Archive for October, 2008
October 31st, 2008
While the focus of many marketers and PR Professionals is to reflect a positive image of his or her company or client to the external marketplace, communicating it to your employees within the company is just as important.
Weber Shandwick, a national PR firm, recently conducted a study on the status of company employees’ feelings on how their CEO’s are communicating to them during the current economic downturn. Most of them felt that their bosses were not addressing the concerns at all, therefore creating unease within their offices.
In tough economic times, it’s important to let your employees know things are going to be ok. And if they aren’t, communicating the new plans to them thoroughly and transparently is always the best way to go. Having an updated crisis communication plan in affect to deal with a catastrophic situation makes the process seamless and effective.
Your employees are your biggest advocates, and allowing them to feel confident in their positions helps you exude an even more positive light for your organization.
October 30th, 2008
Press releases can sometimes become one of the more mundane aspects of PR, given the number of them that you regularly churn out. But it’s vital that they remain pitch-perfect for their intended recipient. If you feel you’ve gotten a little sloppy lately, or if you’re curious how one of your press releases measures up, head over to www.pressreleasegrader.com.
The free site lets you copy and paste a release and submit it for instant review. The analysis checks for basics, like word count and whether you’ve included helpful phone numbers and links. It also tracks how many times you use particular terms, whether you’ve used “gobbledygook” words and how readable your release is. You’re graded on a scale of 100 and given tips for enhancing the release.
It’s elementary, sure, but often times an extra review or set of eyes can mean the difference between a successful press release and a failed one.
October 29th, 2008
With constantly changing and expanding social media opportunities, pitching to this interactive environment can be intimidating, especially if you don’t know how to go about it. However, pitching techniques to reach bloggers is not that different from a traditional pitch to the mass media. The challenge with social media pitching is that a botched pitch can easily become the next topic of their blog.
As with any type of pitch, background research should be conducted before you make contact. Blogs can serve as an interactive community, so you need to understand the wants and needs of this group before you can successfully enter. By understanding these needs, you then need to offer something that is valuable, interesting and relevant to gain trust and credibility.
If you are hesitant about pitching to social media, you may want to consider the number of journalists who leverage stories from the topics and information they find there. Social media presents new and innovative opportunities to build relationships with customers and journalists, and if you aren’t reaching out to this audience, it is likely that a competitor is.
October 27th, 2008
You have a special event coming up; it might be a conference, or perhaps an annual festival. Most organizations look at the traditional media – radio, television, newspapers – to get the word out, but there are several additional options to gain visibility and publicity for your activity.
Determine whom you want to attract to your event. Is it children? Senior citizens? GenXer’s? Business people? Each demographic has a different avenue in which they receive information. Ensure your message hits the right people by identifying the appropriate medium in which to target them.
* Tourism/convention & visitors bureaus. These organizations are a powerhouse of information which include and share calendar listings for events and activities, and usually at no cost.
* Chambers of commerce. As a chamber member your organization can usually rent a member database to fax or mail out your event information.
* Sponsor newsletters. Work with your event sponsors to determine if they have a database, newsletter, and/or web site in which they can share information about your activity.
* Online event listings. Don’t disregard the Internet. In each community there are several online media that can list your information.
Be creative and think through the avenues in which you receive information and target those mediums.
October 24th, 2008
With all of the chaos occurring on Wall Street recently, consumers are asking, “Who’s going to bail me out?” Your customers are choosing to cut jobs, tighten budgets and lower spending. So maybe it’s time to start marketing your low-cost, value-added services.
One of the most important ways to talk to your customers during tough times like these is to tell them what you’re going to do for them, not just how cheap you can do it. Consumers want to feel like they’re getting a lot for their money, not that they’re getting cheated on a service because they’re trying to save money. Think about the way you word your advertising, PR and other messages to clients. Tell them why your company should provide a service to them and why it’s invaluable to them in a time when people are cutting all the extra fat from their budgets.
Until the Dow starts going up again, everything is expendable, so as marketers we need to use our best tools – our messaging - to stay in the game.
October 23rd, 2008
Word-of-mouth marketing is a perfect strategy for recessionary times — you get people talking, and they go out and sell your product or service for you.
Of course, it’s not that simple and sometimes not that effective, but it is a frugal use of your marketing budget in lean economic times.
To make the most of this zero-budget marketing plan, remember the “5 Ts.”
