I 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. Read the rest of this entry...

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We 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...

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Working 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...

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As 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: Read the rest of this entry...

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Propellernet'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. Read the rest of this entry...

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