If you think that that was a coincidence, think again. It was newsjacking.

Interview with David Meerman Scott

On an episode of the radio show Internet Marketing for Smart People, Copyblogger interviewed David Meerman Scott, marketing strategist and author of Newsjacking: How to Inject your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage.

So what is newsjacking?

Newsjacking is a marketing technique where a company strategically coincides a product development, company promotion, etc. with a larger-scale news-worthy event. Essentially, a company rides the wave of another news piece, gaining coverage and promoting their product with minimal effort.

Meerman Scott identified the insurance company TIO as a prime example of a newsjacking success story. When the company heard that President Obama was visiting Australia for the first time in his Presidency (an event sure to gain extreme media coverage), they decided to offer him an insurance policy against crocodile attacks. It may sound ridiculous, and in truth it is a little, but it worked. For the short amount of time that it took TIO to announce that they were offering Obama the policy, they gained a huge amount of media attention.

But why does it work?

During his interview Meerman Scott explained that there has been a shift in journalism. Where it used to be that companies would seek out journalists for coverage, journalists now venture out themselves and seek news. Their search includes a variety of sources, including blogs, twitter, and more. That’s how a company can release one snippet of information into the cyber tide pool and have it become viral, often gaining a second paragraph nod.

The benefits of newsjacking are enormous…

• minimal time input
• avoidance of through-the-roof PR expenses
• viral media coverage
• anyone can do it

All it takes is a post and well-planned timing!

Have a listen to this show and decide for yourself: is newsjacking the PR technique of the future?

Take a look around the other books written by David Meerman Scott - yes that’s an affiliate link.  Thanks for supporting Creative Agency Secrets.

If we all agree that people need to be safe before they make a purchase decision and we agree that most purchase decisions are made emotionally, then it is safe to say compelling stories go a long way in accelerating the sale.

How? Let me illustrate four ways stories contribute to strong sales and marketing strategy.

1. Stories are much easier to understand, remember and share than complex details. Features and benefits cause our brains to work hard and ultimately like all our organs, brains that work hard need to rest. Stories, on the other hand, are processed by a different part of our brain. That’s why good ones are so easy to remember.

2. People actually like sharing stories. Good, bad or ugly, they like having information that they think other people will find valuable. That’s why bad experiences are shared 10 times more than good experiences. We are trying to prove our value by helping others stay away from bad experiences.

3. Social media accelerates story sharing. In the old days (three years ago) people told stories to other people. Today, people post stories, they blog about their experiences, they convert stories into reviews and those stories are carried across the web and out through a variety of social media.

4. Stories are told in a variety of mediums. There are three different learning styles, visual (learn by seeing and looking), auditory (learn by hearing and listening), and kinesthetic (touching and doing). Research shows that 60% of the population are visual learners. This means stories need to be visual and written. So when you create your stories, keep YouTube in mind.

To learn how to get stories into your marketing, download this Free Report – 9 Steps to Creating a Content Marketing Strategy for Your Business.

Here is something you can do today to get stories into your business.

Rebecca has created a pinterest board just for B2B Marketing and another for Creative Agency Infographics.  Take a look at the ‘What value is a Facebook fan’ or ‘Lifetime Value explained’ and ‘Why Healthcare is so Expensive’. Gorgeous illustrative skills.

A snippet from the full Copyblogger infographic

Related articles

• 22 Ways to Create Compelling Content When You Don’t Have a Clue [Infographic] (copyblogger.com)
• Content Marketing Infographic Looks At “Heart Of Online Success” (webpronews.com)
• The Content Marketing Explosion {INFOGRAPHIC} (edelman.com.au)
• MyBlogGuest Adds Infographics Gallery (pamil-visions.net)

They do the grunt for you.

Now all I need is to go register the name…. there’s a handy text download file option that gives you the URL you could get for each one.

Just don’t expect me to know what they all do!

