How to Run a Successful News Release ProgramWritten by
Claire Cunningham
Marketing public relations gives you cost effective ways to reach your audience. The trade-off, however, is time. It takes time to develop and execute public relations programs. It can take time for these programs to yield rewards.Here are six simple steps for developing a news release program that extends your reach and generates inquiries at a fraction of cost of advertising. 1) DETERMINE YOUR AUDIENCE AND MESSAGE. If you have a marketing or communications plan in place, you already have audiences and messages defined. No need to reinvent for your news release program, although you may need to select audiences and messages that are most appropriate. 2) BUILD A LIST. Once you know your audience, you’ll need a list of publications they’re likely to read. A great place to go to create a list is http://www.medialistsonline.com – a service of Bacon’s. It’s reasonably priced and fast. The downside is lists come with no updates. You may need to re-purchase your list several times during a year. Or it may make more sense for you to buy a media directory subscription. However you build your list, make it broad. With a news release program you can send releases to many more publications than you can afford to advertise in. Sending a release just entails paper, printing, a photo, an envelope and a stamp.
| | Website not selling? Twelve questions you should ask yourselfWritten by David Bell
So your website is getting visitors, but not enough are buying. A common online problem, unfortunately. Here are twelve common faults found with websites that don't sell. If you answer no to any of them, you need to take action. 1)Does your text focus on emphasizing benefits and results customer will get from purchasing and using it? Sales copy needs to be focused on benefits to end user, not on features of product. List features, and then translate them into benefits customer will get. Move away from "our Widget does this, this and this.." to "You will soon be doing this .." 2)Does your website convey enough strong benefits? Brainstorm to come up with a list of benefits. Rank them in order of importance. Then mention them in order throughout text, best first. Summarizing them with bullet points too also works great. 3)Does you text stimulate emotions? People buy with heart not head - so try and stimulate emotions - use words to paint a picture of life after they've bought your product " Imagine freedom of no more back pain..." or "...money worries could soon be a thing of past, and you could soon be taking those exotic vacations...". 4))Does headline grab and draw you in? You've got to try to stop them dead in their tracks with headline. Use best benefit of your product, and create interest so they read on. Make it hard hitting, but not unbelievable. 5)Do you have a call to action? People put off decisions, even if they're 90% sold on your product, they may still decide to "sleep on it". Don't let them have time to forget - give them an incentive to purchase now - discounts, bonuses etc. 6)Does your website load and function ok? Slow load times may cause people to get impatient and go elsewhere, even though it registers a visit. Do all links work, and more importantly, have you tested your order page by running dummy orders? 7)Do you have any testimonials from satisfied customers? Testimonials are everywhere online, and people expect them as a matter of course. Ask those who have purchased what they thought -email them a simple customer satisfaction survey, offer a freebie for replying and use best comments. If your product is free,try a testimonial swap with a seller of a complementary (but not directly competing) product -offer to review his product if he reviews yours.
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