Blog

Email Marketing 101: Why You Need an Email Newsletter

Email Marketing, Marketing /

Email newsletters are powerful tools for any business. They allow you to connect with your customers, build relationships, and keep them informed about your products and services. In this day and age, they are the single most important marketing channel for your business, large or small, mostly because you have complete control of the entire experience. Here are some reasons why you need an email newsletter as part of your marketing strategy.

You Control It

One of the main benefits of having an email newsletter is that you have complete control over it. Unlike other forms of marketing, such as social media or search engine optimization, where algorithms can change and affect your reach and visibility, an email newsletter is a direct communication channel between you and your subscribers. You have the ability to decide what content to share, when to send it, and how frequently to send it.  Then, your subscriber is the one that decides whether or not to open it (not Facebook or Google). This gives you the power to tailor your messaging to your audience and ensure that your message is being delivered directly to their inbox.

Stay Top of Mind

One of the biggest benefits of an email newsletter is that it keeps your business at the forefront of your customer’s minds. When you send out regular newsletters (and it should be regular – you want a pattern to your communications), your subscribers will be reminded of your business and what you have to offer. This can be especially important for businesses that have longer sales cycles or sell products or services that are not purchased on a regular basis. We cannot emphasize this enough – an email newsletter isn’t just for selling little widgets; it’s also for selling the machinery that makes the widgets. Staying connected with customers who make irregular large purchases is more important than ever. The worst thing your business can do is be forgotten by happy customers, or if you’re a non-profit, you’re donors.

Build Relationships

Email newsletters are also a great way to build relationships with your customers. By providing them with valuable information, you can position yourself as a thought leader and expert in your field and establish trust with your subscribers. This can lead to increased loyalty and repeat business. If you make the newsletter conversational, then your subscribers will feel like they are personally connected with you and your brand. That’s why we advocate putting a personal message at the top of every email newsletter.

Drive Traffic to Your Website

An email newsletter can also be a powerful tool for driving traffic to your website. By including links to your website in your newsletters, you can encourage subscribers to visit your site and learn more about your products and services (or read your great content). This can be especially effective if you use your newsletter to promote new products or services. One South Shore PR client sends out a weekly digest of their website articles and gets tens of thousands of hits on their website (almost instantly once the email is sent).

Increase Sales Or Donations

Email newsletters can also be an effective way to drive sales. By including promotions and special offers in your newsletters, you can encourage subscribers to make a purchase. You can also use your newsletter to promote your best-selling products or to highlight new products or services that you offer. You can also use a special offer to entice people to sign up for your email newsletter.  A common tactic is to offer a 10% off coupon for new subscribers. It’s a marginal discount, but it makes new customers happy and makes them think they’re getting a deal.

Cost-Effective

Even though you have to pay for an email marketing platform, Email newsletters are still a cost-effective marketing tool. Unlike other forms of marketing, such as direct mail or print advertising, email newsletters can be sent to a large number of people for a relatively low cost. This makes them a great option for small businesses or non-profits with limited marketing budgets. It also provides almost real-time, almost priceless data on how your customers interact with your business. It’s very easy to see how many sales you get from an email newsletter send (if proper tracking has been set up – something we would make sure to do for SSPR clients!).

If you want to stay top of mind, build relationships, drive traffic to your website, increase sales, and do it all in a cost-effective way, then an email newsletter is the way to go. By providing your subscribers with valuable information, you can position yourself as an expert in your field and establish trust with your customers. With the right strategy and approach, an email newsletter can be a powerful tool for any business. Start your newsletter yesterday.

Looking to create an effective email marketing strategy? South Shore Public Relations can help you with this—we can help you build your list and make the most of it. Don’t believe us? Sign up for our email newsletter here.

Examples of Successful Email Newsletters

SSPR Client – Anglotopia – Anglotopia sends out a weekly digest newsletter to 36,000 subscribers. Here’s a recent example.

The Marginalian – *The Marginalian* has a free Sunday digest of the week’s most mind-broadening and heart-lifting reflections spanning art, science, poetry, philosophy, and other tendrils of our search for truth, beauty, meaning, and creative vitality.

Now I know – Now I Know is a free daily newsletter; you’ll learn something new every day.

The Browser Newsletter – Every day, they read hundreds of articles and recommend five outstanding stories for you to enjoy, so you’ll always have interesting things to ponder and fascinating ideas to discuss at dinner.

The Hustle – Have you heard about The Hustle? It’s a daily newsletter that provides you with the latest updates on business and technology in just 5 minutes or less. While there are several other newsletters out there that offer similar content, what sets The Hustle apart is its unique tone that blends information with humor. 

