Højtiden skal også dækkes i medierne. Derfor handler vores blog på Erhvervsbladet i dag om jule PR. Se den her.

I happened to be checking out the site for Elastic Path a few days ago (if you haven’t heard of Elastic Path, check it out – great local success story with an impressive list of customers), and noted the corporate blog. As we’d been discussing corporate blogs in class, and I’ve also been exploring how they can be used in conjunction with my day job, I clicked through to see what this one had to offer.

I was doubly rewarded. Not only is Get Elastic a great example of how a corporate blog can be used to highlight a company’s expertise in its market space, but it’s also full of really practical discussions around online retailing and ecommerce in general. The posts are topical, pointing out best practices used by a wide arracy of online stores to influence conversions and drive sales, and they include screenshot examples to illustrate the discussions.

There are several elements that make Get Elastic successful as a corporate blog:

1. Focus – The blog is focused on ecommerce practices and maintains a professional tone, positioning the company as an expert in this field. While it is fronted by a single person, the entries feature her expertise, not her life.
2. Low-key approach – While there’s no question the blog is linked to the company, it keeps the sales pitch to a minimum and offers valuable information that even non-customers will likely come back for or subscribe to. A product like what Elastic Path sells is not something a prospect would purchase casually or regularly, so the key to success is staying top-of-mind for prospects so that when they find themselves in a situation where they need an ecommerce software solution, Elastic Path gets into the consideration set. Get Elastic provides a reason for prospects to keep coming back and maintains brand mindshare.
3. Integration with other online marketing activities – One recent entry provides a summary of a webinar the company recently offered and has posted online for free (with registration). The webinar features Brian Walker of Forrester Research discussing trends in B2B ecommerce, and the summary does a nice job of hitting the highlights, while still leaving the reader interested in viewing the whole webinar (assuming they have the time). At the end, it includes details on the next webinar the company has scheduled.
4. Conversations with experts – While Linda Bustos, who maintains the blog, is an ecommerce analyst and quite knowledgeable, she also engages with other, more “neutral” third party experts, not only in the webinar mentioned above, but also in podcast interviews. This adds to her credibility with readers and supports her own expert positioning.

If you’re looking for an example of what a corporate blog (even one not fronted by the CEO) could add to your marketing program, this is worth a look. If you’re interested at all in ecommerce and online sales, it may also be a good one to add to your feeds.

Former Miss California Carrie Prejean has seen some ups and downs over the last year or so.  While appearing in the Miss USA pageant over a year ago, Prejean created controversy after she stated her belief that marriage should be considered a sacred union between a man and a woman. After losing the pageant, and being criticized by judge Perez Hilton, Prejean appeared in advertisements for the Proposition 8 campaign, and became a frequent guest on political talk shows. The drama has continued, however. After suing the Miss USA pageant, Prejean was recently forced to settle when lawyers showed her a personal sex tape from her earlier years and threatened to make it public.

The news of the sex tape, which followed earlier stories about scandalous photographs she took as a teen model, put Prejean in an awkward position since she was set to promote her recently released book on the pageant that changed her life. Forced to address the sex tape scandal, Prejean called the incident the “biggest mistake” of her life and explained that she engaged in the sexual behavior for a partner in a long distance relationship. However, the scandal deepened with news that there were many other sex tapes and pictures that have yet to be made public.

Under pressure, and obviously refusing to discuss the matter any longer, Prejean made her situation worse when she stormed off the set of Larry King Live after the host asked her about her recent settlement. To see that incident yourself watch the following video:

Discussion Questions:

1.  Prejean does not seem to be recovering very well from the sex scandal. If you were on her crisis management team, how would you repair her reputation?

2.  Some might say that Prejean is in major trouble because she is guilty of hypocrisy. According to this logic, why is Prejean – who criticized people for living a homosexual lifestyle – a hypocrite for appearing in private sex tapes?

3.  It appears that Prejean might have performed in more “inappropriate” videos and pictures that have yet to be released. Should she wait to address those embarrassing images when they are made public, or should she be completely open about all that might be out there?  What does she have to win or lose by being completely honest?

For my capstone course (basically a senior thesis class in which we do way more work than should be condensed into a 14-week period) we are to bring a “one page senior gift” to hand out to the class on the day we present. One page of whatever we want to give them – cookie recipes, tips for success in our chosen field, takeaways from our presentation, were just a few of the suggestions. Let me tell you what I think of that: um, lame.

