It’s so easy to get caught up with the micro that we forget the macro. In this case, did our work payoff? What results did we get? Can we track those results and connect the dots to the bottom line?

One way to answer those questions is to step back , gain perspective and then take a look and ask yourself one more question…

What were my “wins” for the week?

Now let’s define what I mean by a “win.” Here are a few examples:

• Successful completion of a project
• New client
• Launch a new product/service/website
• New speaking engagement
• Enthusiastic feedback on a presentation you gave recently
• Reaching your revenue targets
• Exceeding your revenue targets
• Blowing the doors off your revenue targets
• Getting a story published
• Media exposure: print, broadcast, online

The list above is by no means a complete one. Just enough to let you see where I’m going with this.

Do you know what all the above have in common? They’re specific. They’re outcome-driven.

So often we are in the middle of something that we forget to celebrate when we actually achieved something of distinction.

It’s important to take time to honor your successes. Because that’s the motivation that will keep all cylinders firing towards your next success.

So as a way of getting us started here are my wins for the week, publicity-wise:

• Radio Interview with 938LIVE: (largest English speaking news/talk radio station in Singapore
• PRWeb Webinar: “The Inside Scoop: PR and Marketing Strategy” This is great visibility and positions me as an Online PR expert. The announcement of this webinar went out to a mailing list of over 750,000 with an expected registrations of 6,000+!

Now it’s your turn. Do share. Because your successes will help inspire others. What are your wins for the week, publicity or otherwise?

Please share your successes with me in the comments below.

As I write this on New Year’s Eve, I’ve seen any number of articles and blog posts on resolutions, both positive and negative.

So I make the following promise: keep reading and you’ll learn a new way to plan and focus the coming year—and it’s not work, it’s really fun!

You see, rather than focus on the micro (resolutions) I focus on the macro (theme for the year.) In my thinking, big picture = strategy. And to me, nothing says big picture than my “theme” for the year.

What do I mean by a theme? Well, you’ve heard of the Chinese calendar, right?

2010 is the year of the Tiger. 2009 was the year of the Cow.

I take a somewhat similar approach with a theme. At a high level, it’s what I want the year to represent or stand for.

For example, when I took eight weeks off one year, which was “the year of adventure.” I lived that theme fully, having driven and cycled from Texas to the US west coast, up the coast to Canada and Vancouver, and then back through Montana, Colorado and back down to Texas.

Now once I have my theme, I focus not on resolutions, but what I call “shifts.” More about how I implement shifts in my next post.

I’ve been theming my years for some time now. It’s a fun exercise that helps me focus on what the year should represent at a high level. Theming your year is an ideal way to get out of overwhelm too.

How a theme helps you set the tone for the year ahead

Let’s face it: we arm ourselves with the latest in productivity tools, and before you know it we’re beating ourselves up over unmet goals, unfinished to do’s, unrealized outcomes and more. However, by focusing on the big picture first, often the micro-related items fall naturally into place.

Simply sit back, relax, get comfortable and distraction free, and then ask yourself this question: “What do I want this year to really be about, exactly? How will I know the year is a true success?”

Next, see what comes up for you. Jot down what surfaces. There are no right or wrong answers. There are some tips to help you birth a theme that speaks to you. (Or if you are visual, a theme that’s the big picture. And for the kinesthetic folk out there, a theme you can really grab a hold of.)

Presenting my theme for 2010, drum roll please:

“2010: The Year Of Expansion”

This theme resonates on multiple levels: business, personal and spiritual. And that’s really the dynamic that makes for an effective theme – it is broad enough so it covers all areas of your life, not just business.

So what does this look like in more detail? Here are a few examples:

• Business expansion: I’m launching new products and services outside of the PR and publicity market
• Personal expansion: new experiences await including Comedy Improv training, traveling to Singapore and Malaysia and new workouts including swim training
• Spiritual expansion: new mediation practices, new worship practices and more

3 benefits to theming your year

Why theme?

Reason #1: The theme is a constant source of inspiration. It’s a great way to focus your energy and keep the momentum going all year long. So even if you get off track at some point, you have your compass to regain direction, which is your theme.

Reason #2: it helps your year stand for something. We may lose track of day-to-day to do’s, but a theme is all-enduring. You’ll remember if for years, and with it, the accomplishments that supported that theme.

Reason #3: Third, and perhaps most important, it helps you be accountable to YOURSELF and to others, always a challenge for the entrepreneur.

3 Tips for a successful and inspiring 2010 theme

I’ve themed my years for the last 8 years and I’ve learned some valuable insights along the way. So, here are some tips to help successfully theme your 2010 (and subsequent years)

1. Make the theme short and punchy: no sentences, one to three words MAX.
2. The theme should be broad enough to encapsulate personal, professional and spiritual practices.
3. The theme should be consistent with your values as well as your mission and purpose.

To get you started, let me share a few themes from years past. Notice how each theme was representative of a major thrust for that particular year. (Indicated in parentheses.)

