Build an Online Media Room for Your Website
November 10, 2010 by Mary Ellen · 2 Comments
Author David Meerman Scott coined the term “Online Media Room.” He describes it:
The online media room (sometimes called a press room or press page) is the part of your organization’s Web site that you create specifically for the media. In some organizations this page is simply a list of news releases with contact information for the organization’s PR person. But many companies and nonprofits have elaborate online media rooms with a great deal of information available in many different formats: audio, video, photos, news releases, background information, financial data, and much more. A close cousin to the online media room is the online Investor Relations room that many public companies maintain.
Scott, a marketing and leadership speaker, wrote the modern business classic, “The New Rules of Marketing & PR, now in its second edition.
As he explains, the online media room serves buyers, not just media.
Most small businesses simply ignore the opportunity to showcase news and information in a media room.
WESST, a nonprofit that helps entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses, includes an extensive Press/News section. (From the navigation bar, go to About and click on Press/News.)
- WESST in the news, the default option, showcases current press coverage. Under each headline is the publication, date of the story and the first paragraph. Visitors can expand each item to see the full story.
- Press Releases lists news from inside the organization. Again, a small intro on the listing page expands to the entire release. Unfortunately, the last press release is now six months old.
- Media Center presents seven different ideas for the media, each encapsulating a portion of the extensive content on the multi-page site. The Media Center page offers the following introduction:
WESST maintains a strong commitment to the media and can provide quick-turnaround for any media request. Below is a list of quick links within this site that are likely to be of interest to the media. If you’re a member of the media looking for specific information not included here, please email Wally Drangmeister, Director of Client Services, or call him at 505-246-6935.
WESST’s Nina Anthony, an SEO and copywriting specialist, gets credit as chief architects for this website. Thanks, Nina, for a solid local online media room display.
Disclosure: I teach and consult for WESST on a contract basis.
Need a different approach to your marketing? Today’s topic is day thirty-five of a 45-day step-by-step marketing master plan. Choose to take your business to a new level topic by topic, day by day, with specific actions, based on clear worksheets. Act now to maximize your time and return on time invested. As a result, you’ll be in an entirely new position this time next year.
Building a press kit? Where are your digital files?
August 20, 2010 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
Your press kit doesn’t build itself. Consider:
Are you an artist who refuses to keep an updated CV? Imagine going back five years to unearth classes taught, shows displayed, awards won. Difficult? Add impossible to the list if during that time you moved, had a baby, or experienced any one of life’s major change agents. Seemingly unimportant items make the difference when presenting the story of your life in written form?
Are you a young professional with a full-time job plus a start-up business commitment? Once again, the gathering of information becomes the challenge. You suddenly become the obstacle if you don’t/can’t pull your resume, or bio, or head shot, or all of the above, together.
Are you a service provider so obsessed with billable hours you can’t concentrate on your own publicity? Keep in mind the necessity of working on your business, rather than just in it.
Are you a business owner who needs to pull a proposal together quickly? Your press kit probably contains collateral pieces appropriate for journalists as well as bankers, vendors, distributors or large customers.
Begin your digital press kit file today. (NOTE: In my last ProfitMeister newsletter, I talked about items to include in the online press kit. Sign up and receive ongoing, smart marketing information you can use to build your business.)
If you’ve got already got a digital press kit, comment here and share the example with others.
Biz Development: Ongoing PR Defines Future P&L
July 29, 2009 by Mary Ellen · 2 Comments
“I did some analysis in May and realized we’d lost 67% of our 2008 business, most of that due to a company sale and a bankruptcy.
We’ve picked up several newer clients, smaller, all, than those two huge ones, but then losing anyone of them wouldn’t have the same impact either. We started a number of business development things a year or so ago that are beginning to pay off.”
True story. It might describe your company or that of someone you know.
Instinctively, as service company owners, we know NOT to put business development on hold. In a small firm, it’s particularly hard to juggle day-to-day urgencies with important long-term priorities.
Public Relations is one of those important, long-term items. There’s no time to toot your own horn when you’re busy clearing a path, right?
In a recent article for entrepreneurs, I shared five ways in which “Public Relations Puts Your Business on the Map For Free.”
