MarketingSherpa Blog

I think it’s worth mentioning another free online press release distribution site mentioned in a recent Fame article, “PR Interview: 13 No-Cost Press Release Distribution Sites Reviewed: Get High SEO Rankings on a Budget.”

Both Daniel Durazo and I received comments about PRLog. One commenter said he got two press releases on the first page of Google results by inserting a niche keyword phrase into the title of the press release. Useful TIP!

Upon review of PRLog this is what I found out about the free service:

-Requires a minimal registration/login process

-Allows hyperlinks to be inserted in to the body of the release

-Masks email addresses in the contact section (to prevent spam)

-Typically submits free releases within 24 hours

-Provides multiple categories and tags (keywords)

-Allows for company logo inclusion

-Automatically creates a downloadable PDF

-Provides visitor statistics

-Allows for editing and deleting releases

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It’s definitely a useful site for any PR professional on a budget. First page Google results is nothing to snuff at. And allowing hyperlinks in the body of the press release free of charge is almost unheard of among the free sites.

Monitoring Web chatter about your brand can be a challenge. We’ve written at least one article on monitoring social media to protect your reputation. The task can be expensive or time consuming–but it doesn’t have to be.

You can take a quick, free look at what the Web thinks about your brand with HowSociable?. The site is incredibly useful and easy to use. It doesn’t require any registration, usernames or passwords. You can even look at what people are saying about your competition.

Simply type in a phrase and see the number of times it’s mentioned on 22 social media portals. All the biggest players are there–Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Technorati, YouTube.  

Not only do you get the number of times your brand is mentioned, you also get the links to where your brand is mentioned. That’s so cool! Find out what people across the Web are saying about your company from one spot.

I woke with a start at four in the morning in a hotel room in Scottsdale, Arizona, where I was conducting research at a marketing trade show in October 1999.

Back then, as now, marketing, PR and advertising professionals were nearly deafened by a deluge of media “serving” them. Magazines, events, newsletters, etc., etc. But, as a 20-year veteran, I felt that huge amount of content hadn’t been terribly useful in the everyday business of running a real-world marketing department. Read more…

I have been signed up for Barack Obama and John McCain’s email messages for well over a year. And my fellow Americans (sorry, I couldn’t resist, ‘Mac’ fans), I was let down by what I did NOT see on Wednesday or Thursday.

Neither candidate had sent out an email to their subscriber list since the election results were in thanking them for their support. Obama’s Internet strategy has been pretty brilliant, so this glaring blind spot in ‘customer care’ was nearly shocking from his camp.

I first recognized this yesterday, a day after Election Tuesday. At that time, I was willing to cut campaign managers David Axelrod and Rick Davis some slack. A Tuesday night or Wednesday morning email would have been best. But they and their teams had to be unbelievably tired and distracted. The last thing they were probably thinking about was another email send.

But I thought: They really should be sending a ‘Thank You’ message on Thursday…any point after that would be kind of an embarrassment. I mean, both campaigns wisely used email to gather support. Whether it was donations, volunteering, soliciting help with phone banks, etc., each candidate was acquiring the resources of hard-working people via those messages.

By not sending their lists ‘Thank Yous’ in a timely fashion, they sent an altogether different kind of message: “We don’t need you anymore.”

That’s unfortunate for both the Democratic and Republican brands. While the bad marketing on both parties’ watch will not matter in 2012, why take the risk of turning off your best supporters? It makes zero sense.

Especially when you consider that both camps constantly sent emails this year. Several a week.

One more. That’s all they had left to do.

I am a huge fan of the AMC television series Mad Men — a drama about the ad men and women on Madison Avenue in the 1960s. That’s why a blog post about the shutdown of Mad Men Twitter feeds caught my eye.

Apparently, fans were posing as Mad Men characters, creating Twitter profiles for them, and posting regular Twitter posts. (Check out Don Draper’s, Betty Draper’s, Peggy Olsen’s, and Pete Campbell’s Twitter feeds.) AMC asked Twitter to shut down the feeds, which angered fans.

Here’s an excerpt from the Reuters’ article:

“Although anybody can legally pretend to be any made-up character, Twitter could be in violation of AMC’s trademark if its presentation successfully confuses readers as to whether the feeds are endorsed by the network. Still, sources said that AMC still is looking into the matter and noted that some executives at the network recognize the value of the feeds.”

Later, AMC revoked the request, allowing the feeds to continue. I think this leads to some fundamental conclusions about the ways brands should view social media avenues like Twitter.

1. As long as consumers aren’t being profane and inappropriate or otherwise offensive to others and the brand, what can it hurt?

2. Social media avenues work best when minimally policed.

3. It’s free, no effort viral marketing for the brand.

Thanks to David Lidsky, Senior Editor of Fast Company, for blogging about this. I wouldn’t have seen it otherwise.

Here is my second post on how you can help back up your green marketing message by lowering the carbon footprint of your company. Tips were provided by Tim Sanders, Author, Saving the World At Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do to Go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference.

This post suggests ways to get your business partners to follow your lead and how to cut your shipping emissions.

You can only reduce your carbon emissions to a point. After that, you have to influence others to continue to reduce your impact on the planet. Some companies have calculated the emissions reductions they’ve convinced others to take and realized that it’s more than offset their company’s total carbon footprint, Sanders says. Technically, they’re operating at zero emissions.

-> Suppliers and media providers

If you’re a major advertiser at a publication, or a major account for a supplier, you can leverage your relationship to encourage them to go green.

Tell the magazine you’re thinking of moving your account to a magazine published on recycled paper. Tell the shipping company you’re considering switching to a competitor who uses a truck idling system that cuts down on emissions. You might help push them into green efforts.

-> Choose partners carefully

You can also choose to work with greener companies in the future. This will prevent straining any current relationships and will help support your company’s green claims.

Although, not related to printing, overnight shipping is integral to the PR industry. PR reps often have “overnight syndrome,” Sanders says. If you’ve got the disease, curing it can go a long way toward making your company greener.

“An overnight shipped package has 12 times the environmental impact of a ground-shipped package,” Sander says. “If you can’t reduce your overnight shipping by 80%, you need to take a time management course.”

Talk the walk: If your company is making genuine efforts to have a smaller impact on the environment, publicize it. It will make your customers feel better about choosing your brand, may attract new customers and you can influence others to follow in your footsteps.

Do not be afraid of activists’ charges of green washing. The best way to avoid a controversy is to always be straightforward and truthful in your claims. If you’re making a genuine effort, explain it without overstating it.

Are you recording the telemarking calls made by your in-house or outsourced lead nurturing team? If not, you could me missing an important resource for:

Read more…

There was an interesting article in a recent print edition of The Wall Street Journal about how there may be tough times ahead for the more than 300 advertising networks on the Web. The online edition of TWSJ is not a freebie, so I will summarize. Read more…

Adding a dash of green can do a lot for your marketing — as long as your claims are valid. But don’t market yourself as environmentally friendly if you’re not, you’ll give fodder to activist groups and others who could paint you as a “green washer.”

Read more…

MarketingSherpa has published Case Studies and research data on list segmentation for seven years now. We’ve got data coming out of our ears showing that if you split your list into groups by recent activity and/or demographic and send special campaigns to those groups, your response rates will soar.

Nearly everyone says: “Oh yes. Segmentation is a best practice. But I don’t have the time/money/software/energy to do it. So I’ll keep blasting my entire house list with the exact same creative and timing from now until someday.” Read more…