Bad Language » How to do PR

The right ways to use technology in marketing

Matthew Stibbe — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:14:56 +0000

This guest post is contributed by Grant Dobbins, who writes on the topic of graphic design degree . He welcomes your comments at his email id: grant.dobbins @ gmail . com.

Competition is what drives business; it eliminates cartels and monopolies and establishes an equal platform for merchants to sell their goods and services. It is also the reason marketing becomes necessary; in a sea of equals, the fish with the best marketing efforts emerges the strongest and most powerful, and this is why organizations go all out to promote their business and reel in customers. They have a powerful tool in technology – today, thanks to the immense volume of data available and the technology that allows you to sort, process and analyze it, it is possible to target customers based on their preferences, likes and dislikes, and use various forms of technology to get the marketing message across to them. However, technology is useful only when it is wielded wisely, and if misused in the marketing field, it can end up alienating instead of winning over customers. In order to use technology correctly, marketers must ensure that:

They don’t intrude on customers’ privacy: Telemarketing and cold calling may be effective marketing ploys, but when they intrude into the private lives of customers, you’re going to be at the receiving end of their ire. Some marketers even go so far as to call continuously even after they’ve been told by customers both politely and not so politely to stop bothering them. Marketing technology must be incisive, not intrusive. It must ensure that the right message reaches the customer, at the right time and the right place. If technology cannot help with this, then it’s useless as a marketing tool.
They don’t harass or annoy customers: If you’ve seen a marketing website that uses pop-ups to push their message to the customer, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Very often, the pop-up blocks most of the screen, the close button is hard to find, and most irritating of all, it keeps popping up from time to time, as if you weren’t annoyed enough the first time. Such ploys only make customers angry and leave your site rather than stay and take a look at all that you have to offer.
They don’t ignore existing customers for new ones: Most marketers are guilty of this error; they use technology to reach out to new customers and in the process forget that they have a loyal customer base that does not understand technology because they’re part of the older generation. And so they end up losing a sure thing in the pursuit of something that seems more appealing. Technology in marketing is useful only if the customer understands and appreciates its role.
They don’t resort to underhand and unethical methods: And finally, marketers who resort to shady practices to lure customers never manage to find the ones that stay loyal and prove to be worthy. Your tricks may win you a few customers, but the majority wise up to your ruses and steer clear of you. Half truths and omissions too count as lies in this business, so be very careful about what you put in your message.

When technology is used unwisely in the field of marketing, it hinders rather than helps the purpose.

It doesn’t matter how good your marketing is if it’s…killing your profits

Laura Connell — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:22:27 +0000

This is a guest post from Articulate intern, Laura Connell.

This week’s theme: “It doesn’t matter how good your marketing is if …”

Expensive marketing, no matter how cleverly conceived or well-written, can kill your profits. Adidas reported a 64 percent decline in profits in the fourth quarter of 2009 due to increased marketing costs for the forthcoming World Cup. Spending too much on marketing is a sure fire way to kill your profits – but any marketing that fails generate new business is too expensive.

Eight Expensive Marketing Mistakes

Being unclear about what you are marketing – do not overlook that fact that the primary purpose of marking is to inform your potential customers
Not explaining the benefits of your the services or products – customers are interested in the benefits of your product as well as the features.
Not having a clear call to action – A call to action should clearly tell users what you want them to do, and should include active words such as: call, buy, register, subscribe…
Forgetting to use testimonials – especially if they include the benefits that your previous customers received through your services
Asking your potential clients to take an expensive risk – create opportunities for potential clients to sample your service for free.
Targeting everybody – do not try to reach too large an audience or offer too many services or products, it is easier and more effective to focus your resources to a smaller target audience.
Copying the mistakes of your competitors - when you copy the marketing of your competitors – without analysing it thoroughly- you are likely to copy their mistakes
Paying for your marketing – there are ways to get more business for free

EA Frankenquotes

Matthew Stibbe — Thu, 13 May 2010 18:14:02 +0000

EA used to be a cool company. They published my first game, Imperium and we worked with them on a bunch of games at IG. Everyone I met there was whip-smart and passionate about making great games. Now they are just another big dumb corporation that puts out press releases with frankenquotes like this:

“This is an important inflection point in our business because it allows us to accelerate our commitment to enhance premium online services to the entire robust EA SPORTS online community.” – Peter Moore, President of EA SPORTS

(Belated hat tip: Signal vs. Noise)

Corporations of the world, fire your PR companies! You have nothing to lose but your crappy press releases.

