ZMarket Scoop

To Blog or Not to Blog

For business, that certainly is the question…..

I started this blog as somewhat of test. I had clients that would ask me about the benefits of blogs, and I do offer blog writing as one of my services, but beyond what I've read about the benefits of blogging I didn't really know that much about it. So, I started this blog to see first-hand just how time intensive this blogging was and of course for the marketing benefits for my own company. Today, I have a much greater understanding of what it takes to blog and these are some of the things I would have my clients consider before jumping into a blog.

To Blog:

Blogging, if done effectively, can increase your page rank.

Blogs attract links because the content is fresh and frequently updated.

Blogs can be added to your website and then linked to any page of your website.

Blogging gives you credibility in your market and can become a frequented how-to area for your customers.

Blogging can spur mentions in other online media (page rank and credibility).

Bloggers often provide links to other bloggers.

Blogging is fun.

Since the medium is more casual (and visual) it allows you more room for creativity outside normal business writing.

Not to Blog….

Blogging is time intensive.

To have the greatest benefit, you must blog frequently. Once a week is fine, but you probably won't become a "top blogger".

Blogging frequently means you must find new things to say on a regular basis. It is suggested that a minimum of three blog articles per week is best.

Blogging requires commitment.

If you want to keep readers coming to your site, you must be consistent in your postings.

Blogging requires a different voice.

Blog writing is so much different than any type of "business" writing and it requires finding a new voice.

Business blogging is different that personal blogging and one must keep in mind that is still a business communication tool, without being overly casual or overly promotional.

I would suggest that any company considering a blog should do one of two things: either hire a company to do the blogging for you, or hire someone who is assigned the blog as a number 1 priority. It's too easy for someone (ahem – me) to focus on the work of the day for the paying clients and push the blog to the wayside.

Choosing a Story Format Depends on Your Audience

After deciding on which markets you want to target with your PR campaign, choosing a story format that will fit the largest amount of publications is the trick to a successful PR campaign.

But, before you can decide on a story idea, you must compile a list of publications that cover the market.

Often times my clients can name the top five or six publications in a market, and are unaware that there are 30 or more. In fact, there are often 50 to 100 publications that can be targeted when going after a niche market in addition to the core market.

Media guides are the most valuable tools when it comes to editorial coverage. If you are wondering why you would target more than just the top five or six publications, you may have forgotten that we are talking about free editorial coverage. If you are going to spend the money on writing a story, why not go after the largest audience you can? Limiting coverage to the top five or six publications can mean the difference between reaching 100,000 or 500,000 readers (or prospects).

Beyond listing all print and Internet magazines that cover your markets, media guides also include valuable data like circulation (there's that 500,000 vs. 100,000), ad rates (so you can calculate what your editorial coverage saved you in ad dollars—although editorial coverage is priceless since you can't purchase it), lead times, contact information, website URL's (which lead you quickly to editorial calendars) and profile information (so you know you are reaching the right audience). Something else the profile may tell you is the preferred writing style of a magazine.

Information like lead times, site URL's (equals - quick access to magazine content and editorial calendars) and profile information are essential in deciding which format is best for editorial coverage.

Most media guides today offer instant online access to media lists and cost anywhere between $100. to $500. for a single media list, depending on what you need. The more user friendly they are and the more they allow you to hone your list, the more expensive they are. PR pros often pay thousands of dollars per year to have the most up to date and user friendly media lists. If you want to forego the cost of a media list, you could spend hours on the Internet researching different websites (tradeshow websites, magazine subscription sites, etc) to find most of the magazines. Personally, I think that spending the money on a list you can download in minutes is cheaper than the cost of your time searching the web for that information.

Once you have chosen your media list, the next step is to decide on the style and topic of your article.

Next time we'll talk about editors' number one pet peeve and what to consider when formulating a story that will gain the most of amount of coverage.

 

How to Drive Traffic to Your Website

Does all the hype about driving users to your website through pay per click ads, search engine marketing, social media, and blogs make you suspicious about which one really works best?

