The two most important elements for optimizing a news release headline are keyword inclusion and length. There are many other factors that go into whether a release will show up in Google News, but keeping the headline short but full of keywords is essential.

In terms of length, a full release headline must be 65 characters or fewer to be displayed in Google, yet only 18% of press release headlines meet this requirement.  For a news release to show up on Google News, it must have fewer than 23 words in the headline (subhead not included).

A study conducted by Schwartz Research Group in Boston last fall revealed that the average headline length is 123 characters. The firm analyzed over 1,600 press releases over a one month period and found that 22% of online press releases were completely ignored by Google News because the headlines were 24 words or more.

Clearly the lesson here is that while the content of releases should be the primary focus, overlooking headline length could mean limited exposure for a well-crafted release. If you want to avoid slamming the door on Google News, you might want to consider brief, keyword rich headlines for your news releases. - Maria Loscerbo

Some people believe conventional text-based resumes are too linear to describe information that is often non-linear. This software tool allows you to market yourself visually with a creative and interactive résumé that you can construct in less than 5 minutes.

With visualize.me, prospective employers can read about your work history in a dynamic and colourful flowchart complete with stylized sections that include skills, interests, testimonials and relevant career statistics. The creator of this app was originally inspired by the infographic resume of writer Chris Spurlock. This resume (shown above) garnered high profile media coverage around the world and, eventually, a journalism job at Huffington Post.

I am a huge advocate of infographics for PR purposes! Not only are they a quick way to graphically convey key information but they are a helpful visual aid for time-crunched people who want the top line facts in about 10 seconds.

The next time you watch the 6pm news, pay attention to how TV news programs regularly display infographics during broadcasts. Producers do so because it’s a useful, quick way to visually depict a story’s highlights to viewers.

Newspapers and magazines use infographics too and will often have their graphics department create custom graphics to accompany an editorial piece or feature story.

Here are two good examples published in the G&M recently: this infographic was used in a story to communicate Target’s expansion to Canada, and this one was used to provide an overview of Canada’s beer market.

Typically when a photo or graphic accompanies a print news story, it means a bigger story and more ink for the company being profiled. It means readership will be significantly higher compared to a story that does not contain any imagery; hence, it creates a bigger overall impact with readers and likely higher ROI for the company being featured.

While I’m a big fan of infographics, which are also often used in corporate communication materials such as annual reports and PowerPoint presentations, keep in mind that a clever visual display should be more than just pretty-looking artwork. It should be meaningful. It should make a difference. It should be used to supplement conventional collateral materials, not replace them.

Infographics are not meant to hide any relevant details or content but merely help those get a sense of what you’re trying to convey in less than a minute.

To view more resume examples and trends in infographics, click here.  If you want help creating your next infographic, contact me anytime.  - Maria Loscerbo

1.   Understand their audience.  The next time you’re preparing a presentation, ask yourself: Who are they? What do they want to hear? What do they expect?  What keeps then up at night?

2.  Keep it simple.  A few well-chosen key points and images can be a powerful tool.  In the Steve Jobs example I provided you above, Steve never used more than ten words per slide! Good presenters know that the more separate points they make, the less their audience will take in. They don’t inundate their audience with too many details and they don’t lecture to their audience.

3.   Don’t use lecterns or podiums.  Good public speakers today ask to have the room setup so that it has no physical barriers that create separation between them and their audience. This ‘open’ setup is more conducive to audience engagement.

4.  Surprise.  Therein lies the energy that will change a mind, convince, inspire, persuade, recruit.

5.  Are persuasive. The most persuasive presentations are built on belief.  Good presenters believe passionately about what their are talking about. If you don’t believe it, how do you expect others to?

6.  Don’t try to be someone they aren’t. They are themselves. Oscar Wilde once said:  “Know thyself” was written over the portal of the antique world.  Over the portal of the new world, “be thyself” shall be written.  Steve Jobs wore jeans, a long sleeve t-shirt and white running shoes for his presentation. Why?  Because that’s what he normally wears at Apple HQ.  It works for him.

