How to Successfully Use Traditional & Online PR

November 30, 2011 Leave a comment

When it comes to traditional PR if your main focus is being featured in the media, what you’re truly looking for is media relations which falls under the umbrella of public relations.  With the advent of online magazines, blogs and social media, there have been so many changes in how media and public relations work that it can get confusing.  You have some who still choose to ignore bloggers and social media and others who insist that traditional media is dead and focus only on their 2.0 approach.  Both of those approaches can be dangerous.  You don’t want to get into an either/or approach and at the same time you want to maximize the results you’ll get for your efforts.

For example, the blogosphere is huge.  There are millions of blogs out there and more are being added everyday.  You could get your company or product mentioned on a large number of blogs that have very little traffic.  In that sense it could feel like you’re gaining traction for your public relations campaign, but are you really reaching your ultimate goals?  Getting as much coverage as possible online is important, but only if you’re doing so with a game plan in mind.  For example if you are approaching and pitching blogs in the blogosphere as a way to help your SEO efforts and as a way to help build your credibility and build a critical mass, then yes, you’re heading in the right direction, but if you are approaching this as though all blogs are created equal, you’re in trouble.

By now all of the mainstream media outlets have their own blogs whether the media outlet is The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Wired, or the Today Show.  Believe me even a small mention on one of those blogs is going to be worth more to you than feature coverage on a dozen of small unknown blogs. Why?  A couple of reasons. To begin with the mainstream media blogs get traffic.  More eyeballs are looking at the story.  But it’s also not only the fact that you’re being featured in the blog, it’s the credibility and validation that comes with a hit in the mainstream media.  You are now a news story.  So it’s true that all blogs are not created equal.  Still you don’t need to land coverage in a mainstream media blog, to reap the benefits of being featured in one.

More and more blogs are becoming significant influencers.  The more bloggers you can interest in your story, the more your coverage will grow.  A strong blogger relations approach can be tremendously important.

As I mentioned at the start, the important thing is not to view this as an either/or approach.  Pitching mainstream media does not mean you should ignore blogs and focusing on online coverage does not necessitate ignoring the traditional media outlets.  All of these outlets are important.  Your most effective and successful approach is to come up with a PR game plan that is targeted yet inclusive.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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Tips for Using Social Media to Boost your Traditional PR Campaign

November 23, 2011 Leave a comment

There are times you can reach the traditional media using some nontraditional means.  Blogging, social media and online wire services can offer unique approaches to garnering coverage in print, TV and radio.  For example, sometimes the best way to contact a writer, editor or producer is through the back door.  For example, if you’re looking to garner a placement in the Wall Street Journal or Time Magazine, an approach could be to blog on one of their stories.  Newsweek and other publications have added blog round up boxes on their sites.  What they basically do is report on readers who have blogged about one of their articles.  Try picking a publication that’s of interest to you and blog on one of the articles.  Now link it using a backtrack line and then submit that to Technorati.com.  If all goes as planned, your blog will be reported and they in turn will link to you.  At least that’s how it should go.  If you’re up for a new approach, give it a shot.

Another way to keep in touch with, or at least in front of journalists is via social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.  Twitter can definitely be useful since it moves so quickly and new information is constantly being posted.  Some journalists will tweet when they’re looking for experts to interview.  They’ll also post articles that they find of interest or previous articles they’ve written.  This is a great way to get a real sense of an individual writer’s interests, likes and dislikes.

Twitter Tips
You can also be proactive in your approach.  Tweet stories that aren’t necessarily direct pitches but that show your interest in that particular field.  If you find something that will possibly interest a particular journalist, Tweet it.  And when he or she Tweets something you find of interest comment on it or reweet in.  Interaction is fine, just don’t spend your time trying to sell or pitch. When you find something you think a journalist might enjoy, share it. And when he or she shares an interesting article or tweets something entertaining, feel free to comment and interact.  Remember the name of the game here is connecting and sharing – not selling and pitching.  Still, on those occasions that you do find that perfect story to pitch, go for it, but present it in a way that you’re bringing value to the table.  Do not use social media as a way to constantly pitch.  You’ll quickly overstay your welcome and lose a valuable connection.

