If you follow me here or on my LinkedIn profile, you probably know I’m a strong believer in the effectiveness of a well-written press release. In an earlier post, I mentioned that press releases have the potential to go viral and become an excellent lead generator. Recently, I had a media relations experience that perfectly illustrates my point!
Does it seem like your PR efforts are wasting time and money? Do you repeatedly try and fail to get reporters’ attention? During my many years helping business, government and non-profit clients secure positive news coverage, I’ve felt the adreniline rush that comes with magnificent news coverage, and the agony and embarrassment that follows a media interview gone awry (scroll down to the graph that starts “Then another tollway spokesperson”). With those memories I present the Top Ten Reasons Why Your PR Efforts are Getting You Nowhere:
This is a great time to say thank you for following my blog and participating in great conversations that (I hope) have helped you realize your PR goals and your business dreams.
This year has been tough for nearly every organization seeking to boost sales or increase awareness through traditional media such as print and broadcast, or word-of-mouth platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
In 2011, professionals were faced with a double whammy: shrinking marketing budgets and trying to follow and adapt to an ever-changing media landscape. We’ve all had to learn a lot of new rules and tools to stay on top of social media marketing.
As my way of saying thanks, I’d like to share a few timesaving tools and resources that kept me on top of my game this year:
1. PR Daily: A fantastic eNewsletter for PR and marketing professionals following traditional and social media trends and topics.
2. LinkedIn’s Answers: Saves countless hours researching an infinite number of topics or challenges. Why start from scratch when you’ve got experts eager to help on any topic for any industry.
3. Google Docs: Invaluable for collaborating on projects. Edit or create documents on a Google Doc and use Google’s chat tool for instantly discussing or improving upon your changes. It’s simple and elegant.
4. Join.me: Share your computer desktop view with others remotely for presentations or collaboration. Others can view your desktop presentations or follow as you navigate web sites by simply clicking on a link to Join.me.
5. Highrise Contact Management: Following-up with the reporters you pitch, or the prospects you’re trying to reach is easy with Highrise. It helps you track all emails and phone calls and sends reminders about the tasks related to those contacts. An easy way to create, organize and monitor all your customer info, emails and notes.
Give these free tools a try and tell me what you think. And if you would like to review your PR efforts this year, or want to discuss your 2012 strategy, don’t hesitate to contact me through the form here on my blog or at michelle at michelledamico dot com.
Wishing you happiness in the Season of Giving and lasting prosperity in 2012.
Enjoy these photos as a gift from my personal collection.
Gifts from an ice storm, by Michelle Damico
A visual feast is often the next best thing, by Michelle Damico
Your passion will take you there, by Michelle Damico