The press loves good data. However, if you are not careful in how you package your data while pitching to press, your efforts may be for nothing. Here are ten examples of how to use data to pitch press during COVID-19.

Crafting your pitch — a skill that you need to master.

You will want to pitch your data in a way that highlights fresh, unique, useful, and relevant data. Remember that crafting your pitch is a skill that you need to master.

There is no point in merely piggy-backing the COVID-19 pandemic just to try and get noticed. Not only will your pitch get sent straight to spam, but your image will also be tainted. So how do you pitch your data-driven content to press during this trying period?

Here are examples used by real businesses you can follow that are fabricated from pre-existing data and have gained attention from the press.

Example #1 – Curate Relevant and Helpful Information for the Public.

A friend of mine recently saw that www.flattenthecurve.com domain was for sale without any previous information on the website. So he decided to make something of this website after seeing all the information about the pandemic out there. He purchased the domain and worked with a group to set up an info hub for up to date COVID19 info by experts.

Now, he did not do this without prior research. Here are some of the steps to figure out what journalists want to hear about for their stories:

1. Look for journalist’s requests on newsletters such as HARO, Profnet, JournoRequests, ResponseSource, and others to see what questions/asks/queries journalists have and any sources and experts they’re seeking for their stories.
2. Dig deep into each request from a journalist to find an overarching theme for all the asks.

In my friend’s case, he saw the need/ask for this expert advice and opinions about everything going on with COVID. He also saw that nobody out there was providing this information so he started building his own content:

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The very first version of content on this website was just a simple blog post. He slowly updated the content and worked on getting relevant data on the site. He then pitched media about his data and got amazing press on ABC News.

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Now to pitch something like this, you do not need to create a fancy PR release. Merely use Google to find a journalist interested in this topic, and use Gmail to send them a quick pitch.

Here is the process to use to pitch the journalist:

1. Find and identify journalists interested in your story.
2. Create attention-grabbing newsworthy content.
3. Find their email address. Here is a quick tutorial on how to find a journalist’s email, here.
4. Reach out.

Since flattenthecurve.com consists of up-to-date information on COVID-19 from real experts and there is not much similar info out there similar to it — so it made the pitch unique.

Here’s another mention the site gained on a popular Medium blog:

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Flattenthecurve is cited as a source of reputable information since the owner has made sure to include only authentic information that has been verified by experts.

Takeaway: Curate information that will help people during this pandemic if you want to stay fresh in the news.

Example #2 – Use Graphs That Show Trends Over Time

Graphs help you to present your data in an easily understandable manner. People process visuals much faster than text. Journalists have limited time on their hands to go through the hundreds of pitches they receive every day. If you want your data to be understood quickly by the PR reporter, graphs are a great way to do this.

In regards to data about COVID-19, it is helpful to include graphs that show trends over time. Trends over time are pieces of data that help people realize the gravity of the situation.

Here’s an example from The Verge that features graphs and trends over time:

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The graphs need not be your own, but you can use them to put forth a fresh perspective on the topic.

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Takeaway: Use graphs that show people trends over a certain timeframe. This helps people track the progress of the pandemic so that they can get a sense of how well a particular region is doing in controlling the outbreak.

Example #3 – Use Images That Show Data Over Geographic Locations

Another type of COVID-19 data you can show is the trend across geographic areas. This could be the number of positive cases, the number of deaths due to the virus, or the number of people who have been cured of the virus.

Whatever data you present, when you show trends over geographic locations, it shows people how the virus is spreading. It also tells them which states are taking better precautionary measures to control the infection.

Example:

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The graph above shows the distribution of confirmed COVID-19 cases clearly and is easy to understand.

Here is a featured images of the number of COVID-19 cases across the world from an article from the European Union.

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The site also claims to have up-to-date information that is carefully screened by experts.

Takeaway: Visuals convey much information in a short span of time. Readers are able to comprehend the situation of the pandemic globally in just a few images.

Use strong images that show the spread of the disease across nations to help people see clearly which nations are better controlling it.

You can also take an example here of how different sites present their information. Clear, concise — and easy to find. In business, you can use many examples across a variety of situational areas to improve your business reach.

Example #4 – Use Different Types of Data for Pitching

There are three different types of data companies use for pitching press: Owned data, created data, and researched data.

Owned Data

Owned data is data that your company has collected over time. The best part about owned data is that it is unique. Owned data may include customer profiles, industry trends, or other insights your company has gained from its customers.

If your company is in the healthcare or medical industry, it will be easy for you to obtain information about COVID-19 if you are already dealing with it.

You can choose to present this data in the form of whitepapers, blog content, video content, or infographics.

Created Data

If your company does not have access to information that can be used to gain exciting industry insights, you can always develop data for the purpose. This is called created data.

Created data could be obtained through experiments carried out to show a trend, or surveys conducted to gather invaluable insights about your target market. You can use created data as hard evidence supporting a theory you are trying to put forward.

For created data about COVID-19, you could reach out to medical professionals and gain their opinions on the pandemic.

Researched Data

The third type of data you can use is research data that is publicly available. In recent times, data about COVID-19 is all over the internet, so you may not have trouble finding relevant information.

Researched data is collected from businesses or other sources that may not be directly linked to your company or even your industry. However, if you are going to use data from external sources, you need to present your unique angle to the information — it is against the law to just copy others’ work.

Takeaway: Well-researched data is always sought after by the press. Even if other websites are citing the same resources of data, the way you present the data (using visuals and graphs) will help you stand out from the crowd.

