Inbound Marketing: The Next Frontier in Digital PR

November 2, 2015 by KrisRuby

INBOUND PR

Inbound PR increases backlinks to your web site and increases visibility.

If you already work with a PR firm or are considering launching a media campaign for your business or medical practice, then you have probably heard of inbound marketing.

But, what is inbound marketing and how can it help your business?

First, let’s start with what inbound marketing is and next we will share with you why PR and inbound marketing must work together for your public relations campaign.

What is inbound marketing?

Inbound marketing focuses on empowering your potential customers by giving them the information they need to help find your business online. Your goal should be to create content that will help solve your prospect’s problem.

When you made your last purchase, did you call a salesperson asking to buy or did you hop online and conduct thorough research? Chances are, you conducted thorough research, but when you did that research you didn’t type in a company’s name (because you don’t know the name yet). Instead, you Googled the problem you had.

When your prospect searches for their problem, your company needs to be on page 1 of Google so the buyer sees you as a solution to their problem.

INBOUND MARKETING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

Why does inbound marketing matter for PR executives?

Inbound marketing is important for digital PR practitioners because every company and brand needs a digital footprint to build trust and authority. Today, all medical practices need a content library and inbound newsroom to attract more media attention and build buzz with members of the press. Even repurposing old press releases and turning the content into blog posts can help secure backlinks and increase your organic SEO.

A synonymous title for digital PR could actually be earning inbound links! Your PR firm is instrumental in your inbound marketing efforts.

Tip: Imagine yourself as a potential customer of your business. Go to Google and search for the problem as if you were your customer. Does your company show up on the first page at the top in organic search results? If not, keep reading!

Positioning your business at the top of Google is one of the main goals of inbound PR.

Publicists can help craft inbound content and backlinks that can drive traffic to your site and help you get found by your prospects.

There are three main ways to get found online:

Organic search results
Paid advertising
Press

Inbound PR works with content marketing and PR to achieve the primary goal of helping you get found in editorial outlets and increasing organic search results. So, how do you get started with inbound marketing, and how can you translate your key findings to a PR campaign?

How do you get started with inbound marketing?

Create your buyer persona.

Your job is to deliver information that prospects need to help them make smart, informed purchase decisions. When thinking about the motives of buyer personas, focus on the ‘why.’ Uncovering their motives can lead to a powerful content marketing strategy. To create your buyer persona, ask the following questions:

Who is your ideal customer?
What information is most valuable to your prospects?
How do they like to consume information?

Once you have determined who your buyer persona is, you can then focus on creating keyword-rich content to reach them.

Now that you have a good understanding of what your prospects are looking for, you can either create content around these search terms or you can use the search terms in your public relations campaign when you conduct interviews with the media.

Tip: Try interviewing current clients and look for trends in their responses. It’s your job to know what they want to see, what they want to read, and what issues they are currently dealing with. If you are still wondering, “How can I engage my current customer base more?” you can always ask current clients these questions. Their answers can prove to be invaluable in your market research.

“Put the education of your prospect before your personal initiatives.” – Hubspot

INBOUND MARKETING STRATEGIES

How do you write an inbound marketing plan?

Content Creation

With inbound marketing, your customers don’t want to be sold to. They want to be educated.

It is your job to talk them from the decision stage to a solution strategy. Your content should focus on a methodical approach that helps readers learn more about your company. Ideally, after reading your valuable content over time, they will think about your company when thinking about who to buy products and services from in your niche because you have provided so much value. Be sure you have content prepared for every part of your buyer’s journey.

Tip: When it comes to inbound marketing strategies, your job is to make it easy for current customers and potential buyers to find and consume your content.

Formatting Content

What format will you use? Is your persona a visual learner? Do they read blogs on a regular basis? Do you have a valuable piece of content that belongs behind a form vs. on your blog? Here are some options that were recommended in the certification program for creating content:

Case studies
Videos
Infographics
White papers
Worksheets
Ebooks
Templates
Checklists
Webinars
Slideshare decks

hubspot inbound marketing certification program

“Use content as your currency and create content that your prospects are looking for.” – Hubspot

Awareness, Consideration, Decision

After a prospect is aware of their problem, they are in the consideration stage and are committed to understanding all available methods to solving the problem. You want to make sure you reach your prospect in the consideration stage by creating keyword-rich content.

Remember, consumers don’t want to be sold to; they want to be educated.

Once they are in the decision stage and have decided on a solution strategy, they are focused on the method of approach. It is important to have content prepared for each stage of the buyer’s journey. This is also why Inbound PR is so critical, because one area buyers want to get information from is through media interviews and trusted outlets. Your inbound marketing strategy is not complete if it does not leverage earned media and public relations strategies.

Keywords

Keyword research is critical to giving a name to your prospect’s problem.

Remember, think about the phrases that prospects are using to find someone who offers your services, instead of thinking about what search terms you would use. Try not to use too much industry jargon either.

Categorize keywords: Do this by stages of the buyer’s journey.

Keywords should include: problem-based keywords, solution keywords, branded keywords, and casual language. Use keywods.io or Google’s webmaster tool to get suggestions.

CTA (Call to Action)

Every blog post in your inbound marketing strategy should also have a call-to-action or CTA.

Examples of calls to action include:

Download
Request
Sign up here

Pro Tip: When writing your CTA, focus on action verbs.

Content Creation Tips

Understand their problem: In order to provide a solution to potential customers, you need to first recognize the problem. Is your content focused on their problem?

Tailor the post: Write blog posts tailored to who you are trying to reach and what they are interested in. The best content has to be grounded in the correct context to meet the searchers intent.

Question the post: After you write content, determine if the content helps your buyer persona. If your answer is that it helps anyone other than your target buyer persona, it belongs somewhere else on your site or it shouldn’t be created. Always focus on mapping content to your persona and where they are at in the buyers’ journey. Make it easy for them to consume your content.

Another trick: If you are stuck creating content, ask:

What questions might buyer X have that your company could provide solutions to?
Does this content help my ideal buyer persona(s)?

Your content should always focus on mapping content to your persona and where they are at in the buyers’ journey.

Distribute content: Make your content available through other platforms so prospects can find it more easily. It’s not enough to just have content; you also need others to redistribute it. Examples of inbound PR distribution platforms include social media channels, podcasts and guest posts.