Why We Buy – Katelyn Bourgoin’s “Why We Buy” is a newsletter that’s published twice a week. It aims to help marketers better understand the psychology of buyers by sharing insightful tips. The newsletter is presented in an engaging and fun manner, and includes relatable real-life examples and scenarios from popular brands.

Email Marketing 101: Why You Need an Email Newsletter Read More »

What is a media kit, and why do you need one?

Marketing, Media Relations /

TL:DR: A media kit essentially tells advertisers and potential partners how they can work with you and what you can offer them. It does not usually include pricing (that’s a separate rate card, a topic for a future post).

A media kit is essentially a collection of promotional materials that provide information about an individual or business to potential collaborators, sponsors, and advertisers. It is an effective way to showcase your work to the world and can help to attract new clients, advertisers, customers, and sponsors.

Typically, a media kit includes a variety of information, such as a biography of key stakeholders, a list of services or products offered, statistics about key individuals or business’s online presence, testimonials from satisfied customers, and contact information. It may also include examples of previous work, such as articles, blog posts, or videos, as well as information about collaborations and partnerships.

There are several reasons why having a media kit is necessary. It can be essential in establishing your credibility as an organization. Potential clients or sponsors want to know that they can trust you and that you have a proven track record of success. A well-designed media kit will help to establish this credibility by showcasing past successes, highlighting relevant experience and expertise, and providing social proof through testimonials and endorsements.

By showcasing your work and experience, a media kit can help to appeal to potential clients who are looking for someone with your specific skills set or expertise. It helps to communicate the unique value proposition of an individual or business and what sets you apart from competitors in their industry.

If you don’t have a media kit, you are missing out on a chance to share your story and celebrate your wins as an organization. Businesses are interested in partnering with individuals or other non-profits that have a robust online presence and a large following. By providing detailed information about one’s online reach and engagement, as well as examples of previous collaborations, a media kit can help attract potential sponsors and collaborators.

Finally, a well-designed media kit helps to save time and streamline the process of presenting to potential clients, sponsors, and collaborators (and crafting your pitch is something South Shore PR can help you with!). Instead of having to gather information every time you pitch someone, a media kit can provide all the necessary information in one place, making it easier and more efficient to reach out to potential collaborators and secure new business. When working with a new client, you can send them the media kit before your call so they can get some background. 

Your media kit should be on your website and be easy to find.  It will primarily be looked at on a computer or tablet, so it should be accessible on your website. Some marketers might put it behind a sign-up wall to grow an email list, but you can just provide the downloaded version as well. Your media kit should have its own page on your website. You should also have a quality printed version available to send to organizations that may want to work with you. 

Media kits may seem outdated in this fully digital age, but at the end of the day, you still need to sell yourself, and an excellent media kit is the perfect way to put your best foot forward. A well-designed and informative media kit will guide people, enterprises, and non-profits on how to best work with you (and it’s also a great way to show what you don’t do).  

Who needs a media kit:

A Publication – Whether in print or digital, a publication needs to show how it can work with advertisers and partners.

A Public Figure—If you’re doing the speaking circuit or you’re a known public figure, a media kit will help media organizations understand how to work with you. 

Start-up Business—A media kit is an opportunity to tell your story to outside investors and stakeholders; it helps sell you as a business.

Mature Business – If you’ve been around for a few years, a media kit is a great way to show who you are as a company, who the key figures are, and how people might want to partner with you.

Non-Profits—Having a media kit is essential for non-profit organizations, as it helps communicate your mission, leadership, and how outside organizations can collaborate with you.

Examples of an effective media kit:

South Shore PR Client Example:

Other Examples:

What is a media kit, and why do you need one? Read More »

Announcing South Shore PR Bootcamp in Partnership with The Michigan City Chamber of Commerce

Public Relations, South Shore PR Update, Thought Leadership /

South Shore PR is bringing its wildly popular South Shore PR Bootcamp to the Michigan City Chamber community in the month of May. This course is designed to give businesses and nonprofit organizations the basic tools needed to jump-start their organization’s PR efforts at little to no cost. This course, which meets each Thursday morning in the month of May, gives students the tools to craft a full PR plan for their organizations, while learning the basics of public relations. The courses are structured to be easy to understand and include supplemental materials for each student.

This course was recently offered in the month of March at the Duneland Chamber of Commerce where South Shore PR is an active member. The course took place each Monday morning through March. Here is what one class participant had to say at the end.