Significant, substantial, meaningful: words to avoid

Matthew Stibbe — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:30:00 +0000

Tim Phillips’s analysis of press releases on Factiva shows a worrying trend. The number of press releases that contain the words ‘significant’, ‘substantial’, ‘meaningful’ and ‘unique’ in the same text has nearly trebled in the last seven years. Something should be done.

I don’t really understand how writers get away with this. Journalists automatically discount hype. If anything, it has the opposite effect. No editor would let it escape into their paper anyway.

Jakob Nielsen has proved that de-hyping text (among other simple steps) can double readability. Carhenge – who knew?

I think it is because PRs are paid by effort expended not results achieved and their primary audience is not (as you might think) journalists and their readers, but their corporate masters who pay the bills.

Check out my article: 62 ways to improve your press releases. This is also a good chance to revisit the worst press release ever.

Search engine marketing for beginners

Matthew Stibbe — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:05:00 +0000

Nearly every business has a website and we all know that Google (and to a much lesser extent Yahoo!, Bing and other search engines) help people find products and services they want. The challenge is to make sure that when people look for a business like yours, they actually find your business and not a competitor. This means ensuring that your website is search engine optimised. In other words, help Google help you.

There is a lot of snake oil and canyons full of BS in the search engine optimisation (SEO) business and it’s easy to give up, thinking it’s too difficult, or waste money on non-productive or even counter-productive strategies hawked by ‘specialists’. On the other hand there’s plenty you can do yourself at no cost except your time. That is what this post is about.

Keywords. Google doesn’t understand English. It uses maths and programming to search website text for keywords. Your job is to make sure you your keywords accurately describe your company. Make a list of key search words that you want to be known for. For example, if you’re a high-end cabinet maker you may want to consider words like: cabinetry, luxury, hand-made, unique, bespoke, craftsman, artisan etc. You may also want to include words to describe the market you serve, such as South London or UK. Aim to compile a list of about 20-30 of these words. Google’s keyword tool may help.
Website copy. Make sure your website uses these key words. Most people never get beyond the home page so you definitely need to have them all on that page. If you’ve picked words that represent your business accurately, you’ll have no problem including them in the text and menus of your site. A good copywriter will be able to do weave SEO text that also reads naturally. It’s even better if you use your keywords in headlines and link anchor text because Google knows that these are more important than plain ordinary text. (Google can’t read text in pictures and, I think, in Flash animations, so make sure that you embed keywords in actual text.) The best time to do this is before your designer starts work on the site but since text is easily changed, it shouldn’t cost a lot to amend what you already did.
Make sure your designer understands SEO. You shouldn’t have to pay extra to get a site that does the basics for you. This includes making sure that it is standards-compliant (it meets industry standards for the code that describes the site) and accessible (it can be used by people with disabilities such as poor eyesite). This will help Google’s robots parse your site. Errors can make them give up and go home. Your site should have a Google-friendly navigation system so that it can find all the pages you have created. All this is like buying a car that comes equipped with an engine. Test standards compliance with the W3C validator. Note that automated tools aren’t perfect arbiters of compliance.
Tags and page titles. Meta tags are a way that web designers can embed your keywords invisibly in a page in a way that helps a search engine understand your site. They’re less important than they used to be but it makes sense to have them. A web designer should already include them but it only takes a few minutes to add them so don’t pay through the nose for it. More importantly, you should ensure that your page descriptions – the text that appears in the browser window at the top – accurately reflects the site and your business. Don’t just repeat your site address there.
Submit. Submit your site to Google, Yahoo!, Bing, DMOZ and any other search engines that take your fancy. If you use WordPress, consider using the Google Sitemaps plugin to create a sitemap and upload it to popular search engines automatically. If your site is quite complicated, it may pay to get your web designer to build a sitemap and upload it manually to Google Webmaster tools.
Incoming links. Google prioritises sites that have a lot of incoming links, especially from other trustworthy sites. Encourage clients, friends, family members, partners, suppliers, industry mavens, bloggers – anyone, really – to link to your site. The more incoming links you have the higher your site will rank. The words people use to describe your site in their links is also important. If they use some of your keywords that will associate your site with those words more strongly in the cybernetic mind of Google.
Bookmark yourself. You can link to your site yourself. LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, Google Profiles, StumbleUpon and similar sites can get you ‘free’ incoming links that are strongly associated with your name and your keywords. Also, try to get your site listed in industry websites etc. If you have a street presence, like a shop or a head office, add it to Google Maps.
Metrics. Sign up for a Google Analytics account and track visitors to your site. You’ll see where they come from and what keywords they searched for. This allows you to fine-tune your efforts and thank people who link to you. It’s easy to add the code to your site and your web designer should be able to do it in a few minutes. In WordPress you can use one of the Google Analytics plugins.
Search engine advertising. It’s easy to advertise on Bing, Yahoo! and Google. You only pay when someone clicks on your link and visits your site. You can also set daily and monthly budgets so you can experiment with online advertising on the cheap. If you advertise against a carefully selected set of keywords you can drive qualified traffic to your site relatively cheaply. Using advertising in conjunction with analytic lets you track what your paid-for visitors did when they got to the site – did they buy?
Useful content. If you publish useful content (in addition to and alongside sales material) on your site, it will help Google identify your site with your keywords and it will bring visitors looking for information about your area of expertise. For example, you could publish a white paper, buyer’s guide or a blog. Use your expertise to promote your site. This is an area where a good copywriter can really help.
Social media. Set up a blog, join Twitter, read other blogs, leave comments, use social bookmarking sites like Digg, Reddit, etc., set up a fan site on FaceBook, build a network on LinkedIn. All these activities help to get your name out on the internet, along with your website address. Put in the effort and you will get traffic from it.
Use your website address offline. Make sure it is on your business card, carrier bags, leaflets, shop window, the side of your van, receipts, invoices, letters etc. If you do PR, try to make sure that journalists mention your URL. Include it in the footer of every email you send.
PR. This isn’t the place for an extended discussion about PR but there are a couple of ways you can use PR to get your site name out there. For example, you can write guest posts for other blogs in your field. You can submit press releases to PR NewsWire and similar services.

