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

If you’re like most publicity seekers, you probably think one project at a time. You’ve got a new product coming out in April, so you send out a release in March. You’ve hired a new executive, you’ll put out a release when she’s on board, etc.

For hard-core publicity insiders, though, there’s a rhythm to generating coverage, based upon the natural ebb and flow of the seasons. Such an approach can help you score publicity throughout the year, and will help keep your eye on the ball from January through December.

Essentially, a yearlong approach consists of two strategies:

- Timing your existing stories (new product introductions, oddball promotions, business page features, etc.) to fit the needs of the media during particular times of the year.

- Crafting new stories to take advantage of events, holidays and seasonal activities.

Before we run through the four seasons of publicity, a few words about lead time. In this age of immediacy (only a few seconds separate a Matt Drudge or a CNN from writing a story and putting it before millions), it’s easy to forget that, for many print publications and TV shows, it can be weeks -- and sometimes months -- before a completed story sees the light of day.

The phrase lead time simply refers to the amount of time needed for a journalist to complete a story for a particular issue of a magazine or episode of a TV news program. For example, a freelancer for an entertainment magazine may need to turn in a story on Christmas movies by September 15. That’s a lead time of three months, time needed for the editor to review and change the piece, the issue to be typeset and printed and distributors to place the issues on newsstands before December. Lead time can range from a day (for hard news pieces in newspapers) to a few days (newspaper features) to a few weeks (weekly magazines) to many months.

The longest leads are the domain of "women’s books" like Good Housekeeping and Better Homes & Gardens. These publications often have a lead time of up to six months, which means they need information for their Christmas issues as early as May!

Here’s a tip to help you discover the lead time of a particular publication you’re targeting: call the advertising department of the publication and request a media kit. Since advertisers need to know when their ads must be submitted, each issue’s lead time is clearly stated in the media kit.

Factor the lead time into your planning as you look over the following sections. If you have a great story idea for Rolling Stone’s summer issues, you need to be on the ball well before Memorial Day.

The Four Seasons of Publicity:

First Quarter: January - March
What the Media’s Covering: Early in the year, the media is looking ahead. It’s a great time to pitch trend stories, marketplace predictions, previews of things to expect in the year ahead, etc. If a new President is being inaugurated, you’ll see lots of "Will the new administration be good for the (textile/film/cattle ranching/Internet/...or any other) industry?" types of pieces. This is a good time to have something provocative, or even controversial, to say about your industry.

The media also likes this time of year to run "get your personal house in order"sorts of pieces. Tax planning, home organizing, weight loss, etc. Anything that’s geared toward helping people keep their New Year’s resolutions can work here.

Key Dates and Events:
Can you come up with a story angle to tie your business into an event that typically generates lots of coverage? Put on your thinking cap -- I bet you can. Here are some key events during the First Quarter: Super Bowl, NCAA Tournament, Easter, The Academy Awards.

Second Quarter: April - June
What the Media’s Covering: An "anything goes" time of year. With no major holidays or huge events, April is a good time to try some of your general stories (business features, new product stuff, etc.) Light, fun stories work here, as a sense of "spring fever" takes hold of newsrooms (journalists are human, you know. They’re just as happy winter is over as you are and it’s often reflected in the kind of stories they choose to run.). As May rolls around, thoughts turn to summer. Now they’re looking for summer vacation pieces, outdoor toys and gadgets, stories about safety (whether automotive or recreational), leisure activities, things to do for kids and so on.

Key Dates and Events:
Baseball opening day, tax day (April 15), spring gardening season, Memorial Day, end of school, summer vacation.

Third Quarter: July - September
What the Media’s Covering: The dog days of summer are when smart publicity seekers really make hay. Folks at PR firms are on vacation, marketing budgets are being conserved for the holidays and reporters are suddenly accessible and open to all sorts of things. Get to work here, with creative, fun angles. Entertainment-themed pieces do well in the summer, anything with celebrities works, lighter business stories, new products, trend pieces, technology news, back to school education-themed articles, you name it. Reporters are about to get deluged once again come September, so use this window of opportunity wisely.

Key Dates and Events:
July 4th, summer movies, summer travel, back to school.

