Posted: January 1, 2009 | Author: Rebekkah Hilgraves | Filed under: blogging, marketing, networking, social media | Tags: advertising, HARO, Help a Reporter Out, http://www.helpareporter.com, marketing, Peter Shankman, PR, Shankman, shetech, shetech and company, sponsor, twitter |
For some time now (many months), we have been corresponding with, and following the activities of, the inimitable Peter Shankman (http://www.shankman.com). He is a master of the outrageous, the unthinkable, the effective PR campaign strategy. We follow him on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/skydiver) and are linked several ways through other social networks.
Peter publishes an amazing list called “Help a Reporter Out” or HARO (http://www.helpareporter.com), which is a karma-based subscription list designed to connect reporters with sources. Its non-reporter members are mostly made up of PR firms and marketing agencies, blog authors, and companies who want to connect with these reporters. Originally a group on Facebook, its numbers grew so rapidly that Peter had to move it to another system that would accommodate its exponential growth (from around 1,200 when I joined earlier in 2008 to over 35,000 as of this writing — kudos, Peter!).
Why am I telling you about this? Because, first of all, you should join, and there are a lot of reasons (I’ll let Peter explain all that). Whether you’re a reporter or a source or a PR firm or some other entity, it’s an extremely high-quality list. Peter screens the queries personally, and also screens the members. As soon as he hears about a pitch that is way off the mark, or resembles spam–or both– he removes the list member in question, often with very humorous (and embarrassing, for the spammer) commentary.
There’s another reason as well: SheTech and Company has decided to sponsor one of the subscription messages in the future (Peter offers space at the top of the message for sponsors). Now, we’re a small firm, just getting our feet under us. This represents something of a risk for us, involving a substantial chunk of our marketing budget. But we know a good bet when we see one. This list comprises exactly the kinds of contacts we want to reach: very high quality contacts around the country who might just appreciate the value of a boutique firm that offers personal service. I, personally, have learned a great deal from watching activity on the list and watching Peter’s movements on Twitter, and take the opportunity whenever possible to help my clients take advantage of the information.
Exposure for us means exposure for our clients. It will also, we hope, mean a number of excellent new clients, which will increase our ability to offer excellent service to all our clients.
Here are some statistics from other recent sponsors:
http://www.covingtoncreations.com/blog/yesterdays-peter-shankman-haro-ad-success.php
and
http://blog.allyzabba.com/2008/12/advertising-that-works/
What this means is that, really, there’s very little risk in the end. We stand to gain, our clients stand to gain. We trust it.
Thanks for the opportunity, Peter!
Happy New Year, all–may your 2009 be filled with joy, love, peace, prosperity, good health, and may at least one of your dearest dreams come true.
Rebekkah
Posted: May 1, 2008 | Author: Rebekkah Hilgraves | Filed under: design | Tags: css, design, layout, shetech |
If you look around on the web these days, you’ll find countless web sites, many of which likely claim to do exactly what you do. Setting yourself apart from the competition involves many things, and in the case of a web site may be as simple as a better design.
Over the years, the web has changed dramatically, and design concepts have changed with it. With the advent, for example of “Web 2.0″ (social networking and interactive sites), web sites have moved in the direction of graphic-intensive designs that rely heavily on visual signposts rather than lots of wording. Studies over the years reveal certain patterns in human responses to visual stimuli, and page design has changed accordingly. One of the most amazing examples is how very graphics-oriented we have become. We’d rather see a picture than read a word, giving entirely new meaning to the phrase “a picture worth a thousand words”.
As bandwidth has increased and display technology has improved, we have seen a surge in animations — and a resulting pendulum swing in the opposite direction. Where a decade ago we thought animated widgets were cool, we see fewer and fewer of them now, having learned that they can actually detract from your message if overused. Too much is, after all, too much!
The broad availability of ready-made templates makes web publishing much easier for personal sites or small businesses that do not have the resources for a full-scale custom site. The hazard there is, of course, that you sacrifice a great deal of individuality and flexibility with an off-the-rack template; at the same time, it offers a great way to step up to the web using the proverbial “baby steps” — a great solution for many people!
Stretching your budget just a tiny bit can, on the other hand, make the difference between a cookie-cutter web site and one that makes you and/or your company look the way you really want to present yourself to the world. We learned years ago that if a company has a gross annual revenue of, say, $200,000 but wanted to look as though it were more like $2 million, a great web site was an excellent place to start. You’ve seen them, too: the sites that make you say “Oh, cool!” out loud, or that just seem to intuitively know what you need and where you want to go.
We strive for that every day.
Rebekkah Hilgraves
Theresa
andyscherer
Peter Mancini
alexasteele
