Getting a prospect to read a press release isn’t a cause for celebration. Getting them to take action is. Many press releases are written solely as information pieces that describe the who, what, when, where, and how of a new product or service. However, many press releases I’ve read don’t ask the reader to take action. These press release writers want to tell the story. That is a good first step. But if you stop there, you will be leaving money on the table. If you only tell your story but don’t ask people do anything, people will do nothing. You are assuming people will click through to your ..read more

Nearly every public relations campaign can be improved by using a case study. A case study is a publicity tactic that shows how one or more of your clients have used your product or service and benefited from it. Prospects love to be convinced by reading case studies because people love to read stories. A case study is simply a business story. Like all stories, this free publicity strategy has a format you can easily follow. Client has a problem. Describe it as visually and emotionally as you can. Client tried various solutions but none worked. Describe in a little bit of detail. After all yo ..read more

I recently heard a webinar guest talk about his latest way to get rich by using Twitter. Of course, he couldn’t just say “Use Twitter.” He had to say, “Press releases suck so use Twitter.” He wasn’t the first person to badmouth press releases in favor of another tactic. And he won’t be the last. But what I find interesting is that all these “PR” people use press releases as the gold standard to compare themselves against. Notice, they didn’t say “call reporters,” or “take a reporter to lunch” or “go to meetings where reporters go and introduce yourself,” or “learn about a reporter’s interests ..read more

One of the journalism blogs I read asked whether search engines were killing the puns and humor from headlines. You see, back in the day, headline writers tried to hook people in by creating interesting headlines that captured the imagination. I remember one headline I wrote when I was an intern for a newspaper in Huntington, West Virginia. It was told the story about Hawaiians who wanted to recreate the adventures of their ancestors by canoeing to different islands. My headline was “Polynesian Paddlers Plan Pacific Pilgrimage.” My chief copy editor was impressed – and ran it! I also remember ..read more

Nearly every public relations campaign can be improved by using a case study. A case study is a publicity tactic that shows how one or more of your clients have used your product or service and benefited from it. Prospects love to be convinced by reading case studies because people love to read stories. A case study is simply a business story. Like all stories, this free publicity strategy has a format you can easily follow. Client has a problem. Describe it as visually and emotionally as you can. Client tried various solutions but none worked. Describe in a little bit of detail. After all yo ..read more

A press release that gathers dust doesn’t help anyone. Your prospects and reporters need to find your press release when they search through Google. Here are 6 ways to make your press release stand out, above the competition, so you can get more qualified prospects visiting your website. Target a specific audience and put that into the headline. A headline that says “Doctors can improve patient satisfaction by following these five principles” will do better than a generic headline that says “Business can improve customer satisfaction by following these five principles.” The more specific you ..read more

Last month was a great month for my Guaranteed Press Release program. 30 clients wrote press releases that I edited and then sent out to the media, where they were printed on many sites that led to high search engine rankings and lots of traffic back to their sites. After editing so many press releases, I realized many people made the same mistakes, over and over. Last week, I shared 10 fatal press release mistakes to avoid. Here are 11 more: Headlines were too long. Although there aren’t any rules about exact word length, if you go beyond one deck of headline using 14-point type, you’d bette ..read more

I used to believe that you should do your own publicity. After all, who can tell your story better than you can? Turns out, I was wrong. You can’t write your own press release and you can’t do your own publicity. From thousands of encounters, I’ve gathered these insights: You need an outside perspective. You can’t tell your own story. Many people don’t even know what their story is. They pick the dullest, least newsworthy aspect of their business and they describe it in a way that only a mother could (maybe) love. They bury the lead. I saw a press release where the person didn’t mention he ha ..read more

They call them “newspapers” for a reason: they contain news. But what can you do to get publicity if you or your company don’t create news? You can piggyback on breaking news to get free publicity for yourself or your company. Here are five proven publicity tactics to help you see your name in the news: Anticipate news. Housing reports. Unemployment statistics. Inflation numbers. These reports are issued every month, like clockwork. Reporters need to find local commentators who can bring perspective to this news. Why shouldn’t that person be you? Anticipate trends. If you see a TV story on ta ..read more