Knack Bags earns 5 star rating on TrustPilot

I'm very happy today that a Press Release for our client Knack (https://knackbags.com) has just gone live.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/knack-bags-reviews-earn-5-star-rating-300906864.html

Knack have (justifiably IMHO) gained a 5 star rating and some great reviews for their website, service and products. 

Using a Press Release to get the message across

Yes, I have used a good old fashioned Press Release to announce that we had recently won some work:
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/ideal-interface-extends-fmwfastenerscom-account-401888.php

I'm still trying to find out the entire value generated by spending this $89 - but already the story has been picked up by different online news sources, including:

NBC:
http://www.nbcrightnow.com/story/28145423/ideal-interface-extends-fmwfastenerscom-account

ABC:
http://www.13abc.com/story/28145423/ideal-interface-extends-fmwfastenerscom-account

and a bunch of other sites

Dear PR person: the basics of blogger outreach

I’m not going to name-names (yet), but I have recently been sent several online pitches “For Immediate Release” that almost defied belief. Clumsy, unprofessional and badly-written emails are being sent all the time to blog writers in an attempt to get them to write stuff and get the word out in the blogosphere.

I know I’ve previously covered some of this topic before, but here are some further examples of what really hacks me off about bad blogger outreach:

1. Stop trying to be my buddy
Whilst most bloggers like to be treated as humans, we’re not daft enough to fall for your ploy that you’re our best friend divulging a secret, when you’re just touting a new product or service. Using a very informal tone and being sycophantic is less likely to endear us to you. “Hey there, I thought you’d like to be the first know about ….” just doesn't cut it.

2. Stop writing huge amounts of content
If you have to take over a hundred words to describe your client’s new offering, then either you can’t write succinctly or your client is doomed to failure with an overtly-complex product. Better still, write a clear summary of the features and make sure the link to more information on your website is obvious and works. If reading your press release is hard work…. There’s less chance I will continue read it.

3. Provide a link to more information
How am I supposed to learn more or even provide a link to your client’s site if you don’t include it? Yes, there are online press releases sent out that still don’t include a link to the client’s website or other online resources that could be of interest (e.g. Flickr product gallery, independent reviews, etc.). Links in blogs help your client SEO efforts.... and this is something you should even be advising them about.

4. Don’t send attachments – ever!
Not everyone is on a broadband or company Internet connection; some of us are on our mobile devices. This also includes any imbedded images or even your agency logo which we have no interest in downloading.
 
Rant over

How to optimise your press releases for search engines

The roles of the PR company and the digital agency are blurring all the time, particularly in respect of the use of Press Releases for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). As you may have seen in a previous post, my view is:

If your PR agency is not thinking about the ways to make Press Releases more SEO friendly, then I suggest you need to reconsider your PR agency

But if you're either an in-house PR person or are looking to improve the SEO capability of your Press Releases, here's some pointers (assuming you already know how to write one)

1. Keep your words to between 250 - 900 in number
   Although opinion differs from SEO consultant to SEO consultant on the precise number of words to use in a Press Release, there is a general consensus that focusing on the first 250 is the right approach and that there is minimal value in going beyond 900.
   (Note: a press release must also be at least 250 words to be listed on Google News)
   
2. Ensure you have the right keywords in the content and in the right proportions
   Whether your Press Release is going on your own website, posted to news wires or has a different home on the web altogether, search engines can only index content to appear for the those search terms where the content actually contains the words. Keyword targeting has been around almost as long as the search engines have been and is well used by sites to create traffic from organic search results.
   However, avoid the practice of 'keyword stuffing', the act of packing as many repeated keywords into your content in the misguided belief that this will push your page to the top of search engines.... you will apparently eventually get penalised for this action.
   But how many mentions of your keyword is seen as 'stuffing' and how much is fair usage? The answer to this question is usually "it depends" or even "Who cares. Its a myth that Search Engines actually look at this stuff". Its even a question that is pretty hard to answer by those who focus on the mathematics of this stuff (which is essentially decompiling the Google search algorithm, so good luck to those people attempting this!) and each has a slightly different opinion on the subject. However the general advice is to write 'normally' and not create content that 'obviously' abuses the number of times keywords are mentioned. But this doesn't really help you if you are writing content that targets certain search terms and if you're looking for an actual figure.... many experts suggest that your keyword density ratio should be around 1 - 3% of total word usage.
   
