Online Thought Leadership

• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott
  ISBN-10: 0470113456
  ISBN-13: 978-0470113455

According to Scott (2007), online thought leadership is a way of shaping information and opinion on the Internet. First, select a topic related to organizational communication and leadership. Then, decide formats for shaping opinion and information. 

Online Money-Making Opportunities: AllPosters - Amazon Associates - Blingo - eBay - DoubleClickPerformics Affiliates - Drop Ship - Linkshare Affiliates - Surveys

Chapter 1. The old rules of marketing and PR are ineffective in an online world.

Media makes targeting specific publics with individualized messages very difficult. Advertising also works in many trade publications. Advertising agency, creative people sit in hip offices dressing up ways to interrupt people so that they pay attention to a one-way message. Web marketing is about delivering useful content and just the precise moment that a buyer needs it. PR professionals occupied their time by writing press releases targeted exclusively three quarters and editors and by schmoozing with those same reporters and editors.

In the old days, a press release was actually a release to the press so these documents involved it as an esoteric and stylized way for companies to issue news to reporters and editors.

The old rules of PR.

1. The only way to get ink was through the media.

2. Companies communicated to journalists via press releases.

3. Nobody saw the actual press release except a handful of reporters and editors. For companies had to have significant news before they were allowed to write a press release.

4. Jargon was okay because the journalists all understood it.

5. You weren't supposed to send a press release unless it included quotes from third parties such as customers analysts and experts.

6. The only way publics would learn about the press releases content was if the media wrote a story about it.

7 The only way to measure the effectiveness of press releases was clip looks, which he noted each time the media decided to pick up a company's release.

8. PR and marketing were separate disciplines run by different people with separate goals, strategies, and measurement techniques.

Today, you need to do PR work yourself, and the Web is a terrific place to do so.

Chapter 2. The new rules of marketing and PR.

According to for on PR professional. "Our goal is education." He writes all of content for several sites himself, and the design work has been done by a moonlighting chiropractor. There's a content management tool built-in, so he can update the site himself. You wouldn't call it a fancy site, but it works. Cervelo is growing very rapidly, but he is quick to note that growth is not the result of any one thing. This site is designed to work for a major and often ignored audience: People who do their own research and consider a decision over a period of time before making a commitment. The most effective web strategies anticipate needs and provide content to meet them, even before people know to ask.

PR on the Web is not about generic banner ads designed to trick people with neon color or wacky movement. It is about understanding the key words and phrases that our publics are using and then deploying micro-campaigns to drive publics to page is replete with the content that they seek.

Online content in all of its forms is causing a convergence of marketing and PR that does not really exist off-line. In the Internet. In an interconnected web world, content drives action. Create content means that interested people return again and again.

We know how many visitors to reach us via the news releases, and it is similar to paid search engine marketing. But at a lower cost.

Peterson understands the power of content marketing, search engine optimization, and are backed to consumer news releases to reach publics directly and tried business. Every business has information that can contribute to the education of the market place. You have to have a bit longer for you and have a sense of how your business will be better down the line.

The long tail of PR. Long tail means a business with large distribution ability.

NPR, it's not about clip books. It's about reaching our publics.

Instead of spending lots of money to target a handful of reporters, we shouldn't be targeting the plug-in bloggers, online news sites, micro-publications, public speakers, analysts, and consultants that reach to targeted audiences that are looking for what we have to offer. With the blogs, we communicate directly with our audience, bypassing the media filter completely. Long tail marketing is a technique to increase sales, while decreasing the cost per sale by developing and selling it to thousands of niche market's.

Wouldn't it be better to get dozens of the most influential bloggers and analysts to tell our story directly to the niche markets that are looking for what we have to offer?

Chapter 3. Reaching our buyers directly.

Mainstream media is still important.

Consider the case study on page 27. Case Study on page 27-30 Bryan and Jeffery Eisenberg. They sent advance-reading copies of the book to hundreds of influential bloggers. Then made multiple targeted news releases. "Our PR strategy is intended to circulate the ideas that are in the book, not simply to sell books. One news release via Web each and every business day for months. Check out http://www.prweb.com/ -

ROI is return on investment. Buzz doesn't have a measurable ROI.

What links all of these techniques together is that organizations of all types behave like publishers. Organizations gain credibility and loyalty with buyers through content.

Micro targets are also known as buyer persona. Instead of deploying huge budgets for dumbed down TV commercials that purport to speak to the masses and therefore appeal to nobody, we need to think about the message is that our niche audiences wait to hear. The online story is about your product.