When you’re preparing content for your next presentation, consider using these five steps, which I’ve summarized from a book called the Perfect Pitch:

a) Gather all the information you need.  At this point, more is better.  Just dump all the data you’ve collected into a file folder.

b) Look for themes or meaning in the content you have collected. Group common themes and complementary ideas together.

c) Drop it.  Literally.  Walk away from your draft material and forget about it for a day or two.  Doing so will give you more perspective and you can approach your draft content with fresh eyes tomorrow.

d) Keep on working on your main idea(s) until it’s the right-main theme, narrative or general outline of presentation.

e) Throw away the irrelevant content.

Now, the litmus test. When you show your idea to people that have never heard it before, does it makes sense?  Remember: it’s not what you say that counts. It’s what other people hear. If you had two minutes only, what would you say? What is the soul of your idea? After you’ve practiced your presentation with a friend or colleague, how do they react? Are they inspired? Confused? Did they love it, hate it?

Good luck on your next presentation and don’t forget to check out the Steven Jobs presentation link I provided at the beginning of this post. He’s truly an inspiration.

- Maria Loscerbo

Here are some tips on how to deal with detractors:

• Identify who they are and do your research on them so that you know who you’re dealing with and why. Often people are simply misinformed and they may have misunderstandings about what you’re doing. What do they know and how much do they know? Is it accurate or inaccurate?

• It’s easier to rebut their criticism pre-emptively in your key messages. This is best done by not leaving gaps in your messages.

• Familiarize yourself in advance with their objections and have potential responses ready but try to avoid ongoing point-counterpoint arguments – they can often be unproductive and can do more harm than good. Rather, try to re-frame the conversation by focusing on a big ideas and core values both parties can agree on. For example, “we all want safe communities for our children.”

• If you cannot establish a common ground, acknowledge that critics are entitled to their views and rebut with a ‘focus statement’ or bridging statement that transitions you back your key messages.

• Be conscious of your tone and keep your emotions in check. Some detractors will try to deliberately ‘rattle your cage’.  In this situation, take a deep breath, stay calm and don’t take the bait.Try to explain your position to your detractor with a positive, sincere attitude and you might actually get the person to listen, and perhaps even change their mind.

• If possible, agree on a common ground before reverting back to your key messages. For example, “It’s clear we both care about the well-being of our youngest citizens and it’s good that we continue to have a dialogue about it. One thing is for sure, the status quo isn’t working.” Then focus on your key messages.

Sometimes detractors have a valid point. In this case, step back and objectively think about whether they are bringing up a real obstacle that must be overcome. If so, figure out if it’s surmountable and how to overcome it. If you are passionate about your point of view, you can often figure out a workable solution that isn’t ideal for both parties but it’s not a bad compromise for either.

There will always be detractors for any given issue and often they are difficult to win over. You can’t avoid them so just remind yourself that when you do achieve your goal, that will be your reward for enduring these detractors, particularly if it’s been a difficult hill to climb.  Maria Loscerbo

Critics say Vitaminwater is basically coloured sugar water with a few cents worth of synthetic vitamins that is marketed as a beneficial alternative to sugary soft drinks. (FYI: Sugar is indeed one of the main ingredients. A  591 ml bottle of vitaminwater has 32 grams of sugar, compared to 42 grams of sugar in a 355 ml can of Coke and 38 grams of sugar in Sprite.)

Coke is defending itself by claiming that “no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking Vitaminwater was a healthy beverage.” Surely, they said, people read the fine print on the label to see that sugar is the #2 ingredient. The company attempted to have a class action suit filed against them dismissed but it was denied by a U.S. judge and the case is proceeding.

