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Is it crass to advertise during COVID-19?

photo of advertising image

This is one of the oddest, yet regularly heard questions I get asked these days:

“Is it crass to continue to advertise and market during the pandemic?”

This question goes so against my grain it stops me to pause. 

Best answer? It is NOT acceptable to profiteer during the pandemic. For example, some rogues were hoarding and then reselling hand-sanitizer at 10 times its original cost. Not okay.

But, of course, it is okay to sell products and services that are in need by the public.  

It is critical to generate income to keep your staff employed and to maintain solvency. 

Pivoting to do business in creative ways is also strongly encouraged. Tele-quotes, tele-consultation, webinars, online demos, virtual networking are good examples of this. 

Planning an aggressive marketing approach as we emerge from COVID-19, which could be as soon as May 18 in Massachusetts, is strongly encouraged.

Who are the first to reengage with your products and services? What will entice them to act NOW? How can you keep that sales pattern flowing?

What channels will reach them? What is the messaging? How often is the messaging?

Most businesses need to make up for lost revenue. They need to remain visible and viable. 

Heck, yes! It is MORE than okay to advertise and market during the pandemic.

Need help in developing a plan? Capable hands in getting it done? Give us a call at 781-582-1061 to get started.

Is it crass to advertise during COVID-19?Read More

Ready, set, podcast! 8 steps to get there.

We are in the golden age of podcasting. More than half of American homes tune into a podcast regularly. Why not YOURS?

Podcasting allows you to control the message, control the medium and tap into new clients, strategic partners and referral sources.

Where do you start?

First, the “Why”?
Are you doing this to position yourself as the expert? Book prospects as guests and build those relationships? Generate solid content for social media? Enhance SEO? Provide useful information to your core audience?
Your answer to ALL of the above should be YES!

Second, the theme?
What is your unique programming theme? Do you expand upon family business, start-up business, mid-market business? Are you focusing on a niche? Young families? Senior living? Middle age madness? Choose a theme and build upon it.

Third, the Title?
The title of your Podcast should give a hint about the content and entice listeners in. No surprise about what “Planet Money” is about. “Football Weekly” tells it all. You could get clever, but you don’t want to be obscure and leave people guessing.

Fourth, Scheduling?
Most new podcasters can’t keep up a pace of more than once a month. That being said, it is worthwhile to record the first three segments all at once. In our binge watching/listening world, give your audience a good dose of what you do.

We help develop a schedule and editorial outline of segments for each business quarter.

Fifth, Guests?
Let’s face it, unless you are stand-up comedian or experienced performer, you should enhance your broadcasts with a guest or two. Guests add insight, variety and color.

The challenge is to book them, prepare them, obtain background materials, etc. That is a critical part of the process.

Six, the Technology?
How will you record? How will you upload to key podcast portals (Spotify, Itunes, etc.)? How will you promote each episode? We’ve reviewed a wide range of platforms and came up with an inexpensive and thorough solution that includes developing a VlodCast (video of the podcast) and the podcast at the same time. Thus, you are bolstering a YouTube channel and reaching key podcast portals.

Seventh, the Promotion?
Now you’ve gone to all the trouble of creating a Podcast, how do you get it out there?

Social media posts, e-newsletter, news release and blog posts help move it along. These messages should ALSO be prepared and customized for your guests to share with their audiences.

Eighth, Work with a Podcast Sherpa.
Ready to go “live”? 5-4-3-2-1. Call us at 781-582-1061 or drop a line to help shape, produce and promote your podcast.

Ready, set, podcast! 8 steps to get there.Read More

Response to the response

Admit it. You’ve seen a subject line with COVID-19 mentioned anywhere in it and clicked on “delete”.

Does that make you insensitive or uncaring during a national crisis and international pandemic (is that redundant)?

Possibly.

It also makes you human.

As humans, we react a certain way. A few bangs on the drum and we listen. A constant beat will soon have us covering our ears. And that’s largely what’s happening when you use COVID-19 in your subject line. And there’s a trickledown effect to other phrases.

Like, “during these troubled times,” and others.

Does that mean you’re not supposed to mention the elephant in the room, AKA the COVID-19 crisis?

No. It just means you have to consider your audience when you create messaging.

