Business Leadership Lessons from President Obama

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Today was a day that should inspire and encourage everyone. Young or old, black or white, Republican or Democrat. Today was about change. Today was about progress. Today was about hope, humanity, faith and courage. It was about presence and tenacity – the welcoming of a new leader for a resolute country.

Many things that President Obama said today could be applicable to any business leader tasked with motivating and retaining a discouraged staff. The nuggets of wisdom bestowed upon us today can serve as guiding principles for business leaders and words of encouragement for budding entrepreneurs – tough decisions are necessary, challenges should be met head on, unity of purpose leads to greater success,  greatness doesn’t just happen and hard work is a privilege.

If you missed President Obama’s speech, you can read it in its entirety here. Some of my favorite parts – ones that I will lean on during what is sure to be another tumultuous year – are below. I have bookmarked this speech and will continue to go back and read it when I need a reminder to keep leading with courage and integrity – and most of all, faith that we will all carry on and prosper, especially when we work together.

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Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America – they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things – some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act – not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions – who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.

With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Leading in a Downturn

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While in New York this week, I had the privilege of sitting down with some other small business owners to discuss the challenges of running a business in this economic downturn. Everyone knows the challenges of balancing income vs. expenses, long term projections, etc. A new challenge for many leaders is not only how to stay motivated themselves, but how to keep staff motivated during such difficult economic times.

Amid layoffs, pay cuts, cost discipline changes and tumultuous financial markets, maintaining a positive attitude can be challenging. Business leaders are tasked with the additional burden of assuring staff, partners and clients that things will be fine. But in an environment like today’s, that’s one sentiment that’s difficult to promise.

While you can’t always make guarantees to people when they ask for one, you can strive to be as open and honest as possible about challenges, solutions and potential changes. However, the truth is, employees aren’t always capable of understanding the decision path no matter how much information you provide. So how do you keep employees (who are often times facing heavier work loads than ever due to colleagues being laid off) motivated and positive? It’s certainly not an easy task.

Business owners are faced with making tough decisions – and managing the consequences of such decisions. Laying employees off is never an enjoyable task and is often viewed – no matter how delicately considered and addressed – as a personal attack. Employees get angry and, in today’s instant Internet age, their anger is often publicly displayed in places like Facebook statuses and Twitter updates.

So what is a business owner to do? A few recommendations include:

– Talk. Sounds obvious but it’s amazing how many C-level executives I’ve met that leave such delicate and important conversations to email.

– Be honest. Honesty doesn’t mean you have to share every nitty gritty detail but it does mean that you are up front about decision making – how and why you’ve taken a certain direction or may have to.

– Be aggressive. As a business leader, you are charged with taking care of the people who work for you. If customers are paying late, clients are taking advantage of staff or angry ex-employees are spreading false rumors, know when to take action and how to do so professionally.

– Be persistent. In times like these, many people tend to want to curl up in a corner and shut their eyes until all the craziness goes away. As a leader you need to make sure you are addressing concerns with employees, even if they don’t want to talk about them – help ease their minds even if they aren’t capable of expressing their fears.

– Be courageous. It takes guts to lead a business during a downturn. Ignore your detractors, don’t fret over unprofessional competitors or angry ex-employees. Keep your head up, maintain your integrity and march forward with your principles in tact. Not everyone can comprehend or ever understand the enormous responsibilities – and tough decisions – you face as a business owner.

– Keep moving. Show customers, partners, colleagues, staff and the industry that you are tenacious by continuing to grow, to innovate and to take intelligent risks. By doing so you will no doubt inspire and encourage those around you – and your business will not only survive, but thrive.

What have you done to maintain motivation or how has your employer exemplified leadership during these tough times? I asked this question earlier this morning on Twitter and received a couple of replies, below. I’ll share more as they come in but we’d love to hear from you, too.

Systems Thinking & the Unintended Long Term Consequences of Slashing Your Marketing Budget Now

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“If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations.”
– Bill Gates

I’ve been learning about Systems Thinking lately and I believe it applies to our blog post on Tuesday about why PR and marketing budgets should NOT be cut in a down economy (and of course, why our PR Stimulus offer can help!)

