February 9th, 2010
by Lorrie Thomas
I often joke about how our work at Web Marketing Therapy involves “PJ PR” (doing PR in our PJs via the power of the web!) but I am serious about how important it is for organizations to leverage the power of online PR for both credibility and visibility!
PJ PR - it is OK to try this at home!
WMT has a FREE ebook called PJ PR – How to Generate and Distribute Your Own Press Releases that you can download (we will NOT try to sell you stuff post download! It’s truly free content to help you boost business) The PJ PR eBook will help you brainstorm, create, and distribute your own press releases so that you can use the most of what you have to get what you want! The eBook has a list of links that give you best places to distribute your news through easy-to-use online press release distribution websites to further spread the word out for your exciting news and promotions.
One of my favorite online PR distribution tools that is mentioned in the PJ PR eBook is PitchEngine. I was reminded of this tool when I saw a client’s great online press release this week. We blogged about PitchEngine last year, but I wanted to re-share to keep healthy marketing momentum moving.
One of the biggest pieces of the PR puzzle is getting your news releases out via the web. PitchEngine can help you create social media release templates that integrate social networking and multimedia elements into your news releases. Emilia (WMT’s Client Treatment Specialist) and I especially love the super-social “Twitter pitch” function- that makes it easy for users to tweet out your release in just a few clicks….aaaand, control freaks like me LOVE that you can pre-set the Tweet so the exact message you want to send is ready –all a person has to do is click the social media widget and viola, instant “word of mouse” marketing!
After you create an account with PitchEngine (there is a free version) enjoy:
–That your news release goes out through their Pitch Feed to over 6,000 users
–The ability to upload multiple images in addition to your logo
–Easy ways to set additional website links and keyword tags (for traffic to your site and more SEO)
–A social-savvy way of sharing your PR content with your team, media contacts, consumers, and investors, via social sites like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter
–The neato Twitter Pitch function so you and others can spread your release via word-of-mouse
–That your social media press release via PitchEngine has all the social media tools for sharing build into the release!
The only downside to PitchEngine is that if you do not pay to play, your release will expire. If you buy an account, then your release will have a longer visibility shelf-life.
Get PJ PR ready, tap the free How to Generate and Distribute Your Own Press Releases eBook and check out PitchEngine – it is a healthy addition to your web marketing arsenal.
And if you are in Santa Barbara February 11th and want to learn about PR from a traditional PR expert and a Wild Web Woman “PJ PR” pro (yours truly), come see me at the University Club. 8am February 11th, University Club – Learn PR from the Experts Business Leaders Breakfast Meeting
Who’s ready to rock online PR with us??
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(February 9th, 2010 at 4:44 am)
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Emilia Doerr
(February 10th, 2010 at 12:52 pm)
Social media news releases (like the ones you can build on Pitch Engine) make it easy to package and share your PR content. We love PitchEngine, but it’s just one piece of the Pajama PR puzzle… so I recommend the eBook for anyone who wants to learn more. (Where did the guy in the pic get the HOT onsie?)
Lorrie Thomas
(February 10th, 2010 at 12:57 pm)
I soooo want those PJ PR onsies!!! We need ones with the WMT Head on them!
Bill @ SBCC
(February 11th, 2010 at 3:33 pm)
I wonder how this vendor’s product compares to other similar products? Is $35/month a reasonable price? How long has the company been around? Has anyone blogged about it and their results?
Lorrie Thomas
(February 12th, 2010 at 1:59 am)
Great question Bill. Pitchengine is a fairly new company (but in the web world, we are all new relative to other companies!) but the ease of use and results that my agency has seen with it makes us use it again and again. I bet PitchEngine has data on their site with more info..tough thing with PR data is that most PR professionals won’t share their secrets (that is what keeps them employed!)
Results vary per client and also vary on search visibility based on how popular the content is (and if it get retweeted and plugged) AND how well key phrases are woven into the release.
Great ideas are only great if they are executed brilliantly – the content has to be relevant, interesting and useful and have searched phrases specific to the product/service in it.
Personally, I LOVE the free version and only say pay to play if the release has a LONG shelf life.
I think you’d like this article on Search Optimization for Local Businesses
http://www.wilsonweb.com/local/thomas-seo-local-business.htm
Thanks for the post!
-L