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When it comes to public relations, there are really only three options, either keep it in-house, employ an agency to take on the work for you or do you ignore it altogether. 

Agency or In-house, you choos

A wise person is the one who deliberates between the first two points.  The options are narrowed down considerably and it’s now thatthe choices become a little more difficult.

Which Way?

So, how does a company best choose to handle its PR and Marcoms?  Well to answer this question we need to look at the two options and see whether we can draw any satisfactory conclusions.  So let’s look at keeping things in-house.  Well not wishing to paint a bleak picture, but first of all there is finding the right person to run your communications department. It takes time for any new employee to get to understand the business, but when it comes to communications you want someone who will get off to a flying start. If you decide to go with someone who is experienced in your area of industry then you’re going to pay top dollar for them.

So you decided to employ a general all rounder, someone who can write a bit and has one or two media contacts, but are you getting value for money with this person?  Is there enough work within your communications department to keep them fully employed and if they are working on a part time basis are you, as a business, getting the publicity exposure you want/need, are they creative enough and finally are they adding real cost value to your operation?

The PRO’s tend to split into two distinct camps and in doing so it’s easy to see why each is a creature of its own habitat. But which adds real value?

The ‘Maverick’ verses ‘The Trojan’

The Maverick is the agency PRO. Outgoing, creative and savvy they embrace new technology they involve themselves with network communities. As the media platform rapidly increases, they’re generic experience grows, they are able to evaluate the bigger picture and take risks accordingly.  The Maverick will to deal with a multitude of different clients each bringing its own unique experiences and challenges.

The Trojan is different. The in-house PRO may work within a small team or as is often the case on their own, but they are part of a wider team.  They are less likely to blog and will avoid the media industry limelight. Within the business they all rise to the same challenge, there focus is but one goal and that is victory.  However they all approach this goal from different positions and although they share the same ethos they never really achieve total unity.

Opting to employ an agency is the most cost effective way to manage your communications. All the benefits may not be apparent first hand but as a company begins to work with an agency, it begins to see more and more benefits come to the surface.  Firstly the agency not only has the systems in place to provide a complete service, from copy writing and proof reading through to using a distribution network to issue the press release.  Agencies tend to focus on a specific sector of business, so the expertise is already there so the need to come up to speed isn’t as applicable.  The major factor is that the Agency PRO generally has a wealth of experience in campaigning, and can tailor that experience, when it comes to your business.

So, when deciding who to trust with your communications, you need to balance cost effectiveness and added value to the business but don’t forget the creativity factor.

Whether you choose to employ someone to look after your communications or you engage an agency, it is essential that you have the correct evaluation procedures in place. More on this next time.

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Writing online press releases is an art. The basic rules of press release writing still apply, yet there is the subtle craft of web writing, SEO optimisation and structure that need to be captured in the online form.

Let’s remind ourselves of the basics. Start global and in subsequent paragraphs move into the specific. A strong headline that grabs the eye and draws interest enough for the reader to continue is a must have. The first paragraph should support the headline, explain it, and outline the entire story. It must paint the ‘big picture’. The structure of the entire release, which is usually no longer than 250 words (perhaps 350 for mainly trade or technical press), should then have a natural flow. A beginning, middle and and ending to some extent and certainly explain the why, what and how of the story.

The subsequent 5 or 6 paragraphs should go increasingly into the specific detail of the story and include any supporting information. The less interesting or supporting detail should be left until the end, but interspered to help bring the story to life the people involved in the story can be quoted to help tell it. The standard tools of editors notes, contacts, supporting information should all be used at the end of the piece, and clearly indicated as such.

Now we come on to the basic rules of web writing. It has to help the eye: readers’ attention spans are shorter on the web (and in general these days), and it is also more difficult for the eye to read on a screen. So remember the following:

Chunky – keep the paragraphs chunky, short and never long. Help the eye flow through the piece and break it up with headers and images for longer pieces

Relevant – know your target audience inside out, picture them (him or her) as you write the release, and use words that talk his language. Make sure that you keep the content, images, timing all relevant for the target audience. It may be that the first para or two need to be tailored or adapted for a different target audience and this is all you need to make it relevant

Accurate – digital communication can encourage sloppiness, SMS is a case in hand. But if you spend time and effort making sure your writing is gramatically and factually correct, with no spelling errors, you will be more successful, credible and believable in what you write

Brief – anything you write for PR, and especially for the web, has more impact with fewer words. Write your release.  Then re-read and edit, re-read and edit, re-read and edit … and then cut out another 10 per cent of words. Then you’ll have perfection!

Scannable – does the copy scan well? Do it draw the eye down and catch and keep attention.  Can someone scan it quickly and get the gist of the story in one scan?  Make sure the answer is yes to all these questions.

 

And now for the grand finale of online release writing. Both the headline and the copy, particulary the first few paragraphs of the body, need to be keyword rich.  This copy needs to include a mix of keyword phrases that people use to search for information on the web.  To achieve this you will need an insight into what words and phrases searchers use to find information on the web. Optimised news will attract more journalists and customers alike.  And research consistently shows that these readers use the web as their preferred medium for finding out news about your clients products and services.

Links are also critical, both to provide helpful insight, information and additional support for your readers and to help with SEO so that your news is easier to find.  Internal and external links are equally as important. As are inbound links from external websites. And this is certainly one reason why having your online media centre on an independent domain – i.e. not a subdomain of your main site – helps with your SEO. So make use of the online release distribution sources such as PR Wire, cisionwire, Response Source etc.

Tags are important considerations but you should only aim for around four per release and they need to be directly relevant to that release, and not a blanket ‘brand name’ repetition. And don’t forget the RSS feed – your releases will need to have their own unique feed if you really want to give journalists the edge in finding your news quickly.  They can subscribe to your feeds via email download, browsers or burn them into their feedreaders to have your news pushed into their inboxes as soon as you issue it. There’s more to writing press releases in the digital age than meets the eye, and its time for PROs to get web savvy.

Public relations activities can add a massive boost to your SEO rankings as well as getting you in the news.  And don’t just think press releases, think digital content instead. Anything that can be searched can be optimised, and that only presents opportunity for us web savvy PROs to add value to our clients online coverage.  Journalists and buyers alike are all searching for their latest product information and news online these days, so you need to make the content published to the web as part of PR efforts easy to find via search engines.

Examples of what you need to think about optimising include:

• Press releases
• online newsrooms
• press kits and packs
• blogs
• features and case studies
• white papers
• webinars
• newsletters
• videos
• podcasts

Digital assets such as audio, images, video etc can be optimised for SEO and promoted for use outside of PR too, aim to get multiple bang for your bucks.  Embed them in eNewsletters or turning page brochures for maximum impact across the sensory continuum.  It will build credibility and story telling.

Of course, there is a careful art in the creation of keywords and phrases and this should be managed, evaluated, recorded and reviewed as professionally as all your other PR activity. More later …..

For more advice, visit our website Changeworks Communications.

After working hard to put together a strong pitch, Changeworks Communications (of which I am MD) has won a national contract to handle the PR for The National Skills Academy for Manufacturing. 

As well as setting up a dedicated online media centre, Changeworks will generate regular regional, corporate and digital stories to support awareness of The Skills Academy, an organisation tasked by the Government to deliver an independent national standard for training in the manufacturing sector.   As well as maximising traditional channels of trade press, regional and national press, Changeworks and using online PR channels and campaigns to maximise coverage for the employer-led organisation.

Read the full release on our media centre.

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The rules of PR have changed overnight and if you don’t understand how to use PR 2.0 and embrace online communications you’ll miss out on many benefits for you and your clients.

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