Happy Friday! This week has been an exciting one, with the return of HBO’s “True Blood” and the U.S. advancing to the next round of the World Cup, even after a loss to Germany. With all these fun distractions you may have missed some of this week’s notable news in PR, social media and content marketing:
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We made it to Friday! What a week. We enjoyed a quick trip to Atlanta to present to the Legal Marketing Association on media relations, put the final touches on two new blogs for two separate clients, publicized a corporate client’s acquisition, brainstormed names for a new company, wrote a variety of blog posts and press releases, and much more!
Here’s what happened in the world of marketing and public relations:
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As previously outlined, content marketing isn’t a fad. Times have changed for marketers and will continue to do so almost daily. Following the successes of startups like Pinterest and Twitter, today’s savvy (or just plain broke) marketers are turning to growth hacking instead of traditional marketing techniques.
Growth hacking is defined as using conventional and unconventional tactics to grow a user base startup-style. Some examples you may be familiar with include Twitter’s “Who to Follow” prompter and Dropbox’s rewarding more storage space to users who invited friends to use the platform.
But these tactics aren’t just for startups. They’re actually the new MO of marketing. And at the core, they’re all about knowing who your customers are, where they reside on the web and what motivates them.
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It’s one of the most overused sentences in the communications industry:
“Let’s do a press release!”
The press release is perhaps the best-known public relations tool. As a result, it tends to be the first option that comes to mind when a client or company wants to get the word out about their latest project or initiative. But there are a lot of other tools in the PR toolbox that may be more appropriate – and effective – depending upon your situation, your topic and your communications objectives.
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Some people are blessed with the gift of gab. If you’re not one of those people who can walk into a room full of strangers and strike up a conversation, however, you need to master the art of the icebreaker. You can use some visual as an icebreaker – a company logo or perhaps a lapel pin – or you can put in a little time and research your way into an icebreaker.
Some icebreakers are visual. Lou Imbriano, President and CEO of TrinityOne, a marketing strategy and business advisory consultancy, has it easy when it comes to icebreakers: he has three Super Bowl rings from his time spent as chief marketing officer of the New England Patriots. They’re big, they easily draw people’s attention, and everyone wants to hold one. He doesn’t have to look for conversation, it finds him.
I lucked into my own visual icebreaker when I created a logo for my work as a sports business reporter and analyst. It was a real photograph taken of me for my book on Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement that a friend with graphic design capabilities turned into my now signature logo.
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In February of this year, LinkedIn opened its platform to long-form publishing through a program called LinkedIn Publisher. Building off the success of its LinkedIn Influencer program, where industry experts like Richard Branch and Martha Stewart post long-form content, LinkedIn decided to expand the opportunity to all members. Initially just 25,000 members were offered the ability to publish long-form content, but others can gain access through an application process.
The application process is fairly simple, requiring simply your name, email, LinkedIn profile URL and two links to examples of professional content you’ve written. I was accepted as a writer within a couple of days after submitting my application, although there is no standard reply time. If you’re not accepted right away, don’t worry. LinkedIn says the platform will be open to all members in the future.
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“Why don’t my news releases get picked up?”
Just about every PR consultant has heard this lament at one time or another – often, from a prospective client who’s been trying to handle his own PR with little success. Yet even veteran communications pros have experienced the frustration of sending out a news release that never makes it past an editor’s inbox.
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It’s one of the most talked about recent TV commercials. Old Spice’s “Smellcome to Manhood” commercial features a series of mournful mothers spying on their teenaged sons and lamenting that “Old Spice sprayed a man on my son, now he’s kissing all the women and his chores aren’t done.”
Some found the spot hilarious; others found it creepy. The real question, however, is will it sell Old Spice?
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Add Foursquare Founder Dennis Crowley and his wife, Chelsa, to the list of public figures issuing ineffective public apologies.
The Crowleys found themselves in the position of needing to make a public apology today, when Boston’s WCVB revealed that Chelsa Crowley ran this year’s Boston Marathon using a forged bib. In reality, the bib number Crowley used belonged to another runner who had qualified for the legendary event by raising thousands of dollars for a multiple sclerosis charity. That runner, Kathy Brown, discovered Crowley’s duplicity when she went looking for official marathon photos of herself and discovered images of another woman wearing her bib number. Brown was able to pinpoint the culprit because Chelsa Crowley wrote her Twitter handle across the counterfeit bib.
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Conferences can be a great place to network and get up to speed on best practices within your industry, but getting the most out of attending a conference or event is about more than just showing up. Once you’ve registered for the conference, what can you do to prepare?
Especially for larger conferences with multiple panels, I always review the conference agenda in advance to plot my plan of attack. First, I circle any panelists I’ve met previously, and I highlight any panelists I’d like to meet.
For panelists I’ve already met, I generally send them an email two to four weeks before the conference. If it’s someone I’ve only met once and had little contact with since, I’ll remind them in the email how we previously met. I let each of them know I will be attending the conference and look forward to seeing them again. I always tell students in my networking lectures: make it easy for people to remember you.
You can stop there. Letting them know you’ll be there puts you on their radar. Maybe now they’ll look for you in the crowd or during lunch or happy hour. They’re also more likely to recognize and remember you if you approach them at the conference.
You can also go one step further.
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