- Online media room
- Local journalists
- Publications and trade magazines
- Radio
- Television
Your online media room, item number one in my list, supplements business development efforts. It’s a place to showcase current publicity and frame projects for the organization.
None of this happens by accident. If you’re contemplating maintaining an online media room, I recommend planning a quarterly theme and adding one article per month. For a textbook publisher, the third quarter calendar looks like this:
Quarterly Theme: College Prep
Month: Topic. Tactic for reader follow up.
Jul 09: National science education standards and how our company products meet them – overview of standards. Link to pdf document outlining specifics.
Aug 09: SAT test prep and how we can help. Feature about training for SAT. Link to regional schedule of test
Sept 09: Science fairs and products we offer to help you win. Outline of specific products. Link to blog post with stories highlighting different fair wins.
In addition, the online media room lets you link to published articles and mentions on the Internet. Knowing that you are what you publish, start planning your calendar today.
Online Media Room: How do I know it’s working?
January 29, 2009 by Mary Ellen · 1 Comment
The online media room communicates 24/7 from your website or a link to your home page. It tells your story to the world wide web audience as well as to specific ones such as customers, employees, stakeholders and, of course, the media.
A year ago, Cynthia Morris put together an online media room for her company, Original Impulse. Yesterday she asked me the big question: “How do I know it’s working?”
“Have you had results?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” she laughed, and I heard the serious question behind the statement. “How would I know?”
If you’re trying to determine if your online media room works, consider these thoughts:
- Web traffic. I encourage people to use Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools. These free tools offer powerful information about your website. You can look at your traffic and discover where it comes from, the patterns of users once they find you and how long they stay. The benefits far outweigh the learning curve. Google manages to make it simple enough for a non-techie like me.
- Results. Have you had feedback about your media room? (Did you ask for any?) Cynthia was recently interviewed by an Australian radio personality who discovered her from a friend’s link on Facebook. It’s highly likely the reporter also did her homework and looked at background info from the media room and other parts of the website. Traditionally public relations used “clips” to measure effectiveness. Clients judged success by the number of different stories published. By all means, continue to look for stories, in traditional media as well as on the web, but don’t stop there.
- Promotion. If you sent the link to a journalist, that’s feedback, whether or not a story developed. Part of your responsibility is to promote yourself. Have you updated your media room lately? Consider publishing your news on some of the free news sites on the web (more on those in another post) and pointing people to your media room. Consider links from blog posts, articles, or social networking sites. Can people find you on the web?
- PR comparison. What kind of public relations did you do prior to your media room? Compare those results. Frequently we expect a dramatic increase simply because we got organized and got started. Unfortunately, putting the media room online is only the beginning of the work.
- Optimized. According to the Free Dictionary optimized means to make as perfect or as effective as possible. Your media room offers a ongoing place for quality content (and the search engines love content). As you continually publish and upgrade your content, you can examine strategies that further attract search engines: keyword rich headlines, for example, and copy containing key phrases.
My friend Cynthia says, “I love being interviewed.” Hey, who doesn’t? If you plan for interviews, and continually put yourself out there, they will happen. Count on it. In fact, if you do the online media room right, you may read about yourself on the web.
Meanwhile, I’m in collecting mode. If you’ve got another way to track success for your online media room, let me know. I’m collecting stories.
Think strategically. Your choice of words sends a message.
January 26, 2009 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
Casey Hibbard, author of Stories that Sell, suggests your website can reflect strategic thinking. Post case studies describing problems solved. Showcase the type of clients you work with. As Casey explained, stories, or in-depth discussions such as these, go much further than simple testimonials. Your case study suggests, “I want more of that kind of business.”
A case study writer by trade, Casey produces dozens of case studies for clients such as Macrovision, Jobfox, USA.NET, and even small companies such as mine.
“The media wants your customer stories,” she writes.
“The story pitch
If you don’t give a customer example in a press release, still offer a customer success story to a media outlet to increase your chances of getting a journalist’s attention.
With your pitch, you might give some bullets about the customer’s success, send a video or written case study, or recommend that the journalist talks to a specific customer.
