marketing and pr on a dime
DESCRIPTION
You’re a small to medium-sized firm looking to raise your visibility in a competitive marketplace…but you don’t know how to get started and you can’t afford PR and marketing experts. What do you do? Come to this workshop and learn some low-cost, PR and marketing tactics you can easily implement yourself! Hear about real-world cases and the tools to put together a basic PR plan, including social media, speaking opportunities and in-house events. #PRonadimeTRANSCRIPT
Marketing & PR on a Dime
Presented by Susan Shelby, FSMPS, CPSM
President & CEO, Rhino PR
January 30, 2014
@RhinoPRBoston
#PRonaDime
RhinoPublic Relations
About the Speaker
• 20+ years in Marketing and PR
• Founded Rhino PR in 2004
• Participated in Ramp Up Now (RUN)
• Current member, CEO Group
• Entrepreneur of the Year, NEWiRE
• Top 10 PR Specialists, Women’s Business Boston
• Women on the Rise Award, Professional Women in Construction
• Fellow, Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS)
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What You’ll Learn Today
• Easy tactics which require little effort and can
get you into the press
• Identify the key components needed for an
effective press release
• How one firm successfully used email marketing
• How and why to incorporate social media
• Free ways to boost your search engine
optimization (SEO)
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Tell Me About Yourself
• For what type of company do you work?
• What is your role?
• Is there anything specific you’d like me to address today?
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What is Marketing & PR?
• Public Relations
• Collateral (brochures, postcards, etc.)
• Social media
• Web site/SEO
• Email marketing
• Events
• Conferences/Trade shows
SALES
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Getting Started
• What are your goals and objectives?
• Who are you trying to reach?
• Who will manage your Marketing and PR program?
• What resources do you have available to you?
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PUBLIC RELATIONS
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What is PR?
• Getting the word out
• Development and delivery of key corporate messages
• Showcase your firm’s services and expertise
• Influence public opinion
• Increase name recognition
• Support business development (sales) efforts
• Reinforce/support branding
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Press Releases
• Why bother?
• Who should get it?
• What to include in a release?
• What about photos or graphics?
• How to get your client’s approval?
• How to distribute a press release?
• How often should you issue releases?
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Media Relations
• Who to pitch?
• When to pitch?
• What’s the difference between proactive and reactive pitching?
• How do editors decide what to cover/include?
• What to do with coverage?
• Do you need an online newsroom?
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Byline Articles
• What do editors look for?
• How to pitch?
• Where to pitch?
• What to include in the article?
• What to do with it once it appears?
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Speaking Opportunities
• What conferences to target?
• How far in advance should you submit an abstract?
• How to increase your chances of being selected?
• What to do once you’ve been selected?
• How should you promote your presentation?
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Conferences/Trade Shows
• How to pick the “right” show?
• Why exhibit?
• Why sponsor?
• Is it worth the investment of time, money and resources?
• What else can you do besides exhibit?
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Awards
• Who cares about awards?
• How to decide which ones will boost your Marketing and PR?
• What are some tips and tricks for crafting the award submission?
• What to do when you win?
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EMAIL MARKETING
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Case Study: Margulies Perruzzi Architects
• What
– Series of 8 emails over 8 weeks
– Targeted specific group (real estate brokers)
– Each email linked to MPA web site for more information on topic
• Why
– Keep name in front of brokers
– Appear as experts
– Educate
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• Benefits
– Low cost
– Easy to design and send
– Measurable results
– Helps SEO
• Challenges
– Content creation
– Continuous emails increase unsubscribers
• Results
– 10% click-throughs to web site
– Led to RFPs and speaking opportunities
RhinoPublic RelationsEMAIL BLAST CAMPAIGN
What’s Considered Successful?
