Identifying Topics – What Could You Write a Press Release About?

The short answer to that question is ANYTHING. But what is newsworthy?

Think about what your company is doing right now that you are excited about. Example: An Insanity workout instructor who is traveling to a conference where she will meet and work out with Shaun T, the creator of Insanity. Cool, right? And getting publicity could attract more people to her classes.

Connect a trend, study, social issue or current event to your business and area of expertise. Example: Real estate agent and home buying/selling trends, Local group knitting hats for political protests.Trends in consumerism, or studies on health topics.

A How-to or Check List in your area of expertise – Examples: Hula Hooping How To – (connect it to the circus being in town, then mention that your gym offers classes) Financial Planning tip list, scrapbooking tips from a consultant or paper supply store – create one page a month for a year – connect to National Scrapbooking Day.

Anniversaries, milestones – Celebrating a year in business or 10 years?, Reached a certain number of clients? Met a sales goal? New location or additional location?

Holidays/Seasons – President’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day Longest Day of the Year, Shortest Day. Seasonal Promotions/giveaways, Spring flowers, April Showers, Filing Taxes – financial planning, get fit for the summer, etc.

Awards, Recognition, Good Work in the Community. Supporting a Cause or Making a donation of product or services – Awareness Month such as February – Heart Association, Autism Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Awareness, Charitable donation. Example: a local Landscaping company that donated a tree to the park for Arbor Day – made a donation and did a good deed and was recognized in the newspaper with a photo.

The list goes on. Sponsoring an event or contest. New Business or Old business with something new to offer such as a new product or service. What are you doing that is innovative or unique? Launching a new website? Don’t Be Afraid to Toot Your Own Horn!

So, Once you decide on a topic to write a press release on, where do you start?

Think of the format as a funnel with the top being the most important information first.

Your Logo / Letterhead – contact person and phone number/email should be at the top.

For Immediate Release – Date

Headline – hook the reader in, why should they continue reading? Encapsulate the entire release and boil it down to 8-10 words. Leave out “and” – use a comma instead. Bolder and bigger than the rest of text but still on one line.

Subhead – A 2nd punch with a bit more information that expands on the headline – still bigger than the rest of body text but smaller than header.

Dateline – City/Town in caps – helpful to identify where the release is coming from.

Lead – Most important information first – who, what, where, when, why, how. Make the editor or reporter want to read more.

Body – a few sentences of description and detail. Paragraph of 2 to 3 sentences but no longer.

Quotes – add value and human interest. Attribute to a source, you or a satisfied client. Real words – how a person would speak. Fun, Quirky, heartfelt.

Boilerplate – One or two sentences about you and your company.

A call to action or request. – Close with a strong incentive for the reader.

VIEW PRESS RELEASE TEMPLATE

One page is usually plenty.

Keep it brief and easy to digest. State if you have photos or graphics available that can be provided. A press release is not an advertisement so keep “I, You, We” out of it unless it’s in a quote. Stick to facts. No exclamation points! Avoid jargon – spell out acronyms on first reference if used.

Target to the most appropriate newspaper section editor (Business Editor/Lifestyles/Health) or to news director/assignment editor at TV stations. Newspapers, TV, Radio – Media websites list contact information to send press releases to as well as preferred format. Email. Phone follow-up. Local/National – TU or the AP? Magazines in your area of expertise.

Media Advisory – Short – who, what, where, when, why, with directions if applicable. Photo Opportunity. Send the day or two before an event to generate coverage.

Since it’s up to the media’s discretion, there’s no guarantee of coverage, but keep submitting. Strive to be timely. Connect your business to current events or social issues and make your press release or letter too interesting to pass up!

Facebook has become a buzzed about topic when it comes to marketing. It provides a fun way to display your business and a unique opportunity to connect with your customers. It is also a land of un-chartered and ever-changing territory for many, which can make efforts overwhelming. So before diving into a campaign most people want to know how any social media effort can benefit their business.

Facebook Pages

Facebook pages are pretty much any business’ first stop on the social media train. Why? Well, Facebook is the largest social media platform, boasting 1.79 billion monthly users as of September 2016 (Facebook). With that many active users, it stands-to-reason that customers are chilling online with their friends. Knowing that target audiences are on the platform makes it easy to reach active buyers and integrate them into an online community. It also allows you to expand on this online community with those unfamiliar to your business. The best part – it’s free! By having an engaged audience comprised of your business’ fans your Facebook content spreads onto the newsfeeds of their friends with each interaction. It also brings the opportunity to showcase company culture and a business’ personality. People enjoy feeling involved in “moments.” By sharing moments of employees, office activities, and other fun features you provide a glimpse into work-life at your company and create connections.