NameCheck social media name availability

How to use Keywords in text

Follow this list but don’t overdo it!  The sophistication in google’s crawlers mark a fine line between good content and spam.  Overusing keywords will put you into the latter category.

1. Primary keywords should be in text 3-6 times (depending on page length)
2. Keywords should be in bold or italics where possible – (be sensitive to this one)
3. Keywords should be reiterated in SEO tags
4. Keywords should be used in the headline (find a balance between a snappy journalistic headline and something utterly searchable)
5. Keywords should be used in page title
6. Keywords should be used as sub headings in H2 format where possible

The key is in readability, you need to make sure that your page reads as a printed page would, meaning don’t get too carried away with any of the above steps when it comes to page content.  There needs to be an effortless flow between page content and keywords, and using bold/italics/H2 should be thought of as journalistic punctuation for key points over keyword highlighting.

Tools

SEO book has fantastic free tools for checking and perfecting your keyword work.  Visit the site and download the SEO toolbar.  They walk you through how to use it with a short video tutorial. We’ve found the X-ray function to be exceptionally useful- you can visit any web page and get a list of keywords that google is picking up.  From there you can alter your page text or SEO tags to pick up the correct keywords.  Just change the keywords in your page and keep clicking the X-ray feature until you find the correct combination.  Simple as that.

• New staff is nice – new energies and ideas and enthusiasms.
• New staff is not nice – lost knowledge, experience and expertise in that client.

So how to make the best of the staff-handover process?

The best way to start is to make a LIST.  I love lists – they are fabulous for grabbing quick ideas, capturing them fast so that you can review the whole lot later but get on with your job right now.

[check out digital list-making tools plus Stickies and ListPro for iPhone]

From my list, I went over the core sections of the job including

• basic office processes – timesheet, email, filing, document name conventions, phone
• marketing collateral – where it is, what’s there, finding logos
• website and blog content [this is HUGE] – how to search, which key posts to read
• procedures for social media – answering enquiries, help questions,
• client documentation – contract, updates, meeting records

And what was interesting was that once we had the heading categories thought out – the rest of the task of debriefing one staff member (sad to see you go Mohit – but he got a great job) and re-briefing a new one (welcome Eliana, Chrissie, Matt and Mikaela) was simplified.

If you are doing content marketing for your clients – having this as part of your staff training or quarterly update meetings can be invaluable.

Content Audits

These are the big, grown up version of what we did briefing a new team member.

Knowing what information you have in your marketing collateral and how they can be used by the sales team is an important part of ensuring the two teams work well together and that content collateral actually gets used.

Emily Mayfield has written a great piece about how she first aligned the buyer persona and the steps in the buying process so that when she came to categorise the marketing materials they each lined up with clear sales methodologies already in use at her organisation.  Smart.

Jeffrey Veen has a screen grab from his audit spreadsheet template plus some helpful definitions.

Hilary Marsh has added some really helpful tips like get a second screen, block out distractions, use keyboard shortcuts and have a programmable mouse.

Is automation possible?

There are some automatic tools like Sitemap Generator or iGooMap you can use to create an XML site map of your website.  Use this to populate your spreadsheet for the audit.  But remember, some of your content may not be online or accessible so it’s not a perfect list of everything.

The sort answer is No.  You can’t automate because the expert human eye for categorisation and analysis is indispensible.  But as JeffreyVeen says

The best we’ve been able to do is enlist the help of a programmer to write us a script that will crawl a Web site and spit out the URLs it finds. And that merely ensures that we don’t miss any pages.The best we’ve been able to do is enlist the help of a programmer to write us a script that will crawl a Web site and spit out the URLs it finds. And that merely ensures that we don’t miss any pages.

Image via Wikipedia

Reading the rules the IOC is imposing on athletes competing at London 2012, makes me cry out loud. IOC, STOP and THINK. You are potentially challenging the largest consumer-powered communication engine to a fight to the death and I think I know who’ll win.

