McKerns Development Press and PR
Strategic Press PR Marketing and Business Development
How to Build a PR Campaign
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Building an effective PR media campaign takes persistence, patience and practice. Most small to mid-sized firms will not have an in-house person committed to a strategic PR effort.
What is Strategic Public Relations?
It is a dedicated effort to align company goals, products and services with the needs of their customer. It is both about perception and the delivery on that perception. Strategic public relations crosses many channels; it includes positively influencing the media and encouraging the public to have and report a positive experience to others. Strategic public relations works hand in hand with marketing and branding efforts, and therefore your strategic public relations expert will either be working with others on a team, or will be incorporating those elements in what they do.
Building an Effective Public Relations Campaign
Any firm has two main options for building an effective PR media campaign: outsourcing the work to a PR professional or getting a partner or other top executive to assume these duties.
Once you have selected the method that is right for your firm, this is how to get started with building an effective PR media campaign.
1. Create a graphic template for all your press releases. Include immediate contact information.
2. Write a descriptive one to two paragraph blurb about your firm and include it at the end of all your press. Include both your website URL address and blog address (if you have one; and if you do not, have you considered it?)
3. Assign a media contact person to be a spokesperson for your firm. This person is well spoken, knows up to date company information (is in the loop), and is authorized to speak to the media on your behalf.
4. Add a PR brainstorming session to each staff meeting and regularly field potential topics for coverage, and make it known that you expect contributions.
5. Identify ten publications you would like to reach; make contact lists; read the issues and editorial calendars. Establish a clip file of articles of interest and circulate it within your firm.
6. Define six projects or product or service offerings that define the work and services of your firm. Print out a contact sheet on each and circulate it asking for one or two bullet points as to why the project or product was a success; what was noteworthy about the project and the quantifiable results. Did you save money, establish new procedures, solve problems, use interesting, new materials, procedures or eco-friendly and sustainable products?
7. Define four to six categories and keep lists of projects and product/service offerings by type. Use project sheets as backup information for the media and as ready resource packets for interested parties.
8. Set up a case study format. Turn your key projects or offerings into case studies: show what the issue or goal was, how you solved it and what was noteworthy about your services (such as dollars/time saved, issues solved, etc.).
9. Define two leaders in your firm with expertise of interest to your profession. Format short relevant bios, define their projects and expertise in bullet points, collect one or twopull out quotes from each person.
10. Create two White Papers. White papers are focused reports on a topic, and must be highly readable and easily reproduced. Each white paper should clearly establish your credibility and expertise about an issue or topic.
11. Create a media packet--design a cover and consistent content including: About the Firm, bios of key leaders, press releases and articles, and a list of available documents, project sheets and white papers. Add social media details: videos, links to photos, source files for photos and research around issues.
12. Make your bios and firm information downloadable from your website.
13. Identify four annual events where your firm will have a presence--select one tradeshow, one community event, one charity event and one special industry event. Put this on your calendar and create a timeline of press releases that will go out before and after each event.
14. Post news to your website on a regular basis. Create a virtual newsroom and make pdf files downloadable.
15. Conduct bi-annual industry surveys and post the results on your website. Announce the taking of the poll before and the results after.
16. Host a virtual roundtable discussion and post the Q & A session. Announce the roundtable topic before and the results after the discussion. A roundtable can be of in-house experts or experts in your industry that you invite to contribute.
17. Write and post articles online to your website and to distribution sites.
18. Include your press releases in your direct mail to potential clients, provide a link to the site where you have them posted.
19. Use your Press releases as leave behind pieces on sales calls. Include company contacts at beginning, and About the Company at the end.
20. Reformat news release content for newsletters and make them available in print and online. Test print version against all photo version as many devices protect privacy and routinely block photos from downloading.
An often repeated mistake by many firms is to assign the task of Strategic Public Relations to an already overburdened in house marketing professional or other staff member who will most likely resist (openly or not). An equally deadly PR mistake is to assume that the media will simply find you based upon your work.
Follow these twenty methods to get a media campaign established and track the results. With a consistent effort a firm will reap the results of a strategic PR and media campaign.
Tags: media campaign, PR campaign, strategic PR, strategic public relations, media relations, how to build a PR campaign, how to use public relations, building a media campaign
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Four Major Tactics for Business Lead Generation
Part Two
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One of the biggest areas of concern for any business is lead generation; yet this is often an area that is neglected when business is good, and under approached when business slows. Using online methods for lead generation may feel strange to those unaccustomed to it – but what you are doing is engaging your audience, claiming leadership in your area of expertise and using online tactics to make the frequent contact it takes before consumers will convert to a lead. Part Two of the 4 major tactics for business lead generation:
Establish Online Lead Generation methods:
1. Use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to bring leads to you. The best leads are those that show curiosity if not outright interest. SEO methods mean that when searching, your site and pages should be offered up more frequently, and in the first page of results. Don’t use black hat methods.
2. Demonstrate and engage using use video, audio. We have become a nation of visual learners.
3. Extend learning with complimentary webcasts, webinars. Establish information leadership and people will return to your site for more.
4. Post polls and questions on your website and allow viewers to see the responses as they happen. Consumers want to have their say
and be counted – let them.
5. Create an online newsletter with permission based subscription. Show sample publications to overcome reluctance to sign up. Reassure subscribers that their information will not be used or shared for any other purpose.
6. Invest time and creativity in a business blog and blog about topics in your profession, (not about your company or its specific services).
7. Submit your blog to directories. There are many – find ones that specialize in business and your area of expertise.
8. Post frequently, and ping blog directories when content changes. (Ping-o-matic and others). Posting frequently at the same rate (daily, every other day) will meet expectations and keep them engaged.
9. Add a forum to your blog to encourage interaction. Ask a question on your blog and allow readers to discuss and answer on your forum.
