Michael Renderman, Vice President Business Development, Cision US

Planning an annual public relations campaign is a necessary chore that can easily be put off by the crisis of the day. This year, instead of dreading the annual planning ritual, think of it as a strategic exercise that will save you time and money. If you set the right agenda and tie your PR planning efforts to your organization’s overall goals and objectives, you will find it easier to get the resources you need to deliver strategic results.

Start with strategy and research: It’s much easier to chart your course if you actually know your destination. Developing a strategy that defines, prioritizes and focuses on the specific results you need to get with your PR and media campaigns. Researching the media-consumption habits of key audiences will enable you to save time and money by zeroing in on the media that directly reach your targets.

Focus on quality before quantity: Public relations professionals are often forced into a reactive mode by unexpected news. But don’t let the urgent get in the way of the important. Build a plan that budgets time for proactive outreach to your short list of top media targets delivering your highest-quality audiences. Getting ahead of the curve by practicing the 80-20 rule will deliver better PR results and still leave time to deal with unexpected crises.

Know your target audience: Before embarking on your story placement trip, you must have a solid handle on the target audience. If not, you will simply end up on a wild goose chase, spending an inordinate amount of time pursuing opportunities that are of little value. Developing a profile and characteristics of your target customers will help you determine what makes them tick and what turns them on. Between broadcast media, hardcopy publications, online outlets and the burgeoning world of blogs, figuring out what your audience reads can be a daunting task. First, match your target-customer profile to the circulation and audience demographics of your targeted outlets. Then, look beyond the publisher’s statement of circulation and readership to broader gauges of a publication’s editorial quality, influence and reputation.

Know which outlets to focus on: The right kind of research gives you a solid idea of exactly where to go with your story. First, look to the outlets that are the most widely followed in your industry. But also look for the perfect fit with story ideas and angles listed in the editorial calendars. Seek out opportunities where you can give a publication the lead for its major annual trend or round-up story. Sometimes a placement in a small but highly respected journal is better than a “one-day wonder” in a more widely read but less prestigious publication, especially if it tells your story exactly as you want it told. Remember, placements have a shelf life through reprints and links to copies that live in perpetuity online. So, plan on pitching the quality publications, regardless of their size. They will get your story right and give you the most credibility.

Develop your plan of attack: Know what story lines you are going to pitch and how you will get the editor to feature your story. Develop a resource plan enabling you and your staff to make the calls how and when you need to. Getting to the right editor at the right time should never be a matter of luck or serendipity. Budget the time and resources throughout the year to do the right outreach to the right outlets at the right time. Develop a comprehensive, 52-week media-contact schedule and plan, and then stick to it.

Stay on top of the story: Plans are living documents. Not only will your organization’s overall marketing plan change as your business evolves. But as the year wears on, editors reacting to a changing news environment may be looking for new and different angles for scheduled stories. Plan to revisit your strategic plan throughout the year with fresh ideas that will keep you ahead of your competitors.

Measure and merchandise your results: Finally, make it clear what success looks like. Your annual PR plan should include quantitative and qualitative metrics for success that provide benchmarks for the following year’s plan that will, you hope, justify a larger budget with resources you need to continue helping your organization achieve its goals. As you document your success against the metrics in your plan, you can promote your success and use the feedback for constant improvement.

Are you developing your annual editorlal pitch calendar and media contact plan? Click here to download a white paper from Cision on Ten Tips for Effective Media Planning and Editorial Calendar Research

November, 2007 • Back to top

Michele Wade, Account Executive at MindShare Strategies, has over 10 years experience in corporate communications, public relations, and brand management. Previously, she was a senior account executive at Weber Shandwick Worldwide, a global public relations agency, and brand manager and marketing communications coordinator with C.H. Robinson Company.

“Just put it on the web.” Sound familiar? Comments like these often come from harried execs who want to take advantage of the company web site without really understanding what’s involved. Writing for the web is not as simple as putting print pieces online. Obviously, you can do that, but you’ll risk alienating your audience and missing out on a valuable marketing opportunity. As with any marketing effort, you need to consider your strategic objectives and your audience to make sure your web copy is on target.

People read text on the web in a very different way than they read printed pieces. That’s because the web audience is made up of a different type of reader: time-pressed, looking for useable information, wanting to get work done quickly. This new reader requires reading material that’s easy to read, scan-able, conversational, and, most importantly, to the point.

Keep It Simple

Consider using ad copy as your model. Identify your key messages and say them in a powerful way. Short, easy-to-read sentences (20 words or less) and paragraphs (four sentences or less) work best. Here’s your chance to use ellipses, bullets, questions and the fragments that used to make your English teacher’s hair stand on end. Your job is to catch your readers’ attention and make it easy to find what they’re looking for.

You also want to avoid giving readers too much information at once. Limit the text on each screen to no more than four paragraphs — approximately 100–200 words. If you have more information, create a new page and use a hyperlink to direct the reader there. You’re striving for a clean, open look that is easy to scan.

Hyperlinks on every screen are valuable for both site visitors and search engine optimization. When you create a hyperlink, keep it short and precise. Tell the reader exactly what to expect on the next screen. (There’s no need to say “click here.” Today’s web audience is savvy enough to know what to do.) When possible, link to other sites as well to enhance your site’s credibility.