• The year of “Transformation” (career change)
• The year of “Growth” (Adding professional speaking to my repertoire)
• The year of “Adventure” (traveled for 7 weeks that year)

So get after it people, let’s see what kind of theme you can come up with. Share your theme with me in the comments below. I look forward to your inspired actions and can’t wait to see some mind-blowing themes.

Please comment: what do you think of theming and what’s your theme for 2010?

Story highlights and action steps:

• Time to review: 12 minutes
• Focus on the big picture, create a theme for the year
• Theme should cover business, personal and spiritual areas of your life
• Your theme should be short and follow the Chinese New Year Formula
• Example: “2010: the year of completion”
• Action Steps:
  • Brainstorm your theme
  • Share your theme with others, get feedback and pick one
  • Once you have your theme, list some goals that are supportive of that theme

Celebrity and negative publicity often go together like hand in glove. Case in point, I recently spent two weeks in London and the newspapers there are a lot more “tabloid” in their approach to news than their USA counterparts.

And of course, I’m sure you’ve been following the David Letterman extortion plot saga. He had affairs with female staff members and when faced with extortion went public and admitted his failings with transparency and humor.

Letterman has received good grades in his response to the negative publicity. And his ratings are up 38% since the disclosure.And while Letterman’s ethics and response have been debated at length, in this article I focus on a lesser known celebrity’s response to negative publicity.

In fact, I chose this example because the issue is one more common and sympathetic: an athletic starlet’s weight gain from a previously “hot” body.

Here’s the headline from The Huffington Post: “Nicole Eggert Fat? Baywatch Babe Takes on Weight Critics In Funny or Die Video”

So come with me as I explore the thick and thin about this fat story…

The Situation

Nicole Eggert played lifeguard Summer Quinn in over 45 episodes on Baywatch, the TV show from 1992-1994.  As such, she spent many an episode in a red two piece bathing suit and developed her own sex symbol appeal. Flash forward to today. Some 15 years later. Nicole Eggert is now 37, has had a child and not a real surprise, gained some weight.

Naturally, the tabloids shared some unflattering photos. Followed by the usual round of whispers and gossip.

At this point Nicole Eggert faced a choice on how to respond. When any one of us are confronted with negative publicity there are typically three ways in which to respond…

1. Ignore it and hide
2. Be reactive and defensive (damage control)
3. Be proactive and go on the offensive

Now before we get to Nicole Eggert’s response, a question: if you’ve been hit with some negative publicity, which approach did you take? Can you guess which path Nicole Eggert took? She chose #3, which brings us to the next part of the story…

Nicole’s Response to the Negative Publicity

Nicole Eggert chose to go on the offensive. She followed a technique that’s proven successful in everything from martial arts to political strategists like Karl Rove. Turn your opponents strength against them.

The video Nicole did via her “Funny or Die” video did exactly that. The technique that had glamorized her in the past, the slo-mo running down the beach was featured again. But this time, there is the very noticeable jiggle of a few extra pounds at work, thus skewering the “babe” imagery from the past.

What’s evident here is Nicole Eggert is comfortable in her own skin, which is in more abundant supply compared to her Baywatch days.

In short, Nicole Eggert responded with humor and confidence to the negative publicity about her weight gain. She not only took her recent physique in stride, she took her own path in a funny and involving way. Which leads us to the actual results once the video hit the Internets…

The Results

First off, Nicole Eggert went from near obscurity to celebrity in the blink of an eye. Yes, she made news. The story hit the first pages of authority sites The Huffington Post and Salon. As the Salon article stated, “The video would seem — well, if not terribly witty, then at least a nice dose of female empowerment, a move that simultaneously strikes a blow toward the tyranny of the paparrazi and places Eggert back in the public eye on her own terms.”

Another article phrased it this way, “The comedic short makes a point about some people’s shallow hang-ups about weight.”

Even more interesting and encouraging were the hundreds of comments to these stories. The tone of those comments was universal in support of Nicole Eggert and her physique as a “real woman.”

And the results didn’t stop there. Consider the amount of publicity and shift in opinion that was generated…

Metrics from Nicole Eggert’s “Fat Video” response:

• The video viewed over 600,000 times in three days
• Thousands of Tweets with links to the video
• Over 500 diggs on Digg
• Numerous articles and stories on mainstream news and entertainment sites
• A search of “Nicole Eggert” on Google shows 5 listings on the first page of Google are about the “fat” video

Conclusion

In researching this story, I learned that Nicole Eggert will be starring with Kevin Federline in the upcoming season of the reality TV show, “Celebrity Fit Club.” As a result, many have called Nicole Eggert’s video response to her “fat” image more of a publicity stunt than a demonstation of female empowerment.

My take? It’s both and in my mind it shows a real savvy sense of publicity. So what can we learn from all this? Humor, when used appropriately can be powerful weapon in combating negative publicity. Obviously, humor needs to be used selectively. And real screw-ups need to be admitted as same. You don’t use humor to make light of an oil spill, for goodness sake.

In the final analysis, when using humor, there is a risk it can backfire. But kudos to those that refuse to let others define who they are and what they’re all about.

