The Reasons Why PR is more Advantageous than Advertising
People tend to confuse PR and advertising, but the truth is that they are quite distinct and while good advertising can bring your business plenty of publicity, theres nothing like great PR to give you that boost in the public eye.
First of all, you need to realize that PR is public relations. Its coverage that isnt paid for in cash, like advertising. It takes a lot more effort to create good PR, but it is well worth it, since this method is far more effective for publicizing your business
PR Advantages
The advantages of using PR are many, so lets take a look at a few of them.
Cost.
PR is usually free. It may cost you in printing out your press release and stamps to send them, but its still a lot cheaper than advertising which can run into the thousands of dollars!
Placement.
No matter how much you pay for an ad, youll never get a massive front page placement. Thats reserved for news and offering great PR is a good way to get that position for totally nothing.
Credibility.
People know that ads are paid for and they take them with a grain of salt. While a good ad can still convert, people are automatically suspicious of an advertisement. However, with media coverage brought about by PR, people wont have their guard up. Theyll read your story and be interested in it without being suspicious because it is assumed to be un-biased.
Angles.
Once youve been featured on the front page, its quite possible for other areas of the newspaper to pick up on your story and redo it in their own way. This can provide free repeat coverage, within the same publication which is a real boost to publicity. People need to see information a lot of times before they make the decision to purchase, so the more publicity, the better.
Exposure.
Youd be surprised at how far a good news story can go! Unless you have something to do with a piece of major breaking news, chances are you wont be the number one story on the news tonight, but that doesnt mean you cant enjoy repeat coverage. If one television show or newspaper reports on you, it’s quite likely that your story will also show up on other channels!
Details.
You can offer far more details about your company or product within a public relations story. Most newspapers will want to print more than a few lines, which would be standard for an advertisement, so youll want to include information that will catch the public eye.
Connections.
Having connections with the media is never a bad thing and can stand you in good stead later on when you want to give your business a boost. Make sure that your press releases are exactly what editors are looking for, which will give you a leg up next time you have a press release. Theyll know that you provide quality work and this will reflect in their treatment of you.
There are many reasons to select PR over advertising, if you’ve to make a choice. The truth is that combining the two publicity methods is an excellent method for gaining the optimum number of sales. However, when it really comes down to it, good public relations trumps advertising the majority of the time. Building connections and relationships with the media is invaluable and should definitely be utilized in each business that wants to be successful.
Writing Press Releases Made Easy
Press releases are a great way to draw extra attention to your business and create a bit of a buzz around new events and products. However, if poorly written, your press release will never be picked up by the media and your great news, even if newsworthy, won’t see the light of day. Here’s how to write a press release that’ll have the media begging for more.
Give It an Angle Your press release needs to have an angle built in so that it is easy for an editor to turn it into a front page story if necessary. Write your press release as if it were an article and you’ve a very good chance of it being picked up. Editors love it when they don’t have to work too hard.
For your press release to garner favor, it’s a good idea to turn it into a story that people will be interested in reading. For example, no one will care that you just got new carpet in your office, but what can create a newsworthy release is the fact that the new carpet is made from recycled plastic and marks the beginning of a green era for your business.
Make It Snappy A press release is not a college essay and it shouldn’t read like one. Write it like a magazine article. A good tip is to take a look at the publication you want to get into and write the press release to fit that style. This gives you an added advantage . . . the reporter won’t have to struggle to make your article fit into the magazine. To keep your press release interesting and fun to read, make sure you write actively. That means using active instead of passive verbs and making the action leap out to the readers.
For example, rather than say; “The new carpet was installed”, write “We lay the carpet ourselves to save money” or something similar, using an active voice. Also, you’ll want to keep the press release fairly short. Most editors don’t have time to be reading fifty pages on how your business is coming out with a new product.
Split It Up Using subtitles and bullet points is an excellent way to make your press release easier to read. To do this easily, write down all the information you want conveyed, in a magazine style, then go back and divide the report into sections. Label each one with a short subtitle. Extra ideas or resources can be listed with bullet points.
Using bold or italics for some important points will help them stand out as well and can be a good way to get busy editors to check out your report. They’ll be able to simply scan it and get an idea as to what your press release is about, making it simple to decide whether or not to use it.
