Gaining Control Over Social Media!

Tonight I want to address an issue I am seeing on an continued basis. Your personal online content. I read a terrible Facebook rant over the weekend and I’m sickened that a publicist would put her hateful opinions for clients and peers to read on her personal Facebook page.

Now, some of you might say that it is her personal page. Sure it is, it is just archived onto Google’s search engine for the world to read. She is entitled to her hateful opinion but she is going to have business lost to it. Peers will soon catch on and stop referring her too. I will not repeat what she said, only that it is filled with hate and aimed at a certain demographic of sexually orientated people.

I can’t stress enough that nothing you write is personal anymore. Friends can quickly become enemies and take screen shots of your “private” social media accounts for all the world to see.  Don’t ever write anything on your personal pages that you wouldn’t want to proudly read- out-loud- in front of a client or potential client.

As a publicist, you don’t have a personal life. Your clients’ lives are your obligation- both personally and professionally when it comes to branding and visibility. Voicing your own opinions online (even via a personal account) will harm your own reputation- right or wrong, this is the culture we live in.

Keep it professional and keep those negative or opinionated posts off of social media!

Velma Trayham

PR Tools, Updated!

I was recently asked a question about what PR tools are worth having. Well, there are a lot of select from when it comes to publicity tools and apps. However, I will say that the follow three are "must haves" for newbies and seasoned PR professionals.

1. PitchRate. This free service connects journalists with topic experts – such as small business owners – for free media coverage. HARO is good, but PitchRate delivers results!

2. Zemanta. Basically, this is a blog service on steroids. The service will index your marketing content for multiple Content Ad formats. It saves you tons of time and is worth signing up for.

3. Aminstitute.com. This clever website helps you develop the perfect headline for your next release or ad campaign. Oh, it is free too! You want to write in AP style, but you want to capture emotion- this website tool helps you do both.

Velma Trayham

How to Outsource Customer Service

People hear or read the phrase “outsource” and panic. They think about a Nigerian Prince waiting to take their money without turning in any work… or worse, sending back a virus. The truth is, it is a global landscape as far as administrative work is considered in today’s culture. Outsourcing is a win-win situation for you and the person you hire.

I don’t believe in handing over the keys to your business to just anyone. You can’t be to lax when it comes to hiring outsourced or virtual help. There should be a vetting process. This said, if you invest your time to properly train a virtual assistant or customer service rep, you will truly get an ROI for the money you pay him or her.

You can’t automate all your business. If you’re spending more time trying to automate your business vs. run in, you will fail. You have to be present to a point. Outsourcing customer service tasks, like live chat on your website or data entry, are perfectly fine. Outsourcing pitching your business to potential customers or the actual service behind your brand… that’s iffy.  Handing over all your tasks to automated programs, virtual assistants, and/or customer service reps who have been outsourced- well, that’s a recipe for disaster.

When you work with me, I help you understand what tasks can and should be outsourced and what items of business need your personal touch and involvement.

Until next time,

Velma Trayham

Are You TOO Busy for Your Clients?

It happens. We get busy with how to run the business, growing a business, developing our brand, etc. that we forget why we are in business- our customers. I'm listing three ways to tell if you've lost sight of your customers' needs and are cheating them- even without meaning to do so. If so, ask yourself what you can do to correct the situation at hand.

1. You half-ass tasks. Sorry to be so blunt, but it is true. If you perform at your highest level upon first signing a client, but months or years later you could care less if the product/service is amazing or of quality then you've lost focused and are denying your customer what he or she is entitled to.

2. You believe the customer is always right. Um, no. The customer may think he or she is always right, but they're not. You wouldn't sell a standard kitchen oven to someone who wanted to open a bakery would you? No, of course not. If you see a client making a mistake and you don't step in- you're failing that customer.

3. You avoid the evil client. If you ditch a client because he or she is too demanding than you might not be up for the challenge of expansion. Try your best to handle evil clients and resolve inner-conflicts before giving this type of customer the boot.

Dealing with customers isn't always easy. You are not going to have easy clients in life. There will be difficult clients and situations. Remember these three tips and make sure the problem isn't you.

Until Monday,

Velma Trayham 

Budgets Are Tight, Vamp Your Relationships

Our relationships with the media come from a long line of pitching, meeting in person, bugging, sending over holiday cards, repeating this process without feeling rejected, and then repeating it again. It gets easier as time passes and you prove yourself as a publicist.  