The basic belief behind Systems Thinking is that doing the most obvious thing is not always – in fact, rarely – the best thing to do. Problems are a result of multiple, integrated issues, not just one component. Few business leaders take the time – or understand how – to identify the events, trends and causes that lead to a problem or that should be considered in a solution (a “causal loop”). So often the “fixes” that business leaders apply to problems fail and rather create a temporary solution for today that lead to more problems tomorrow.

I would say that applies to pulling PR and marketing as one of the first cost cutting measures. If no one knows about you and your company, no one buys, if no one buys, well – you get the picture – it’s a related loop. Shouldn’t marketing continue to be a priority for businesses in a down economy…. shouldn’t PR be one of the last things to go? I’d be interested in how systems thinking experts would analyze this situation, given that systems thinking is supposed to help organizations that want to develop and sustain competitive advantage. Just as your competitors are going quiet, don’t you want to grab this opportunity to fill the void? If you put PR and marketing on hold now, you could spend even more money in the future trying to completely “relaunch” from a marketing perspective.

The noise is quieting down as your competitors are hunkering down – work with experts (PR agency, social media expert, marketing consultant – whatever is best for your business) to ensure that your marketing is smart, nimble, focused and effective. Take advantage of the opportunity left by others who only see the obvious route – to slash budgets – but haven’t taken the time to think about the long term ramifications and solutions. Look for agencies (yes, like ours) that know “PR 2.0” – the strategies and tools deployed for such can deliver more cost-effective campaigns that still keep awareness at an all time high.

Marketing and promotion in a down economy is a golden opportunity for those who can think dynamically and understand how “today’s decisions can have both intended and unintended consequences – leading to tomorrow’s successes and problems.”

PR, Social Media, Transparency & Good News

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I’ve been having a very lively discussion on Twitter today about PR, social media and where the lines of transparency fall. We asked if a PR firm should run social media entities in social communities. If they do, should they identify themselves in these communities – like Twitter, Facebook, etc. – as the PR firm or as part of the company’s marketing team, or is simply having a company entity sufficient enough to imply that you’re probably talking to the marketing folks (which could include an agency). How transparent is transparent enough? I received a lot of lively – and differing – answers:

PR Company Transparency

My favorite answer, however, was from @tgruber. She said:

@tgruber Transparency Reply

It’s my favorite answer because for me, if I’m interacting with a company’s brand online, it seems obvious that the marketing team would be behind it unless otherwise noted (as in the case of @zappos which is clearly identified as the CEO, Tony Hsieh; or in our case @PerkettPR – where we identify who is behind the Twittering of the brand right in our bio).

But I’m in marketing and PR – so I wanted other viewpoints. If you are interacting with @Lotame (client), for example, do you assume you are talking to the CEO or a marketing executive, or someone else? If a PR firm maintains the account should they say in their bio, for example, “We’re PerkettPR Twittering on behalf of Client.”? If you follow @TJMaxx, @Starbucks, @JetBlue, @LuckyShops or others, does it matter to you who’s behind the social media curtain – as long as they aren’t claiming to be the CEO when they are not?

We’re excited to announce several new clients today and as we continue planning and launching many social media campaigns for them in the coming months, we continue to value and learn from the collective communities and their opinions. That includes you – so what do you think?

5 Tips for Maximizing your Podcamp Experience

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Podcamp Boston 2With Podcamp Boston 3 coming up this weekend, I’ve started think back to last year’s event and how I want to approach the experience this year. Podcamp co-creator Christopher S. Penn recently created a video podcast listing 5 tips to get the most from your Podcamp experience. His video prompted me to come up with an additional five of my own that first time “Podcampers” might find useful.

Create a “People I want to meet list”
After Podcamp Boston 2 ended last year, I realized there were a bunch of people in attendance that I never got a chance to meet. In fact, so many people attended that I never even knew the people I missed were even there. Plan ahead by scanning the attendee list (Podcamp Boston’s list is on the Eventbrite page) and don’t miss out on the opportunity to connect with specific people while you can. Many folks come from out of state, which can make meet-ups like this a rare opportunity.

