Here at Zenzi, we strive for excellence in all areas of the marketing matrix. We pride ourselves on keeping up with every new trend and delivering unprecedented PR results. In an effort to increase the quality of our PR efforts, we have launched the Zenzi SEO PR service.

Zenzi SEO PR is a new service that leverages blogs, online and traditional media, reviews, video search, photo search, events and social media networks to influence and optimize your Website results.

With Zenzi SEO PR, we have expanded the traditional definition and approach for SEO to include both Organic SEO and Universal SEO. Organic SEO is about optimizing your own site. Universal SEO optimizes links from influential sources such as reviews, video sites, social media and directories, which can either positively or negatively impact your website’s level of relevance.

We offer a variety of SEO PR plans to fit your individual needs. Please give us a call for more info!

1.     Don’t try to be “Big Brother.”  Eavesdropping on people’s conversations and offering unwelcome answers to their negative comments about your brand can end up turning your customers off and basically freaking them out.
2.     Do monitor and track public conversations to be aware of the general public’s tone and feeling about your company.
3.     Don’t place too much emphasis on comments made about your organization by tweeps with few followers – do take into consideration how sizable someone’s audience is and make your decision on the value of their tweets based on the quality and quantity of their followers.
4.     Do communicate individually with customers in a timely manner when they pose a question or comment to your company via Twitter.
5.     Do make your customers feel special – your Twitter followers are in fact a special group of customers and anything you can do to offer them special promotions or savings will go a long way.
6.     Don’t miss any direct comments or questions that need to be answered — Do use the right tools to manage and organize your Twitter account to make sure all your bases are covered (see Zenzi blog post on managing and organizing social media).
7.     Do keep your tone and style of writing on Twitter casual but professional and not overly formal. Be creative and use personality.
8.     Don’t ignore or place less emphasis on your current customer service tools.  Twitter is a great new tool to expand the way we communicate with key audiences but it should be integrated into your strategic communications and customer service plan so that it makes sense and adds value to the programs you already have in place.
9.     Do have fun with Twitter!  It’s a great way to connect and develop stronger relationships with customers and should be fun and playful while keeping standard business practices and professionalism in mind.

And by the way… DO follow Zenzi on Twitter!

It was every PR practitioner’s nightmare and further evidence of the fact that we as marketers are the most out of control and the most in control we have ever been. Editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and author of the book The Long Tail, Chris Anderson listed the email addresses of 350 names he has blacklisted from his email inbox on his very public and popular blog, thelongtail.com. The 350 offenders had allegedly sent Anderson irrelevant PR “pitches” one too many times. To the mortification of many public relations people who were on that list (with their company name in the email address), it served to show no one is safe from the fire hose, not even the people you hire to protect you from the fire (or to start it) depending on your needs. Anderson’s public protest sends the message that you must choose wisely when picking a PR firm to represent you, and it is essential you select one that knows the rules of the game and how to create compelling messaging directed at the right audience. The fact that mass distribution outlets for information exist these days is no excuse to spam irrelevant information in the hopes it randomly catches a reporter’s attention.

This principle applies not only in the context of media relations but also to customer relations. Anderson himself is an authority on the subject matter of targeting niches. He coined the term, “The Long Tail” which (according to its Wikipedia definition) describes the advent of economic business models such as Amazon.com or Netflix–businesses with the distribution power to sell a greater volume of otherwise hard-to-find items at small volumes in lieu of selling popular items at large volumes to a general audience. Translation: as marketers we must be prepared send multiple messages to multiple niches. The challenge is researching these markets and crafting specific communications for many distribution mediums, but the upside is precision targeting of your demographic.

Companies and agencies alike are taking a serious look at the way they market themselves. According to PR godfather Edward Bernays, “public relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.” It seems this definition is still intact; however, the “program of action” has taken on an unexpected life of its own. In a world where anyone with access to a computer can shape public perception by publishing exactly what they think about you, your company or your product in a blog, a podcast, or a vlog, this “management function” can seem untenable.

Time Magazine named “YOU” as person of the year in 2006 as a result of this trend to attest to the power of individuals to shape perception and as harbingers of the latest information on new products and services. Two years later, we as marketers are still in the process of determining what this means for PR campaigns and how consumers are responding to this new force. The user-generated information library, Wikipedia, is one of the most frequently visited sites on the web and “Google” is a verb. We now find information and make purchasing decisions based on a variety of sources that include blogs, vlogs, social networking sites, viral emails, and ecommerce rating systems. Each one of us is a journalist if we want to be. Our tendency to trust each other more than we trust institutions, media outlets or even the government prompts us to turn to feedback from one another before we make decisions on everything from politics to product purchases. At Zenzi ,we find ways to manage these data sources and make information on the Internet work to your advantage.

