|
 If
you ask a business owner to make a list of the five things in life they
hate the most, working on effective public relations or "PR" would likely
come just before or just after a
root
canal.
Fortunately though business owners also hate spending money on
ineffective advertising. Of course by the time a business owner gets PR
that is working, the efforts involved in getting it to work make PR
anything but free. so to cut down on the resources needed to get PR
"working", TA has written for it's members this "Best Practices" guide for
getting PR working in 10 steps.
Please let us know what you think of this article. Please also send us the
"best practices" that have helped you get your own free press. Finally, send us
the press clippings whenever you do score free press whether it was using these
best practices or others.
1. Create or update your
LinkedIn.com page and have your photo on it.
Before quoting you in any published article, a reporter or editor will need
to establish your credibility. Nothing does this faster than a robust and up to
date LinkedIn.com page.
The photo is important because whether you look like Brad Pitt or Angela Jolie
(or not) it at least proves you have confidence in yourself - which is what
reporters and editors want to see most of all.
 2.
Have at least a minimal web page or blog.
A web page, even a one-page web site, proves to the editor or reporter that
your business (and your supposed expertise) is not just a figment of your
imagination. The web or blog should show the information on the list below.
A. Your contact
information. Include a physical address. Lack of a physical address
suggests you're not a "real" business. If you work out of a home office go rent
an address from a Mail Boxes Etc.
or similar store.
B. The services or products
you offer. If you're suggesting that you're an expert in some product
or service then your web page or blog should show that you actually sell that
service.
C. Your competitive
advantages. Why do your customers choose you over your competitors?
You need to make this plain & succinct as in, "Top Three Reasons our Customers
Choose Us..."
D. Industry news.
Have recent industry news headlines hyperlinked to the news organization that
reported it. This shows that you actually do follow the news in your industry
and are likely to have an informed opinion about what's being reported.
E. A "freebie report" like
a "Top Ten List". This proves you can write and shows you're OK
giving a little bit of expertise away in exchange for "15 minutes of fame". A
simple freebie report title might be "Top Five Mistake Business Owners Make When
Choosing ___" where "blank" is what you're an expert at.
Copper
Conferencing is an expert in publishing "freebie" reports that push
prospective conference calling inquiries back to Copper. Check out a few of the
following public Copper marketing links that would help to confirm for a
reporter or editor that Copper is a credible and expert source of information on
business conferencing and collaboration:
http://twitter.com/CopperConf/,
http://blog.copperconferencing.com,
http://www.lesstravel.com/,
http://www.copperisgreen.com/,
http://www.copperconferencing.com/campaigns/biz-webinar/,
http://www.copperconferencing.com/copperuniv/Riveness/ Agents, that
want to take their agency to the next level need to hire a marketing resource
that can follow Copper's example of "being everywhere all the time" on the web.
3. Learn which publications you want to target.
Who reports on business technology news in your local markets for TV,
newspaper, radio & Internet? Subscribe to these publications so you can see the
types of articles they run and who the reporters and editors are.
4. Introduce yourself to the editors and reporters.
Submit a press release or two so they know you're a real business owner
seeking free press and not a stalker. Subscribe to the reporter's blog, Twitter
page, etc. to keep track of the sort of stories they publish most often. when
they publish a story you're an expert in, send them a "quotable quote" showing
your expertise and provide some story follow-up ideas as the reporter may indeed
write a follow up story to any published article that their readers respond to.
5. Search
News.Google.com for your telecom service
specialties.
Consistently search all news sites - especially the ones that you can
subscribe to like
news.Google.com that will automatically send you specialty news clips for
free. Search for everything you sell or specialize in (conference calling, MPLS,
hosted VoIP, etc.) including brand names (PAETEC, Allworx, Shoretel) and then
subscribe to these news searches so you immediately find out when any news
organization publishes a story on your specialties. Other news sites to search
for recently published telecom news articles you can quote on include
www.NYtimes.com,
www.WSJ.com,
www.BusinessWeek.com
and CNET's www.News.com,
Following are some news stories that came up in a recent Google news search
when searching terms like "phone system", "hosted VoIP", "phone outage",
"business VoIP", conferencing green save travel, "Google Voice", prepaid
wireless, VoIP work from home, collaboration save travel expenses
A.
