What’s the one thing that any PR professional absolutely needs to have to be successful? If you ask me – it’s the ability to write well. Almost everything we do as PR professionals centers on writing. Which is why I was rather surprised to read in a blog titled 2012 PR Prediction: 5 guaranteed (ways) to affect your resume, which implies that the ability to write is overblown.

In bullet point No. 1: PR skills will move beyond media relations, an excerpt from the blog says:

While a press release does not necessarily need to be well-written, a PR professional must now be able to ghost author a blog in a CEO’s tone and style. (more…)

Steve Staedler | Post a Comment

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The website socialmediab2b.com lists its 12 B2B social media predictions for 2012. No. 3 on the list: social media lead generation taken seriously – is a prediction that I like. It contends that more companies will launch programs to generate leads through their social media campaigns, and that the results will make it easier for C-Suite executives to take social media more seriously. I fully agree with that prediction, but it’s a year too late. (more…)

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Now this is an interesting story. The Department of Defense has begun engaging the Taliban on Twitter in a sort of Q&A over the war in Afghanistan. For years terror organizations have used social media sites to spread its message to sympathizers. I think it’s fascinating to follow this back and forth dialogue to see what each side is saying. Will much come from this? Who knows, but at least it’s creating some sort of conversation, and that’s what social media does best.

Steve Staedler | Post a Comment

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There is a great deal of discussion about social media’s place in B2B marketing. Although collecting a group of Facebook likes is nice, it is easy to wonder what they are truly worth. Companies are often quick to judge the success or failure of a social media campaign based on measureable ROI. While analytics such as likes, links, conversations and leads is relatively easy to measure on a social media campaign, placing a value on them is much more challenging.

The truth is, if your social media campaign is well managed, over time it can produce highly qualified leads. To accomplish this, your program needs to do two things: provide value and encourage feedback. (more…)

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I just wrote a news release for a client that’s 113 words long. Clearly that’s too short – right? Or is it? Granted, it’s lean, but after reading it a second and third time (which is always good advice), the release is sound and ready for review.

It’s important to keep in mind that when writing for a B2B audience, news releases should be fairly straight forward, non-promotional and to the point. Readers and editors alike are looking for facts: what makes the product different from others; performance specifications; how it works, etc. Leave the fluff, and flowery adjectives behind – nobody cares about those things. That about sums it up – in exactly 113 words.

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The financial lifeblood of most magazines, consumer or trade, is advertising. Magazines need them to help pay the bills, and advertisers need them to communicate to their target audiences. But not all ads are made the same.

The goal of an effective ad is to relay a single message. If the message is received by the intended audience – the ad did its job. But if eye balls glance over it and the page is turned, then the advertiser just wasted its money. So what exactly goes into making a business-to-business avertisement effective, and thus prevent the page from being turned? Three things: a clear message, brevity and good photography. (more…)

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I was talking with a client recently who made an interesting observation: he thought trade publications looked a bit fatter than usual. I’ve also noticed that in the past several months many of the industrial books in our target market seem to be gaining weight. And that’s definitely a good thing.

As advertising reps have been making their annual trek to our office to discuss 2012, all of them say that companies are putting more dollars back into advertising – and that seems to be reflected in the thickness of the books. More ads mean more pages, which leads to increased editorial opportunities. 

According to the Association of Magazine Media, ad pages and revenue increased in 2011 in comparison to last year. Although electronic advertising remains strong, there’s something to be said about the comeback of print. Is it because of a shift from electronic back to print, or an overall increase in advertising spending? What do you think? Nonetheless, print advertising is still effective way to deliver your messages to readers.

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An article on Ragan’s PR Daily titled 7 Essential Tips for PR Newbies, asked PR pros what advice they would give to a person launching their career in public relations.

The wisdom that struck a chord with me was from Andrew Worob, who said, don’t ever get complacent. That’s so true when it comes to PR. It’s great when your proactive media relations pay off in a four-page spread or lands a cover story. Clients love that kind of exposure and it goes a long way toward validating your value to them. (more…)

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I like to think I know both sides of the fence.

Being in public relations, one of my core functions is interacting with the media on an almost daily basis. But before jumping over to PR, I was a newspaper reporter for several years, which gives me a unique perspective on knowing how both professions operate. (more…)

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Air traffic controller

Police officer

Our military fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan

These are three occupations I would consider to be fairly stressful – more stressful than my job as a public relations executive. Don’t get me wrong, the job certainly does have its loosen-the-collar moments when things do get hectic in the world of B2B PR. But in general I think most people would rate the three occupations listed above as high stress for all the obvious reasons. (more…)

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