Leverage the sales team for content ideas: What questions do people have who are interested in what you do? Work with your sales team to leverage prospects’ questions into great content! Figure out what your prospects are searching for so you can make sure they find your site. Make sure you are addressing a topic your prospects actually want to learn about.

SEO Tips for Optimizing Your Inbound Marketing Campaign

To optimize your content, you need to be specific with your service offerings to improve your chance of ranking. You have a greater likelihood of ranking on search engines if your keywords are more specific and targeted.

If you are looking to boost your SEO, follow these tips:

Set up business listings on the top online directories including Yelp, Yellow Pages, local chambers of commerce, Bing, Yahoo and more.
Create content that uses natural language and variations on the long tail keywords.
Shorten blog or content titles to under 60 characters.
Headlines more than 60 characters long will get cut off in search results page.
White space is your friend. Focus on content, not clutter.
Use section headers, bullets and lists to help break down the content.
Optimize the page around long tail keywords, including your page title, URL, post title, image alt text, body and headers.

Measuring Success

It’s important to measure the success of your inbound marketing content strategy. Focus on the following metrics and start a monthly content measurement report:

Number of page views and visits per blog or other content posting including time spent
Leads generated from specific blogs/content posts
Social media share numbers
Inbound link generation analytics

Tip: Here’s a trick to see if your current blog posts are hitting your buyer persona(s). Search Google for the last five blog posts your company has created. Now search for five of your most ideal clients online (go to their websites and poke around). Do you think these types of clients would actually take the time to sit and read these five blog posts from your company?

Are you really providing solutions or just repeating the same old brand stories? Put the education of your prospect first.

Inbound Marketing Mistakes

Avoid these inbound marketing mistakes that can derail the success of your campaign.

The buyers journey has to be from the buyers’ perspective, not yours.
Your content needs to answer their problems vs. going straight to your business solution.
Your blog shouldn’t discuss your specific solution until buyer has reached the decision stage.

Remember, your content is a solution to your prospect’s greatest challenges. Make sure you use keywords that will draw attention to your patients and clients by crafting a stellar content marketing strategy.

I recently completed the Hubspot Inbound Marketing Certification program. There were some great takeaways that I wanted to share with you to help increase your brand exposure. If you need a quick refresher on best practices for digital PR, this is a perfect guide. If you want to get inbound certified, click here.

INBOUND PR AGENCY

PR and Inbound Marketing must work together to guarantee success. However, many traditional PR firms are not trained in Inbound PR methodologies. Ruby Media Group is Hubspot Inbound Certified and we constantly stay current on the latest inbound practices. We specialize in inbound marketing for doctors and healthcare inbound marketing strategies. If you are interested in leveraging an inbound PR strategy for your practice, contact us today for a consultation.

Ruby Media Group is a premiere public relations firm in Westchester County. For more information on optimizing your exposure, contact kruby @ rubymediagroup.com

RESOURCES

INBOUND SUCCESS PODCAST: How to use Public Relations with Inbound Marketing

*Date last updated 2019

Integrated Marketing Communications Plan

October 20, 2015 by KrisRuby

What is an Integrated Marketing Communications Plan?

An integrated marketing communications plan ties together strategy and tactics, including PR, social media, digital advertising, traditional print advertising and SEO. It serves as the foundation of all of your marketing and PR efforts for your business.

The most effective healthcare marketing plan is part of a larger integrated communications plan.

How much should I allocate for a marketing budget?

As you begin a quarterly review and audit of your marketing activities, it is important to look at the different tactics deployed throughout the year.

How to evaluate your annual marketing spend in Q4:

Before you can evaluate your marketing campaign, review your signed contract with your PR firm or healthcare marketing agency. Carefully look at the agreed upon Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and see if they were met.

You want to view performance in the context of campaign goals and measures of success.

Remember, not everyone has the same measure of success, which is why it is critical to align on goal setting before you begin any new marketing activity.

For example, a PR firm could evaluate success as an increase in awareness and brand equity as a result of five press placements, whereas a doctor could view success as five new patients as a result of Google ads.

Assess your marketing success (and failure)

Every business and medical practice should conduct a year over year analysis of marketing and PR activities.

You want to review how your marketing activities compared to the previous year vs. the resources deployed to achieve the results.

Did sales increase from your marketing activities?
Did your search traffic spike from a content marketing strategy?
Did your brand equity increase from a PR campaign?
Did something else change in your practice that could be the real reason for growth?

Isolate the variables before diagnosing what worked and what didn’t.

Key: Marketing performance analysis is critical to evaluate what is really moving the needle and top-line revenue growth.

How to evaluate your marketing spend

Review the following key questions:

What worked.
- What activities successfully increased new patients, media exposure, leads or sales? What increased open rates, click through rates and engagement?
What didn’t work.
- What marketing activities flatlined? What led to a surge of people unsubscribing from your newsletter? What content has a 100% bounce rate? Was the cost per click too high for the results you expected to achieve?
What needs to be cut from the annual marketing budget.
- Have you consistently purchased traditional advertising that doesn’t move the needle? Time to reevaluate moving resources around.
What resources need to be added for new marketing/PR activities.
- If you want to try a new marketing tactic, you need to plan out the budget for each new area.
Cost vs. outcome.
- What did you spend for the cost of customer acquisition vs. what was the return?
ROI of each marketing activity.
- Was your return on investment higher than what you spent on the advertising tactic? Or did you end up losing money?

How to Create a Cohesive Integrated Marketing Communications Plan

After you have reviewed your annual marketing performance, it is time for the fun part- trying out new marketing activities for the year to create a well-rounded integrated marketing communications plan.

As you create an integrated marketing communications plan for your practice, consider testing several different marketing tactics.

For example, an earned media strategy which only includes PR and nothing else is not an integrated strategy.

You want to avoid the silo approach and work towards an integrated approach.

PRO Tip: Integrated marketing means pulling from different types of media including: paid media, earned media, shared media and owned media.

To integrate something, you must have more than one marketing tactic.

Even though social media marketing is a cost-effective and enticing marketing channel for doctors, it is important to remember that social media is a tool and not something that can replace a strategic communication plan. In fact, some physicians may not need social media tactics in their strategy because it may not be effective in reaching their desired end-user or target audience.