Fourth Quarter: October - December
What the Media’s Covering: The busiest time of the media calendar, the Fourth Quarter is when the business media turns serious and the lifestyle media thinks Holidays, Holidays, Holidays. Business angles need to be hard news. Fluffy trend pieces won’t cut it, as business editors begin to take stock of the state of the economy and the market. It’s a tough time to put out a new product release. For the non-business media, think Christmas. Christmas travel, Christmas gifts, Christmas cooking, whatever. If you have a product or service that can be given as a holiday gift, get on the stick early.

Nail down lead times for the publications you’re targeting, call to find out who’s handling the holiday gift review article and get your product in the right person’s hands in plenty of time -- along with a pitch letter or release that makes a strong case about how what a novel, unusual or essential gift your product makes. After Christmas, you have a brief window for "Best of the Year," "Worst of the Year," and "Year in Review" pieces. Be creative -- the media loves these things.

Key Dates and Events:
Labor Day, World Series, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s Eve.


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 -- for the very first time -- his secrets of scoring
big publicity. For free articles, killer publicity tips and much, much more, visit Bill's exclusive new site: http://www.publicityInsider.com 

By Susan Friedmann, CSP

How did Hotmail gain over 12 million subscribers in 18 months? How did the very low budget movie “The Blair Witch Project” become such an incredibly successful phenomenon? The answer lies in the power of “buzz.”

Buzz or word-of-mouth marketing influences more people to buy, or not to buy products and services, than most other forms of marketing. Why is it so powerful? Basically, we have a need to share information as a means of communication and also as a way of understanding the world around us. Often, we base many of our purchasing decisions on information gleaned from friends and well-respected associates. We tend to listen to them more readily then most mass-media messages.

In his book “The Anatomy of Buzz,” Emanuel Rosen states, “most marketing today ignores the power of buzz and tries to influence each customer individually.” He believes that “buzz travels through invisible networks that link people together. Noise, skepticism and connectivity all influence today’s buzz.”

As exhibitors, you need go no further than the tradeshow floor to find a network that creates a real buzz. It starts prior to the show, gathers momentum at the show, and then slowly dissipates after the show ends. Every exhibitor has the power to influence the buzz. It all depends on product/service quality, marketing savvy and the decisions made.

I recall visiting a telecommunications show a couple of years ago when the buzz on the show floor concerned a Fortune 100 company and major player in the industry, (who shall remain nameless). The talk centered around the image of their booth which wasn’t quite up to expectations. The buzz went like this: “The ABC Company has gone cheap. They must be having financial problems.” It’s gossip like this that starts the wheels of the “rumor mill” turning and can even create havoc on the Stock Market. Remarks like this often have very little bearing on reality, but people make assumptions and decisions based on what they see and hear. Obviously, the originating source of the buzz plays a key role in its basis for truth.

I’m sure that you would much prefer any tradeshow buzz to be positive. Since talking about products/services makes economic sense, how can you use the buzz to add to your existing marketing efforts? I’ve put together ten guidelines for you to consider:

1. Brainstorm all possible groups of people who might be interested in your products/services. Consider including the media, opinion leaders, influencers, lead users, politicians, analysts, etc. Don’t forget chat rooms and newsgroups although buzz still spreads primarily by personal interaction.

2. Research how information spreads among your customers. Ask them how they usually learn about new products/services. Who are their major information sources? Who’s information do they value? You’re primarily looking for groups of people rather than individuals. However, don’t discount individuals, as they may well be a powerful opinion leader.

3. Develop a clear and concise message highlighting the product/service benefits you want to filter through these different groups. Zero in on your product’s uniqueness and what it can do, for example, to help save time and money – two basic elements most people seek.

4. Think about ways to tap into these groups to spread the word about your products/services. Use these in addition to your existing marketing efforts. Never rely on just one means of connecting with your target audience. Your credibility is enhanced through different marketing mediums. For example, exhibit marketing could include pre-show advertising, at-show sponsorship and post-show, a trade publication article. The more ways people can hear and see you the better.

5. Offer prospects easy ways to try your product/service. For example, the makers of Pictionary gave demos in parks, shopping centers and other gathering places. The tradeshow floor presents excellent opportunities for this.

6. Come up with other creative ideas to enhance tradeshow show demonstrations. What can you give people to take away to remind them of your company, products and positive show experience. Think about something that will help create the buzz. It’ll have to be more creative than a keychain or stress ball. The more product-related the better. You want people to remember and talk about you – positively!