Smart PR people understand their targets, "publics," or buyers. We break the buyers into distinct groups, and catalog everything we know about each one. Consider the case study about the college site. A well executed comic site might target the five distinct personas. What visitors really want is content that first describes the issues and problems they face and then provides details on how to solve those problems. Once you've built an online relationship, you can begin to offer potential solutions that have been defined for each market. Well organized web content will beat your visitors through the sales cycle all the way to the point when they are ready to make a purchase or other commitment to your organization.

We need targeted content. Another suggestion is to offer free articles and tips.

I am diligent about links from every page both to something free and to the product page. When people register on the site for a free offer, they are added to a 40,000 person e-mail list to get alerts on significant new content added to this site and blog, as well a special offers.

LEADERSHIP: Think like a publisher.

The new publishing model on the web is not about hype and spin and messages. It is about the differing content when and where it is needed and, in the process, branding you or your organization as a leader.

Provide information and manage content as a valuable asset with the same care that a publishing company does. Starts with a content strategy, and then the focus on the mechanics and a sign of delivering the content. Publishers carefully identify and define target audiences and consider what content is required in order to meet their needs.

Tell your organization's story directly.

Work to establish yourself as a good guys in the industry. Establish yourself so you are seen as the leaders.

Note the polls and let content drives action.

What is the goal?

At successful organizations, news releases, the blogs, websites, podcasts, and other content draw visitors into this sales consideration cycle, then funnel them toward the place where action occurs. The goal is not hidden, and it is easy for publics to find a way to take the next step. Ultimately, when marketers focus on the same goals as the rest of the organization, we develop a PR programs that really deliver action and began to contribute to the bottom line.

We are seen as part of a strategic unit that contributes to reaching the organization's goals.

Content and thought leadership.

For many companies and individuals, reaching customers with web content has a powerful, less obvious effect. Content brands are an organization as a thought leader. Instead it just directly selling something, a great site, log, or podcast series tells the world that you are smart, that you understand the market very well, and that you would be a person or organization that would be valuable to do business with. Web content sells any product or service and advocates any philosophy or image.

Chapter 4. Blogs

My blog is the most important marketing and PR tool I have as a marketing and PR speaker, writer, and consultant. My blog allows me to push ideas into the marketplace as I think of them, generating instant feedback. Some posts have had truly phenomenal results, quite literally changing my business in the process.

Thanks to the power of search engines, my blog is also the most vital and effective way for people to find me. Every word of every post is indexed by Google, Yahoo, and the other search engines, so when people look for information on the topics I write about, they frighten me.

The bad news is that this information about blogs is difficult to quantify with any degree of certainty.

Blogs, blogging, and bloggers.

An easy and efficient way to get personal or organizational viewpoints out into the market is the weblog or blog.

In many PR people are monitoring what's being said about their company, products, and executives on this new medium of the blog.

With a blog, there is never been an easier way to find out what the marketplace is thinking about you, your company, and your products!

A blog is just a web sight. But it is a special kind of site that is created and maintained by a person who is passionate about the subject. The blogger wants to tell the world about his or her area of expertise. A blog is almost always written by one person who has a fire in the belly and wants to communicate with the world. There are also group blogs written by several people and even corporate blogs. Blogs produced by a department or entire company without individual personalities at all, but these are less common. The most popular form by far is the individual blog.

A blog is written using software that puts the most recent update, or post, at the top of the site, in reverse chronological order.

I often suggest that small companies and individual entrepreneurs create a blog rather than a standard website because a blog is easier to create for someone who lacks technical skills.

Many blogs allow readers to leave comments. But bloggers often reserve the right to remove inappropriate comments. Most bloggers tolerate negative comments on their blogs and don't remove them. I actually like some controversy on my blog because it can spark debate.

Understanding blogs in the world of the Web.

Blogs are independent, Web based journals containing opinions about anything and everything. However, blogs are often misunderstood by people who do not read them. Blogging provides experts and people who want to be experts with an easy way to make their voices heard on the Web at-based marketplace of ideas.

Organizations that don't have their own authentic and human blog voices are increasingly seen as suspect.

Bloggers never claim to be real journalists. The metaphor of the Web as a newspaper is it accurate on many levels. It is better to think of the Web as a huge city teeming with individuals, and blogs as the sounds of independent voices, just like those of the street corner. Soap box preacher or that friend of yours who always recommends the best books.

Case Study: Page 48 there is an interesting case study about rather and CBS news. Ignoring bloggers cost Dan rather his job. There is still a great deal of similarly dismissive behavior going on inside the media companies and corporate PR department.

Craig's list is like the bulletin board at the entrance of the corner store; eBay, acre price sale; Amazon, a bookstore replete with patrons anxious to give you their book tips.

Consider the source don't trust strangers, and find out if the information comes from the government, a newspaper, a big corporation, or someone with an agenda. Take blogs with a grain of salt, but ignore them at your peril.

The three uses of blogs for PR.

1. To easily monitor what millions of people are saying about you, the market to sell into, your organization, and its products.

