How to Sell your Story to the Media – PR Advice

By Mark Macias

There are several critical elements that lead to earned media, but if I had to sum it down to one word, I’d say it’s “editorial.”

Earned media is not about advertising your services to reporters. Journalists aren’t there to listen to a sales pitch. Their job is to identify the news angle.

MACIAS PR works with clients in different industries – healthcare, technology, digital health, nonprofits, consumer services. Our team is constantly speaking with journalists, reporters, writers and producers about news stories, across journalism beats.

Even though our stories vary by industry, we never push promotional material to reporters. It’s a critical differentiator that separates MACIAS PR from other PR firms. We only sell the news story that positions our client in the center of it.

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Do I need PR or SEO? This assessment will help you.

By Mark Macias

There’s a lot confusion around PR and SEO. I hear it frequently from both clients and potential clients, as they co-mingle these two terms.

PR and SEO might seem similar on the surface but their approach requires a different strategy and execution. Both have different objectives, and that end-game requires a different pregame.

Let’s start with SEO. Google doesn’t reveal much about its search algorithm but they have revealed publicly that content plays a pivotal role in search ranking. Quality content gets a higher ranking with Google, moving you up to the first page. How you market that content also influences your ranking.

How do Media Placements help with SEO?

Media placements are another factor that influence SEO. Google places a higher value on websites that are mentioned in the news. For example, if your business is featured in the New York Post as the best law firm, Google’s algorithm will rightfully assume that your business has more credibility than a law firm that wasn’t mentioned. So in simple terms, the more media outlets that write about your business, the more credibility and higher ranking Google will provide.

One of the biggest misnomers with SEO is that you need a back-link to benefit from a news story. That’s actually a major misconception. Google changed the game after they realized SEO firms were cheating the game and buying back-links. And several years ago, Google even filed a patent that allows it to rank sites without the use of a back-link. In simple terms, if a news site doesn’t include a back-link to your website, your business still benefits with the ranking.

Do Press Releases help with SEO or Media Placements?

Reporters and journalists are smart. They don’t want to read an advertisement. They are looking for the news editorial value, which is completely juxtaposed to content marketing. If you’re trying to get news coverage from a press release, you should be thinking of the news editorial value first. If you want to improve your search ranking with a press release, you do the opposite and prioritize the most important keywords.

The best PR firms will leverage the news cycle by positioning the client into the news cycle – around an editorial angle, not a marketing angle. This is a crucial strategy that MACIAS PR applies to all of our campaigns.

Of course, this is a very high-level view of SEO, but it does provide best practices to improving your search ranking out of the gate. There are of course other tactics, strategies and approaches that apply to both PR and SEO.

Who is the best publicist in the world?

For example, if you type into Google: “who is the best publicist in the world?” – you should see a description about about Mark Macias. Now that involves a tactic that is neither SEO nor PR.

Want to see how we can apply these approaches to your business? Click on the green button at the bottom and message me.

We can also give you a PR estimate if you click here.

Marketing peers named MACIAS PR the 2017 and 2018 Strategic PR Firm of the Year. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, Finance Monthly named MACIAS PR the Financial PR Firm of the Year. The founder – Mark Macias – is a former Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. He’s also a frequent contributor with CNBC and author of the books, Beat the Press: Your Guide to Managing the Media and the Tao of PR.

How Much Does PR Cost? MACIAS PR Unveils Free Tool That Reveals Cost

NEW YORK, February 22, 2019 (Newswire.com) – It’s the question every business owner wants to know: How much does PR cost? The top tech and healthcare PR firm MACIAS PR has just unveiled a free tool to help all founders, marketers and business owners identify the cost for any public relations campaign – without even picking up the phone.

FreePRQuote.com is exactly what the name says – a free PR quote for any business or industry, regardless of size.

The founder and owner of MACIAS PR Mark Macias says he created the virtual tool as a way to help business owners who are asking him “How much does PR cost?”

“How much does the typical PR campaign cost is a relevant question in business,” said Macias. “The cost for PR is similar to other service sector industries, like accounting and law. The cost depends on how many hours are needed to execute the campaign; how complicated is the work; what specific needs do you have; how unique is your product. FreePRQuote.com provides a free PR estimate based on how the business responds to these questions.”

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Award-Winning Journalist and Publicist Releases New Book, ‘Tao of PR,’ Bringing Tactics From Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’ to PR

NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The award-winning journalist and publicist, Mark Macias, has published a new book – “Tao of PR” – which takes tactics from Sun Tzu’s, “Art of War,” and applies them to PR and crisis communications.

The “Tao of PR” takes the famous Chinese military treatise from the fifth century BC and repositions these war strategies for a modern-day strategic communications plan.

Macias PR
Macias PR

Macias said his book lays out messaging and crisis communications tactics that can help entrepreneurs or business owners trying to get their story told with the media.

The overarching themes of the “Tao of PR” include: I – Laying Plans; II – Waging War; III – Positioning; IV – Forces – Strengths and Weaknesses; V – Engaging the Force; VI – Adaptability; VII – Moving the Force; VIII – Situational Positioning; IX – The Attack; X – Spies and Advocates.

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Why Ad Blockers Make PR more Influential

 

By Mark Macias

Google Chrome is about to add a new feature that allows consumers to block ads from their browsers. (Read WSJ article here) Last year, Google earned $60 billion in revenue from online advertising, so if the search engine is about to block ads from their browsers, it’s something we should pay attention to.

Reaching your potential customers is about to get a lot harder if you rely on advertising. At the same time, PR is about to become more influential.

Consumers already disregard commercials on TV, and we’re now immune to ads that surround our environment. But it’s different with an actual news story. Continue reading “Why Ad Blockers Make PR more Influential”

PR Newswires – Does a Press Release Lead to Media Coverage?

By Mark Macias

There is a misrepresentation that press releases will lead to a story in the local newspaper, or a segment on TV. I hear it all the time from potential clients.

“Why do I need a PR firm when I can post my own press releases?”

Here’s a closer look at how journalists, producers and reporters all view the different PR newswires. I’m basing this analysis on my experience inside the newsrooms of NBC, CBS, King World Productions, the Arizona Republic and KTVK in Phoenix.

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Social Media Agencies – Tricks they play on Clients

By Mark Macias

Many small businesses outsource their social media to PR or digital marketing agencies. Unfortunately, many of these business owners find out later that they don’t own the content that they paid for.

It’s a horrible situation for any business to experience. You pay for something but get nothing in return when it’s over. Unfortunately, I’ve seen it all too many times with restaurants, bars and entrepreneurs who didn’t do their homework.

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Best PR Agencies Continually Change the Strategy & Approach

By Mark Macias

Many new PR clients frequently want to spend days, or even weeks debating a campaign idea. They want to weigh the pros and cons of the angle before the media outreach begins. Yes, it’s crucial to ensure every editorial campaign meshes with your brand, but there comes a time when you need to get the story out there to see if it works.

I quickly advise these clients on why our campaign will have more success by pushing the story to reporters and adapting the strategy and approach based on their feedback.

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2017 Client Media Placements for 1st Quarter

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By Mark Macias

PR firms have a reputation for not being transparent. This stereotype is one reason why we release a quarterly media report detailing the publicity we secured for our clients.

In the first quarter of 2017, Macias PR secured media placements for our clients with some of the biggest news organizations, including the Washington Post, US News & World Report, CBS New York, CBS Boston, Telemundo, Women’s Fitness Magazine, News 12, FOX 4, Oakland Press, South China Morning Post and Fast Company Magazine.

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