Successful Blog

Here is a good place for a call to action.

Quotes that work (and don’t work)

by

By Mickie Kennedy

A solid quote can round out a press release or blog post in ways nothing else can. Not only can it encapsulate what you’ve been trying to say throughout the whole of your content, but if the quote is from the right source it can also add an air of authority to the piece. Not only this, but a well-placed quote from the right source can put a face on what may have otherwise been very dry material, and make the reader take notice.

But just throwing in a random quote from your CEO won’t work. You have to be very careful with the quotes you use in your press releases for several reasons. Here are a few examples to give you an idea of what to do and what not to do.

Press interview with microphone

The Boring Quote

Ugh! This is absolutely the worst thing you can do. If your quote is dull, uninteresting, or otherwise pointless, it’s dead before it’s even left the ground. This is the textbook example of just inserting a quote simply for the sake of doing it:

“Our new Apple Corer 5000 will certainly core your apples, so you should probably buy one,” says President Bob Yawnsville.

This quote says nothing, essentially – it’s just there for filler. If the person reading your release doesn’t stop reading right then and there, you’re lucky. What’s more, the statement is just a thinly disguised plea for a sale. It’s not even a pitch. At least a pitch can be interesting.

If you’re going to put a quote in, make it worth the reader’s time.

“The Apple Corer 5000 uses brand-new coring technology invented in a lab deep inside the Earth’s core while our scientists listened to metalcore. At Apple Town Inc. we fully embrace the word ‘core’ in all its uses, and we transfer this thinking to each and every corer we release,” says President Ted McCool.

This quote does two things: it adds new information describing the mentality of the company, and it also gives a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into the products. It’s not just slapped in there.

Bottom line: quotes should add their own unique angle and perspective to your content. Here’s a trick. Read your piece with the quote, and then read it without the quote. Have you lost any information, any interesting context? If not, then it’s time to get a new quote.

Controversial or Standout Quotes

Not to overstate it, but quotes have to be in your press release for a reason. This also goes for the actual content – if the material in the quote is there just for the heck of it, you’re better off leaving it out. This goes doubly so for anything controversial or something you know will stand out.

For example, let’s say that apple corer business has a rival that’s been known to invest in overseas interests. They could call the rival out by attacking them for not investing in American interests with something like:

“We’re extremely proud to be an all-American company, keeping our production and profits tied to American interests rather than shipping jobs and money overseas — unlike some other coring businesses I know,” says CEO Jan Appleton.

See how that comes off as a little snarky? Even though it may sound a little snarky, going after your rivals is perfectly fine, and it certainly draws attention. Use caution and common sense, though. Going on the offensive for the sake of a few more eyeballs is going to do nothing but hurt you in the long run. Make sure you have a leg to stand on and some ground to defend before launching an all-out assault.

The same goes for outright controversial quotes, like using current events to make your point. Something like:

“The latest ebola outbreak only plays up the global need for higher apple consumption” says CEO Barb Corringstone. “If people were getting their fair share of phytonutrients and vitamin D from apples, the world would be a safer, healthier place.”

Is this really necessary? Does it add anything or are you just trying to stir up a hornet’s nest? This can truly backfire on you if you’re not careful. Remember Barilla Pasta CEO Guido Barilla’s homophobic comments on Italian radio? That sure did earn Barilla quite a bit of attention – but for a company that (a.) is famous for its penne and not its politics, and (b.) had previously expressed no opinion on matters more controversial than the proper diameter of campanelle, the attention wound up seriously injuring the company. So use your head.

As with every quote, make sure you’re putting it in your content for a good reason, as readers can detect when you’re being disingenuous. Bottom line: quotes should add their own unique angle and perspective to your content.

Here’s another trick. Read your piece with the quote, and then read it without the quote. Are you needlessly going to rankle the wrong people for the wrong reasons? If so, strongly reconsider replacing your quote.

Do you often use quotes in your press releases?

Author’s Bio: Mickie Kennedy is author of the PR Fuel blog and President of eReleases Press Release Distribution.

Book Review: Spin Sucks, By Gini Dietrich

by

Gini Dietrich is on a mission.

