Archive for the ‘Online PR’ Category

MDHub Seminar: Introduction to Search Engine and Website Optimisation

Friday, January 15th, 2010

mdhub100_logoThis week saw myself and Stu Bowker presenting on behalf of Propellernet at the MDHub 100 SEO & Google tools seminar, at the Sussex County Cricket ground.

Our presentation gave a basic overview of SEO, exploring some link building tactics and the role good online PR can play. We also touched upon the power of conversion optimisation and detailed lots of free tools available to get you started.

One of the key themes that came out of the session was that Google wants to provide the most relevant search results to users, offering the best user experience possible, encouraging searchers to come back time and time again.

So how does Google decide who gets the top spot and ensure results stay relevant…? Well Google’s search algorithm looks at a host of factors, but particularly important ones include good and relevant on page content mentioning the keywords you are targeting, as well as relevant and authoritative external links to that content.

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How to create a successful online PR campaign: 3 great examples

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

share_my_playlists_logoAs a leading online and social marketing agency, customer insight is at the heart of everything we do.  Using our unique revenue potential model and persona insight tool as part of a strategic planning phase, we identify the most lucrative keyword areas and ensure we build a holistic view of our clients’ brand, their customers and their journey.

How does this influence how we create an online PR campaign?
Persona insight is a crucial part of our strategic planning phase and shapes our clients’ overall marketing strategy, but it also determines so much more in terms of online PR.

Our online targets, the tone of voice we use, what content we create and what messages we put into a campaign are all determined by the results of the Persona Insight research.  So before we develop any content for online we always conduct a media audit and evaluate this back to our client objectives and targets.  This ensures the content we produce for online not only captures the attention and interest of the target audience but also the media we are positioning it to as well.

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How PR can keep up with the social media trends

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

conversationsTwitter, Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, LinkedIn, whatever you or your clients subscribe to or depend upon, there is an increasing use of social networks for successful PR campaigns. Here at Propellernet, we manage social media campaigns to build relationships with the media and strengthen the overall communication strategy for clients. We recommend that your target market is identified first and then a strategy put in place to communicate with them.

Over the past 18 months we noticed the media were often  writing about tweets they had seen and even having real-time debates on social networks that would appear in the press the next day. Also a whole new concept of writing was born when travel writer, Benji Lanyado, piloted the first TwiTrip – a travel adventure powered simply by twitter users recommendations.

We already have clients with pages on Facebook and we use the likes of twitter for our own PR, but some clients have been fearful of joining social communities. They had seen bad examples (think of Habitat’s recent tweets) but were still keen to explore how the growing trend of mini-blogs could communicate their special offers and product news effectively.

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Online PR - Not just about relationships with the public

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

love_hateI recently told a friend of mine who is a journalist that I was doing online PR. “Ah”, she said, “you’ve become the enemy!” We had a good old giggle, but this illustrates perfectly the love-hate relationship journalists have with PRs and why it is such a challenge for us PRs to pitch to them.

Just to explain how it all works, here is what I do. As a PR, it’s my job to ‘manage the flow of information between an organization (my client) and the public (target market)’. Just like with offline PR, I need to create personas, or target market segments, find out which publications they read (in my case websites) and then get their products onto these websites, for free. Some people think this means pushing out an offline press release on a news wire, but it is much more than that and with online PR particularly, the relationship with the journalist is key.

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Getting personal with your customers

Monday, June 29th, 2009

girl_blue_skyWe are increasingly aware of how customers are looking to get the best price for the best product, but how can us online marketers ensure that we reach these potential purchasers and get under the skin of what really motivates their buying habits?

We need to go back to basics and forget about the traditional demographics which have influenced marketing campaigns for years. Of course age, sex, income and marital status are important but what you really need to think about is who are your target customers, what influences their spending decisions and which sites do they visit during their spending journey?

Its time to get personal and the answer lies in creating personas…

Personas are fictional characters. They take on identities and represent your customers by their buying trends and search habits. The persona will put a human face to data and create something that can seem real and familiar. Ideal online customers are no longer just ABC1’s, they are individuals sat in front of their computer, researching their next purchase.

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Keep focused through the waves of new trends

Friday, May 15th, 2009

goalWorking within an industry that changes direction in real-time and advising our clients on the best route to take can be tough for us online marketers. Whether PPC is dying or traditional PR skills are history we’re constantly being bombarded with the latest industry trends and everyone’s views on it.

What we do all need to do is to remember to stop, take stock and focus on the goal.

I attended an E-Consultancy round table earlier this week discussing Online PR & Social Media and the outcome was interesting. It was also peppered with a lot of questions and statements such as; We need developed measurement, We must move our clients forward within Social Media, Should our clients use interactive games to communicate with their customers? Whose responsibility should it be to interact with customers through social network platforms?

In my opinion, the answer to all of these questions should be considered with; What will meet my client’s objectives and what is my client actually trying to achieve?

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Beware of the social media monster

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

purple_monsterAs I’m sure Richard Branson would agree, social media can be a bit of a monster at times and a rather difficult beast to tame. The scope and speed offered by networks such as Twitter and Facebook, coupled with the ever expanding blogosphere, allows user-generated content to travel faster than a transatlantic flight to New York City.

Whether it be a poor customer experience, a brand simply getting it wrong or rogue staff playing a prank - social media has given a voice and a platform to everyone with a keyboard and mouse: and they’re certainly not afraid to use it!

Here is a collection of some recent high profile examples of the staggering power of social media from the last few months, highlighting the potentially damaging effects it can have on big brands:

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Another great piece of online PR coverage for King & Allen on ‘how to dress in a recession’

Friday, March 20th, 2009

mens_suitPropellernet’s super-duper online PR team has done it again with another great piece of online PR work for one of our clients King & Allen (bespoke suit makers).

Seeing as the doom and gloom of the recession is all everyone is talking about at the moment, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to put a positive spin on it with an article and video interview appearing on the Telegraph’s online Business & Finance section about ‘how to dress for the recession’.

You no longer need to trek down to Savile Row for a bespoke suit which could cost you in excess of £2,000 when you could make your way down to King & Allen and get yourself a top quality, made to measure suit at a more affordable price.

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