The Center for PR Education

Create A Press Release

2009-01-30T03:04:00.000-08:00

Author: Jean Melconian

A press release is a great way to get free publicity for your site. In order to obtain editorial coverage for your business you must find a particular idea that is unique to your business and it should be newsworthy.. A press release is a document (usually between 500 to 1,000 words) about your company designed to make a newsworthy announcement to the media. A press release is a key tool for public relations professionals. This type of document has a highly defined style and format, and in a nut shell answers the basic questions of those who might be interested in the particular subject- who, what, where, when, and why. Using traditional PR efforts to reach both online and other media outlets in order to obtain free editorial coverage is a powerful way to reach potential customers. Press releases can be distributed to the media (such as newspapers, magazines, radio news outlets, television news outlets, and online publications) via U.S. Mail, fax or e-mail. Once you have a press release announcing your business (or some other news worthy event relating to your business), your goal is to get it in the hands of the editors. To help you compile your own customized media list, consider visiting the Web sites sponsored by Editor & Publisher (http://www.medianinfo.com), Media Online Yellow Pages (www.webcom.com), or the National Press Club (npc.press.org). Broadcast Interview Source (www.yearbooknews.com,) publishes a variety of phone numbers, addresses, fax numbers and e-mail addresses of writers, reporters, producers, editors, and radio elevision hosts. The Gebbie Press's All In One Directory (www.gebbieinc.com) lists contacts of 23,000 people from TV and radio stations, newspapers, African American and Hispanic Media, news syndicates, networks, and AP/UPI bureaus. Other media directories published by: Bacon's Media Directories (www.baconsinfo.com) Burelle's Media Directories (www.burrelles.com). In an article by John Hewitt (www.azstarnet.com) , before sending out any press release make sure you: 1.Know who to send it to, not just where. Find out who the editor or reporter is for the section you want your release to appear in. 2. Only send the release to one person per news outlet. Any problems that develop from duplicate coverage and effort will be blamed on you. 3.Don't just send press releases- call the editor or writer directly. If you want your release covered, call the person before sending the release, and a couple of days later to make sure they received it. Just don't become a pest. 4.Know your deadlines. Magazines, even weekly ones, are often planned months in advance. Seasonal events, such as Christmas and Easter, are a great example of this For calendar items, know the news outlet's deadline for the section. 5. Keep it short and informative. Reporters and editors are notoriously busy. Most press releases should be kept to one page. Two is acceptable. If they want more information, they'll ask. 6.Write in a news style. That means putting the prime information (who, where, what and when) into the lead (first paragraph). It also means keeping the sales pitch subtle. No exclamation points!!! Many papers will directly reprint a press release, as long as it is written in a professional news style. Use short words and sentences. Make sure what you're saying is very clear. 7.Always include, at the top corner of every page, a two- or three-word description of the story, the name and phone number of key contact people (no more than two), the page number ( if there us more than one page) and the release date (usually ""For Immediate Release""; otherwise "" Please hold until xx/xx/xx""). 8.End a press release with ### typed across the center margin a couple lines below the end of your text. If a release is continued on another page, type- ""-more-"" at the bottom of the page in the center. 9.Use standard 8 ½"" x 11"" paper typed on one side only. Never break a paragraph across two pages. Leave plenty of margins for editors to write notes-an inch and a half all around should be fine. 10.Bright Idea; Whenever you distribute a press release, also post the release somewhere on your Web site, under the heading ""Corporate Information,"" ""Company Background,"" or ""Press Releases.""

About the author: Jean Melconian is the owner of WebTrans International, Inc., International trade resources and logistics are available at: http://www.webcargo.net.

PR Advice You Didn't Ask For

2009-01-29T03:04:00.000-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

PR Advice You Didn't Ask For

Although, as a business, non-profit or association manager, you may be glad this came your way.

Especially if your current public relations effort is delivering more publicity plugs than real behavior change among your most important outside audiences. Change that could lead directly to achieving your managerial objectives.

I'm talking about persuading those key outside folks to your way of thinking, then moving them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed.

There's even a blueprint to help you do it. People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

What kind of results can you expect? Consider these: membership applications on the rise; customers starting to make repeat purchases; fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; community leaders beginning to seek you out; welcome bounces in show room visits; prospects starting to do business with you; higher employee retention rates, capital givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way, and even politicians and legislators starting to view you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities.

An obvious first step involves getting the public relations people assigned to your unit on board. Make certain the whole team buys into why it's so important to know how your outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Be sure they accept the reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can hurt your unit.

Review how you plan to monitor and gather perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Questions like these: how much do you know about our organization? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the interchange? How much do you know about our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

Since your PR people are in the perception and behavior business to begin with, they can be of real use for this opinion monitoring project. Professional survey firms are always available, but that can be a budget buster. Whether it's your people or a survey firm who asks the questions, your objective is to identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, and misconceptions .

Then you must carefully select which of the above becomes your corrective public relations goal -- clarify the misconception, spike that rumor, correct the false assumption or fix certain other inaccuracies.

You can achieve your goal by picking the right strategy from the three choices available to you. Change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. But be sure your new strategy fits comfortably with your new public relations goal.

But what will you say when you have the opportunity to address your key stakeholder audience to help persuade them to your way of thinking?

Select your best writer to prepare the message because s/he must put together some very special, corrective language. Words that are not only compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if they are to shift perception/opinion towards your point of view and lead to the behaviors you have in mind.

Happily, the next step is easy. You select communications tactics to carry your message to the attention of your target audience. Making certain that the tactics you select have a record of reaching folks like your audience members, you can pick from dozens that are available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others.

Since how one communicates often affects the credibility of the message, you may wish to deliver it in small getogethers like meetings and presentations rather than through a higher- profile media announcement.

You'll soon feel pressure for signs of progress. And that means a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. Employing many of the same questions used in the first benchmark session, you will now be watching carefully for signs that the offending perception is being altered in your direction.

Luckily, matters can be accelerated by adding more communications tactics as well as increasing their frequencies.

This workable public relations blueprint will help you persuade your most important outside stakeholders to your way of thinking, then move them to behave in a way that leads to the success of your department, division or subsidiary.

So, while you may not have asked for this public relations advice, I hope you will agree that the people you deal with behave like everyone else – they act upon their perceptions of the facts they hear about you and your operation. Leaving you little choice but to deal promptly and effectively with those perceptions by doing what is necessary to reach and move your key external audiences to action.

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About the author: Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

Managers Who Spend PR $$ Wisely

2009-01-28T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

Managers Who Spend PR $$ Wisely

If you are a department, division or subsidiary manager, your budget is a precious possession whether you work for a business, a non-profit or an association. So why stand by while your public relations team spends too much time and treasure on tactics like press releases, column mentions and brochures? Especially when you could be using an aggressive PR blueprint to persuade your most important outside audiences to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that lead to your success?

The good news is, that aggressive blueprint shines the PR spotlight directly on those outside groups of people who have a large say in how successful you're going to be – namely, on your key external target audiences. It reads this way: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

Look at the kinds of behaviors that are possible using such a blueprint. A big jump up in capital contributions, increased membership queries, new prospects showing up, more current buying and even repeat purchases occurring, and even new proposals for joint ventures.

Spending your PR $$ wisely implies that you are getting serious about your public relations by changing the emphasis from communications tactics to a workable plan for reaching those outside groups of people with a large say about how successful you will be. I refer, of course, to those key external target audiences of yours.

What do they think of you, anyway? Ask your PR staff why they believe that's important to you? Hopefully, they'll agree that target audience perceptions usually do lead to behaviors that can help or hinder you in achieving your operating objectives. In other words, is your PR team guided by solid fundamentals rather than mechanics like special events and communications tactics?

Next, decide together, then prioritize exactly which external audiences have the most impact on your operation, and let's do some work on the audience at the top of that list.

Since you must monitor perceptions by interacting with members of that audience, you can elect to join your PR folks as they ask some penetrating questions: "Do you know anything about us? How do you feel about our services and/or products? Have you had any contact with our people? Did it work out to your satisfaction?"

Remember that you can also employ a professional survey firm to interact with members of your target audience. Only drawback here is the considerable cost involved in taking this route versus using your own PR folks who, as we know, are already in the perception and behavior business.

Either way, while the perception monitoring effort is proceeding, all questioners must stay alert to misconceptions about your unit, as well as inaccuracies, exaggerations, rumors or false assumptions. And keep an eye out for evasive and hesitant responses to your queries.

Once all the answers are in-hand, you're ready to establish your public relations goal, thus fixing what needs correcting the most. And that may well be to clear up a potentially damaging misconception, shoot down a hurtful rumor, or clarify that misleading exaggeration.

Now, how do you reach that new goal? The right strategy is what you need and that means one of these: create perception where there may be none at all, change that offensive opinion/perception, or reinforce an existing perception. But make sure the strategy you pick fits naturally with your PR goal.

You still need a message that will correct/alter the negative perception turned up during your monitoring activity among members of your target audience. It must be a compelling message, one that is completely believable and one that explains why the offending perception is either untrue or unfair. The message must be clearly presented because you want to alter what people believe in a way that leads to the target audience behaviors you need to achieve your unit objectives.

Fortunately, delivering the message to those who need to hear it and read it is a simple matter. You have a real variety of communications tactics to help you from speeches, luncheon presentations, media interviews and emails to newsletters, facility tours, brochures and electronic magazines. Just be certain the tactics you use have a good record of reaching people similar to those who make up your target audience. So as not to call too much attention to the original misperception, your PR team may wish to deliver the corrective message as part of various presentations to target audience members rather than risk a high profile, news release transmission.

Now, to demonstrate program progress, you and your team must once again monitor perceptions among your target audience watching carefully for indications that your message and tactics have moved those perceptions towards your views.

Of course, to speed up the process, you can always add new communications tactics to the mix and increase their frequencies.

Finally, at this point you should be reassured that your new public relations effort has (1) persuaded your most important outside audiences to your way of thinking, (2) moved them to take actions leading to your success, thus (3) helping achieve your department, division or subsidiary objectives.

end

About the author: Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior,and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Distribution Associations to Offer PR Services by TR Cutler, Inc.

2009-01-27T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Thomas Cutler

Manufacturer neglect, prompted the firm's development and launch of the intensive Manufacturing PR Media Blitz' program, a 90—day program allowing even very small manufacturers to tiptoe into the public relations arena driving quantifiable and measurable impacts.

""Manufacturers spent the past fifteen years becoming lean, efficient, and highly competitive while completely ignoring their marketing and public relations efforts,"" according to Thomas R. Cutler, the nation's leading manufacturing journalist and CEO of TR Cutler, Inc. (www.trcutlerinc.com) based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

According to Dean Schmidt, Vice President of the Affinity Program for TR Cutler, Inc., ""We had to find a way for manufacturers to rapidly experience ROI from an aggressive PR campaign. 45 press releases in 90 days generates extraordinary traffic to manufacturers' websites and optimizes search engine rankings."" Schmidt acknowledged that new website traffic from potential customers often helps to quickly identify missing ""call-to-action"" messages and results in revised or updated websites.

Schmidt also noted, ""With almost nine out of ten manufacturers employing less than fifty employees, tight margins, global competitiveness, and enticing spending alternatives, PR is often relegated to the ""back burner.""

Cutler developed the PR Advantage Affinity program for manufacturing associations' members. TR Cutler suggested that, ""Due to our leadership role in the manufacturing public relations arena, we have decided to introduce a program that will allow manufacturing associations to offer their members deeply discounted PR services starting in September 2005. There is no cost for the manufacturing associations to participate in the program and offer these deeply discounted PR services to their members.""

In early Q3, Cutler conducted the largest North American manufacturer survey about anticipated marketing budgets in 2006. Statistically significant findings indicated that nearly two-thirds (64%) of the manufacturers surveyed anticipate a dramatic increase in PR budgets of 50% above 2005 levels; travel, print advertising, tradeshow exhibiting, and direct mail each revealed a 30% decrease in 2006 marketing versus 2005.

TR Cutler 954-486-7562 www.trcutlerinc.com trcutler@trcutlerinc.com

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About the author: Professional Marketing Firm

Advertising and PR

2009-01-26T03:04:00.000-08:00

Author: Matt Bacak

What Is The Difference Between Advertising and PR? Advertising and PR are two different functions, however, many business do not know the difference. Since spending your advertising budget and your PR budget effectively is crucial, how can you expect to accomplish this important goal unless you understand the difference?

When thinking of advertising, billboards, glossy spreads, quarter-page newspaper advertisements and other forms of highly visible promotional material comes to mind. This is clearly advertising. Branding or creating a well-recognized presence for your company is a clear example of effective advertising. Business cards with pizzazz are a form of advertising.

What, then, is PR? Public relations are those things that must be accomplished to let the world know who you are and what your company offers. Press releases, news conferences, professional networking and exhibitions or trade shows are examples of PR work. PR is not as flashy as advertising but it is every bit as important. Effective Advertising and PR In today's competitive marketplace, it is crucial to spend every bit of your advertising and PR budget strategically. Public relations can provide a mix that uses advertising but also enhances the efforts of your advertising dollar.

It has long been a ""supposed fact"" in business that word of mouth is the best advertising. This is not necessarily true. It is an unfortunate fact that a customer who has an exceptional experience dealing with your business will tell one or two people about their experience. A customer who has a bad experience will tell at least a dozen people and your business gets negative advertising.

Word of mouth is, however, one of the most effective PR tools available. Offering school tours, sponsoring science fairs or children's' sports teams, volunteering for public speaking opportunities, attending trade shows or presenting at conferences are rather inexpensive ways to build a wealth of good will and put your name out front.

Have you noticed that television commercials for a product often run a 15 to 30 second advertisement of a really great advertisement and within a few weeks shorten the advertisement to the most important 5 to 10 seconds? The reason is that the initial advertising is meant to brand the product or service and associate the advertisement and the product or service in your mind. It works very well - provided you have really memorable advertisements.

About the author: Matt Bacak became ""#1 Best Selling Author"" in just a few short hours. Recent Entrepreneur Magazine's e-Biz radio show host is turning Authors, Speakers, and Experts into Overnight Success Stories. Discover The Secrets To Unleash The Powerful Promoter In You! Sign up for Matt Bacak's Promoting Tips Ezine ($100 value) just visit his website at http://www.powerfulpromoter.com or http://promotingtips.com

NEWS OR SNOOZE: Will Your Press Release be a Doosie or a Dud?

2009-01-25T03:04:00.000-08:00

Author: Meredith Pond

A press release can be an effective weapon in the fight for media and public attention. In fact, many businesspeople don't even think twice before writing or ordering a press release, correctly assuming that a release can provide the necessary publicity to boost sales.

As much as a well-written press release can do for your image, you need to be sure that your business or product is appropriate for a release. Believe it or not, a press release that isn't truly newsworthy can easily end up sounding like a sales pitch, which can do irreparable damage to your company's image.

A press release should make an announcement about a new product or service, an event, or a change in the way a product or service is marketed. If your company has changed management, released or upgraded a product, or is staging an important event, you have material for a solid release.

Also, any little-known business or service can make a good release if it serves the needs of the public in an interesting way. For example, I just wrote a release for a gentleman who provides a service that allows homeowners to pay off their mortgages years sooner, without making larger payments or refinancing their current loans. With mortgage rates falling and the real estate market picking up, that kind of material made a very good release.

So, a story that surrounds current events and peaks public interest usually makes good release material. Now, let's talk about what doesn't.

If your business is, for example, an MLM that hundreds of other people are taking part in and marketing on their own, chances are that the media has already heard about it and won't pick up your story. I'm not saying that MLMs are automatic losers in the media department, because a brand-new or extremely unique program may still be newsworthy. In most cases, however, people trying to market an MLM should rely mainly on classified ads or informative articles that dance around their business, then reveal the contact information at the end.

Similarly, if you belong to an affiliate program along with lots of other people who are using their own marketing techniques, a press release probably isn't the way to go. Media people are extremely busy, and easily get overrun with press releases. Again, in this situation a classified ad or well-written article is probably a better use of your time and money.

A clever writer can take almost any subject and turn it into a press release without sounding like a sales letter. As great a talent as that is, however, media professionals will easily see through it. An effective press release doesn't just SOUND newsworthy, it IS newsworthy. A sales letter in disguise does not make a good release.

Above all, keep in mind that the last thing an editor wants to read is a sales pitch; sending them this kind of material will only get you blackballed in the media. If you're not sure your material is appropriate for a press release, ask an expert. Before ordering your release from an outside source, for example, call them or send them an email, tell them about your business, and ask them if they think a release is the right tool for you. If it's not, chances are they can recommend something that will serve you better.

About the author: Meredith Pond is editor and manager of DrNunley's http://CheapWriting.com. She has written hundreds of successful press releases. See her complete publicity and copy writing packages for students, businesses, and entrepreneurs. Reach Meredith at meredith@drnunley.com or 801-328-9006.

Dean Schmidt Drives Manufacturing Association PR Program

2009-01-24T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Thomas Cutler

Manufacturer neglect, prompted the development and launch of the intensive Manufacturing PR Media Blitz' program, a 90—day program allowing even very small manufacturers to tiptoe into the public relations arena driving quantifiable and measurable impacts.

TR Cutler 954-486-7562 www.trcutlerinc.com trcutler@trcutlerinc.com

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About the author: Professional Marketing Firm

Are PR and Marketing Key To Yahoo!'s Future?

2009-01-23T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: YahooSupporter

Is PR and Marketing the Key to Yahoo!'s Future? Today, there is news that Google is ""testing"" its ebay-like auctions and it may soon release an electronic wallet.

Anyone who knows anything about Yahoo! knows that they implemented ebay-like auctions years ago (see http://auctions.yahoo.com), and have had an electronic wallet for years also (see http://wallet.yahoo.com).

Both of these products are FULLY tested, as are all Yahoo! products, by very very experienced software engineers, with excellent software engineering / QA skills, so that bugs are very rarely introduced into the ""live"" system - i.e. Yahoo! customers very rarely find bugs - Yahoo! employees find them first, before the software is made public. The wallet is highly secure and extremely reliable, and the auctions work spectacularly well and it is possible to purchase products often more cheaply than is possible on Ebay. The only fault with the Yahoo! versions of these products is that they have not been marketed fiercely enough - very few web users even know they exist!

Contrast this with Google, which appears to leave most of its products in ""beta"" mode forever, so that when their customers find bugs, they can use the excuse that the reason there are still bugs is because the product is a beta product.

My guess (though I cannot prove this, my experience in the software industry tells me that this is true) is that the real reason is because Google software teams hack together solutions very quickly to meet customer demand and that full software engineering and QA are not something that Google takes as seriously as does Yahoo!

This story is very similar to all the ""new"" products that Google comes up with..

Of course, everyone knows that Yahoo! Search (http://search.yahoo.com) was around long before Google gurgled its first goo. Unlike Google's search (with its so called ""Florida update"", and other accidental and/or catastrophic reorganizations of the search engine ranking criteria), Yahoo! has never upset its SEO audience by keeping its ranking algorithm secret, changing it drastically without warning, or accidentally changing it.. This is because all Yahoo! changes to the search engine (as is the case with all Yahoo! software) undergo Testing and Change Management (basic principles of software engineering that ensures that unexpected changes do not appear on the live web site). For some reason, publicity about Google's severe mistakes in this area rarely hit the news stands and TV news, despite the fact that it cost lots of businesses a great deal of money! Likewise, Yahoo!'s sterling record in search ranking is rarely publicized in contrast to the Google flakiness.

Google Groups was implemented years after Yahoo! Groups (at http://groups.yahoo.com) - Google Groups is still in beta, years after it bought the newsgroups and software running them from Deja (Google has not changed it much since buying the ready made software and content from Deja, and for a long time after they bought it, much of it was read-only, rendering it almost totally useless during that time period).

Google Desktop search came after Yahoo! Desktop search (see http://desktop.yahoo.com) too (and - oh yes - it is still in beta).

Google's shopping search service, Froogle, came a long time after Yahoo! Shopping (see http://shopping.yahoo.com). The Yahoo! product is vastly superior also, with lots of very useful content to aid in shopping decisions, comparison tools, rating and review facilities etc.

Google News came a long time after Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com) and, of course, it is still in beta! And, many would argue, is still inferior in many ways, to the Yahoo! offering - in terms of the diversity of news feeds on offer, the layout, and other factors.

Google Maps came along years after Yahoo! Maps (http://maps.yahoo.com), and is not only still in beta, it is full of little bugs which I, for one, find very annoying! Although there are some nice gimmicks in Google Maps (you can drag maps around), often such gimmicks are not what the user actually wants to do when using a map (I want to double-click and drill down on an area, like I can in Yahoo! Maps!), and other gimmicks, that would be useful, dont work - e.g it is easy to implement maps into other websites thanks to an open programming api - but that api often fails due to programming errors.

Gmail, likewise, has some nice gimmicks (some of which the user may actually want/need) but is full of bugs, is still in beta, and comes years after Yahoo! Mail (http://mail.yahoo.com) was well established. Yet Gmail got huge publicity because Google offered huge amounts of storage space as part of the deal for those signing up to the service (Yahoo! had, for a long time, offered a great amount of free space to its customers, - unlimited storage space on Yahoo! Photos (http://photos.yahoo.com), a 50Mb of free webspace courtesy of Geocities (http://geocities.yahoo.com), various amounts of free storage space for Yahoo! Briefcase (http://briefcase.yahoo.com) users, Yahoo! Notepad (http://notepad.yahoo.com) users and various amounts of space within many other facilities, all of which were fully integrated with Yahoo! Mail (http://mail.yahoo.com), helping users to organize their information more usefully (whereas Google's space is all contained within mail, creating a mass of different types of information all stored in the same application, making it very difficult to organize, search or make use of) - and yet Google publicity suggested it was the first to offer so much free storage space. Maddeningly, in response, Yahoo! simply expanded the amount of free storage space associated directly with Yahoo! Mail accounts and kept quiet about its other offerings, and the benefits of organizing information in the way facilitated by Yahoo! offerings.