Sharing Your Press Release
Using paid wire services isn’t something I generally recommend, unless your story is amazingly timely, has a celebrity tie in, or has to do with a breaking news story.  Your best approach is to send your press releases to a targeted media list and following up with phone calls.  Still, posting your releases on free wire services, and (judiciously) posting your release on social media sites can help.  If your release has enough useable information on it, you might find that some media outlets as reprinting your release as a short article.  Articles that offer tips, or secrets or bust myths can be the most effective.  For example: 5 insider tips to a perfect body or 5 secrets to perfecting your golf swing, or The Skinny on 5 weight loss myths.  Something else to consider is offer 7 insider tips, only cover 4 of them in the release and end it with the link to your website or blog to find the rest of the tips.

All of these are different ways to get your message and pitch in front of your target media.  Using trial and error, find the methods that work best for you and then stick with them.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under Marketing, PR, traditional media Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Perspective Creates Reality: How the Media is Prolonging the Economic Mess

October 18, 2011 Leave a comment

We’re fooling ourselves if we don’t think that the media profoundly shapes our reality.  We are what we know and if all we hear and see is that the economy is tanking, that our politicians are useless and that things are getting worse on a daily basis, then in time those thoughts and feelings define us.   I’m not advocating ignoring the facts and viewing the world through rose-colored glasses, but I am saying that collectively we act and react based on what we hear and see.  Watching a continual stream of segments on how the economy is tanking and reading article after article on how there are no jobs and why credit has dried up is going to impact the choices we make and that in turn impacts the economy.

Fearing the worst, individuals are going to spend less, employers are going to take a wait and see attitude towards hiring, and banks are going to tighten their lending practices.  That is human nature.  That is how we work.  We act and react based on what we know and corporations and governments act and react the same as families and individuals.  I know we like to think that CEOs and politicians are above such human frailties and act in sane rational ways, but they’re simply people and they react as we all do.

Consider the stock market.  We basically bet our economy on this system, yet its ebbs and flows can be measured on a daily basis by what news the media is reporting and how it is reporting it.  And I’m not talking about fact-based reporting, but on speculative stories.  If CNN, the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times run a story about something that might happen, or about an event that could have a potentially negative effect, the market generally reacts in a big way the following day, not based on facts or figures but based on emotional reactions. Surely that is an oversimplification of how the market works, but it is a much bigger factor than experts generally give credence to.

It’s as though we want to pretend that in the worlds of economics and politics, human beings suddenly act and react in non human ways.  We want to believe we’re rational grown ups and that the economy is based on facts and numbers and therefore is not subject to fears and fantasies.   That is simply wrong.  Continual doses of doom and gloom causes (guess what?) you got it more doom and gloom.  We are creating a self fulfilling prophecy, but we refuse to see it.  We want to pretend that grown ups don’t act in such emotional irrational ways.  But it’s been shown time and again that they do.

So, what if the focus shifted?  What else would shift?  My bet is quite a bit.  The media’s not going to change; they are convinced that if it bleeds it leads and that’s where they’re going to stay. But what if collectively we changed?

This is where personal public relations, particularly media relations, along with social media and blogging can make a huge difference.  It’s true that PR is used to drive business, but it can also help change attitudes and policies.  It can impact the stories that are covered and can help change the direction that the media takes.  If a story you pitch is covered, another possibly downbeat story gets bumped.  If a momentum starts, then a shift begins.  It’s cumulative, it takes time, but collectively it helps us take some control back.   What if we were to start pitching and blogging and posting good news stories?  What if the media no longer defined our world for us?  Who knows how the world would change.  I say, let’s give it a shot.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under business, Marketing, Media, news Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why You Should Launch a PR Campaign in a Tough Economy

October 13, 2011 Leave a comment

No one is going to buy your product or services if they don’t know it exists and this is particularly true in tough economic times.  As counter intuitive as it might seem, the slow times are the times that you can’t afford to cut back in your marketing efforts.  It has been documented that companies that increase their marketing efforts during a recession can improve their market share as well as their return on investment at lower costs than they can during good economic times.  This is true because during uncertain times consumers need the reassurance.  They need to see you’re there.  While your competitors are cutting back and going into stealth mode, you should be keeping yourself and your company in front of your target audience.  While the competition is out of sight and out of mind, you should be front and center.

Understandably you don’t want to take on an expensive advertising campaign during lean times, but you do want to market.  You want to be creative.  You want to focus on how to best reach your market at a reasonable cost.  You also want to be realistic and understand that you’re going to need to invest in yourself and your company.  As the old adage says, it takes money to make money; but it needn’t take a lot.

