PR / media

You’ve been told by marketers (and Google) that cranking out blogs can be the way to drive traffic to your site. True.

But did you know blogs are great content for pitching the media? As a PR professional, blogs can be your ultimate resource for sharable, newsworthy pieces that will get your company press and stand out in the industry.

First off, let’s be clear. Blogs are not a collection of press releases. They are your company’s unique and relevant content based on your company’s expertise. It’s the place where you show thought leadership, and offer how-tos and problem solving directly related to your industry.

What that means to the press

Blog posts are sources for potential producers, editors and reporters searching the Internet for quality content and stories to meet their next deadline. To give you two very different examples, one of our clients is an attorney in the railroad industry who represents injured workers. He spends most of his blogging year answering their pains and problems related to on-the-job injuries and suits against their companies. After this year’s Amtrak disaster the national media turned to him as a source for caps on victim payouts.

Another of our clients is in the natural stone industry and uses its blog to answer the technical questions of fabricators and give inspiration to designers. When a well-known design magazine was looking for a feature on innovative building materials, it turned to our client for technical advice and a product feature.

In the first case the media sought out our attorney client because he ranked high on the web for the keyword phrases railroad injuries and railroad injury lawyer. In the second case, I used content from our client’s blogs and ebooks to pitch the magazine via an email.

We got to thinking about the relationship between blogging and PR again this week when our own Stephanie Eichmeyer listened in on a Cision webinar with Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks who had a host of tips on how PR reps can leverage their blog. Here are the most relevant tips she pulled on how to use your blog to attract the media. (Our thoughts in italics.)

Be deliberate with your editorial calendar

Don’t create content without the end result in mind. Have a strategy and build themes and content around holidays, pop culture, trends, etc. Ask yourself, How do we have that conversation with not only media, but the audience that is most affected by the theme?, and push that out to get excitement out there. At the same time assume of-the-moment topics will pop up. Having some evergreen content built into your calendar will help you swap out blogs as needed.

Know your audience’s keywords

Don’t just leave it to your SEO professionals doing things on the back end. You need to write from a content perspective to drive traffic and interest. What kinds of content do you need to create to ensure that you rank well when people search your main keyword? Be strategic and sophisticated. To do this we use tools like Yoast and HubSpot to tell us which words are key to searchers we’re going after but also are not so competitive that they’re not worth going after. Like Christmas. You’re not ranking for that one. But Christmas gifts for pets with three legs, you may have a chance there.

Think of your larger campaign focus

First identify your priority keywords and phrases around what people are searching for as well as around your strategic plan. (We discussed this in more detail last week here). From there, build a series of pieces targeted to those keywords. A few different posts on the same topic will give your more priority in search rank, and create more opportunities for reporters and producers to use you as a source.

Repurpose your content

Stop creating everything from scratch, reuse it. I think deep down we think this is cheating. It is NOT cheating. It’s a smart use of your time. Compile shorter blog posts into something larger. Compile blogs into an ebook. Take a speech and create a visual story around it and put it on Slideshare. Go back through your posts and do a content audit of the last year to see what you can repurpose. Example, we wrote this blog after giving an hour of free advice to a new business owner. Using it as a blog post gives us a chance to help other new small business owners while not using up our time or doing free work.

If your company has a blog, use it as a tool to help you do better PR. The result will be twofold: Your company leadership will 1) see you as an asset rather than an expense and 2) be encouraged to invest more in blogging, which will in turn make your job easier.

Photo by Roger H. Goun

The day has come. A one star review has hit you hard. It may not be affecting your businesses’ bottom line yet, but it sure has been a blow to your entrepreneurial spirit.

How could this happen to you? You’re on a first name basis with your customers. They always come to you first with any concerns. Right?

Even with the best customer service a bad review is inevitable, and it’s something you must address directly. We live in a digital world where peer reviews are influential and abundant, and information moves fast and furious. Reputation management is part of running and growing a successful business.

Take a look at stats:

•  Nearly 9 in 10 consumers have read online reviews to determine the quality of a local business and 39% do so on a regular basis.
• Businesses should have at least 10 reviews to satisfy 85% of potential customers.
• Trust is dependent on the reviews being authentic. Quality is equally as important as quantity.

 (source: 2014 BrightLocal study)

If you’re suffering from bad review shock  there is a ray of light  – a little goodwill goes a long way.

According to a Harris Interactive survey of the customers who received a response from a company after posting negative feedback, 33 percent turned around and posted a positive review of the brand, and 34 percent deleted the original negative review.

If you remember anything from this post let it be this: Don’t ever ignore a bad online review.