She is aiming to shift the practice (and then the perception) of the public relations profession, one mind at a time.

It’s a tough row to hoe, when we are inundated daily with reports of sneaky native advertising, journalist fakeouts, and “astroturfed” social content, much of it generated by so-called PR pros.

But Gini and the Arment Dietrich team represent the good guys, and in her new book, Spin Sucks: Communication and Reputation Management in the Digital Age, she explains exactly how communications, PR and media relations can be done with integrity and still get stellar results.

In fact, the tectonic shift is taking place everywhere. Power that used to reside in the hands of a few gatekeepers is now democratically spread out to the masses. You can no longer spray out a press release to a purchased list of emails and hope for the best. In a strange way, the digital tide is forcing us to hone our storytelling craft by taking away the crutches we used to rely on. Spin Sucks is full of real stories of success and #FAIL, told in Gini’s down-to-earth style.

Spin Sucks, by Gini Dietrich

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is running a business (large or small), regardless of whether you’re working with an agency or doing it guerrilla style. If you are working with an agency, this book will give you a great baseline knowledge of an integrated marketing/communications/PR/media relations strategy. If you’re going it alone, use the book to experiment and be successful enough to hire a team of pros.

Key Takeaways from Spin Sucks

  • Be a storyteller, not a spinner.
  • Content creation is a long-term strategy, not a quick fix.
  • Create assets that reflect a mix of paid, earned, shared, and owned media.
  • Be honest and transparent in your dealings with the public; manipulation will backfire.
  • It’s time to stop working with content farms, scrapers, and plagiarists.
  • Get comfortable with the fact that your customers are really in control of your brand.
  • Learn to say “I’m sorry” with no embellishment or caveats.
  • The best way to repair online reputation is by overwhelming the negative content with your own great, useful, customer-valued content.
  • If you want to be prepared for the future, stay tapped into all of the disciplines that make up marketing communications…the lines are getting blurrier and blurrier.

What’s your best communications “war story?” Have you had to deal with a communications crisis?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Disclosure: I was given an advance free digital copy of this book for review purposes; however that in no way altered my opinion or the content of this review. My personal story of guerrilla digital PR is mentioned in the book.

Six Steps to Getting the Attention of Journalists on Your Own

by

By Gini Dietrich

I am a communications professional. My entire career has been spent at PR firms – first at Fleishman-Hillard in Kansas City, then Rhea & Kaiser in Chicago, and I started Arment Dietrich in April 2005.

One of the most important things I learned early in my career was how to build relationships.

It started with journalists, then moved to the executives within our office, and finally with the executives at our client’s offices.

I spent many years cultivating relationships with journalists: Getting to know their beats, understanding what they would or wouldn’t cover, and even knowing when they celebrated their birthdays so I could send a card or cupcakes or booze.

And then 2008 hit. Newspapers folded, popular magazines went under, and a lot of my friends – those I’d known for more than 10 years – lost their jobs.

Suddenly the journalists who were left had to cover automakers, small business, and manufacturing…even though small business might have been their only beat previously.

They were too busy to take phone calls or go on media tours or even sit with you for an hour to talk about what you had upcoming.

And the role of a communications professional changed, when it came to media relations.

Getting the Attention of Journalists

Almost exactly four years ago, Steve Strauss – the small business expert at USA Today – wrote an article called, “Should Entrepreneurs Twitter? Uh, No.”

I read it with great interest, mostly because I had had amazing success using Twitter to build our brand.

In it, he detailed the four reasons entrepreneurs should not use Twitter. I very thoughtfully responded on his article and pointed out the four reasons they should use it…and the other social networks, too.

Because my comment was thoughtful and professional, he called me and we talked about social media, in general. About 30 minutes into the call, he asked if we could go on record.

What came of that conversation was, “Twitter for Small Business…Reconsidered.”

Because he’s like everyone else – swamped with little to no time to listen to pitches from PR professionals – he reads the comments on his articles to see if there is anything worth revisiting or diving into more deeply.

The Response Campaign

Hence, the response campaign was born.