  1. Initially, study your market and define your specific target market.
  2. Next, do some research and find out how to reach that market.  What do they read?  What do the watch?  What social media sites do they use?  What web sites do they visit?  You don’t need to hire a firm to do this market research for you.  Give someone the parameters you’re looking for, put them in front of a computer and get them started.  Twitter and Facebook alone offer a wealth of information on consumers and their likes and dislikes.
  3. Make a list of the media they read, watch, and visit.
  4. Develop a marketing campaign that will speak to your target market.

Because advertising and direct marketing can be expensive, I generally recommend a targeted marketing campaign that combines traditional public relations with an online campaign that includes blogging and social media.  Media relations is so effective because it reaches your target market, establishes you as an expert and offers you the validation of being featured in the news.  It also gives you powerful ammunition for your social media campaign.   The story pitches and press releases that you develop to present to the traditional media can also be modified and used online in your blogs and social media posts.  Always keep in mind that your objective is to present yourself as a problem solver.  Don’t pitch your business or product, explain how you can solve your client’s problems and make their lives easier, more efficient, healthier, etc.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under business, Marketing, small business Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Using PR to Maximize Your Networking

October 10, 2011 Leave a comment

All small business owners are told about the importance of networking; of getting out there glad handing, meeting prospects and drumming up business.  To be honest, it’s not my favorite pastime, and I haven’t always had the best luck on that front.  Truth be told, I’m not what one would call a born networker.  Even for those who excel at the process, this can be a rough time in the networking world.  I was speaking to a business owner the other day who was explaining that he’d never gone to so many lunches and mixers in his life but most of the time he discovered that the people he was talking to were hoping he could send some business their way.  He explained that it was tough enough going out there and trying to meet prospects to pitch his service to, but discovering that most of the people he was talking to were desperately trying to sell him, made things really depressing.

Don’t get me wrong, networking can be an incredibly powerful business tool and there are people out there who are experts at it; but not everyone is born with that networking gene.  Although it should be a part of your marketing mix, networking on its own is not a marketing strategy.  Do your homework and make sure the mixers or networking events you’re going to are appropriate.  Don’t just go to make yourself feel like you’re doing something.  There are times that action for action’s sake can work against you.  Also, be sure and prepare yourself before you head off into the wild world of networking.  Know what you’re going to say and how you’re going to present yourself.  Remember you’re not there to sell your product or service; you’re there to explain your value, show how you can solve problems, and offer solutions.  You’re there to show your prospects why they want to work with you.  Ann Convery, who developed the Speak You Business in 30 Seconds Or Less system, is a master at this process.  If you have a chance, check out her website at: http://www.speakyourbusiness.com

So whereas it’s important to keep networking as a part of your marketing mix, start thinking in a broader based approach.  Consider using public relations and social media to establish yourself in the market place.  By launching an effective public relations campaign you establish yourself as a news story.  You gain the credibility and validation of being featured in a magazine, newspaper article or on a TV or radio segment.  You become an expert in your field.  Utilizing blogging and social media, you establish a presence on the net and are able to talk directly to your prospects.  By combining media relations with a social media approach you can magnify your press coverage through the various social media sites – and that can be an extremely powerful marketing approach.  It also makes networking all the more effective.  When you do go to a networking event or mixer and your prospects see that you’ve been featured in the media as an expert in your field, you’ll be way ahead of the competition.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under business, Marketing Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

5 Tips to Creating a Successful Small Business Marketing Strategy

August 30, 2011 Leave a comment

Everyday we are bombarded with news about new apps, new social media sites, and the latest online marketing approaches.  It’s easy to get lost trying to keep up with the latest developments.  It’s also dangerous; you can spend your time trying to stay ahead of the information curve, but fall behind when it comes to effectively marketing your company.  Your main focus needs to be on developing a marketing and PR approach that reaches your target market; sells products, brings in clients and grows your business. 

It’s tough to keep focus when you’re bombarded with information; the myriad marketing options available grow on a seemingly daily basis.   Whereas having a number of choices can often be a good thing, in this case that can cause you and your company to come to a virtual standstill, as you spend the bulk of your time struggling to figure out the most effective marketing approaches.

Strategy Tip #1   Remember, you don’t need to do everything.

You simply need to do some homework, experiment a bit, find out what works best for you and focus on what works.  Just because there are a variety of options available that doesn’t mean you need to utilize all of them.  You don’t eat everything on a menu, you pick and chose, do the same when it comes to your marketing strategy.  You can launch a public relations campaign, start a blog, target every social media site, and launch an online video campaign, ezine, email campaign.  You can also run a pay per click campaign and focus on offline marketing efforts.  Those are just some of your options.  If you try to implement all of those options, most of your time will be spent trying to make sense out of the marketing mix.

