Cindy Earl and Megan Hauer's presentation from the eMarketing Techniques Conference, May 2009 at Corporate College

1. Secrets of Online PR
How to Maximize Your Online
Promotion Potential
By Cindy Earl & Megan Kacvinsky

2. Agenda
1. Online PR Basics
2. Online PR Tools
3. Your Online PR Plan

3. Online PR vs. Offline PR
 Online – influencing media, communities and
audiences that exist solely on the Internet
using online channels
 Offline – print, radio, TV, conferences, events
and other real life venues.

4. Online PR Basics
What’s changed?
• Same skills apply but with new tools
• Internet extends reach, touching media and consumer simultaneously
• Previously – Influence the influencers (broadcast)
• Current – Anyone can publish, influence their network (narrowcast)
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5. Online PR Basics
How does PR respond?
Create participation and build bridges
• Previously – Messages are pushed downstream
• Current – People are already talking, PR can be used to strategically
enter the dialogue
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6. Online PR Basics
What to be cautious of?
• Forcing conversations
• Lack of transparency
• Only sales-focused messaging
• Community’s perception
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7. Online PR Basics
How to be successful?
• Do your research
• Listen before joining the conversation
• Always look to add value
• Be yourself
• Don’t over-commit
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8. Online PR Tool
SEO press releases
 Map keywords
 Use in title, subtitle and body
 Call to action

10. Online PR Tool
Blogging
Your blog or website can be considered the focal point of your overall
online PR campaign
• Experiment to find your voice
• Determine appropriate posting frequency
• Subscribe to other industry and topic related blogs
• Reach out to other bloggers
• Use other social media tools to reach your audience
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11. Online PR Tool
Blogging
Blogging software options
Two dominant free blogging software programs
• Blogger
• Word Press
What to look for
• Ease of use
• SEO-friendliness
• Plug-Ins available
Read reviews online
• Type “reviews: blogger vs. wordpress” into Google or Yahoo!
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12. Online PR Tool
Blogging
Determining your target keyword set
Keyword Research Tools
• Google - https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
• Word tracker - http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
• Highly competitive vs. niche terms
• Appropriate number of keywords to target
• Measuring results
• Rank Checker - http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/rank-checker/
• SEO is a like dieting, don’t measure yourself every day
• Can take awhile to begin noticing results
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13. Online PR Tool
Blogging
Writing for the web
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engines review a variety of factors to determine the content of your
website/blog
• Title tag
• Meta description
• Body content
• Headlines
• Image tags
• Inbound links
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14. Online PR Tools
Blogging – Inbound Links
Command – link:www.sitename.com
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15. Online PR Tools
Online Press Release Distribution
Press release distribution services help spread awareness and
generate inbound links
Paid
• PRNewswire.com
• MarketWire.com
• BusinessWire.com
• PRWeb.com
Free
http://mashable.com/2007/10/20/press-releases/
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16. Online PR Tool
Online Press Kit
Hosting of your complete online press kit
• Add page to your website “media” or “press”
• 24-7PressRelease.com
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17. Online PR Tool
Social Networking Sites
Utilize existing social communities to spread awareness of your company
or website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Niche communities – Ex: www.BookedSolidNetwork.com
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18. Online PR Tools
Twitter
Micro blogging – Get your point across in 140 characters or less; also
a community site where you can build relationships
**Important to participate “update”
and connect “follow”**
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19. Online PR Tool
Social Bookmarking
Bookmarking occurs in public, allows others to see your “favorites”
and you can access your “favorites” from any computer
You can bookmark your own pages, but should also bookmark other
websites and information you find to be relevant to maintain
credibility
• Technorati
• Digg
• StumbleUpon
• Del.icio.us
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20. Online PR Tool
Other blogs
Commenting on other established, well read blogs can be a great way
to piggyback on someone else’s success
Leave a link back to your website in your comment, can help with
SEO link building activities
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21. Online PR Tool
Article Directories
 Ezinearticles.com
 Ideamarketers.com
 Directoryofezines.com
 Articleannouncer.com
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22. Simple Online PR Plan
1. Post FREE report or articles on your site to build your email list
2. Map out 12 topics for the year – gives you content for one press release
per month
3. Write press release on topic every month and submit to online PR services
4. Post to your blog (daily or weekly)
5. Post your comments on top 3 blogs for your target market
6. Visit and post updates to top 3 social networking sites
7. Map out 12 topics for the year – gives you content for one press release
per month.
8. Re-purpose your articles and content in e-newsletters, etc.
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23. Contact Us
Cindy Earl, Corner Your Market
440.522.5072
cearl@cymcleveland.com
Megan Kacvinsky, Rosetta
216.325.6342
Megan.Kacvinsky@rosetta.com
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