Old tactics, new results?
This post originally appeared on PR Breakfast Club. Enjoy.
In the business world, thinking outside the box is the unofficial motto. In public relations, we’re tasked with being creative thinkers. Our clients want us to find different ways to get in front of influencers and, ultimately, customers.
But we are so quick to focus on what’s next, sometimes we do it at the expense of what’s current.
ADOS
Peter Shankman says he suffers from ADOS: Attention Deficit … ooooh shiny! And I think that as PR people we’re guilty of it too. Our clients sometimes push back on us with the charge to be “more creative.” But what is the cost of creativity?
It comes down to a simple ROI calculation. If clients value a mention in a metro print publication more than 50 tweets, perhaps your creative thinking time is best spent taking the metro writer out for coffee or trying to line up a desk-side meeting. If the time you spend trying to be “creative” outweighs the rewards of the action, then it is not worth it.
Defining creativity
I’ve embraced this newfangled “Internet” thing. I know how to hand-code a blog entry, complete with some SEO tricks and I know about metrics in the social media space. But I also know how to dial a phone, send an email or go to an event to connect.
My point is that depending on your goals, news or message you’re trying to send, each of those tactics could be called creative. What some of us consider a de facto tactic in any PR campaign, others would consider it experimental and risky. Again, it all comes down to knowing your client and its goals.
In order to define creativity, you need to be aligned with your client and its goals. Pretty simple stuff, right?
The creativity plateau
I think we might be in a creativity plateau. Hosting a blogger dinner is no longer innovative. A campaign to comment on influencers’ blogs is not cutting edge. SEO for public relations (see what I did there?) is an established industry.
I think we’ve hit a temporary plateau. And that’s OK. It is OK to use established and effective tactics to generate reliable results. It is not imperative that every PR campaign feature a door-to-door singing telegram for every reporter in New York. Actually, maybe that’s not a bad idea…
What do you think?
Tags: creativity, execution, SEO, tactics
Having your blog or Web site rank high in search engine is essentially a guaranteed way to convert sales. But as a PR person, how can you help your clients achieve number-one ranking nirvana?
While at the recent BlogWorld Expo, I sat in on a session that proposed the creation of a network of blogs with content specific to the various products or services your client sells. Relevant key words in the blogs’ titles and content will help it rank so that it does not dilute the keywords in other articles. The strategic use of keyword specific anchor text and linking structures will help as well.
Now, I’m not an SEO expert, but as a PR person, I see the many benefits to this. But there’s a side of me that asks, “Is this genuine?” There’s two sides to this. One of them is black, the other is white. So, I think it’s a gray hat strategy.
The Black Hat
From what I understand, the bad side of this comes in how the blogs are presented. If a network of blogs all have different designs, branding/names, domain registrations and IP addressees, then the assumption is that they are not related. But if all links and referrals point back to a single vendor, this is blatant link farming and search engines look at this extremely unfavorably.
This is a disingenuous method of boosting your page rank. And it does a dis-service to your readers. This will also, if identified by the search engines, end up hurting your ranking and site more as a result of being viewed as manipulative of the search engine results page.
The White Hat
Creating quality content is never a bad thing. But there’s a right way to do this. The theory is sound, but the practice needs to be executed properly.
If you keep the branding and disclose who runs the sites, then the benefits should still come. The underlying premise here is that the content is valuable. Provide information that helps guide a purchasing decision and that will help convert the traffic to revenue.
Technically, there’s more to good content than the words on a page. Ensuring that your site (or sites) is properly optimized with the appropriate links and anchor text, page structure (tagging, linking structure, focused keywords, etc.) and linking out to other quality content are just as important to helping your client’s blogs rank.
Sharing your content is where a different side of blogger outreach comes in to play. Spend time cultivating relationships with other bloggers and sites for content distribution and linking purposes, rather than develop this network artificially yourself. Develop authoritative sites that are on topic and link out to more sites than just your own.
So, in the end, it all comes back to “write quality content.” What do you think of this model, is it unethical? How would you improve upon this model?
~ Extra special thanks to Kristy Bolsinger for her help w/this post. Always good to have a fact checker 
Tags: bwe09, ethics, execution, PR, Tips
I know it’s late for this, but hey, the idea popped into my head now. As we enter 2009, a lot of questions surround the general business landscape. But what are you doing to answer them? What are your business resolutions for the new year?
Kick ass
Simple enough, right? But let me expand upon kicking ass. I have found that it is simpler, more accurate and more rewarding to set micro-goals. Treat each task as an individual challenge and you will soon find that the end result will be better than you could have hoped for.
By simplifying and refining your goals, it will be easier to kick ass. And you’re kicking ass more often, which feels pretty good too.
Know your surroundings
Take a couple of hours and set up an RSS aggregator to monitor the fire hose of information that is pointed at your brain. Subscribe to new blogs and even delete a few of the old subscriptions. Google Reader or Yahoo Pipes makes it pretty simple to organize the information down to whatever level you want.
When you have your information coming at you in a controlled manner, it is easier to monitor trends, react to market demands and keep tabs on competitors. Which helps you stay ahead of the curve.
Participate
I can’t say enough about how important it is to be involved. Be involved with your users, your partners and your competitors. It is not necessary to have every conversation occur about you or your product, but it is pretty important to participate in almost every conversation.
By participating in events, blog posts and conversations, you are able to build a reputation and relationships that will only benefit you.
Enjoy life
I am a proponent of a work/life balance. I am hearing more and more stories of people burning out from trying to stay ahead of the curve. Don’t forget to enjoy life. If you have non-work hobbies, embrace them. If you have a family, embrace them. If you have a garden, embrace it.
So, what are your resolutions? What steps will you take to ensure your success for the next 12 months?
Tags: Enterprise, execution, planning
