Category Archives: PR resources

Online Publishing is Easy with paper.li

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Online publishing is a hot topic in social media circles and it’s something I discussed Tuesday morning during my monthly social media segment on Farm Week Now, a production of the Illinois Farm Bureau Radio Network. You’re actually a content creator, and don’t need to spend the time publishing original material. You become a valued source of information around the web, finding the content for which other’s lack the time to search.

Paper.li makes content curation easy, and visually attractive while making you look like an expert on the topic of your choosing. Why should you do it? Because  you don’t have to CREATE the content. You just CURATE it. It’ll help you grow your online community while positioning you as an authority on the topic(s) that your niche audiences find interesting. Since Paper.li is a social tool, others can easily supply you with content or share your content with their communities, making your paper.li viral.

Want to see what Paper.li is all about? See the Chicago PR Daily, created by my friend and fellow ex-City Hall reporter Sarah Skerik, who is now an executive with PR Newswire in Chicago. Sarah curates content on Twitter, uses it in her paper, and cites the friends and followers who originally tweeted about the content (in fact, I’ve been cited in her Chicago PR Daily on more times than I can count).
paperli-tcWant to follow the latest news about food to your table? Check out the Food & Agriculture Spotlight or The Daily Agvocate.

Want news about Chicago’s hottest restaurants and bars? See the Chicago Restaurants & Bars Daily. Maybe you’re tracking Restaurants of the World? There’s a paper.li Daily for that too!

Want to learn more about paper.li?

Paper.li has an easy step-by-step process for creating your own online newspaper

Or check out How to become a Twitter publisher with paper.li 

If my post encourages you to create your own Daily newspaper, please let me know and send me the link to it.  Do Good!

 

 

 

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Hiring a PR firm? Ask these questions first!

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Beautiful crocuses

Beautiful crocuses

Crocuses and snowdrops popping up in my garden signal spring’s arrival. I also know it’s spring because the phone is ringing — a LOT!  Now more than ever, organizations such as tech start-ups, entrepreneurs, non-profits, and corporations are reviewing their 2013 marketing and PR needs and deciding whether to hire a PR pro to help elevate their market position.

Here at Michelle Damico Communications, it’s Spring-Into-Action-Time, providing answers about how a company’s product, service or cause might benefit from my PR, messaging, and interview training services. So as a service to all future clients, here are things to ask before hiring a PR firm. (Note: There’s a special bonus for readers who make it to the end of this post!)

Six Questions to Ask Before Hiring a PR Firm

  1. How deep is your PR firm’s media relationships? How often do reporters CALL YOU seeking sources? Every good PR person will tell you they regularly connect with reporters via email, phone or tweet reporters. The strongest sign of a deep media relationship is when reporters call PR pros they trust, seeking experts  – I know because it happens to me weekly. 
  2. Tell me about your experience as former journalist? Many PR pros claim they used to work in journalism. But a closer look may reveal they wrote for their college newspaper and switched to business or marketing as their career. You can’t really understand the pressures professional journalists face without walking in their shoes and dealing with the stress of regular deadlines and surly editors. So check their LinkedIn profiles to learn what positions they held before landing their first PR position.
  3. Can you provide examples of how media placements led to more business or lead generation? Is their coverage relevant to clients’ target audiences? PR initiatives are typically targeted at two segments: consumers and business people.  A technology start up with a just-launched app for doctors will target media outlets quite different than a start-up serving consumers’ health and fitness needs.
  4. Does your PR firm have a solid web site, or a strong social media presence? This should be a no-brainer, but surprisingly it’s overlooked. A PR firm that participates in dynamic content creation will stay on top of digital media developments and appreciate the challenges of engaging with customers in the 24/7 digital communications world.
  5. Can one easily view the most recent headlines secured on behalf of clients? The stock and trade of any great PR firm is the news hits or coverage they’ve landed for their clients. Is the coverage recent? Is there a steady stream of client news placements demonstrating consistent outreach?
  6. Does your PR firm’s web site include a blog or dynamic posting feature? Any PR firm worth its weight is staying on top of digital PR trends and practicing them through their own digital properties. Actively blogging and sharing client case studies and insights about the current world demonstrates a PR professionals ability to stay on top of their industry.

If you took the time to read this entire post, here’s a nice little April 1st Thank you, with photos!DSC_0307DSC_0344IMG_1036IMG_1032DSC_0348IMG_1042IMG_0485

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Dispelling the Dark Side Myth

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   I’m joining my former WXRT News colleague, Charlie Meyerson with our first blog brainstorm.
Charlie has graciously agreed to my request about his good, bad and ugly experiences with PR people. I’ve happily obliged his idea to dispel the myths about journalists who switch to public relations. Keep visiting here for this unique online conversation between a veteran journalist and a veteran PR professional. 

