So you’ve written a compelling press release about something happening at your company.  Awesome!  Now what?  Since it does you no good if your news doesn’t actually get read by the folks you’re targeting, It’s useful to understand the options for press release distribution available to you.

You have your news, but without getting it into the appropriate media channels, it’s not worth much.  You need to get it to journalists, editors, bloggers and websites to make a splash:

Traditional Media. Newspapers, magazines and journals are always in need of fodder to publish.  Sending a release to an editor or journalist is easy, but getting results can be difficult, especially the more popular the publication.  Editors at Fortune Magazine, for example, are inundated by press releases every day, so chances are slim they’ll actually be interested in yours.  If, however, you send it to the Dog Walker Association Journal (completely fictitious as far as I know), they probably don’t get nearly the number of releases, so your chance of getting coverage in your niche is much better.

Blogs. Bloggers are as much journalists as the folks working at a “real” publication these days.   You stand a good chance of a blogger being interested in your release than a busy magazine editor, if you do it right (see tips at the end).

For both traditional media and blogs, you need to research the appropriate contact (the editor or blogger who covers your industry) and reach out to them personally (email usually works nicely).  Be polite, introduce yourself and your product and explain how readers will benefit by using it.  Make this first contact (and every contact for that matter) about them, not you.

Websites. Press release distribution services like that of PRWeb.com are able to reach a network of websites within a niche to automatically publish your release to the industries you designate and news sites like Google and Yahoo! in an automated fashion.  The service can be costly with prices starting at $80 per press release.

Check out this video by PRWeb.com illustrating how their press release distribution works:

Which do I recommend?

All of the above. Work on developing a network of contacts both within traditional media channels (to benefit from their reach) and popular blogs in your category (to benefit from their influence).

A pleasant side effect of your PR efforts is the boost in search traffic.  Creating relevant backlinks to your website increases page rank and gets you on Google’s good side.  Track your website referrals through your analytics program to figure out what’s working.

Tips:

• Make sure you contact the editor or journalist that covers your topic – don’t bother with the general inbox.
• Please check your spelling – especially of their name!
• Make the introduction personable – No “Dear Sir”
• Read the publication (blog, magazine, or newspaper) you’re pitching to – make sure it’s a good fit.
• Proofread.  Proofread.  Proofread your press release.
• Include contact information including web address, phone and email.

Forrester’s 2009 report about sponsored conversations defended pay-per-posts as a valid approach to drive buzz for companies.  The analysts define  sponsored conversations as:

A marketing technique in which marketers provide financial or material compensation to bloggers in exchange for their posting blog content about a brand.

Each blogger has an audience, the members of which implicitly trust the opinions of said blogger.  Put simply, if the blogger endorses a product or company, their audience will be more inclined to buy it.

Sponsored conversations accomplish a couple of things for your company:

1. They get to show the hands-on experience of using your product, which can’t be otherwise seen through advertising or in-store sales.
2. They widen your exposure for a relatively low investment.

The key to making the arrangement work for all parties is disclosure and authenticity on the part of the blogger and sponsoring company.  Bloggers should be allowed express their honest opinion, so there are some obvious risks.  For one, your whole plan could backfire if you get a negative review.  To be honest though, bloggers, by nature, tend to be genuine types of people, so they probably wouldn’t accept the assignment if they didn’t already have at least a neutral opinion about your brand or product.  The risk is there and it’s real so it’s good to plan ahead in the event such a scenario actually plays out.

I personally have reviewed everything from my delectable (no, really) Epson Workforce 600 to books. I find it’s a great way to engage with a brand and understand how it can help my audience.

So what do you think? Is your company embracing this new form of promotion? Will you start?  Let me know in the comments.

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A few years ago, it was sufficient to put out a press release or hold a news conference in light of a company crisis or bad PR.  Not so in today’s connected world – news spreads fast via Twitter, Facebook, blogs and online social networks in general – especially the scandalous type.  Remember the Domino’s Pizza fiasco?

To summarize, Domino’s employees did what underpaid, bored restaurant employees do… they played with the food. And recorded it. And put it on YouTube. Their negligence cost Domino’s quite a bit in revenue and brand appeal. Unfortunately Domino’s underestimated the viral community we live in and their attempts to quell the hype didn’t even come close to getting the job done.