HEALTHCARE MARKETING PLAN

5 new healthcare PR and Marketing tactics.

Looking to try something new this year? Consider these tactics creating your integrated marketing communications plan:

Experiential Marketing: Create an experience for your target consumer or patient to interact with your brand in a real-world setting, such as branded festivals, pop-up shops, and behind-the-scenes tours. This face-to-face engagement, which is best used to enhance and complement traditional marketing campaigns, leads to an emotional connection with consumers, something that is necessary to reach GEN Y consumers.

Sponsored Content: Native advertising and sponsored content is still paid advertising, but it looks like editorial content. This content can be a sponsored tweet on Twitter, a suggested sponsored post on Facebook, or sponsored piece of content paid for by the advertiser. Sponsored content has a higher click through rate than traditional banner advertising. According to a recent survey, 70% of individuals wanted to learn about products through content rather than through traditional advertising. The survey also stated that people view native ads 53% more than banner ads. Also, interesting to note, 71% of publishers received no major complaints from readers for featuring native ads. It is important to remember that the information and tone of your sponsored content is still key in running a successful PR and marketing campaign.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Google is the first stop when prospects want to learn more about your business or medical practice. Your goal should be to get your brand on the top page of relevant search results because 75% of users never scroll past page one. SEO can take a lot of time and thought, but you can begin by trying keyword analysis, which will enable relevant searches to link to your site. Also, be sure to use quality website content with on-trend keywords and phrases. 61% of global Internet users research products online prior to buying, making the Internet and search-friendly content the best way to reach customers today.

Blogging: You would be amazed how many companies and physicians have yet to embrace a healthcare content marketing strategy. Writing for the sake of writing isn’t enough in an SEO driven world. What format are you going to put the content in? A blog? Downloadable e-book? Listicles? Guest posts? Writing a blog is a great way to craft your brand’s voice and engage consumers in a more real and thoughtful way. Companies that blog typically generate 88% more leads than those that do not. Businesses that blog more than 20x a month generate 5x more consumer interest and attraction. Frequency and quality are the two most important factors when beginning your brand’s blog. What is your content strategy?

Promoted Social Media Posts: One out of every 7 minutes spent online is spent on Facebook. Social media in the US has increased by 356% since 2006. The most important thing to remember when using social media is to know your audience. Where are they? Is your target audience mostly on Twitter? Or Instagram? What do they respond to? Do they prefer engaging in conversation or do they want short, snappy one-line posts? What type of content has resonated with your audience on Facebook? Analyze it then boost accordingly! Boosting posts is also a great way to reconnect with fans who may not have seen your posts in a while. Once you know your target audience, you’ll know where and how to best reach them.

Inbound Marketing: Traditional advertising is no longer as effective as it used to be. Studies show that a whopping 86% of people skip TV ads and 44% don’t open mail from irrelevant advertisers. The answer to traditional advertising woes is Inbound Marketing, or “earned advertising.” Rather than pushing your message out to the consumer, Inbound Marketing compels consumers to find out more about your brand. Inbound marketing includes, but isn’t limited to blogs, social media, and search engine refinement, which make your brand more noticeable to consumers.

These are just a few of the strategies that doctors can use to create a successful integrated marketing plan.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

PR is only one part of a comprehensive integrated marketing communications plan.

A well-thought-out IMC strategy should include a PESO model that incorporates all four areas into the mix:

* Paid Media

* Earned Media

* Shared Media

* Owned Media

These four media vehicles must work together to make sure you are reaching your target audience through every avenue possible.

Do not only choose 1 out of the 4 and make that your entire marcom budget.
Paid media cannot replace earned media.
Earned media cannot replace targeted digital advertising.
Targeted digital advertising cannot replace the power of strong content marketing.
You have to do a mix of all of these PR tactics to remain competitive in your industry.
The good news is that you can work with healthcare PR & Marketing specialists in each specialty area to execute these tactics for you.

For example, you could work with a NY PR firm that specializes in earned media, and you could also work with a digital marketing firm that specializes in paid lead generation.

Tip: The key is to be where your customer or prospective patient is. Not where you are most comfortable being.

With the ever-changing state of communication and media preferences among consumers, we are always on the lookout for innovative communication tools and channels.

What tools have been most effective to reach your healthcare marketing goals?

HEALTHCARE MARKETING AGENCY

In today’s digital media landscape, PR, Marketing, and Advertising are merging together at a rapid pace. Now, more than ever, it is important for public relations practitioners to be persuasive storytellers in new media formats such as podcasting. There are so many ways to tell a story. As healthcare PR practitioners, we have learned that earned media is not the only way to tell a story.

While it is important to get your message out there through a PR campaign, sponsored content or digital advertising can be instrumental in reaching different target audiences to increase exposure for your medical practice.

Do you need help crafting a healthcare marketing plan? It’s your job to focus on the health of your patients. It’s our job to focus on the digital marketing health of your medical practice.

Our award-winning healthcare marketing agency works with doctors, physicians and hospitals to create proven growth strategies to increase practice revenue goals and drive new patients. Contact us today for a consultation to achieve optimal practice growth for the new year ahead.

*Date last updated 2019

Should you be Facebook friends with your boss?

October 11, 2015 by KrisRuby

I recently sat down with The Daily Mail to discuss the new rules of social media in the work place. To read the full article, click here.

Is it ever okay to be friends with your boss on social media? What are the dangers?

It really depends on the corporate culture at your firm. If you are working for an up and coming digital agency where you live and breath social media, then friending your boss is okay. However, if you work at more of a traditional commercial real estate firm or investment bank where social media usage is shunned upon during the workday, then I would not recommend connecting with your boss.

It also depends on the platform. It is always acceptable (and encouraged!) to connect with your boss on LinkedIN. If your boss has a public Twitter account for business, it is also acceptable to

Follow them to show you are engaged with the company. Favoriting a few tweets goes a long way to show you care.

The dangers are endless- there can be serious consequences with friending a boss if you are posting inappropriate content. It can also blur the lines between professional and personal boundaries, which many have a hard time distinguishing between. Also, if you fib about why you couldn’t make it in that day and your boss sees you are actually out jet skiing, you may get fired. Be sure to always read your firms social media guidelines regardless.

If you are friends with your boss on social media, are there any rules you should follow?

