"Twinterview" with Jason Kintzler from Pitchengine.com
(My first ever Twitter interview!)
What is a SMR ?

As I have said before, I like things that are well done and work well. Pitchengine.com is certainly on that list. It is clean, simple, powerful and effective.
I have been in the marketing business for 25 years. I am a bit of a wordsmith and have been writing press releases and marketing material for my own businesses and the businesses of a wide variety of clients for a lot of years. Writing and distributing press releases has always been a valuable and important tool in my marketing tool box. And almost without exception it always produces good results.
But, of course, we always want something more, something better that will produce better results. One of the significant limitations of press releases has always been the lack of easy integration of images – many distribution points didn’t even offer the option to include pictures, and if they did the were very stingy about giving up space for them.
The internet began to change all that. A company’s website became a press release of sorts, opening the door to all sorts of possibilities. Multimedia, and social media, changed the landscape even more. It was inevitable then that at some point a new form of “press release” would emerge.
Enter “SMRs”. Social Media Releases. A multi media enabled online document designed to be “fed’ into social media engagement.
I recently asked Jason Kintzler of Pitchengine.com to indulge me in a “twinterview” on twitter.com. Before the questions started I asked him to tell us what pitchengine is. His answer : “It’s a social platform that enables PR to effectively package stories and share them with journalists, bloggers and influencers.”
I certainly agree with that.
Here are the 10 questions I asked, and his answers, unedited.
1 Q Jason, are you a pr guy or a programmer guy? (what’s your background?)
A @victorseo I'm a PR guy, who is a former journalist, and I'm also a graphic designer and now entrepreneur. Programmer...not at all :)

2 Q I posted a PE SMR this morning and it is #1 for my primary keyword already. You want to share the secret of how you can do that?
@victorseo we share your release with Google News and via our pitchfeed. Lots of eyeballs on our feeds, and Google crawls our site

3 Q You charge nothing for someone to create and post a custom SMR, and a modest fee for archiving, is that right?
@victorseo yep. we like the freemium model. there's a bit of a learning curve to PR 2.0 so we want to make it accessible to everybody.

4 Q @pitchengine Your site is getting over 100k uniques a mo, how many are clients and how many are people reading clients’ releases?
@victorseo we have 7k users generating about 1k SMRs a week. Our content is designed to get viral quickly, which supplies our readers.
@victorseo thos 7k users represent about 5k brands. 70% of users are making more than one release.

5 Q @pitchengine Conventional PR distributors feed to a large number of “re-publishers” Does PE do any distribution?
@victorseo aside from GOOG, no. "Simultaneous" traditional delivery worked for 20-years...We don't think it's a sustainable model.

6 Q @pitchengine You have 7k now. From the time you started, how long was it before you had your first 1000 users?
@victorseo we actually had an alpha version of the site early on. I think it took about 6 weeks to get the first 1000 users.

7 Q @pitchengine What percentage of your users start with free and convert to paying?
@victorseo All of them start out with free :) Can't give out too many deets about that, sorry.

8 Q @pitchengine How many total page views have all your releases garnered?
@victorseo oh wow, I'll have to ask the stats dept. (which I haven't hired).
@pitchengine lol , just two more questions (and a bonus one if you want) :)

9. Q @pitchengine Can users see a sample of a customer’s newsroom on your main site?
@victorseo Good timing! Yes, I have posted few examples here: http://blog.pitchengine.com/?p=15 (today)

10. Q @pitchengine How much customization can I do for my clients’ newsroom?
@victorseo currently, u can add related links to blogs, social sites, product pages, etc., Also pick font colors to match brand. More 2 come

Bonus Q @pitchengine What’s up next for Pitchengine?
@victorseo New products (for both media and PR), lots of innovation and hopefully, big growth!

Check out http://pitchengine.com
follow Jason on Twitter @pitchengine.com

Take a look at one of my client's SMRs here: NoBrainer Fuel Saver
Tools like pitchengine.com help me get the results that my clients want they make me look like a wizard!
Thanks Jason!

Social Media Marketing – Connecting the dots –Part One

I believe that IMS can be applied to any business with an internet presence. It will work for b2b and b2c. It will work for businesses that close sales online and for businesses that close sales in their bricks and mortar establishments. It will work for small town lawyers and dentists. It will work for global manufacturers selling electronics and appliances. It works if you are selling $9 T shirts or 1 million dollar condos. It will work for any product or service. It will work if you are selling shoes to college students, e-downloads, subscriptions or services.

For those of us on the vanguard of social media marketing, it is sometimes easy to lose sight of the fact that a great many people do not understand what it is, how to do it, or what the benefits may be.

I have seen posts asking “Is social Media Marketing right for (insert any business here) ?

My response is would you ask “Is TV advertising right for me?” if it was within your budget?

I also hear, “We have a great informational website and it does a good job producing revenue, why do we need a social media interactive campaign with rich media?”

My response to that is, “If someone comes into your home would you rather they see a 19” B&W TV on a table in your “entertainment room, or a 50” Plasma monitor on the wall?”

The appearance of being “current”, “successful”, and “engagement friendly” has always been important to business, and that is not changing. What is changing is what is needed to maintain that appearance.
( An example that comes to mind is when I see a magnetic sign on a ten year old economy car that says “Fire your Boss! Call now to make a six figure income!” If the sign was on a new Mercedes I might be tempted to believe it, but on a ten year old econo box, it seems far fetched)

As I have said on my website, on my blog and on many posts in many forums, Social Media will be the single most important force in driving social, cultural, political, economic and environmental change from now on. As a "value proposition" for a business intent on gaining and retaining market share, no other efforts will produce better returns.
No one who is interested in the content and value of your publication (or product or service) will be dismayed to find you in their social media space...if you do it right.