7. Look at special groups whom you might offer a product discount, a loaner or even for free. You’re looking for groups/individuals where the direct product experience will help spread the word. For example, when FedEx started out, it offered free shipping to show people how their program worked. America Online continuously finds ways to offer hundreds of free hours of trial usage to entice new users. I recently saw a display of free CDs at WalMart.

8. Use press conferences for major announcements, new product introductions, but only if they are truly new or improved, or general industry trends - what’s hot and what’s not. Realize that editors are interested in timely newsworthy information; industry trends, statistics, new technology or product information. The media get very upset attending a press conference which is poorly organized and where there’s nothing newsworthy.

9. Use sneak previews at tradeshows to build anticipation and help create a buzz on the show floor. Give people a fun experience and a behind the scenes view of what’s coming. TV and the movies have got this down to a fine art with their coming attractions. Siemens just did this extremely successfully at the recent CTIA show in Las Vegas. They organized a live marketing presentation with a futuristic theme that featured a digital phone prototype. They certainly created a buzz, which had people, including myself inquiring about the product’s availability.

10. Make use of tradeshows to educate your target audience. People are hungry for information. Investigate opportunities to speak either during the workshop sessions or incorporate an educational session into your display.

The power of buzz far exceeds many conventional marketing vehicles. It is probably the oldest, most well-used and valuable one out there. Look at how you can make it an integral part of your existing marketing plan to influence the voices in your industry.

Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies,” working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. Go to www.thetradeshowcoach.com to sign up for a free copy of ExhibitSmart Tips of the Week.

This guide to “SEOing” your PR efforts can help you get high-ranking search results for your press releases, marketing white papers and ezine newsletter content. Whether you are managing PR efforts for several online companies or just one website, you’ve probably wondered how you can increase your sites (more importantly, your work) overall impact in the Web community. While the answer lies less and less on traditional forms of promotion such as press releases, learning the tricks of the trade to qualifying for top search engine placement could be the most important thing you ever do for your company.

So how do you help generate visits to your website? By optimizing website content such as press releases, marketing white papers and ezine newsletter content you can increase the chances that potential visitors select your site from search engines. The reason (which you will learn how to do in this article) is because you will using alternate keywords and key phrases that are related to your business or service that are outside of the most popular terms that your search engine optimizer should be striving for, and your advertising efforts should be bringing in through bid for placement campaigns.


Identify Your Target Audience:
While traditional PR teaches us that it is wise to focus our efforts on reaching journalists, editors and producers (members of the media), effective online PR make us focus on reaching the “public” directly. If you provide a specialized product or service, web users may not know you exist if you don’t appear in the search engines. If your search engine optimizer can’t get a number one listing for the hot keyword for your site, don’t worry, you literally have thousands of other keyword and key phrase options to choose from to generate publicity.

As a PR person, you probably have hundreds of articles, reviews or press releases about your company’s specific products or services. The best thing you can do with them is to identify which audience is best suited to that content and be as specific as possible. This is typically called a “segmentation strategy.” While the media should continue to be one of these “segments,” don’t eliminate the larger “segment” of general web users. These are prospects for your products and services and are searching with innumerable variations of keywords, many of which should be contained within your PR materials like press releases.

By actively segmenting your users into groups, the users you are attempting to attract are actively seeking information about products and services, which is exactly what you are providing with articles, newsletters, reviews and white papers. These readers will eventually be ready to buy from your site if you are selling what they are looking for!


Researching Your Keywords
Whether you realize it or not, there are probably thousands of keywords and keyword phrases that people might use to find information about the products or services that you provide. Since you have already segmented your potential audiences, a little research never hurt anybody. So sit down, find your competitors and see what keywords they are promoting their site with. You might also want to use popular keyword suggestion tools provided by bid for placement search engines such as Overture or 7Search.com. You will quickly discover the most searched words or phrases that people are actually using. Start with general descriptions of your services and move on to two or three word phrases. The more general your terms are, the more competition there will be for them. So instead of the keyword “Public Relations,” how about “public relations firms in Chicago?” Instead of “baby gifts” how about “unique baby shower gift ideas.” Picking more specific key phrases can increase your chances of driving quality traffic and generating buzz about your product. Use these targeted terms in your press releases, articles and white papers; better yet, use one targeted term and its derivatives in one article each and make the most of all your keywords and all your articles at once! Also, make sure the content reflects the audience segments you identified.


