The truth about distributing online press releases

Writing and publishing press releases online is more than a way for attorneys to communicate information; it can also bring more clients to your Website.

Search engines look for information from sources other than your Website to establish your company's legitimacy. When they see your company name, or the names of your individual employees on other sites, like press release aggregation sites, you look more credible and can rise in search engine rankings. Also, press releases are a great way to communicate relevant information to your target audiences. Because of this, it is important to write and distribute press releases regularly online.

Here are some things to keep in mind when writing and distributing a press release:

1. Make sure you are distributing your press releases across all areas, so you get the most coverage. There are many press release distribution sites available, including pr.com, businesswire.com and wiredprnews.com to name a few.
2. Write about upcoming events or tradeshows that your company is hosting or attending.
3. Announce company news, such as newly hired employees, accomplishments and awards. Don’t brag about everything you have ever done, but if you or your company recently won an important award, then create a press release about it. A good rule of thumb is to ask, “Who cares?” If you can name someone, then send it out.
4. Remember, these aren’t essays or case studies; they are brief, to-the-point press releases, normally no longer than one page. The first sentence of your release should tell exactly what you are writing about. It should include a date, the name of the event or person and any other pertinent information, such as location. Don’t write too much fluff; just the facts, ma’am.

Online press releases are another great way to market your company. They are short, easy to write, and they won’t take up much of your time. Considering the potential boost in search engine results for your company, they are definitely worth the effort.

MAX Advertising Social Media Success

I was recently hired in November (2011) at MAX Advertising as a "junior account executive and social media person"---which means I handle stuff from MAX blogging to other social media initiatives such as our Facebook page, Twitter, and YouTube channel. Now, before I go any further I must say Christie (my boss) handles most of the Twitter and Facebook posts from MAX-it's her love!

It's funny because when I tell people I handle social media at my office everyone looks down at me with their rolling eyes. Most people think social media is a bunch of teenagers chatting and posting about what they had for lunch. Couldn't be more wrong. Social media is definitely a full time job. I don't know what I would do if Christie didn't do as much as she did. There are new applications and software that come out almost daily to help companies advertise with social media. I definitely do a lot of research on these programs.

I feel as though, to have a complete social media program for your company you must incorporate everything--LinkedIn, blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. This takes a lot of work and time. You have to make sure everything matches, everything is optimized, and you have to make sure people (your future customers/clients) are looking AND liking your stuff! This also takes a lot of research.

And most importantly you have to have some kind of tracking software. You can pay for it or use a free program like Google Analytics. I mean why use social media if you can't track if people are viewing your information?

Anyways to get more tips and ideas check out MAX's sites:

http://www.youtube.com/MAXadvertisingagency

www.twitter.com/maxadv

And search for Max Advertising in LinkedIn and in Facebook...also make sure you "like" us :)

Snowpocalypse 2011

So it was Friday-the calm before the storm-and everyone was warning us southerners about the huge snowstorm that was coming our way. If anyone was like me, I honestly didn’t think it would affect me for more than a day. Now it’s day 3 of being stuck in my house. Talk about cabin fever.

Day 1- I texted some employees the night before and asked if we were going to work the next day. The response I got was: “I’m partying like we aren’t.” And this was from more than one employee. I guess everyone had one thing on their mind.

The first day was fun, I guess. I went sledding down a huge hill and got some serious exercise climbing back up those hills. So by 4 o’clock that day I was passed out.

Day 2 – I was for sure I would be going to work by day 2. But I was wrong. I’ve never had so much free time since college; I almost didn’t know what to do with it. So to my shock and to my mother’s shock, I decided to iron all of my clothes and organize my closet. That is how bored I was. I never do house work.

My lifesaver Tom called earlier that morning so I actually had work I could do from home. Thank you Tom.

Day 3 – ummm? What? Where are the snowplows and sand? After talking to some fellow co-workers I could tell that I wasn’t the only one getting a little restless. Luckily for me, I get to continue to write; hopefully that will stop the boredom for a few hours.

