Tag Archives: pr

How To Blow Your Own Horn Via Online PR

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Ok.  This post is about press releases. It may be too wonkish for you and, if it is, move on.  But, before you go, you might at least want to look at these 2 links:

1.  Releases are well written: This link, several layers deep, tells you how to write something really of value to the user, so it gets her or  his attention.  Doesn’t necessarily have to be a press release.  Can also be a “white paper” on your site outlining the advantages or benefits it offers.  I’m planning to use this as a guide myself.

2. Integrated Twitter Option. Power user tip: PRWeb is releasing a “Tweet It” option for your press releases that will tweet your press release for you the second it goes live. Be sure to take advantage of this brand new feature. Twitter is awesome at spreading news in a viral fashion.

Now on to the meat of the matter. We’ve been stressing for a long time the importance of developing your own brand.  Brand You. And, short of dragging your mother to all your networking events, or having a blazer made out of testimonials for you…. I’m kidding…you are the only one you have to shout out your story.

So what’s one excellent way to do it.  I say this with the recognition that every now and then one has to pay for something to get it executed most effectively.   If you think you will never pay for a press release, under any circumstances, well then, there is always twitter. And also some free pr services, but you may not be exactly sure what you’ll get from those.  For now, let’s turn to Sugarrae aka Rae Hoffman in her PRWeb Review

“I’m often asked when I mention doing press releases for website promotion, branding and visibility what online press release distribution services I recommend, if any. The truth is that I’m a longtime user of PRWeb, have spent thousands of dollars running press releases with them and am pretty pleased with their services.

When I first started doing serious press releases several years back, I signed up with PRWeb – partially because they were very visible at industry conferences like PubCon and partially because they offered (and still do offer) a series of free webinars that explained how to use the service.

I was making the leap from being a small site affiliate to creating true affiliate brands and knew press releases had to be a part of my marketing strategy. With the roles of traffic and branding playing a larger and larger part in top search engine rankings, utilizing every opportunity you have to get publicity, including press releases, is becoming more of a necessity.

The PRWeb offerings

PRWeb has tried to simplify their offerings over the years to give you a choice between four main press release packages:

  • Standard Visibility aka the $80 level
  • Social Media Visibility aka the $140 level
  • SEO Visibility aka the $200 level
  • Media Visibility aka the $360 level

While the site touts tons of features for each, the main (read, important) differences aren’t that difficult to spot.

Standard Visibility ($80)

The cheapest of all the available options, standard visibility gets your release listed on the PRWeb network (which gets about 2-3 million unique visitors per month), in Google News and Yahoo News. Additionally, you’ll also get access to basic statistics about how “well” your release did such as headline impressions (cumulative, by week and by day), full page reads (cumulative, by week and by day) and the ability to compare the statistics of one (or more) press releases to another (useful in identifying the best days of the week to send out releases and which features help make your release more appealing).

Social Media Visibility ($140)

This option gets you everything included in the Standard Visibility package with a little increased distribution. Specifically, your release will be sent to an additional list of about 35,000 opt-in journalists, a “media digest” list (a list of about 4-500 regional reporters or 150-300 vertical reporters – your choice) and will also be distributed on the Pheedo network (which means your release will receive exposure on the relevant high profile sites in Pheedo’s network).

SEO Visibility ($200)

The “SEO Visibility” package, in my experience, is often the most misunderstood. PRWeb, along with every other known press release site, has long been treated differently by Google. The links from within your press release, with or without anchor text are not going to give you much (if any) “inbound link value” in the eyes of Google. Then why bother with the SEO Visibility package? A few reasons.

The SEO Visibility option comes with everything included in the Standard and Social Media Visibility options as well as distribution to an additional regional or vertical media digest list (for a total of two), inclusion with relevant premium vertical publishers (like Entrepreneur.com) and the ability to embed an image within your release.

