Carson and Company

If your pr marketing strategies do not include using Google News, then your pr client will not get that needed exposure they deserve. What, you are not sure how to make Google News work for your pr client? I will give you some advice on making your pr marketing strategy work best when you use this tool.

If you are somewhat familiar with SEO, then you may be aware of the Search Engine Strategies that was held in San Jose sometime back. The main thrust of the meeting/event was directed toward Google. One writer said that if the publishers would listen better, they might just realize how Google and Google News can help them. But that is another topic.

One of the neat things is the “real time search suggestions” with Google Suggest. For those writing in foreign languages, like French, Italian German or Spanish, Google News has added this feature as well. The best way to explain how this feature works was said by a Google spokesperson statement: “The feature can make your experience searching Google News better by helping you formulate queries, saving you keystrokes, correcting spelling mistakes and exposing you to queries you might not have thought of,” says Google. “The goal of all that? To get you to the articles you’re looking for as quickly as possible.”

Get your pr marketing strategy going in the right direction. Start using this tool. Just like a reporter, you then can get real time stories to be better targeted when you have the right tools, the Google Suggest tool that is. Get more tips on SEO’s with Web Pro News.

If your pr marketing strategies need help, or if you are a pr client that would like to explore this option to get more awareness, give Carson Marketing, Inc a call. Ask for George Carson. He knows SEO’s and can get your publicity marketing campaign ahead of the competition.

Contact George at: 949-477-9400.

Recently our advertising company, Carson Marketing, Inc. was awarded two new accounts. They are: Yamaha Music Centers and Spa OTANI. Both pr clients understand the power of branding as a key ingredient for a successful marketing and advertising campaign. We presented our pr marketing strategies to these pr clients, and they quickly noticed how we incorporated the branding as an integral part of the overall advertising, marketing and publicity campaign.

Yamaha Music Centers are known worldwide and have the highest percentage of graduates who have become famous songwriters, musicians, and composers. Not all schools understand the Yamaha philosophy. That’s why the campaign we developed will further explain how children at a young age (from 18 months to 8 years) can improve their learning skills when music is part of their education. It is a fact that students who take music lessons have higher scores in math, and written skills. Carson Marketing, Inc. is now completing a new web site for the Yamaha Music Centers locations and creating various promotional, collateral materials for the schools. A publicity campaign is currently being developed as part of the complete branding program.

For the Spa, our company analyzed the current spa and found through research and a sampling focus study the former name (Spa Da Vinci) was not as appealing as once considered 8 years ago. Our client had recently acquired the company and was looking to increase its customer base. By changing the name (which our agency developed) to Spa OTANI and adding the tag line “Treat Your Body”  helped to establish the new spa as a place of enjoyment and relaxation. As part of our overall pr marketing strategy, we designed the logo for the new name, created a web site and developed all the sales materials for the spa. To further change the old image and to build a new branding image, we worked with the client by re-designing the interior rooms and selected new paint colors. A tie-in promotional campaign with hotels, and businesses is already in the works.

As you can see, sometimes branding could include a new name with a full image campaign or just a re-positioning of an existing name as in the case of Yamaha Music Centers. If your company isn’t sure of how to increase sales for the coming year, it might be time to contact George Carson at Carson Marketing, Inc. (949-477-9400) and get his expert opinion as what is needed for your company.

Sometimes we write like we talk. This is becoming a problem with press releases, articles and how we write emails. Even savvy publicity writers who write for pr clients, or publicity professionals will usually fail once in awhile with grammar in their releases.

You may not think it is important, but editors, reporters write and read for a living and they do not tolerate poor grammar, or the use of conjunctions to make long sentences. I read an article in Press-Release-Writing titled “Get a Grip on Grammar“. It has a lot of the tips I give my pr clients. Let me share with you a few of these from the article.