Google Toolbar is another idea that Yahoo! (http://toolbar.yahoo.com) had before Google, though it is one of the few Google pieces of software no longer in beta, that actually works and even may occasionally feature one or two gimmicks that Yahoo! should implement in its own toolbar (for example, web ranking is a useful feature for SEOs and webmasters, which Google came up with first)!

The unhappy ""ig"" (Google's personalized home page) is Google's half-hearted attempt at a personalized portal home page like my yahoo! (http://my.yahoo.com) but it is a very very poor attempt, and is a vastly inferior product. Its a shame more Yahoo! users do not realize how powerful my Yahoo! is. Again, a fault with Yahoo! marketing and PR, not with the product itself.

Moreover, I am aware of at least three ""new"" products that Google is about to announce that Yahoo! has had available to the public for a great deal of time..

It is clear that Google has a very strong Marketing and PR machine - it is no coincidence that so many TV shows, movies and adverts feature people ""googling"", that so many news headlines feature Google's name, nor that Google's share price and revenues are going through the roof in comparison to that of Yahoo!

However, PR and Marketing are the ONLY reason for this.

So, what is wrong with the Yahoo! Marketing and PR machine? Why is Yahoo! allowing Google to grab the headlines for inferior copies of products that Yahoo! has had in its arsenal for many years?

Terry Semel, Jerry Yang et al ought to find out the answer to that question.. NOW!

See YahooSupporter's blog http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-4sU6UzIocqjUhnPaqIsNgU0-

About the author: I have permission to reproduce this article here on behalf of the mysterious YahooSupporter

Write a Power Press Release and Get a Feature Story-Seven Times as Valuable as Advertising

2009-01-22T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Judy Cullins

Do you send out press releases? Have they brought you financial rewards? If not, you may want to rethink how to write a good one-one that editors pay attention to. If editors noticeand love your press release, they will want to interview you for a feature story. The feature story not only gets you valuable attention, it also brings credibility to you, your products, and your services. It is seven times more valuable than advertising.

For example, in a large city daily newspaper, your feature story can get editorial space worth anywhere from $1500 to over $5000 in ""free advertising."" This space is worth seven times as much as an ad because it implies the newspaper endorses you.

You have only seven seconds to impress, so be sure your news release has an outrageous heading that includes a benefit. Then, be able to prove it. What do you think of these? ""Design Every Part of Your Book as a Selling Tool,"" ""Double, even Triple your Online Sales Through Outrageous Headlines,"" from which I created this one my Web site: ""Double, even Quadruple your Web Sales Through Opt-in Ezines""

Market Yourself Through the Media Interview

Always ask the interviewer is there any problem with mentioning your phone number or Web site address. What good is a feature if your audience can't get in touch with you? They usually say yes.

The San Diego Union-Tribune responded to my press release with the headline ""Seven Sure-Fire Ways to Sell More Books Than You Ever Dreamed Of"" by giving me space that would have cost $3000 if I had placed an ad. Funny, they didn't even interview me.

The columnist created her own story.She used this heading: ""Workshop Guides Novice Book Authors."" One of her highlights said, ""seminar participants might be the next John Grisham.""

My phone rang off the hook for over a week. I hired an assistant and we took over 100 calls and collected over 60-email address. To each of the latter I sent my monthly eNewsletter ""The Book Coach Says..."" and got four new book-coaching clients worth thousands of dollars over the next six months. At the same time, my assistants sold 25 books and kits at the back of the room.

You Have What Editors Need

Media editors and radio/TB talk show producers want and need human interest, and newsworthy stories. You have what they need-solutions to problems their particular audiences have.

About the author: Judy Cullins: author, publisher, book coach _Ten Non-techie Ways to Market Your Book Online_ _Write Your eBook or Other Short Book-Fast!_ http://www.bookcoaching.com/teleclasses.shtml Subscribe to FREE ezine ""The Book Coach Says..."" Email: Judy@bookcoaching.com 619/466-0622

What is a Press Release

2009-01-21T03:04:00.000-08:00

Author: Peter Finers

A respectable company interested in publicity and active social life is obliged to have public relations department. Every product needs to be advertised and every service needs to be informed about. This is what advertising agencies are for. But publicity is also a way to advertise and PR agents in Hollywood know it perfectly well. Of course, nobody is talking about details of private life or accidental cases that have nothing to do with morality. The public should know latest news from the company whose services they are going to use. If there is information that can draw attention and both promote, why not to give it to the public.

Information about corporate news or event is called a press release, a news release or a press statement. A standard press release is a short sequence written and forwarded to representatives of the news media to announce something that is of a news value. Press releases are sent to editors of magazines, on the radio or television and online. The purpose is to inform about an event or a conference and draw attention of mass media to it. Companies providing seo copywriting services use press releases to increase the ranking of the client in the search engines. It only may seem easy to cre ate press release , but it also has its system, standards, format and principles just like any written kind of creation. Here are some useful tips on how to write a press release.

It is absolutely necessary to be sure that news you want to present is newsworthy. If the reason you sat down to write a release is not very attention drawing, wait until you have more information and details on the topic. Make sure that your release is laconic and brief. There is no need to describe all the details in the release itself, wait till due to the effort of journalists people will be interested in your event and then you'll have an opportunity to tell about it in person. Make your press release sound simple, no need to use excessive adjectives and fancy language. Think about people's attitude towards what are you going to inform about and use only strong sides of the event. First 5-10 words of the release are very important and exactly they are responsible for the first impression from the release. They have to get reader interested in what is going to happen further. Structure it right: give a short sequence of the news and only then define who was the initiator or the person of address. Make this press release work for you. Some positive information about a company simply called promotion will be helpful in further job of journalists. As you see a press release is a powerful marketing tool that builds credibility.

Killer-Content.com - Web copywriting services

About the author: Peter Finers is a senior copywriter at Killer-Content.com He has several years of experience as copywriter and has completed several important projects for different companies.

How Real PR Works

2009-01-20T03:05:00.000-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

How Real PR Works

For some, public relations works well when their news release or special event winds up in the newspaper or on the radio.

For others, public relations works best when it does something positive about the behaviors of outside audiences that affect their operations the most. I like this approach because a business, non-profit or association manager can use the fundamental premise of public relations to deliver key stakeholder behavior change – the kind that leads directly to achieving a manager's objectives.

What fundamental premise of public relations am I talking about here, and how can you put it to good use persuading those important outside folks to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed?

"People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished."

A simple plan that gets everyone working towards the same external audience behaviors insuring that your public relations effort stays on track.

By the way, I'm talking about changes in behavior like welcome bounces in showroom visits, community leaders beginning to seek you out; membership applications on the rise, customers starting to make repeat purchases; organizations proposing strategic alliances and joint ventures; waves of prospects starting to do business with you; new inquiries about strategic alliances; politicians and legislators starting to view you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities; higher employee retention rates and even capital givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way.

Meet with your PR team and take the time to list those outside audiences of yours who behave in ways that help or hinder you in achieving your objectives. Then prioritize them by how badly they impact you, and start working with the target audience that heads your list.

First challenge? You're not certain just how most members of that key outside audience perceive your organization.

Because there's a good chance you can't afford professional survey work, you and your PR colleagues (don't worry, they'll be quite familiar with perception and behavior matters) must monitor those perceptions yourself.

Ask members of that outside audience questions like "Have you ever had contact with anyone from our organization? Was it a satisfactory experience? Are you familiar with our services or products?" Stay alert to negative statements, especially evasive or hesitant replies, and especially for false assumptions, untruths, misconceptions, inaccuracies and potentially damaging rumors. Because experience shows they usually lead to negative behaviors, the objective is to correct any of the above you encounter.

Now, you're ready to select the specific perception to be altered, and that becomes your public relations goal.

Of course a PR goal without a strategy to show you HOW to reach it, is like a cheeseburger without the ketchup. That's why you now pick one of three strategies designed to create perception or opinion where there may be none, or change existing perception, or reinforce it. The challenge here (a small one) is to insure that the goal and its strategy match each other. You wouldn't want to select "change existing perception" when current perception is just right suggesting a "reinforce" strategy.

Flexing your PR muscle, it's your writer's turn to prepare a compelling message carefully designed to alter your key target audience's perception, as called for by your public relations goal.

Remember that it may be advisable to blend in your corrective message with a presentation, or a newsworthy announcement of a new product, service or employee, which may lend more credibility by not overemphasizing the correction.

Clarity is the watchword with regard to what perception needs clarification or correction, and why. Your facts must be truthful and your position must be logically explained and believable if it is to hold the attention of members of that target audience, and actually move perception in your direction. In other words, your message must be compelling.

Now you select your communications tactics, the "beasts of burden" you will harness to carry your persuasive new thoughts to the attention of your outside target audience.

Your potential tactics list is ample, to say the least. It includes letters-to-the-editor, brochures, press releases and speeches. Or, you might select radio and newspaper interviews, personal contacts, facility tours or customer briefings. There are scores available with the only selection requirement being that those you choose have a record of reaching people just like your target audience members.

Before long, questions will be raised as to how much progress is being made. By which time, you'll be hard at work remonitoring target audience member perceptions. Using questions similar to those used during your earlier monitoring session, you will now look carefully for indications that audience perceptions are beginning to move in the direction you have in mind.

By adding more communications tactics, increasing their frequencies or fine tuning your message, you can always move things along at a faster clip.

Leaving tactics to do what they do best, carry messages, what should come first is an aggressive public relations plan like that outlined above that targets key stakeholder behavior change leading directly to achieving your department, division or subsidiary objectives.

end

Fatal PR Mistakes Authors Make on Their Book Campaigns

2009-01-19T03:04:00.000-08:00

Author: Penny C. Sansevieri

Any author who is driving their own PR campaign knows that often times marketing and media can be an uphill battle. Many times authors are pitching and promoting themselves with minimal results. It can be tedious and frustrating and sometimes lead them to make fatal PR mistakes that can cost them their campaign.

One of the first, and potentially most fatal, is thinking that one or two media appearances are going to wing your book into the bestseller spotlight. Media works when it's done consistently and often it takes months, and in some cases years, for you to reach your own ""PR payoff."" The most important part of a campaign is the author's ability to stick with it. Most of the interviews you see nationally on shows like Good Morning America and Oprah, started with a regional buzz. Build your base (or buzz) in your own back yard first and then start getting your message out on a national level. And this leads us to our second PR mistake: ignoring regional or trade media. Sometimes when you're promoting yourself it's easy to get caught up in going after the big fish, but don't ignore the smaller regional and niche publications, they can be a gold mine of PR and really help to get the buzz going.

Next on our list of fatal PR mistakes is the technique with which authors pitch themselves. First and foremost you want to make sure you're pitching the right people, don't just go after a ""producer,"" find the producer that's right for the story. And be cautious of when you pitch, before you start calling the media, turn on your TV or radio and see if there's a breaking news story. There's no quicker way to offend your media target then pitching them a story when they're scrambling to cover a plane crash or some other major disaster.

As you're navigating through your PR campaign you'll also want to make sure your pitches are focused and relevant. It's much easier to get the attention of the media when you're pitching them something that's already on their radar screen. For example remember when you're putting together your campaign to keep an eye out for seasonal or news spins to your topic. If, let's say, you are discussing the topic of depression, you might want to pitch it around a nationally designated ""depression awareness day"" or, perhaps, given all the buzz around college kids and depression, you might want to tackle this as a back-to-school issue. Targeted, focused pitches are the best way to get the media to notice you, so open that calendar or read your local newspaper to find out what's hot and top of mind. Also, respect their time when you're pitching. Get to the point, don't ramble and remember that this is not about you, it's about the benefits to their readers, viewers, or listeners and most of all, never, ever, ever sell your book. You should always sell yourself and your expertise. Producers and editors will be looking for the WIIFM factor behind your pitch (what's in it for me) not how they can showcase your book.

Finally there's no quicker way to end your campaign than to over promise, stretching the truth, or not being reliable. If you miss an interview or over promise on a commitment one time, you can kiss any further media goodbye. Word travels fast in the industry and bad news travels even faster. Remember be patient, be persistent, and be professional and you're bound to get the media you deserve and keep your campaign alive and well!

About the author: Penny C. Sansevieri helps turn authors into success stories. Check out her Virtual Author Tours, free insider info on publishing, and author marketing newsletter at http://www.amarketingexpert.com

TR Cutler, Inc. Manufacturing PR Firm Puts Dean Schmidt in Charge of International Growth

2009-01-18T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Thomas Cutler

Thomas R. Cutler, who founded the consortium in 1999, has grown the participation from 300 journalists to more than two thousands key clients, journalists, editors, trendsetters, and key business leaders worldwide. Cutler noted that, ""The numerous Free Trade agreements, expansive globalization, and worldwide manufacturing process, has generated huge growth for manufacturers outside North America who want to establish a media and market presence in North America. Dean Schmidt, since joining TR Cutler, Inc. in August 2005 has made a significant and valuable contribution.""

Schmidt noted, ""We have already seen extraordinary growth from manufacturers in New Zealand, Australia, South America, and Europe. With the expansion of the Manufacturing Media Consortium in the international markets, we expect revenues to double by 2007.""

Vice-President of Operations for TR Cutler, Inc., Dean Schmidt is now responsible for the international growth and development of the manufacturing public relations organization. Schmidt will perform a critical liaison function between freelance journalists, editors, and publisher and manage the day-to-day operation of the highly successful division.

Cutler has authored more than 1000 articles for a wide range of manufacturing periodicals, industrial publications, and business journals including most of the leading monthly trade publications. TR Cutler, Inc., (www.trcutlerinc.com), is the nation's largest manufacturing marketing and public relations firm, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

TR Cutler, Inc. www.trcutlerinc.com Thomas Cutler 954-486-7562

About the author: None

How to Write a Press Release

2009-01-17T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Kirk Gordon

Why You Should Write Press Releases: A press release is another way of saying news release or an announcement. It's an easy and affordable way to get your message out to the public. It allows you to announce new products, services or improvements your company has made.

Other common reasons for writing press releases includes, but not limited to, generating more revenues, obtaining new customers and branding your business. Every business strive to make their company's name a household name, and submitting press releases is a great way to do so.

With the emergence of the internet businesses now have an easy way to submit their press releases to thousands of journalists and news papers world-wide, with the click of a mouse. Press release distribution services are becoming increasingly popular for both web-based and real-world based businesses.

How to Effectively Write a Press Release: As I stated earlier, a press release is simply another name for "news" release. The first thing you must consider is weather you have "news" worthy information to announce. Journalists and editors are seeking interesting news that people want to know about.

Good press releases will generally answer who, what, where, when & why. A press release is often written in third person, and generally includes quotes form a company representative or customers where applicable. If a news editor thinks your submission is newsworthy, he or she will publish your release. However, if you fail to provide any essential information or your submission is not newsworthy, an editor will quickly move your news release to the bottom of the pile.

Editors and Journalists receives plenty of news releases each day. The easier you make it for them, the easier it becomes for your news release to be published. Think of it as "Your helping them" to "help you."

Formatting Your Press Release A press release will include the Headline, Summary, and Body. For example, lets say you own a greenhouse business and you recently acquired hydroponics equipment to grow vegetables and herbs. You also will grow plants using organic nutrients or fertilizers. Below is an example press release for a business of this nature. You may follow the structure of the example, but written in your own words to reflect your business.

Headline: A concise, catchy, understandable line of text to show what the news release is about.

- Farm Grows Organic Vegetables & Herbs Using Hydroponics.

Summary: A concise body of text, generally a few sentences long, summarizing what the press release is about.

NY, New York – August 1st 2005 – Hydroponics is an advanced plant cultivation technique that grows plants bigger, healthier, and quicker than traditional soil applications because the plants will have constant access to required nutrients. Acme-Demo-Biz Inc. Co., will begin to produce their crops using this advanced cultivation technique along with organic fertilizer to grow high-quality, healthy produce.

Body: The body is a continuation of the summary portion of the press release. This is where you give in-depth details regarding your announcement.

Acme-Demo-Biz Inc's VP, John Doe said "While it's more difficult to grow crops using hydroponics, the technique allows plants to grow more vigorously, healthy and reach peak-maturity quicker than with traditional soil application. We also save money on fertilizer and water because hydroponics recycles the nutrient solution. This will allow us to pass that savings on to our customers as well as provide them with fresh, tasty vegetables and herbs."

Hydroponics is an indoor cultivation technique. Acme-Demo-Biz Inc. plans on building three large-scale commercial greenhouse to produce vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and basil. "To ensure a successful harvest, Acme-Demo-Biz Inc. will use computers to monitor the grow-room's temperature and the nutrient solution pH and E.C levels – All of which needs to be controlled precisely, to avoid complications to the plants' overall health and development." Said Mr. Doe.

Construction of the three greenhouses will begin December 1, 2005. Acme-Demo-Biz Inc. hopes to have the construction completed within one year to start providing organically grown crops to high-end restaurants, health-food stores and produce markets.

For more information visit Acme-Demo-Biz Inc. Co., web site at http://acme-whatever.com, by email at acme@acme-whatever.com or call 1-800-555-5555.

About the author: Article Courtesy of HydroponicSearch.com - Agriculture Press Release Distribution Service .

The Worst PR Mistakes

2009-01-16T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

The Worst PR Mistakes

For a business, non-profit or association manager, they could be fatal, coming as they do in four bitter flavors.

Mistake #1 – You limit your PR activity pretty much to placing product and service plugs on radio and in newspapers.

Mistake #2 – You fail to embrace the kind of PR plan that persuades those important outside audiences to your way of thinking, then moves them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed.

Mistake #3 -- You fail to use the high-impact, fundamental premise of public relations to deliver external stakeholder behavior change – the kind that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives.

Mistake #4 -- you fail to get the creative potential of your assigned PR team or agency which you need to positively impact the behaviors of the very outside audiences that MOST affect your unit.

Here's one way to reverse that hurtful process. Take a look at this fundamental public relations blueprint. People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

Such a blueprint will broaden your public relations field of fire and put its primary focus where it belongs, on your unit's key external stakeholder behaviors.

A variety of results is likely. For example, fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; customers starting to make repeat purchases; membership applications on the rise; prospects starting to do business with you; community leaders beginning to seek you out; welcome bounces in show room visits; higher employee retention rates, capital givers or specifying sources starting to look your way, and even politicians and legislators beginning to view you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities.

Before you begin such a makeover, make certain the public relations people assigned to your unit really believe – deep down -- why it's SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Make sure they accept the reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your unit.

Sit down with them and discuss your plan for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Questions like these: how much do you know about our chief executive? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the interchange? How much do you know about our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

Luckily for you, your PR people are in the perception and behavior business to begin with, so they can really do a job for you on this crucially important opinion monitoring project. Professional survey firms are always available, but they can be very expensive. Nevertheless, whether it's your people or a survey firm asking the questions, your objective is to identify untruths if not outright lies, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, and misconceptions .

Then you must carefully select which of the above aberrations becomes your corrective public relations goal – clarify the misconception, spike that rumor, correct the false assumption or fix certain other inaccuracies.

Selecting the wrong strategy to show you how to reach your goal is like eating corned beef and cabbage without the horseradish mustard and potatoes. Fact is, you can achieve your PR goal by picking the right strategy from the three choices available to you, change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. But be sure your new strategy dovetails nicely with that new public relations goal.

But what will you say when you finally get the opportunity to address your key stakeholder audience that will help persuade them to your way of thinking?

Experience shows that HOW one communicates often affects the credibility of the message. So, you may wish to deliver it in small getogethers like meetings and presentations rather than through a higher-profile media announcement.

Time to look for signs of progress. And that means a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. Employing many of the same questions used in the first benchmark session, you will now be watching carefully for signs that the offending perception is being altered in your direction.

Aren't we fortunate that these matters usually can be accelerated by adding more communications tactics as well as increasing their frequencies.

The people you deal with behave like everyone else – they act upon their perceptions of the facts they hear about you and your operation. Leaving you little choice but to deal promptly and effectively with those perceptions by doing what is necessary to reach and move those key external audiences to action.

end

PR That Entrepreneurs Often Overlook

2009-01-15T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

PR That Entrepreneurs Often Overlook

If that sounds like you, here's what you may be missing once the new enterprise is launched

Public relations that really does something about the behaviors of those key outside audiences that most affect your new enterprise.

PR that uses a fundamental blueprint to deliver external stakeholder behavior change – the kind that leads directly to achieving your venture's objectives.

And PR that persuades many of those important outside folks to your way of thinking, then moves them to take actions that help your new enterprise succeed.

That's why you as a small business owner must gear up to deal with the unattended perceptions out there that could nudge your fledgling venture closer to bankruptcy than success. Perceptions that, if left unattended, may well result in actions that run counter to those you and your banker had in mind.

For example, when new ventures fail, the wreckage is often assigned to undercapitalization. Seldom is failure attributed to a lack of an effective action plan that might have modified the behavior of prospects and other collaborators in a positive way, thus averting that failure.

So why support your new venture with press release public relations when a basic PR blueprint like this one can hold the key to your success? People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

Add to that these kinds of results: fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; customers making repeat purchases; prospects starting to look your way; community leaders beginning to seek you out; and even politicians and legislators viewing you as a true innovator.

Major caveat for a new entrepreneurial venture: because the cost of gathering key audience perception data – an absolute must in this business – can be substantial, it should be built into the original funding budget. That suggests that you, as the new venture leader, must take the lead in assuring upfront funding of the perception monitoring function.

So, with the people whose perceptions of your venture you care most about now the target of your PR effort, you are ready to launch a well-planned public relations program that can reach, persuade and move those individuals to actions you desire.

