Category: digital pr

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Digital marketing digital pr online pr tech pr Technology PR Web/Tech

Does your PR agency really understand Page Rank? A client checklist.

Talking to various people over the last weeks, it is clear that a small but growing number of PR firms are attempting to use Page Rank as a metric for measuring the value of online media coverage.  However, it seems that some either don’t really understand what Page Rank is – or are misleading clients over the real Page Rank (and value) that their coverage has delivered.

For example, I’ve been told of a few firms who if they gain a piece of client coverage on, say, Computing’s web site, will claim that the value of the coverage is Page Rank 6.  However, what they really mean is that the Computing home page has a Page Rank of 6 – the actual page where the coverage appeared will almost certainly have a Page Rank of 0. That’s a mighty big difference.

In fact, almost all press coverage (or indeed any new web page) will have a Page Rank of 0 to begin with. Any new page added to a site will first have to be indexed by Google. And it takes Google time to take account of factors that will determine what Page Rank should be assigned. It is certainly possible to get Page Rank up to 1 0r 2 relatively quickly if people begin linking to the coverage  – but unless you get some very high Page Ranked backlinks rapidly, the chances that a piece of coverage will have gained a Page Rank of 5 or higher in the space of a few days is highly unlikely.

Traditionally, gaining a piece of coverage on a major site like the BBC would be cause for celebration. And I’m not saying it shouldn’t still be. However, we need to be honest about what value that might really deliver. And why we need to be careful about using Page Rank as a PR metric.

For example, the Guardian has a massive 3.8 million unique visitors and 130 million page views per month in the UK alone. Some PR firms might be tempted to say that getting coverage on The Guardian site provides an OTS (opportunity to see) of 3.8 Million. Of course, this is not exactly the case. The Guardian has roughly 20.3 million indexed pages – not of all of these are going to be editorial pages, but most will be. Fact is, not all pages are equal. Only the publishers themselves know the real data, but I’d hazard a guess that a smaller percentage of the total number of indexed pages gain the majority of site traffic. That’s the same for any website.  The challenge with using Page Rank as a PR metric is that it is an indirect measure of traffic. If you think about it, if Google determines that a page has a higher relative importance than another then it is likely to have more traffic. In which case, try randomly sampling some pages from the BBC and other major sites and you’ll probably find that the Page Rank is o.

Here is another example. This story was one of the Most Popular on the BBC site a few days ago. However, it has a Page Rank of 0. In spite of 49 backlinks, including backlinks from pages with rankings of 7. Now the Page Rank may change over time, but again, this is unlikely unless further interest is generated via additional backlinks.

That’s not to say that over time, an article might not be able to build a higher Page Rank. But how many PR firms do you know that would recommend and implement an ongoing “merchandising” strategy to try and generate more backlinks and comments to a piece of coverage in order to improve Page Rank? Or would be able to track changes in Page Rank over time and demonstrate what factors may have caused that change in Page Rank? And have a plan for using that change in Page Rank to generate further traffic to the client’s website? (Disclosure: this is a standard approach at escherman)

The traditional PR mindset is one that says once a piece of coverage has appeared, the job is pretty much done (other than to prepare a clippings book and invoice the client). Part of the opportunity with online PR is that generating the initial coverage can in fact be the start rather than the end of the process.

So beware of PR firms touting Page Rank as a metric. Here’s a handy quick checklist of things to ask them:

1. Explain what Page Rank is and why it is important. Hint: go here to find out for yourself.

2. If a PR firm claims a high Page Rank for a piece of coverage that has appeared in the last 2 days, ask them to explain what factors have caused this to be the case.

3. Ask them if they have a plan for potentially improving the Page Rank of a piece of coverage – and how they would track that over time

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Digital marketing digital pr online pr tech pr Technology PR

UK interest in online PR will peak in September 2009: Google

Google has just announced an update to its Insight for Search tool which now includes predictions for future search volumes.

I thought I’d give it a quick test on a few relevant terms. First up, online PR.

According to Google, search volumes for “online PR” in the UK will reach a peak in September of this year. They will tail off dramatically in October, rise again a bit in November, fall off again at Christmas – and then reach another spike in March 2010 – but not as high as Sept 2009 (interesting to note that the graph has shown a recurring pattern over the last few years – what happens in September to spike interest in online PR? AdTech?)

As noted at the Google Research blog: “Having predictable trends for a search query or for a group of queries could have interesting ramifications. One could forecast the trends into the future, and use it as a “best guess” for various business decisions such as budget planning, marketing campaigns and resource allocations.”

For example, anyone in the business of selling online PR services may want to focus their efforts on September 2009 and March 2010.