The Hack’s Guide to SEO
SEO is complex and requires expertise to be truly successful, unless of course you follow this simple overall guide to optimizing your PR content. There are literally hundreds of guidelines that must be abided by that you should at some point try to understand. The first is to make sure the words that people use to find your product or service are included in your page and its content. These pages need to be useful, information rich and clearly and accurately describe your content. Then position the keywords (that’s optimization). Make sure that the keywords and key phrases you have researched appear in important positions on your website. Each page’s title tag is unique and should be as important to you as the headline of the press release posted on your page. Remember that optimization does not mean stuffing your meta-tags with every single keyword and key-phrase. Appropriateness is more important that quantity in this case. Make sure those keywords are relevant to the content appearing in your pages and that they appear high in the body copy of your page. When you think about it, these same “Inverted Pyramid” principles of press release writing should be used when you optimize your content: keep the good stuff at the top, just in case your visitor loses interest. Keep in mind that pronouns are just “dead weight” to search engine spiders, so in your press release, change “it,” “its,” and “ours” to specific keywords or keyword phrases for each page of content.


Go Promote!
It’s what you do best so go do it! Share your press release, articles, white paper and Ezine with as many people as you can. Since every major search engine uses links as part of its ranking algorithm, you can improve how well these newly created page rank if they get a lot of quality inbound links from other sites. Ask other PR webmasters like you for reciprocal links, submit articles to article directories, and get a professional SEO to submit your hundreds of newly optimized PR content pages!


The End
This guide to “SEOing” your PR efforts is not intended as a replacement for a complete Search Engine optimization campaign, it is merely a guide to help you get high-ranking search results for your press releases, marketing white papers and ezine newsletter content.

By GorgiasMedia - Internet PR

You've done everything right. You helped increased sales, people recognize your business name and you are considered an expert on what you are selling by millions of people around the globe. Then, your boss asks you to prove the worth of your online PR efforts to the company.

Measuring and evaluating a public relations presence online takes planning. It is important to understand before you being your online PR efforts what you should be measuring. Listed below are a few tips about measuring and evaluating your online public relations presence.

What effect of your online PR efforts should you be measuring?
There are really only a handful of effects that you could measure resulting from online PR efforts that will matter when you are trying to prove worth of the time you spend - three of the most important are media penetration, traffic or links and believe it or not - sales and revenue. With offline public relations efforts, measuring response on occasion nears impossibility. With online PR efforts, thanks to technology, online PR managers have tools at their command that help measure efforts effectively.

Measuring ONLINE PR Penetration:
Many PR managers want to employ clipping services to measure the effect that articles or press releases have on their prospective audiences. While having a list of media outlets that have published your news or features is helpful in identifying who to keep targeting, in the offline world it is difficult to measure what effect those mentions have on the bottom line. When measuring online PR penetration, it becomes much simpler in that savvy online PR managers are able to tell exactly where visitors are coming from. If you know when you submit articles or press releases to the media or when you start your online PR campaign, all you need to measure online PR is access to your server logs. If you do not, ask your company's webmaster to send you a list of the "HTTP REFERRERS" that your site has received over a specified period of time. By looking at the HTTP referrer list, you will see not only who has sent you traffic, but how much traffic was sent.

An alternate way to measure the effect of your online PR campaign or PR efforts is to create a mini-site. Mini-sites give PR managers the ability to control everything from the image you want to convey to the content that you are sharing with the public. Mini-sites can be used for Web logs, article archives, web press centers or Internet press rooms. Thanks to the low cost of domains and hosting, you could conceivably set up a separate domain from your company for less than it costs to send out one press release to the media using popular distribution services. By knowing what it costs to generate one new client for your company, you will be better able to report the contribution online PR efforts make to the bottom line of your business venture.

Another way, that can arguably be perceived as under the dominion of online public relations is bid for placement or pay per click advertising. While a company's main site might be used as an "all-purpose" solution, PPC advertising enables promoters to promote a concept or an idea over a general business category. For example, if you sell pillows, you might want to create a page on a mini-site that deals specifically with fabric used within your pillows. Take this page and promote it on a PPC search engine using a low bid making sure to define with titles and descriptions exactly what the surfer might be looking for.

