How to reach out to Lexi Mills:

Is your PR making you uncomfortable?

It should.

Lexi Mills is a public relations specialist who combines PR and SEO to maximize promotion. She knows how to grab journalists' attention, how to hunt stories for backlinks and how to use Twitter in unexpected ways to support a campaign.

THE BEST PR CAMPAIGNS MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE

The best campaigns present a story that is unique and interesting. Yet, many campaigns focus on something comfortable to the company. But, comfortable doesn’t get great take-up.

In order to find the most interesting angle, dig through the company story and data for ideas. Then rank them according to how uncomfortable they make you (or your client) feel. The more uncomfortable, the more likely it is to garner interest and land great placements.

But, it can't be so uncomfortable that the story gets stalled internally. Lexi advises, “You’ve got to find that sweet spot between what a journalist finds interesting and where someone is comfortable.”

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND SEO FOR CONTENT CREATION

It’s more important for SEO and PR to work together than ever before.

A few years ago, link building could happen on sites that weren’t really relevant to the content. Today, SEO backlinks need to come from related sources and are best to come from authoritative sites.

PRs can hunt out the stories that will bring backlinks. They’re great at finding stories that align with brand identity.

For example, someone creates a piece of content. A PR will ask for a 600-word story on the content. Most people will say, “What? Why?” But PRs know that building the story about the content makes promotion way easier.

In order to write that story, a PR will consider:

* On which site or publication do I want the story to place?

* What’s the average word length on that site?

* How many publications have a targeted section on the topic?

FIND OUT WHAT’S THE MOST INTERESTING ABOUT YOUR COMPANY

Still unsure of what’s the most interesting angle?

“Ask a journalist.”

Lexi started out with an informal network of journalist friends that she ran ideas or potential stories by. Their feedback is a great indicator of what will be picked up well in the media.

She’s formalized the conversations into her own journalist consulting board. She recognizes the huge value it adds to her campaigns. This pre-launch confirmation boosts her success rate and campaign confidence.

And it’s not that hard to do: “It’s not that hard to find a couple of journalists who will want to have a chat with you.”

You can also simply have a conversation with a journalist. It’s not pitching a story, but discussing a client or concept. Then, they’ll ask you questions. Their questions will identify what’s unique or unusual from the media perspective.

2 KEY FACTORS FOR PR CLICKBAIT

Quality clickbait titles have two elements:

* The human factor

* The trending factor

To get clicks, the title needs to work on an emotional, human level. Ask: What would make me interested? What would make my grandmother interested?

Matching titles with trends is a natural way to grab attention. Watch Google Trends or any major news site to find the latest topics.