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Sarah Palin - Heard of Her Lately? |
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Have you noticed Sarah Palin lately? How could you not! She seems to be everywhere - in the newspapers, in the tabloids, in the magazines, on TV - in the news, the talk shows, roasted on the late night comedy shows.
Wherever you look, there she is.
It's not an accident that suddenly Sarah Palin is everywhere - it's sheer PR genius really. Timed to coincide with the release of her book Going Rogue, the Palin parade is clearly a well timed and carefully orchestrated attempt to make sure that whoever you are, wherever you are - and whatever you think about Palin - you can hardly avoid knowing that she's just written a new book.
The blitz, the timing, the use of multiple media channels and the consistency in messaging are classic techniques in any PR campaign. Why? Because it works. Palin's publisher reports that Going Rogue: An American Life, sold 300,000 copies its first day out, according to the Associated Press. By way of comparison, Bill Clinton's My Life sold 400,000 copies on its release date in 2004 (Hillary's Living History sold 200,000 copies the previous year).
Clearly, planning pays. Taking the time to map out a careful strategy for any PR effort - whether launching a book by a major political celebrity, or announcing the opening of a new restaurant - requires more than simply generating a news release.
The next time you have something newsworthy to share - with a local, regional or national audience, take the time to step back and think strategically about how you can leverage all available communication tactics to really make an impact. Even a fraction of the success that Palin's PR efforts have generated would be well worth the effort.
For more information on how you can maximize the impact of your PR efforts: linda@stratcommunications.com. |
Free Online Press Release Distribution Services
I've been doing some research recently for clients on the overall and relative value of the wide variety of online press release distribution services. There are many - a few that I've been experimenting with include: www.prlog.com, www.freepressrelease.com, www.pr.com.
The key benefit with these services (as well as the paid services, IMO) is SEO - search engine optimization. The online distribution, if your release is peppered with the right search terms related to your web site, can help drive traffic to your site.
The value is not in generating media coverage of your business, product or service. For that, good old-fashioned relationship-building and pitching relevant topics to the right media outlets still works best - at least in my experience, and in the experience of dozens of other PR practitioners I've talked with.
As far as the effectiveness of these free distribution services in terms of driving traffic to a site, it's too early for me to draw any well-reasoned conclusions, but I have found that they're very easy to use. It took me about five minutes to post one news release - and about one minute to change the headline of that news release.
That experience itself was instructive. After I had posted and later checked back on the release I noticed it had zero - ZERO! - hits. A bad service? Not necessarily. In this case I felt the root cause might be a bad headline (yes, as much as I caution others on how they should use newsworthy rather than cutesy headlines, sometimes I fall prey to the same tendency myself). So, I changed the headline to be more specific and compelling (IMO) and literally immediately saw 11 hits. Interesting.
The value of those hits? Again, it's too early for me to judge. But I will offer another early observation - there are hundreds, perhaps thousands - of other news releases out there so the field of competition is stiff. But, the tried and true rules still apply:
- Know the audience you're targeting.
- Have something interesting and relevant - even compelling! - to say.
- Say it clearly, directly and with a minimum of hyperbole and sales-talk.
- KISS - Keep it short and simple - just the high points.
- And, of course, make sure your headline is clear and benefit-focused.
In terms of my research and exploration the jury is still out as they say. But, as they also say, you get what you pay for.
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No Cost/Low Cost Resources for Marketers |
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A friend and business colleague who was pulling together a list of resources for small businesspeople/entrepreneurs asked me recently if I had anything to add. I did - more than I thought I would actually. So, I decided to share my list here. This is literally just the tip of the iceberg - and a few resources that came immediately to mind. I'm sure there are others. If you have some that you turn to regularly, please feel free to share!
For now, here's my short list of places I turn to for information and inspiration:
- Association sites like www.iabc.org and www.prsa.org. While much of the information available is for members only, there are still helpful resources out there and you just might want to consider becoming a member.
- Informational sites like www.ragan.com, in my opinion one of the richest sources of information about all aspects of communication that's out on the web.
- Sites for journalists, PR people and, frankly, business people who want to get in on the inside track - like www.mediabistro.com and www.helpareporter.com.
- Online services that facilitate your emarketing efforts - like www.constantcontact.com (which I use to send this eletter) or www.surveymonkey.com and www.zoomerang.com (for doing surveys/polls) - not free, but definitely very reasonable.
- There are some good LinkedIn groups that target small businesses/entrepreneurs - some of the ones I'm in are: OnStartups - The Community for Entrepreneurs and The Blog Zone; I'm sure there are a lot of others.
- A broad range of business and marketing experts on Twitter that you can follow - some of my favorite are Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Mike Stelzner (white papers), Joel Comm and Ed Bennett.
- Some podcasts that might be of interest: Harvard Business Idea Cast, Internet Marketing Secrets, Today in Social Media (Clayton Morris' podcast).
What am I missing? Tell me at: linda@stratcommunications.com. | |
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Publicity Blunders - Don't Do this!
Businesses and business professionals looking for media coverage often make some unintentional missteps that can hinder their opportunities for success. For a FREE white paper on what NOT to do when looking for media coverage, email:
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