January 9, 2012

CONTENT REALLY IS KING

Years ago I was sarcastically referred to as the “Content King” around here at Catapult. Back in the day (yes, I’m old), developing content was somewhat secondary to the glamor of pitching stories, arranging interviews, hitting the road on press tours and getting placements in key technology publications like eWeek, ComputerWorld and InfoWorld.

However, as we head into 2012 good, solid content has become as valuable as pure gold. From where I sit the shifting sands of the marketing landscape seem to be settling around a central notion – that compelling and useful content is a true lynchpin to successful marketing. Consider how social media marketing has evolved and, without useful content, much of the initial efforts to “engage” and “join conversations” fell flat in the results department. Today’s advertisements are now limited without QR codes to provide additional information to foster engagement. And, of course, effective “traditional” public relations is increasingly dependent on strategic positioning and messaging that is conveyed not only through media coverage, but through the creation and placement of content, be it graphical, video or written word.

Don’t Wait, Self-Publish!

As we head into 2012 all of us within the PR and associated marketing practices should strive to harness the power and opportunity for self-publishing compelling content. From news releases, blogs and by-lined articles to white papers and YouTube videos, all of the content we create should be well thought-out and made easily accessible to the global community. Creating a content strategy as a means of being an active and useful member of your market is a practical way to convey an organization’s unique expertise, years of experience and willingness to share and give back to the community. Publishing useful content drives website traffic and builds awareness as a thought leader, and helps establish a library of useful information that should be displayed and easily downloadable from your organization’s website. Increasingly, social media favorites Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have evolved into content publishing portals – and they know a thing or two.

I am, and have always been, “all about the content.” Today, and for the foreseeable future, content will continue to provide differentiation, value and market impact for organizations large and small. Make this year the year of content, and you too can feel like a king (or queen)!

Stay tuned for my ongoing “High Tech PR Guy” series as I share my thoughts on how you can make sense of the dynamic, changing world of PR, and how you can turn useful content (and other strategies) into winning marketing results.

What are your views and best practices for creating and sharing content? ~Guy

April 6, 2011

Facebook – Can I Have A Do Over Please?!

We all have Facebook accounts, right? If not, I am surprised you are even on the Catapult blog reading this post. All kidding aside, with 500 million active users worldwide and with those individuals spending more than 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook it has become a regular part of our daily lives. We check in daily from our mobile devices telling our friends where we are having breakfast, what we did over the weekend and of course posting photos of nearly every aspect of our lives.

However, I have one question – can I have a Facebook Do Over?

Seriously, I started an account several years ago and rarely if ever checked it. People would send friend requests and I would accept. Some names I knew and others sounded familiar. However, with the goal of not offending anyone or worrying about remembering someone’s married name I accepted the requests without considering the impact.

Recently, with close to 1,200 supposed “friends” I made a decision to take a step back and follow the advice I provide clients. Increasingly there is no longer a line between our professional and personal lives. As such, I have some very close clients who I consider friends and former students who I like to hear from about their successes and challenges in the PR field. I would recommend asking the following questions:

• What is the objective of your Facebook page? It is for personal/business or both?
• How much information do I want to share with those I have decided to be friends with?
• What photo should I use as my profile pic?

These are just some of the questions to consider. Just to be clear, I am not suggesting you defriend everyone or anyone; but I do recommend thinking a bit more about your Facebook page and how you intend to incorporate it into your life. 

What additional suggestions do you have for items users of Facebook should consider? Feel free to share!

November 13, 2009

Forgotten Tools of PR Trade

In an era of shrinking newsrooms and disappearing travel budgets, PR pros are increasingly having a hard time finding editors and reporters who have the time and resources to attend a tradeshow or visit a company’s headquarters.

What many PR Pros forget to remember is you have the ability to take your clients to the newsroom!

Once forgotten with the advent of ‘new media’ desk side visits are an opportunity to PR professionals and their clients to visit writers and reporters in the newsroom or magazine headquarters.

While these meetings don’t guarantee stories on clients, my experience has found them to be valuable and cost-effective relationship-building sessions that have generated increased media requests for interviews with clients who previously flew under the radar of most reporters.

Desk-side briefings are relatively easy to arrange,  however included below are a few do’s and don’ts: 

• DO time them when your client has news to break or opinions on timely topics.
• DO provide media training to your key spokespeople before the trip to hone your key messages. Even executives accustomed to talking to reporters have found the training crucial. It’s especially important when two executives are making the visits together to avoid embarrassing contradictions.
• DO provide background information on all reporters on the itinerary, including recent articles they’ve written. Reporters inevitably perk up when their work is cited.
• DO leave behind easy-to-access contact information and succinct background data, and follow up just as aggressively as you arranged the desk-sides. Otherwise, reporters are likely to quickly forget about your client when they turn to the next story.
• DON’T overlook the key trade media covering your client’s industry. Often several outlets from a common publisher work in the same building, multiplying the number of placements that result from the visit.
• DON’T fret if breaking news causes a reporter to cancel at the last moment. That doesn’t faze the client if you have a busy schedule of visits, and the reporter may be more receptive to your next call because they remember – or you remind them of – the last-minute cancellation.
• DON’T pack the schedule so tightly that travel delays, interruptions or longer-than-expected interviews put you behind schedule, jeopardizing key interviews.

http://www.catapultpr-ir.com/

http://www.catapultpr-ir.com/blog/

August 10, 2009

Social Media Tools and PR

Social media tools are crucial for PR firms to provide a fast, cost effective form of promotion. How to get started building online strategies? We’ve previously talked about listening, but worth repeating, to start there:

• Listening – Twitter, Filtrbox, LinkedIn, Google Reader (for blogs) help monitor the conversations circling their industry and the agency itself. Setting up search terms and reviewing them frequently can keep you informed and manage communications crisis quickly. Set up accounts and start listening.
• Contributing – to blogs, and responding to LinkedIn Q&A’s and news articles promote thought leadership.
• Publication – Tell your story. Create great content; publish releases, case studies and stories to the web via the wire and RSS feeds. One of our releases had 2900 hits on the feeds (as reported by Post Zinger). Online presence increases by tagging articles on Digg, Delicous and other sites.

Social media tools used to promote consistent, quality messaging are supplements to traditional PR methods. Excellent branding, positioning, writing and most important actual relationships with key influencers are still critical to brands growth.

July 10, 2009

Video on the Web – Are you Ready?

At Catapult, we have seen an increasing number of organizations start to inquire about our rich media webcasting services.

Interesting.

A couple years ago, we would get responses like “hmmm, that’s kinda cool.” Or “that’s “cute.”" Now, we are seeing savvy companies that are interested not only in saving money through the use of webcasting (an important consideration these and all days), but, that also are interested in taking it one step further by considering and using video as part of the webcasting offering.

YouTube has a lot to do with this. So does the increase in network bandwidth across most organizations.

But, most importantly, it has to do with leaders of companies who see an opportunity to position their organization in a more human way. By putting themselves out there for all to see. It helps distinguish them as leaders. As innovators. As forward-thinking companies.

We say it’s time to embrace this new way of thinking. Besides Catapult, there are many service providers who offer this type of service. Some are more affordable and flexible than others. But, all are worth exploring.

We invite you to learn more at our site and at others on the Web.

Because the next wave of communication is going to incorporate video.

Are you ready to fully embrace it?

Sample Rich Media Presentation:
New Media Tools for Investor Relations – Rimas presenting to NIRI