I am not Martha Stewart or in the third grade, so cookies are out. I’m not a professional yet, and don’t feel fully qualified to give my peers tips on being a successful cause marketer. Not to mention the fact that no one else in my class cares about my project anyway.  Which is why a list of takeaways is out, too. We’ve already sat through enough pointless two-minute speeches as a class on what each of us is researching, has learned from interviews and plans to do for our final project. I could not care any less about what other people are doing, and therefore refuse to waste paper by giving my classmates a handout of my main presentation points.

So, that leaves me with…what? Well, I finally decided. I don’t care if my “one page senior gift” makes me appear pretentious or nerdy. I don’t care if my peers read it once and throw it out. I don’t even really care if they understand it. I’m giving them a poem taken from the very end of Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. That’s right.

I’m THAT girl. Oh, and I’m stapling my new business cards to the top so they have my contact information should they choose to call or e-mail me about how obnoxious my “one page senior gift” is. Don’t worry, I chose the poem for a reason.

I just finished reading both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass last week and loved every second of my trip through Carroll’s bizarre world. I felt as mad as a hatter and as confused as the white rabbit. It was great! The reason I loved it so much was because it was just a fun, completely ridiculous, wholly pleasurable read that I think every one should take more time to enjoy. If my peers get anything out of my “one page senior gift” I hope it is the thought “I should read more often” or, at least a thought. That’s the point of the poem – I want my classmates to read it and THINK. Plus, if you read the poem carefully enough, it has an important meaning for college seniors about to enter the real world…or really anyone for that matter.

Dear Diary,

I had a very strange, embarrassing dream. It was the kind that gave me an awful sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. In my dream I kept waving at my friends, but no one would wave back.

That’s what my first few waves on the new Google tool felt like. Now that I’ve had a day or two to check it out, I’ve discovered I was waving at people who weren’t actively online. Oops.

Well, experimenting with Google Wave has been fun…and challenging!

I’m really looking forward to learning more about the tool. As @ginatrapani mentioned in her Web 2.0 Expo talk about Google Wave, it isn’t going to happen in one afternoon.

Anyone have any great tips/tricks?

Here’s a tip that I learned from one of the Google Wave tutorial vids:

• You don’t have to move your cursor and click “done” after typing a message; you can simply hit Shift+Enter.

And… a little ha-ha moment via Twitter. : )

Have a great weekend, all!

The major difference between Public Relations and Advertising is the cost. Advertising is paid space which comes with advantages such as control over when and where it will appear. Until the rise of social media Public Relations largely relied on the media to distribute the organisation’s messages. That implied very little control over when and where the information would appear. A recent post on PRsquared introduces the Awareness Scale, “a simple way of thinking about how Social Media, Public Relations and Advertising fit together in an ideal way”. The idea is that Social Media is the engagement, PR is the credibility, and Advertising is the defense. Ideas are shared on social media platforms, they are picked up by PR professionals who turn them into campaigns, and they are reinforced through advertising. So advertising’s role changes from actually building the brand to capturing attention that reinforces the consumers’ perception of the brand.

This past Monday I had the great pleasure of attending the second-ever Quinte tweet-up at The Winchester Arms in Belleville.

One of my favourite things about social media is the way that it brings people together, and not just online. There’s something truly exciting about finally being able to put a face to that twitter handle you’ve chatting and sharing ideas with. There’s something even more exciting, even satisfying, when you are able to get together with a group of people that probably never would have found each other any other way.

The first official Quinte Tweet-up was organized by @charlottehrb and her friends at @theyinspire. I was living in Toronto at the time so was unable to attend but from the sounds of things, it was a major success! On one hand I was bitter – I hate feeling cut-off from my communities (even when I’m only attached to them by a thread) and having to miss chances to get invovled. But on the other hand I was really impressed – You always hear about tweet-ups happening in bigger urban centres, but I don’t think many people give much thought to pulling together people from smaller areas.

Needless to say, I was excited when @QuintePR decided to pull together a second informal get-together before the holiday rush set in. Having just moved back to the area, it was a great way to meet new friends and catch up with old ones. The turn out was excellent, far better than I would have imagined (a very welcome wake-up call) and included a wide array of incredible people from diverse backgrounds.

Because it lacked any specific theme or agenda, and because the only requirement for entry was that you were a Twitter user from in or around the Quinte area, the floor was open to a variety of topics of conversation – from social media to local politics and everything in between. I think everyone felt very comfortable, learned a lot about each other, had a lot to say and contribute and left with a few more friends by the end of the night.

