Keep your Press Releases RELEVANT

A recent study of Journalists in the US (stated in PR Week) found news releases are used by 90% of business journalists as sources for story ideas.

However, as 54% of those same journalists say they also turn to bloggers, press releases must go beyond simple text and incorporate features like links, social media tags, images and when possible video.

Quick technique tips:
1 – DO include links to pages where multiple instances of your key words/phrases reinforce your message
2 – DO place terms in key positions like headlines and first paragraphs
3 – DON’T go link crazy – too many links confuse journalist
4 - DON’T use low res images – opt for high res multimedia that can easily be used (or provide links to high res)

3 simple ways to exceed customer satisfaction

While we are in the PR business we are also most definitely in the customer satisfaction business.

To exceed customer satisfaction makes them feel good and makes our life easier (happier clients are so much easier to deal with).

From my experience there are three simple ways to achieve this:

1 – Get ahead of the client
Don’t you sometimes know that given a day or week the client is going to ask for something? If you haven’t been offering proactive creative ideas on an account and are worried that the client is going to call you on it, then it is possibly time to get ahead of the client and go on the attack before you have to defend.

The more you work within an industry the easier it is to get ahead of a client.
After working with Creative Labs and them telling us about the convergence of technology and music... We then used the same ’convergence’ story with O2 and Motorola.

2 – Infuse Passion
The one complaint I hear about PR agencies is that they are not passionate about the client or the client’s product/services. Believe me, when I sell into a client I am so passionate that they believe I would do anything for their brand. That is one of the small secrets of sales and it is also a secret of happy PR clients. Use the client’s service/products and learn to love them.

3 – What’s new
It’s something that you should constantly be asking the client from their company perspective. I have had too many meetings with Habib Bank AG Zurich to mention which starts by me asking, “What stories do you have for us” just to be met with silence. When I then ask them to tell me everything in the bank that is new I normally come away with 4 or 5 stories.

The other side of the “What’s New” coin is being able to tell the client what’s new in the region and their industry. You can pick this up very quickly by reading the newspaper a magazine and logging into international web sites.

These three simple concepts will help you make the client happier and will make your life easier.

And everyone in PR wants an easier life.

Social Media & Public Relations

Social media: a tech term you've been hearing about. FaceBook, MySpace, YouTube, and Kazaa. On the business side, what about LinkedIn, CraigsList, and EBay? They, too, exemplify:

" ... the integration of technology and interaction" (from Wikipedia, a 'wiki' website and yet another example).

This (or any) blog is also a type of social media. We're blogging to have a conversation with someone having a shared interest: you. You can comment back and tell us what you think: you can interact. And our blogging goal is to create a community to connect, share, and for you to come back: we're marketing. But is a business blog worth your investment of time and money? What's the ROI of social media?

Let's take a look at a community, in fact a merging of several communities, by one example: a recent podcast on the ROI of social media marketing. But, before we listen to it, let's peel back its social layers. It is:

* First, it is a podcast, an audio file that can be streamed ('listened to') online, downloaded for later, or (this is important) linked on emails, websites, and blogs;
* Second, this podcast was distributed by IT Conversations: a company that has created a community of people with shared interest in tech podcasts (i.e. a social network);
* Next, this podcast was originally recorded by yet another company, Talking Portraits, with its own online community; and,
* Last, the person being interviewed, Giovanni Gallucci, is an authority with his own community through his blog, The Agency Blog. And, how do we learn he's an 'authority'? That's right, through yet another social community hosted by Technorati.

One podcast. So many connections. So many (potential) ears.

Back to the podcast. It's 41 minutes on the topic of the ROI of social media marketing (SMM). Tom Parish (Talking Portraits) interviews Giovanni G. They are both developers and technologists, and seem to be talking 'to' both providers of SMM services and businesses considering SMM (i.e. you). The first couple of minutes are a bit clunky, but they soon fall into a very informative chat on SMM. Things to listen for:

* The difference between campaign marketing and relationships marketing;
* Short-term versus long-term marketing goals;
* The importance of community trust, and how little control you have over it;
* The commitment required - expected - by your audience;
* That ROI might not be quantifiable, but there are valuable marketing benefits to be gained;
* They use several examples. Here are links to some of them: Mattel's BarbieGirls, Lego, Digg.

Marketing hasn't changed, but these new social media tools introduce some new dynamics. Over the next few months this blog hopes to spread news about how social media is effecting and working in one marketing function - public relations. We also hope to cover other areas in public relations so this blog builds a community of PR professionals. And we hope you will tell us what interests you by adding to this blog.