“Ads are the cave art of the twentieth century.” -Marshall McLuhan, author
How many times have you looked at an ad in a magazine or on a billboard and been skeptical of the product’s claims or reliability? Most consumers ignore ads or are wary of them. Great products fail to sell simply because there was no excitement built-up or market education, so expensive ads end up being a waste of money.
Public Relations (PR) is a more subtle, disciplined approach with the aim of influencing public opinion and behavior. When you read an actual article about a product or service, or see it covered on TV news, you’re inclined to think that it’s trustworthy. Imagine the world of PR as a pyramid:
SALES!!
Brand Awareness
& Name Recognition
Marketing - Advertising - Media
Public Relations Public Relations Public Relations
Of course, pyramids are built from the BOTTOM up! Research shows that it takes 4 to 6 impressions of a product or service before most consumers are compelled to buy non-essential items. A sustained media presence in the press will achieve this. PR brings credibility and understanding of the product, so future advertising can succeed.
Paid Space vs. “Free” Coverage
Ads are extremely expensive and usually not effective unless you spend tens of millions. Consumers are wary of advertising and trained to ignore it.
Editorial coverage is free and more importantly, is a credible endorsement! Credibility built this way makes PR the top choice for Companies that can’t afford million-dollar ad campaigns.
Total Control vs. Flexibility
Advertising makes you the boss, as long as you’ve got the cash.
PR puts the media in charge of deciding size, length, word choice, format and which photos, if any, are used. You have no layout control, but get the full attention of consumers who trust the articles they read in their favorite publications.
PR offers flexibility, credibility and a way to manage your company’s growth cost effectively; that’s tough to get from an advertising campaign alone. For small business with limited budgets, Three Girls recommends building your credibility and public awareness first through PR, which will help ensure the success of your future advertising!
Inc. Magazine’s February issue included an article, “You’ve Been Yelped,” that chronicled small business owners’ experiences with positive and negative reviews on the popular business critique site, Yelp. As small business owners, it’s hard not to take criticism personally, but the article has a few points we all need to be aware of when managing our company’s online image (whether on Yelp or another public review site):
Ignoring Yelp Won’t Make It Go Away. Lauren Hart, owner of the Root (a salon in downtown Phoenix) wisely stated in the article, “When you’re in a trend-driven business, if you’re not keeping up with the trends, you’re just going to get old with your clientele and die.” Brad Keeling, the owner of a chain of dry cleaners, agreed stating, “Ignoring Yelp gets you nothing…You can’t hate the future.”
Use Yelp to Your Advantage. Offer discounts on your Yelp page to attract new clients. This has been extremely successful for the Root. When a new customer calls in to make an appointment and mentions Yelp, they receive a free conditioning treatment. Hart also hops online to see if the person has a profile. If she sees they’ve written bad reviews, she makes sure she personally cuts the client’s hair to give her more control over the situation than she would have if one of her employees cut the customer’s hair instead.
Respond to Every Review. Even if it’s just to say thank you, taking the time to acknowledge each reviewer’s time and energy can go a long way.
Keep Your Head. If someone gives you a negative review, make sure you keep your head and respond in a helpful way. After Hart received a negative review, “she composed an apologetic reply, and, using her Yelp account, sent a private message to the dissatisfied customer. Hart suggested a competing salon and offered to pay for a second haircut there. The result? The two-star review became a four-star review.”
Use the Criticism Constructively. When your business does receive a negative review, really listen to what the reviewer didn’t like and make appropriate improvements to your company. As said by Julian Wright, the owner of La Bocca, a restaurant in Tempe, Arizona, “…the reviews help us get better faster.”
Many companies issue press releases at the drop of a hat. Are they still an effective way of spreading the word about your business? Learn the good, bad, Do’s and Dont’s of issuing press releases to promote your business.
The Bad News: You’ve probably been told one sure way to spread the news and gain media interest in your company is through issuing a Press Release. In fact, there are several “Do It Yourself” PR books that recommend this clichéd tactic. To me, ‘Press Release’ is usually a set of words that make me cringe. It means companies are taking an old-fashioned, or uneducated, press approach that’s often inappropriate, ineffective and a waste of marketing dollars. When I say Press Release is a 4-Letter Word, I mean that it should represent real N-E-W-S! Unfortunately, that’s rarely the case.