Please share your comments on this article. I’d especially like to hear from women on this topic.

Story highlights and action steps:

• Time to review: 13 minutes
• There are three typical responses to addressing negative publicity:
  • Ignore it and hide
  • Be reactive and defensive (damage control)
  • Be proactive and go on the offensive
• Nicole Eggert utilized humor and both male and female stereotypes to her advantage
• Funny or Die video generated 600,000 viewings and hundreds of supportive comments
• A valuable lesson in defining your public image on your own terms
• Action Steps:
  • Brainstorm ways you could combat negative publicity using humor
  • Be mindful of how people in the public eye manage their image
  • If confronted with negative publicity, remember the three ways you can respond

PR has evolved. Even to the point it is now more relevant and more public than ever. New PR offers far more publicity opportunities than old PR ever did, especially for those who are not marketing experts. In “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” author David Meerman Scott explains, “The Internet has made public relations public again, after years of almost exclusive focus on media. Blogs, online news releases and other forms of Web content let organizations communicate directly with buyers.”

In the past, the media, as gatekeepers, deemed who received exposure and who didn’t. New PR offers many viable and immediate ways to reach prospects, buyers and key influencers directly. And yet with so many choices available, it’s easy to over emphasize technology and tools while core activities like strategy development receive short shrift.

For that reason, I present “The 4 Pillars of the New PR.” (Complete with handy mnemonic device for easy reference: each pillar begins with the letter “S.”)

New PR Pillar #1: Strategy

Strategy is “the what” and tactics are “the how.” The “what” could be anything from your brand personality to key business objectives and outcomes you expect from your marketing. Your strategy should also include successful positioning compared to the competition.

For example, what values does you product, service or company represent? Do those values permeate your marketing—and if not—why not? One of my most important values is humor. Humor helps me engage my audience whether live or remote, as well as overcome the dry subject matter of search engine marketing.

New PR Pillar #2: Story

The most glaring mistake I see again and again is announcement-driven messaging rather than story-driven content. Announcement style press releases work if you are Apple announcing a new ipod. But with 5,000 press releases published daily, an announcement driven approach won’t effectively breakthrough the press release clutter.

To overcome that challenge, consider developing a “Persona” and weave that through ALL of your marketing, not just your articles and press releases.

A Persona is a role or character you create for yourself. For example, I have several customers that use a Persona of “The Underdog.” I’ve seen real estate and investment pros establish the Persona of “The Contrarian” to combat the recent doom and gloom of today’s investment market.

I’ve identified 17 distinct Personas that are effective for publicity purposes. (Note: I’ll most likely release that as a bonus for a new product. Stay tuned.)

Of course, there are many other ways to enhance your story, like finding the right angle. Try piggybacking on current events. That way your message is relevant and you ride a wave of interest already created on that topic.

New PR Pillar #3: Search

Perhaps the biggest benefit of Online PR is its staying power. Old PR was often transactional and temporary. With New PR, optimize your content correctly, and your articles, stories, releases and other content can be found online for weeks, months even years—by journalists and buyers alike.

4 best practices for optimizing your PR for search:

1. Put your keyword phrase in the headline and 3-4 times in the body copy.
2. Include your keyword phrase is in the first paragraph and the last.
3. Use a paid press release site (PRWeb, Webwire, PitchEngine) over free sites. (Paid sites have greater reach and credibility.)
4. Go beyond just optimizing text: include images, audio, video and caption those elements with your keyword phrases.

New PR Pillar #4: Social

The widespread social media impact of New PR is just beginning. In “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations” authors Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge shared, “By driving New PR from a social-centric position, companies can identify the right groups of people, determine their needs, uncover their channels of influence and use the tools and words that will reach and compel them.”

They further add that New PR is about “communicating with, not to” and that there is a shift from away from spin and towards relevance. They identify another critical shift: from a broadcast machine (one-to-many) to community participation (many-to-many.)

To become more community-centric, many press release sites have added social media enhancements. This includes video, images, slide shows, and connections with Twitter and Facebook.

Here’s an example of a social media release for Alex Mandossian’s Virtual Abundance Expo. This is definitely not your grandfather’s press release!

In summary, New PR is one of the most powerful methods to effectively reach prospects, buyers and influencers. Use the 4 pillars as a filter to maximize the results of both your article and press release marketing.

Please add your candid comments and feedback.

Story highlights and action steps:

• Time to review: 10 minutes
• New PR or PR 2.0 integrates new strategies, tactics and audiences
• The 4 pillars: Strategy, Story, Search and Social
• Related Resources:
  • Two great books, both created for screenwriters but very relevant for developing a unique story and persona
    • 20 Master Plots by Ronald Tobias 
    • 45 Master Characters by Victoria Schmidt
    • Iconicards by Sharon Livingston. A brilliant concept—a deck of cards, each a different archetype. Extremely useful for marketing insights and Persona development. HIGHLY recommended.