If you don’t provide it, reporters will likely ask to interview a customer anyway. It’s better to be prepared.
This takes the focus off the vendor business (which editors really like), and puts it on the successful customer – made successful with your solutions. Read more.”
As you look at content for your website, particularly for your online media room, consider case studies. Publish stories about problems you’ve solved, solutions your company provides, and customers you’ve helped. Let your success speak for itself – to potential customers, the media, and most of all, to your own stakeholders.
Women Make a Difference Friday Networking Event Offers Albuquerque Entrepreneurs a Sanity Check
August 3, 2008 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
Is yours one of 50,000+ news releases begging for coverage?
Albuquerque, like many cities now has only one daily newspaper to its name after the loss of The Tribune earlier this year. A variety of weeklies and a few monthlies offer information to a declining list of readers. In addition to the printed word, radio and television stations abound although the list of news providers is fairly short. What happened to traditional press?
In a web 2.0 world, the definition of press has expanded considerably to include bloggers, podcasts, news aggregators and dozens of other new media purveyors. For the traditional reporter, life is faster and more cluttered. Research almost invariably begins on the web and therefore, the online media room is a natural solution.
Spamming traditional media sources with your press release – sending it to them unsolicited and in a non-personalized manner is absolutely verboten. HubSpot, an inbound marketing company, offers research showng more than 50,000 press releases monthly. In an effort to increase news release effectiveness, HubSpot built a press release grader that rates your release and offers tips to increase its effectiveness.
If it’s time you looked at leveraging blogs, social media and your own news to help your company get found online, then you’ll be interested in “Let the Buzz Begin,” my presentation about online media rooms.
Women Make a Difference is a monthly luncheon that lets women connect without requiring organizational membership. Make a reservation and get started on your own action plan for publicity now.
Press Release Grader Raises the Communication Bar
June 6, 2008 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
You schedule an event, slam out a press release and send it to every publication in town. When nothing happens you blame the media for not picking up your story. A busy news day overshadowed your information.
If this scenario sounds familiar, you may not care about Press Release Grader. This new tool lets you evaluate your press releases for free. Simply cut, paste, and wait for your report.
It takes less than 60-seconds to display your score. Like a teacher with a red pen, it reviews basics: word count, sentences, link count and readability or minimum education needed. Then, PressReleaseGrader offers simple suggestions for improvement.
For example, it suggests that every release carry an “About Our Company” segment at the end. PressReleaseGrader compiles basic factors from various public relations experts with advance options from the Internet; the result provides a sense of overall effectiveness.
In one release I submitted, PressReleaseGrader reminded me:
“The anchor text for this link is a duplication of a prior link. For SEO reasons, it is generally advisable to use unique anchor text with specific keywords for each link in the release.”
In addition to Link analysis, the tool looks at Keywords and spotlights “Gobbledygook Words” – those like the word “unique,” – overused and lacking specific meaning.
What a present! If you doubt this could work, watch the video about the Grader tool.
Now anyone can evaluate a press release for free. Of course, if you prefer to think that it was a busy news day, you’ll probably want to pass on the tool.
Still chasing Your Online Media Room?
May 26, 2008 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
One hundred forty seven days into the 2008 and what reasons excuses do you name for not having your media kit complete?
Memorial Day, the summer kick-off holiday, marks the timing for this post, the time to evaluate progress year-to-date and the time to plan the second half of the year. Bottom line: if these statements sound like you, it time to make a change:
- When I need a media kit for some big event I’ll pull one together; no need to work on that now.
- I don’t have time to do this; there are other, more important priorities for my business right now.
- This doesn’t apply to my business; engineers (or accountants, or nurses, or, put in the name of your profession) don’t do it that way.
- I don’t know where to begin; building a media kit or an online media room sounds overwhelming.
- I can’t afford to do that; even though I don’t know what it costs, it sounds expensive.
OK, I get it!As a small business owner, you have every right to protest another piece of work, especially one that seems so simplistic. Your marketing designee is working on a “campaign” after all. Brochures. Collateral. Big pieces.
