{"id":26774,"date":"2014-02-27T09:53:15","date_gmt":"2014-02-27T15:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/?p=26774"},"modified":"2025-10-22T14:03:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:03:20","slug":"3-conspicuous-things-that-are-strangling-your-pr-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/marketing\/public-relations\/3-conspicuous-things-that-are-strangling-your-pr-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"3 conspicuous things that are strangling your PR campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ve been running my own PR business for over 15 years, and not a week goes by that a potential client doesn\u2019t come along and say, \u201cPR just doesn\u2019t work for us. Why should I invest more time and money when we\u2019re not getting a single phone call from the media, <\/strong>or seeing any decent, measurable ROI?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no questioning the value of a professional public relations campaign. Having good-standing authority with the media is pure gold for any business, author, or entrepreneur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That isn’t the issue. Most of the time, after looking at their past PR efforts, the problems are usually pretty apparent. It isn\u2019t the client. It isn\u2019t the nature of their business (there are no \u201cboring\u201d businesses in PR).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing that usually winds up choking an otherwise well-fashioned PR piece is one or more of these 3 problems:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The Headline is Just\u2026 Meh<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"tamer<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the very first thing a reporter is going to see when spotting your release. When a journalist is being faced with literally hundreds upon hundreds<\/strong> of potential news stories every single day, the very first step in their evaluation process is going to be the headline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes the news and what winds up as flotsam in the sticky ether of the newswire often comes down to whether or not a story has a solid leading headline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truth is, most people write a headline as an afterthought<\/strong> \u2013 a slapdash summary at best. You should probably be spending as much time drafting, evaluating, and yes, even “workshopping” your headline as you did your release.  If media attention is an exclusive, posh party, consider your headline the secret handshake to get in the door. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try RAVEN the next time you sit down to write a headline:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

R<\/b>elevant: Make sure the headline fits the release\u2019s tone, content, and issuing party (you).
A<\/b>ttention-grabbing: Take a surprising or bold perspective<\/strong> on the subject at hand.
V<\/b>ivacious: Does it get up and dance, or does it stand against a wall looking at its shoes? 
E<\/b>asy-to-Understand: industry-specific jargon can make a headline almost unreadable.
N<\/b>ewsworthy: Why do we want to read this?  Why should anyone outside your company care?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 2. You Just Wrote an Advertisement<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is one of the more common “uh-oh” scenarios I see. Using a press release to announce a big sale is a very fine line to walk. The practice of issuing press releases that are \u201cadvertisements thinly disguised as news\u201d is something journalists most often cite as one of their biggest pet-peeves.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, some of the most successful, well-received releases I\u2019ve done have been announcements for a new product\/service\/sale. But with one big difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amateur who gets no attention will blurt the sale\/product-launch in the headline<\/strong> (mistake), and then follow up with a release about how great the sale\/thing is, and quote their CEO half a dozen times saying how great the sale\/thing is (yawn).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Try this: Make it newsworthy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look at your industry. Look at where it\u2019s going and where it\u2019s been. Are there any new developments there? It\u2019s easy as pie to tie your new product or sale into a piece that\u2019s about a larger, more relevant trend \u2013 and what\u2019s better, it\u2019s more likely to gain some traction with the media.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. You\u2019re Trying to Use PR for SEO<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"young<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEO is a distraction, plain and simple. It\u2019s doing PR totally backwards \u2013 like trying to drive 80 mph down the freeway looking only at your rear-view mirror. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please, for your sake, stop using PR solely for SEO benefits<\/b>. The whole point of PR is establishing you and your company as an authority in your field, and reaping the benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, it\u2019s important to optimize your release. And yes, there are many SEO benefits associated with issuing press releases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it\u2019s when you\u2019re written up in the paper, or mentioned on the radio, or when your release gets picked up and shared by your followers on social media \u2013 that\u2019s when you can see those long-awaited high search engine rankings come into play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try This: Start at the beginning. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start with rich, newsworthy, well-written content, and the search engine benefits will follow \u2013 naturally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t do your PR backwards. <\/strong>Remember who your audience is \u2013 living, breathing, thinking, feeling people. Not search engine bots and spiders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did I miss any?  Do I have it all wrong?  Let me know in the comments!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*     *     * <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Mickie<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This guest post was written by Mickie Kennedy<\/strong>, founder of eReleases Press Release Distribution Service, <\/a>the online leader in affordable PR distribution since 1998. Grab your free copy of 8 Shocking Secrets Press Release Distribution Firms Don’t Want You to Know, <\/a>a must-read for the PR professional. Follow eReleases on Google+<\/a>, Pinterest,<\/a> Facebook <\/a>and Twitter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been running my own PR business for over 15 years, and not a week goes by that a potential client doesn\u2019t come along and say, \u201cPR just doesn\u2019t work for us. Why should I invest more time and money when we\u2019re not getting a single phone call from the media, or seeing any decent,\u2026 Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":10,"wds_primary_category":606,"footnotes":""},"categories":[606],"tags":[13,717,229,242],"class_list":{"0":"post-26774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-public-relations","7":"tag-press-releases","8":"tag-product-launch","9":"tag-seo","10":"tag-writing-headlines","11":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"contributor","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/contributor\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26774"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42797,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26774\/revisions\/42797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}