Here's a public relations checklist entrepreneurs may find helpful.

From Day 1, you have to be certain your staff or agency public relations people are really committed to knowing how your outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. And further, that negative key audience perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can hurt your new venture. Fortunately, your PR people are in the perception and behavior business to begin with, so they should be of real assistance for your opinion monitoring project.

Professional survey firms are always available, but that can be expensive. So, whether it's your people or a survey firm asking the questions, your objective is to identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, and misconceptions.

First, rank your external audiences as to impacts on your operation. For example, #1 customers; #2 prospects; #3 employees; #4 local and trade media; #5 your local business community; #6 community leaders, and so forth. Then, involve your PR team in plans for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of those you expect will be your most important outside audiences.

Second, interact with members of your key audience and jot down their first impressions of your fledgling operation, especially any problem perceptions.

Use questions like these: Now that you've read our brochure, do you believe our products/services will be of use to people in this area? Have you used the services of our competitors? Did you find them useful? Fairly priced? Any problems? Listen carefully for any rumors or misconceptions about your new operation.

Third, decide which of the negatives you discovered, rates as the #1 corrective public relations goal – for example, clarify the misconception, spike that rumor, correct the false assumption or fix a certain inaccuracy.

Fourth, when you finally have the chance to address your key stakeholder audience to help persuade them to your way of thinking, what will you say? Ideally, you will prepare persuasive and compelling messages that not only provide details about your product and service quality and diversity, but address perception problems that surfaced during your monitoring sessions. As the method of communication can affect the credibility of the message, you may wish to deliver it in small meetings or presentations rather than through high-visibility media releases.

Not so incidentally, here's where a talented writer earns his or her keep because s/he must put together some very special, corrective language. Words that are not only believable, but clear and factual if they are to correct the negatives and shift perception/opinion towards your point of view and lead to the behaviors you have in mind.

Fifth, in the same way Quesadillas come with sauteed onions and smoky cheese, the right PR strategy tells you how to reach your goal. But just three strategies are available in matters of perception and opinion -- change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. And be sure your new strategy is a natural fit with your new public relations goal.

Sixth, things get simpler here. Select communications tactics to carry your message to the attention of your target audience. Making certain that the tactics you select have a record of reaching folks like your audience members, you can pick from dozens of tactics. Everything from speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others.

Seventh, how do you decide that your efforts are changing perceptions for the better? As time passes, you should notice increased awareness of your business, a growing public perception of the role your business plays in the community; and, of course, growing numbers of prospects.

You can track these results by interacting on a regular basis with people from each of your key audiences, especially by monitoring print and broadcast media and through interaction with key customers and prospects.

But eighth, questions will soon appear as to progress. That will demand a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. Using the same questions used in the first benchmark session, you will now be alert to indications that the negative perception is being altered as you wished.

In public relations, we're lucky that these efforts can be accelerated through more communications tactics as well as increasing their frequencies.

The stakes are high – the very survival of your new enterprise!

So, concentrate on what's most important -- people in your new venture's community or marketing area behave like people everywhere, they take actions based on their perception of the facts available to them.

In the proverbial nutshell, here you have a workable public relations blueprint that can help you persuade your most important outside stakeholders to your way of thinking, then move them to behave in a way that leads to the success of your new enterprise.

end

PR Works! 15 Ways To Make Your Press Release Stand Out From the Crowd

2009-01-13T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Julia Hyde

PR Works!

15 Ways to Make Your Press Release Stand Out From the Crowd!

Do editors of newspapers, magazines and online news sites really use press releases? Too right they do. In fact, the press release is one of the most effective forms of publicity. But many businesses, both online and off, underestimate the power the press has to promote their business and get their product or service noticed by potential customers.

There are no figures that show how many news stories are generated by press releases but my guess is that it runs into the hundreds and thousands, if not more. Many will be published word for word. Others will be paraphrased. But, either way the stories generate free, credible publicity for you, and your business.

So how do you convince reporters and editors to sit up and take notice of your company's news? Write a press release that's newsworthy, factual, topical, and then send it to the right people. It's not as simple as it sounds, though, because the press is bombarded with information everyday and their priorities are not necessarily yours.

Have no fear. Here are 15 tips to help you write a press release that will impress reporters, and increase your chances of publication.

1. Don't waste the reporters' time submitting something that isn't news. Find an interesting angle or a new twist and you're almost guaranteed success. If you make your story sound dull it will probably end up in the trash. The best source for ideas is the magazines and newspapers themselves. Not the front page headlines but the one or two paragraph items on page three or page 10. Play close attention to these because they often suggest something bigger is afoot. If that something can tie into your product or service you're on to a sure-fire winner.

2. Your headline should summarize your story in ten words or less. It tells the editor, at a glance, if your story is newsworthy or not. Avoid adjectives like "amazing" and "exciting'. It's a turn off for journalists. A simple title such as,"MarketingBiz.com Announces Launch of Newsletter Service" is better than, "MarketingBiz.com to Launch Exciting and Interesting New Service." Remember, this is news, not advertising.

3. Make sure your lead sentence contains all the main points of your story. It should tell the reader who has done what, where, why and when. Try not to let this sentence ramble on. Make sure it's straight to the point and contains only essential information.

4. Include all the benefits of your product or service. If your product is 20% cheaper, say so. If your service can help make your client, healthier or wealthier, say so. Concentrate on the advantages to the consumer because no one cares about the advantages the product has to you.

5. Add detail to your story. In the body of your release add extra information in order of importance. But beware, editors delete paragraphs from the end so make sure you include vital information early.

6. If possible include one or two quotes from reliable or expert sources. Quotes give a point of view, reflect the personality of the speaker and add a human element.

7. Keep the length to a single page if possible. Definitely no more than two. Anything over that becomes a chore for the editor. If you must go to two pages put "more" at the bottom of page one so the editor knows there is more to your story. At the end of your release put either the word "Ends" or ### or –30-. This lets the editor know your release is over.

8. If you're sending photos with your release, always include a caption listing the names of people in the photo. Include sources, contacts and the release date.

9. Avoid embargoes unless they are absolutely necessary. They are often used to make a story look more important than it actually is. Editors will rarely be fooled and you may find it's counter-productive.

10. Sending your release to the right people and to enough publications will increase your chances of getting your story printed. There are literally thousands of newspapers, magazines and online publications for trade and the consumer. Find the right ones by:

? Checking listings in a media directory. You can find them at your local library. ? Using an online service such as PR Web, that offers free distribution, or a paid service like PR Newswire. ? Sending the release to trade publications related to your business ? Contacting local and national TV and Radio

11. The more press releases you issue, the more will get printed. Ensure you issue at least one story a month. But don't send out a release for the sake of it.

12. If you're sending your release via email, avoid sending file attachments. Editors are wary of viruses and most will immediately delete your release.

13. Avoid fancy letterheads and gimmicks. What you say is more important.

14. Include contact name(s), telephone number(s) including cell phone numbers and an email address. This may sound obvious, but a surprising number of releases are submitted with this essential information missing.

15. Make your grammar and spelling perfect. A poorly written, grammatically incorrect press release tells the editor one thing…that your company does not have professional standards. Proofread your release several times before you submit it. Don't just rely on a spell-checker.

About the author: Julia is an independent copywriter and consultant specializing in search engine marketing and copywriting, direct mail, press releases and other marketing materials businesses need to increase sales. Learn more about how Julia can help boost your profits by visiting www.juliahyde.com. Or email info@juliahyde.com. She'll get back to you right away.

The Ultimate PR Edge: Getting Reporters To Open Your E-Mails

2009-01-09T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Bill Stoller

The Ultimate PR Edge: Getting Reporters To Open Your E-Mails

by Bill Stoller, Publisher Free Publicity, The Newsletter for PR-Hungry Businesses http://www.PublicityInsider.com/freepub.asp

You know that getting publicity is vital to the health of your business. You probably also know that e-mail is the way most publicity seekers get in touch with reporters to score that precious coverage. Here's what you don't know: The vast majority of e-mails sent to journalists never get read.

Bottom line: if your e-mails don't get read, you have no shot at getting the publicity you so desperately need.

Here's how to beat the odds:

Avoiding the Spam Trap

To a spam filter, your humble e-mail pitch may appear to contain an array of trigger words and suspicious phrases. A server that relayed your message may be on a blacklist - a ""do not open"" list of known spammers. Or perhaps the filter's having a tough day and has decided to start blocking things arbitrarily. You can't prevent every instance of spam blocking, but you can take some steps to help lessen the chances of your e-mail ending up in a black hole.

The most important step is learning how spam filters think, and creating e-mails that avoid the usual pitfalls. Fortunately, you'll find that -- once you can do this -- many spam triggers are easily avoided.

Rather than taking up space here with all the how-to's, allow me to simply direct you a terrific site on the subject: http://www.wordbiz.com/avoidspamfilters.html

Getting Your E-Mail Opened & Read

After beating the spam filter, next up is getting your e-mail opened and read. The key: the subject line. No matter how on- the-money your pitch, a subpar subject line will kill any chance of getting the reporter's attention. You've got one shot at getting your e-mail opened, make the most of it with a killer subject line.

Here's how to do it: 1) Place the word ""News"" or ""Press Info"" or ""Story Idea"" at the beginning of your e-mail subject line, in brackets e.g.: [Story Idea]:

2) Try to incorporate the reporter's first name also at the beginning of the subject line.

3) If you know the name of the reporter's column, for instance ""Cooking with Linda"", also try to incorporate that. One more thing -- if the reporter doesn't write a regular column, try to at least include their beat (e.g. Joe, re: your future pieces on the wi-fi industry).

With these three tips in mind, a successful e-mail subject line might read:

[Story Idea]: Linda, Here's a Tip for Your ""Cooking with Linda"" Column

That's a heading that will stand head and shoulders above the rest.

Here are a few more e-mail do's and don'ts: Do:

* Make the information you place in the subject line short and to the point. Often, reporter's e-mail software cuts off the subject at only a few words.

* Don't get cute or be too vague in your subject line. For example ""Here's a Great Story!"" is vague and sounds like spam; ""This Will Win You A Pulitzer!"" will make you look silly (unless you're delivering the scoop of the century, of course!).

* Try to make your most newsworthy points at the top of your e- mail message - don't expect a reporter to scroll down to find the news.

* Include your contact information, including cell phone, e-mail address, regular address, fax number & website URL at the beginning and end of the e-mail.

* Include a link to your website if you have additional information such as: photos, press releases, bios, surveys, etc.

Don't:

* Include more than a short pitch letter or press release in the body of your e-mail.

* Allow typos or grammatical errors.

* Include an attachment with your e-mail. In this day and age of sinister viruses, reporters automatically delete e-mail with attachments.

* Place the following words (by themselves) in the subject line: ""Hi"", ""Hello"" - the media's spam filters will pounce and destroy.

* Send an e-mail with a blank subject line.

A cool tip: Use Google News (www.news.google.com) to search for recent stories that have appeared relating to your industry or field of interest. Then, e-mail the reporter directly (use a subject line such as Re: Your July 5th piece on electric cars). Give positive feedback on the story and let him know that, next time he's working an electric car story, he should get in touch, as you're an expert with provocative things to say. Give a couple of supporting facts to back up the assertion, include your phone number and web link, and ask if he'd like to see a full press kit. This technique really works!

About the author: Bill Stoller, the ""Publicity Insider"", has spent two decades as one of America's top publicists. Now, through his website, eZine and subscription newsletter, Free Publicity: The Newsletter for PR-Hungry Businesses http://www.PublicityInsider.com/freepub.asp , he's sharing -- his secrets of scoring big publicity. For free articles, killer publicity tips , visit Bill's exclusive new site: http://www.publicityInsider.com

Is This the PR You Thought You Were Getting?

2009-01-08T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

You know, where you do something positive about the behaviors of those outside audiences that MOST affect your organization? And where you do so by persuading those important external folks to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed?

Yes, that's right, it's where you use the fundamental premise of public relations to produce external stakeholder behavior change – the kind that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives.

What it boils down to is (1) your public relations effort must involve more than special events, brochures and news releases if you really want to get your money's worth, and (2), the right PR really CAN alter individual perception and lead to changed behaviors that help you succeed!

You can do it when you bring that fundamental premise of PR mentioned above, into play. It goes like this: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

What kind of results can you, as a business, non-profit or association manager, expect from such an approach? Well, for starters, improved relations with government agencies and legislative bodies, stronger relationships with the educational, labor, financial and healthcare communities; prospects starting to work with you; customers making repeat purchases; and even capital givers or specifying sources looking your way

And that's not all. You also could see progress in the form of membership applications on the rise; new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; rebounds in showroom visits; enhanced activist group relations, and expanded feedback channels; as well as community service and sponsorship opportunities; not to mention new thoughtleader and special event contacts.

Yes, that's promising quite a bit but that's what this approach to public relations is capable of delivering.

Of course the PR people supporting you as a manager – agency or staff – must be real team members and committed to you, as the senior project manager, to the PR blueprint and its implementation, starting with target audience perception monitoring.

Ask yourself how important it is that your most important outside audiences really perceive your operations, products or services in a positive light? Then assure yourself that your PR staff buys into that notion wholeheartedly. Be especially careful that they accept the reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your unit.

Review the PR blueprint in detail with your team, especially the plan for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Use questions like these: how much do you know about our organization? How much do you know about our services or products and employees? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the interchange? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

The perception monitoring phases of your program obviously can be handled by professional survey people, IF the budget is available. But keep in mind that your PR people are also in the perception and behavior business and can pursue the same objective: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

Clearly, you will need a well-defined goal, one that responds to the aberrations that appeared during your key audience perception monitoring. As a flexible goal, it could call for straightening out that dangerous misconception, or correcting that gross inaccuracy, or doing something about that damaging rumor.

Inevitably, a goal needs a strategy to show you how to get there. And here, you have three strategic choices for handling a perception or opinion challenge: create perception where there may be none, change the perception, or reinforce it. Unfortunately, a bad strategy pick will taste like fudge sauce on your spareribs, so be sure the new strategy fits well with your new public relations goal. For instance, you don't want to select "change" when the facts dictate a "reinforce" strategy.

Changing people's minds to your way of thinking is a tough assignment, so your PR team must set down the needed corrective language. Words that are compelling, persuasive and believable AND clear and factual. You must do this if you are to correct a perception by shifting opinion towards your point of view, leading to the desired behaviors.

Sit down again with your communications specialists and review your message for impact and persuasiveness. Then, select the communications tactics most likely to carry your words to the attention of your target audience. You can pick from dozens that are available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. But be sure that the tactics you pick are known to reach folks just like your audience members.

Because the credibility of a message can occasionally depend on its delivery method, you might introduce it to smaller gatherings rather than using higher-profile tactics such as news releases or talk show appearances. One good thing about doing progress reports for clients or bosses is that they sound the alert for you and your PR folks to return to the field for a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. Using many of the same questions used in the first benchmark session, you must now stay alert for signs that the bad news perception is being altered in your direction.

If impatience shows up, you can always accelerate things with more communications tactics and increased frequencies.

It should be an irresistable premise for any manager! Do something positive about the behaviors of those outside audiences that MOST affect your organization. And do so by persuading those important external folks to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed.

Wow!

end

About the author: Bob Kelly counsels managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communi- cations, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

The Ultimate PR "Scam"

2009-01-07T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

The Ultimate PR "Scam"

It happens to business, non-profit and association managers when their public relations budget fails to deliver the crucial external audience behaviors they need to achieve their department, division or subsidiary objectives.

Behaviors they should have received leading directly to boosts in repeat purchases; growing community support; more tech firms specifying the manager's components; increased capital donations; stronger employee retention rates; new waves of prospects, or healthy membership increases.

If that rings your bell, you need to take two actions.

First, insist that your public relations activity is based on a fundamental premise like this: People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

Second, as the manager for whom they labor, get personally involved with the professionals managing your PR effort. Tell those specialists that you must list, then prioritize those key external audiences whose behaviors effect your unit the most.

Identify that outside audience sitting at the top of your slate, and we'll work on it right now.

Nothing happens, of course, until you gather some pithy information. Namely, how do members of that key target audience, whose behaviors affect your unit's success or failure, actually perceive you?

You and/or your PR team must interact with members of that audience and monitor their perceptions by asking a number of questions: Do you know anything about us? What have you heard about our services or products? Have you ever had contact with our organization? Was it satisfactory?

The trick here is to stay vigilant for negative signs, in particular, untruths, exaggerations, inaccuracies, rumors or misconceptions.

By the time you complete this exercise, you will have gathered the raw material you need to establish a corrective public relations goal. It might aim to fix an inaccuracy, clear up a misconception or lay that rumor to rest.

How you get to that goal, however, is another question because you have just three strategy choices when it comes to perception/ opinion matters like this. Create perception/opinion where there isn't any, reinforce existing opinion, or change it. A warning: insure that your new strategy is an obvious match for your new public relations goal.

Now, alert your team to a real writing challenge – a message tasked with altering the offending perception. Which means your writer must produce a message that changes what many target audience members now believe. No easy job!

It must be clear about how the current perception is out of kilter. And it must not only be truthful, but persuasive, compelling and believable if it is to lead ultimately to the desired behavior. True heavy lifting!

By the way, messages like that best retain their credibility when delivered along with another news announcement or presentation, rather than a dedicated, high-profile press release.

Speaking of delivery, it's time for you and your PR team to select the communications tactics to carry that message of yours to members of a target audience that really needs to hear it. Fortunately, there are dozens of such tactics awaiting your pleasure – speeches, radio/newspaper interviews, brochures, op-eds, newsmaker events, newsletters and many, many more. Be careful that the tactics you use have a record of reaching folks just like those you're aiming at.

It won't be long before people around you begin asking about progress. Which, once again, will put your team back in the opinion monitoring mode out among the members of your target audience. And the questions they ask will be very similar to those used in the first perception monitoring session.

Difference this time around will be your close attention to just how much current perceptions are really undergoing the change for which you planned. You want solid signs that the offending perception is actually being altered.

You can always shovel more coal into the boiler by adding new communications tactics, then using them more frequently to achieve faster progress.

When you apply a comprehensive and workable plan like this, you have little to fear from "a PR scam." Instead, you are on-track to achieve those key audience behaviors you must have to reach your unit's operating objectives.

end

Managers: Are You PR-Fit?

2009-01-06T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

Managers: Are You PR-Fit?

Can you honestly say that your business, non-profit or association's key outside audiences behave in ways that help lead to your success on-the-job?

Or, have you pretty much ignored the reality that target audience behaviors can help or hinder you in achieving your department, division or subsidiary's operating objectives?

Truth is, your unit's public relations effort can never be truly fit until the primary focus of the PR people assigned to you is shifted from tactical concerns to a more comprehensive public relations action blueprint like this: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving- to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

What such a foundation gives you is the ability to help persuade those important external stakeholders to your way of thinking. Which can cause them to take actions that lead to your success as a manager.

Any idea how to make that happen?

First, tell your public relations team that you're serious about nailing down what those outside audiences with the behaviors that affect your unit the most, really think about your organization. After you list the external stakeholders, prioritize them so we're certain we're working on one of your key target audiences.

Next, you and your PR team must interact with members of that audience by asking a number of questions aimed at finding out how you're perceived. Look for inaccurate beliefs, troublesome misconceptions, potentially dangerous rumors, and any other negativities that might translate into target audience behaviors that could hurt you.

Of course, you could hire a professional survey firm to interact with members of your target audience and gather the perception data you need. But that can get expensive indicating, at least to me, that the alternative use of your own PR staff to handle this chore, is the better choice.

Question now, how to achieve that public relations goal? Obviously, you need the right strategy to show you how to do it. Luckily, where opinion/perception is concerned, there are really only three strategy choices: create perception/opinion where none exists, change existing perception, or reinforce it. And be certain the strategic choice you made clearly fits your new public relations goal.

Now, remember that the message you use to communicate your corrective message to members of your target audience is not only crucially important to the program's success, but a real writing challenge for you and your public relations team. The message must be clearly written as to why the offending perception really needs to be clarified. Supporting facts must be above challenge and believable if your message is to be persuasive. And, it should be compelling.

Delivering your message, perhaps surprisingly, is not a complex assignment because you have a long list of communications tactics to help you do the job. They range from media interviews, emails, personal contacts and newsletters to facility tours, press releases, brochures, consumer meetings and many others. The only caution here is to check and double-check that those you choose are known to reach people like those who make up your target audience.

Sooner rather than later, you will need to determine how much progress you're making in altering the damaging perception and its equally damaging follow-on behavior. This is also not a complex challenge.

Here, you and your public relations people must once again interact with members of your target audience and ask questions similar to those used in the earlier benchmark monitoring drill.

The big difference this time around? You'll be alert to change. In other words, you want to see clear indications that the damaging perception is actually undergoing alteration in your direction.

You can always add more communications tactics, increase their frequencies and sharpen your message to move things along at a faster clip.

The result for you as a business, non-profit or association manager, will be a workable department, division or subsidiary public relations blueprint that succeeds in creating key outside audience behaviors that help lead you to success on-the-job.

end

Same Time Next Year: Using Editorial Calendars as Part of your PR Efforts

2009-01-05T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Shannon Cherry, APR, MA

It's the time of year when calendars crowd out the books and magazines in bookstores and are even on sale at reduced prices. But there's a special kind of calendar that all good public relations professionals use – the editorial calendar.

According to Shannon Cherry, using editorial calendars is one of the most effective, yet most overlooked tool in a publicist's toolkit. "Most people avoid using editorial calendars because it takes some time to research and compile," she says. "The top PR professionals do this every year and I've personally found that outcomes are well worth the time – especially when you end up getting featured in a key article in a major publication." Cherry is the president of Cherry Communications (www.cherrycommunications.com), a public relations and marketing firm which helps small businesses, consultants and entrepreneurs to be heard.