You are not alone. Since the inception of the World Wide Web, companies have been trying to figure out how to make money from it. After the dot bomb era, someone finally figured it out—make it a big advertising medium. The internet has been hailed as the new yellow pages--too bad yellow pages didn't jump in soon enough to become their own version of Google.

There is plenty of information out there that talks about how these tools affect consumer sales, but how do B2B and industrial marketers use them to increase web leads? Here is a quick overview of how B2B and industrial marketers can use these tools to effect web sales.

Pay Per Click: Probably the most promoted and used tool on the internet. Pay per click (PPC) ads are those entries usually on the right side of the natural search pages and/or ad highlighted at the top of the natural search results. PPC promises high ROI, click through rates and conversions; however, studies have shown that while 80% of B2B buyers research online before making a purchase, less than 20% click on PPC ads.

Search Engine Marketing: Search engine marketing or search engine optimization is about moving and keeping a company's web page to the top positions of an organic search. This is the holy grail of the web. Nearly 75% of B2B buyers searching the web click on organic links (those results in the middle of the page vs. the ads to the right and top), and the top four positions get over 50% of the click through.

Viral Marketing: Viral marketing is the most talked about topic among some internet marketers today. Viral marketing employs existing social networks to rapidly spread brand awareness through word of mouth. It is most talked about in terms of consumer products but talk of its effectiveness of its use is oozing into the B2B and industrial marketing arenas. Although there are still questions about its effectiveness, integration of blogs, industry tools and white papers into a company's website may be effective uses of this tool for industrial and B2B marketers.

Blogs: Although the next best thing since sliced bread, successful blogging demands a great deal of work to get them going. Successful blogging must supply something useful to the masses to get them there again and again, but if a company finds that special mix that pulls in the readers by providing content worthy of forwarding, a blog can be a tremendous source of leads.

Print – yes print! Print still has its place in drawing users to your website; and, next to word of mouth, is the biggest influencer in the purchase phase for B2B buyers. Printed articles about a company become a very powerful word of mouth tool in that it offers credibility through third party endorsement. Printed articles can also include carefully worded action statements that drive readers to the website when companies offer online tools such as troubleshooting guides, white papers and/or industry focused "calculators". Also as more and more trade magazines convert to digital content, a published article in a trade magazine becomes a lasting promotional tool on the Internet for years, if not decades, to come.

With the wealth of promotional activities that the internet offers, it is no wonder that more and more companies have been increasing their PR budgets the last 4 years.

Cashing in on Published Articles

Published articles about your product or company can stretch a marketing budget 10 fold.  Here are some of the ways you can cash in on marketing publicity:

Take the copy to your prospects to establish credibility.

Get reprints and send them as direct mail pieces.

Put links to the articles on your website.

Use them in monthly newsletters to your current clients and prospect list.

Create SEO articles from the original press release to increase page ranking on major search engines.

Frame them hang in the office to increase morale within your organization.

Keep a media book and present it at annual meetings.

Include a list of media placements to your annual reports.

Do You Make These Mistakes with Your Press Releases?

Press releases seem easy enough to write, but marketers often try to apply the same rules they use in marketing pieces in their press releases.

Here are three common mistakes that can kill a good press release:

1. Testimonial from clients instead of quotes.

   The difference between a quote from your client and testimonial is the tone and the subject. Quotes from your clients should address something specific about your product and how it offered a solution. Testimonials, more or less, are company focused and often address how "great" the company is. Would you rather own a car from a company that "never breaks down when you are on the road," or own a car from a company that has "outstanding customer service?"

2. Outrageous "First Ever" claims in your headline.

   Yes, if your company is an innovator, then you need to address that in your press release, but claims like "first ever" in the headline and lead paragraph are red flags for editors that a press release is self serving and quite frankly, they will challenge the claim—always. Editors are journalists and they are trained to question. They also have an uncanning knack for remembering obscure facts and will certainly remember some other product that was "like" yours and disbelieve the claim. It doesn't matter if you "truly" have the first car that can fly, there are other ways to say it that sound more newsworthy. Just think of the difference between how Newsweek would headline a UFO sighting and how a tabloid would report a UFO sighting.

