Archive for the ‘content’ Category

Word Up! Get Command Of English To Boost Your News Coverage

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

One of the more uncomfortable questions I’m often asked is, “What do you think of this press release?” Sometimes the most valuable selling point is buried towards the end. In other cases there’s so much fluffy nonsense it’s hard to figure out why the press release was even written. But in nearly every case, they read as if very little importance had been placed on the words selected. You’d think words might be vitally important for a press release yet words seem

Just because you put 250 words on letterhead and call it a press release doesn’t mean it’s going to help your business. If you want your news to get published then you need to pay attention to what the editors pay attention to when reviewing written materials.

to earn as little attention as grammar, usage and punctuation. “Who cares about commas and sentence structure? Who cares about replacing ‘is’ with an action verb, you ask?” Well, consider these actual bios of just a few of the trade magazine editors who get to read these press releases – they also decide whether to use them or hit delete (the names and their magazines have been removed):

  • …editor-in-chief…earned a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. in English Literature from Harvard College.
  • … joined as editor from the University of Akron, where she had taught English composition for three years after earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. She also has a 1985 master of fine arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis.
  • … editor graduated from Ohio’s Bowling Green State University with an English degree
  • … joins as editor after two-and-a-half years as a News Editor and has also been a high school English teacher and graduated from Northern Illinois University with a B.A. in English.

Editors care about words and notice when other writers do not care as much. Even one of the more respected chemical industry magazines has only a single chemical engineering degree on its entire editorial staff. The others studied English and journalism. Now see this introduction in an editorial by Anna Wells, Executive Editor, IMPO:

“As someone who spent the better part of college studying modern literary theory — a vocation so rich with complexity yet sparse in practical application — I can sympathize with the other liberal arts devotees out there: the ones with the music performance or art history degrees. Perhaps when I have a child in college and I am footing the bill, my understanding will lessen… but I hope not. For the sake of erudition (and the ability to use words like erudition in a sentence), I don’t regret the essays on Death in Venice, or the day I read The Sound & The Fury in UW-Madison’s Memorial Library stacks.”

Now, you can better see how a background in English affects how press releases are read. You can better see why it’s important to know when to use ensure or insure, and to know how to use the active voice and the passive voice (and which one to avoid in a press release). Just because you put 250 words on letterhead and call it a press release doesn’t mean it’s going to help your business. If you want your news to get published then you need to pay attention to what the editors pay attention to when reviewing written materials. I’d put words at the top of the list.

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Readership Down: Dumbing Down Speeds Media’s Demise

Friday, May 27th, 2011
epr Marketing Blog post on dumbing down business media

As business media dumbs down its content, it turns away readers and its advertisers quickly follow. Thanks to the unknown artist who designed this maze.

I was flipping through New Jersey Business yesterday and found an article offering Internet marketing tips from a Web developer I’ve known for many years. Looking forward to reading some pearls of wisdom, I quickly grew frustrated that a guy I knew to be quite knowledgeable had obviously been asked to provide a basic overview of simple tips that would be useful to the uninitiated. It occurred to me that this exemplifies why print readership continues to plummet along with its ad revenues. When it comes to business owners and the Internet, very few people are still in the uninitiated camp and simply feeding dumbed-down versions of otherwise useful information nullifies any potential value. It becomes uninteresting and readers become less eager to open the magazine when the next issue arrives in the mail, convinced that nothing of value is inside.

This type of basic information is already available online, by email and by other e-vehicles for free. Nearly any business professional who is a member of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA) and therefore a New Jersey Business recipient already knows the basics of the Internet. They know about social media. They’re ready to read something with more depth and this author would’ve been able to provide it in clear terms that any business person could understand.

If print magazines, newspapers, and any publisher for that matter – print or online – want to be relevant, their editorial departments need to continuously provide useful information that actually helps their readers. Rather than dumbing down their information, I’d suggest they ramp it up with details and insights and challenge their readers to think, to learn and even to reflect or take action after finishing an article. That’s how a loyal readership is developed. And a loyal readership attracts ad revenue.