The same traditional etiquette rules apply here- stay away from any discussions on sex, religion or politics. Basically anything that you wouldn’t traditionally discuss with a first date (or your boss) should not be discussed online. People get heated in conversations and forget that what they are saying is public and fairly easy to find.

Use privacy filters when you post. Be selective with who you choose to share each piece of content with- that’s why groups and filters exist for this very reason.

Be cognizant about what you are posting. After you have posted the 500th photo of your baby, your boss may subconsciously begin to question what your top priority and focus is. Having a balance of the type of content you post is critical.

Do you believe it is a good idea to connect with colleagues on social media? Are there any rules to follow in this case?

It really depends. If you have a close relationship with the colleague in the office, then yes. If you don’t speak to the colleague at work but friend them on social media, it is strange and socially awkward. Friend and connect people you are actually connected with in real life.

Top rule- respect people’s boundaries. Some people are extremely private and won’t accept any requests from coworkers. Don’t take it personally and don’t harp on it! It’s not about you. It’s their personal choice.

What would your advice be if your boss/co-worker adds you but you’d rather not be connected?

Send them a direct message or email and let them know you really appreciate the friend request but only use social media to stay connected with your family. Reassure them it’s nothing personal and re direct them to connect with you on your LinkedIn. Have at least one professional presence on a social media network to connect with them on so you aren’t completely ignoring the request entirely.

Are there any particular social media sites you believe are best avoided in the workplace?

Facebook has been brought up many times in recent lawsuits and employee hirings and firings. I think it’s safe to assume that even if you don’t connect with colleagues, potential employers will still use your social media for background checks. Assume everything you post is for public consumption.

Instagram is pretty private and users put on privacy restrictions so their colleagues cannot access their posts. Sometimes people overdue it with excessive party posts or humble brag weekend posts, and can also be obnoxious with hashtags. If you are constantly posting quotes or mantras that “somewhere it’s 5 o clock” it’s safe to say your boss will think you are not that motivated and can’t wait to leave. Use your social media to empower you NOT to hurt you in the workplace.

Twitter is fine if you have a public, corporate Twitter persona. However, if you are tweeting extremely personal opinions and favoriting content from outlets you may not want your boss to know you are associated with, keep it private.

Check it Off! The Importance of Goal Setting in your Public Relations Campaign

September 11, 2015 by KrisRuby

PR Goal Setting

When you wrote your business plan, you probably set a variety of goals.

But did you set remember to set goals for your public relations campaign?

Writing a successful healthcare public relations plan starts with outlining your PR goals and objectives.

In this article, we will outline what PR goal setting is and share an example of a public relations plan tied to SMART goals.

PR GOAL SETTING 101

In Public Relations, SMART goals keep you focused and motivated to achieve an end goal and desired outcome.

What is a PR goal?

A PR goal is the desired outcome you hope to achieve from distributing key messages about your brand to the media. PR Goals typically include desired results in different forms of traditional and digital media including placement in print publications, digital outlets, podcasts or interviews with the press on national TV.

Staples recently released the results of their small business survey, which showed that the leaders they surveyed were focused on getting results and setting goals. Those goals included increasing revenue, driving profits and gaining more customers. To achieve those goals, 46% of those surveyed said wanted to use promotional marketing techniques to meet their goals.

How to Write PR Goals

Before you can write your PR goals, you first need to spend some time understanding what they are.

How do you set PR goals?

What are the PR goals that you have always wanted to achieve?

Do you want to be on the cover of Time Magazine?
Do you dream of being a guest on The Doctors?
Do you want your practice to be mentioned on Dr. Oz?

Write down what you want to accomplish in your healthcare public relations campaign.

For example, the goal of your healthcare PR strategy could be to increase your media exposure in the top 10 medical trade publications in dermatology over the next 12 months.

PR Pro tip: Getting featured in healthcare trade publications is a huge win for medical doctors and healthcare professionals if you are looking to build your brand as a doctor! You will often get way more ink in trade outlets than you will in consumer facing outlets.

If you aren’t able to hire a healthcare PR firm, you can also Google Industry name + trade outlets to find relevant trade publications in your industry. For example, Google “plastic surgery trade outlets” or “plastic surgery podcasts” to see what comes up on Page 1 of Google.

Now, it’s time to break down those PR goals even further into PR tactics.

PR Tactics

After defining your business goals, outline your PR campaign tactics to achieve those goals.

Then, break down your press coverage goals into tactical steps such as:

Developing a targeted healthcare media list
Pitching medical trade publications
Leveraging social media influencer relationships

PR PLAN TEMPLATE EXAMPLE:

PR Goals

Market and promote new medical practice
Increase exposure/ get my name out there so people know my new practice is open
Secure local press and influencer reviews
Generate PR worthy ideas to build buzz of new practice

PR Tactics

Soft opening
Craft press release
Pitch media to attend

Target Audience

Target commuter audience in Scarsdale, NY

SMART Objectives for PR Campaigns

Your public relations campaign should have clearly defined goals attached to expected business results. Executing a PR campaign can be overwhelming, but breaking it up into smaller tactics makes it more manageable. Most importantly, these PR goals should be SMART.

What does SMART stand for in PR?

Specific.
Measurable.
Action-oriented.
Realistic.
Time specific.

How to create SMART objectives for PR campaigns

For example, in one year, you may want to double your profits, open a second location or triple your client or patient list. To achieve these SMART PR goals for your business or medical practice, you need to reverse engineer a PR strategy that will help you achieve each of these areas of business growth.

If you want to open a second location or increase clients, earned media can help to achieve these goals. Contact us today to learn how we can get you major press, fast!

PR Pro Tip: Your Business Goals Must Tie Into Your PR Goals

Public Relations SMART Campaign Planning Example

Let’s say that you are a doctor and your healthcare PR goal is to double the size of your practice and appear on the cover of your local newspaper for a new procedure.

Your SMART public relations goals for this month could include the following PR ideas:

Create a Contest: Give away a healthcare makeover to a community member. Entrants will submit essays telling their stories and what they would do if they achieved optimal health.
Contact the Media: The media loves feel-good stories. Write a press release and announce your contest. Offer the media a chance to follow the winner from before to the ‘after’.
Organize a Big Reveal: Create an event to announce the winner and invite the media to attend. Create another event for the big reveal.
Network: Attend a local Chamber event each month where you offer to speak, provide tips, or be a guest on a local radio show.
Tweet, Instagram or Facebook: Get active on social media and let people know about your practice. Give out tips, share links to healthcare advice and post before and after pictures of the makeover contest winner (with consent of course). If you can’t do all of this yourself, your goal this month should be to hire a healthcare social media consultant who can.

