Recently, Cibao Meat Products hit that exact wall. They had a beautifully customized WordPress site that had served them well for years. But as their e-commerce goals grew and their audience evolved, the cracks started to show. With an outdated look and lack of modern functionality, their site was holding them back.  

We stepped in to spearhead a complete digital transformation: migrating them entirely to Shopify, adding tools to give them significantly stronger ecommerce functionality, improved the site’s appearance with fresh, high-impact visuals and content, and making the entire shopping experience fully bilingual. 

Keep reading to discover what we accomplished that most ecommerce store projects miss, and how we transformed their website from digital brochure into a revenue machine.

We made several strategic changes to improve Cibao’s bottom line 

• Moved the website to Shopify. WordPress is an incredible content platform, but running a busy e-commerce store on it requires multiple third-party plugins. By migrating Cibao Meat Products to Shopify, we gave them a dedicated, rock-solid e-commerce platform that is fast, and optimized to convert visitors to buyers. 
• Created a custom store locator that drives foot traffic. Cibao’s products live on shelves across the country, not just in the online cart. We built a custom store locator so shoppers can instantly find the nearest retailer carrying El Ñañito, Induveca, Campesino and the rest, turning brand awareness into real-world sales while also supporting Cibao’s  retail partners.
• Cold-chain shipping built for a perishable product. Selling meat online is a logistics problem, not just an e-commerce one. We stood up a full fulfillment pipeline — carrier-integrated shipping, automated label generation, and insulated cooler packaging — so every order ships fresh via FedEx and arrives the way it should. This is the piece most “just build me a store” projects get wrong.
• Email marketing that works around the clock. We didn’t just launch a store and walk away. New visitors are welcomed with an automated sign-up offer that captures their email and earns the first order. Past and repeat customers get re-engagement messaging that brings them back. It’s a lifecycle email engine that keeps working long after the customer closes the tab.
• SEO rebuilt from the ground up for Shopify. Migrating platforms is where most sites quietly tank their search rankings. We handled the SEO migration deliberately — page-level optimization, image alt text and clean technical set up — so Cibao kept the equity they’d earned. They are now set up to climb above this threshold.
• Automated reviews that build trust on autopilot. Once an order is delivered, the system automatically waits, then invites the customer to leave a Google review. This compounds social proof with zero manual effort from the Cibao team.
• Going bilingual without the coding headaches. Cibao Meats needed to seamlessly serve both English- and Spanish-speaking audiences. In the past, managing a bilingual site meant duplicate pages, messy subdomains or heavy localization software that slowed performance. Using Shopify’s native multi-language features, we built a streamlined, bilingual storefront. Visitors can instantly toggle to their preferred language. 
• Clean, crisp visuals and modernized brand storytelling. The old site’s visuals and content served them well for years, but needed a fresh approach. The new graphics are bright and inviting; the revised content creates desire among visitors; and update site navigation makes it incredibly easy for customers to find exactly what they need. 

The result? A site that no longer just looks good. It sells. Orders now flow in daily, get packed in insulated coolers and ship nationwide. 

Cibao’s website went from a digital brochure to a working revenue engine.

The desire for cleaner, faster and more functional sites is at an all-time high

We are seeing a massive wave of businesses of all sizes and industries asking for site refresh. If you are tired of fighting your website and ready to build an engine that scales, let’s talk. Our phone number is 952-697-5269.

The post Website modernization enables major strategic advantages appeared first on Publicity.com.

Another aha? That digital content AI helps you generate? AI search engines recognize it as AI. They aren’t likely to prioritize it as high as original content that may not be as polished but sounds more real.

Producers, editors, reporters, podcasters and content creators can often recognize an AI-generated pitch almost immediately. They receive hundreds of them every week. What earns their attention isn’t perfectly structured content. It’s a compelling story, thoughtful positioning and evidence that someone understands what matters to their audience. Human judgment, empathy and authentic storytelling still matter.

Our best advice? Don’t feel like you must choose between AI and experienced public relations professionals. The most successful campaigns combine both.

Experience gives you the edge. AI gives you the speed and data.

Media Relations Agency’s team has spent decades arranging thousands of media stories. That experience can’t be replicated by an algorithm. It gives us the ability to:

• Recognize what makes a story genuinely newsworthy.
• Understand what motivates individual journalists and how to make their jobs easier.
• Position stories for maximum media interest and audience impact.
• Collaborate with reporters to strengthen stories before they’re published.
• Anticipate objections and identify opportunities that less experienced teams often miss.