Except for the year and the names of the months, these calendars bear little resemblance to the glossy hang-up calendars in the stores. No swimsuit-clad models, lush scenery, puppies, kittens or cartoons of Dilbert. Editorial calendars are usually bare-bones lists of upcoming issue topics and major features – or at least the cover stories or special sections. Not much to look at – unless you're a PR pro trying to crack that market.

"That's because knowing what publications have in store allows you to tailor your pitches, news releases and articles to particular issues," says Cherry. "Helping editors and journalists by providing the stories they need earns you goodwill and increased attention."

Editorial calendars are basically telling you exactly what information they need for each issue. "If you can spin your own story to match what the media is looking for, then you have a great chance of being featured in that publication," she says.

A current editorial calendar can usually be found in the advertising section at the publication's website. If you can't find it there, contact the publications marketing/sales department and ask them to email/snail mail it to you.

Here are some examples of editorial calendars: •Choice: The Magazine for Professional Coaching - http://www.choice-online.com/calendar.html •Small Business Technology Magazine - http://www.sbtechnologymagazine.org/write/SBTM_Editorial_Calendar _2004_2005.pdf •Fortune Small Business - http://www.fortune.com/fortune/mediakit/editcal-targeted.html

Not all publications have editorial calendars. "Really small magazines – the many labor-of-love kind of magazines published by enthusiasts –usually don't." says Cherry. "Magazines, which don't accept ads, may have one but they don't publish it. Totally reader-contributed publications don't. New magazines generally don't because the content is so often changed and tweaked as the publication searches for its voice."

Even some large, national magazines don't have calendars. News weeklies like Time and Newsweek don't. Neither does People or US Weekly. "They are steered by what news hits that week and that is, of course, something you can't predict months in advance," she explains.

Cherry suggests, after reviewing the calendar, you can decide which stories you can offer to be a source or expert for, or, in the case of trade publications, which months you could offer a written expert-opinion piece.

"Remember that editorial calendars can and do change, so check for updates regularly," reminds Cherry. "Also, pay attention to deadlines. Article queries and pitches especially should be sent to the editors well ahead of time. And if they don't have deadlines, assume that the media need the information about four months out."

About the author: Shannon Cherry, APR, MA helps businesses & entrepreneurs to be heard. She's a marketing communications expert with more than 15 years experience and the owner of Cherry Communications. Subscribe today for Be Heard! a FREE biweekly ezine and get the FREE special report: ""Get Set For Success: Creative, Low-Cost Marketing Tips to Help You be Heard."" Go to: http://www.cherrycommunications.com/freereport.htm.

PR tips - should we issue a press release?

2009-01-04T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Jo Chipchase

Question: Why should your business issue a press release? Answer: because you have something to say, you want to say it in public and a press release encourages the press to say it for you. And because you want to show your business in a favourable light from the outset and begin the longer-term process of building awareness and understanding of your product or service.

There's plenty of research to show that young companies – weighed down by the business of simply running a new business – pay scant attention to PR, yet that's exactly what they should be doing from the very start to get their names and products known. For most businesses, PR isn't about spin or the abstract maintaining of "good relations" with the press and public; it's simply about telling people that you and your products or services are there and letting them know why they should be interested. It's about getting column inches in newspapers and magazines and fulfilling the adage that an inch of good editorial is worth a page of advertising. It's about making your sales easier.

Issuing press releases is a mainstay of basic PR. It's how you start the ball rolling with the press. The good news is, if approached in the right way (whether you do it yourself or use an affordable professional, this activity need not cost the earth).

But do remember that you're presenting your business to the public. A release that's poorly written, with grammatical or spelling mistakes, or full of jargon, or long-winded and unfocused, can do you more harm than good. Given the importance of PR, there's something to be said in favour of paying for professional writing skills. PR writers don't just turn out good English: they know how to structure a press release and present facts in a way that appeals to busy journalists and grabs their attention.

The next question is: "When should I issue a press release?" Certainly, issuing releases willy-nilly, at whim, is no good. The time to make a business announcement is when you have something topical and newsworthy to say (but remember: what you consider topical might not be of interest to the wider world or to journalists). All releases need a strong 'hook' – in other words, an angle that will appeal to editors and give your story a good chance of gaining coverage.

So, what would be considered newsworthy? For starters, perhaps you're launching a new product or service? Or opening a new branch? Or you're launching a spin-off venture from scratch? Whatever it is, it should be presented as offering something reasonably new and interesting, not just as a "me too".

Hopefully, your product or service has particular benefits and applications that will appeal to your market segment and generate interest. If whatever you're launching is technically innovative or it's being marketed in an unusual or high profile way, you could have the basis of a release. In this case, make sure you don't fill your release with unnecessary jargon or marketing-speak that could alienate journalists, such as "the cost effective, integrated, seamless, one-stop-shop solution to meet all your business needs." Tell people what it is you're actually offering. The above example is full of hype but what's the product? An accountancy service? A stationers? An abattoir?

Other company activities could be newsworthy. Have you appointed any new members of senior staff who have a reputation in your industry? Won a large contract or client? Become involved in a sponsorship deal? Have you received an accolade or won an industry award? If so, the trade press might be interested.

Forthcoming events can provide ideal material for announcements. Are you holding any open days, speakers' panels, rallies or debates? Charity events or donations from your organisation to good causes are worth highlighting, as are initiatives that benefit the wider community. If celebrities or public figures are involved, your newsworthiness will increase. The level of interest will relate to the stature of your company and the nature of your event. If a famous chocolate factory held an open day with lots of freebies, it would be of national press interest. If Bloggs the Grocers held a similar event, the local paper would be the main target.

When you're seeking newsworthy stories, don't forget one of your best assets – your personnel. Have any employees been recognised for outstanding achievements? Do they have unusual hobbies? Have they received any unusual requests or orders from customers that your company has fulfilled? The local press might opt for a quirky human-interest story.

Whatever the reason for your announcement, remember this rule of thumb: yet another pizzeria on a high street full of pizzerias will not gain many column inches, no matter how good the pizzas. But a pizzeria offering the hottest jalapenos in the UK, singing waiters, Italian cocktails with every meal or three for the price of two (or something!) just might. Sometimes it's even worth coming up with an offer of some sort (particularly in retailing) simply to garner press interest.

Remember to monitor the news for events to hook into. Can you associate your company with upcoming holidays, public projects, or fads? Statements that might seem controversial, such as stating your organisation's stance on a volatile public issue, might gain coverage. Have you conducted research that gives you statistics you could release?

Finally, if you're targeting different press sectors with the same story, write multiple releases rather than issuing one generic release. An announcement focusing on the metallurgy used to create your new range of stainless steel cooking pans would be of interest to the trade press. However, it wouldn't be considered too thrilling by the lifestyle press and women's magazines.

You need to think carefully about what you're announcing and who it's aimed at, rather than using the 'scattergun' approach and sending untargeted releases to whichever journalists you happen to find. Professional PR distributors retain up-to-date lists of all the journalists in each industrial sector and geographical region, and take a great deal of care to target the right journalists with the right releases. If you're distributing your release yourself, a few hours' homework can pay enormous dividends.

About the author: Editorial director Press Dispensary www.pressdispensary.co.uk

Make Your PR Budget Work Harder

2009-01-02T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

Make Your PR Budget Work Harder

Do it by restructuring your business, non-profit or association public relations program so that it delivers the stakeholder behavior changes you want. Changes that lead directly to achieving your objectives.

A good first step is to base the restructure on a reality like this: People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired -action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

Then, if you haven't done so already, think about your important outside audiences and how their behaviors can help or hinder your organization. List them in order of damage severity, and let's talk about #1 on the roster.

Obviously, before you decide how to deal with external audience perceptions and, thus, behaviors, it makes sense to find out what members of that target audience really think about your organization.

If you are not equipped with a budget to pay for professional survey work, you and your colleagues,have little choice but to interact with audience members and that means using penetrating questions – "What do you think of us? How much do you know about us? Have you ever had contact with our people? If so, was it a positive experience?" Stay alert to negativities, and watch closely for inaccuracies, misconceptions, and exaggerations.

The data you gather from such monitoring activity let's you identify the most severe perception problem, then establish it as your corrective public relations goal. Which allows you to straighten out that misconception, correct that inaccuracy or deflate that exaggeration.

Your goal isn't worth much by itself. It needs a buddy, and that buddy is a strategy that shows you what you must do to achieve the goal. Luckily, there are only three strategies to choose from when it comes to perceptions and opinions. Reinforce existing opinion, change it, or create perception where none exists. Here, by the way, you must take care that your chosen strategy fits naturally with your new goal.

Writing the message – especially one burdened with the job of altering perception – is never an easy job. In other words, it must change the opinion of a key target audience and that can be a challenging writing assignment.

All at the same time, the message must be persuasive and compelling. And to do that, it must be clear about what is to be altered and why. It must be truthful, of course, and believable if it is to move target audience perception towards your view. On occasion, you may wish to avoid the showcase effect of a separate news release leading you to either piggyback your message on another operating announcement, or deliver it live at one of your newsmaker special events or media interviews.

Since the message will do very little simply looking back at you from the word processor, you must round up your "beasts of burden" to carry your message to the right eyes and ears among your target audience. These are communications tactics and there are scores of them ready to help. They range from emails, speeches, and press releases to radio/newspaper interviews, newsletters, facility tours and many more. Only caution here is, make certain any communications tactics you use come with proof that they reaches folks similar to those in your target audience.

Questions will soon be raised as to whether your public relations effort is succeeding. Which will send you and your colleagues back into the field to question your target audience members once again.

Only this time, you're on the lookout for change in the form of perceptions altered, and opinions modified in your direction, as you planned.

It's also comforting to know that a lagging effort can be accelerated, and its impact increased, by adding more communications tactics to the mix. Further, their frequencies can be bumped up as well.

All of which increases the chances you will succeed in changing the behaviors of your key external audiences. Behavior change that you want and need, and that leads directly to achieving your primary operating objectives.

end

About the author: Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

Managers Who Leave PR to Others

2008-12-31T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

Managers Who Leave PR to Others

You're a business, non-profit or association manager who needs to achieve your organizational objectives on schedule. Since public relations should be helping you do just that, why leave it wholly in the hands of others?

In your own best interest, get personally involved in your public relations effort and ask the PR team servicing your department, division or subsidiary a few questions.

Are they focused on a workable, comprehensive plan for producing those key external audience behaviors like customers coming back for repeat purchases; new prospects starting to sniff around; capital donors asking for more information, and others deciding to specify your services or products, and similar good stuff?

Ask the PR folks how they feel about using the fundamental premise of public relations as a guide to the PR work they are doing for you. For that matter, what do you think about these two sentences? People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving- to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

The nice thing about that premise is that it shines the PR spotlight directly on those outside groups of people with a large say about how successful you're going to be – namely, on your key external target audiences.

Then ask your PR team how they feel about using these tools to capture the perceptions, and thus behaviors of your most important outside audiences.

For example, do you and your PR people really know how your organization is perceived by those target audiences, and are you all really aware of the behaviors that flow from those perceptions?

Because that's where the rubber meets the road – target audience behaviors that help or hinder you in achieving your operating objectives.

To find out what target audience members think about your organ- ization, you and your PR team must interact with them and ask a lot of questions. The alternative is to spend considerable money on professional survey work, but let's assume that's not really an alternative at this point in the budget cycle.

At any rate, we're talking about questions like "What do you think of us? Have you had dealings with us? Were they satisfactory?" Stay alert to negativities such as misconceptions, inaccuracies, false assumptions and rumors.

With such data in hand, you're ready to establish your public relations goal. Often, it can be expressed in a few words: clear up that misconception, correct that inaccuracy, or clarify that false assumption.

But no PR goal is ready for battle without a sound strategy to tell you how to reach it. In matters dealing with perception and opinion, there are just three strategies from which to choose: reinforce existing perception, create perception where there is none, or change it. A word here, make certain the strategy you choose is a good fit with your public relations goal.

Clearly, the most challenging aspect of the PR problem-solving sequence is preparing the message that will do the heavy lifting – altering individual perception within your target audience pop ulation. It can do so only if it's both persuasive and compelling. As the PR team's "client manager," you must also be involved in message preparation. Is it clear as to what perception needs to be altered, and is your rationale believable and persuasive?

Next, hitch up your "beasts of burden," the communications tactics you need to carry that message to the eyes and ears of your key target audience. Fortunately, you and your PR team have a long list of such tactics available ranging from press releases, media briefings, newsletters and facility tours to radio and newspaper interviews, brochures and face-to-face meetings. Just be sure that the tactics chosen have a record of actually reaching folks like those in your target audience, and that the budget can accommodate the type and frequency of communications tactics required to do the job.

Pretty quick-like, you will wonder just how much progress towards your public relations goal you are really making. Which is the signal to re-monitor perceptions of those members of your target audience. Same questions, but a new objective: watch closely for signs that perceptions are actually being altered.

You can always apply more pressure to the effort by adding new communications tactics to the battle, AND bumping up some of their frequencies.

By keeping a managerial eye on your public relations program – and satisfying yourself that it is focused on helping you achieve your operating objectives – you can be certain your PR dollars are being spent on that workable, comprehensive plan for producing those key audience behaviors that impact your operation the most.

end

About the author: Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks about the fundamental premise of public relations. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

How to write more powerfully for PR, offline and online

2008-12-29T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Suzan St Maur

Years ago when my Dad owned a group of local newspapers I spent my school and college vacations working in the editorial office. We used to amuse ourselves over our sandwiches at lunchtime looking through and trashing the endless press releases that would arrive in the mail each day, all beautifully produced with glossy photographs (this was in pre-internet days).

We trashed them because all but the odd one or two were ill-considered, highly subjective, barely camouflaged advertising copy that had about as much editorial news value as last week's shopping list.

Why am I telling you all this?

Because despite the fact that this happened many years ago, it's still happening today. Both offline and now online editors continue to laugh sardonically at the self-promoting garbage they receive from corporate sources exactly as my Dad and I laughed umpty-dump years ago. I salivate just thinking about how I could spend the fortunes wasted on those releases and photographs over so many years.

And why does this continue to happen? I believe it is because the organizations who send out this stuff – particularly their financial managers – just can't get their heads around the difference in culture between what they want to say, and what editors need to deliver to their audiences.

Good PR advisers try hard to compensate, but ultimately it's the client who pays their fees, and if the client insists on issuing garbage there's not much a PR adviser can do other than resign the business.

Time after time after time I'm called into companies and asked to comment on why the PR coverage they get in the media is so poor. 99 times out of a 100 it's because they've issued press releases that are only of interest to themselves and their bosses. And yet when I point this out to them they can't understand it.

"But our development team worked 14 hours a day for three years to win that contract!" they shout indignantly. "And the CEO had to cut short his vacation in Turks & Caicos just so he could sign the documents by the deadline! I mean, it's the most important thing to have happened to us in the history of the company!"

"I know," I croon soothingly, "but those points aren't of much interest to the readers of your regional business press, or your trade press for that matter."

"Well, maybe not," they reply. "But they are very relevant to us, and to our shareholders. That's why we made such an elaborate issue of those points in the press release."

Ah, I think to myself as I gaze out of the window to see if my creatively-parked car is going to attract the attention of passing traffic policepersons. Here is another problem we encounter with press releases.

It's called "when is a press release not a press release?" The answer is, when a press release is to be used to impress all sorts of people who are not members of the press. Only we want them to think that this is what the press will write about us, so we put it in a press release. That would be okay as long as that's as far as it goes.

But the awful truth is the same document (paper or electronic) really does get sent out to the press. And quite rightly they ignore it, once again because it is of no interest to the readership of the publication concerned.

For Heaven's sake, you folks who do this sort of thing, please grow up and face reality. If you want to promote your achievements to your share/stockholders or staff or suppliers or whoever, then just go ahead and do it and dress it up in "press release" costume if you must, although I don't think that fools anybody.

But whatever you do, don't send it to the press – and don't kid yourself or anyone else that to use the same document for both purposes is a way to economize. It's a sure way to shoot yourself through the foot and indirectly could cost you a fortune.

If you want to get coverage in the media then you must forget all elements of self-congratulation. Whatever information you send out has to have something "in it for them" (the audience) - something new, interesting and relevant. It doesn't have to be earth-shattering, just worth reading.

If your organisation has done something brilliant and you're proud of it, by all means say so; just be sure to emphasise what's great about it for the audience and/or the rest of the world, not merely for yourselves. Let the facts tell the story. If your organisation genuinely deserves to be congratulated, it will be.

And you don't simply have the audience to consider in this case, because unlike the forms of communication you control, with media coverage the decision of whether or not to transmit your message rests with someone else – usually the editor. Editors and journalists are either very busy or very lazy or both (and don't chastise me for admitting that, guys. I've been there, done it, got the T shirt and drank too much in the brasserie at lunchtime too.)

If you supply them with material they can see is relevant to their readers and preferably is usable with the minimum of editing, they will warm to it a lot faster than something that may hold a grain of interest but will take someone a whole evening to rewrite and several phone calls or e-mails to check for accuracy.

Try to match the style and writing approach of the publication. If you're sending a release out to several publications that circulate among the same readership, then one release should be relevant to all. But if you're aiming at different press groups – say the trade journals and the business pages of the regional dailies – you will need to rework the approach of your press release according to the different audiences.

You'll usually find that the basic core of a press release can remain pretty well the same across all media groups, because it consists (or should consist) of the pure facts – the old journalist's formula of who, what, how, where, when and why.

What changes is the angle, and particularly the lead-in. That means the headline, which should be short and attention-grabbing, and then the first two or three sentences that support the headline and set up the whole story. Often it's worth trying to work in a clever bit of word-play with headlines, but be very careful – a pun or play on the words that doesn't work is worse than writing the headline straight.

By far the best guidance you'll get, though, comes from studying the audience – the people who read the publications. What in your story is going to interest them?

·Readers of a trade journal will be interested in what's new and different about your new product and how it could improve the way they do business.

·Readers of local or regional business sections will be interested more in how your new product's manufacturing and distribution, say, will impact on the local business community and economy.

·Local general newspapers and other media will be interested in the human side, i.e. how many new jobs the factory producing the new product will create.

·…etc.

And one last tip on how to get the best from press releases – use "quotes" from the key people involved in the story.

Not those awful, meaningless corporate-babble quotes you so often see in company press releases … "We are delighted to be able to announce the new contract at this moment in time and we have every confidence that our latest investment will be of significant benefit to our…" you know the type of thing. These are usually the first elements that get chopped out by the editor.

It's perfectly OK to write quotes for your senior people, by the way. They very rarely give real quotes for anything other than TV or radio interviews but don't seem to mind quotes being written for them, provided they're given the opportunity to check them before they're issued.

So, write them quotes that – far from being beatific banalities – actually are telling important parts of the story. This is good for two reasons:

1.It makes your senior exec look intelligent and aware of what's going on in the organization, which is 100% more than the banality-quote will do for him/her.

2.Because it's an important part of the story and contains useful facts, the publication's staff will be far less likely to edit it out.

Possibly you're beginning to feel that in order to get press coverage you'll have to turn yourself, your product and your entire board inside out and upside down. You could be right, but that's PR. Remember that press coverage is not advertising**. Yes, it's free and that's wonderful, but as always there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Editors will only put your stuff in, for free, if it is genuinely good for their publication and their readers, not for you. They do not care about your sales figures. They care about their own sales figures. Successful PR people and writers of press releases always, always bear these points in mind; in fact that's why they're successful.

**An exception to this is what's known (in the UK at least) as "advertorial." In case you don't already know this is advertising copy written in editorial style, but the space it occupies is really an advertisement you pay for. If you're obliged to write it, please just try to make it as honest as you can. Not easy.

Online tips

Nearly all the theory pertaining to offline PR is relevant to the online equivalent – especially in terms of what content is of interest to publishers and what isn't.

Online publishing of relevance to organizations usually falls into one of two pretty obvious groups; one, websites, portals etc that are totally independent and uniquely on the web, and two, those which are the online alter egos of offline publications.

In either group if you want the publications to take your releases or submissions seriously, it's very important that you follow the format and structure of articles that appear on the websites concerned. Whatever you do don't make the mistake of submitting a general press release to these organizations, even though you do it by e-mail.

Check first how long the teaser paragraph is that appears on the home or section page, and check how they lay out the full articles. Then submit material that fits perfectly, both in style and in word counts. Here's why:

1.You will be saving them the trouble of reworking your piece which makes it attractive in the first place

2.Because it fits so perfectly you will discourage them from changing anything, which is also a huge advantage for you.

The other point I would make about online press work is don't assume that just because you submit a release to the offline publication (and even if they run it) it will be forwarded automatically to the publication's website. It won't. At least not necessarily. And I've found that one out the hard way, believe me.

Treat offline and online versions as entirely separate entities; find out who the movers and shakers are on each, and often you'll see that the online version is run by an entirely different group of people.

About the author: Canadian-born Suzan St Maur is an international business writer and author based in the United Kingdom. Read more - and check out her free biweekly business writing tips eZine, Tipz from Suze , - at her website, SuzanStMaur.com © Suzan St Maur 2003-2005

Writing a Powerful E-mail Press Release

2008-12-28T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: John Karnish

Press Releases are a great source of publicity for your business and often attract more buyers than traditional, paid advertising. However a lot of people are confused when it comes to sending out publicity releases, so here are some things you should know.

You should always remember that the main objective is to seek publicity for your business. You never should send out a sales letter. That's not what a release is for and you'll never get published. Always target the person to whom you send your release. Sending out releases isn't a numbers game. The more targeted a contact is to your release, the more likely they will publish it.

