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Blogging can help you become a thought leader. Blogging is a good way to leverage your other Internet marketing efforts, including the use of social media. It can help you make the transition from passively connecting with friends to positively influencing potential customers. Both Facebook and LinkedIn provide opportunities to make connections, but if you want to influence others, you need to blog. To get you started, read Pratik Dholakiya’s article: “Let the Power of Blogging Work for Your Business.”
Three of my clients have included blogging as part of their marketing mix:
1) Sherry Ways, an interior designer in DC, uses her blog, Kreative Koncepts, to show off colorful design ideas. . She is working on a book, Feel Good Spaces: A Guide to Decorating for Body, Mind & Spirit, which she is already promoting through social media.
2) For the past year, remodeler Michael Sauri of TriVistaUSA has been submitting blog posts to consumer blog published by the DC Chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. Two of Sauri’s postings have been picked up by the Qualified Remodeler blog: ForResidentialPros.com.
3) Two months ago, Matt Curry, Founder and CEO of Curry’s Auto Service, launched his blog, A Dash of Curry, with the subtitle “Matt Curry on customer service, owning a business and, of course, cars.” His blog and other social media activities have been recognized by Shashi Bellamkonda on Network Solution’s blog.
Awards are another way to establish your credentials. Read my posting of How You Can Become a Winner in the Media. Winning awards should be part of your master Power-PR plan to become an expert and a thought leader. I see it this way: establish your credentials through good customer service, win awards, send out news releases about your awards. Then leverage your expertise through a blog.
LinkedIn Today sent an article by Steve Olenski from SocialMediaToday to my inbox. “Why Women Are the Most Powerful Brand Ambassadors in the World.”
My reaction to that headline: Of course! Maybe it’s inborn; maybe it’s training… but women like to share, helps others find the best laundry detergent or the newest shade of lipstick. It’s what we do.
Just in case you don’t want to take my word for it, Olenski quotes Lisa Stone, whose company BlogHer conducted a study on the subject:
“…there’s no one a women trusts more for advice, recommendations and guidance than another woman in her circle.”
Not to mention that women account for 85% of the consumer purchasing decisions.
Olenski’s advice: “Engage with and empower more brand ambassadors who are women.”
Of course!
Work It, Richmond ran another good article today from the Harvard Business Review. The article, “In Presentations, Learn to Say Less,” provides advice relevant to communicating through the PR Channels as well as communicating in business presentations.
The main piece of advice from Ron Ashikenas, who authored the article: Cut the clutter, get to the point, quickly and effectively.
“…the ability to sharpen an idea so it can be communicated quickly and effectively is becoming critical. In most organizations today, information has expanded while time for analysis and decision-making has shrunk. We can’t afford to wade through reams of material and convoluted arguments. We need to get to the core of an issue as quickly as possible.”
Ashikenas is referring to Information Overload. Certainly, the editors to whom we are pitching our ideas are under siege by information overload arriving by email, voice mail and social messaging. So, take the time to craft your message, particularly the headline or subject line. Write and rewrite. Use key words. Eliminate fluff.
Advice from Ashikenas: think in terms of tweets, which limit your communication to 140 characters. My advice: think in terms of headlines of 63 characters or less (best for Google pick-up). The shorter and tighter you craft your message, the more focused and effective it will be. And you will increase your chances for media pick-up.
Meg Hirshberg told her story of persistence last Thursday at the Enterprising Women of Excellence Awards, sponsored by the Richmond Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. Meg is a columnist for Inc. Magazine and the wife of entrepreneur Gary Hirschberg, co-founder of Stonyfield Yogurt, now the largest producer of organic yogurt in the world.
I’ve just started reading Meg’s new book, For Better or for Work, and her introduction to Stonyfield Farms:
“In January 1986, we moved my things into a rambling, dilapidated 18th-centry Federal-style farmhouse on 134 acres. The large building was divided into four sections: an apartment for us, another for Samuel, his wife Louisa and five daughters (their adult son lived elsewhere); the offices of the business; and the tiny yogurt factory.”
Meg goes on to describe effluent from the yogurt plant that was “piped into the field adjacent to our bedroom,” trucks stuck in the mud, a financial deal that fell through…. It took nine years for Stonyfield Yogurt to become profitable. Nine years requires a lot of persistence!