And, we amplify our expertise with our customized AI tools that enable us to work faster and smarter without sacrificing quality.

Our customized AI tools help us:

• Accelerate research, fact checking and media preparation so your story reaches the right people while it’s still timely.
• Identify emerging trends and uncover opportunities to differentiate your brand.
• Analyze which topics, headlines and pitches are generating the strongest response.
• Refine messaging based on real-world data.
• Streamline repetitive tasks so our team spends more time building relationships, developing strategy and securing coverage.

The result is a significant competitive advantage for our clients.

Instead of relying solely on technology or solely on traditional public relations, you benefit from the best of both worlds: decades of media expertise enhanced by intelligent AI. Your campaigns move faster. Your stories become more compelling. Your brand earns greater visibility, stronger credibility and more meaningful media coverage.

Technology continues to evolve. Human trust still drives media coverage. By combining proven public relations expertise with purpose-built AI tools, Media Relations Agency helps you capitalize on both. To understand more about how we use AI, watch this video short. 

Then, let’s get started. Use this link to speak with a publicist or call us at 952-697-5269. 

The post One of the biggest irony of earning media coverage in the age of AI appeared first on Publicity.com.

Most growth-focused companies are drowning in data but starving for direction. Every month, their tech-heavy “plug and play” agencies deliver a 20-page PDF report or a link to a colorful dashboard. The executive team looks at the charts, everyone nods, and then someone asks the one question the dashboard can’t answer: “So, what do we do next?”

If your marketing data isn’t instantly translating into execution, you don’t have a marketing system. You just have expensive charts.

The shift from vanity metrics to actionable intelligence

Media Relations Agency is changing how data is used. We take the data feeds you already have — your e-commerce store, email platform, social channels and SEO rankings — and feed them directly into our AI engines (such as our highly customized Google Gems).

The result: Data that is translated into an actionable to-do list.

We bypass the interpretation phase and get straight to momentum. For example:

Dashboard says: “Email open rates dropped by 14% this week.”

Action List says: “Rewrite next week’s subject lines focusing on primary value points. Assign to copywriting team.”

Dashboard says: “Organic traffic to the manufacturing services page is up 20%.”

Action List says: “Pitch a story about this manufacturing trend to industry trade media. Assign to Publicist.”

Co-managed execution: one list, one unified team

This isn’t just about us working faster. It’s about total alignment.

When data is used to create an actionable to-do list, it gives us a shared playbook. Often, these tasks are co-managed. Our specialized team might handle the high-level PR pitching and digital ad scaling, while your internal marketing staff knocks out the localized social posts or sales follow ups.

There is no confusion. No disjointed vendor campaigns. Just the SAM 6® process in action: bringing structure to your messaging and executing it flawlessly across the right channels.

Technology and AI are incredible tools, but they are just the paintbrush. The person holding the brush brings the value. By turning data into prioritized execution, we ensure that every dollar you spend is aimed directly at your bottom line.

Stop paying to look at charts. Start building scalable growth.

If you are frustrated by looking at dashboards and wondering what to do next, it’s time to re-assess your foundation.

Let’s look under the hood. Request a Visibility & Growth Assessment with one of our certified marketing pros. We’ll look at your current data, run it through our SAM 6 framework, and show you exactly what an actionable growth list looks like for your business.

Book your assessment by calling 952-697-5269 or completing this form.

The post Why AI-driven action lists are replacing dashboards and marketing reports appeared first on Publicity.com.

If you’re tired of watching big chains and even some of your local, small business competitors scoop up your customers, it is time to change the game.

The reality is that you don’t need a huge budget to get noticed. You just need to know exactly where to strike and what to say. 

Five signs you may be self-sabotaging your own visibility

• Your Google Business Profile hasn’t been updated in years. No recent photos. No new reviews. Google’s algorithm prioritizes active, fresh entries. If your profile looks dormant, Google may push you down the map rankings. 
• Your messaging is too vague. Shoppers have short attention spans. Someone unfamiliar with your business should be able to figure out what you do, and what makes you unique, within a few seconds. Otherwise, they’ll move on to the next option. 
• You’re playing social media roulette. You may post furiously on Instagram for two weeks, get busy, post nothing for two months, and then buy a random Facebook ad hoping for a miracle. This lack of consistency destroys momentum. 
• You’re pouring water into a leaky bucket without realizing where the holes are. You know you need more customers, but you don’t know which specific marketing gaps are actually turning people away, or how to fix them. A flashy TikTok ad campaign may not be working, for example, because you’re unaware of your broken Google map listing or your website doesn’t load properly on mobile. 

