Unless you were hiding under a rock this past Thanksgiving (which for some, is an understandable move), you heard about the woman who used pepper spray in a Walmart in Los Angeles so she could ensure her take of good deals. Add that to the police officers who pepper sprayed student protesters at UC-Davis.  The awareness of pepper spray is at an all-time high. In the spirit of “stretch PR” in which a communicator takes a newsworthy item and finds a dubious connection that the press might latch on to, (ie – pitching a story about your locksmith company in light of the NBA lockout),  I hereby present 9 media relations tactics you might want to metaphorically pepper spray to oblivion:

1.  Using the following words or phrases in your press release: “the leader in,”  “solutions provider,” “the best” and  “ground-breaking” (not true)
2. Leaving a reporter a voice mail message without stating the reason for the call (as good as nothing)
3. Worse than above, calling to make sure a press release was received (desperate)
4. Contacting a journalist for the first time – during a crisis or product launch (ineffective)
5. Sitting in on a CEO interview and clarifying statements or points to be, er, helpful (annoying)
6. Friending a reporter on Facebook and worse yet, liking and commenting on his/her postings multiple times a week (creepy)
7. Not having a drink with the journalist – having lots of drinks (inappropriate)
8. Having an online press room without a real person listed as a contact – ie  “info@” emails  (useless)
9. Pitching a story idea to a reporter and expecting coverage.  (If only it were that easy)

According to www.mixeddigital.com, When it comes to cracking the QR code, “people either don’t know what they are and/or don’t care to use them.   A recent study found that whereas 72% of consumers have seen QR codes, roughly 30% have no idea what they are and of all mobile users polled, only 6.2% of them in June of 2011 actually utilized them.  Why?  A lack of understanding all across the board.

Assuming our curiosity and our means are a non-issue and the reward sufficient, just who exactly are these 6.2% (14 million people) who these QR codes seem to be appealing to?  The young (18-34).  The rich (income greater than 100k).  The male (60.5% of the audience).  According to a study conducted by comScore, these 6.2% of individuals equate to roughly 14 million people.  This means that companies that may have luxury products to sell, need to take note and find creative ways to further entice this slice of the market because they have the money to spend and the curiosity to find something to spend it on.”

Check out the complete story here: http://mixeddigital.com/cracking-qr-code

By Harley-Davidson Motor Company

Read the full story: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/07/4036930/harley-davidson-leads-next-generation.html#ixzz1dGzo44q2

Step 1: The Subject Line

Is there something specific you are trying to convey in the email? (I hope so.) Make sure it is clear, to the point, and “headlined.” You want it to be easy to read and clear to understand. Whether you’re offering a discount, giveaway, webinar, ebook, or something else of value, make sure it’s easily and clearly conveyed in the email’s subject line.

In short, don’t make readers dig for the details. Make sure you are clear, concise, and to-the-point about your email’s objective. For example: “Free XYZ Through December 2012.”

Step 2: The Message

Just as in the subject line, keep your email message short and sweet. Most email recipients don’t have hours to spend reading emails. Many prefer an emailed easily outlined with what the main points are. It also helps to break down items into subheadings, bullets, and/or a combination of both.

Headings allow the reader to avoid reading the body of the message and still get the gist of your information — and perhaps even get them to click on a link or act on the call-to-action (CTA). Thus, you don’t have to (and you shouldn’t) write a novel to explain your point and the value you are trying to offer. Just get to the point, from the subject line to the headlines to the message of your email.

Cleverness can get a few people to read your email, but more often than not, clear and simple works even better. Are you offering entry into a contest? Then demonstrate the value the customer will receive. For example, “Show us why you love our brand, and win XYZ.” Not holding a contest but just sending information on upcoming events? Perhaps, “Join us at XYZ to learn about ABC.” Key point: demonstrate the value recipients will receive by obtaining the offer. Will the customer get valuable how-to information on a certain topic? Learn something new? Attend an important networking event? Tell them. Short, sweet, and simple.

Step 3: The Call-to-Action

The “pièce de résistance” of your email message is the CTA where you get your recipients to click that button, download that ebook, sign up for that webinar, and move through that content map and lead nurturing program you have so strategically organized.