Example #5 – Use Attention-grabbing Interactive Visuals

Use Google’s data PDFs and visualize them for your audience. Use information about the percentage change in people visiting retail/ recreational locations from Google’s COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports.

Use pieces that present attractive and well-presented visuals showing county-or state-level insights. Show helpful tables that show state-wise and county-wise percentages. Visuals and data can be obtained from many sites. But what is important here is how the information is put together and presented.

Takeaway: Use stunning interactive visuals to quickly layout information to readers.

Example #6 – Present Your Data Uniquely

You can show visualizations of changes driving behavior by country/region. Use a site like Apple’s Mobility Trends Report to get insights. Include dynamic visuals and include an element of interaction with the readers that captures their attention.

Takeaway: Find creative ways to present your data differently. Also, try to make your data interactive in some way so that it doesn’t appear ‘boring’ or static.

Example #7 – Use Data Visualization Techniques

Interactive map visuals are always a good way to go. You can list country names along with the median residential changes. Make your data visualizations crisp and clear and concisely provided data, making it easy for press sites to link to it.

Visualizing your data has many benefits and can help you pack more value in your content.

Takeaway: Present your data briefly and clearly so that people can process it at a glance.

Example #8 – Create Location-Based Interactive Content

A great campaign could be done by reporting the most Instagrammed places in the country. People could click any location on the map and see Instagram photos that were uploaded in that area.

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This campaign gained national coverage due to all the locations they covered, and it also got local coverage because people were interested in what was happening in their particular state.

Takeaway: Attract local press coverage by sharing location-based data in an appealing format. Interactive content gains a lot of traction due to its relevance to people.

Example #9 – Create Quizzes to Educate and Entertain

Quizzes are another type of interactive content that helps you gain more shares, especially on social media. Quizzes attract people due to the interactivity and give them a reason to stay on your site for longer.

Take this quiz from Orbitz, for example. The content is visual and fun, making the content shareable.

Takeaway: Interactive quizzes are a fun way to gain attention. Social media content has a tendency to go viral, so incorporate quizzes in your pitches. You can ask people personal questions while educating them about the latest COVID-19 news or trends.

Example #10 – Stop Self-Serving – Focus on Value Instead

Getting your company some media exposure is the goal of any public relations department. Although your main aim may be to gain some recognition and appear in top publications in your niche, you must be careful not to let that drive your pitch. Present data from reputable sources in real-time (if possible) and use information that is trusted by top news sites.

Takeaway: Focus on the value you are bringing your audience. Are you helping them cope with the COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing? Or are you creating opportunities for them to thrive during this pandemic?

People are looking for trust-worthy and helpful content, and the press understands that. Give them new data that is both practical and trustworthy, and they will be happy to publish it.

Tips For Successful PR Outreach and Link Building

• Make sure your data is authentic, relevant, and useful to a lot of people.
• Find which sites you want to pitch to, and focus on them. Do not waste your time and resources on every other publication out there.
• Make sure every pitch is less than 200 words
• Never coordinate interview times with journalists without a link to your Calendar app in your outreach email.
• Focus on providing value to your readers.

Conclusion

Data is everywhere and is always in demand. Press reporters are still after new and unique data to showcase to their readers. Curate relevant information that is helpful to the public. Relevant real-time data will help you stay authentic and reach out to a wider audience.

Create graphical representations to show trends over a time frame. Following a timeframe will help people understand how the disease is progressing.

Curate images that show trends over geographical locations. People are interested in how their areas are controlling the pandemic, and these will help them. You can also create images of your own showing these trends.

Create interactive content such as quizzes or location-based content. People enjoy personalized content that they can interact with.

Most importantly, do not seek to serve yourself at this time. It is more important to stay honest and help the public as much as you can at this time. The press values data that serves.

The post 10 Examples of How to Use Data to Pitch Press During COVID-19 appeared first on ReadWrite.

Marketing tactics change constantly. Each year new tactics become more impactful, and old ones fade into obscurity. Sticking to the same tactics is stale for your current customers and potential customers, too. Instead of just running the same growth tactics for years on end, it’s time to make a switch in 2020. Here are four unique growth tactics you can implement in 2020 to help you make the switch to growth.

1. Optimize Your Sales Pipeline For Engagement

Having a sales pipeline is nothing new. And you probably have a great one in place already. But there is always room for improvement. A significant issue I see in many sales pipelines is a failure to communicate effectively with prospects.

If you have great leads, you need to engage with them to build a relationship consistently.

As Gaetano Dinardi from Nextiva says:

“Engagement is the number one spot that most fall short in closing sales. Whether it’s poor timing on the engagement or simply not enough, engagement literally will make or break your sales. Within your CRM, ensure you are setting up reminders and checking outreach logs to engage often and with better accuracy.” 

Gaetano hits the nail on the head here. Engaging at the right time is just as critical as the amount you engage.

Many fail to engage in fear of “annoying” their prospects or being too intrusive. But engaging doesn’t have to be a sales pitch every single time. It can be as much as asking how you can help, noticing new solutions to their problems, or checking in.

A great way to increase engagement is to vary your engagement style. If customers aren’t receptive to email messages, try engaging them on a new platform, like social media, or SMS.

SMS has become one of my favorite ways to engage prospects throughout the sales funnel. It taps into the idea of conversational marketing, which has proven to be high-converting.