2. To participate in those conversations by commenting on other people's boss.

3. To begin into shape those conversations, by creating and writing your own blog.

There are good reasons for jumping into the blog world.

By monitoring what people are saying about the marketplace you sell your company and products, you get a sense of the important bloggers, their online voices, and blog etiquette.

If you have monitored blogs and know what they are, you will know what a dozen influential bloggers writing about your space. Those blogs have thousands of loyal readers. You can show this information to a PR person and show the importance of simply monitoring blogs.

Monitor blogs: Your organization's reputation depends on it.

Organizations use blogs to measure what's concerning their stakeholders and to understand corporate reputation. Know what bloggers say comparing your products or services to your competitors. Become an expert in what is being said about your organization on blogs.

Case study page 55. The Draft Mark Warner example clearly shows that making a concerted effort to leave comments on other people's blogs works. Although the example is from politics, a similar strategy to comment on and therefore influence the thinking of bloggers should work for most any organization. But it takes an understanding of blogs and blogging etiquette to pull it off without sounding like a corporate shill.

Do you allow employers to send e-mail? How about letting them blog?

You need to decide what to blog about and how to find your voice. The legal eagles are worried about secrets, she revealed by their employees well creating content or commenting on blogs. Some organizations take a creative approach to blogging it by saying that all blogs are personal and the opinions expressed are of the blogger, not the organization that seems like a good attitude. Freely published blogs are an important part of business and should be encouraged by foreword thinking organizations.

Case study on page 57, McDonald's. McDonald's has jumped into blogging by launching open for discussion, a blog that focuses on social responsibility at the company.

The power of blogs: It is remarkable what a smart individual with passion can do with a blog.

You are what you publish. It is better to have a reputation than no reputation.

Publishers and Goldstein uses the blog to tell his constituents things really quickly and informally. It's fascinating that there are so few bloggers in the publishing industry, perhaps because publishers are cautious about giving content away for free, or maybe because large publishers feel threatened by blogs.

There is no doubt that every organization should be monitoring blogs to find out what people are saying about them. I find it fascinating that most of the time when I mention a company or product on my blog, I do not get any sort of response from that organization. However, about 20% of the time, I will get a comment on my blog from someone at that company or a personal e-mail. These are the 20% of companies monitor the blogs, and we to what is being said.

Chapter 17. Blogging to reach your buyers.

Audiences consume advertising with skepticism and consider pronouncements by CEOs to be out of touch with reality.

most first time bloggers try to cover too much.

You need to be very targeted.

Some organizations have created formal guidelines for employee loggers.

Here are issues you need to pay attention to.

• Transparency.

• Privacy.

• Disclosure.

• Truthfulness.

• Credit.

What you need to get started.

• Think carefully about the name of your blog and its tagline, which will be indexed by search engines.

• Easy to use blogging software is available from blogger, type pad, word press, and others.

• You will need to be choose by URL for your blog.

• Logging software makes it easy to choose color, design, and font, and to create a simple text based mast head.

• As you begin your blog, consider your art and design, and tentatively try a few posts.

• The look and feel of the blog could be complementary to your corporate design guidelines.

Blogging software usually allows you to turn on comments feature. So your visitors can respond to your posts.

Most blogs also have a feature to allow trackbacks, which our message is that another blogger sense to you when she has posted something on her blog that references the post you wrote first.

Pay close attention to the categories you choose for your blog, and add social media tags for services like Technorati, Digg, Delicious to each post.

RSS also called us really simple syndication is a standard delivery format many of your readers. Make certain that your new blog has RSS capability.

Banks in a include an about page that includes your photo, biography, affiliations, and information about your blog.

Encourage people to contact you, make it easy for them to reach you online and be sure to follow up personally on your fan mail.

Create an interesting looking blog.

Show the bloggers personality.

On the right and left columns of Scott's blog, he links to Amazon from the cover images of his books.

One of the downsides of a blog is that the reverse chronological aspect, most recent post at the top, means that much of your blog stuff, which may have been written last month or last year, is hidden away. Thus, Scott also includes easy navigation links on the blog so people can quickly find the good stuff.

It takes time to build an audience for your blog.

Logs that are regularly updated generate high search engine rankings, but the algorithms that are used by Google, Yahoo, Angie other search engines reward sites, and blogs, that update frequently. It is likely that you will get significant search engine traffic once you've been consistently blogging for a while.

Commenting on other people's blogs, and including a link to your blog, is a good way to build an audience. If you comment, and TrackBack Tzu, blogs in the same space is yours, and you might be surprised at how quickly you will get visitors to your new blog. A curious thing about blogging etiquette is that bloggers who are competitive for business off-line are usually very cooperative online, with links back and forth from their blogs. It is a bit like all the auto dealers in town congregating on the same street, proximity is good for everyone, so people work together.

