Creating Newsworthy Angles

• Current Events: Look for positive ways to relate your company to topics that are making news headlines.
• Event Timing: If you’re publicizing a special event, be sure to submit your releases in plenty of time to be indexed by search engines well in advance of the big day.
• Fresh: Look for a new way to present the information you’re promoting.
• Impact: Focus on how the information will impact readers, rather than just on the basic facts.
• Innovation: What can you share that has not been done before?
• Prominence: Can you get a quote from a celebrity or someone who is recognized as an authority in a related field?
• Relevance: Clearly convey why readers should be interested in the information in the news release.
• Seasonality: Look for news angles that tie into current or upcoming seasonal activities and events.
• Time Sensitivity: Is time running out for people to act?
• Unusual: What about the information you want to share is out of the ordinary

Brand Advocates
Target a few writers who have covered topics that directly relate to your brand. Additionally, spearheading a private event or retreat for a smaller group of bloggers is also a great way to truly introduce your brand to individuals who might be interested in pursuing a relationship that could extend past an initial meeting.

Incorporate bloggers into your ad campaign
If you are developing an ad campaign about bread, what better way to share your message than by featuring a blogger in the campaign and using them as a brand spokesperson? Many bloggers are also authors and seasoned spokespeople who have appeared in mainstream media outlets. Why not work closely with a blogger (or group of bloggers) whose own mission is in line with your brand?

Support Charities
Sometimes the best way to demonstrate your brand’s support of bloggers is to help them raise awareness and funds for a cause that is near and dear to their hearts.

Celebrity and blogger integration
Over the years, I have worked closely with major television and cable networks to introduce new shows and personalities to the blogging community by hosting in-person and online events where bloggers get the chance to interact in real time with celebrities and producers. When you pair a well-known celebrity with an influential blogger, you can instantly see the benefits of a mainstream and social media platform. While brands might be laser focused on making an impact in social media, the key is not abandoning your core audience. Instead, integrate a familiar face whose message might resonate with the blogging community and garner results from both mainstream and online media.

Recognize talented bloggers
Host an event or online contest that celebrates some of the most talented writers in the blogosphere.

While brands are interested in connecting with consumers in a forum that offers quality content, many savvy bloggers are interested in forging relationships with marketers so they can turn their passion into a professional career. By supporting bloggers through a variety of creative initiatives, brands can potentially build a lasting relationship that could enable both parties to reach their ultimate goals.

• Clearly define the goal and target audience of the release
• Research keyword phrases (1-2 per release)
• Add phrases to the title, sub heading and body copy
• Use keyword phrases when linking to landing pages or other corporate web site pages – not “click here”
• Add media to the release (images, video, audio) as well as alternative formats of the release (MS Word, PDF)
• To count conversions, use tracking codes in the URLs that point from the press release to landing pages
• Post the release to the company online newsroom
• Write a blog post version of the announcement and include a link to the press release
• Distribute the release via a wire service such as PRWeb, Marketwire, PRNewswire or Business Wire
• Optional: create and distribute a social media version of the press release
• Encourage bookmarking of press release pickups
• Monitor release rankings, social mentions, traffic & outcomes

When it comes to marketing online, you must understand your consumers. This means learning what they look for, and how they use the internet. This can help you grab their attention and get your marketing message in front of the right audience.

1. What does your company do?

2. Why did you start the company?

3. Is it your company launch or a product or service you

want to highlight?

4. What makes it different or unique?

5. What’s the pricing and how is it available? (online only,

retail outlets etc.)

6. What makes you uniquely qualified to be successful with

this company? (relevant background or experience, awards

etc)

7. Who is using/could use your product/service right now?

8. How will this product/service make their lives easier?

(Why should they care? What problems are solved and how?)

9. If you could make THREE points, about your company,

product or service – what would it be?

10. Do you have an approved customer testimonial you can use

in this media pitch?

Write at most, 2 paragraphs to answer each question, or combine answers to 2 or more questions to form one pitch.

If you like, set a timer for 20 minutes and write your media pitches until the timer goes off.

Now, wasn’t that easy?  If you can write an email, you can write a media pitch.

Get started on free publicity for your company!

Source: PR in your Pajamas

It shouldn’t come as any surprise to you that 2011 is the year of integration.