Facebook Paid Ads

As with most things, once something free becomes a fad, there is monetization. The good news is Facebook ads are super affordable and can really maximize audience reach. Additionally, super-detailed targeting helps to reach ideal target audiences without spending a massive amount of money. Utilizing Facebook paid ads provides placement in the right hand column ads, audience network, and newsfeeds (desktop and mobile). Facebook also offers ad placement on Instagram for certain ad types. If a business doesn’t use Instagram and lacks an account, ads can still be run on the platform using your Facebook page. There are many measurable ad goals including video, event promotion, website clicks, offers, post engagement and more. The Facebook tracking pixel also make it much easier to track conversions and actions taken by users. This will give you insight to your audience, allow you to create custom audiences using these engaged users, and increase website retargeting with Facebook visitors.

Facebook has provided a place for people to connect and those active users continue to keep coming. Whether you are a restauranteur, car dealer, veterinarian, retailer, event planner, daycare operator, plumber, attorney or work in another profession, Facebook has plenty to offer when it comes to marketing and growing your business. It also allows business of any size a fair chance to find placement amongst a deluge of other content at an affordable price. With new platforms emerging and beginning to monetize, it seems that social media continues to be a marketing trend. Better to hop on this train now than miss it completely.

In today’s fast-paced, ever-changing online landscape it is hard to nail down the best way to draw in new clients and customers. Plus, with all of the options a business has it can be confusing and time consuming to figure out. But it doesn’t have to be. Read on to learn more about inbound marketing, how it benefits your business, and how to cut down on the time it takes.

By definition, inbound marketing is “the promotion of a company or other organization through blogs, podcasts, video, e-books, newsletters, white papers, SEO, physical products, social media marketing, and other forms of content marketing which serve to attract customers through different stages of the purchase funnel.” (Source: Wikipedia)

So, in other words, literally all online efforts are considered inbound marketing. However, if you read through the definition, that is an awful lot of content to create while also trying to run a business. That is why determining what you should focus on is the first thing you should do when deciding on an inbound marketing strategy. This will differ from business to business as services and products differ, as does your company personality. Inbound marketing allows a business the opportunity to showcase more than just specials and offers or a name. It’s an opportunity to show WHO your business is and to connect with your audience. So where should you start?

WEBSITES

First things first – If you haven’t already done so, set up your website! While it may be time consuming and an added expense to set up a website, it is essential to have an internet home base for potential clients to learn about your business, products, and services. A website should be aesthetically inviting, but more importantly should be user-friendly. Nothing drives internet users crazier than convoluted webpages where multiple clicks are necessary in order to get to the information they came for.

Once the general website design and flow has been settled on, it’s time to beef up the pages and content. This is when blogging, video, podcasts – anything you can upload into your website – becomes a huge help. Adding supporting content to your more formal business content provides pieces that show off your company persona and knowledge; it also helps search engine ranking, provides shareable content for social media, and helps grow trust among your current and growing audience. Grow your catalog of blog entries and monitor feedback, either from analytics or directly from readers. Following the clues left by users, you can see what pieces your visitors are most interested in, helping you develop future content pieces that fit your audience’s needs. These ideas may come to your team organically as they write pieces as well. When this begins to happen, a business should consider “premium content” including white papers, e-books, or special offers.

PREMIUM CONTENT

White papers and e-books are many times offered as added value content. They can be presented through email blasts, offered at the end of blogs or through a click-to-download button on your website. While you have contact information for users you are email blasting, the other two options provide a unique opportunity to harvest information on new leads. When providing an offer through your website, social media post or banner ad, the click through should bring the user to a specific customized landing page for the offer. The page should consist of an overview of the content a user can expect in return for filling out and submitting the information form. The form can be as basic as submitting a name and email, to detailed information or questions that shed light on why the lead is interested in the information.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Another focus for many businesses is a social media presence. Businesses that have an active social media presence generate higher converting leads. Per Hootsuite “nearly 75 percent of companies that engaged in selling on social media reported an increase in sales in 12 months.” In addition to having higher sales, social media provides the opportunity to enhance the customer experience, gain insights on your audience, run economical paid ads that are targeted specifically to certain users, and to have some fun! Share fun photos of company culture, run trivia contests or giveaways, and celebrate holidays. Social media is incredibly personal so use that experience and show what makes your company unique, all while promoting your brand and product or services. Of course some material will work better on certain platforms than others, but a simple adjustment in strategy will actually streamline your plan and eliminate wasted time. As long as you are serving up content that users are looking for on the proper platform, you should see a high engagement rate and conversions that follow.

No matter how you structure your inbound marketing program the main focus should be providing simple and informative content in an easy-to-use package. When even small efforts are made to grow the internet footprint of a business, changes will come. You don’t have to roll out an entire inbound plan all at once; Roll it out in stages that make inbound marketing a compliment to your business. Keep your focus on user-friendliness, quality content, and fostering a community, and your inbound plan will start delivering sooner rather than later.