What is social media best known for – quick updates and fast thinking sound bites. Here’s what people accredited for the Games can do “…postings, blogs or tweets should be in a first-person, diary type format and should not be in the role of a journalist – i.e. they must not report on competition or comment on the activities of other participants or accredited persons.”

So I can say what I’m doing but not that I just beat someone else or noticed them eating, breathing or taking off an (unbranded) shirt.

All sounds unworkable and just too onerous – except that the threat of being chucked out and de-accredited may mean athletes decide just not to do any social media at all to be on the safe side.

As one commentator, Chris Matyszczyk, says

…the IOC might not yet understand the instant impulses that tweeting engenders. You grab your phone. You cradle your laptop. Out pop words whose speed is that of a Usain Bolt from the blue.

The long history of regulation and control of the Olympic branding and logo is well known (A client of ours, Rowperfect even got a “cease and desist” letter in 2000 for using a photo of an athlete in GB kit and mentioning that they trained using their product).

So the rules include the statement “Participants and other accredited persons must not use the Olympic Symbol – i.e. the five interlocking rings used alone on their postings, blogs or tweets on any social media platforms or on any websites.” You also can’t create a website with the word olympic in the URL but can create a sub-page like rowperfect.co.uk/olympics – for the duration of the games….till 15th August 2012. What’s the point? Make and leave a legacy not create and take down.

And above all there’s full personal legal liability AND the Games police will be watching from the Olympic offices www.olympicgamesmonitoring.com password protected and restricted access.

Read the full IOC Social Media Internet and blogging guidelines.

1. Become a force to be reckoned with.  AKA, get found.  Hopefully, you have a website and you can add a blog section to it.  If not, start a blog to develop a reader-base.  Start writing about your area of expertise, and get the word out that you know what you’re talking about.  The power of the internet lies in getting found.  If you create a reader-base first, your e-book is going to sell much better.  It’s all based on generating high quality content on your website, and helping people find you.  You can also start a newsletter to keep track of any followers.   Give them an incentive to join, by offering them special tips over time, or discounts on your products.
2. Get in on the conversation.  During your morning coffee, make it a habit to do a daily search on relevant content being published on other’s blogs.  Read what other people have to say and contribute to the conversation.  If you have something good to offer people will start searching for your name, and your own blog will come up.  This is not blatant marketing, mind you.  Don’t scrawl your blog site all over everyone else’s blogs in flashing letters—nobody likes that.  Simply contribute to other people’s conversations in the areas of your expertise, and traffic will come to you.
3. Tweet about it.  Number 2 flows right into number 3 here.  You already know who has good blogs out there and you’ve joined in on the conversations, now, share the gold!  Tweet about those great blogs you’ve found and show that you know what great content is, even if it isn’t your own.  The authors of these blogs will see that you’re linking to them, and then take a look at your blog.  If they see you know your stuff, they’ll link back to you too.  Do the same with Facebook, LinkedIn and any other relevant social media sites.
4. Listing the book. Selling your book through a variety of websites is key.  It’s this simple: the more hooks in the water, the easier it is to catch a fish.  Using sites such as Amazon, Fishpond and Barnes and Noble will open you up to a bigger audience.  It will also create links to a highly ranked website.  In addition you can sell directly from your own website (now that you have one!).
5. A discount for the loyal followers. By this time you have established a following that you are hopefully able to track, perhaps you have Facebook fans, Twitter followers, newsletter subscribers, etc.   Just before your book is released offer your loyal followers a limited time ‘buy early’ discount, to get the ball rolling on sales.  This also encourages more people to become your fan, or subscribe to your newsletter, etc.  They get special offers from it, and honestly, who doesn’t love a discount.

Remember, like most things, persistence pays off… it may take weeks or months to get the audience and the traction that your book deserves, but keep going and little-and-often will definitely get you noticed.

We have 5 free E-books by Norman Evans to give away. Please contact us if you would like to be one of the lucky recipients!  This is actually true, so hurry and send us your details and see if you get to read ‘Becoming an Entrepreneur’ for free!

