Today, I had the pleasure of speaking with a successful online merchant whom I respect. She approached me about taking her already profitable business “to the next level.” Her 2007 4th Quarter retail sales figures were, unsurprisingly, wonderfully out of whack compared to normal monthly figures (by a factor of almost 10x improved) – and this is in respect to already respectable monthly numbers year-round. No surprises here – most retailers enjoy holiday shopping sales far beyond normal profits. It’s our reward for sticking things out in February and March.

Here’s a glimpse of my side of the exchange we had (with her approval) – I hope you find it valuable.

Good Morning,

Well, it’s morning here in Tornado Alley. Thanks for contacting me with your questions, it’s good to hear from you.
First, congratulations on your success during the 4th Quarter – and generally consistent and respectable sales year-round! You must be very skilled, so I’ll glance over what you and I probably can agree are the basics – search engine optimization, dedicated domain, etc.

I would, however, be remiss if I didn’t preach my normal sermon about SEO being dynamic, evolving, and responsive. Search engine optimization can be something many of us are reluctant to “mess with” once we feel we’ve reached a good Google traffic level or page rank. I’d never suggest tampering with a proven formula but it is worth being aware that some subjects, themes, and keywords fall in and out of favor with Google just as subjects change in business, pop-culture, and so on. I’m not suggesting that a person replace all their keywords with “Britney Spears” or “Lindsay Lohan” because, although they are highly searched terms recently, they’re not likely targeted words appropriate for your business. Again, not to recommend anyone change a successful keyword lineup, it is important to *know* if keywords are working well or not – rather than just assuming they are. So, methodically changing a single word or two, periodically, might demonstrate if it is having a positive affect on bringing targeted traffic to your site or CP store. One doesn’t want to go crazy and change all keywords – a shakeup like that is often negatively drastic and has similarly negative results with any search engine – not just the almighty Google.

At any rate, I do think there is value in validating keywords and meta tags (even with their decreasing value) to ensure they really are the best ones you can be using at this time. Next year, who knows? It’s possible that buzzwords, even in the industry can change. I remember when “virtual” or “e-[something]” were the buzzwords plastered all over the place. Thank goodness they’ve since fallen out of favor and we no longer see them quite so prevalently – and at least more correctly used nowadays. On a sidenote – I actually remember a spam email that talked about “virtual water” and a “virtual toaster.” I think we’ve had enough off all that, thank you very much! So, pay attention to what current, popular, trendy word-usage is because it might mean the same thing but if the vocabulary has changed in your demographic audience – keywords likely need to be updated (eg. “Hip” is making a comeback but its data is still a little on the slow, upswing – it’ll be a while until “hip” is a high-commodity search term. “Urban” is on the way out but is still holding solid in smaller, niche circles for the hardcore crowd.).

Okay, enough with Reverend Blip’s soapbox about keeping keywords fresh, current, targeted and most importantly – validated to prove they are worth the valuable real estate they occupy in html code. Just make sure you never rest on your laurels and assume old, tired keywords that once were good-enough, are still sufficient. You may need to give them some attention from time to time.

Whenever I’m asked a question that, at its core, is about going beyond Google… getting past a plateau – I think about something most people have little experience in and even less interest in: Press Releases.

Now, I know the subject of advertising was perhaps the next thing on your mind (or maybe the first thing?). I guess I regard “marketing” as an umbrella which covers advertising and advertising covers paid and unpaid outlets. So, I’m not dodging the question of advertising as much as I find it valuable to look a little beyond the standard-issue responses. Afterall, there are plenty of obvious sources for advertising: link exchanges with their questionable inbound/outbound link value, AdSense/AdWords with their own voodoo which, when mastered, can bring a tidy sum, print media – which a lot of online retailers forget about, and so on. So, I sometimes take the liberty that, when I’m asked about advertising, I venture a tad further into one of the things I feel is huge bang for the buck, can yield targeted traffic, and draws upon the same skills we use in creating keywords and fresh content for our online presence already – the press release.

Yes, I think the standard-issue suggestions we read in the forums are correct, most of the time – those of firing up a blog, fine-tuning AdWords, banner exchanges, paid advertising in complimentary (but not competitive) online circles. They work okay for some, better for others, and sometimes not well for even more. So, since so many of those topics have how-to books, tutorials, and probably late-night infomercials dedicated to them – I’ll assume there’s no shortage of advice out there for the average person. Like you – I, too, only get so much mileage out of those things before it seems like the progress stops or even produces negative returns (spending more money on ad words than I make in sales).

The one thing that is under our command at any, given moment – something that is not likely to be duplicated too closely by even your nearest competitor, something that can bring attention and awareness to you and generate buzz better than anything is the press release.

I’m not talking about the plain-vanilla press release most tired, old marketing books teach, either. I’m talking about exciting, informative, calls-to-action that editors of newspapers, magazines, radio program directors, and so on get off their butt to respond to.