Here are some amazing example texts you can use to engage prospects in your funnel:

• Hey __, I think this article on social amplification would be a great fit for your (insert pain point).
• Hey __, I hope the holidays are going well. Did you find a fix for (insert problem they were facing)? If not, I think I have a few solutions.

Once you have scheduled SMS texts in your pipeline, you can start developing other ways to engage prospects for unrivaled growth.

Speaking of more engagement tactics, let’s jump into personalized landing page campaigns.

2. Run Personalized Landing Page Campaigns

Personalization is and will always be a stellar growth tactic. The more you can personalize (to an extent), the better. Your personalized campaigns, web pages, ad copy, are all fantastic ways to speak directly to your target market.

Rather than spinning up generic campaigns, personalized ones convert at higher rates. Why? The answer is because personalized campaigns help you speak directly to pain points, rather than using generalizations.

For example, which one of these value propositions sounds more impactful when speaking to students?

• Using our calendar scheduling tool, you will never miss an appointment
• Using our calendar scheduling tool, you can ensure that you find the time to meet with your professors that fits both of your busy schedules.

The answer is number two. Personalization is currently critical and will continue to be in 2020. But, how can you take it to the next level and create unique experiences for your potential clients to help you grow? By building personalized landing page campaigns.

What’s is a personal landing page?

Essentially, personalized landing page campaigns are used to sell to more premium and high-value target accounts in addition to specific niche segments. For example, if you wanted to land Microsoft as a client, you’d spin up a dedicated, personalized page for them on your site. Conversely, for less distinct target segments, you can still personalize landing pages.

Let me show you what a personal landing page looks like in action.

Take a look at this landing page from MailChimp: 

What do you notice? 

It’s not their standard homepage. Instead, it’s a near replica of its website homepage, just targeted via copywriting and images to focus on startups. Instead of generic copywriting and headlines, they focus the value proposition to startups. A value proposition is how you can convert at higher rates.

Compare the landing page to their homepage: 

Not much changed besides the copywriting and images. 

So, how is Mailchimp doing this at scale?

One of the best options (and my personal favorite) is to use website builders.

Why? Simply put — they are cheap, easy to use, and help you scale this for multiple targets or segments.

The folks over at Website Setup published a study where they mentioned some average costs:

“Building a good custom website could easily cost $2000 (on the low end). Making changes to the website can still require a freelance designer and a webmaster to help you continually update your site (read: you need to spend additional $$$).” 

Case and point: website builders are faster, much cheaper, and perfectly suited for this type of growth tactic.

The only problem is: which website builder do you choose?

There are currently dozens and dozens of website building platforms with different costs, tools, usability, skill level, and ratings. There’s a great breakdown of the best ones on Website Setup:

Pick one website builder that matches your price range and usability. Remember: you want to scale these pages fast and with templates / drag-and-drop. Look through the top building tools and pick one that allows you to do what you want to within your price range and usability.

You don’t need custom development to get the job done. When trying to close deals with major client accounts, you need to be able to run personalized pages fast. Going back and forth with a developer is usually far from fast.

Instead, implement a website builder and get the job done fast.

3. Build Authority Faster By Being a Journalist Source

Building brand authority is a growth tactic in and of itself. Without a brand name and social proof, growth can be extremely slow. When you think of inbound marketing, what comes to mind? HubSpot? That’s branding.

Branding helps you attract new customers by setting yourself apart from the competition, showcasing that your brand is the right choice.

One of the fastest ways to do your branding is by becoming a source for journalists. What does that mean? Essentially, you provide tidbits of information to help improve articles for journalists.

It often comes in the form of quotes and advice. For instance, take a look at this post from Incredo on SaaS Christmas marketing:

Many experts contribute their opinions and information to the article, helping both the journalist and their own brands. 

Thankfully, doing this is extremely easy, and it’s one of my favorite PR hacks.

Create a free account with HARO (Help a Reporter Out). HARO is a service that journalists use to list their article topics and what they need from experts, whether that be quotes, advice, or more. Once you sign up with HARO and create your account, you can decide which niches to get notified about.

If you want to contribute to general business, marketing, finance, health, etc. You can select specific segments. 

Each day you will receive emails listing out journalists who are looking for quotes:

Many of the journalists using HARO are writing for significant publications, too. For example, take a look at this query from a journalist at FastCompany:

Typically, cold emails to journalists at huge publications like FastCompany would result in deleted or ignored emails. But utilizing HARO, you can share your expertise and showcase your brand to potentially millions of monthly readers. With most contributions, you will also earn a link back to your website, driving direct referral traffic that converts.

In 2020, start focusing heavily on building more brand awareness. It’s one of the driving forces of purchase decisions.

4. Diversify Your Content Marketing Formats

Content is king. We all know this and experience it daily when searching for solutions on Google. Content is both useful and enjoyable to consume for business and pleasure. Everyone seems to be blogging and writing new content to drive organic traffic that converts. The problem is: blog content is often not unique for the majority of people producing it.

Millions of blog posts are published every single day, making them a common growth tactic. But in 2020, content is shifting from just written content to two more unique formats:

Podcasts and videos.

While blog posts garner just 15 seconds of attention on average, people are watching hours of video content and listening to hours more of podcast content daily. Now is the time to branch out into more than just keyword-driven blog content. Platforms like Spotify and Apple Music are goldmines for organic traffic and brand awareness.

Currently, there are nearly 100 categories on Apple for podcasts, let alone Spotify, SoundCloud, and other services.

