PitchEngine Simplifies Social PR

I've been participating in an alpha test of a new social press release creation tool called PitchEngine (public beta coming soon). In the words of PitchEngine creator Jason Kintzler, "PitchEngine shakes up the PR industry making it possible for PR pros, brands, and agencies to build and share digital, social media releases with their contacts for free. Our PitchEngine SMR (social media release) takes the press release to the next level, eliminating the need for antiquated email attachments, word documents, image CDs, and more."

Although the tool has a few minor glitches at this point (the number of characters permitted for subheads and the "quick pitch" is way too small, the feature for adding Resources and Related Links is touchy, and hyperlinks have to be recreated after cut-and-paste from Word), overall it's very slick and easy to use. I created a social media release for version 10 of the Quick View Plus desktop file viewing utility (a VERY useful application BTW) from Avantstar, and other than a little manual effort on the links, the process was quick and easy. Reporting capabilities will be added soon.

PitchEngine provides an intuitive interface for creating the release; adding images, video and audio files; applying tags; and including social networking links for press contacts. It's a slick tool that includes some nice touches, such as automatically creating a shortened URL for use with Twitter. You can keep with the latest developments on the PitchEngine blog.

*****

technorati tags: social press release tool, PitchEngine, Jason Kintzler, social media release, Quick View Plus desktop file viewing utility, Avantstar, Twitter

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Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom

How to Get Bloggers to Write About You

Getting blog coverage for your product or service is now just as (if not more) important than getting written about in traditional media. Blogs are now mainstream, as almost 80% of Internet users report having read a blog within the last year. Blogs are also influential, trusted sources of information for buyers, particularly in the B2B space; the most recent ITtoolbox/PJA IT Social Media Index Wave II report updates earlier findings and concludes that "IT decision-maker and influencer audiences (now) spend more time consuming or participating in social media than they do consuming editorial media or vendor content." Blog coverage helps increase awareness, build credibility for your brand, and helps with SEO.

Yet many PR people stumble badly when reaching out to bloggers, with blog outreach efforts a mix of good, bad and ugly. As previously noted here and elsewhere, making pitches both personal and relevant is the first step to getting a blogger to write about you. It's also helpful to provide bloggers with useful assets such as images, video, audio and research findings (with original source links if it's not your own material) that they can incorporate into posts.

But how do you get beyond the basics? What really motivates bloggers to write about whatever it is they write about?

It's not about money—at least not primarily, for most bloggers. Therefore, outright bribery is a bad idea all the way around (that generally includes free products too, although there are a few exceptions to this rule, such as books).

Bribery is bad for you because you don't want your company to become known as a firm that has to pay to get coverage. If your product is unique and interesting, it should be blogworthy in its own right.

It's bad for bloggers. The vast majority of bloggers don't want to ruin their credibility by accepting money to write positive reviews. And the minority who are willing to write pretty much anything they're paid to write aren't the ones you really want covering your product or service.

And it's bad for readers. Blog readers want to be able to rely on bloggers for objectivity. Marketing brochures they can get from the vendor.

So what do bloggers want? While there are a wide variety of motivations for blogging, at some level with virtually every blogger it comes down to ego. Bloggers write to be respected and read. Respect is shown by practices such as personalizing communications and providing bloggers with access to key executives and internal experts.

Readership is an even bigger issue. Help bloggers increase their audience through writing about your product or service by linking to posts about your company:

• from your website (examples include ON24 In The News and the illuminate Solutions Bloggers page);


• in your company newsletter;


• in your own corporate blog (if applicable); and


• on any social networking sites where your company is active (e.g. Digg, Sphinn or Searchles).

In contrast to bribery, focusing on respect and readership creates a win-win situation. The blogger benefits from increased traffic; has a strong incentive to write a well-crafted piece (which is good for readers); and by helping increase traffic to that blog, you increase valuable third-party exposure for your own company.

*****

technorati tags: blog coverage, ITtoolbox, ON24 In The News, illuminate Solutions, corporate blog, Digg, Sphinn, Searchles

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Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom

Blog Pitches - Good, Bad and Ugly

In How To Pitch To Bloggers, Laura Moncur tells PR and marketing people what she really thinks regarding what works, and what doesn't, when trying to persuade her or any other blogger to write about your product, service, organization, announcement, cause or candidate. Among her advice: "no one kicks my butt" (understand that bloggers—other than the sweatshop writers at Gawker at least—don't have deadlines they have to meet or space they have to fill); "press releases are useless" and "be prepared for the truth." Laura provides excellent and timely advice to anyone trying to pitch to bloggers, to which I can only add: keep pitches personal, relevant and compelling (and read Cece Lee's blog).