Don’t forget your business cards
Podcamp is a prime time for networking, so don’t forget your business cards and be sure to bring plenty of them. Depending on the city, Podcamp weekends can draw hundreds of participants, and all the new people you meet won’t be able to connect with you later on if you aren’t handing out cards. Its not uncommon to see people handing out more than one card as well. It’s also wise to have special cards made up for that blog, podcast or online video show you’d like to promote!

Maximize your hallway time
Podcamp weekends are always packed full of great sessions, but as many experienced Podcampers will agree, much of the magic happens in the hallways. Spontaneous sessions and unplanned gatherings can yield great information and can be incredibly valuable. If you’re not getting what you want out of a session, envoke the Pocamp “Law of Two Feet” and venture out into the hallway to see what’s going on. You might just be surprised at what you find!

Bring snacks
Be sure to throw a few snacks in your backpack to keep your energy up throughout the day. Podcamp offers a lot of information to absorb in 48 hours, and you’ll need to rely on those little bursts of energy that a healthy snack can give you after the coffee crash begins to settle in. Quick and portable items like a banana, trail mix, and a bottle of water will stay fresh during the weekend and the money you save bringing your own snack will pay for that extra pint at the pub on Saturday night.

Check your shyness at the door
Podcamp weekend is a time to meet new people as well as shake hands with some of the people with whom, until now, you might only have had a virtual relationship. If you tend to lean towards the shy side in social situations, then you’ll take comfort in the fact that everyone who attends Podcamp is there to meet other people. Don’t hesitate to approach groups of people who you may not know yet. Looking for groups of people that have one or two people you already know can also make breaking the ice easier. Just remember, everyone is there to meet you!

Bonus Tip! – Additional “gear” to bring
Here are some additional items to bring along that tend to come in handy: a powerstrip, extension cord, battery chargers, cellphone charger (especially for the iPhone 3G folks!), laptop charger, extra memory cards, USB thumb drive and a sharpie.

See you at Podcamp Boston 3 and be sure to DM me on Twitter if you’d like to connect!

Photo courtesy of Nico

Starry Eyed Over Social Media

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The Internet has been ablaze the last few months about social media and business. Everyone is trying to figure out the value of the different sites – from the “oldies” like Facebook and LinkedIn to newbies like Twitter, Seesmic, Plurk, Brightkite, etc. The value of such communities is especially abuzz in the realms of marketing and communications. People are catching on that marketing and PR are now – more than ever – about building relationships (as opposed to spinning news). PR executives who are not engaging with constituents – media, customers, partners, colleagues, competitors – in these new communities are missing a huge competitive advantage and opportunity. But who are the right constituents?

Just like anything – it’s how you yield the sword, not the sword itself, in my humble opinion. While building a fan base, securing thousands of followers or becoming a “top friend” can be fun, when it comes to business, how do these numbers translate? Where does the value lie? Does having thousands of Twitter followers suddenly make you a “social media expert?”

The ability to use – or experience with – communities like Facebook and Twitter do not make anyone a communications expert. Sheer follower numbers do not necessarily mean value – at least not to everyone. I may have 1000+ followers but that doesn’t mean anything to my clients unless I’m gleaming value specific to their goals. And even if one of their goals is to increase their user base, not all – or even the majority – of those followers are going to be appropriate users for my client’s products.

What if the content I’m sharing on these communities is irrelevant or my approach is more personal than professional? For example, some Twitter users don’t actually converse – they just spew updates about their day. That doesn’t actually build relationships. Some don’t recognize Twitter as a business opportunity but just have fun with their followers. (The smart ones do both – personal and professional communications – for reasons discussed in previous posts). Others build corporate entities only to “spam” followers and quickly lose them. So, while having a great following on these communities is important, so is understanding how to participate appropriately and glean the right value from them – and how to combine that with other communications strategies.