10. Add a subscription option to your blog.
11. Add social bookmarking tools and an RSS feed, so that readers come back.
12. Publish videos on your site and on YouTube with the URL for your site at the beginning and the end. You can also use video from within your blog.
13. Turn your best blogposts into articles, post them on your website and 2 days later, post them on the internet.
14. Leave relevant and useful comments on blogs of others. Sign in and provide your contact information and URL. Readers will track back to you if your comments are helpful, interesting or move the topic in a meaningful way.
15. Use your URL signature of your website and blog in all your communications including e-mails.
16. Use Analytics for Lead Generation: There are many programs, tools and methods to gather customize, and analyze who is coming to your website, how long they stay there, what they look at, how they arrived there (search, referral, direct). Google Analytics is one – there are many.
17. Use this information for lead generation. In search, list keywords that brought them to your site. Establish a baseline for keywords you want associated with your firm and what you do.
18. Work backwards to make sure there is fresh keyword rich content on your site to continue to pull in leads. In the referral leads category, list what the referral was and the reason they referred the visitor to your site – are you listed as a source in someone’s newsletter? Are you on someone’s blogroll? Did you comment on a forum related to your niche and someone followed you back to your site?
19. Analyze and utilize what you learn; expand what works into a formal lead generation program.
Warm up a potential leads by attracting them to your website and then nurturing their interest once they are there. Entice them with a white paper, a video, a newsletter, an article and your blog. A company blog is a way to establish a human and interesting face to your business.
Tags: online lead generation, lead generation methods, business leads, promoting your business, business development, how to establish a lead generation program,
Reach us at: www.mckernsdevelopment.com
4 Major Tactics for Business Lead Generation
Part One
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One of the biggest areas of concern for any business is lead generation; yet this is often an area that is neglected when business is good, and under approached when business slows. Any business must be constantly filling the pipeline with new leads in order to generate new business. Which are you?
B2B (business to business) – Businesses selling products and services to other businesses rather than to consumers. B2C (business to consumer) – Businesses selling products and services, including financial, directly to consumers or customers.
While both of these terms, B2B and B2C, were traditionally thought of as related to internet or online marketing, they are now often used to differentiate companies and their target audience or markets. In lead generation you will be reaching out either to other businesses or you will be reaching out to consumers directly.
Here is Part One of the 4 major strategic tactics for lead generation that should be used by B2B and B2C companies both offline and online.
1. Practice Strategic Lead Generation: (B2B company): Identify Industry trends. Then establish geographical boundaries, key projects, future projects, major initiatives (what firms will be concentrating on), companies in a growth mode, key industry players, company names, addresses, email and other contact information. Our company, McKerns Development, offers a strategic marketing report, MarketWatch, identifying custom lead information such as this for our clients. You can do the same.
2. Establish Offline Lead Generation methods - (Both B2B and B2C): lead generation includes the use of public relations, print/media relations, press releases, advertising and cross or fusion marketing, niche targeting, cross-targeting (people who do this, also do this), trend spotting, microtargeting, branding, brand extension research, research and testing, street teams, word of mouth marketing, newsletters, direct mail, referrals, networking, joint venturing, speaking engagements, teaching, workshops, seminars, mini-clinics, community relations, charitable or other sponsorship, social groups, business groups, professional groups, community groups, testimonials, events, tradeshow marketing, awards, open houses, seasonal and special event participation, special promotions, contests, radio/tv appearances, books, articles, industry reports, whitepapers, tip sheets, how to series.
Business leaders establish direction in locating quality leads and in finding the best way to approach these leads.
Apply a strategic approach to how you will make contact once you do establish a lead. What will you send them? What will you offer them? How will you make your company, services, products and offers relevant to their needs?
A warm approach is always better than a cold one. Can you warm them up through an introduction? Is there anyone you know that knows or does business with this company or person? Remember to practice best networking etiquette – always offer to do the same, and be a referral for those in your network.
Part Two of this series, 4 Major Tactics for Business Lead Generation both Online and Offline – Part Two will appear in the next post.
Tags: lead generation, business leads, promoting your business, business development, how to establish a lead generation program, lead generation methods, online lead generation, offline lead generation, B2b lead generation, B2C lead generation
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What’s Wrong with Your Marketing? Ask a PR Strategist
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When you want to know what is wrong with your marketing, ask a PR Strategist. After all, the role of a PR strategist is to align your goals with public perception.
Take news media for example. The current trend in newspapers is to save money by slashing staff in the editorial department – you know the folks that write all the news (the reason you buy and read the paper). The trend is to go to a 50/50 mix of advertising to editorial.
What’s wrong with that? A Strategic PR Strategist would tell you –Your goals are to serve as a primary news outlet. Eliminating news content is counterproductive to your goals and to the public perception of your organization.
A better strategy might be to aim to beat the overnight TV news by researching and writing about news stories first (so we don’t read the same stories we saw on CNN all night). And to write about stories you don’t see anywhere else. And to cultivate more, superior and diverse content by hiring talented freelancers, guest columnists and contributors (paid and unpaid). And keep a seasoned editorial staff onboard at the paper to oversee and direct these efforts.
About the 50/50% ad mix? People avoid being blatantly marketed to – so if a publication is mostly intrusive advertising, it will hasten a publication’s demise. The trend in advertising is not dinosaur-bludgeoning the audience, but in finding relevant ways to reach a receptive audience. I’d recommend setting standards. The circus-like mix of full and half page (are they giving this size away these days?) ads with screaming Crazy Eddie typefaces and design does nothing to align your goals with public perception – that you are a serious news source.
I’d add a focus – concentrate on superior offline content and integrate the internet and electronic media by offering your audience online story extensions, sharing and interactions, and offering up relevant advertising based upon content and topic.
How about your goals? Are your marketing efforts aligned with your goals and public perception? Ask your PR Strategist.