Incidentally some folks at Health Canada were asleep at the wheel and granted product licenses to Vitaminwater for various flavours a while back, along with accompanying product claims about how the beverage helps to keep people healthy. It now has concerns and is re-thinking this approval. (Obesity in Canada is a growing health concern with health officials stating that it is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths so it makes sense for them to encourage healthy diets.)

While I commend Coca Cola for pursuing product innovation, I am surprised by the audacity of Coca Cola to advertise this product as a healthy way to meet one’s nutritional needs and then later deny that they were trying to deceive or mislead.

Aside from Coke’s deception and our health regulator’s obvious gaffe in allowing this ‘liquid candy’ to promote unsubstantiated product marketing messages, what can we learn from this issue?

1.  Be honest and transparent. If you’re selling a sugary drink, don’t sugarcoat it with distracting messages about vitamins and nutrition. Just say what it is for heaven’s sake and stop trying to be something you’re not.  Remember Jolt Cola? It’s original slogan was: “All the sugar and twice the caffeine.” You may not like Jolt Cola but you’ve gotta love the brand for being open and honest.

2.  Be prepared to substantiate your claims. If you are launching a health product, solicit credible third party endorsements, product reviews and testimonials from relevant experts. I work with a food company that sells sustainable seafood, for example, and the company’s products have been positively reviewed by a well-known nutritionist, a respected sustainable seafood industry authority and a leading environmental organization. These endorsements provide credibility and go a long way with customers who seek more information.

3.   Be wary when someone says: “Can you put a spin on my product”.  A red flag should go up in your head when you hear a potential client say, “Great you’re in PR, can you put your spin on my ABC product and get it in the news? My product is so great, I really think more people should know about it.” (Spin is a word that I loathe as it’s often considered a pejorative term that implies a biased and disingenuous portrayal of situation that favours a specific person, organization, brand or event.)

My first response is to offer an explanation of what real public relations is: Public relations is the practice of creating mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its stakeholders through honest, two-way communication. I emphasize stakeholders because a company’s public relations strategies should take a holistic approach and not just include customers but also employees, partners, investors and any other group that has a stake in the company and vice versa.

Why would I have to put a ‘spin’ on your product or service?  It is obvious that you are passionate about the great things your company is doing. If you believe your company makes a great product or provides a great service, why would you need to put spin on that?

4.  Don’t use misleading product messages or exaggerate.  Vitaminwater is promoted as a liquid medicine that provides “a healthy state of physical and mental well-being”. The company got away with making exaggerated claims for a little while,  but the public isn’t stupid and eventually it caught up with them in the form of a class action lawsuit, negative reports and second-guessing health authorities. Was it really worth it?  It now seems to be backfiring on the company so I would say ‘no’ although I haven’t looked at their product sales.  Nonetheless I still can’t imagine this lawsuit is good publicity for Coke. (The saying, “any publicity being good publicity” is definitely not true.)

5.  If you’re thirsty and crave a nutritious beverage, try filtered tap water with a lime wedge and a multi-vitamin instead or herbal tea cooled in the fridge. Not only is it cheaper, but it’s better for you and is better for the environment because it doesn’t come in a plastic bottle! Maria Loscerbo

Too often I work with clients that want me to pursue media profile when it is really just a thinly veiled attempt at advertising a product or service. No one wants to read a blatantly self-serving story filled with promotional marketing messages.  That’s what ads are for and you can buy ad space.

To secure a news story, the media pitch has to be newsworthy.  It must be timely, relevant, informative and interesting.  Ian uses the acronym TRII and it’s a formula that he uses to decide (in 10 to 15 seconds) whether or not a press release or media pitch is worth pursuing.  Relevance is key and often the one criterion that many companies and PR folks don’t nail.  By this Ian means that the story has to matter in some aspect of his reader’s life.

The real key is simple: his readers (and ultimately your target audiences) want to know, “what’s in it for me?” Tell them. If you don’t do that, no amount of pitching pizazz and dazzling marketing material matters.  Ian provides several good tips and I encourage you to read his post.