I understand how you feel; I’ve even felt the same way and in the process deflected my own deadlines. (Read one of my previous posts – Saturday May 3, 2008 about taking my own medicine.) So, are you sick of taking the easy way out?
Cynthia Morris, author, speaker and creative writing coach, offered a perspective on projects with this comment on Copyblogger recently:
Is the “F-Word” Really So Bad?
It seems to me that applying the “F-Word” to your media kit or online press room might move the project forward. In fact, I challenge you to use the five step method Cynthia recommends. Here’s how it might look in practice if you were considering applying her system to the online media room project:
- Identify your motivation.
Visibility begins at home; I now make my business a priority for additional publicity as I complete my own online media room. - Commit to a project.
I complete the official biographical sketch for my media kit on or before 5/31/08 and post it in two places. - Build structure.
I spend the first 30-minutes of each day on media kit/online media room marketing activities for me. Each evening before I finish for the day I list my first marketing task and leave that folder on my desk. - Stay on track.
I set a timer and work against the countdown in order to meet my goals. - Acknowledge and celebrate completion.
My reward for completing this project: Tuesday, June 10th off from work.
How do you feel about applying the “F-Word” to your project?
Synergistic Tactics Generate Success Online and Off
May 22, 2008 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
“Synergy means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It means that the relationship the parts have to each other is a part in and of itself. It is not only a part, but it’s the most unifying and most exciting part. The creative process is also the most terrifying part because you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen or where it is going to lead.” –The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, May 21 Calendar posting
A single media tactic seldom works because it lacks synergy. For that reason, I tell people to pick three. An Online Media Room won’t work as your only media strategy, for example. Cynthia Morris with Original Impulse discovered that. She posted a press release about the shrine movement on her site and nothing happened.
As we discussed the lack of response, Cynthia began to see the parallels for herself. Not even her own subscriber list of 1,400 was aware of her efforts. She incorporated the announcement of her shrine sales into her regular newsletter. In addition, she customized the release and sent it to a number of local media outlets prior to leaving Denver. It was picked up and published by DailyCamera.com, an online newspaper. In addition, several bloggers wrote about the shrine movement.
In addition to the online media room at JourneyJuJu.com, Cynthia used these tactics:
- Posting on her own JourneyJuJu.com and OriginalImpulse.com blog
- Direct appeal to other targeted blogs on which she’d previously commented
- News releases to specific local media
- Her own newsletter
- Articles posted online
Did it work? In a posting on May 11, Cynthia writes about Dorothy Siaw, the KIVA entrepreneur she launched as a result of Shrine sales. Synergy made the difference.
Have you combined your tactics in a way to create synergy?
Add V-v-v-Voom! with a Kudos Sheet for Your Online Media Room
May 12, 2008 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
Building collateral materials for your online media room can be as simple as taking note of the kind words or praise you receive.
The word kudo has roots in the ancient Greek word kydos, and literally refers to “that which is heard of.” Your achievements on a nonprofit board for example, can earn you praising remarks known as kudos.
Leverage the success of your business by letting others know about your fame or renown with a simple kudos sheet. New authors, persons making career transitions, professional speakers and service providers of all kinds can make good use of a kudo sheet.
Kudos sheets begin as a collection of praise. I differentiate between a kudo and a testimonial in tone. The kudo is informal and frequently without full accreditation. Consider these kudo notes from seminar participants:
- “This presentation was useful for our business and humorous, too.”
- “You presented in a non-threatening way for the not-very-technical among us.”
- “This information is invaluable for all small businesses that want to grow.”
- “The before and after examples made this effective.”
The kudos sheet is a first step to add power to your web site. When a customer doesn’t give permission to use a name with a positive remark, it’s a kudo. Initials-only-comments are kudos at best. The specificity of a comment combined with a name, business or identifier and location build a kudo to testimonial quality. We’ll focus on testimonials in another blog post.
If you don’t keep a kudos sheet, begin one now. Use your kudo sheet to promote. Or, use it as an internal tool, one that generates positive feelings and reminds you how far you’ve come.
Even if you choose to never publish your kudos, you’ll enjoy reading through the comments. And, you can prime yourself to begin asking for additional specifics as well as permission to use names and then build a testimonial.
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