This document provides an overview of online public relations strategies. It discusses 10 key strategies: 1) Know your niche and stay informed, 2) Develop compelling stories, 3) Become a newsmaker through hacking trends or research, 4) Craft traditional and online press releases, 5) Use media databases and targeted distribution, 6) Follow media relations rules of engagement, 7) Prepare stories for online outreach with keywords and rich content, 8) Measure story success through coverage, traffic, and awareness, 9) Provide a case study example, and 10) Answer questions. The first section focuses on connecting with journalists, bloggers, and influencers in one's niche or sector. It emphasizes the importance of knowing trends, stakeholders, and how

1. Online PR
Merging Old Traditions
& New Technologies

2. Online PR – The 10 Strategy
1. Know your niche & stay informed
2. What’s the Story?
3. Newsmaker – the 3 ways
4. The Press Release – Traditional & Online
5. Media Databasing & Distribution
6. Media Relations – The Rules of Engagement
7. Preparing your story for online outreach
8. Measuring story success
9. Case study
10. Q&A

3. 1. Know Your Niche & Stay Informed
• What is your sector? Know the influencers, the
bloggers, the feature writers, the reporters, know the
trends, the trend setters.
• So connect with those people – NOW!
• Have you introduced yourself to your local media?
Most of all – KNOW YOUR SPACE!

4. 1. Know Your Niche & Stay Informed

5. Connecting with Influencers
1. Journalists – Print, Broadcast & Online
Mediacontact.ie
Media Contacts Directory
& MediaHQ – media database & press distribution
service
Twitter: Twitter Search / Twitter Advanced Search
2. Bloggers: Blogger Outreach

6. Connecting with Influencers
Blogger Outreach:
“Bloggers are in the top 5 sources of reliable information. 81% of the
online population trusts bloggers and 61% of the population has made
a purchase based on a blogger recommendation.”.

7. Blogger Outreach
1.
Form Relationships with Bloggers in your niche. Remember they are one step or
click away from your target audience.
2. Start by an introduction of you, your brand, product or service
3. Offer to let them ‘road test it’
4. Offer to lend a hand or an insight – don't beg
5. Subscribe to their blog, connect with them on Twitter, review other social media
channels also and decide how you connect with them
6. Don't hound, offer value and insights
7. Be friendly
8. Make an announcement and send a personalised email and outline what’s in it for
both of you
9. Create brand awareness – create a blogger event and invite them along – your
restaurant, your shop, a PR event
10. Do you or can you solve a problem or answer a question? Your knowledge, your
product or your software – e.g. Technology, finance, healthcare, beauty – you have
to establish how you add value. Remember NICHE!
11. Provide rich content – infographics are now an effective way to outreach to a
blogger – lots of information nicely designed into a quirky graphic.

8. 2. What’s the Story?
Do you have a breaking news story?
Probably not?
Maybe yes?
Either way, don’t miss a good PR opportunity.
You must also be realistic about what you can achieve.

9. 3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways
So when you don’t have a breaking story but need to
build brand profile what can you do?
1. News-hacker
2. Trending Stories
3. Research

10. 3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways
1. News-hacker

11. 3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways
2. Trending Stories

12. 3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways
3. Research

13. 4. The Traditional Press Release
Hard News and Soft news
– Hard News has a vital urgent element, the story is
very important and the media will want to cover it. It
is not usually issued by press release e.g. a
company goes bankrupt and makes 200 people
redundant.
– Most soft news is issued by press release, it is news
of interest but without the same urgency. e.g. MD
has been appointed to a prestigous committee

14. 4. The Traditional Press Release
• 5 W’s and H
– Who is the story about?
– What happened?
– Where did it happen?
– When did it happen?
– How did it happen?
– Why did it happen?
And A Killer Headline!

15. 4. The Traditional Press Release
• A killer headline
• 7 words or less
• Key message in first paragraph – get straight to the
point
• Make it newsy – start reading news to understand what
news is
• Include a quote
• Provide background information
• Notes to Editor
• Photo with caption
• Further information / media enquiries

16. The Online Press Release
• Rich Content – Video, Links, Photos
• Copy into body of email as opposed to attachment –
newsdesks get hundreds of emails daily – even clicking to
open an attachment may take too long
• Make it ready for social sharing – hyperlinks, social
media links, blog links, video embedded, photos and
caption in file info and in the body of the email
• Have a spokesperson ready and available
• The New Rules – Media Is Social

17. News is Social

18. News is Social

19. News is Social

20. 5. Media Databasing
& Distribution
•
•
•
•
•
Mediacontact.ie
Don’t send everything to everyone
Be specific, be relevant
MediaHQ
Social Media Newsroom

21. 5. Media Databasing
& Distribution

22. 5. Media Databasing
& Distribution

23. 6. Media Relations
The Rules of Engagement
How to annoy a journalist…what not to do!
1. Sending a lengthy press release.
2. Listing an elusive contact person.
3. Not having an online presence for the brand.
4. Using bad grammar.
5. Having a boring news angle.
6. Force-feeding information.
7. Sending poor visuals.

24. 7. Preparing Your Story
for Online Reach
Use the right keywords
No jargon
Use 1-2 Keywords in your Headline and subhead.
Rich content/multi-media: Hyperlink but don’t over
hyper link – e.g. 2-3 links for a 400-word press release.
• Don’t forget to social share the press release and the
multi-media content
•
•
•
•

25. 7. Preparing Your Story
for Online Reach
Journey of an Online News Story
STEP 1
News Story Researched
STEP 2
News Angle Generated
STEP 3
News Release Drafted
STEP 4
Target Media Identified - News & Industry Sites
STEP 5
Rich Content Developed - Podcast, Photos. etc.
STEP 6
Online PR & Attachments Issued
STEP 7
Online PR Uploaded to Social Media Newsroom
STEP 8
Shared on Website, Blog & Social Media Accounts
STEP 9
Monitoring Tools Activated
STEP 10
Measurement & Evaluation
www.mediabox.ie

26. 8. Measuring
Impact & Success
•
•
•
•
•
•
Actual Media Coverage
Figures on readership/listeners/viewers/traffic
New awareness amongst stakeholders
Office traffic - calls/emails
WOM - Word of Mouth traffic
Brand Awareness

27. 8. Measuring
Impact & Success

28. Monitoring Tools
 Google Alerts
 Media Monitoring e.g. Kantar
 Podcasts from radio stations
 Search Engine Optimisation

29. Measuring ROI

30. Measuring ROI

31. Casy Study
!

32. 10. Case Study
Client: Alcohol Forum
Campaign Aim: Build brand awareness of advocacy
group Alcohol Forum
Campaign Strategy: Host Ireland’s First National Alcohol
Awareness Week with a national conference, sideline
events nationwide and a multi-media campaign.

33. 10. Case Study

34. Thank You.
Questions?