We had past and present students of Loyalist College’s Public Relations program come out, communications professionals, designers, local advocates, people who were new to the community and people who had traveled pretty far just to be there. It was an inspiring crossing of worlds that brought out lively discussions about the things we’re passionate about and provided a venue to share ideas about our community.

And that’s what it was, really: A community. I haven’t felt that close to my local community in a while and I enjoyed every minute of it! Hopefully we can follow this trend and continue to build upon the solid foundations we’re laying. Can’t wait for the next one!

Organizer @QuintePR and professor of Loyalist PR @KerryRamsay enjoying the 2nd Quinte tweet-up

If you’re on Twitter, be sure to give some follow love to this batch of Quinte tweeters:@QuintePR, @KerryRamsay, @QuinteRecycles, @traceyreid6, @OhBelleville, @LoyalistPR, @charlottehrb, @HastingsCounty, @NeilGasson, @mcnuttalanna, @deletediva and @TweeterBird82

Please watch this video that aired today on Fox News Channel. Special thanks to ACA International and California Association of Collectors (CAC) Member Lloyd Dix and ACA International Federal Government Affairs Director Adam Peterman, both of whom are featured in this video, along with statistics from ACA International’s 2007 PriceWaterhouseCoopers study on the industry.

There is a great discussion going on today on Fox News Channel’s Web site about careers in debt collection. From a PR perspective, I’m constantly trying to do a better job of humanizing debt collectors. I think this is critical to refuting the negative and untrue stereotypes that seem to be the norm in many mainstream media portrayals of our industry. Anyone who has spent five minutes on the floor at one of our 3,500+ collection agency members knows that those outrageous stories/tapes/etc. are simply not reality when it comes to how the vast, vast majority of agencies do business on a daily basis.

That’s why I’m looking to create more efforts like the video in this post. I’ve spent enough time at ACA International now to know positive stories like the one above are literally a dime a dozen. We/I just haven’t done a good enough job telling them to the world yet.

Will you help me? Will you drop me a line and start sharing your stories like the one in this video? Better yet, will you write a guest Blog post in this space, sharing photos/videos of your everyday collectors doing the great work we all know is happening on a daily basis?

Feel free to leave a comment here or drop me a line.

Thanks!

John Nemo, ACA International Public Relations Director

In contrast to many who claim the press release has outlived its value, we find this steadfast tool of PR professionals (www.searchenginewatch.com/3623806) continues to be a reliable means of delivering news for clients.  When I founded Caryl Communications (www.caryl.com) some 25 years ago, I had no agency experience – just PR background in banking and insurance at the corporate level. To succeed, many business consultants advised me to “court” reporters and writers with lunches to expand my contacts which was not my style. A certified teacher with a B.A. in English, I chose instead to deliver real news to targeted media in tightly written releases, adhering to journalistic news style and the classic pyramid structure www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=52&aid=38693. It worked. The firm’s media contacts grew from reliable writing and a paramount sense of accountability to media.

Today is not that different – and our client news which appears consistently in hundreds of printed articles and Internet impressions each month is testament to the news release. While not all results stem from releases alone, they remain the backbone of every ongoing PR campaign we launch, with some new-media modifications  to save reporters time and to achieve SEO as part of the process in our own abridged version of the social media template (www.shiftcomm.com/downloads/smprtemplate.pdf)

 So based on our experience, with a modified style for an ever-changing media landscape, I believe if the writing is clean; the release is targeted, and the news is real, the press release will remain a viable communications tool for PR firms even as the entire news industry transitions through today’s unique challenges.

Excited about my mom coming over and feeding those less fortunate or just having a hard time.

The public relations industry has seen many changes over the years, but none more significant then the results-based philosophy being adopted throughout the industry.

A new breed of pr agency has sprung up pushing aside traditional pr agencies, boasting results-based services under the banner of performance-led delivery.

Gone are the ‘bad old days’ when public relations agencies would request large fees to represent a client, to then simply send out a press release en masse to see what happens. Or arrange a booze up at the expense of a client, under banner of corporate hospitality.

Now, however, the public relations industry has had to adapt in order to not only re-establish its own reputation as a useable service, but also to show that the art or science of public relations can actually support modern-day business operations.

Indeed, the success of incorporating this philosophy has been so immense, that virtually all public relations agencies now promote the term ‘results-driven’ in their own external communications.

Although the public relations is a separate function to that of the marketing industry, although some would say public relations is a marketing tool (not true), marketing agencies need to consider the principles and practices that have been adopted by the public relations industry.

The business offering of some marketing agencies, such as Millennium, already understand and operate within the guidelines of results-based and performance-led, which has led them to establish long-term business relationships with their clients.