Tags: strategic public relation, Strategic PR, aligning marketing goals with public perception, marketing and PR, advertising and marketing, pr, marketing and goal setting
Reach us at: www.mckernsdevelopment.com
Strategic Marketing – Is The Old Way of Marketing Down for the Count?
There’s a new way of marketing and the old one is down for the count. In Marketing and Advertising there’s the message and there’s the way of delivering it. One hasn’t changed; the other needs to.
Marketing messages in the 50’s and 60’s, were based upon one of nine approaches:
1. Slice of Life: (“We’re here in New Orleans, at the home of one of the world’s best restaurants, where without telling them, we’ve switched diners’ rich traditional brewed coffee with instant. Will they be able to tell?”)
2. Humor: (“I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!”)
3. Authoritative: (“Three out of four dentists will tell you…”)
4. Fun: (“Double your pleasure; double your fun with DoubleMint gum.”)
5. Durability: (It takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’)
6. Aspirational. You want what they have. You want to be like/with them.
7. Dire Warning.
8. Health Benefit or Function gain.
9. Celebrity Endorsements: (“See the USA in your Chevrolet”) or Character Mascots: (“Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids.”)
These nine (9) marketing approaches are still the top nine modern commercial or marketing messages. But, things do change.
The old way of marketing delivery involves interrupting people when they are doing something, and then distracting them or forcing them into paying attention to your message. Intrusive (or interruptive) marketing. Modern attempts at Intrusive Marketing simply spawn new ways of avoidance:
Commercial Overload - 6-8 commercials per ½ hour TV show? = First the remote, then TiVo and DVR) Or worse, no TV.
Interruptive calling by telemarketers=No Call lists;
Unsolicited e-mail =Can SPAM act;
Internet popups = Popup blockers.
Talk to your strategic PR, marketing and advertising teams about your product – ask how you can use:
Brand evangelism; social media, social networks
New interactive platforms – blogging, Forums, Groups, Twitter
Brand sharing and interactivity (cross promotions, events, word of mouth)
Brand extension (games, clothing, merchandise)
Brand connectivity and product and brand placement
Brand as entertainment (TV, downloads/music; online video, clip previews and sharing, character and plot insight and background.)
Microtargeting – and more.
The old way of marketing? The old way of marketing is not just bruised; it’s down for the count. The new way of marketing has everything to do with studying what folks are actually doing – and then figuring out how what you do, want to do, or what you offer, fits into that.
Tags: marketing trends, the new way of marketing, microtargeting, brand as entertainment, strategic PR, marketing, advertising
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Strategic Public Relations: Are PR Pitches Ironic Fairy Tales or News?
In Strategic Public relations, are PR pitches merely ironic fairy tales or news?
In PR Fairy Tales – Pitches Disguised as Children’s Books (Inc., June 2008), columnist, April Joyner reports on a mini-trend in the world of public relations: “companies replacing their run of the mill press releases with promotional materials that look and feel like children’s books.” www.inc.com
That’s just what Microsoft did with their Windows Home Server release: Mommy, Why is There a Server the House? Joyner reports that the ironic mini book garnered enthusiastic reader reviews on Amazon. In fact, Joyner says that if there is a big disconnect between children’s themes and the actual product being sold – so much the better.
I’m wondering if the media is really embracing exchanging “run of the mill” press releases for message themed promotional goods? If so, I’m ready to roll up my sleeves. PR people are very creative.
Tags: press release, PR message, promotional materials, trends in public relations
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Marketing and Public Relations: This Just In – Business Trends from the Real World
I read a lot of media. Yesterday I set out to view the business world from another perspective – the real world. And, what better way to spot business trends than from the trenches of shopping and lunch? Here are some notes – crisp, sour and cool:
Succession Planning and the Brand: If you spend 45 years or even 10 years building and nurturing your brand make sure you have thought of succession planning. Seems the heirs of our favorite boutique sold the business once the founder died. We’re told that the brand boutique will reopen in a new space, with a new name, and different merchandise. (Yup – the brand is gone.) A brand might survive with one change, done carefully and strategically, but all three?
Personal Security: Officers zipping around on Segway’s. These upright, personal transport scooters stop, start and turn on a dime. These upright transport pods made me long to hug one and call it my own. www.segway.com
In Store Product Showcase: Best Business to be in seems to be designer handbags. Kate Spade, Furla, Tory Burch, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Marc Jacobs and more all had their own real estate. No bag touching another brand’s bag here.
Shoes? Not so much. Sex and the City emphasis on strappy sandals aside, shoes seem relegated to the sale racks. Must be the pain factor.
Comfort and the See and Be Seen: Upscale retailers have again transformed their wide indoor traffic paths with comfortable seating, complete with club chairs and coffee bars. The ages mingle and chat, while waiting for another go.
Acoustics: A great meet and mingle restaurant has to have great surroundings, accessibility (can’t walk for miles carrying shopping bags), and one thing most often forgotten: acoustics. We have to be able to hear one another. We found a lunch place like that, Cheesecake Factory’s well heeled sister, Grand Luxe Café. Mmn. Mohair banquets, gorgeous ceilings, marble, granite, glass tiles, onyx, lacquer, hand painted accents, hand rubbed bronze… We could chat because of the thought given to proper acoustics.
Marketing and Public relations professionals take note of trends. Not just creating them, but building them around what people do. In the case of business trends in the real world and merchandising for the success of a brand, it has everything to do with delivering a positive experience. For the customer - a sense that someone cares that you are there.
And, internet shopping? That is one trend that won’t go away. The trend is not to make it them or us (in-store shopping vs. internet shopping) but to better deliver search and social marketing as a way to influence and entrance the shopper before a trip to the store, and extend the brand experience after the trip to the store.
Tags: marketing and public relations, business trends, trends in retail, brand and the shopping experience, marketing, branding and PR, delivering a positive retail experience, retail and brand, brand extension, search marketing
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Breaking News in PR – It’s Not what you Do, It’s what we Say About it
Breaking news in PR. It’s not what you do; it’s what we say about it. PR puts out the brand message, but better watch out. The interactive nature of the consumer will be right on that message – dissecting it, sharing it, rating it and dare we say, scoffing at it? It’s up to the PR people to make sure the brand message fits the brand – and actually puts out the message you’d like the customer to receive.