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Any and every business can develop interesting podcast content that is easily digestible, driving more organic visits, brand awareness, and more. Don’t know what to talk about on a podcast? Or how to market your podcast?
Start by looking at your blog and analyzing the latest posts you have written:

For example, looking at the ReadWrite blog, I already notice multiple blog topics that can be repurposed into topics for a podcast.

• Why Productivity and Customer Experience go Hand in Hand
• Digital marketing in the government sector

If there is a category for your niche on Apple podcasts, there are eager listeners waiting for you to deliver stellar content.

Conclusion

If you want to grow your business in 2020, repeating the same overused tactics isn’t your best bet. While you can still hammer home the fundamentals — there are plenty of unique growth tactics at your disposal.

Implement these four unique growth tactics in the coming year for improved growth and success.

What are some of your favorite unique growth tactics? Which have had the biggest impacts?

The post 4 Unique Growth Tactics for 2020 appeared first on ReadWrite.

Content marketing and optimization have come a long way since the early days of search. Simple tricks like keyword stuffing have fallen by the wayside as Google has become more enlightened in its ability to understand content. Here are the best four ways to optimize your site to rank on Google in 2019.

Marketers need to make more intelligent decisions about their content.

Let’s look at four areas in which optimization can play an important role in 2019 and beyond.

1. Content Optimization

Optimizing the content of page refers to anything that improves the quality of the content on a page. These changes make it easier for both your audience and search engines to understand what the page is about.

Properly address user intent.

Google continues to refine its ability to match user intent with relevant content. It’s no longer a question about having the best content, but rather having the best content that matches the intent behind the search term. Carefully analyze the SERP, its features, and PPC ads for hints on the most likely intent.

Thoroughly answer the questions associated with a search term.

People search Google to find answers to questions. Those questions aren’t always evident in the keywords people use. But you can find them in the “People also ask” (PAA) section of the search results.

These are lists of frequently asked questions that Google has mapped to particular search terms. Clicking on any of these questions can lead to additional questions to include in your article. Google has done all the work, of which you can take advantage.

Proper internal linking with appropriate anchor text.

Internal linking provides the ideal opportunity to create clusters of content focused on a specific topic. It’s rare that a site can rank well with just one post on a topic. It’s equally unusual for a topic to be so shallow that one page can address all possible intents. Use internal links to create content clusters that address these intents.

Google crawls these pages and forms associations between them, based on the links, anchor text, and text surrounding the link. Ensure the anchor text for these links includes descriptive and highly relevant keywords. Avoid using terms like “click here.”

Orphan pages, those without any internal links pointing to them, are hard for both users and search engine to find. Although they may get indexed, like from a sitemap, the lack of internal links will impact its ranking potential. Use a tool like Screaming Frog SEO Spider to find these pages on your site.

Proper external linking.

Avoid linking to your SERP competitors of the keyword being targeted. A link is like a vote. When you link to the competition, you’re telling Google that their page is better than yours. Don’t help your competitors, regardless of their position in the SERP.

Avoid linking to SERP competitors for keywords that are closely related semantically. A well-written page can rank for a number of semantically related topics. Helping the competition ends up being self-defeating.

Ensure your article provides comprehensive topic coverage.

Create a topic model of the subject that you wish to cover. Evaluate the competition against this model to uncover content gaps that you can exploit. Apply this against your page as well, to ensure your content is the best on the web.

Manually creating a model for every topic is prohibitively time-consuming. An SEO content analysis tool like MarketMuse uses AI to speed up the process. This example above is from MarketMuse, which I tend to use quote often when doing content optimization.

2. Technical Optimization

Technical optimization usually refers to anything that helps ensure a website is properly crawled and indexed by search engines. However, it can also apply to any technical activity that improves a site’s ability to rank well.

Ensure robots.txt allows crawling.

Search engines can only index pages that they know about, so if they can’t crawl a page, it’s unlikely to be indexed. Likewise, they can rank pages that are not in their index.

Include the URL in the sitemap.

A sitemap is a file that provides information about pages on your site and helps search engines crawl it more intelligently. Adding the URL to your sitemap provides for faster discovery.

Avoid deep site architecture.

Limit the number of clicks it takes to each page to a maximum of four. Pages buried deeper than this are hard to reach, for both search engines and people. As a result, these pages see little traffic and are more likely not to get indexed. Screaming Frog Spider can help find these pages.

Speed up your web pages.

Page speed is a ranking factor for mobile searches that applies in specific situations. However, it’s universally accepted that visitors will quickly abandon a site that takes too long to load. There are a number of ways to address the issue, including:

• Compressing images
• Using reliable dedicated hosting
• Employing a content delivery network (CDN)
• Optimizing CSS code and its delivery
• Minifying Javascript, CSS, and HTML
• Avoiding number external services and poorly coded CMS plugins

These are just some general areas where gains are typically found when looking to speed up a website. Since every site is unique, consider a page speed testing tool like Google Pagespeed Insights or GTMetrix. These programs evaluate individual URLs and offer specific suggestions on how to improve page speed.

3. User Experience (UX) Optimization

UX optimization deals with any changes that will enhance the experience of consuming the content. Page speed can be considered a UX element because slow loading pages detract from the overall experience. However, since we’ve already covered that, let’s look at some others.

Meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

It’s good practice to ensure your site’s content meets WCAG guidelines. These guidelines have been created to help web developers ensure their content is more accessible to people with disabilities. Some of these ways include filling in “image alt text” tags to describe images using text for those who are visually impaired.