3. Hyperlink keywords back to your own site
   Many Press Releases are copied in entirety to some news sites and this includes embedded hyperlinks. These links all contribute to your SEO efforts and build traffic to your site.
   
4. Ensure the target site(s) uses correct HTML code
   Does it utilise semantic code? Does it use your Press Release header as the page 'Title'? (As the page title is typically given more weight than any other text on the page).

As you can see, there are many ways to improve upon the tradional Press Release to help your Search Engine Optimisation efforts. However, if anyone has an further suggestions I look forward to hearing them and discussing their relevant merits.

The digital PR toolkit

In recent posts I've provided my thoughts on the convergence of digital PR, Marketing and Conversion.
Post 1: Discussing how the roles now blur
Post 2: Covering how SEO is no longer just for marketing
Post 3: Showing the AIDA customer acquisition process
Now I've gone into a fair amount of detail about the process of customer acquisition that they all contribute to and the overlapping roles they play in this process. But now I'm going to cover the respective digital tools and methods that each role can use, based on the model that I created in my previous posts.

The first one up is digital PR and to illustrate this I've provided the diagram below with the simple key:
The things you can do on your target site are within the circle and the tools used off-site are logically outside it.
(Note: I've also tried to group these tools near to similar or relevant ones both on-site & off)

The respective digital PR tools that I believe you can use are:

On-site:

• Keyword targeted content
  Are you producing content that whilst being readable also focused on specific keywords typed into search engines?
• Blog/Editorial
  Have you considered that writing a blog - with whatever name you give it - will also creates great content that user like to read - as well as for search engines - and that could deep link to interesting useful content around your site?
• Analytics
  If you don't know what works (gets more traffic, converts more users, etc.) then how are you going to do more of it?
• Press & News Content
  If you're not using this on your own site to highlight your own successes, then you should. If you don;t want to set up your own content managed press area on your site, then either create one using a blogging platform or even just take a relevant feed from your PR company's site.
• Community
  Providing forums or even just a place for users to comment on articles and blogs gives a sense of community to visitors. Rewarding frequent ones goes a step further. These user generated comments are not just great content to read and spider, they are great PR fodder.

Off-site:

• Link building
  Encouraging sites to link to yours in their news items and articles (although try to avoid reciprocal links)
• Social News & Social Bookmarking
  Posting your Press Releases to Digg, Delicious, etc. is a way of getting your story to a wider audience
• Email
  Both one-to-one and more general email marketing techniques can be used to announce news to those who want this form of communication.
• SEO
  This speaks for itself and I've covered this already in a number of topics. But if your PR company doesn't already understand and use SEO techniques......
• Feeds & syndication
  An RSS feed empowers those who want to pull this information and consume it (or re-publish it) in their own way, rather than via email or traditional means.
• Social Media Press Release
  Consider posting your Press Releases online, with other useful information such as: RSS feeds, links to previous relevant releases, imagery, audio & video, etc.
• Blogger engagement
  Look for them, understand them, communicate in a relevant manner and build up engagement with them.
• Twitter
  Make sure you are promoting your releases via this important medium. Also use it to build up a community of followers who you can ask things of (e.g. feedback).
• Social Media monitoring and tracking
  Listen in to blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc and find out who is saying what.
• Photo sharing
  Use sites like Flickr.com to build up an online PR image library
• Video sharing
  Use sites like YouTube.com (although personally Vimeo.com is my choice) to build up an online collection of suitable video clips.
• Facebook
  Its pretty easy these days to build up a Facebook presence and grow a community. Its also quite easy to integrate Press Releases (potentially with comments allowed) and other content from different sources into this popular social media site.
• Online surveys
  This is a quick way to understand if your content is reaching it required audience and finding out what other information or data they would find useful.

What your emailed press release says about your PR company

As a blogger and reviewer of books in the in the Internet industry, I get dozens of press releases emailed to me each week.


Some of these are from individuals who are either trying to do their own promotion or very small PR agencies (usually one-man-bands). However the majority are from bigger PR and communication consultancies who think they understand the online / email medium.... and most quite simply don't!


Lets just take the way I am addressed in these emails as the most obvious example of what I mean.