While many companies and marketers have been slow to integrate online and new media tactics into their campaign not knowing where to start, others have been successfully charging this territory with tremendous success. Heavy hitters with the resources and funds to research and analyze trends are increasing their online and new media spends and decreasing traditional media spends. According to a TNS media study, L’Oreal, Procter and Gamble, Unilever, Johnson and Johnson, and Estee Lauder cut budgets on TV and magazine advertising by 10.2% and 21.5% respectively between 2005 and 2006 while online advertising budgets increased by 46%. Another research study from EMarketer estimated an increase in 2006 of online advertising spending by 26% from the previous year amounting to $15.4 billion.

Forward-thinking public relations agencies are naturally taking the same cue and shifting attention to online strategies while still being guided by the traditional principals of PR, defined by The Bernays, to shape and manage public opinion of an organization. The advantage of online PR (just like print/tv/radio) is that it is executed for a fraction of the cost of advertising and continues to have the credibility of traditional editorial coverage. Traditional media is now looking to new media as sources for information, story ideas and for their own gratification and entertainment which further serves companies that are choosing to be a part of online communities.

A new study from Bulldog Reporter and the TEKgroup reports that journalists’ use of online newsrooms, blogs, RSS and social media is much higher than most PR professionals had guessed. Corporate news and information can be accessed online 24 hours a day. Nearly half of all journalists reported visiting a corporate website or online newsroom at least once a week. 25% of journalists surveyed reported regularly reading five or more blogs to research desired topics and nearly 70% followed at least one blog regularly. More than a quarter of journalists visit a social media or networking site such as YouTube, Facebook and MySpace at least once a week. Almost 40% subscribed to at least one RSS feed.

Increasingly companies large and small are cutting through the clutter to market to specific consumers niches. Marketing pioneer Lisa Johnson outlines five essential criteria that underlie consumer cravings in her book Mind Your X’s and Y’s: experience, transparency, reinvention, connection, and expression. Web targets that satiate these cravings and segment their audience and content such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Digg and Sugar Inc. are incredible new tools for companies to engage their consumers.

Traditional companies such as Schwab, Chevrolet and Nike all provide excellent examples of campaigns that are hitting the mark in satisfying these cravings. Chevrolet targeted college students to promote the launch of the redesigned 2007 Chevy Aveo. The company selected two students each from seven college campuses across the nation to see who could “live the largest” inside a Chevy Aveo for five days. The students could only leave the car to attend class or for 10-minute breaks while documenting their entire adventure online. The students embraced the idea enthusiastically, creating YouTube videos, LinkedIn and Facebook groups, photos, blogs, and other realistic expressions of their experiences. Result: in just five days, the Aveo Livin’ Large Campus Challenge generated 217 million audience impressions through online, traditional, grassroots and campus media. Over one million students were actively engaged in the Challenge through the Aveo Website and links in each team’s Facebook and MySpace accounts.

In January 2007, Charles Schwab launched its new “Money and More” private online community made up of 350 25-to-40 year old Generation X non-Schwab clients, which acted as a focus group providing valuable market research for the company. Based on insights from the community, Schwab lowered account minimums to $1,000, introduced a high-yield investor checking account and developed an online landing page specifically for the Gen X target. Schwab has added 32% more Gen Xers since the online community was launched.

Nike launched the Breakfast Club to promote the Jordan Brand. The club is an interactive online basketball training community. Customers can select pre-built workout curriculums or create individual programs and hear from celebrated coaches on the pursuit of improving their game. The self-built programs incorporate a social component through peer assessments. 120,000 consumers signed up, and when the Training Tool for the Breakfast Club launched in August 2006, 100,000 more unique visitors came to the site than the previous year. Visitors spent an average of six minutes on the site.

The common thread in all these examples is that the content was relevant to the audience. The companies and their respective agencies were instrumental in coming up with campaigns that were fresh and had a hook to keep customers coming back for more. All good marketing and PR professionals agree that you can be present on Wikipedia, Facebook, Linkedin, Digg and wherever else, but if the content you are pushing is not interesting to your audience, simply being there will do nothing for you. The advantage of being online is that the “stickyness factor,” will have a viral effect.

Even trade shows are emerging online. PR practitioners must begin to navigate how best to leverage these virtual experiences for their cusomters and must elevate the level of content they can provide to make up for the lack of human interaction. Historically, setting up and preparing content for media and analyst interviews has been a primary function of public relations agencies.

