Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Are You Accurately Measuring the ROI of Your PR Strategy?
Many startups and small companies put so much focus on gaining traction and improving their reach that they don’t realize success is more than just a numbers game. Measuring the ROI of a PR campaign goes much deeper than just subtracting money spent from revenue earned.
Thanks to technology, measuring PR in the digital era is completely different than it was a few years ago. The questions for you to answer are which numbers matter and what’s the best way to measure them in relation to your goals?
If you want to get a better picture of your PR efforts, you’ll need to understand the nuances behind the metrics. Here are four ways to do that.
1. Set Flexible Objectives
Before you start analyzing any numbers, you must have something to compare it to. Without a concrete vision in mind, your PR efforts will feel more or less like rolling the dice. Try using the handy acronym S.M.A.R.T.E.R. to help set objectives beforehand.
- S – Specific: First off, your goals need to be precise, not just a vague objective. Decide what your purpose is, then design a PR strategy that will accomplish it with set milestones and KPIs.
- M – Measurable: It’s impossible to determine progress if you have no way of measuring it. Choose numbers that determine victory. Do you want to raise brand awareness? By how much? Do you want 50 new followers every week? 100? 500?
- A – Attainable: While it’s important to dream big, don’t get carried away by setting unrealistic goals. However, be careful not to set the bar too low, as this can easily reduce motivation in your team. Find a balance that works for everyone.
- R – Relevant: Consider whether or not your objective will help your business in the long run. Does this PR strategy line up with the long and short-term goals of the company?
- T – Timely: You will need to set a specific deadline, otherwise you may never reach your goal. Don’t cut yourself short; make sure that it will give your strategy enough time to be effective.
- E – Evaluate: Once your strategy is in place, it’s time to dig into the analytical reports and compare the results to your original goals and objectives.
- R – Re-evaluate: Thought you were done? Think again. Once you’ve crunched the numbers, take time to interpret the data and make the appropriate changes to meet your goals more efficiently.
Although tangible results can come from setting SMART goals, brands need to avoid defining their success solely by how they meet these types of goals.
If you take the time to look at past results and find any patterns, they might give you an opportunity to create a less rigid approach. Instead of using a specific number as a target, you could try using a range, as well as setting either/or objectives and connecting secondary goals to your main ones.
While it may seem counterintuitive to be flexible with your objectives, doing this can help you identify and capitalize on some of your less tangible results. At iSeeCars, we learned that more media coverage — or a goal of getting “x” number of write-ups for one of our independent studies — isn’t inclusive enough. Sometimes we missed that target by a large margin and, even though only a few outlets reported the story, those sites ended up driving the most traffic to us.
2. Pay Attention to Who is Sharing Your Content
Simply measuring the numbers will not give you an accurate representation of your media reach for two reasons. First, it can’t determine the authenticity of those shares. For example, Twitter retweet bots that automatically share content can have a positive impact on your numbers but don’t necessarily improve engagement levels and brand sentiment. Second, the numbers don’t measure the actual perception of that content with your audience.
If you want the most accurate insights, you’ll need to rely on a PR analytics system that records factors like traffic sources, brand mentions and conversion rates in detail.
This information is vital in helping you understand the general perception of your business and the impact of your PR efforts.
3. Evaluate the Pages That Link to You
Knowing which links are driving the highest quality traffic to your platform helps you gauge your online strategy. It’s not the highest traffic numbers that matter. It’s the sources that are bringing in the most visitors that convert.
Compare traffic counts with bounce rates to get a more accurate representation of each link’s value.
The industry average is around 50 percent, so don’t be surprised if this number is fairly high. If you notice a good chunk of your bounce rate is due to a specific keyword or external link, then it may be time to rethink that strategy or even eliminate it, since it’s not bringing in qualified customers.
4. Understand the Lasting Value of Impressions
Say you’ve just wrapped up a large PR campaign and paid for mentions and articles to reach thousands of viewers. Yet your sales and conversion rates have barely changed. Established businesses and small startups often face this dilemma and it can be quite discouraging.
Although it’s difficult to measure, remember that every mention in your PR strategy counts as an introduction to a potential customer. It can take up to seven impressions before people start to recognize a brand, so all of your efforts are contributing to that number.
If you received great results in terms of impressions from a particular site, consider running ads on that page to retarget readers.
A good example of this is Lumension, a security software company who needed to grow their customer base. They connected with publishing partners who were covering a business convention that would draw in their target audience, and they began a retargeting campaign on those specific web pages. Their efforts resulted in an 80 percent increase in leads.