Why do so many companies make the mistake of issuing Press Releases at the drop of a hat? Many let ego get in the way. They’re so excited by the changes or achievements in their company that they assume the rest of the city, state or country will want to know about it. Others simply take the advice of misguided “Do It Yourself” PR books. Sadly, some are unwittingly duped by PR Agencies or Consultants who issue Press Releases simply to make it look like they’re doing something productive, or worse, don’t know a more effective way of communicating.
There are plenty of examples of Press Releases gone wrong. The announcements are so commonly misused, in 2006 two fed-up members of the media started a blog to complain. The Bad Pitch Blog takes pleasure in posting media pitches and press releases that are an embarrassment to the PR Industry. The site has become incredibly popular with the press and PR Agencies and Consultants are horrified if they find themselves a target of a biting post.
Does America need to know that in one state, a “Youthful Hobby Turns into Bustling Jewelry Business?” for two relatives who sell their creations online? Yes, according a nationally distributed Press Release spotted recently. Unless the business is Tiffany or Cartier, the answer is definitely no. Will news outlets in the state of Texas carry the news from the bustling town of Humble: a “New Generation to Take the Helm at [Shawl] Store?”; not a chance. The headline is another inept example of a Release that wasn’t newsworthy, or of interest to anyone but immediate friends and family.
In my day-to-day practice, I rarely use formal Press Releases to communicate with reporters. Instead, I believe in leveraging personal relationships and contacting individual reporters and editors who, through targeted research, will likely be most interested in your business. The method has proven incredibly effective, and is a more strategic and targeted approach to securing press.
The Good News: There are times when a company has a message worthy of a Press Release, or its sister notice, the Media Advisory (a release specifically formatted for events). It’s determining which stories should be shared with the mass public, and which should be celebrated with friends and co-workers, that can be tricky.
Press Releases are commonly distributed regionally or nationally through traditional services such as PR Web or MarketWire, and tens of thousands of media outlets receive the news. Editorial decision makers from the weekly neighborhood magazine to USA Today, and the local evening news to CNN, will be reading your announcement. You don’t want their first, or most recent, reaction to your company to be a long sigh and roll of the eyes.
Press Releases distributed through wire services should meet three specific criteria:
1. Press Releases should announce NEWS of interest to a large population and geographic area. In order for a public announcement to be warranted, and effective, it should appeal to a wide audience. If you randomly surveyed 1000 people, how many of them would legitimately be interested in what your Release has to say? If your answer isn’t at least 800, rethink issuing your announcement – fast.
2. Press Releases should be hard NEWS – just the facts please! Releases aren’t meant to be rambling feature stories. Designed for the media, the headline and first paragraph should sum up, in a nutshell, the most important points and facts of the story. Supporting paragraphs should provide the 5 W’s the media looks for: Who, What, When, Where, Why & How. Leave the cute analogies and tidbits aside.
3. Follow Proper AP Style Book Formatting – A properly written Release should follow Associated Press (AP) principals, which can be found online at apstylebook.com. Known as the Journalists Bible, the Style Book sets specific standards for everything from font size to using conjunctions in headlines. Keep the length to no more than one page; reporters don’t have time to read more.
The Money: Considering a well written and timed announcement could garner widespread coverage in national media outlets, the costs are nominal. Major distributors such as MarketWire and PR Web have extremely competitive fees and services. Releasing news in one regional metro area can cost as little as $150, and national distribution with add-ons like photos and RSS Feeds can run up to $1,000.
Now that you’ll be able to easily determine when a Press Release is right for your business, your marketing can be more strategic and productive, helping you reach the public relations goals you’ve set for the year. Don’t have a PR or marketing plan in place? That’s an article for another day!
A couple of weeks ago, Entrepreneur.com posted a story reporting that an Ad-ology study found 46 percent of small businesses surveyed said they did not have a website. This news was shocking to me. Even if your business doesn’t offer an online service, your website is how consumers will look for information about your company, whether it’s your hours, location, or details regarding services or products your company specializes in.
For the small business owners out there with websites already, what impression does the site leave on visitors? Every once in a while Erika and I take some time to look over someone’s website. Whether for a client, colleague or friend, it always serves as a reminder to me that organization and details matter. You can have the best marketing strategy in the world, but if your site is confusing or unprofessional, making the sale can become impossible.
Whether you already have a website or are creating yours for the first time, here are a few tips for making sure your site is crisp, clear and consistent:
1. Think about the information you want included on your site. Erika and I tend to agree there are standard pages every site should have, and information should be organized to fit within them. This includes a/n:
Home Page – Text here should be basic, but should provide compelling information about your company and what you specialize in.
About Us Page – This page include information about who you are, how you started the company and any other members of your team consumers might want to know more about.
