The Future of Public Relations and Social Media This series is supported by Gist. Gist provides a full view of the contacts in your professional network by creating a rich business profile for each one that includes the most news, status updates, and work details. See how it works here. Public relations specialists were some of the first people to embrace the power of social media, and as a result they are often the ones leading the way in the social space, whether they are consulting with clients from an agency point of view or strategizing on an in-house PR team. In the past decade, the Internet has had a huge impact on how PR professionals function. The Future of the Press Release The first press release was created during the fall of 1906 by Ivy Lee, known by some as the founder of modern public relations. During the past few years, we've witnessed a shift towards what some are calling the "social media release." "While I don't believe the press release is dead, it has been transformed, to become this living, breathing thing.
Speak Media Blog: A Very Bad PR Pitch - What Not To Do When Pitching Media PR 2.0 Checklist I’ve mentioned before that I’m a huge fan of National Public Radio (NPR). I listen to “The Takeaway” and “Morning Edition” every day driving to work. NPR keeps me company as I sit in traffic for over an hour driving up the Garden State Parkway. I heard a great segment the other morning. The radio interview continued with the discussion of how the checklist of questions, or things that you need to do, can prevent emergency situations. This PR 2.0 checklist is a working document and will grow over time. Hopefully, this checklist will help you prior to the start of your PR 2.0 initiative. Required Reading for PR Professionals Valerie Simon As interns head into the office for the first time this fall, eager to make a good impression and begin a successful career, wouldn’t it be nice to be given a reading list…a list of books that hold the secrets and lessons to give you that extra advantage? I decided to ask a few leaders in the PR industry, “Is there a book you’d consider ‘required reading’? Beyond How-to and PR 2.0“I think better than any how-to or PR 2.0 book are business bios that inspire,(e.g., Howard Schulz, J. Good for All LevelsStephanie Smirnov, president, Devries PR suggests “Making News in the Digital Era” by David Henderson. Global Clientele and Mega TrendsAlex Aizenberg , group manager, Weber Shandwick: “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” and “The World Is Flat” both by Tom Friedman. Must ReadsRichard Laermer, founder and CEO, RLM Public Relations: “Elements of Style” by E.B. As for my suggestions? “Good to Great” by Jim Collins.
5 Dos & Donts For Getting Blog Coverage | Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends As a small business owner, you know the importance of blogging. You also know how important it is to get coverage from other blogs. But getting blog coverage means knowing how to pitch. As a blogger and a SMB business owner, I’m constantly getting and sending out pitches. Know Who To Contact: Businesses quickly get in trouble when they create a rudimentary press list and then mass email everyone on it. Be insulting: Don’t tell me (or anyone else) how ‘widely read’ or popular my blog is. Pitching bloggers and media outlet is an important marketing strategy for getting coverage.
Best Social PR Guides and Tips of 2010 So Far September 1, 2010 Social media has fundamentally altered the practice of public relations. And as any blogger can tell you, PR pros understand this, as witnessed by the incredible increase in blogger outreach “pitches” from corporate PR departments and firms over the past two years. Of course, there’s more to (successful) blogger outreach than just pitching, and there’s more to the new practice of social PR than just blogger outreach. Will Traditional, Social Media Blend? Writing that “The most productive PR path…is a blended approach to social and traditional media,” Len Stein offers a quick but valuable process for obtaining and promoting old and new media coverage using multiple tools like social bookmarking sites, internal company distribution, your own website, marketing emails and more. Pros & Cons of Applying Social Media to Traditional PR Campaigns by Howell Marketing Strategies How Is PR Changing? Trail of Breadcrumbs by PR-Squared How to Reach Out to Bloggers by Chris Brogan
When Clients Want “The Truth” What do you do when a client wants “the truth?” What do you do when the client wants to know what you really think about how their in-house PR manager is doing, or howcum their story isn’t getting more ink, or whether their strategy is off-kilter? You wouldn’t think “the Truth” could be such a sticky issue, but it certainly can be, due to the lopsided nature of the relationship. Truth exists only when there is some level of equality. If the PR pro’s mortgage payment depends on the client’s happiness, they won’t tell the client a truth that will make them unhappy. Ultimately this means that the client’s program will go off the rails, and the PR pro will get blamed for it. When the client asks for the Truth, tell the truth. It’s better to say to the client, “We have had some difficult moments with your PR manager recently. The clients pay the PR agency not just for “ink” but for the benefit of that agency’s experience — including the foul-ups we’ve witnessed or caused!