Setting Measurable Public Relations Objectives

If you’ve accomplished your PR campaign goals to increase earned media exposure for your medical practice, the community should begin to chatter about the contest and entries should come pouring in. The media will hopefully contact you for an article and you may even land a feature interview in the local newspaper. Finally, after seeing the transformation in the winner, potential patients will call to book a consultation with you- showing a direct lead conversion. Make sure that your monthly efforts continue to push you towards accomplishing your PR goals.

Goals & Objectives in PR Campaigns Key Takeaways:

Setting goals is vital to achieving success in business and in PR.
What can’t be measured, can’t be managed!

PUBLIC RELATIONS CONSULTING

If you have set measurable public relations objectives and you still aren’t seeing results from your campaign execution, it may be time to call a PR firm for a PR strategy audit. Contact us today for a strategy consultation to realign your PR campaign and get it moving in the right direction for maximum results!

How to Secure Regional Broadcast Media

August 17, 2015 by KrisRuby

How To Get a Story Booked on Local TV News

How do you get a story on the local news? Follow these top 7 tips and learn how to pitch local TV stations.

7 tips to getting your story on local TV:

Visualize the story. Pitching Westchester broadcast media is very different then pitching Westchester print media. If you want to make your story stand out, think about how you can visually bring the story to life for television. What visuals do you have that will make the story pop? Go out of your way to make your story aesthetically appealing to a producer. You can even add some props, such as a stunning table display if you think it will add to the story.
Tie it In. Give the local TV news producer a compelling reason to run the story now. There should be a strong tie in to a calendar event to give a compelling reason why the story should run. For example, is there a specific time of year you do an annual family tradition that is happening this weekend?
Larger Trend. How does your story tie into the larger trend in the community? For example, this weekend RMG pitched and secured a story on The Cooking Realtors Tomato Sauce. It was the featured package on News 12 Westchester on Saturday at 5 pm. The larger trend was that this was a behind-the-scenes peek into one Westchester resident’s annual tradition that hundreds of Westchester residents actually do all weekend. By mentioning the fact that hundreds of county residents also do this, the appeal of the segment suddenly became a lot larger.
Walk the Producers through the process. After you’ve secured a segment, walk the producers through it. For example, we stirred the tomatoes and let the producer taste the sauce. We also had b-roll opportunities available to show the entire process from beginning to end to visually walk the viewer through it.
Provide Sources. Producers like when you have additional sources available. If you are hosting an event, have other attendees or sources available to talk to the press. Are there other Westchester residents attending the event that can provide commentary on the annual tradition in their own family? If so, have them available for commentary for the media to provide an outside perspective.
Don’t forget the 5 W’s. This goes without saying, but if you want Westchester media to show up, be sure to provide them all of the relevant details in one condensed email: who, what, where, when and why. Also, provide correct spellings up front for all town names, resident IDs and interview names. The address of the location shoot and a phone number of a point of contact are also critical.
Graphics. Be sure to capture tons of graphics before, during and after the event. Many of these graphics can be used to promote the segment on social media (a must!) and to include in a post-event release for extended coverage. If you want to re-pitch the same segment when the event takes place next year, and to do a post event release for extended coverage. Get creative with your graphics by combining screenshots of the press coverage with photos of the displays you created. We recommend using some of our favorite apps to create these pieces: PIP Camera, Photo Mirror, FotoFus, InstaMag.

Looking to share your story on Westchester, NY local TV news?

Contact our Westchester County PR firm today!

Celebrity FDA Endorsements- Instagram Marketing

August 13, 2015 by KrisRuby

Social Media Expert Kris Ruby Weighs In

Kim Kardashian West received a stern warning from FDA officials stating that her social media post was misleading and failed to communicate any risk information. Whether is a drug label of social media, FDA rules apply if it is the manufacturer who is paying the celebrity for endorsement. The post was since taken down.

“By omitting the risks associated with Diclegis, the social media post misleadingly fails to provide material information about the consequences that may result from the use of the drug and suggests that it is safer than has been demonstrated,” the warning letter reads.

This Instagram marketing fiasco brings up a larger issue in healthcare marketing- do the FTC’s guidelines concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising adequately address social media promotion today?

kardashian FDA warning social media expert

The Legal Facts- what you need to know

The FDA previously issued guidelines about celeb endorsements stating that they must be bona fide users of the product and disclose any financial information. On a TV commercial, that makes sense and has been accepted, but in social media, it is still a fairly new concept.

Celebrities have been promoting prescription drugs for years with ads that include a long list of safety issues. However, when it comes to social media, the rules are very vague. Here’s why:

Space Issue- Social media has opened up a new world of promotional opportunities. Even through the rules are the same, there is room for only 140 characters on Twitter. What celebrity wants to use that limited amount of space to post all of the potential issues associated with a drug?

Coolness Factor- There is an art to celebrity testimonials on Instagram marketing. It completely takes out the coolness factor when celebrities start posting #PaidForThis or #WarningYouCouldDieFromThisDrug. The art of the celeb endorsement is that it is supposed to seamlessly integrate with the celebrities every day life on social media. The second they start adding these rules/regulations to it, it looks entirely spammy and damages their credibility with their followers.

It is also interesting to note that if Kardashian or any celebrity decides on their own to promote a product that they are not financially tied to, she would not have gotten in trouble.

“We all have first amendment rights and can say whatever we want — but once you are paid by a company it’s the manufacturer who has to make sure the information is accurate and not misleading,” former FDA commissioner Dr. David Kessler told NBC news. “Once you are paid, you are under FDA rules.”

Here’s a suggested Tweet for such a drug: “NoFocus (rememberine HCl) for mild to moderate memory loss-May cause seizures in patients with a seizure disorder www.nofocus.com/risk [134/140]”

While in theory this meets the FTC’s criteria, any social media expert with half a brain advising a client on Instagram marketing or celeb endorsement deals would never encourage their client to post this. It looks entirely spammy and damages their credibility.