Some critics would say you can’t set a results-based approach to all areas of marketing, because of the industry’s diversity. But the public relations profession is not just about sending out press releases. It’s has numerous tricks – not just media relations – to introduce, maintain and protect corporate reputations. Besides which, if something is worth doing then surely it’s worth doing right. Plus, how can agencies expect to form long-term relationship with their clients if they don’t actually support their clients’ bottom-line?

The move towards setting pre-agreed objectives has already taken hold in the public relations industry, and this ideology has already helped to reflect the term ‘public relations’ as a must have weapon in any corporate armoury and not just an expensive way of wasting money.

So if the public relations industry can do it, surely the marketing sector must see a need to follow and introduce an end-game that reflects the needs of the client – surely.

The problem with the reputation of public relations as a service is the perception given out by the public relations industry.

Ask anyone outside the profession how they would describe public relations and almost everyone would say public relations is full of blondes drinking champagne.

Although we are in the communications game we are terrible at communicating clearly what public relations is and how public relations can add real value.

So why can’t we communicate the true value of public relations, not to mention exactly what PR is and how it adds value? One reason I suspect is because people working within PR don’t actually state clearly what the PR service is about.

This can be easily proven because a lot of people when asked what PR actually does – other than drink and spend a lot of money – would say PR is a press release service.

Unfortunately, some people actually working within the industry would also give this response.

True PR professionals and their clients would completely disagree with this, but then when I use the term ‘true PR professionals’ what I mean is the practitioner who delivers the full mix of services, including brand creation and protection, crisis avoidance and management services – in other words, delivers public relations.

During my career in public relations I have met a lot of account managers and account directors whose only imaginative PR thought is: we will send information to the press.

What about including other communication methods to deliver the message? Yes, I agree media relations is an important tool in the public relations mix and, yes supplying information to the media helps communicate positive messaging, but unless we as an industry start communicating what PR is and how it can add value then the general consensus about what PR is will remain the same.

Of course to achieve this involves everyone, from university lecturers, account managers and account directors, to the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, to deliver a cohesive and focused message that the art and science of public relations is about creating clear understanding and awareness, not just a fancy name for a press release distribution service.

I understand that some may see my view as completely wrong, but every time I speak to a potential client most of them reflect negative views based on previous experiences with other agencies.

It’s only when I actually listen to their requirements, offer achievable solutions and then explain what PR is and how PR can support their business that they understand that their experience was not public relations – good PR, but bad service delivered by ineffective solutions presented by inexperienced people calling themselves practitioners.

Public relations is a fantastic and important tool within any organisation’s armoury, but until we as an industry start communicating its true value then we will continue receiving our own bad press.

Been real busy these days. Lot’s of school projects and internship work to juggle with… BUT, tomorrow will be the last day of school before everyone starts on their internships.

Ping and Ms Nga played us a little ‘goodbye’ clip today. *sobs* Can’t believe three years have passed just like that. Compared to Primary and Secondary school education, Poly life is da best. Am already missing everyone. >.<

Anyways, here’s my long overdue write-up that i had promised weeks ago (i have decided to touch briefly on Social Media Machines and concentrate more on the Future of Public Relations in relations to social media instead):

During every New Communication Technologies (NCT) tutorial classes, we are introduced to new terms and tools that we either have not used/heard before or bother to find out more. Here are some of them:

* RSS Feeds

Believe me. I used to think that RSS was such a silly invention. Who would use it when they can just access the proper website?

However, after the presentations by Kev and Flo, I have learned that firstly, RSS stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’ (really cheesy name eh?).

Secondly, it is ‘really simpl-y’ a one-stop destination where you can read about a particular topic or website that you have subscribed to (via Google reader, Feedreader and so on). There is no need for you to open gazillion tabs and toggle between them anymore! Now, all your favorite site’s contents can be read off the same place! Definitely save a wee bit of time!

Here’s a video that hopefully can help you understand the term better:

Psst. Do subscribe to my RSS feeds if you find my entries interesting! *grins*

* Continuous Computing

This phrase simply refers to how information is readily available on the web and that they are constantly being updated. This is especially evident in today’s society as people make use of social media tools and even their own mobile phones to share information online.

You can find out more about continuous computing here.

* Continuous Partial Attention

Ah, i love this term. Though i do not really like the effects that it brings about…
Continuous partial attention, or CPA in short, is not multi-tasking although the two terms can sometimes be used in the wrong contexts. They actually differ in terms of their objectives.