Strategy Tip #2 Work on one marketing approach at a time or assign different strategies to different employees in your marketing department.

Especially with online marketing, each program takes attention, strategy, and time.  Watch what your marketing department is doing.  Are they on the same page? Are they too scattered? Get feedback and reports, and manage to make sure they are effectively working each approach, one at a time, or in various organized teams.

Strategy Tip #3 Eliminate approaches that are too cumbersome, expensive or don’t speak directly to your audience from your marketing mix.

Go with a less-is-more approach and keep your focus on where you customers or clients truly find their information.

Strategy Tip #4 Begin a basic and effective PR and media relations outreach to offer your company the validation and credibility that comes with being featured in the media. 

Implementing a basic PR campaign can be as simple as writing a press release, and pitching targeted media outlets.  Follow topics that are trending in the media that relate to your area of expertise. Write a one page press release that includes an angle that will serve the media’s needs.  Email pitch and follow-up. Find more details on communicating with and pitching the media here.

Strategy Tip #5 Develop a presence online.

You’re job is to figure out which online direction serves you the best.  Study the various approaches.  You could perhaps benefit from article marketing; perhaps a blog is a good fit, study how you can best utilize social media and what sites work best for you.   Be selective, keep your focus on your market and stay targeted.  Build an individualized promotional campaign that serves your clients and reaches your prospects.  Don’t get lost in the marketing maze.  Stay focused and develop a marketing success formula for your business.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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The Multidimensional PR Approach

July 19, 2011 1 Comment

Whereas traditional media is still as important as ever, you can now utilize it in a variety of ways.  For example, as opposed to focusing solely on traditional media, you can target some specific media outlets and use those validating mainstream media hits to enhance your online media campaign.

Clients that we’ve place on Dr. Phil, Oprah (well those days are gone), the Today Show, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and other media were able to magnify those media placements by posting or commenting on them in blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, forums, etc.  Utilizing this approach you can achieve one of the primary functions of traditional media – gaining the validation and credibility of being featured in the news.  Once a few traditional placements have been secured, you can then magnify them using social media.  That approach has helped us create an online buzz about our clients.  It separates our clients from the competition, enhances their brand and creates greater awareness about them and their company.

PR is now multi dimensional. There are myriad ways you can develop successful campaigns.  The optimum approach is one that incorporates traditional and online public relations, yet at times, developing a hybrid campaign, or one that focuses solely on traditional or online media, can also serve its purpose.  It all depends on your needs, your business model, your market and your budget.

It is now possible for campaigns to be more targeted and strategic.  For example, a physician we worked with who was featured on Oprah separated herself from the others in her field by using social media and blogging to spread the word about her segment on the show.  A beauty expert who was featured in Allure was able to present herself as a much more credible authority and expert in her field by blogging about and posting the link to the Allure article on various social media sites.

After one or two validating placements you can either continue to focus on traditional PR, or , if you’re on a tight budget, you can shift your campaign towards an online approaching using the magazine, newspaper or TV coverage on you and your company to generate interest online.  Using online PR and social media you can establish yourself as an expert via your traditional media coverage and further establish the credibility of your brand.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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Build it And They’ll Come? – It Helps to Have Some PR Signposts Along The Way

July 7, 2011 Leave a comment

Build it and they’ll come is a theory quite a few businesses go by.  Heck, it worked in the film “Field of Dreams,” so why shouldn’t it work in real life?  Probably sometimes it does, but that’s generally luck and who wants to leave the success of their business to luck.  You can build the best product in the world and if no one knows it exists, it’s going to be the best product in the world that no on has ever heard about.  And that would be a shame.  Yes, you need to build it, but of equal importance is making sure that your customers and target market know it exists.  You need to make the signposts and build the bridges.

Let’s say you have the essentials: you love your business, and are passionate about taking it to the next level; you have a basic business plan (it could be just a handwritten page), you believe you can succeed and you have surrounded yourself with supportive people.  Let’s even take it a few steps further, you’ve developed the service, or created the product.  You have your offices.  Everything is packaged and ready to go.  Now what? How do you expect to spread the word about your business?  How is your target market, your prospective clients, or the public at large going to find you?  Remember, reaching your potential customers is as important as creating your business, because without your customers, there is no business.