Use headers to organize information.

Headers and subheaders are not only great for organizing content, but they also make it easier for readers to scan. Plus, they give search engines a better understanding of the contents of a page.

Pages should be device responsive.

In 2018, over 52% of web traffic came from mobile devices. Your site needs to adapt to the constraints of many different devices and format itself accordingly.

Design should be aesthetically pleasing.

Next to slow loading web sites, the greatest turn off for new visitors is one that’s ugly. Although beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, a functional site still needs to be easy to look at. Design and UX is not only about the visual aspects on the website but also the entire experience of a customer as they journey through your sign up flow and which pages they visit. For example a company called SalesMsg improves engagement and customer experience by integrating SMS texting in corresponding with their customers. This helps visitors come back to the website repeatedly after receiving SMS text notifications, repeated visits to pages on a website boost it’s ranking overall.

Make sure navigation elements are easily understood.

From a visual aspect, these elements need to be easy to comprehend. When using text as a navigation aid, use common words that are unambiguous and familiar.

Build in social sharing incentives.

Use elements like click-to-tweet and social sharing buttons to encourage engagement. Social is a great discovery tool. Not only are these components easy to incorporate, they increase your chance of gaining coveted backlinks from other sites.

Social shares is actually a very important metric which most brands forget, I spoke to Jeremy Boudinet from Nextiva who about this, here is how he put it:

“If you write an article with a high number of social media shares and publicize that number on the post itself, that screams ‘this is an authoritative piece’ and dramatically amplifies the likelihood of generating passive backlinks and further social sharing over time.”

Use images that convey major points of the post.

Avoid using stock images just for the sake of having an image. Some people are visual learners, so use images purposefully as another way of making your point.

Over 25% of Google searches are image searches. Although click through rates are less, consider optimizing for this traffic source. Optimizing images is a lot simpler than page optimization. Elements to focus on are the image filename, alt text attribute, image caption, and surrounding text content.

Ensure every page has a clear CTA.

Technically this won’t help your page to rank better. But, since you’re doing all this work anyways, it makes sense to maximize your conversion opportunities. Adam Legas who is the founder of Nanohydr8 equates this with a call to action in your emails, if the subject line doesn’t capture their attention then the email will not be opened and your overall deliverability of campaigns will suffer. Same with content and websites, if there is not clear CTA or action a lot of time people will not engage with your content.

4. MetaData Optimization

Generally speaking, metadata isn’t as important as it once was. However there are some elements that should be optimized.

Optimize title tags for search.

Title tags are an important factor in helping Google understand the content on a page. It’s a search visitor’s first experience of your site, so make sure to get this right.

Google limits title displays to a maximum of 600 pixels which works out to be about 50 to 60 characters. Put important keywords first, but make sure it’s still readable by humans.

Use concise and descriptive URLs.

WordPress automatically converts the post title into the URL, but it’s not always the best choice. Take for example this article on my blog, “How To Write a Press Release in 7 Steps [w/ Examples and; Templates].” Since the keyword being targeted is “how to write a press release”, it makes sense to shorten this long and unwieldy URL to “https://blog.justreachout.io/how-to-write-press-release/”.

Create enticing meta descriptions.

Meta description isn’t a ranking factor, but a good one will increase your all-important click through rate. So give them a reason to click.

The description in this example encourages people to click. Why? Because they’re curious about the “crucial other half.” That fear of missing out is an ancient and proven fear upon which you can capitalize.

Employ schema markup where appropriate.

Pages don’t get extra points for using schema markup. But anything you can do to make it easier for Google to understand your content is a step in the right direction. Schema markup code, added to your website helps search engines offer additional information to users.

That richer search experience, can bring much more relevant traffic than a basic SERP entry. Here’s one for comparison.

Although there are over 600 different types of schema, there are generally only a handful with which most content marketers should familiarize themselves. Those include organization, local business map, product, breadcrumbs, article, video, event, recipe, and FAQPage. If you use WordPress, consider the Yoast SEO plugin as it offers support for a number of popular schema.

Conclusion

Google’s search algorithms continue to increase in sophistication, bringing with it new opportunities to improve content. There are many ways to optimize a web page, but they all fall into these four main categories. Follow the Pareto principle and focus your initial optimization efforts on the 20% that’s going to give you 80% of the results.

The post 4 Ways to Optimize Your Site to Rank on Google in 2019 appeared first on ReadWrite.

Many organizations see PR as free advertising. The assumption that PR is advertising is evident with the core PR success metric being Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE). It’s no wonder that more and more organizations are focused on telling their brand story through PR.

US data even tells us that there are 6 PR Pros for every 1 Journalist. This statistic has been a 2x increase in 10 years all the while newsrooms are shrinking.

These known metrics from the AVE makes it super important that organizations start to take PR seriously. Creating a press release and blasting it out via a news wire no longer cuts it. You need to strategize and be meticulous with your PR approach to ensure your company’s success.

The discussion here points to the core PR mistakes that are made by companies regularly. I’ve also provided you with tips for improving your PR workflow.

#1 Mistake: No Research or Understanding

Getting PR for your organization can be a massive boost to business and awareness. You’ll need to focus your PR efforts where you can reap the fruits of your labor. Knowing where your focus must require a certain level of understanding and effort.

Your level of understanding these issues is where things get out of shape. Smaller businesses especially make the mistake of chasing the public eye but fail at the most basic of hurdles. Where does the problem start? Researching and understanding both the journalist and the publication that you are reaching out to mark your beginning.

