Unleash the Power of The Press

PR

Breaking news making news. Newswire.net launches PR division.

Newswire.net, an article/news release distribution site for a community of independent journalists and writers, recently formed a PR division to better serve public relations and marketing professionals and agencies.

As part of the new PR division, Newswire.net offers a platform for users to self-publish press releases, along with corresponding photos and videos. The interface also features user-friendly SEO tools that help releases gain traction in the search engines.

“For years, PR agencies have supplemented press release distributions with online newsroom resources like PR Web and PR Newswire,” said Doug Brown, owner of Newswire.net and former SEO guru at PR Web. “With Newswire.net, we have taken the best of what those outlets offer, added some SEO tricks of our own, and made it available at about 10 percent of the price with better results.”

As part of the Newswire.net PR package, releases have a direct pipeline to major media outlets across the country. In fact, it’s not unusual to see coverage in The Boston Globe, the Miami Herald, the Kansas City Star and LA Daily News within minutes of publishing a release on Newswire.net.

“Issuing one release on Newswire.net can provide weeks and months worth of links to repurpose for your clients’ social media sites, a chore that many PR firms take on for customers,” added Brown.

Newswire.net enables PR agencies to create profiles for their clients within the site. These profiles enable companies to create a virtual press kit with boilerplate, logo, company videos, social media sites, keyword phrases and more. Again, this also benefits the SEO value of each release.

Newswire.net offers a number of packages for agencies ranging from the one-person shop to 10, 20 and more. Distribution packages start at $99 for two press releases. As a special offer for the introduction of the new PR division, public relations agencies can sample Newswire.net for free by sending an email to sales@newswire.net.  Your company must be a recognized public relations firm with the term “PR” or “public relations” mentioned on your website as part of your offerings to take advantage of this free, one-time only rate.

For complete information on Newswire.net products and offerings, visit www.newswire.net.

About Newswire.net – Press Releases, News Releases and Business Directories

Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Newswire Network Ltd (Newswire.net) is a corporate communications website founded in 2002. Through an industry-leading, credible news and content delivery service that covers the world, Newswire.net customers receive unparalleled visibility for their message through both print, electronic and social channels. The Newswire.net interface ensures that your articles are completely optimized for search, and broadcast to the largest possible audience through syndication and social media outlets.

For more information, visit www.newswire.net.

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Chocolate on the Pillow!

What are the little things you do to differentiate your business?

I remember returning to my hotel room after a very long day at a trade show and finding a gold wrapped chocolate on my pillow. What a treat. And I mentioned it to others.

What can your business do to differentiate itself? To ingratiate itself? To create the “Hey, Martha” effect?

King Collision shows photos of the status of your car as it gets repaired.

HR Knowledge puts your name up in lights on their electronic welcome board when you visit.

Champion Cleaners Ziplocs and pins the spare change I leave in my sports jacket.

Taylor Hardware insists on having a clerk carry heavy objects to your car.

Boston Magazine provides advertisers with a framed copy of each ad.

Tracy Motors surprises you with a lavish gift upon delivering your new car (No, I can’t ruin the surprise. You’ll have to buy a car. Or two.)

None of these examples are particularly expensive. Or time-consuming. But they demonstrate an attention to detail. An effort to add an extra touch of luxury and caring.

Brainstorm with your staff and marketing group to determine your chocolate on the pillow.

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PR Pointer – The New PR

Change – count on it!
By Steve Dubin, PR Works

Just last week I was attempting to parrot my “elevator pitch” and was interrupted.

“What do PR firms do now that on one has the time or the interest in reading the Boston Globe?”

This is NOT the first time I’ve heard this challenge. First, I inform my colleague that we now call our former powerhouse newspaper the Boston Glo. Half the circulation, all the pomposity.

Second, I explain that PR is STILL about reaching people and positioning our clients as the “go to” source for their product or service. It’s just that the WHERE has changed.

Instead of starting the day with the Boston Globe and a cup of coffee, it is fire up Boston.com, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube for starters.

