few best practices to keep in mind in order to make the most of your effort:
1. Introduce Yourself: Be sure to fill out your bio and let folks know what you and your soup are all about. Nothing fancy, just keep it simple and genuine.
2. Always be linking: include links to all your favorite hang-outs on the web and make it easy for folks to connect with you (e.g. your blog, Twitter, Facebook page, favorite sites, etc.)
3. Become a resource: Text snippets are just the beginning — create a melting pot of links, notable quotes, images, video, product reviews and event information.
4. Go Viral: If you want your soup to get passed around, go heavy on the quotes, images, and videos — these types of content seem to get the most mileage. Also, don’t be surprised if your feeds from popular bookmarking sites (e.g. Digg) get dugg by fellow Diggers in the Soup.
5. Digg Your Soup – Make sure others can see and Digg, what you’re digging. If you’re digging your own blog or site content (which you should be) then you’re tapping in to the power of the masses on Digg and Soup.
6. Import your blog’s RSS feed – All it takes is the title and a link to get more folks reading your posts. Distribute your content to a greater audience and put your brand on the growth fast-track.
7. A picture says 1000 words – Eye-catching imagery will get folks to pause, funny images get passed around. Relate these in some way to your product and create ties where there were none before. The web is chock full of places for funny pictures, especially cartoons, in every industries.
8. Everybody loves a Good Video – First and foremost, make sure it’s interesting. If you can barely sit through it, NO ONE else will either. If you’re re-posting from YouTube, check out the video’s rating and the number of views to gauge it’s popularity.
9. Quote the experts – Offer your own insights in relation to these quotes and start a conversation. You’ll find that people in the same industry or who have an interest in the industry will likely re-post the quote. At the same time, you’ll establish your own expertise.
10. Help Others - Use the text tip feature to provide valuable information to others in your industry. It’s simple and speeds up the process when establishing yourself as an expert.
11. Sing like a Bird – Include all your thoughtful tweets in your soup. Cross-promote yourself and grow your user base on all fronts.
11. State Your Opinion – Product and Service reviews help people. Be honest and thorough in your assessment. People like honesty, it creates trust. Remember, people buy from people, not companies.
12. Promote your events – Use the event content type feature and get the word out about upcoming opportunities to connect online or in person.
13. Make New Friends – Watch the Soup.io front page for content that interests you and friend the user. If you’re so inclined, re-post the content into your own soup – the user will be notified and most likely visit your soup to get to know you better.
14. Get Involved – Take advantage of Soup’s groups feature to join groups related to your industry/product/service. You can also create a group of your own.
Soup.io is a relatively easy addition to your portfolio of brand sites. By importing content you’re already creating elsewhere on the web, you grow your exposure and strengthen your online presence.