So, what do you do? Take out ads, make cold calls, send out direct marketing pieces, launch an online marketing campaign?  What are your best choices?  Look around you. Your greatest marketing tools are sitting in your living room or bedroom, lying on the coffee table and resting on your night stand – your TV, magazines, newspapers, radio and the Internet.   How do you utilize those tools?  Effective PR, a campaign that melds traditional public relations, social media and blogging, is the single most effective marketing tool available.

Imagine picking up Newsweek or People or The Wall Street Journal and reading an article about you, your company, or your product, or turning on the Today Show, or CNN and seeing a segment profiling you and your company – that is effective media relations and that is the bridge and the signpost that will bring your customers to you.   Through the media, you can validate your business, establish yourself as an expert in your field and watch your dream grow – that is the magic of effective PR.  Combine that with a social media and blogging campaign and you have a truly effective marketing campaign. 

We all know that the cornerstone of any business is positive referrals, or word-of-mouth. TV appearances and magazine interviews are some of the most amazing forms of referrals available. Hundreds, thousands and potentially millions of people will learn about and talk about you and your business. That type of exposure positions you as an expert in your field.  You can then take that media coverage and post it online via your blog and social media, further magnifying and amplifying the impact.

So by all means build it.  Next launch an effective media relations campaign for you and your business.  Now, they will come.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under business, Marketing, Public Relations, Your Target Market Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Traditional plus Social Media: The Beauty Biz Success Secret

June 24, 2011 Leave a comment

According to research conducted by The NPD Group, Inc., a leading market research company, in 2010, total  U.S. prestige beauty generated $8.4 billion, an increase of 4 percent in dollars, compared to $8.19 billion in 2009.

Beauty is a huge market and that figure does not take into consideration all brands and products.  The bottom line is that beauty sells.  As with fashion and entertainment a beauty-oriented company needs to develop a strong brand in order to be truly successful and nothing is more effective for creating a powerful brand and brand awareness than PR and media relations.   Through public relations your product or service is positioned as a news story, not as an ad or a commercial.  Through the media, you are also positioned as an expert in the field, as a beauty guru.  Soon the media starts coming to you to learn the latest beauty or skin care tips and secrets.  You help define beauty and style trends, while positioning both you and your company via the media.

You can then meld a blogging and social media campaign with your traditional media campaign.  For example, if you receive coverage in your local newspaper on your salon, or your new product line, you can take that article and link it on your blog as well as on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Digg and other social sites.  You have now turned a local article into a national article.  Or conversely, you can tape a very cool, interesting segment and post it on YouTube.  In the beauty world you can be a bit outrageous, so make it fun, make it interesting, give it attitude.  Now using your blog, Facebook, Twitter and other online venues, try and create a buzz around that video.  If you generate enough interest you can then pitch your YouTube phenomena to the mainstream media and garner media coverage in print and TV.  That’s not a slam dunk, and requires work and some creative thinking, but we’ve done it, so it is possible.

The key to a successful beauty PR campaign is to create a compelling story around your product or service.  Make it interesting, stylish, and compelling.  Always keep your target market in mind. Then study the media outlets that reach your target market.  Now develop a number of different stories to pitch to a variety of different media outlets.  Each media source has needs and interests that are specific to it.  The primary secret to launching an effective media relations campaign is to focus on what the various media outlets need, and pitch each outlet accordingly.  For example, beauty trade publications will be interested in a business angle, whereas your local media will respond to a pitch with a local slant and a national TV show is going to be more willing to run with a story that has a strong visual component.  Being in the beauty field offers you strong visuals, so be creative and use them.  Also remember that the ingredients, the look and the packaging itself can offer you a compelling story.  If you use eco-friendly packaging, or if your ingredients are non allergenic, or if you utilize customer recycling initiatives, these can all be angles you can pitch to the media.

More and more, savvy beauty-oriented companies are spending zero on traditional advertising and utilizing a creative mix of traditional public relations combined with a creative blogging and social media campaign to build their business, grow their brand and achieve success in the beauty biz.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under beauty, Beauty Industry PR, beauty products, Marketing, PR, traditional media, TV Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How PR Can Help Your Small Business To Succeed

June 20, 2011 Leave a comment

Public relations is the most effective and least expensive way to build your brand, grow your business and establish yourself as a go-to expert in your field.  Whether or not you should launch a media relations campaign should not be the question, because the answer to that is a no-brainer; yes you should.  The real question is how are you going to do that? Your best bet is to bring on a firm or media consultant who can chart your marketing course for you and launch your campaign.  But whatever avenue you choose, the following points apply.

Don’t think that a PR, media relations or publicity campaign comes down to spamming the media with press releases and pitches.  The media is inundated with press releases.  They’re not looking for releases; they’re looking for good stories.  Simply sending out a release is not going to do the trick.

Press releases do have other uses now a days.  They are no longer pitches that you simply send to the media.  With blogs, forums, social media and online press release services you can now use your releases to directly reach your customer.  In fact that is probably the biggest value that a press release posted online has for a small company.  Chances are slim that the traditional media will react to an online press release, but it will help with your SEO and it is a direct way for you to reach customers.  One note of warning, do not post a press release on a blog site or forum in a press release format.  You might want to take some of that information and post in it a conversational way.  But posting a standard press release on a blog or social media site will generally backfire on you.  Your best bet is to comment on blogs, forums, social media sites or forums, but don’t pitch your product or service.  Talk about your field in general. Educate, give some tips but don’t try and sell.

When you do decide to give PR a shot, remember you’re not Google or American Express.  Don’t try to impress the media by trying to launch a campaign or a story the way a huge corporation would. For example, unless there is a truly compelling reason, my suggestion is that you stay away from embargoes and exclusives.  Those are only utilized in certain situations and if you don’t understand the process it can end up backfiring on you.  To clarify, an embargo is an agreement with certain media outlets where they agree not to publish or release a story before an agreed upon date and time.  An exclusive is an agreement to give your story to only one media outlet.  There are times these are important arrangements to make with the media, but chances are you’ll rarely run into one.

Remember that the media world has greatly expanded.  Traditional media outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Today Show and CNN still offer you the type of exposure, validation and credibility that no other form of marketing can offer, but that not where PR stops.  Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, Digg, blogs, all of these are now a part of the media landscape and ignore them at your peril.  For example, if your local newspaper runs a story on you or your company, post a link to that story on the various social media sites.  This is a way for you to turn a local story into a national story.  Also utilize the power of YouTube.  Shoot a short video about you, your company or your service.  But don’t make it a sales video.  You’re not trying to run a commercial here; your job is to communicate with your prospective clients and customers.  Make a video where you illustrate how to solve a problem, answer questions, add value to the lives of those who watch the video.  If you’re going to use PR to sell anything, don’t sell your product or service.  Sell your value.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under Marketing, Public Relations, small business Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The PR How-to Bible

June 18, 2011 1 Comment

It’s said that you can’t find the right answers until you ask the right questions.  So with that in mind if you are thinking of hiring a PR firm or of launching a media relations campaign for yourself, the following is a list of how to questions to ask yourself before moving forward.  Done correctly, a PR campaign can establish your brand and build your business and establish you as an expert in your field.  It’s the most powerful marketing tool out there, so give it a shot, but first do your homework.  Find out what you need to know how to do in the list below.

As you go through the list, write out your answers and see where you feel most comfortable and where you feel you need some help, or points that you need to give more thought to.  Once you’ve reviewed the questions and developed your own list, you can start searching for the right answers.

With that in mind, before you move forward on a PR campaign, you want to know:

PR CAMPAIGN CHECKLIST:
How to set up your public relations objectives
How to outline your PR timeline
How to develop your story
How to come up with 5 story angles.
How to write a press release
How to decide which stories to start with,
How to decide what angles to pitch local and national media
How to deliver press releases
How to create a media list
How to pitch the media
How to do an interview
How to develop an interview script for TV, local, newspaper, national
How and when to send out press releases,
How to brand your company using PR
How to create a compelling PR story
How to use media relations to reach your long term marketing goals
How to pitch your story and not your product or service
How to establish yourself through the media as an expert in your field
How to find a media trainer
How to meld social media and PR
How and why to develop a blog
How to use video marketing in your public relations campaign
How to create a story online
How to magnify and amplify an article or TV segment on the internet.
How to pick a PR consultant that meets your needs
How to use PR to launch and develop your brand
How to use your media in advertising, online marketing, and social media.

These aren’t all of the how-to points you need to review, but if you’ve gone through and answered all of the above questions, you are well on your way to launching an effective public relations campaign for you and your company. Perhaps the most difficult question is how to know how long to give a campaign.  Generally, I’d say give it at least six months.  Trying a campaign for one or two months is counterproductive.  If you stop in two months, you’ll never know how successful it could have been.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

Filed under Marketing, PR, small business, social media Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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