Now the challenge is to be visible is ALL the places that your best prospect might be looking. Google, Vimeo, Craig’s List. Feed the beast. And feed the information beast on a regular basis – or your competition will be MORE visible.

But how?

Content is still KING on the Internet. “How to” articles, intro videos, milestone news releases and blogging of all of these help create a presence, some traction, brand recognition.

The new fractionalized media landscape challenges you to be more creative, more aggressive and more consistent.

Need help identifying opportunities? Packaging them? Getting messages to the right audiences?

Email me, Tweet me, send a LinkedIn message. Or go Old School and pick up the phone.

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20-20 vision…PR Works celebrates 20 years in business

Steve Dubin
Steve Dub9in, owner of PR Works

KINGSTON, MA…

A lot has changed in the 20 years since Steve Dubin launched PR Works, a public relations agency based in Kingston, Massachusetts. Snail mail was just mail, the fax machine was the new kid on the block, and New Kids on the Block was the hottest group around. Twenty years later, PR Works is still going strong while the Internet has changed how everybody does business and the New Kids on the Block do reunion tours.

“You can make a case that the Internet affected PR perhaps more than any other industry, from how we research and distribute releases to the news organizations where we send those releases,” said Dubin. “What hasn’t changed about the business is it’s still about the stories. If your client has one to tell and you’re doing your job, coverage typically follows.”

Beyond the advances in technology and media by which to get your client’s message out—e-mail, social media, online newsrooms, etc.–there’s another area where Dubin has seen growth: cause-related marketing. Some of the causes PR Works clients have embraced include The Boys & Girls Club, The Arbor Day Foundation, The Home for Little Wanderers, Cape Cod Cares for Our Troops, local food pantries and Toys for Tots to name a few.

“Consumers want to patronize and do business with companies they feel good about. By actively encouraging your clients to give back to the community and not be shy about it with your PR and marketing, you can create considerable goodwill for your firm. It really is a situation where everybody wins and nowadays, those are the situations you want to be in,” said Dubin.

PR Works offering The Works
For 20 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.

For more information, you can visit our new website at http://www.prworkzone.com or become a fan of PR Works at http://www.Facebook.com/PRWorkzone. 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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Cause-Related Marketing – Doing the Right Thing and Taking a Bow for It

(Reprinted from the Massachusetts CPA Society newsletter “SumNews”.)

By Steve Dubin, PR Works

eting

Last year, Americans generously donated

over $150 billion to charities. Eighty percent

of that total came from individuals, the

rest from companies and foundations.

While the total reflects an increase of 7.3 percent

over the prior year, the number of individual

donors is in fact shrinking, as is government

funding for many programs. This double

whammy is forcing charities to “sell” themselves.

Welcome to the increasingly popular

world of cause-related marketing.

Once you’ve been in business for a while, it’s

a good bet that at some point you may have

considered using cause-related marketing, or

that some local, regional or national organization

has approached you. Cause-related marketing

is an alliance between a company and

a selected charity through which the business

gives a few cents of the purchase price or

a share of the profits to a specified charity.

Among the better-known national companies

that have used cause-related marketing are

American Express, Coca-Cola and Ben &

Jerry’s.

A more cynical reader might ask the businessperson

involved in cause-related marketing:

Are you trying to sell products or services, or

are you trying to support a worthwhile cause?

The answer should be both.

Why, of all professions, would accounting

firms care? One is that community work

energizes your staff and allows them to connect

on a different level. Two, outreach

helps build and enhance your firm’s “brand.”

Three, nonprofit efforts can allow you to rub

elbows with potential clients. Most nonprofits

have well-connected board members who

could be your next star client. Four, all things

being equal, clients would prefer to work

with the good guys.

Consumers like these types of arrangements

between companies and charities because they

can help others while shopping for things

they would have purchased anyway. After all,

it makes you feel good to know you are helping

to save baby seals just by buying a certain

brand of toothpaste.

Some marketing experts argue that the product

and the cause should have some connection.

