Category: Public Relations

  • Six signs your press release sucks

    When it comes to running a media campaign a lot of business owners are do-it-yourselfers. However, even those business owners intent on handling their own public relations come to me for one thing–that all-important press release. Usually, they come to me to fix or edit or critique the press release they’ve written. Here are the…

  • The press release debate: Is it still relevant?

    Public relations is changing. This is a fact that is not lost on PR companies, bloggers or the press. It’s often lost on companies with news to release however. I get queries from a lot of clients still looking for a more traditional approach and who try to rebuff efforts to take a more contemporary…

  • Your press release is too spammy and other submission pitfalls

    By Shelly Cone I get lots of inquiries on a daily basis from potential clients looking for press release services. Of those I close a few deals but some decide to go elsewhere for various reasons. Sometimes it’s because of price, other times it’s because they aren’t sure what they want. But the reason that…

  • Got the scoop on your clients? Use that information to build relationships

    Once upon a time, I took a break from my journalism career. I was burned out. My husband had a great job he was excited about and we had started a family so we wouldn’t be moving to another community any time soon. So that ruled out a change of scenery and new issues to…

  • Get traffic by guest posting

    Where do you blog? The obvious answer is “on my blog,” right? That should only be one answer. The real answer should be, “wherever anyone will let me.” You should be posting your message everywhere like blog grafitti.You do this with a method called guest blogging. When I suggest this I get one of two…

  • How to make reporters call you

    How great would it be, if instead of you having to hound reporters to get your name in the paper, they were calling you? This is not an impossible feat my friend. Although, like every other great thing, it takes work and dedication. The secret is to become a super reliable repository of information. Say…

  • How to find the right angle to pitch

    No matter where you submit your press release, no one is going to publish what you say unless it is newsworthy. Before I explain what it means to be newsworthy or how you can become newsworthy, let me explain what is not newsworthy. If your press release talks about a sale, that is not newsworthy.…

  • Have you claimed your Google Places Page yet?

    There is one space on the Internet that every business owner covets–The top section of the first search engine results page. There is one easy way to get there and it doesn’t even require a website. Claim your Google Places Page. You want to claim your Google Places Page to get killer results in local…

  • Press release services don’t guarantee press

    In these days of online press release services, free press release submission services and online news aggregate sites the power of the press release is losing a bit of its oomph in the eyes of business owners. So increasingly I’m getting asked to supply press release services but these potential clients want me to guarantee…

  • When crisis strikes, send out a press release?

    For the most part people think of marketing during the good times. You send out press releases when sales are good and quarter earnings are up, when your business expands or when you support a good cause. But what about when things are (gasp!) bad? When money is tight? Or even, when crisis strikes? What…