For many entrepreneurs and small-business owners, finding an Online Marketing Strategist (OMS) is an exciting and nerve-wracking experience. After all, you’re hiring this person specifically to provide services that you can’t, because you lack either the time or the expertise.

If you’re in the latter situation, it’s important to know what you’re looking for so that you can grow your business effectively and sustainably—without worrying that you’re paying the wrong person’s salary. Fear not: here’s a rundown of essential qualities to look for in an Online Marketing Strategist.

SEO Expertise

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a complex and constantly evolving part of online marketing. The person you hire must be familiar with how to conduct keyword research and other types of web analytics, and should have a finger on the pulse of the dynamics and developments of SEO.

SEO expertise also includes at least basic knowledge of HTML and related coding.

Social Engagement

As you probably realize, online marketing—just like “regular” marketing—is all about relationships. You can tweet till you’re blue in the fingers, but if you don’t have any followers, all those pithy comments won’t do you any good.

A successful online marketing strategy involves techniques for developing and maintaining relationships with clients through the various social networks and online communication platforms available: Facebook, Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, forums, YouTube, email, etc.

Your OMS needs to recognize that real people are sitting behind keyboards, that they can be actively and meaningfully engaged online, and that such engagement can benefit your business!

Familiarity with Marketing Platforms

Whether you’ve already got a substantial email list or you’re just beginning to build one, you’re going to need an OMS who can choose and / or manage a platform that meets all your needs, ensuring that . . .

• Your emails are deliverable. The best marketing copy in the world won’t sell anything if it lands in your readers’ junk box.
• Your emails have maximum impact. Your OMS should understand how to improve open rates and click-throughs.
• Your needs can be met. Whether your priorities are ease of list segmentation, resource integration, or excellent tech support, your OMS should know how to find the most suitable platform.

Other Essential Skills

When you’ve found someone who has the technical knowledge you need, make sure he or she will be able to put that knowledge to use. Your OMS should demonstrate excellent critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, communicate well with you and your other team members, and help you establish concrete, measurable goals.

Happy hiring!

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You know how great your business is. You know that people would have to be crazy to turn you down. But somehow you’re not getting through when you make your pitch—luckily, that’s easy enough to fix. Follow these pointers to make sure your next pitch doesn’t fall flat.

Essential Components of a Perfect Pitch

Whether you’re pitching to a blogger, a journalist, a personality, or anyone else, you need to include certain touchstones so your audience can understand the opportunity you’re offering. These include . . .

• What you do: Define your products or services so that they relate to your audience’s needs or wants. For example, if you’re selling orthotic implants to the elderly, describe your product as one that reduces or eliminates back pain.
• Whom you serve: You need to know your target market, whether to give investors a clear picture of your business model or to focus your own selling. Be specific. “Teenagers” is much more nebulous than “14- to 18-year-old girls who drink coffee.”
• Your plan for getting results: Both investors and potential clients need to know how and why you’ll succeed.
• How you fit in and stand out: Comparing yourself to other businesses provides a quick way to communicate what you do, but be sure you identify what makes you unique. You want to let your audience know why they should choose you over someone else.
• Why you’ll succeed: Facts are good here. Current market conditions, past success rates or examples, or a hard-number outline of your sales plan would all work.
• Your ultimate goals: If you have plans to go international, move totally online, or otherwise evolve, be sure to communicate this to investors or clients. Acknowledging the long term demonstrates clarity of vision and reinforces your credibility.

Preparing Your Pitch

You need to be able to deliver your pitch quickly—in the neighborhood of 30 seconds to two minutes, depending on your audience. To make sure those precious seconds aren’t wasted, put time and energy into preparation.

Sit down and figure out what you’re offering and to whom you’d like to offer it. Then write—and memorize—a pitch for each potential audience. Rehearse until you sound natural and confident.

Practice on people you trust and ask for feedback. Then use that feedback to make your pitch better.

Pitching

You might meet a potential client or investor anywhere. That’s the whole point of having an “elevator speech” prepared, so you can deliver it if you should run into the client of your dreams in an elevator.

When you’re actually pitching, aim for confidence without pushiness, and try to create a bond with your audience. Often, that means smiling, making eye contact, and asking questions. When your conversation is over, give your audience a way to contact you.

One final note: make sure you’re ready to react to whatever response you receive. It won’t really help build your business if your jaw hits the elevator floor when you hear your first “yes.”

Did you find this post helpful? Would you like for us to write future blog posts on a similar topic, pertaining to online PR?

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Have you ever considered starting an electronic newsletter but had no clue what you would even write about? This is a common issue that many small business owners face. In fact, one of our long-term clients, Drexel Hill Painting, felt this exact way before starting their newsletter.