For example, for several years the

makers of Arthritis Pain Formula donated a

percentage of their profits to The Arthritis

Foundation. The charity even got to put its

name and logo on millions of bottles of the

over-the-counter painkiller. The charity got

lots of “free” publicity while the manufacturer

sold more medicine.

Last year, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade joined

forces with Yahoo! Inc. in “Lids for Kids,”

pledging ten cents for every yogurt lid mailed

in to linking schools to the Internet. As with

most such promotions, the sponsors set a

cap. With this campaign the cap was set at

$100,000.

Some promotions have little connection between

the cause and sponsoring company’s

product or service. It was American Express,

you may recall, that popularized the idea of

cause-related marketing with its 1983 project

to help restore the Statue of Liberty. Maybe

you even used your American Express card a

few extra times, so you could proudly boast

that you helped preserve the famed lady.

American Express also reaped immeasurable

positive publicity during its “Charge Against

Hunger” campaign, which ran the last three

holiday seasons with a $5 million annual cap

(Well, even for mega-companies, you have

to draw the line on charity somewhere!)

Some promotions border on good taste.

The Society for the Preservation of History

promises to pay “a portion of the proceeds”

from the sale of each $199 “Queen of Hearts”

Princess Diana Doll to the Princess of Wales

Memorial Fund. How many would you like?

If there’s a charity you’d like to support

through cause-related marketing — which

might help boost sales or polish your company’s

image at the same time, contact the organization’s

marketing or development director

and explore the possibilities. If done correctly,

the campaign can be a major win-win proposition

for both parties.

Well, gotta go. I think I’ll get my tires

changed at the place that supports the Olympic

Team and have a cup of coffee at the

place that buys books for inner city schools.

Steve Dubin is president of PR Works, which is

based in Kingston, MA, and serves clients nationally.

The firm 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.

For more information, please visit

PRWorkZone.com.

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Creating momentum for Moving Professionals.

Moving professionals can either choose to be victims of a difficult real estate market or be proactive as interest rates continue to be favorable and opportunity presents itself.  In recognition of the challenge for the moving and storage industry, a targeted seminar on sales and marketing is slated for Tuesday, April 21, 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Vinny Testa’s Meeting Facility, 233 Elm Street, Dedham, MA.

 

The presentation is sponsored and led by Al Schrade, CMC and Steve Dubin, PR Works, two professionals with more than three decades of moving and storage experience. Cost for the day long presentation is $75.

 

The morning session “Selling in the Current Environment” presented by Al Schrade, CMC addresses a wide range of topics including Get Your Head “In the Sale”, Prospecting for Sales, Sales Call Prep, More Than a Survey, Listening to the “Customer”, Selling “On or Off” Price, Working with Objections, Closing Sales Techniques, Handling Challenging Customers, Multiple Decision Makers, Persuasive Sales Presentations, and Sales Motivation and Goals.

 

Al Schrade is a twenty year veteran of the transportation industry with a concentration in moving and storage products and services.  He has held positions in operations, sales, sales management, account management, interstate and international relocation, van line management and, during the past eight years, the director of a Massachusetts moving and storage trade association.  Al has presented and overseen numerous seminars on a variety of important topics over the past several years.

 

The afternoon session focuses on marketing and outlines how to STAND OUT from the crowd, how to generate leads now and on an ongoing basis.  Included are online secrets to traditional gems, this marketing/PR workshop provides the ammunition to drive new business today and tomorrow.  Specific topics include Targeting Low Hanging Fruit, Email for Essential Savings, Search Engines are the “New” Yellow Pages. Case Studies / Testimonials, Pitching the Press, and News Releases to full feature stories.

 

Steven Dubin, President of PR Works based in Kingston, Mass., knows marketing and the “news” business.  He started his newspaper career by covering the Boston Celtics.  From there Steve progressed to editing and marketing positions in several publishing companies, including Mariner Newspapers. 


 

Seating is limited. To reserve or to obtain more information, please contact Al Schrade, 401-245-5440 or email alschrade@aol.com.

 

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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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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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