Archive for PR strategy
Facebook as a portal and website for your business
Posted by: | Comments
Facebook has passed the 500 million user mark, and if ranked as a country, would now be larger than the U.S.!
Internet marketing pro Jeff Bullas recently made 5 predictions about the future of Facebook, including this observation:
#2. Portals and Websites for Businesses
I have seen companies that have actually started using Facebook instead of their website as the first digital online Gateway for customers and online visitors. This has been facilitated by vanity and user URL’s that provide a more search engine and user friendly web address. This is dangerous because you don’t own the channel, you are only renting on Facebook’s terms but this will not deter some companies and I think that this may continue to grow and you may find Facebook encouraging this by adding more features and functionality that are business focused.
Jeff is right – you are only renting space when you create a portal on Facebook. If this enables companies to engage more with their customers, however, I believe this is a good thing. More and more people are gravitating to Facebook rather than to company websites and using Facebook as a one-stop platform in which to engage.
Yes, you run the risk of depending on Facebook and being left high and dry if anything goes wrong with the service. But there is great value in engaging with customers where they want to be. It’s similar to the number of Arizonans who have property in Mexico, where they can only lease the land for 99 years – they can never own it.
If you’d like to engage with me on Facebook, check out the Press Releases are not a PR Strategy page. I post updates on how press releases are being used and abused in PR 2.0, and seek feedback from fans in order to gather info for the next edition of the book. I’ll also be sponsoring a press release contest and book giveaway soon.
Photo credit: Ross2085, Creative Commons License
Wounded animal screams not a good PR strategy for Republicans
Posted by: | Comments
It’s hard to watch the reaction of the Republicans to the signing of the health care reform bill without comparing them to a comment I heard on NPR today — schoolyard kids taking their ball and going home out of spite. They have many PR challenges ahead of them, not the least of which is the lack of a single coherent spokesperson for the party. Who is representing the “true” party – is it the Republican National Chairman? Is it the tea partiers? Is it Rush Limbaugh? Is it Fox news? And where do the moderate Republicans like Lincoln Chaffee fit in?
This isn’t a partisan rant, but more a concerned assessment of the chaos going on with their messaging. The Democrats have their own challenges, but right now the Republicans have thrust themselves into a strange spotlight by virtue of their violent, vitriolic reaction to the bill.
If I were advising the party, here’s what I would recommend: Read More→
Too much focus on SEO and content?
Posted by: | CommentsCan anyone argue that the buzzwords for 2009 and 2010 aren’t “search engine marketing,” “search engine optimization,” and “content, content, content”?
Frank Strong has written a nice post on writing for search engines and optimizing your client’s online presence. Adding links and using key words are some of the tips he offers to help you be more “findable” on the web.
Have we forgotten the other critical aspects of PR, however? I wrote my book, “Press Releases are not a PR Strategy,” to counteract the prevailing thought that issuing press releases at periodic intervals was all there is to a PR strategy. In that vein, I would like to see equal emphasis on the other components of a successful PR campaign that often get little mention. They involve research (studying up on an individual blogger’s style, reading books and articles on a particular industry) and outreach (meeting with reporters and bloggers for coffee or as part of a press tour or trade show). We immerse ourselves in content, and forgot to surface every now and then to focus on other strategies.
PR is such a complex field. It’s not just content, and it’s not just press releases.
Photo courtesy of dyoz
Protect your brand and take on the competition
Posted by: | Comments
It will inevitably arise, that sense of profound irritation when you see a competitor beating you at your own game. You see them mentioned EVERYWHERE – on blogs, in magazines, on twitter, on the news…Their product is inferior to yours, they’ve stolen your messaging and made it their own, and they have managed to steal your thunder. What to do?
You need to protect your cave without being a baby about it. Your goal, therefore, is not to resort to the old “My dad is bigger than your dad” kind of bluster. You need to move the battle to your own turf, where the competition can’t compete.
What does that mean? You need to create an environment in which your company’s natural strengths are obvious. You position the company as strong, credible, fair-minded, and nimble. You’re above the fray and antics of the competition. Your ego is not invested, and therefore the company appears stronger.
First, spend time isolating what your product or service’s top 2 strengths are. Maybe it’s your small, nimble size and your top customer service. Read More→
Why CEOs suck at PR
Posted by: | Comments
Seth Godin, who writes about all things marketing (as well as very philosophical observations), has a post today that reminds me of why CEOs suck at PR.
Check out “How to lose an argument online.” Point number 1 reflects the attitude of a lot of executives with whom I’ve worked:
Have an argument. Once you start an argument, not a discussion, you’ve already lost. Think about it: have you ever changed your mind because someone online started yelling at you? They might get you to shut up, Read More→
Don’t brand yourself into a corner
Posted by: | Comments
With all this talk about branding yourself online, it’s easy to forget that you can go too far. You can brand yourself right into such a tight corner that your friends and colleagues can’t see you as anything else but that one little niche.
If you’ve worked in the same industry all your life, what are you, besides that image of you your co-workers have? Yes, I was in high-tech PR for more than 25 years, but I am so much more than that. I love books, old books, new books. I like to go to northern California on wine-tasting tours. Heaven on earth to me is spending time on Martha’s Vineyard and soaking up the “ocean life.” I like badminton and volleyball. Do my former co-workers know this? Probably not. Does my family? Probably not.
In the mid 90s, I worked for a software company that Read More→
Press releases are NOT a PR strategy
Posted by: | Comments
Great graphic from the original post by Tom Foremski
When I published the first edition of my book in 2005, I wrote that there seems to be a powerful misconception in the business world that public relations is composed simply of press releases — that a so-called “PR Strategy” is sending out announcements as often as possible.
Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of businessmen and women, from neophyte to seasoned executive, equate PR with press releases. The terms are interchangeable in their minds. No wonder the media want to barricade their virtual doors from press releases, which are as fast and misguided as attacking zombies.
Here it is four years later, and I was glad to see Adam Singer of The Future Buzz comment on the same topic in his August 17th post, “If you want press, don’t send a press release.” Here is an excerpt from it: Read More→