Action Steps:

• Buy/review the recommended resources as a vehicle to brainstorm Personas
• Decide on a Persona and test it in one element of your marketing
• Use the 4 pillars as a checklist for evaluating current and future New PR activities

Yes, free press release sites can and do cost the uninformed and even the experienced marketer. Some of the costs are screamingly obvious others are more hidden. And it’s my role as your advocate to review and reveal them all. Let’s roll!

OK, so you’ve written your press release. Next action: online press release distribution. Now If you’re stuck in terms of a press release distribution strategy, here’s an earlier article about choosing between horizontal and vertical distribution.

(Editor’s Note: feedback please! Take the press release distribution poll at the bottom of this article to help us better gauge topics for future articles.)

Now the purpose of this article is to examine free press release sites-and more importantly-to realize that free doesn’t always mean no-cost. As a big believer of online press releases, consider me amazed, even dumbfounded when a new blog post or tweet surfaces with a BIG list of free press release sites.

So I wondered, am I missing something? Only one way to find out-dig in and do some due diligence. Curious about what I discovered? Well, my search turned up more questions than answers.

A sampling: first, where’s the context? Do I submit an online press release to all those sites? Some of those sites? Which free press release sites do better with the media? Is there software available that will mass submit to those sites? How do free press release sites perform vs. paid sites? What metrics do these sites provide or am I on my own in determining the release’s success or lack thereof?

Yes, my mind was whirring with questions each in search of answers. Here’s the challenge: most of my experience is with paid press release sites and newswires. Of course, some of you reading this now have limited experience in online press release distribution either free or paid.

So consider this foray into the free press release world an educational experience for both of us. And with that in mind…

5 Ways Free Press Release Sites Can Cost You

1.Extra time investment

Time is money. When you pay to distribute online press releases you can often rely on just one service, especially if you use big, established newswires like PR Newswire, BusinessWire and Marketwire. Even PRWeb can provide enough coverage to justify just using a single provider.

However, those newswires are often not budget-friendly, especially for small businesses. So it’s only natural to turn to lower cost or even free press release sites. Dana Willhoit author of “Press Release Stomper” advocates distribution of several free press release sites with every release. Christine Kelly of OnlinePRNews.com has also recommended using multiple free press release sites with every release.

So instead of using one provider now you’re using several. Each press release site has its own interface, its own unique requirements, its own nuances, upgrades, etc.

What’s more, in my tests, adding hyperlinks to press release copy boosts traffic. Yet, some of these providers require a fair amount of hoop jumping, even to the extent of creating your release in an HTML editor and creating clean HTML code to be effective.

And unlike the major press release sites, you’ll need to plan ahead. Many free press release sites have limited editorial desk/customer service hours, often requiring you submit your online press release 48 hours in advance.

Takeaway: is the extra time you’re spending on increased labor worth what you’re saving by going the free route? With some economical press release sites, we’re talking anywhere from $20 – $100 for some good performance results.

2. Online exposure and visibility

One reason to use multiple free press release sites is that you can’t rely on a single free press release site to deliver the typical coverage and exposure you receive from a paid site. Granted, you can increase visibility by paying to upgrade (see #3) but then that’s not a free press release site and it is costing you, right?

Even with the upgrades, I’m not convinced you’ll duplicate the exposure you’ll receive from paid press release sites.

So how do you know what kind of online exposure and visibility to expect? The chart below is a quick, rather unscientific snapshot with a specific outcome. Specifically, the level of penetration in Google News and Yahoo! News. Seeing lots of listings is impacted by the following factors:

1. Quantity of releases submitted. That’s one reason why PRnewswire typically has the greatest number, simply because that’s the preferred choice of many companies and PR companies.
2. Quality. Search engines give preferred treatment to more established newswires and press release sites.
3. Syndication/aggregation. Some press release sites (PR-Inside.com for example) often pick up newsfeeds from other newswires and press release sites.

If you’re considering using a free press release site, do a quick search in the news search engines and see what exposure that press release site is getting. Just search site: (insert press release site url). If you don’t see a lot of listings, I’d go with a newswire that has more activity and better search engine penetration.

Takeaway: Again, there is a time component, since you’ll need to submit to multiple free sites to get the exposure you’d receive from one of the paid sites.

3. Upgrades = extra cost

Now this is an area that gets right to the bottom line. How do free press release sites stay in business? Well, advertising revenue is one way. Another is an upgrade fee.

Here’s the rub: just about anything extra is an upgrade. Even worse, the upgrades are not consistent from site to site. You’ll need to invest some time just familiarizing yourself with the various upgrades, if they’re worth the investment and how that impacts your marketing budget.

In fact, in a review of about 15 different free press release sites, I counted 25 different upgrades. Here’s a sample:

1. Speed of approval
2. Speed of distribution
3. Higher placement on page (above free listings)
4. Preferred/showcased listing
5. Distribution: more sites
6. Other/social media
7. More industry categories
8. Placement in additional newsfeeds
9. More words
10. Formatting: bold / italic text
11. Archiving
12. Media Attachments: images, video, pdf, mp2
13. Ad-free page

Takeaway: free sometimes costs money, especially for features and functionality that are already bundled in with paid newswires. Again, compare and contrast. Ordering numerous upgrades ala carte may end up costing more than a paid newswire that includes several at one fixed price.

