Unleash the Power of The Press

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Speech! Speech! How giving speeches can win you business.

Speaking at seminars, networking events, professional or trade gatherings or teaching a class is a great way to not only strut your stuff and show off your expertise, but market your company.

Why? Much like the credibility factor you gain when a newspaper or magazine writes a story on your company as opposed to you placing an ad in that publication, being an in-person authority via a speaking engagement gives you considerable cache. It also gives you the very best opportunity to showcase your expertise. 

Developing a speaking engagement program takes a game plan. For starters, you’ll want to:
  • Decide which product or service you want to showcase. It can be an existing product or service or the launch of a new one. Sometimes the best way to get a new product or service off the ground is via a speaking engagement.
  • Select the right speaker from your organization – Sometimes the head honcho isn’t the right fit for certain audiences; some of your executives may not be as polished. You need to select the speaker that puts your company in the best light.
  • Target an audience; geographic region – Sure, you want to speak in front of people who might actually buy your product or service. Yet sometimes in speaking to a non-profit group or to students, you can strike a chord with somebody who knows somebody. In other words, there’s never really a bad speaking opportunity. In designing your speaking program, you want to target the most likely potential customers in the desired geographic location.
  • Assign ownership of your speaking program – Designate one person in your organization to be in charge of finding speaking opps so it’s an active part or your marketing. It also makes it easier because your go-to person for speaking engagements will be more familiar with the application process and working with event coordinators.
  • Make a splash with your presentation – While speaking engagements can be a great way to market, you can also fall flat on your face if your presentation doesn’t grab your audience. Invest the time and, if necessary, the expense in making your speech captivating.
While it may take a bit to get your speaking program off the ground, it’s well worth it. Not only will you be able to market your company to the people you’re speaking to, but it provides a number of opportunities to publicize appearances-before and after-with press releases and links. But that’s a subject for another PR Pointer.

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Do you Google good to great? Protecting your online reputation.

Flowers may say “I love you” but negative comments about your business or service on a blog or consumer Web site are forever. And if a Google search on your company contains just one of these sites on the first page, you’ve got a huge problem.

Is it hopeless? Yes and no.

Yes, because you’ll never eliminate the negative post on a comment page of a blog or Web site.

No, because you can push the negative site down on searches of your company name by consistently putting out positive information on your company via blogs, press releases, “how to” and bylined articles and even creating additional Web sites on your company’s products or services.

By creating new content about your company, particularly if it’s posted on another Web site that ranks highly in the search engines—like Prfree.com or other press release distribution sites—you can push the offending site or blog down the page of searches on your company.

Ideally, you want to push the offending page as many pages back in a Google search as possible. Unfortunately, that will take a great number of press releases, blog entries and other efforts. Your immediate goal should be to knock the negative site off the first page of a Google search.

One simple way to accomplish this is to plan a series of press releases, with a minimum of one per week over the course of a few months. Be sure to post your press release on at least 10 free press release submission sites. Within a few weeks, you should start to see these releases appearing on searches for your company name. As long as there are no additional posts on the negative sites, you have a pretty good shot of knocking the negative post off the first page of searches.

Most importantly, be patient and stick to the plan. It may take a month or two or even longer to knock the negative site off the first page. But it can be done if you keep putting out new, positive content on your company.

Get proactive, keep the momentum going and get good to great on Google.

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“Accept the recession or get aggressive” seminar

What if the phone doesn’t ring and customers don’t come through the door?  Flick off the lights and fold or get aggressive?

 

“Accept the recession or get aggressive” is a two hour seminar which outlines new proactive ways of winning new business. The workshop is set for Wednesday, March 25, 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and will be held at 25 Braintree Hill Office Park, Suite 200, Braintree. 

 

The objective and informational panel presentation will feature Ken Cheo, a seasoned sales consultant and director of Winfree Business Advisors based in Braintree, Mass.; Sean Lobdell, CEO of the new media and marketing firm Stainless Communications, Inc. based in Lynn, Mass.; and Steve Dubin, President of PR Works, a direct response public relations firm based in Kingston, Mass.

 

Topics to be discussed include how to find the right customers; how to duplicate your best customers; how to generate warm leads; and when to fire bad clients.  Additionally, the panel will outline step-by-step ways to combine a consistent marketing strategy with effective sales tactics.

