The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

If the media, bloggers or anyone else come to your website looking for the navigational button that will give them all the background information about your company, what will they find?

If you’re trying to be  clever and call that part of your website an “asset library” or “company press club,” visitors will find utter confusion, says publicity expert Marcia Yudkin. In this week’s issue of her ezine, Marketing Minute, Marcia correctly points out that an organization’s attempt to be creative can backfire.

She says she found one company that called its online media room an “asset library,” a phrase that stonewalls the visitor. She Googled “asset library” and discovered that other companies are using it, too. She also found a company that calls its online media room a “company press club.”

“Press Club implies a clique of media followers who clink glasses with each other,” she said.

What should you call it?

So what SHOULD you call that part of your website that helps the media and other  visitors find your bio, photos, background material, press releases and contact information?

I like “Press Room,” which is what I use, or “For the Media.” ”Media Kit” is OK, too, although a media kit can sometimes be part of an online press room. ”Media Room” is OK but some people don’t like it because they think it sounds too much like a home entertainment center.

If you REALLY want people to click on that navigational button, you can call it “For the Media Only.”

Yikes! I  just noticed my online press room is horribly out of date. I need to add links to my profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, as well as information about my new company, My Social Media Solution.   (See “Special Report #22: How to Create an Online Media Room and Keep the Media Coming Back.”)

  
What do you call it?

What do you call that part of your website designed spcifically for journalists, bloggers, or anyone else who wants background information? What names have you found that are too confusing?

And how long has it been since you visited your own Press Room? How much of the content there needs to be updated?

I’d also love to hear your comments about features in your own online press room that have proven helpful to the media and other visitors.

Posted In: Media Kits, Photos & Graphics, Press Releases/News Releases
posted On: 1/20/2010: 10:07 am: By Joan
Comments: 4 Comments

Occasionally, I’ll get a call from somebody who thinks it might be “fun and interesting” to be in the world of PR, or a publicist. But they don’t want to go back to college and spend more than $50,000 on a degree in PR or communications.

So they ask me what the best way is to break into the business. I suggest they follow the same people I follow:

—BL Ochman and her whatsnext blog

—David Meerman Scott

—Book marketing guru John Kremer and his excellent blog and weekly ezine

—Anything published at the Bulldog Reporter site, particularly its Journalists Speak Out interview series. 

I’m adding Gaetan Giannini Jr.’s new book, “Marketing Public Relations: A Marketer’s Approach to Public Relations and Social Media” (Prentice Hall, $93.33) to my list. Several years ago, Giannini, business department chair at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pa., seached for a public relations textbook tailored to marketing students, instead of communications or journalism students.  When he couldn’t find what he was looking for, he decided to write one.

He has had an extensive marketing background, having worked for several years in sales and marketing for industrial instrumentation companies before landing at Cedar Crest . In addition to writing a public relations book from a marketer’s perspective, he reveled in the opportunity to write about the burgeoning world of social media, which he claims has been widely ignored by academics.
    
      

PR and social media from a marketing perspective

“Most of the textbooks that were written about Web 2.0 were written on the technical side.  As far as I know, there is not one textbook out there at this point that covers this topic from a marketing perspective,” he said. 

Each chapter begins with a PR success story. They include:

• Dunkin’ Donuts’ Facebook page that boasts more than 825,000 fans.
     
• Ben & Jerry’s “Random Acts of Cone-Ness” campaign. Employees “showed up” in undisclosed locations in three major cities and distributed ice cream in support of the company’s new waffle cone. The story attracted the attention of CNN, ESPN, national and local newspapers, and trade magazines.
          
• Gary Vaynerchuk, a New Jersey liquor store owner who founded Wine Library TV, a “shoot-from-the-hip” Internet video podcast about wine that boasts nearly 100,000 views daily.  Vaynerchuk connects with his audience through frank, honest wine talk to which people can relate.
    

Practical experience for students

What really makes this book a must-read for anyone going into PR or publicity, or for marketing student who want to learn more about PR, are the “chapter objectives” that kick off each chapter and show show students what they should be able to do after reading it, and the three special sections at the end of each chapter. They include:

1. Chapter key terms, which lists words and phrases used in that chapter, with their definition.
     
2. Application Assignments. Students can  complete from one to five assignments that involve more research, reading articles online or finding examples of strategies and tactics they just learned.
      
3. Practice Portfolio. This activity is related to the material covered in the chapter. It allows students to contribute to a marketing public relations portfolio that they can use during their job search. The portfolio can be based on a fictitious company or on a real company that the instructor assigns to them. The student “works” with the company the entire semester. At the end of the chapter on press releases, for example, students are asked to write a backgrounder, fact sheet and two press releases for their company.   

One of the problems with books about social media is that sections can be out of date by the time the ink is dry. Still, this is a valuable book that encourages the student to not just learn it, but do it. My only wish is that it had included informaton about the importance of using keywords in press releases so they are search-engine friendly. 

Don’t let the steep price deter you. There’s three times as much content as you’ll find in most other PR books, and most chapters tackle a topic in-depth, with lots of practical tips.

I loved the chapter on Building a Connector List, and how to determine the types of media that can help you spread your message. I’ll be sharing those tips later this week and excerpting more from the book in the months ahead. (Disclosure: I contributed to the book.)      