Products/Services Page – If you have a lot of products and services, use this page as a main overview and link to additional information.
Contact Us Page – Make sure you include your company phone number and email address. It’s also a good idea to include your physical address and links to any social networking sites you’re on (Twitter, Facebook, etc).
Additional pages we recommend (but that aren’t required) include a/n:
Client Testimonials Page – Ask a few clients to write a couple of sentences about their experience with your business for your website.
Press Page – Include information for the press in an easy-to-skim, comprehensive format. Check out www.UltimatePressPicks.com for the type of information to post, and make sure your press contact information is listed (email and phone) in addition to high-resolution images.
As Seen In Page – This page is a fabulous way to showcase any media coverage you’ve received in the past. Upload the article so anyone that visits your site can check it out.
2. Keep navigation simple. Make sure every page has tabs at the top or on the side that make navigation easy for visitors and allows them to click from the ‘Products/Services’ Page to the ‘Contact Us’ Page without needing to go back to the ‘Home’ Page first.
3. Read the text out loud. After you write the copy for your website, read it out loud, and/or have a friend read it out loud. Not only will this help you catch typos, but it will help keep the flow of the site conversational and easy for visitors to digest.
4. Keep your font consistent. One of my biggest pet peeves is inconsistency. Ultimately, we’re all human so it happens, but an easy way to keep the feel of every page (or even all your marketing materials) the same is to use the same font. Find one you like and use it for everything – your website, your brochures, your business cards, etc.
5. Make sure the text is easy to read. When you pick background and text colors, think about what they will look like on the site. We recommend a light background with a dark text or a dark background with a light text. If the background and text colors are too close to each other, the copy you spent time developing be hard to read and frustrating to your potential customers. Think about the size of your font, too. Although you don’t want it to be huge, you don’t want it to be tiny, either.
Here are a few companies that have done a fantastic job with their websites:
If you have any specific website design questions, feel free to contact us by phone (408-871-0377), email (info [AT] threegirlsmedia [DOT] com), Twitter or Facebook.
If you’re like most small business owners, you’re busy. Without a large staff (or sometimes any staff), you don’t have the option to delegate various tasks to someone lower down the food chain. The question is, while you’re busy wearing numerous hats, how can you add social networking into your already overwhelming ‘To Do’ list?
The nice thing about social networking is, although it could easily consume your day, it doesn’t have to. Instead of spending a chunk of two hours signing on to Facebook or Twitter, spend 5-10 minutes chunks throughout your day. Did you get off a phone call earlier than expected? Hop onto Twitter and see if anyone you’re following has said anything interesting. Is the person you’re meeting for coffee late? Log in to Facebook on your phone and scroll through status updates.
Although it could take you over an hour to look through every single post, remember you don’t need to see it all. If someone direct messages you on Twitter or interacts with you on Facebook, you’ll be notified. Get in the habit of clicking the @[username] link to see if anyone has replied or retweeted you on Twitter, too. If they have, respond to them. Thank them for the retweet, or ask them a question about their post.
A good way to keep your account active without much time expended is to pay attention – especially when you read through news. I generally spend 20-30 minutes in the morning looking through online newspapers and blogs and collect links of articles I find interesting. Make a note of stories you want to share, and link to them throughout the day.
If you know you’re going to be too busy to update your status during the day, I would recommend a site like HootSuite. This service allows you to schedule tweets throughout the day, so you can spend a couple of minutes all at once, and the updates post to your Twitter account later on when you’re busy.
Facebook has applications that allow you to update your status with your Twitter updates, too, which gives you one less thing to do. Personally, I recommend “Selective Tweets” because it gives you the freedom choose which Twitter updates post to Facebook.
The important thing to remember is that, although it is easy for social networking to consume your life, it doesn’t have to. By breaking up your Twitter and Facebook time into smaller time chunks, you can effectively use social networking to your advantage without a huge impact on your schedule.
It’s true that quality is better than quantity when it comes to friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter and contacts on LinkedIn. It’s better to have 5 followers that read every update and interact with you than 500 that could care less what you’re posting.
That being said, it’s much easier to connect with more people when you have more people following you. Here are a few tips for growing your Facebook fan page, your Twitter followers or your connections on LinkedIn with solid contacts.
Look through your email contacts. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all give you the option to find contacts through your email address book. Simply put in your address and password, and it will tell you which the people you already know are using the site. Simply click on those you want to add to your list and begin following them.