Now, get out there and market your e-book and let us know how it goes!

Client: Coxmate

Industry: Rowing Equipment

Date: 2011 – January – ongoing

Summary: Content Marketing, Newsletter management, trade shows, athlete endorsement

Coxmate is a producer and supplier of advanced electronics for Rowers, including the SX, HC and SRT. Coxmate is based in Adelaide, Australia and is owned and operated by Peter Hodson. The main competition for Coxmate is Nielsen Kellerman, an American based brand who makes the Coxbox which has the majority of the market share.

When Creative Agency Secrets started working with the client, it had a limited online presence, which included a website with online store, and a strictly product based occasional news feed. There were no regular newsletter or blog posts or social networking presence.

Marketing execution – Coxmate Ambassadors

Coxmate Ambassadors is a programme which sees high level coxswains endorse the Coxmate brand by wearing Coxmate gear and using Coxmate equipment in training and at competitions.

This idea came about through conversations started using twitter with high level coxswains and has reached a point where two of the top female coxswains in the world (USA and UK) now use and endorse Coxmate.

We would like to extend this programme to a point where we have male and female coxswain ambassadors at an international, national, and regional level of competition.

Marketing execution – Event Trade Stands

Since we started working with the client, Coxmate has set up trade stands at 3 major events on the rowing calendar in Australia and New Zealand. At each of these events, we have run a special promotion on one of the Coxmate products (SX), in which any athlete competing at the event is able to borrow an SX unit for their race and when they return it, they will be given a print out of their race graph. We have found this to a very successful promotion, with several SX units being purchased after the trials and we have also seen a lot of interest in the race graphs, which themselves become content for the Coxmate blog/news page.

Outcomes

The content marketing strategy has worked well for this client. The Coxmate products have features that are the best on the market, but the brand was relatively unknown when we started work with them. By creating content on the Coxmate products, the brand and re-posting interesting content about the sport we have lifted the brands profile on the international stage.

This has also been an effective low cost way of competing with the client’s main competition, who appear to have an unlimited advertising budget. Content Marketing has allowed us to grow our clients’ email subscription list, fan base, and get two high profile athletes on board with product endorsement.

The work continues.

Related articles

• Tech PR: What Content Marketing Might Learn from the History of Email (crawfordpr.com)
• Content Marketing needs to become Target Content Marketing (leadsexplorer.com)

Image by rebeccacaroe2000 via Flickr

Listening to Guy Kawasaki promoting his new book, he gave away some great suggestions about how B2B marketers should use Twitter for online marketing success.

Twitter has changed: it is not the same as Facebook or Linked In.

When using third party tools like this it’s important to review how the market is using them.  Over time, the rules of engagement change for many niches and groups.  You may find that, like us, early-day bloggers pretty much welcomed any approach from a brand or another blogger asking for a guest post or a link.

No more.  The rules changed as the market got more crowded and so now if you want to approach a blogger, you have to behave differently.

So what are the new guidelines for tweeting B2B success?

1. Review the sites you follow – are they push-out only tweeters? This means they only send out messages and do not respond to inbound DMs or @ replies.  Many A-listers such as @holykaw @digg @techcrunch @boingboing fit this category.  If they are push-out tweeters don’t bother to contact them.
2. Decide on a policy for yourself and your brand. Push-out or Two-way?  Most small businesses should choose the latter.
3. If your account is handled by more than one person: agree the rules for Two-way responses: who does them? how are conversations checked for consistency?
4. Twitter is not the same as other social media sites.  It is THE place to share links. Share a ratio of at least 3 links from others to 1 link from yourself.  Guy Kawasaki says he shares 10 links from others to every one of his own.
5. Don’t bother the A-listers with your content [Twitter is not a PR press release engine].  If you can create content that has buzz, the A-listers will find you.

Now, this last point is the most important of them all.

Buy Enchantment [affiliate link]