While “Marketing Public Relations” is a textbook for mid-level marketing students—one which Giannini will use in his classes this fall and which will be available for general consumption for educational institutions by spring semester—he is quick to note that the content is perfect for any organization that wants ideas and strategies to promote its products and services.

 By the way, I love the press release about the book.

Posted In: Business Promotion, Facebook, How to Interview, Magazine Publicity, Media Kits, Newspaper Publicity, Nonprofits, PR Consultants/Publicists, Photos & Graphics, Pitching the Media, Press Releases/News Releases, Social media marketing, TV Publicity
posted On: 10/26/2009: 9:51 pm: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

One of the best ways to generate publicity from traditional media outlets is to form a relationship with reporters, editors, broadcasters and freelancers.

That’s a critical step that 99 percent of the people miss!

And what a shame. If you know what they’re looking for, how to talk to them, how to help them, and how to stay on their radar screens, you’ll have a huge advantage.

When I worked as a reporter and editor for 22 years, I was able to tell within about 15 seconds if somebody pitching a story idea was genuinely concerned about helping me, or if their Number One goal was to simply generate free publicity.

If you’re meeting reporters face to face, or pitching an idea by phone or email, nine magic phrases can help you build a relationship with them. This video, created with a cool program called Animoto, explains all about the phrases I loved to hear when I was speaking with somebody who was either pitching a story idea to me, or wanted to get to know me better and genuinely help. It also explains one opportunity to meet journalists face to face.

What other phrases do you use when talking to journalists to help build the relationship?

Posted In: Business Promotion, How to Interview, Magazine Publicity, Media Kits, Newspaper Publicity, PR Consultants/Publicists, Photos & Graphics, Pitching the Media
posted On: 7/27/2009: 6:34 am: By Joan
Comments: 2 Comments

Lots of books on PR dole out advice on how to generate publicity, but few encourage the reader to take the next step needed to reach a particular goal.

Power Up with PR—A publicity guide for artists by Jackie Abramian does just that. The 105-page softcover book (ArtNetworkPress, $14.95) is packed with information on how artists can claim their share of publicity in traditional media. 

Except for a short section on blogging, you won’t find anything on how to promote yourself in social media. If you’re after publicity in newspapers, magazines, and on TV and radio, however, this book shows you how to get it.   

On Pages 92 and 93, the author gives examples of four main PR goals, and the four steps necessary to reach each one of them.

Goal #1: Exhibit in local galleries

1: Research local galleries, including studying their websites and visiting their galleries.

2:  Include local galleries on your mailing list.

3: Contact local galleries to enquire about an exhibit.

4: Hold an Open Studio to introduce galleries to your work.
         
        
Goal #2: Get a media review of your exhibit.

1. Write a catchy press release.

2. Decide on a great visual.

3. Send to media and follow up.

4. Ask an art editor to review your exhibit.

    
Goal #3: Publish one of your artworks in a local newspaper or magazine, with a caption that includes title, medium and price.

1. Find local publications with art features.

2. Submit your best visuals with captions.

3. Follow up with the editor to pitch your art.

4. Ask if they would use your artwork for the cover. (This is gutsy, but it might work! You never know when plans for another cover photo have fallen apart.)

          
Goal #4: Reach national media

1. Research appropriate out-of-state galleries to contact.

2. Submit artwork for review to 10 such galleries.

3. Let local and distant media know about your shows.

4. Use the one show you receive to get more shows.

The author then gives artists a “fill in the blanks” page where they can list their annual PR goals and steps needed to meet them.

The book also features stories about other artists’ media successes, charts to help track of media contacts, examples of press releases that will help you write your own, information on how to compile a targeted media list, and more than 300 national media contacts.

Jackie and her husband own Haley Farm Art Gallery in Kittery, Me. As a PR and marketing consultant, she conducts seminars for artists and entrepreneurs. She has created successful media strategies for national and global organizations, as well as for individual artists.

In the resources section, Abramian mentioned my free email course on how to write press releases, as well as my free publicity newsletter, The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week.  (Also see How Artists Can Sell More Artwork through Online and Offline Publicity.)

Posted In: Blogs, Business Promotion, Magazine Publicity, Media Kits, Newspaper Publicity, Photos & Graphics, Pitching the Media, Press Releases/News Releases, Publicity for Niche Markets, Radio Publicity, TV Publicity
posted On: 7/14/2009: 12:20 am: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

Karen Kalisek of Escondido, Calif. writes:

“WomensMedia.com a seven-year-old website that has undergone a major overhaul and is in the process of relaunching.

“We pride ourselves in offering ‘expert advice for working women.’ Currently, we have 30,000 unique website followers each month (20% of those are overseas), 10,000 follow the blog, Women’s Lunch Talk, and, 1,000 listen to our podcast, Working in Heels.

“We don’t male bash, but do offer realistic advice concerning being a working woman.  We also have a library with over 200 articles written by people such as Madeline Albright, Suze Orman, and many other notables.  We also are proud of our Google ranking of 5.

“We have done all this with no advertising or sponsorship. With the new ‘look’ we want to increase our followers, create revenue channels, offer classes, provide speakers and build relationships.  Where do we start getting the word out that we exist?  Any suggestions for a media kit, PR kit, etc. would be greatly appreciated.  We have no money, but we have a great message with a proven history.”

Posted In: Business Promotion, Media Kits
posted On: 4/14/2009: 11:17 am: By Joan
Comments: 7 Comments