The Essentials to Getting Coverage and Creating a Buzz: PR PREP

This is the first in a series of posts on how to create a buzz for your company via PR. This first post details the items you need to get you started.

Hi-res (300 dpi) photos of your products. These should be on a white background and in focus – if you have a product with labels then make sure when you zoom in you can read the label clearly. If you are service-based company then you need hi-res photos of images of you and images of what you represent (i.e. if you are a money expert and the PR campaign angle is about offering quick tips on saving money then have pictures of people pulling their hair out, sitting at a kitchen table looking over bills, enviously looking at a luxury family car). If the photos are too large to email then look at ways to share the photos via services like YouSendIt.

A press kit. Companies always ask if they really need a press kit. The short answer – YES. The media will not take you seriously if you do not put the effort into providing them with information on you, your company, your products/services, price, and distribution (retailer list). Have a professionally designed press kit which means get a graphic designer to lay it out (not your brother Tom who can do wonders in MS Word). The good thing is that a press kit can double as sales kits which means you (or your sales reps) can use it to solicit new accounts; the investment goes beyond media outreach. 
Bloggers are more forgiving so if you are planning on doing a blogger outreach campaign then you can typically get away with supplying them with photos and a brochure (along with a pitch letter). However if you are including e-newsletters in your blogger list then note that they do require a press kit.

Samples. Be prepared to send samples of your product or provide your services for free (if that’s possible). Bloggers and editors require samples; don’t expect them to give you coverage based on photos. Better yet, for bloggers, offer them samples or a discount they can offer to their readers.
If you are service then think about ways you can offer them your expertise. This could include quick tips, free tickets to your speaking engagements or cross-promotion of your blog posts.

Target list. Whether you are approaching media outlets or bloggers, you will need a contact list. This requires time to research the outlets and read/watch/listen to past articles/posts/reports in order to find out who the best person to pitch, if they write straight product reviews or take a larger look at an industry surrounding the product/service. For traditional media outlets, target the reporters or assistant editors vs senior editors.
Build your list in Excel with multiple columns headings: outlet name, web address, contact name, contact email, contact phone, address, twitter ID, facebook page, statistics (subscribers, number of followers, etc).

Press release or social media release. This is a debatable essential. Bloggers don’t want to receive press releases but some will accept social media releases; the media are inundated with press releases but most of the time they don’t read them right away unless they know the sender or company. Sometimes a well written email can take the place of a press release. We recommend writing press releases for events, a product launch or if you are planning a wide distribution (via a service like Cision).
In the end, a press release is simply a tool used within a process, but it’s the process that really counts.

Next post will be on establishing a benchmark to determine success.

What is Word of Mom?

Since starting this blog, I have discovered that blogging is more difficult than I expected. My admiration for those who blog faithfully has greatly increased, with a special spot held to mom bloggers because as a busy mom and entrepreneur, I find it incredibly difficult to squeeze more time out of day to write something inspired (in a peaceful, writing-condusive environment). I've been seeking advise from fellow bloggers about how to get through my "Bloggers Block" and have heard some fantastic suggestions. While I contemplate implementing vlogging (video blogging), some structure to my posts and peer blogger support, I have been watching the online mom blogger world join together to support one of their own - again proving the power of the word of mom.

Online sadness and heartbreak was projected worldwide last week when a 17 month old Madeline Alice Spohr died. I didn't know her or her family; I had never even read the family blog (written by mom blogger Heather Spohr of www.thespohrsaremultiplying.com) until numerous mom bloggers tweeted their shock and heartbreak and I just had to find out what they were all talking about. I was instantly in tears and emotionally distraught the next day as bloggers worldwide expressed their sorrow and started blogging about their grief. I couldn't stop reading, nor could thousands of others. These are the best of the worst kind of blog posts. They hit you in the gut and make you think about your own life. You relate in some small way to someone you've never met but now feel some sort of kindship to because of an experience, emotion, reaction. You see the bigger picture more clearly, realize that sweating the small stuff is stupid and discover that seeking support from your community is not defined by borders.

Mom bloggers came together to support one of their own. When floods of visitors overpowered the Spohr's website and their server dumped them for going over-capacity, mom bloggers banded together to get it transferred to another server (it was twitterer @princessJenn from Canada who came to the rescue, btw). In mere hours housands of dollars (there was a tweet about hitting $10,000 by mid-morning) were raised for the Walk of Dimes in Maddies's honour and teams across the USA have been formed to Walk For Maddie http://sarcasticmom.com/walk-for-maddie/

This universal support system, this innate ability to relate to another person soley based on the joint experience of loving a child, is the foundation of word-of-mom. I don't think even Maddie's mom could have envisioned the impact her experience would have on moms worldwide. When it comes to spreading messages, especially when its for the greater-good, moms are the influencer and source.

