All posts about public relations

A Guide to Maximizing Paid, Owned, and Earned Media

by Gijs Nelissen on April 22nd, 2013

If you’re just getting started in the PR world, you have probably heard the terms paid, owned, and earned media, and you might be wondering what the heck they mean. Here’s a quick guide to what each type of media means and how you can maximize it for your PR efforts.

  • Paid media. Paid media is just that – media exposure that you pay for. You can leverage paid media in the form of banner ads, sponsored blog posts, event sponsorships, paid search, social media ads, automatic press release distribution,… the list goes on.
  • Owned media. Owned media includes all the media properties that you own and control. This includes your website, social media profiles, your blog, as well as any content you create. White papers, slide decks, infographics, and (online)press releases also count as owned media.
  • Earned media. Earned media happens when your customers talk about you, whether in the form of retweets, social shares, press mentions, blog posts, or old-fashioned word of mouth. It’s the hardest kind of attention to get, and arguably the most valuable, because you can’t buy it and you can’t create it for yourself.

How to maximize it ?

  • Paid media. Paid media is often very expensive, and if you aren’t careful, you can wind up spending a lot of money for minimal (or even negative!) return on investment. To make the most of your paid media buys, be very targeted with your spend – choose your audiences and publications carefully, put tracking mechanisms in place so you understand your cost per new lead, and most importantly, make sure you have a solid strategy in place to follow up with any leads you collect.
  • Owned media. There are two big advantages to owned media. First, you have complete control over the content. Second, it’s usually more cost-effective that other forms of media. Use your owned media presence to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Create helpful, high-quality content on a regular basis (a blog is one of the best and easiest ways to get started), and use both owned and paid media channels to distribute this content to your target audiences. If your content is truly valuable, it will also help you gain earned media.
  • Earned media: Leveraging earned media is actually pretty simple – do a great job with your owned and paid media properties, and the earned media will take care of itself. I said simple, not easy ! It takes time and resources to build a brand worth talking about, and you can’t rush it or force it. Start by investing in delighting your customers (underpromise, overdeliver). Build a reputation for solving problems and creating valuable resources, and over time, happy customers will evangelize your brand to their friends and colleagues, and ultimately impact your bottom line.

How do you leverage paid, owned, and earned media to help your business? How does that affect your PR strategy ?

by Gijs Nelissen
on April 22nd, 2013


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20 Ideas for PR on a Shoestring

by Robin Cangie on June 21st, 2012

When you’re trying to launch a company on a shoe string budget, dedicating money to so-called “soft” activities like PR can feel wasteful. As part of our 5-part series on the five things you must do before your startup

Think carefully about what’s important to you, and spend wisely. Here are 20 ways, some offbeat, some tried-and-true, to stretch your PR dollars further:

  1. Become a source for journalists at Help a Reporter Out.
  2. Learn to write, or find someone who can.
  3. Guest blog for relevant publications in your industry.
  4. Experiment with Facebook advertising – it’s a cheap way to get in front of lots of eyeballs.
  5. Tweet.
  6. Start your own blog with valuable, thought-leading content.
  7. Create social media press releases with rich media content.
  8. Attend local networking events in your field.
  9. Host your own networking event.
  10. Invest in some high quality images.
  11. Get business cards. Nice ones. Hand them out often.
  12. Submit to speak at industry events.
  13. Write a manifesto.
  14. Create and share interesting infographics.
  15. Create a press page on your website with relevant bios, photos, downloadable logos, and company information.
  16. Piggyback on larger events (there’s a reason so many bloggers covered the Facebook IPO).
  17. Use a social media monitoring service (Sprout Social is a great, inexpensive option for startups).
  18. Install Google Analytics on your site.
  19. Don’t overspend on press release distribution services.
  20. Last but certainly not least, tap your personal and professional networks.

Have you ever launched a startup on a shoestring? How did you decide when and where to spend your PR budget?

by Robin Cangie
on June 21st, 2012


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Seven Principles of Good PR

by Robin Cangie on April 16th, 2012

We all know that good PR is about more than writing press releases – it’s about providing value for your audience, building strong relationships, engaging your audience and telling the story of a brand.