It’s not a very creative title, but my team and our clients know what it means: Spend the time to read and respond to journalists and they’ll eventually add you to their Rolodex of trusted resources.

Here is a step-by-step process to create this magic for yourself:

  1. Choose one newspaper, magazine, or blog that makes a difference in your industry. It can be Wall Street Journal or it can be one of your trade publications. Choose just one.
  2. Once a week, comment on one article, blog post, or editorial. If you disagree, fantastic! Say so. But do it professionally. Being negative or criticizing without a solution isn’t helpful. Professional discourse is.
  3. Keep this up.
  4. After about six weeks, the journalist will feel like he or she is beginning to know you and will call you for a story in the works.
  5. Every quarter add another publication, so you have four that you focus on each year.
  6. Don’t be afraid to go after the big publications. If your expertise adds value to the stories they’re reporting, comment away!

If you are consistent and post intelligent comments once a week, you’ll soon have developed relationships with journalists who call on you when they need someone to interview.

Yes, it takes some time. Yes, it’s hard work. Yes, it requires that you keep up with your reading. But it works 100 percent of the time. Wouldn’t you rather do that than send a news release to 1,000 journalists and not get a single bite?

Author’s Bio: Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communication firm. She is the lead blogger at PR and marketing blog, Spin Sucks, co-author of Marketing In the Round, and co-host of Inside PR, a weekly podcast about communications and social media. Connect with her on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

Let’s Hang Out! When Does Social Go Too Far?

by

When I think of social media I think of a generally positive environment, where most people are trying to be liked (literally and figuratively). We go about finding like minded ideas, commenting on articles and sharing opinions and thoughts… its fun! However, as more people embrace these channels for communication on a regular basis; I’m finding that more are pushing the boundaries of privacy. Where is too far?

Trying to Hang Out

I have a weird thing about hanging out with Twitter friends, or anybody I know purely from online. If someone takes a proactive approach to try and meet up with me 1 on 1 from purely social channels, (even if it is for business reasons) it feels weird. There is something settling about having a conversation with a stranger over a phone before meeting them in person that settles me down, and I don’t necessarily get that with social media.Now this is different, if I run in to someone at an event or expo that I have had communication with, but never met in person. In that environment I feel comfortable speaking with someone whom I’d conversed with purely online.

Brands Displaying Remorse

If your businesses brand is using social media, are you reaching out to people in need? Answering questions and engaging with your community is a staple for social success. However, in certain instances I question the motives behind some brands because we as users can’t forget that most companies are ultimately, profit driven. Take this scenario in to play:

Guy tweets out “My grandpa is sick and in the hospital, pray for him”

Random brand that sells clothing: “Sorry to hear, our prayers are with you”

Is this scenario why social is cool? Or is this why social is creepy? I think it is a bit of both. I think it definitely depends on the company’s image and positioning. I don’t want to get a remorseful message from my credit card processing vendor, however I might take a message from Toms Shoes a bit more to heart.

This is where PR and social tie together. Your brand’s social strategy must be consistent across all platforms of your business. You don’t want to have an outsourced community manager that doesn’t understand the company culture; you want to have a consistent, targeted strategy from high level PR strategy to lower level, consumer facing social media strategy.
Matt Krautstrunk is a writer and social entrepreneur, touching on topics ranging from social media marketing to time clock software for Resource Nation; and online resource providing purchasing advice for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Dear ANYONE, If You Want a Blogger’s Attention . . .

by

Spam Ain’t the Way

Recently, I received the 4th unfortunate, attention-getting email from the same PR firm in NYC. I took the following screenshot of the subject line.

Expert Available Email Headline

To the first email in the series, which ran about 6 pages long, I responded,

“To a blogger, this is spam.”

The reply was stunning.

“We only want to help, not hurt

I will read you more often

Please give me your url”

What?

How could you have read me at all, if you didn’t have my url?

If You Want a Blogger’s Attention . . .

If you want to get someone’s undivided attention, here’s what you do.

  • Make it personal.
  • Make it valuable.
  • Make it relevant.
  • Make it clear that you’re not going to waste time while you say it.
  • Make it your message about them, not about you.
  • Make it short and say thank you.