My thoughts continue to be with the Spohr family.

Marketing 2.0

While media outlets crumble and collapse because their conventional business model is broken beyond repair (due to a weak economy, changing consumer habits and online competition), mom bloggers across the nation are debating the demand to become better marketers, generate revenue, and question how to maintain editorial integrity while accepting advertising, free products and sponsorship.

Simultaneously, as Ted Murphy details on

his blog, Forrester Research released a paper about ‘Sponsored Conversations’ which proposes that marketers consider paying bloggers to create transparent and genuine content about the brand.

Bloggers are the influencers that traditional media outlets once were. The problem is that unlike their conventional counterparts, bloggers have to do everything – write and edit the content, SEO, solicit and listen to PR pitches, generate interesting promotions to increase and engage with readers, decide how to work with an advertiser – which has some mom bloggers questioning their role and how the competitive online marketplace could perhaps push the non-aggressive-marketing-mom-bloggers into obscurity. Most are adamant that they are writers first-and-foremost and the focus on how to make their blog bigger and better is a distraction from their true focus – to share information and offer insight in a well-written manner.

For those of us who want to work with mom bloggers in order to increase brand awareness and develop a stronger online presence, we must contemplate how the evolution of online content and influencers will push our conventional marketing approaches into uncharted territory; while also taking into consideration how marketers can support bloggers to remain true to their original intentions so that their readership doesn’t dwindle beneath the demand for a bigger and better approach.

Mabel’s Labels recently conducted contest for a blogger to win a trip to BlogHer’s annual conference. They asked bloggers to answer the question – What have been the rewards and benefits of participating in the blogging community?, which generated over 100 blog posts across North America. Ten finalists were chosen and then an online poll (where bloggers solicited readers via their blog, twitter, facebook to vote for them) determined the winner. This is a fantastic example of how to support (mom) bloggers in their writing pursuit while creating a buzz for your own company online; taking a traditional sponsorship activity to a whole new level.

I question whether sponsored conversations will be accepted by bloggers and readers alike – perhaps seen as a transparent yet obtrusive advertising method. Will readers simply ‘tivo’ past these conversations as they have with their cable channel ads, does this develop a pay-per-placement system and those with the biggest budgets win, will bloggers and marketers who adopt this system lose credibility with their readers?

A Savvy Strategy for Method

In this age of engagement, blogger outreach should be an integral part of your public relations plan especially when it comes to moms. Between 50-60% of all moms name blogs as their favourite form of online media.

So what does it take to gain a blogger's attention and trust? Mom in the City blogger recently posted why she love Method - as a company, product, brand. Here are some key points but I encourage you to read the entire post to get more details and ideas on how you can step up your own efforts.

1. Method marketers are friendly, respectful and enthusiastic about their brand.

2. Method is innovative

3. Method is responsive to moms overall

4. They have a wonderful line of products

5. They consistently connect

6. They treat me as an individual

7. Method never asks me to write about the things that they send me

Pitching Value

Results of a new study from Miller Zell, an Atlanta-based retail consulting company, reinforces what a lot of us already know - moms are in charge of household purchases and the family budget. What's most interesting is the study shows that the current economic downturn has moms changing the way they shop including "eating-in more often, with 68% saying they spend less at restaurants; changing channels, with 50% moving from premium grocery stores to discounters; and trading down, with 87% switching brands at the grocery store and a third buying private-label clothing." The report's author then recommends that companies need to "ramp up their value message".

Simultaneously, media outlets are focusing on value stories. In Canada headlines such as "Be Fashionably Frugal", "Buy the Best Quality You Can Afford", "Budget Friendly Family Meals" have been popping up in newspapers across the country. Each article listed a number of great value-conscious ideas that readers can easily implement in their life.

To take advantage of this universal state-of-mind (value is #1), start thinking of ways that your brand presents value-based ideas and promote the details to the media in a Top 5 List. Let's say your company produces eco laundry products - distribute a list of Top 5 Ways You Can Save On Your Laundry Bills (wash in cold water, spin the clothes twice so they dry faster and use less power, etc).

You are more likely to garner media and blogger attention if you provide a context to your brand that is useful and relevant to their readers/viewers lives and moms will value your brand even more because you are providing them with useful tips they can apply to their busy life.