Read an amusing post: Wondering About the Future of Media? It’s All Right Here (Simon Dumenco, Advertising Age http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=127271)
Nintendo appears to have another runaway hit with its Wii Fit, a Wii gaming-console accessory that users step and stand on, as the device senses body position to allow gamers to engage in interactive workouts. (Dumenco’s crystal ball reports Microsoft X-box scoffs at Nintendo’s news because they have had an interactive X Box “Sit feature” for some time – a cozy spot used by indoor cats as a bun warmer.)
Hey, but as for that Wii Fit? I love that thing so much; we talk about it in our home nightly. Just about the time the neighbor kid takes his real basketball out and… dribble, dribble, bang, dribble, dribble, bang…Every night we look at each other and say, what has happened to this generation? Haven’t they heard of video games?
And we dream of being those guys in the commercial - ringing the doorbell, bowing and saying, Wii would like to play, (while handing junior a Wii). And, of course, snatching away his real basketball.
Reach us at www.mckernsdevelopment.com
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Tags: the future of media, brand message, strategic PR, PR and brand message, breaking news in PR, interactive nature of the consumer
Brand Extensions and Disruptive Technology
Brand Extensions and Disruptive Technology
Leslie McKerns – McKerns Development Blog
www.mckernsdevelopment.com/mckernsdevelopmentblog.htm
I’m jumping ahead here, I know. But I’m already thinking about what will be my focus for this next year. What interests me currently are two areas: brand extensions and disruptive technology.
Last month I worked with a fascinating client, responsible for billions of dollars in sales through brand extension. Brand extension (and licensing) is the process of taking an established band into uncharted territory and capturing new audiences and revenues as a result.
Perhaps you are an established brand well known for off-roading vehicles of the most rugged kind. Possibly you were the prominent face in many a combat, transporting troops and equipment in wars gone by. Now, your branding company is your brand extension company – taking your brand into camping and hiking gear and trendy clothing, even baby strollers and accessories.
Your brand extension company envisions entirely new and untraveled marketplaces for your products. Your brand extension company or “B.E.C.” even has multiple mechanisms for getting the word out. You’ll become trendy through product placement in movies and your extended brand will be seen at rock concerts and street venues where the cool, hip and trendy engage with one another. Street teams will snap shots of your brand with camera phones and upload the shots and video and share their commentary over social media sites.
Your new branded products will be placed in the hands of movie stars, who will be photographed wearing the brand, even pushing the ubiquitous celebrity baby in the brand extension stroller. Those photographs will land in the laps of hundreds of national and international star watching magazines, instantly settling “which to buy?” in the minds of the readers.
But, before those products became the darling of the press, that same brand extension company envisioned what could be and pitched those ideas to the client. Accepted on the basis of potential revenues and new audience gains, the brand extension company negotiated contracts for manufacturing and brand licensing. Licensing the product name to companies that produce the goods, then approaching retail outlets for guaranteed shelf space.
Now, if all that in the brand extension and licensing arena doesn’t impress you – you’re not paying attention. And, I hope you see the relationship of this fascinating brand extension process to the world of strategic press, PR and marketing.
Next, disruptive technology. Disruptive technology is not merely a better mousetrap - it is a product technology that makes a moustrap obsolete.
Comments? Reach us at www.mckernsdevelopment.com
Positive PR without the Pain - Getting Your Name in the News
Positive PR without the Pain
McKerns Development - www.mckernsdevelopment.com
Getting positive press about your company isn’t painful, but it can seem like it.
How come all the same guys are getting all the press? And, how come you keep seeing the same names quoted as sources?
Reporters, writers and editors of print publications are under the gun. You can still get the paper on your doorstep and a magazine in your mailbox, but:
· Fewer people are reading actual print.
· More people are turning to the internet or mobile devices to read their news. And it isn’t that they don’t read. They are mobile, smart, tuned in and want fresh, instant content from multiple sources.
The world of work has changed – no time before work to read print or watch the news – no time after, either. By the time we get home, the news is long gone or no longer fresh. TV news is simply a looping tape, rerunning the same zoo animal rampage – (a variation of the older kitten up a tree story.)
· Print is now just one of a number of ways that content is being delivered.
· Online content supports the print, or in some cases extends it. User content is allowed, and interaction and discussion is encouraged.
· Content is moving from “This happened,” to “This happened, and it’s part of trend. Here are the facts, what do you think?”
That means that writers now have multiple deadlines for both print and paper and therefore, have less time to talk to you or interview you. They need hard news.
Writers need to understand the trend, quickly research it, craft a story for both print and online and get reliable quotes from consistent, knowledgeable sources. They rely on names they know and people and companies they know are trusted sources of the news and the underlying relevant issues. (Here’s why you see the same guys quoted again, and again.)
Bottom Line? Reporters are covering more trends than isolated stories, and writing even less of feature articles simply about a firm or its services – unless it fits within that trend and can illustrate a point.
So, if you are going to do your own press:
· Get to know the reporters/writers/editors and their contact information. (It changes very quickly, so be on top of this constantly.)
· Get their e-mail addresses, and don’t send attachments until they know you.
· Get to know the issues and trends in your industry (or point them out in your press).
· Tailor your news to illustrate the bigger picture.
· Be a consistent, reliable source of news. Let the reporters understand how you dominate in a knowledge base.
· Understand how to write your own articles and post them to your site and the internet.
· Understand how to contribute to online content, blogs, discussion boards and electronic news sources, forums, e-zines and newsletters.