Ruby’s Suggestion for Celebs:

Stick to traditional advertising for FDA endorsement deals. If you like a product on social media and want to endorse it to your fans, you are better off promoting it because you actually believe in it rather then being financially tied to it and damaging your credibility.

How to Maximize National Media Exposure

August 13, 2015 by KrisRuby

Maximizing Your Media Coverage

How can I get more media exposure for my company?

There is one very simple way to get more media exposure for your company and it starts with using the media you already have!

Media tends to have a snowball effect. Let me explain..

The ultimate goal of a media appearance is not the media appearance in and of itself.

The goal is what you do with it afterwards.

If you conduct an interview with a journalist or producer and no one hears about it or watches it, then was the interview valuable for your business or medical practice? No.

This is the #1 mistake most business owners and doctors make when it comes to public relations.

For example, their PR firm lands them a TV appearance and they assume people will watch the TV segment live. Those days are long gone.

PR Tip: Think about how your future customers and patients will see your TV appearance and how you can use your media coverage to shape your brand for evergreen PR opportunities. Make it easy for them to watch your previous appearances.

The goal is to use your interviews to develop long-term sustainable PR traction by building your brand over the course of many years.

That starts with you showcasing your earned media coverage on your web site in a highly strategic way.

One great interview in a national media outlet can do wonders for your SEO rankings and your credibility!

How to use Social Media as a PR tool

The truth is, public relations professionals know how to use social media as a powerful PR tool to extend the life of all earned media exposure. This separates the amateurs from the PR pros. Social Media is one of the most powerful PR growth hacking tools, but the majority of people rarely use it properly. They are so excited about securing the TV appearance that they focus on the appearance, instead of promoting the appearance! This is a total missed opportunity for long-term personal brand equity.

HOW TO LEVERAGE EARNED MEDIA EXPOSURE TO BUILD YOUR BRAND

Score! You just landed a press placement on a national TV show. But now you may be wondering, how do I maximize the TV appearance?

The most important part of the publicity isn’t the actual segment. It is what you do with the segment before, during, and after.

To make the most of a national TV appearance to build your brand, you have to ramp up your social media marketing efforts and create engaging content.

Don’t wait until after the interview is over to start promoting it!

Tips for Promoting Your Upcoming TV Appearance on Social Media

Get your social media followers involved before, during and after the segment! Here’s how..

Create promotional social media graphics. Start promoting your TV appearance before you even set foot in front of the camera. Leading up to your national TV appearance, create a compelling graphic to let fans know you’ll be appearing on-air. Relevant details should include the time, date, show name and station channel. This is a great way to let all of your Facebook friends and Instagram followers know about your upcoming TV appearance. Be sure to tag the show’s social media handles in the graphic after you post it. You can also “check in” at the studio on social media on the day of the appearance to let your followers know you are about to go live!

Live tweet. Encourage your social media fans to live tweet with you before the show. For example, one tweet might be, “Have any questions for @yourname on @Nameofshow? Tweet them to me before @nameofshow at 8 p.m.” Many shows also use customized hashtags such as #betterwithfriends on Fox News, so be sure to incorporate those into your tweets as well.

Tag the TV network. Tag the media outlet and handles of any interviewers and TV anchors in all tweets and Facebook posts mentioning the show. This will show the outlet that you are socially engaged and interested in getting eyes on their network.

Ask questions to increase engagement. Questions require answers, which can lead to direct interaction and increase of followers. Leading up to the TV appearance, ask fans their opinion on the topic you will be discussing on-air to create a two-way dialogue. You can also ask your followers their opinions on the segment topic. For example, you could ask, “Do you agree that this bill should be passed?”

PROMOTE YOUR LIVE TV APPEARANCE DURING THE SHOW

Strategically hashtag. If your TV appearance is on a hot news item, be sure to include the hashtags that are trending on Twitter as they pertain to your segment. Sometimes variations of a hashtag will be used to discuss a news story, so be sure to search by volume to see which hashtag has been used the most.

Tag brands. Part of a TV appearance includes wardrobe coordination, so be sure to leverage this for extra social media mileage. Look up the handles of the brands you will be wearing and direct message them prior to the appearance to let them know. Most likely, they will favorite the tweet or even retweet it.

AFTER YOUR TV APPEARANCE

Post behind-the-scenes content. Fans and followers want more than what they see on television, so while you are in the green room, tweet a photo or post a video of the studio set on your Instagram story. If there are other guests in the greenroom, take photos and share them, but make sure you get permission first. Not every TV network is okay with guests taking photos.

Search for brand mentions. If you want to see what everyone is saying about you on Twitter after the TV appearance, search all tweets, mentions about the show, mentions with your handle, and any related replies. Sometimes people will post their thoughts on the TV segment with the handle of the show, without mentioning your handle. If you are a frequent on-air commentator, you may want to purchase a monitoring app, such as Mention, which will aggregate all of the social mentions for you. You can also set up a Google Alert for your name to get real time updates.

Think before responding. Social media builds relationships with your audience, but one negative response to an angry fan can ruin it. Stay positive and be aware of what you are posting. If something goes wrong, try to take a digital detox. For example, if your segment offended a core part of your audience, think carefully before responding. Remember, there are many layers that go into a successful television appearance.

Don’t engage with Internet trolls. A core part of social media includes responding after you open up 2-way communication. However, replying to every negative tweet you receive can be a big mistake. Not everyone will like your TV segment. In fact, assume at least ten people will hate what you have to say before you ever even tape it. Cyber bullies get a secret thrill out of regularly attacking just about anyone who appears on television. This comes with the territory. Focus on how to be a good TV guest instead of focusing on replying to everyone who disagrees with your opinion.

Marketing Your Press Coverage: How to Maximize National Media Exposure on Social Media

If you learn how to strategically leverage your press coverage, your three minute TV segment can generate years of credibility, brand awareness and long-term ROI!

Did you know that most of the PR work related to television appearances actually takes place after the segment? Sure, it is VERY difficult to get booked on national TV. But most publicists and self-proclaimed DIY PR pros make the mistake at stopping after getting the segment. If you hire a PR firm to get you booked on TV, it isn’t their job to publicize your TV bookings on social media. It is yours. They won’t do the leg work for you.