Apple iPad: can you have too much hype?

Matthew Stibbe — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:30:00 +0000

As Apple’s new slate nears its launch date finally appears, the level of hype is rising almost exponentially. I think there is a real risk that no matter how good the iSlate is, it will not be good enough to live up to the speculation. Mark Morford captures the risks of over-expectation and techno-lust perfectly in his Open letter to the new Apple iTablet.

One thing we now know for sure: You will appear in a burst of dazzle in just a few short days at another special Apple media event, revealed in all your iWonderglory, ogled and cheered and turned over in the hand like an electric gemstone unearthed by trembling archaeologists who do not dress very well and seldom have sex.

Inside the newsroom: Why doesn’t the media cover my company?

Matthew Stibbe — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:00:00 +0000

Mark Macias takes us inside the newsroom in this guest post. As an Executive Producer with WNBC-TV and Senior Producer with WCBS-TV, Mark Macias has vetted story ideas from reporters, producers, publicists and viewers. He is the author of Beat the Press.

It’s the one question every news junkie wants to know. How do the news producers and newspaper editors decide what to print and broadcast on TV?

Conspiracy theorists always have a field day when they point out most of the local and national newscasts usually start with the same story. In many cases, even the video and sound are the same among the competing news organizations. How could this be, they ask. Is this a coincidence or has the media been indoctrinated to all chase the same stories?

The truth is the news media is driven by profits and that means eye balls matter. It’s no different than slowing down as you pass a car crash. You want to see the damage because it reinforces that you have somehow escaped death and lived to see another day. TV viewers have the same habits. They tend to watch stories of doom and gloom and that translates into higher ratings. Higher ratings equal higher ad rates, which means more money for their corporate giants.

Sure, people complain they hate watching murder and crime stories, but would they tune in to a story about a grandmother who made it home safely from work? Probably not; but they would likely watch the story if she got mugged and the News at 6 showed the entire crime captured from an elevator surveillance camera.

In many ways the media runs in packs. Every news outlet wants to run enterprise and original stories, but the open secret inside every newsroom is most editors, news managers and producers are afraid of failure. If the public doesn’t buy, read or watch their stories, they know they will lose credibility in the newsroom for pitching it. Once credibility is lost, you are perceived as the “out-of-touch” journalist and no one wants that label. The only thing scarier than that is being identified as the “overpaid journalist” during an economic downturn.

This is why if you want a story written about you or your business, you need to cite a reason why people will want to watch. Don’t assume news is a public service that must provide equal time. Yes, the media is entitled to run stories that benefit and help the public, but subconsciously, every news decision-maker will secretly ask himself, “is this something my viewers will watch?”

You can improve your chances of getting any story on the news by understanding how viewers think. And in just in case you’re wondering, how do they think? Pretty much just like yourself. It’s a simple formula that news managers continue battle with every day.