Here's a list of genuine titles I have been given in emails:

1. Dear Mr Sutherland Hayden
   A clear case of them getting the first name and surname fields in their mail merge software mixed up #fail


2. Dear Blogger
   To not even bother to find out my name makes me want to read further..... not! #fail


3. Dear Madam
   Errr.... not the last time I looked! #fail


4. Dear Press2.0 Communications in a digital world
   A hint: The name of my blog isn't necessarily my real name. #fail

There are, of course, a few more.... but you get the point.

Note:
If you are sending out Press Releases by email, at least have a bit of professionalism when you do it or risk looking a complete amateur.

Where's the Twitter Press Release service?

Back in February last year I covered the topic of the Social Media News/Press Release (which had already been in existence for a year)

This was the evolution of the normal press release distributed online, that also included: URL's keywords, feeds, etc. (depending upon which verision you employed). I therefore thought it was therefore only a matter of time before the Twitter press release arose.

By this, I don't just mean that now companies have the chance to link to their own press releases in their organisation's 140 character tweets..... Many companies have now set up Twitter identities as part of their corporate communications strategies, in the same way that they did with corporate blogs in 2008 (or before).

And no I don't mean sites that are simply collections of tweet postings from journalists such as:
http://www.journalisttweets.com or http://muckrack.com

I mean a proper service that specifically aggregates just Press Releases that appear on Twitter and enables you to filter them by subject, market sector and other attributes.

To date, the best service I have used is http://twitterfall.com/ and I have then carried out searches for "press release xxxxxx", but with limited success.

Have I spotted a gap in the market or missed a key site out there?

Stuff journalists like

This site made me smile the other day:
http://www.stuffjournalistslike.com/

My favourite quote is in the posting about Press Releases:

Coincidentally, the majority of press releases are written by former journalists who either quit their journalism jobs in search of a PR job with better pay, or journalists who were laid off and had to sell their souls to the dark side to pay rent.

'nuff said I think

News Releases Matter!

What percentage of your press releases gets coverage today? Most press releases get no media coverage. This isn't suprising considering that Google News and Yahoo News between them have 50,000 Press Releases a month!

This is a shame as News Releases are often the best quality and most frequently updated content on a corporate site.


I recall David Meerman Scott, author of the book "The New Rules of Marketing & PR" (which sits on my desk at a client's office), commenting in a recent podcast that

News Releases are still powerful and effective channel to reach the media

According to him studies show that a higher level of education you have, the less likely you are to click on adverts - therefore organic content such as your press releases becomes more important to a more intellectual audience.

As the Press Release also evolves as within the digital space, e.g. into the Social Media Press Release, its important to remember that quality still matters!

The Video Press Release

As the humble Press Release evolves over time, from the traditional format through to the recently-developed Social Media Press Release (previously covered here), you can't help wonder what it will become in time. In addition to these thoughts, I was recently asked by a client "will the next evolution of the Press Release be a Video Press Release distributed online?"

My answer was a resounding "No" initially, followed by "...but video will be key in getting the message across".

Now there is no doubt that video within a blog or webpage provides a lot of information and conveys more than just text or images alone. However, just using video is not necessarily the right approach . Not every company has the ability to produce good quality video nor a spokesperson who is good in front of a camera.

Good examples of video combined with other media, when embedded within a press release placed on a site, are more frequently found online now. In fact the popularity for doing this is growing as more companies try it & get positive feedback and as broadband tips over the 50% mark in most developed countries.

Video, when used as one of a combination of media, has the following benefits in a Press Release:

1. It can be used to get a lot of data over quickly, using the mutually beneficial combination of visual and audio cues

2. When combined with words (copy) and accompanying diagrams for supporting information, this message becomes even clearer (The content can explain terms and spell complex words that audio or video may not be best at)

3. It can provide a 'human' face to your company and message (note: you do not have to use your Head of Marketing or PR Manager for this)

However, always consider that video may not be the right medium to use:
1. All of your audience may not be able to view it.
e.g. Not everyone has sufficient bandwidth (you may have mobile users) and don't forget accessibility issues caused by placing content just in a video clip
2. People may still want to print & read content offline
3. You may not have the time or budget for every piece
Producing video for all Press Releases can be an expensive and time-consuming overhead. Consider what budget you have for this, test to see what works and prioritise who (and what) you are going to cover.
4. You are not necessarily producing a streaming news channel. A Press Release is definitely a news-worthy piece of content, but spoken to camera in a ‘matter-of-fact way’ could well make it more like a news report.

