Last week I was featured in a USA Today article about the craziness that continues to swhirl around Yahoo. Will it be AOL? Will it be Microsoft? Will Rupert jump in? Jeff Graham wrote an interesting article about what a combined AOL-Yahoo company would be like for users. Personally I feel that a Microsoft-Yahoo combination makes more sense (and this was reflected in my comments):

AOL and Yahoo “are shells of their former selves,” says Chris Winfield, president of New York-based 10e20, which helps companies with their search-advertising campaigns. “I don’t see how combining them makes either stronger.”

and then later:

MySpace has a rich $900 million deal for Google to provide search ads on its site. Put MySpace with Microsoft and say goodbye to the Google deal, says Winfield.

“Microsoft-and-Yahoo is the only legitimate shot at a real competitor,” he adds. “Microsoft has the drive to compete. The same can’t be said about (AOL owner) Time Warner.”

From an Internet marketers’ perspective of having a company to help balance out Google’s domination – I think that Y!+MS just makes a lot more sense.

This is a recap of a teleseminar I attended which was given by Steve Harrison. It was “Seven Things You Absolutely Must Know to Get Publicity in Major Magazines and Newspapers.” The intent of this call was to give information on how to get publicity and to impart this information; he provided mini interviews with various people involved in PR. Based on the information the speakers provided – there were actually more than seven things to know – there were 14!!

Silent Endorsement

He stressed that just one feature article about you in a major publication can bring you a flood of orders – overnight. When you get publicity, you get something that no other kind of marketing can give you – a ‘silent endorsement’. People assume that if you are the one who has been written up in something like USA Today, they figure you must be the best at what you do. It is a silent endorsement.

Publicity is free exposure without having to spend thousands of dollars on advertising. Publicity has great staying power. When you are written up in a publication, the people who read that eventually pass that on to other people by giving either the article or the entire magazine.

You can easily add reprints and copies of the media to your marketing material so that people can see the story and be impressed. Major TV Shows like Oprah on down have producers that are constantly reading newspapers and magazine to discover people. If you are quoted in one place, people are comfortable quoting you in other places.

People who book speakers for meetings and conferences, will often book people that they have read about. It creates an instant celebrity credibility.

The interviews started off with Anne Frith – Fashion and Beauty Editor at Women’s Day – Her magazine is looking for new products, experts and trends. She provided the first ways to get publicity in major magazines:

1. Target your pitch. Know the magazine; refer to a recent feature or column. Keep it focused to get the Editor’s attention. Read the publication and be familiar with the entire magazine to give an on target pitch.

2. Work with the Editor in the way that he/she likes to be worked with. Build a relationship with the Editor. They should understand a column that you do; they should ask you about follow up, meeting face to face is always helpful. If she’s met them face to face, there is more a chance for her to take their call.

3. Have a good name for yourself. Names that are memorable are more likely to get her attention. She gave an example of someone she met at the Publicity Summit – “The Clothing Doctor” and he ended up being a great fit for Women’s Day.

Features Editor Jamie Kissell (Women’s World) was the next one to speak. She is responsible for the sidebars of the feature articles that are located in the magazine. She has to find experts, and what she needs depends on the article that is featured that week. She also added to the list:

4. Know the magazine as well as possible. She said that she knows if someone hasn’t ever read the magazine. She doesn’t want to feel like the person is in it for himself or herself. It should feel like a two way street. They need to understand where in the magazine there might be a fit. You are judged by that first pitch – you need to go about it the right way.

5. Become friends with Editors. The experts she uses over and over are the ones that become friends. Be friendly – send an email every once and a while and just be friendly. Not everything has to be intrusive and you don’t always have to sell yourself. She gave an example of Eileen Silva, is a Naturopathic Doctor that she met, who is friendly and easily accessible. Jamie continually goes back to her and she gives her perfect bite sized information that she can use.

Jennifer Kushell was next and she spent the last 12 years working with young people to help them get the tools they need to be successful. The book they created ‘Secrets of the Young and Successful – How to Get Everything You Want Without Waiting a Lifetime’ has had phenomenal publicity success.

6. Need to think about the marketability of your book. Have to think about what will make a mass market book. Her book has the distinction of hitting the NY Times Bestseller’s List before the publication date.

7. Help the editor or writer out as much as you can. She wound up being in Cosmopolitan and ended up getting a 4 page article out of something that was only supposed to be one or two pages. By helping the editor out by providing experts, interesting facts, interview etc. you can really extend the amount of publicity you get.

8. Think very carefully as to who is the reader. What’s the broad range of issues they will be dealing with. Think about it beforehand and before approaching a magazine/newspaper etc.

9. Remember that editors are busy. Jennifer prefers to contact media by using email because emails get more of a response than phone messages. Editors are busy, so she will follow up. Be persistent but respectful. She’s now at a point where media will contact her when they are writing a story. You need to build a relationship with the media, because they will call you again. She will always go the extra mile to give a journalist what they needs – because they will come back to her. She has to make sure that what she is talking about is relevant to them. Need to focus on what they need for that story and how to make it great.