But at the same time, don’t forget to be realistic about your call-to-action. Don’t expect them to give away their first born child to sign up for a webinar. Expect realistic actions. If your readers will need to fill out a form on your website to download your offer, be reasonable about the amount of information they need to provide. Gain their trust and show them the value of your offer is worth that download. Be truthful and straightforward about what they will receive. Be transparent and again, just be clear, short, sweet, and concise about the offer/value being given. Your audience will appreciate it.

Step 4: Two Things Not to Forget

1. Frequency and Amount of Emails Sent

Make sure you strategize about when you will send these awesome marketing emails, and how often. If you send too many to the same groups of prospects and/or customers, you’ll be at the risk of seeming spammy and annoying. Which, yes, will lead to that unfortunate word we hope we never see: “unsubscribed.”

2. Analytics

Sending a perfect email is great, but until your customers (a) open the email, (b) click on the link for the CTA, and (c) with minimal bounce rates, you won’t know how flawless your email really was. So always be monitoring and leveraging your email analytics, testing your email campaigns, and figuring out what email is “perfect” for your target audience.

by Pamela Vaughan

Read more @blog.hubspot.com

I recently got into a major tangle with Continental Airlines, which, in all fairness, is my favorite airline.  However, they have some SERIOUS work to do in improving their customer service response effort.  After futile efforts calling their hotline, which averaged about 45 minutes each, I took to email.  I sent the same email every day for five days in a row.  By the sixth day, I teetered on the edge of defeat, but after unleashing a tapestry of profanity to my devoted audience of one (my husband),  was able mustered up enough composure to resolve the issue over the phone.  As we most often do after conquering a vexatious adversary, I moved on with my life and forgot all about it.  Surely you can empathize with my surprise upon receiving responses to all five of my emails… 27 days later!  I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry!  We all know that dealing with customer complaints requires an infinite amount of finesse, but if you can’t handle it in a timely manner, you might as well not bother having any customers at all!

These days, restaurant customers—both satisfied and ready-to-rumble—broadcast their comments on places like Twitter, Facebook, and Yelp for the world to read.

So Sandy D’Elosua, national director of communications for Front Burner Brands, has sought to respond to every mention within 24 hours. In doing so, Front Burner’s The Melting Pot fondue chain boosted Facebook “likes” from 4,000 to 148,000 in one year and won praise from loyal customers and complainers alike, who were surprised that their tweets were acknowledged.

All this was done with a staff that started the year at one person: D’Elosua herself. (She now has two others aboard.)

‘You just have to do it smarter’

“Just because you’re small doesn’t mean you can’t do it right,” D’Elosua says. “You just have to do it smarter.”

This policy of engagement contrasts with most brand Twitter users. A recent study indicates that 71 percent of customers who tweeted a gripe never heard back from the company they were complaining about.

Front Burner, too, didn’t pay much attention to Twitter in the past. The new approach began in September 2009, when D’Elosua took over social media for The Melting Pot. At the time, there was a Facebook page, but feedback and complaints tended to be handled through email and phone calls.

“I spent the first three weeks just listening,” D’Elosua says. “I think that the most important thing when you’re coming into any organization or you’re starting to venture into this realm is to slow down before you jump to any conclusions, and listen to where the traffic is coming from.”

D’Elosua’s team used Google Alerts and other methods of monitoring, but she was dissatisfied with off-the-shelf tools like Radian6. So she now uses a social media monitoring tool custom-designed by a vendor.

As D’Elosua listened, she found an extensive fan base eager to tweet and blog about those bubbly pots full of Gruyère cheeses and gooey chocolate. The Twitter feed is full of praise for successful anniversary dinners and tweets from customers who can’t wait for a “Ladies’ Night Bottomless Chocolate Fondue.” (“Y’all know how to lure us ladies in!” one wrote.)

Fans, of course, are the easy part. But every restaurant has its share of people who have had a bad experience—particularly, one gathers, franchises whose dinner fare makes use of technology once used to repel enemies from castle walls: kettles of boiling oil.