BUSINESS TYPE OPEN RATE BOUNCE RATE CLICK-THROUGHS
Association 20.60% 10.50% 10.20%
Communications 16.50% 9.50% 14.60%
Education and Services 19.00% 9.40% 13.50%
Entertainment 15.60% 8.10% 10.10%
Event Planning 17.00% 9.80% 12.50%
Legal Services 18.90% 12.20% 11.70%
Marketing/PR 14.50% 11.10% 11.80%
Medical Services 18.00% 9.80% 12.80%
Non-profit 21.70% 10.20% 11.50%
Professional Services 16.50% 10.70% 11.10%
Real Estate 16.40% 12.30% 10.40%
Retail 17.60% 7.10% 14.70%
Technology 14.80% 11.10% 10.20%
Travel & Tourism 17.40% 10.20% 11.20%
Web Developer 18.50% 6.40% 13.80%
SOURCE: Constant Contact
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Suggested Resources
• Email marketing platforms
– Constant Contact
– MyEmma
– MailChimp
• HubSpot
– Great whitepapers
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SOCIAL MEDIA
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What’s the Point?
• Brand awareness
• Establish you or your company as the expert in your field
• Opportunities for interaction
– Clients/Partners
– Consultants/Vendors
– Students/Future Staff
• SEO
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Common Objections
• “It’s a waste of time.”
• “It’s just a fad.”
• “Why would anyone care about what I have to say?”
• “I don’t know how to get started.”
• “Isn’t this something only teenagers do.”
• “Our clients aren’t on Facebook, Twitter (fill in the blank).”
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The Numbers Don’t Lie
314,589,016 people in the US Source – US Census Bureau
190,000,000 are on Facebook (60%)Source – Facebook
93,500,000 are on LinkedIn (30%)Source – Wikipedia
40,896,572 are on Twitter (13%)Source – Huffington Post
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• Interact
• Like posts
• Join groups
• Follow people and companies
• Tag anyone and everyone
• Photos are key
• Establish your company culture via posts and photos
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• 140 characters or less
• Pick your user name carefully
• Personalize your profile
• Find people to follow
• Monitor hashtags at events
• Start retweeting and then tweeting original content
• Recommend HootSuite
– Allows you to schedule in advance
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• Create a company page
– Status updates
– About your company
• Have a presence
– All employees on LinkedIn
– Make sure they list job with link to company page
• Encourage headshots
• Help staff post regular updates
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• See if it’s appropriate for your company
• Images of products
• Educational posts
• Review copyright policies with photographers
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Wordpress
• Blogging platform
• May require additional help
• Post at least once a week
• Helps SEO
• Content creation
– Events
– Trends/innovation
– Staff experiences
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YouTube
• Online video channel
• May require a financial investment
– Additional staff
– Equipment
• Content ideas
– Testimonials
– Firm culture
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SEARCH ENGINE
OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
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What is SEO?
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• The process of getting traffic from search engines
– Bing
• Helps people find you when they search online
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Keywords
• Keywords are the answers to
– What do you want to be known for?
– What are your services?
– What will your clients type into a search engine to find you?
• Rhino PR examples
– PR
– Media Relations
– Marketing Communications
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Optimizing Site for Keywords
• Homepage content
• Services section (with sub-pages)
• “Alt” text for images
• The Big Three
– Page content
– Title tags
– Meta tags
o HTML tag that gives info about the page
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What else can you do?
• Contact info on homepage
• Update at least twice a week
• Create a blog
• Join as many social networks as possible
• Internal linking between pages
• Backlink
• Be ethical: Google knows everything
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How is Your Site Doing?
• HubSpot
– Marketing Grader
• Google Analytics
• AWStats
• StatsCounter
• SiteMeter
• FeedBurner
• 103Bees
• Performancing Metrics
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QUESTIONS
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Thank You!
Susan Shelby, FSMPS, CPSM President & CEO
Rhino Public Relationswww.rhinopr.com
C: 978.985.4541P: 617.279.2466 x101
Rhino Public Relations
@RhinoPRBoston