What's a good pitch?

I get a mix of good, bad, and awful pitches in my inbox on a regular basis. Among the good ones I've seen recently were notes from Lauren Barrows at Flimp and Dean Levitt at Mad Mimi. Lauren's pitch:

Hi Tom,

I was recently researching marketing blogs and after reading a few of your blogs I would love if you could take a look at our company. Flimp Media Inc. is a rich media marketing platform developed for online direct marketing, sales and communications - not advertising. Using Flimp, anyone can quickly launch engaging audiovisual email marketing campaigns that automatically track and report detailed viewer engagement and response data and by individual email address in a clear reporting dashboard. I would love for you to take a look at our website.

Best,
Lauren Barrows
www.flimp.net

Her pitch meets the criteria of personalized, relevant and compelling, and in addition has the very important virtue of being concise. Flimp competes with established video email/marketing platforms like the elegant but pricey AngelVision and newer entrants like VHD Technology. Flimp is worth looking into if you're investigating rich media email platforms (I'm planning a test with a client), and Lauren clearly knows how to get coverage.

Dean's pitch was a bit longer, but also really well done:

Hey Tom,

We launched Mad Mimi 4 weeks ago and we have over 400 new accounts since then.
We had a killer mention by Ajaxian (possibly the web's biggest software-tech blogs).

We're a well funded New York based startup that provides an entirely new way of creating emails. It's free for small accounts, and works a little like 37signal's "Backpack."

Needless to say, it's an exciting application that your readers should know about.

Here's a pitch:
Mad Mimi is the "Backpack" of email marketing. It's simpler, the technology is state-of-the-art, and it works in a fresh and completely unique way in building and sending emails.

Mad Mimi's "modules-based" interface allows users to add picture and text fields, drag them around and add captions, links and dividers. Embedded constraints gently guide the layout, keeping the "designer" from getting into trouble, but providing more plasticity than templates.

The result: a fluid, flexible user interface, and clean, fashionable "Mimi-generated" promotions that represent a fresh approach to email marketing – at a subscription price that trumps the competition.

All my best,
Dean Levitt

Notice how quickly his message gets to the point of what this is, why it's interesting and (most importantly) why it's different from other email marketing platforms. One other thing I should note in Dean's favor: when I bounced him back with a question, he responded within 90 minutes. I can't honestly tell you that I know his platform is better than everyone else's, but I'd certainly advise any small company that's in the market for a simple, affordable email marketing platform to at least check out Mad Mimi. At the least, they are responsive.

What's a bad pitch?

Anything irrelevant obviously, but also any message that assumes why I would know your news is important, that is too long, or that uses a generic (e.g. AOL, Yahoo, HotMail, Gmail or MSN) email address as a return.

What's the worst pitch of all?

Sending a message that reads "Dear (blogger name): Here's our latest press release, which I thought you might be interested in." ARGH! Do NOT do this; far better that you have no contact with a blogger at all than just send a press release. A blogger who's never heard of you at least won't write anything bad about your company or offering; but if a blogger gets a straight name-plus-press-release message from you, he/she will forever view you as a PR spammer, making your odds of ever getting favorable coverage virtually nil.

*****

technorati tags: How To Pitch To Bloggers, Laura Moncur, Cece Lee, Lauren Barrows, Dean Levitt, Mad Mimi, Flimp Media Inc., rich media marketing platform, AngelVision, VHD Technology, Ajaxian, 37signals, Backpack

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How Social Media Has Changed PR

I'll be starting off my presentation at the Blogging for Business Conference tomorrow with this statement:

The practice of PR has changed more in the last five years than it did in the previous fifty.

What do you think? Is that:

• Completely off base;


• A pointless statement of the blatantly obvious; or


• An intriguing contention that makes you want to hear more?

It's not just a matter of new technology. Technological change has been ongoing, from manual typewriters to electric ones to PCs, fax machines and email. From wire services that really were wire services to light years faster and more capable online platforms.

Web 2.0 and the explosion of social media over the past few years are more than just new technological tools for PR professionals to adopt—they change the philosophy of PR.

Prospects and stakeholders no longer want to be an audience for corporate news, they want to be participants. And through various forms of social media—blogs, video, wikis, forums, podcasts, social bookmarking and networking sites—they have made themselves participants.

PR practitioners can no longer practice "microphone PR," which, as the term implies, is about one-way, one-to-many communication controlled by the PR person. Social media has shifted the practice to interactive PR, or, if you prefer, social PR or conversational PR. The role of PR is now to start the conversation, which is two-way or many-to-many, then monitor and participate in that conversation.

More on this later.

