The Feb 9, 2010 Daily Rundown.

In “The Right and Wrong of PR Pitches“, he discusses what is probably the perfect example of what good PR should be from the journalists perspective. Since it’s Yelp that did the PR work (and they get social media) it doesn’t shock me to hear that they impressed John. He talks about what he liked from the PR outreach side, there, but let me go into a little detail one of the points that he quickly sketches over because he probably assumes that you know what he’s talking about:

First PR lesson – track, filter, and engage brand mentions.

In my articles on the sidebar, I go into using Google Alerts to track mentions of your brand (and that’s a great start), but you should also look into using some other services on top of that now.

• TweetBeep or TweetAlarm are both  good services for keeping on top of Twitter mentions of specific phrases or words, but I’m personally fond of the Seesmic Desktop to keep running searches of the phrases and words that matter to me.
• If you’re like me and follow roughly a hojillion different blogs, a service like FeedRinse can be invaluable, letting you search and organize your feeds so that you only read what interests you.
• Filtrbox is an excellent paid solution for someone who’s looking to maximize his or her brand engagement across blogs, Twitter, and other social media.

That said, I promised you 5 ways to use these tools to slow pitch to the media as John Jantsch recommends. Here you go:

1. Keyword-Based Searching: Pick out keywords that your brand (or yourself!) can speak on with authority. When people write about those words or phrases, respond to ‘em. (That’s more or less what John Jantsch recounts in the above blog article)
2. Brand-Based Searching: Not quite the same as “keyword based”, since you’re looking for any instance of your brand being mentioned on the ‘Net, instead of people writing about a topic. Whether they’re rants or raves, you should make sure to engage the consumer when they talk about you; it will frequently turn an unhappy customer into a happy one, and a happy customer into a thrilled one. Just knowing that someone’s listening is a big help for many consumers.
3. Information Gathering: Once you’ve found media outlets who write about what it is that you have to say, you should still make a point to contact them with more information as you gather it. Keep it timely, of course, but if you find out something about a new product or initiative that’s launched recently and which is applicable to a recently-covered topic, then go ahead and pass it on.
4. Trending Topics: Through Twitter and Technorati, it’s easy to keep on top of what’s breaking on the ‘Net. If your brand has a legitimate stake in a trending topic, sending out a friendly note to journalists & bloggers with whom you’ve previously corresponded with both an overview of information as well as a note on what it is that your brand has to offer as commentary will help you get ahead of trends and keep your brand in the news.  (Note that your brand needs to have a valid opinion on a trending topic lest you find yourself mocked on something like the Bad Pitch Blog)
5. Identify New Influencers: Using your keyword and brand-based alerts, you’ll obviously see who’s talking about you. Something you should be taking notice of, though, is how often you’re seeing a particular blog or twitter profile posting about your subject or brand. Notice who’s got a growing following (which you can check on Twitterholic or Technorati, depending on whether you want to see someone’s twitter following or blog reach, respectively) and cultivate them as a contact. When they’re looking for a new quote or a topic idea, they’ll turn to you. And that’s really what the slow pitch is about achieving: a relationship with journalists and bloggers where they come to view you as a source for information and a person whose emails or calls they know will e valuable to them.

The “slow pitch” builds over time and increases your reputation and reliability with news outlets until they are happy to hear from you. It takes time, but ask yourself this question after reading John’s article: the next time Yelp sends John Jantsch an email, what do you think the chances are that he’ll open & read it? Pretty good, I imagine.

Now go out and find the people who are having conversations you care about and start a dialog.

Further reading:

• Ten Free Tools To Kick Your Social Media Cynicism to the Ground (nettiehartsock.com)
• Three Best Ways to Use Social Media (online.wsj.com)
• What’s In Your Twitter Toolbox? (twitterrati.com)
• Managing Your Reputation Online: 5 Essential Tools (computerworld.com)

This two part article series discusses some of the basics of structuring a web site to help with Search Optimization, and then applies these optimization tactics to two different CommunityMX JumpStarts, Siberia and Stelvio Pass.