There are also ramifications for PR content development. You might plan to develop specific content for the future based around predicted keyword search volumes.

Of course, as ever, this all hinges on the accuracy of the predictions. And as Google are quick to point out, they are only extrapolating from previous data. Still, better than nothing.

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Digital marketing digital pr marketing online pr

Seth Godin’s Blog: When tactics drown out strategy

New media creates a blizzard of tactical opportunities for marketers, and many of them cost nothing but time, which means you don’t need as much approval and support to launch them.

As a result, marketers are like kids at Rita’s candy shoppe, gazing at all the pretty opportunities.

Most of us are afraid of strategy, because we don’t feel confident outlining one unless we’re sure it’s going to work. And the ‘work’ part is all tactical, so we focus on that. (Tactics are easy to outline, because we say, “I’m going to post this.” If we post it, we succeed. Strategy is scary to outline, because we describe results, not actions, and that means opportunity for failure.)

“Building a permission asset so we can grow our influence with our best customers over time” is a strategy. Using email, twitter or RSS along with newsletters, contests and a human voice are all tactics. In my experience, people get obsessed about tactical detail before they embrace a strategy… and as a result, when a tactic fails, they begin to question the strategy that they never really embraced in the first place.

The next time you find yourself spending 8 hours on tactics and five minutes refining your strategy, you’ll understand what’s going on.

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via sethgodin.typepad.com

So true.

Posted via web from Andrew’s posterous

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Digital marketing digital pr marketing online pr

The Real ROI of the Press Release | BNET (and some odd logic)

A year and a half ago, if you had tried to Google either the Next Level Wellness Center or its founder, Dr. Vasili Gatsinaris, you would have had to wade through 16 pages of search results to find the first mention of either one of them. Then in early 2008, the company’s publicist Donna St. Jean Conti began issuing monthly press releases for $200 each through PRWeb, a wire service that distributes releases to 30,000 online publishers. Total amount of press coverage the releases generated? One mention in a local magazine — but that’s not the point. When the press releases started popping up on page four of Google search results, Conti knew the investment had paid off. “Our primary goal was to make it onto Google,” she says.

via bnet.com

Let’s do the maths on the above. Assume early 2008 = January 2008, then Donna has spent around $3800 on press release distribution (this doesn’t take into account the money spent on writing the releases). It is stretching it a bit to say that getting to page 4 on Google is “the investment paying off”. Nobody looks at page 4 results. But if you look at what comes top for a search on “Vasili Gatsinaris”, it is indeed a PRWeb release. Then again, what about search volume on the terms mentioned? According to Google, broad match searches on “Vasili Gatsinaris” total one (1) per day. Perhaps that’s the company themselves checking to see where they are on Google? Search ranking without reference to search volume (or indeed the target audience) is a pretty fruitless exercise.

PS Mr Gatsinaris’ LinkedIn profile could do with beefing up http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/vasili/gatsinaris

Posted via web from Andrew’s posterous

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Digital marketing digital pr marketing online pr

Why do we search for “marketing” 135,000 times per day in the UK? And where have all the click throughs gone?

Marketing: searched for 135,000 times per day in the UK
Marketing: searched for 135,000 times per day in the UK

According to Google, we Brits enter the term marketing into our favourite search engine 134,466 times every day.  That translates to around 4.1 million times per month (curiously, by contrast, the term selling is searched for only 32,877 times per day – or just over 1 million times per month).

The accepted wisdom is that the number one organically ranked page on Google can expect to gain – on average – a potential 42pc of the total number of searches performed for a term. In the case of marketing in the UK, this should translate to a whopping 56,475 visits per day to the lucky page. And according to Google, the beneficiary should be the home page of Centaur Publishing’s Marketing Magazine – to the tune of around 1.75 million page views per month.

However, according to Google Ad Planner, the total number of page views to the Marketing Magazine site as a whole is currently only around 260,000 per month.

Clearly, there is a discrepancy somewhere.

Let us assume that Google’s search volume figures are correct. What are the possible explanations?

  1. For some bizarre reason, the vast majority of people who click on the term marketing don’t actually then click on any of the results they receive.
  2. The principal that the vast majority of click throughs from search occur on the first SERP (indeed, 42pc from the top ranked result) doesn’t hold in reality. Could it be that for certain terms, people stray far and beyond the first SERP?

Or it could be that Google Ad Planner’s figures tremendously underestimate the actual page views that Marketing Magazine is receiving?

Once again, in spite of all the data made available for free – and the ever growing list of general “rules” of internet marketing – the simple expedient of testing out data and theory together seems to throw up a host of contradictions.

