"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about," said Oscar Wilde way back in 1891, and he’s more right than ever about that. Since the arrival of inbound marketing, advertising has taken a back seat, and public relations has come into its own. The critical difference between them is that advertising, which is a paid-for form of promotion usually placed by the marketer, carries less credibility than PR. The main reason for this is that PR is third-party publicity that typically comes from a (supposedly) neutral media outlet.
OK, so you need PR. The question is: how do you get it without paying a fortune to an agency or employing a full-time person? Google has the answers.
Finding Outlets
The main reason why companies outsource their PR function is because they haven't a clue who to send their written press releases to. Sure, you can publish them on your website, but unless you have superb onsite SEO happening, chances are nobody will find them. You can send them out by using a press release distribution service, but that costs money.
Instead, use Google’s search option to find places to submit your news to. Run a search using these phrases and remember to include your city, town or industry as the last word(s):
- "Submit news"
- "Submit press release plumbing"
- "Submit guest post"
- "Write for us real estate"
Using quotation marks ensures Google pulls results using the exact words or phrases you're looking for. Otherwise, you'll have a ton of unrelated results to work through.
Tracking Trends
If media outlets consider your press release newsworthy, they'll use it. That depends on it conforming to the criteria for newsworthiness, such as relating to current trends. Find out what's trending in your industry by using Google’s News and Blog search functions. Type in your keyword search parameters and click the "News" option just below the search field, or choose "Blog" from the drop-down menu under "More." Use "Search Tools" to select the time period you want to make sure you get the latest postings.
In a few seconds you can identify topics that are newsworthy in your industry or geographical area, see what competitors are up to and build your media mailing list by adding publications carrying industry news.
Joining the Conversation
You have to be present online to build thought leadership and develop your reputation as an expert. But you only have one website and blog, right? Make other sites work for you by joining the conversation through comments on posts and social media profiles. Google can help you to find out where your industry is being talked about by setting up Google alerts to keep you up-to-the-minute.
Alerts send you email whenever anything goes live on your areas of interest, which gives you the opportunity to click the link immediately. When you find new articles and blog posts relevant to your company, products or services, join the conversation by posting a comment. This achieves several things:
- Gets you involved in the discussion and gives you a chance to highlight your website in your comment signature
- Provides opportunity to create a post on the same topic and link to that in your comment, effectively bringing your own news into the mix and boosting your link building strategy
- Enables you to identify sites and reporters focusing on your subject matter to add to your mailing list for future use
Google might be aiming for world domination, but its tools can help you to dominate your market and especially your PR.
* Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