Publicize your information. Make sure it is easy for people you already know to find you on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Post links on your website and on your blog. Include links in your email signature and in your enewsletter. The easier it is for you to be found by people you already know, the better.
Ask to connect. Ask people you meet if they use Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn and, if so, how to find them. If you take the initiative to connect with them, chances are they will respond and follow you as well. By showing interest in others, you make yourself more interesting.
Find people to follow. Keep your eyes peeled for anyone you think would be fun to connect with and, when you find them, take action. Follow them on Twitter or become a fan of their Facebook page. If you like what they say, retweet it. If you have a comment, post it on their Fan page wall.
Take interest in others that follow you. I have my Twitter setting set to email me when someone new follows me. Although you probably can’t drop what you’re doing to check out your new followers all the time, set the notifications aside (maybe in a separate folder) and spend 10-15 minutes going through them every day or two. Look at their posts and check out their website to see if they look like someone you want to follow back.
Although this might not get you the most followers the quickest way possible, it will help you build a solid list of people that are interested in you and your business.
Although Facebook and Twitter are both social networking sites, they have separate beginnings and provide distinct services. Although you can post similar information on both sites, they are inherently different.
Facebook was founded by former-Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg (while at Harvard) who ran it as one of his hobby projects with some financial help from Eduardo Saverin. Within months, Facebook and its core idea spread across the dorm rooms of Harvard where it was very well received. Soon enough, it was extended to Stanford and Yale where, like Harvard, it was widely endorsed.
Facebook originally connected friends to friends and students to other students. Eventually the site opened up and let anyone join, but the original primary function was to connect college students to their friends at their school or another university.
Obviously, Facebook has grown since then and now allows anyone to use it connect with anyone else on the site. With this in mind, the best way to use the site is to connect with people on a personal level. Whether they’re business contacts or friends, upload pictures of yourself on your profile. Post what you’re doing that your friends might be interested in, or share a fun link or video. Even if your Facebook friends are business contacts, connecting on a personal level can help your business relationship grow as well.
Twitter
According to Gigaom, Twitter began with the idea of a service that uses SMS to tell small groups what you are doing, such as telling people that a club you’re at is happening. With this simple, basic concept, the service has expanded to allow users to tell people anything – whether it’s that the club you’re at is happening or tips for running a business.
Twitter is a fabulous tool for sharing information. Remember the point from the beginning was to share interesting information with your followers. No one will listen to what you say if you’re constantly plugging your business. Instead, promote others’ businesses, blogs and articles. Sure, include your own business news, blog posts and articles, but make sure the majority of what you’re posting is a direct result of listening to your followers and taking interest in what they’re sharing. If most of your tweets interesting to your followers, they’re more likely to take the time to read what you’re sharing and not just gloss over each post.
Chances are you’ve heard of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. You might have even registered for an account and then gotten stuck, not really knowing what to do with it. Here is a quick guide to getting set up and begin using each of these social networking sites effectively:
Twitter Quick set-up instructions: Go to www.twitter.com and click the “sign up now” button to register for a username. Be sure you include information about yourself in your bio, use a picture of yourself as your avatar and begin finding people to follow. See my post from December 10 for more detailed instructions.
Once you have your Twitter page set up and have started following a few people, what should you tweet about? Although the site prompts you to share what you’re doing, I think it’s better to share what you find interesting. I like to share links to articles I like that I think my followers will be interested in as well. If someone you follow posts a link to an article you want to share, retweet it. All you need to do is include “RT @[their name]” in front of their original post. If you have a new post on your blog, share it on Twitter, too.
Facebook Quick set-up instructions: Go to www.facebook.com, put in your name, email address, password, birthday and select “Sign Up.” Fill out information about yourself and set your privacy settings as you want them (Facebook offers flexibility to keep your profile private for just your friends to see, public for anyone to see, or in between for friends of friends to see). I would recommend putting in a picture of yourself so potential friends will recognize you as well. You can begin adding friends by allowing Facebook access to your email address book, or you can manually search for a few people you already know are using the service.
Once you have your Facebook page set up, what do you do with it? Facebook is a more personal site, so post whatever details of your personal and professional life you want to share with your friends. This can include pictures of your most recent vacation or a link to your most recent blog post. You can also create a fan page for your business and ask your friends to become fans, or if you have an activity coming up you want to invite people to, create an event and invite them via Facebook. There are a lot more options for what you share. I tend to keep my Facebook page more personal and share more about activities in my personal life – anything from my recent trip to Cleveland to being excited for Christmas – although I do occasionally include professional posts such as a client’s upcoming event I think my friends would enjoy.
