Editorial Content - The Swiss Army Knife of Public Relations

Writing editorial content is one of the most useful gadgets in the PR tool box. Think of it as the swiss army knife of PR practices.You need more than one hand to count how many ways a story for a trade publication or a professional journal can be flexed, bent and turned around. Spend a few hours crafting 750-800 words on a current topic, get it published, and you’ve got a piece worth well-more than the time you spent.

You can multi-purpose your work in the following ways:

• Newsletter – include it in your company newsletter – both internal/external

• Email blast – send out an email blast before and after your story is published

• Website – use it as fresh copy for your website and be sure to add the link to the publication’s website to your page

• Blog – make it your latest post

• Sales letter – include the published piece in your sales kit

• Facebook page – add to it your company’s and your personal Facebook and Twitter page

• Speaking engagements – if you are published regularly you can leverage it for more exposure

If you simply don’t have the time or don’t fancy yourself a writer, consider contracting help. Hiring out for editorial copy is far less expensive than generating paid advertising. In many cases, you can save up to two-thirds of the cost of traditional advertising.

Top 5 Networking Blunders

I had the opportunity to hear business training professional Sarah Zink speak at the monthly C3 for Women event in Fort Worth. She listed the top five worst networking habits. They are:

• Stop Assaulting People – stop “assaulting people with your business card,” Zink suggests. She advises that exchanging business cards is the last step in the networking process. Talk to someone for a few moments and then hand it over should they request.

• You’re not a card collector – “She who dies with the most business cards does not win,” proclaimed Zink. She suggests taking notes on the cards you intend to keep and then tossing the rest.

• How’s your hand? Where’s your eye? What’s that you said? – Learn how to give a firm handshake. Zink suggests Queen Elizabeth is the only one who is able to offer a bent finger shake, the rest of us should offer a firm hand ensuring a proper connection with the recipient. Don’t be bashful look your new acquaintance in the eye and speak clearly.

• Forget the name tags. – Even though someone’s name tag might not reflect a targeted industry, Zink advises what you really want to know is who they know not who they work for. “A professional networker doesn’t read name tags,” she said. Networking is about making a connection with an individual.

• Stop selling! – Go to events to give not to sell. You’ve got to give before you get!