Select An Author and Complete the Article

Once you’ve been accepted, select your author (usually the president or other senior executive) and write the complete article, customized for the publication’s audience.

Once you’ve had your first article published, you can reap the rewards. PR has a momentum effect—once you’ve appeared in one publication, you’re likely to get picked up by others, and possibly be asked to become a columnist for future issues.

METRICS

# of articles pitched # of articles published

Press releases are one of the inputs to public relations. They’re a good way to boost SEO efforts and provide a regular stream of news for your audience. You can announce new products, projects, and clients, spread the word about upcoming speaking engagements or trade show appearances, and publicize other company successes. Press releases can be sent to the editors of trade publications to spark their interest and keep them apprised of progress.

Here are a few practical tips on effectively generating and distributing press releases:

1. Write a powerful headline. Editors have only seconds to look at a press release—if the headline doesn’t grab them, they won’t bother to read the rest. A good headline states the product/service and explains what is important about it (i.e. new release, major upgrade, etc). Be specific.

2. Remember the basics. Every press release should include the product/service name and its version number;

the name, street address, phone number, and website of your company; all contact information for the person in charge of media relations; a secondary contact name and information; and the date of the product/service’s availability.

3. Focus on user benefits. Your press release should tell readers and editors why your product or service deserves their attention. Make sure it answers, “What will this product/service do for me?” Emphasize the benefits

LiSa SHePHerd

that readers will receive, not the features you can boast about.

4. Use bullet points. Readers (and especially editors) have to digest a lot of information quickly, and bullet point lists help them absorb data faster.

5. Keep it short. A standard press release is no more than two pages.

6. Have a standard company description. Create a single, benefit-focused paragraph that describes what your company actually does. For example, instead of:

“SecuriCo is a leading private security company”, try:

“SecuriCo provides professional, private security solutions that help industrial companies protect their properties”. If an editor doesn’t know what your company does by the first sentence, they’re not interested.

7. Keep it time-sensitive. Before issuing a press release for a product announcement, ensure that your company will be able to offer the product/service within the identified timeline. If you’re unsure, don’t send it out—a press release that promises something you can’t deliver leaves a terrible impression.

8. Post your press releases. They can be posted very cost-effectively on sites like PRWeb, and of course, on your company’s website. If you do this, make sure that you put news up regularly—there’s nothing worse than visiting a website and seeing their last news update was in 2009.

9. Send to publications. Send press releases to relevant trade publications or directly to the editors of online sources. Make sure to follow up with a phone call—the

human touch goes a long way. See Chapter 27 on articles for more tips.

10. Share across relevant social media channels. Get your news out to your target market through your LinkedIn network, LinkedIn Groups, Twitter, industry blogs, Google+, and Facebook (if appropriate for your industry).

METRICS

# of press releases developed # of media mentions and features

Chapter 29—Corporate Identity (some call it “brand”—mistakenly)

The words “brand” and “branding” are hot in the B2B world these days. Traditionally, it was consumer companies that focused on brand. But the appreciation of the value of a brand has crossed into B2B.

The challenge for many companies is to understand exactly what branding is. Simply put, your company’s brand is its reputation. It’s how customers see you—the perception they have of the company. And that perception comes from many different sources—through customers’ interactions with sales reps, their use of your product, their dealings with your technical support team, etc. Brand is much bigger than any single business function—it’s more than marketing, it’s more than customer service, more than research and development.

For that reason, I will leave the full discussion of B2B branding to other books. What I want to tackle here is corporate identity, which is the visual representation of your business, mainly your logo and communications design. It’s the identity on your website, business card, and trade show booth.

There’s a wide spectrum of B2B logos on the market. I’ve seen some created by world-class designers, and I’ve seen some designed by the fourteen-year old nephew of the company’s CEO. Ultimately, a logo is not going to make or break a B2B company. For companies starting out, use one of the services like www.99designs.com to get a solid design at a great price.

If your company has a logo that was designed a long time ago, it may have strong brand equity and should be changed

with care. Minor tweaks are fine, but make sure it can still be recognized by your older customers.

On the other hand, there are many companies that have logos so poorly designed and outdated that even the CEO admits it’s embarrassing. If this is the case, it’s time for an update.

This kind of project gives you an opportunity to engage with customers and employees as part of the re-design and launch process. It can be a valuable opportunity to provide company updates on progress and initiatives.

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