Drexel Hill Painting is a metro-area Charleston, South Carolina, professional painting contractor specializing in custom exterior and interior painting of homes and businesses. Owner Bob Boselowitz came to me looking for a way to touch past clients and prospective ones. When I suggested a newsletter, he was a little surprised and weary of the idea.

“I assumed that my customers would have no interest in reading about what we do. But, Michelle developed a plan and we put our newsletter in motion,” says Bob.

After the newsletter was launched, Bob quickly realized that by simply reconnecting with past clients through his electronic newsletter he had increased his business and inquiries.

“I was very surprised by the results,” says Bob. “Customers that I had not spoken to in years called or sent an email saying hello and many also asked us to bid on a variety of projects. Each month, we get feedback from our newsletter and new projects.  All of these amazing results came about, just because we stayed in touch. While I think that the mere contact was helpful, I also believe that the professional writing and content of the articles are what really make a difference.”

So if this little story of success has inspired you to start a newsletter, here are a few words of wisdom to get you started:

1. Decide the purpose of your newsletter. What do you want to share with past and prospective clients? Drexel Hill Painting’s newsletters, for example, offers readers tips on maintaining the interior and exterior of their home. So what tips can you offer that relate to your service or product?

2. Create a schedule and stick with it. Decide how often you want to send out a newsletter, and choose the dates that you will regularly send it out. I’ve found that a biweekly or monthly newsletter is best. Sometimes when you send out a weekly newsletter, receivers become frustrated and would rather drop from your list than receive a newsletter each week. The key is to stay in front of past and prospective customers—not annoy them.

3. Utilize a great call to action on each newsletter. The purpose of your newsletter is to inspire readers to take some sort of action—whether that action is to call you, email you, or visit your website. Make sure that at the end of each newsletter, there are links to your social media pages, website, and blog, and that you have all the necessary contact information in an obvious location on your newsletter. Also be sure to tell readers what step they need to take next, such as “Visit our website to learn more about X.” Or “Call us today to Y.”

Want more tips about creating your very own newsletter? Subscribe to our newsletter, Sumer’s Secrets.

Interested in discovering effective home improvement tips? Sign up for Drexel Hill Painting’s newsletter by visiting their homepage and scrolling down to the bottom of the page.

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A press release is an inexpensive marketing tool, but it must be crafted and written correctly. News releases tie your company to a newsworthy event, and failing to create a good link is one of the most common reasons press releases are rejected. Make sure your press release is accepted and effective with the following tips.

Make it newsworthy.

This may take some creativity on your part, but a news release is just that: news. Every release is written from a particular news angle, and some ideas for making your release newsworthy include:

• Launch of your new website, blog, or project.
• Change of name, executive staff, or location.
• Announcement of awards, trade show appearances, sponsored events, or new products and services.
• A link from your product or service to a current news story or statistic. One example would be a release about your company’s vehicle anti-theft device in light of a rash of car thefts in the area.

Before you begin your release, determine which angle you want to focus it on, and keep that in mind as you write.

Decide which keywords to use.

Not only will your press release give your company exposure when it is released, but it will also help people find your company in the search engines for months to come (if not longer). Choose a few keywords you want to use in your release. For example, if we wrote a press release for Sumer, we might focus on the keywords SEO copywriting and website copywriting. According to PRWeb.com, you want to use those keywords in the headline, summary, and lead sentence.

Use the correct format.

To ensure your press release is accepted by the submission sites, the format must be correct. Every press release should adhere to the following:

• FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE should be in the upper left-hand corner.
• Headline: In less than 80 characters, tell the main idea of the release in a way that grabs attention. Use a subject and verb and make it interesting, if not exciting.
• Summary: Use one or two sentences to summarize the release and make readers want to continue. Even if they do not read the rest of the release, they should get the idea from the summary alone. Be sure to use your company name.
• Lead paragraph: Start with the city and state in capital letters, then a dash, then the date, and then another dash. The lead paragraph should be written much like the first paragraph of any other news story: it should tell who, what, where, when, why, and how.
• Body: Develop the story in 3–5 paragraphs. Explain who the company is what it does, and include some quotes from the owner or an executive. Tell the reader what the news is and why they should care. PRWeb states that a good press release ranges from 300–800 words. Keep in mind the short attention span of most people, and begin the body with the most important information and end it with the least important. Add a link to the company at the end of the body.
• Boilerplate copy: Tell the reader about the company in 3–4 sentences and add the website link again.
• Contact information: Give the reader several ways to reach you. Designate one person as the contact for press releases and use name, title, company name and website, phone number, and email address.
• End mark: Use ### to signify the end of the press release.