This is Part 1 of 2, and discusses the theory of search optimization, keyword research, buying a domain, and structuring a web site. Part 2 brings this theory and prep work into practice using some of Community MX’s excellent JumpStart templates. We’ll be including and editing little snippets of these JumpStarts in this article, but you’ll be best served if you download both of the JumpStarts now.

Take a moment and check it out. CommunityMX has a lot of resources, the membership’s pretty low cost, and, well, I’m not above driving traffic to the site to show them that my articles are worthwhile.

Kicking off IZEA Fest the evening before it starts, “Blogger, Meet Marketer. Marketer, Meet Blogger.” is a chance to learn how to approach a blogger (if you’re a marketer) or a place to learn the care and feeding of marketers (if you’re a blogger).

Whether you are a blogger, marketer, PR agency or a company looking to gain exposure on the hundreds of millions of blogs on the Interwebs, this session will give you an inside look into the mindset of all the parties involved in generating online buzz and ROI through effective blogging. Join doterati and our excellent panelists or an afternoon of networking, education and a free cocktail!

Who should come:

• Bloggers
• Marketers
• PR Pros
• Small Business Owners
• Digerati

Event Details
Who: doterati
What: Blogger Meet Marketer, Marketer Meet Blogger
When:Thursday, October 1st
Panel Discussion   1pm-4pm
Cocktails and Networking   4pm – 5:30pm
IZEA Bus to Howl O’Scream   6pm
Where:
Renaissance Orlando Hotel at Sea World
6677 Sea Harbor Drive
Orlando, FL 32821
Register at: http://izeablogpanel.eventbrite.com/

Cost
$39 for Doterati Members, IZEAFest Ticket Holders, Orlando Ad Fed Members & AMA Members

$49 for Non-Members
Attendees receive one free drink ticket.

Contact Info
VP Marketing Greg Rollett
marketing@doterati.com
doterati.com
321.438.4442

About doterati
Doterati is a 501 c 6 organization from Orlando, FL whose mission is to advance the interactive marketing, media and technology community by serving as an association for professional development, education, community networking and overall inspiration for our digital society.

Become a member and expand your personal and professional network, accelerate your knowledge and embed yourself in the layers of our growing interactive community. Volunteer and gain access to front-row action at events, planning and organizational think tanking. Our radar sweeps for digital brand marketers, Web developers, agencies, creatives, students, entrepreneurs, consultants, start-ups, big-thinkers and everyone in between. Learn more at http://www.doterati.com.

Asheville, NC (PRWEB) August 12, 2009 — There’s no question that luxury cruise lines are offering deeper discounts now than they ever have before, with savings of up to 70% off regular pricing and air included, but if you’ve got the opportunity to take a luxury cruise this year, which one should you choose?

Let award-winning travel journalist give you his considered opinion at www.avidcruiser.com. His article, “The Razor’s Edge: Who’s The Best? Luxury Cruise Lines Square Off” (http://bit.ly/fuwvA) tackles this issue from the perspective of a journalist who has sailed on more than 200 cruises and written more than 500 articles about cruising.

In the past few months, Grizzle has cruised with Crystal Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Silversea Cruises, and SeaDream Yacht Club. His article discusses which of these lines he enjoyed the most, as well as which luxury line he thinks does the best job at delivering an up-market cruise vacation.

“Many of the visitors to my web site, as well as people I meet during my travels, have asked me which luxury cruise line is the best,” Grizzle says. “Of course, there is no easy answer, because the luxury lines are all so good at what they deliver. That said, before you reach the final period indicating the end of my article, you will have your answer.”

About The Avid Cruiser:

The Avid Cruiser is a one-stop source for information about cruises, with photo essays, interviews with friendly staff members, and even a full glossy print magazine that covers the new destinations, ships, cruises, and adventures that any cruiser–avid expert or first time traveler–can set sail on to bring home memories that will last a lifetime. For more information, visit www.avidcruiser.com or www.avidcruiser.com/blog.