This said, I wanted to share one key thought (or magic want maneuver) today when it comes to breaking the ice with a much sought after member of the press. If you can’t crack a relationship (or even a smile) from a press agent, implement the Tripe R method. This method consists of Respect (1), Reliability (2), and Response (3).  

First, you have to respect the demand on journalists today. Many people blog for free and get paid by ads or PPC campaigns- not media resources.  This said, budgets are tight and reporters have more responsibilities along with a skeleton staff due to cutbacks. Traditional media is competing with a heavy freelance community. If you call a reporter once during the day, leave it. Don’t call four or five times. Don’t send emails throughout the day. Don’t trample on their time. Be respected and also make sure what you’re pitching is included in their assignments category, otherwise you’re just being annoying.

Second, be reliable. This means not exaggerating facts or shoving hype when speaking with a reporter. If a member of the press can learn to trust you as a resource, you will have them knocking at your door- not the other way around. So remember, never lie to the media to get press attention. It will backfire.

Finally, be responsive. If you can’t respond to any member of the press within 5 minutes of the day or night (and anytime of the day or night) you can say goodbye to your client’s story / interview and the relationship with the reporter. Most members of the press work long hours and are usually up late finishing stories. They may send you an urgent email at 1am asking you to verify a fact. Do it. Be available at all times to the media as this is part of your job as a publicist.

Until tomorrow,

Velma Trayham of ThinkZILLA

Getting the Attention of Google

I wanted to give you a mid-week tip to help you get your clients' website ranked better. We can spend so much time working on content development and media pushes, that we often forget to advise our clients on simple SEO and website ranking tactics.

Here are my top 3 ways to help get your clients noticed on Google!

1. Research key words that your clients' competitors are using. You want to let their clients know there is an alternative choice. It is a marketing 101 tactic- go to where the business is. So, don't bank on words you or your clients feel are important, instead- use what works!

2.  Make sure you are using these words not just in content development, but as meta-tags within your websites and social media postings (such as blogs). If you're not adding in meta-tags, you're content development is lacking!

3. Don't use high-resolution images for your website. Google actually penalizes users for doing this and will drop the ranking of your website as a result. Make sure your design falls within Google's guidelines- otherwise you are left with a pretty website that no one can find!

Until tomorrow,

Velma Trayham

Don't Kill Your Own PR

I was recently speaking with a client who had a terrible idea. I had to break the news and that is always hard. So, what was the idea? Sending gift bags to the local media. Not only is this a huge waste of money and time, it violates many ethical boundaries on the journalist’s end and the publicist’s end.  The intention was never to bribe the media with the gift bags, just get their attention. So, when does a gift turn into a bribe and a bad PR move? Well, anything over $25 dollars defines the line.

Yes, professionally, the IRS allows “gifts” to be under $25 if directly related to your specific industry. You can buy gifts for clients if the presents are under twenty-five dollars.  The PRSA seems to agree with the IRS. So, gift cards for coffee or lunch are ok, but expensive gift bags aren’t. Let’s say a journalist accepts the gift bag. Let’s say the journalist honestly likes your story- and covers it. Let’s say that a competitor finds this out. He or she can single handily ruin the reporter’s career, the media outlet’s brand and your reputation as a publicist. Now, was that media get worth it? Of course not!

So, on a Tuesday, ask yourself what your worst PR move has been and hopefully it doesn’t include well-intended bribes.  If so, don’t make this mistake again. Get your media obtained by actually earning it, not buying it.

Until tomorrow,

Velma Trayham

Cold Pitching The Press 101

Publicists don’t have a magic wand in their desk drawer. Their relationships with the media come from a long line of pitching, meeting in person, bugging, sending over holiday cards, repeating this process without feeling rejected, and then repeating it again. It gets easier as time passes and you prove yourself as a publicist, too.  

This said, I wanted to share one key thought (or magic want maneuver) today when it comes to breaking the ice with a much sought after member of the press. If you can’t crack a relationship (or even a smile) from a press agent, implement the Tripe R method. This method consists of Respect (1), Reliability (2), and Response (3).  

