PR case study lesson #4: Make your press releases interactive
This is the first release where I experimented with video, and I was surprised to see how many people took the time to watch a software overview.

Here is an opportunity where you can wow your readers with a brief video that supports your press release content.

Who knows, the video might be the tipping point that gets your company written up in a trade magazine or more prospects in your sales funnel.

PR case study lesson #5: Load your press releases with choice keywords
Don’t, and you are missing out on an opportunity for free e-mail marketing — compliments of Google.

Many reporters, industry watchers, and your target market use Google News alerts to stay abreast of current events.

Populate your press releases with the keywords they are watching, and Google will notify them whenever you have news to report.

Conclusion
Critics will argue that measuring press release views and website visitors are weak marketing metrics. I agree, but it is also unrealistic to expect a press release to serve as your sales force.

Many websites today serve as a marketing hub, driving people into the sales funnel with content and calls to action. Qualified leads are given to sales to close the deal.

Press releases are only an entry point into this sales funnel. It is up to you to figure out how to move people captured by this one marketing tactic through it.

Likewise, it is unrealistic to assume that all of your press releases will be winners. I have observed press release views as high as 1,960 and as low as 395.

How well your press release performs will depend on your ability to “spin a story,” your target market, the day and time it is issued, and what else is happening in the world. A long-term press release program will iron out any inconsistencies.

Press releases are not a silver bullet, but they have evolved into an easy, low-cost, and measurable way to reach your target market online.

Sue Anderson-Lenz
Marketing Lure, Inc.

What effect, if any, did the press release have on website traffic?

The second chart answers this question.

Both the total number of visitors and total number of unique visiting sites nearly tripled the week of distribution.

Further analysis reveals that 71 percent of the visitors during this period were first-time visitors, and the site’s higher-than-average traffic rates lasted four days.

Online browsers found our paid press release on the first page of Google’s search results. And our paid press release continues to hold the number one spot in Google News for that keyword search.

Somewhat surprisingly, the number of people that viewed the software overview video also spiked one day after distribution. Unfortunately, the testimonial video did not fare as well.

What can we take away from this one case study example? Here are five PR lessons.

PR case study lesson #1: Expect a paid PR service to outperform free PR distribution services
When I compare the results of this press release to others I have done, the free distribution services performed better than expected. Normally, the paid PR service I use outperforms the free services by a factor of 4:1 or greater.

Are the premium distribution services worth the extra cost? You be the judge.

Granted it is not a complete, apples-to-apples comparison, but the first press release issued 14 months ago cost $380. Eighty-five media outlets picked up the story and we observed a two-day spike in web visitors (340 percent and 200 percent, respectively) immediately after distribution. Pre-release traffic levels resumed day three.

The second press release cost $99. Fifty-six media outlets picked up the story and we observed a four-day spike in web visitors (290 percent, 270 percent, 207 percent, and 165 percent, respectively). Pre-release traffic levels resumed day five.

If your goal is to minimize cost and maximize website traffic and eyeballs, a lower-cost PR distribution service fits the bill.

If on the other hand your goal is to strictly create a news archive to boost credibility and SEO, then the free PR distribution services are perfectly acceptable.

PR case study lesson #2: Low-cost and no-cost are not binary options
Companies can expand their reach by issuing press releases over a combination of paid and free distribution services.

In this one example, the free services accounted for 34 percent of the total press release views. We would have missed this significant audience if we had ignored the free distribution services.

PR case study lesson #3: Don’t expect long-term results from one release
Like any form of advertising, a single press release will yield a short burst of traffic.

To maintain momentum, you will need an overall PR strategy that involves distributing multiple press releases over the course of many months.

Stay tuned for the conclusion of this case study on August 3rd. If you can’t wait until then, you can download a copy of the entire case study by following this link:

http://su.pr/1dlOoF

Sue Anderson-Lenz
Marketing Lure, Inc.

+++ Late-Breaking Update +++
Five weeks after this press release was issued, it continues to demonstrate sticking power with the search engines.

A Google search performed just 10 minutes ago lists this press release in the coveted #1 spot of Google’s organic search results. Moreover, the release listed is not from the paid PR service; it’s from one of the freebie PR services! Amazing.

“It’s too expensive.”

“I don’t see the value.”

“We don’t have anything newsworthy to write about.”

These are just a few of the comments I hear from clients when the subject of PR comes up. Most people still believe that press releases are only for large corporations with deep pockets. But it’s time to put away those antiquated notions and recognize that a press release program has a place in any size organization.

Press releases not only work to build company credibility (something you need especially when you’re starting out), they are a source of new website traffic, they help boost SEO rankings, and they can be a relatively cheap way to reach your target market. Yes, I said cheap, because I’m not talking about the big-three PR distribution services. I have found that you can have just as much success (sometimes more so) using a combination of low-cost and no-cost PR distribution services.

