Publicize or Advertise?
The answer is both. It is essential to build a complete website marketing campaign that includes both advertising and publicity in online and traditional media. The reason publicity is such a crucial component of any marketing campaign is that it carries more credibility than advertising. Anyone can purchase advertising space, but publicity results when your business is worthy of coverage by perceived objective parties. Effective online publicity increases your visibility with media professionals, industry and financial analysts, potential investors and, of course, your customers. This coverage also generates traffic.
Press releases are traditionally the most popular publicity strategy, and when they’re well done, they are an invaluable part of any promotion plan. But the web has opened up a whole new network of strategies for getting your company in the spotlight and keeping it there. If you research your options, build a long-term publicity campaign, and stick to the rules of Internet marketing, you’ll get the attention you want and build a web presence to be reckoned with.
Publicity stunts will get you burned
If you send out spam disguised as press releases or forward obnoxious ads and shameless self-promotion drivel to potential reporters or customers, you will be blacklisted. Unwelcome and irrelevant publicity gimmicks will get your messages trashed before they’re opened or will get them blocked altogether. And if you really annoy users with trash mail, you’ll get flamed. That means you’ll get a flood of angry mail from people yelling at you with emoticons to stop sending them crap!
How do you get publicity the right way?
Although your search engine focus as a website owner is to optimize the flow of traffic to your own site, don’t forget that Internet traffic runs both ways. Take advantage of search engines to find opportunities for publicizing your site. You will find an endless pool of newsletters, discussion groups, mailing lists, resources and forums that can help promote your site.
· Speak out -– Establish yourself as a qualified expert in your field by volunteering to host or speak at online conferences, in chat rooms, or during webcasts for heavily trafficked forums. Also, become active in online mailing lists and discussion groups relating to your customers. Avoid self-promotion and provide useful information, and over time, you'll establish yourself as an authority and attract customers.
· Write effective press releases -– Write timely, newsworthy press releases that relate your business to current industry developments, recently published surveys or polls, statistical reports, or current controversies. For a small fee, services like the Internet News Bureau (www.internetnewsbureau.com) and InternetWire (www.internetwire.com) distribute news and feature stories to some 2,000 online journalists. If you want to target specific media yourself, search Mediafinder (www.mediafinder.com) to find traditional and electronic newspapers, magazines, trade papers, journals, catalogues and newsletters. You can also register with free online publicity sites like PRweb (www.prweb.com) and webwire (www.webwire.com) to distribute your press releases.
· Meet the press -– Contact editors directly and cultivate relationships with members of editorial boards. These folks have deadlines and often depend on articles from outside writers to flesh out their publications. The trick is to offer your helpful expertise and pitch a few ideas. Find out if there are upcoming features, industry topics, or editorial themes with which you can work. High-quality, low-hype content will benefit you and your media source.
· Submit articles to other sites -- Write articles with information that could be helpful to the readers of online newsletters, eZines and other online media. Advice, how-to’s, and Top 10 lists are the best formats. Ask permission before sending your article to the list moderator, editor or webmaster, each of whom will identify you as the author and tell visitors how to reach you.
· Sign your eMail -- Use your eMail signature file to promote your site and services. That way, when you use eMail to participate in a discussion or post to a mailing list, everyone will know from your signature what your business does and how to reach you. Your signature should not exceed five short lines, and should include your name and the name of your business, your site's URL, eMail address, phone number and fax number.
· Conduct surveys -- Run regular surveys on your site to measure consumer attitudes toward various issues of online business and offer the results to the media and to other webmasters. Reporters love surveys because the responses of real people provide news value and not just company hype.
· Announce in newsgroups -– Announce new products, new software, website launches, etc. Each newsgroup will have its own rules about what’s allowed to be posted, so do some research before you approach them.
· Win awards -– Submit your site for award competitions. If you win or place near the top, the recognition will generate tons of publicity. The Oscars of the web are the Webby Awards (www.webbyawards.com), with over 25 categories for nominations.
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Did you know?
Journalists are using the Internet more than ever. A recent survey of journalists found that 76% use the web for finding new sources/experts, 73% use it for finding press releases, 53% use it for receiving story pitches, while 92% use it for article research.
Source: Middleberg/Ross 7th Annual Survey of Media in the Wired World
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Site of the Month
I-PR Discussion List
Another great eMail discussion list from Adventive. This one is a community for PR professionals.
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Tip of the Month
Most publications print an editorial calendar in advance, which you can obtain easily. Once you’ve made contact with editors, keep an eye on the calendars and save the follow-up call for when you have something good to offer, like a new product that fits in neatly with an upcoming cover story. You should also check regularly for journalists searching for sources to quote – you might be the perfect expert.
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