* Talkers: people who can communicate your message
* Topics: what it is you’re trying to communicate
* Tools: how easy are you making it for people to effectively communicate your message?
* Taking part: being an active participant will further your cause
* Tracking: measuring how your word-of-mouth campaign is working
It’s difficult to know beforehand whether or not word-of-mouth marketing will work. Try incorporating a new small “WOM” strategy every week. Keep track of what works and what doesn’t and stick with the former.
October 22nd, 2008
We all know that trust is a key component in any relationship, specifically with customers and coworkers, as it plays a significant role in your reputation. If top executives in organizations are viewed as untrustworthy, other negative cognitions usually follow. By abusing or ignoring trust issues, you and your organization can be perceived as unethical and distant from the public.
Many executives of financial institutions that have either collapsed or performed poorly the last few quarters are facing a difficult dilemma when it comes to trust issues. Many people have seen CEOs and executives of failing companies go on TV for interviews where they attempt to ease consumer confidence by putting on a happy face and talking about a bright, successful future. This attempt to ease consumer fear has backfired because it has not only enraged investors but has possibly put the company in legal jeopardy if the corporate heads exaggerated about financial performances.
In most crisis situations, if the organization is at fault, taking responsibility and apologizing usually helps repair some damage done to their corporate reputation. The “never apologize, never explain” tactic we are seeing from many executives of failed institutions could actually be protecting them from litigation.
If legal obligations prevent you from being able to make an apology, consider what other actions can be done to gain consumer trust. Making it publically known you didn’t accept a large bonus or spa treatment on the company are a couple ideas.
October 20th, 2008
Like everything else in your business, public relations activities take time, money and effort. And, like everything else, you want to make sure you get what you pay for – whether you are using an internal or external resource for PR efforts.
While PR is the least measurable return on investment (ROI), you can tell when it’s working and when it’s not. It’s essential to constantly evaluate your public relations efforts to determine if they are working based on your goals.
* Set realistic and measurable objectives. Move away from general statements, such as ‘increasing visibility’ and establish more specific goals as ‘securing six articles per quarter in top tier trade journals.’
* Focus less on column inches and more on story outcomes. Were your key points included in the interview? Did the story draw potential clients or members to your web site?
* Ensure ongoing dialogue is open between senior management and your communications professionals. Public relations personnel can add a lot of perspective in making an announcement (good or bad) and should be included in meetings and discussions about all ongoing initiatives.
The investment in your public relations efforts will directly be reflected in not only the amount of coverage you receive, but also the type of coverage you receive. Less focus on your communications efforts will result in disappointments in both the amount and type.
October 17th, 2008
As we’ve seen with the current Presidential election, user-generated content can start off as a casual comment and become known as truth after it’s passed around to enough people. These rumors can be potentially catastrophic to companies. We’ve seen the stories on the national news sites this week talking about the rumors that have skewed perceptions about the Presidential candidates and now the journalists are trying to set the records straight. Websites like factcheck.org pick apart the Presidential candidates’ comments and research them and explain which ones are fact or fiction.
So how do you tell if people are spreading false allegations about your company? One of the easiest ways is to monitor the blogosphere and the internet through RSS feeds like Google Reader to see when and where your company name is popping up online. If a comment is made on a blog, you should be able to see it come through and then respond to it. Have a specific spokesperson that is well-trained in your company’s messaging to respond in the right manner.
We can’t keep the public from spreading lies, but we can do our best to correct them when they occur.
October 16th, 2008
Piggybacking off last week’s post about proper email etiquette when pitching, it’s vital to remember the most crucial element of an email pitch: the subject line. It can be tricky — How much information do you include without stringing together a long jumble of words? Which words will make your email stand out in someone’s inbox? Rather than just dashing off the first thing that comes to mind, pause a few moments to craft the right combination.
Following a few simple tips can make the process easier:
- Keep it short. People typically check their email while they’re multitasking. A subject line longer than six words will probably lose their attention.
- Keep it simple. Only communicate one thing in the subject line.
- Use numbers if possible. An impressive figure or piece of data can help your cause.
- Use short, commonly understood words
- Avoid prefaces like “News Bulletin.” Omit phrases in all-caps, too. It’s a good way to have your email filtered to the spam folder.
- Write your subject line like a headline. Think like a journalist. What’s the most striking way to both accurately convey your information and catch someone’s attention?
Previous Posts