LinkedIn Quick set-up instructions: Go to www.LinkedIn.com, put in your name, email address, password and select “Sign Up.” Once your account is created, fill in your work experience, education information, contact information and profile picture. You can find connections on LinkedIn by allowing it access to your email address book as well, or by searching manually. LinkedIn will also show you other people that have worked at the same companies or attended the same schools as potential contacts.
LinkedIn is a fabulous site for connecting with people on a professional level. You can share what you’re reading, join groups based on your profession or interests, recommend people you’ve worked with and ask/answer questions of other professionals. Although you can include personal information, the purpose of LinkedIn is connecting with professionals, so make sure you keep your profile business-oriented.
Once you have these three sites set up, make sure you log in and check them fairly regularly. You don’t need to be signed in 24/7, but dedicate a little bit of time to each site, even if it’s 10-15 minutes in the morning and 10-15 minutes in the evening a few times a week.
Remember: The purpose of all these sites is to connect with people and exchange information. The best way to connect with others is to share who you are and what you find interesting, so be yourself! Post about details you would share if you were talking to a friend or colleague, or what you think you would find interesting if you were on the receiving end.
If you have additional questions you would like me to answer, send me an email, post a note on Three Girls’ Facebook Wall, or reply/direct message Three Girls on Twitter (@ThreeGirlsMedia).
Three Girls recently conducted a survey in which we asked what our readers and followers want to know more about. Over half the respondents replied they wanted more help being effective with their social networking. Over the next few weeks and into 2010, we’ll dive into strategy for effective social networking, so we figured the best way to start would be to define what it is we’re talking about.
An association of people drawn together by family, work or hobby. The term was first coined by professor J. A. Barnes in the 1950s, who defined the size of a social network as a group of about 100 to 150 people.
On the Web, social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have expanded the concept to include a company’s customers, a celebrity’s fans and a politician’s constituents.
Simply put, social networking is connecting with people using websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It can be useful personally (connecting with friends and family) and professionally (connecting with industry peers, customers, business partners, etc).
Over the next few blog posts, we’ll offer advice for using social networking sites for your business and answer questions like:
I’m on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn. Now what?
What are the primary differences between Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? How can I use them in conjunction with each other?
How can I gain more followers/friends/contacts?
I don’t have time to keep up! How can I use my social networking time effectively?
If you have additional questions you would like us to answer, send me an email, post a note on Three Girls’ Facebook Wall, or reply/direct message us on Twitter (@ThreeGirlsMedia).
Chances are you’ve heard of Twitter. After all, it was the most popular word in 2009 according to the Global Language Monitor, which tracks language trends and releases an annual list of the most popular words and phrases within the English language. As reported by Mashable.com, “Twitter’s constant media attention and mainstream ascent has vaulted it into the English lexicon, so much so that it beat out the words Obama (#2), H1N1 (#3), Stimulus (#4), and Vampire (#5).”
For those of you that haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet, Twitter is a free social networking site that allows you to share what you’re doing, reading and thinking (i.e. an article you enjoyed, a blog post you wrote, what music you’re listening to, etc.) in 140 characters or less. Interested in signing up? Here are a few tips to help you get started:
Include information about yourself in your bio. Tell others what you’re interested in and/or what you do. We would also suggest including a link to your website for more information.
Include a picture as your avatar. A picture of yourself will help your followers feel like they’re connecting with a real person instead of just another faceless logo.
If you want to include your logo on your page, include it in your background. It’s easy to upload a photo to use instead of the design options Twitter offers.
Find people to follow. If you already know some people, great! Click the “follow” button so you’ll begin seeing their tweets (or posts). Look at who your friends are following or, if you don’t know anyone that’s already using the site, check out Twitter’s suggested users. You can even Google a phrase like “top Twitter users” for ideas. Make sure you’re following Three Girls (@ThreeGirlsMedia), too!
Tweet. Update your Twitter page with what you’re reading, thinking and/or doing. Did you read an interesting article? Post a link to it (remember to include what it’s about). There’s nothing wrong with promoting your business a little bit, but don’t go overboard. No one will be interested in listening if you only talk about yourself – share other tidbits you think they might enjoy.
Listen. Remember that part of networking is listening to other people, so read others’ tweets to see what they’re reading, thinking and/or doing. If you see something interesting, feel free to pass it along (or retweet it) to your followers and/or reply to the poster.
Have fun and be yourself! Remember, the whole point of social networking is to connect with people and exchange information. The best way to connect with others is to share who you are and what you find interesting.
