How to Use Press Release Marketing to Grow Your Business – In Just 7 Minutes with Mickie Kennedy

Resources/Links:

• Wanting to know more about the winning PR strategies eReleases can help you with? Visit https://www.ereleases.com/plan/ now and grow your business through press releases!

Summary

Are you a startup business owner, an author, or a speaker who has been wanting to increase your visibility and credibility through press release marketing since the day you saw its power somewhere?

Do you believe that what you’re doing is something that is unique in the competitive market; therefore, it deserves to get traffic, customers, and media attention even on a small budget?

Do you feel like you and your business are stuck because you can’t afford advertising campaigns your business needs in order to exhibit the service you can give?

Mickie Kennedy founded eReleases 22+ years ago to help small businesses, authors, and startups increase their visibility and credibility through press release marketing.

In this episode, Mickie talks about eReleases and discusses how he can help you grow your business into a broader circle through press releases. Here, he mentions the mistakes people make in relation to advertising whatever it is that they’re doing, and shares ways and resources you can use in order to start your press release journey.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:21 – Mickie’s ideal client: “A small business owner, perhaps a startup or an entrepreneur with an e-commerce website. We also work with authors and speakers as well, but startups seem to be the ones who really get PR and it works really well for.”
• 02:16 – Problem Mickie helps solve: “We’re trying to help businesses get traffic, customers, and media attention on a small budget.”
• 03:24 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Mickie: “The biggest thing we see in someone who comes to us – they’re spending all their time, energy, and money on chasing shiny marketing objects and none of it really working.”
• 04:11 – Common mistakes that people make before they find Mickie’s solution: “When people do a press release that are just safe mediocre press releases, sometimes they just send them over a web only service that never goes to journalists, so you never really had the opportunity to see if the media would pick it up and run articles about it because it never reached the media.”
• 05:14 – Mickie’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): “Conduct your own survey or study. The media loves numbers and anybody can author a survey. If you don’t know who to send it to, partner with a small trade association.”
• 06:08 – Mickie’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Visit https://www.ereleases.com/plan/ and access a free masterclass that will teach you the winning PR strategies you need in your business!
• 06:45 – Q: What’s the one thing every business should be doing? A: Split test as many elements of your business as you can.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Split test as many elements of your business as you can.” -Mickie Kennedy Click To Tweet

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:10
Greetings everyone and a very warm welcome to another edition of Marketing The Invisible. My name is Tom Poland beaming out to you from little Castaways Beach in Queensland, Australia joined today by Mickie Kennedy. Mickie, good day. Very warm welcome, Sir. Where are you beaming in from?

Mickie Kennedy 0:24
Baltimore, Maryland.

Tom Poland 0:25
Baltimore, Maryland. So, and how’s the weather right now? It’s probably as hot as heck, isn’t it?

Mickie Kennedy 0:30
No. It’s actually pretty temperate today, so it’s nice.

Tom Poland 0:35
Nice. You’re far from the sea in Baltimore?

Mickie Kennedy 0:37
About an hour or so.

Tom Poland 0:39
Yeah, that’s not too bad, yeah. Alright. So we’ll get off the geography and the weather climate report – sorry about that everyone.
For those who don’t know Mickie, Mickie Kennedy founded eReleases – which is a very interesting spin on press releases – 22+ years ago, and mostly during that two decades plus, he has been helping small business owners, authors, startups also increase visibility and credibility through press release marketing. It’s a whole science in itself, folks.
So the title – aptly enough – is “How to Use Press Release Marketing to Grow Your Business” and Mickie’s going to show us how to do that in just seven minutes.
Mickie, our time starts now, Sir. Question number one is who is your ideal client?

Mickie Kennedy 1:21
I think it would be a small business owner, perhaps a startup or an entrepreneur with an e-commerce website. We also work with authors and speakers as well, but startups seem to be the ones who really get PR and it works really well for.

Tom Poland 1:35
I guess I’ve got something to talk about. It’s a new thing, right?

Mickie Kennedy 1:38
Well, I think that a startup in general has a strong idea that they’re doing something unique, so they really know what their USP is, so they can focus on that work. A lot of other business owners are just clumsy and don’t really understand what makes them different from other people.

Tom Poland 1:53
Right. So, they can articulate the point of difference in the value proposition probably a bit and a lot better, but also for coaches and authors – someone who wants to grow their brand, build a business; sounds like this is the sort of thing that might be good for them as well.
So, tell us a bit more than question six– sorry. Question two, six minutes left I should say. What’s the problem you solve for them? Can you give us a bit more of a flesh that’s out of it for us?

Mickie Kennedy 2:16
So basically, we’re trying to help businesses get traffic, customers, and media attention on a small budget. Many times, these people can’t afford advertising campaigns that are substantial enough to move the needle in their business and they’re just stuck.

