Carson and Company

Like an ad campaign, publicity needs consistency

So you ran a pr release last week, or was it last month? And maybe you had an article scheduled to be in a publication, but the editor, or reporter had to cancel, delaying the article for another month or two.

If this is how your publicity campaign sounds, then you need to rethink what you’re doing. It is up to your pr agency, or pr staff to continually develop press releases, pitch stories, or arrange for interviews. It is this on-going effort that makes any campaign: publicity or advertising, become effective and gain exposure. The positive results will follow when you have this concentrated effort in place.

Another pr company, PowerPR, has in his blog today a similar viewpoint about handling your publicity campaign. The title of his blog "Have you published a release lately" parallels my philosophy on publicity.

Whether you are a pr client looking for increased exposure, or work as a pr consultant, consistency and repetition is critical. Another good idea is to have a regular eNewsletter that is published and sent to the media. Don’t go wild sending them an eNewsletter every week, or even monthly. It should be sent just prior to submitting a release or pitching a story. The eNewsletter should also be of good information. It wouldn’t hurt to have a short preview about the product or service that will be presented to the media.

Keeping a flow of activity in your public relations program is how to help get recognition. This will also help build brand identity and awareness.

See Also

• Have a PR plan that is aggressive
  Publicity needs to be on-going

Branding is now more important than ever

Before you say anything, like "Oh no, not another branding article"…let me explain.

The term Branding is getting more recognition than ever. No matter whom you speak to (in business), or what publications you read, the term BRANDING pops up. That isn’t the reason why I am again talking about branding, it’s because today this is definitely something you need to do to stay competitive.

BUILDING A BRAND is not just slapping your logo on a bunch of envelopes, or on brochures. A real branding program starts within a company.

From the CEO, to the company president to the person answering the phone. It includes your tag line, or slogan; it is how customers, clients and consumers perceive you. When conducting internal business meetings to sending internal messages, they all should reflect the branding image.

All industries are getting more competitive and to stand out you need to build a solid brand image. This is not something that will happen overnight. That’s another good reason to start now, if you haven’t already implemented a program. Be sure your pr agency or pr client understands how to create a branding program.

Branding should be part of all your publicity activities and in all your advertising materials and ad print campaign. Press kits to the media should quickly identify the brand you are developing, as well as any correspondence with the media, such as editors, writers and publishers. You should immediately implement a signature for your emails using your company’s branded image. It is time to make this be an on-going part of your daily business activity. In the long run, it will give your company the competitive edge.

See Also

• Do you need a Branding Image?
  Building a brand is different than creating an ad campaign

There can be a funny side to advertising and publicity

How do you capture a readers attention, and make it memorable?

There are several methods to use. The shock approach, the factual/informative approach, the serious approach and the humors approach.

We chose to use the humorous approach for this specific campaign for our client, Foundations Financial.

The reason, we wanted to break away from the clutter of the typical institutional ads and show the investors we have something unique to offer than traditional companies.

The campaign consisted of placing two different ads in the publication. In addition, this magazine, Personal Real Estate Investor, has a conference at the end of this month and Foundations Financial will be one of the guest speakers on the panel.

The conference will allow our client the opportunity to meet one-on-one with investors and to get to know Foundations Financial personally at the conference.

When possible, using the two marketing tools of Advertising and Publicity can be very rewarding.

I like to always include the two because the final result is powerful and creates a stronger impact.

It also helps to position our pr client as a forward thinking and progressive company.

Publicity has many different applications. One of those is what I just described. Too often, the two departments of advertising/marketing and publicity work separately. I feel this is a waste of time and money.

So the next time you plan an event, or have an ad campaign running, try to incorporate your overall marketing strategy to get the two departments to work together. You will be pleased with the outcome.

See Also

• How to incorporate advertising campaigns with publicity
  Making Publicity Part of Your Advertising Mix