I would also add one more tip:  it’s important to be personable, meaning that you should talk like a real person, rather than blather on in corporate speak.  Who wants to sound like an institution?   You know what I’m talking about.  A press release that includes gobbledygook like, “ABC company, a leading provider of best-in-class widgets, launches a robust, end to end, customer-centric, mission critical software platform for the SMB market”.   Huh?    Maria Loscerbo

Should you give exclusives to journalists? My advice on this has always been ‘no’. Exclusives are a risky business – they make one friend at the expense of making a lot of enemies. In the long run, they are a bad deal for your business and make no difference to the audience you’re trying to reach.

Journalists are competitive and they care about who gets information first. They will not be happy campers if they know that you gave the scoop to their competitor first.

PR is a relationship game. I have seen, firsthand, how media never treat the person who snubbed them the same again. It’s been many years since I worked in the real estate sector, yet I still remember a prominent real estate beat reporter divulge to me that he had blackballed a major public-traded real estate company based in his city for screwing him over on an exclusive. For the next two to three years, I watched this big company issue newsworthy announcements and the real estate journalist of this major daily simply refused to cover the company’s activities and announcements. Is this professional? No. But the media have long memories and they hold grudges.

Of course, there are isolated incidents when an exclusive might work out. I suppose if a major news outlet is willing to promise you prominent coverage, an exclusive may be merited. But what if the story had turned up as a short blurb or has been cut by an editor? You will have upset competitors and had little to show for it.

If you’re going to play the exclusive game, at least try to make it a win-win proposition. Perhaps you can offer one reporter a first interview with your CEO and give another a scoop on another news item. Or you can promise the reporters you  a first shot at your next big announcement.

Generally speaking, I don’t think exclusives are a good thing for your business in the long term. Think twice before your company offers an exclusive.

Maria Loscerbo

Go here and choose from one of three styles. Grab the code and insert it onto your site. (If you can’t do this yourself, delegate this to your techie.)

LinkedIn is a great way to reach a professional audience. The social media site has 85M world wide users – of which 4.2M are corporate executives; nearly 8M are business decision makers and 1.3M are small business owners.

For communication professionals, LinkedIn is also a good way to research and connect with journalists, make connections,  use the news feed to share information, and engage with audiences through LinkedIn Answers.

Here’s another tip:  You can use LinkedIn to find bloggers in a particular industry. How? Use the advance search feature of LinkedIn, then type “blog” as keyword and, for this industry, you will get all the people in your network that have a blog listed in their profile. Makes it handy to get to know them or to build a list of relevant bloggers for a particular need. See you on LinkedIn!  Maria Loscerbo

I also remind new clients that seeing results takes time - often up to three to six months before the ROI is apparent. We cannot command ink in a major newspaper overnight (well, we can and it’s called “advertising” and it costs a lot of money for typically very little ROI).  Building relationships and obtaining earned media coverage and online profile takes time.

Thirdly, when we are trying to get up-to-speed on your organization, the rule of thumb is “more information is better and as early as possible”.  At the very least, we should schedule regular updates to review strategies and discuss company news.

Here’s a blog post written I came across today that lists 15 do’s and 8 don’ts.  It’s a decent list of items for both parties to keep in mind.  Enjoy!  Maria Loscerbo

Earlier this summer, The Influencer Project, the shortest a marketing conference ever at just one hour, asked 60 top online marketers to take only one minute and give at least one concise and valuable piece of advice.  While some of the advice was a no-brainer like get on Facebook, what resonated was that these 60 experts – all of whom have influence online – know what they’re talking about and were passionate about their one or two tips.  They had one minute to share their tip(s).

Sixty leaders. Sixty seconds each. Sixty ways to increase your online influence.

I found a quick summary of the list here.   I encourage you to read it, and choose two or three things you need to improve. You can even download the free mp3 and transcript. Maria Loscerbo