First….pay attention to the subject matter of Omniture‘s offering.
Now look at the e-mail they sent out to solicit customers for the above webinar. How sad and scary is that?
My client who shared this with me is actually NOT known by FirstName. And the guy didn’t even sign this very important e-mail. But not to worry — she can call him at…
Note to all of us. For the love of God…have someone proof your work.
Most people believe a company is guilty of the accusation when a company official says "no comment." Robin Cohn’s book, The PR Crisis Bible tells a story that really illustrates this point.
One day a CEO heard someone behind him say, "Excuse me." Turning around, he recognized a well-known business reporter who said, "I just have one question."
The CEO panicked. "No comment," he replied and hurried away from the reporter.
Since Watergate, those two words have come to mean that the speaker has something to hide.
The reporter, who was just trying to figure out how to find someone that he had an appointment with, began to wonder what was going on at the company and started working the phones. He found a disgruntled employee and looked for dirt on the Web. He ended up writing an expose of problems at the company and stock price plunged.
What should you say instead of no comment? Try the truth. Even if part of the truth is "we don’t have all the answers yet," or "our attorneys have asked us not to discuss that part of the lawsuit."
Be candid. Share what you can. And be frank about what you aren’t at liberty to say. But stonewalling doesn’t cut it today.
Whether it’s true or not, the public and the media believe they have a right to know just about everything. And a "no comment" brands you as guilty long before you’ve had a chance to prove otherwise.
But for most authors, especially non-fiction authors, the road is a bit more rocky. They usually don’t have a ton of support from their publishers (if they aren’t self-published), they’re most likely still working a day job and odds are, they aren’t loaded.
So how do they get our attention? How do they convince us to jot their book’s release date on our calendar? Well, the irrepressible and irreverent Andy Nulman did it like this.
Drew’s Note:As I try to do every Friday, I’m pleased to bring you a guest post. Meet another thought leader who shares her insights via the blogosphere. So without further ado…Cece Lee. Again. Enjoy!
As companies prepare to reduce travel and marketing budgets, marketers will be seeking ways to get the most out of the physical events that they’re committed to in 2009. Physical events, such as product demonstrations, summits, conferences and trade shows, are an integral part of one’s lead generation efforts.
When you prepare to attend a conference or trade show in 2009, the goal is no longer to set-up your booth at a conference. It’s how do you create a PR strategy to fully take advantage of your time at that event? Public relations is a cost-effective way to promote your participation at any conference or trade show. When married with your in-person presence, you can make the most of your participation in 2009.
Here are three ways to maximize your participation:
Research speaking opportunities at the conference Speaking at a conference is a great way to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. While securing your exhibit space or sponsorship, ask about speaking opportunities – either as part of your participation or how to submit a topic for consideration.
In the case the conference has a speaker proposal process (a call for speakers or proposals), the key to securing a speaking opportunity depends on relevancy, timeliness and educational value of your proposal. Research key issues within your industry or consider inviting a customer to present with you at the conference. Also highlight the top three or five action items that attendees will learn from hearing your presentation.
After submitting the proposal for consideration, continue following up with the organizer to inquire about the status and get feedback about your proposal. Through these conversations, you may be able to amend your proposal accordingly or uncover additional opportunities that you were previously unaware of.
Unfortunately, organizers receive about 10 proposals for each speaking opportunity. While you proposal may not be accepted initially, don’t assume that concludes your efforts with the organizer.
Due to family emergencies, illness or urgent business meetings, speakers do cancel occasionally. Check in with the organizer about 1 month before the conference to inquire about cancellations. Or due to your conversations with the organizer, you may get a call the day before the conference to step in for a speaker!
Write and distribute a press release An event based press release highlights the what, when and where of your participation. By posting the release on a free or paid newswire, you increase your online presence as a newswire can distribute your release to an average of 12 – 20 online websites.
Due to the distribution of the release, you also have to consider the search engine optimization impact of the release. Evaluate which keywords drive traffic to your website or are frequently search terms for your industry.
To increase the relevancy of your release in search engine searches, incorporate these 5-10 keywords in your press release. Furthermore, hyperlink key phrases to related pages on your website. Like keyword relevancy, search engines also look at the number of external links pointing to your website.
Besides posting the release on your website, the press release is also a great opportunity to connect with your customers or prospects. While they may not be able to attend in person, this provides an excellent way to stay top of mind when they are ready to purchase your solutions and services.