3. Product focused vs. solution focused.

   Many press releases end up reading more like a spec sheet rather than a press release. Specs are fine in press releases, but they should include the benefits or give comparisons. For instance: Why is it important that a car has an 18 gallon gas tank? Compared to most vehicles that have 13 gallon gas tanks, the larger 18 gallon tank gives drivers 1/3 more driving time between fill ups. (That's not a real fact—just one I made up).

The thing to remember about press releases is that they are written for the press—you know—the media. The closer your press release is to a story that the media would write the better chance you have of getting the attention of editors and writers.

3 Easy Ways to Stand Out from your Competitors

Does it sometimes seem like you can't compete with your competitors full page ads in trade magazines?

Many of today's major brands, including The Body Shop, Starbucks, Wal–Mart, Red Bull, Oracle and Yahoo!, were built with virtually no advertising.

Feature articles in trade magazines can't be purchased, but the cost of having a feature article written and then pitched and placed in trade magazines is about one third of the cost of a full page ad.

Here are three ways to stand out from your competitors:

1. Write a feature article, or contract someone to write a feature article, about common pains in your industry and how solve those pains. Addressing specific problems in the industry will catch the attention of readers. Remember the last time an article specifically addressed a problem you were trying to solve?

1. Include quotes from one or two of your customers in the article. Getting your customers to talk about how your product solved their problem builds credibility in the readers mind. What others say about you is much more important than what you say about yourself.

1. Pitch the story to several publications in vertical markets to stretch your marketing budget and expand the reach of your message. If you are in the widget industry and your story includes quotes from an automotive company and a buzz saw manufacturer, pitch the story to widget magazines, automotive magazines and buzz saw magazines.

Standing out amongst your competitors doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. Sixty seven percent of readers take some type of action as a result of reading or looking into specific feature articles—even if it is just passing it along to another person.

Mass Emailing - How to Ensure Your Press Release Will go Unnoticed

While working in the field of media relations for past 7 years I have had the opportunity to speak with hundreds (if not thousands) of editors. And the one comment I am always guaranteed to get from at least one editor per day is, "I get hundreds of emails a day." They are not exaggerating.

Many companies know the power of editorial coverage and those who know, want it. In the pursuit of editorial coverage many companies write a press release (most often a very promotional press release) then mass email it to hundreds of editors hoping for some type of coverage. Or they place it on a news wire and hope that it will be noticed by a writer. It doesn't work.

It's an honest attempt to do what is suggested by so many "experts" out there. Once in a great while it may work, but that is the exception. Every now and again, I'll still try it in an attempt to boost a campaign for one of my clients who doesn't have the money to pay for additional pitching—a freebie so to speak "just in case" something has changed out there. Even with the best cover letter and dazzling subject line, it's a shot in the dark.

Media relations. Re·la·tion: a meaningful connection or association between two or more things, based, for example, on the similarity or relevance of one thing to another.

Mass Mailings. Mass: a body of matter that forms a whole but has no definable shape.

Making a story stand out above hundreds of others requires special skills that develop that meaningful connection between an editor and the person pitching the story. Knowing how to talk to editors, respecting their time, how their editorial process works, the types of stories they publish and a very succinct pitch that will allow them to decide in that 30 seconds whether or not it is a story that interests them is key.

When an editor is anticipating your story, it has a much better chance of being read than one that gets buried among the hundreds of unsolicited press releases.

Back-to-School Marketing for Industrial Manufacturing

I just skimmed the newest batch of marketing, search and online newsletters I get in my inbox everyday. It was filled with back-to-school marketing news and I realized that for the next few months there will not be much of value in those newsletters for me.

I subscribe to them because it keeps me up to date on the marketing arena as a whole and every once in a while there is a little pearl of wisdom I can transfer to the B2B, and more importantly, the industrial manufacturing arena. Those newsletters also give me ideas of what to write about in my own blog. Understand, I am not poo pooing them, I just haven't found a really meaty industrial manufacturing newsletter or publication that focuses on marketing.

