Recon Duty…It’s For Everyone

March 9, 2010 | 1 comment

For two days I’ve been doing some digital reconnaissance work: online research of clients, competitors and verifiable stats that support my clients’ work. Now as PR practitioner, this a service that provide for my clients. But, anyone can—and should—do it.

How and where should one look? Well, of course you should set up Google alerts to follow your competition and keep your finger on the pulse of your industry’s key marketing words.

But your FIRST stop—and really, I mean this!—should be your own website.

Today, while on doing some digital recon, I found websites plagued with bad links, missing pages, absent graphics, etc. The pièce de résistance was the book author whose HOME PAGE was an error message! Yes, the home page!

What does this tell me, or worse, his customers?
He is not active.
He is not attentive.
He is not relevant.
He is NOT (likely) worthy of my time.

So, repeat after me: “My organization’s web presence WILL BE my first and PRIMARY stop on my daily digital recon mission! My organization’s web presence WILL BE my first stop…”

PR Clients: What You SHOULD Be Able to Expect

March 4, 2010 | 2 comments

Occasionally I’ve come across stories about client/firm relationships gone awry. Two examples from last year stand out in my mind: The mass email debacle and the client that publicly fired the PR firm for making the client look silly.   

Over the past few months, I’ve encountered organizations recovering from bad service provider relationships.  While I’ll never know all sides of these stories, I can say that clients pay good money and, in return, should receive great service!  As part of this, clients should be able to expect to:

  1. 1.  Be part of the creative process, including developing media angles, shaping how you will be represented to media/influencers and identifying appropriate media groups.  In the second example, the client should not have been surprised at how he was being positioned with media.  And, while his PR team can control what is provided to media, they cannot control what media write, say or do with that information.  

NOTE: Sometimes PR professionals provide wise counsel to clients who choose to ignore it—I’ve seen it happen!

2.  Approve EVERYTHING that goes out.  After all, your PR professional is representing you, your brand/product/service.  Read and evaluate carefully before “approving.”  Unfortunately, some clients are not truly engaged in the process or are afraid to push back.  This can be catastrophic for both parties. 

3.  See and work from a formalized plan or timeline that facilitates accomplishing goals, not just busy work.

4.  Receive PR activity reports from their PR team on a regular basis (or as the activity level demands).  Reports should includes accomplishments/deliverables, priorities and action items with due dates. 

5.  Pay attention, communicate often and respond promptly to questions and recommendations offered by the PR team.  A client that is non-responsive to important counsel, requests and mission-critical due dates is a serious concern. Experienced PR practitioners will walk away from these clients with good reason…there’s a storm-a-brewin’.

Oh there’s more, but that’s an entirely different post!

RobinTracyPR Twitter Account Hacked

February 25, 2010 | No comments

I’m simmering at a HIGH boil!!  My Twitter account was hacked.  Not just hacked, I mean some loser used my profile to send obscene messages to all of my followers.

I’m a wordie and I have to admit, words just fall short tonight.

I’m thankful that several friends texted me to tell me that my account had been hacked.  In otherwords, they knew my character and they knew I would NEVER have posted stuff like this.  But I tweet with a bunch of people who don’t know me…what do they think?  So, I’m diligently working through my list of contacts and sending a quick note explaining the hack and an apology.

I represent not only my work but the work of other people, businesses, organizations and ministries.  My online reputation and credibility is as important as the one I use when I’m working face to face or phone to phone.  I can only describe this as horrifying. 

If you were one of the poor souls to have recevied a Twitter direct message from me that was risque, please know I did not send it. 

Many heartfelt apologies, y’all!

Online Advertising: Go To Where Your Customers Are

February 22, 2010 | No comments

I recently spent some time with a young, very successful entrepreneur whose company is investing in a Google adwords campaign.  They have hired a company that specializes in implementing efforts like this and are investing several thousand dollars each month.  The prospect-to-client conversion rate is not great: Only one in 10 calls results in a sale.  With key words averaging $6 each, they are investing about $60 per prospect and the average sale barely makes a profit. 