This snow better clear soon because we are running out of food in our house. Kroger is empty because the trucks can’t reach the stores due to the iced roads. And I continue to online shop so my bank account is suffering because of the snow.

Exactos and Interns

Last Friday was a day of firsts for me and for MAX Advertising. It was my first “Fun Friday” and it was the first time an employee of MAX Advertising was rushed to the E.R. Almost every Friday around lunchtime everyone in the office gets together and goes to lunch. This Friday we went to Fellini’s Pizza down the street and it was a great time – good food, drinks, and conversation.

It was definitely a good day up until we got back from lunch. After lunch, I was asked to cut some posters for an ad campaign that Jim had been working on all day. He warned me over and over about being careful with the sharp exacto knife, but I just brushed it off. I mean who cuts themselves with an exacto knife? I was carelessly cutting the posters when I realized I had just cut half the tip of my finger off. Why it took me so long to notice… hmm I don’t know. Lets just say never look away while using a sharp cutting instrument.

It looked like a murder scene. There was blood everywhere; all over the kitchen sink, the art table and I think I even bled on the posters. After Gregg, Ken and I tried to stop the bleeding we decided the best thing to do was to go to the hospital. Gregg drove me to DeKalb Medical Center – a MAX Advertising client – to get me all stitched up. Six stitches later, my finger was as good as new. Everyone in the hospital was very nice and it only took about 30 min, which is amazingly fast in an E.R.

Instead of a word of the week, I’m going to go with the lesson of the week: Always pay attention when using sharp objects.

Other than that the week was a great week. We focused on pushing our new brand on Facebook, Twitter, and to clients. We got up to 200 Facebook fans in about 48 hours, which is awesome! We are also gearing up for the 6^th annual Business Expo on October 28^th. We are excited to showcase our new image to the public and are encouraging everyone to go. Our own fearless leader, Tom “snap, crackle, pop” Matte, will be presenting Arthur Blank as the speaker and we will have a booth set up at the event – booth 113. It will definitely be a day full of information and fun, so check it out!

Until next week,

Adios!

Snap, Crackle, MAX

As I start getting more comfortable at MAX, I’ve noticed and taken note of some of the hilarious, “normal” lingo around the office. I’ve decided that every week I write a blog I’m going to add in the “Quote/word of the week”. Even though most of the things said around the office aren’t near appropriate enough for an online blog, I’m going to try my best to keep it PG.

This week the quote is “Snap, Crackle, Pop” said by our one and only boss man, Tom Matte. Tom tends to shout this in fits of excitement or if he is referring to Nathan, the account executive.

I know I said last week that I was a pro at making coffee, but I soon realized I had no idea what I was doing. The third day in the office I shoved about 3 filters and just about the whole bag of coffee into the coffee maker. Yes, I know many of you are thinking…are you an idiot?? And, well, maybe I am, but when I was learning, or more rather being “trained” by Ashley, the past intern, she made it clear that I could put whatever in the coffee maker and it would be fine. This, I soon found out to be completely false. I flooded the entire counter with scalding hot coffee. Luckily, Jim caught the mess before it got any worse. Yea, I’m 23 and I just learned how to make coffee…

This week we launched our new website! I got the opportunity to work on the website with the help and training of Ken. I wrote some excerpts, I had input on a few of the case studies, and I got to publish my blog on the site. It has taken us a while to perfect this new site and I am proud to say it is finished…and if you haven’t looked at the whole site yet, you should!

Even more exciting, everyone in the office got to have a little photo shoot with Doug Coulter. None of us are models so it was quite entertaining. I think most of us took at least 60 shots each…so thank you Doug for dealing with us. You’ll be able to see these beautiful pictures on our Facebook page as well as our website, so just another reason to check us out!

Since our new site is finished, we are officially announcing our new name and image: MAX Advertising. We have a new Facebook page, under the name Max Advertising, and a new Twitter account: @maxadv.

Right now, I want you to go to our Facebook page, “like us” and while you’re at it, go to our Twitter page and follow us! We are an entertaining group to keep up with, so this will definitely bring some laughs into your day.