10. PR is more than just press releases. When most people think about publicity – they think about a press release. The problem is that everyone is doing that. The strategy just puts you in the pack with everyone else. It’s tough to expect you’ll get much out of it. Steve also stressed that you don’t have to wait until your book is finished to attend.

11. Pitch to freelance writers. Another idea is to pitch to freelance writers that write for a bunch of different magazines. Then Steve presented freelance writers who also gave some interesting ideas on how to get publicity in print publications. Sheri Simco was first and she has written 21 books for major publishing houses and loves writing magazines.

12. Tie in with a major news angle. If you have a great selling idea and want to write articles – it is important to tie in with a major news angle. When you are pitching an articles editor, get the name of the editor before sending info. If you are writing on something that is in the news, you’ll have a better chance of getting a response.

John Grossman was another freelance writer on the call. He has been freelancing for over 25 years and writes for any number of publications depending on what interests him.

13. Content is important. It is obvious; it is the basis of getting published. Magazines publish stories. It is important to ask ‘what is your story’. You have to be able to summarize and get a good grasp as to what exactly is your story. Come up with the headline, and follow the headline with a sub head- in the process that helps bring the idea into sharper focus. A great story makes your eyes get wide with wonder, it makes the rest of the world around you go quiet; it makes you want to know more.

14. Use Google Alerts. If you are an expert on something, get Google Alerts on that topic and when news arises – get in touch with media in that area immediately and tell them you are an expert in that area. They are looking for experts and if you come to them, you have an excellent opportunity of getting publicity.

Overall, it was interesting to hear from a variety of perspectives from Editors, and writers and to people who have used media publicity successfully. Each had an interesting viewpoint and provided to the overall list of ways to get publicity in major magazines and newspaper. Thanks to Steve Harrison for organizing the call!

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Search Engine Strategies New York. Last month I had the pleasure of presenting at SES NY. I spoke on a panel called Social Media Marketing – What is it and What is it Good For? with people from Yahoo!, IBM, Comedy Central, Ogilvy and BlogHer. My presentation focused on three of my favorite social networks (Digg, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon) and how to leverage them effectively for your business (with three case studies for each network).

Coverage of the panel can be found here, here, here, here, here and here. I also did a video interview with my Shimon Sandler which you can see on his blog. Thanks to Li for the picture.

AP Story on Ask.com. Back in early March, I spoke to Michael Liedtke from the Associated Press about a story he was doing on the big changes with Ask.com. The story titled Ask.com gets a makeover, lays off 40 ran in about 300 publications and contained my thoughts:

“No matter what (Ask) did, it just wasn’t enough to get people to leave Google,” said Chris Winfield, who runs a search engine consulting firm, 10e20. “This looks they are raising the white flag.”

USA Today story on Google’s DoubleClick acquisition. The next week I spoke with Jeff Graham from USA Today about the EU’s approval of the Google/DoubleClick deal and what it all means. Jeff wrote a nice piece titled Google closes deal with DoubleClick which contained my thoughts:

Getting the green light into the display advertising market “couldn’t have come at a better time for Google,” says Chris Winfield, president of 10e20, a New York-based firm that plans search marketing campaigns for businesses.

Winfield expects Google to weave DoubleClick into its existing self-serve advertising tools, which enable businesses large and small to create and submit ad campaigns online without the assistance of a salesperson.

“Yahoo may be the leader in display now, but if Google can make it much easier for anyone to launch a display ad campaign, they sew up the business,” he says.

The other cool thing about that article was that I got my very own USA Today site links (I guess because I’ve been so many of their stories):

Search Engine Land columns. I have also wrote three columns for Search Engine Land that I’d like to share with you. The first is called Five Simple Linkbait Metrics (& How To Measure Them Cheaply) and shows people how identifying & measuring social media metrics can be easy and inexpensive. The next was called Say It Right! The Art of Commenting On Social News Sites and deals with the often overlooked subject of commenting and how powerful it can be. Finally last week I wrote How to Make Your Content ‘Submit Worthy’, which deals with simple steps you can take to make your content more appealing to social media users (and especially power-users).

I hope everyone has been great and I would love to hear about what you have been up to!

Last week I spoke to Richard Dalton from Newsday and gave him my thoughts on Microsoft and Yahoo coming together for a story he was doing. The article ran in today’s paper and can be seen here. Here are my thoughts from the piece:

Chris Winfield, president of 10e20, an Internet marketing company based in Fleetwood, agreed that neither Microsoft nor Yahoo can effectively compete individually against Google.

Microsoft’s search capability is a few year’s behind Google’s, while Yahoo’s search engine is good but lags Google’s as well, he said.

“Personally, I would much rather have two really strong options than just one really good option and then two OK ones.”

Rich ends the article with the most recent news about Yahoo! turning Microsoft down (for now): Even though Yahoo’s board has rejected Microsoft’s initial offer, some experts believe Microsoft will inevitably work out a deal to obtain the company – and then deal with an issue the software giant is familiar with – antitrust.

This will definitely be an interesting story to watch as I believe it is far from over….

Check out the full article here @ Yahoo-Microsoft merger could benefit Web users.

