If you’ve gotten to the point where you are hiring a publicist, you probably already feel like you are being pulled in a million directions – there are emails on top of your emails, you haven’t returned phone calls from four days ago, and who knows when you’re going to be able to sit down and update your blog. Who has the time?
Well, congratulations, hiring a great publicist is going to be one very-helpful step in organizing your business’ growth plans. The right publicist can exponentially grow public awareness, while capturing just the right eyeballs for you; which will be mentally soothing to check off your “to-do” list.
But in order to keep yourself front and center in the online space, and ensure a great takeoff in your campaign, there are a few things that you can do to ensure online success:
NUMBER ONE: Start a Library
We’ve already established that you’re busy. And you might be thinking, “Start a library? Sure, right after I finishing painting the house!”
Regardless of how busy you might be, this is a critical step in starting any campaign. You are the owner of your brand, and while your Publicist is hard at work pitching for you, there is going to be a few things that they need to land you some of that coveted press.
- High Res Logos: this means 300 dpi or higher, and at least 900×900 pixels. Having a 200 x 200 isn’t going to look so good if someone needs a large logo
- High Res Head-shots: two choices would be ideal and please make sure they’re professionally done. Like I’ve mentioned before, iPhone head-shots are not acceptable
- Branding Colors: PMS or RGB color matches
- Log-ins to your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterst or Blog: if your Publicist is going to be working on your social platforms for you
- Your Bio: if you don’t have one, work with you publicist to create a great one for you. A good bio is about a paragraph or two, so if yours is going on two pages, it’s time to edit.
- A cache of content: for example, 2 -3 (500-1500 word) articles about your field of expertise. If you’re a chef/cookbook author, include several recipes and images. If you are a salon owner or make-up artist, several “How to” videos are great. If you’re a nutritionist, several articles on seasonable foods and how to prepare them to get the most out of each dish.
Consider this library as your publicist’s “arsenal.” The higher quality the content, and the great number of options they have, the more likely they are going to be to land pitches on your behalf.
NUMBER TWO: Start Putting Out Original Content
This option goes hand-in-hand with pulling together your library, but creating a steady stream of original, expert-level content will be a great source of validity to your work. Readers, online editors and freelance writers can then come to your site or blog and see that you are offering high quality content on your subject of expertise (and this helps with organic SEO as well).
If you feel like you don’t have lots of time to write, take some time to jot down several topics that you could speak to, complete with follow up bullet points to flesh out the content. Often times your publicist is more than happy to help you write materials if you provide them with the bulk of the information.
NUMBER THREE: Beef Up Your Press Page
If you don’t already have a press page on your website, then you need to create one. Even if you have yet to get your first PR hit, you can include your publicist’s contact information, so when eyeballs are looking at your content, they know where to go to get more of it.
A great press page is not only going to list out the titles of the article’s or review’s you’ve receive, but also will have a place for a small thumbnail image for the publication that wrote the article. Coming to a Press Page and seeing logos for “The New York Times” and “Oprah.com” will give you instant clout.
Lastly, consider adding a downloadable PDF Press Kit to your press page. If you’re just getting started with publicity, this can be as simple as document containing your headshot, your bio, and a section about your business or book.
There are quite a few more tips that I can give about getting seen online, but for those of you who are just getting started, these are the first items you want to tackle. Stay tuned, as I’ll have more secrets from a publicist to share with you!
XO
-a
1 Comment
What great advice – practical, easy-to-follow steps toward building your PR arsenal. I am going to forward this to a number of people I know, including small business owners, realtors, writers, etc. Thanks for making PR such much less frightening!
Comments are closed for this article!