A lot of folks in the industry are also abuzz about “social media experts.” We’ve had plenty of six figure-seeking applicants tell us they know everything there is to know about social media. Personally, I think there are very few who can truly call themselves experts in this arena – yet – and I’m not impressed when an applicant just runs down a list of “Twitterati” that they have on their follower list or “web celeb” Facebook friends list.

Don’t spew names. Give me an example of how these relationships have helped add business value to your organization or your client’s business. How did your relationships increase a company’s users? What strategy did you have in place for using social media to build a brand and what metrics have you used to measure that brand awareness? Just using social media does not mean you know how to tie it to the bigger picture. I find this to especially be true with the younger generation of workers. Yes, they know how to use social media and are fully immersed in it. But do they understand business strategy, marketing goals and how to leverage these communities for such? Some do, but the majority may not yet understand the intricacies of business relationships and communication.

When thinking about new media and marketing, don’t get too starry eyed just because social media is a hot topic right now. Just as anyone can put a press release across the wire, anyone can build a massive following in these communities. But if the tools aren’t used properly – and combined with other elements of the business to execute a larger strategy – they become useless from a business perspective. Sometimes they can even become harmful.

What do you think? Have you found value in hiring a social media expert? How do you define “expert?”

Does Anyone Know a Good PR Firm?

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Well, sure! But the question is… is it the right firm for you?

I’ve noticed this question being posed a lot lately on LinkedIn Answers, Twitter and other communities. Sometimes we chime in, sometimes we just mine for competitive intelligence. It’s interesting to see the PR firms who take the time to provide context as to why they might be a good firm, rather than a self-serving (and, perhaps, lazy) statement such as “PerkettPR is the best” with a URL. Those answers in and of themselves should be very telling.

We thought we’d share some tips here on finding a good PR firm – for you.

What type of questions does the PR firm ask? Or do they? If they spend the entire first conversation or meeting just talking about themselves, this should raise some flags. How will they know if they can help reach your goals if they don’t ask what those goals are?

Are the executives meeting with you the ones who will be on the team? If not, why not? You’ve heard it before, but it amazes me how many prospects still come to us with a recent “bait and switch” complaint. If the CEO (or VP overseeing the practice) is present – and he/she should be so you can get a feel for the culture and leadership – what, if any, role will he/she play? (Keeping in mind they cannot possibly work daily on every account and if they tell you they do – they’re lying.)

How many accounts are the proposed PR team members on? Ask them to name them. Ask those same executives to give you an example of a recent strategy they recommended for one of those clients and how it was brought to fruition or made an impact.

Do the executives in the meeting use words such as “me,” “mine” and “I” or “we,” “us” and “ours”? PR agencies are teams. Good ones emphasize this across their culture in every way.

If something is important to you – take social media, for example – ask how all the team members are involved or have had experience with it. If social media is key and just one executive is active and involved (on Twitter, for example), that doesn’t bode well for the entire team’s knowledge or expertise in that area. One person is not enough. These types of initiatives should be embraced – and practiced – at every level of the agency. It’s equally important for the senior executives to demonstrate their working knowledge – and involvement in – the tactics executed by the account team.

How do they measure – and demonstrate – results? Any PR firm worth their retainer is going to tell you what you can expect ahead of time, and then clearly measure against those metrics on a regular basis.

Are budgets tied directly to hours? A good PR firm should build a budget around what they believe they can do for you and provide metrics in other ways. If it takes them 10 or 20 hours to reach such metrics, that shouldn’t be your problem. You don’t want the team stopping in the middle of an important project or launch because “we’ve reached our hours.” That’s so 1999.

Do they demonstrate a clear understanding of what is important and applicable to your business and your goals, not just what’s “hot”? For example, social media is fabulous, Twitter rocks when it’s working – but they aren’t appropriate for every client. Make sure the firm executives aren’t just using the latest buzzwords when discussing their approach. How does it apply to your needs? How do they foresee it helping your business?

Keep in mind that while a PR firm may not have experience directly in your space, relevant experience comes in many forms. A good firm – and experienced executives – can quickly learn and promote new technologies, products, companies or individuals. We’re professional relationship builders. Instead, ask for examples of how they helped promote a client in a market that they had never before worked in – and what the results were.