Absurd spammy press releases sent to my blog

Matthew Stibbe — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:03:49 +0000

As promised, here are the headlines for the most absurd press releases sent to my blog in the last month plus the PR companies behind them.

I can see no reason at all why these PR companies would want to target ME with these stories.

I’m pretty sure that all the PR companies concerned are billing their clients for their ‘blog outreach’ campaign. What a waste.

Precise picture of early Universe supports "dark matter" theory (Spring O’Brien)
Disney FamilyFun Announces Toy of the Year Award Winners (Rosen Group PR)
Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet TOP SEARCH on Google This Week (5W Public Relations)
SimpliFi helps consumers avoid the holiday financial hangover (Atomic PR)
Tips to keep legs looking good, cold weather strategy!!! (5W Public Relations) Note that the three exclamation marks are from the original.
Maria Shriver has Cell Phone Driving Mishap – Tips to Help Break the Habit (5W Public Relations)
Ready to go tips for a fun and healthy Halloween! (5W Public Relations)
Top students choosing college based on "values," not cost (Lipman Hearne)
Dynamic law firm, Spring Law, unveils innovative business Model (Singleton PR) Note that the capitalisation of ‘Model’ is from the original.
Five Best Halloween Weekend Getaways by Travel-Ticker.com (Atomic PR)
Ways to keep your children healthy and happy (5W Public Relations)
Best Kid Friendly Hotels in Hawaii (Oahu, Kauai & Maui) (5W Public Relations)
PLAYMOBIL: THE SECRET OF PIRATE ISLAND on DVD (Jane Ayer PR) Note that shouting capitalisation is also from the original.

And my particular favourite:

Is there a place for "murder-boarding" in American business? New book says definitely yes (Newman Communications)

I am interested in writing, communications, technology and business. On my other blog, Golf Hotel Whiskey, I’ll look at anything related to space and aviation. I’d love to hear from PR companies that have something interesting to say on these topics. So are my readers. C’mon PR companies, you can do better than this.

Do PR companies understand blogs yet?

Matthew Stibbe — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:20:02 +0000

Thanks to the success of this blog, I now get press releases from PR firms.

A few are useful, such as announcements of books in my field or writing tools or people I might like to talk to. (For instance, myWriterTools who pinged me earlier this year or the folk at MindJet who sent a very thoughtful email asking me to look at their product or HP – a client – who set me up with an interview with their CTO).

Sadly, the vast majority are completely pointless and a waste of their clients’ money. Here are some of the problems:

Irrelevant. Products that have nothing to do with the subject of my blog. Today, for example, I got a press release from KMR Communications in New York for Le Baby hair gel. Yes, hair products for children. This is almost a daily occurrence now. Please look at my blog before you pitch me something.
False promises. A PR firm working for Roger Connors and Tom Smith, authors of How did that happen? offered a guest post about accountability for my blog. I rarely do guest posts but the book sounded interesting and the offer seemed sincere so I explained a bit about my blog and audience and gave them some suggestions for an article. What they sent me (about three weeks later) was a generic piece that had been published on dozens of sites. Either don’t offer a guest post or do it properly.
Unrealistic expectations. Occasionally I rant about companies or products that let me down in some way. OB10 being the most notable example. PR companies monitor blogs for adverse comments and often respond very quickly to them. This is nice – I’m open to discussion and feedback and, yes, even correction. But having put things right, don’t then ask me to delete the blog post. That’s not how it works it. In the case of OB10, I did add a postscript saying that my particular problem had been fixed.
Nothing to offer. The majority of PR pitches I get as a blogger give me nothing I can use. No demos, no high-level interviews, no fabulous gifts or freebies. (Guy Kawasaki got an Audi R8 for a week!) They just send their announcements and press releases and hope that I bite. But on what?

Here are my top tips if you are a PR company and you want to engage with me:

Read my blog and understand what I’m interested in. No more pitches for children’s shampoo. I’m going to start naming and shaming.
Give me something I can use. Guest posts, demos, interviews with interesting people, comment, link love, Twitter follows, cool pictures and videos, put something about me on your blog.
Don’t promise more than you can deliver.
Don’t give me shit and pretend it’s caviar (are you listening ‘How did that happen?’ people?)
Build a relationship. Let’s be friends. Be consistent and reliable. Find ways to help me, e.g. with introductions or content. Do this before you want me to do something for you.
If you disagree with me, disagree in a bloggy way (e.g. with comments as well as direct email) and disagree agreeably.
Ask for my help and feedback on something. Then listen to me. Bloggers are great pundits, critics and product mavens. We love opining. Ask us to opine and we’ll be your friend. (Don’t do what OB10 did and ask me to introduce them to my customers so that they could ask them for their feedback. No. Sorry. My contact list is private, thank you.)
Write short emails and get to the point. 100-150 words is enough for a pitch.
Blogs are personal. I like to talk to people. I like people’s opinions. The corporate angle is okay for a journalist, but a blogger wants to get to the people behind the story.
If all that fails, freebies are worth a try. Come on Audi! Where’s my A8. And my other blog, Golf Hotel Whiskey, reviews planes, airports and pubs, restaurants and hotels for pilots. Plenty of opportunities there for naked bribery. (In the interests of full disclosure, there will always be full disclosure.)