Complaints never deleted

The Melting Pot’s social media staffers quickly respond to complaints but take the conversations offline. They never delete negative Facebook posts, D’Elosua says. If someone has been burnt, the local franchise’s insurance company is called in. Sometimes those who allege “food poisoning” vanish when they’re contacted via Twitter.

In addition to beefing up its Twitter and Facebook sites, The Melting Pot created presences on LinkedIn, Wikipedia and YouTube. It posted a series of videos for a Valentine’s Day promotion (linked to last year’s Warner Brothers movie) and launched fondue dinner giveaways for that central event on every family’s calendar, National Cheese Fondue Day.

Like competitors such as Applebee’s and Chick-fil-A, The Melting Pot has created local Facebook pages for its franchises. The biggest challenge of this is messaging. After all, that franchise owner who bought in for the chance to lick out the Flaming Turtle dessert fondue pots may not be especially keen on monitoring Twitter for insults.

At a recent national meeting, D’Elosua told owners she understood. But social media is where the customers are talking, and owners can’t go it alone when customers’ expectations are shaped by national branding. The Melting Pot has created a social media policy and trained owners who would have preferred to delete bad comments as soon as they popped up on Facebook.

Living social media around the clock

D’Elosua and her small team essentially live social media 24 hours a day, she says. This realization offered a rude awakening for recent job-seekers, who came in with a sense of entitlement, high salary demands, and an unwillingness to work late, she says.

“It was a tough, tough pace,” she says. “It was nights and weekends, no vacations. Really sacrificing a lot. But I believed in what we were doing here and the chance we had to be on the cutting edge of where social media needs to be for business. ”

Assessing return on investment is always a challenge, but D’Elosua has derived snapshots from campaigns. The National Cheese Fondue Day campaign spent only $5,000, but it pushed the events through 18 videos featuring its corporate chef. These she pitched to bloggers.

The result was more than 1,000 pieces of publicity in blogs and elsewhere, and it drew 1,500 tweets, she says. The target audience was “never-tries”—people unfamiliar with the brand—and judging by reservations made, it worked. New sales increased by 43 percent, and the company is now looking at reallocating some of its budget from digital advertising to social media.

“It was huge,” she says, “and not only did it validate all of our efforts, it also made us rethink a lot of our strategies.”

By Russell Working

Read more @ Ragan.com

Creative Content Is Your Best Public Relations Outreach

Have you ever poured days and dollars into a publicity campaign with an expensive public relations agency — only to win one or two placements?

It’s a familiar story. But here’s a secret: You don’t need a fancy PR campaign to get publicity.

Last December, the HubSpot team launched a home-produced music video about inbound marketing. We had no PR campaign, and our only strategy was to make our content as available as possible by tweeting, blogging and submitting it to social media sites. Then we pinged a few of our friends, launched it on a Monday morning and waited.

It resulted in 43 blog placements in twelve days, 19 of which were written the day of the video launch.

What can we learn from this?

1) Focus your efforts on making creative content, not an elaborate outreach campaign.

Agencies and public relations professionals spend days hammering out press releases, compiling media lists of targeted verticals and crafting compelling pitches meant to convince journalists and bloggers that their client’s story is newsworthy.

Imagine if that same brain power and creativity was put into making something that the client’s customers thought was useful, interesting or even funny! It could be in the form of a blog post, a video or even a cartoon. That’s the type of content that someone would want on their blog.

2) Ping, don’t pitch.

Tell people about your newly-published content, but don’t pitch it. The qualities that make your content interesting or useful should allow your content to stand on its own.

The day we launched our video, we pinged a few of our friends to let them know the video was up. There was no “pitch” explaining “why the video was so cool.” We let people decide for themselves if the video was good enough to be covered.

3) Quality content and news will spread naturally without a PR campaign.

Far too often, PR agencies are asked to create a publicity campaign around information that isn’t newsworthy.

Don’t spin your news to “sound cool” when it’s not. Instead, spend time thinking of newsworthy things your company can start doing. Real news will spread on its own.