To be clear, I’m not 100% anti-upgrade. Yet, in the spirit of transparency, we are talking free vs. paid. So freebie seeker and buyer beware.

4. Performance metrics/course correcting

At a high level, you can view online press release metrics in two camps: external and internal. External includes search engine performance, keyword ranking, press release views/downloads and backlinks. Internal refers to how that traffic shows up to your website: visitors, conversions, etc.

Many of the paid press release sites provide helpful website stats. (Although I find the “number of reads” stat suspect. These are not human eyeballs, often it’s a site that receives a press release constitutes as a read. )

Still, if you use the same press release sites consistently, key benchmarks begin to emerge. For example, when I use PRWeb, I consider a number of reads plus headline impressions of 75,000 a good indicator of decent exposure. Looking at the screen capture from my PRweb account you’ll notice the overall number of this release was considerably higher, 246,282. )

Takeaway: with free press release sites, performance metrics range from sketchy to non-existent. Many free and even paid providers offer more robust metrics for-you guessed it – an upgrade.

Another takeaway: there’s an old saying “you can’t improve what you can’t measure.” Because of the limited nature of free press release metrics, you gain less market knowledge and insights that you can funnel into future releases, thus improving performance over the long term.

5. Staying power

One of my most effective online PR strategies is creating evergreen content somewhere in the press release. That way, when the release is found via a keyword search, there is content still deemed relevant to the user.

Whether it be from my own experience or that of my clients and customers, there has been a consistent phenomenon: when journalists are performing research for a story, they turn to the same place we do for the information: the search engines. In so doing, it’s possible to get media coverage days, weeks, months, even years after your release was originally submitted.

Takeaway: One key factor determining this is exactly where your press release ranks for keyword searches. Again, the search engines seem to reward the more established newswires. And keep in mind if you use a free press release site and you don’t pay for archiving, then you have ZERO staying power.

Again, in my tests the paid newswires seem to have better staying power. Granted, there are many variables that impact this. I’m only coming from my place of experience. If you have a different experience, please enlighten US with your comment.

Conclusion and recommendations:

Knowing what you know now, if you’re still comfortable with free press release sites, have at it. At least you know what to watch out for. And you can always outsource the distribution and let someone else worry about stayingcurrent on all the pluses and minuses.

I’m also hoping to hear from some free press release sites people and have them state their case. If nothing else, by bringing some of these challenges to light, here’s hoping they up their game and perhaps standardizing what’s free vs. what’s paid. Right now, with all the upgrades, it’s all over the map.

I will continue testing free press release sites further and will report back what I find. You may wonder as to why I didn’t include specific case study results from using free press release sites.

A point well taken as my views are shaped by my experience at an aggregate level. Again, I’m coming from own area of experience, which is via paid newswires.

To present all sides of the story as a benefit to my readers, I’ll be interviewing Dana Willhoit, an expert on free press release sites to gain further insights into this area of Online PR. Do watch for that coming soon. And I’m open to interviewing execs at free press release sites as well.

Please take the poll and leave your reply to this post.

Story highlights and action steps:

• Time to review: 14 minutes
  • Know your distribution strategy going in, let that guide free vs. paid choice
  • Free sites do not mean no cost, many include extra charges for service upgrades
  • Free sites can have obvious costs (upgrades) and more hidden costs (time investment, performance, metrics, etc.)
  • Free sites can and do work, but more are needed for effectiveness of each release distributed
• Related Resources:
  • Dana Willhoit, Press Release Stomper.
  • PR Traffic System for optimized press releases
• Action Steps:
  • Review this online press release distribution article for strategy insights.
  • Comprehensive directory of press release sites coming soon. Sign up for 30MinutePR tips (top of the page) to get on the notification list.
  • Test! Use a free press release site and a paid press release site for each release and measure results. And report back the outcome via the comments below.

What’s your BQ? That’s Buzz Quotient… as in are you generating online buzz with your marketing and publicity efforts? Are you tracking and monitoring said buzz? If you’re not, you risk undermining your performance while giving your competition a decided leg up.

So what’s the best solution?  Well you can sign up for Google Alerts. Google Alerts delivers right to my email inbox a handy digest of what was being said about me, my company or my products—all tracked by keyword phrase.

(Disclosure: my PR Traffic course provides a full step by step on Google Alerts and how it can help your online PR efforts.)

And while helpful, informative and providing some extra viral marketing juice, Google Alerts just didn’t go far enough. That led me to the Filtrbox, a web, social media and buzz monitoring service.

Watch my Video review and Insta-Tutorialof Filtrbox and immediately discover:

• Why monitor buzz and why Filtrbox.
• 3 key benefits Filtrbox provides that Google Alerts does not.
• How segmenting your metrics boosts social media marketing ROI.
• How to set up your own buzz monitoring folders and “filtrs” in less than 2 minutes.