Peter Prestipino is the founder and principal of Gorgias Media Online PR which provides Internet solutions to small and medium sized businesses through online PR efforts such as mini-website development, link building, press releases and product reviews. For more information, visit www.GorgiasMedia.com.

By GorgiasMedia - Internet PR

Building, maintaining and maximizing the presence resulting from your online PR efforts requires creativity and hard work. Within this article we'll outline several steps to help you develop an online PR presence, tips on maintaining your pr presence and maximizing the effects your online PR campaign has on the public.

Developing an Online PR presence: In our other online pr related articles, we discuss how to use newsgroups, forums, email and press releases to assist in an online PR campaign. Another excellent way to do this is to be the source of information on related products and services. For example, if you sell gardening equipment online, why not have information about gardening, maybe an article on tomatoes, at your site. When you are seen as an advocate for what people are looking for, you increase the likelihood they will visit and mention your site to others. Write one article per week (making sure to link and archive it appropriately on your site) and submit that article or message to the most influential members of the media as well as outlets that ask for writers to submit their articles online. They will quite possibly mention your organizations unique outlook on whatever it is you are trying to gain publicity and help you generate links pointing at your site.

Maintaining an Online PR Presence: One of the reasons you may be reading this article is because you're looking for the best road to take on your way to online PR success. Maintaining an online PR presence takes dedication and tenacity to pay off; so implement one or all the following to help maintain your online PR presence:

Blog your way to online PR success - If you have not heard, Weblogs or Blogs are an excellent way to keep not only the media but the general public informed about your products or services and what you are doing within your industry. Make an effort to come up with something original every day to post on your blog and over time you will develop a loyal audience about the topic of your choice. Blogs are also an excellent way to exchange links with other website promoters.

Newsletters/Ezines:
When it comes to an effective online PR presence, there is no substitute for the effectiveness to newsletters and online ezines. Online newsletters help build rapport with current customers, inform them of your current online PR efforts (the perfect place for articles), new company programs or services and provide information on your business industry. Once again, by being a premium source of information for Web users on your business, you'll be taking a proactive approach to communication. While there is much debate on the frequency and type of communications that you share with your customers and your potential customers, there is virtually no debate about the value that online newsletters and ezine provide in growing your business through online public relations.

Peter Prestipino is the founder and principal of Gorgias Media Online PR which provides Internet solutions to small and medium sized businesses through online PR efforts such as mini-website development, link building, press releases and product reviews. For more information, visit GorgiasMedia.com. 

By GorgiasMedia - Internet PR

 There are now well over a thirty million websites on the Internet, so achieving a presence on the web at times can seem near impossible. There are so many free promotional opportunities, paid sponsorship and directory listing availabilities to make the process of promoting your website, its company and its products and services extremely difficult. If you are exhausted with advertising, and fed up with over-hyped marketing techniques, consider developing a public relations presence online; it's half the time and financial investment and twice the long-term benefit.

What is Online Public Relations?
Public relations serves many functions that you probably utilize in many disparate arenas of your company's business already. Online Public Relations or Internet PR not only helps drive traffic your website but helps you build brand identity in the eyes of your visitors. Online PR can be broken down into several distinct service efforts, including website and industry audits, mini-website PR campaign development, Web focused press releases and online product reviews, link building campaigns, copy and email writing, newsgroup/forum/blog participation and much more.

Do I need an Online Public Relations Campaign?
Probably not! For many website promoters, traditional online advertising such as banners or pay per click search engines suffice in bringing in good quality traffic. Other website promoters do the same by optimizing their websites for premium placement through search engine marketing tactics. If you're struggling either paying for your online advertising or conducting your own search engine marketing programs, online public relations campaigns might be a good fit for your online business.

What does it take to be successful with Online PR campaigns?
You could be successful with a public relations campaign yourself if you possess time, creativity and tenacity. Successful online PR campaigns have several things in common, including an extensive online PR plan. These Online PR plans detail what it will take to achieve a successful online PR campaign, the steps that should be taken to develop that online PR campaign, procedures and protocols on how to maintain and maximize online PR efforts, offer insights into how you can directly profit from Internet publicity campaigns, and some means to help you measure the effectiveness of those public relations efforts on the Web.

Peter Prestipino is the founder and principal of Gorgias Media Online PR which provides Internet solutions to small and medium sized businesses through online PR efforts such as mini-website development, link building, press releases and product reviews. For more information, visit http://www.GorgiasMedia.com..