Once you find a media source that would be interested in your publicity release, then you want to find which editor is the best for your purpose. Don't send it to a managing editor, you want to send it to a contact that is related to your release.

When you send a release, always personalize it. ""Dear Editor's name,"". Use their title, ""Being the Sports Editor for..."" Also use their field of interest if it's known. ""Being the Sports Editor for the (New England Chronicle) and an avid soccer fan...""

There are two, general ways of sending out a press release by e-mail. Both have good and bad qualities. Some editors prefer that you send them a short e-mail, ""briefly"" describing your release and asking permission to send it. This will prevent an editor from asking to be removed, which would end any future contact with him.

The second way is to make absolutely sure he would be interested in your release and just send it out. The advantage of going this way is neither of you is wasting time by asking permission and granting it. It's up to you. I suggest you try and see how each one works for you and choose the better of the two. Whichever strategy you use always honor an editor's request to be ""removed.""

Try to keep you release short; e-mail releases are recommended to be only three paragraphs. Many editors will receive a hundred or more releases a day, so you have to get his attention in a very short amount of time.

Catch their attention in the first paragraph, the main focus of your release in the second and your contact information in the third.

You don't want to give your whole story in the press release, you want them to contact your for more information. The nice thing about the internet is that you can make this information directly available by using a webpage or an autoresponder.

List all of the information they'd be interested in. Think of some questions that an editor would probably ask you in an interview and provide the answers. Write down all of the specifics of your story. You might want to list your credentials or company history too. Whenever you list a contact number, always leave a number where you can be reached. Editors don't have a lot of time and they're not going to go out of their way to get in touch with you.

When thinking of ideas for a release, one good way of getting noticed is by tying yourself in with recent news stories. Another idea is just to make a bold claim, ""that you can live up to."" You'll find that lots of people will give you publicity, to try to prove you wrong. For example ""New York stock broker say he can make anyone a millionaire."" Just remember that you should be able to stand behind your claims.

Format of a Press Release

""FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE"" should be written in top, left corner. If your information needs to be printed on or before a certain date, you would write something like: ""FOR RELEASE AFTER MARCH 27"" or ""FOR RELEASE BEFORE CHRISTMAS."" These would also go in the upper, left-hand corner.

Skip two lines and type ""CONTACT:"" Then list your contact information. Skip two lines and type your headline. Make sure your spend some time here because this is what will determine if your release gets read or shred. (=

The first paragraph begins with the dateline. Here's an example: (New York, NY - October 9, 2000) - Then. skip a space after the dash and write your first sentence. The first paragraph of your release should be a few sentences that concisely summarize the content without much specific detail. Remember to answer the basic questions who, what, where, when, why and how. Pay special attention to the first paragraph because it's here that you have to convince the editor that your release is worth reading and printing. Be sure to make this clear. Why should her readers be interested? How will it affect their life? What are the benefits?

The second paragraph, you want to go into a little more detail and add some quotes. Remember to establish yourself as an expert. Don't say ""Tom Jones says,"" say ""Tom Jones, webmaster for Kidco.com and prominent author says...""

In the third paragraph, you want to persuade the editor to seek more information. You can have them visit your web site or a pre-made webpage, send a message to an autoresponder, call you etc. At the end of your press release, you want to skip a space and end with three, centered number signs. ""###""

About the author: John Karnish of the Internet Marketing Professional website. Visit his site for a QUICK And EASY Way To Build A Profitable Business On The Internet. Start Today! Visit: http://internet-marketingpro.com

Successful Small Businesses Use PR

2008-12-26T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

Successful Small Businesses Use PR

It's obvious when a small business has accepted the fact that its most important outside audiences need lots of care and feeding. They do something about it.

There's a sense of urgency and a recognition that those "key target publics" have behaviors that really impact the business, and that they had BETTER do something about it!

What about you? Are you ready to follow the winners and get public relations working for your small business?

The payoff can be significant – key audience behaviors that directly support your business objectives and make the difference between failure and success.

But, as always, there's some work connected to reaching that pot of gold, but it's really worth the effort.

If you're willing, begin by listing those most important outsiders in a priority ranking. Probably, customers and prospects will take #1 and #2 positions. But others rate a spot on that list depending on how crucial they are to the success of your business. In fact, an audience only makes the list if, left unattended, its perceptions and behaviors actually can hurt your business.

You're at a disadvantage when you don't know what those important external audiences think of you and your small business. And the only affordable way to find out is for you and your colleagues to talk to members of that key audience by interacting with them. Ask questions about what they think of you, your business and its products or services. Especially watch for any negativity, misconceptions, inaccuracies, wrong-headed beliefs, or rumors. And monitor local print and broadcast media, especially local talk shows and newspaper pages, for similarly negative signs.

The responses you gather help you set your public relations goal. For instance, correct that wrong-headed belief; fix that inaccuracy; or straighten-out that misconception. The goal, by the way, will also become your behavior modification marker against which progress can be tracked.

But how do you get there? You select a strategy from the three available to you: create perception/opinion where none may exist, change existing perception/opinion, or reinforce it. The public relations goal you just set will lead you directly to the right choice of strategies.

The message you send to your target audience is crucial, and writing it can be hard work because it must alter the negativity you found when you interviewed audience members.

Above all, it must be persuasive while clearly presenting the facts. It must be credible, believable and timely as it explains truthfully what is at issue at that moment. In short, your message must be compelling.

Getting that finished message to the right eyes and ears is your next challenge. And that means selecting the right communi- cations tactics, and you have dozens of them available to you. Speeches, press releases, emails, meetings, radio and newspaper interviews, action alerts, brochures, newsletters and so many others.

Before long, you'll be looking for indications that your new public relations program is making progress.

After the communications effort has had six or eight weeks to take effect, it seems obvious that the best way to determine that is to go back to members of your key target audience, interact with them again and ask more questions. The difference this time, however, is that you are looking for signs that your carefully prepared message is really altering the negativity you discovered during your interviews with those target audience members. And once again, keep an eye and ear on local media for similar signs that your message has been heard.

If you're anxious to speed up the process, boost the number and variety of the communications tactics you're using, as well as their frequencies.

What you want is for your second monitoring go-around to show marked perception change which tells you clearly that the behaviors you really want are on the way.

In the PR business, that creates success.

end

Underestimating the Power of In-house PR

2008-12-25T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Carolyn Moncel

Underestimating the Power of In-house PR

by Carolyn Moncel Do small-business owners always have to rely on large PR agencies to get attention from the press? An entrepreneur recently asked me this question during a networking event for women business owners. Of course my answer was, ""No,"" but not for the reasons one might expect.

Ultimately, I do believe the time comes when a company needs professional guidance from a PR agency -- be it a large or small one -- to secure media coverage. But I also believe that a really media savvy small-business owner, or a two-person marketing team can do a fantastic job in promoting an organization. Here's how I know it can work.

A few years ago during the dot.com boom, I worked for a small online publishing company. We had a terrific technical team and staff, two great products, but no one knew the company existed. As a start-up, it was crucial for the company to gain awareness through media exposure because advertising was too expensive.

Since our marketing department only consisted of two people -- the marketing director and myself, there was a bit of concern within the organization as to whether we had enough in-house resources available to successfully get the company much-needed ink. So the company's executive team hatched an interesting plan. They offered our in-house marketing team the chance to bid on the company's PR project as if we were an outside agency.

My experience had always been in public relations, rather than product marketing. My boss' experience had always been the opposite. We seized the opportunity to combine our knowledge, skills and research.

Our tiny two-person team matched PR wits squarely against four established pros - including one former White House aide. Guess what? Our ideas prevailed, and the company decided to ditch the notion of hiring a big PR firm in favor of keeping the in-house team.

Before long we were generating some memorable press for our company. Over a two-year period we placed stories on our company in more than 100 media outlets - from MSNBC and Forbes to the Wall Street Journal and Wired News online. We did it by studying what the big PR agencies did well, and also by using our department's ""smallness"" to our advantage. Here's how you can do it, too.

Research your company.

Forget that you own or work within the organization. Really invest the time in understanding your company's structure, the executives and their backgrounds, the products and technology, the industry in which your company belongs, competitors and experts, and most of all the target audience -- the people who stand to benefit most from your product or service. If you know all of this information, then you'll be in a better position to brainstorm ideas on how to get the media's attention. Doing this also helps in flushing out your overall marketing plan -- which PR is only a part.

Research the reporters who cover your company's industry and study the types of stories that they like to write.

Learn their deadlines and how they prefer to be contacted. Introduce yourself by phone and make it a point to speak with them regularly -- not just to talk about your company, but also about the industry in general. Use those conversations to offer up source materials that will help reporters write terrific stories. If you are able to do this successfully, you will become a trusted source that reporters return to repeatedly, and you will significantly increase your chances of gaining coverage for your company.

Always Return Media Phone Calls Immediately.

Keep yourself and your organization at the ready to receive phone calls from the press. Make sure that reporters know how to reach you in a 24-hour cycle. This means they should have your office, cell, home, and pager numbers, as well as a contact e-mail address. If you still happen to miss the call, return it ASAP. Always prepare yourself or members from your organization to conduct interviews from anywhere, at any time.

Conduct proper follow up after the interview.

This is not a call to find out when a story will be published, but rather a call to make sure that the reporters have everything they need in order to write a favorable story on your organization.

Whenever our company executives were interviewed by reporters, one team member would always accompany them to the interview to take careful notes. Alternately, the other team member would remain in the office on standby. If, during the interview, the reporter indicated a need for specific information, an urgent message would be relayed back to the office so that the team member had time to gather the information. Without fail, we always had the requested information waiting in the reporter's e-mail inbox before they arrived back to the office. This may seem like a small task, but getting it right could really decide whether or not a reporter selects your story, or moves on to a new one.

The important point to remember here is this. Never underestimate the power and dedication of your in-house staff. Before you make the investment in retaining a PR agency, look at your internal talent first. What you find just might surprise you, and their drive to succeed will become contagious throughout your entire organization. And when the time comes to hire a PR firm, you will have a ready-made collaborative team in place to work with your outside agency. Your in-house team knows your company better than anyone and that's where you, as a small-business owner, have an advantage over the ""big boys"" at the large PR agencies in getting the media's attention.

About the author: Carolyn Davenport-Moncel is president and founder of Mondave Communications, a global marketing and communications firm based in Chicago and Paris, and a subsidiary of MotionTemps, LLC. Contact her at carolyn@motiontemps.com or by phone in the United States at 877.815.0167 or 011.331.4997.9059 in France.

Press Release

2008-12-24T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Ajay Prasad

Global Marketing Resources , LLC launches turnkey package for Transcription Service Providers

- Global Marketing Resources, LLC is offering turnkey business opportunity to transcription service providers who want to significantly scale their business. - Its turnkey transcription-website and marketing program; combined with affordable setup and monthly fee enables any transcriptionist to convert their skill to a successful home-based business.

Irvine, CA, January 27, 2006...Global Marketing Resources, LLC (GMR), a Irvine, CA based website design, web management and website marketing company launched a turnkey website for transcription business. This is GMR's first vertical market product.

As part of the package, customers would get a turnkey transcription website that enables any digital file to be uploaded by transcription-service-provider's clients and downloaded by transcriptionists for transcribing the file. Transcriptionists can upload the transcribed files in client's area remotely. Given that most of transcriptionists operate from home, this transcription website allows a transcription company to manage transcriptionists spread anywhere in the world.

The transcription business package includes the website and proven marketing programs to kick start a new transcription business. This package of transcription website and marketing program is priced such that anyone can start home-based transcription service business with a very modest investment. It takes only few weeks to setup and start the business.

This is the first vertical market project from Global Marketing Resources, LLC.

Speaking about the development, Mr. Ajay Prasad , Founder and President, Global Marketing Resources, LLC said, ""I am pleased to offer an affordable business solution for the transcription service industry. We know that our website features and marketing support can help transcription service companies a mean to grow their business and add transcriptionists from any part of the world in its team. On the other hand, this package enables a transcriptionist to work from home, spend fewer hours, and still make the equivalent amount of money they are currently making.""

""Since we get transcription jobs from all over the world and our panel of transcriptionists are spread across from US, India, UK and Australia; the added features of the transcription website will dramatically help us manage our business. I am not a big fan of his low price turnkey option for transcriptionists because it will increase my competition, but I wish Ajay all the best for this new product,"" said Shreekant, VP Operations of Gmrtranscription.com, an established transcription business that uses GMR designed transcription website & marketing programs.

Global Marketing Resources, LLC would manage websites for a low monthly fee and keep on updating features of the transcription-website as required by the changing transcription business.

About Global Marketing Resources, LLC Global Marketing Resources, LLC is marketing-focused company, actively involved in website designing, web marketing, and website maintenance. Global Marketing Resources has been focused on helping small businesses market their products since its inception in 2001. The company started to focus on the website needs of small businesses in 2003 and designs turnkey websites, manages it, and offers web marketing support at lower rates that allows good returns on website presence investment by small companies.

Headquartered in Irvine, CA, Global Marketing Resources has a development & marketing team of over 40 employees based in Hyderabad, India.

For details or clarifications write to us at info@gmrwebteam.com or visit us at www.gmrwebteam.com

About the author: Ajay is the President of Global Marketing Resources , the marketing consulting and fulfillment firm in US. Prior to GMR, Ajay had over 17 years of marketing & business management experience at senior executive positions in marketing at large, medium size, and start-up companies. Ajay has been quoted in major newspapers (Dallas Morning News, San Jose Mercury News, The Wall Street Journal, etc.) about his views on car navigation.

Advertising Is Dead. Long Live PR.

2008-12-23T03:05:00.000-08:00

Author: Harry Hoover

Although I still believe there is a place for advertising as a brand maintenance or brand affirmation tool, I am convinced that to build a brand today, you need PR. At one time advertising did build brands. But this was in a simpler America. That America, sadly, is no more.

I've been re-reading The Fall Of Advertising & The Rise Of PR, by Al and Laura Ries, and it is their book that has moved me from suspicion of advertising's demise as a brand-builder to conviction.

As the Ries' say, "Publicity is the nail, advertising is the hammer." What does this mean? It means that your PR effort helps make your message believable so that your advertising will have credibility when it hits.

Typically, companies want to hit the market hard and make a lot of noise. Advertising allows you to launch quickly, control the message, and have your message in as many media as you have the money for. However, that does not mean your message will be believed. The louder advertisers yell, the less likely I am to believe them. How about you?

PR takes time and does not necessarily work on your schedule. Planting new ideas or changing minds is a slow process. When your PR program rolls out over a longer period of time, prospects have time to adjust their attitudes. Brands that take this approach are longer lasting, too.

Chevrolet, for years the number one auto brand, was still number one in ad spending in 2001. It spent $819 million dollars – 39 percent more than Ford spent. That year, Ford outsoldevrolet by 33 percent. Since 1997, Chevrolet has outspent and undersold Ford. Chevrolet spends $314 per vehicle and Ford spends $170 per vehicle. Do you think advertising is working for Chevrolet?

Kmart, embroiled in financial difficulty for years, had revenues of $37 billion and spent $542 million on US advertising in 2001. Wal-Mart spent $498 million and garnered four times the revenue: $159 billion split between its Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores. The average Wal-Mart store does $46 million in sales each year while its Sam's Club average store sells $56 million. Sam's Club does almost no advertising.

Those are old brands, you're saying. What about some newer brands, Harry?

OK, let's look at Pets.com. Remember the dog sock puppet that starred in their commercials? It won awards, but not sales. In six months Pets.com had $22 million in revenues and spent four times that much on advertising. Off-base advertising creativity at work.

The Body Shop was built totally by publicity. No advertising at all. Starbucks, until recently, did virtually no advertising. It has built a brand through good PR efforts. Starbucks' annual sales are around $1.3 billion, while advertising expenditures over 10 years, have totaled less than $10 million.

Finally, what advertising agency do you know that has built its brand with ads? Things that make you go "hmm."

About the author: Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR, http://www.hoover-ink.com. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Duke Energy, Levolor, New World Mortgage, North Carolina Tourism, VELUX and Verbatim.

If Your PR Can't Do This, Bag It!

2008-12-17T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

If Your PR Can't Do This, Bag It!

As a business, non-profit or association manager, why continue a public relations effort that doesn't deliver the key external audience behaviors you need to achieve your department, division or subsidiary objectives?

Time for a change. One that will base your PR effort on a fundamental premise that makes sense. And one that actually leads to outside audience behaviors like these: new proposals for joint ventures or strategic alliances, prospective buyers browsing your services or products, specifying sources or major donors thinking about you, more frequent repeat purchases or a substantial boost in capital donations.

So, you need two things. One, a really personal involvement with the public relations people assigned to your department, division or subsidiary. And two, a new foundation for your PR effort.

A foundation like this: People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

It will give you a blueprint that will help you persuade your key stakeholders to your way of thinking. In turn, that should move them to take actions that lead to your success as a business, non-profit or association manager.

First and foremost, you need to know how members of your most important external audiences perceive you because those perceptions usually lead to behaviors that can hurt you or help you in achieving your objectives.

So, you and your PR team must list those outside audiences whose behaviors affect your unit the most. Then put them in priority order. We'll use #1 on your list as our target in this article.

Now, you can spend some real money on professional survey counsel, or you and your PR team can do it yourself by interacting with your target audience. Use questions like these to identify opinion, perception problems. "What do you know about our organization? Have you had any kind of contact with us? Was it satis- factory? Do you like our products or services?"

Listen carefully to the responses you receive. Stay alert for evasive or hesitant answers, and be watchful for negativity – especially inaccuracies, exaggerations, misconceptions or rumor.

These answers are your red meat, the input you need to create the public relations goal. For example, clear up a misconception, kill that rumor once and for all, or fix that inaccuracy. Each of which can lead to target audience behaviors you won't like one little bit.

Reaching that goal is another story. You need a strategy to do it and you have just three choices as you deal with your opinion/perception challenge: create perception where there may be none, change existing opinion, or reinforce it. But take care when you identify your strategy that it compliments your goal.

The heavy lifting in your public relations problem solving sequence will be done by the message you prepare designed to correct the negative perception you identified during your perception monitoring session. You must be very clear about the offending perception, particularly why it is untrue. Remember that you want to change what people believe and, thus, their behaviors so that you can achieve your unit's objectives. Which is why the message must be both believable and compelling.

Getting the message from your organization to the attention of members of your target audience is your next challenge. Luckily, there is a long list of communications tactics standing ready to help you do just that. They range from media interviews, personal meetings and speeches to press releases, newsletters, facility tours and many more. But check carefully that the tactics you employ have a proven record of reaching people similar to those who make up your target audience.

Inevitably, questions will be asked as to whether all this smoke and flame is producing any results. A question that can only be answered back out in the field interacting once again with members of your key outside audience.

While you'll be using the same questions used during your first opinion monitoring drill, this time you're looking for indications that the hurtful perceptions are actually changing, as will the inevitable follow on behaviors.

Incidentally, you can always put the pedal to the metal with additional communications tactics, as well as using them more frequently.

What you have, finally, is the blueprint you need to help persuade your most important stakeholders to take actions that lead to your success as a business, a non-profit or an association manager.

And your cost was "bagging" a PR effort that simply couldn't deliver the key external audience behaviors you need to achieve your unit objectives.

end

Using Marketing PR to Promote Your Business

2008-12-16T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Michelle Payne-Gale

Public Relations is an important marketing tool, and should be considered carefully. It is a way of connecting with your customers, suppliers and distributors. The objectives of Marketing PR are to build awareness, raise your profile and build credibility, and encourage your staff. Here are five Marketing PR methods that you can use to promote your company.

News

It will be your responsibility to develop a concept for a story about your business, to research it fully and to write a press release (if you are not confident in your writing ability, consider passing this task to a copywriter). There needs to be a good relationship between your company, and the editors of your chosen publications. Unless you are trained in Public Relations, it may be wise to seek the services of a PR professional at this point. PR professionals are in the best position for encouraging the media to attend your press conferences and accept your editorials. They understand the needs of editors and reporters, and as a result will be able to sell you appropriately to them.

Publications

There are a number of different types of publication that fall under the umbrella of PR, and can be used separately or in conjunction with each other. Brochures advise customers about the product, its uses, how it works, its benefits, and any extra features. Newsletters and magazines help the build up the company's image, convey news and special offers, as well as marketing the company in a variety of ways. Articles in local newspapers help to advertise and draw attention to the company and its products. Multimedia methods are the most expensive of the publications, but have the greatest impact. Many companies choose to create videos about themselves and their products, and use them for presentation purposes. Blogs and the Internet are the cheapest of the publications, and have the greatest coverage, without needing a large budget.

Events

These include seminars, conferences, exhibitions and sponsored events, such as sports or charity. They give an opportunity to advertise your expertise in your field and display all that your company has to offer. Sponsoring events puts you in front of potential clients and can help you to get contacts via networking.

Public Speaking

Give speeches at trade association meetings and clubs. Consider speaking at or hosting a networking event for business professionals or customers. If your company is larger in scale, consider holding speaking events with media professionals. If public speaking is not your thing, consider using the services of a public speaking coach or speechwriter to help build your confidence.

Community Activities

Much the same as sponsoring events, consider contributing money and time to good causes. Remember that it is better to give than to receive, and it will be a great way of marketing yourself at the same time.

When you consider using Marketing PR, ensure that you are clear on your marketing objectives, your messages, your audience, your PR methods, and take care to implement them appropriately. Keep track of your results, to ensure continued success in the future.

About the author: Michelle Payne-Gale is the owner of Essence (Business & Admin Support Services), specialising in virtual administration, marketing, web design, research & creative support for start-ups and small businesses. Additional articles are available at: http//www.essence-services.co.uk.

She is also involved in the development of http//www.stay-in-antigua.com, a tourism information website for the Caribbean island of Antigua.