Analyzing the Numbers
Effective PR strategies take time, effort and critical thinking. Once you understand how the numbers relate and what roles they play, you can accurately measure the success of your PR strategy and improve future campaigns.
About Phong Ly:
Phong Ly is the CEO and co-founder of iSeeCars.com, an award-winning car search engine that uses big data to help people find the best car deals and provide an unmatched level of transparency and insights via its free VIN Reports. He has more than 15 years of business and high tech experience at large companies like SAP and Deloitte, and in the start-up world creating mobile software. Regularly featured in media such as ABC News, CNBC, Forbes, USA Today, Fortune and Reuters, Ly earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and BSE from Princeton.
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Meet the RE Tech Founder: Sanya Gurnani from AgentDesks
Without further ado…
What do you do?
I’m the Co-founder & COO of Agentdesks. Agentdesks is a free professional network for Real Estate Agents and Brokers where agents connect locally to broadcast buyer needs and listings and nationally to exchange referrals. Any Realtor can sign up by downloading the app on iOS or Droid or on our website.
What problem does your product/service solve?
What are you most excited about right now?
What’s next for you?
We plan to expand the concierge service to improve our capacity and turnaround time on referral introductions. We’re also launching Trustle.com, a way for us to connect leads directly to one of our network agents. We’re constantly talking to our users and will introduce more lead generation and qualification products as the need arises.
What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?
Titliyan (means Butterflies in hindi), a non-profit organization focused on after-school education founded by my mother in Delhi, India. I consider myself extremely lucky that my parents could afford to give me the best education possible. Not everyone gets that privilege in India, with government schools offering limited resources and opportunities. Titliyan’s after-school program bridges the gap for underprivileged K-12 students in Delhi by giving them personalized attention and tutoring to prepare them for college.
Thanks to Sanya for sharing her story. If you’d like to connect, find her on LinkedIn here.
The post Meet the RE Tech Founder: Sanya Gurnani from AgentDesks appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.
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3 ways to tackle your growing duties as a communicator
The pressure to be a Jack or Jill of all trades is growing for communicators.
You’re no longer responsible for just internal newsletters or social media marketing. You have to engage all your audiences on a variety of platforms.
There’s no reason to fear this expansive new landscape. Here are a few straightforward ways to keep up with your new duties—and even surpass expectations:
- Harness the power of employee stories to engage both internal and external audiences.
- Use fun, unexpected pitches to secure media coverage without spending a dime.
- Attend the Do-It-All Communicators Conference on Feb. 6–7 in Miami, and learn how to do the above and more.
Join us at Bryte Box Consulting, and get the skills you need to do more with less. You’ll be able to network with peers and hear from experts in internal communications, PR, marketing, and video production.
Your stress levels don’t have to grow along with your responsibilities—take that vital first step today!
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9 steps to better, more effective content writing
Writing sells.
You don’t have to be the world’s foremost wordsmith to produce effective content, but improving your writing will make you more successful at work.
Here are some tips:
1. Know your audience.
You’re not just writing for yourself, are you? You should be creating content for others, and it’s imperative to understand the people you’re writing for. What’s useful for them? What might help them in their jobs?
Understanding your audience will help you sharpen your message and establish a more substantive connection with your readers. Over time, knowing your audience will make the writing process easier for you, and it will make the content better for your audience.
2. Stay organized.
It’s crucial to use a content calendar to organize and strategically schedule the content you plan to publish. It’s the best way to maintain a coherent mix of monthly themes and avoid writing about the same material repeatedly.
[RELATED: Join us in Miami for the Do-It-All Communicator Conference.]
Also, it’s wise to create an outline prior to crafting each content piece. Creating an outline will help you write faster and more clearly.
3. Read great content.
Whether it’s a book related to your field, a blog post or a novel, take time to read authors who inspire you. You’ll start to notice things that resonate with you, which you can then incorporate into your own writing.
When you read, bookmark sentences or paragraphs that grab your attention to save for inspiration when your creative well runs dry.
4. Find your voice.
Every writer has a voice. Let your personality shine through in your copy.
Maintain a conversational tone that’s not too stiff, and remember that it’s OK to be opinionated. Take a stand for what you believe in.
Keep in mind: It’s easier to write in your own voice than it is to mimic someone else.
5. Time your writing.
Writer’s block is real. If you feel stuck or fresh out of ideas, step away from the computer. Take a walk, or go get some fresh air.
When you get back to the keyboard, designate small increments of time for work. Some people use the Pomodoro Technique to get work done in bite-size slices. One of our staff members charges her computer to 100 percent, unplugs it, and then forces herself to finish the content before her computer dies. Hey, whatever floats your productivity boat.