Headlines Count The title you give your press release could mean the difference between it getting read or just tossed in the junk pile. You want a title that isn’t too long, but catches people’s attention. Again, a swift look at the publication you want to get into can be a very helpful way to figure out what they’re looking for. In general, stick to active verbs and get straight to the point. A vague, wishy washy headline isn’t going to win you any points!
Short, newspaper type headlines are nearly always good. The editor may change it, but chances are, if you offer something usable your press release will get used pretty much as is.
Writing a press release is fairly easy. Make it newsworthy and interesting to read as well as nice and easy and you’ll have a very good chance of it getting featured.
The Basics of Market Presence Building
Having a strong market presence can be tough in today’s competitive world, especially for small to mid-size businesses. With some many companies selling the same thing, it’s hard to stand out in a crowd. Luckily, the Internet makes it possible for even the smallest company to compete today, especially when it comes to market presence building.
On the web market presence building is basically like doing web PR – getting your name out there in different ways. The Internet makes many things possible and your first step to having a strong market presence online is an awesome website. After all, this is the new millennium and having an interactive, fully-loaded website is a necessity.
Your website needs a blog, forum, chat or any combination of the three. Your blog should relate to your field, and by having several employees blogging, you should constantly have new content to add. The nice thing about blog posts it heir often widely circulated and searched on the web. A forum and chat can often in the same way.
It’s important to think about the kind of things people find when they search for you on the internet. Go ahead and do a test. When you Google your own company, do you see a long line of complaints and Rip-Off Reports? Or do you see your website, news stories, press releases and blog posts as far as the eye can see? Market presence building is really about manipulating your company’s on the web reputation.
By constantly releasing new content, you can superior control your company’s reputation on the web, and that’s really the meat and potatoes of market presence building. By releasing one or two industry-related articles a week to several hundred of the thousands of article directories out there, you can easily change the search results for your company’s name.
It’s also important to distribute press releases and blog regularly. They’re an important addition to any market presence building plan. This leads to better brand recognition and therefore higher levels of lead generation.
Pay per click advertising and search engine optimization (SEO) can also help market presence building. By utilizing pay per click programs, you can make your website ad pop up for certain keywords people type in. The best part is, you only pay when they actually click your ad, which sends them to your website to hopefully be turned into a lead.
SEO (search engine optimization) is another way to bolster your market presence building. It involves techniques (a lot of site optimization and link building) that will lead to your site popping up in organic search results. This all depends on your keywords and what words people use to link to you. SEO tends to be a longer process but in the end can be cheap and send a ton of traffic to your site.
Creating a strong market presence building plan is the first step to having a strong web presence and generating more and more leads online. It involves several key factors, including, but no limited to: article writing and distribution, press release distribution, pay per click advertising and search engine optimization. Not a process to be taken lightly, but once you get the ball rolling, it can turn into a true marketing juggernaut!
What Does A Career In Public Relations Involve
Are you interested in a public relations career? There are lots of opportunities to pursue careers in both corporate public relations and with public relations companies. PR is a growing career field, and there are many opportunities in this profession.
Public Relations as a Career
Public relations professionals spend the majority of their time planning, implementing, and evaluating promotional campaigns on behalf of their clients or companies. Public relations jobs typically include one or more of the following: writing, media relations, graphic design, public speaking, event planning, and other similar tasks. Depending on the type of organization with which you are employed, your job might involve any or all of these responsibilities, as well as other duties.
Skills Needed for a Public Relations Career
In order to be considered for a position in public relations, you’ll need to have strong communication skills. Successful public relations practitioners must be able to be able to write and talk clearly. PR practitioners communicate with their clients, employers, coworkers, the general public, and media representatives on an ongoing basis. Nearly each PR job requires, at a minimum, writing press releases and pitching stories to journalists via email, by telephone, and/or in person.
Many public relations jobs require making guest appearances on TV programs, being interviewed on radio shows, and giving speeches or making presentations to groups of all sizes. Others require writing in-depth documents such as speeches, brochures, training manuals, and other publications. Additionally, PR practitioners are often responsible for coaching company executives and clients regarding how to speak to reporters and other media representatives.
In addition to strong communication skills, public relations professionals need to have excellent organizational skills, particularly if their job duties encompass media relations and event planning. PR professionals can be responsible for handling pre-planning, logistics, setup, and promotions for news conferences, grand openings, new product launches, and many other types of events.