 

“Participants should walk away from this workshop with a new perspective on the today’s sales and marketing landscape,” noted Ken Cheo.  He added, “This will open eyes and provide specific and immediate suggestions to transform the business development process.”

 

The fee for the event is $20 per person and the entire proceeds will be donated directly to the Marshfield Boys & Girls Club.  A complimentary Continental breakfast will be served.  Reservations are required and can be made by contacting Ken Cheo, (781) 930-3220 or kcheo@winfree.org

 

 

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Repurposing your press releases

Joe D'Eramo
Joe D'Eramo

(Editor’s note – Thanks to Joe D’Eramo who gave us permission to REPURPOSE this article.)

So, you want to get some publicity for your company’s latest product, new hire, move, whatever the topic. You put out a press release with the ultimate goal of getting some type of coverage. And while that type of free media is great, there are a number of other uses for a press release.

For starters, besides sending the release to media outlets, there are any number of free press release submission sites out there. For example, prfree.com. Submitting your release on these sites with a link back to your Web site can improve your place in the search engine rankings.

Speaking of rankings, by all means your press releases should go on your Web site’s news room. If you don’t have a newsroom, you should have one. It’s a great place to store press releases and any coverage you might get.

One more thing about press releases on your own Web site. Since releases are generally on a topic for which you want your company to be known, it’s a great opportunity to load up on keywords. That means the press release you send out to the media doesn’t necessarily have to be verbatim from the one you post on your site. You can load that one up with extra keywords and keyword phrases to improve your search engine rankings.

If you’re writing your press releases in a tone and format where a newspaper could easily run it verbatim, it’s quite easy to repurpose the news release for some other use. For example, a bylined article. All it takes is changing the format slightly—take the “For Immediate Release” dateline and boiler plate and you have the making of a short article suitable for a company newsletter or e-zine.

For companies that have their own blogs, news releases can also quite easily be converted to blog material. There are also dozens of free submission sites for articles. Again, if you link the article back to your company Web site, you have another vehicle for boosting your search engine rankings.

Ironically, you don’t have to repurpose the news release altogether to give it even more power. A press release makes an invaluable collateral piece, particularly if it’s informative in nature. It’s often a nice leave-behind piece for your sales force. You can even use it as a quasi company newsletter for your employees and your clients.

In fact, sending press releases to clients and employees is one underutilized way to get the full benefit of a press release. Employees certainly appreciate being kept in the loop. You’d be surprised how few companies keep their employees abreast of breaking news.

As for clients, it’s a perfect way to stay in touch in between newsletters, if you have one of those. It can almost act as a substitute for one if you don’t. A press release can remind your client base of not only of what you’re doing, but new or other services you offer that they might not know about.

Ideally, a press release gets you in the press. Repurposing your press release for other media gives you the most bang for your press release buck.

Repurposing your press releasesRead More

Seven Deadly Business Clichés That Need to be Stopped

A green light to drawing traffic to your Web site

(Note: Larry Rice, Director of Business Development, for Rodman & Rodman, P.C. authored this topic. We thought PR Pointer readers would enjoy it.)

OK, it is January.  This is when we rid ourselves of old baggage and begin again. What is that phrase – “Out with the old and in with the new?”

Well I am going to focus on getting rid of the old this month.  Specifically, I would like to propose my list of seven business clichés that need to get kicked to the curb. If you see any that you use, don’t feel guilty. I use nearly all of these phrases myself. But it needs to be stopped, for a variety of reasons:

They sound pretentious; They don’t really mean anything; They no longer mean what they were originally intended to mean; and They’re annoying as hell.

I won’t bother putting these in some sort of order or ranking. Take them for what they are:  Overused clichés that need to take a two decade vacation, or longer.

#1 “Solution” – Everything everyone does these days is a solution, but is it really?  When someone provides you a solution, does it end up being the correct answer? That is what I think a solution is; it is an answer. Time for ‘solution’ to go.

#2 “Re-invented” – You cannot re-invent anything. See, I am already annoyed. Only one person or group gets to invent something. Everyone else is either changing that invention or improving it.

#3 “Just my 2 cents” – This one simply needs to be adjusted for inflation. We should at least be up to a buck and a quarter by now.

#4 “Organic growth” – Am I the only one who gets visions of unsightly molds when they hear this cliché used? I get so distracted by the visual I don’t hear a single thing said after that phrase is uttered. We cannot have that. Good bye.