In this case, here’s a message that might have worked.

Subject Line:
Social Media and Successful and Outstanding Boomer Businesses

Dear Liz,
I know you write about social media. I also know you’re passionate about small business. I’d like to offer an idea.

If you’re looking for a guest post written with wit and insight, we have a client who helps boomers use social media to save their small town businesses. She’d jump at a chance to tailor a blog post to your audience. I’d love to talk to you about it. Email me or call if you think this would bring value to your readers.

Thanks for what you do on Successful-Blog,
PR Person
Title: She who wants to write to 5 bloggers rather than blast 500

I’m sure I missed something. What would you add to the list?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

De-mystifying PR: 7 Secrets to Becoming an Expert News Source

by

Getting your blog out there! Getting noticed something that Barbara Rozgonyi and I have been talking about lately. The conversation has been bright and vibrant just like Barbara herself. Listen in.

De-mystifying PR | 7 Secrets to Becoming an Expert News Source

by Barbara Rozgonyi

There’s something magical about seeing your name in the news. All of a sudden, people think you’re an expert. Getting covered in a good story conjures up all kinds credibility. But, you don’t have to have a journalist to tell your story.

When you submit your story to a news wire service, they automatically send your news out via search engines, newswires and RSS feeds.

All you have to have is news to get attention.

Want to be news-worthy?

Print out this blog post, follow the directions and you’re on your way to becoming an expert news source.

7 Secrets to Becoming an Expert News Source

  1. Change your PR mindset
    PR is about more than public relations and press releases. PR is about promoting relationships, publishing for readers, providing references, packaging for readability, inviting a proactive response, attracting prospective referrals and achieving an almost overnight page one page rank.
  2. Collect keywords
    Choose a small group of 3-5 keywords and plan on testing and tweaking until you get an optimal mix. You want to do more than carve a niche. You want to be the groove-maker.
  3. Be prolific
    Distribute at least one news release every month. To reach a variety of audiences, reframe a main release with benefits or tangents that appeal/apply to each group within your group.
  4. Crown your stories with catchy headlines
    Start out, if you can, with your key search term. Limit total characters to 80, the shorter, the better. Here’s one that worked well for a restaurant opening: 50 Pizzas Rolled Into One Pie [29 characters, including spaces].
  5. Lead with a summary
    Your first paragraph must say it all in 3-4 sentences. Make the last sentence your call to action. Ideas: invite your reader to request a free report, add your blog to their RSS reader, get a complimentary consultation or enter a contest.
  6. Sustain interest
    Contain your content to 400 words and cover one major point. Have more to say? Write another release. Use bullets to point out benefits. Quote an outside expert to add credibility and bring in another voice. In the closing line, mention a way to contact you/your company. Add in images like your logo and photos to make your release more life-like.
  7. Distribute where your community can find you
    Is your community local, offline, global or online? Where do they get their news?

Answering these two questions helps you develop a media contact list. You can send your stories directly to this group – after you call and introduce yourself to make sure your news stories will be relevant to them and their readers, listeners or viewers.

Distributing your news story online can be paid or free. It’s worth investing, at least at first, to get a more analytical analysis of how your releases perform in search terms, location of readers and number of prints and downloads.

Considering the cost of advertising, the minimal investment can be well worth it. In one case study, the release came in at 5/92,000 results on Google News for a key search term. How much? $200 How long? within 24 hours of release. Mixing online distribution with personalized direct media contact gives you the most complete coverage. Remember, all you have to have is news to get attention.

Ever wished you could get your name in the news but didn’t think you had a news-worthy story to tell? To help you find out, Barbara’s holding a free question and answer teleseminar on March 17 at 10:00 CST. For information, visit http://barbararozgonyi-wiredprworks.com/2008/03/05/pr-teleseminar/

Barbara Rozgonyi is the brilliant writer and thinker behind Wired PR Works. Work with Barbara to extend the reach of your blog’s voice in new ways.

Thanks, Barbara!

–ME “Liz” Strauss