Establishing a tangible timeline to finish something helps you focus. Deadlines force you to focus. Start small, even if it’s just 15 minutes of concentrated time before you reward yourself with a break. You can build from there.
6. Write without interruption.
During your focused writing time, don’t pause to edit. If you have an idea of what you want to write, just go with it.
Go ahead, make a mess of that first draft. Just get your ideas down on paper or the screen and then work with what you have.
7. Write sharp headlines, and make your copy easy to read.
Whether it’s the subject line of an email or the title of a blog post, you must create a compelling headline.
A/B testing is a great way to nail down what resonates with your audience. Try different kinds of headlines, and make sure you take ample time to write them. Don’t save headlines for last, nor treat them as an afterthought.
A great headline launches a reader into your story, which is where your crucial message resides. Make sure your body copy is easy on the eyes and easy for your readers to consume.
To ensure readability:
- Avoid long paragraphs.
- Use bullet points.
- Use images to break up the text.
- Use headers to break up sections of the post.
8. Edit, edit and edit some more.
Your content is a representation of you and your brand, so don’t be sloppy.
Once you finish a post, step away for a few hours, and come back to review it with fresh eyes. If you’re not great at editing, have another person give it a second review.
9. Use helpful tools.
Take advantage of resources that can improve your writing. Here are a few to consider:
- Grammarly will help you find and eliminate grammatical errors.
- Hemingway analyzes your writing and suggests how to make your copy easier to read.
- Focus blocks distracting websites, such as Facebook and Reddit, when you’re trying to get things done.
John Jantsch is president of Duct Tape Marketing. A version of this post first appeared on the Duct Tape Marketing blog.
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Monday, January 1, 2018
A communicator’s guide to perfect blog posts
With over 1.5 billion blogs on the internet, these content portals rule the (online) world.
For PR and marketing pros looking to shape their strategies for 2018, an infographic from Red Website Design highlighting blogging trends and developments can help you hone your efforts.
If you run a corporate or personal blog, chances are you’re on WordPress. The platform houses 96 percent of blogs—but there are 115 blogging platforms, including Blogger, Squarespace, Tumblr and Medium.
If you’re wondering if people are still reading blogs, the answer is a resounding “yes”—77 percent of internet users regularly visit them, with consumers reporting that they read an average of 10 blog posts each day. Internet users in the United States also spend three times the amount of time reading blogs than they do emails.
However, internet users’ attention span is waning: Only 23 percent of their time online is spent reading blogs, and 55 percent leave blog post pages after 15 seconds.
[RELATED: Learn new strategies to beat data overload and boost reach, results and ROI.]
Considering that 70 percent of consumers learn about organizations through articles rather than advertisements—and 92 percent of companies have acquired a customer through their blog—blogging offers PR and marketing pros a considerable opportunity.
You must capture and keep consumers’ attention to be truly effective, though.
Start with your headline. Aim for a blog post title of six to 13 words, because that length most consistently attracts the highest amount of web traffic. Consider where your readers reside, too: Headlines that are eight to 12 words are those that are shared most often on Twitter, and those with titles of 12 to 14 words are shared more frequently on Facebook.
Posts with images receive 94 percent more views, as readers will spend more time looking at your blog post’s graphics than they will reading your copy. A good rule of thumb is to use an image roughly every 350 words.
Though many readers will only skim your blog post, the top content on Google are posts between 2,032 and 2,416 words. Blog posts that are longer than 1,500 words also receive more tweets and Facebook likes, so remember to stick with long-form content to make a splash on social media.
Learn more about tips for crafting and sharing blog posts consumers want to read—including the best times to publish your content—in the infographic below:
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3 tips for crafting content that entices distracted readers
You’ve done it before: Scanned an email looking for the good stuff—until you realized there wasn’t any, so you sent it straight to the trash. If it had anything important, you didn’t notice.
When it comes to boring copy, most people are just like you.
Make sure your content doesn’t end up in a digital trash can by following these tips from experts:
- Corporate emails don’t have to be boring—use creative language and flair to ensure your employees don’t click “mark as read” and miss the important info.
- When it comes to editing, make sure your copy adheres to the “Four C’s”: clear, coherent, consistent and correct.
- Engage your millennial and Gen Z audiences with concise yet shocking content they’ll be itching to share.
Learn to do all of this and more during Ragan’s The Exceptional Writer and Editor Virtual Summit, streaming live on Jan. 26 from noon to 3:30 p.m. Central time.
You’ll learn best practices from leading writing experts—all from the comfort of your desk. You’ll also receive access to an on-demand recording of the entire event for six months.
Register today and get the tools you need to create compelling content that will hold your audience’s attention.
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