eNewsletter Takes Off

I've worked, over the past few months, on rebooting the company email campaign. Prior to the reboot, we were sending out too many emails and not enough meaningful content. Our members were losing faith in our product and no longer wanted to hear what we were saying. The restructure planned followed two main philosophies:

1. provide content - give readers a reason to read. while we wanted to keep pushing our products, we needed to give them a reason to interact with us as well.

2. be reliable - establish a time frame of when emails go out and plan ahead to make sure there's enough time/opportunity to publicize all events.

3. follow through - make sure that we're doing the things that we tell people we're going to do. give our audience a reason to believe in our 'product' again.

So far things have worked out great. The first email went off on time and we saw a great return: 17% open rate and 29%(!) ctr. That's a huge jump from where we'd been in the past and from what I can tell, some pretty solid number as email marketing goes.

Take two. Our second email went out as planned but hasn't had the same response. This time we only had 13% opens and 17% ctr. How to account for the big change? The email went out three hours later than the last one. There weren't as many links. The bulk of the content was different, though some was the same. Would all those factors decrease the numbers that much?

It's all trial and error with a new campaign. We'll play with the details a bit before next month's edition and see where that puts us. Hopefully after 6 or so we should have a more solid sense of what our readers want to get, when they want to get it, and what will make them read on.

The Conversation Prism

Social Media. The next frontier of public relations. Er... The current frontier of public relations. Or, perhaps, the biggest part of public relations that pr pros are still trying to tackle. Brian Solis and JESS3 came up with this diagram that maps out social media: The Conversation Prism. A great resource for anyone looking to expand their social media positioning or checking how they stand.

Just when I thought I was starting to get it, this post shows me just how much I'm missing. And the big question remains: how to put it all together? If I'm on facebook and myspace 5x/day, updateing twitter every afternoon and evening, listening to pandora at work, getting google alerts first thing every morning, and using yahoo groups to organize my outside endeavors... where (and how!?) does it come together?

It would be impossible, (and futile), to utilize all of the tools available. This 'map' is a helpful visual in dividing them all up so you can not just what tools your using, but what 'color' tools you're hitting the most. My prism has a ton of blue and a smattering of red and green, but not much orange or yellow. It would seem to me that balance is the key, rather than total domination of one area but what a task finding the right colors and making sure they're all working together...

Help a Reporter

I came across this great resource while looking for PR resources on Facebook. Help a Reporter Out sends daily emails with queries and story ideas from reporters. It's completely hit or miss, but, I imagine, when it's 'hit' it's a quick and easy way to get your company in print.

So how does it work? It's a service much like that other one that connects PR people and journalists looking for sources, but this one is free. It used to be on Facebook, but grew too large for it. Once you subscribe, you receive about three (sometimes two, no more than four, ever) emails a day with reporter, editor and freelance writer queries, written so you can quickly and easily scan the topics for relevance.

If the topics do not apply to you or your clients, just hit delete. If they do, you may contact the reporter or editor directly, as instructed.

Note that Peter Shankman, the list facilitator, is very strict about helping out these reporters. Respond only if your information (or your client's info) is relevant and on target. If not, and you send non-relevant emails more than once, you'll get bumped off the list. Quickly. He's a big believer in good Karma, and he's also quite funny, and tends to also include a link to a fun site, or a funny story about his day in the emails. It's a nice refreshing change from the boring, non-funny emails we usually deal with.

Reporters can post queries at www.helpareporter.com/press, and sources can sign up at www.helpareporter.com - As I said, it's free. Peter asks that if you find it useful, then you make a donation to any animal rescue charity or animal hospital.

You can forward the queries to others who are a fit, but do not post any queries (or the editor/reporter contact info) on any blogs or public websites. I received permission from Peter to post this, since this is a private group and I'm helping to spread the word to both subscribers and media to sign up.

www.helpareporter.com - The more people who use it, the better it becomes.

Finding Blogs, cont.

A perfect compliment to the last post, I just found this article on finding the best blogs in a given field. (Thanks, unSpun). It's worth a read.