Publicity Is Not PR. PR Is Not Publicity. If you don’t know Sasha Muradali, go on over to her blog, Little Pink Book PR. That is where this post first was published and it came to life because we are both huge Mad Men fans. If you already read it there, by all means, ignore me today. If you didn’t read it on Sasha’s blog, welcome to my obsession of Mad Men. While, I love the series, the first episode of this season really rubbed me the wrong way. If you are, however, caught up and saw the first show of this season, you’ll remember Pete fretting to Peggy about losing the Sugarberry Ham account. Peggy suggests they hire actresses to fight over a ham in the grocery store, in order to create a sense of urgency to buy one. Pete, liking the idea of generating news coverage from the “event,” dismally proclaims that publicity stunts aren’t billable. However, he reluctantly agrees to go ahead with the stunt only to be pleasantly surprised when Sugarberry Ham sales are up…though not even the client knows the reason. Publicity is not PR. “OH!
Communications/Public Relations HOW TO: Effectively Pitch Bloggers This week, I’m presenting at a local conference on blogger relations, which has me thinking about what separates the “good” blogger relations from the bad. We’ve all heard that relationships matter, right? But, it’s not always realistic to think we can build a solid relationship with every blogger (or traditional journalist, for that matter) before the pitch. Especially if you work in an agency environment, with clients in multiple industries. So, what’s the secret to effective blogger outreach? Not too long ago, a blogger emailed this to me after receiving my pitch: I really appreciate you taking the time to know a little bit about me before you emailed me. Personalization. In the Anatomy of a Great PR Pitch, Geoff Livingston shared a pitch he recently received. Need more evidence that it’s the personalization – not a pre-existing relationship – that really matters? Liz and Kairi also use the word “share,” which is more friendly and helps build that relationship. Share on Tumblr
30 Minute PR » Blog Archive » The 4 Pillars of The New PR PR has evolved. Even to the point it is now more relevant and more public than ever. New PR offers far more publicity opportunities than old PR ever did, especially for those who are not marketing experts. In the past, the media, as gatekeepers, deemed who received exposure and who didn’t. For that reason, I present “The 4 Pillars of the New PR.” New PR Pillar #1: Strategy Strategy is “the what” and tactics are “the how.” For example, what values does you product, service or company represent? New PR Pillar #2: Story The most glaring mistake I see again and again is announcement-driven messaging rather than story-driven content. To overcome that challenge, consider developing a “Persona” and weave that through ALL of your marketing, not just your articles and press releases. A Persona is a role or character you create for yourself. I’ve identified 17 distinct Personas that are effective for publicity purposes. New PR Pillar #3: Search 4 best practices for optimizing your PR for search: Social
20 Tips for Pitching Bloggers Marketers, PR people, artists, even other bloggers want what they are doing to be written about on blogs. This doesn’t always play well with the fact that bloggers are an independent bunch and love to come up with posts entirely on their own. But, that’s not to say they aren’t influenced by what is happening around them. Bloggers are always consciously and unconsciously seeking ideas to write on that will generate conversation, be compelling to subscribers and bring new readers. So to get virtual ink on a blog for something, you do need to be somewhat visible. Fair warning before I go into this – not all bloggers even want to be pitched by anyone (including other bloggers). Building on what I’ve already written about internet marketing and public relations, I thought I’d offer 20 tips on pitching bloggers: 1) Offer a freebie Bloggers love the freebie, especially if it is something that fits within their niche (or is something you can tie to their niche). Creating Buzz Online: A Short Guide
PR Tools That Don't Rhyme with Focus or Vision I’ve used products from Vocus, Cision, BurrellesLuce, PRNewswire, BusinessWire and Marketwire in the past, and they’ve all helped me get my work done faster and deliver stronger results for clients. There are also a wide-range of free products out there (HARO comes to mind) that deliver tremendous value to PR pros. Despite the popularity of HARO, I still regularly come across PR pros who’ve never heard of it. This got me thinking… what other PR tools are out there that people have never heard of? Here are some alternatives I uncovered; let me know if you have any additions to the list: Media Relations MediaSync: mBLAST just launched a FREE media list service called MediaSync. Speaking & Awards It’s challenging to keep up with all the speaking and awards opportunities out there. AwardSync – AwardsSync is a FREE database of awards opportunities. I know there are a lot of other PR products and services out there that I probably missed.
How to Make the Most of Your Public Relations Firm Even if you hire the best public relations firm in the world, the investment is useless if you don't know how to work with the agency. There are plenty of ways to torpedo your own investment: By withholding information from your PR agents, not having information on hand, and being unprepared to speak to the reporters when media opportunities come along. According to several public relations experts, if your relationship with your publicity team is dishonest or distrustful, you might as well not hire a team at all. To make sure you aren't sabotaging your own efforts to get your company's name out and your brand recognized, experts offer these tips to getting the most out of your firm. Making the Most of Your PR Firm: Focus on Communications As with any relationship, the key to having a strong rapport with an agency is maintaining a good channel of communication. That means letting the team into the inner circle of your company. Why share everything?