Maximize your press coverage

You must learn how to use social media marketing to turn one-off TV segments into a larger media firestorm for your brand to catapult yourself into the national spotlight. If you don’t, you will just be throwing money down the drain for random TV appearances that do not build a brand and that no one ever sees, except for the people who watch you live on air.

Those returns are diminishing. Most people aren’t watching you live at 6 am. In fact, this is why I have personally stopped telling people to watch me when I will be on-air, because I realize most people will only watch you when it is convenient for them and when you bring the media appearance to them on social media, not the other way around! Make it easy for them to watch!

How turn a national TV appearance into *PR magic* to catapult your personal brand

Always buy the videos of your TV interviews. It still amazes me when people hire a PR firm to get them booked on TV and refuse to pay a few extra dollars to a third-party clipping service to obtain the video of their TV segment after it airs. Do not rely on TV channels for copies of your TV segments! Invest in a video clipping service to purchase all of your segments or else if you don’t they will disappear and it will be like it never happened.

Never rely on TV network links. I have seen so many people make this critical mistake. The network posts a link to your TV segment, and you share that link. But then a few years later, you have a 404 error, and you have no copy of the actual link because you never purchased it.

PUBLICIZING TV APPEARANCES CHECKLIST

Publicizing your TV appearance is often more important than the actual appearance itself.

PR tactics to increase media exposure

How do you promote media appearances?

Follow this PR checklist to maximize exposure from your TV appearances.

Post the TV appearance on your website.
Keep a running list of all TV appearances in a word document in case media wants to see clips to other appearances.
Purchase a copy of the TV segment from a third-party.
Keep all of your TV segments in Dropbox so you can create a sizzle reel with them after you have at least 10 clips.
Upload the TV segment to YouTube.

PR TIPS KEY TAKEAWAYS: MAKING THE MOST OF A MEDIA APPEARANCE

The majority of personal branding work on TV segments takes place after the segment or interview is over.. not before!
Remember, media likes other media, so the more you promote your appearances, the greater the likelihood is of getting asked back as a guest.
Once the television appearance is over, continue tweeting links and clips, posting photos on Instagram Stories and promoting the clips from the green room.
The goal is to convey the message that your company is everywhere. Use social media and PR as a tool to help you achieve that objective.

Remember, reporters like to see that other journalists have quoted you. No one wants to be the first to quote a source. Prominently display your thought leadership and expert credibility on a press page on your personal or corporate web site.

Need help developing a press kit or media relations strategy? Contact us today to book a discovery call.

TV BOOKING RESOURCES

Six Steps to Get Booked on National Television

*Date last updated 2019

Making the Most out of The PR Client Agency Relationship

August 7, 2015 by KrisRuby

Looking to make the most out of your new relationship with a Westchester PR agency or NYC Public Relations Agency? Be able to clearly articulate the answers to these questions to your new PR agency before you kick off the new relationship.

What is PR nirvana to you? What does success look like to you?
How do you see your company growing? What’s the end goal?
For some people, it’s a simple 5% increase in customers…for others it’s a feature story in the New York Times or a trade journal. It’s important to know the difference. (You can’t achieve an end goal if you don’t know what it is)
What makes you unique?
What specifically do you want to be publicized for?
Who are you ideally trying to reach?

To set up your relationship with your public relations agency for maximum success, you want to make sure you give them as much data as possible to help them propose the best solutions.

What tools and platforms are you currently using in your marketing efforts?
What are your goals? Leads, customers, or revenue?
What is the lifetime value (LTV) of each customer?
Do you have customer personas? Who is your ideal client?
What percentage of your customers is generated through online methods?
Content audit- what content do you currently have?
Who on your marketing team will be creating content?
Who are the influencers and experts in your industry that we need to be familiar with?

You also want to define clear expectations for weekly management:

Weekly call time?
Who needs to be on weekly or monthly project status meetings?
Who is approving work?

Be Prepared for a Change in Scope

If your publicist or management consultant is worth their salt, they may completely change the scope of the engagement after hearing your answers to the PR/Marketing onboarding questions. Many business owners think they need PR to fix their business issues, but what they don’t realize is that they need to actually fix the business issues first to generate any worthwhile exposure long term. “Just get me positive press” may stop the bleeding short term, but it is not a long-term solution.

The only thing that needs to change is everything.

Surprise! You have a business problem. Not a marketing problem.

The below is a standard response from a client:

“We agree with everything you identified. There are certainly issues with conveying a consistent brand identity. The best thing for us to do is review this and discuss this….most definitely we need to increase our attention to those elements because we haven’t really done much with it. I don’t have anything to add other than we need to review it.”

Typically, the client will come back and say they have discussed it internally and what they really need you for is press. Think hard before taking on an engagement where you know you are being led to fail. You are the professional. You need to drive the client engagement. If you know there is an inherent business issue, and you start pitching media to review something that is half-baked, you will only hurt yourself, your media relationships and your reputation.

In an initial deep dive discovery meeting with a client, here is an example of one of their answers for their SWOT analysis.

“Weaknesses would be team, policy and procedure, consistency in food quality, proper training, staff enthusiasm and knowledge. Absence of good marketing, branding, and PR. Customers are unhappy with consistency and very upset with staff being completely unaware of dietary components of food items, like what is gluten free or not. Staff isn’t friendly.”

You CANNOT have good marketing if you have deep rooted organizational issues

In order to be of maximum service to your client and guide them in the right direction, you need to address the organizational issues before you can tackle the PR ones. PR should come LAST, not FIRST, when building a business.

It is my strong belief that the best PR strategists are half management consultants and half practitioners. You can only generate press when there are newsworthy items. The rest of the time you should be focused on the business challenges and how you can solve them. If the client inherently disagrees with this approach, think long and hard before committing to anything, and definitely make sure the revised scope is clearly laid out in writing.

15 Ideas to Increase your Twitter Engagement

August 7, 2015 by KrisRuby

Looking to expand social media exposure for your business on Twitter? Develop keyword rich content and establish your company as a leader in your industry. Here are RMG’s top 15 tips to ramp up your company’s Twitter exposure.