 

Often when I meet new clients, someone invariably jokes that when I left journalism for public relations, I entered the “dark side” of communications. Heck, even I feared I’d sell my soul by switching to a PR career after 20 years in broadcast news at WXRT, WBEZ, and WGN radio.

I recalled conversations in the City Hall Press Room, cynically feeding the misconception about PR people with names like: hacks, flaks, spinmeisters, handlers, sellouts and worse.  So in my mind, I too feared becoming one of those dark characters lurking behind the curtains when I accepted the Communications Director’s job for Mayor Richard M. Daley’s 1995 re-election campaign.

After 17 years in PR and media relations, I can tell you that dark sinister image is great for TV dramas, but not a reflection of reality. In fact, these real-life nicknames are more fitting monikers:  ”Story Assistant,” “Mr. Communicator” and “Message Engineer.” Our role, as PR people is to communicate our clients’ stories and help journalists with story ideas.

We serve as the media’s information providers, schedulers, and fact-checkers.   With jobs continuing to decline at newspapers, TV and radio stations, those media reps lucky enough to remain employed need all the help I can possibly give them.

Providing ideas — knowing when and how

Reporters have even greater pressures to feed the beast — the 24-hour news cycle. Without ideas from people like me, they’d have to do more scouting, calling and mining for sources. I routinely get journalists’ request for ideas. In fact, even when I don’t have a client expert, I will go out of my way to find sources to help them out (in journalism as in life, there is value in paying it forward). 

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Find Rewards by Mining Your LinkedIn Profile

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This post appeared originally on Carol Roth’s Business Unplugged Blog. 

If you noticed someone peeking through the front door of your business, would you ask “How can I help you?” You’d be silly not to make that personal connection; especially as businesspeople, we’re always looking for that next customer.

There are probably at least a half dozen people peeking through your business front door – your LinkedIn account – on a daily basis. Are you reaching out to them? Too shy? Don’t know what to say? Don’t want to give the impression that you’re spying on your visitors?

Today, I want to embolden you and arm you with the steps needed to make those valuable connections with potential customers, because I’ve learned this past summer that with the right approach, you CAN get meaningful business leads and valuable connections.

STEP 1. Start off with the front page of your LinkedIn profile. You’ll find a box that says “Your profile has been viewed (number) times in the past 14 days.” Check this page at least weekly and preferably daily. Most of the time, you will see the identities of your LinkedIn visitors. Members have the option to have their name displayed, have their title/industry displayed without their name, or remain anonymous. Many members choose not to hide their identity. With the paid membership, you can see all of the viewers of your profile, not just a select few.

I make this visit to my profile page a daily routine and it has been well worth the investment of my time.

Proof Point 1: This summer, I noticed a former client was on my page, someone I hadn’t spoken to in 10 years. I checked his recent job history, sent an email and started a conversation about what he’d been up to. I researched his new firm, checked recent news and sent him a message saying hello and congratulating him on his accomplishments. That led to a string of emails, lunch, and now, I am in conversations with his CEO for possible PR work. I landed a quality lead based on my relevant media relations work experience and didn’t have to make one annoying cold call! Pretty nice, huh? And SO easy.

STEP 2. If folks visiting your profile aren’t easily recognizable, check out their pages if you can and your connections to them. LinkedIn etiquette suggests that you request an introduction from a current member of your network. That works fine, but may take a while. However, I have found that new visitors to your profile don’t mind your direct outreach, as long as it’s not repeated and annoying. But DO be sure you do some homework before trying to connect. Also, remember to include the reason that you are reaching out and why they might want to connect with you. (See example below.)

Proof Point 2: A recent visitor to my LinkedIn page was the Director of Marketing from an MBA school at a major university. LinkedIn requires that you should have a business history with the person you’re messaging. In many cases, I haven’t done business with these people, but I have never been caught by a “LinkedIn cop” for violating the rule. And none of my InMail recipients has ever told me to stop messaging them. Hey, if I don’t get a response, I don’t bother them again. In nearly every instance, I have gotten a response. I’ve never heard of anyone being bounced from LinkedIn for the occasional InMail infraction against someone they don’t know. (If you know of someone who has been ejected, please do share!) So, when you see the LinkedIn prompt asking how you know this person, use your current firm as your reference and check we’ve done business together. If you are in a group with the person and don’t know them, you can use that option instead.

STEP 3. How to approach that visitor scoping out your profile? Here’s the gist of an InMessage I sent to that CMO of a major university:

“Hi NAME, I couldn’t help noticing that you visited my profile this week. Is there something that I can help you with or perhaps offer a recommendation for a candidate whose name we might have in common?”