Chapter 5: Press releases.

Press releases have never been exclusively for the press.

Newswire outlets include Reuters and Dow Jones. Press releases have also been available to professionals working within corporations, government agencies, and law firms, all of which have had access to raw press releases through services like NewsEdge, Factiva, and LexisNexis.

There is a widely held view about the purity of the press release as a tool for the press. PR professionals do not want to know that tens of millions people have the power to read releases directly. It is easier to imagine a close audience of eight dozen reporters.

Buyers to read your news releases to me, and you need to be speaking their language. When on the web.

Today, smart marketing and PR professionals use the news releases to reach publics directly.

The new rules of news releases:

People are saying that press releases are dead. But that's not true for direct to consumers news releases. Scott learned the very structured AP style guide way, but in fact, it has changed as key words and phrases have suddenly become important. He and the scale and reach of the Internet has have opened up end users as a channel. Try to be very aware of key words and phrases and to insert key phrases, especially, into releases whenever possible.

Chapter 14. Blogs.

See information about what's under discussion on blogs: Technorati

In the most markets, mainstream media and the trade press remain vital.

Everything is content driven in public relations.

Write about pretty much anything that your organization is doing in a press release:

• Have a new take on an old problem? Write a release.

• Surf a unique market place? Write a release.

• Have interesting information to share? Write a release.

• CEO speaking at a conference? Write a release.

• Win an award? Write a release.

• Add a product feature? Write a release.

• When a new customer? Write a release.

• Published a white paper? Write a release.

Here are some of the larger US news release distribution services:

• Business wire.

• Market wire.

• Prime newswire.

• PR newswire.

• PR Web.

In order to get your news releases to appear on the online news services, including Google news, you just have to purchase a basic news release coverage area offered by a news release distribution service.

Many news release distribution services also offer really simple syndication feeds of their news releases, which they make available to other sites, blogs, journalists, and individuals. Each time you publish a news release with the service, the news release is seen by thousands of people who have subscribed to the really simple syndication content feeds in your market category.

Post your news releases to an appropriate sources and a findable section of your web site (media room). Consider sites like www.prweb.com - www.click2newsites.com/press.asp - http://www.ideasiteforbusiness.com/clickpressfree.cfm Many organizations have the media room or press section of their website, which is ideal you should he keep the news release live for as long as the content is appropriate, perhaps for years.

Creating links from your news releases to content on your website is very important. These links, which might point to a specific offer or to a landing page with more information, allow your publics to move from the news release to specific content on your website that will then drive them into the sales process,.

Each time your news release is posted on another site, such as an online news site, the inbound link from the online news site to your website helps to increase the search engine rankings of your site, because the search engines use inbound links as one of the important criteria for their page ranking algorithms.

Understand the audience first and then set about to satisfy their informational needs. A great way to start thinking like a publisher and to create news releases that drive action is to focus on your customer's problems and then create and deliver news releases accordingly.

Include appropriate social media.

Many news release distribution services provide a way to include social media tags to make the news releases easy to find and services. Use them.

Shift communications has a social media news release template. All news release content will ultimately wind up on the web. So why not put it out in such a way that makes it accessible to anybody who can use that comment? Both traditional and news media journalists are use to working in a hyperlinked environment and are used to people providing context to social bookmarking sites such as delicious and buttons to add to Digg.

Chapter 7: Forums, Wikis, and Your Targeted Audience

Chat rooms and message boards are places where people meet and discuss topics online. List serves are similar to a chat room, but with messages going out my e-mail to members who had registered.

Wikis are a website that anybody can update.

Wikis are websites that permit users to update, delete, or edit the content on this site. The most famous wiki is a Wikipedia.

Blogs are an active community of people who provide comments to blog posts written by the blog author.

Malware is a malicious software.

It is critical to respond quickly to situations as they unfold on the web. Reacting quickly and honestly in the same forums where the discussions are taking place is essential.

On the Web, customers, stakeholders, and the media can see what's on people's minds.

Using this resource is simple: you have got to monitor what is being said. And when an organization is the subject of heated discussions, particularly negative ones, it just feels weird if a representative of that organization fails to jump in with a response.

When you find an entry about your company or brand, you should check it for accuracy.

To be successful at blogging, you need to have something to say. You need to have some communications skills to be successful. Over on the wiki size, you need to be an expert in something to get it populated to begin with, and then you need the resources to keep it up.

LPI Training Workshop

• The Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI)-Deluxe Facilitator's Guide Package (Loose-leaf, with CD-ROM Scoring Software, Self/Observer, Workbook, Planner & copy of The Leadership Challenge book ) (3rd ed.) by Kouzes and Posner. Jossey-Bass, 2003.