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Chapter Six: Connecting online and traditional PR

Connecting online and traditional PR

At one end of the spectrum, developing an identity can be done using web-only social networking and identity sites; at the other end of the spectrum, there is traditional PR using a PR agency’s press relationships (and releases, advisories, etc) to develop your profile. While traditional PR is beyond the scope of this guidebook, there [...]

HARO

HARO (which stands for Help A Reporter Out) is a simple web site/mailing list that matches journalists’ queries with expert sources (like you). The web site takes your registration information, and then sends out a detailed email several times daily with journalists’ queries. If a particular query matches your expertise, then you respond directly to [...]

PR Leads

PRleads.com uses the same approach as HARO, except that you pay $99/month to receive the daily emails. By virtue of the requirement to pay, it is less likely to attract wannabe’s, and more likely to attract “real” experts. Still, there isn’t a way for the journalist to check your “profile” without leg-work, as this is [...]

ExpertClick

About 25 years ago, ExpertClick started as a printed directory of experts and an accompanying printed directory of media. Over the last number of years, it has added a fairly comprehensive online press release distribution service and online expert directory. As an added bonus, the pages are search engine optimized, so your ExpertClick profile tends [...]

Profnet

Profnet is aimed more at PR agencies, and like ExpertClick, it provides a listing of experts, ability to send PR out on “the wire”,and a fair amount of other functionality. If you are interested in reviewing this vendor, the following URL is the entrypoint: https://profnet.prnewswire.com/ One of the benefits of Profnet and PR Newswire is [...]

PRWeb

Unlike PR Newswire, www.prweb.com does not require membership, and allows you to send press releases, one-at-a-time, as you wish. Essentially, you choose your “visibility”, and pay between $80 (essentially Yahoo/Google only) and $360 (includes regional and AP news feeds) to send one release. The release itself is also hosted on the prweb.com site, which allows [...]

Sources

Sources can be thought of as a Canada-specific version of ExpertClick, but with fewer integrated/automated features. While this service seemingly may not be of interest if your target market is not in Canada, Sources has done a great job with their search engine rankings, and often an expert’s Sources listing page will show up on [...]

Social Media News Releases

The above press release distribution services offer excellent opportunities to deliver important content to journalists. However, in a Web 2.0 world, media no longer have a monopoly on which stories can be distributed. Press releases can now be created in a social media friendly format.In traditional news releases, the text of the press release is [...]

Proactive PR to influential bloggers

There are a growing number of blogs and bloggers whose influence approaches, and sometimes surpasses, that of mainstream media. These blogs tend to be exceptionally narrow in their focus, speaking to a very specific audience. You probably know who they are within your area of expertise, but if not, go to Technorati and do a [...]

Changes to your Traditional PR strategy

Here is a quick checklist of simple changes that you should incorporateinto your traditional PR approach: At the bottom of any communications to media, make sure that you refer them to your web sites, including a special media resource page that has photos of you and your products, backgrounders, your bio, and other material. A [...]