About Ralph Grizzle:

An avid traveler and an award-winning journalist, Ralph Grizzle produces articles, video and photos that are inspiring and informative, personal and passionate. A journalism graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he has specialized in travel writing for more than two decades.

Contact:

Ralph Grizzle
Avid Travel Media, Inc
828-398-0570
www.avidcruiser.com

(Berlin, Germany) – July 10, 2009 – Twitter, the new Internet service that lets you speak your mind in 140 characters or less – has proven a communication boon for many. One of the newer trends that’s just emerging in Twitter, though, is a growing effort to use the social media tool for charity. While some people turn their twitter images different colors in support of a cause, or try to get their fellow “tweeple” to click on a link to raise funds, Christian Rubarth of Berlin Germany is looking to accomplish something that uses Twitter for charity more directly.

“I want to get 999,999 followers on my twitter account 999999Followers,” Christian says. “Once I’ve gotten that many, I will give my twitter account to a charity. Since Twitter lets you change your name, they won’t have to keep the 999999Followers name once I give the account away.”

Which charity will get the twitter account? Everyone who follows 999999Followers on Twitter will be given a chance to vote for which charity he or she feels is most deserving at 999999Followers.broken-monitor.com, and the charity with the most votes will receive it. Tying the reach and interactivity of social media with a desire to do good, this web designer is aiming high: he wants to get all 999,999 followers before Dec 31, 2009.

It may seem like an odd thing to do, giving a charity a twitter account with a giant following, but it makes a lot of sense in this new world of social media. Giving a charity a list of just under 1 million contacts all across the globe who are service-minded and web-savvy is a huge resource pool that any charitable organization could make good use of. Only a few Twitter users have followings in the millions, such as Ashton Kutcher and CNN News, and they’ve seen the power of Twitter to raise funds and awareness.

It’s a lofty goal that Christian has set for himself – and the Twitter community – but if other Twitter users like Ashton Kutcher can get a million users just for fun, he figures that he can accomplish the same thing for charity.

Want to help? Log in to twitter.com or sign up if you don’t have an account and tell your followers something like: “Chris from @999999Followers is looking to get 999,999 followers by Dec 31 & give his acct. to charity. Follow him & please RT!”

Contact:
Christian Rubarth
press@broken-monitor.com
http://twitter.com/999999followers

Skype: pr999999followers

About @999999followers
The 999999Followers Project is the brainchild of 40 year old web designer Christian Rubarth of Berlin, Germany. He wants to get 999,999 Twitter users following him by December 31 so that he can give his account to a charity at the start of 2010. Help him out by following him at http://twitter.com/999999followers and spreading the word through Twitter, Facebook, or anywhere else you hang out online.

(13 July 2009) ORLANDO, FL – Doterati, (www.doterati.com) an Orlando-based organization dedicated to advancing the interactive media community, is hosting an event on Thursday, July 16 2009 that will help explain to advertising agencies and small businesses alike to benefit from the differences between online and traditional media marketing.

As budgets for advertising and marketing decrease, it is increasingly crucial that businesses make the most of their advertising dollar and use the natural advantages of interactive and offline advertising and marketing to mutual advantage. As more and more marketing and advertising move online where results are more measurable, everyone who advertises needs to learn how to use it effectively, and doterati’s luncheon is designed to help.

Featured speakers Bob Klomp and Lindsey Lawson are both digital marketers for WESH.COM/ CW18TV.COM. They will be presenting a keynote on core objectives they use to ensure client success with their traditional and online advertising packages ad services. This event will include lunch and offer a Q & A session for our speakers and audience.