Meg’s story presents a good lesson for entrepreneurs: success requires persistence. Placing a good PR story also requires persistence. PR can produce dazzling results, but you have to keep sending out pitches, posting those news releases, and reaching out on social media.
I wrote a post about persistence when I was just starting my blog in July 2010: Persistence is a Cornerstone of Power-PR.
I contacted columnist Tom Heath at the Washington Post, indicating I was going to write a blog post about his column,” Value Added” and asked him, “What kind of stories are you looking for or what makes a good pitch to you? I am writing the blog from the PR perspective. I thought I would talk about persistence….”
“My motto: Persistence is everything,” Tom said. Mine too. I look forward to reading the rest of Meg’s book.
Social media offers opportunities for us to connect and to influence. Connection is a social function: We seek to link with friends, family and close business associates. I wrote about connecting in my blog on February 20: Power-PR: Connections are King-Makers.
Influence goes a step beyond connection because you produce and share information and insight about your specific area of expertise.
Today, thanks to online applications, all social media users now have the opportunity to stand out and in turn become leaders in respect to their interests.” says Raymond Morin, writing for SocialMediaToday: Five types of Social Media Influencers.
Morin refers to Klout’s Influence Matrix, which categorizes Influencers from Thought Leader and Pundit to Dabbler and Observer. It’s fun to read through the Matrix and try to identify which type of influencer you are. My goal is to be a Broadcaster, defined by Klout’s Matrix:
“You broadcast great content that spreads like wildfire. An essential source of info. in your industry, your audience is wide, diverse and values your content.”
I’m not there yet. Right now, I’m observing and exploring. Where are you on the matrix?
P.S. I found Morin’s article on Work It, Richmond earlier this month. Thanks to Jacob Geiger, editor of Work It, Richmond.
Again, women must have patience….
A subcommittee from the Virginia General Assembly tabled SB 651 that would have required the State of Virginia to give more contracts to women and minority-owned businesses. The bill will be reconsidered next January.
A delegation from the Richond Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owner testified on Tuesday for pasage of the bill.
Karen Cole, who led the delegation, sent a report to members of NAWBO-Richmond:
“While we would have preferred that the bill pass, we understand the committee’s position. There were some questions from committee members on the impact to the Commonwealth and how other states are handling these issues which I believe was the reason it was tabled. With this in mind, I am committed to coordinate myself and any interested NAWBO resources to work with these legislators in the off season to address their concerns and get the bill passed next season.”
This might be another long haul. Remember, women didn’t receive the right to vote until 1920. The Equal Rights Amendment passed the U.S. Congress in 1972 but fell short of ratification by the states. No one said it would be easy!
Women business owners want a greater share of contracts issued by the State of Virginia. Members of the Richmond Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO-Richmond) are leading the charge on behalf of the 206,000 women-owned businesses in the State.
The NAWBO women are gearing up to appear at the Virginia General Assembly today in support of Senate Bill 651 to create a set-aside for women and minority business owners in contracts issued by state agencies. SB 651 has already passed the Senate.
“Virginia government is one of the worst in the nation for using women and minority owned firms for good and services,” says Karen Cole, Public Policy Board Member for NAWBO-Richmond. “Other states such as Tennessee and Mississippi have a 15 percent utilization rate.” Cole is CEO of Assura, Inc. in Henrico County.
Cole cites a July 2011 report from the national research firm, MGT of American, that shows of $9 billion in goods and serves purchased by the State of Virginia in a four-year time span, only 3% went to women and minority-owned firms.
Gentlemen of the Virginia House of Delegates, this is the 21st century. It’s time you acknowledged the importance of women-owned businesses in the State. Vote for SB 561.
“Content is King.” Bill Gates is credited with coining the phrase in 1996. According to Onlinebusinesslab, “Content is what drives the web. The phrase can be interpreted to mean that without original and desirable content, any website is likely to fail through lack of appealing content, regardless of other design factors. No original quality content, no visitors.”
Perhaps content is still king to the Internet search engines, but making connections is the operative word for today’s Social Media. People are using Social Media sites to connect. The more connections you have, the more potential influence you can exert. Connections are King-makers!
