Inside the Profession PR Training

Does Your Press Release Deliver Value?

If you are just beginning to set your 2010 plan for your press release and social media campaigns, and looking at how to determine ROI, we know what’s important: the basics. You want to know how you can [work with your Web team to] discover how visitors are getting to your Web site, how visitors navigate through your Web site. For those who are looking forward to what’s next on the horizon, Laura and I will discuss real live examples and techniques to get the most mileage for press releases, especially in the Web 2.0 world.

We’re back at it again! Set to join forces at the PRSA 2009 International Conference — all for the sake of improving mileage on your web site, press releases, and measure the return on your press release. “What’s the ROI of Your Press Release?” is updated and full of case study examples that will teach you how to analyze activity to and through your Web site.

If you are just beginning to set your 2010 plan for your press release and social media campaigns, and looking at how to determine ROI, we know what’s important: the basics. You want to know how you can [work with your Web team to] discover how visitors are getting to your Web site, how visitors navigate through your Web site. It’s important to be able to strategically examine Web analytics for compiling, tracking and measuring activity deriving from your press releases via the wires and elsewhere. Why? Well, that helps you to determine how successful your ROI is.

Feeling somewhat seasoned in this arena? Stick with us for a moment — we’ve got something for you, too. For those who are looking forward to what’s next on the horizon, Laura and I will reveal some additional opportunities to expand upon and measure your online efforts. We’ll discuss real live examples and techniques to get the most mileage for press releases, especially in the Web 2.0 world. Greg and I are also going to share some of the new trends we are seeing in global search, using multimedia to tell your story, social media engagement and how you can determine what is working for you.

Here are three ways to build ROI with every communication:

  • Enhance Your Communications: Optimize everything for search from the writing of your press release to blog posts, online Web pages and tweets with formatting, links, keywords, tags, and don’t forget the branding and multimedia.
  • Expand Your Posting, Delivery and Reach: PUSH with the wire, POST on your optimized newsroom and landing pages, and POKE with RSS, social networks and your blog.
  • Evaluate and Measure: Determine what constitutes successful ROI for you, then track and follow from delivery to key search engines to traffic measured on a Web platform optimized for increased response, ranking and retention…and archiving.

Greg will share some case studies of press releases that generated a measurable ROI. This includes optimized press releases for companies like Meredith Corporation that increased searches for Better Homes and Gardens and Parents Magazine by 38.9 percent. He’ll also explain how online video helped to generate a 70 percent increase in call volume for Yell’s UK business directory enquiries service; 360,000 attendees of NACA’s Save the Dream tour in eight cities; and a 700 percent increase in Total Blender sales for Blendtec.

Greg Jarboe, president and co-founder, SEO-PR, is a frequent speaker at Search Engine Strategies conferences, Marketing Sherpa Summits, PRSA seminars, and Bulldog Reporter events. He is also the news search, blog search and public relations correspondent for the “Search Engine Watch” blog. Greg is one of the successful online marketing gurus featured in Michael Miller’s book, “Online Marketing Heroes.” Greg has more than 25 years of experience in corporate communications, marketing and search engine optimization at Lotus Development Corp., Ziff-Davis, and other companies.

 

Laura Sturaitis, senior vice president, media and product services, Business Wire, directs Business Wire’s U.S. Media Relations specialists, ExpertSource, Licensing & Online Content Development and Information Services teams. She also develops Business Wire’s New Media Products & Services offerings such as EON: Enhanced Online News, Smart News Release and the “BusinessWired” blog, and cultivates Business Wire’s products, services and partnerships with the leading online, social media and technology companies, in order to provide our members with the best tools to help them craft, deliver and measure their news message, and to identify and reach new audiences both via traditional and new media as well search engines, online sites, blogs and social media sites. Prior to joining Business Wire, Laura was vice president and general manager at International Business Chronicle and before that circulation and marketing director at The South Florida Business Journal.

Look for Laura Sturaitis at the PRSA “Meet the Experts” session, and attend Greg and Laura’s co-presentation, “What’s the ROI of Your Press Release?” at the PRSA 2009 International Conference: Delivering Value, November 7–10 in San Diego, CA. Join Greg Jarboe for his PRSA teleseminar, “The Secrets of Search Engine Optimization: Get High Ranking Search Results That Can Lead to Sales.”

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Greg Jarboe

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