Event Details:

Who: doterati
When: Thursday, July16th, 2008 11am – 1pm
Where: Crowne Plaza Orlando – Downtown
304 W Colonial Dr
Orlando, FL
Free Parking and Free WiFi at the Crowne Plaza
Register Here – http://interactivegap.eventbrite.com/

Event Pricing:

Pre-Registration: Members $20 (with Member Code); Non-Members $25
At Door: Members $25 (with ID), Non-Members $30

Contact Info

VP Marketing Greg Rollett
marketing@doterati.com
doterati.com
321.438.4442

About doterati

doterati is a 501(c)6 organization from Orlando, FL whose mission is to advance the interactive marketing, media and technology community by serving as an association for professional development, education, community networking and overall inspiration for our digital society.

Become a member and expand your personal and professional network, accelerate your knowledge and embed yourself in the layers of our growing interactive community. Volunteer and gain access to front-row action at events, planning and organizational think tanking. Our radar sweeps for digital brand marketers, Web developers, agencies, creatives, students, entrepreneurs, consultants, start-ups, big-thinkers and everyone in between. Learn more at doterati.com.

Special HARO offer!

Any HARO member who orders his or her first press release from OvernightPR before the end of June gets free release distribution through PRWeb as well as 1 month’s free hosting for their release on PitchEngine. That’s a $130 value included in the price of your release.

The OvernightPR Difference

OvernightPR writes fast. How fast? Fast enough that I guarantee my delivery to you with a promise of money back. If you purchase a press release from OvernightPR and we don’t get it back to you within the time frame your package gives (look at the Pricing Page for more information on this), I’ll refund you the price of your press release and throw in free social media distribution to boot.

Help A Reporter Out is one of the coolest communities around, and HARO and its community have been a great help to me and my clients. By way of saying “Thanks” to the HARO community,  I wanted to reach out to you guys with the special offer above.

While You’re Here…

While you’re here, if you’d like to read some of my blog’s PR tips, you can start by reading the most recent set, or download my older articles in PDF format by visiting the sidebar under “Downloads.”  Also take a moment to sign up for the monthly digest of OvernightPR.com’s blog articles by entering your email in my signup form to the right or visiting the online form instead. Or, if you’d rather, subscribe to my RSS feed.

My Email Policy:

I give my articles away for free to help you make informed decisions on your press release needs.

If you’d like to receive a monthly digest of the topics that I discuss here at OvernightPR, please sign up and be sure to opt-in so that I’ve got you on my list. If at any time you want to stop receiving my article notices, you can do so with the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of every email that I send.

All emails are sent through MailChimp (if you need an email list manager, you should give them a look, because they are awesome), which has a pretty strict no-spam policy that all senders must uphold, so this is not just me, some guy on the internet you’ve never met, saying this.

Image Credit: Follow The Leader by KaCey97007. Licensed through Creative Commons on flickr.com

If you’ve read my previous articles (How to Follow-Up in particular), you’ve seen the OvernightPR way to follow up on your press release. I’ve said this before a few times, but I’ll mention it here again: your press release is a tool for you to use to get PR coverage, not and end-goal of your PR efforts. In order to maximize your return on the investment of writing a release (or paying a writer to do it for you) and distributing it, you need to have your all your ducks in a row.

I’ve given dozens of tips away on how to line those little guys up to make sure that you don’t miss your opportunity with your press release, but I’ve also received a few requests from readers of past articles asking how exactly they should phrase their follow-up email. That’s largely a matter of personal taste, but I’ll share with you my template that I use when I’m doing follow-up emails.

The Template:

Subject Line: Pitch based upon your recent article [[HEADLINE / NAME]] or
Subject Line: Your recent article [[HEADLINE / NAME]] gave me the idea for this PR pitch or
Subject Line: I saw your article [[HEADLINE / NAME]] and thought that I’d pitch this idea by you

[[JOURNALIST NAME]],

I’ve been reading [[COLUMN, PUBLICATION, BLOG, ETC]] for a while because you write a lot about [[MY INDUSTRY, MY COMPANY, ETC]]  and your recent article [[HEADLINE / NAME]] sparked an idea for a press release that I’ve distributed about [[MY COMPANY, NEW TOPIC, WHATEVER]].  Your [[ARTICLE/ POST]] discussed [[IDEA, TREND, LEGISLATION, NEW PRODUCT, MARKET CHANGE, ETC]], and [[MY COMPANY /  ORGANIZATION]] is [[DOING SOMETHING SIMILAR, TAKING THE TREND FUTHER, BUCKING THE TREND]].

