press releases | Justin Levy

An Interview with a Marketing Eggspert

August 5, 2008 By Justin Levy 2 Comments

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to interview Susan Payton. Susan Payton is the blogger behind The Marketing Eggspert Blog and the owner of Egg Marketing & Public Relations. She helps clients use internet marketing to grow sales and boost web traffic. Susan will also be teaching a course on how to write press releases on September 16th.

How has the use of the internet as a marketing tool changed the way marketing and public relations firms communicate their clients’ messages?

It’s made our jobs easier. We no longer print and physically mail press releases, wasting postage. Press releases and news can reach an audience within seconds. We can reach a larger audience by including bloggers and future customers and no longer relying on a journalist deciding to cover our news.

What are your thoughts on using search-engine-optimized press releases that are distributed on the web versus traditionally distributed press releases?

I’m laughing because for me (a GenXer) SEO releases are “traditionally distributed!” I still send releases directly to targeted editors I think have interest in the release, but I sell the SEO factor to my clients. Even if Oprah doesn’t call you to be on her show (and I’m telling you, don’t hold your breath), you’ll be all over the internet and increase your ranking on search engines with a press release distributed on the web.

How do you think companies should be using social media/networks such as Twitter, Plurk, Facebook, YouTube, etc.?

1. Carefully. Just like everyone, I jumped into all social media sites without knowing what I was doing. Choose the ones that work for you (or that others refer you to).

2. Designate a person to handle this aspect if you have someone to put on it, or specify a limited time to work on it each day/week.

3. Consider your audience. If you don’t sell cute t-shirts or rock bands, MySpace might not be your audience.

4. Plurk? There’s one I don’t know. Great. Another one I have to join!

How important is it for a company to be visible on the internet?

Absolutely necessary. If you don’t have a website, I don’t want to use you (as a consumer) or help you (as a marketing/PR firm…unless we can first design your website!). Being online shows that you at least respect technology, even if you don’t understand it. As a consumer that tells me you’ve invested in reaching me as someone who searches for your company online.

In what ways does your firm help companies to become visible on the internet?

Egg Marketing & Public Relations uses a slew of online marketing tools to increase traffic to our clients’ websites. We use press releases, email marketing, SEO, blog/forum commenting and online advertising. We look to who our clients’ ideal customers are and tailor a solution that fits the way they receive messages.

What do you see in the future for marketing/public relations firms?

Who we work with to spread the word about our clients will keep shifting away from the editors who hold the keys to publishing and popularity. Now we have hundreds of bloggers in a given niche who are clamoring for content. In product marketing, these are the people that readers listen to. They’re the ones giving the thumbs up or down. They’re the one that consumers believe. Consumers don’t want to be advertised to on television, newspaper or billboards. They want to be entertained while having the option to accept advertising messages. Marketing and PR industries have to completely embrace this. It’s starting to happen now, but “old school” marketing is still dominating a lot of areas.

Filed Under: Interview, PR Tagged With: Interview, Marketing, press releases, Social Media

Using Internet PR Like You Use Twitter

July 26, 2008 By Justin Levy 8 Comments

As I was reading some status updates (otherwise known as “tweets”) on Twitter today I started thinking about how most of us use social media. In general, we use social media to:

Interact with our friends, families, and colleagues
Network with others who have similar personal and professional interests
Promote ourselves
Promote our blogs
Promote our companies
Promote/discuss important causes, upcoming events or share relevant news
Help improve search engine results for ourselves, our blogs, products, or companies.

We should be using internet PR campaigns for all of the reasons above (except maybe interacting with our friends, families and colleagues ). By distributing search-engine-optimized press releases we can promote our personal brand, blogs, products, company, important causes, or upcoming events. These press releases will help improve search engine results for you depending on the topic and keywords used when distributing the PR.

Just as we post a tweet or status update every time we publish a new blog, we should be distributing new internet press releases any time we have any positive news about the above topics. While a tweet or status update will only reach your network (though some users networks are very large), it is still limited in scope compared to how many people you can reach with a well-written press release distributed online.

When distributing through a newswire or professional internet PR agency, your press release will be usually distributed to over 100,000 opt-in journalists, newsrooms, radio and tv stations, blogs, and other media outlets. These sites and people, if interested in the topic, will then redistribute the press release….alas, viral marketing. As the press release is re-posted on other sites, you will see your search engine rankings improve, hits to your blog or site increase, as well as an uptick in prospective customers, inquiries, and/or readers.

Photo used from Greg Verdino's blog

Of course, there is one major downside when comparing internet PR to promoting via social media sites: submitting PRs cost money while social media sites are free to promote your message. However, I think that we should be using both internet vehicles to promote our messages. To maximize this concept and improve your search rankings, follow these steps:

Have a press release written and distributed on the internet.
Promote that link on Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, MySpace, and any other social media sites you use.
Post the press release in the media/press section of your site.
Either post the PR on your blog or write a similar post and publish at the same time of distribution.

Using some or all of these suggestions will help you to promote your message.

What are some ways that you have found to be successful in promoting any of the above concepts? How did you promote it? What mistakes did you make along the way?