Be sure and comment and share your feedback on your own buzz marketing and monitoring experience.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What’s a more likely scenario for media coverage: pitch a reporter out of the blue or a reporter who seeks an expert that matches your background precisely?

It’s the difference between “push” and “pull” PR. When you pitch a story, you are pushing your story to the media. Conversely, with “pull” PR, the reporter goes out and pulls down information, either via online research (where optimized press releases can appear) or via posting an actual request for an expert on a certain topic. In short: the reporter has a need, so who best to fill it and grab the media coverage? The answer can be you!

So where are these PR leads? And what kind of PR leads are they? There are several online services that charge a monthly fee. You can also conduct manual searches and identify reporters covering certain “beats” like lifestyle, health, business, etc.

For our purposes here, the title of this article is dead giveaway. Bottom line: Twitter is a gold mine for leads if you know where to look.

Caveat: lets expand the definition of the word “lead” to include traditional media, online media exposure (including blogs and other web sites) or a mention on air via a media anchor or reporter. For our purposes here, such exposure ranges from an on air mention to raise brand visibility and exposure to scoring media coverage for what you are selling. Of course, if a CNN anchor reads your tweet, you can say with great pride “I got on CNN!”

Important: in many cases, especially with the media personalities on this list, the desired outcome is not pitching your story via Twitter. It’s about joining the conversation and adding value, two traits that will serve you well with any of your tweets on Twitter.

The 4 Categories of PR Lead Sources On Twitter
As an online PR expert, I constantly monitor PR lead sources for myself, my clients and for my customers. And after some exhaustive research, including monitoring the Tweets of various Twitter PR lead sources, it makes the most sense to group them into the following areas:

1. Media: media personalities, reporters and anchors
2. PR lead services and PR lead aggregators
3. PR thought leaders and PR professionals
4. Newswires

So let’s look at each category at a high level before I reveal my top 10 list…

Media personalities, Reporters and Anchors
Notice I said personalities, not media outlets. That’s because it’s hard to interact with an outlet. Many media outlets only use Twitter as a broadcast channel for their news stories.

You see it’s the personalities that actually get out there, interact with the “twitterverse” and share their thoughts, opinions and needs-in this case, leads or feedback.  Example: @ricksanchezcnn

PR Lead Services and Lead Aggregators
This category includes both paid PR lead services as well as individuals that aggregate leads from a variety of sources. The goal? Leveraging the breadth and immediacy of Twitter in hopes of filling the need quickly. These lead services are often over $1000/year.

So given the fact you can scoop up qualified leads (many for free), It makes sense to follow these services on Twitter. Example: @skydiver

PR Thought Leaders
In this group are highly visible speakers, bloggers, PR professionals and media consultants. These PR thought leaders are able PR lead generators since they interact with the media because of their guru status. In addition, they often tweet valuable tips on PR, Publicity, Public Relations, Media Relations and more. Example: @MicroPR.

Newswires
Most newswires only republish press releases that cross their wire. However, a few, on occasion, will publish a lead. Sometimes, they will retweet leads from others. Example: @profnet

Now that you have some context to these PR lead sources, let’s dive into the list:

The Top 10 PR Lead Sources on Twitter
Quick note: this list is not calculated by the number of followers or some fancy triple-secret algorithm. It’s strictly my opinion so feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments below. This list will be updated over time, expanded, and made as current as my schedule allows.

1. Peter Shankman: Help A Reporter Out @Skydiver
Category: lead aggregator

This man is a lead machine. I get his email newsletter of leads and on a bad day there are usually 40+ leads. Follow Peter on Twitter for the urgent leads, he tweets about them every day. Also, since you must be brief in Twitter, when you see URGHARO in this tweets it means: Urgent Help A Reporter Out.

2.Profnet@Profnet
Category: lead service

This is a service offered by PRNewswire. It’s subscription based. My good friend and colleague Dan Janal of PR Leads also offers this service. While not as prolific as @skydiver, Profnet is a good source for PR leads.

3. @PRsarahevans via #journchat
Category: PR thought leader

Sarah Evans is a communications professional, blogger at Mashable and conducts #journchat, a weekly chat via Twitter that draws journalists, PR folks and more. So this is more of an indirect play: rather than publishing leads via tweets, here’s a way to get access to the media and tweet your questions and comments. In addition, she will often retweet leads from other sources such as the #1 on the list, @skydiver.

4.Media Kitty @mediakitty
Category: PR lead service

Hat tip to Bill Stoller, #9 on ourTop PR lead List for alerting me to this valuable resource. According to their web site, Media Kitty is “a service for journalists and business professionals to communicate and stay connected through quick and easy postings.” Well, it doesn’t get any quick, easy or short than Twitter. While many of the leads posted can only be accessed through membership, you can join for a month, or sign up for “Curious cat” status and create a free profile that can be accessed by journalists.

5.MicroPR @MicroPR
Category: PR thought leader

This site is from Brian Solis, of PR 2.0, the book “Putting The Public Back in Public Relations” Buzzgain.com and more. Brian is an expert on technology PR so it’s not surprising that some leads are from those types of media outlets. MicroPR will often retweet PR leads from others on this top 10 list.

