Top 5 PR Mistakes
| Danny Brown - Tuesday, September 09, 2008 1 Comments |
The rise of blogging power and social media networks has seen a massive change in the way that PR is used today. As the likes of web analytics and search engine marketing show, not having an online PR strategy can leave you way behind your competition. Just as importantly, though, is having the wrong kind of PR strategy.Too many PR agencies are ruining their clients’ brand and name by jumping on the latest online bandwagon – blogging, social media, social bookmarking, search engine marketing, etc – without actually realizing what it is these mediums offer. Additionally, too many companies are losing out to their competitors by not utilizing the online PR tools at their disposal - like any master craftsman, you need to understand how a tool works to get the best from it.
To make sure your online PR is used to maximum effect, avoid making these simple yet costly PR mistakes:
Press Release Mass Mailing
There are thousands of press releases sent out on a daily basis. With this amount of competition, you need to make sure yours stands out. Mass mailing your press release to all the media outlets and hoping at least one sticks is not the way forward.
You want to target the top 2-3 niche publications for your news and offer exclusivity, or semi-exclusivity, for the initial story. If you hit the top publications for your pitch, trust me, the other media outlets will soon follow.
Ignoring the Power of Bloggers
Too many PR agencies are still (sadly) ignorant of the blogosphere and its importance to the way a new product or news story is received. They will either ignore bloggers altogether, or even worse p*ss them off by sending news release after news release to them, whether it’s relevant or not.
With blogs enjoying such benefits of higher search engine placing over websites and the loyalty of readers that know BS when they see it, not having the blogosphere on your side is a major faux pas. Get to know the bloggers that are influential in your niche and build a relationship with them – you’ll soon see the benefits when the time comes to share your news. Otherwise you could soon have a few hundred thousand negative stories about you floating around the Net and no PR agency in the world is good enough to control that amount of negative publicity.
Not Looking After Your Client
One of the biggest and most serious mistakes for a PR agency to make – online or otherwise – is ignoring your client either during or after the current campaign. Whenever a PR campaign is launched, business reputations are being put on the line. With the instant negative or positive reaction that the online media offers, being able to react to what’s being said is crucial. Monitoring the news feeds and alerts should be high on your agenda – otherwise you may find that it’s too late for any damage control.
Not Using Social Media
Take a look at the Top24 stories on the homepage of social media site Digg and one thing stands out – thousands of people have rated a submission. That’s thousands of people all looking at the same thing and feeling the need to share that news with others. So why do so many businesses and PR agencies alike ignore this and other social media sites?
Used properly, social media can be one of the most powerful PR tools around – websites like Digg, Stumbleupon, Newsvine and others offer instant information hits and breaking stories. Add in the extra traffic that can result from being featured on these sites and there really is no excuse for not using them as part of an online PR campaign.
Impact Management
Just as it’s important to monitor news feeds relating to your PR campaign, it’s equally as important to monitor where the biggest impact is being made. Are business blogs or media outlets picking up on your news? Where’s the biggest buzz coming from? Part of any good PR strategy is knowing what audience is responding most favorably and working on the areas that aren’t quite as in tune as the rest. Failure to do this is one of the biggest causes of a failed PR campaign.
A strong and well thought out PR campaign can take a business into the stratosphere – the PR mistakes mentioned above can have disastrous consequences. Make sure your business enjoys the former.
* For more PR news and opinion from Danny Brown please visit the Press Release PR blog.
Labels: online public relations, online publicity, social media, Social Networking
Danny,
Thanks for posting a blog on PR mistakes, I think after reading your blog we must concentrate on these mistakes to improve Google PR.
Great, Thanks!!