Training for a Career In Public Relations
A degree specific to the public relations field isn’t necessary for a career in public relations, but it can certainly be beneficial. Most companies do require Bachelor’s degrees or a significant amount of related work experience for even entry-level PR positions. Many people choose to move into Public Relations from careers in journalism, publishing, sales and other types of occupations that require strong writing skills.
Many people who are successful in public relations have finished formal education in fields such as: Advertising, Communication Arts, Creative Writing, English, Journalism, Marketing, Mass Communication, Psychology, Public Relations, and similar fields. Regardless of your major, if you college has a student chapter of the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) professional organization, it is a good idea to get involved.
A college student who wants to pursue a career in PR will be well-served by completing an internship with a public relations company or in corporate communication in order to get hands-on experience in the field. A combination of classroom training, hands-on internship experience, and recommendations from professionals in the field are very beneficial to anyone seeking employment in the public relations field.
Appealing Emotionally In Business
Here’s a wild suggestion: I think rationality is overrated. Yup. It’s true. I realize it’s important to have a good foundation with your feet planted solidly on the ground, but rationality has taken over the realm of business (though it has not yet taken over the world of romantic relationships. . .) and we’ve lost an integral part of ourselves that makes us appealing: emotionality. We have moved from mom and pop businesses into the age of faceless corporations and in doing so, things have become so sterile.
I’ve discussed in previous articles how to access our clients’ and prospect’s emotions. Here I’d like to discuss why we should do this. Their emotions and other-than-conscious minds are conduits and our viability as sales people are linked to these conduits.
Our core emotions drive us to take action. The same things that ruled our ancestors, rule us–our need for food, shelter, sex, fight or flight. There wasn’t an overabundance of products and services to choose from at that point, there were just the basics. With no thought to the concepts of choice, luxury or affluence, decisions were simple. And yet, we are still hardwired to think about these core needs first and foremost.
In our interactions, we need to have foremost in our minds the goal of appealing to their core. Gut instincts can be honed to be even more powerful than our rational thought processes. And when we combine the two, that is where the real power is.
In an instant, our gut instincts kick into action. In the book ‘Blink’, Malcolm Gladwell writes about thinking without thinking, that rapid cognition that happens in the blink of an eye. Our rational brains take five times longer to assimilate than do our emotional processes.
Think of this in terms of how sales used to be and how they are now. Despite the fact that at our cores we’re like cavemen, we are incredibly sophisticated. If you consider even back to the fifties, sixties and seventies, the ‘features and benefits’ style of sales, the Dale Carnegie method, these were passable at the time, but as our choices have grown in the marketplace, so have our BS detectors. We know when someone’s being slick with us and it doesn’t feel good.
It feels good to be understood and at ease, and we want these responses from our clients. With the right training, we can duplicate these responses over and over. When we access our prospect’s and client’s values and criteria, combine them with sincerity, honesty and integrity, add in our products and/or services, it creates an emotional alchemy that is easy to feel good about.
In our advanced state of civilization (depending on your perspective) we have an amazing array of choices. There are opportunities available to us that even a generation ago, wouldn’t have been dreamed up. In this ever expanding atmosphere it seems likely that those of us who know how to access the core and our prospect’s emotions are going to be the ones capable of rising to the top in our given fields. By elevating emotions and partially bypassing rationality, we find ourselves with incredible persuasion power.
About the Author:
Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn the business of affluent clients using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion techniques.
Define Good Customer Service
When you are asked to define good customer service what are the first thoughts that come to mind? The ability to supply your customers’ wants and needs, whether they are new or existing customers.
Providing exceptional customer service centers around ensuring your customers are happy. Your overall objective is to ensure that they are coming back for more or referring your services. By doing this you will be ensuring your continuing lively hood in the business that you have chosen to create.
There are several points that need to be considered if you wish to provide exceptional customer service these are a must for all businesses.
1. Supply your finest service and ensure that it is provided on time. If you promise a product at a certain time ensure that it is delivered then. If for any reason you have to delay delivery, be honest with your client and inform them of the situation. Compensate or alleviate the problem if it causes your client any inconvenience.
2. Listen to what your client wants and needs. Work with your client to provide them with the product that they need. Provide the advice that they need but also listen to their suggestions. You never know when what they suggest can help you improve your own business
3. Keep up with technology. Always strive to improve your services. With technology advancing at the rate it is you need to be sure that your skills are up to date as well. Enhancing your services allows you to offer more to your clients and thus keeps them happy.
