Author Archives: Rod Nicolson

Press Release Optimization in 7 Easy Steps

Posted on March 21, 2012 | 2 Comments

Rumors are rife in the search world of yet another big shake up of Google’s search algorithms, but whatever happens, one principle remains constant: great content written with a specific audience in mind is good SEO and will increase your chances of being found.  So when you take your seat at the search wheel of fortune, use the seven easy-to-follow steps in this infographic to improve your press release optimization and increase the chances of your message hitting the jackpot, rather than losing your shirt on a busted flush.

1.  Use these five questions to test and focus your press release’s copy:

  • Who is the audience?
  • What is the press release about?
  • Where will it have the most effect?
  • When is the best time to distribute it?
  • Why should my audience care?

2.  Once your copy is almost set choose one or two keyword phrases to optimize it for. You can find lots of tips online about keyword research, but to start with just pick the most important phrases.   The question “What is it about?” will tell you which these are.

3.  Put the most important phrase as close to the beginning of the headline, the sub-head, and the first paragraph of your press release as possible. Search engines give more weight to phrases at the beginning of headlines.  So if you are optimizing your press release for the phrase “Lucky 7.” then “Lucky 7! Seven Easy Ways To Optimize Your Press Release” works better than “Optimize Your Press Release For Search With My Lucky 7 Top Tips.”

4.  Link the most important phrase in the first paragraph to a page about the same topic. For example, if your primary phrase is “online PR” then use it in a link in the first para of your release to a page on your site about online PR.  Your copy, your link, and the page you link to combine to help build authority on the topic you are writing about.  And of course you provide a way for interested readers to click through to your site.

5.  Add a photo and include your key phrase at the start of the caption.  Images make your content more compelling, and there’s research showing that the use of images in this way can boost rankings.

6.  +1 the release on Google+. Google is the 800 lb gorilla of search and they show activity from people’s Google+ networks in their search results. If your audience is on Google+ your content needs to be too. If you’re not sure, +1 it anyway.

7.  Use your social network to promote your business. Tweet a link to the release using the primary phrase and share the release on Facebook.  All the major search engines value links from real people so retweets, shares and posts from influencers in your industry are important.

That’s it.  Those are my lucky 7 – I hope they are lucky for you.

If the above are old hat to you and you’re looking for more advanced tips, tricks and trends, check out the SEO posts on the blog.

If you have other tips to share post them in the comments below.  If we get enough we’ll post them all together and give you a shout-out.

 Author Rod Nicolson is PR Newswire’s VP of Global Reporting.

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Storytelling Rules & Writing Better Press Releases

Posted on March 28, 2011 | 20 Comments

Everything is a story. Stories are how we make sense of the world around us, how we communicate, how we reach out and touch others. Press releases, videos, podcasts, blog posts, tweets… They’re all forms of story telling, even the driest financial statement has at its heart the story of a company’s performance. And that’s important, right? People work at that company or have invested in it, or supply it with goods or services, they depend on it in one way or another, so the story needs to told and told well.  Lastly, well told, genuine, audience-focused stories may be more important than ever: Google’s ‘Farmer’ update may have included the ability to interpret what users consider ‘valuable’ in content.  This is very new and a radical change.  If true, then the more original and well written the story, the more likely it is to rank well.

So what makes a good story?  And if stories are so universal, is there anything we can take from millennia of story telling to help us improve the stories we write, improve engagement and optimize for higher search ranking?

Fans of Star Wars, ancient mythology and certain novelists will be familiar with the name Joseph Campbell.  Campbell was an academic interested in the common threads running through all of the great myths.  In the late 1940s he published The Hero with a Thousand Faces in which he lays out the theory that the great myths from all cultures and regions of the world share a similar structure, which Campbell called the monomyth.

Campbell summarizes the monomyth thus: A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

I stated that “everything is a story.” If so, then could we create better, more effective press releases, marketing campaigns, blog posts or tweets by applying Campbell’s theories?  I think so, and here’s my attempt to map Campbell to the the humble press release.

The first hurdle is that we’re not writing fiction…  So unless it is actually about a specific individual, who is to be our hero?