*****

technorati tags: Blogging for Business Conference, The practice of PR, Web 2.0, social media, PR practitioners, microphone PR, interactive PR, social PR, conversational PR

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Blogger Outreach for PR: The Importance of Follow-Up

Being social media savvy, you add blogger outreach to your PR plans for a new product launch. You carefully research blogs using related keywords and competitor names to build a solid outreach list. You carefully craft your message, following best practices for blogger PR outreach: personalize each message, make it clear that you've read the blog and understand its subject matter, and explain the relevance of your message.

You send your messages, and then...nothing. Or very little response. What now?

Just as with advertising, PR relies on frequency. There are many possible reasons for low uptake by bloggers; follow-up is essential to determining what may have gone wrong, and how results can be improved.

Blogger PR follow-up follows the same rules as initial outreach: make it personal, informal and relevant. In addition, follow-up should:

• Provide new or updated information, not just a rehash of the original message. For example, with a new product launch, an update could include an award, coverage by an analyst, a new customer win or anything else that builds on the initial announcement.


• Restate or further explain the relevance of your message to the blogger and his or her audience.


• Offer additional information, such as a white paper or interview with a key executive or product designer.

The most common reasons a blogger may have chosen not to write about your product and many and varied, but at the least include:

• They were simply too busy. This is where follow-up can really help shake some coverage loose, as a second or third message may hit them at a better time.


• Your first message didn't adequately explain the relevance. Particularly with technology products and services, it's crucial not just to explain how cool the new technology, but how it applies—specifically—to the blogger's subject area.


• They shouldn't have been on the list. Many bloggers will ignore a first message that they find irrelevant, but respond directly to the second or third. This is important to know: you don't want to be a spammer, but do want to understand the blogger's focus in case he or she may have an interest in a future announcement.


• They simply weren't impressed, or worse, found deficiencies in your new product. This is where establishing personal contact is really critical, as it can mean the difference between getting direct confidential feedback that you can address individually, or suffering negative exposure on a blog with no real chance to tell your side of the story.

As recent posts on student blogs such as Renee Noseff's Technological Advances in the PR World and Effective PR 101, as well as established PR blogs like Cece Lee's PR Meets Marketing and Scott Monty's Social Media Marketing Blog show, blogger outreach is becoming a mainstream PR tactic. Careful planning and crafting of both initial outreach and follow-up messages can maximize your social media exposure.

*****

technorati tags: social media savvy, blogger outreach, PR plans, student blogs, Renee Noseff, Technological Advances in the PR World, Effective PR 101, PR blogs, Cece Lee, PR Meets Marketing, Scott Monty, Social Media Marketing Blog

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Best of 2007: Interactive PR

Wikipedia defines interactive PR as "the practice of using Internet tools and technologies such as search engines, Web 2.0 social bookmarking, new media relations and blogging...to build awareness of and credibility for (a) message without relying solely on mainstream publications."

More directly, the techniques of interactive PR transform press releases from bland, internally-focused documents clogging up the inboxes of editors and staff writers into keyword-rich, user-oriented prose that is found by search engines, picked up by bloggers, tagged by readers, and creates a dialog with the market though comments on social media sites.

David Meerman Scott's The New Rules of Marketing & PR provides an excellent primer on the subject. Expanding beyond the scope of his book, here are some of the best articles and blog posts of 2007 on maximizing the impact of public relations activities through interactive PR.

Proof You Can Gain Additional Rankings And Build Relevant Links With Google News by 97th Floor

Blogger Matt Siltala shows how to use Google News search to increase the exposure and SEO value of a press release.


Pitching Bloggers by PR Meets Marketing

PR expert Cece Salomon-Lee provides an outstanding summary of the most useful "postings by bloggers about how to pitch bloggers" to maximize exposure for PR efforts. Her links are summarized and updated on a periodic basis.


Fresh Link Building Tips: New Search Filters = Easy Link Research by SEO Book

Techniques for building links through blogs, online forums, social networking sites, and blog comments. "Polishing your story, aggregating data in a pretty format, citing sources, and stroking egos are crucial to helping your story spread...If you leave insightful comments without looking like a link spammer you are more likely to get links from your comments."


Newsforce Press Release SEO Tools

Newsforce offers a suite of fee-based tools to identify and insert SEO keywords in press releases then track the results after distribution. All of this can be done manually, and Newsforce would likely increase its uptake by offering a free trial. Nevertheless, worth checking out.


Press Release SEO Tips by TopRank Online Marketing Blog

Noting that "one channel of promotion that has steadily evolved is the practice of optimizing press releases for search engines," Lee Odden shares advice from PR pros at PR Newswire, PRWeb, Business Wire and Marketwire, as well as links to a few of his favorite blog posts on search optimizing press releases.