Keep It Strategic

Give serious thought to how your target web audience will be looking for information. Rather than thinking about individual search terms, consider which keyword phrases they are likely to use. For example, instead of “logistics,” try “supply chain logistics” or “third-party logistics.” Incorporate two to four of your keyword phrases on each page. Taking the time to consider your audience’s perspective will help to bring you more highly targeted web traffic.

For effective search engine optimization, you must use keyword phrases effectively:

• Use keyword phrases in page headers.
• Avoid forward slash between words in keyword phrases – search engines won’t recognize the words separately.
• Don’t combine adjectives to describe a key noun — i.e. instead of “dedicated and public warehousing,” use “dedicated warehousing and public warehousing.”
• Copy within a graphical image or a Flash presentation is not readable by search engines. (Adobe PDF files, Excel spreadsheets and Word documents are readable.)

Beyond the text itself, it’s important to work with a search engine optimization company to define the most meaningful meta-tags for your site. According to Kristin Grider at Inetium, the title tag is the most important. It should be five to eight words in length, contain keywords, and, of course, describe what the page is about. Description meta-tags should include your most important keywords in logical sentences, preferably close to each other and at the beginning of the sentence. Approximately 150 characters is the rule of thumb here. Keyword meta-tags can have up to 1,024 characters, but most major search engines (including Google)  now ignore the keywords tag. The only way keywords have any pertinence in the other search engines is if those keywords are also included in the page text.

Keep It Fresh

Because the web world is ever-changing, it’s important to stay abreast of new developments in web copywriting. One resource that was very helpful to me was a seminar on writing for the web presented by Jeff Herrington Communications. TMCA also offers valuable information at its Marketing Bootcamps and annual conference.

October, 2007 • Back to top

Gary Master, Publisher at DC Velocity, is one of four founding principal partners of AGiLE Business Media, LLC. He has a proven track record in market development for his customers, and is highly sought-after by companies seeking leading-edge insight and marketing strategy.

We have all seen it.  A very intelligent marketing communications professional commits to a very well thought-out and researched plan to brand their company and develop solid, actionable leads.  The preliminary, pre-program feedback from potential customers is overwhelmingly positive. There have even been focus groups and the participants, across the board like the campaign very much. Yet, it fails to meet its objectives. There is no ensuing sales increase that can be tied to the campaign. While some leads are generated, the sales department says the leads generated are either too small in number or are no good at all. What happened? What went wrong?

Often the failure is due, at least in part, to a lack on internal marketing and communications. This most often is the cause of the “failure” of a marketing great campaign. Why?

If you start by taking an analytical look at the basic fundamentals of the plan, the answer becomes obvious. In developing the marketing program, professionals assemble their message, develop a very precise focus on the demographic target audience, and establish goals. They come up with great creative. They budget effectively and negotiate very competitive rates with the selected marketing channel providers. Then, comes the common and fatal error. They fail to communicate the timing, target, and goals and objectives of the campaign.

All too often marketing professionals fail to properly prepare and educate all the principle members of their company who will either play a role in execution of a campaign or theoretically reap the fruits of the program --- a substantive boost in brand awareness and solid, qualified, actionable sales leads. There is no shortage of evidence to prove that a failure to take an inclusive approach to the development and launch of a new marketing plan can kill its chances for success.

That is because no one has the information that you do. Sales does not have your research on messaging, your branding goals, your leads expectations, and the appropriate messaging for lead follow-up. The campaign launches. Leads are generated. Then the sales team starts its follow-up. They call the leads that the campaign developed. That’s when the figurative wheels fall off the bus.

The sales representative calls and says, “I understand that you may have an interest in our services?”  The potential customer answers, “I don’t recall requesting any information or a making a call.” The phone call ends with “thank you for your time.” No sale.

This only has to happen on the first handful of lead follow-up calls for the sales staff to form a strong, negative opinion of the campaign. And once a sales representative makes that conclusion, the news spreads internally like wildfire throughout the organization.  “The leads generated from our campaign are terrible!” they cry.  Finance now wants to know why they are spending so much money on marketing activities like associations, trade shows, and advertising.  Everyone starts pointing their fingers at the marketing department and they want answers to justify what is going on and why the money is being spent. They see the investment, but not the return.

Fortunately the solution to this common problem is not hard to implement. Consider these simple steps:

• Develop your marketing plan in coordination with the sales department. Get market feedback from the entire sales staff. Although this can be cumbersome, it is almost always time well spent.  Marketing professionals need to get buy-in from the sales team and also need to get their market-based information.
• After the plan is developed take the time to share it with a the sales team and include the following:
• “Sell” them on the target, objectives and rationale for the campaign.
• Share the campaign’s branding goals
• Provide the market feedback, research, and other supporting information for why the campaign is structured the way it is and why is should work.
• Provide sales a follow-up plan for contact with the leads that will be generated as well as a mechanism to capture the sales team’s post-campaign feedback. This comes directly from the customer and can be the most valuable information marketing professionals will get.
• Be sure the leads that go to the sales team for follow-up include useful details.
• Develop a lead follow-up script
• Establish a date for a follow-up session with the sales team at which their feedback can be gathered for consideration on how to adjust and improve subsequent campaigns.

August, 2007 • Back to top