Is it News? A Manufacturing PR Checklist

2008-12-15T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Thomas Cutler

Ranked as the nation's leading manufacturing journalist and an editor, TR Cutler (www.trcutlerinc.com) has issued a PR Checklist for manufacturers. Cutler tells the extraordinary stories of manufacturers. According to Cutler, "There are great companies making great products. There are too many manufacturers and companies serving the manufacturing sector that have simply neglected to tell their story. My goal is to tell these stories in an interesting, dynamic, understandable, and relevant way. My goal is to provide a checklist for manufacturers to determine what is and is not newsworthy."

Newsworthy Manufacturing Checklist The following Checklist should be reviewed weekly to determine the events and circumstances that might merit Media Coverage. I. New or Updated Product Information II. New Customer Information III. New Strategic Alliances/Partnership Information a. Software Vendors (ERP, CRM, SCM) b. Professional Services (Law Firms, CPA's, PR firms) c. Co-op Bundling Sales Program IV. New Facility or Manufacturing Operation V. Company Data Announcements a. Sales Data (Increased sales) b. Growth Announcements (by employees, sq. ft., revenue) c. Marketshare Announcements VI. Industry Sector News a. Competitive Analysis b. Comparison within the sector c. Leadership Position within the sector VII. Local/Regional News a. Jobs/Local Economic Impact b. Community Service/Goodwill c. Sponsorships/Participation VIII. Events, tradeshows, conferences, awards IX. Association/Organization Memberships a. Manufacturing Association b. Industrial Sector Association partnership c. Other key Organizations/Association d. Political Affiliation X. Cross-Reference Media a. Radio b. Television c. Photo Opportunity

Cutler's check list is used in conjunction with the proprietary Manufacturing Media Consortium of 2000 journalists writing about trends and data in the manufacturing sector.

TR Cutler 954-486-7562 www.trcutlerinc.com e-mail protected from spam bots

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About the author: None

Is PR Right for You? 6 Questions to Ask

2008-12-14T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Michele Pariza Wacek

When most people think about marketing, they think advertising. While advertising is a part of marketing, marketing is much bigger than advertising. There are lots of different marketing methods floating around out there, and the challenge as a business owner is figuring out when it's appropriate to use each one and the best way to use it.

Public relations, or PR, is the art of getting someone else to write or talk about you or your business. Preferably in a favorable manner. Traditionally, ""someone else"" was the media. In this day and age however, someone else can also be a blogger, a freelance writer, an e-zine publisher or even an owner of a big Web site. For purposes of this article, I'm using the word ""media"" to refer to all of those folks.

PR is also being able to get yourself on a big talk show to talk about yourself or your business, or writing your own article that's published in a desired outlet. (Not your own newsletter or Web site.)

PR is one of my favorite marketing methods, but it can also be one of the more frustrating ones. Even when you do everything right, you still might not get the publicity you want. Or for that matter, ANY publicity at all. When a PR campaign doesn't work, you can find yourself wanting to pull out all your hair in frustration.

Even with that in mind, I do believe most if not all businesses can benefit from some type of PR campaign. But before you launch into something that could end with you becoming hairless (and investing in a sizeable hat collection) ask yourself the following questions.

1. Do I need to see results right away? If you do, better pull out your wallet and pay for some advertising. PR takes time. And it's not guaranteed. You might not see your article for weeks, months or ever, and there isn't a darn thing you can do about it. If it's immediate gratification you want, don't look for it in a public relations campaign.

2. Do I have the time to consistently devote to a public relations campaign? We're back to the time issue. PR not only takes time to see results, but you also have to take time to make it happen. Either you have to do it or you have to pay someone else to do it. If you do it yourself, you'll have the potential of garnering the equivalent of thousands of dollars of advertising for little or no money. But it will cost you some time. If you pay someone else, you'll save time (which is a good thing, I'm a big believer in outsourcing) but it can get expensive. Worse yet, you STILL might not get any coverage for your money.

3. Do I have enough perseverance to run a PR campaign? PR is about follow-up. It's about sending story idea after story idea to the same reporter before one finally connects (and maybe it's the tenth one). It's about sending a little note or letter to the same editor for as long as several years before you get a bite. It's about reminding your contacts you're out there until one day they realize they need you.

If you're willing to court the media, develop relationships and do whatever you can to make their lives easier, the rewards can be huge.

4. Do I have newsworthy events happening at my business? (Newsworthy is something media personnel feel would interest their readers.) Or, if I don't, can I create them?

I'm not talking about making things up here. But there are things you can be doing to make your business more newsworthy. For example, you can do a survey and publish the results. You can tie a feature of your product or service to something that's currently happening in the news. You can hold an event. You can research a newly published study that relates to your product or service. There are countless ways you can transform aspects of your business into newsworthy story items -- the creativity exercise below can help you come up with your ideas.

5. Do I want to build my credibility? Develop my status as an expert? Then get that PR campaign off the ground. Nothing builds your credibility or expert status faster than having other people say you know what you're talking about.

6. Do I want to augment my other marketing efforts? Public relations definitely plays nicely with the other marketing methods. You can be building your long-term expert campaign with PR and building short-term customers with advertising. Or you can turn your community relations strategies into PR campaigns. It's a great way to get the most bang out of your marketing time and dollar.

Creativity Exercise -- How can you use PR in your business?

Grab some sheets of paper and pen (I like the fun gel pens myself) and get ready for some brainstorming.

Start by listing everything you do or sell. Then write out all the features or descriptions of your products or services. For instance, if you have a book, what is your book about? What does it offer people?

Now see if you can turn those features into something newsworthy. Is there a time of year when people are interested in your services? (Accounting and tax season). Are there any studies you can dig up? Is there something in the news that ties into your product? Can you turn an aspect of your business into a human interest story? (Something like fitness tips for busy people or parenting tips for single parents, etc.) Write everything down that comes into your head, even if it's silly. See if you can come up with 50 story ideas.

Now look at what you wrote. Can you find a few in there that you think would interest the media? Congratulations -- you just came up with a PR campaign.

About the author: Michele Pariza Wacek is the author of ""Got Ideas? Unleash Your Creativity and Make More Money."" She offers two free e-zines that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.TheArtistSoul.com. Copyright 2005 Michele Pariza Wacek

A Great Press Release Can Really Get Your Business Noticed

2008-12-13T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Alvin Apple

Getting a new business off the ground is a daunting prospect. There are so many things to consider: office space, equipment, personnel, and the all important advertising. Money is always tight in the beginning, and quite often by the time that last dollar is spent getting things up and running, the advertising budget just isn't there. Not to worry. There are many great ways of getting the word out about your business without spending a fortune. In particular, press releases have long been an effective way of letting the public know that your business exists.

Now a press release is not an ad, and any press release structured like an ad will be deleted in a second. The job of a press release is simply to alert the media to something newsworthy about your business. It's a bit like fishing. Whether or not the editor takes your bait depends on how you present your business, or even what kind of day the editor is having. In the end, it is entirely up to the individual editors whether or not they use your story.

When writing your press release, make it sound newsy. Don't start off with sales language. You can save the blatant commercial stuff for the end of the release. Choose something interesting about your business and create a headline. ""New Innovations in Gardening Produce Beautiful Crop of Strawberries,"" is much more likely to be read than, ""Johnson's Nursery Grand Opening Special: 50% off on Strawberries."" Get the picture?

After you've got a great headline, fill out your story with interesting facts about your business. Give a brief history of what led you to what you're doing now. Mention how the needs of the market are changing and how your business is a result of those changes. Try using quotes. Whatever you do, make it interesting, and stay away from blatant sales language or specific offers.

Once you've got your release written, submit it to as many media outlets as possible. You can find media databases and lists of editors all over the web. One that I've had particularly great luck with is Gebbie.com., try them, and also do a search to see what you can come up with on your own. Submit to all of your local papers, radio stations and TV stations as well. Too often people doing business online forget about local media, and sometimes they can be your biggest champions.

Linking your release to a popular story in the news can also get an editor's attention. If a specific topic is already on the tips of people's tongues, a related release is much more likely to be picked up. Media people tend to think that a typical audience can only stay interested in a few topics at a time, so if you can tie your story in to something that's already getting buzz you'll have a much better chance. If you don't get picked up right away, keep trying. What an editor ignores today may sound like a great story next month. Don't give up.

The time at which you submit your release is crucial as well. You will always have a better chance of being noticed if the editor receives your story before 3pm. Late afternoon is deadline ""crunch"" time for newspapers, past the prime news times of radio, and getting into last minute preparation time for TV news. Keep that in mind and don't get lost in the shuffle.

If you do it right, submitting a press release can be a great way of getting the word out about your business. There's money to be made out there if you just know how to do it.

About the author: Alvin Apple helps everyday people start businesses they will enjoy. Then he teaches them how to succeed. Read all his helpful strategies, including his latest article ""How to Use Signature Files to Give Your E-mail The Personal Touch That SELLS,"" at http://AlvinApple.com Reach Alvin at 801-328-9006 or alvin@drnunley.com.

Managers, Start Your PR

2008-12-12T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

Managers, Start Your PR

There'll never be a better time for a manager working for a business, non-profit or association to ask this question: "Am I getting the public relations results I'm paying for -- the really important external audience behaviors I need to achieve my department, division or subsidiary objectives?"

If the answer is no, better get busy and rebuild that public relations engine.

Best place to look for an answer to your question is the foundation on which your public relations effort is based. Are the PR people assigned to your unit guided by solid fundamentals rather than mechanics like special events and communications tactics?

Do they really believe that people act on their own perception of the facts before them, leading to predictable behaviors about which something can be done? And do they believe that when we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished?

Because that kind of foundation is just what you may need to help persuade those important stakeholders to your way of thinking. And leading directly to results such as new waves of prospects, expanded community support, large, new capital donations, higher employee retention numbers, new engineering firms specifying your components, a boost in membership applications, or a welcome increase in repeat purchases.

I have noticed, however, a tendency for managers to set down the rules of engagement, then let things bump along under somebody else. That's not going to work with your public relations restart. You MUST get personally involved with the PR professionals managing your public relations program because they will be dealing with the very stakeholders whose behaviors will help determine whether you succeed or fail in your job. And that should be an incentive.

Here's another reason to keep a keen eye on the effort. Chances are that is that this kind of PR restart will be a dramatic departure for your public relations staffers, thus requiring your oversight of decisions affecting both thematics and tactical deployment.

For example, you must stay involved as they list those key external audiences of yours whose behaviors affect your unit the most. And again when they prioritize those audiences so that your public relations restart planning begins with the target audience YOU believe is #1.

The success of the program will depend on how efficiently you and your PR staffers gather certain data. Namely, how members of that key target audience, whose behaviors affect your unit's success or failure, really perceive you.

Your team must interact with members of that audience, and monitor their perceptions of your organization by asking questions like "Do you know anything about our organization? Have you ever had contact with our people? Was it a satisfactory experience? How familiar are you with our services or products?," and so forth.

Make sure that you and your staff remain sensitive to hesitant or evasive responses, and especially to negative comments. And stay alert for misconceptions, untruths, false assumptions, inaccuracies and rumors. These problem areas will need correction because experience shows they lead to negative behaviors.

Now, your team must select what needs correction the most, thus establishing your public relations goal. For example, perception alterations like correcting that damaging inaccuracy, straightening out that unfortunate misconception, or neutralizing that hurtful rumor.

But how will you reach that goal? In the same way you approach any operating problem – select the right strategy, one that shows you how to reach your public relations goal. However, when it comes to opinion and perception problems, you have just three strategy choices: create perception where there may be none, reinforce an existing perception, or change the offending opinion/perception. Just be certain the strategy you select is a good fit with your PR goal. Obviously, you would not use the "reinforce it" strategy option when your goal is to kill a damaging rumor.

Now, some writing talent is needed to prepare the message you will use to alter that key target audience's perception. The message must be clear and persuasive if it is to nudge perception or opinion in your direction, and lead directly to the behaviors you desire.

Much like the military when they call in artillery fire during combat, you must employ your communications tactics in a way that insures that your message reaches those members of your target audience.

Fortunately, you have a wide choice of communications tactics such as audience briefings, news releases, speeches, radio and newspaper interviews, special events, personal contacts, and many others. You do want to be sure that the tactics you select have a proven track record for reaching people just like the members of your target audience.

While a budget sufficient to employ professional survey counsel would be very nice, the fact remains that you and your PR team can once again monitor perceptions among members of your target audience by asking the very same questions used during the earlier monitoring session.

The difference now is that you will watch carefully for signs that your message and communications tactics have moved audience perception in your direction.

If things need to move faster, you always have the option of adding new tactics to the fray as well as increasing their frequencies. Also advisable, another check of your message for impact and factual accuracy.

By this time, you will have created a public relations program certain to reassure you that you are now getting the key stakeholder behaviors you need to help achieve your department, division or subsidiary objectives.

end

The Best PR Has to Offer Managers

2008-12-11T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

The Best PR Has to Offer Managers

How cool is this? You're a business, non-profit or association manager. You decide to get serious about your public relations and shift the spotlight away from communications tactics. You implement an action blueprint that (1), helps you persuade your key external stakeholders to your way of thinking. And then (2), helps move them to take actions that lead to your success as a department, division or subsidiary manager.

It comes into sharper focus when that public relations blueprint helps deliver target audience behaviors like new waves of prospects buzzing around, more qualified calls about strategic alliances, a jump up in repeat purchases, a boost in the number of engineering consultants specifying your products or services, and even increased membership applications and contributions.

What is that blueprint, anyway? Try this: People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

As I've said many times in the past about that fundamental premise of public relations, it shines the PR spotlight directly on those outside groups of people with a large say about how successful a manager is going to be – namely, it targets his or her most important external audiences.

But you need the PR folks assigned to your unit to buy into the program and shift their priorities from communications tactics to a workable, comprehensive plan like this one designed to deliver those key, outside audience behaviors.

Behaviors, by the way, that obviously help or hinder a manager in achieving his or her operating objectives.

The real work for you as the department, division or subsidiary manager starts by listing all your key external audiences in priority order so that you initially focus your resources on that number one audience.

Next step is answering the question, what do members of that audience think about your organization? Short of spending big money on professional survey counsel, you and your PR team can/should/must interact with those members by asking questions such as "What, if anything, do you think about us? Have you ever dealt with our people? Were you pleased with the experience? Have you heard other comments about our organization?"

At each step in this perception monitoring drill, you and your team must watch carefully for negatives like false assumptions, rumors, misconceptions and inaccurate statements. In other words, negativities that might turn into target audience behaviors that could really damage your operation.

The monitoring data you collect is the stuff of your public relations goal. For example, stifle the rumor, straighten out the misconception, turn around the false assumption, or make that inaccuracy accurate.

However, managers know that achieving any goal demands the right supporting strategy to show you how to reach it. Considering the workload, you'll be glad to know that opinion/ perception matters allow just three strategy choices: create perception where there isn't any, change existing perception, or reinforce it. But be alert to the need to select a strategy that directly complements your public relations goal.

The real burden of this PR problem solving sequence rests with the actual message you use to communicate your corrective facts to your target audience. This is where the public relations heavy lifting takes aim at altering individual perception among your target audience population.

First and foremost, your message must be clear, persuasive and carefully factual if it is to nudge perception/opinion in your direction and lead directly to those behaviors you desire. And it will do so only if your message is both believable and compelling. Which suggests that it be vetted prior to release by a variety of individuals to insure that it measures up to these standards.

You're in luck because you will benefit from a long list of communications tactics to help carry your message to the eyes and ears of members of your target audience. The list includes tactics like speeches, special events, media interviews and newsletters as well as press releases, customer briefings, facility tours, emails and quite a few others. Only caution here is, research each tactic carefully to be certain it has a record of reaching people just like those who make up your target audience.

Fortunately, things can always be accelerated by adding more high- impact communications tactics, increasing their frequencies and fine-tuning your message.

Answering the opening question, using a public relations blueprint of this nature can be extremely "cool." Especially when you, as a unit manager for a business, non-profit or association, take these steps to help persuade your key outside stakeholders to your way of thinking, then help move them to take actions that lead to your managerial success.

In my view, that IS the best PR has to offer managers.

end

Article PR headlines - the reader is secondary

2008-12-10T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Glenn Murray

A great headline can be the difference between having your free reprint article published once (on your own website...) and having it published hundreds, if not thousands, of times all over the Internet.

Sure, the content has to be worthwhile; it has to be helpful, informative, and not just a sales spiel. And there's no denying that a well written article can be very compelling. But if your headline doesn't cut it, the article won't stand a chance. The best article in the world will never see the light of day without an effective headline.

Now, more than ever, article submissions need a good headline. But it's not just the reader you have to worry about. In fact, the reader is secondary! When it comes to article PR headlines, your main focus should be the publisher.

You may think the requirements of a good headline haven't changed over the years, but they have. Unlike headlines for traditional newspapers, magazines, etc., which target only the reader, article PR submission headlines target first the publisher, then the reader.

So how do you write a headline for an online publisher?

Here's a few tips...

1) State your domain

No matter what your business, you can be sure that potential publishers of your article are inundated with information every day. Imagine hypothetical 'Publisher Pete'. He's the webmaster of a high PR site. He receives hundreds of article submissions every day. Additionally, he farms article submission sites (aka 'article banks', 'article submit sites', 'free-reprint sites') for articles on a regular basis. Because so many of the article submissions he sees are spam or unrelated, Publisher Pete is quick to dismiss anything that isn't obviously - and immediately - relevant to his website. So make sure your headline signals the general subject area of the article submission, not just the exact topic.

2) State your argument

Every website has an agenda. Whether it's to sell, persuade, or inform, there's always an angle. When our friend Publisher Pete looks for free reprint content for his website, he wants something that complements his agenda. If he's selling chemical garden fertilizers, he doesn't want an article about the evils of chemical fertilizer. Nor does he want an article espousing the virtues of organic fertilizer. He wants an article promoting the value of chemical garden fertilizer. If that's what your article is about, make sure the headline lets him know.

3) Don't make empty promises

Sensationalized headlines may work in traditional media, but they're not so effective in article PR submissions. Few things frustrate an online publisher more than being lured in by a promising headline which turns out to be nothing more than hot air. For publishers who take the time to carefully filter content before publishing, empty headlines are nothing more than time-wasters. For publishers who are a little less meticulous, empty headlines result in a site which is characterized by disjointed, contradictory, low-quality content. Either way, the publisher isn't impressed, so make sure the headline of your article is relevant to (and validated by) the body of your article.

4) Put yourself in the publisher's shoes

Always think about ways to make the publisher's job easier. It's as simple as that. Brainstorm 5, 10, 20 headlines, then put yourself in the publisher's position and ask which one you'd choose. That's the best headline for your article submission.

5) Think about your publisher's readers

Publishers want articles that readers will open. But remember, your publisher's website may cater to an entirely different type of reader to your website. Whenever you find yourself thinking about your secondary audience (the reader), make sure you're thinking about the publisher's readers - not your own. That settled, you can go on to focus on regular audience-headline considerations such as making the headline attention-getting, targeted, and benefit driven.

Conclusion

With the emergence of article PR as a great way to generate a high search engine ranking, and the associated proliferation of article submission spam, the right headline is more important than ever. The important thing to remember is that you're faced with a gatekeeper, and you need to address their needs first.

By following all the publisher-focused tips above, you'll not only see your article published many more times, you'll also see it published on more relevant websites. This will help both your ranking (because links from relevant sites are always the best) and your click-thru traffic (because the audience will be more relevant).

Happy headlining!

About the author: * Glenn Murray is an SEO copywriter and article submission specialist . He is a director of article PR company Article PR and also of copywriting studio Divine Write .

Manufacturer 2006: The Year of PR About Great U.S. Manufacturers

2008-12-09T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Thomas Cutler

According to Cutler, "We are going to use the full force of Manufacturing Media Consortium™, more than 2000 journalists writing about trends in the manufacturing sector, to tell the stories of thousands of American Manufacturers." Cutler is considered the nation's leading manufacturing journalist writing hundreds of feature articles each year and the author of The Manufacturer's Public Relations and Media Guide. Cutler as is a regular contributing editor dozens of leading manufacturing magazines.

TR Cutler, Inc. Cutler, who has worked with dozens of manufacturing associations, recognized that membership revenue was not self-sustaining and many local PR firms simply lack the expertise or media relationships in the manufacturing sector. Cutler says, "Everyone wins: the manufacturing association looking to drive additional operating revenue, the manufacturer who wants to see immediate and direct results from an aggressive PR campaign, and TR Cutler, Inc. There is also another "win" – people will learn about the amazing and fantastic manufacturing being done by thousands of American manufacturers.

According to Dean Schmidt, the Affinity Program Manager for TR Cutler, Inc, "The 90-day campaign will drive traffic to a client's website, and increase product and company awareness, and quantify increased sales. Most manufacturers companies have never conducted an aggressive public relations campaign, this program will allow them to get their feet wet using a very affordable methodology."" Manufacturing Associations which have not yet participated in the Manufacturing 2006 Affinity campaign are encouraged to enroll no later than September 1, 2005.

Thomas R. Cutler President & CEO TR Cutler, Inc. www.trcutlerinc.com 954-486-7562/888-902-0300

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About the author: Professional Marketing Firm

Marketing Operations Elevates Communications & PR Pros

2008-12-08T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Gary Katz

Is your marketing department taking advantage of MOM and MRM? Do you have BAM and DAM systems in place? Do you know how to measure NPV? Do you even know what I'm talking about?

If so, you may not be a ""Quant"" (a marketing scientist or specialist in marketing analytics) but you're certainly ready to seize a leadership role and spur your company into the new world of Marketing Operations.