First, you have to respect the demand on journalists today. Many people blog for free and get paid by ads or PPC campaigns- not media resources.  This said, budgets are tight and reporters have more responsibilities along with a skeleton staff due to cutbacks. Traditional media is competing with a heavy freelance community. If you call a reporter once during the day, leave it. Don’t call four or five times. Don’t send emails throughout the day. Don’t trample on their time. Be respected and also make sure what you’re pitching is included in their assignments category, otherwise you’re just being annoying.

Second, be reliable. This means not exaggerating facts or shoving hype when speaking with a reporter. If a member of the press can learn to trust you as a resource, you will have them knocking at your door- not the other way around. So remember, never lie to the media to get press attention. It will backfire.

Finally, be responsive. If you can’t respond to any member of the press within 5 minutes of the day or night (and anytime of the day or night) you can say goodbye to your client’s story / interview and the relationship with the reporter. Most members of the press work long hours and are usually up late finishing stories. They may send you an urgent email at 1am asking you to verify a fact. Do it. Be available at all times to the media as this is part of your job as a publicist.

Until Monday,

Velma Trayham 

Are You Posting Yet?

I ran into a woman the other day who said her brand was going nowhere. Hmm. I asked her, out of curiosity, why she thought this was.  She said there are too many PR people online and it seemed like white noise.  Well, that's true. There are a lot of PR people online.

However, PR people online isn't the problem. The problem, after speaking with this woman, was her posting. She wasn't posting anything news worthy on social media accounts to engage her industry peers. She was posting Selfies and Memes and the occasional press release. She wasn't reposting what her peers were writing or promoting.  We all know PR is a two-way street....

If you're going to have a social media account that is truly engaging, you have to engage other people. Don't push only your news... Comment on industry news and approach the PR people. We are all not the enemy. Competitive, yes! The enemy, no. We know relationships are important and are willing to engage.

If you're a publicist, you need to start posting and engaging with others. This is the best way to boost your reputation.

Until tomorrow,

Velma Trayham

There's Value in Publicity

When people don't see the value in public relations, they don't see the dollars they are missing out on. Publicity is a long-term, layered process. You need to build a relationship to be in the game, not just send out a few releases and Tweets over the period of a couple of months.

So, how do you get a client to realize all that you do for him, her, or them when it comes to publicity? Simple, you simply say "yes" followed by "and then."  This tactic has been used for years by Wolves of Wall Street.  It is pretty effective because it tells clients what they are missing out on and helps you upsell all at the same time.

For example,  if a client says to you "I'm not seeing results. It's been four months and I could have done this myself," don't argue with them. For the most part, they COULD have called the media and wrote their own press releases.  Instead, using the 'Yes' tactic will put more into perspective for them.

Your response should be more like this; "Yes, and I can see your frustrations. I'm not doubting your ability to do what I do, but do you really have the time to dedicate to these tasks or  the ready-to-go resources? Results do take time, but let me list what we have accomplished in such as short time....."

You should always upsell your strong attributes and remind clients of where your value really lies. So, as you head into the week, ask yourself if you are saying "yes" enough when clients are happy, sad, or unsure.

Until next time,

Velma Trayham

Two Ways Facebook Can Work For You!

People tend to believe Facebook is all about branding and can't generate real business. NOT TRUE. If you use Facebook right, you can convert visibility to profitability. Here are my top two tips for doing this;

Here are my top four tricks for Facebook use in direct relation to business ROI and brand engagement;

1. Ask for input. This helps your demographic not only take ownership of your brand in a way, but it can help you from spending money where it doesn’t need to be spent! Whether you customers to vote on a new logo or product color, use their input to reasonably guide the direction of your next business decision.

2.  Be your own biggest fan. Facebook is where you want to promote yourself without limits. Be bold, talk yourself up, and post relevant information and graphics. Your customers will engage with you more often when you are confident about your services and products.

Until tomorrow,

Velma Trayham

How to Email the Press

People often ask me how do they get the attention of journalists via email. There are a few professional tactics you need to use in order to grab the reader's attention, but relationships are always key to getting your email read vs. going in cold.

The first tactic is to ensure your subject line is accurate, newsworthy, and concise. Journalists HATE fluff when it is pitched to them.  So, make their job easier by getting to the point right away without any subjective point of views applied to your subject line.

Next, don't send attachments. Journalists will not open them. If a journalist wants an EPK, he or she will either ask for it or can visit your website to download it.

Don't put a press release inside an email. Journalists hate this. Instead, send a media-relevant pitch that quickly links to the release should the reporter require further information.Make sure it is AP style or it will get tossed. 