For multi-tasking, you pay equal attention to every single thing you are doing (i.e. Munching on your supper while reading this post now). In a way, you want to be more productive and get things done fast.
However, for continuous partial attention, you focus on one thing at a time as you do not want to miss anything (i.e. Checking your tweets before reading a book). CPA can happen anytime and at any place.

Here’s an excellent article on Huffington Post on the differences between CPA and multi-tasking.

So, what are you currently doing? Multi-tasking or paying CPA?

* Social Bookmarking

One popular site is delicious.com. Social bookmarking allows you to share with other users the websites that you like.
Similar to RSS feeds, I did not think that it would be of any use until today.
One advantage of using this tool is that it allows you to drive traffic to your website/blog!

Check out these videos to find out about what social bookmarking is in general:

If you are interested in trying out social bookmarking, you can watch this clip about delicious.com:

It’s really cool to learn about such things in school. Now, I am more aware of the various tools and platforms online and will definitely utilize them to the max. Isn’t technology awesome?

Yam/n, Jov and I presented on ‘Future of PR’ as part of our CA the other day and I had learned much from it.
Yam/n started off our presentation with the history of public relations in both US and Singapore before launching into how PR made use of traditional media in the past.

PR companies are presently using new media tools such as websites, emails and forums to reach out to their clients’ target audiences although traditional media still exists. For example, print press releases are still being used nowadays.

However, there is an emerging trend on the use of social media right now and social media tools such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook allow the building of strong relationships between an organization and its customers.
PR practitioners no longer hold key roles in influencing organizations’ reputations.
One thing that may be seen as a disadvantage from an organization’s point of view is that they will not be able to control what people says about them as anyone online can say something that might affect their reputation.

However, there are many benefits of using social media in PR today.

At present, not many companies are leveraging on social media to promote their brand or services/products.
In the near future, perhaps more companies might join in in order to stay competitive with their rival companies. Hence, it might no longer if ‘exclusive’ anymore. In fact, a realistic prediction would be that in three to five years time, social media tools might turn into an extra ‘compulsory’ platform where PR professionals must utilize on in order to compete with other companies for customers.

What do you think?

Will you go into the New Year with the same attitude? There’s nothing stopping YOU but U!

On a recent online discussion board, a debate raged about whether social networks emerged because people wanted to connect on a more personal level using technology, or whether the technology enabled better personal connections.

I tend to fall into the latter category. But the discussion became heated when someone stated that conversations do not “ring the cash register,” and that “talking prevents you from spending more valuable time selling product.”

I think the poster is onto something; however, I believe that companies need to stop seeing social media only as a marketing strategy. They need to toss out complex flow charts and computer models, get down in the trenches, and understand how social media works in real life. Don’t just pop on in order to sell your products. Get your own Facebook account and use it, for crying out loud!

It seems as if companies are asking “how can we use social media to drive sales?” when the real question should be: “How can we cultivate genuine, meaningful relationships with our customers, so that they will voluntarily help our brand to go viral?”

The answer? Use social media the way it really works.

I see social media’s primary strength as a limitless long-term public relations tool rather than a quick fix sales or business-builder. Unlike impersonal press releases, social media is exactly what its name says — social. And that implies time and effort.

As a social media addict myself, it’s clear that there are significant opportunities to build brand loyalty, if only marketers would approach it in a more organic way.

First, understand what social media really does. People use it to find long-lost friends and relatives. To maintain connections with acquaintances without the hassles of hour-long phone conversations. To share photos, form special-interest groups, and tell the world about our interests, likes, and dislikes. And to ask questions, such as “who’s the best contractor in this area?” Or, as one recent friend asked “where’s the best music school around here?”

To be sure, much of it is banal. But it’s also personal. If you want us to pay attention to you, pay attention to us first.

How social media doesn’t work.
I became a Facebook fan of a famous author. One day, she blew my mind by sending a personal friend request. “Wow,” I thought. “What a smart thing to do! I can actually interact with her the same way I do with my nieces and nephews!”

If only she had followed through by actually acting like a friend! I imagined being able to discuss some of her characters and plotlines. Finding out what she had for dinner — all of the things we do every day on Facebook’s pages. And of course, I would enjoy “bragging rights” by having such a prestigious person as a friend.

Sadly, the author might as well have kept her original, impersonal fan page. She only posts promotions for book tours, columns, and upcoming events. She doesn’t respond to our comments or questions — never even clicks the “like” button. As a result I no longer read the posts. I’ll still read her books, but she did not become my friend. And like so many people, I do a lot for my friends.