Or perhaps I have missed a blindingly obvious explanation for all of the above – I’m more than willing to have my ignorance in this matter corrected. As, I’m sure, will most client side marketers who need to demonstrate the validity of their decisions.

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digital pr General PR online pr Technology PR

Edelman CEO rocks out at Hard Rock Calling – Hyde Park

I had a great time at Hyde Park on Saturday watching The Pretenders, Neil Young, Fleet Foxes and Seasick Steve provide some barnstorming sets. As I enjoyed burning sunshine and overpriced beer and burgers, I couldn’t help wondering why I thought I knew the guy sitting/standing in front of us for most of the afternoon.  I had a nagging suspicion that he was something “big” in the PR world – but I felt a bit of an idiot asking him who he was, so I didn’t.

Anyhow – I have satisfied my curiosity – it was indeed Edelman UK CEO Robert Phillips (pictured below) who was joining the rest of us “men of a certain age” rocking out in civilised conditions.
So Robert – apologies – I was the guy with the hat behind you all afternoon with the quizzical look – small world, eh?

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Andrew’s posterous

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Digital marketing digital pr Entrepreneur General PR online pr tech pr Technology PR

How to start a PR company in 2009 with Google and a credit card: version 2.0

By far and away my most popular blog post of 2008 was How To Start A PR Company with Google and a Credit Card. As of this morning, the page has had nearly 2000 views since I originally published it in March of last year.

The general principle espoused in the post remains true – but I thought I’d update a few things.

1. Do I need to own my own computer?

Last year I suggested you could get a cheap laptop for a few hundred pounds – certainly if you opt for a netbook, that is still true. However, if you want to really boil it down to operating expenses over capital investment, there are various deals where you effectively rent your laptop and internet access – say for around £22 per month.

2. Do I need my own software?

I’d add to the original list Xero, an online accounting package. Rather than spend money on Sage or similiar, you have 24/7 online access to your accounts for around £19 per month. It is a very slick service – the world’s first enjoyable to use accounting software.

3. Other additions

I’d also suggest online back up service SugarSync (10GB for a few pounds per month) and RescueTime for time managment (free, or £5 per month if you want to download stats).

And why not throw in your own “on demand” car service with Streetcar?

In fact, it is perfectly conceivable to start and run a business (certainly in its early stages) purely on operating expenses of less than £100 per month and no capital expenditure (assuming you don’t need a virtual office or accounting services – even then you could probably achieve this for under £300 per month).

So in spite of the current dire climate, don’t let cost be a barrier to the entrepreneurial spirit.

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Books Digital marketing digital pr General PR online pr tech pr Technology PR

“Insecure, threatened, worried, exposed, skeptical, suspicious”: How PR buyers feel

PR buyers are worried, concerned, suspicious

David Maister’s book Managing The Professional Service Firm remains the gold standard text on the subject, some 16 years after it was first published. In fact, the book is a collection of essays and articles that he had written over previous years, stretching as far back as 1982.

The main thing that struck me about re-reading this again recently was how little things have changed in terms of the major issues still impacting professional service firms of all kinds – everyone from lawyers, accountants, consultants and, of course, PR agencies. For example, he cited systemic under delegation as a key problem back in the early 1980s – and nearly 30 years later, it continues to plague the PR business.

As Maister notes in his chapter on the Motivation Crisis: “It is not uncommon to hear comments such as ‘The practice of law [or accounting or PR consulting] is just not as fun any more. Today’s clients are demanding, cynical about the value they receive, and treat you less as a professional and more like an ordinary vendor. The pace, intensity and workload are greater than ever, and the firm atmosphere is competitive rather than supportive and certainly less collegial. With all this concern about profitability, it seems like we’re being asked to work even harder for what might turn out to be less money.”

And Maister wrote this in 1985!

There isn’t a chapter in the book that doesn’t have something of key relevance to everyone working in a PR firm today. Chapter 10 on How Client’s Choose is a good example:

“Buying professional services is rarely a comfortable experience,” says Maister. He goes on to list 10 unpleasant emotions associated with the experience (I’ve editorialised slightly from the original):