Marketing Operations (AKA MOM or Marketing Operations Management) seeks to improve performance and measure ROI through sustainable processes, best practices and clearly-defined metrics. Admired technology companies (like Intel, IBM and Adobe) are hiring VP or director-level individuals to refine and fine-tune their marketing organizations to run with an operational focus. Market research firms like Gartner and Forrester are also rolling out new research services with a heavy focus on Marketing Operations. And the first U.S. conference on Marketing Operations was held in New York this past May.

Marketing operations tackles:

(1) measuring the performance of marketing effectiveness; (2) ensuring appropriate marketing organization; (3) deploying marketing processes, tools and infrastructure; (4) managing marketing skill development; and (5) building a sense of community across the marketing discipline.

Why should you care?

For starters, Marketing Operations is a great vehicle for becoming more strategic and less buried in task. It equips you to talk the language that C-level executives appreciate, take control of your destiny and ultimately become more valuable to your organizations. Best of all, you can address head-on the issues that affect you directly and also represent corporate America's biggest challenges, including how to:

• define meaningful success metrics from which performance can be measured (one type of measure, NPV or Net Present Value, calculates the present value of an investment's future net cash flows minus the initial investment); • optimally leverage resources in increasingly thinner marketing departments (MRM or Marketing Resource Management focuses on workflow, role definition, project management, planning, budgeting and other resource allocation strategies); • more effectively manage shared knowledge so insight is retained even after key employees move on, enabling more informed decision-making (knowledge management strategies include BAM or Brand Asset Management, and DAM or Digital Asset Management); and perhaps most importantly • replicate successful marketing programs so marketing best practices are institutionalized (and you aren't).

About the author: Gary M. Katz, APR, is president and CEO of CommPros Group (www.commprosgroup.com), a Santa-Clara, Calif.-based firm that provides marketing operations services to help companies leverage their marketing investment, plus a variety of outsourced marketing program management services to support lean marketing departments.

Incredible power of the press release service

2008-12-07T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Peter Finers

However large your company might be whatever niche of the market it operates in and whatever services or products it provides, it should always stay in touch with the public. Even if the company has large pool of steadfast and reliable customers, it nevertheless bound from time to time to inform them about the latest developments in the company. Nowadays people tend to regard advertisement as oversimplified and exaggerated statement. Only few of them really believe in the text they see on the billboards. How their trust, their confidence can be won? What measures should be taken by the company to gain their attention?

The answer is simple-the company should cre ate press release . A press release is a short (usually not more than one page) informative letter that provides the reader with information on the latest newsworthy developments in your company. It must contain your address as well as the name of the company; the first paragraph of the press release should answer several questions, the most important of which are what, where, when. By creating press releases the company can gain the attention of mass media representatives. Journalists, correspondents, editors and commentators are trusted; the public is inclined to listen to their points of view as people hold the belief that they express independent and impartial opinions. However, wr iting press release is not composing another advertisement; rather one should focus on some newsworthy event that should be revealed to the public. If you have written and composed press release and it looks more like an advertisement try to rewrite it until it looks like an informative article in the newspaper, magazine or scientific journal.

What can be gained by this? Even as the companies frequently write and publish press releases only few people in my experience really understand the benefits of the pres releases. By publishing them you get the maximum exposure of you company. Wherever advertisement might cost you much energy, skills and certainly money, the writing of the press releases is one of the most effective, custom-oriented and cost-effective marketing tools. Even the giants of the business publish press releases from time to time, and it imperative for the new starters to get maximum possible exposure for their businesses. One should remember that it is extremely difficult to survive in today's highly competitive and ever-changing environment without it.

Killer-Content.com - Web copywriting services

About the author: Peter Finers is a senior copywriter at Killer-Content.com He has several years of experience as copywriter and has completed several important projects for different companies.

Not Getting the PR Results You Want?

2008-12-06T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

Not Getting the PR Results You Want?

The reason might be this simple: as a business, non-profit or association manager, you're too focused on communi- cations tactics and not on a workable blueprint for dealing with those important outside audiences whose behaviors most affect your department, division or subsidiary.

If this sounds familiar, the blueprint I refer to provides the tools required to persuade those key external stakeholders to your way of thinking. Then, hopefully, move them to take actions that lead to your success.

A blueprint, say, like this one: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

And, by the way, this is a blueprint that can produce behaviors such as more prospects interested in your services or products, more proposals for joint ventures and strategic alliances, more frequent repeat purchases, or fresh, new capital contributions and membership applications.

If this is something you wish to pursue, the next move is yours. For example, take the time to enlist those public relations people assigned to your unit in a brand-new push to find out once and for all what those outside audiences – those with behaviors that actually affect your organization – really think about you.

That's where the rubber meets the road because target audience perceptions inevitably lead to behaviors that will either hinder or help you in reaching your objectives.

So, let's assume you and your PR team decide to prioritize your outside audiences, then monitor the perceptions of members of the #1 target audience on your list.

Here's the first "fork in the road." You can use your PR professionals – who after all are in the perception and behavior business – to interact with target audience members by asking a lot of questions. For instance, "What do you know about us? Have you ever had dealings with our organization? Was it, or they, satisfactory?"

Or, if you have access to an ample budget, you can engage the services of a professional survey firm to handle the perception monitoring chore for you. Keep in mind, however, that this activity is central to the success of a public relations effort.

Either way, the data assembled by this drill is the raw material used to create your public relations goal. And that goal might call for clearing up a troublesome misconception, fixing a serious inaccuracy or killing that budding rumor dead as a doornail.

But reaching that goal is another story. You need a strategy to show you the way, and when it comes to perceptions and opinion, there are only three strategies from which to choose: change existing opinion/perception, create it where none exists, or reinforce the perception. Trick is, be certain the strategy you select is a natural fit with your new public relations goal. For example, if you discovered a really negative perception among members of your target audience, you certainly wouldn't choose the "reinforce" strategy.

But the real "beast of burden" in this PR problem solving sequence is the message you will use to alter the offending perception you turned up during your audience monitoring drill. This is one message that must be very well written, clear as crystal, and supported by compelling and believable facts if it is to alter what some of your target audience members believe. In this way, the message can nudge perception in your direction, lead to the behaviors you have in mind, and help you achieve your unit objectives.

Final challenge? Get that message to the eyes and ears of members of your target audience. And that means selecting and employing the right communications tactics from the wide choice available to you. You can use personal contacts, special events, media interviews and speeches. Or, you might select from among news announcements, facility tours, newsletters, brochures, audience briefings and so many others. But be certain that the tactics you choose have a record of reaching people like the members of your target audience.

Soon, however, questions will be asked as to how the new public relations effort is faring. In other words, "Are we getting the PR results we want?"

A fair question and one that can be fairly answered by returning to the field for a follow up monitoring session. Once again, you as the manager, and/or your PR support staff, must ask questions similar to those you asked during your earlier benchmark perception monitoring session.

The difference now? You want to see evidence that your perception monitoring, your public relations goal and strategy as well as your carefully crafted corrective message and communications tactics have actually altered the offending perception as you planned.

Should results not come fast enough, additional communications tactics can be added, and their frequencies increased.

Bottom line: as the department, division or subsidiary manager for a business, non-profit or association, if the primary focus of your public relations effort is tactics, you are well-advised to make a shift in favor of this kind of workable PR blueprint that gives you the best chance of achieving your unit's operating objectives.

end

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

About the author: None

Manufacturer 2006: The Year Manufacturers Discover PR

2008-12-05T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Thomas Cutler

TR Cutler, Inc. (www.trcutlerinc.com) is the Public Relations firm specializing in PR for the manufacturing community worldwide. In conjunction with a new affinity PR program exclusively offered through manufacturing trade associations, CEO, Thomas R. Cutler, announced the year-long PR program, Manufacturing 2006. According to Cutler, "We are going to use the full force of Manufacturing Media Consortium™, more than 2000 journalists writing about trends in the manufacturing sector, to tell the stories of thousands of American Manufacturers." Cutler is considered the nation's leading manufacturing journalist writing hundreds of feature articles each year and the author of The Manufacturer's Public Relations and Media Guide. Cutler as is a regular contributing editor dozens of leading manufacturing magazines.

The Manufacturing PR Advantage™ program will profile U.S. manufacturer using 90 day aggressive media outreach strategy. Associations working with TR Cutler, Inc. will receive significant rebates for the fees their members pay to participate in the program. TR Cutler, Inc. Cutler, who has worked with dozens of manufacturing associations, recognized that membership revenue was not self-sustaining and many local PR firms simply lack the expertise or media relationships in the manufacturing sector. Cutler says, "Everyone wins: the manufacturing association looking to drive additional operating revenue, the manufacturer who wants to see immediate and direct results from an aggressive PR campaign, and TR Cutler, Inc. There is also another "win" – people will learn about the amazing and fantastic manufacturing being done by thousands of American manufacturers.

Thomas R. Cutler President & CEO TR Cutler, Inc. www.trcutlerinc.com 954-486-7562/888-902-0300

About the author: Professional Marketing Firm

Any PR Is Good PR

2008-12-04T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Dan Brown

- your press release should sound like news, not an ad

- you should only send your press release to the media related to the topic of your press release - keep your press release one page in length

- your header, contact information and release date should be at the top of your press release - use short sentences and double space in between sentences

- your header and first few sentences should capture the readers attention

- you should tell a story and briefly mention your business, product or service in the body of the press release

- proofread your press release many times. Look for grammar and spelling mistakes. Another reason entrepreneurs ignore promoting their online business with press releases is because they don't know what's newsworthy. Here are 16 online business press release ideas:

- new products or services you're offering on your web site. - the results of an online survey or poll you've completed - a virtual trade show or seminar you're hosting. - a free chat room class you're teaching

- your opening of a new web site

- an online award your business or web site has won

- a free e-mail newsletter you're publishing - new online products or services you're giving away - an online business association or club you're starting - a famous person that's endorsing your business - a major joint venture you're doing with another business - a new book or e-book you wrote - an expert or celebrity who's speaking in your chat room - a fundraising event you're doing at your web site - a new contest or sweepstakes you're having at your site - major sponsorships you're doing online You can get other press release writing tips and ideas by reading other businesses press releases, reading how to publications, talking to experts and visiting other media web sites. I hope this article persuades and helps you to promote your business through press releases.

About the author: Author Dan Brown has been active in internet marketing for the past 4 years. Dan currently is working with the Zabang search engine introducing their new affiliate program which is due out Nov, 2005. http://www.zabangaffiliate.com/

PubliCity Outside Your City: Outsourcing For More Affordable PR Services

2008-12-03T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Todd Brabender

We all know that the Internet has taken away geographic boundaries in the business world. The accessibility and expansiveness of the Internet allows the entrepreneur/business owner anywhere in North America to search outside his local yellow pages for the best and most affordable services available. This is especially true when it comes to finding PR/publicity services for your business. What it boils down to is . the Inter'net can mean a 'net savings in your publicity budget.

A few months back, I got an email from a California client who discovered that the local part-time freelance publicity specialist he had hired was charging three times the amount I charge and providing half the services I offered. Because of that, the client hired me to work with the freelancer in heading up this nationwide campaign launch. The freelancer told me that because of West coast cost of living/overhead, he was forced to charge the higher fees -- surprisingly, he was one of the cheapest publicity pros in that area! I have heard stories like this time and time again from clients who hit the 'net in search of a cheaper alternative to PR services listed in their local directory.

That fact was drilled home to me even more when I recently took a detailed look at my portfolio of clients. I was surprised to learn that over the last few years more than 40% of my clients for my Midwest-based PR business have come from the West coast, another 25% from the East coast and 10% from Canada. A quick e-mail polling of clients revealed the same story over and over. They simply found it hard to locate professional, affordable PR services in their area, so they turned to the Internet to find it.

Frankly, for publicity campaigns restricted to your city/region, I recommend going with a local PR specialist/firm. They typically know the local media market best and have solid media contacts there. But for a national or industry rade specific publicity campaign for your product/business, explore the possibility of hiring a PR individual or team outside your geographic area -- especially if your product has nationwide appeal. One client remarked that he liked how our campaign brought a Midwest feel to his East coast-based business and helped him open up potential new business avenues. Another client said he looked to outsource to a small to mid-sized city PR business because, as he put it, ""No matter the size of the office, West coast PR firms seemed very plastic and glitzy, while the East coast firms seemed to be too hectic, almost frantic."" That may indeed be a huge generalization on his part, because I'm certain there are wonderfully professional PR businesses in almost every city.

Be advised -- mechanically, most PR agencies do basically the same thing. Sure each firm/office/freelancer has their strong points. The major difference lies with the respective creativity, ingenuity and professionalism of the PR individual or staff. Don't take this to mean that ""cheaper is better"" - there is certainly something to be said for the phrase ""you get what you pay for"". Just don't pay three, four or even ten times as much to get you the same amount of quality. Look for a firm that can give you an entire campaign from start to finish -- release/kit, media market research, media contacts, large-scale media distribution, media tracking/clipping -- not just a $100 - $500 release distribution.

Take to the 'net and see what you can find. Above all, ask for references, writing samples, publicity placement history -- where they have generated publicity for past clients. Make sure they are technologically advanced enough to get timely, high-quality publicity information to media outlets all over the nation that benefits your business. Look for a PR service with a broad range of media contacts in multiple formats (print, broadcast & Internet) and strong media tracking capabilities. Some PR pros promise to pitch your campaign to hundreds of magazines and newspapers when your strongest media market may be in radio/TV shows & newscasts -- or vice versa.

I am not reinventing the PR wheel here, I am simply saying that when it comes to generating publicity for your business/website/venture/invention, the best match for you may not be in the big glass building in your city's downtown. Big firms in big cities most often mean big fees and not necessarily big quality.

Bottom line -- the Internet is giving entrepreneurs of all types the opportunity to afford publicity -- publicity from outside your city.

Todd F. Brabender Spread The News Public Relations Generating publicity/media exposure for innovative businesses, products, inventions & experts. http://www.SpreadTheNewsPR.com info@SpreadTheNewsPR.com

About the author: Todd Brabender is the President of Spread The News Public Relations, Inc. His business specializes in generating publicity/media exposure for innovative businesses, products, inventions & experts. http://www.SpreadTheNewsPR.com info@SpreadTheNewsPR.com

The PR Rainmaker Always Has a Plan B

2008-12-02T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Rusty Cawley

PR Rainmakers know they can do everything right, and still fail to make news.

It is a fact of life. Accept it now.

All news is affected by whatever else happened that day. All news is relative.

Newspapers have only so many columns to fill. The TV news has only so many minutes to devote. Even Web sites have only so many slots to fill with news of the day.

Even on a slow news day, more copy is thrown away than is ever used. More emails are deleted than followed. More faxes are trashed than considered.

There is also a hierarchy to news, especially in the mainstream media. Breaking news will supplant soft news, such as features and analyses. News of broad interest will supplant news of specific interest; for example, a tornado that wipes out your downtown area will likely push a suburban school board meeting to the back pages, if not out of newspaper entirely.

You can arrange the most visual, most intriguing media event possible. But if City Hall is burning down at the same time as your event, then that is where the news cameras are going to go. The news demands it.

We all know what happened on Sept. 11, 2001: Two passenger jets slammed into the World Trade Center, while a third crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth was forced to the ground in a Pennsylvania field.

Just think how many important and interesting news events were chased out of the news media on Sept. 11 and during the weeks that followed – not to mention all of the soft news features and media events that were canceled.

So how do PR Rainmakers handle this reality? By leaving nothing to chance.

In others words: Always have a Plan B.

Keep the time window for your media event as open as long as is reasonably possible. If you arrange for a media event to last only one hour, then you severely limit the media's ability to attend. You may force the media to choose between your event and breaking news. If you force that choice, you will lose. Keep the window open for at least three hours. If the participants (such as the CEO), balk at this idea, ask them bluntly: "How badly do you want to be in the news?" The media are in control of whether you get coverage, not you.

Choose a time that will work best for the news media. Generally, the best time for any event is between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. These are the times when the news media have the most resources available to cover events. These windows also give the reporters plenty of time to meet their deadlines.

Have your own video crew on standby. Almost any city will have a company that provides video services for a variety of needs. Arrange to have a crew on standby, ready to step into the situation if breaking news draws the media away. Your crewmembers can shoot video and audio of the event, just as if they were the news media. They can then edit the raw footage into what is known as a "B roll," which is a videotape of event highlights that you can provide to the local media. You must move quickly. Shoot the footage, prepare the B roll and get it to the TV stations on deadline. You cannot wait for tomorrow.

Be prepared to move to another date. When designing a media event, be sure to compare the event date with other events around the city. Avoid conflicts whenever possible. Monitor the news media as your event approaches. Have a back-up date in mind, in case other events threaten to eclipse your own. And if the newsworthiness of your event is threatened, especially by breaking news, do not hesitate to make the change.

PR Rainmakers understand and accept they are not fully in control. They know the daily news is driven by immediate events, not by advanced planning.

The only insurance policy is a sound Plan B.

About the author: Rusty Cawley is a 20-year veteran journalist who now coaches executives, entrepreneurs and professionals on using the news media to attract customers and to advance ideas. For more free articles and e-books, visit the Free University of Public Relations at www.rustycawley.com.

Secret To Using Press Release To Generate Huge Traffic

2008-12-01T03:04:00.000-08:00

Author: Daegan Smith

Are you getting ready to introduce a new service or product? Have you used or are you familiar with press releases? An interesting and newsworthy press release can create a lot of search visibility, media exposure and web site traffic.

People are more interested to narrative news than an advertisement. Through a press release, you can get your story successfully published. Doing a story regarding your website as well as products that is offered and having it published by the media is equivalent to getting an endorsement. Most significantly, giving off a press release is so much cheaper compared to buying an ad.

A press release is a narrative news regarding your business which you will distribute or submit to several media including the internet. Keep in mind that it will not sound as an advertisement. Each time that you offer a new product, a service or anything new that is taking place in your website, you can write a press release about it.

This can be distributed by way of a service such as prweb.com or Press-Release-Writing.com and this can be viewed by thousands of individuals in just weeks as well as be picked up or chosen by several web sites for publication.

An effective press release would need you to describe your website with the viewpoint and assessment of news. Deal with the curiosity of your targeted readers and give emphasis on why customers should look and read your story.

Guidelines in writing your press release:

1. Inverted pyramid lay-out. This format places not so important data and facts down in your release, permitting you to revise your story more easily to fit the available space that you have. If you have to cut short your story, you can start leaving out certain details beginning at the lowermost portion of the story then working upwards.

2. Be exact to the point. Your release must be well defined; this can be stated in your title. Concentrate on the main concept of your story; ask what, where, why and when to help you focus your story.

3. Create a clever title. A catchy title is an effective way to attract attention.

4. Limit your content length. Keep it with an average of 350 to 500 words. The shorter your release, the better; too much explanation and reasoning in a very small room will decrease your storyís efficiency.

5. Format your story in block, with no indentation on paragraphs.

6. Re-examine your story, making certain that it will not appear to be an essay; it must be educational yet appealing.

7. Proofread. Check and double check your story. Read it aloud to yourself and walk away for a while so that you can come back on it and examine it with a clear mind and fresh eyes.

What to write in your press release:

1. Use brief sentences and the lines should be double spaced.

2. Create an attention grabbing header.

3. Refer to and state your product, business or service in your story.

4. Write a press release when you have new products to offer.

5. Make a press release regarding the outcome of online poll or surveys that you have just completed.

6. When you are hosting a seminar or trade show, you can write a press release about it.

7. Make a press release when you are opening a new web site.

8. When your business has achieved an online award, create an informative story about it.

9. When you are publishing a free e-zine, it is good reason for a press release.

10. When you are offering or giving away free products, let your customers know through a press release.

After writing your press release, do the following:

1. Send your press release. There are many online press release distribution sources (some free and others charge a fee) that you can send your press release to. Be resourceful and search the internet to find the best one for you.

One is 24-7PressRelease.com offers free press release submission and distribution service providing customers with the choice to donate finances for a much higher detection, placement and recognition.

2. Wait. Check with the media and make sure your release is appearing on a certain that it is planned or scheduled. If it does appear in the newspaper, clip it and place it on your site; Newspaper clippings can also represent an endorsement.

3. Look how your traffic go sky high! Seat back and watch a big flow in your web siteís traffic.

Press releases are worth trying and pursuing, as long as one does it right. Take it into consideration and act on it, then success will not be far behind.

About the author: Daegan Smith the owner of Net MLM Articles and the leader of the fastest growing team of successful home business enterpernuers on the net. Find out how we're creating financial freedom all across the globe and how to get in on the action FREE => http://www.comlev.com

Why Small Business Must Turn to PR

2008-11-30T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

Why Small Business Must Turn to PR

If small business had no important outside audiences, it wouldn't exist.

But since they do have external "publics," it's doubly unfortunate when those same small business owners seem unconcerned about the very outside folks whose behaviors can place a choke-hold on their business!

And worse, are so casual about public relations, the best way to move those behaviors in their direction.

Is that you? What's the problem? Can you think of any other way to marshall those groups of people you need so badly if your business is to succeed?

Face it. You must turn to public relations if you are really serious about getting those important outside people to support what you are trying to do.

And the best part is, there's no mystery about how to do it!

Start today by listing your important outside audiences in priority order. No doubt, customers and prospects will place #1 and #2. But think carefully about your local and trade media as well as community residents and leaders, suppliers and the like. The test for adding an external audience to your worry list is this: if left unattended, could its perceptions and behaviors hurt your business?

Since there is no other affordable way to find out how each of your target audiences perceive your business, products, services and operations, you must take the time to do it yourself along with your colleagues. Interact with members of that key target audience and probe their perceptions with plenty of questions. Watch for misconceptions, inaccuracies and rumors that need to be corrected. Stay alert to negativity of any kind.

This will let you decide how much you will try to alter perceptions among each audience. It also becomes the behavior modification goal against which you will measure your progress.

