In today’s competitive environment, it is imperative to frequently reach your current customers (to keep them sold) and prospective customers (to encourage them to consider your products and services). To do so, public relations is a good no or low cost method to do so. Services such as Business Wire, PR Newswire PR WEB are good resources to distribute your content. These services offer on-line “how to’s” so you can do it yourself. Knowing the effectiveness and return on your investment of your Public Relations campaign is important. These services track how many people read your release, where it was picked up, and where your prospects
learned about your business in detailed reports.

Utilizing sites like Linkedin and Facebook are other good methods to distribute your news. Your blogs is also an effective way to share your news.

E-mailing your releases, or e-newsletters, to your customer base, prospective customers, employees, agents, distributors, suppliers, strategic alliances, service providers (e.g. – your CPA and lawyer), board members, and investors is recommended to keep them up to date. Don’t forget to notify appropriate members of the press. Constant Contact is one resource to support your e-mail and e-newsletter programs. Encourage all to respond with their comments and suggestions.

Each release should focus on one topic each, so you do not dilute the effect. You can plan a series of releases over time. To be most effective, no less than one release per month is suggested. Typical release topics feature 1) a new product or service, 2)personnel news; e.g. – someone was promoted or hired, and 3) company news, e.g. – a new office was opened in Europe or a new distributor is now representing your company.

Through these efforts, traffic to your website will increase.

About Mike:

Mike spent fourteen years in corporate America with Bendix and Allied Signal corporations. Positions he held included divisional chief marketing officer, new product development manager, marketing channel manager, national sales manager, marketing communications manager and acquisition manager, . Since 1989, he has been in the consulting industry. Of Mike’s current clients, three are start up firms. He holds a B.S., Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University (Bethlehem, PA), and a M.B.A. from Loyola Marymount University, (Los Angeles, CA), and is certified by the Center for Creative Leadership (Greensboro, North Carolina) to conduct 360º leader assessment and development programs.

According to a recent nielsen wire article, “Twitter’s Tweet Smell of Success,” written by Michelle McGiboney, Twitter has grown 1,382% from February of 2008 to February of 2009, “making it the fastest growing site in the member communities category for the month.” In February 2009, it had over 7 million unique visitors. And over 40% of its visitors are age 35 to 49, and almost 85% are over 25 years old.  In other words, Twitter is used by a large number of adults, and that number is growing every day.

Plenty of businesses have joined the bandwagon too, hoping to reach potential customers through this medium, and if the statistics haven’t sold you on the idea, here are my 5 reasons for brands to jump on the Twitter wagon:

1.    Opens Communication with Influencers: Twitter not only allows one to reach a large percentage of the public, many of these Tweeters are influencers among their network. These people pride themselves on having something to say, and their network is listening to them. This type of person is much more likely to voice their opinions of products than the average customer, making them the perfect people to introduce to your product; if they like it, they’ll tell everyone about it.

2.    Customer Service: Not only will these people share what they like, they will also share what they don’t like. But instead of this conversation going on behind the company’s back, companies can be involved in the conversation. If a complaint is made on Twitter, the company can address the problem and solve it within minutes. With Twitter, companies don’t have to wait until someone is angry enough to write a letter.

3.    Immediate Updates: Many companies don’t have the resources to send out regular press releases, and even if they do, a large percentage of their customers and potential customers will never read them. Twitter is the best way to keep these people informed of projects, improvements and anything else that you think they would like to know. According to the above article, many of these people (735,000 in January) access Twitter from their phones, giving the Tweeter direct access to people who want to read what they have to say. And, if nothing else, it keeps your brand on their minds.

4.    Initiates Ongoing Education: Successful Tweeters share interesting and current information. These people read articles, listen to other Tweeters and do whatever they can to be knowledgeable in their field. For most corporate Tweeters, this means they need to conduct their own ongoing education, which, in turn, makes them better at their business. Successful Tweeters have no choice in the matter: they must become more knowledgeable in their field.

5.    Increases Credibility: Also, by being one of these successful brand Tweeters, one not only proves that the company keeps up with trends and new technology, he also proves the company’s expertise among its competitors, which increases the brand’s credibility.

So, do some research, learn how to Tweet like a pro, lurk for a bit and jump in. The water’s fine.

Note: Photo is from FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Every for-profit company should have a nonprofit and/or cause relationship. The public expects it of them, and it will improve and increase their business. Now, it’s time that companies start looking at those relationships as a business strategy.

Guitars in the Classroom and D'Addario

Why do companies currently start cause/charity relationships?
1.    They use it as a benefit to their employees – making donations to organizations selected by their employees.
2.    They consider it as a marketing initiative – donating product or awarding sponsorships to charities and/or causes that they believe their customers or target customers would like.
3.    They think it will bring them added publicity – choosing any well-known charity to receive proceeds from something.
How could those efforts be more effective?
1.    Cause/charity relationships as an employee benefit: People want to work for companies that make a difference in the world. I would even suggest that future and present employees are more concerned that a company is philanthropic than they are worried about which charities and/or causes the company supports. So, although your employees’ choice can be considered when choosing a charity or cause, it should not be the only factor.

2.    Cause/charity relationships for marketing: Sure, customers are more likely to spend money with a company when they think part of their money will be going toward a charity or cause, but that doesn’t mean companies should only choose charities or causes that “match” the demographic of their customers. For example, let’s say that company A gives 5% of their profits to homeless shelters in San Francisco, and company B doesn’t advertise any philanthropic activity. A potential customer (who has never been to San Francisco or thought about homelessness) is still more likely to buy from company A because they are doing good.

Woodcraft Rangers and Sally Beauty Supply

3.    Cause/charity relationships for public relations: Many companies choose, at the last minute, to add a charity or cause into the mix. Their only consideration is that they don’t want to alienate their customers, so they choose a charity that will be liked by the lowest common denominator. Usually they don’t do anything special for that charity and just throw a few dollars at it. Then, they say, “Look at how great we are! We are donating money to the XYZ Foundation!” They don’t know exactly what the charity does, and instead of finding out, they put a lot of money and effort into getting credit for the donation. They use it to bring in sponsors and celebrities. They write countless press releases about their generous behavior, and then their appalled if no media covers the story.

I hate to break it to them, but tying a charity or cause in is nothing new and, therefore, is not news. What is news? A company going to great lengths to help that charity or cause by creatively raising money for them or getting them some other product or service they need. A journalist can easily spot a company that is going out of its way to help and can also spot someone who just wants their name in the paper.

Who benefits?

The company - Companies that select charities strategically will not only have a lot of PR power for making a significant contribution to charity, they will also greatly improve the success of their business.

The employees – Companies that are maximizing their charitability will gain greater respect from their employees, who will be more likely to stay with the company.

The charity – Just like a for-profit benefits from associations with sensical partnerships, nonprofits also improve their branding when they work with companies that have similar missions.

The community – When we’re all working together to support the causes that we can actually make a difference in, we will be able to really begin to solve these big problems in our communities.