If you have used press releases in the past, what types of newsworthy events did you announce?

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While it’s important to be actively posting and communicating with your audience on social media, it’s equally important to do so in ways that aren’t insulting to others or that negatively impact your brand. One irresponsible tweet or an inappropriate YouTube video can quickly spread like wildfire and turn into negative publicity for your brand.

Following these tips can help you avoid a social media disaster.

Have a social media policy. Before you upload your Facebook logo or send out your first tweet, make sure to have a social media policy. This should not only cover how your company uses social media, but also how employees use it as it relates to your brand. Try to be as clear as possible, outlining the dos and don’ts and any specific guidelines. Once it’s been drafted, sit down with your team to make sure they understand it. Remember, it’s not enough to simply have a policy—you need to create a way monitor the conversations online and also know how you plan to enforce your policy.

Be consistent. Whether your company is active on Twitter, Google+, and/or Facebook, be consistent. Don’t start strong for the first few weeks and then have social profiles that sit dormant. Each day may create opportunities to connect with potential new customers or appropriately respond to problems or complaints. To start and then slack off sends a negative message to your network about your brand. It’s important to also have a consistent voice across all platforms you are active on. If you have a Facebook page with daily marketing tips, make sure you’ve communicated this to your network, and then actually post about marketing, and not irrelevant information.

Don’t fight fire with fire. When responding to complaints or problems from users, respond appropriately. If the user comes across angry, don’t engage them with anger or sarcasm. What ignites a social media disaster is often when a brand responds to others strongly, without considering the potential effects.

Respond appropriately to complaints. Similar to the point above, it’s important to appropriately respond to users who have a complaint or problem. It can be easy to just ignore it, but the problem doesn’t go away and could compound the problem. When you receive complaints that are new in nature, don’t be afraid to gather your team or discuss with others the best possible solution before responding.

Be a sound proofreader. While building relationships on social media requires good communication, the most important skill you can use is that of proofreading. Read the post aloud before publishing it. Missing one word can be the difference between saying what you mean and communicating something that is completely off base. Not to mention you’ll be taken more seriously when you’re consistently publishing sound content.

For other helpful tips on social media marketing and PR, visit us on Facebook!

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Whenever I discuss press releases, I always like to remind small business owners that press releases are not for the general public or your target audience. Press releases are used to share newsworthy information with media professionals in order to inspire them to spotlight you in their publication, blog, or broadcast. Therefore, you want your press release to be targeted at media professionals, not at the general public or your target audience.

But is the normal press release enough to grab the attention of media professionals?

Unfortunately, media professionals are bombarded with tons of press releases per day, which is why it’s essential that yours stands out from the pack and positions you above the rest.

So how can you grab the attention of these busy media professionals, aside from excellent written content with a unique angle? Use multimedia in your release.

Using multimedia in your press releases adds an engaging and dynamic element, which attracts the attention of journalists and bloggers, creates more interest in what you have to say, and adds diversity to your press release.

How media professionals search for information and process that information online varies from person to person. Some people absorb and remember information easier when they can visualize it—whether through a slideshow, graph, photo, or video. Others prefer to listen to podcasts or telecall recordings to get a better understanding of a story angle.

Using photos, video, and audio on your press release is one of the most effective ways to grab the attention of media professionals. You can create a multimedia press release on Pitchengine.com. This exceptional multimedia press release platform enables you to add pictures, video, keywords, links (to your website, blog, and audio recordings and podcasts), news points, social media profiles, and a retweetable twitter post to your press release content.

Example of a multimedia press release on Pitchengine.com:

When your press release is comprised solely of text, text, and more text, this prevents you from standing out from the mass of business owners looking to get their story published by media professionals.

The benefits of using multimedia on your press release works in two ways: It allows the reader to learn in the way he or she prefers and creates a memorable experience. Video, images, and links put a voice or a face to the brand—deepening the personal connection you form with media professionals. Also, posting quality photos, video, and images can keep readers not only engaged, but also encourage them to publish or broadcast a story about your brand.

For more online PR tips, subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter.

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Whether you’re a small business owner or run a PR agency, BlogDash is a great online tool for individuals looking to reach out to bloggers in various niches and areas of expertise. In addition to businesses, bloggers can also use BlogDash to gain exposure and build relationships online.

How do businesses benefit from using BlogDash?

Businesses with a result-driven marketing plan often utilize online media platforms to market their brand. And some of the most influential online platforms are blogs. But if you’ve ever tried researching and pitching to bloggers, you probably know how time consuming and difficult it can be to find bloggers interested in your brand. With the creation of BlogDash, small businesses can turn hours of strenuous research into a few minutes of research and pitching by narrowing their search results through BlogDash’s filters.