Ad and PR Blogs... how to choose

With so much out there to digest it's hard for someone just getting into the field to figure out what's most worthy of attention. Magazines, eNewsletters, blogs, eZines... content is non-stop. How do you choose?

As I'm working on structuring my own blog -- finding a voice and figuring out what unique message I have to say to the world -- I've been especially enjoying reading other people's blogs. I set up my own NetVibes page and now get a steady stream of Ad- and PR-related postings every day. Here's what I'm reading now:

The Steve Rubel Lifestream offers the most consistent and regular posting -- with short updates coming every few hours. The author has a blog too (Micro Persuasion) but I like the lifestram as it it's somewhat of an information tease... bits of news here and there to investigate as you will. Has been a great resource for discovering new blogs, websites, and hot articles.

PR Squared is Todd Defran's comments on social media marketing. Consistent lengthy posts that get you thinking. Bonus: his firm Shift Communications, has an employee blog (unSpun) that covers a hodge podge of thoughts from Shift professionals.

Gaping Void Hugh MacLeod draws cartoons on the back of business cards and comments on his life and the media. He's the mind behind Microsoft's Blue Monster, the corp's new mascot for their new PR plan to tell their own story instead of letting their competitors and the media do it for them.

Adverganza. Just found this one (thanks, SRL). Comments on advertising industry. Haven't had much time to look into it but so far it seems good.

Forward Blog is targeted at young PR and Advertising professionals. Archived posts on interviewing, job hunting, and PR basics. Regular podcasts with a similar focus.

What are you reading?

Keeping Busy When it's Slow

How important is keeping busy in an entry-level position? I love a fast paced, constantly moving, never-ending workload environment. I love being busy and knowing that the day will so filled with work that I won’t know how the clock reached 5pm when I’ve barely had time to look up. I love the responsibility of it all – feeling an integral part of the big picture because –even if the tasks are small – project completion relies on all aspects being completed.

Lately I have not been busy. There’s been no press to announce and the bulk of my large yearly project is completed. There are details to coordinate and deadlines to meet but they take up a very small part of the day leaving me with large periods of undirected time. Understanding that I need projects to keep myself sane and happy I’ve begun my own pet projects – developing our (once non-existent) social media presence, blogging, helping to restructure our website and updating our meta tags (SEO). My company allows me a great deal of freedom to develop these areas so it’s been fun exploring ways to make ourselves stronger in areas where we were recently no present.

Still, I wonder how much I need to balance this work with the small assigned tasks I’m expected to complete. Does keeping up with PR blogs and researching new social media outlets look like I’m just messing around online? Reaching out to my boss has been only moderately helpful. Instructed to enjoy the break b/c busier times would come led me to create my own projects. But at least a month later I still am dragging so what I keep wondering is, “What, exactly is expected of an entry-level PR professional with no press to occupy her time?”

Things to Love about PR

There is a mild buzz of Valentine spirit in the office and chocolates being passed around. In honor of the "holiday" I give you:

Things I love about public relations:
1. Media. I love that my job necessitates me keeping up with the latest media developments, reading blogs, searching the internet, and skimming magazines.
2. Netvibes. A new discovery (thank you, PR Newswire seminar) that collects RSS feed from blogs and sites of my choice. An oh-so-easy way to keep up with non-stop news feeds.
3. Writing. As a former English major and lover of the written word, what more could I ask from a job than to be required to write, write, write all day long.
4. Creativity. For pitching stories, promoting clients, and generating excitement for a product. There's always a newer, better, smarter way to tell the story. You just have to be creative enough.
5. Dress. Representing yourself, your firm, and your client, dressing well is a requirement of the job. If you're a clothes-lover like me, being expected to look great is a great added bonus.
6. People. Communicating with people -- clients, press, your audience -- is a integral part of the job. A great story or unique product won't get you anywhere if you can't express it.
7. Facebook, myspace, linkedin. Exploring how people present themselves in this unique forum. Watching as the platform evolves from personal to professional to...

What do you love about the industry? What are the best parts of your job?