Like them. I don’t think I need to explain this one, do I?

What elements have you found to be valuable in your working relationships with PR firms? What do you like? What do you wish our industry would improve?

Corporate Twitter Entities – Yay or Nay?

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There have been some interesting discussions lately – both online and off – around the business value of Twitter. As part of those discussions, we’ve noticed some varying opinions on whether or not corporations should establish their own entity on this rapidly-growing micro-blogging community.

When we first established @PerkettPR, we were immediately called out (coincidentally by PR/marketing competitors) for a few incorrect (on their part) assumptions:

1) That we had just joined Twitter without research, or a “lurking” phase

2) That we were only joining Twitter to promote our involvement in bringing TechCrunch MeetUp to Boston

3) That we would spam people (which in and of itself is an inaccurate label to use, considering the way Twitter works)

4) That we would not use our corporate entity wisely and that a “corporation” was not a “person” and therefore couldn’t participate in conversation

A few months later in March, some of these same naysayers have not only set up their own corporate entities (although most have yet to actually update/use them) but they have encouraged others to do so. That leads us to today and our questions to you:

1) Can a corporation participate in conversations on Twitter?

2) Are there certain types of businesses that should not establish a Twitter presence?

3) Do you follow any corporations on Twitter?

4) Why or why not?

Most, if not all, of our staff has individual entities on Twitter (mine’s @missusP if you’d like to engage). We spent months on Twitter watching, conversing (about business and personal issues) and getting to know the landscape before we established our corporate entity. We use @PerkettPR to share interesting developments that our constituents – those who choose to follow us – may find of interest. This can range from client news to agency news to events, interesting articles, blog posts and more. In doing so, we’ve developed new and stronger relationships with reporters, bloggers, clients – even new business prospects and competitors – as well as insightful feedback and new awareness opportunities for clients.

We believe our participation at an individual level helps us to truly understand the community and that we can engage both as indiviudals and as a team – just as in real life. This quote from Forrester’s Jeremiah Owyang also reaffirmed this belief for us:

“I can’t imagine ever advising a client to deal with an advertising, PR, or interactive team that doesn’t get social media….agencies must demonstrate they can participate before they can ever help clients with it.”

We have several clients who have Twitter identities. @mzinga and @Q1labs are the two most recent to join. It remains to be seen if all types of corporations can participate in – and benefit from – Twitter as much as individuals do, but obviously we believe great potential exists. What do you think?

Examples of businesses on Twitter:

@JetBlue

@CNN

@ssldl (This is a local library in one of our staff’s Midwestern towns. How cool is that?!)

@mahalotravel

@hawaiianshirts

@suddenlyslimmer

@hockeygiant

@speedypin

You Get What You Give with a PR Firm

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As I was sitting in a planning meeting with our newest client last week, I was impressed with how much information they were sharing with us and how much effort they were putting into the relationship from the start. Not only did all of the key executives, including the CEO, meet with us for a half day and answer all of the questions we could throw at them, they also had sales executives present to our team – to show us how they sell and let us ask questions of them as any prospect might. This kind of exposure and information-gathering is key to helping us truly understand their business – what’s going well, what the challenges are, how the company presents itself, etc. Sharing information and communicating your overall business goals – not just the marketing department’s – is key to building the most successful relationship with your PR firm.

Too often, companies believe hiring a PR firm is just a notch on the marketing team’s belt and they are afraid to share “too much” information with the agency. Despite NDAs and contracts, they fear that providing deep insight into the business will cause the agency to lose focus or know too much. But think about why you hired a PR agency in the first place – you expect them to represent you, your products/services and brand to the world. You turn to them in times of crisis and you expect their strategic insight will change opinions, capture mindshare and alleviate naysayers. You expect them to be able to position you in the best light and in the most relevant opportunities, and you expect them to be able to speak intelligently about your space and your market – as though they worked for the company themselves.