Until next week,

Ciao!!

My first week at Max Advertising

I feel like I am coming into Max Advertising at the perfect time. The company is re-branding as I am learning the ropes. I get to see first hand what goes into the long process of branding a company. Re-branding means changing the website, changing the logo, changing e-mail addresses, etc. Everything changes. It feels as though the agency has changed its identity overnight and I am so thrilled to be a part of Max Advertising during this exciting time.

I started this past Monday with my trainer and friend, Ashley helping me along the way. I was very nervous to start this internship because I love the advertising world and I want to do well. I get to have my own office, e-mail address and phone, which I didn’t get to have at my past internship-I feel like part of the group. I don’t just feel like a useless intern. So far, I’ve learned how to create job tickets, what goes into re-launching a brand and learned a little bit about HTML code…Oh, and I have finally learned how to make coffee

I haven’t learned everything, but I’m sure I will eventually learn everything there is to know about working in an advertising agency. I want to see and experience a presentation to a client, I want to learn more about the computer programs used for design, and I also want to learn the ins and outs of the account executive position. Along with all of that, I also want to know:

Why is Nathan obsessed with Snooki?

Where does Tom shop?

How much time does Tom spend on his hair every morning?

How does Christie deal with Tom’s enormous personality?

What’s the gender of Julie’s upcoming baby?

Does anyone else have any more office paraphernalia I can steal to put in my office?

Can Ken update my Illustrator on my computer?

Why is the Internet so slow?

Can you hire me when my internship is up?… I already don’t want to leave

WHO left the mug, filled with coffee, fermenting in the cabinet for 3 months? I didn’t appreciate the surprise shower of rotting coffee all over my white shirt… initiation? Not funny.

Whenever you start a new job you never really know the people you work with until you’ve been there for a while. Here are my first impressions of the people here and the agency…

Agency-high energy, very creative, modern, genuine, professional, close with their clients, family

Tom- boss man, high energy, funny, creative, has big ideas, people person

Christie-boss woman, creative, hard-worker, holds the place together

Ken-creative, web savvy and Photoshop savvy, Michael Jackson attire

Nathan-crazy, artistic, flirty, tattooed, Snooki lover

Jim-creative, busy, logo mastermind, Adobe Illustrator savvy, good with words

Beth-knowledgeable, professional, intuitive, witty

Julie-sweet, down to earth, smart, pregnant, good sense of humor

Gregg-professional, hoarder, even tempered, kind

Last post as a college student!

So, I'm moving on. No more college life for me. I'm graduating this Saturday, May 8. My whole family is coming down to celebrate! It's time for me to go experience the real world and start my career as a PR professional. When I look back at everything I learned in PR I find myself concentrating on these top ten learning experiences.

1. Don't be scared to take charge. I was nervous to be the Relay for Life decorations coordinator, but I jumped right in and everything worked out. I gained a lot of experience and respect for PR event planners.
2. Every idea is a good idea! Even if your idea isn't picked, it might lead to a better one.
3. If you are going to be a PR professional make sure you have A LOT of time and caffeine, and if you don't have time, you better be good at time management. Know that you will be running on no sleep about 90 percent of the time.
4. Stay motivated and organized. I had to keep myself motivated when I was tired and I didn't want to do anymore work. Staying organized cut down on my time spend doing work.
5. I know you've heard this since elementary school, but its important---Always have a good attitude, especially when you are in PR. When you are working with people, it makes it so much easier when are nice.
6. ALWAYS have a back-up plan. Working on our final PR event this semester, I learned that a back-up plan is always necessary. Things change so you have to make sure you're ready for every possible situation.
7. Another really important thing I learned is that no matter how much you think you are right, you're not, the client has the final say and really only say.
8. Be on your feet at your event. Make sure you stay alert and know what is going on, you don't want to look unprepared and uninterested.
9. Network, network, network. Make sure you are meeting people and giving out your information...you never know when you might land your next job.
10. Know everything about social media.

So good luck future GC&SU PR students!