Thank you so much for sharing your PR expertise, it is a class I will recommend to my colleagues! I may not have the primary responsibility to execute all the PR initiatives I learned about, but now I will feel much more confident and competent when I participate in conversations about future PR/Marketing projects. 
 
I appreciate the many resources you shared too!

-Cathy Laughlin – Dunebrook, Development Director

South Shore PR President Jackie Thomas is teaching these courses to support the chamber communities in which South Shore PR is a member. Jackie brings almost two decades of PR experience to the course. She sits on the Public Relations Society of America- Chicago Chapter’s Board of Directors and is a member of the Public Relations Commission on Higher Education. Jackie has a passion for PR education, and she also has a passion for giving back to her community. “Healthy businesses make healthy communities. I believe that giving these courses gives stakeholders the power to boost their messaging, reach more clients, or customers so their organizations to thrive,” Jackie said.

These courses are available to Michigan City Chamber of Commerce members who are in good standing with the Michigan City Chamber of Commerce. There is a one-time fee of $100. that covers the entire 5-class session. Class size is limited, so be sure to sign up today. You can sign up here: Sign Me Up!

Announcing South Shore PR Bootcamp in Partnership with The Michigan City Chamber of Commerce Read More »

Why Does an Organization Hire a PR Firm

Crisis Communications, Marketing, Media Relations, Public Relations, Reputation, Social Media /

If you’re not familiar with South Shore PR, chances are you’ve googled why companies hire a PR firm and stumbled upon this blog post. This is a relatively common question followed by how is a PR firm is different from a marketing company, and what should I look for in hiring a PR firm. Today, we’d like to share some information to answer these common questions. We’ll discuss some of the most common reasons why an organization hires a PR firm or firm, how a PR firm is different from a marketing firm, and what you should look for before you hire a PR firm.

Why Hire a PR Firm?

  1. Brand Building: We like to think of branding as your organization’s opportunity to begin, reestablish, or enhance your identity to a new or existing audience. Whether you are opening a brand-new venture or introducing a new product or service to your ideal customer, branding begins and eventually solidifies this relationship. Branding your business is so much more than simply sharing your name and logo; when done correctly, it is what sets your organization apart from others and builds loyalty with your ideal customers.
  2. Media Relations: The function of most public relations work is building strategic relationships with media for your brand. These relationships are working partnerships where your brand is featured in a favorable light organically (non-paid placement), and if need be, these relationships can be leveraged in a moment of reputational crisis. As in any partnership relationship, a public relations professional will be a resource for the media, and in return, the media will be a resource for the PR pro person wanting to share their organization’s story.
  3. Reputation Management: Reputation management is about supporting a brand so that the positive aspects of your organization are shared far and wide to build brand loyalty with your ideal customer. Skilled reputation management can also lessen or avoid reputational damage for a client. PR is most known for crisis management, the reputational repair part of reputation management, when you ask most people what PR pros do. The goal of reputation management is to keep your brand and organization in a positive light and, if needed, repair any damage with critical stakeholders to rebuild trust and regain loyalty.

Marketing is not PR, but when the two practices are combined, magic happens:

The function of public relations is to build relationships for your organization, whether it be with customers, media, or other key stakeholders. These relationships propel your brand forward and ultimately help you achieve your communications, marketing, and branding goals. Public relations is most beneficial when an organization needs to build, maintain, or repair relationships with key stakeholder groups. Common public relations activities would include but not be limited to media relations, branding, brand building, social media management, and content creation.

Meanwhile, marketing is used to drive sales and entice people into buying your product or using your services. Marketing will not typically cover media engagement or relationship building but tactics such as advertising and promotion. Marketing is about proposing a problem and creating a solution for the intended audience. Typical marketing activities might include creating content such as fliers, brochures, or advertisements.

Marketing and public relations can be combined to create integrated marketing; this is an extremely powerful way to launch your business communications goals. An integrated marketing firm will help you sell your product, goods, or services while building and enhancing the key relationships needed to support achieving your strategic goals for your organization. The benefit of an integrated marketing firm is that all of your communications needs can fit cohesively, ensuring the story your organization is telling is seamless and reaches its intended target audience.

What you should look for in hiring a PR Firm:

Hiring a PR firm is just like hiring any other services your organization might need, like a bookkeeper or a vendor that supports the goals of your organization’s objectives. Doing your homework on any potential PR partner is essential; you are, after all, putting your organization’s “voice” in their hands. To tell if a PR firm is a good fit for your organization, be sure to look at a list of the services the firm offers. If, for example, you are launching a brand and you want to throw a party, but the PR firm doesn’t provide this service, then you may want to choose a firm that has more experience in this area. Some PR firms only specialize in one type of PR, such as branding, crisis management, or public affairs.