#5 “At the end of the day” – This one has British roots I believe, but so does the English language so I am not blaming anyone from the United Kingdom for this one. All I know is that at the end of the day, you go home and that is what one should focus on – Heading home to your reason for working and building a business in the first place: Your family.

#6 “Thinking outside of the box” – I am sure someone knows the etymology of this phrase, and I admit I use this phrase a lot, but I am going to stop. Largely because I think there is a better word we should use more: Creativity. Just saying the word beckons more open thinking to me. Boxes? They should be recycled – end of story.

#7 “Throw him under the bus” – Last but not least is this classic.  You can thank me later – but some day you are going to be talking with someone important to your business that has actually had a loved one hit by a bus. You will be so thankful that “THUTB” was out of your cliché repertoire when you do.

So there they are. You have your own I am sure.  Think about the phrases you say a lot, maybe too much. Then find a new way of saying it.  If you catch me using these, confront me. I’ll appreciate it I assure you.

Footnote:
Larry Rice, Director of Business Development, for Rodman & Rodman. The company was founded in 1961, Rodman & Rodman, P.C. provides accounting, tax and business services to small and medium-sized companies throughout New England.  With a focus on strategic planning, Rodman & Rodman goes beyond traditional accounting services and takes a proactive approach when serving clients to increase, preserve and sustain clients’ financial net worth.  For more details, please see www.Rodmancpa.com.

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PR Works meets with TV star Christopher Lowell at DirectBuy national convention in San Francisco.

Joe D'Eramo (left) and Steve Dubin (right) with Christopher Lowell.
PR Works Joe D'Eramo (left) and Steve Dubin (right) with Christopher Lowell.

DATELINE: KINGSTON, MA…

PR Works founder Steve Dubin (Kingston, Mass. resident) and account manager Joe D’Eramo (Plymouth resident) recently met with TV star Christopher Lowell at the national convention for their mutual client DirectBuy.  The convention was held in San Francisco and attended by more than 1,500 DirectBuy staff members.

Lowell, a decorator and television personality, is the host of It’s Christopher Lowell! and the Christopher Lowell Show for which he won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2000.

Christopher Lowell has become a household name and has appeared appearing on The Hollywood Squares. DirectBuy provides members access to twelve room settings created by Christopher Lowell.  Lowell will host an upcoming series on Fine Living Channel called Work That Room with Christopher Lowell.

PR Works met with Lowell to discuss a variety of public relations initiatives to expand awareness of DirectBuy. PR Works develops visibility programs for the more than 160 DirectBuy stores that are located in the United States and Canada.

Held from November 22 to 25 at the San Francisco Marriott, DirectBuy’s conference, appropriately titled the Brilliance by the Bay, brought DirectBuy center owners, staff and vendors from across the U.S. and Canada. Besides awards banquets, keynote speakers, the conference provided a team-building opportunity.

“DirectBuy executives and staff are energized to create new business opportunities and continue to grow their brand,” noted Dubin. He added, “The conference underscored the unique niche that DirectBuy can offer to consumers – buying at manufacturers’ price can save an enormous amount of money and should be a fun, positive experience.”

As the leading members-only showroom and home design center, DirectBuy offers manufacturer-direct pricing on products ranging from light fixtures to televisions to kitchen cabinets, all from more than 700 manufacturers and their authorized suppliers. DirectBuy also offers design services to its members, as well as a listing of local contractors who offer installation services to DirectBuy members, many times at a discounted rate.

PR Works offering The Works

For 18 years, PR Works has been providing a wide expanse of public relations services including strategic PR planning, news releases, feature story development, media placement, media coaching, newsletters, case studies, grand opening management, product and service launch management, press tours, and press conference management.  In addition to public relations, PR Works provides complete marketing services such as brochure development, advertising campaigns, direct mail, and telemarketing.

Visit the new website at www.prworkzone.com.  For FREE brochures entitled “How to Talk to the Press”, “Making Newsletters Noteworthy”, and “Seminars Lead to Motivated Prospects”, please contact Steve Dubin at (781) 582-1061, sdubin@prworkzone.com, 51 Lot Phillips Road, Kingston, MA.

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It is that THANKING TIME OF YEAR.

 

In taking an ever so brief pause, here are THANKFUL thoughts:

Thanks for editors who return our calls.