Send comments and ideas to mckerns@mckernsdevelopment.com
Using Social Media Methods for Your Business
Using Social Media Methods for your Business
Leslie McKerns – McKerns Development Blog http: www.mckernsdevelopment.com/mckernsdevelopmentblog.htm
How can you use social media methods for your business? Social media can be used on websites, in e-mails, press releases, blogs, hand-held devices – anywhere where people gather remotely or virtually to share information.
What social media tools are there? Social media methods and tools include: blogging; video sharing (YouTube); photo sharing (Flickr); social bookmarking - tagging content with keywords (Del.icio.us); web browser plugins (StumbleUpon) for rating and sharing webpages, photos, videos, and news articles; social networking sites (FaceBook and MySpace) and business networking sites (Linkedin). This is a simplified list – actual methods and tools grow exponentially as users create and share tools and social networking methods.
Viral marketing is used as a way to influence others, inspiring others to view content such as a video clip on YouTube, or go to a site to see, share or experience something. Viral marketing methods include creating a meme – a question or questions asked on one site and answered on another, that then becomes shared across many sites (spreading like a virus).
How to get started using social media methods for your business?
Engage your audience by increasing the number of two-way conversations you have with prospects and customers. One way to do this is by blogging for your business.
How is blogging a social media tool?
· Blogging is a social media tool because it is the opposite of a static website. A blog is a dynamic method that connects you with your audience.
· Goals for blogs include understanding what your customers think of you and driving traffic to your website.
· Visitors to your blog post their opinions and ask you questions. Bloggers often thank you and add additional insight, thus furthering the thread (the talk about a topic). At times, bloggers do not thank you – quite the opposite. If you are concerned about negative or inappropriate comments, either disable this feature, or set comments to be monitored and reviewed before posting.
· A blog is most valuable when it is used to spark interaction between you, your content, your readers and their connections. Therefore, your blog should be highly relevant to those reading it. Write about topics, people, issues and events that are newsworthy.
· Ideally, a blog should incite commentary not only on your blog, but on other blogs as well. Readers will tend to visit the blog originating the discussion.
· Share tools, tips, sources and resources. This grows your site traffic and your credibility.
· Contribute to other social media communities. Find blogs and discussion forums relevant to your topics and business. Don’t try to hog attention or make blatant sales pitches. Contribute valuable content and insight. Often you are allowed a link back to your site. If you are seen as a credible source, people will follow the link.
· Search engines love blogs. Blogs are updated frequently – bringing fresh content to the blogosphere. Blogging is a natural tool for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
· Can others blog for you? Yes. But. But only if you trust them enough to familiar enough with your company and have the knowledge to write engaging copy. In fact, I’d encourage asking others to post blog entries on your site – you can credit the writer so that the content is theirs but the source platform is yours.
· A guest blog author will often link back to you from their site to yours. Google and other search engines value links back to you from credible sites.
· Vote early and often. Part of the social nature of the internet is that you get to vote on what content is shared or spread. You can tag your choices with relevant terms allowing you and others to find and share content. Voting and favorites sites include: Digg, Reddit, Furl, and others. On Digg--news, content and websites are submitted by users, and then promoted to the front page through a user-based ranking system. The Digg effect is caused by a sudden surge in visitors to the website that originated the content.
· Add voting buttons to your site and your articles, making it easy for readers to vote for your content and share it with others. Invite readers to bookmark your site, subscribe to a RSS feed, and sign up for Google alerts letting them know you have new content.
· Ping the internet using such services as Ping-O-matic, and Google Ping forms. This will alert Technorati, Google and others that you have updated your content.
The single most effective thing you can do to market your company effectively is to be visible. And today, that means being visible on the internet – to journalists, to the public, to your niche market and potential investors. These days, the ways journalists, potential clients and investors find you is on the internet, and often using social media tools. Through their internet search – they find you - based upon what you write about yourself and what others write about you. Press, newsletters, blogs, articles and feature stories.
Make it easier for potential clients to find you on the Internet. And find ways to engage them when you do. Engaging your audience on the internet means providing content that is relevant, interesting and dynamic. Social media networking is effective for business marketing, allowing your reach to extend beyond your own universe of contacts.
Questions? Reach us at http://www.mckernsdevelopment.com
Effective Methods for Growing Your Business in 2008
Effective Methods for Growing Your Business in 2008
Using a dynamic blend of no cost marketing methods may be just the ticket for growth in 2008--
Leslie McKerns - McKerns Development – Strategic Press, PR and Marketing
Effective methods for growing your business in 2008 include a dynamic blend of no cost marketing methods.
Strategic PR is defined as a no-cost marketing method because the goal of public relations is to get editorial presence without having to purchase advertising. A strategic PR program can be the mainstay of your no cost marketing program in 2008 if you have the talent to create (and stick to) a strategic PR plan.
What is strategic PR?
Strategic public relations is a well thought out plan - using public relations to explain and support your mission statement and your brand platform. You decide - who are we? What are we trying to achieve? What are the main benefits and reasons for our existence? Who cares about this? Why?
Better think it through. And make everything you say, write and convey, be central to that theme.
Ever watch those old black and white newsroom movies? Someone would snarl: What’s your angle, kid? In other words, what are you tryin’ to say, and why am I interested?
Then, through an interesting and relevant mix of press releases, video, events, newsletters, permission-based e-mails, articles, blogs, white papers, feature stories and pitches to the media, you reach your target audience.
By what you write about you and your company, people begin to understand the core nature of your business. Others, interested in this subject, begin to write about you, thus growing your presence in the media, on the internet and in the mind’s eye of the public.
You then extend this reach through your associations – business, charitable, cause-based, family, social and political. You host and participate in events, and you and others write about that participation, and extend your identity further through television, radio and the internet. You engage and interact with others and through their experience with you and your brand, your brand ambassadors recommend you and your services to others.
Creating and growing brand ambassadors (those that wholeheartedly endorse you) should be a mainstay of your brand and strategic PR plan. No cost, if successful, very costly if not.
