DIY PR: When To Turn To The Pros

Integrated Communications Campaigns

We help build great brands by driving business, creating awareness, developing loyalty, and engaging customers. All 451 Marketing campaigns are strategically integrated and leverage public relations, social media marketing and search marketing tactics.

– Founded in 2004

– National digital marketing firm based in Boston

– Partners Nicholas Lowe, AJ Gerritson, and Tom Lee

– Named a 2011 & 2012

Thomas Lee Partner

617-986-0223

tlee@451marketing.com

linkedin.com/in/tomlee451

@TomLee451

www.451Marketing.com

When most people think of PR, they think of traditional media relations

But, the way that consumers find and consume information has evolved

One-Way

Publicist Media General Public

One-Way Dialogue

• Your Brand and Message • Website and SEO • Social Media • Public Relations • When You Need the Pros

Agenda

DIY PR Tactics: Getting Started

I. Develop Your Brand Message

What is Your Value Proposition?

• Why should a consumer should buy your product/use a service?

• Does your product or service add more value or better solve a problem than your competitors?

• What pain point do you address?

• Age group

• Gender

• Socio-economic

• Geographic

If you have multiple distinct segments, you may have

distinct messaging or offer

distinct benefits

Who is Your Target Audience?

Where Does Your Audience Gather/Consume Information?

II. Establish Web Presence and SEO Strategy

Evaluate Your Current Site

For visual appeal and functionality

Build a Website

Free Easy to use SEO value and tools built in Tons of free themes,

templates, tutorials, and plug-ins

Mobile-friendly

Build a Website

Free Easy to use – drag and drop Lots of, templates, tutorials,

and plug-ins Mobile-friendly

www.WIX.com

Keyword Research To get optimal traffic from search engines, need to create content around ht

Keyword Research How can you find the best keywords to include in your content?

Before You: • Consult a keyword tool

• Rewrite any content

Sit down and perform a Google search.

Keyword Research

Q: For what Google search should you rank #1?

A: “innovative, creative, game-changing”

Q: What do you do/make/sell?

A: “Oh. Cloud-based storage for small business”.

Keyword Research

www.google.com/AdWords

Find and compare keywords related to your business.

• Sign up/verify Google Analytics

• Let GA run for two weeks before doing any SEO to determine a baseline

http://www.google.com/analytics/

What Can You Measure?

• Traffic sources: direct, referral, search, campaigns

• Page visits • Downloads • Mobile visits • Top referrers • Conversion rates and goal tracking • Geo-tracking

http://www.google.com/analytics/

Social Media

Based on your audience and goals, different platforms may be

appropriate

>500 Million Twitter Accounts

91% of active users polled

follow a brand

7.8 million brand

recommendations each month

39% of companies

have acquired new customers using Twitter

1. Engage Current Fans & Increase Awareness

2. Increase Traffic to Website

3. Engage With Influencers & Media

4. Marketing/Competitive Research

40% of users 35 years or older

>1 Billion Users

41% of companies using Facebook have acquired new customers from it 51%

of Facebook fans more likely to buy from a company they

1. Engage Current Fans & Increase Awareness

2. Branding & Loyalty

3. Increase Traffic to Website

4. Engage With Other Brands

>187 million users

1. Network with Potential Clients

2. Build Profile and Network in Your Industry

3. Showcase Brand, Products, Thought Leaders

43 years old/ $107,000 annual income

>1,000,000 groups

1. Brand and Product Recognition

2. Site Traffic

3. Creating a Lifestyle/Persona Around a Brand

>23 million unique visitors/month

Receives 3rd Most Hits/Week Among Social Media Sites

Referral Traffic Percentages

Pinterest

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

YouTube

Create Branded Pages and Accounts

Social Media Develop a Social Strategy to Complement PR

• Objectives and goals

• Platforms

• Voice

• Resources

• Roles/Responsibilities

• Schedule

• Measure results

Public Relations

Your Story

Build a press list of media outlets and bloggers that reach your customers and target audience

Standard press kit includes:

• Fact sheet • Key executive bios • Standard company info press release • High-resolution images and logos

Create a Press Kit

Create a storyline about your brand to build your pitches around.

• What’s the angle? • Why is your company interesting? • What is most newsworthy and unique about your

company/product? • Spend some time putting pen to paper and create

language around this storyline that can be tailored for future pitching

Craft Your Story

Make sure anyone who may come in contact with the media or influencers is sharing the same message

Socialize Key Talking Points

Write press releases that let the media know what you do and sell, and why they should tell their readers and viewers about you

Write Press Releases

Distribute press releases on the wire for greater distribution and to help drive web traffic

Examples: • PRWEB • PR Newswire • Marketwire • BusinessWire

Distribute Press Releases

Optimize Your Press Release Be sure to include relevant keywords throughout the press release

Know Your Market

Staying informed about the latest trends in your industry helps to position you and your company at the top of your game.

http://www.google.com/alerts

Find Partners An great opportunity to 1- meet/connect with media and/or 2- gain coverage.

• Plan an event

• Guest post on their blog/have them guest post on yours

• Think of ways that you can work together to maximize impressions and help one another by exposing them to your audience and pooling resources

Signs it’s Time to Hire a Professional

Not enough time to do it all

Traffic and Sales

• Your web traffic is weak

• You aren’t getting any online leads

Customers aren’t engaging you through your social media properties

The media isn’t writing about you

You Aren’t Prepared to Speak to Media

You Have Technical Needs That Exceed Your Skill

Benefits of a Full-Service Agency

You get a whole team of professionals

Expensive Enterprise Tools

Dedicated Focus

Years of Expertise (what works, what doesn’t)

Relationships With Media and Other Industry Resources

Social Media Following and Experience

Ability to Adjust Daily Based on Results

Reporting

Accountability

Measured against your goals

• Essential to think of communications in a holistic and targeted way

• There are things you can do on your own. The worst thing you can do is nothing.

• Know your limitations. At some point, all growing companies have to turn to external resources to optimize their presence.

Takeaways

Questions?

Thomas Lee Partner

617-986-0223

tlee@451marketing.com

linkedin.com/in/tomlee451

@TomLee451

www.451Marketing.com

DIY PR: When To Turn To The Pros