Let’s role play. You wouldn’t reach out to a prospective buyer who you didn’t research first, would you? The same applies to get that media “buy-in,” which can be looked at in the same context as trying to arrange a sales meeting or converting someone. Let’s break these two core problems down and get some ideas going to help combat this.

Not Understanding the Journalist.

Journalists aren’t starving for stories; they are not waiting for the next big thing to appear in their inbox. These people have editorial calendars to maintain and accounts to research. Pitching a tech angle when a journalist covers health-care tech, for example, will not generate coverage. The added “health-care” detail ensures your latest productivity app won’t be a fit for the journalist.

Imagine the stress you feel when getting a cold call that doesn’t even make sense to you. Imagine the same for a journalist, but instead of the wrong product pitch from one company, you get 10’s of pitches throughout the day that have zero to do with anything the journalist is looking for.

Not Hitting the Right Publications.

More on this later in the article but this is an issue that repeats itself time and time again. Hitting the right publication generally happens when a media list is purchased, and the spray and pray method is applied. Because there was a lack of research done, the outreach will be reduced and filled with gaps. Wasting your time, the journalists’ time and only adding to the negative sentiment that is felt with media relations these days is the end result of the action.

Ideas to Consider.

Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google are tools that you use on a daily basis. These three tools provide plenty of information to you in seconds so that you can run a gut-check without wasting anyone’s time.

If you want that coverage, then allow yourself the time of day to do the research to help you better understand the journalist and the publication. If time is an issue and doing everything manually is off-putting, but you still want PR — then take a moment and spend it reviewing the PR software out there. PR software has already been designed that will help you improve in all areas of communications.

#2 Mistake: Spreading No-News

As much as you may be proud of your business or accomplishments, it doesn’t always need a PR push. Many PR failures start with the basics, and having a story to tell is about as basic (necessary) as you can get with PR.

Journalists want people to read their story. So they need something interesting that is going to drive conversation and eyeballs to their story. Is your news going to drive the conversation?

Self-Promotion.

When you are a small or lesser-known brand, product updates generally get shunned for the more prominent names. Why? Because bigger names equal more people, who use the product or have heard of it which has a net result of more readers.

Generic and Common Angles.

Generic and common angles stories are not going to drive readers or shares. If you want coverage, then you need to have achieved or accomplished something that few others have.

For example, investment or funding generates news more or less every time. Why? Because people will have an opinion on the value of the company or funding. Pondering what they could achieve with the investment makes for good reading if you have garnered an angle worth reading about. A new idea or a fresh thought on an old story or issue will drive clicks and eyeballs to the story.

Ideas to Consider.

Writing a blog post for most small businesses is more than enough. Your blog can operate however you determine to run it. Get more readers by boosting posts on social media (again, the audience will tell you if the story is interesting or not via the number of click-throughs).

Editorial calendars: create one, collect publication and journalists calendars, and align the two together. This list will give journalists a go-to source for future stories, and you know what to expect and when.

#3 Mistake: No Media Relations

Focus on the word relation here. Having someone’s email address isn’t the same as having ties or relations. A relationship doesn’t appear by magic, out of nowhere; you’ll need to spend time and base the relationship on a mutually beneficial situation.

The easiest way to think about media relations is to view it as strategic account management. Connections are created through building rapport, connecting with individuals, and understanding what it is they need and want for them to be successful.

But there is a real lack of focus on relations when it comes to PR and organizations. Most forget about the basics and bombard journalists with all kinds of non-sense and expect instant replies and coverage.

Too Many Follow-Ups.

Follow-ups are an essential part of PR. People are busy, and sometimes a nudge can help to refresh their memory. That being said, there is no need to follow-up with journalists every day or wait a week and then try again. Most news is old by then and would have either been covered elsewhere or was not of interest.

Keep follow-ups to about two to three times before calling it a day.

Cold Calling.

This is a tricky one. Many of my PR successes have come from cold calling and speaking to the journalist and building relations. That said, cold calling becomes a real issue when the caller has made no effort in understanding the publication/journalist.

If you want to cold call, make sure you have done substantial research beforehand.

Mass Email Blast.

Mass email blasts of PR Releases such as these generally mean journalists are added to a media contacts list which is purchased online. Minor personal touches such as — %f_name% — are included, and that’s a wrap. This type of media is not good enough, and a journalist will see right through it — and be aggravated with you.  Volume does not drive results; it does the opposite in fact, which is why serious consideration needs to be taken when looking into media lists.

Ideas to Consider.

Start over with your approach and take time out to start to research the journalists and publications. Take the time to build relations by sending intro emails out, mention a journalists article on social media or link to it.

Trying various account management ideas can provide some great tips on media relations too. Ultimately, take the time to review competitor coverage, industry coverage, and build a list of key contacts will be your best strategy moving forward.

#4 Mistake: Lack of a Pitch

Researching your journalists and taking the time out to understand them is one part of the public relations puzzle. Next comes the pitch. The almighty pitch, as you already guessed it, is another issue for small businesses.

Pitching is both an art and science. Both of these talents can be learned, but they require time, practice, and wisdom to be successful. The wisdom part comes through building and sustaining the relationship.

Small business PR can at times seem like it is nothing more than a promotional sales document that has been added into the pitch and attached as a PDF. There can be too much or too little information given in a pitch, which for a journalist requires more time on fact-finding and checking.

Ideas to Consider.