These simple tactics can elevate your email to a viewable level with many press agents.

Until tomorrow,

Velma Trayham

Do Your PR Efforts Measure Up?

 I recently spoke about the benefits of measuring public relations  efforts. Many PR people are afraid to run a publicity report. Why? The PR report can help you gain better contracts, more money, and more respect within your industry. If you are afraid to run a metrics report then you know you are doing something wrong or under-serving your clients.

Here are a couple of ways to measure PR efforts for you “Do-It Yourself’ers” out there.

1.       Surveys - Ask relevant questions and tally results. Yes, survey results count as part of reporting. In fact, it is a major role if your client isn’t a B2B client.

2.       Scores - Create indices or scoring mechanisms to identify valuable outcomes and results, recognizing quantity (volume of media hits) and quality (scoring for content feature, prominence and mention).

3.       Correlations - Identify correlations between outputs, outcomes and business results. Track public relations events with lead generation (online, email, phone, events) and track public relations events with web traffic.

There are some online applications that can run your social media and clipping reports too, but you often have to pay for these. Yes, they are expensive.

Even if you have to create and keep reporting data in a spreadsheet, do it! Not sending clipping reports or reel reports- heck, any report, can shortchange both you and your client.

Until tomorrow,

Velma Trayham

The Art of 'No Comment'

The phrase "no comment" is an ongoing joke in the PR world. I've never met a publicist who had nothing to say. I've met clients who use "no comment" as a way to rev up interest, but I have - to this day- never came across a media adviser who refused to talk about a subject either on or off the record.

I bring this up today because I overheard another peer with a problem. She was planning on using the "no comment" phrase to make the issue go away. First, the "no comment" statement will only drive the media nuts and make them insist on getting a reply. Second, using "no comment" as a publicist means you are not doing your job!

It is your job to communicate information accurately and on behalf of your client. The client can use the phrase because 1) he or she wants to drive further press attention and/or 2) he or she doesn't know how to handle the media directly and will wait for you to make a statement.

Any publicist who relies up on the phrase "no comment" is going to make a bad situation worse. Think about the recent Beyonce / Solange elevator incident. If Beyonce said "no comment"- there would be no problem. If her publicist said "no comment" then it would validate what everyone was thinking.  The publicist had to give a statement, which she did. You can read it here:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/15/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/solange-jay-z-beyonce-statement/

My point today is this, don't rely on "no comment" to deal with hard situations that your client may have put him or herself into. Address things head on and they will go away quicker.

Until tomorrow,

Coco the CEO

When to Go Into Publicity

 I recently received a question via Twitter. The young lady wanted to know when it was time for her to transition from working in marketing for a company to launching her own public relations business. Well, this is a personal decision. I can, however, offer guidance as to when this type of a transition should occur.

First, make sure you have enough money to pay yourself, and run your business, for an entire two years without a single contract being sold. Not having this amount of money, whatever it may be, is the number one reason new companies, especially PR companies, can’t sustain themselves. You need to build your portfolio and this means two years of either no contracts, small contracts, or saving money that you do make from contracts.

Second, if you don’t have enough PR contacts on your own then you’re not ready. I don’t mean buying lists or looking up an email address, either. The media should know you on a first name basis. It takes time to cultivate these relationships. If you need to intern or do PR work on the side to build up these relationships before launching your company, do it!

Finally, make sure there is no conflict of interest. Marketing, PR and communication people all tend to compete within the same industry. If you’re currently employed for a company within this field, you may be violating the law if you open up a similar company within 10 years of leaving your present position. Check your employment contract before making any life changing decisions.

Until tomorrow,

Coco the CEO

Public Relations and Customer Relations

Here’s a phrase you should never say to a client, “I’ll pick you up in my beamer.” Why? Well, if a client knows you are doing well, the client is going to ask for a discount. Further, that client may not pay his or her bills on time and may even become spiteful at your success while he waits for clippings to pour in.

I recently overheard a competing agency rep yap about his nude weekend in the Bahamas with a certain celebrity. Then he talked about his beamer collection, how much cash he dropped in a Vegas strip club coming back from the Bahamas, and then about his potential addiction to Valium. By right, his client- who was on the receiving end of this conversation- had every right to not only be worried about the account rep’s performance with his campaign, but to foster concern about where his retainer was really going!