Consider the extra benefit that a video clip could add:

• A case study/testimonial
• Instructional / educational information
• A supporting clip to provide context or detail

However, if it is pertinent, cost-effective and useful, you could always try putting video in your Press Release, you won't necessarily have set a precident. Just remember to measure the impact it has.

Try the following as an example of where this is going....

Pitzer College Press Release about its YouTube course:
http://www.pitzer.edu/news_center/press_releases/07-08/2007-09-04-youtube.asp

Press Releases & SEO

Putting your Company press releases up on your main site has several benefits, including:
- the ability to hyperlink through to the specific products & services mentioned
- providing an email link to the author (or other people mentioned)
- providing consistent branding/headings with the rest of your online presence
- bringing the content under your own management to ensure the correct timings (or should it ever need to be changed... note: this is a very risky activity to engage in).

However on-site press releases are also of benefit as part of an effective Search Engine Optimisation Strategy for your site.

To get the best from this useful resource, you should not just consider that you are writing for a human (e.g. journalist) but that you are also writing for a machine (e.g. the Google search bot, that will try to spider and index your site correctly).

For the human:
Ensure you have engaging content in the correct tone, try to engender an emotion response from your reader.

For the machine:
Ensure you have keyword optimized your content, including key phrases that will be subsequenlty searched for

These two approaches are not necessarily contradictory, but more thought does have to be applied to cover both perspectives.

However, it does not stop there!
Once released, you can now start to measure the traffic to your press release, understanding the entrance points and in the particular keywords used to get there. This will give you great insight into what attracts your visitors to the page and how to write better subsequent releases.

Note:
The Social Press Release (in all its various versions) goes a lot further than this. But an understanding of the human/machine requirements intially goes a long way.

Giving up control and measuring it

I've been grateful to Dana Theus for her thoughts on Social Media PR and Measuring. Her Blog posting on such a topic correlates very much with my own thoughts on measuring that influence beyond the walled garden of control

Control of what you communicate ensures that the message gets through ,completely and unchanged, to those you intended. Control is therefore seen as good by traditional PR departments and marketer. Good in that it means you don't have to worry, in case something gets manipulated or filtered en-route.

But as soon as your message is delivered, it is out of your control. It is then: passed on, copied, quoted, analysed and regurgitated. It can eventually become so twisted from your original that it may even be unrecognisible to yourself when you get to read a subsequent version.

This was realised by the founders of modern PR. People such as Ivy Lee who is creditied with developing the Press Release establised the need for consistency in the message. This approach was then used thoughout the 20th Century.

However, in the modern information age, companies know (well the smart ones do anyway) that the tools and medium have changed. The rules of engagement, the langauge, the transparency and understanding have all led to a different philosophy and methods of communication. Also, the level of control has changed. People are now interacting with brands in different ways, creating their own information, from fan sites to hate blogs, and generating opinions & support from their peers or just those who share their view. Or to quote the UK Internet Advertising Bureau:

Marketing is no longer about simply maneuvering your brand through relatively
fixed relationships and channels; it’s now about setting it free. Unthink your brand.

Control of everything has been lost.

But in this very statement lies the answer. Just like a person that tries to please all the people all the time, you will fail. Its not about controlling everything, but only those things within your influence (and asserting the right amount of influcence on those things that require it).

The suggested approach is:
1. Plan before you start
2. Check the information your analytics package provides
3. Understand that you have a role in influencing

Press Pages

Throughout my web development career I've developed numerous sites that have an area called: 'About Us', 'Press', 'Company Information', 'New Releases' and other such titles. These sections of content are mainly run by the PR divison or external communications department. They have historically been a one-way publish method of getting B2C and B2B communications out to your audience. It is written in a professional way and focusing on one particular subject (person, product offering, change in service, etc.)
See Pressbox's guidance on how to do this well:
http://www.pressbox.co.uk/contpr1.htm

Companies want control over their communications. They want the 'official' line to be given how and when they want.

However....

Haven't things changed now?
With the advent of an empowered audience and the ability to place news & opinions in the hands of everyone.... isn't there:
A place for a more social method of communication, even for companies?
A place between the company blog and the press release.
A place to see user feedback and customers thoughts
A place where the official communication can be shared, either with the public or other companes?