When pitching, focus on delivering a short intro to the story, the main content with the critical information included, and a closing statement.

Adding critical information that is key to the story being interesting, leave out the smaller details and link to files and documents rather than attaching to the email.

Practice pitching by not pitching your business or product. Focus on pitching a piece of content you found that should be considered for inclusion in a journalists article or future pieces. Frequent conversations tend to make pitching far more effective as relations improve.

#5 Mistake: Targeting Only Top Media

Big media outlets provide significant metrics that we all want to see — high traffic, high referrals, more business, increased brand awareness. It’s only right that all PR activities should be focused on top media. But, top media won’t matter if your audience isn’t there and your piece doesn’t apply to the nature of the publication.

For example, a B2B organization will struggle to gain coverage from gossip newspapers. A B2B organization may be a great company and have large reader numbers. However, the customers and clients won’t pick up your information if you’re not where they get their information in the first place. You won’t see any benefit from getting coverage if your prospects are not there. Plenty of organizations are wasting resources trying to get coverage from publications which are not suitable for their intended targets.

Ideas to Consider.

Quality over quantity is vital here. You should only reach out to relevant publications that are suitable for your audience. If your clients and customer only happen to read three smaller publications — then you’ll need to focus all efforts on media relations.

Start small with smaller blogs that are relevant to you and start building from there. If you can get coverage from multiple smaller outlets, and you have success, then pitching top media will become easier, and so will the angle that you can use.

The post The 5 Most Common PR Mistakes and How to Avoid Them appeared first on ReadWrite.

Acquiring new customers may seem like the Holy Grail for most businesses. New customers can be most important for startups with tight budgets. When funds are limited, it’s understandable that you may believe only new customers will boost revenue as quickly as by increasing the customer base.

The mistake that some businesses make is staying in “customer acquisition” mode forever.

While acquiring new customers is crucial to growing any business, what many companies fail to realize is that this is only the first step towards building a successful enterprise. What’s just as, or perhaps even more critical, is customer retention. Failure to nurture new customers can quickly increase churn. So why in the world should businesses worry so much about churn in the first place?

What’s wrong with focusing on attracting new customers who are also bringing in revenue?

Several marketing studies that have been done show that losing existing customers costs a lot more than acquiring new ones. According to Harvard Business Review acquiring a new customer can cost anywhere from 5 to 25 times more than retaining an existing one.

Another study by Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company indicates that increasing customer retention by only five percent can generate more than a 25 percent increase in profit. Unfortunately, not many businesses consider the financial impact of a high churn rate. They keep focusing on putting in more time and money towards generating new leads and sales. As a result, they struggle just to survive, much less thrive.

All studies indicate that putting the same time and effort towards keeping existing customers happy would be far more beneficial. And sustainable. Loyal customers bring in far more profits with much less energy. They are already familiar with your products and services. They trust you and are happy with your customer service.

All of this puts them in a better mood to keep buying more from you. Happy customers bring in another significant benefit – they act as ambassadors for your company, bringing in new customers through word of mouth recommendations. You can’t beat that for free marketing. While it’s impossible to reduce churn rate to 0%, there are ways you can do to prevent and stop excessive customer churn.

Here are five specific strategies which will help you reduce customer churn rates.

# 1- Provide Stellar Customer Service. Always.

You might say “Duh Dmitry, this is obvious!” Stay with me though, I promise this section will be valuable.

Unsatisfactory service is the #1 reason why customers leave a company.

With so many choices available today, customers refuse to compromise. And why should they? If they’re not happy with your service, they know they have plenty of other options to choose from.

Consider this scenario – every time you lose a customer, it’s your competitor who scores one up on you, making them a little bit stronger. As they go from strength to strength increasing their loyal customer base with your ex-customers, your business will soon be left biting the dust.

The good news is providing consistently outstanding customer services does not have to be overwhelming. It’s merely a lot of little things done right. Here are the ones I tend to focus on:

Be Empathetic.

Customers don’t want to be treated like just another account or statistic. They want to be recognized as the individuals that they are and feel like they are truly heard. Incorporate a culture of empathy among your employees involves.

There is an excellent example from the interview with CultureAmp on Nextiva blog talking about the importance of empathy in customer service and how to train your staff to be more empathetic during your interactions with customers.

Communicate regularly.

Chances are you will only hear from a customer when they have a complaint about your product or service. Why wait for that to happen?

Far better to be proactive and initiate conversations. This prevents small, manageable problems from blowing up into a full-scale disaster.

You don’t necessarily need to have anything pressing to discuss.

Kick it off with a welcome letter with details of who to get in touch with in case they need any help at all.

Follow up with regular emails reminding them you are there to help.

Regular communication tells the customer their welfare is top of your mind. It also allows you to recognize unarticulated needs and respond to recommendations.

Personalize communication.

Always address the customer by their name. It’s a small detail that makes a huge difference and goes a long way towards forging a stronger relationship with the customer. Make sure you understand which channels your customers prefer to receive communication on from your brand. In today’s day and age with so many telemarketing calls and cold emails, 89% of consumers prefer to use text messages to interact with businesses as primary means of communication. When you personalize your connections, be aware of the channel you’re using to communicate.

Add value at every touchpoint.

Think of every correspondence as an opportunity to reinforce the value propositions of your products and services. Explain how your offerings can continue to help a customer reach their goals. Helping a customer meet their goals will be a win-win for both you and your customer.

Give top priority to addressing customer complaints.

