Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
Muck Rack, a Web site that aggregates journalists’ tweets, recently announced the launch of a short-message press release service, which enables companies to publish releases, with links, up to 130 characters long at a cost of $1 per character.
The announcements are published on Muck Rack’s release page as well as its Twitter feed. As many journalists are avid “tweeters” this is a great opportunity to reach this audience through a different medium. In addition, journalists receive thousands of e-mail pitches per day from PR professionals. This allows them to focus on the news that is most relevant and interesting to them and their readers.
To learn more about Muck Rack’s service and similar services, read the PRWeek article entitled, “Journalist Tweet Aggregator Launches Short Press Release Service.”
On August 12, one of our clients, Big Fish Games, announced the launch of Faunasphere, a browser-based casual multiplayer online game.
To drive coverage of the new game, we reached out to gaming bloggers and journalists, as well as mommy bloggers.
In order to find out how this influential audience, mommy bloggers, operate and like to be approached for product reviews, we posted a HARO inquiry and want to share some of the feedback we received.
“I absolutely believe the very best way to approach a mommy blogger (or any blogger for that matter) about product reviews includes a genuine interest in that person. I receive about 15-20 e-mails a day and nearly 40 percent of them are blatantly generic and have absolutely no interest for my readership.” – ExtraordindaryMommy.com
“I know it takes more work, but try to read the blog (at least the home page) before sending a pitch. My Web site for example, gives directions for how to submit a successful product review request, but putting “Product Review Request” in the subject line. You’d be surprised to learn that less than two percent of pitches come in this way.” – Lille Punkin’ Reviews
“A company can stand out by sending great photos and detailed information about the product. They can also stand out if offering to give readers a sample as a giveaway, but the latter is not necessary, just a bonus.” – Milkshakes and Margaritas
“Be specific in what you are offering (i.e. what are you sending?); what you expect in return (i.e. Review? Advertising?); when you want the review posted; and if you would like to sponsor a giveaway.” – Mom2Ways
We recently participated in a mid-year PR review with one of our clients to review our activities and results garnered.
To clearly outline the work we completed, we prepared for the meeting by developing a PowerPoint presentation which included the following information:
- Review of the client’s business and communication objectives
- The benefit of PR and how it contributes to an organization’s success
- PR versus advertising
- Our contribution to the client’s business
- Materials developed over the past six months
- Media outreach efforts and journalists we forged relationships with on behalf of the client
- Analyst relationships and quotes we have secured on behalf of the client
- Media impressions and articles secured to date
- A look at the overall value and impact of our activities on our client’s business
As a best practice, we believe it is important to do these types of reviews to ensure the work we are doing maps to our clients’ business objectives.
If you’re considering a mid-year review with your agency, we hope you’ll find these tips helpful in developing shared expectations on the information you’d like them to present.
The current economic climate is causing many shifts to occur in the media industry. In an unprecedented move, rival print dailies such as The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun are now collaborating and sharing news content because of a lack of resources and man power.
Additionally, in June four New York broadcasters announced they will use pool video, rather than send competing camera crews to events in order to cut costs.
It is important for PR practitioners and companies to adjust their approach and set client expectations to take these changes into account. For more information about news organizations sharing content, read the PRWeek article entitled, “Financial Reality Prompts News Organizations to Share Content.”
Jennifer Gehrt will be speaking at the Puget Sound American Marketing Association luncheon on September 9, 2009. Jennifer will be speaking about how marketing professionals can leverage the power of Twitter with her presentation entitled, “Twitterphoria: Adding Twitter Power to Your Marketing Mix, Today.”
If you’re interested in learning more about how to leverage Twitter to achieve your business and communication objectives, we hope you’ll register to attend this event.
By attending the event, you will:
Learn about current trends in social media and how you can integrate Twitter with your marketing plans to achieve your most pressing business objectives.
Gain social media best practices from Seattle’s leading practitioner and advisor of integrated social media.
Walk away with ready-to-execute tactics to promote your company’s product/service on Twitter and other social media platforms.
Visit http://www.psama.org/events/event_detail.aspx?id=74 to register today.
As many of you know, our book Strategic Public Relations: 10 Principles to Harness the Power of PR was featured in the August issue of Costco Connection, a lifestyle magazine for Costco members.
We are delighted about this review as the magazine reaches more than seven million households and businesses. As a result of this feature, we have seen an increase in book sales and hits to our Web site. We have also received several e-mails from people around the country mentioning they had seen the feature on our book and were interested in learning more about Communiqué PR.
This is a great example of how PR can drive sales for an organization. If you’re interested in how this placement came about, please e-mail me at [email protected] and I will fill you in on the details.