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Afraid of What Your Web Site Inventory Might Reveal?

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

At least every year, manufacturers, distributors and retailers typically conduct a physical inventory of their warehouses and shelves to see exactly what’s on hand. Comparing what’s actually there to what your inventory management software shows should be there and what your memory believes is there often reveals striking differences. Rookies quickly update the inventory software and move on with day to day operations. Veterans who’ve driven this process understand these differences aren’t merely numbers to be reconciled but symptoms of inefficiencies. “Of course you’re hoping that what’s on the racks matches what’s in the computer but that’s not likely to happen,” says Mike Dorsey, vice president of manufacturing for plastics design and manufacturer Meese Orbitron Dunne Co. (www.Meeseinc.com). “Any difference in the item count is an opportunity to find a hole in the process, close it up and become more efficient.” At some companies, it’s common for outdated, obsolete or just poor-selling parts and products to sit on the racks for years, being given little attention until their rediscovery during inventory. This seems how many companies approach their Web sites.

More and more companies are adding product information, photography, videos, news and other content to their sites on a regular basis but few companies seem to remove it…any of it…ever…until someone poking around the site while awaiting a flight finds something that shouldn’t be there anymore. Rather than wait for a situation like this, I recommend conducting a Web site inventory. It’s very simple. Just look at every page on your Web site, read every article, look at the pictures and captions and make sure the site is presenting your company and products in the finest possible light.

Take inventory of your Web site as often as the inventory of a warehouse is checked. Photo courtesy Tingue, Brown & Co.

Here are some common items to check:

  • Email addresses for people who are no longer with the company
  • Email addresses that send messages to nowhere
  • Product specifications that are no longer accurate
  • Products that are no longer offered
  • Videos that don’t load or take too long to load
  • Computer renderings when photography is now available
  • Once-fancy java scripts that don’t work
  • Pricing from last year
  • Trade show schedule from last year

Your customers and prospects are already doing this Web site inventory for you but they won’t tell you what they find. They’ll just leave.

Just as a physical inventory may reveal holes in the system, your Web site inventory may reveal patterns  that point to systemic flaws in how content is developed and added to the site. Establishing guidelines that address and correct these flaws helps ensure that your Web site is always up to date, complete and sporting the fresh, useful content that keeps your Google rankings high and moves prospects towards sales.

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Your PR Program As Content Generator

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Think of your PR program beyond publicity – beyond the media. Think of it as a content development program. It’s a planned, coordinated attack that consistently develops the information your prospects need to feel comfortable buying your products and/or services. Done properly, it’s presented in a style, structure and format that entice journalists to publish the information in their magazines, email newsletters, on their Web sites, blogs, and in other media. As effective PR, it generates qualified sales leads, boosts credibility and expands name brand awareness, but there’s so much more your informative news can be doing today:

epr Public Relations Content DevelopmentContent for your Web site – relax knowing your Web site will always feature fresh, new information. This instills confidence in prospects and customers and ensures coverage in search engines with both the content needed to appear in relevant searches and the frequent site updates needed to support high rankings. Google considers the freshness of content as an important factor determining search results.

Content for your email newsletters – it’s easy to stay in touch with customers and prospects and stick to your email newsletter schedule when you already have current news in the can that may be rewritten to suit an email publication. Plus, the email brings prospects back to the original article on the Web site.

Content for your social media program – now that your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages are setup, it’s easy to keep them fresh by leveraging your news to suit the format of each platform. Your PR program provides a steady flow of postable material that can be rewritten to encourage comments and discussions and attract fan support.

Content for your blog – use your blog to reveal the backstory behind the news or add a personal angle to the story. Surely, developing a new product over several years required overcoming a host of challenges and surprises and sparked several inside jokes among the project team. This is the material that draws comments and interaction.

Once you get access to a constant flow of newsworthy concepts that warrant media attention, you’ll soon see there’s no reason to restrict their release to the media – there is every reason to leverage and reuse these concepts everywhere. The key is to uncover the worthy concepts hiding inside your product, service or company.

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