Bad news travels fast and can have a domino effect on your business. Losing one customer does not just translate to losing the business that that one customer brings in. It also means the loss of potential new customers. 67% of customer churn is preventable if firms resolve issues the first time they occur.

Assigning your best employees to handle customer complaints ensures that all issues are resolved efficiently and immediately.

Follow back after resolving a problem.

You may think you’ve addressed the complaint and fixed the problem, but is the customer happy with the solution you’ve provided?

Is it what they were looking for — is it what they want?

Did the solution hold up, or did the problem recur?

You’ll never know unless you follow up.

Some customers may just give up after the first unsatisfactory experience. Instead of raising another complaint, they may find it easier to take their business elsewhere.

#2 – Focus On Proper Onboarding, Education & Engagement.

Just providing customers with a product, however good, is not enough if they don’t understand exactly how it works or the full potential of what it can do. Offering product demos, video tutorials and free pieces of training that highlight all the features of your products and services provides customers with better user experience.

Proper onboarding focuses on improving customer experience and providing useful information to ensure the customer gets maximum value from their purchase. It also fosters an ongoing relationship with customers.

The onboarding experience is a multi-step process that starts the moment you close the sale.

Quicksprout University does an excellent job of taking onboarding to the next level by educating and engaging their visitors with more than 120 videos teaching them every aspect of online marketing.

Proper onboarding supported by relevant education is integral to reducing customer frustration.

#3 Listen To Your Customers.

Two of the most accessible and most affordable ways to listen to your customers is by conducting surveys and soliciting feedback. Both of these strategies allow you to assess customer satisfaction and give you valuable insight into what areas you need to improve, or maybe even change.

The key to a successful survey is to keep it as short as possible and easy to complete while asking the right questions.

Good survey questions ask short questions that require the survey taker to tick a box with the right answer or give a yes or no answer.

Good survey question

“How well do our products meet your needs?”

“On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our products or services to others?”

Bad survey question:

“Are you happy with your purchase? If yes, tell us what you liked most about it. If no, tell us why not.”

Customers are more likely to answer questions that require them to tick a box or answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ rather than write out lengthy answers.

#4 Reward Your Most Loyal Customers.

Everyone looks forward to receiving gifts. Show customers you appreciate their loyalty by offering them generous gifts. It doesn’t cost much, but the rewards can be phenomenal.

These examples demonstrate that rewards are very effective at accelerating business growth.

• Dropbox — Existing Dropbox users that procured new signups were rewarded with additional storage space. Their referral program earned Dropbox 4 million unique users in as little as 15 months. All new users got the same incentive on signing up, tempting them to stay on as loyal customers.
• Airbnb — Airbnb offered referrers $25 in travel credit for every new member that took their first trip. Hosting a guest for the first time earned them an additional $75 in travel credit. As a result, loyal Airbnb customers continued to stay loyal.
• Amazon Prime — This is one of the most widely known rewards programs in recent times. Amazon Prime members are rewarded with a slew of benefits, from special deals to free delivery.

There are several different ways you can reward loyal customers:

Set up loyalty rewards programs.

Airlines and hotels keep their customers loyal by offering generous flier and loyalty miles. These work as a huge incentive to keep customers coming back for more.

A successful loyalty rewards program should be relevant to your business and provide additional value over and above your primary offerings. Consider offering free access to a premium product even if only for a limited period. Gift cards and other freebies can also go a long way in making a customer feel appreciated, and more likely to stay around for more.

Some ideas for you to consider:

Celebrate customer milestones.

Has a customer been with you five years or maybe even just three or two years? Show them you appreciate their business with a small gift, preferably something you know they’d love – tickets to the opera, a bottle of wine, or a swag bag with select branded items.

A customer celebrating a milestone wedding anniversary may appreciate a complimentary meal for two at a swanky new restaurant.

Offer discounts on recurring subscriptions or extensions.

Resisting a good discount is hard. Even someone who may have been in two minds about renewing their subscription is sure to jump in and take you up on the offer.

Host giveaways and contests.

Whether it’s a camera for the best photograph in a specific category, or a laptop for the most creative flyer promoting your product, engaging customers in friendly competitions is a fun way to build stronger bonds and keep customers loyal.

#5 Stay Abreast Of Market Trends In Your Industry.

Every industry operates within its own unique dynamics. Understanding these industry-specific dynamics and staying on top of market trends allows you to compare your progress with that of your competitors.

Monitor your competition closely. Developing a competitive monitoring strategy is vital to your business success.

How are your competitors attracting new customers?

What are they offering as bonuses or rewards to loyal customers?

What is their churn rate?

If your churn rate is higher than the average in your industry, it’s time to take stock, re-evaluate and adopt a new strategy that focuses more on keeping existing customers and less on acquiring new ones.

Over to you.

The writing is on the wall: Unhappy customers = Higher churn rate and Higher churn rate = Lower revenues and profits. We all understand this; it’s just a matter of getting up and doing something about the churn rate we all have with our businesses.

It’s tempting to focus on inbound leads and just continue increasing traffic and conversion. If you have a leaky funnel and your customers churn at a higher rate then similar businesses in your niche you will end up working 3X as hard just to keep up with your competition.  You’ll have a heck of a time trying to outpace them.

Churn rate is one of the most overlooked metrics and yet one of the most important ones to work on for your business.

Over to you! I’d love to hear which one of these five tactics you plan on using in 2019.

The post 5 Proven Strategies to Reduce Customer Churn Rate appeared first on ReadWrite.