GROW! Marketing and Public Relations Tips

Content Marketing for the Lawn and Garden Industry

Posted by Katie Dubow on Thu, Dec 13, 2012 @ 9:09 AM

This week we've been discussing content marketing, how it works and ways to increase your brands reputation in the lawn and garden industry. 

But the one question we keep getting asked is, what kind of content works best?

There are dozens of forms of engaging content, but here are 12 types of content to focus on and how they can be used as part of any content marketing plan.

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Topics: lawn and garden public relations, branding, content marketing, blogging

Using Instagram in Your Garden Business

Posted by Emma Fitzpatrick on Thu, Dec 6, 2012 @ 9:00 AM

Instagram is now a part of the personal realm, but it should also be in the professional world. 44% of American adults have a smart phone, which means they can easily snap a vintage-chic pictures on their Android or iPhone.

Instagram is free and has its own social network—while also easily hooking up to other social media platforms. 40% of Interbrand’s top 100 brands use Instagram, but does it make sense for your business?

Instagram has over 80 million users, and even if your garden business is focused on B2B or consumers, there’s a way to integrate Instagram into your media relations plan.

Below are 4 ways to use Instagram to spice up company announcements!

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Topics: branding, image building, garden business, Instagram, Garden Media Group, Garden Trends

Embodying the Christmas Spirit: Holiday Cause-Marketing Campaigns

Posted by Emma Fitzpatrick on Wed, Dec 5, 2012 @ 9:19 AM

Finally, it’s that time of year! Christmas cookies baking, trips to the home-front to reunite with family and friends, a fragrant Christmas tree, and on a different note, advertising galore!

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Topics: branding, PR Strategy

Garden Marketing: The Latest and Greatest Cause-Marketing Campaigns

Posted by Emma Fitzpatrick on Wed, Nov 14, 2012 @ 9:00 AM

Businesses and corporations used to be able to fudge the truth. Check out this Coca-Cola advertisement from the 1950’s! It never fails to make me laugh; their copy is just so silly and untrue.

We’ve come a long way since then! Now, businesses are held accountable for their actions—especially in the garden industry. Customers want businesses that act ethically in their business practices. But, lately, customers want even more: they want corporations to embrace their role in social reasonability.

85% of consumers have a more positive image of a product when the company supports a cause they care about. Plus, more than 278 million consumers across the US want to know what your garden business is doing to benefit a cause. Read more about how cause marketing affects the bottom line here.

Below are a few of Garden Media Group’s favorite green cause marketing campaigns.

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Topics: lawn and garden public relations, garden marketing, branding, image building

Twitter or Facebook? Which One Works Best in the Garden Industry?

Posted by Emma Fitzpatrick on Mon, Nov 5, 2012 @ 9:00 AM


The battle between social media frontrunners, Twitter and Facebook, continues! While Facebook certainly has more sheer users than Twitter (over 1 billion vs. 140 million), both networks have advantages in the world of plant public relations. 

Enough is enough! Let’s end this battle once and for all! Once we deem a social media champion, your garden business can focus more time and energy there.

Let the race begin! Below are the PR implications and cold hard numbers to see just who is winning this race.

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Topics: Twitter, branding, garden industry public relations, facebook

The Top 10 Reasons Why Public Relations Doesnt Work

Posted by Katie Dubow on Thu, Jul 5, 2012 @ 10:06 AM
Margie Zable Fisher runs a website theprsite.com with the goal of helping small business find the right PR firm for them. In this post, she explains to Guy Kawasaki the top ten reasons why PR doesn’t work: 
  1. The client doesn’t understand the publicity process. PR folks need to better educate people about how publicity works. The first thing many clients ask is, “Can you get me on Oprah or the front page of the Wall Street Journal?” The answer might be “yes,” but the process to get to the “yes” may take months or years, and may first include a series of smaller placements.

  2. The scope of work is not detailed and agreed upon by both parties. Here’s a typical example: a client signs an agreement to spend $3,000 per month. Client expects to get three publicity placements per month. PR person expects to work 20 hours, regardless of the outcome. The inevitable disconnect leads to customer frustration and the feeling of being “burned.”

  3. The client has not been properly trained on how to communicate with the media. Proper training for interviews is crucial; otherwise, key messages can be misconstrued, and even negative stories can result. Clients seldom blame themselves when this happens.

  4. The client and the PR person or firm are not a good match. Example: Client hears about a local PR person, meets and likes the PR person, and figures it’s a good match. Or the client chooses the lowest price PR option. And the PR person, instead of referring the client to another practitioner who is a better fit, decides to take on the client—and the money.

  5. The client has not gotten results quickly enough and ends the relationship too soon. Client should plan on conducting a campaign for a minimum of six months. And even that is aggressive. A year should really be the bare minimum to commit to PR The media works on its own timetable, which is usually much longer than the client’s.

  6. PR people don’t explain the kind of publicity placements a client will most likely receive. Every client wants a big profile of the company on the cover of a major magazine or newspaper, but most stories are about a “trend,” several companies, or some recent news with quotes from experts. Profiles are few and far between. Yet, instead of explaining this, PR people often tell potential clients what they want to hear, in order to get the business.

  7. Clients don’t realize that what happens after you get the publicity coverage is sometimes more important than the actual placement. My smartest client didn’t care if he got a quote or a profile—he just wanted to be included in major media. When it was time to get an agent and publisher for his book, he handed them a list of all his media placements, and this clinched the deal. The agent and publisher figured that if all of the major media was willing to include him as a source, then he must have something important to say.

  8. Clients refuse to be flexible on their story angles. One of my clients once said to me, “We only want profiles.” When the media wasn’t interested, they refused to consider other story angles that the media was interested in. Now I make sure clients are willing to have us pitch three to four angles.

  9. Clients get upset when the media coverage is not 100% accurate or not the kind of coverage that they wanted. One of my former clients said, “That TV segment on me was only a minute long.” When I explained that length of time was impressive in TV Land, she refused to understand.

  10. Clients won’t change their schedules for the media. Clients need to drop everything if the media calls. This may be inconvenient, but the media waits for no one. If you want to be a “media darling,” then you need to make yourself available at any time. Those who do will reap the best benefits and placements.

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Topics: Public relations, branding, advertising vs public relations

Recipe for a Great Tasting Brand: It's More than the Frosting

Posted by Susan McCoy on Thu, May 24, 2012 @ 10:00 AM

“If the cake is bad, what good is the frosting?”

 
If you want to serve the most delicious cake, you need to carefully pick the right ingredients – and worry about the frosting last.
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Topics: branding, image building

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