Without giving too much away, I wanted to share with you the results of a recent press release I did for one client. The primary goal of this particular release was to announce a new software version, but they also wanted me to weave into the story some tantalizing information about a new international partner. Pretty standard stuff.

I issued their press release through two of my freebie PR distribution favorites and one paid PR service, which cost just $99. I also embedded two videos in the press release distributed over the paid service: a software overview and video testimonial, and I pushed the press release out to several social networks, including Twitter, Facebook, and Digg.

In total, the press release generated eight Google News alerts and attracted more than 500 eyeballs over a 10-day period. As you can see from the chart below, the paid PR service outperformed the two freebie PR services by a factor of 2:1. The press release issued over the paid service was picked up by more than 56 online media sites, including Google News and channel behemoth ChannelWeb.

That’s great, but what effect, if any, did the press release have on website traffic?

You’ll have to wait until my next posting on July 20th. In the meantime, check out my story, “3 Tried-and-True Free Press Release Distribution Services,” to see three of my favorite freebie PR services.

Sue Anderson-Lenz
Marketing Lure, Inc.

After trying many free press release services, I’ve come to the conclusion that most are not worth the time and aggravation.

However, there are a few freebie PR sites that I consider a cheapskate marketer’s dream. Here are three of my favorites.

To make my list, turnaround time from submission to distribution had to be reasonable (24 hours or less), stories had to appear in Google (either Google News or Google Alerts), and the site had to support hyperlinks, keywords, basic editing capabilities, and social sharing.

Freebie Favorite PR Service #1: PRLog

PRLog attracts approximately one million visitors per month. In addition to hyperlinks and keywords, the site provides basic tracking and categorization of news stories.

For the most part, distribution is the same day. Stories issued through this site are picked up by Google News and pushed out via Google Alerts. In some cases, I observed multiple alerts in response to one press release.

Stories can be shared with 15 different social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

My favorite PRLog feature is the dedicated press room that you can brand with your logo and company details, and link to it from your own website. My press room is slightly out of date, but you can check it out here.

Freebie Favorite PR Service #2: PressReleasePoint

PressReleasePoint attracts about one-tenth the traffic when compared to PRLog. Stories are not indexed in Google News and you’ll have to pay for tracking, but the site supports hyperlinks, keywords, categories, and Google Alerts. Here again, I’ve seen multiple alerts for one press release.

Social sharing is integrated with 13 different sites, five which overlap with PRLog’s social list.

Visitors can view your company information and press releases on a single web page, but you don’t get a dedicated press room like you do with PRLog.

Freebie Favorite PR Service #3: PitchEngine

PitchEngine traffic is on par with PressReleasePoint. I like this site because distribution is truly instantaneous. Within minutes of pushing out a release, you’ll see it come through as a Google Alert.

You can share your releases with 10 of the more common social networking sites. Eight of these sites overlap with the social sites included on PRLog and PressReleasePoint.

Tracking is included, but press releases on this site expire after 30 days. To keep them on the site longer, you’ll have to upgrade to a paid subscription.

Let’s share. Which free PR services are your personal favorites and why?

Sue Anderson-Lenz
Marketing Lure, Inc.

Survey participants’ answers (163 in all) should serve as a wake-up call for anybody that does not believe writing errors can kill sales. As you’ll soon discover, people do care, and they will use writing to evaluate and judge a prospective company.

Download your copy of this free, 17-page report by clicking on the link below:

http://su.pr/1mlSG1

Thanks to everyone who participated in this survey and to my trusted reviewers that gave me feedback on early drafts.

Let me know if you have any comments or questions about the information contained in the report.

Sue Anderson-Lenz
Marketing Lure, Inc.

But the iPad may change that. We’ll be keeping an eye on it.

Meanwhile, aren’t you curious to see how your website renders on an iPad? I was. Pad Peek is an easy tool to help you do it. Just type in your URL and that’s it.

It’s not perfect though. Flash apparently works on this tool but it doesn’t work on the real iPad. If you’re using flash on your website and you want to know exactly what visitors will see there are a couple of technical hoops to jump through. Mashable gives instructions for what to do on this post.

Or you could just buy an iPad.

Having long ago paid my dues in a marketing world where we spent money – big money – based on the loudest (or highest paid) person’s opinion, I have learned to embrace any marketing tactic whose cost and contribution to sales I can measure. Pay-per-click advertising is as measurable as it comes. It is, in fact, as measurable as the closing efforts of your sales team.

2. Pay-Per-Click Is Highly Efficient

Assuming you’ve set your campaign up correctly, your pay-per-click ads on search engines appear right in front of people who are actively looking for you. At the moment they are thinking about it. When you have the very best chance of getting them to take action.

This saves you time and money for two reasons. One – you don’t have to waste effort grabbing someone’s attention away from whatever they’re doing. These people are already looking for you. You can jump right into the conversation. Two – because they’re looking for you they’re already a step or two – at least – into the buying process. You’re closer to the sale from the get go.