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Check out Jeremy’s post here or listen to the full podcast below. And be sure to tune in to Shoe’s show every Tuesday at 6pm EST on WebmasterRadio (it’s always entertaining and informative).

Webmaster Radio
	Public Relations for Websites Show: Shoemoney Show

Sorry for the light posting lately, things have been extremely busy….

This week Facebook launched their 3 part ad program. The night it launched I spoke to a reporter from the Associated Press who wanted my thoughts on the new program. The article ran in many, many different places. Here are my thoughts from it:

Privacy concerns aside, many Facebook members may be reluctant to endorse an advertiser for fear of alienating friends who had bad experiences with the same company, said Chris Winfield, who runs 10e20, an online marketing specialist.

“They are relying a lot on their users to make this happen, and that’s going to be tricky,” Winfield said.

Then yesterday I spoke with Jonathan Richards from The Times for his article: Facebook to allow corporations to advertise via users’ referrals. Here are my thoughts:

Chris Winfield, the president of 10e20, a social media marketing company, said that advertisers would welcome the platform, but that Facebook risked alienating users if their profiles became too cluttered with marketing.

“Part of the reason Facebook has been so popular is because it’s been antiadvertising, anticlutter,” he said. “This risks friends falling out. If someone is constantly telling me how great Coke is and I’m a Pepsi fan, I’m going to lose that connection.”

Some users say that Facebook is right to help companies to serve more relevant adverts but others believe that the site’s reputation as a commercial-free zone is under threat.

Check out the AP article here on CNN.

Check out the Times article online here.

Check out lots of coverage from the blogosphere here via Techmeme.

It’s also a coup for Microsoft’s adCenter online advertising team, which has already scored key advertising deals with Facebook and social news site Digg this year. “Microsoft, again, usurped Google to attach themselves to another hot startup,” said Chris Winfield, Chief Executive of 10e20, a social media marketing consultancy based in New York.

“[Microsoft] making the moves now, finally, it seems that a year ago this wouldn’t be possible, that a company like Facebook or Digg wouldn’t even want to talk to Microsoft,” Winfield said. “They’re being looked at as innovative and extremely aggressive.”

Read the full article here on Forbes: Microsoft Gets Some Face Time

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Today his profile piece called Readers want to know what you Digg ran and it’s about the rise of Digg and has a great interview with CEO Jay Adelson. Jeff also focused on the power of Digg for marketing purposes and search engine rankings. I spoke to Jeff for awhile about this (but had to give him a lot of info off the record):

It’s not just the masses who are digging Digg. Businesses have discovered that mentions on Digg can directly translate into higher website traffic and visibility in search engines.

Social media sites such as Digg are “great influencers,” says Chris Winfield, president of 10e20, a firm that works with companies on search marketing campaigns. “Getting a bunch of Diggs is huge.”

Another marketer who I really respect, Seth Godin is also featured in the article:

Seth Godin, a veteran marketing guru and author, devotes several pages to “Getting Dugg” in his upcoming book, Meatball Sundae. “It doesn’t cost anything, and it’s a great way to get your message to a large group of people,” says Godin. Digg, he adds, “dramatically amplifies” an old standby for most effective advertising: word of mouth.

Check out the full online version of the article here. Also be sure to read the sidebar interview with Jay. Snippet:

Q: I spoke with one marketer who said his way is to respect the system. He put up a page for a client offering, for instance, 10 things you never knew about vacuum cleaners. Did he play within the Digg rules?

A: One man’s spam is another person’s treasure. If we all learned something about vacuum cleaners, that’s great.

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On Thursday morning, I spoke with AP reporter Michael Liedtke about Google’s upcoming earning announcement. I told Mike that I expected them to report really strong earnings (especially based on Yahoo’s) and to exceed expectations. That educated guess wasn’t exactly rocket science if you’re in our industry and see how much Google controls…

Chris Winfield, who runs the search engine ad firm 10e20, says Google has become the Internet’s equivalent of the Beatles during that rock group’s heyday in the 1960s. ”It’s pretty amazing. It’s almost like they are in control of the world.”

Beatles reference? Yeah — my exact quote there was that ‘Google is more popular than Jesus right now’. Taken from John Lennon’s infamous quote about his own band and the power they held in the 60’s. GOOG is big right now. Really big. Is that a good thing? Well it certainly is to Wall Street.

Here’s a link to the article at the NY Times: Google 3Q Profit Soars 46 Percent

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Chris Winfield, president of search marketing firm 10e20, enumerated some subjects that are sure to get approval from Digg’s largely libertarian and adolescent user base. Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, the NBC show Heroes, and the iPhone, for instance, are favorites among Diggers. President Bush, Fox News and the Recording Industry Association of America, on the other hand, are hated topics that companies should avoid.

Andy Greenberg’s article also includes 4 other brilliant social media marketers: Cameron Olthuis, Neil Patel, Tamar Weinberg and Brent Csutoras. The article stemmed out of seeing all of our presentations at SMX Social Media (which was a great success). I kind of like this quote of mine that he ended the article with:

“They knew their audience and they came up with a great idea,” Winfield says. “Sometimes that’s all it takes.”

Check out the full article here to put it all in context….

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