Articles last a long time

On April 30, 2010, we published an article for a client that manufactures hand-washing monitors about the health problems that come up in restaurants without them. 

It was short, to-the-point and had a catchy title.

We told the client they could expect people to read it for a year or so.  

Even we were surprised at the results.

Last month, views finally stopped, topping out at 1,152.

That means people viewed our client’s article not for one year, but five.

Getting an article published is not as easy as advertising, but it has enormous credibility and lasts for a long time.

Your Open Rates
Title	Date Published	Total Opens	Opens - Last 30 Days
Is your restaurant handwashing a lawsuit waiting to happen?	04/30/2010	1152	0
Total Open Counts: 1152

For more information, visit us at www.dellrichards.com.

Writing mistakes to avoid

Do you make these common mistakes when writing? If so, think twice next time. 

Mix metaphors: “It sticks out like a sore foot” doesn’t cut it.

Randomly capitalize: Since this is very common in advertising copy, people think they can capitalize any important word. Capitalize only proper names of people, places, organizations and a few things. Capitalize titles only capitalize before the name, not after.

Bury the point. Get to it ASAP. If you don’t, no one may bother reading it.

Hide why: When you explain changes up front, people are more likely to understand and appreciate them. 

Use word you can’t justify like “revolutionary, breakthrough or unique”. The product or service rarely deserves such accolades.

Rely on jargon: Use simple words, not technical and biz buzz words. “Send” is better than “disseminate”; “use” is better than “utilize”.

For more information, contact Dell Richards Publicity at www.dellrichards.com.

For more on writing, see “10 corporate writing crimes” at http://bit.ly/1CbNpL6. 

Trends and timeliness can make or break press releases

Trends and breaking news always affect the response of the media to a press release.

If you can hitch your press release to a current trend, that helps. 

Because of the drought, releases about water are relevant now.

Once the drought ends and we’re in flood mode, drought stories won’t fly.

If major news is breaking, don’t waste time sending a press release to anyone. 

When 9/11 hit, a nationwide PR campaign we were on ground to a halt. 

Every interview we had was pre-empted.

We didn’t even bother media the first week, but we did check in the next.

After three weeks, producers and editors were ready to set up interviews again.

For more information on timeliness and publicity, visit us at www.dellrichards.com.

How to handle a negative review

Nearly a quarter of small and mid-size businesses monitor reviews.

Some use Brandify, a free service launched by Microsoft, paid reputation management companies or Google searches to show Yelp, Angie’s List and other major sites.

Because dissatisfied customers tend to tell more people than satisfied ones do, getting a negative review can be hard.

Use complaints for quality control.

If you can access the person, contact them and offer to “make good”.

Then, ask them to write a good review that says what you did to fix the problem and remove the bad one, if possible.

Most people will be impressed that you were willing to go the extra mile for them and will be happy to comply.   

Angie’s List says they will contact the reviewer and investigate if a business complains about an unwarranted review.

Ask all satisfied customers to give reviews to balance—or even bury—the less-than-glowing ones.

Reviews are not as important if businesses have a website, a blog and social media to create ongoing stream of good press.

For more information, contact us at www.dellrichards.com.

Why PR has more value than advertising

When businesses advertise, they get to say what they want when they want it.  

While some outlets will run releases word-for-word, when using PR, businesses have to rely on the media itself to tell their story with public relations.

Because it’s harder to get and it isn’t paid for directly, publicity has a higher value than advertising.

A news story that runs for 17 seconds on local TV with an audience of 112,359 has a publicity value of $4,250.

That same story only has an advertising value of $1,417.

A 45-second story on the same station can generate $11,250 worth of publicity each time it runs.

One of our stories that ran on the evening to the morning news generated as much as $52,922 in publicity.

Even a four paragraph story in The Sacramento Bee has generated new clients and increased sales for one of our clients. 

For more information on publicity, contact Dell Richards Publicity at www.dellrichards.com.