Let’s dive into the five steps of how to respond to a negative review you can take right now.

Step 1: Regroup with your team

Before typing away, meet with your employees to discuss the complaint, hear from key staff involved in the incident, and draft a response that takes the reviewer’s concern or complaint into account.

Step 2: Respond thoughtfully (and with help)

Address the complaint politely and with facts. Keep it short and sweet. People can become overwhelmed by a long response. Have someone review your response for grammar, punctuation and tone before posting.

Step 3: Reach out directly

If possible, attempt to contact the reviewer by email or phone if you have their information and offer them a reimbursement or ask about how else you could rectify the situation. They may even be appreciative enough to remove the negative review.

Step 4: Resolve privately

If the comment is unfounded, try and resolve the issue through private messaging. If you feel a public comment is necessary, present your case as simply and politely as possible. Do not attack the reviewer. Remember, potential customers will be reading your comment and you want to leave them with a good impression.

Step 5: Reward with a sincere thank you

Responding to a positive review is as important as responding to a negative review. Thank people who leave positive feedback. A simple “thank you” and “we look forward to having you back soon” suffices. Many sites advise against giving a gift to a reviewer. However, what you do offline will be appreciated by your loyal customers.

Consistently asking customers to leave reviews is also a good practice. Sometimes a simple ask is all it takes to motivate someone to take action. Just don’t run after them with your iPad asking for the review. You will look aggressive and desperate.

 The most important way to ward off  bad feedback is to be proactive. Be consistent and positive at all times. People want to hear from you and know they are spending money on a business that cares. There’s nothing worse then visiting a business’ Facebook page to find no one’s home with no posts or pics shared for weeks on end.

“Cater to your customers’ lifestyles. It will create instant rapport and a lasting sense of “I belong here.” ― Marilyn Suttle

You can build your brand’s reputation with these next steps:

• Become a trusted thought leader in your industry with consistent blogging on topics of interest to your customers, clients and the media. Address their needs and pains.
• Post and engage daily with followers on your social media accounts. Be courteous, consistent and responsive.
• Get involved in charitable activities in your community. Be authentic and transparent.
• Respond to all criticism, feedback and reviews (positive and negative).
• Create a loyalty program with attractive benefits and email those customers on a consistent basis, whether weekly or monthly, stick to it.

Listen and learn from your customers. They have something to teach you and you don’t have to hire a market research company to do the work.

Three ways customer feedback and engagement can help you grow your business:

• Social media comments can inspire new products or services.
• Questions on social media can be used to create a FAQ’s page for your website.
• Social media photo contests and hashtag campaigns can enhance your reach and make people feel good about your company.

In the long run, the advice we give when dealing with a negative review is no different than what we would tell the client with the best reviews in the world – be courteous, responsive and proactive. Just like you would in your offline business.

Photo by Moazzam Brohi

Your publicist’s metric for success is relationships, not revenue, right? What if you could tie sales leads, and revenue, to your pr department? It may sound far off, but the modern publicist is doing more than damage control and fielding press calls. She’s a proactive member of the marketing team generating and nurturing leads online. That is if she’s adapted to the digital market.

Some think a publicist’s job is cut and dry (often even the publicist does). Traditionally, she made the valuable relationships that created opportunities for media coverage and exposure via email and phone calls.
 
Things have changed in the pr world.
 
I’ve seen it firsthand as my role as publicist has changed with social media and access to analytics on who is visiting my clients’ sites, where those visitors came from and how they’re behaving online. Your own public relations exec may be using new strategies to connect with brand ambassadors and potential customers with what we call social PR. I can tell you that it’s the single most powerful tool since the press release.
 
Here’s why:
 
Today, the publicist isn’t just pushing out a company message through releases. (At least I hope not.) She’s practicing social pr by communicating and engaging media, bloggers and industry influencers on sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
 
For example, interior designer and kitchen and bath professional Toni Sabatino recently attended an invitation only tour of our client Polycor’s marble quarry and Vetrazzo recycled glass manufacturing plant.

As an active design blogger, tweeter, and Instagrammer, Toni’s content gets read, viewed and is shared by our client’s #1 target audience – designers. During the tour, although I was not present, I took the opportunity to connect with her on Twitter and Instagram as she enjoyed her experience meeting the people and learning about the process of where and how North America’s premier marble is cut and manufactured.

Our casual Twitter and Instagram conversation further extended Polycor’s reach on social and Toni’s conversation around the tour has put their products in front of a greater audience, right in their target market.
 