Filed Under: PR, Social Media Tagged With: PR, press releases, Social Media, Twitter, web 2.0

Using Unconventional PR to Gain Exposure

July 20, 2008 By Justin Levy 4 Comments

In my last post I mentioned that David Meerman Scott, in his book and ebook, suggests that we should write press releases about any topic and not just when we have big corporate news such as a new product launch. This got me thinking about the various unconventional uses of internet PRs I’ve seen at my company. Two examples come to mind:

Example #1: We had a client who used our company to write and distribute a PR for them because they were in the final interview phases with a major organization in their field. The purpose of the press release was to gain them positive exposure on the internet when the firm searched for them. We wrote the PR highlighting previous accomplishments, articles that had been written about them, and their education…basically a resume.

Result #1: In 15 days the client received 29,000 headline impressions, 400+ fullpage reads/downloads of the PR, and it was picked up by 50+ websites, blogs, journals, etc. The client ended up receiving the job offer that they had been being recruited for.

This was an unconventiontional use of PR because it was used to enhance their online reputation and it was used to gain exposure to obtain a new position.

Example #2: I have distributed PRs for my restaurant, Caminito Steakhouse, when we have hosted beer and wine dinners

Results #2: We received similar stats as my first example. But more importantly to me, due in part to our PR efforts, when you search Google for “argentinean steakhouse” we appear as the 2nd search result on the 1st page, 3 times on the first page and 13 times on the first 10 pages. This is out of over 899,000 results when searching that term! We are not nearly as big or in as big of a market as many of the steakhouses listed on that search result but, because of our SEO efforts and using PR in a traditionally unconventional method, we have seen an uptick in customers, website hits and reservations via our website.

Now, I know some may think that the way I utilized internet-based PR for the restaurant is conventional because something like a beer dinner is similar to a product launch for a typical company. However, it’s unconventional because most restaurants, especially in smaller markets, don’t actively include PR in their marketing plans…if they even have a marketing plan at all!

These are just 2 examples out of many which I’m sure exist out there. So I turn the question over to you…what are some of the traditionally unconventional ways you have either used or read about using press releases to gain exposure?

Filed Under: PR Tagged With: Google, PR, press releases

Old School vs New School PR in a Web 2.0 World

July 16, 2008 By Justin Levy 7 Comments

It amazes me how many companies still do not harness all that the Web 2.0 world has to offer when distributing press releases and creating industry buzz. Let’s take a look at the old school vs new school approaches to distributing press releases.

The old way of marketing – Traditionally marketing teams would put together a press release and send it to a handful of newspapers, magazines and radio stations. The press release might be mentioned/written about and those audiences who subscribe to the newspaper/magazine or who listen to that radio station would be exposed to the content of the PR. If the company hires a reputable marketing firm, they may guarantee that their PR will receive more exposure due to the reputation and network of that firm. But, how would they reach all of the other possible interested folks who weren’t part of one of those groups mentioned above? Simply put: they wouldn’t. This translates to lost opportunities for the company in developing prospective customers and helping the company to push their brand to a mass-audience.

The new way of marketing – Nowadays companies who embrace Web 2.0 have so many other available tools besides the traditional vehicles for reaching prospective customers. Now companies can have a website, blog, social networking pages such as MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and also reach audiences into the millions with their PR campaign – if they know how to properly target that PR for the internet.

Besides becoming diversified on the World Wide Web, companies have to debunk the old myth that you only publish press releases when you have BIG news such as a new product release, corporate merger or acquisition, etc. Companies should publish press releases about anything that they have going on. The more press releases you get distributed, the more your company (and brand) will stay at the tops of the major search engines when prospective customers search for your company and/or products.

David Meerman Scott, in his book The New Rules of Marketing & PR suggests writing a PR about anything from your CEO speaking at a conference to winning an award or publishing a white paper. Whatever the subject, the goal is to keep your company in front of prospective and current customers.

Resources on becoming a new school PR expert:

I highly recommend purchasing The New Rules of Marketing & PR.
While waiting for the book to arrive, download and read the condensed ebook which focuses on web-based press releases with suggestions on how to properly optimize your PRs for the web.
Brian Solis’ PR Tips for Startups is an excellent resource for an overview on the history of PR and where we are today in the Web (PR) 2.0 world. Solis provides thought-provoking and actionable tips for the reader to implement.

Another resource from David Meerman Scott is his Gobbledygook Manifesto which will help you to analyze your corporate marketing and PR materials, remove meaningless catch-phrases, and communicate with your prospective and current customers in way which they will understand.

Becoming proficient at maximizing social media, web-based PR and marketing, and understanding all of the available tools to you will not happen overnight. It will take time to build these networks and is a space that is ever-changing to meet the speed of technology. But, don’t be afraid of it, embrace it and utilize these resources to help you start understanding the Web (PR) 2.0 world.

Filed Under: PR, Uncategorized Tagged With: David Meerman Scott, Marketing, PR, pr 2.0, press releases, resources, web 2.0

A Report Card for Your Press Release

July 11, 2008 By Justin Levy 2 Comments

I was looking through the Web Ink Now archives tonight and came across a great new tool in helping you publish the best PR possible. Whether you’re brand new at writing press releases or an experienced professional, HubSpot’s PressRelease Grader can help you improve your PR copy. The tool will provide you with a “marketing effectiveness score” after analyzing the language, links, “search engine optimization characteristics” and content of your copy.

The best part is it’s FREE and simple to use! Just copy and paste your PR into the system, add some other basic information such as company name and email, and you’re immediately provided with your score and suggestions on how to improve your copy.

Though not hard to use, the team over at HubSpot have even created a how-to video for their new tool: