Monday, February 20, 2012

What to do with that press release


What is the best way to build a media list and issue a press release?  Here are a few tips.

Let’s start with the media list.  If your product, news, or service has a national or regional scope – or you want it to – then sign up for wire service distribution such as that offered by PR Newswire and others.  Fees are reasonable and generally are based on the size of any release.  They will see that your release is distributed to the geographic regions and to the media outlets most likely to be interested in your news.  Many of the wire service’s media outlets will post your story on their web sites, thus enhancing your SEO (search engine optimization).  However, wire services only distribute to their member outlets, so be sure to enhance the visibility of your release by utilizing the wire service e-mail service.  The wire service will maintain a list of specific reporters – and any other recipients of importance to you such as board members, stake-holders, current and prospective clients – and distribute the release to them via e-mail or, where necessary,fax. 

What if your business – and news about it – is strictly local?  Make and maintain a local list.  Develop a comprehensive list of the local media – radio,TV,print.  Phone each outlet and ask to speak to a reporter who covers your news.  If you have time, arrange for a visit to see the operation, get a sense of who is who, who does what, and what types of stories are covered.  You may learn that different reporters receive different types of news.  Some specialize in personnel announcements while others prefer activity and feature news.  In some instances you shouId send releases to more than one reporter/editor in the same newsroom.  Ask about the preferred way – e-mail, fax, or (almost extinct) hard copy. 

Once you have created your lists (e-mail, fax, and other) it’s time to plan distribution strategy.  First, create e-mail groups for those outlets that have noted this mode as preferred.  When you send an e-mail release, paste the copy in the body of the e-mail.  Reporters hate to open attachments – although you can send a related photo as an attachment – and some outlets prohibit attachments.

This all may sound complicated, and it can be time consuming at first.  But once you have established a list and a distribution procedure, it is easy – and very important.



Friday, February 10, 2012

Eight creative marketing tips for your business

Found this blog via Entrepreneur.com and wanted to share because it's spot on for any size business!  http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/222769

It's a boggling year for marketing, isn't it? New social-media platforms seem to be springing up like mushrooms, mobile is exploding. . . it's hard to know where to focus your marketing time and dollars.
Everywhere I turn lately, I've come across tips for how to do innovative marketing this year. So I've collected a short list of my favorite tips.
Here are eight ideas for giving your marketing effort a boost:
1. Ask your customers how to reach out. When is the last time you got some data from your customers about how they'd like to interact with your brand? There's really no excuse when you can run instant polls on your Facebook page.
Related: How the White House Became a Social-Media Powerhouse

2. Triggered emails. Do you send customers an email that makes additional offers after they abandon a shopping cart on your website, or maybe an email that provides free information? If not, you're missing a great opportunity to keep your name in front of a customer who's close to buying.

3. Text marketing. Find out what customers want by texting them a question. Then, send them a coupon for a discount on that item. This one's particularly useful for those Gen-X and -Y customers, many of whom don't seem to use email anymore.

4. What your competition isn't doing. Analyze what marketing methods your competitors are using, and look for the holes. Be somewhere they're not -- maybe on Pinterest, or YouTube, or bus boards.

5. Don't just network -- host an event. Hosting an event is a powerful way to get known by a lot of people at once. Why? Everybody comes over to thank the host. Hold the event at your place of business if you have a physical store, so people learn where you are.

6. Referral rewards. This one's an oldie but goodie that's still around because it works. Let customers know you'll pay them $100 if they send you a customer, and turn your customers into your marketing team on the cheap.

7. Simplify. Remember that too many marketing messages confuse customers, especially as you spread them across various social-media channels. Try to pare down to three choices in all aspects of your marketing, from how many fonts you use to how many times you follow up.
Related: 10 Lessons in Brilliant Marketing

8. Make it musical. Does your company have a theme song? A musical jingle you could share? Use tools such as Spotify to share a musical message with prospects.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Pest? Or Persistent?

         

At least once a month I used to hear from Wally.  Sometimes it was a phone call.  Sometimes it was an email.  Sometimes it was a postcard.  But no matter what the means of communication, it was consistent, friendly, not pushy, and it had the potential to someday pay off – for both of us.

Wally was an advertising sales representative for a national magazine in which I had an article published.  Although at the time I was not ready to commit to advertising on that scale – or in that particular vehicle – I never told Wally it was over.  And, like any good sales representative, he continued to stay in touch until I did tell him to stop.

One of the biggest obstacles to effective sales is our fear that we will be perceived as a pest.  So, in order to avoid that appearance, we err the other way and fail to be persistent enough to close a prospective sale.  I think Wally was persistent, not pesky.  He effectively kept himself in my consciousness in a friendly way.  Yet I never feel bothered or pressured. 

Whether we are the official sales rep, or the business owner, we have an obligation to ourselves, and to the prospects we think will benefit from our product or services, to keep the conversation going until we are asked to stop.  As demonstrated by Wally, this can be done in a variety of easy ways that do not require excess expenditures of time on our part. 

So fire up that data base and make a list of those prospects with whom you have had conversations, but who are not yet ready to avail themselves of your services.  Make a few phone calls, leave a few voice mails, send a postcard or a reprint of an article of interest about your business, send an e-mail.  Keep the message friendly and remind them that you are still interested in helping them when they are ready.

Kathryn Lima, president of Sharon-based Faro Enterprises, is a marketing, public relations, and fund raising consultant.  Send your questions to klima@faroenterprises.com, or visit http://www.faroenterprises.com.