PR for Dolphins Podcast

Are you settling for average results from your publicity efforts? Average is is defined as normal and typical and also described as common, moderate, ordinary, passable, undistinguished and dime a dozen. If you are doing something because that's how its been done before...because it is the norm, then don't be surprised if your results are just passable. You deserve more and it doesn't take that much more effort to work with people and businesses that are atypical, exceptional, and extraordinary.

Search engine optimization - more commonly called SEO is very important in business today. SEO strategists help companies improve their natural rank on search engines. You need to make sure that the proper SEO strategies are a part of your marketing plan and that you are pro-active in continually improving your ranking. What you don't want to happen is to get "obsessed" about your SEO ranking and forget about all other aspects of your business.

As human beings, we all have bad days. As professionals working with the media, we have to be careful that our inner three year old doesn't take over on those bad days. Some professionals are absolutely amazing at what they do and very aware of the power of publicity. What they may not be aware of is the power of the negative publicity. When things don't go your way, you have the power to shine or let the inner three year old out!

There are great storytellers and not so great storytellers. As you can imagine, the good ones are more successful in getting media coverage. I do think there are some things that come more naturally to some than to others but anyone can become a good storyteller.

If only I had a dollar for every professional that said the word “off the record” when being interviewed by a reporter…It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s a large, small, private, or public company they work for – if they haven’t received some coaching on what ‘is’ and ‘is not’ appropriate on a media interview, they bring it up. I hate to tell you but I don’t think ‘off the record’ info benefits your reputation, your company, or the reporter. The first step is to get some coaching on appropriate protocol when talking with the media. The next step is to work with a media specialist prior to the interview to come up with the best way to communicate the information. I also suggest that you have your media specialists at the interview with you at all times - even if they are just calling in and are silent for the call – make it a company policy.

The Press Release is a great tool but is often misunderstood. There are thousands of press releases distributed each day. Unless you are a well-recognized company or you have a cure for cancer, it is easy to get lost in the shuffle if all you do is write a press release and wait for the media to come to you.

You have 60 seconds to explain the significance of your business and/or solution in easy to understand language. Can you do it? Would you grandmother be able to understand it?

Create a one page document that explains the significance of your product or service.