Now it's message time. What will you say to members of your target audience to alter that negative perception that surfaced during your conversations with them? Your message must be persuasive, so stick with the facts and present them clearly. By identifying honestly what is really at issue at the moment, you impart a sense of credibility to your comments, and their timeliness adds a compelling dimension to your message.

What's the best way to get that message to the eyes and ears of members of your target audience?

Here, you have an embarrassment of riches with dozens of communications tactics including news announcements, op-eds, letters-to-the-editor, speeches, community briefings, broadcast and newspaper interviews and many, many others.

Progress can best be tracked by interacting all over again with members of the target audience. While you'll ask questions similar to those you asked in your earlier monitoring sessions, this time you're looking for signs that your message got through. In other words, signs that your message succeeded in altering any negative perceptions of your business.

You should also monitor print and broadcast media, key customers and prospects for similar indications of success.

Should progress not be fast enough for you, you'll want to consider increasing the number of communications tactics you employ as well as the frequency of their use. Your message should also be re-evaluated for its factual basis and clarity.

Gradually, your monitoring will playback perception changes among that target audience, and that means the behaviors you seek will not be far behind.

It is this kind of success that tells us very clearly why small business must turn to PR if it is to realize its potential.

end

Ignore PR at Your Peril!

2008-11-29T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

If you do, it means:

1. you don't value tracking the perceptions of important outside audiences whose behaviors could sink your ship:

2. you don't care about setting a public relations goal designed to correct misconceptions, inaccuracies or rumors that can hurt you;

3. you care even less about strategies to get you from here to that PR goal you already don't care about;

4. and you certainly don't value the persuasive messages you need to convince your key outside audiences that their damaging perceptions of your enterprise are dead wrong.

Man, that's risky and an awful lot not to care about!

Actually, I don't believe you don't care, and I don't believe you're really ignoring public relations. If you were, by now your organization would be on its last legs, Kaput!, Morto!

In fact, you may be a closet PR person who knows better. Why you may even buy the fundamental premise of public relations:

"People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action those people whose behaviors affect the organization, the public relations mission is accomplished."

I'll bet you're also pretty darn good at monitoring what that #1 external audience thinks about you and your organization. And that you regularly interact with them asking questions like What do you think of us? Why? while watching for negative undertones, wrong-headed beliefs or misconceptions.

And that means you'll be anxious to create a public relations goal that corrects such misconceptions because they can lead directly to negative behaviors that will hurt you.

In practice, your goal may be focused on pacifying an activist group, reinforcing prospect interest in your product or service, or even countering a painful rumor.

You're probably ahead of me in forming the strategy you need to reach that goal. For better or worse, there are only three ways to deal with opinion or perception problems. Create some all-new opinion where none exists, change existing opinion, or reinforce it.

With goal and strategy both in hand, you now have some real work to do. What will you need to say to your key audience members to persuade them to your way of thinking? You must be clear about what should be corrected or clarified. You must also be persuasive, and your facts and figures believable. And if appropriate, try to be compelling, perhaps with a certain sense of urgency.

Your "foot soldiers" – communications tactics – can now carry that hard-won message to the attention of your #1 target audience, and there are scads of them just waiting for you to send them into action. For example, speeches, news releases, brochures, special events, radio interviews and one-on-one meetings.

One question remains. How do you tell whether or not you are making any headway with your public relations effort?

You again interact with members of that key audience of yours. And yes, with questions very similar to those you asked during your original information gathering exercise at the start of the program. Only this time, you are more interested in whether your communications tactics have moved perceptions in your direction.

Do the new responses show signs that your were successful in changing that inaccurate belief? Or correcting that misconception? Or killing that dangerous rumor for good?

Not enough movement? Take another look at your message to see if it is really compelling. Is it honestly persuasive? Are your facts supportive of your goal and strategy? Is it written clearly enough?

I want to reemphasize that what you are looking for at this stage is a strong indication that your efforts have clearly moved perceptions and target audience behaviors in the desired direction.

When this second monitoring drill allows that conclusion, you will have good reason to value highly your public relations goal, strategy, message and communications tactics.

Together, they will have made it possible for you to say, as promised in the fundamental premise,"My public relations mission is accomplished."

end

Can Small PR Firms Deliver Huge Results?

2008-11-28T03:04:00.000-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

Can Small PR Firms Deliver Huge Results?

They can when they invest in the basics. The best of them obviously rely on some form of public relations fundamental premise to produce winners across business environments from rockets and orange juice to product recalls and indicted CEOs.

But, chances are the top producers among small PR firms have built their businesses on a premise like this one:

People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action those people whose behaviors affect the organization, the public relations mission is accomplished.

Public relations firms who do not base their work on a premise like this one are well-advised to consider doing so.

The reason? Their clients are subject to the same realities as the rest of us, realities that never change. People usually behave based on their perception of the facts. And clients usually demand certain behaviors from those "publics" whose behaviors have the most impact on their businesses.

Even more to the point, when client managers start looking for a return on their public relations investment, they want to see the kind of key stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving their objectives.

Which is why, especially for the small PR firm anxious to meet client needs, there is no better performance measure at which to aim.

However, for those small PR firms not yet guided by any kind of public relations fundamental premise, here is a suggestion.

Consider the premise outlined above, then take a shot at convin- cing a new or current client to let you produce a broader, more productive public relations effort for his or her company. And remember, the fundamental premise of public relations outlined above is a great equalizer placing all public relations firms on a level playing field when it comes to the effectiveness of the process. It especially targets those firms with a client who expects the best value from PR dollars spent, not simply a limited and mechanical publicity placement effort.

In other words, consider using the premise as a means for going after higher quality new business, or upgrading an account and broadening the work performed for a savvy client who wishes to squeeze every benefit out of the money they spend on public relations.

Start by listing a client's most important outside audiences in priority order – audiences whose behaviors directly and visibly affect client success or failure. At the top of such a list are usually prospects and customers. But it could well include community residents, business and political leaders, suppliers, minorities, fraternal groups, nearby military personnel and union leaders. The target list might even include "clients of your client" where such activity is a high priority for that client.

The test for listing an audience is this: does its behaviors affect my client's business in any way? If they do, they belong on the list.

Obviously, you must now determine what members of that key external public think about your client and his or her business, in order to build and implement a successful public relations effort. And that means interacting with members of that audience and asking a lot of questions. What do they think about your client company and its products and services? Are there signs of negativity? Misconceptions? Inaccuracies? Rumors?

The answers to these questions allow you to establish the corrective public relations goal, i.e., a specific perception and, thus, behavior change. For example, clear up that misconception, correct that inaccuracy, or knock down that rumor as soon as possible.

How do you achieve that goal? Right! You select a strategy that will get you from here to there. And there are just three strategies to deal with a perception challenge: create perception (opinion) where there may be none, change existing perception, or reinforce it. Your choice will be dictated by your new public relations goal.

Clearly the most challenging step in this sequence is preparing the right message for delivery to the target audience. It must make a compelling case, so think about it carefully. It must state clearly that the offending misconception, inaccuracy or rumor is not the truth. Instead, layout that truth in a credible manner. The hallmarks of such a message are clarity, persuasiveness, credibility, believability and a compelling presentation.

Now it's time for the "beasts of burden," the communications tactics which will carry your carefully-scripted message to the eyes and ears of that target audience. Happily, there are a ton of such tactics at your disposal. Of course, you will want to double check the ability of each to zero in on your specific audience. As most PR firms are aware, they range from news- letters, press releases and radio and newspaper interviews to newsworthy surveys, sports sponsorships, op-eds and many, many more.

In short order, clients will be interested in evidence that the public relations effort is achieving results. The best way to demonstrate progress is by reporting on the results of a new round of perception monitoring among members of that target audience. You're looking for signs that their percep- tions now reflect the corrective elements of your message

Your clients are subject to the same realities as the rest of us, realities that never change. As noted, people usually behave based on their perception of the facts. And clients usually demand certain behaviors from those "publics" whose behaviors have the most impact on their businesses.

Small (and large) PR firms have little choice but to go after those perceptions with a vengeance.

That is how that small PR firm can deliver huge results.

end

Managers and PR Genius

2008-11-27T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

Managers and PR Genius

The real public relations geniuses might be managers. You know, managers who pursue their objectives by reaching, persuading and moving those outside audiences whose behavior most affect their organizations, to actions those managers desire.

Their "secret" is probably a PR blueprint something like this one: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

What a PR blueprint like this gives YOU, a business, non-profit or association manager, are the tools you need to persuade your important external stakeholders to your way of thinking. Then, hopefully, move them to take actions that lead to your success.

Best part is, the public relations people assigned to your department, division or subsidiary can run the program for you if, that's IF, you as the unit manager stay involved and participate in key decisions along the way.

First concern? In all probability, your PR staff will need to shift its attention from simple communications tactics to the more aggressive fundamental concept of public relations, and its action blueprint, mentioned above.

It's worth the effort because the payoff for you will be target audience behaviors like these: boosts in repeat purchases, or higher contribution and membership application rates, or new waves of interested prospects.

Sit down with the PR folks who work for your unit and explain the need to list, in priority order, those key outside audiences. And discuss the importance of learning how the organization is perceived by members of those audiences. In particular because perceptions almost always lead to predictable behaviors, and that, of course, is what will soon concern you the most.

To probe those target audience perceptions, you and your staff must interact with members of that key external audience and ask a variety of questions. For example, "Do you know anything about us? Have you had dealings with us? Was there ever a problem with a transaction?

During these perception monitoring sessions, stay alert for negativity. Was there a glaring inaccuracy that popped up repeatedly? Any false assumptions about your services or products? Did you notice misconceptions, rumors or clearly negative attitudes? And watch especially for evasive or hesitant responses.

The data you gather from these perception monitoring interviews allow you to establish your public relations goal. You must decide to focus on correcting a dangerous inaccuracy or clarifying a troublesome misconception.

As a manager, you know that goals are achieved using the right strategy. In the case of perception and opinion matters, there are just three workable strategies available to you: reinforce existing perception/opinion, create perception where there may be none, or change existing opinion. Only caveat: be sure your chosen strategy fits well with the public relations goal you have established.

Now your PR people must prepare the message that will alter perception among members of your target audience. As the unit manager, your personal input will be required to insure that it is both persuasive and compelling. As well, the message must be clearly written, and well supported with facts if it is to be believable as it strives to alter perception in your direction.

Delivering your message is not a complex task and your PR folks will help select the proper communications tactics to get the job done. Luckily for all concerned, there is a full menu of such tactics from special events, news announcements, print and broadcast interviews and brochures to newsletters, speeches, emails and many others.

To satisfy all concerned that the effort to alter an offending perception is really working, you must re-monitor the perceptions of members of your external target audience

This go-around, however, will see all members of the public relations team on the lookout for clear-cut signs that the negative perception is actually being altered according to plan.

You should also be aware that matters can be accelerated by adding new communications tactics to the effort, AND/OR by increasing their frequencies, as appropriate.

If genius is too strong a descriptive for managers who apply this public relations blueprint, let us at least observe that it allows them a degree of success in achieving their unit objectives they did not previously enjoy.

How Managers Hit PR Paydirt

2008-11-26T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

How Managers Hit PR Paydirt

As a business, non-profit or association manager, you'll know it's PR paydirt when you're able to persuade your key external stakeholders to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that lead to your department, division or subsidiary's success.

Proof of the pudding will be outside stakeholder behaviors like increasing repeat purchases, more inquiries about strategic alliances, new specifiers of your components, more membership inquiries, or a jump in capital contributions.

But to realize such results, you'll have to get personally involved with the public relations people assigned to your unit. Then shift their emphasis from communications tactics to a workable and comprehensive blueprint that will lead to your success as a unit manager.

A blueprint, for example, like this: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

What such a public relations blueprint will require of you, is a sharper focus on those outside groups of people who play a role in just how successful a manager you will be. In other words, the blueprint targets your most important external audiences.

Get your PR people on board early on. This should be an easy task as some of them, no doubt, are wondering if there may be more to public relations than press releases, special events and brochures.

Enlist them instead in a core public relations effort to determine how all of your crucial outside audiences really perceive your operation. I speak here of audiences with perceptions leading to behaviors that affect your organization the most. So discuss with your staff how you can gather those key audience perceptions in the most cost-effective manner.

Since retaining a professional opinion survey firm can be very expensive, you may well conclude that you and your PR staff can interact with members of your target audience and ask the necessary questions. And I would agree.

Among the questions: What do you know about us? Have we ever worked together? Was it a positive experience for you? Did you ever have a problem with our people? Watch for evasive or hesitant answers and, especially, for negativities such as inaccuracies, misconceptions, false assumptions or rumors.

The data you collect lets you set your public relations goal. For example, clarify that misconception, correct that inaccuracy, kill that rumor dead.

You are a manager fully aware that every good goal needs a good strategy to show you how to reach that goal. When it comes to matters of opinion or perception, you have just three strategy choices: create perception where there may be none, change existing perception/opinion, or reinforce it. But take care that the strategy you select fits nicely with your new public relations goal.

Now it's message time – the special words you will use to alter what you discovered some of your target audience members have come to believe. This corrective message is crucial to the success of the program and, all at the same time, must be clear, believable and compelling.

The next step truly can be called "special delivery." Here, you take steps to get your message before the eyes and ears of your target audience. Communications tactics will handle that chore for you, and there are dozens of them available like newsletters, brochures, press releases, media interviews, emails, facility tours and lots of others. Be sure that the tactics you select have a track record of reaching people like those who make up your target audience.

Your two-part bottom line? A workable and comprehensive public relations blueprint that (1) assists you as a manager in creating the external audience behaviors you need and (2), in so doing, helps you achieve your department's business, non-profit or association objectives.

end

Free Press Release: Submit Press Release Distribution

2008-11-25T03:05:00.000-08:00

Author: Dylan

The easiest way to find out what a particular reporter prefers is simply by asking. You can make a phone call and find out for sure what the best method of delivery will be. This also gives you an opportunity to give the person a ""heads up"" that they will be receiving a press release from you.

This isn't the same as following up (which as mentioned earlier, you shouldn't do), and people won't get annoyed so long as you don't start trying to convince them over the phone that your press release is a ""must read.""

Stay professional and be confident that if you have followed the steps outlined above, chances are you will get a positive response.

Quick Tip: Should you decide to send your press release in e-mail format, send it directly in the body of the e-mail. Do not send attachments! Many people won't even bother opening them, and some e-mail programs will delete them automatically.

Should you decide that fax. or snail mail is the best choice, make sure that you use a legible font. There is absolutely no need to use fancy, ornate fonts. A clear and easy-to-read lettering will be best.

And if you are mailing your press release, don't fold the paper like it is a letter. Make sure that the first thing the reporter will see is your heading and headline. This will let them know right away what they are dealing with.

Final Thoughts:

If you find yourself tempted to stray from these basic rules for formatting your press release, take a moment to think about the over-tired, over-worked reporter who will be reading it. Their time is limited, their patience is short, and their garbage can is close at hand.

Press releases can be an extremely powerful marketing tool if:

1) You strategically plan your angle so that it's interesting and unique, 2) Your message is short, sweet, and to the point, and 3) Your formatting adheres to industry standards.

4) To submit your free press release to media contacts - http://www.media-press-release.com

5. Choose a good web hosting - http://www.hostcube.co.uk

If you can successfully combine these three key things, then you'll capture media attention that can easily swing your sales - and public awareness of your business - into high gear.

About the author: 2006 copyright article. ONLINE MEDIA PRESS RELEASE, media contacts at http://www.media-press- release.com , hosting at http://www.hostcube.co.uk

Create A Press Release

2008-11-24T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Jean Melconian

About the author: Jean Melconian is the owner of WebTrans International, Inc., International trade resources and logistics are available at: http://www.webcargo.net.

PR Advice You Didn't Ask For

2008-11-23T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

PR Advice You Didn't Ask For

Although, as a business, non-profit or association manager, you may be glad this came your way.

I'm talking about persuading those key outside folks to your way of thinking, then moving them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed.

But what will you say when you have the opportunity to address your key stakeholder audience to help persuade them to your way of thinking?

Luckily, matters can be accelerated by adding more communications tactics as well as increasing their frequencies.

end

Managers Who Spend PR $$ Wisely

2008-11-22T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

Managers Who Spend PR $$ Wisely

Next, decide together, then prioritize exactly which external audiences have the most impact on your operation, and let's do some work on the audience at the top of that list.

Of course, to speed up the process, you can always add new communications tactics to the mix and increase their frequencies.

end

About the author: Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior,and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Distribution Associations to Offer PR Services by TR Cutler, Inc.

2008-11-21T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Thomas Cutler

TR Cutler 954-486-7562 www.trcutlerinc.com trcutler@trcutlerinc.com

# # #

About the author: Professional Marketing Firm

Advertising and PR

2008-11-20T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Matt Bacak

NEWS OR SNOOZE: Will Your Press Release be a Doosie or a Dud?

2008-11-19T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Meredith Pond

So, a story that surrounds current events and peaks public interest usually makes good release material. Now, let's talk about what doesn't.

Dean Schmidt Drives Manufacturing Association PR Program

2008-11-18T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Thomas Cutler

TR Cutler 954-486-7562 www.trcutlerinc.com trcutler@trcutlerinc.com

# # #

About the author: Professional Marketing Firm

Are PR and Marketing Key To Yahoo!'s Future?

2008-11-17T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: YahooSupporter

Is PR and Marketing the Key to Yahoo!'s Future? Today, there is news that Google is ""testing"" its ebay-like auctions and it may soon release an electronic wallet.

This story is very similar to all the ""new"" products that Google comes up with..

Google Desktop search came after Yahoo! Desktop search (see http://desktop.yahoo.com) too (and - oh yes - it is still in beta).

Moreover, I am aware of at least three ""new"" products that Google is about to announce that Yahoo! has had available to the public for a great deal of time..

However, PR and Marketing are the ONLY reason for this.

So, what is wrong with the Yahoo! Marketing and PR machine? Why is Yahoo! allowing Google to grab the headlines for inferior copies of products that Yahoo! has had in its arsenal for many years?

Terry Semel, Jerry Yang et al ought to find out the answer to that question.. NOW!

See YahooSupporter's blog http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-4sU6UzIocqjUhnPaqIsNgU0-

About the author: I have permission to reproduce this article here on behalf of the mysterious YahooSupporter

Write a Power Press Release and Get a Feature Story-Seven Times as Valuable as Advertising

2008-11-16T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Judy Cullins

Market Yourself Through the Media Interview

Always ask the interviewer is there any problem with mentioning your phone number or Web site address. What good is a feature if your audience can't get in touch with you? They usually say yes.

The columnist created her own story.She used this heading: ""Workshop Guides Novice Book Authors."" One of her highlights said, ""seminar participants might be the next John Grisham.""

You Have What Editors Need

Media editors and radio/TB talk show producers want and need human interest, and newsworthy stories. You have what they need-solutions to problems their particular audiences have.

What is a Press Release

2008-11-15T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Peter Finers

Killer-Content.com - Web copywriting services

About the author: Peter Finers is a senior copywriter at Killer-Content.com He has several years of experience as copywriter and has completed several important projects for different companies.

How Real PR Works

2008-11-14T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

How Real PR Works

For some, public relations works well when their news release or special event winds up in the newspaper or on the radio.

A simple plan that gets everyone working towards the same external audience behaviors insuring that your public relations effort stays on track.

First challenge? You're not certain just how most members of that key outside audience perceive your organization.

Now, you're ready to select the specific perception to be altered, and that becomes your public relations goal.

Flexing your PR muscle, it's your writer's turn to prepare a compelling message carefully designed to alter your key target audience's perception, as called for by your public relations goal.

Now you select your communications tactics, the "beasts of burden" you will harness to carry your persuasive new thoughts to the attention of your outside target audience.

By adding more communications tactics, increasing their frequencies or fine tuning your message, you can always move things along at a faster clip.

end

Fatal PR Mistakes Authors Make on Their Book Campaigns

2008-11-13T03:05:00.001-08:00

Author: Penny C. Sansevieri

TR Cutler, Inc. Manufacturing PR Firm Puts Dean Schmidt in Charge of International Growth

2008-11-12T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Thomas Cutler

TR Cutler, Inc. www.trcutlerinc.com Thomas Cutler 954-486-7562

About the author: None

How to Write a Press Release

2008-11-11T03:04:00.001-08:00

Author: Kirk Gordon

Headline: A concise, catchy, understandable line of text to show what the news release is about.

- Farm Grows Organic Vegetables & Herbs Using Hydroponics.

Summary: A concise body of text, generally a few sentences long, summarizing what the press release is about.

Body: The body is a continuation of the summary portion of the press release. This is where you give in-depth details regarding your announcement.

For more information visit Acme-Demo-Biz Inc. Co., web site at http://acme-whatever.com, by email at acme@acme-whatever.com or call 1-800-555-5555.

About the author: Article Courtesy of HydroponicSearch.com - Agriculture Press Release Distribution Service .

The Worst PR Mistakes

2008-11-10T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Robert A. Kelly

The Worst PR Mistakes

For a business, non-profit or association manager, they could be fatal, coming as they do in four bitter flavors.

Mistake #1 – You limit your PR activity pretty much to placing product and service plugs on radio and in newspapers.

Mistake #4 -- you fail to get the creative potential of your assigned PR team or agency which you need to positively impact the behaviors of the very outside audiences that MOST affect your unit.

Such a blueprint will broaden your public relations field of fire and put its primary focus where it belongs, on your unit's key external stakeholder behaviors.

But what will you say when you finally get the opportunity to address your key stakeholder audience that will help persuade them to your way of thinking?

Aren't we fortunate that these matters usually can be accelerated by adding more communications tactics as well as increasing their frequencies.

end

PR That Entrepreneurs Often Overlook

2008-11-09T03:04:00.001-08:00