Questions? Reach us at www.mckernsdevelopment.com
Architects and Contractors unable to see Problems
Architects and Contractors Unable to see Problems
McKerns Development – http://www.mckernsdevelopment.com
Architects and Contractors are unable to see problems. At least from the perspective of their own work.
Instead of being able to reflect upon a successfully completed project and say, “We solved this problem for this client and it resulted in this success for the client,” architects and contractors scratch their heads in puzzlement.
After all, for the architect nothing is a problem. It is simply a matter of program (how many people do you want to house in this building on this site, and how will they need to interact?), budget and timetable. For the Contractor it is simply a matter of “We’ll need this schedule of manpower, machinery and time in order to produce the results you seek.” Surprisingly, Architects and Contractors see none of the magic that goes into their work.
Often, I see presentations showing features (we did this) but lacking the benefits (here’s what that means to you). I see portfolios (pretty pictures of completed buildings) but very few case studies (we saved time, money or solved a difficult problem and it resulted in time, dollars, savings or other benefits).
Nor are architects and Contractors able to easily demonstrate how a project is similar to the one currently being contemplated. They show a project to a potential client and think that the client is able to make the cognitive leap, “Oh, she is showing me this because we have some of the same issues to solve.” But clients don’t do that. They sit there thinking, “When are they going to get to talking about me?”
Right now, before that next presentation, gather some of your best performers and thinkers and have a roundtable discussion. Take notes. Ask each person to share a success story on each project. What were the challenges of this project? What innovative thinking or solution did we provide? There’s the magic!
And in that magic, is the specialty of your firm. Your true talent (from the client’s perspective). Because, after all, it’s always about them.
To share your comments contact us at www.mckernsdevelopment.com
Featured Author
There are eighty (80) current articles written by Leslie McKerns - McKerns Development about Press, PR, Marketing and Business Development to promote your firm. Select the ones you want. E-mail request to mckerns@mckernsdevelopment.com
A list by category appears here:(Scroll down for samples)
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Architecture, Interior Design, Development, Construction Top Secrets of Using Strategy and PR When Responding to an RFP (Request for Proposal) Sustainability - The Future is Here and It's Full of Holes
Tropical Rooms with Water Cooled Breezes
Green and Sustainable Design - The Greening of Land, Mind and Spirit
Tropical Florida - Style and Substance in Interior Design
Making Your Bid Proposal as Outstanding as a Best Selling Book - Part One
Making Your Bid Proposal as Outstanding as a Best Selling Book--Part Two
Going Boldly Beyond the Lifestyle Center
5 Top Secrets to Winning the Bid
Top Secrets to Great Teaming Relationships
The Lifestyle of the Condo
Travel and Leisure
Florida Forever Marinas
(http://www.Loggerheadclubandmarina.com)
Medical
Construction Injuries-Effective Pain Management and Rapid Care Pain Management as a Method of First Resort, Not Last What Does it Mean to be Board Certified? What to Expect in Your First Pain Management Visit-Will it Hurt? Eliminating the Emergency Room Wait-Effective Out of Hospital Treatment for Pain What is Patient-Centered Care and How is it Better? Press and Public Relations Marketing and Public Relations - Getting Your Name in the News How to Hit the PR Jackpot How To Give Great Media Interviews Marketing, Publicity and Promotion--What the Hula Hoop Can Teach You About These Essential Tools Why Publicity Dazzles and Why You Might Consider a Publicist What is the Secret Weapon that Differentiates a Sizzling Firm? Cha-ching or Kerplunk - How to Define Return on Investment through Press and Media Relations How to Kill Yourself with Press and PR What Makes A Good, Newsworthy Story? 15 Reasons Why You Need to be Creating Press Right Now Branding and Marketing Marketing to Sell Products - What to Look for in a Strategic Marketing Company Branding and Marketing-Things Sure Have Changed The Marketing Cycle - The Dynamic Payoff of Knowing When You Should Market Marketing Your Business-10 Sure-Fire, Wild Fire Revenue Building Strategies Branding Your Business - Questions and Answers The One Two Punch of Brand Building - How to Build a Knockout Brand Branding Your Company - What Increases Name Recognition Top Five Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Website Marketing Mistakes—5 Top Things to Fix Even if You Know Nothing about Website Design Marketing & Business Development Questionnaire: Diagnose your Needs - Part One Marketing & Business Development Questionnaire: How to Diagnose your Needs—Part Two Want to Know Where Your New Business is Coming From? Top Tips Avoiding a Boom Bust Cycle - What Top Companies Know to Do Marketing a Thriving Business for Succession – Best Dollars Ever Spent Take 7 Baby Steps Toward Powerful Marketing 5 Top Marketing Tips for Busy Executives 50 Marketing Makeovers for 2007 Business and Management |
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Justifying Outside Help - What's Killing Your Time and why 40 hours a Week or even 75 isn't Enough |
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Creating a Successful Business Exit Strategy - Adding a Sixth Step to the Plan |
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My Marketing Plan Is Complete - Am I Missing Something? |
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My Marketing Plan is Complete - Am I Missing Something? Part Two |
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Are You Working Too Hard? |
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Pulling the Trigger – Making Your Business Smoking Hot in 2007 |
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Ten Ways to Reinvent Your Company in 2007 |
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Top Ten Reasons to Hire an Outside Consultant |
Need a writer for articles about your firm or to promote your expertise? E-mail details to mckerns@mckernsdevelopment.com
Contact: McKerns Development, 264 Cypress Trace, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411 T. 561-305-4264 mckerns@mckernsdevelopment.com
Sign up for Newsletter and Receive 2 Instant Tipsheets: mckerns@mckernsdevelopment.com "Subscribe" in Subject Line
Scroll down to read three samples - What Makes a Good Newsworthy Story? 50 Marketing Makeovers for 2007, and Top Five Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. Happy reading!
Branding Your Company--What Increases Name Recognition?