Search and Find - SEO Your Press Release by PR Meets Marketing

Another post from Cece Salomon-Lee, this one on how to search optimize press releases using title tags and keywords in the header, subhead and first paragraph.

Previous articles in this series:

Best of 2007: SEO Analysis Tools
Best of 2007: SEO Keyword Research Tools
Best of 2007: News Articles on Social Media Marketing
Best of 2007: Blog Posts on Social Media Marketing
Best of 2007: Articles and Blog Posts on SEM
Best of 2007: Articles and Blog Posts on Google AdWords
Best of 2007: Articles and Blog Posts on SEO (Part 1)
Best of 2007: Articles and Blog Posts on SEO (Part 2)
Best of 2007: Website Design
Best of 2007: Blogging for Business
Best of 2007: Marketing Research

*****

technorati tags: interactive PR, Web 2.0 social bookmarking, new media relations, blogging, David Meerman Scott, The New Rules of Marketing & PR, 97th Floor Blog, Matt Siltala, PR Meets Marketing, Cece Salomon-Lee, Newsforce, TopRank Online Marketing Blog, Lee Odden, how to search optimize press releases

del.icio.us tags: interactive PR, Web 2.0 social bookmarking, new media relations, blogging, David Meerman Scott, The New Rules of Marketing & PR, 97th Floor Blog, Matt Siltala, PR Meets Marketing, Cece Salomon-Lee, Newsforce, TopRank Online Marketing Blog, Lee Odden, how to search optimize press releases

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Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom

Excellent Podcast on Interactive PR

When two of the smartest people in blogging and interactive PR have a conversation, it's worth listening in on. Paul Dunay at Buzz Marketing for Technology yesterday posted his podcast interview, PR's Role in New Media, with Cece Lee of the PR Meets Marketing blog. Here are few of the highlights:

• PR professionals are taking advantage of online marketing tools and back-end analytics to increase and track coverage of company announcements. For example, they are no longer just search-optimizing press releases, but also using keyword selection tools and trackable URLS.


• Corporate blogging has to be more than product promotion or another avenue for distributing press releases. It enables companies to share their perspective of the industry and establish a dialog with customers and prospects who choose to interact that way. But while a corporate blog shouldn't mimic the firm's PR, it can't contradict public statements either—the market will notice.


• For PR professionals to effectively pitch bloggers, they need to establish a dialog first, whether through blog commenting or directly via email. Understanding who the blogger is and what he or she is interested in is key, and having one's own blog assists in this understanding.

There's lots more, so again check out Paul and Cece's podcast here.

*****

technorati tags: Paul Dunay, podcast, Cece-Salomon Lee, PR Meets Marketing blog, Buzz Marketing for Technology blog, corporate blogging, how to pitch bloggers

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The New "Relations" in Interactive PR

The umbrella term of "public relations" (PR) has always covered a number of specialties: media relations (primarily), investor relations, analyst relations, community relations, even employee relations. The social networking of Web 2.0 and interactive PR has added two new "relations" to the mix—let's call them market relations and blogger relations.

Market relations is the practice of writing news releases (not press releases) that are targeted directly at your prospects rather than journalists (though media folks may pick up on these as well). This is a central concept of David Meerman Scott's recent book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR (reviewed here). While press releases are about you—you've released a new product, or hit a milestone, or signed a new partner alliance for example—news releases are about the interests of your market. They aren't designed to promote your product or service directly, but rather to position your company as a thought leader.

News release topics include new white papers you've produced (the findings, not the white paper itself), relevant commentary on recent news, results of studies you've done in the course of business, new ideas, how-to content posted to your site or blog—in short, any content that is relevant to your industry, of interest to your prospects, and that positions your company as experts in your field.

Distribution is also different: while press releases are dispersed via major newswires and directly to journalists, market-focused news releases are sent to targeted bloggers and through online distribution services such as PRWeb.

Blogger relations is similar to media relations, but requires a different approach as it must appeal to non-professional journalists who are often writing more out of passion than for money.
I've written previously here about blogger outreach, following up on two excellent guest posts by PR guru-ess Cece Lee (who also incidentally recently posted my comments on the topic of "sincerity"). Appeals to bloggers need to be direct, personal, relevant and transparent.

Used properly, the social media tools of Web 2.0 give forward-thinking PR professionals new ways to build awareness and corporate credibility through market relations and blogger relations.

*****

technorati tags: public relations, PR, market relations, blogger relations, interactive PR, web 2.0, social media, David Meerman Scott, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, PRWeb, Cece Lee, blogger outreach

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