Tom Poland 2:32
Right. So, let me ask you. At the pointy end of the result of what you do with your clients is getting more traffic to your website because it meant – you’re talking about eReleases – or could it also be people picking up the phone and calling in or visiting a retail store or what? What typically happens?

Mickie Kennedy 2:48
It can be. It depends on what’s being promoted. So if someone’s promoting a national chain and they’re having a special Donut Day – Dunkin Donuts for example – in the States, then that might get people into the actual local store. A lot of this stuff tends to drive online traffic for e-commerce experiences.

Tom Poland 3:07
Okay, but there’s an application for physical products as well by the sound of it.
So tell us about– question number three and five minutes left. I want to hear about the typical symptoms that someone might be experiencing in the business if that guy “Okay, so these things are happening, therefore I need to find out more about these eReleases.”

Mickie Kennedy 3:24
Right. So the biggest thing we see in someone who comes to us – they’re spending all their time, energy, and money on chasing shiny marketing objects and none of it really working. Part of it is because they lacked the confidence to stay with any of it long enough to actually explore it to its full potential, but secondly, they just start floundering and they don’t know what to do.

Tom Poland 3:47
So let’s look at some of the common mistakes then, because that might flow quite nicely. Four minutes left. Question four – some of the common mistakes that people make.
You talked about kind of floundering because they’re not sure exactly what to do; possibly they don’t know how to articulate the message to get the cut through and the motivation that they want in the marketplace. Apart from throwing more money at it, what are some of the other common mistakes that you see people making when they could actually just be tapping your shoulder and asking for help?

Mickie Kennedy 4:11
Sure. So, we see a lot of press releases that when people do a press release that are just safe mediocre press releases, sometimes they just send them over a web only service that never goes to journalists, so you never really had the opportunity to see if the media would pick it up and run articles about it because it never reached the media.

Tom Poland 4:32
Right. So, safe but maybe not getting the cut through because it’s a bit too safe.
So let’s, I mean, the power of e-press releases is potentially pretty phenomenal. We’re talking about, you know, potentially thousands of organizations picking up on a story and broadcasting that story. So you know, most of us I think would understand the potential of it, but it sounds like it could be a big deal for a lot of people to organize all that – that’s probably where you come in.
For those people who aren’t going to work with you – there’s very few of them – what’s one– let’s give them a top tip. One thing that’s not going to solve the whole problem – it might not get them over the line with press releases, but it might take them a step in the right direction and prepare them.

Mickie Kennedy 5:14
Right. I would say conduct your own survey or study. The media loves numbers and anybody can author a survey. If you don’t know who to send it to, partner with a small trade association. They don’t get a lot of love, and they would love to be mentioned in a press release that you’re going to be doing…

Tom Poland 5:30
Right.

Mickie Kennedy 5:30
…so they’ll gladly send a survey out to their members. That gives you instant credibility and also gives you the numbers that you need to put together a compelling survey or study.

Tom Poland 5:40
Right. So the press release could be, you know, Tom Poland in conjunction with the National Association of Plumbers or something like that; I’ve conducted a survey and so on. That’s pretty smart because you’re giving that national association something they’re looking for as well, and that’s the motivation for cooperation. Very clever.
So let’s go to question number six and just two minutes left. I’m after one valuable free resource that we could send listeners to that they can find out more about eReleases. You got a landing page somewhere?

Mickie Kennedy 6:08
I do. I have that special page for the free masterclass that teaches winning PR strategies. The survey and study I just mentioned was one of those, but all these are concepts that anybody – no matter how non-newsworthy you feel you are – can put into place and build a real PR campaign that will work.
And it’s https://www.ereleases.com/plan/ and it’s completely free.

Tom Poland 6:31
Okay folks. So go to https://www.ereleases.com/plan/. Go get it.
We’ve got 75 seconds left, Mickie. Question number seven is what’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?

Mickie Kennedy 6:45
I would say, what’s the one thing every business should be doing? And the answer to that is split test as many elements of your business as you can. I’m talking landing pages, web pages, emails, even direct mails that you send to customers, or the scripts you use to talk to people on the phone. It’s amazing what little tweaks can move the needle in your business, and that’s one of the things I’ve done over the years. And I don’t take anything for granted. I test it and see if it works.

Tom Poland 7:16
And by split testing, you mean running two versions of the same…

Mickie Kennedy 7:19
Two versions. It might be just a slight change, a slight message. I used to send care packages to customers and a couple people said they didn’t think they were professional – they were quirky, so I sent a more professional version to a population for six months and the other half got the old, you know, quirky kits, and then we tested them over the next three years and we saw the lifetime value of those who got the professional kit was much higher than those who got the quirky kit.

Tom Poland 7:44
Interesting.

Mickie Kennedy 7:45
And so, these people were right. The unprofessional quirky kits, even though they match to me, they weren’t effective.

Tom Poland 7:51
Great example. Mickie Kennedy, thank you so much.

Mickie Kennedy 7:54
Thank you.

Tom Poland 08:17
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.