First Step Marketing

Online publicity is an important element of your marketing plan if you’re to rise above the noise level on the Net. But getting that publicity is not easy—it takes a lot of work, and can be froth with dangers. It takes a lot of planning and preparation and is definitely not a one-shot effort. A well-thought-out publicity plan gives your eBusiness the kind of portrayal you want in the media and your community. Over the long haul, good portrayal generates good credibility for your eBusiness.

The goal is to generate important coverage of your eBusiness at exactly the right time and in exactly the right place.

Although Public Relations (PR) is a part of marketing, it’s really not marketing. Marketing manages demand whereas PR manages your company’s image and its awareness on the Net. Online PR is not the process of submitting your Web store to search engines. Good PR appeals to people, not machines. Good PR builds awareness and visibility with minimal cash.

Creating the Buzz

The Buzz is one of the most important and most elusive forces in all of marketing. If you’ve got something to sell and are either short on cash or rolling in dough to promote it, creating a Buzz about it will get you millions of dollars in free publicity. Buzz is extremely influential and after it spreads, can boost your Web store’s awareness considerably.

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When you create a Buzz, it means that people are talking about you. You’re mentioned in news articles, compared in features, talked about in chat rooms, and mentioned in newsgroups. It’s the Holy Grail of marketing and is the marketing goal of every business today.

So how do you create the Buzz? By putting out timely press releases, interviews, and stories that showcase your eBusiness. And that means getting the attention of journalists.

Now, journalists are a fussy bunch. They’re harassed daily by companies and individuals asking them to write about their latest “can’t-live-without” product or service. But much too often, the news releases they do get are dry, boring, and have no connection to what interests them. Journalists respond to clever writing and news releases that describe how a new product or service is a solution to a business or consumer trend or problem. They respond to releases that piggyback on late-breaking stories that show how a company’s product or service relates to current news.

What do you need to know to create a Buzz? First, learn how to write a compelling and timely press release. Second, know where to send it and how.

The key elements of a good publicly plan include a number of elements.

State Your Key Message Advantages In any release you send out, you need to make sure that the main advantages of your product or service are clearly defined and stated. It’s your Unique Selling Position again! Your goal is to have these key messages reported or implied in any news story about your eBusiness.

Target Your Publicity Make a list of all magazines, newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations that would most likely carry your company story. You want to target these news outlets and make sure that what you do and the news you release match their audience interests. And remember to not just target a new source—target a particular department or individual within it.

Media Calendar Good PR is not a one-shot deal. A good public relations plan is designed to map out a strategy for several months to a year. For PR to be effective, you need a steady stream of it. You need to craft your news releases not only for publication, but to get interviewed for a timely story as well. So look at your product or service, and then look at a calendar. Prepare to send out news releases that show how your product or service relates to holidays—such as Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, or Halloween—and seasonal times—such as swim and vacation season in the Summer, back to school in the Fall, winter activities in the Winter, and fashions in the Spring. Design both your marketing campaign and your public relations campaign to coincide with these events. Alert the media at each one of these points with news releases. The object here is to get the press coverage—or better yet—get an interview.

Knowing what is considered news and what’s not is key in getting your news releases read. Simply stating that your Web site is open for business, or if you have redesigned your site, or have added new staff is not in itself newsworthy. What is newsworthy is focusing on something that’s already prominent in the news or is about to become so. Issue a report related to your site’s main theme, or conduct a survey and issue a report on the findings, buck a trend in the marketplace, announce an award you’ve won, or announce that when you reach a company milestone, such as celebrating your one millionth customer.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 2:19 am and is filed under Advertising, Ecommerce, Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.