That’s all well and good, but if you’re looking for lessons that are a little more specific, I recently came across a fantastic article that lays out the seven elements of good PR and why they matter. The article is written from an agency’s perspective, but the lessons apply to anyone in the business of public relations, from startups to mid-size businesses to multinational corporations.

Here they are: The 7 Elements of “Good” PR, according to the author:

  1. Good PR is telling the client what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear.  Good PR recognizes that the best “PR strategy” needs to be followed-up with the client’s good products/services or else it’s all a vain and wasted effort that harms everyone’s reputation.
  2. Good PR is not just about the over-glorified launch.  Good PR helps build and sustain a groundswell of brand support — incrementally changing consumer behaviors via a steady stream of relevant and candid communication to both “media” and “consumers.”
  3. Good PR celebrates the client’s customers in an inclusive, non-exploitive way.  And, good PR welcomes the input of “neutrals” and especially “critics,” and adapts strategy accordingly.
  4. Good PR is proactive in idea generation and responsive in a crisis.  Good PR finds the balance.
  5. Good PR is measurable.  (And yet also hard to measure, since most clients want to measure different things.)
  6. Good PR leverages pre-existing relationships with influential people — relationships built on trust and credibility earned over years of service.
  7. Good PR doesn’t need to know Larry Ellison or Kevin Rose or anyone in particular in the media, either.  Even though such relationships can come in handy, good PR almost always “gets ink” because a good story has been well-told to the right people.

That last sentence, “Good PR almost always ‘gets ink’ because a good story has been well-told to the right people,” really hits the nail on the head. We’ve made the same point many times at Prezly, mostly because it bears repeating: if your story isn’t creating meaning and value for the right people, no amount of spin or press attention will help you.

What do you think of this list? Is there anything you disagree with or any points you’d like to add?

by Robin Cangie
on April 16th, 2012


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PR Lessons Every Start-up Should Know

by Jesse Wynants on March 29th, 2012

If you’re struggling to get media attention for your start-up, thinking about hiring a PR firm, or both, check out this great post from The Daily Muse: What Every Start-up Should Know About PR.

We’ve distilled the four main lessons below:

1. Good PR Does Not Substitute for a Good Product

PR exists to build momentum. PR gets your name out there, letting you showcase what you’re doing well and driving awareness of your offering… PR is no substitute for having a great product. Nor is it a guarantee of sales, sign-ups, or funding—if anyone promises you otherwise, be wary!

The lesson: PR alone won’t catapult your company to instant success, but combined with a great product, it can dramatically widen your reach and help you gain momentum faster.

2. You Want the Press That’s Right for You

If you’re a new company trying to get users to sign-up for your services or download your app, the best press you can get is digital press. Think about it: It’s rare that someone is going to read the morning paper, see the name of your company, run to the computer, double-check the story to get the URL right, and go to your site. But if you’re featured in an online tech publication, readers will be able to click straight to your product home page—and that’s much more likely to translate to exactly the type of exposure you want.

The lesson: Know your audience, and know where they get their information. A story in the daily edition of the Wall Street Journal won’t help you much if your target audience gets all their news from Mashable.

3. It’s Better To Be Successful Than Sexy

Don’t try to be cool, try to be successful… More importantly, don’t use PR to try and be something you’re not.  If you built a tool that you thought was going to be the great new thing used by every social media enthusiast, but it turns out it’s actually better suited to be a super-functional internal tool for large companies? Awesome. Ditch the “we’re the next Facebook” angle, and shift your focus to getting your name in front of large, corporate audiences.

The lesson: Don’t get too attached to your own ideas about success (social media sensation vs. useful corporate tool, for example). Instead, let your company’s early successes guide you toward finding your niche.

4. Launch is a Crapshoot

It’s impossible to guess how many people will actually read about your product on launch day? Nobody. But that’s the way it is… With so many new companies, and only so many spots to get media coverage, it’s tough out there.

The lesson: If your launch isn’t as successful as you’d hoped, don’t let it get you down. Launch day alone won’t make or break your company. It’s how you create and sustain value after the launch that really matters.

What would you add to these tips?

by Jesse Wynants
on March 29th, 2012


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