6. Rick Sanchez @ricksanchezcnn
Category: Media/media personalities

Rick Sanchez is an anchor/correspondent for CNN who mans the anchor desk at 3 pm daily. He’s one of the most avid Twitterers. Now just as #3 on this list was an indirect play, so is this one. That’s because the way to get on CNN is to tweet a response to a question Rick asks via his tweets.

7. Don Lemon @donlemoncnn
Category: Media/media personalities

Don Lemon anchors the weekend edition of CNN Newsroom. Similar to his CNN colleagues who tweet, he asks questions and opinions that he can in turn share on air. Again, the goal is to get on CNN, not to sell something.

Update: Success story! Meghan Sager  joined the conversation, sent in her question via Twitter and get acknowledged on air via anchor Don Lemon. Here’s more on her story, CNN quote and PR exposure.

8. David Shuster/ 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue @Shuster1600
Category: Media/media personalities

David Shuster hosts an MSNBC show called “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” at 5 pm EST daily. Prior to that gig, he has filled in for other MSNBC hosts on their political/news commentary programs. On his show, he not only asks for questions that he reads on air, but also for videos as you can see from the sample tweet. Again, the goal here is to join the conversation and add value.

9. Bill Stoller/Publicity Guru @PublicityGuru
Category: PR thought leaders and PR professionals

Bill runs a popular PR newsletter that I’ve subscribed to for years called “Publicity Insider.” He’s a great resource for traditional PR tips and provides lots of value via his tweets. He sometimes has PR leads from his own sources as well as re-tweeting the PR leads of others.

10. Joan Stewart @PublicityHound
Category: PR thought leaders and PR professionals

I’ve been on Joan’s email list for years. She knows PR and publicity inside and out and has great tips about connecting with the media. And if you follow her, she will share the occasional nugget about PR and media in search for a certain expert.

I hope you find this list of value and can add some of your own. I expect the list to keep growing and will continue to monitor and track additional PR lead sources in the future.

Please leave your reply to this post.

Story Highlights and Action Steps:

• Time to review: 13 minutes
  • Leads come via various sources: some from online/offline media, other via on air mentions.
  • Twitter is a fast, easy and free way to accessPR leads on your area of expertise.
  • PR leads are grouped into these categories: media personalities, lead services, PR thought leaders/professionals and newswires.
• Related Resources:
  • Comprehensive list of the Media on Twitter
  • For the PR and publicity news, follow me on Twitter
• Action Steps:
  • If you are not on Twitter, sign up-can do so in under 3 minutes.
  • Follow the lead sources mentioned in this article.
  • Review the media list on Twitter and target reporters covering your topic.

Over 12,000 people search Google every month for the keyword search phrase “How to write a press release?” That’s a lot of folks in need of serious press release education and training.

And yet how many people behind those 144,000 annual Google searches actually write a press release, rather than just learn about it?

Hmmm…what if they had a digital press release template on their computer screens. Now we’re talking!

A template shortens the learning curve, helps us transition from learning to doing to implementing, and helps everyone from beginners to more experienced press release writers benefit from inherent press release best practices.

In theory, that’s how it’s supposed to work. But in reality? Not so much. I journeyed far and wide across the web on my quest for press release templates that delivered the goods in today’s web 2.0 and social media world.

Guess what I found?

Watch “The 5 Fatal Flaws of Common Press Release Templates” video and discover:

• The right and wrong way to use a press release template.
• How to spot a template that hasn’t been updated since the 1940’s.
• Which template components help shorten writing time to 30 minutes or less.
• The 2 key template components proven to boost press release ROI.

After viewing the video, be sure and share you thoughts. I’d love to hear them. And don’t forget to download my FREE Optimized Press Release Template from http://www.prtraffictemplates.com.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Welcome to 30MinutePR.com. Here, we talk Online PR, Publicity and Press Release tips on a time budget. In short, we share actionable tips and techniques that can be consumed and implemented very quickly. All because your time is valuable, the clock is ticking and our feet are firmly planted in a place called reality.

I chose 30 minutes because—big surprise—it’s doable. 30 minutes gives the brain time to engage, ideas to percolate and the “finisher” in you to emerge complete with a “forward-ho” mindset.

Of course, it’s no coincidence when it comes to scheduling and taking action, that 30-minute segments are the increment of choice with calendars, daily planners and project management systems online and off.

Now what about the tagline, you ask? “Long term buzz. It’s about time.” It sure is. Want to make the most of yours? Watch my introductory video and you’ll wonder why more blogs don’t feature four key accelerated training methods like 30MinutePR.com does. And please, give me your feedback on what topics you’d like me to cover in the future.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s a different look at Online PR than you might expect. You see, I wanted to combine two of my favorite things: Online PR and Kayaking. At first glance, they couldn’t be further apart. Yet, upon closer inspection, the parallels were many. (Disclaimer: I am primarily referring to sea kayaking rather than white water kayaking.)