And in essence, we do. At PerkettPR, we insist on being privy to marketing and sales discussions as well as C-level planning – because we’re a part of each client’s team. We can only do our best work when clients trust us, communicate with us and include us. You cannot expect any PR firm to do a good job if you aren’t letting them see the whole picture – good and bad. Let your agency help you figure out how to build the best positioning, strategy and approach with all the pieces clearly laid out in front of them. With such knowledge, they can help you to highlight your best assets, deal sensibly with any challenges, and turn around any negativity.

If you’ve hired a PR firm, you have already made a sizeable commitment. Make sure you get the most return on your investment by trusting your team and working closely with them on all fronts – great PR goes well beyond news releases and media relations, and should be treated as an investment in the overall future health of your company.

Key points:
• If you are making the investment in a PR firm, truly engage them
• Ensure C-level executive involvement
• Trust your agency – you didn’t hire them to be “yes men”
• Make the relationship open and honest
• The more you give, the better results you receive

5 SEO Tips for PR Professionals

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Last night I attended Boston’s March Social Media Club Event in Woburn, Massachusetts. The topic of the evening was “The Search for Results: Social Media and Search Marketing” which was presented by a panel that consisted of:

  • Amanda Watlington, Owner of Searching for Profit
  • Greg Jarboe, President and Co-Founder of SEO-PR
  • Sherwood Stranieri, Director of SEO at SMG Search
  • Thom Brodeur, Senior VP, Global Strategy and Development for Marketwire
  • Andrew Komack, Founder and President of KoMarketing Associates, LLC

Amanda led the panel through several SEO related topics including SEO’s importance in social media marketing strategies, as well as some of the tools and techniques that SEOs use for optimization. The panel discussed different points of view on the topics and strengthened their message with interesting case-study stories.

Towards the end of the evening, the panel separated and joined the audience for small breakout sessions on more specific topics. The session I joined was led by Greg Jarboe and was geared towards SEO and press releases. The primary take-away from Greg’s talk was a 5-part formula for success with online press releases using SEO. The formula was laid out as follows:

Step 1: Do your keyword research.

The importance of keyword research was stressed several times during the event. Your keywords should always be nouns or adjectives. People never search for verbs. Its also important to craft “keyword phrases” rather than using a single keyword. If you can construct a keyword phrase that can be broken up into multiple phrases, your release will have a lot more impact with the search engines.

Step 2: Actually USE the keywords!

This step raised a chuckle when mentioned because it seems so obvious. You’d be surprised to learn how many people go through the process selecting keywords and then don’t use them or use them properly. Always be sure to include your keywords in the title of your release as well as in the lead paragraph.

Step 3: Add a link to the client site in the release.

Online releases need to be written for bloggers and regular readers in addition to the traditional media folks. Adding a link to the client’s site gives the reader the ability to seek out additional information about the topic in the release. Be sure that the link points to a relevant page on the client’s website and not just to the homepage where the reader is left to hunt for the proper page themselves. Those who are familiar with the concept of the social media release will already have this step down and have taken it even farther.

Step 4: Use a search engine friendly wire service.

Not all news wire services are search engine friendly. In addition, those that are search engine friendly not might format their releases in a way that makes all the major engines (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live Search, etc.) happy. Take time to discover which services are set up to give you the best results in each search engine. Greg recommended the NASDAQ owned PrimeNewsWire outside of Marketwire, PRWeb, BusinessWire and the others we are most familiar with.

Step 5: Measure the results.

Measurement is definitely a hot topic and a tough nut to crack on the social media side of things, but there are several things that are immediately measurable on the PR side of the house. As always, count your clips. Enough said. Beyond that you should start counting the blog results from your release. Have people started writing about your client on their own as a result of your efforts? One really valuable exercise that might not be easy to pull off is gaining access to your client’s analytics program. You might need to bribe your way into the IT department, but the data being collected about your client’s site can contain a wealth of measurement data as a result of your press release efforts!

Overall it was a good session that yielded several great nuggets to take away. As a PR professional, you owe it to your clients to stay up to date with the ins and outs of basic SEO techniques. Attending Social Media Club events are just one of the many ways to keep up with with the flow.

What tips do you have that could be added to formula?