How social media can work.

I signed up for e-mails from a paint company that I like. A recent message included a new application that lets you upload an actual room photo and try different color combinations. I thought it was so interesting that I posted it on my Facebook page. Several friends commented that they had saved the link and would try it out. Another reposted it on her page.

Voila  — a social media success story. Why did it work?

Perhaps because the company made marketing their first priority. They actually developed an idea that would be useful and fun. A decade ago I might have mentioned it in passing to a friend. But now I post it in a venue where thousands of people could see it.

The technology enabled better personal connections rather than the other way around.

The bottom line? 
Let us do the marketing for you.

• Engage us as friends, not sales prospects.
• Then, be a friend. Don’t just tell us you’re issuing a new CD next week. Ask us what our favorite song is. Ask us how often we shampoo our carpets, or what we’re feeding the dog. Ask us if we like our new coffee maker, and why.
• Make up a fun quiz or a game that we can play.
• Make your interaction a two-way street, the way our real friends do. If we post something positive about your company, click the “like” button. Respond to our comments. If we post something negative, tell us that you want to hear more, perhaps offline. Then follow through!

Does this sound as if you need dedicated staff to manage Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites? You’re darn right it does. Many Facebookers and Tweeters spend time every day interacting with friends. If you have thousands of fans you need to invest more time. It’s as simple as that.

But I believe the payoff will be huge, as you prove to your customers why your brand should be an ongoing part of their lives.

Never, ever forget that it’s often friends who give friends their business. So if you want our business, become our friend. It’s an opportunity that’s much too good to miss!

Today more than ever, consumers are overwhelmed with choices, and distractions. The cost of attracting users to your website continues to increase and keeping them engaged is more important than ever.

Engagement doesn’t end with an individual browser reading content or clicking on an ad. Rather, engagement is an ongoing process that results in loyal customers who come back again and again, becoming more vested in your web site.

How can you make sure you’re engaging and keeping customers?

In order to create a loyal following, there are some basic principles you need to consider. From first impressions to life-long membership, put yourself in the shoes of your browsers and make their experience a valuable one.

• Reduce Clutter. How many times have you visited a website only to be overwhelmed and confused? What is this site about you may have asked yourself. Or perhaps you found yourself asking, ‘Where is the information I’m looking for?

Don’t ask your browsers or potential customers to figure this out. Make your site clutter free and create a                      visual priority that emphasizes the information, resources, or actions your browsers want. By reducing                        obstacles you build trust among new web site visitors and allow for simple decision making – which                            benefits everyone.

• Make Navigation Intuitive. There are many ways to navigate a web page but intuition rules the day. Don’t try to get fancy with your navigation or overuse java script. Basic navigation that follows current convention is the best way to lead individuals through your web site to the information they’re looking for.

• Make The Initial Site Interaction Relevant. When a browser reaches your web site, you have less than seven seconds to get them engaged. Making your initial site interaction relevant to what individuals are looking for is essential for keeping them interacting long term.

If you are promoting your web site with Google Adwords, or any pay per click advertising for that matter, be                sure to create customer landing pages that are truly relevant to the individual who clicks-through your ad.                  Once you’ve established relevancy, you can move them deeper into your content, tools, and resources.

• Ensure That Your Content Is Up-to-date. Web site content that isn’t up to date does not serve your audience and browsers are likely to move on. One way to ensure that information is timely is by providing a feed of relevant news or information. If including static text on your web pages, try not to include specific dates. However, if you must publish dates, be sure to update this information on a regular basis.

• Start An Interaction With Your Users. Each time a browser views your web page, you have an opportunity to interact with them. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. One great way to interact is to offer something of value at no cost. This can be a white paper, access to an exclusive list, or simply a 30 day free trial. Be sure to capture an individual’s valid email address and include them on your mailing list. An auto-responder is best if you wish to engage these individuals on an ongoing basis.

• Provide Plenty Of Support. Don’t hesitate to offer support right from your home page. Prominently display your 800 number, support email address, and additional information for your prospects and customers such as mailing address. This information is viewed favorably by search engines and also creates a sense of legitimacy. Contact information builds trust among prospects and elicits interest in your company.

• Make Sharing Easy. Once you’ve made your web site easy to use, don’t hesitate to offer browsers the ability to share your web site with others. This can be in the form of a simple widget that allows users to bookmark your page, subscribe to an Rss feed, or submit your content to popular news sites like Digg.com.