Domino’s should have reacted the minute they found out about the employee videos. To avoid making the same mistake of being unprepared, take these 5 steps and be ready to deal with negative publicity if and when it comes knocking:

1. Have a plan. Get your strategy together before bad things happen so you don’t have to scramble when the moment arrives. Assign roles and responsibilities to key staff and make decisions about which media platforms you will leverage.

1. Monitor conversations. This can be as simple as creating a fewGoogle Alerts profiles for your company, brand, products and key company employees.

1. Set up a Twitter profile. You’ll be that much quicker on the draw if you’re tapped into a conversation agent where you can communicate in realtime. You’ll be glad you took the time to cultivate a group of followers that are readily available to listen to your message. Domino’s scrambled to get enough followers to make a splash a little too late.

1. Establish media contacts now. Build relationships with folks who can help you spread the word you want spread. If you want to give an exclusive interview to tell your side of the story, you’ll know just who to call.

1. Get closer to your employees. Don’t allow there to be a disconnect between corporate and staff in the field. These employees are the face of your company, you should work hard to make them feel like a part of the whole – like they belong to something bigger.

Create clear guidelines, workflows and processes with the help of any employees who have specific responsibilities to carry out. Make sure everybody is clear on exactly what their job is and how it fits into the overarching strategy.

Your best chance of minimizing the damage is to plan ahead. Get started today.

I’ve heard more excuses than I care to list about why folks aren’t using social media to grow their business.  One of my favorites is the one that goes something like My kid’s on Facebook (or MySpace or Twitter – insert favorite social network here)… Why in the world would I want to be?

This excuse, in particular, gives me the chance to educate the person about the power and reach of social networks.  Let’s face it, the “change” is here to stay.  Here’s the skinny according to Quantcast:

About 23 million people in the USA use Twitter every month
44% of them (roughly 10 million) are between 18 and 34
Another 33% (about 8 million) are between 35 and 49

Facebook sees 11 million visitors between the ages of 35 and 54 every month.  Are your ideal customers among them?  You may or may not be using social media yourself, but millions of other people are.  According to the Pew Internet American Life Project, the median age of people engaging in social computing broken down by social network are:

• Twitter: 31
• MySpace: 27
• Facebook: 26
• LinkedIn: 40

Surprised?  Are those numbers higher up on the age scale than you anticipated?  The truth is, that even if social media isn’t your thing, it may be your customers’ and prospects’ thing – and that’s what matters.

That being said, social media marketing isn’t a one-size fits all mass marketing effort.  You’ll need a more sophisticated approach if your efforts will ever have a chance at being successful.  You’ll want to target your campaigns to maximize their effectiveness.  So which one is right for you?  That depends on what your goals are and who your target is so do your homework.

• MySpace has a younger audience.  You probably want to shy away from marketing products created for an older crowd (e.g. hearing aids and business books), but if you’re promoting media and entertainment related products, you’re probably in the right place.
• Twitter on the brain?  Ask yourself these 4 questions – if you answer YES to any of them, then Twitter’s probably for you.
• Facebook pages let you build a community around your company, brand and products.  You can also use it to add company news, launch new products, add videos and distribute press releases.  Focus on cultivating your community and let your fans do the promoting on your behalf.

Okay, I’m ready for your next excuse… bring it on!  If you’re still not convinced that social media is good for your business, state your case in the comments section.

Unless you were living under a rock a few months back, you heard about Oprah endorsing Kentucky Fried Chicken’s new grilled chicken meals.  My thoughts have always been that it was a powerful campaign capable of bucketloads of publicity.  I don’t know how much they paid Oprah to be their spokesperson, but other than that, the costs associated with each $3.99 meal they gave away (What – $1 maybe?) were a nominal expense for the widespread publicity that resulted.

Whether by design or due to lack of planning, it wasn’t long before KFC was offering rainchecks to would be taste-testers.  It was a brilliant campaign any way you look at it — viral marketing at its’ best.  As a former franchisee, I would have loved corporate to set a campaign in motion that would get me the amount of foottraffic participating franchisees enjoyed.

Of course, I’m assuming they picked up the free food bill?  I don’t know – do they do that?  If you have experience as a franchisee participating in these types of campaigns, let us know the answer to this in the comments section.

I only hope the meal was good enough to convert many of those ‘tryers’ into ‘buyers’ – the real measure of PR success.

Here’s my take on the free chicken fiasco:

On the flip side, a lot of people were indignant about this campaign and the fact that Oprah was endorsing fast food,  The fact is that even this added to the viral buzz.  Afterall, bad publicity is still publicity!