In addition to that increased distribution, you can also specify anchor text for your links, keywords to include in the url of your release when published on PRWeb. If the links don’t “count” then why does either of these options matter? To begin with, at first glance, a press release looks much neater and more professional with “anchor text” vs. www.mydomain.com/the-long-ass-url-to-the-feature-were-announcing.html as the links to the features, people or products being announced.

Additionally, PRWeb has numerous distribution channels and should someone from those channels decide to publish your release on their own site, you’ll likely find more value in that re-published release linking to you with anchor text rather than long and ugly url strings.

Specifying keywords to use in the url of the release hosted on PRWeb will increase (however slightly) the chances that your release will rank well in the search engines based on the domain age, trust, branding and traffic of PRWeb.

Additionally, you also get access to additional statistics called “Search Engine Hits” (which is a bit misleading since it is actually search engine visits, not “hits” as traditional SEO folk would identify “hits”). You’ll get to see the percentage of total search engine traffic each of the major engines sent to your release (Google News, Google, Yahoo, MSN and “other”) as well as the top 20 keywords that drove that traffic. Unfortunately, while they show you the % of traffic each engine sent, they don’t show an aggregate number of “total search engine visits”, which PRWeb says they’re working on providing.

Media Visibility ($360)

This package includes everything in the three previous packages, but with some additional “heavy artillery” distribution via the Associated Press and by having your release sent to a distribution list that includes the top newspaper in 100 designated marketing areas (DMA). It also includes the ability to include video with your release, access to additional geographical statistics (which is essentially a Google maps mashup showing you the location of people who have read your release) and the ability to export all of your statistics (you can find an example export here).

What to watch out for

PRWeb makes it incredibly easy to get your release in front of the right people (your release will need to do the rest) but it does have a few caveats you should be aware of.

Linking limitations

Links, even with the SEO Visibility package are limited to 1 per 100 words. PRWeb’s reasoning is that Google News seems to prefer this ratio and anything above it risks the release not being included in Google News. Since press releases traditionally are supposed to be short and to the point, you might find you quickly run out of links and are then editing your release to bulk it up to get another link or two in. However, note that if you contact PRWeb and explain you’ll take the risk of not being included in Google news, they will allow your release to go through providing the number of links isn’t excessive (aka obvious spam).

RSS groupings

PRWeb has the ability to group your releases, which is especially useful for those submitting releases on behalf of clients. However, note that underneath each release published is a section called “Other releases by the member” where other releases in the same grouping appear. So if you don’t want sites connected publicly, be sure not to connect them in your account by putting them in the same RSS grouping.

Editorial Scores

PRWeb doesn’t give much information about how it doles out editorial scores, only that each release receives a score of 1-5 (with 5 being the best) and that an editorial score of 4 or higher is required for your release to be distributed to Topix, Yahoo News and eMediaWire. If you get a score below a 4, you’ll want to edit and improve your release and submit it for another review to ensure maximum exposure. That said, I’ve never really had a problem getting an editorial score of four or above.

Three power user tips

  • PRWeb is releasing a “Tweet It” option for your press releases that will tweet your press release for you the second it goes live. Be sure to take advantage of this brand new feature. Twitter is awesome at spreading news in a viral fashion.
  • Press releases are listed on PRWeb based on who paid the most. You can buy additional “stars” above the four packages listed to show higher than other folks if you’d like. Whatever package you buy, you might want to consider paying a few dollars above the package price. So, if you buy the 200 dollar package, pay 203 dollars. This will bump you above all other press releases who only paid the 200 dollar base price without you having to buy another entire star for 40 dollars.
  • If you’re interested in trying out PRWeb, I’d suggest signing up for an account and then attending their free daily webinars as soon as possible before spending any actual money submitting a release.

My experience

As I mentioned, I’ve been using PRWeb with success for a few years now. Our releases are well written (we do them in house) and always submitted at the 200 dollar (SEO Visibility level) though I admit I didn’t realize everything that came with the Media Visibility package until I did this review and will likely use that level for our next “big” announcement.