By Leslie McKerns—McKerns Development
As a branding expert, companies often come to me asking, what can I do to increase my firm’s name recognition? Of course, increasing name recognition is only one aspect of the branding puzzle, but an important one. It is particularly perplexing to a company well known in a certain market, (perhaps where the company originated), but disappointed at the lack of carry over in name recognition upon entering a new geographical area.
So, what can a company do to increase name recognition? Here are twenty-five (25) ways you can begin branding your company and increase the name recognition of your firm.
1. Hire a branding company to bring your image and message under a brand. Develop all collateral and image materials (web, stationery, logo, tagline, mission statement, cards, postcards, brochures, elevator pitch, newsletters, letters, project sheets, resumes, bios, firm description, etc.) to coincide with the brand and your message.
2. Develop a mission statement that shows your reason for being and the value you provide to your customers.
3. Develop a memorable tagline that expresses who you are and what you do.
4. Make a matrix of all those you’d like to reach in the next year and the potential influencers on those people. Develop a timetable and calendar of outreach.
5. Regularly write and issue press releases to the media.
6. Regularly write and post press releases to your website.
7. Regularly write and post press releases directly onto the internet.
8. Regularly write articles and do all three of the above.
9. Regularly write and pitch feature story ideas to the media.
10. Diversify all marketing, PR and media to reach the markets where your clients are to be found (as opposed to marketing only within your own service industry).
11. Participate (attend, speak, host, present, show) in at least two national and local industry conferences.
12 Create and issue an online or direct mail newsletter.
13. Get known for niche expertise or specific industry knowledge. (speak, write, present, teach.)
14. Participate in professional internship programs.
15. Participate and sponsor local charitable efforts; get your name in the program the charitable cause distributes; get your name in the press surrounding the event.
16. Get to know all potential teaming partners in your new geographic area. Let them know your people, your areas of expertise and potential for cross referrals.
17. Develop collateral material with a regional bent; think what projects, services, people or elements might be important to this new market and capture this regional tone in all collateral material.
18. Develop tip sheets as to how your company is different than your competitors and why this makes a difference to teaming partners and to your end users—your potential clients. Include these differentiating tips as the basis for all your branding statements.
19 Develop a calendar of local and regional events in your locale and make your company visible in the areas most related to your company and your potential clients’ interests.
20. Post your calendar of appearances and participation on your website.
21. Plan a media release before and after each event.
22. Hire an industry professional to conduct a survey on your behalf; post the results on your website. Publicize the results most important to your industry.
23. Update your website to be informational based so that search engines can find you, and clients can read in-depth material demonstrating your expertise.
24. Add informational website content a minimum of four times per month.
25. Establish your brand by regularly updating the financial value or potential value associated with your brand. Quantify results achieved and add these results to your brand value. Communicate through all methods, the value of your brand to those associated with it.
Branding your company is key to influencing a memorable response in the minds of your chosen audience. It is not only the name recognition of your firm, but also the perceived value of your organization. Capture these twenty-five essential branding elements and begin to cement a positive branded image for your firm.
McKerns Development is a Florida based Strategic Marketing, PR and Branding firm, specializing in 6 service packages bringing brand identity and revenue to firms in business to business, business to consumer, medical, development, professional services and non-profits. See free tips, information, samples and packages for lead generation, marketing, press and publicity, consulting, business development and branding at
http:///www.mckernsdevelopment.com
Contact: McKerns Development, 264 Cypress Trace, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411 T. 561-305-4264 mckerns@mckernsdevelopment.com
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What Makes a Good, Newsworthy Story?
We all want recognition and we've learned that one way to get it is through the power of the press. Whether a press release or a feature story, it is wise to consider what makes something newsworthy.
An item or project is newsworthy when it is unique, timely, is relevant to an issue or ties into other issues, is controversial, thought provoking, reinforces existing ideas, shows new or unusual ways of doing things, or is interesting to the point of acceptance and repeatability.
An idea, item or project can be newsworthy by provoking a desired response, such as changing I might need that someday, to, I want that right now.
A person can be newsworthy when others strongly agree, disagree, want to know more, or be associated with that person.
A firm can be newsworthy when their story causes people to think, These are the right people to help me (solve problem/realize success/meet time frame/achieve definite result).
There are three things to consider: What makes a Press Release or Feature story newsworthy for you. What makes a Press Release or Feature story newsworthy for the magazine (or other outlet). What makes the Press Release or Feature story newsworthy for the reader.
Here's a brief checklist: Is My Press Release or Feature Story Newsworthy?
For You
1. Promotes Business (Market Sector) you'd like to Grow. 2. Promotes Expertise and Leads you to Dominate the Market. 3. Demonstrates your Technical Approach and Shows How you Accomplished the Difficult or Unusual. 4. Represents the Nature of your Firm and the way it does Business. 5. Represents the way you successfully attack Problems and Deliver Solutions. 6. Demonstrates Measurable Results and can be Duplicated or Repeated for another Situation. 7. Represents your firm and the Nature of its Desired, Repeat and Ongoing Business. 8. Cements your Relationship with another firm (s), and Promotes Relationships that will bring you business. 9. Provides a compelling reason for customers or clients to want to contact you. 10. Gives potential clients and customers a way to easily find you and contact you. 11. Becomes a Marketing Piece to promote your firm, and can be used in Direct Mail, on your Website and in Newsletters.
For Them (The Magazine, Trade or Newspaper)
1. The Story Delivers Fresh News that makes Readers Turn to Them First. 2. The Story is about a Great Project or Idea of its Type. It Catches the Attention of those Wanting News. 3. The Story Idea Entices Revenue Sources for Regional Issues, Special Issues, Awards Issues and Project Success issues. 4. The Story Generates ad revenue from those Associated with you, or from those wanting to reach the Readers in similar issues. 5. The Press Release or Story Idea contains High Interest Items Reaching the Market, Defining a Market, Selling more ads or more issues.