The second thing we would recommend is to look at the firm’s past and current work. If you see great PR work, this is a great way to find a firm. The beauty of this approach is that you see the results in real time, and you can see the firm in action. An excellent PR firm can take aspects that you like and feel will fit your organization and make it unique to your brand and voice.

Last, ask questions, lots of questions. PR practitioners are communicators by trade, and that is what we do. Asking lots of questions not only helps you assess if the firm is the right fit for the services you need but also allows the PR firm to ensure that they can perform the work you require.

We hope that this post has shed some light on some of the most common reasons why companies hire a PR firm, some of the functions of a PR firm, and what you should look for when hiring a PR firm. There are lots of different types of firms out there, each with its own personality, portfolio, and way of doing business. We suggest that you take your time, if possible, and choose the firm that is the right fit for your brand.

Why Does an Organization Hire a PR Firm Read More »

PR Hot Take: Where There is Smoke, There is Fire

Community Relations, Crisis Communications, Media Relations, PR Hot Take, Public Relations, Reputation /

Recently, an organization I follow announced made a significant announcement about the staff that would significantly impact their daily operations. I will not be naming the organization or giving any identifiable details in this post. While this announcement may have been in the works for months, the news distributed to the public seemed abrupt and came with very little forewarning that this transition would be happening. To add to the abrupt nature of the announcement, was that this change would occur before the allotted schedule that this organization routinely follows. All in all, the announcement caught me, an invested stakeholder, off guard.

Fast forward ten days later, and I happened to be on social media and read a story about alleged missing funds within the same organization. My PR intuition was initially aroused at the announcement; then, with the following news, I acknowledged I was watching a communications crisis develop in real-time. As a crisis communications professional, I had to know more, so I began digging. What is in the public discourse, social media, and press stories leaves more unanswered questions and severe gaps in communication with general stakeholders. For this organization, where trust is paramount, I am deeply concerned about the reputational damage being done in real time.

I share this PR hot take today because, number one, it interests me, and I am interested to see how these issues will resolve as a whole for the organization. I am also sharing this because it is an excellent case of how not to communicate with stakeholders. Below, you will find my perfect recipe for a full-blown crisis communications episode:

  1. Make a significant announcement with little to no warning to the general public that will profoundly impact your organization forever.
  2. Hold closed-door meetings where stakeholders who are usually involved have been shut out or have the perception that they’ve been shut out.
  3. Do not correct accusations of missing funds and or make any statements to clear the record on this matter.
  4. Do not communicate a plan for transition, stability, and transparency.

When an organization goes through a transition with public stakeholders, communication efforts should be ample and provide transparency. The lack of transparency is not good. I was talking to a friend about this organization and the situation, and they said to me the adage, “Where there is smoke, there’s fire.” My friend’s thoughts on the situation illustrated that with the lack of communication from the organization, there is a vacuum for information where stakeholders will be left to make their own conclusions, and that is not good. Reputational damage is being done in real time.

As a communications professional and an interested stakeholder, I find this painful to watch. The point that I am trying to make is that communication is powerful and, when done strategically, makes the difference in building trust and protecting an organization’s reputation. I understand that this organization may not be able to communicate specific details, but the lack of communication as a whole lends stakeholders to feel that the organization is intentionally vague out of wrongdoing or guilt. In my conversation with my friend, I asked what led them to believe that there was alleged wrong-doing in this situation, and they remarked to me, “They’re just not telling us enough, and the way in which things have been communicated doesn’t help matters, it all just feels like a sloppy mess.” I could not fault my friend’s assessment of the situation; the communication, what has gone out publicly, has been sloppy from a strategic point of view.

Communicating ad-hoc to the general public when your organization is heavily public-facing and requires trust at the highest levels from your stakeholders is a bad situation. I hope that this organization realizes what is happening before the reputational damage gets any worse, and if they don’t know how to communicate what is happening within their organization, they seek help from a communications professional immediately.

Examples such as this one can be found easily in business or anywhere where there is public interest within a community. I also want to make clear that I am not criticizing this organization; I am simply using it as a teachable moment. Reader, if you take only one thing away from this post today, take this: communication is key! Don’t leave your stakeholders to come to their own conclusions about the inner workings of your organization; it never ends well. Trust me on this one!

PR Hot Take: Where There is Smoke, There is Fire Read More »