4. There is nothing like a guarantee. This is an important point of exceptional customer service. When a customer is 100% happy with what you have provided for them they are the biggest asset to your future. You will find that referrals come from their happiness. If they are not happy ensure that it is fixed right a way.
5. Provide prompt responses to all communications & inquiries. There is nothing a customer hates more than being kept waiting. If you have to get back to a customer do it with 24 hours. The longer you leave to respond to an enquiry the greater the chance the client will move onto another business.
6. Don’t forget your manners – Always say thank you! How good do you feel when someone says thank you to you? Send out thank you cards to those who request a quote and when a new client comes on board. To save costs, send e-cards or emails of thanks.
So if we had to define good customer service it should be easy. Keep your clients happy by adding value to your business and the services you provide. And if all else fails think on how you would like to be treated if you went into their business.
The Search For Quality: Recruitment Agencies
While job hunting, it’s best to keep all opportunities open. And employment agencies help you to get just the right ones. They match a certain individual to a certain position in a company. This is done with the help of recruiters, of which there are two kind: the in-house recruiter and the headhunter.
What make the in-house recruiter special is that they are usually members of a company, specifically a certain company’s human resource department. A few in house recruiters work for companies on a contractual basis which finds them shifting from one company to another when the hiring needs of the first have been sufficiently met. These kinds of recruiters can usually be seen in recruitment agencies and employment agencies.
Third party recruiters, more commonly known as headhunters, are the people companies turn to when their in-house recruiters can’t find suitable candidates for the job. Headhunters may work alone or through an agency. They act as the contact between the client and the candidates, and may specialize in either client relationship or looking for candidates, or both.
Then we have headhunters of a somewhat higher breed called the Professionals or Executive Search agents. These people are typically more involved in the process as compared to ordinary agents. They are usually part of a much larger company or agency and have long distance relationships with their clients. What is usually looked for in an Executive Search Agent are a large network of contacts, detailed knowledge of their area, and maturity/seniority in handling the duties required of them.
The executive Search Agents operate on a much higher level when compared to other agents. To them, the poaching resorted to by some others is a definite no-no. They go through the extensive and backbreaking process of doing interviews, reports and overall assessments in order to find exactly the right people to fit each job. This level or professionalism ensures that companies get only the best when dealing with the kinds of agents.
Executive Search agencies usually add compensations for their clients to maintain their long relationship. A common example is how Executive Search agencies promise to make additional searches for free if the candidate resigns or is fired within a year of employment.
Working At Home 5 Vital Tips On How to Become A Customer Service Agent
The New York Times has recently released a survey that shows customer service work at home job opportunities have increased by a large amount in United States. Customer service jobs also called call center jobs require employing agents who work at home as customer service agents. The advantage of this type of work is that it provides a steady income to single or stay-at-home parents and the physically challenged.
Customer service agent jobs vary from call handling to technical support. If you apply for such a job, you would need to have the basic essentials, like a modern computer, which has the latest operating system installed on it . You will also need a reliable internet connection, which is normally supplied buy your phone service. Excellent communication skills will be required by you to handle the various customers that you will be dealing with.
How to get a customer service work at home job?
If you wish to get a genuine customer service work at home job that will provide you with a income, then you will find that the under mentioned tips are essential for you
1. The first step in getting a work at home customer service job is to understand the type of employment that you will be applying for. This job will entail that the company hiring your services routes their incoming customer service calls to your home phone.
2. Then you must understand the type of duties that you will be required to be perform. Nearly all customer service jobs include taking and logging orders, processing transactions, providing help and assistance to customers as required by the company that has hired you, etc.
3. You will soon discover the benefits of working at home. Work at home customer service jobs are of great advantage to stay-at-home mothers, disabled people, retired seniors and college students. If you are unable to step out of your home but need to earn a income, then you can select any of the large amount customer service jobs that are available, according to your ability. Since agent hiring, training and scheduling jobs is now being conducted online, you will not even have to leave your home to get a job.
4. Once you decided to work at home, you need to do a lot of homework to select a legitimate home based customer service job. You should start by browsing through the internet to find a list of companies and websites regarding this.
5. When you find a company that fits your requirements, then submit your application and resume to the company. Always take the care to prepare the application properly and professionally, just like you would do the case of any job you apply for.
There are various benefits of doing customer service jobs at home. This is the reason why one quarter of customer service agents in North America start work at home. The convenience and independence of working at home are the two main benefits of customer service work at home jobs.