For Them (The Reader/Potential Clients and Customers)
1. Shows Them a New Way or Better Way to do Something (Faster, Less Risk, More Dollars, Quicker Turn Around, Better Approvals.) 2. Demonstrates Business Success that Makes them Want to Know You. 3. Shows Project Success that makes You Become the Expert, Makes them Want to Contact You or Send the Article to One of Their Contacts.
With this in mind, review each Press Release and Feature Story according to the checklist of three's - Is it newsworthy for me, for the publication and for the readers?
50 Marketing Makeovers for 2008
How many marketing tasks did you actually accomplish last year? Sadly, instead of bringing your business to the next level, you found yourself slammed, tangled in the weeds, mired in quicksand, sandbagged, sideswiped, bogged down, reaching your tipping point, sliding into low gear, hitting a brick wall and limping into home.
Pull the trigger in 2008. 95% of marketing is action.
Did you mean to do any or all of the following?
- write a thank-you note to a prospect, client or teaming partner,
- send an article of interest to a potential client,
- write your own article and send it to a business publication,
- write a press release,
- set up a calendar of press releases and issue them to the web and media,
- write a direct mail sales letter,
- write an introductory letter,
- write and deliver a speech to a professional group,
- regularly enter new or potential customer or prospect names into a database,
- update and test your list,
- add e-mails to your marketing database,
- set up a direct mail campaign and use it to send regular letters, postcards and news,
- design and print a series of postcards that can be used in between other collateral mailings,
- update a great project into a case study,
- redo your headshot and that of your associates,
- compile a list of testimonials from satisfied customers,
- revisit your tagline and how closely it reflects the nature of your business,
- update the content on your website,
- pitch an article idea to a publication,
- post an article online or to your website,
- check out your new competition on their websites,
- redo your business cards to convey what you do, not just who you are,
- design a compact interesting display for upcoming tradeshows,
- start or join a networking group,
- host a business event,
- join an organization and head a committee,
- develop a survey and turn the results into an article and a white paper,
- post the content to your website and continue to collect results,
- invent a winning ad,
- list your firm in directories that your clients read,
- turn your ideas into products,
- plan five outside meetings per week,
- plan a fusion marketing campaign with teaming or collaborative partners,
- write a teaming or collaborative marketing package,
- put together a press kit for the media,
- follow up with three people you met with last week,
- enter two major contests per year,
- go to one major industry conference per quarter,
- revamp your company newsletter,
- develop a list of all the potential products and services that your company could offer,
- brainstorm how many of these have a market because they are your target customer,
- work out a timetable for bringing more of these to your firm’s offering,
- make a list of great business books, order them and read them,
- write a professional continuing education course and offer it,
- plan a retreat and set goals for what you will accomplish,
- appoint or hire a facilitator to hold a major brainstorming meeting,
- keep a notebook handy and regularly jot down marketing ideas,
- write a benefits list and compare your offerings and benefits to your competition,
- update and practice how and why your client should hire you,
- turn services into concrete products that can be bought and delivered,
Stay involved.
Each time you perform one of these marketing tasks, jot a note of it into a calendar or enter it onto an electronic task list. At the end of the year, you’ll see the results. Or, even better, mark it onto your date book, with reminders to take a look at more frequent benchmarks.
If you see your marketing plan is not happening or is not working, hire a professional consultant to do these tasks.
Top Five Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Top Five Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
by Leslie McKerns—McKerns Development
In this article I’ll share the top five marketing mistakes and how to avoid them. As a strategic business development, PR and marketing expert, I am often called in to set up a marketing plan, media plan and a delivery system for companies who wish to use an in-house marketing team rather than a consultant. This is absolutely fine with me, except that no one likes seeing their baby turned over to someone without the skills to follow through. So this brings me to the #1 marketing mistake:
1. Number One marketing mistake is handing your business development and therefore the future of your company to a person with no experience in marketing; worse, no experience in your field. In just one example, a top development and construction company turned their marketing, business development and public relation efforts over to a new graduate—in fashion design!
2. Number Two marketing mistake is to market exclusively within your own field. An example would be an article in a magazine that only reaches the professionals in your field, not your end user or target client, or an ad in a technical or trade publication that only reaches your competition not your end user. You need a comprehensive media plan within your marketing effort and a targeted method to reach the media that your clients read.
3. Number Three marketing mistake is one-shot marketing. (This is the opposite of the scatter-gun approach in which random marketing shots are fired against a wall to see what will stick.) In one-shot marketing, a company picks a single element from a comprehensive marketing plan and produces this one element as their only marketing effort. This one-shot marketing approach could be a single postcard or letter mailing, a single ad, a single conference or event or a single press release. An effective marketing effort requires a concentrated marketing effort over a period of time, with at least four and up to seven points of contact.
4. Number Four marketing mistake is hesitant or defeatist thinking. If you are not confident about your market and the value of your products or services, how will you make a positive impression?
5. Number Five marketing mistake is to think you must spend money on advertising or you cannot have a marketing plan. There are many low cost or no cost marketing techniques, and one of the most powerful is the services of a publicist. A publicist seeks no cost placement of your company’s message and services, and can write effective press and articles to be used on your website, on the internet, for your clients and to be sent to the appropriate media.
These top five marketing mistakes can be avoided by placing a high priority within your firm on marketing, business development, and public relations. Your in-house marketing team should either be in top management or have the direct attention and cooperation of top management. If you do not have the concentrated skill level and time to nurture your firm’s marketing effort, seek a consultant who will deliver these essential marketing services or train your staff.
McKerns Development is a Florida based Marketing, Business Development and PR firm. For marketing tip sheets, press and PR samples and 5 essential flat rate marketing service packages visit http://www.mckernsdevelopment.com
Contact: McKerns Development, 264 Cypress Trace, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411 T. 561-305-4264 mckerns@mckernsdevelopment.com
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