Then I had a flash! Why not start my own Industrial Manufacturing Marketing Newsletter?! One that is truly helpful to marketers whom focus on trade magazines. Next project. I think I'll start it off in the form of a blog and accept content submissions. We'll see what happens.

I'll let you know when I get it up and running.

Industrial PR – It Isn’t About the Contacts, It’s About the Story

Often I see PR companies touting their "media contacts." But having "media contacts" doesn't amount to a hill of beans if the story isn't right for the publication.

There are several elements that can make or break a public relations strategy. First and foremost, the story must be right!

A story must match the tone of the industry. That may seem simple enough, but it takes a good amount of research to make sure the story you will be writing meets the needs of the publications in the industry. Without research into media calendars and into the pages of the magazines themselves, you may end up writing a story that just doesn't fit their editorial style or choosing a angle that has recently been covered; and, now you have a dead story.

The type of story is also important: case history, tips article, application, technology, issue. If you've decided to write a case history and that isn't what the publications are printing these days, you end up with a "filler" story that will gather dust waiting for empty pages which almost never come.

After discovering which story is best for magazine coverage, the story must be carefully crafted to engage the reader through the end while still positioning the client's product or service as a solution without being overly promotional. Overly promotional articles almost never make it to the magazines pages and if they do, readers end up not disbelieving the content anyway.

The closer a story is to a publication's journalistic style, the better chance it has of getting published.

You Got ‘Em, Now What?

Okay, so you've gotten comfortable making your calls, your pitch is pushed to the side, your thinking about what you're going to do over the weekend as you dial the numbers like a drone and suddenly someone actually answers their phone.

Oh Crap! You nearly knock over your coffee cup as you reach for your pitch and attempt to launch into your introduction as your eyes try to catch up to where you are in your script. You frantically attempt to get your pitch out before they hang up on you.

Wrong.

Calling people is not about the pitch and it's not about the numbers. It is about communication. The following tips are so basic, it almost seems silly to write them, but because it is so easy to get caught up in the actions of selling (whether it's "selling" an editor on why they should run your story or selling your product or service) we all need to be reminded of the basics.

• Greet the person on the other end of the line
  • Always start the conversation with a simple introduction (name and company) and ask them how they are doing. The truth is, they are not really listening to you anyway at this point. Most of the time you'll just have to repeat yourself anyway. They'll most likely say, "fine" and wait for you to tell them why you are calling, but now they are waiting and listening.
• Listen to your prospect
  • If they say anything but good or fine, respond to it. If they say, "not so good," or anything else, take it up. You say something like, "rough day, huh?" You'd be amazed at what they might tell you. They might say their computer just crashed or their email is wigging out. Relate to it. "I hate when that happens." Remember, your job is to communicate with them not at them.
• Briefly state the reason why you are calling and ask if this is a good time.
  • Propose an either/or question. When I call editors I tell them I have a story I want to run by them and ask if they have a moment or are they on a deadline. They are always on deadline but now they know that I care about their time (and I really do). If they are busy, don't try to shove the pitch down their throat, ask to call back (give them specific days—again either/or). Most likely they'll let you talk or they'll take your call at a later date.
  • Be real about how much time you'll need from them and get their agreement. If you say a couple minutes and keep them for ten, it will irritate them and they won't be listening anyway.
• Continue to listen to them.
  • If they sound distracted or you can hear them typing as your trying to pitch them, say something. "You sound like you're really busy right now, is there a better time for me to call?" Most people will stop and give you their attention. For those who don't, finish your pitch (without speeding through it).
• Thank them for their time.
  • Seems simple enough, but it is so important.
• Ignore the bad calls.
  • Sometimes you get someone on a bad day and they are not very pleasant. That doesn't mean they'll be the same way next time you call. Resist typing "jerk" or "don't call" in your database. If you need to follow up with them, call them first next time. It's better to get those calls out of the way first rather than thinking about avoiding the call all day. Most often, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how well the call goes.

Good luck! Now that I preached at you, I must go practice.