3. It Provides Nearly-Instant Feedback

Where other direct response marketing tactics – direct mail or print advertising – have a built-in lag factor between launch and response, reaction to pay-per-click advertising happens NOW. Depending on your market and the search volume it produces, you can know what’s working and what’s not working in a matter of hours. While others are waiting to see what works, you already know.

4. Pay-Per-Click is Cost Effective

Even with increasing online competition and the resulting increase in click costs, pay-per-click advertising can still deliver new leads and traffic to your website for a lower cost-per-conversion than any other marketing tactic I know of. That includes email marketing.

5. You Can Spend Even Less By Being Good

You’ve got to love a marketing medium that actually rewards you for being successful. Google, in particular, goes to great lengths to figure out which advertisers are getting the best response from its searchers and lets them pay a lower price for a higher ranking. Looked at from the other direction, if a PPC campaign is not performing in the eyes of Google, that advertiser will pay more than the competition for the same position on page one.

6. It’s Easy to get Better

Another benefit of the measurability of pay-per-click advertising is the ability to test pretty much everything. From keywords, to ads, to landing pages you can easily and consistently improve your results by constant testing.

7. It’s Controllable

Some marketing tactics require you to invest a lot of resources – both money and people – with no guarantees you’re going to get any leads or new business out of it. (Think trade shows). Not so with pay-per-click. The wise PPC marketer begins with a test campaign, tweaks that campaign to get the better and better results and learn while doing so; and then expands – or bails – accordingly.

Too Good to Be True?

Maybe. Pay-per-click advertising is awesome and good and delivers all of the fabulous benefits I mentioned above. But it ain’t perfect.  We’ll look at the downside in my next article.

Have you read our latest PPC report, Will Pay-Per-Click Advertising Work for Me? If not, go ahead and download your copy. It’s free.

I’m wrapping up results which will be published by the end of this week. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek to whet your appetite.

First, some context.

In total, 163 people took my survey.

My target demographic was business professionals, which I found through press releases, blog posts, and social networking groups on LinkedIn, CIO.com, and BizSugar, to name a few.

The majority of respondents came from the U.S., although bit.ly tells me the survey reached folks in 16+ countries (and I can personally track some respondents back to their homes in Canada, Australia, and India).

So what did 163 business professionals say when asked if they have ever factored writing errors into a decision to NOT do business with a company?

It seems unlikely — almost crazy — that someone would dismiss a prospective company because of writing errors on their website or in company literature, right?

Well, check out the chart below:

The overwhelming majority of people that responded to this survey admit they have indeed written off a company — in part because of writing snafus. Ouch.

On April 20th, I’ll post the entire survey results in this blog. If you can’t wait until then, drop me an e-mail and I’ll let you know when the report is published on my website.

Two weeks should give you plenty of time to proofread your marketing material.

Sue Anderson-Lenz
Marketing Lure, Inc.

This isn’t a slam against anyone not understanding pay-per-click advertising. If anything, I’m outing myself for being guilty of using jargon, that’s not the point of this article. The point is: A lot of people don’t know what pay-per-click advertising is. Some of them are reading this blog.

So I’m going to take the time to talk about it. Mainly so I’ll have a place to send someone the next time they ask me what paperclip advertising is. I don’t know how to make it interesting so I’ll make it short.

If you’re reading this bog, chances are good you’ve used a search engine plenty of times yourself. You type a phrase into a box, click Search, and wait a few seconds for the results page to appear.

What you may not realize is the results page shows you two different types of listings.

The listings in the center of the page are organic (also called natural and / or non-paid) listings. These are descriptions of web pages the search engine thinks are relevant to your search term, and the order of the listing is based on a complex and well-guarded algorithm known in its entirety to very few.

The listings in the right column and sometimes at the top of the search results page are actually paid listings – often called sponsored links. The advertiser pays a fee every time someone clicks on the link. This is “pay-per-click advertising”.

You also see pay-per-click ads on websites and blogs – often below or above a heading that says “Ads by Google”. These can be text ads much like you see on a search engine:

Or display ads like this one:

And that is pay-per-click advertising. Thank you for sticking with me.

Oh. Pay-per-click advertising is also called PPC advertising. Don’t let it fool you.

A recent Adweek Media / Harris poll found 48% of Americans think a male voice is more forceful and 46% believe a female voice is more soothing; but 69% say so what – neither is more likely than the other to sell them a car or a computer. One less thing to worry about when creating those online videos. More info available at Harris Interactive.

Here’s a B2B Benchmark for Sales-to-Marketing Spend Ratio

Buried in a new report from DemandGen Report and sponsored by Marketo (called The New Revenue Engine) is an interesting factoid. Apparently most B2B companies spend three times more on sales than they do on marketing – and marketing contributes only 20% to 30% of the sales pipeline. Is marketing being underfunded? Marketo reveals it runs on a 1:1 ratio and its marketing efforts directly contribute 60% of the pipeline. Something to think about.