  1. I’m feeling insecure, I’m not sure I know how to detect which of the agencies pitching to me is the genius and which is just good. I’ve exhausted my abilities to make a technical distinction.
  2. I’m feeling threatened. This is my area of responsibility and even though intellectually I know I need outside expertise, emotionally it’s not comfortable to put my affairs in the hands of others
  3. I’m taking a personal risk. By putting my affairs in the hands of others, I risk losing control
  4. I’m impatient. I didn’t call in someone at the first sign of symptoms. I’ve been thinking about this for a while.
  5. I’m worried. By the very fact of suggesting improvements or changes, these people are implying I haven’t been doing it right up until now. Are they on my side?
  6. I’m exposed. Whoever I hire, I’m going to have to reveal some proprietary secrets – not all of which is flattering. I will have to undress.
  7. I’m feeling ignorant – and I don’t like it. I don’t know if I’ve got a simple problem or a complex one – do I trust these PR folk to be honest about that?
  8. I’m skeptical. I’ve been burned by PR agencies before. You get a lot of promises. How do I know whose promises to buy?
  9. I’m concerned that they either won’t or can’t take the time to understand what makes my situation special. They’ll try to sell me what they’ve got rather than what I need.
  10. I’m suspicious. Will they be those typical professionals who are hard to get hold of, who are patronizing, who leave you out of the loop, who befuddle you with jargon, who don’t explain what they are doing or why, who…., ……who? In short, will these people deal with me in the way I want to be dealt with?

If PR clients felt this way 20 years ago, think how they feel now.

Remember, it may be painful to walk in the other person’s shoes. But David Maister’s advice is as true now as it was 30 years ago: “The single most important talent in selling professional services is the ability to understand the purchasing process (not the sales process) from the client’s perspective. The better a professional can learn to think like a client, the easier it will be to do and say the correct things to get hired.”

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Digital marketing digital pr General PR online pr tech pr Technology PR

Which UK search marketing agency makes £220K gross profit per employee?

According to the latest NMA UK Search Marketing League Table, Net Planet Media achieved income (or gross profit) of £5.2m last year. Based on a head count of 24, that works out at just under £220K gross profit per employee. Pretty impressive by anyone’s standards. Bigmouthmedia topped the table with a total income of £13.4m.

This is the first time that NMA have used income rather than turnover as the measure for ranking – interestingly, a number of the higher placed firms from last year (based on turnover) were “unable” to supply figures this year – notably The Search Works and iCrossing.

As guide editor Nic Howell explains: “This year we’ve made an important change by basing some of the financial rankings on the income, or gross profit, that companies earn from their given specialism. This brings the Marketing Services Guide into line with its sister publication, theTop 100 Interactive Agencies guide, as well as other tables published by Centaur and other publishing groups. But we also believe that, as the industry matures, for certain sectors turnover is becoming a less useful measure of what a company earns for its expertise. In search, for example, with Google having withdrawn agency remuneration, there’s less incentive for agencies to buy paid search on behalf of their clients. We expect to see agencies earn money from consultancy fees rather than commission and kickbacks.”

However, given that Google’s Best Practice Funding really only ended in February of this year, we will have to wait until next year’s table in order to truly see the impact this will have on search marketing agencies profitability. For example, Netmediaplanet derives 100pc of its revenue from paid search – I have no idea whether or not they benefitted from Google’s BPF, but will be interesting to see if they can maintain or improve on last year’s impressive financial performance.

Here’s my quick analysis of the overall table:

Average gross profit per employee for the top 30 UK search marketing firms is around £70K. Having said that, there is a very wide range – all points between £220K and £10K.

In 2007, the top 30 agencies employed 1258 people – last year, this figure had dropped to 1154. I appreciate that we aren’t really comparing like with like given the new criteria being used by NMA.  However, even though some agencies have clearly  increased staffing levels eg Bigmouthmedia, some have obviously dropped eg Latitude, down to 98 from 120.

Another interesting trend was the number of search marketing firms who are creating or expanding their own online PR teams. According to Jack Hubbard of 14th ranked Propellernet in a recent interview: “The growth in demand for and subsequent expansion of our online PR team is taking the industry by storm. Bringing together creative PR’s and analytical search experts is generating some great new thinking, and pushing new frontiers for our clients. I’ve never been so excited to be in this space.”

Given Volvo’s recent well documented decision and Ruder Finn’s just published research that shows a great degree of “irritation” by clients with PR firms when pricing online PR proposals, the current robust financial figures for search firms – combined with their obvious expansion plans into the realm of PR – shows that the PR industry needs to continue to work hard to justify its place at the client table.

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Digital marketing digital pr General PR online pr tech pr Technology PR

“You can’t predict the return on investment you don’t make” David Griner

Fear and Loathing in Social Media[gigya width=”425″ height=”355″ src=”http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=fearandloathing2ndedit-090320150826-phpapp01&stripped_title=fear-and-loathing-in-social-media-1175858″ quality=”high” wmode=”tranparent” ]
Excellent presentation from David Griner of TheSocialPath.com.