Where does the PR Pro fit in today’s Social Media universe?
PR professionals have been providing credible content for years as part of their efforts to deliver a message on behalf of their clients to specified target audiences. PR Pros can produce well-researched, well documented, well thought out and well written content.
Today’s PR Pros have adopted the techniques of Social Media to target their clients’ messages to specific audiences. PR Pros seek to define, educate, motivate and influence public perception through Social Media.
Ah yes, with Social Media, everyone can be a do-it-yourself guru. But, postings to Social Media are often spur-of-the-moment impressions, not always well thought out or grammatically correct. If you want to conduct an effective educational or motivational campaign on Social Media, you should consider consulting a PR Pro, who can help empower your message.
An article in today’s Work It, Richmond email caught my attention. The headline – “VCU, UR offer lessons on taking advantage of unexpected publicity.”
The article was written by Jacob Geiger, the man about town for the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s online portal, Work It, Richmond.
Geiger’s article makes an interesting follow-up to my blog posting of January 16, “How you can become a winner in the media.” Attending a sell-out game of the VCU Rams prompted my blog comments. Geiger’s article featured comments by Cynthia Schmidt, director of marketing for Virginia Commonwealth University, on the success of the VCU rams men’s basketball team.
Geiger reports:
“The men’s basketball team at Virginia Commonwealth University wasn’t supposed to make the NCAA tournament last spring.
So when the Rams made it to the Sweet 16, joined by the University of Richmond Spiders, VCU Director of Marketing Cynthia Schmidt was left scrambling.
‘We were not prepared, so we treated it as a crisis, though certainly a good one,’ Schmidt told the American Marketing Association’s Richmond chapter at a lunch Wednesday.”
Schmidt said she treated the sudden surge in publicity by going into crisis mode. She used social media to feed the frenzy:
“Social media was so huge because everyone wanted to be a part of it,” Schmidt said. “We gave people what they needed to take action. Everyone is already conditioned to be viral, so we fed that machine through a new home page every day and through videos every other day.”
She reported the numbers. Web traffic increased from 3 million to 11.2 million hits the day VCU made the Final Four. Athletics giving increased 376% and overall giving went up 46%. The University of Richmond reported increased visibility but not quite as spectacular.
So, I’ll say it again: everybody loves a winner. Winning is good PR and it’s good for business. Just ask Virginia Commonwealth University.
Thanks to Jacob Geiger for sharing.
If you have a message to deliver, you can benefit from researching the views of your target audience and knowing the media they watch or read. This approach argues against a shotgun theory of PR – trying to disseminate your message everywhere – and suggests that you be more selective in where and how you send out your message.
Marc Fisher wrote an interesting commentary, entitled “All the news that confirms your views,” as the lead story in Saturday’s Washington Post. Fisher describes people in South Carolina accessing news sites that support their political views:
“With just hours remaining before South Carolina’s Republican primary, it’s clear to campaign strategists and voters alike that the revolution in how Americans get their news has dramatically altered the political process. There’s more campaign news and commentary out there than ever before, but more and more citizens are tucking themselves inside information silos where they see mainly what they already agree with. The result, according to voters, campaign strategists and a raft of studies that track users’ news choices, is an electorate in which conservatives and liberals often have not only their own opinions but also their own sets of facts, making it harder than ever to approach common ground.”
The news-searching activity Fisher describes supports the theory of cognitive dissonance, which you’ll learn as part of any communications course. Familiarity with the theory can be useful in your public relations and marketing efforts.
According to sticky-marketing.net, “The theory of cognitive dissonance, developed by Festinger in the 1950s, is that when a person experiences conflicting ideas, states of emotion, or feelings, they will be driven to reduce this state of tension and will take action to return to consonance (the opposite of dissonance).”
How to Apply Cognitive Dissonance to your Power-PR strategy:
I find MyEdCals, a database of editorial calendars, to be a useful source in identifying media (and the audiences they serve) who are interested in the information I want to disseminate for my clients. You can search by subject matter and myedcals will identify the publication or media, along with a short synopsis of their point of view and the appropriate contact person.
With that information, you can send out information to an audience already interested in the subject and expect a positive action, rather than re-action, because you share their world view.
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