Interestingly enough, this local business was not investing in Facebook advertising.  Surprising, actually, when you recognize how impactful and important neighborly recommendations are for this service industry.  I explained some of the key benefits that Facebook advertising offers:
1. Pay per click or by view
2. Controlled budgets – wanna try it out on the cheap?  You can dip your toe in for as little or as much as you like
3. Audience precision- reach people by geogrpahical location, based on key words, interests, etc.
4. Ads can be connected to a Facebook page or a corporate website, which can be used to develop relationship with folks who could become clients
5. But most importantly, Facebook allows interaction:  Your happy clients can point their friends to your business and you can interact with your customers. 

OK, Facebook ads are not the only option beyond Google AdWords.  But listen, a staggering 175 million people log onto Facebook every day!  How many of these are potential customers who are having conversations with their friends about vendors, asking for recommendations, talking about service providers to avoid, etc.? Should this company give up their Google AdWords campaign?  I don’t know.  But I do question an online advertising plan that uses only one channel for advertising.

Where are your potential customers hanginout online?  Will you be there to join them?

PR Retainers: What Are They & How Do They Work?

February 16, 2010 | No comments


As Featured On EzineArticlesRecently I’ve fielded a number of questions about how PR retainer structures work.  It’s been a hot-button topic with some PR counterparts over the years, especially when the conversation focuses on sharing details with the clients.   More specifically, telling clients how much work they actually get in return for their retainer.  This week my article “PR Retainers—What Are They and How Do They Compare? appears on e-ZineArticles.com.

I WANT to Be Your Customer. Please, Tell Me How!

February 15, 2010 | No comments

My friend Tony Dye has a blog that I enjoy. In today’s post, “Missing ‘Obvious’ Marketing Opportunities,” Tony shared his experience in following the opening of a new local eatery.  Shockingly, no information was posted—on or near the bricks-and-mortar building or online.  Now Tony’s a really sharp, out-of-the box thinker and consultant so I know that he knows how to search for the information he wants.  If he couldn’t find it, it wasn’t there!

Living in a small-town community that is actually part of the large metro-Atlanta area, I’ve got lots of big-box shopping and eating options, so being intentional about supporting local small businesses is important.  Because of this, Tony’s post articulated something that I have often found frustrating: a business that hasn’t even begun to THINK about marketing itself.  I mean, how can I support you or be your customer if you don’t tell me how?

As a result, Tony asked for suggestions for a ”Top 10″ list: “How would you promote your brand new business to the public?”  Keeping in mind that most new starts are done on shoestring budget and new business owners are often overwhelmed with the details of launching, marketing, hiring, promoting, legalizing, trademarking, etc., I limited my suggestions to these five (a combination of traditional, online and social media options):

1. As soon as you decide on business name, GET THAT URL! Avoid fancy layouts—just post the basic stuff: the menu, phone number, hours/days of operation, contact name, email and invite people to connect with you.

2. Invest in signage! Your drive-by traffic will become your client traffic. Provide the basic information: Website, phone, email, opening date, invite them to come by.

3. Hire people who love your concept, who are happy to be there. They will be your first brand representatives.

4. Facebook, Facebook, Facebook! Your customers are on there…you should be, too. They WILL talk about you to their sphere of influence. Will you be part of the conversation?  Remember, Facebook business pages, fan pages and groups are FREE. And the localized advertising options are SUPER affordable.

5. Recognize when you need help. Sometimes a fresh set of eyes and ears can be the difference between a forgettable idea and an unforgettable experience.

What do you recommend for those businesses that—seemingly—just can’t seem to be saved from themselves?  Add your’s to Tony’s list.

Start-Ups and Marketing Help

February 11, 2010 | No comments

Inc.com’s Howard Greenstein’s Startup Toolkit blog is filled with great counsel for, well start-up business.  His post titled 2 Services to Help Start-ups Promote makes the observation that “Start-ups often work in secret until they’re ready to go public. Then, suddenly, it’s time to promote what they’re doing…“  Generally they want to do this with a press release, to get media to talk about them and their product or service.

So true…I’ve met and sat across the table from many of these entreprenuers.   

Greenstein’s article provides a number of methods to distribute press releases. But for small start ups, finding the mechanisim to distribute the information is only a small part of their challenge. Crystalizing their core identity, product and service descriptors is key. This is one of the best benefits of getting help froma public relations professional. A fresh, unbiased brain and set of eyes and ears can transform a forgetable idea into an unforgetable story.  In fact, Greenstein talks about this a bit in his post Top 5 Tips For How to Promote your company to a reporter.