I wanted to briefly touch on knowing your manners around clients tonight. We spend a lot of time with our clients. Sometimes we are left spending more time with our clients versus our friends and family.  While we may feel a stronger bond with clients because of this, the professional boundary lines should never be crossed.

I am hopeful you use the conversation example I overheard to discuss appropriate fodder with your client reps when it comes to being close and how much information is too much information. Not only can TMI conversations cost you clients and money, they can be legally liable too.

Until tomorrow,

Coco the CEO

How to Fix Your Brand

For tonight’s blog, I want to offer my readers 3 tips on brand recovery. Even if you are a PR agency, these tips come in handy and can be applied across many industries. Let’s begin!

The first brand-fixer is to check the brand itself every morning. By using search engine results pages (SERP) and using Google Autocomplete., you can stay ahead of any negative stories (yours or your clients) and you can take a proactive approach of protecting your reputation.

The next brand-fixer is to adjust your social media response plan based on research, not emotion. Have analytics in place to help make an informed decision on your behalf or that of your client. Sometimes what feels right, isn’t right. Sometimes you want to should back in anger, this doesn’t work. You need to remove the emotional part of the situation and look at statistics. Look at surges in traffic from websites like Reddit, where users can deliver anonymous content which can indicate a potential crisis developing.  It is a great way to offset what may happen in the future using today’s fastest growing medium, social media.

Finally, the last brand-fixer is transparency. Don’t keep clients in the dark about situations.  Transparency here means telling the customer what happened so they understand the issue; don't make up excuses or not respond. This will only irritate the client and make the situation worse.

Until next time,

Coco the CEO

Public Relations – Common Mistakes

June has been the month of PR and branding news here on my blog. I’ve talked about what to do and what not to do. Well, I did receive a great question over the weekend that I wanted to address. The question was with regards to when and how to send out a press release or media advisory.

A press release is a formal announcement or crisis communication response related specifically to your brand or your company. This is a release that may be seen by the public and is often used to excite media with the hopes of obtaining either republishing or gaining a full interview.

A media advisory is an direct-to-media piece of collateral that is short, sweet and to the point of response, event or community invitation.

As far as the “how” and “when” portion of the question, my answer is that these areas depends on what is going out.  Press releases can be placed on high-market wires, free wires, blogs, internal collateral, etc.  The truth is, it doesn’t matter how the release goes out (for news purposes anyway) as long as it contains something viable. Putting out a news release for the sake of putting out a news release or because you feel the story is worthy is a waste of time. You need to have a product or event to promote or a response to a current story.

Media advisories need to go out via email and without attachments. These should not be mass emails but personalized emails and you should call the journalist(s) ahead of time so you don’t obtain a fine for breaking the CANSPAM law. Again, you have to have something to promote or a press conference / event that you are inviting the media to.

I am hopeful this answers the question.

Until next time,
Coco the CEO

The cost of negativity – firing a client.

Last week I touched a bit on firing a client and a few basic reasons why and how to do this. Today, however, I want to talk about weighing the costs. Most people become emotional about firing a client. They think it’s going to harm the client or their own reputation.

Any smart business owner adds a Terms of Service agreement onto their invoices. These Terms of Service agreements not only show your client what guidelines and expectations come with working alongside and hiring your firm, but they also include social media and online review protections that can allow you to sue your client should you fire them and they become hostile.

Chip Bell, who is a Customer Loyalty Consultant and best-selling author, recently wrote “Business owners may anticipate having to replace lost revenue or fear potential negative word-of-mouth that might ensue from severing their ties with a client. This often keeps them from lowering the boom on highly toxic or bottom-line-eroding customers. And in the viral world, the word-of-mouth concern should definitely be figured into the decision.”

Money is often a concern, along with reputation management, when firing a client. You can replace a contract. You can’t replace your sanity or the amount you may lose because of a toxic client. If you have a client who requires too much of your time, other clients may leave your company. Is it easier to replace one client or many? The answer is pretty simple.

Chip Bell states, “Customers should be encouraged to exit for one of three reasons: They’re costing you too much financially, taking a steep emotional toll or violating a key value of the organization.”  Think about the client you may want to fire. Think about what I said and then think about the three steps Mr. Bell just listed. Now,  can you really afford to keep this client? 

Negativity and finances are always a good reason to part ways.

Until tomorrow,

Coco the CEO