11/29/2011

In a recent blog post by HRmarketer CEO, Mark Willaman, the case is made that things they are a changin’ in the world of marketing and PR — especially in the outsourced human resources world.  As Mark puts it, “If you’re managing your marketing and PR the same way you did five years ago, you are doing it wrong today.”

A few interesting statistics Mark uses to illustrate his point:

[list style='tick']

• Online ad revenue in 2010 has surpass print newspaper ad revenue for the first time.
• Less ads = less editorial copy = less traditional media placement opportunities
• Total Worldwide Internet Users in 2010 = 1.97 billion,
• And 41% of users say they get most of their news online.

[/list]

If that doesn’t get your attention, check out HRmarketer’s infographic on the Changing Landscape of HR Marketing & PR.

Let’s summarize the three steps you SHOULD be taking today and in 2012 with respect to marketing and media relations, according to Mark.

1. You need to be online.
2. You need to regularly produce engaging content
3. You need to identify and pique the interest of “influencers” and “content curators”

As obvious as that sounds in 2011, many are still blasting content via news releases and then bulk email journalists with the same information.  The former is close, but no cigar.  The latter is just plain wrong.

Thankfully, our friends at HRmarketer are hosting a live webinar on December 8th with Lance Huan, contributing editor of ERE and TLNT.com, and Elrond Lawrence, VP of media relations with HRmarketer.  You can register for the interactive webinar here and get all the details (including their talking points) on HRmarketer’s blog.

This post was written by JDM from Mark’s post on HRmarketer’s blog.

09/15/2011

Things they are ‘a chang’n–particularly when it comes to using online press releases as an off-page SEO strategy.  Looking at the metrics across the board online PR just isn’t generating the inbound links it once did.  Could it be because of something called “nofollow links” and “pagerank bleed”?  You bet! Get more

09/08/2011

HRmarketer, the most widely used online marketing and PR service in the human resource marketplace, is celebrating their 10th year in business this October at the 14th annual HR Technology® conference with a drawing to win one of two iPad 2s.

Besides celebrating a decade in business, HRmarketer is also announcing a new product, SocialEars.  SocialEars captures the public tweets and blogs from thousands of journalists, analysts and other ‘voices’ across the HR and B2B marketplace and aggregates all that social noise into useful marketing data. Like a purpose-built Google Realtime, there is a lot of promise in SocialEars.  Stay tuned for another Shameless Solution Review after the new product launches.

It seems like just yesterday, [tooltip content='As Jet Powered Group, which then became StarrTincup, and is now Starr Agency...' url='' ]I was working with HRmarketer[/tooltip] helping to write their first Marketing/PR whitepaper, developing their first web form and designing their earliest letterhead (still in use today). Since those days, JDM was born and over the last few years our companies have become close, strategic partners.

If you’re heading to this year’s [tooltip content='First week in October in fabulous Las Vegas.' url='http://www.hrtechconference.com/' ]HR Tech conference[/tooltip], stop buy booth #950 on October 4th and wish HRmarketer a happy 10th anniversary and don’t forget to tweet about the news with hashtag #HRmTEN.

08/15/2011

There are hundreds of press release distribution services available online. A few of JDM PR’s favorites are listed below along with price ranges, pros & cons, and our recommendations.  The following are in order of our most recommended to least, but please make your own determination.  Every online PR campaign is different.

PRweb (prweb.com)

PRweb is our most commonly recommended PR distribution services.  They have a four tiered pricing model with available release upgrades all along the way.

PRweb PROS:

[list style='tick']

• Easy press release formatting wizard (looks sharp too)
• Wide reach (lots of exposure depending on the distribution type)
• Great tracking & performance data (pretty dashboard too)
• Lots of options for targeting your release

[/list]

PRweb CONS:

[list style='cross']

• Even the lowest distribution level is a bit pricey for your everyday press release
• Editorial review process can be a little slow

[/list]

TransWorldNews (transworldnews.com)

PRweb is great, but for those everyday releases (like hiring or new client announcements) JDM PR usually recommends a lower cost distribution tool like TransWorldNews.  With any distribution service, you get what you pay for, but for $50 or so, TransWorldNews is a good buy.

TransWorldNews PROS:

[list style='tick']

• Cost-effective (prices run between $50 and $100 for the premium releases)
• Wide reach (compared to similarly priced services)

[/list]

TransWorldNews CONS:

[list style='cross']

• Tracking information is lacking (though we understand they’ve almost got this fixed)
• They get a little upset if you link too many things to too many places (or at least they used to)

[/list]

Direct2Net (from HRmarketer)

Direct2Net is an online PR service from HRmarketer.  As part of a suite of services included in their flagship product, Direct2Net is less about DIY online PR and more like having a virtual online PR department.  If you’re marketing to the HR space, JDM highly recommends contacting HRmarketer.

Direct2Net PROS:

[list style='tick']

• PR Distribution + PR Consulting/Review
• Strong list of responsive journalists
• Specializing in marketing to HR

[/list]

Direct2Net CONS:

[list style='cross']

• Specializing in marketing to HR (it’s a CON if you’re not marketing to HR…)

[/list]

PR Newswire (prnewswire.com)

Since 1954, PR Newswire has been the global leader in pioneering this stuff–and in pricing.  They are the original and still the best, but do they really live up to their pricing or is it all just cache’?  You decide.

PR Newswire PROS:

[list style='tick']

• Huge reach in traditional and new-age media (like social networks and mobile)
• Lots of distribution options/packages (perhaps too many)
• Performance data is great (about as good as PRweb’s)

[/list]

PR Newswire CONS:

[list style='cross']

• Distribution starts at $130 and can quickly head upwards of $1300 per release
• There’s an annual membership of about $200–even if you don’t send a single release…

[/list]

Did we miss one? Comment your favorite press release distribution service below.

If you need a little more help, check out our article: “Online PR Best Practices” (no registration required).

08/03/2011

In association with JDM  and MyCFOnetwork, a new 2011 Financial Executive Compensation report has been published.  According to the report more than half of U.S. Financial Executives of privately held companies received a salary increase this year. However, the report details how public company CFOs continue to receive salaries 45% more than their privately held counterparts.   Get more