Digital

Measuring Print Response 2.0

~ K. Quesenberry ~ 1 Comment

I picked up a recent issue of Fast Company to find out how advertisers are measuring response and found various forms of digital techniques that make their print interactive. The first ad I found was for Neat desktop scanners. Their fairly traditional print ad has a call to action to visit a customized sub-page on their website neatco.com/FC30Day. This is a different page then their regular corp. website – I assume they’re tracking hits from the print ad. They may have unique pages for ads in different pubs or ads in different media.

What I really liked on the landing page is a short video with sound that automatically plays animation of a paper monster. Then you can click to watch a video product demonstration. Directly below are product photos and prices with bold “BUY NOW” buttons.

The next print ad I found was for a new book on social media marketing called The Dragon Fly Effect. It features a picture of the book and large testimonials. What drew me to their ad was the use of a QR (quick response code). This graphic was in the bottom corner inviting you to watch a video. The ad itself wasn’t very creative but the use of a QR Code is still relatively new and it makes the printed page more interactive.

After scanning it with my smartphone I was immediately taken to a video featuring the author talking about the book and an opt in option requesting my email and name to obtain more information. The top of the page says “Thanks for scanning our ad in Fast Company. Here’s a video just for you.” They have created a unique QR tag and website for each ad to measure response. The video was hosted on Vimeo and featured easy share options including embedding links and the url.

The last ad I found was for Citgo. Gas companies are facing public image challenges and this must be Citgo’s attempt to reach out to their consumers in a friendly way. They emphasize the fact that all Citgo stations are locally owned and contribute to the local economy and how they support local causes and charities. The bottom of the ad invites us to visit a micorsite FuelingGood.com.

The microsite is very people focused and features a map of the U.S. I couldn’t detect ways to track website traffic from the specific ad, but they would get numbers on general hits coming from all communication. They also have a live feed from their Facebook page showing the current number of Likes (2387) with an invitation to sign up to see what your friends like. Clicking to go to the Facebook page would enable them to track how much Facebook traffic is coming from their microsite. The site also has links to their Twitter account and a YouTube channel where they could track the same traffic activity.

The interactive map shows charities/non-profits in your state and area that you can vote to support. Last year Citgo rewarded seven charities with a year’s supply of gasoline. The creative skeptic in me says, “That’s been done.” But the mature marketer and decent person in me says, “Keep it coming!” What do you think? Should more companies follow the Pepsi Refresh model of getting people to submit ideas and vote on causes to receive corporate support?

The Press Release, Blogger Outreach And SEO

~ K. Quesenberry ~ Leave a comment

Digital media has not killed the press release. It is still a useful tool, but you need to know how they should be tailored to various audiences like wire services and social media contacts. Blogs have become an increasing  influence upon public opinion – top blogs can get up to 9000,000 hits a month. As a PR professional, it is important to know how to reach out to these bloggers.

Communicating with bloggers is not the same as communicating with traditional media. Most bloggers who sense you are pushing biased information will turn against you. The first step is to know the blogger you are targeting. Read them and get a sense of what they care about and instead of pushing news to them start a conversation. Establish a relationship first. Start with an interesting news item that may not directly relate to your company.

The main difference in a social media release is that it doesn’t mimic a news story like a traditional release. Instead it provides the components or raw ingredients to put together a story in any format. Shift Communications recommends a template that includes a series of bullets. The bullets are supplemented with a section of quotations from senior executives and provides multimedia elements like the company’s logo, a headshot of the principle and a PDF of key materials. You many also want to include links to podcasts, a downloadable annual report or a PowerPoint presentation. It will also have links to del.icio.us and RSS feeds and Technorati Tags.

Most releases link back to the organization’s main website. It is important to manage that content as well. Content is still king on the web and great content will attract traffic, yet managing web content is an area that tends to be overlooked in many. In your release provide direct links to your website and get noticed on social bookmarking sites.

Releases these days also need to be optimized for SEO. Tips include writing your release around three keywords or phrases that are important to your key audiences. Keywords should be included at the beginning of the headline, in the subhead below the headline and in subheads in the body of the release. These keyword subheads should be sprinkled throughout the release aiming for a keyword density of between 2 and 8 percent. You should also add hyperlinks to help people find related content.

PR writing is creative writing that requires a lot of effort to translate organizational goals into a compelling story for various key audiences. Now you have to sprinkling in specific words at various places? That is challenging but not unlike many of the limitations and challenges PR writers and advertising copywriters face with many of their projects. There is always mandatory information that must be included without sounding out of place or unnatural. When it comes to SEO the reward is optimized releases that help you get ranked in News search engines so the right target audience will find your release. Editors may contact you solely based on your press release being properly optimized and relevant (Cunningham, 2004).

Is the extra effort worth it?