Copper Conferencing Offers a Free Day of Web and Audio Conferencing for Earth
Day,
B.
Ventura County businesses lose phone, Internet service,
C.
Truck accident in cuts Comcast fiber optic cable leaving thousands without
service for hours,
D.
Cape Coral business billed $74,000 for illegal phone calls to Germany.
E.
Google’s Free Phone Manager Could Threaten a Variety of Services
F.
Prepaid Wireless, In Search of the Perfect Bargain
G. Green Telecom:
Collaboration Tools Cut Travel Expenses,
Work From
Home Using VoIP Phone Systems
Make a practice to write stories like this or simply rewrite these stories
from your own perspective (without plagiarizing of course) where you quote
yourself and your customers and cite using the services of your best vendors. If
you do plug your own vendors, contact the marketing departments of your vendors
to make sure they are OK with the way you are mentioning their services or
products. If you contact your vendor marketing departments you'll likely
discover that they will be happy to help you with a project that will hold them
in a positive light.
6. Submit your own quotes on published stories.
When you find a published story that you could have offered a quote on, send
the story & your own quote for that story to the local business editors to try
to get them to write their own version of the story you sent where they quote
you.
7. Make a list of quotable customers you can refer the reporter to.
If a reporter decides to write a story you've suggested they will want to
interview a local business customer or two that have some experience or an
opinion about the story topic.
8. Ghost write your own "news stories" on topical issues
Getting a reporter to easily understand the benefits of MPLS or other telecom
technology can be difficult. You can make it easier by writing the story
yourself. If you use several examples and
similes the
reporter can understand the concept better and then more easily write the story
themselves using your story outline as a base for their story.
Even if the reporter does not run with the story you end up with a great
piece you can put on your own website or blog that the search engines will love!
9. Meet the reporters in social settings and tell them about your Rolodex
If the publications you're trying to get published in have public functions
like awards dinners or are part of a chamber of commerce, join those
organizations or attend those functions so you can "bump into" and introduce
yourself to the editors and reporters you're trying to meet in a social setting.
As well you always want to invite the reporters and editors to any functions you
or your company is involved in.
When you finally meet the reporters & editors you're interested in, simply
ask them what stories they're working on and suggest that you have a Rolodex of
customers and peers that can help out with a quote on almost any business
technology story. This is were it helps to keep your LinkedIn.com page as robust
and tricked out as possible with the maximum number of connections you can
legitimately claim.
10. Commit to working on PR for 30 minutes a day for 180 days straight.
Even on Saturday & Sunday you should spent a half hour surfing the Internet
for stories you should be quoted on. Is 30 minutes a day too much? No since
working on your own PR has a guaranteed return in that you end up with great
searchable content you can put on your won website that will bring you more high
quality web traffic even if you have a slow start with your local reporters. If
you practice doing these steps enough and then "self publishing" all your own PR
pieces on your own site, eventually the reporters and editors will find you even
if you're not seeking them out - but keep seeking them out anyway!
Feedback Request
Please let us know what you think of this article. Please also send us the
"best practices" that have helped you get your own free press. Finally, send us
the press clippings whenever you do score free press whether it was using these
best practices or others. Send feedback to
Dan@TelecomAssociation.com or
call Dan Baldwin at 951-251-5155.
Other Helpful PR Links, Articles & Clippings
submit
Wikipedia: Public Relations
How to Write a Good Press Release
Marketing Public Relations
How to Get Good Press
NetStar's PR "Hall of Fame"
Annie Cheng Gets TV,
Radio & Print PR for NetStar
PCG's Braun Mincher
Scores PR Coup in Local Biz Press
Braun
Mincher's NBC Today Show
Interview (August, 1994)
Braun
Mincher Appears on "Money Hunt" TV Show (1999)
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