Thanks for editors who don’t require us to call.

Thanks for coverage that is included online and can be repurposed.

Thanks for clients who respond to emails.

Thanks for online news sites that spider so well.

Thanks for online press lists that get us direct to the right editor.

Thanks for flights that take off on time. And land early.

Thanks for fast speed Internet connections at Panera Bread.

Thanks for networking groups that deliver new opportunities.

Thanks for BRIEF teleconference calls.

Thanks for recognition when deserved, criticism when needed.

Thanks for colleagues, clients and encounters that make us laugh.

Thanks for our families who tolerate our hours, moods and distractions.  

 

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PR Works becomes a Constant Contact Business Partner and offers full e-Newsletter services

E-newsletter service is now only a click away. PR Works, a public relations and marketing firm based in Kingston, Mass. and serving clients throughout the U.S., has become a Constant Contact Business Partner and offers full e-Newsletters, including writing, design and dissemination.

As a business partner, PR Works has the capability to create and manage Constant Contact email campaigns for clients, which in turn enables their clients to very inexpensively and consistently stay in front of their existing customer base and network. In this way, PR Works’ clients are better able to solidify their customer relationships while potentially generating new business leads.

Utilizing Constant Contact’s marketing tools, PR Works is able to develop, design and disseminate e-newsletters, surveys and other promotional materials via email to recipients who have opted-in to a client’s Constant Contact mailing list. After an email has been delivered, PR Works is able to see how many recipients opened, clicked and forwarded the email by generating a Constant Contact campaign report. Constant Contact subscriber reports enable the company to track new and removed contacts and more. Constant Contact, which has a strict “no SPAM” policy, maintains all email lists, automatically adding and removing recipients who opt-in and out of email subscription.

According to Steve Dubin, president of PR Works, “A business’ existing customer base and network is a valuable commodity. Staying in front of clients online helps keep that bond intact by virtue of regular interaction. As a Constant Contact business partner, we take the marketing chore of creating, distributing and tracking e-newsletters and other materials off our clients’ plates so they can concentrate on what they do best.”

He continued, “We have the capability to analyze results from each mailing which helps us to determine what works for each client. Then we factor it into strategic development of their PR campaign.”

Short, informational e-newsletters that provide tips or inform customers of news or events enable PR Works clients to circumvent the postage, printing, graphic design and mailhouse service cost of traditionally printed newsletters. PR Works assists with the strategy, development and consistent production of e-newsletters and other promotional materials on their clients’ behalf.

The company provides Constant Contact capability to clients who are on retainer and also to those opting for a la carte public relations and marketing services.

For more information, contact PR Works at 781-582-1061 or visit www.prworkzone.com.

PR Works offering The Works

PR Works Public Relations agency offers a wide expanse of public relations services including strategic PR planning, news releases, feature story development, media placement, media coaching, newsletters, case studies, grand opening management, product and service launch management, press tours, and press conference management. In addition to public relations, PR Works provides complete marketing services such as brochure development, e-mail campaigns, advertising campaigns, direct mail, and telemarketing.

PR Works is headquartered in Kingston, MA. For more information, visit www.prworkzone.com or contact (781) 582-1061.

PR Works becomes a Constant Contact Business Partner and offers full e-Newsletter servicesRead More

Blog on and cash in on the traffic

In a previous blog, we talked about blogging as a means to generating traffic on your Web site. Here’s a little more detailed explanation as to why.

Blogs provide you with the opportunity to showcase your expertise in a more casual, less salesy forum. With a little research on the keywords that people are searching for in your area of expertise, you can create keyword-heavy blogs that can generate search engine traffic.

Besides helping more people find your site via the search engines, a blog, if written well and with useful content, can make those visitors stick around your site a bit longer. Perhaps even visit again on their own if the blog information is useful and updated on a regular basis.

So, you’re probably saying, who’s got time to run a business and blog. The answer is that you can probably repurpose existing information.  It is likely that you already have an abundance of material you could convert into a short 150 to 300-word blog. Press releases, E-newsletters, announcements, some Web content, brochure content and ads can all be repurposed into blog content. Just remember that blogs on a business site should be there to inform. If you can achieve that goal, the sales will come.

PR Works helps clients maintain a consistent page one online search presence with a variety of efforts, including planning and posting blog entries.  Contact us if we can help you with basic blogging and tackling.

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