Q: I’ve heard the terms biweekly and semiweekly used interchangeably. Are they really synonyms?
A: A bimonthly appointment occurs once every two months. A semimonthly appointment occurs twice a month. If you’re a gardener, it will be easier to remember the difference between “bi” and “semi” - just think of the term “biennial” and it’ll be a cinch to remember.

Q: When is a comma used before the conjunction “and”?
A: A comma should be used before coordinating conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or) to join closely related sentences. A comma is optional, but recommended, with and before the last item in a series of three or more items. In most of their other roles as joiners (aside from joining independent clauses), coordinating conjunctions can join two sentence elements without the help of a comma…

Q: When are “state” and “federal” capitalized?
A: State and Federal are capitalized when they exist as part of a proper name such as “Federal Reserve Bank”; however, “state law” is not a proper name, so it is not capitalized.

These are just a few common problems that any pr professional, pr client, or novice writer should keep in mind when writing any releases, or articles. If you need further help with your current publicity campaign, give Carson Marketing, Inc a call at 949-477-9400. Ask for George Carson.

As I said just a few weeks ago, the way we communicate today (a few weeks ago) may change soon. If you haven’t already heard, Google is introducing the next generation of how we use email. It’s called Google WAVE. It’s time to get your pr marketing strategy campaign ready for a new form of communicating to customers, and internal meetings.

Google’s design team who developed the Google Map, are the lead developers of this unique program. It is difficult to explain how the WAVE works in this short blog, so be sure to check it out. But here are just a few of the highlights.

WAVE has incorporated all the other forms of communicating, which are Instant Messaging, Twitter, eMail, and even integrating what I believe is their version of video conferencing. The main point about Google WAVE is how it works instantly. Uploading pictures is instant. Typing your message is instant, by character. Unlike Instant Messaging, you wait until the person types before you see their message; WAVE shows each character typed immediately! This 2-year in the making program will be available by the end of the year. You can see the demo video; it is over an hour long, to better understand all the great features.

And like a videoconference, you can have several people on your WAVE at once. And the wildest part, each person can comment, INSTANTLY! It is like talking to each other, or a group of people at once. If you want to send a private message so all the others cannot see, there are “private” buttons to use. Now the other neat part. You can have your WAVE be part of your Blog or Twitter. Yes, they are incorporating this instant emailing into social media. You can access your WAVE on your iPhone, or other PDA devices. Are you seeing the benefits for PR Clients, or how to further your publicity campaign?

Google went further and made this program easy to use, easy to organize and very easy to place attachments into your WAVE. The program has a unique spell checker. It uses a database that Google created and corrects the spelling and compares it to how it is used to make sure the proper word is chosen. Want more? Yeah, there is a lot more. For example, you can add links to web sites real easy. You can “go back” to see the conversation, or…well you need to view the video to see what I mean.

So, is your pr marketing strategy going to use WAVE? If after all my short descriptions of these great features you can’t see the benefits, then you are way behind. All I can say is you better look back once in a while, or you might get hit from the next WAVE!

You can get caught up in the social networks and get the wrong type of publicity for your pr client if you do not know or understand how to use this powerful media. If you don’t believe me, just read a recent article in today’s LA Times that discusses the issues and problems using social networks.

For example, companies like Amazon and Domino have learned the hard facts and how to control your social network campaign, only after getting hammered by fans and other online followers. Remember, if you use this media, like Twitter, you better realize it opens you up to all sorts of people. You need to use the social networks as a tool to market your pr client or your products and services. But don’t treat these like a TV commercial. That isn’t why you have followers, or fans, etc. These can be your best approach to getting the word out, if done properly.

On the good side, look what Ashton Kutcher did for CNN. Yeah, he outpaced them with followers, but CNN got a lot of exposure and they used this to help strengthen their position by hiring the person who began the CNN “Breaking News” account.

If you want to start using this new and powerful social network (like Twitter), be sure to know the game.  It is best to get a professional to guide you in the right direction. Then you will be able to use it to your advantage; otherwise you can get destroyed faster than it was to build your company. Need help? Give George Carson a call at 949-477-9400. His company, Carson Marketing, Inc. can get you into the social game so that your pr client, or your company will get great results.