I will continue to nurture the relationship by sharing Polycor’s content with her and commenting on the content she shares. I’ll be sharing Toni’s new blog post on her quarry visit over the next few days (and will continue to do so a few times a week for the next month or so).

Tip: If you’ve developed a social relationship with an influencer in your industry, follow the content he or she produces, and share those blogs or articles referencing your client on your personal social accounts, as well as the client’s.
 
Note: Keep the conversation to a few times a month so you are not flagged as a social stalker. Play it cool and share and comment when appropriate. You just need to keep yourself and your client top-of-mind.

Social pr works long after the office closes

Social media is open 24 hour a day, 7 days a week. On the company’s behalf a social pr rep is attending the networking event that never ends.

Is she really working around the clock? I hope not. But if she’s smart about her data and the tools she uses to connect with people, she’s working when and where your contacts are, jumping on weekly tweet chats, direct messaging in the morning on Twitter, and retweeting bloggers on the weekend. Daily, she gathers valuable site traffic and conversations, and marketing and sales VPs take note because her lead intelligence is deep.

Marketing agencies (like us) see value in this digital publicist. It’s why we create hybrid teams of pr, marketing, web development and creative talent. Our publicists add their insights and data to marketing reports and revenue is directly attributed to their online and offline relationships and communications. No one is working in a silo, and they shouldn’t be.

What pr data matters to marketers?

Beyond the standard media hits and reach, marketing and sales teams look to their publicist for analytics on industry leaders and followers engaging with their content, which is often blogs, downloads and video they’ve pitched.

Insightful answers to questions like:

• Who are the people downloading our content?
• Who needs to be nurtured further?
• What’s their greatest pain?
• What are their content needs? i.e. more professional images, video, interviews.
• Who is a sales ready lead?
• Who are the people asking questions regarding products and services?

 
All of this valuable data can be pulled from social accounts and if your publicist works with an inbound marketing team using software like Hubspot, their pr campaigns and social media can be easily tracked, reported and acted on by your sales team, closing the loop on marketing and sales.  
 
Last week I spoke about how to balance big data to power pr results on a webinar hosted by PRNewsire. We talked a lot about how data and social media are helping traditional companies transition to the digital market. You can see excerpts of the slides here. 

My main emphasis was that the relationships and insights we publicists gleen from social media provide the market research that powers marketing, feeds sales and maintains the image of the company. My advice to my fellow pr people was, know the differing needs of company execs and tailor your data to them. Share the big picture numbers on followers and influence to your president, note the marketing qualified leads you discovered on social to the VP of sales, and report on target customer insights to the marketing reps.
 
The lesson here is if you have a pr department, or even one publicist on staff, you’ve got a secret sales and marketing weapon.

Provide those representatives with the tools they need to create relationships and generate leads. For us at Marketing Rival those tools are our client’s social media accounts, Google analytics and HubSpot, an intelligent integrative marketing software, along with traditional methods like press releases on PR Newswire and personal phone calls.
 
With time and investment you’ll see those social relationships become a support for your sales efforts and source of new leads. The lasting effect will be more traffic, better brand recognition and a bigger stake in the digital market.

Hurricanes. Floods. Data breaches. Employee malevolence. Staff violence. Financial problems. The list of potential crises that can strike small businesses or nonprofits are many, and real. But you don’t have to be left in a panic when disaster hits. Below are six things business owners can do to minimize damage and communicate with important audiences the minute a catastrophe hits, along with a proactive suggestion to be uber prepared for any event.

1. Pin your message to your Facebook wall

Seems too simple, right? Yep, but effective. Pinning your message to the top of your Facebook wall keeps it front and center for all to see. In an emergency situation, people need information and they need it now, so give it to them. Is your business going to be closed? Say that, then pin that. Maybe your location is the only one of its kind open. Say it, pin it.

Proactive approach: Have a comprehensive social media plan in place before crisis hits. Facebook and Twitter can be lifesavers, allowing you to reach your customers and clients quickly and effectively. These channels also let you continually communicate with stakeholders before, during and after an emergency. If your business has a social media crisis communication plan in place, when panic strikes you and your employees will feel organized and ready to put that plan in action.

2. Designate one person to post on social media

Pick one person, preferably someone who is skilled and understands social media, to be the point person for all posts on all channels. This person should have the authority to speak for the company and should have a documented process on how to respond on behalf of the company. Make clear in this process whom she or he will go to for approval of messages if necessary. They’ll know what they posted so communications aren’t redundant and don’t give conflicting information. They’ll also keep the tone of the messages consistent. An employee going rogue on your business’ social media account has the potential to create another negative situation all on its own. Shut that down before it starts.