Are they turning to you for information about the crisis? Unless you’re an authority of some kind, probably not.

Your audience probably wants to know something a combination of things. If its your regular e-mail list, that combination could include something about your business, the current crisis, and how it affects them.

For example, PR Works has put together messaging for clients ranging from hours of operation during the crisis to a company’s COVID-19 process for people who enter a job site.

Or maybe you have an offering that’s relevant to the crisis. Case in point, a PR Works client that makes portable flooring for labs and healthcare facilities.

Conversely, this could be a great time to capture people’s attention by talking about something else. Anything else. Maybe you have a relatively new offering. Drafting a few blog articles and pushing them out to your social media channels might be a welcome sight to people wanting to read some good news.

Or merely different news.

One of the very few beauties of this time is that more people than usual have the time to read. As the theme song from Cheers said, “Taking a break from all your worries sure could help a lot.”

We are all very concerned about what’s going on in our world right now. If you’re putting out a COVID-19 message, that’s great. Just remember to think about your audience and all that they’re taking in right now. The message that doesn’t get read, doesn’t get heard.

Need some help with your messaging? Give us a call at 781-582-1061 or drop a line.

Response to the responseRead More

Now is NOT the time to go silent. Reach out to customers and keep them informed during COVID-19.

photo of Mona Lisa with a mask on during the COVID-19 crisis

Now is NOT the time to go silent. Reach out to customers and keep them informed during COVID-19.

There is no timeline. Customers and staff are concerned.

With the uncertainty of COVID-19 and the situation changing daily, we’ve been closely monitoring the outbreak and its impact on our clients and communities. We’re here (working remotely) to provide support during this unprecedented and challenging time.

What do you need to think about?

Consider how current restrictions are affecting your customers as well as employees and partners. How will you continue to reach out to them, keep them informed and serve them?

What’s your status during the current crisis? Open/Closed/ Limited hours/On-call, etc.?

How can your customers reach you? Are you working from home and holding telephone or virtual meetings?

Consider signage on your business door (and if applicable, inside as well).

Update your website’s home page and social media pages with this same info.

Revise your telephone voice mail.

We can help with:

• Overall message development
• Website & blog content
• Social media campaigns
• eNewsletters
• Podcasts
• Strategy moving forward

A singular message to your staff and customers is only the beginning of your on-going communication.

How will you continue to deliver your company’s message? To give you an idea of some grassroots marketing efforts to keep front of mind with your clients, read our recent blog.

Let us know if you’d like to arrange a call or video conference. Stay safe and be well.

Now is NOT the time to go silent. Reach out to customers and keep them informed during COVID-19.Read More

Content to ride it out?

photo of WordPress add a post page.
Should you keep blogging during the Covid-19 crisis?

Snap. Crackle. Pop.

Most people hear “Snap” and “Crackle” and know you’re talking about Rice Krispies.

But did you know Kellogg’s first introduced their signature product in the height of the Great Depression?

True.

While its chief competitor Post significantly reduced its marketing budget in the 1930s, Kellogg’s actually doubled its advertising spend, investing heavily in radio.

Part of that effort was introducing its newest product, Rice Krispies.

So, what was the end result of this polar opposite approach to a financial crisis?

Well, Kellogg’s increased its profits by 30 percent and became the category leader for decades thereafter.

Post survived. Yet it never really regained its perch atop the food chain (sorry about that irresistible pun).

Does that mean you should increase your marketing budget during this crisis?

When you consider the Kellogg’s example, it’s not the worst idea. Particularly when you consider the current crisis will have an end—they were not so sure when the Great Depression would end.

While a radio buy might not be in the cards for your business, there are any number of low budget and grassroots marketing efforts you can undertake to keep front of mind and/or be ready for when things get going again:

  • E-newsletters – If your company has one, continue to stay on schedule so you’re never too far from the minds of your customers and network. You may even want to increase the frequency (e.g. monthly to bi-monthly).
  • Social media posts – Be it a blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. continue to post. If it feels too self-promotional during a time like this, mix in some inspirational stories. For example, Stop & Shop offering special hours for shoppers 60 and older.
  • Website updates – When was the last time you edited content on your website? This could be a great time for a thorough review of the content on your site and a chance to punch it up or optimize.
  • eBook/Lead Magnet – Do you have a lead magnet on your website? If not, it could be a great time to develop one. Or, if you do, perhaps you could update it with more recent case studies. Better yet, produce a new eBook/Lead Magnet and have it ready to go for when businesses get back to normal.
  • Podcasts – Hosting your own podcast gives you an opportunity to showcase your expertise but also content spiders well in the search engines.