Individuals are much more likely to visit a web site based on a friend’s recommendation versus some other type of marketing initiative. Leverage the power of viral marketing with easy sharing tools.

Your web site can be your greatest asset. Unfortunately, many marketers and website owners are so focused on increasing traffic that they lose site of the audience that’s already visiting their web pages but are simply not converting.

Don’t make the same mistake. Improve the quality of you site through relevant content that is up-to-date and easy to find. Once you’ve engaged users, encourage them to share. Doing so will make your site perform better, increase conversions, and deliver value for all involved.

www.RaziCommunications.com

info@razicommunications.com

Razi Communications is an Identity Company offering full-service public relations, advertising, marketing and Internet-based programs. We work with clients to help them discover their strengths and the things that make them unique and then help communicate those strengths into effective marketing campaigns. We bring your story to life in language that inspires and motivates utilizing traditional and new media.

While there are many talented, smart and creative people and firms out there for PR, Advertising and Marketing I have found that many have deviated off course from what the job truly is, what the goals really are and what the clients really need.

Creative ideas and bright ideas are absolutely vital however, they must push forward the end goal – sales and revenue. In this day and age this is not a nice thing to have, it’s a must. That sounds like a simple thing to say and a common and basic knowledge but I see examples everyday that are clearly off-course and not forwarding client goals.

Here’s an examples:

A Facebook widget or video game – look, I like to have fun as much as the next guy and I am guilty of downloading a game or two on my iPhone for sure but here’s the thing… what is the clear goal for the Facebook Game? How are you measuring it? Are you getting reach, interest, sales? There were many many many bright ideas during the 1995-97 period for dot com companies and ideas that sounded cool which distracted millions from the actual goals of what a company must do – which is produce sales of their product or service and generate revenue. It’s not a negotiable point.

The job of any PR agency, marketing firm or advertising agency is simple – create an idea, execute a strategy and communicate with the clients target public audience in order to make the client known to them, create interest and generate actual reach that can be used to assist the sales team and further the company growth and revenue. That’s it! If you have been sold on something other than this, well then they probably are creative geniuses but they are not serving your best interest.

Now is the time to get back to basics while the shift of traditional media continues to become less effective and new media is the vital way to communicate with the massive audiecne that is online using the interest that is now intertwined into every aspect of their lives from laptops to iphones. We must focus on people, relationships, what they need and want and how to communciate with them, service them better and build, cultivate and nurture those relationships in order to generate long term clients.

If you focus on the audience and the clear goals of your company to drive sales and revenue your PR, Marketing or Advetrising efforts will be dramatically improved. Don’t lose sight of the goal. Every tweet should have the goal in mind. Every facebook post should reflect the goal. Every blog article, press release, banner ad, video, photo gallery etc should have the goal clearly in mind and being systematically executed.

-Robert Cornish

Richter10.2 Media Group

http://www.richter10point2.com

Jason Kelly, freelance marketing and public relations consultant looks at why the UK marketing and public relations sector is suffering because of its growth during Britain’s service industry boom – when did Britain become blue collar allergic? 

Britain may have started the industrial revolution, but as normal we stood back smiling at our industrial landscape whilst other nations took it to the next level of evolution! Just like the England Football Team when they score a goal, industry sat back to admired its skill and success,  and then  decided engineering and manufacturing was no longer in style.

For the past twenty years or so Britain’s industries have become more service-based than production-based, manufacturing was sent overseas to nations who now have a stronger economic prowess then we do. Instead Britain decided the white collar looked smarter than the blue collar and so the service industry established itself – so much so that the creative industry evolved. Employing thousands of people across Britain the creative industry is made up of marketing and communications firms offering online and offline services to support finance houses, customer service management organisations and the retail and leisure industries.

Already countries who are more dependent on traditional-based industry are claiming they are either out of a recession, or are seeing sunnier days ahead; accept for the UK that is. While other nations are preparing for good times, the UK is still swimming uphill trying to trade anything it can find to drive revenues back into the UK economy.

It’s not all bad, some larger agencies are managing to hang on to clients, but other businesses with smaller balance sheets are seeing staff numbers cut and even firms closing – will the UK creative industry go the same way as the UK manufacturing industry?  

The UK Government needs to support traditional based industries by offering incentives, such as fiscal-based packages (that work) – to support UK-based manufacturers, whilst at the same time making Britain an attractive location for overseas firms to set up operations. More investment needs to be given to attract the entrepreneur – I know there are programmes already available, but the Government needs to make this a priority. Government-based business support organisations need to ditch their current thinking processes that both start-ups and established-based firms only need help with producing business plans or promotion during overseas trade fairs.