In case you’re interested in hearing my story–and maybe writing about it, too!–I’m including the first bit of my new release below. If you want to know more about [[MY COMPANY / ORGANIZATION/ THIS NEWS]], go to [[LINK]] or [[EMAIL / CALL / WRITE / SEND SMOKE SIGNAL]] and I’ll be happy to help.

Thanks for your time!

[[INCLUDE HEADLINE OF RELEASE AND FIRST PARAGRAPH, WITH A CLEAR LINK TO THE REST OF IT]]

[[CLOSING SALUTATION OR NOTE & CONTACT INFO]]

Using the Template:

As I said, this template is largely a matter of personal taste and circumstance. Unsurprisingly, there’s not a lot of text that I keep unchanged from follow-up to follow-up. That takes a decent amount of time, but it’s the only reliable way I’ve found of getting a release some attention. Do note: if you *haven’t* been reading that journalists’ column or blog and try to fake it in the letter, you will probably get caught out. They get a lot of pitches every day, and the main chance you have of standing out is to write a pitch that is truthfully related to what they write about.

Don’t try any linguistic gymnastics to explain how your story is related to a recent article. If you can’t pitch your release to a partricular blogger / journalist, let it slide. There will be other chances.

E*Releases.com states (and they’re not the first) that you can either look at your release as a shotgun or a rifle. I think that news releases are of more value to the company that they are released in behalf of when they’re targeted. Just blazing away at every journalist in sight gets you on black lists or–worse yet–mentioned somewhere like the Bad Pitch Blog.

There’s enough spam out there. You don’t need to add to it.

So what do you think of the template?  Got any questions? Leave a comment and let’s chat!

If you’ve read any of my articles, you know that I’m fond of lists. On the heels of my last article about how to follow up on your release (See “Trevor’s 7 Rules of PR Pitching”), here’s the seventh of 6 tips to help you get the most out of your follow-up (read the first here).

Start Your Own: You know who some of the most powerful authorities in most market spaces are? The guys who write about it.

Journalist Stand on flickr by Glass Window licensed through Creative Commons 2.0

You know that post I put up earlier today? The previous one? Where I said that “reaching out” was the best way to get your story told. I lied a little bit.

Well, pretty much completely, actually. The absolute best way to get your story told is to be the source that tells that story. This is a lot of work, and don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. Providing quality content that gets shared and talked about is brutally hard. Talk to anyone who’s a leading blogger and they’ll tell you that it is a lot of work to become a market leader in information about a big topic.

But that’s not what you need to become. Don’t look to be the biggest blogger on marketing and public relations. Be the guy who tells everyone how to make the most of a press release, a little budget, and a few hours of precious time out of the day. (Actually, um, don’t. That’s what I”m going for.) Don’t be the leading resource on machinery, just the ‘Net’s best blog on automated printing and folding machines. Is that sexy? Not really. but it’s what will bring in business, if your company makes those folding and printing machines.

So start your own blog. Nurture it. Feed it for two or three or five years.  Once you get in the habit of writing about your market space, informing others about the new trends, and generally becoming a resource for anyone who wants to know about your market, you’ll look around one day and realize that every post you write gets linked to by 40 guys and discussed in depth by another 10. You’ve become a mover and a shaker, somehow, when you weren’t looking, and now you find that the reporters come to you.

Is this an easy way to get your story told? Well, no. But if there’s no one else out there who writes in quite the right area that your business works in, it’s definitely one of the most effective.