Speaking of podcasts, PR Works offers a turnkey podcast solution that includes developing a title, theme, bumper music, arranging for guests, guiding you through easy-to-use technology at your desk, uploading the edited segment to Spotify and other podcast portals, promoting each episode via social media and other channels, and more.

If you would like more information on how we can help your business join the Golden Era of podcasting, drop a line or give us a call at 781-582-1061.

Whether it’s a podcast or any of the aforementioned grassroots efforts, none require the kinds of dollars Kellogg’s spent on radio time way back when. Yet with all or a few of these low-cost initiatives. you can stay top of mind of with your key audiences TODAY!

Or you can wait for things to get back to “normal”.

The amount of time until then is the same for all of us. What to do with that time is totally up to you.

Again, if you need assistance in launching your grassroots initiatives, call us at 781-582-1061 or drop a line.

Content to ride it out?Read More

SCORE with ‘Direct PR’

photo of Steve Dubin
Steve Dubin

PR is one of the most cost-effective marketing tools available to small to mid-market businesses. But what are the strategies and tactics to maximize PR? PR Works has coined the phrase “Direct Public Relations”. It’s a relatively new a new approach to PR that emphasizes direct response. And it’s what Steve Dubin will be talking about at two public relations workshops sponsored by SCORE: March 19 in Walpole, MA and April 21 in Waltham, MA.

As part of his presentation, Steve will take on a wide variety of PR topics, including:

  • What is newsworthy?
  • How do you measure results and ROI?
  • How do you get the press to cover your news?
  • How do you create “outside the box” PR opportunities?
  • How do you talk with the press?
  • How do you repurpose news coverage?

The March 19 public relations workshop will be held at the Co-Working Station at Walpole, 55 West Street, 2nd Floor, Walpole, MA 02081, from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM. You can register for this free workshop by clicking here.

Steve will run a second “Direct PR” session on Thursday, April 21 at the Waltham Public Library, 735 Main St, Waltham, MA 02451, from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM. To pre-register for that session, contact SCORE-Boston, workshops@scoreboston.org, 617-565-5591.

SCORE with ‘Direct PR’Read More

And on the local front…

photo of Steve Dubin
Steve Dubin

You don’t always have to create news to obtain media coverage. Many times, you can tag along with existing stories already in the news. And provide the local color.

Example, the government shut down is impacting your business. Problem. Your accounting firm needs to clarify with the IRS regarding quarterly tax payments by a client. The IRS is impacted by the partial government shutdown. Telephone calls to the IRS are immediately routed to a vague voice mail. Your client wants to wrap up her return. What next?

The press is looking for stories about how the shutdown and is impacting local businesses and people. Sending a pitch letter and one-page press kit/summary including background on the topic, contact info for key sources including you, industry experts and local clients and a head shot of you as well as a working environment photo (you with a stack of files and several calculators) is the first step. An email to the business editor and follow-up telephone calls are next.

Tag along. Add a local angle and local voices to a national story and create coverage. This might also help establish you as “the” on-going source for your topic.

Allow us to put our ear to the ground for you and find opportunity to tag along with current news opportunities.

And on the local front…Read More

Headlines. Grab them first.

Headlines draw you in. So, don’t be shy.

Make it provocative. Offer something enticing. Add a pinch of urgency.

Marketing has certainly changed. The storytelling process has not.

Step one, get their attention. That is the headline.

Step two, lead them through the message in a direct and entertaining way.

Step three, ask them to take action – click here for a free brochure, visit this specific landing page, join my e-newsletter list, fill out this brief form, call now.

What makes a great headline? Example – “7 little known ways to save money on taxes in 2019 without ruffling the IRS.” Timely, concise and offering value.

There, I just saved you the two years that it would have taken to earn an MBA.

Let us know if we can grab attention for you and lead prospects to take ACTION.

Headlines. Grab them first.Read More