At the risk of going into a response to your question part-way and then bailing I will say that press releases can be as highly effective or totally worthless as a person makes them. The average press release is written with no particular reason other than to fulfill obligations to company investors and they read every bit as exciting (insert sarcasm here):

“The Blipfish corporation reports record earnings!”
“Today, El Blippo, CEO and head popcorn popper of Blip Enterprises held a press conference to congratulate employees and investors alike on another successful year…”

[Zzzzzzzzzzz.... someone wake me up when it's over].

The average book and tutorial on writing press releases, I swear, were written by the same person back in 1945 and are basically resurrected over and over again, year after year, with barely an alteration just so someone can make bucks off yet another publicity how-to book.

I’m not talking about press releases that only you and your mother could care about. I’m suggesting you seriously entertain creating a well-crafted press release that gets the attention of an editor or radio station program director (or whomever) and convinces them that their readers and listeners would seriously want to hear about you and whatever it is you do. Trust me, the world of selling tshirts online and making any tangible money from it is of great interest to readers or listeners! I have the constant traffic, questions, letters, clients, and customers that found me from a Wall Street Journal interview I did in 2005 to prove it! I might add – these things often start with a press release. Imagine the power of composing a powerful, interesting, and provocative two paragraphs and landing yourself front-page coverage on one of the US’s most respected business newspapers! An article – about you and your business! That is exposure you can’t pay for. Even if you could purchase a front page, 1,000 word ad it would cost you something in the ten-thousand dollar range and even then… it’s an arbitrary (if not insanely large) rate that is only for an ad… something the reader knows is a plug. Landing an article or interview gives credibility because it is assumed that 1) if the media person thinks you’re important enough to write about or interview you must therefor be important and 2) everything wonderful that is written or said about you is gospel and true and you can take it to the bank.

…try getting that level of credibility and exposure from a paid advertisement that people are instantly guarded about.

So, again, it’s not that I don’t value purchasing traditional advertising nor do I argue that it has its effective place in a business model. What I’m saying is that if you’ve reached a point where run-of-the-mill resources (search engines, advertising, link exchanges, banner programs, etc.) are reaching a plateau and you don’t want the expense of kicking them up to the next level (cost of more expensive ad words, expense of a printed ad in Rolling Stone Magazine, etc.) then consider the cost-to-benefit (free-to-immeasureable) of a press release. There’s no better way than to do something to get the media to talk to you rather than pay to speak through them at an audience.

I still get business and traffic from articles and interviews I gave in 2001! As a matter of fact, I often get hit up for more interviews because it always seems that no matter how many people read an article or how many newspapers carried the story… there’s always some newspaper somewhere that is just now stumbling across it and thinking they need to jump on the bandwagon. That’s a good thing – and if you can demonstrate you are a great interview and you are interesting, have something unique to say, and that the newspaper’s readers would genuinely find interesting… you’ll be well on your way to convincing that editor he should do a story on you. Once you get to that stage – it’s not difficult to arrange some kind of terms that make it clear that you are a benefit to him and deserve some kind of benefit for yourself so either a plug for a product, mention of a website, or general contact information is only fair (and you won’t do it unless you get some minor benefit from it since they don’t pay you).

What does it take to create a press release? Well, here’s where I bail a little on the topic. It’s not that I’m not willing to share – it’s just that it’s a subject that has more to it than I can write at the moment. However, have no fear – it’s actually *very much* at the top of my short list for articles to write about on my blipfish.com blog. I subscribe to a different method of crafting a press release than the average, boring Joe does. Format is important – but content is key – and I promise I’ll talk about that very soon – it’s probably my #2 priority for articles.

However, what you can consider, in the meantime is this: WHAT can you do to justify even sending a press release? The articles out there on the intertubes are everywhere for the mechanics of composing a properly formated press release (just join and read PRWeb.com – excellent service). The trick is to actually come up with a reason to say “Hey, look at me!” that doesn’t sound like a left-handed excuse to just draw attention to your business. Editors hate businesses that look obvious (or even not-so-obvious) that they are just trying to drum up business. Instead, the value to an editor is what is interesting and, like I already mentioned, the world of selling tshirts online is very interesting when you’re one of the success stories.

All a person needs, then, is some little (but genuine) excuse to send out a release. Maybe a local event you’re involved in, perhaps a social topic that is already hot in the media and you and your tshirts are making a statement about it – or better yet – your business itself is tackling the issue (like donating profits to a local shelter, creating awareness during breast cancer awareness month, and so on). If you can genuinely, honestly, and sincerely come up with a story that just happens to involve you and your business or product that is part of a bigger picture that an editor would be interested in… your foot is in the door for an interview.

Which would you rather have, as an editor? Another boring earnings report from a local company story? Or, a charity event being supported by some tshirt guro who’s making more money than the employee at the store who sells the shirt the editor himself is wearing?

