Out of the Fog Marketing

Check out IT Database's latest report Business Press Technology Coverage for a fascinating look at how business publications cover the technology industry. Tech gets far less coverage than its finance counterparts even though it's a huge part of our country's economic engine.

Particularly vexing is Gartner predicted $3.3 trillion in IT spending in 2010, yet enterprise IT is barely covered in the mainstream media.

In the study IT Database also asked tech PR pros which companies they thought were overrated or underappreciated by the business press. Look at the results and see that hip and hype really matter when it comes to PR coverage:

Overrated	Underappreciated
Apple (32%)	Cisco (18%)
Google (28%)	Microsoft (12%)
Twitter (12%)	VMWare (12%)

Labels: it, marketing technology, media coverage, public relations, publicity

Free media coverage is one of the best deals going. If you want to see your company's name in print, scan the daily emails from Help a Reporter Out (HARO). It will only take you 5-10 minutes each day to scan dozens of inquiries from reporters looking for information on stories they are writing. Our efforts in responding to HARO posts recently landed us a nice mention in Oregon Business Magazine.
Here's some advice when pitching editors through HARO:

1. Make sure your response is relevant to the editor's inquiry. For example, don't send information on electric vehicle sales if the writer is doing a story on low-cost auto repair.
2. Think before you write. The information you provide should be descriptive yet to the point. Don't send paragraphs of information on a first reply. The writer will contact you if he needs more info.
3. Be patient. We get action on only about 10% of the responses we provide. However, the ROI is still there.
   

Responding to editor and freelance writer inquiries can be a great addition to your public relations strategy. Combined with press releases, media outreach can get your company great press which often garners new leads and establishes your management team as experts.

Labels: HARO, peter shankman, press pitches, public relations

In our popular Press Release Wire Service whitepaper, we recommended a PRWeb.com package with BusinessWire. PRWeb recently discontinued this package.

Over the past few weeks, I've gone back to using Marketwire with great success. Media pickup, online news service and search engine rankings were much better than PRWeb. I also noticed many small to midsized high-tech companies were using this wire service.

Media coverage is far superior to PRWeb and pickup from MSNBC and Marketwatch also show up on Google page 1 for key phrases in your release title. Their editors are also very good at catching even subtle typos.

The only drawback to Marketwire is you have to call their customer support if you need to make a change after posting. With PRWeb, it's a simple matter of making the change online and then resubmitting. However, that's the difference between a wire service and a distribution service. I've found Marketwire's customer support staff to be fast, efficient and helpful.

Cost savings hint: If your business only serves a local market, try Marketwire's state distribution service. Rates start at $145 and for less than $250 you can get a release with anchor text links of your key phrases. The excellent part from a search ranking perspective is sites such as MSNBC and Marketwatch usually picks up the cheaper one state releases.

Labels: marketwire, msnbc, press releases., public relations, wire services

MatchPoint, a search-based application for finding journalists, launched this week. MatchPoint's contact management application spiders a massive proprietary database of online and print editorial content to produce a list of journalists ranked on how closely the journalists' bodies of work match the search query.
To create the list, the user enters keywords, a pitch letter, or the lead paragraphs of a news release into a search box. To ensure greater accuracy, the user can modify the search algorithm by adjusting the relative weight of four parameters: article relevance, how recently the article was written, media outlet reach, and frequency of articles.
We've signed up for a free 10-day trial, so we'll report back with findings in a couple of weeks.

Labels: journalists, matchpoint, new products, online public relations, public relations

Read a great article on B2B Marketing discussing how the traditional press release has changed from a vehicle for media to a vehicle for online marketing.

Labels: online public relations, press releases., public relations, SEO press release

Google News is now picking up releases published on PitchEngine. PitchEngine lets users build and and share PR pages for free. What's different about PitchEngine is that you can build a PR webpage showcasing videos, your company's newsroom, and related links all on one page. They bill this as a social media press release.

We were one of the early adopters of the service and have been pretty impressed with the results. In addition to being a nice supplement to traditional wires in building back links, it stands out as something different with the media.

Labels: pitch engine, pitchegine, pr 2.0, public relations, social media pr, social media press release

Bloggers and publication editors are now foregoing email pitches and asking for succinct pitches via Twitter and other social media tools. Check out Stowe Boyd's mandate that all pitches are over Twitter in format he calls the Twitpitch. It does make you really hone your message if you only have 140 characters.

Labels: media pitches, press pitches, public relations, social media, stowe boyd, twitpitch, twitter, web 2.0

I see a consistent theme coming up among service-based businesses and that's lack of clarity when it comes to "packaging" the company's offerings. While I understand many service clients need a customized solution, at times you need a menu to get people talking or thinking on the right track.

For example, instead of a web pages that touts how great your company is at "Public Relations" how about a list of some PR services your firm offers: media kit creation, editorial calendars, search-engine-optimized press releases, etc. Positioning your services this way forces you to really examine exactly what you do and how you do it so your messaging is bound to be more clear. And potential colleagues, peers and partners will understand exactly what your firm does.

