Emotionally
Connected
Websites!
Pick
My
Brain!
|
PRofiting from Publicity:
Online
Public Relations
One of the cheapest ways to market
your business is to take advantage of the many
opportunities that exist for free or low cost public
relations.
The exponential growth of the Internet provides
constantly expanding virtual public relations
resources.
"SpeakerNetNews", an e-zine for professional speakers, asked readers for
experiences about using the internet for marketing. Here are some of the comments received about the public relations aspect:
"My Web site has allowed my articles to be published
in many national magazines, such as
Presentations, T&D, numerous newspapers
and industry publications. My free articles have been
downloaded by
over 50,000 people each year from over 60 countries."
- Lenny Laskowski,
http://www.ljlseminars.com
Richard Thieme's site, at:http://www.thiemeworks.com has
received numerous awards, including both a "Hot Site
of the Day," and a
"Cool Site of the Day" from USA Today.
Readers forward Richard's weekly column, "Islands
in the Clickstream," to numerous friends and other
online discussion groups. Richard receives frequent
requests from many different
countries to republish the column, for which he
charges a reprint fee. So, although his original
articles are available for free via his Web site, they
are highly leveraged into other media, and speaking
engagements.
Hopefully now you are inspired to look for free PR
opportunities, and ready for some practical tips.
Integrating your PR Message
One key factor is that your total
message and corporate image should be consistent both
in the real world and online. Used effectively, public
relations activities in the
traditional media can draw traffic to your Web site,
and conversely, articles on your Web site can generate
business. Jesse Weeks told me: "For each article I
print, at least one inquiry for services results,
often many."
Therefore a cardinal rule is to keep the look and
feel of your Web site in line with your printed
materials. Your Web site is your online press kit. As
David Arnold says: "I have my company logo
prominently featured both on my
Web site and printed materials. As soon as my package
arrives meeting planners connect it with my site, and
that in turn reminds them of our phone conversation,
reducing the common "Hmmm, who's this from?" or "Gee,
where have I
heard this name before?"
Promote your Articles!
If you have any published articles, (or
even unpublished ones), consider putting each one on a
separate page of your Web site. This has several
advantages:
- it plays to the Web philosophy that "content is
king", and showcases your expertise and the breadth of
your knowledge.
- you can construct keywords and descriptions
specifically for each article, and promote them
individually in the search engines. This allows you to
further differentiate yourself, and significantly
improves your chances of being found online.
For example, I recently discovered from my access
logs that my Web site was receiving many hits from
Sweden. I checked all the Web sites that currently
link to mine (which I had neglected to do for a
while), and discovered that an article I had written
about effective online research techniques was being
cited as a resource for a course at the University of
Uppsala!
Searching for Web links can be done in
Google by entering link:yourdomain in the search box, e.g. link:CyberSpeaker.com
I have noticed that a number of speaker's Web sites
state that visitors may request articles that are not
immediately available. For the reasons explained
above, I am not sure that this is the best tactic. It
may be a great way to get leads and
build a mailing list, but it doesn't help your
visibility.
And while we're on this subject, don't just put the
plain text into your site exactly as it is on paper.
The article should be formatted so that it reads well
on the screen, and has good navigation both within the
page, and back to other areas of
your site.
Online
Press Releases
There are ever expanding numbers of
newspapers, newsletters, and e-zines (electronic
magazines) online, and also reporters looking for
stories. Since Web sites have to be
constantly updated (even more than in the real
world), they are hungry for your news!
A great resource for finding appropriate places to
send press releases is
Mediafinder. This site can be
searched under numerous different subject areas,
geographic locations, etc. It provides Web site
addresses, e-mail contacts and media kit details.
E-mail
Releases
Remember when sending an e-mail press
release to follow some basic rules:
- not all e-mail readers can display formatted
text, so stick with plain 10pt Courier, and keep your
line length to
65 characters;
- be sure to include your contact e-mail address
and Web site URL in a prominent place, and make sure
that you have a great signature file (the piece of
text that appears at the end of every e-mail message).
It should be brief, but contain your name, company,
one line about what you offer, telephone, fax, e-mail
and Web site address. Your e-mail program should help
you to create this, unless you are using America
Online (where you can cut and paste);
- use a "knock their socks off" subject / headline,
such as "Internet Benefits For Business Discussed On
Web Site Broadcast" - not just "Press release" to
entice the editor to read your message; and
- don't "spam" reporters (i.e. blitz your e-mails
indiscriminately). Send your release to targeted and
appropriate places only.
Some real world rules also apply here. Don't bombard
the editor with e-mails asking why your piece was not
accepted. But if you do make it into "print", perhaps
a real card to thank the editor is a better marketing
ploy than e-mail (and I don't often say that!)
Caryn Amster picks up postcards while on vacation and uses
them for media thank you notes. Why a postcard?
Because everyone in the newsroom sees it, wonders why
someone is sending a card from Disney World to the
newsroom.
One card gets a lot of mileage.
Press Release Web Pages
There are some major advantages to using
press releases on your (or others') Web sites. You can
include:
- hyperlinks to related stories, or further
background information;
- sound and video clips to enhance your
presentation; and
- buttons to access your release in different
languages (great for international speakers!)
You can also easily track where your press releases
are published and how many people read them. If they
are included on your site, you can find this
information from your own access logs. If you submit
press releases for other
publications, consider using different e-mail contact
addresses for each. Often your Internet Service
Provider will supply multiple e-mail boxes as part of
their Web hosting service, which is a great way to
quantify your responses.
There are several Web sites that allow you to submit
press releases under a number of different
searchable categories. Two such sites are:
PRWeb and
Webwire.
Online
Radio Shows
As speakers, we need to be heard! In
addition to "print" publications, there is an
increasing number of "online radio shows". In fact,
Yahoo! has a
whole
category devoted to them.
The shows are generally broadcast in "Real Audio", or
a similar program. This is software that is free to
download and easy to install on your computer. The
"streaming audio" is heard as it comes to your
machine, so you don't have to wait
for the whole clip to download before you can hear it.
Again, these shows are looking for content and
guests. The Yahoo! listing often includes each
one's subject matter or focus, so you can identify
appropriate targets for your message. Gloria Petersen,
a colleague of mine, was very
pleased with her appearance last year on Ann
Online, a 15-minute daily show hosted by Ann
Devlin.
So Do
It!
Other than an investment of time, and
some research savvy, all of the opportunities outlined
in this article are free. You don't need to have a Web
site to pursue many of them (although I believe that
it enhances your visibility and credibility if you
do).
Public relations is an area that most of us can take
better advantage of. So venture into Cyberspace, and
"PRofit from Publicity!"
© 2007 Philippa Gamse. All rights
reserved.
Byline
Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is a Web strategy
consultant and professional speaker. Check out her
free tipsheet for 23 ideas to promote your Website
"Beyond the Search Engines":
http:/
/www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html Philippa can
be reached at (831) 325-3307 or
pgamse@CyberSpeaker.com
Could you make your Website
more effective?
Take an hour to Pick My
Brain!
|
©2008 Philippa
Gamse