If you are a pr client, or have an eCommerce web site, is it getting traffic? Is the traffic converting to sales, or leads for your business? Is your site listed on the first page of Google, or Yahoo? Do you know the Page Rank?

These are important questions, and you as a pr client, or an eCommerce client should take seriously. If any of these are problems, then re-think your web site. Here are a few tips to make sure that your web site is consumer, or B2B ready.

1- DESIGN. Believe it or not, a poor design will actually hurt you. The SEO”s reject poor design sites for indexing. Also, customers will run away fast if the site is hard to read, confusing, and the graphics are screaming for attention.

2- WEB LAYOUT. If you have a lot products, or services to offer, make sure customers can find everything easily. And your content needs to be something your customers will enjoy reading.

3- NAVIGATION. This goes hand-in-hand with the design and layout. When those are done correctly, then the navigation should be clear and concise, or customers will get lost and you will loose business.

Bottom-line– have a professional work on your web site. If you already have a site then make sure it meets these simple tips. If not, contact a web designer, one who understands marketing. Otherwise, they may just create a nice design for them to enter in a web site contest, and doesn’t meet your needs. After all this is completed, then the optimizing is next. If you are serious about building customers on the web, make sure web marketing is part of your advertising and marketing plan.

And this all relates to publicity. A great looking site will generate positive publicity. A poorly designed and difficult site will also generate publicity. Which type of publicity do you want for your web site?

Learn how to create an effective email campaign.

Advertising agencies and publicity firms do not understand fully how to help pr clients with their email marketing. That’s because they have not taken the time to learn the new rules of cyber marketing. Anyone can send an email. And yes, I am sure you get a lot of junk mail. It is estimated that business people receive over 300 emails per week (a low average I would guess), and of that, 62% is junk email.

PR Clients should understand that potential customers could open their messages as well as existing customers when the proper use of email marketing is performed. Several topics exist on this subject. And if you Google the term “email marketing”, you will get 415 million results to search through. Instead of struggling through all this, you can start with a company called Elite Marketing. I don’t know this company personally, but know of them. The company’s site offers a lot of great information to point your email campaign in the right direction.

Publicity is everywhere, that’s what I profess all the time. Email is part of publicity. If you are a pr client, or a publicity company creating pr campaigns, be sure to use the proper ways to implement an effective email program.

A few tips for a successful eMail Campaign. These and more tips can be found in the Elite Email site.

1- The Subject Line. This is most poorly worded section. Yet, it is the most important because the “subject’ is how people decide if the email has any value to them.

2-Keep it short. Long explanations in the subject are not good. Keep the description short. And to the point.

3- Overly Exaggerated Subjects Doesn’t Fool Anyone. For example, don’t make claims that people know are false, such as “we can make your dreams come true”. Be honest and direct. Your email will have a better chance of being read.

4- Have a call to action. Be sure to give a reason for the reader to contact your company. Sometimes it can be through a “coupon” campaign, or a special offer at the end of the message.

There are dozens of tips you can find on the site mentioned and as well as other sites. So take the time to make sure your subject and the message are well written. Have a pr professional or copywriter help construct the message. Email is part of a pr marketing strategy. Use it wisely and your pr clients will results.

If you need additional help with your pr marketing, we offer FREE advice. Contact George Carson, or visit our web site, Carson Marketing Inc.

Few CEO’s, and presidents will admit that they get sidetracked when growing their company. This can cause negative branding as well as losses. Usually a weak pr marketing strategy or none is in place when this happens.

What is the answer? Keep the focus on your core products and services that are offered. As companies grow, they tend to diverse into other areas to expand their market reach or to increase profits. What happens typically, a company will either purchase smaller competitors or find “similar” products to market. If the strategy is to become more diversified within the company, then the direction the CEO and president had initially intended to grow the company, soon gets lost.