The statistics of our last five releases published are as follows with the most recently released press release listed first:

(impressions/reads/email forwards/prints/pdf)

  • 116561/1990/0/17/0
  • 146304/2229/0/17/40
  • 107428/1542/0/14/40
  • 128481/1824/0/15/26
  • 98241/2122/0/9/27

Our releases all have gotten us several links a piece and we also have three business deals that have been very good for our sites that came from releases we’ve issued putting us on that company’s radar in the first place. Press releases, and PRWeb as a distribution method, have earned their spot in our marketing budget.”

For more great stuff, go to  Sugarrae online marketing blog, home to online marketing consultant Rae Hoffman.

Do you have marketing and pr tips of your own?  Let us know.  We’d love to hear from you.

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Infiltrate The Media To Draw Attention To Your Business

If you’re not a super star or a celebrity, or even a leader in your field….yet….then you may have to be a bit inventive and persistent to get your business noticed and mentioned by the mainstream media.

If you’re at, or near, the beginning of that long and winding road of getting yourself noticed in order to boost your business, here are a few tips that can really help you, I think.

First, the media and the reporters in it may not know who you are but they won’t care if you can help them.  Get it?  It’s part of that “What’s in it for me?” syndrome. What’s in it for them, is that they can get the information and background resources and quotes they need for an article.  What’s in it for you, is that you get your name and the name of your business mentioned, and that you are positioning yourself as an expert on your subject.  That can go a long way.  In fact, it is a ride you can take all the way to the top.

Pamela Slim in her blog, Escape From Cubicle Nation writes on this in Eight ways to get media exposure to boost your business although I’ve only picked two to talk about.  (You can go to her blog to see the rest, if you like.) Pamela  cautions: “Always respond to queries exactly as asked.  If you see a general query which asks you to include a specific email header, do that.  If not, it will probably mean that your response will not be seen, since the journalist may have email filters to sort queries. ”

So this is Pam’s take, and I agree that both of these are terrific ideas:

  • “Be a resource to your circle of clients and partners.  One of the best moves I have made is to join Help a Reporter Out (HARO), a three-times-a-day listing of press queries run by the indefatigable Peter Shankman.  I scour it religiously each time it hits my email box, respond to queries that relate to my expertise right away, and forward on those that fit friends and colleagues as well.  Some of my friends and clients have gotten press as a result which is a totally fantastic thing.  A rising tide floats all boats, and this definitely applies to your network.  Joan Stewart of The Publicity Hound also has good tips.”

There is a similar new service,  @micropr on Twitter, designed to leverage Twitter for PR professionals and journalists,  enabling journalists to communicate directly with communicators to get help with stories, share

Twitter PR Strategy
Image by ogilvyprworldwide via Flickr

pitching preferences, announce coverage changes, or solicit entries for awards and similar events. The difference between this and already popular HARO, which comes out 3 times daily is that the new @micropr is almost in real time and uses the explosively popular Twitter platform. No harm in using both.

  • “Set up a system to make it easy to respond to press queries.  I have an email template that includes a brief bio, a link to my press page, and contact information.  That way when I see a specific query, I don’t have to type in all that new information each time. In the lucky case that you are asked to provide a photo, have a good one handy on your desktop to send to reporters (I recommend both a high resolution image for print and a low resolution image for online).”

In fact the more you can get, not just your publicity, but your whole business on a system, the better off you will be.  Then you can save much of your time for the big things: the big problem, the big new presentation, the big new customer, and, with a lot of work and perseverance, the big new bank account

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Manage the Media: Blow Your Own Horn, Project Your Achievements

As a woman moves up the ladder, she can and should gain media attention—and it’s her responsibility to see that it’s positive. Media is an extension of communication; it’s critical in shaping the public’s attitudes. Women’s achievements are woefully underreported, and when women are spotlighted, it is often in a stereotypical way—as a geisha, homemaker, little helper, floozy, vamp, dominatrix, witch, or male clone. Although a few women manage to deal with the media and their image in it with ease and flair, others find their relationship with the media a daunting challenge, although ultimately winnable. As women aim higher, the roadblocks become higher and more hazardous, and the scrutiny usually becomes brutal.