As a recovering journalist I have a pretty low opinion of PR firms. (See The top ten lies of PR companies and How to annoy a journalist.) However, there are some good ones out there and I know that some of them would like to sell their clients an ethical and hard-working blog outreach campaign. I’m listening if you do it right.

Build your personal brand with a good photo

Matthew Stibbe — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:50:19 +0000

A good picture of yourself is essential if you want to build your brand online. It really is worth a thousand words.

A few years ago, I hired a professional photographer to take my picture. It didn’t cost much (£200, I think) but I think it was the best marketing investment I have made. It puts a human face on all my interactions online.

(I’m no model so this is making the best of a bad job!. I have more books and less hair now.)

Here are some tips for getting and using a good photo:

Find a photographer you like. The most important thing is to be relaxed and happy while you’re doing it. Most people dislike posing for photos so you’ll need moral and practical support while you do it. I talked to three or four different photographers. I found a couple online and the others were recommended to me. Back then, I was writing for business magazines and the chap I used (Graham Fudger) took a lot of portraits for them. This is a good thing. Anyone who can make a man in a suit look semi-interesting is a good photographer.
DIY if you have to. A professional photographer is best but even a DIY picture or the services of a patient and artistic friend with a tripod and nice camera will do if you can’t afford to pay. Just don’t use grainy snaps from a phone camera.
Choose a natural location. I tried a studio photograph and it was just too formal. I took my picture at my club but any well-lit location that you like will work. The focus should be on you, of course, but a matching setting helps. Guy Kawasaki uses an outdoor location very well in his picture:
Be yourself. Avoid joke pictures. Don’t dress up too much or be too casual. Choose the clothes you would normally wear if you were trying to make a good impression. Take a selection of different items and take advice from the photographer.
Colour balance for onscreen use. A photographer can tweak a picture in Photoshop so it works better onscreen. Get a print version as well, just in case.
Crop out the boring bits. Focus in on the expressive bits of your face – eyes, mouth, forehead, cheeks. The rest of it is irrelevant, especially if you only have a 32×32 pixel icon to play with. If you look at the image I use on this blog, it’s just my face cropped out of the picture in this post. Seth Godin is, of course, an exception but his picture uses his eyes very expressively:
Use the same image everywhere. Using the same image on different sites will reinforce your brand. Like a logo, you want it to be the same everywhere.
Get a mix of shots. Some smiley, some serious, some that show your teeth and some that don’t etc. Try to relax during the photo shoot so that the images feel more human. My photographer took perhaps 150 different photos and only four or five were usable and one or two stood out.
Ask a friend. Ask your friends to pick their favourite shots. Make a note of their opinions but don’t tell them which images you like until they’ve shared their comments. Remember, you’re not the one who’s going to be looking at these pictures. The photo that jumps out at the most people is a good guide. Remember – we are all a bad judge of our own appearance. You need to pick a picture you can live with for a year or two.
Get feedback.Ask them what they liked about your pictures. How do they make you appear?
Have a trial run. Get a friend to take some indoor and outdoor shots to help you decide what suits you best. The same with makeup and hair, if these things matter to you.
Prepare like a model. Before the shoot eat well and drink gallons of water and get a good night’s sleep the night before. If you wake up with a huge spot on your chin, reschedule.

How to use your picture:

On your blog’s about page and author information
Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Xing, LinkedIn etc.
Social bookmarking sites: Technorati, Digg etc.
Instant messaging and VOIP: Skype, AIM etc.
Google Profile: This is a free way to link your blog and online presences with your profile and picture on Google. It’s very useful for SEO – ‘Hey, Google! All these sites belong to me!’
Gravatar: this will associate your email address(es) with your picture so that your comments on other people’s blogs will show your picture. This is very cool and very easy and free. It’s a no-brainer.
I’m sure you can think of a million others but it’s so easy to do this stuff when you have the right picture that’s pointless not to