Having a strong pr marketing strategy is important. Connected with any pr marketing strategy is the branding of your company and/or the products you offer. A recent article in Brandweek illustrates this topic that discusses how Heinz made a turnaround to become more profitable. A man named Nelson Peltz had to re-direct the companies products and begin to focus on those that were the core to the company’s future. By increasing spending on marketing the company will gain the awareness to have a successful pr marketing strategy tied into higher profit core products. Peltz is known for his turnaround at Snapple, so he is both liked and hated by various leaders in the industry because he strategizes for what makes a company survive rather than be an executive with blinders.

We are in an age of branding. It is now more important to understand how to create a branding campaign along with a strong pr marketing strategy. Together these can be powerful when implemented correctly. If you need to increase your brand identity, then start now, not later. If you need help, give George Carson a call at Carson Marketing, Inc. You will be pleased with the results when you become one of his clients.

Publicity is Everywhere Series- “Follow-ups”

Almost all companies, including PR Clients, advertising agencies and  major manufacturers do not make follow-up calls to exisitng customers. Why? Because sales people are too busy making calls to “potential”, or new customers. Usually it is considered a sure account when a customer is already buying from your company.

That type of thinking is what causes PR Clients to fall and loose profits. Stop for a minute and think about that. If you, as a pr client, or any company has the sales team always calling “new and potential” customers, who are they calling? It is your competitors customers, right? Well, then wouldn’t you think they (competitors) are calling YOUR customers as well! Why not have your sales team use some pr marketing strategies and other publicity tactics that are a sure fire winner. One of those tactics is called “follow-up calls”. Simple, isn’t it? Consider yourself being the customer. Or better yet, isn’t it great when a vendor calls just to see if everything they are doing is working for you.

Makes you feel good about them because they took the time to be interested in your company. This simple form of publicity can gain you favorable and positive rewards with clients. We try to remind our pr clients that they can increase sales by staying in close communication with existing customers. Why wait until you get a letter of cancelation from them to make a call. Or find out later that your competitor is gaining a tight relationship with the new buyer.

If you don’t believe me, then go to an expert in the communication field who speaks of this exact topic. His name is Ari Galper. His company is called Unlock The Game. Ari has many different topics to help companies look beyond their traditional work habits and change their thinking to be more proactive.

After you listen to a few of his topics, then give us a call. We can then help you with the marketing, publicity and promotional programs to make great things happen for your company.

It is the effectiveness to develop a plan that will grow, or increase a company’s revenue. Simple, right?

Not sure what this means? That’s ok, because every marketing expert and every marketing consultant will define marketing strategies in their own words. It still remains the same. Marketing Strategies are the campaign elements you create then implement that will build a business.

If you want to get more detailed, go to the advanced marketing consultants site. There it explains, in a lot of words, that by using just three marketing strategies you can build up to 101 strategies. Isn’t that great! OK, maybe it is a bit too much. Having all that information is ok, but who is going to develop this great plan, and then who is going to maintain and implement that plan? If you don’t have anyone in your company that knows how marketing strategies work, then call in an expert. Just don’t go through the yellow pages to find one. because it is like finding a doctor, or mechanic…there are hundreds to choose from. Contact someone in your industry and ask who they may have used. If that doesn’t work, give us a call. We are unbiased, yet have the expertise to get you in the right direction.

It is a win, win situation. We are marketing strategy experts who know how to combine all your publicity and advertising campaigns into a strong image branding campaign. We can show you how to save money, reduce wasted time and efforts with campaign elements that are not necessary, and show you how to increase awareness while increasing sales. Is it that simple, you ask? No, it isn’t. We just make it seem that way, because we use our 30+ years working with top accounts and apply the core elements you need to get back on track which will make your company profitable.

Start a PR Marketing Strategy Program today. It can be the beginning of a positive year unless you wait until your competition jumps ahead of you. It’s your decision.