When cutting your business expenses is foolish

Often, the first thing to be cut in hard economic times is the advertising and Public Relations budgets.

Of course some ads continue to run: ads for large auto dealerships, chain furniture stores or national fast food chains run perpetually. They've got the money to stay on the air and keep people aware of their great car prices, deals on sectional couches and Big Macs, just in case we ever want these things.

Some smaller companies, however, pull their TV and newspaper ads and are never heard from again, because of their over-reliance on ads to bring in customers. I know of one company that decided to rely solely on small newspaper ads, and then they pulled the ads. They were gone within six months.

When they couldn’t afford to run ads, what little visibility they had created dried up, because the awareness an ads-only strategy provides is fleeting.

Smarter business owners – the ones who have employed Public Relations and reputation management strategies as well as running ads that back up their PR messages – know that these strategies WORK even when ads stop working. That’s because using PR to build a reputation has LASTING and POSITIVE influences on customers and potential customers.

Long after a TV ad is forgotten, people remember that a company raised $10,000 for a local charity they cared deeply about, or that a group of employees were there with a crew to clean up after a natural disaster, or they recall that local pizza parlor owner who gave free pizzas to their kid's class when they won a spelling bee (and they have the newspaper clippings to prove all three events!)

But when these businesses consider cutting back on reputation-building efforts, they are failing to understand not only the power of ongoing PR, but the nature of the news media.

Newspapers have been cutting back on their reporting staffs for more than a decade now. That fact alone should prove the ongoing value of PR. Why? Because papers have remained the same size, and editors are hungry for content. That means they rely on PR pros to provide them with news-rich and new-worthy content (via news releases, events and news availabilities) more than ever before.

That’s why PR pros like Stephen Abbott, principal of Abbott Public Relations, can be a Godsend to a company lacking the vast sums required for ad campaigns.

Abbott has years of experience in both the public relations field and in the field of news gathering, and can connect these kind of dots for clients.

As a writer skilled in creating content for news media that will appeal to editors, Abbott can create content that can get you noticed – at a time when competitors are foolishly cutting back on BOTH advertising and Public Relations campaigns.

And while it’s understandable that EXPENSIVE Public Relations firms can be a tough pill to swallow during tough times, APR can work with clients to make it affordable to keep building your company’s reputation.

APR can be found online at http://www.abbottpr.com, or by phone at 603.341.0372.

Abbott Media Launches World Politics News MicroBlog

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Contact: Stephen Abbott 603.341.0372; stephen(at)abbott-media.net

Abbott Media Launches World Politics News MicroBlog

Abbott Media, a New England-based company that innovates and inspires micro-businesses that serve others, has launched World Politics News (worldpoliticsnews.blogspot.com) a MicroBlog dedicated to expanding our knowledge of politics around the world.

Each day, World Politics News seeks out links to news stories that inform readers of the vital political and cultural stories that are shaping the world, but are under-reported (and sometimes completely ignored) by American media companies.

The site not only links to stories, in the format pioneered by Matt Drudge, but will feature short MicroStories^TM of up to 250 words or less that encapsulate vital world events and bring them to readers in a smart, efficient and easily understandable way.

Abbott Media founder Stephen Abbott, a former newspaper reporter and public relations consultant, will serve at the project’s administrator and chief editor. He says the project will fill important gaps in American news coverage.

“News media in the United States are dropping the ball by not delivering world news effectively and in a way that informs us about the political currents shaping our world,” he said. “These currents could, as they reach our shores, turn into tidal waves or Tsunamis that effect our quality of life. To be ill-informed about politics in Asia, Europe, Latin America or Africa is to be blind to what’s going to happen to us in the next decade, or even next week.”

Abbott says the project will seek out guest reporters and will accept advertising, grants and donations to fund a full-time staffing operation.

Abbott Media innovates and inspires micro-businesses that serve others in a positive way. Abbott Media is located online at www.abbott-media.net.

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Joining the Social Media Revolution: Blogs, Twitter and facebook

Are you blogging? Are you Tweeting? Are you on facebook?

If you have no idea what more than one of those things are, or how to use them to benefit your business, you’re missing out on what is shaping up to be an online social media revolution.

Online social media is all about interaction with your customers and with potential customers via the Internet.

Blogs, Twitter and facebook are just three social media sites that can help you reach out to potential clients and build your online reputation at the same time.

Getting Started with Blogs
Blogging has become the craze of the 21st century, and there’s no sign of this particular craze going away. Literally hundreds of millions of people have blogs.

With easy-to-start blog sites like blogger.com (run by Google) you can be up and running with a blog without any technical hassles. This particular blog site makes it remarkably easy - setting your background colors and format has been made idiot-proof, and you’ll be blogging very quickly.

Why blog? Blogging allows you to show your expertise, to connect with customers, and cast your name into the large waters of the Internet and be heard, via search engines.

For example, my post on the Abbott PR blog (abbottpr.blogspot.com) about a rather ill-advised General Motors TV ad pushing for a bailout called “Why GM’s “Ripple Effect” PR Video Will Fail” was picked up by Google, and is now the number one search for *“Ripple Effect” video PR* That’s valuable to your business.

Uses of a blog can be to post your thoughts on a trend in your field, to post news releases, to discuss new policies, and to make other announcements.

Tweeting About Yourself
Twitter is a rapidly growing phenomenon and a relative newcomer to the Online world.

The company describes itself as: “privately funded startup with offices in the SoMA neighborhood of San Francisco, CA. Started as a side project in March of 2006, Twitter has grown into a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices.”

Basically, you sign up, and begin typing messages - called “tweets” - all of which are limited to 140 characters. The limitation, says the company, inspires creative and thoughtful expression, and so it does.

You can use your computer to tweet, or you can send messages via your cell phone or from your desktop, using various other online services that have sprung up.

Some users never get past posting exactly what they’re doing RIGHT NOW, the original intention and most used purpose of the service.

But getting past the “my cat just rolled over” or “I’m eating” phase is important, and some major business gurus, like Guy Kawasaki (twitter.com/guykawasaki) have Twitter accounts, and use them to promote their books and ink to news stories online that deal with trends in their business or breaking news.

And - as with blogs, the service is a great way to express your expertise in your field, and thus build up your reputation.

Search your profession right now at http://search.twitter.com to find how people in your profession are using this service to do just that.

The social networking aspect of Twitter consists of gathering “followers” on Twitter by becoming “friends” with others, and is an excellent way to expand the reach and knowledge of your company, and yourself.

Gathering facebook Colleagues
Facebook is an excellent example of an online social media network because it is so vast. Over 600,000 NEW users join facebook EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Originally started with college students in mind, high school students and then their parents quickly got facebook pages, too. Finally, businesses have joined the fray, and facebook allows companies large and small to have pages that reach out to a wide variety of demographics. (Advertising opportunities on facebook are also worth looking into.)

Like other services, you can sign onto facebook and create a personal page relatively quickly. Once that’s done, starting a business-related page, posting “notes” (basically blogging) and using the "status update" feature to discuss your business life, as well as your personal life, can

And like Twitter, facebook "friends" can be gathered in your social network, though you should start with friends, colleagues and nearby residents in the real world, then THEIR friends online will join you as well. You can also start or join existing “groups” that promote your products or your profession.

From this very brief introduction, you can begin to see that the opportunities for self-promotion and reputation building are indeed huge online.

These new social networking sites are new and exciting ways of expanding your reach beyond the four walls of your business, and for spreading the word about your own expertise and services to the virtual Internet Community that’s becoming commonplace in the 21st Century.

TWEET THIS

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