Here’s the cost-effective solution 

Media Relations Agency’s certified marketing professionals have many decades of experience turning local underdogs into hometown heroes. We have a solid marketing foundation. 

We don’t guess what your business needs. We’ve developed highly specialized, data-driven AI tools to audit your brand’s visibility and identify the exact actions steps needed for growth. And we have all the talent necessary to then help you boost your visibility and become more competitive. 

Here’s how we can help: 

• We’ll thoroughly analyze your current visibility status. We dive deep into everywhere your business lives online, from local search rankings and social profiles to review platforms. We see what your customers see (and what they are missing).

• We’ll assess your messaging clarity. Is your core value proposition getting lost in translation? We ensure that when a local prospect sees your content, they will know exactly why they should choose you over anyone else.
• We’ll find the profitable marketing gaps your local competitors have left wide open. This is where your business can step in and dominate. 

Keep it simple 

You don’t have the time or budget for endless strategy meetings. There’s no room in your marketing for fluff. That’s why our goal is to give you a clear, actionable roadmap. We’ll identify which leaks to plug first, and how to maximize every single dollar you invest. 

Stop being your town’s best-kept secret. Put us to work on your behalf. Let’s show your community exactly what they’ve been missing. Reach out to us today at 952-697-5269 or complete this form, so we can help you claim your spot at the top of your local market. 

The post Buy local Is booming: How to get noticed without a big marketing budget appeared first on Publicity.com.

Zero-click rates are spiking 

Management consulting firm Bain & Company recently published a study¹ showing that when Google drops an AI summary at the top of a search page, zero-click rates spike, with 80% of users relying on the AI summary at least 40% of the time. SEO software platform Semrush stated², “The goal is no longer just ranking for clicks. It’s to become the trusted source that powers Google’s answer.”

Essentially, Google is answering a prospect’s questions before they ever have a chance to click through to a company’s website. 

Google is actively tuning out low-value content 

If your marketing strategy relies heavily on traditional SEO or keyword-stuffed blogging to stand out against competitors, that pipeline may be closing. This isn’t a visibility crisis. It’s a shift in where that visibility happens. 

You don’t need to fight the AI; you need to dictate what it says.

The engines powering AI don’t invent content out of thin air. They scrape, synthesize and cite third-party sources. If a brand isn’t being actively written about by trusted journalists and industry authorities, it effectively doesn’t exist to the algorithm.

That is where Media Relations Agency’s team comes in. We can help you build a business footprint that AI engines are forced to recommend. 

• We shape executive insights into tight, hyper-specific sound bites. Google is now embedding clickable source links directly inside its AI summaries. We can take steps to help ensure your content is what it clips, credits and links back to.
• Our certified marketing pros will correctly position your expertise. Journalists and search engines are drowning in bot-written content. The only thing moving the needle right now is first-party information. We package your PR and digital content in ways that human editors actually want to cover and AI models want to cite.
• We arrange high-quality media coverage. AI models treat established media outlets as their ultimate truth sources. We help secure media placements designed to feed directly into primary AI answers. 
• We use an integrated marketing model. While media coverage is essential, your website and digital presence should also be workhorses for information, leads and sales. Our customized AI tools enable us to identify and fill digital marketing gaps to help you achieve market dominance. We built our AI tools using the knowledge and experience we’ve gained over nearly 40 decades, collaborating with thousands of clients.  

AI is telling buyers who to trust. 

We want to make sure your brand is the answer.

If you want to see exactly what ChatGPT, Google AI and others are currently telling buyers about your company versus your top competitors, click here or just call us directly at 952-697-5269. Let’s correctly identify your starting point and find immediate opportunities, then build a realistic plan for dominating this new marketing paradigm. 

1. https://www.bain.com/insights/goodbye-clicks-hello-ai-zero-click-search-redefines-marketing/
2. https://www.semrush.com/blog/semrush-ai-overviews-study/

The post How to tackle the ‘zero click’ crisis appeared first on Publicity.com.

When experienced marketers apply strategic thinking, industry knowledge and creative insight to AI, they can train it to uncover opportunities, sharpen messaging and identify strategies that help brands outperform the competition. 

Welcome to Media Relations Agency’s new era of strategic marketing! 

We’ve been marketing industry pioneers from the time our agency first opened its doors nearly 40 years ago. And we’ve never stopped innovating. Now, our tech-savvy certified marketing pros have developed an AI marketing tool like none other.

It’s designed to power business growth. 