  • Shape and control your image and put it out there for the media; don’t let the media do it for you. Carly Fiorina told an aide: ‘When you’re starting a revolution, the first thing you do is seize control of the airwaves.” Upon arriving at HP, she immediately did so, and she crafted her message on the company web site, in speeches, white-board presentations, mass e-mails, and in the HP in-house publication. In fact, she was catapulted to national prominence and became the center of a head-hunting frenzy because of a single Fortune magazine article (in 1998), which captured her pithy aphorisms, pegged her as “The Most Powerful Woman in America,” and defined her as “at the center of the ongoing technology revolution that’s changing how we live and work.” No doubt Fiorina suggested this to her interviewer, which is a perfectly legitimate approach to establishing your own image in the media.
  • Develop your own signature style, hone your image, and gather support. For example, the author has always picked new frontiers, fed a hungry press, and defined the benefits of the work I was doing. I also developed an upscale, innovative style that carried through, from eye-catching brochures and invitations to large and glamorous opening parties: for example, to promote my vineyards, I had a white-tablecloth catered dinner on a West Texas mountainside, with a symphony orchestra playing, and private planes ferrying in high-profile movers and shakers in state politics.
  • Leverage high-profile events and call press conferences to put your spin on any event in an arena where you have expertise. Gloria Allred, a women’s rights and employment discrimination attorney (who represented Amber Frey in the Scott Peterson case), maintains consistent high visibility. Ms. Allred is particularly outraged by Michael Jackson and frequently calls press conferences to tear into him—which simultaneously raises her profile.
  • Keep in mind that a sense of humor helps deflect criticism—and that the media finds reporting it irresistible. Hillary Clinton (who has been through many many struggles over her presentation in the media) exemplifies the challenge to get it right. After being elected New York Senator, she stood at the podium to thank her supporters and said: “62 counties, 16 months, 3 debates, 2 opponents, and 6 black pantsuits later, because of you, we are here!” She did whatever she had to, to get her message out and her ideas across—and she won that election.
  • Don’t let the media trivialize you by talking about your recipes, your hobbies, or your cat. When former Texas Governor Ann Richards was photographed by Annie Liebovitz for a magazine spread, the media wanted to characterize her as a grandmother and motorcycle rider, as well as the former governor of Texas. “Absolutely not,” Richards responded. “I don’t know why we [women] continue to trivialize ourselves.”
  • Don’t let the media use your husband or family against you. Put your own positive spin on it. Women who seek to run for public office are often trivialized in ways sometimes condensed and characterized as “the three H’s: hair, hemlines, and husbands.” Consider the example of Barbara Lee, a Cambridge philanthropist who established The Barbara Lee Family foundation to help move women into elective office. She has raised funds for Hillary Clinton, and she launched an initiative to reach and encourage the vote of the 22 million single women who did not vote (and 16 million of those had not even registered to do so!).

She also mounted the Revolutionary Women Boston 2004, a program to help women as candidates, activists, and voters during the Democratic National Convention in Boston,with the battle cry, “Engage, Mobilize, Empower, Elect.” For this event, Lee gathered such speakers as Senator Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Sheriff Andrea Cabral of Suffolk County, Mass. (the first African-American female sheriff in Massachusetts). In discussing the 3 H’s, she says the final “h” can be particularly prickly : “If you have a husband, they think you’re neglecting him. If you don’t have one, they wonder why. If you’re divorced, they say you drove him away. And if you’re a widow, you probably killed him.”

Senator Patty Murray also turns the family issue (which is frequently a liability) into a virtue: “Mothers can be politicians too,” she declares, running as “a mom in tennis shoes.” And Barbara Boxer deflects the issue with humor: “My husband thought he married Debbie Reynolds, and he woke up with Eleanor Roosevelt.”