Connect with media and bloggers While you’re inquiring about speaking opportunities, ask about previous or anticipated media attendees at the event. Since these reporters (I include bloggers as reporters) are taking time to attend the event, you know that they are interested in the event’s content.
In case the organizer doesn’t have a media list, then reach out to local media about the upcoming event or do a quick search on Alltop.com, a website that lists the top blogs on specific topics, to find a short list of bloggers writing on your industry.
Before contacting each reporter directly, first research what she has written on in the past. Does she look at products only or does she write trend pieces? She may have also included pointers on how to contact her such as likes and dislikes. By arming yourself with this information, you can send a targeted email introducing your company, why she would be interested in your company and invite her to meet at the conference.
While I don’t suggest attaching any press releases or photos, I do recommend including a link to a relevant press release or offer to provide photos to enhance the article visually.
Conclusion I don’t believe that physical events will disappear as marketers reevaluate their budgets. Rather, it’s how can you do more with less. Public relations is an inexpensive way for you to get the most out of your event participation.
Cece Lee is the author of PR Meets Marketing blog and senior marketing communications manager with ON24. While not writing posts for her blog or working, Cece enjoy taking care of the newest addition to the family – Snowy, a white goffin. Note: The thoughts expressed in this posting are not representative of ON24 and are personal views of the author.
Every Friday is "grab the mic" day. Want to grab the mic and be a guest blogger on Drew’s Marketing Minute? Shoot me an e-mail.
You know that feeling you sometimes get after Thanksgiving dinner? That, "I want to lay on the floor and bemoan the second helping of turkey, stuffing and the extra roll?"
Your eyes were bigger than your stomach and you always pay the price.
The same thing happens when you’re buying media (new or traditional). You try to stretch that budget too far. Which means you take on more than your budget can comfortably handle.
One more radio station. That great buy in the trade pub. A couple more sites for the banner ad.
Push the plate back and walk away from the table. When you’re buying media, you are always better off to not overdo. Buy a good strong schedule and if you have money left over….go back and buy more of what you’ve already bought.
For a media mix to be effective, each element in the mix must be substantial enough to establish retention. Too often, people sacrifice repetition for the sake of reach.
By the way….the same logic holds true for marketing tactics. Don’t try to do too much. Better to do fewer things more often and better.
One of the biggest trends we’ve seen over the past decade is the desire to customize everything. Build your own jeans, build a bear, and now, build your own Muppet. (mine is rather dashing, eh?) And yes, you can order your Muppet after you build him/her.
The buyers of today are used to being able to modify a standard offering and make it their own.
While I think it’s easier to create this "Build A" feature into production of a tangible thing…I also believe that those of us in the services industry need to be mindful of this trend as well.
What could you allow your clients to customize?
Build a payment schedule?
Build a custom training/learning experience?
Build a marketing plan?
It seems to me that the trend is here to stay. As the buyer gets younger, the demand for customization will be greater. What could you offer today (or soon) to jump on this trend?
A few months ago, Guy Kawasaki tweeted (made a short announcement on Twitter, the micro-blogging site) that he was done with his next book’s manuscript and was looking for a few people to proofread it and give him feedback.
I was what I assume was a pretty large group of people who raised their hands. Who doesn’t want to read Guy’s book before it gets published? Anyway…read it, proofed it, critiqued it and sent it back.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. I got a package and voila, it was Guy’s new book, Reality Check (released October 30th). I thought sending it ahead of the release was a nice gesture. But when I opened it, Guy had also taken the time to write a personal note to me inside.
Class act.
You have to figure quite a few people (like Valeria Maltoni who mentioned she got one too, although for the life of me, I can’t find her reference now.) offered to proof his book. So it was probably no small task to get handwritten notes into each copy before sending them off. A very nice gesture but even more than that….smart marketing.
Guy knows how few handwritten notes and cards are used today. He knows it feels personal and that it makes a connection.
The book is a great read – very irreverent and practical. And the author – a great marketer.
P.S. If you find any typos….I swear, I told him about it! 🙂
How about you? What small gesture could you make to create a connection with your prospect, customer or employee?
We give a lot of lip service to the idea of authenticity.
But come on…do we really think hotels don’t want to wash our sheets and towels every day because they care about the environment?
I’d have a much higher opinion of the hotel if they said…if we can save a few hundred thousand dollars every year by not washing unused towels and sheets — we can keep your room rates down and pay our people better.
Tell the truth. No one is fond of someone who talks to them like they’re a moron.
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