Proactive approach: Social media sites like Twitter give real-time information and have proven to be an effective tool in crises. The fast-paced speed of Twitter allows for constant contact with customers and clients. No matter the situation, a well-constructed message is key. Good crisis communication plans include “what if” planning. Sit down with your staff and think about the kinds of negative events that could impact your business. Once you have a list, think about what your message to the public would be for each one. Could a data hack hit your business? What would your main message be if it did? Having these messages crafted can save time and stress.

3. Refer to your state requirements/regulations

States have protocols in place for when disaster strikes, and regulations that need to be followed. Refer to them in times of crisis to make sure your business doesn’t get itself in hot water while the water is already hot. Make sure your business has necessary procedures in place for worker’s compensation issues, policy violations, and medical issues. Matt Blaine, an associate in Davison, Eastman & Muñoz’s business law and litigation department, suggests business owners revisit paid time off, sick time, and leave policies for compliancy with applicable laws and regulations.

Proactive approach: Blaine recommends consulting with an attorney when developing and implementing these policies. He also advises business owners to consider the type of insurance their business needs, the levels of coverage and whether any endorsements are necessary. “Although your business may have a workers’ compensation insurance policy and a commercial general liability policy, does it have directors and officers insurance, errors and omissions insurance, business interruption insurance or insurance that would cover the many ramifications that can result from a cybersecurity data breach? These questions should be evaluated internally by your business, researched independently and addressed collaboratively with a trusted insurance professional,” Blaine said.

4. Create an employee social media policy beforehand

It’s important to have a social media policy in place for employees, regardless of whether there’s an emergency or not. A good social media policy outlines them, whether the employee is acting on company social or a personal account. Rebecca Carvalho, an associate in Davison, Eastman & Muñoz’s criminal and regulatory defense and municipal law departments, suggests creating a policy that fits your business, keeping an eye out for how that policy will work in both good times and bad.
 
“The saying that you can’t un-ring a bell rings true when your business is in a crisis,” Carvalho said. “If you haven’t had or enforced a media policy, and you let your employees post whatever and whenever, it will be hard, if not impossible, to turn on a dime and enact and/or enforce a media policy,” she said.
 
Proactive approach: Create a policy now to mitigate risk for both you the employer and your employees. Check out these examples of organizations with great social media policies from HireRabbit.com.

5. Tweet, retweet, tweet again

Twitter moves fast, and even faster during a disaster. Information can be pushed off the screen in a matter of seconds. Twitter isn’t like Facebook, where things stay visible for an extended period of time. Tweeting the same message a few hours apart won’t irritate readers, it will keep them informed.
 
Proactive approach: Is your business on Twitter? No? Get on it now. Once you’re on, build up your audience. Start by following people you do business with, your customers, local media, and anyone else you think fits the bill. Follow people who follow you is standard practice. As a business you’ll want to check out a follower’s profile and follow when appropriate. Once you start posting regularly on Twitter you’ll gain followers interested in your content. If you build up a hefty audience and are continually active on the platform, once a crisis strikes they will turn to your Twitter account for the latest information, making it the easiest and fastest way to communicate vital info.

6. Ask for help

It’s easy for a business to drown in a disaster without proper management. You can reduce the impact of a negative event by partnering with a professional communication agency These experts can help your business develop a strategic communication plan for any event. These plans will identify stakeholders, set goals, objectives and strategies for the business, and outline specific tactics to help minimize the damage from a negative situation. Berenstein Crisis Management, a large public relations firm specializing in guiding businesses through emergencies, suggests preparing and planning is the best way to soften the damage caused by negative events. In fact, the firm suggests failing to plan for these events creates a situation of its own. Follow them on Twitter @berensteincrisis, and gets tips from their blog.
 
Proactive approach: Be sure to include your marketing team in discussions of crisis plans. They should be integral to any plan and part of its development. Ask your current PR or social media manager for any plans and procedures they have for responding and find out how they have helped other businesses during bad difficult circumstances. Together you can draft a plan for how to respond on social media during troubled times.
 
Preparation can minimize the damage done during an emergency situation and make it easier to recover after it’s over. Every business is at some risk of being affected by a disaster, so being prepared is crucial.

Marketing Rival’s Stephanie Eichmeyer cut her teeth on crisis pr while on the public relations staff at a hospital in St. Louis.  She will present a free seminar on the topic tomorrow in Asbury Park. “The Role of Crisis PR in your Small Business,” will explore the proactive steps a small business owner can take to prepare for a disaster. She’ll also talk specifically about Hurricane Sandy and the relief money that is still available for businesses and nonprofits.

Photo by Tommaso Galli