Every business requires customers and it is very important to retain an empathetic and trusting relationship with your customers. This will ensure customer commitment. Loyal customers will add to the long term success of any business and so their requirements should be dealt with as soon as possible.
This is why there is a overwhelming need for customer service agents. This is a good situation for you, as it will provide more available job opportunities. If you have the ability to do this sort of work, then you can earn a income that will fit around your circumstances.
Employing you as a work at home customer service agent, is of a great advantage to any company. As they will save money on office rent, utilities and equipment. So as you can see, customer service agent jobs benefits both the companies and the work at home agents.
How can a Company Manage its Image using Public Relations
Public relations is no longer something that just happens; how a company or corporation is perceived in the public eye, particularly in the eye of the company’s shareholders or potential customers, isn’t something that’s left to chance. Companies have entire departments and large budgets in place to ensure that they will be viewed in a positive light by the public.
In its simplest form, the idea of public relations is to get the word out to the public concerning all of the positive things that a company or organization may be involved in, and to enhance the company’s overall image, while at the same time downplaying anything that could potential be viewed as a negative action in the public eye.
Public relations is kind of like advertising’s less obtrusive brother. Where advertising’s main goal is to stick a product in the face of a potential customer and give them every reason to buy it, the public relations approach is a lot less direct. Public relations will let your target consumer know what else you’ve got going on besides your product or service – like what kind of good you are doing in the community and how you plan to help more in the future. Though it’s not as bold as advertising, a good public relations department can aid in building profits just as much as advertising.
There are any number of ways that a company or organization can positively use public relations to enhance their image in the eye of the public:
A company can donate either time or money to a charitable cause or they could hold a charity event to raise money for a particular cause. Potential customers and share holders want to know if a company cares, and they want to know what it is that the company cares about and supports.
Another approach to public relations is to have a company representative speak at an industry conference or seminar. The speaker can go over with an audience, packed with the very people that the company wants to reach, details of all of the latest activities as well as all of the future plans that will be implemented and what kind of positive impact those plans will have on the industry and the community. This is kind of like issuing a personal press release, where the company representative can get out the exact message that needs to be distributed to exactly the right people, and can then answer any potential questions that may arise. A press release is a great tool, but its content is definitive, any questions that arise from a press release will remain until another company statement is made, with a live statement questions can be addressed and answered appropriately right form the start.
Though I’ve just pointed out some of the negatives of a press release, that doesn’t mean that it’s not a very effective tool of public relations. A press release mat not be personal, and it may or may not leave small questions in the minds of some readers, but what it can do is reach a tremendous amount of people giving them a good idea of your mission statement or telling them of a recent award or accomplishment of the company. A well written press release can reach thousands of thousands of people that wouldn’t have known of your accomplishment any other way – and press releases come at a much cheaper price than any form of advertising. You’d never be able to reach the same portion of your target audience with public speaking as you would with a high quality press release.
A company’s image can mean everything – one big negative event, even if it’s only perceived as a negative event in the public eye, can literally destroy a company. If a company or organization wants to become successful and stay successful, it has to build up and protect its positive image – the only way to really do that effectively is through good public relations.
How To Generate Massive Dollars With The Internet
Begin by discovering people who have done this previously. It is helpful to have an outside perspective, whether that is a person who is a friend, or from a forum that you have found. Discover what they hope to get from working online and what they have learned. Basic mistakes can be avoided by taking your time and making contact with someone who already has some experience.
The second thing that you should remember about making money online is that you need to think about your own wants and needs. When thinking about the experience be realistic about what you are hoping to get out of it. Make a decision about whether you just want to supplement your existing income or to replace it totally. Do you prefer to talk with people on the phone or communicate in other ways? Think about what you like to do and what you are good at.
Take some time to figure out which opportunities are right for you because there will be plenty of choices to make. There will be a few different choices that you have in front of you, take a look at them and sort them out based on what they offer. Choose the organization which seems right for you. It should allow you to make the money online that you need and will be perfect for you when it comes to how often you work.
Finally, remember that a large part of making sure that your online work takes off is research. Discover what has been said about the company that you are looking to work for, but bear in mind that there are two sides to every story. Find out how well-regarded the company is that you have chosen to work for. There are numerous review sites which will help you to make the right decisions. Make sure that you can make the right choices, and get your making money career off to a good start!