First, we taught AI how to apply our Strategically Aimed Marketing (SAM 6®) system. This six-step system is the foundation of all good marketing. It’s based on our decades of experience helping thousands of clients tell their stories. SAM 6 is a workhorse! 

Then we figured out a way for AI to analyze how well a business is currently performing in the marketplace compared with top competitors, identify lead-generating opportunities, and create specific tasks to capitalize on those opportunities. 

Sorry, AI can’t do it all. Capability ≠ execution. 

You still need smart people to execute those tasks. You need insightful marketing strategists who know how to best apply your budget to AI’s wish list so you get the most from each spend. You need publicists to pitch and coordinate media stories; web designers to create hard-working sites and landing pages; graphic artists; video marketers, content marketing writers; etc. 

Our clients appreciate that Media Relations Agency is a full-service agency, with all those skills readily available to them. While most clients do not need them all at once; every member of our talented team is here when needed. 

Intrigued? 
Request a competitive analysis for your business by calling us at 952-697-5269 or completing this form. You’ll be impressed.

The post How is AI for marketing like a paintbrush?  appeared first on Publicity.com.

Media Relations Agency’s certified marketing pros are ready to help deploy smart, AI-savvy strategies that turn AI search disruption into a strong revenue driver.

AI is rewriting the marketing rulebook 

Content is no longer merely competing for clicks. It is fighting to become the definitive source material for AI answers. Google and other AI giants are filtering out noise. They are tightening enforcement against manipulation and prioritizing content from established publishers, expert sites and recognized authorities. If your digital footprint looks thin, AI may simply erase you from the conversation.

To win, your brand must broadcast undeniable trust signals. The AI algorithms are actively hunting for:

• Deep expertise: Proving you actually know your stuff
• High-value citations: What other trusted authorities say about you
• Consistency: A unified message across the web
• Strong website reputation: Flawless technical and editorial standards
• Structured content organization: Making it easy for AI to crawl and determine your content is the answer.

Your AI action plan

Wait and see isn’t a strategy. To help ensure buyers choose your business, products or services, execute three critical moves immediately:

• Command the news cycle: Publicity remains the ultimate gold standard for trust. When media stories talk about you, AI listens.
• Establish your thought leadership: Position your business, or its executives, as the definitive voice shaping your industry’s opinions. If you aren’t leading the narrative, a competitor will.
• Purge the hype, build authority: The era of blatant self-promotion is dead. AI penalizes fluff. Your website and social channels must pivot from “salesy” to “authoritative”. Offer the objective value that AI algorithms crave.

Don’t be passive and let AI phase your business out of the market 

Let’s audit your digital authority today and ensure your brand is the one AI recommends tomorrow. Contact us at 952-697-5269 or or use this link to schedule a call with Marketing Strategy Expert, Matt Hentges about your content needs. 

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It’s also a powerful example of how consistent media coverage of an annual event builds familiarity, trust and anticipation. The publicity we’ve arranged has helped grow participation in the event and strengthened community support with each passing year. 

Consistent promotion = compounding results  

But first, a little back story …

Our marketing support for Kids ‘n Kinship began when I joined its board in 2009. Since that time, Media Relations Agency has been honored to arrange local media coverage for all of the organization’s major fundraising events including Rick Anderson’s annual bike sale. 

For 17 years, Anderson has worked tirelessly to make this bike sale a reality. It’s an ambitious project benefitting Kids ‘n Kinship and DART, a nonprofit that provides resources to older adults and their caregivers. 

People donate their gently used bikes, Anderson and his team of hard-working volunteers donate endless hours to fix and ready the bikes for the sale, and community members are able to get an amazing deal on bikes just in time for spring. Garages are cleared of unused or outgrown bikes, riders pick up a refurbished ready-to-ride bike for a fraction of original retail cost, and two local nonprofit organizations receive generous donations to assist individuals across an intergenerational spectrum. 

For one day, this is the biggest bike shop in the world with more than 500 bikes available for purchase.

Media coverage has built significant awareness and support 

Year after year, we’ve consistently secured local media coverage for Rick’s Bike Sale. These include stories on network TV affiliates such as CBS and NBC; as well as features in regional newspapers. 

The results are staggering, with record-breaking results for 17 years straight! 

• In 2009, when Media Relations Agency promoted the very first Rick’s Bike Sale, the event raised $1,728. The momentum was just gearing up. 
• By 2015, local individuals and organizations had taken notice and were partnering with Anderson on this event. That year, bike sales climbed to $21,665. 
• In 2026, Rick’s Bike Sale generated in excess of $61,000 in sales, for a 17-year cumulative total of more than $688,000. 