I received a reply saying that he was looking for a communications person to elevate his school’s social media presence. He complimented my PR and social media credentials and indicated that he was looking for a more junior level candidate and so, I offered to aid in his search. I made a valuable connection and feel totally comfortable reaching out to him again, if needed, in the future.

What’s the lesson here? Do your LinkedIn homework every day and see who’s checking out your profile. Look for ways that you might help those people and do the research to ask intelligent, relevant questions. You just never know where that conversation will take you and your business.

Is this something that you have used successfully in your business? I would love to hear about your experiences or suggestions.

 Post happily written by Michelle Damico
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Debate on Press Release Demise Continues!

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PR pros will be debating this topic forever; I’m convinced of it. The debate rages on between members of my LinkedIn Groups as well. In fact, many public relations professionals have commented on my post “The Press Release is NOT Dead” and it spurred a nice LinkedIn conversation that’s worth sharing. It started when Melissa Bleasdale, a member of the PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) Technology Section shared her insights. See it below, and then read my reply.

Melisa BleasdaleMelisa Bleasdale • When we say the press release is dead, which it is, we are not saying that we don’t send them out, because we do – mostly out of habit and because our clients like it. However, in my 20 year career in PR, actual articles have only ever been written because of one-on-one communication with editors and journalists, which does, at some point, involve saying, “I’ll send you the press release” aka synopsis of what the news is. We use Marketwire and it’s not inexpensive and PR profs have to show ROI in the form of actual coverage and not mere pickups and regurgitation of press releases. I can’t speak for everyone of course, but this has been my personal experience as a tech PR rep in the Bay Area.

Michelle DamicoMichelle Damico • Hi Melisa, thanks for the comment. I only write/send out releases when they fit the client strategy. I mostly use well-written pitches to reach journalists. However, when appropriate, I use releases to make sure the journalists have ALL the info they need in one doc. When I pitch them & they’re interested, they often ask for a release, which I translate into, “Give me the background I need.” I contend, the release is NOT Dead, because it provides valuable info to time-stretched journalists AND it has the opportunity to go viral and become a lead generator– which it HAS for two of my clients! 

I really appreciate that you took the time to comment. Have a great weekend.

Here’s a different perspective from another member of LinkedIn’s PRSA Technology Discussion Group:

Marie-Dominique Bonardi

Marie-Dominique Bonardi • I completely agree with you Michelle. The press release gives a great structure to the message. The structure of the press release make the message clearer and stronger. It is really important, all the more when you have customers with weak messages. It is a support of the PR activity, it does not replace the relationship with the reporters, it never has. 
You can change the way you send it, the way you post it, it is still a great basis for the PR pitch and it allows the customer to keep an historical track of PR activities. To me the “press release is dead” message is a marketing way to position some agencies as “trendier” than other. This is just PR marketing. 
We all use the new tools which are great to connect to reporters. But the core of our job (messaging and relationship) remains the same.

Michelle Damico

Michelle Damico • Thank you Marie-Dominique for your excellent comment. It’s a great contribution. Have a great Friday and Mother’s Day, whether you’re a mom or not!

If you have witnessed the value of spending your time writing press releases, I’d love to hear anecdotes about how they worked to generate awareness and boost business leads. I’d also love examples of when a press release flopped. Why didn’t it create the buzz, attract the attention you thought it might? I’ll dig through my files and see what I come up with as well!
 Post happily written by Michelle Damico
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The Press Release is NOT Dead!

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Long Live the Press Release!

It’s a major weapon in your organization’s PR and media relations arsenal and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. They are effective (especially when search-optimized for Google and Yahoo!) in helping customers find your business, and for arming reporters with information about your product or service. I have proof, and it comes courtesy of my PR and marketing clients.

Here’s a press release that prompted executives from consumer warehouse retailers to call my client. Imagine having high-value prospective customers CALL YOU? It happened to Green Delete, which helps firms safely and responsibly delete data from electronic devices. If I hadn’t written and distributed this press release to the journalists who cover recycling, data protection and asset management, these giant companies would never have learned about Green Delete and its expertise in on-site digital asset disposal.

Or check out the release I wrote for Lloyd Bachrach, an amazing, inspiring motivational speaker who also runs Premier Showcase, an annual entertainment event to help school administrators and volunteers see the talent before they book their school assemblies. This press release provided valuable, time-saving information that helps time-crunched reporters quickly get the information they need to not only decide on covering my client, but to write a factually correct story. Reporters are so stressed with multiple deadlines and demands, and a well-written press release helps them better do their jobs.  In fact, see the TV and print coverage that I secured for Lloyd who continually reminds me how those news reports helped grow his business and boost credibility among his business partners.

I have scores of other client news stories that appeared in major market media and started with a press release. Just go to my News section here and take a look. Or contact me to learn about why a compelling, helpful, well-written press release should be a key launching pad for your business’s PR efforts.