M1PR CEO, Jim Caruso, Quoted In Forbes

Researching a calendar of social media posts is the first step. Have your editor blend sources onto an editorial calendar document. The sources could be news outlets and articles your staff read, such as industry trends (don’t include competitors). Blend your press release and blog post content with the curated news to provide the most value to your audience and avoid just talking about yourself. - Jim Caruso, MediaFirst PR - Atlanta

Videos touch more senses and this is compelling. However, some users prefer textual information while others have visual or hearing impairments that require text or subtitled video content. Create alternate methods for your visitor to consume video content, such as audio-only or a transcription.

Staff with direct contact to prospects and customers hear the latest in industry issues, the customer pain that your product or service may relieve. Involve the front-line personnel to help understand why customers come to your firm for solutions. What job do they seek to accomplish? What are they trying to fix?

Crisis training requires spokespersons to be certain of the facts before commenting on what happened. This does not mean that the spokesperson cannot be sympathetic to any anguish or suffering, but until the facts are clear about responsibility, it is critical to state that the organization seeks the facts

Grammarly is a simple writing tool that can correct errors when you are writing in your favorite word processing software. You can sign in to Grammarly and paste a document into the tool to quickly find and fix issues that word processors do not uncover. The Grammarly tool also offers checks on writing tone and the consistency of your writing tone.

SEO is not just about search rank. Social media is not just posting content. Rank and postings are tactics in reaching an audience. Engage that audience on social media and post content, but keep your focus on meeting the needs of the reader (follower).

It is hard for companies to see their business from the perspective of the potential customer. Even the words that companies use to describe their business are phrased in their words and not the buyer's words. Two ideas are to consider the buyer as having a job-to-be-done in searching out a service or product—and role-play this potential buyer to get that buyer's perspective.

A press release is ongoing proof of your company receiving recognition from customers and the industry. Press releases are distributed widely because of national (or international) syndication. You can keep this proof on your website. In addition, your company is free to post the award as news in your social media stream. All the award coverage is solid social proof.

First, review your site’s text for the latest terminology. An example is “marketing” versus “sales enablement.” Second, review how prospective customers find or don’t find your site. Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) is one approach. An example is a Web search for “marketing agency” versus “sales enablement agency.” As industry buzzwords change, so will your page rank.

Find an agency that understands your space and has a record of success, and then team with them to achieve your objectives. Don't stop and fully commit your staff and spokespersons. Engage consistently with your audiences across marketing channels — think omnichannel.

We build proposed press release calendars for our clients and encourage them to provide us advanced notice on every possible source of news out six months. This helps schedule multiple newsworthy events in a short time period, avoid pre-announcing (and ruining) a launch and weave a longer-term message or a change in company positioning.

Before you ask for a review, ask to be sure that the person has a positive feeling about your company, product or service. Most review processes route negative feelings to be captured but not be part of a publicly seen review. Customers with positive feelings can be routed to a social network, review platform or website to capture the positive response.

In a world where everyone claims to do everything, what are the real differentiators that matter to this client? Sometimes it is hard to learn the deep problems as seen from the client's perspective, but those insights serve to better address the larger client's needs. These insights help you develop that "perfect pitch."

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires a website to let assistive technology enable a person with a disability to use the information equally. The one strategy is that you are probably not the accessibility expert across the many potential disabilities, such as colorblindness or hearing impairment. Seek expert guidance, starting with an accessibility audit.

Companies do not intentionally choose to sponsor events or celebrities that may cause a crisis, but you must be aware of this possibility going into any contractual relationship. You need the ability to sever the relationship and distance your company from a crisis. Having a crisis communications plan in place is a first step. 

We remain flexible about the scope of work and make it easy for the client to add or change scope with a simple, one-page contract addendum. We have found this to be really helpful for retention.

LinkedIn is undervalued by many businesses. It has direct access to important audiences. In LinkedIn groups, you find investors, alliance partners, customers and employees. All of these audiences help drive growth. Post important news. An additional step would be to post a curated stream of valuable industry news about markets, regulations and changes in competitive factors for these audiences.

3. Undisciplined Updates 4/20/2020

Update issues come in several varieties: the website theme, plugins, navigation and content. Themes must be natively mobile-first, plugins must be up-to-date or enable hackers, navigation must point to the most important content first, and content needs to focus on very few keywords (no more than three). Failing to update with discipline can cause a drop in traffic.