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:
- They get to show the hands-on experience of using your product, which can’t be otherwise seen through advertising or in-store sales.
- 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.
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!
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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