1.Have a destination in mind
When I kayak, I don’t just plop the boat in the water and paddle aimlessly. I have a destination, even if I’m only out on the water for a couple hours. I like setting a goal: “I can get to the lighthouse and back in a couple of hours.” Sure, I want to have fun, yet just this simple destination mindset keeps my performance on track.

With Online PR, the destination is the outcome. What do you want to happen with an optimized press release? I’m a big advocate of action-driven, direct response optimized press releases rather than vague brand and awareness-oriented online press releases.

2. Come From Your Core
How do you spot an inexperienced kayaker? (No, not someone who flips over! That happens less than you might think.) The answer? They’re all arms. In short, they use their arms for paddling and as a result, get tired quickly. Coming from you core means using bigger muscle groups, primarily your chest and torso, and let your arms follow through that momentum.

Using your torso and having your arms follow is how I can kayak for hours on end, even when paddling upstream.

With Online PR, what are your core strengths? Are they coming through in your optimized press releases? Online PR is a proven way to demonstrate you are an expert authority. Don’t shortchange your optimized press release because of conforming to an out of date notion of what you think an online press release should be or do. Today, properly optimized press releases are a cost-effective method of reaching your target market directly.

3. Streamline:  Only Essentials Matter
Ever notice how skinny a kayak is compared to a canoe? Bottom line: space is at a premium. Whether it’s kayaking for a day or a week, you are forced to pack light. Really, really light. It’s a tough choice on what stays and what goes. (Of course, one delightful surprise was on a week long, guided kayak trip the trip leader unveiled ice cream packed in dry ice!) In that case, I was more than willing to make an exception!)

Now with Online PR, is your optimized press release full of meat or fluff? If you make claims (‘We’re the biggest, highest quality, etc.”), can you back up those claims with facts? Were you in such a rush to get out the release, you weren’t merciless in your editing? With those quoted in your release, whether it’s you or a third party, are the quotes written in easy to consume sound bite form, or do they drone on for lines at a time?

If you answered yes to any of the previous questions, get out your red pen and edit.

4. Meet Rough Seas Head On
I’ve kayaked on four continents: North America, South America, Asia and Australia. The  roughest seas I ever encountered? Off the northern most tip of Cape Breton Island in Novia Scotia. The waves and swells were over 6 feet  and the water was bitter cold. There were about 10 of us in a group and I was one of the few that didn’t capsize.

Our group leader taught us an effective technique of battling the big waves. Paddle directly toward the wave rather than wait and have it wash over us. And paddle head on, perpendicular to wave. That’s because if we paddle towards a big wave at an angle, we expose our lengthy kayaks to the entire wave, making us much more vulnerable to tipping over. Conversely, by padding towards the wave head on, the wave hits a smaller surface area, that being the tip or front of the kayak, so we’re more stable and less prone to be knocked over by the wave. Make sense?

Now with Online PR, don’t tiptoe around a problem. Address it head on. Screw up, and you need to set things straight. In public relations it’s called “Crisis Communications.” Sometimes PR is about damage control. The worst thing you can do is not take responsibility. No one likes or respects or trusts someone that points the finger at someone else.

Another thought on the “rough seas” with Online PR: if you get negative feedback regarding any optimized press release, especially one seen as controversial, follow up with another optimized press release immediately. Don’t wait.  But don’t apologize either. Come from a place of integrity.

5. Keep The Right Tools Close At Hand
When I kayak I always have necessary tools within easy reach. (Not like I can get up and walk around in a kayak!) Obviously, a life vest is a no-brainer. But I also bring along a whistle, multiple water bottles for hydration, a bilge pump, my cell phone, food/snacks to keep my energy up and a first aid kit.

In kayaking and Online PR and optimized press releases, it helps to be prepared and keep necessary tools within easy reach.

Here’s my “right tools” list for Online PR

• A good keyword research tool (You can start with Google’s, it’s free. )
• An optimized press release template (You can download one free)
• Google Alerts:  a great way to keep you finger on the pulse of what’s making news in your market
• Step-by-step training and tutorial materials: PR Traffic provides such instruction
• An online press release “idea starter” list (Can be a list of headlines, ideas, etc.)
• Templates in word and excel to help automate repetitive tasks as well as serve as a guide for your outsource team

All in all, I enjoy both kayaking and Online PR. Look for a follow-up post on further similarities. Have I made you look at PR in an new way? Let me know and share your thoughts via the comments below.

Story highlights and action steps:

• Time to review: 14 minutes
• Similarities between kayaking and Online PR
  • Know your outcome
  • Streamline
  • Play to your strengths
  • Meet rough seas head on
  • Keep key tools at your fingertips
• Trust others who have done it: via templates, education and training materials
• Related Resources: PR Traffic Optimized Press Release Templates
• Online PR and optimized press release system
• Action steps:
  • Brainstorm: what is your subject matter similar to? An interesting analogy/metaphor, such as “Online PR is like kayaking” engages the mind
  • Once you have that idea–make a list and number it. Next, turn it into either an article or an online press release