Now, there’s even more distance and interest you can cover – and I promise I’ll create an article about it. Those are just the basic ideas to get the wheels turning in your head. There are other, more interesting angles I suggest people look for when justifying a press release going out. You don’t want to send garbage releases out – editors can not only smell them a mile away but you can also find yourself on the receiving end of the media equivalent of standing in the corner – your name can be ignored in the future. This is one little tidbit (and I’ll discuss others) that many editors don’t talk about but it definitely happens – getting blackballed because you’re trolling for cheap publicity with nothing to offer. So, I suggest just pondering this idea, doing a little research first, mull it over – and I’ll have more to offer on the topic soon to help get the ball rolling.

So, since you took the time to ask (and I appreciate that you did) I figured you deserve an answer from me that might be a bit beyond what the average person might give – afterall, you were wanting new ideas and suggestions to take your business to the next level and I believe that once advertising and keywords are doing what they should be.. press releases are definitely the next level. (Well, I lie, I feel they should be one of the first things an entrepreneur learns but that didn’t segue as well from my last sentence).

At any rate, I feel if a person asks me a question, it’s pointless (and a disservice) for me to give a vanilla-answer when I believe there is a much more flavorful answer to be found – particularly someone I think would put that answer to good use and not just devalue it and ignore it because it’s free advice. To that end, I hope I gave you the kind of answer you hoped instead of just giving you a link to Google’s ad rate page or some response about adjusting the colors on your website?

If so – I’m happy and hope we’ve either accomplished or started you on another path toward kicking up your sales to that next level.

[I end with a short personal chat with her at this point].

The next exchange had a few questions about the ins-and-outs of submitting press releases… is it better to file with only one type of agency or service, or several, etc. My response is as follows:

Well, I will admit that what I “recommend” in terms of where to send PR’s to is more a matter of habit and even a little “old school” upbringing (well, as old school as a 38 year old can be). I prefer this *general* approach to disseminating my press releases:

1. File with PRWeb or a similar, respected service – it’s a good, catch-all. It’s also easy and quick so there’s no excuse not to.
2. Send a good, old fashioned FAX to specific media sources you’d LIKE to have cover your story.
3. File with any online service that you feel worthwhile but does not require exclusivity, obviously.
4. Always file a copy on your own website – either your company site or the store/site in question, if you prefer. Either way – build a media/publicity site. Sometimes media outlets surf the web too and Google will pick it up as well.

The thing is, as odd as it sounds, some PR services have bizarre terms that request you use them exclusively and not file with another firm/service unless you use a somewhat different PR. I find that ludicrous. I craft my PR’s a great deal and, if I’ve done it right, my final PR is exactly what I need and should be totally acceptable to duplicate to the Seattle Times as it is to the Pleasantville Independent Press. I see no justification in making me reword/rewrite a PR just to make some service (usually online ones) feel special by exclusivity.

The point about targeting specific media outlets is because, with experience, you may see a trend that you want to capitalize on… younger readership, technology friendly, business oriented, “success story” friendly, or you may just want to try the local-town-gal-does-well angle and publish to your local paper. The point being, is that blanket bombing works – but there can be a benefit toward picking specific media outlets because you feel they are good leverage for your time (whatever time it takes to mail, fax, or email – your call on how valuable your time is). But, more importantly – if you get one to bite – the rest often follow.

Many people think that blanket-bombing hundreds of media outlets to get a nibble is what it’s about. I can’t say it doesn’t work sometimes – but if you craft a press release that, for example, expounds the virtues of home based, retail, fascinating world of tshirt sales, against-all-odds, type of content you’re probably better off submitting to media that eat that sort of story up. If they pick the story up – others often follow because that’s just how papers and radio work: they call you because they heard/read you somewhere else and figure that if so-and-so did a story on you they should too.

So, I’m not answering you quite directly because I don’t think it has to be one or the other, one only, or whatever. I think a little research into a prospective outlet can help you craft a PR that has, at least, a tiny flavor to it that specific outlets find more appealing than others. Just like we write keywords and descriptions for the benefit of Google (probably first and foremost) we also should consider a mild consideration of our PR toward specific outlets. Some might be ezines, sometimes general directories are equally valid due to the nature of your PR, other times (for example) you might want to really push the technology-geek angle and it’s clear that it will influence where you submit.

Does that answer, at least a little, what you were asking?

For what it’s worth, and this is getting less and less the case, I own a few editions of Bacon’s media databases. At the time, faxes were the technology of the day and email was only barely reliable. My databases contain all the newspapers, radio stations, etc. in the US – millions. If I wanted to get the name and number of a director named “Bob” for all 30,000 watt radio stations within a 300 mile squared area…this database would do it.

Nowadays, it’s a little easier with online services but it’s still important to sometimes send to particular outlets, a fax, just like the old days – email is so popular and editors so besieged that sometimes they hit the delete-button so quickly you’ll be glad their fax machine at least has a piece of paper they need to pick up. I’ve spoken with editors – they don’t like to admit this but sometimes they just toss things because they looked shabby, sounded “pitchy” from word-one, or didn’t get formatted professionally, or were repeat-repeat-repeat blanket bomb offenders whose names are on an editorial watch-list like known airline terrorists… throw-away-on-sight. So, don’t go down that road, either by spamming PR’s. No good will come from it.