Create a blog to promote content and tweet out new articles as they are live
Use relevant hashtags to attract target audience and increase visibility
Integrate Instagram into Twitter account and use frequently, especially to promote promotions/giveaways
Frequently tweet, multiple times a day, during peak hours
Use relevant hashtags to increase reach
Post inspirational quote to increase “favorites”
Retweet what customers/clients/patients tweet your own company and add your own comments
Post tweets with visual content, especially high res photos
Create a custom hashtag for your company or area of subject matter expertise
Respond to mentions of other influencers in your target industry
Utilize Twitter “lists” to monitor competitors, media and influencers
Post DIY or DYK tips
Create shareable and interactive content
Retweet relevant nuggets of wisdom from industry conferences
Engage customers/clients by asking open ended questions

How To Secure National Media Hits: Former Journalist Perry Krasnove Shares Top Tips

July 15, 2015 by KrisRuby

We are thrilled to welcome Perry Krasnove as a Media Relations Consultant at Ruby Media Group. With more than 20 years of industry experience as a PR strategiest, media specialist and media trainer, Perry has some great tips to share with you on how to increase exposure for your business.

What is your philosophy about PR?

Using public relations to help build brands and establish industry thought leaders is a necessity, not a luxury. People consume their media through so many different avenues so they can avoid the clutter that comes from various forms of advertising. PR on the other hand, is a natural part of their consumption. When organically consumed, PR is one of the most influential forms of delivering a message. PR is about honesty and integrity. I always ask potential clients if they’d rather hear about the accolades of a product through a segment with Al Roker or on a commercial in an embellished setting. 9 times out of 10 the client wants to be validated through the words of Al Roker vs through a traditional ad.

Why is PR so important for emerging thought leaders?

Through PR, thought leaders can cut through the clutter and be heard or seen the way they want to be heard or seen. My philosophy about thought leaders is simple: don’t drink the Kool-Aid. A thought leader is most successful when they come across as an expert in their industry, not an expert in what they are selling. I’ve had success utilizing this tactic. For example, I previously worked with a Life Settlement CEO whose company buys life insurance policies from active adults. It is a part of the economic landscape that reporters, anchors and editors never want to talk about. I media trained him to become a retirement specialist and an expert. It turned out he knew the financial industry quite well. He ditched the life settlement “speak” and went on to do interviews with the goal of giving the audience a wide range of options. I pitched and earned him an interview on a national business outlet and he hit a home run. He was then invited to come back on the show for three consecutive months. He was then invited to be a part of “The Company” where he would be on the entire show as their “resident CEO.” I worked with him on the various subject matters that were going to be discussed. He became a sounding board on gun control, healthcare and Apple. Inquiries into his company spiked as viewers were able to watch him and saw him as more than a life settlement specialist or a CEO. They saw him as a human being they could relate to. PR at it’s finest. Thought leaders can have a huge impact on anything they choose to touch.

How has your background in news shaped your ability to craft stories as a publicist?

I spent so many years in the news industry at MSNBC that I look at media placements as news stories. I always ask, “What’s in it for me?” before I pitch any story and try to see it from the producers side. Once I find the answer, I can move forward because the producer, reporter, anchor or editor is asking himself or herself the very same question. My job is to not only make my client happy but to make my contacts in the media happy as well. If they are happy then their bosses are happy. Now I know I can go back to them again and again. Speaking engagements go the same way. You don’t want a “one off.” It’s not beneficial to anyone if no one comes out looking good. Every media placement and speaking engagement secured needs to be a long-term brand building experience. There is no top of the peak. There is always the next rung in the ladder. Continue to build equity with your base. I want to sell the speaker and the event planner on what the next speaking engagement can do for them two or three speeches down the road. It’s why I have been able to keep my contacts for the last decade. I can email them out of the blue and know they will get back to me despite receiving thousands of pitches a day. I also believe anyone can copy and paste a sample target media outlet list and tell you they are “targeting a comprehensive list of media outlets, including but not limited to…” but it takes a truly gifted publicist to move and flow with the client in a freeform manner. This is what creates strong working relationships between a publicist and their client. It’s what separates me from everyone else.

Any media relations tips?

You have to look at media contacts as people with lives and interests. Your basic tech reporter doesn’t just want the latest iphone; they like a wine or spirit, a customized pillow or the most innovative luggage. Those pieces that come out of product exchanges turn into some of the best placements because the reporter puts full heart and soul into the story. It’s personal!

Best way to build relationships with media?

I don’t like taking a cookie-cutter approach with the media and they can see when you have. Sometimes you have to work “the long road.” It’s where I introduce a spokesperson or a product without any intention of a true pitch in that moment. The idea is to put my client in their heads so they file it for future reference. Sometimes they come to me with a need, other times I come back with a pitch that’s not so out of leftfield now. But the one thing my contacts all have in common is this: they want it all on a silver platter for them. The less they have to do, the better. If you can make their job easier for them, you will become a valued source.

What are some critical elements to include in ongoing media relations to keep your business top of mind?

How much media can I secure? How impactful can this campaign be? Is this going to be as good as I think it will be? Will it make me want to do it again because it was so good? Anyway you slice it you are all in for “The Big Play.” Here are my top tips on scoring major ink:

Ongoing News Announcements- Post a steady stream of news such as new services, executive appointments, awards, etc. These sorts of activities should help keep your business in the media, demonstrating its significance as the most sought after firm.

Business Profiles- Editors at major business and trade publications are interested in interviewing key executives and writing stories about the company. I also recommend letting journalists and editors know that members of the management team are available for comment for trend stories.

Trend Stories- I recommend issuing pitch letters that capitalize on current trends and news items. This can help lead to inclusion in round-up and trend pieces.

Media– In addition to pitching print publications and broadcast outlets, increase your digital presence through blogs, websites and social media outlets.

Television Outreach- To secure broadcast exposure, pitch your CEO as a thought leader on business shows discussing trends in the industry, and any relevant hot topic that they could comment on.

LinkedIN Publishing- set up profile and publish your own content. Be sure to share on social media.

Contributed Columns-– become a regular columnist, Forbes contributor or secure a regular running piece in Huffington Post  - 8

Published Research Findings- A well-timed, content driven survey is time consuming and costs a lot of money but when done the right way, it can generate a massive amount of press.

Speaking Engagements– Speakers bureau – TED talk, Fast Company, Arianna Huffington events.

Blog

What is an Integrated Marketing Communications Plan?

PR Goal Setting

How To Get a Story Booked on Local TV News

Maximizing Your Media Coverage

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