Labels: messaging, positioning, public relations, services packaging

Promote your company's generosity. Many of our clients give time and money to charitable organizations. However, virtually none of them promote the fact. I'm not talking about a self-serving rant, but just letting the community and media aware of the campaign.

Our firm started a campaign to give a percentage of our profits to Kiva - a microloan organization. We issued a simple press release and the media pickup was amazing. We had 3-4 leads in just a few days after the announcement and it was a nice ice breaker with prospects. It also attracted a certain type of client - ones that have some of the same values as we do.

Labels: PR charitable campaigns, PR charity, public relations

How to Conduct a Great Media Interview

Public relations can be a powerful lead generation tool for many small to medium-sized Michigan businesses. A key part of PR is conducting efficient yet informative interviews with members of the media. Thanks to Jacquie Taylor the founder of onQ Consulting and the person who heads up Clarity Quest's Seattle office for putting this list together.

• If you're conducting an interview for a private company do not disclose revenue numbers unless there’s a internal agreement to do so and then sync up with CFO before disclosing to media. Don’t break the numbers down even if the interviewer asks - competitors will pick up and usually use against you.

• If you're speaking on behalf of a public compan refer only to info that is disclosed in financial statements.

• Remember, everything said can be used as a quote and reporters have the right to paraphrase.

• When talking about competition; take high road. Don’t go into comparisons of how you are better - focus on the value you bring to your customers/target market

• Put together key talking points before you meet with media and stick to it as much as possible.

• Anticipate key industry issues that the media may bring up and prepare comments ahead of time, if possible.
  
• Don't ask when the story will be published, unless you have an established rapport with the reporter.
  
• Return phone calls or emails from the editor or reporter very promptly, as he/she is usually on a tight deadline.
  

Labels: media interview tips, PR Michigan companies, public relations

Why Top Advertising Agencies Don't Eat Their Own Dogfood
The top 5 ad agencies know that public relations gets you more bang for the buck than advertising. Read the complete story on InternetWorldStats.

Labels: advertising agencies, public relations

Personalize Your PR

Many small companies miss out on the full potential of a press release by not sending the release directly to a targeted media list. Yes, wire services can be great in getting the message out to a large audience. However, you will get much better online and print media coverage if you email the release to selected editors and reporters in your field at the same time or even before you distribute the press release over a wire service.

Many reporters will accept a release with terms "under embargo" which means they will not print the story until the date you indicate. This way the reporter has time to prepare the story or conduct interviews in advance of the actual news coming out.

Labels: embargo press release, public relations

Press Release Wire Service Comparison

Which wire service is best for small business press release distribution? Like so many things in small business marketing, it depends. Here is my take on the top press release wire services and the best use for each.

1) PR Newswire - when I first started in PR, this was THE wire service and all we used. It's the oldest,largest, and most expensive newswire service. However, their delay in adopting new SEO technology was a big mistake. Also, the Account Managers assigned to us were not helpful and turned over frequently. We rarely use this service anymore unless it's a co-release with a large corporation that still uses this wire.
2) BusinessWire - the other Tier 1 wire service. BusinessWire is large but progressive. Through their partnership with PR Web, you can get one of the best deals on the Web. For $399 you get distribution on PR Web and BusinessWire's US 1 distribution. For B2B companies with the budget, we go directly to BusinessWire. For smaller B2B companies and startups, we use the BusinessWire package with PR Web.
3) PR Web - probably the most well-known online wire service, distributing over this wire gets you LOTS of links, although the quality is not always the best. We do get amazing results on this wire for special interest B2C press releases such as travel and tourism offers. They also have great offers every once in awhile like free Podcast interviews when they first introduced the Podcast service.
4) Marketwire - We tried Marketwire's SEO press release package last year. They have very competitive rates compared to PR Newswire and BusinessWire. While their SEO console is not as polished as PR Web's reports, we did get great media pickup on a local Michigan story. We recommend Marketwire for local market releases that need SEO on a budget. You can get Michigan-only wire coverage plus SEO features such as reporting and anchor text links for $150, significantly below PR Web's $249 entry-level SEO package. We also get great friendly support from our Account Rep.

Some PR companies are advocating releasing over multiple wire services. This choice is not an option for many small businesses on a tight marketing budget. My advice - try a different wire each time until you find the one that works best for your business or industry.

Copyright 2007, Clarity Quest Corp.

Labels: marketing, Michigan marketing, Michigan PR, public relations, wire services

Use Marketing for Sales not Egos

As a small company you have to make every dollar count. Before spending even a minimal amount of time or money on marketing ask yourself "Will this campaign add value to my company or it is a ego strut that makes me or my boss look good?"

Often clients come to us emphatic that they need public relations in order to get their name or face on the front page of newspaper or trade publications. When asked why, they often don't know.

If the campaign doesn't add value or address a certain marketing goal directly, don't do it.

Labels: marketing, public relations