the press release is dead

From the feedback I've been receiving lately from small business owners, it's readily apparent that their challenges in starting strategic online media programs isn't lack of tools — it's too many tools.

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I am a big user of Google products.  My business uses Google Apps for email, calendaring and Google Docs.  For this we pay a fee — a relatively small fee...but a fee, nonetheless.

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Last week, I had the pleasure of presenting on "new communications tools" to a capacity crowd of business leaders at the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce Business Expo.

These weren't the CEO's of large corporations — they were the owners, operators and managers of small, local community businesses.

The size of the crowd took many by surprise, and numerous folks had to be turned away at the door due to fire code.

The crowd wasn't gathered there because I was the speaker — they were gathered because they are hungry for guidance on how to communicate online.

Many of the people in the room were those who, perhaps just a few weeks or months ago, were pooh-poohing "social media" as merely a fad, or a playground for college students and teens.

But now they realize that they can't afford not to be using these new communications tools.

Unfortunately, much of the information out there (social media guides, online publications) is geared toward tech geeks, social media insiders, or larger companies.  That's why many small businesses owners feel left out.

There's a big learning curve here — and a large communications gap in providing the right, credible advice to this vital audience.

In the coming months, my firm is going to focus on helping demystify and explain social media tools to these folks — keeping in mind that they're not tech-heads or Web geeks ... but ordinary people just trying to keep their businesses afloat.

For the communications revolution to truly be, well ... revolutionary ... we need to make sure it doesn't pass by the small business owners who create two-thirds of the new jobs in our American economy.

They're hungry for guidance.  Let's make sure to provide them the sustenance they require.

Oh, and by the way, here is the PowerPoint I presented to the Hilton Head Chamber Expo last week:

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Here are some photos from my presentation to the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce Business Expo.  The title of my presentation was "The Press Release is Dead: Using New Communications Tools to Build your Business, Non-Profit or Campaign."  Please click here to download my PowerPoint from this presentation.

             

Click here to download:

Photos_from_my_presentation_to.zip (22163 KB)

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Earlier tonight, I saw a tweet from @JakeParrillo that referenced a Google Insights result that showed a surge in Google searches for Bill Brady — the upset winner of the Illinois Republican Gubernatorial Primary. Click here to take a look at the chart of that Google Insights report.

But it doesn't end there.

Here is the chart of a Google Insights report on the dead heat matchup between incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn and challenger Dan Hynes.  While Quinn was the eventual winner — only a point separated them, which is basically reflected in that Google Insights report.

And take a look at this ...

In the hard-fought battle for the Democrat U.S. Senate nomination between Alexi Giannoulias and David Hoffman — eventual winner Giannoulias beats out Hoffman on Google search volume, and this Google Insights report reflects the close nature of the race.

And how about the Republican Lt. Governor race?

Upset winner Jason Plummer had a Google surge at the end of the race — forecasting his win last Tuesday.

Could Google Insights be the ultimate election prediction tool (for races in which there is enough search volume to register)? 

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Rick Stratton has a great post up on the Feed.Us blog about how the once-vital homepage of your Web site is "dying."

Rick's point is that Google Search, in addition to the dawn of RSS feeds, has made your internal "article pages" as important (or more so) than your homepage.

Here is a quote from that story:

"Yes, the article page is the new front page," said Nick. "The front page of a website will always be important, especially for your regular readers. But, especially on news style websites, the majority of readers, and the vast majority of new readers, will arrive at an inside page first. They may in fact never see your front page. So your inside pages need to be designed as if they were the first things people see - including any key calls to action." Luke Beatty, founder of AssociatedContent.com, agrees: "homepages are for portals almost exclusively nowadays. The homepage has been made obsolete by the link economy and search."

Rick's post is dead-on.  It also supports the important fact that we try to hammer home with our clients:  successful online campaigns are built on content and engagement, not eyeballs and widgets.

There still are so many Web sites out there who focus solely on their homepage, loading it up with static widgets and budgets that nobody uses, and ignoring the actual internal content that makes a campaign successful.

Then they purchase Google Keyword or Facebook ads and drive people to their static homepage, which is useless.  Why, you ask?  Simple:  these types of ads should drive people to an "internal" page with specific content you want people to view or, more importantly, a page in which you specifically engage your viewers. (For example, drive them to an internal page where you TV ads are posted, or a sign up page to get involved, or a place where they can comment or interact.)

Nice post by Rick.  It's a simple principle — yet one that so many people still ignore.

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