Category: Presentations

    Eight Reasons a Press Release Still Works

    Press releases are highly underrated these days. Whether you have a digital business or a bricks and mortar business, you should still be sending out press releases for each newsworthy event that your business participates in. New products, new services, events, and anything that your business does or accomplishes that is important to the industry should include a press release. Here are eight reasons why.

    1. Provides Links to Your Website – Even though there is controversy about whether or not press releases are good for SEO due to Google’s algorithm change that doesn’t count them anymore, the truth is they are still good for SEO in terms of providing links to your site that people will click on.

    2. A Permanent Record of Events – They are great for keeping a permanent record of events in your business. If you file them away, you can use them later to document the progress of your business.

    3. Unfiltered Information – A press release, due to how it’s written (with guidelines and the specific newsworthy story), has truly unfiltered information without the fluff. Therefore, if your release is picked up, it will mean something to the readers.

    4. Attracts New Audiences – Blogging and social media posts are great ways to get people to visit your website, but a press release can attract entirely new people within your audience to come to your website.

    5. Improves Your Brand Image – Real businesses send out press releases. If you want your business to be taken seriously, you should be sending them out when you release a new product, plan an event, or do something that is newsworthy in your industry.

    6. Potential to Go Viral – Any well-written press release that you’ve sent out that has something to do with current events will have an opportunity to become viral. Once something like that goes viral, you’d better be prepared for the onslaught of visitors.

    7. Great Additional Content on Your Website – When your press release is picked up by major press, link to that website with the press release on it. This is a great way to get information “as seen on” to impress your website visitors. This gives you additional content to talk about when you post your press releases.

    8. Gives You Proper Bragging Rights – When your press release is picked up by a major news source, it’s great to be able to put their logos on your website due to the fact that you’ve been seen in their publications.

    If you don’t think press releases work, then you need to give them a try. The next time you have a newsworthy event, experiment with sending out a press release. It’s important that you follow advice and get some professional help with sending them out, though. Also, don’t just send them in a way that they go everyplace; find out whom to send them to in advance and send them directly to the right people.

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    White Papers: What Are They and Why Should I Use Them?

    A white paper is a report that explains a problem in depth and then offers a solution. If you offer products and services to business owners, white papers are a great way to explain your solutions to your audience. They work especially well for complicated issues that require some measure of education for the buyer to understand.

    The Purpose of a White Paper

    A white paper is not an excuse to include tons of sales hype or puffery. Instead a white paper should be useful and valuable to the consumer by itself. The white paper should:

    * Identity a problem – Describe the problem the target audience has in great detail to demonstrate your understanding of the problem. Use case studies and other examples to get your points across.

    * Describe various solutions – Give examples of various solutions and their drawbacks, along with your solution and why it’s better. Give concrete examples and not sales puffery.

    * Back up your assertions – Using real data and research to back up your facts will make your white paper more impressive and give it credibility.

    If you stick to that formula when you develop your white paper, you’ll do well. Insert case studies, images, graphs, and other points of interest to highlight the facts better. The white paper needs to focus on the problems and solutions and how your solution is the one that works the best. Show this by describing the drawbacks to the other solutions and how your product or service fills the gaps the other ones leave.

    Advantages of White Papers

    In addition to educating your audience, white papers have a lot of advantages such as:

    * Collects leads – Ask for an email address and other information in exchange for downloading the white paper and you’ll collect a lot of information from interested parties.

    * Establishes expertise – Writing a white paper is a process that helps you look like a real expert, as white papers are often used in education and government.

    * Proves credibility – Having a way to show all the facts about the problem and the solutions will make you look more credible.

    * It’s “evergreen” – Most content doesn’t have a very good shelf life. But, a well-researched and informative white paper can last for years with minor changes when your products or services are updated.

    * A good way to reuse content – If you already have a lot of informative blog posts, you can reuse it inside the white paper. Conversely, all the research you gather during the creation of the white paper can be used elsewhere too.

    * They’re cost effective – Word for word a white paper isn’t any more expensive to create or have created than other types of content. Plus the ROI is high.

    * They are good SEO – Long form content is good for search engine optimization. Even if this particular content is something that will be downloaded, it will help your website look more professional.

    * They’re great link bait – If your white paper is especially well written and has a lot of good information, other people will share the information.

    It’s clear that using white papers to market your business is beneficial. It’s time to get started on creating your white paper to improve your subscriptions and establish your expertise.

    Categories: Presentations, Text Tags: Tags:

    Communication by Text

    Why Get It Transcribed?

    Audio interviews and webinars, video PowerPoints, and how-to screencast demonstrations are no longer considered “new” in Internet marketing, but they’re communication mediums that are certainly here to stay.

    Although audio and video work great for imparting information, the need for the written word is still there, especially to accompany the audios and videos. I’m talking about transcriptions; written documentation of what you’ve recorded verbally and/or visually. Why should you go the extra mile and the extra expense to have your webinar transcribed?

    Here are a few reasons:

    1. When you have your audio or video transcribed, you’ve just increased the value of your product. Perhaps your audio interview is free to your listeners, but if they want the transcribed version, they’ll have to pay for it. Or you could offer your product with the audio and transcription for one fee, and without the transcription for a “lite” fee. Another idea is to add the written document as a bonus to your product, or offer it in an upsell.

    2. Even though audio and video are popular, not everyone likes this medium. Many people prefer reading over listening. It could be they’re fast readers and like to go at their own pace rather than be at the mercy of an audio that seems to be going too slow. Or maybe they are short on time and prefer to skip to the parts that are of particular interest to them. Some find themselves daydreaming or becoming distracted and can’t follow along very well.

    3. There are times when people can’t listen, no matter how informative your webinar is. The timing may not work into their schedule – people are so busy with work, kids, chores, civic duties, etc. and if you lose them, you lose your chance to impart your wisdom, take your brand up a notch, make a sale, or whatever your reason for doing the webinar. Similarly, the person might not be in a location where they can turn the volume up (like at work, in a waiting room, while on the bus) and they don’t have earphones. After all your hard work of putting on the webinar, you don’t want to lose any potential customers. Offering a transcription of your webinar will make these people happy. It shows goodwill on your part.

    Doing webinars, audio interviews, podcasts, and videos is great for business. It adds dimension to your brand, gives your sales page or website some punch and makes lots of people happy who like to listen. But take it a step further and make everyone satisfied by having your audios transcribed. It’s a good business practice that can affect your bottom line.

    Categories: Text