The event’s success reflects the extraordinary dedication of its volunteers. We feel fortunate that we can help this very deserving organization by arranging publicity for this incredible annual feat. With hundreds of thousands of impressions, consistent media coverage undeniably amplified awareness, expanded community support and continues to help drive year-over-year record-breaking results.

Great events rarely happen overnight 

In marketing, momentum matters if you want to create opportunities for increasingly stronger results. Do you need to draw more attention to an event? Call us at 952-697-5269 or use this link to schedule a time to talk with one of our publicists.  

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The post Media coverage helps annual fundraiser get record-breaking results for 17 years in a row appeared first on Publicity.com.

Teams will spend weeks debating a LinkedIn campaign or an email sequence. By the time it launches, the opportunity has passed.

Marketing is the shortest, fastest, least expensive and most direct route to a lead, a sale and a brand. You cannot travel that route if you are standing still.

Media Relations Agency operates on a simple, slightly provocative principle: Err on the side of doing it. Post the content. Run the ad. Send the email. Pitch the story to the media. Bias your team toward aggressive execution, but only if you can answer “yes” to these two non-negotiable rules.

Rule #1: Are you protecting your brand? 

A brand isn’t a logo or a color palette. A brand is the definition people hold in their minds of your company and the products (or services) it offers. That definition is built by what you tell people and by what they experience.

Moving fast is only an advantage if you are moving in the right direction. Before any activity launches, it must align with your established messaging framework. In our Strategically Aimed Marketing (SAM 6®) process, this is governed by Step 2: Code. By using Code Sheets, you document foundational elements such as your Primary Value Points and Positioning. Code Sheets help ensure that your messages are consistently focused for the best possible response.

If your ad, post or pitch protects your brand by strictly adhering to your SAM 6 Code Sheets, push the button.

Rule #2: Are you measuring the activity?

The second rule of fast execution is accountability. You cannot execute quickly if you are flying blindly.

Before you launch a marketing activity, you must have a mechanism in place to measure its impact on revenue. We aren’t talking about vanity metrics such as “likes” or “impressions”. We are talking about true business signals: Leads. Sales calls. Inbound inquiries.

Competent marketers routinely analyze the effectiveness of promotions. Reviewing and analyzing your promotions will help continually improve your calendar. If an activity generates leads, scale it. If it falls flat, kill it and move on. Because you are biased toward action, you learn quickly and don’t waste weeks theorizing in a boardroom.

Stop staring at the whiteboard

A stagnant marketing department costs you market share every single day. If you have the right structure in place to protect your brand and measure your outcomes, your only remaining job is to execute.If your marketing feels slow, disconnected or stuck in committee, you have a structural problem. Book your Media Relations Agency’s Visibility & Growth Assessment today by calling 952-697-5269 or completing this form. We will help you build an integrated marketing engine that executes fearlessly.

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The post Why perfect marketing is killing your momentum appeared first on Publicity.com.

Get to know these emerging marketing technologies

• AGENTIC AI: This technology does more than just list options; it evaluates them and helps users complete the purchase. Instead of just information retrieval, it orchestrates decisions. 
• Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): GEO focuses on making your brand visible within AI-generated responses, not just in search rankings. 

Let’s get real. You may be undermining your results.  

If your marketing relies heavily on AI-generated content, you’re stepping into risky territory. As AI reshapes how people discover and decide, it’s rewarding credibility not volume. And credibility comes from proof, not polished, machine-written copy.

That’s why interest in media coverage is surging. And it’s why authentic, unscripted company videos are outperforming scripted perfection. 

Third-party validation is no longer a “nice to have”. It’s the signal AI looks for before it trusts, ranks or recommends you. AI isn’t just scanning your content. It’s asking: Are real people behind this? Do others vouch for it?

If the answer isn’t clear, you may be filtered out at the exact moment decisions are made.

AI is an engine, not a strategy. 

Your competitive advantage comes from pairing AI with the right marketing professionals for insights and execution. Media Relations Agency clients benefit from our decades of securing tens of thousands of media stories, and producing results-driven websites, videos, digital advertising and content. 

As marketing tools evolve, it’s essential to trust them in the hands of experienced pros who instinctively know how to make them work to your advantage. 

We can help you use AI to stay competitive. Schedule a call with us using this link or call us at 952-697-5269.

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The post On our radar: Attract more buyers with AGENTIC AI and GEO appeared first on Publicity.com.