BlogDash’s extensive blogger database is a quick and easy way to promote your product / services and share your brand story with influential bloggers. With a database containing more than 30,000 bloggers worldwide, BlogDash makes it simple for businesses to find bloggers related to their industry. Once you find influential bloggers who are interested in your unique brand message, you can start building powerful relationships and request guest blog spots and / or featured posts pertaining to your brand. When influential bloggers publish posts around your brand, and market and promote these posts to their followers, you’ll gain exposure to entirely new markets.

If you already have a list of bloggers, you may upload your contact spreadsheet(s) to BlogDash. Once BlogDash receives your spreadsheet, they’ll gather information pertaining to each particular blogger, including bios, social media profiles, blog stats, and more. You can also create data lists within BlogDash to track results for outreach efforts.

Companies using BlogDash can choose from two packages to purchase, including the Premium package and the Plus package. You may view these packages here.

How do bloggers benefit from using BlogDash?

Unlike businesses that use BlogDash, bloggers don’t have to pay a cent for utilizing BlogDash’s resources. Bloggers can register their blog and set specific preferences on how they wish to be pitched and what types of stories and features they’re looking for. They can even develop relationships with influential businesses while finding fresh material for their blogs. BlogDash even offers a blogger badge for bloggers who wish to link their BlogDash profile to their blog.

One of the best parts about using BlogDash is that you won’t receive any mass messages from spammers.

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If you don’t have the resources right now to hire a PR professional to promote one of your upcoming events, then take initiative and start doing everything in your power to promote your event on your own. Whether you’re hosting an upcoming webinar, speaking at a national conference, celebrating a business anniversary, launching an ecommerce site, or hosting a product-launch party, an organized and effective promotion plan is a must if you want to gain exposure and increase conversions.

Below are 5 of the best practices for promoting an upcoming event:

1. Write a press release: The fundamental element to any great promotion plan is a well-written press release. A press release is directed toward the media, not your target market. The whole point of a press release is to encourage media professionals to write a story or feature your brand in their publication—whether it’s online or offline.

The key to crafting a successful press release is knowing what medium your target market is apt to use prior to pitching your release. This will allow you to structure your press releases toward specific mediums where your target audience is likely to be.

2. Create an event landing page: The best way to inform individuals about an upcoming event is by creating a landing page for visitors to view additional information about the event, purchase tickets, or register—depending on the type of affair you’re hosting / offering. Having a landing page also makes it extremely easy to promote your event since you can use the landing page URL in your press release, social media marketing, email marketing campaigns, etc. This one-stop destination allows people to get all the information they’re looking for to attend the event and share it with others, if they wish.

3. Create social media events: According to Facebook’s Press Room statistics, Facebook has more than 500 million active users with 50% of these users logging on to Facebook in a day. And, each month, users spend more than 700 billion minutes on Facebook. Actively promoting your event on Facebook is a great way to get in front of your targeted audience and increase exposure for your event. You can then take your Facebook event, and share it on your personal profile, as well as Twitter. For LinkedIn users, creating an event and sharing it with your circle of contacts is another way to spread awareness about your upcoming affair.

4. Launch a blog contest: Get people involved in your event by hosting a blog contest. For example, if you’re hosting a paid, upcoming webinar you could write a post that asks contest participants to leave a comment on the blog post, telling you why they want to join your upcoming webinar. You could also give participants additional opportunities to enter to win, such as telling them to publish a tweet or Facebook post mentioning the webinar. The grand prizewinner could then receive free access to your event

5. Send out emails to your list: Email marketing has proven time and time again to be one of the most successful ways to encourage participation and action among email subscribers. When done right, an email promotion plan has the ability to increase conversions and enable you to get in front of past customers.

Send an email to your list informing them about your upcoming event with a call to action and a link to the event registration or information page. And, if you have an ezine, place information about your upcoming events in an obvious location on the newsletter.

What promotion tool do you find to be the most successful for your business?

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Two of our favorite marketing and PR professionals, Lee Oden and Brian Solis, come together in this exclusive video to share insight on social media marketing.

In this video, Lee Oden interviews Brian Solis on the power of creating an online community to promote your brand and focuses on the elements that make a business successful on social media.

See below for the interview:

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I recently stumbled across an exclusive video interview between Brian Solis and Katie Couric that focused on the importance of social media and real-time journalism. I was so intrigued by this video because PR and social media mentor, Brian Solis, and media professional and anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric, are arguably the best in their professions. And to watch them come together in this rare interview is a delightful treat to witness!

See below for Katie’s input on social media and real-time journalism:

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