Maybe the Government should support traditional-based industries and the creative sector by commissioning the creative agencies to reenergise  ‘blue collar pride’!

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In December 2008 I was made redundant from what was a great job – the PR Director for the UK’s largest independent direct marketing group, TDMG. After a very merry Christmas (and I do mean a very merry Christmas) I decided I had two options; the first would be to sit back and watch daytime TV all day, or, I could go it alone. Well, I chose the latter and almost a year on I’m still going it alone!

Back in January I had the energy and passion to become the next Richard Branson, in fact, I could see myself having lunch with Richard, or Rich to his friends:), Philip Green (Phil), Peter Jones (Pet) and Sir Alan Sugar (Big Al) – I’d pay for lunch of course!

Almost twelve months however, I don’t think I could even afford the entrance fee to get in to the places they go to eat – but, I do still have the energy and indeed the passion – the only difference is I don’t have the same expectations.

Today I am more realistic, yes I still think BIG, very big in fact. But then if you don’t aim high you will always hit the small times. Take a couple of weeks ago, I was sat in a client’s board room discussing an idea they had for an advertising campaign – their thoughts and wants were good, but their creativity was lacking – they won’t mind me saying that by the way, in fact they admitted it! Anyway, they said: “Jason, we want to do this, but don’t know how so over to you.”

A couple of weeks later I’m on a shoot filming a TV ad that I created…produced the story boards for and even wrote the scripts – brilliant! I even played casting director, which was fun:)

Anyway, my point is that back in the good old days I would of been celebrating with a host of colleagues, including the art director, creative director, account director and her whole team, because they would of all been involved in the making of what I like to call a great TV advert produced by one of the most creative minds in the business (I made that bit up by the way.) Yet, only twelve months on I’ve gone from being the PR Director with a great deal of team support to me, myself and I…team Kelly!

Being self employed can be lonely, stressful and very hard work, but the rewards are great, brilliant in fact. There are however, two important lessons that I have learnt. The first is when it comes to working for yourself it is either very good or very bad – there is no in-between. The second, well, that’s easy…give us a job:)

Oh by the way, if you want to, you can view two video clips from the TV ad shoot…you can even find out more about me, myself and I by using the following links:

About TJKA: www.tjka.co.uk
About Jason: www.tjka.co.uk/What%20is%20TJKA.htm
About TDMG: www.tdmg.co.uk
Watch video clip from tv ad (Credits): www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbYju3LlxhU
Watch video clip from tv ad (Garden): www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtNY3U4yI8w
Useable stills from shoot: www.flickr.com/photos/tjka/

Along with my business partner Martin (Hayes) we created a merger between our two companies EMCGPR and Direct to Market.

One of the service offerings has to be online PR.  I’m still in the category of “cautiously does it” and “wary” when it comes to the web. But then as I’m not a great net integrator and outside of most target audience age groups that would seem to make sense.

I believe that online PR and brand targeting is still relatively new to many in Ireland but growing     quickly.  While a necessary component of any communications strategy has to be online, I think if   you ignore the basics and walk away from the traditional, you will loose the longevity that sees         many brands survive difficult economic times.

The web is fast, it’s transient and it’s disloyal.  It thrives on what is new and what is best. Our advice is to make sure your brand stands the test of time, is the best and remains the best for quality, for price and for its customers!

I also feel the fear factor sets into many brand guardians.  Why aren’t they online, why can’t they be found at the click of a mouse and what are the brands online plans.  Agencies are charging a silly fortune to “teach” the complexities of Twitter, the nuances of Facebook and the importance of You Tube. Seriously!

Breath easy, ensure what you do is viable, none intrusive, real, honest and relevant. Don’t get an agency anon to interact with your customers – do it yourself. You’ll build truer, loyal and sincere followers that way.

Things you should remember before you engage:

We are undertaking a survey with between 800 – 1000 respondents covering topics which include brand likes and dislikes, internet habits, social interaction and, of course, politics. Prelim results show in the 20 to 35 year old age groups

• 87% are aware of blogs but 77% don’t bother following, reading or participating in any
• 82% have no interest in Twitter
• 93% do not like being approached by brands on Facebook – go away this is my social space!
• 90% never touch chat rooms
• 91% shop online but over 55% of those are worried about providing credit card details but all do!
• 55% of all prelim respondents worry about privacy while 69% of all those respondents provide personal and photographic details online

Note:  http://mediacontact.ie/details-news-578.html Thanks to Media Contact for the mention.