The core idea of social media marketing is to add value. Social Media Marketing takes whatever your product/service is and enhances your prospects/consumers ability to appreciate and interact with your offering. The saying that “an educated consumer is our best customer” has always had a lot of value, and "customers" embrace that thought. Social Media creates the opportunity for consumers to be more educated than ever before and companies who can connect the dots will prosper from it.

I don't think you can effectively “throw in” a "splash of social media" as an add-on to a campaign. Effective use of social media requires an engagement strategy that encompasses the broad spectrum the internet offers. Social Media is the core of the campaign. And all other efforts in the campaign must refer the user back to the primary internet presence.

Business models for Social Media. Probably a hybrid affiliate program where users enter into an ecommerce transaction from a link on their social media site. Widgets that can be mini-shopping carts can be placed anywhere and may allow for multi tier affiliate commissions. The business model for social media remains undefined, but site operators will soon decide on the course that will best serve their stockholders, users, and their advertisers.

It doesn’t matter to you, what their business model is. What matters is they exist and you can benefit from using them.

Marketing Nirvana - Connecting the dots Part II

Using Social Media to add value. Few engagements begin and end with a single contact resulting in a single sale. Consumers want to know the company they purchase from. They are interested in quality, customer service, corporate consciousness (are you green enough?) and a myriad of other information to increase their comfort level in doing business with you. The internet and social media allow you to engage with your consumers directly and address any concerns they have and supply them with the information they desire to attain that comfort level. More importantly, social media enables consumers to engage with each other in their efforts to choose companies that give them the products or services they want at the comfort level they desire.

Peter Botting, a UK based Corporate and Political Strategist, Speechwriter and Pitch Coach. www.peterbotting.com and a tri-lingual master of delivering the message recently made some valuable observations about the ever continuing need to “woo” clients and prospects. See the article on the Xing.com network at https://www.xing.com/app/forum?op=showarticles;id=16199500;articleid=16240018

Social media empowers businesses to “woo” and engage clients i.e. create and maintain relationships
In their own spaces, where they are surrounded by “trusted” friends and acquaintances.
Where they can engage at a time and in a manner they have chosen – social media is “working” 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

The value you add can include
Trusted Advice
Manufactures of energy using devises can explain energy ratings and put them into context
A lawyer could blog about proposed legislation and how it would likely impact consumers and use blog commenting to allow dialogue
Retailers can engage in comparisons, product usage suggestions, online manuals and forums for putting things together and a host of other concerns consumers have.
Collateral Deals – this is a hugely underserved market. Many products and even some services can be enhanced with third party offerings. Businesses who understand the afterrmarket modifications and enhancements and can steer their customers toward the solutions they are looking for can gain big “props” from their consumers. Even if you don’t sell an appropriate collateral product you can gain big props by directing your consumer to someone who does.
Consumer Feedback –
Dell Computers uses their IdeaStorm website to let consumers post issues, wishlist, and other concerns and then provides follow up and resolution. A customer in pre purchase mode who observes this has a good feeling for the “customer service” he or she can expect after the purchase.
Much of this falls under the heading of customer service but it crosses over into Public Relations/marketing/branding and even sales.
Listening – Brands that “listen” for the buzz about their products are perceived as more concerned about their consumers. With tools like twitter, companies can listen in real time. Currently, listening is primarily done by customer service / consumer relations people. They have the opportunity to proactively respond to frustrated consumers. The value in solving a consumers problems in real time is “golden”. But there are potentially even bigger opportunities for the salesforce to engage in listening to increase sales.

Marketing Nirvana is achieved when a product, brand or idea goes viral. Active engagement in Social Media increases the chances of a product, brand or idea “going viral”.

Let me add that it is easy to get sucked into a big, dark, time sucking, black-hole if you attempt to be everywhere in the social media space. One needs go no further than http://go2web20.com to easily see that there is simply too much! Do some broad listening, determine where there is some density among your target consumers and focus on a well defined social media presence within the limitations of your resources or you will be setting yourself up for failure.

But how do I apply IMS 2.0 to an actual business?

In a way, the answer is my “trade secrets” ! But there is nothing secret about it really it is just common sense usage of what’s available.
I am doing ok, and don’t solicit clients much, they usually find me. So I am happy to share with you, a sample scenario.
Modify it, challenge it, share it as you like. It is not written in stone. It is just a guideline to help you get started. If you find it useful, I am pleased to have had the opportunity to help you on your journey to success with Internet Marketing Strategies 2.0 Sincerely, Victorseo (I need to change that to VictorIMS! But it is on so many profiles!)
Here is the CASE SCENARIO:
The proposed client is a discounter of name brand clothes with a rapidly changing inventory. Client has an existing website with a robust shopping cart. The website landing page(s) are adequately “jazzy”
Define the target market.
Define the channels that serve the target market.
Define the means and media, most suitable to your client, to engage your target, through the defined channels.
Choosing the means and media from the myriad of choices:
Some are engagement destinations (distribution), others are engagement tools.
There are 1000 choices today. Everyday there will be one more. But let’s say you already have a short list of 100. You need to make it shorter. ( I have found that I can engage in a maximum of 30 by myself)
Of the 100, Which ones does the target market engage with the most?
Which ones are most suitable to your client?
Which ones will provide the most saturation in the shortest period of time?
Let’s say that the short list is ten distribution points and five tools and looks like this:

Distribution

• Myspace
• Bebo
• Delicious
• Furl
• Friendfeed
• Mogulus
• Youtube
• Metacafe
• A blog created for this campaign
• Blogs that can help propagate this campaign Affiliate Marketing (hey, that’s 11)
  Tools:
  
• Hubpages
• Utipu
• Kickapps
• Weshow Webstorewidget