I’d say that the hero is our reader, and that we are the ones offering the hero a journey and the eventual boon to take back to his/her village (bear with me here…).  We like well told stories, but we really love the ones we can identify with.  If a press release can plant the image of ourselves using that product, attending that event, buying that stock, it’s been a story well told…  So, if my assertion holds any water, then the first rule of the Campbell school of press release ‘literature’ is

Rule 1.  Know your audience.

This enables us to write the right story, set our hero a challenge he or she will accept and guide them to fulfillment.

So our hero is considering the challenge (they are reading our press release after all), but is not yet committed.  The prize has been identified (status, material wealth, some other boon), but… in all good stories there will be challenges to face, one-eyed ogres to slay, armies of orcs or Sith lords to fight.  How can you help your hero overcome their natural hesitation at embarking on such a hazardous journey?

Campbell identifies helpers or companions in the great myths that provide the hero with materiel, knowledge or other gifts that will eventually be used in the decisive battle in which the prize will be won.  Skywalker had Obi Wan, Frodo had Sam, your hero has…. yes, you!  Arm your hero with all the information and resources required to complete the tasks required to earn their prize.

Information, case studies, video, images, downloads, links, contact details, a map; all are the equivalents of light sabres, The Force or invisibility cloaks in your story. So the second rule of Fight Club, er, sorry, wrong story… the second rule of mythic press release writing is

Rule 2. Give your audience what they need to achieve their goal.

And so, travel-stained and weary, but wiser and richer, your hero sets off on the journey home, carrying the prize he battled hard for.  And in this, my young padewan, is the final lesson of today’s story.  For the hero is returning to the village from whence he or she came, and the boon they have been granted is no boon at all if it is kept secret.  It must be shared to realize it’s full value.  What does this mean for our press release?  We must give them the tools to share it with friends and colleagues on social networks or media or email or whatever their own social poison is.  Follow the third rule and you set up your story for success.

Rule 3.  Help your audience tell the world about your story.

I’ll end with two quotes, one from a PR practitioner who knows more about this business than I ever will and the last from Joseph Campbell himself.

Rohit Bhargava is SVP, Global Strategy & Marketing at Ogilvy. He was kind enough to talk at PR Newswire’s global sales conference in January 2011 and he was the one who got me thinking.  In a discussion full of insight he said “People buy stories,” and if we make our stories simple then more people will buy them.

Lastly, Joseph Campbell, “What I think is that a good life is one hero journey after another. Over and over again, you are called to the realm of adventure, you are called to new horizons. Each time, there is the same problem: do I dare? And then if you do dare, the dangers are there, and the help also, and the fulfillment or the fiasco. There’s always the possibility of a fiasco. But there’s also the possibility of bliss.”

There are many, many guides to writing great press releases out there.  I hope mine has added a little value.  How about you? What are your rules for good writing?  Let me know.

Author Rod Nicolson is PR Newswire’s VP of user experience design & workflow.

Image courtesy of Flickr user jmv.

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Jenkins! Is it the year of mobile PR yet??

Posted on November 22, 2010 | 3 Comments

The Web is awash with statistics and predictions about the rise and rise of mobile usage, mobile operating systems, network operators, on-deck vs. off-deck, apps, app stores, open vs. closed, devices, demographics, technographics, smart phone penetration, data plan trends, carrier revenues, app store market share and many other data points.  Mary Meeker’s latest Web 2.0 Summit presentation is certain to be circulating the boardrooms of the world and as soon as her deck hit the web middle managers were girding their loins for the inevitable C-suite query, “How’s our mobile strategy going, Jenkins?”

How’s your mobile strategy going?  Because, after years of hearing that this year is the year of mobile, this coming year probably will be.  Using Meeker’s mobile slides as a guide (full deck on Scribd here, the YouTube video is here ), here’s why:

  1. Slide 8: Apple iPhone + iTouch + iPad Ramp
    We have known for a while that take up of the mobile web is out pacing other adoption curves; there was a similar slide in her 2009 presentation, so there’s no excuse for not knowing that the light at the end of the tunnel is fast moving train and we’d better get on or get out of the way.
  2. Slide 9: Mobile Operating Systems
    The statistics on the growth of Android vs. iOS have been repeated ad nauseum, but their competition will accelerate the market for mobile apps and that is creating exciting opportunities for engaging customers and audiences in very focused and personal ways.
  3. Slide 10: Smartphone > PC Shipments Within 2 Years
    This is starting to get interesting… The number of smartphone shipments are projected to surpass PCs in 2012.  And it’s a sure thing that smartphones are going to get smarter. But will the networks be able to keep up with the demand for data?  U.S. carriers are shifting away from flat-rate data plans as they need consistency in their margins to invest in the infrastructure to keep up with our data usage.  In Japan, however, flat-rate data plans have been a key driver for mobile internet take-up, so…
  4. Slide 11: Japan Social Networking Trends Show How Quickly Mobile Can Overtake Desktop Internet Access
    Mobithinking.com have some interesting analysis on Japan and other mobile markets and it’s clear that not all the elements that contributed to such a huge take-up of the mobile internet in Japan are present elsewhere.   Taken in combination with other trends on mobile usage, however, it is abundantly clear that consumer usage  of the mobile Web via apps or mobile sites is growing, will be enormous, and has a strong social component.

All of which is nice, but what does it mean for PR?

In terms of media relations, unless you’re working in technology, it seems there is a limited take up among journalists in use of mobile to consume PR-related content.  A PR Week / CC Group survey bears out our own research among users of PR Newswire for Journalists (PRNJ) that they tend to prefer desktop tools to mobile ones when it comes to reviewing PR material.  But this is changing.  The surge in social network usage via mobile is impacting how everyone interacts with phones, and over half the media (both new and ‘old’) who access PRNJ or PRNewswire.com own a smart phone and over a third would consider accessing these sites via mobile phone.

There is also a growing body of research that journalists  look for story ideas and research using blogs and social media sites.  So ensuring your content is posted to the social Web gets your content where they’ll find it (and helps build links back to your site).

For direct-to-consumer/customer/shareholder/stakeholder communications the take-up varies by demographic and industry, but the trend is the same across the world: mobile usage up and it’s driven by social use cases.  The key for us here is understanding our audience and how they want to engage.  What is exciting for PR and marketing professionals is the nature of the engagement if we get it right.

At least one of my mobile devices (I’m afraid I have four) is within my reach 24 hours a day.  Mobile alerts I have set up reach me immediately.  Apps that I love I return to again and again and again.  I have freely handed over my contact details and personal details in return for offers and promotions (‘spam’ in any other context) that match my preferences.  Now I’m not conceited enough to believe I’m in any way unique.  Slightly more nerdy than most maybe, but not unique, and there is evidence that if you are able to give your audience something of value and create a relationship in such a personal space, you will create high degrees of engagement and ROI.  Here are two examples, one B2B and one B2C,  of what I mean:

  • If you were at PRSA in Washington D.C. this year you can’t have missed PR Newswire’s PRNGame, where delegates could scan QR codes with their phones to earn points, learn about PR Newswire and have some fun.  The game generated a huge amount of buzz at the conference and sparked hundreds of conversations between delegates and PR Newswire people manning our booth.
  • InsightExpress presented a Powermat case study at the IAB Mobile Marketplacein New York this summer.  The campaign used Booyah’s geo-based game MyTown to allow users to interact with Powermat products and enter a sweepstake when they checked in to stores selling Powermat wireless chargers.  According to Joy Liuzzo of InsightExpress the campaign  produced results three times greater than traditional ad campaigns and outperformed all norms for aided awareness, ad awareness and intent to purchase.

I acknowledge that on the face of it both my examples have more to do with marketing than PR, but all the people who engaged with PR Newswire and Powermat are influencers whose opinions are valued to varying degrees by their peers, and  mobile is very, very social.  Creating personal, positive experiences with these individuals will have an affect that lasts beyond the measurement of short term ROI.

So do you have a mobile strategy?  And should it really be categorized as ‘mobile?’  Personally I’m looking forward to the day when ‘mobile’ is as ubiquitous and noteworthy as wallpaper.  And that the mobile strategy of my fictional, middle-management ‘Jenkins’ is not mobile, not strategy, but a regular part of his day job that earns him happy customers and the warm glow of appreciation from the C-suite.  Well, one can dream…

Authored by Rod Nicolson, VP User Experience Design & Workflow, PR Newswire

Image created by djme via Flickr Creative Commons

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