This past year you got to play with social media tools and figure out which were most applicable to your business. Now it’s time to stop playing and integrate your traditional, digital, and mobile campaigns into one marketing and communication program.

Not convinced? Following are 10 reasons why integration is crucial this year.

1. Privacy is going to become a bigger concern for people, and they’ll begin looking for non-Facebook-like networks where they can control their content and what is shared. This means your Facebook fans will begin to migrate somewhere you can no longer reach them.

2. Customer service and HR want a role in what marketing and communications are doing through the social networks so they’ll actively search ways to stay relevant in the ever-changing technology world.

3. No longer will you go to where your customers are participating online, they’ll come to you through the way they use the Web. So your website will serve as a hub for all your social networks and then push people back out to various posts on the Web. Everything you do should bring people back to something you own.

4. The recent decision from the FFC on net neutrality means the way you use the Web, and the way you develop apps for smartphones, could change as early as March. Pay close attention to what this means for businesses and consumers alike, because you may have to pay for access to certain things on the Web, just as you do with cable television.

5. Developing campaigns under an integrated strategy will force you to look at where your audience is already participating online, how you can connect with them, how you can extend the conversation, and how you can get them to introduce you to others. In some cases this will happen online; in others it will be offline. Don’t ignore one by focusing on the other.

6. The day of simply pushing the same message in all of the channels is gone. It’s time to customize the role of each channel for your benefit, but remaining selfless. You can do this online and offline.

7. Customers are becoming even more fragmented so an integrated approach is necessary. Some Baby Boomers, for instance, won’t do business without shaking your hand, whereas most millennials won’t do business by shaking your hand.

8. Companies such as Zappos and Starbucks have changed the way we do business. Our customers (and it doesn’t matter whether they’re B2C or B2B) want to have a voice in our process, and they want to have access to all of the people who work within the four walls. Innovation tools such as Salesforce Ideas, UserVoice, and GetSatisfaction allow you to build products in real time with customers.

9. Employees are using technologies such as Yammer and Basecamp to communicate with one another, without the approval of IT. It’s a prime opportunity to integrate these tools into your employee and internal communication strategy.

10. The opportunity to organize the company in a centralized model has never been better. Research from Altimeter shows companies are “organizing in at least five different models.” Creating a centralized model allows internal teams to assemble in order to share and learn and then communicate with external audiences.

What do you think? Are you integrating everything? Why or why not?

1) Integrated marketing programs

Integrating all marketing disciplines when creating and implementing your marketing plan for 2011 is key. While social media is top of mind for inclusion into most marketing campaigns, creating an integrated approach including public relations, advertising, marketing, online, and social media is the most encompassing way to effectively reach all your target audiences. Collaboration across departments will be the trend moving forward.

2) Measurement

Due to the fact social media, blogs, and other online presence is pretty much a give-in to creating a successful PR campaign these days, measurement is becoming a growing demand. This demand is becoming the norm when implementing marketing and PR programs into companies. We will also see more media outlets helping to measure results.

3) Geography and Location

Facebook Places is sure to make a big impact, along with iphones and other location-based phones. It is only a matter of time before public relations campaigns will integrate check-in features, for example geo-fencing (a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area i.e. currently used in child location devices). This will allow public relations professionals to create plans and campaigns based on location of target markets and their geographic patterns.

4) Paid vs. public relations-placed media coverage

As we all know, getting media coverage via public relations has always been the most impactful and cost effective way to increase awareness and drive sales as it comes straight from a trusted media outlet. If you ask an advertising exec, their opinion may be different. Advertising vs. PR has always been a controversial one and is ever changing due to social media. The balancing act will come more into play and really determining how to reach your key audiences. You will also see the trend of compensation to brand advocates in the future.

5) Social search and the social graphs

SEO and pay per clicks have been the trend over the past decade. Recently Facebook and Bing have introduced the concept of social search and the social graph (an app). What is it? Social search is designed to help you discover relevant content from your social circle, a set of online friends and contacts. A social graph is a digital map of your personal identity (To learn more http://on.fb.me/hALdhb). This really is the essence of what a good public relations representative does – builds relationships and drive media relations! You will see more and more PR professionals using social search and graphs to assist clients get a grip on social networks for clients.