Unisfair, a Silicon Valley based software company, powers virtual events for companies like IBM, Cisco, Quest and Adweek. The events include everything one would find at a live event, including a grand entrance hall, exhibitor booths, and networking forums through instant messaging. Attendees can listen to guest speakers, meet in virtual meeting rooms, and download whitepapers, podcasts and other valuable content from exhibitors. Brent Arslaner, VP of Marketing for Unisfair, says the advantage is being able to generate extremely targeted leads by being able to see who clicked on your virtual booth, downloaded your materials, listened to your speakers and chatted with your virtual sales reps. While this forum might not be an avenue that many companies are ready for, early adapters are having tremendous success drawing attendance and generating qualified leads from these events. Arslaner estimates on average that sponsors can expect to generate 10% of qualified leads from the total number of attendees.

And what about those customers who are simply not behind a computer all day long (i.e construction and even sales people in the field)? How can your company or agency reach them? Vancouver, Canada-based AirG powers mobile technology that enables mobile social networking and boasts the largest mobile community at 20 million customers globally. Most major wireless carriers have a branded version of the technology. AirG says 60% of its customers still do not have computers. The mobile equivalent has the same essential components of other social networks in that users can create profiles, join chat rooms, share photos, and blog through their mobile phone. It does not require a PDA and is accessible on most handsets. The appeal to marketers is that they can zero in with great precision on targets, based on the demographic of the wireless carrier and the profile information of the users in the network.

Companies such as West Coast Customs, creators of the famous MTV show “Pimp My Ride,” used the AirG network to run a highly successful give-away contest aimed at urban youth. The company offered Boost Mobile’s “Hookt” network a chance to win a “pimped out” or customized Dodge Charger. Allison Johnson, communications director for AirG says, “the campaign solicited 1.5 millions entries, which we considered a huge success.”
There are many low-cost tactics companies can do right away to improve their visibility to target customers and ensure they don’t get lost in the information abyss. Creativity is getting companies of all sizes out from under the places they were formerly stuck. In this infinite sea of online outlets for entertainment, communication and information, will your message get lost?

Contact Zenzi for a multi-touch marketing analysis to learn how to best position your company for success.

Increasingly, companies are searching for ways to reach specific niches online and capture customer their information. There are many low-cost tactics companies can do right away to improve their visibility and ensure regular communication with potential customers. Anyone on the first page of Google is your competition, so first identify what terms your customers are using to search for products and services like yours and which online outlets your customers visit for information.

Amy Selbach, Business Development Director for Zenzi, a San Diego based PR and marketing firm offers the following tips:

Make a list of search terms you think consumers may be using to find you online.
Use WordTracker.com and Overture.com to indicate key search terms for your business and include those search terms in your press releases and web content.

Create videos and podcasts and host them behind a registration page. I.e. if you are a tax specialist, offer a tax seminar on the SBA’s Web site or a hyperlink to your site where prospects can download in exchange for their contact information which you can pass off to sales teams.

Use customers to do your marketing for you.

Use sites like stumbleupon.com and del.icio.us.com, which allow members of the community to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on sites submitted. The more approval votes a site receives, the more it is forwarded to other members of the community who have expressed interest in that type of content.

Establish relationships with key bloggers and Web sites that cover your subject matter. Keep pitching them but also comment on their pages with your product name incorporating key words for your service or product.

Include hotlinks to special landing pages in the first paragraph of your press releases or newsletters rather than your general URL so that you can track where leads are coming from.

Zenzi was awarded with the Edward Bernays Bronze Anvil Award of Commendation for media relations in consumer goods. The company was recognized for its extensive Aptera Electric Car campaign and was chosen among more than 900 contestants.

Zenzi has been in business since 2002 with a mission of helping clients to successfully stand out in a cluttered marketplace by increasing awareness and garnering praise in the media world. Aptera Motors is creating a new electric car, currently in the production phase, due to be released at the end of 2008.  Aptera Motors choose Zenzi because of the company’s established relationships with the media and creative, edgy thinking, which aligns perfectly with Aptera’s mission. 

“We are so honored to receive the Bronze Anvil Award of Commendation,” said
Sarah Znerold, President of Zenzi. “Our team has worked very hard on getting
the right coverage for Aptera’s electric car and getting the awareness they need.”

The PRSA has been in business since 1947 with the objective to advance the
standards of public relations. They offer many resources for achieving any
objectives in the industry. There are strategic planning and tactical capabilities
that are available through a source of best ideas, techniques, practices and
research.

Challenge: Zenzi was tasked to create awareness and recognition for Ignify’s e-commerce platform in the small to medium enterprise space. Zenzi formulated a strategy to differentiate and leverage Ignify’s unique features such as heuristic trending and advanced security precautions that are common in the large enterprise space – but not affordable to the smaller enterprises.

Solution: Zenzi called on its trusted relationships with technology and business media and analysts to establish Ignify as a thought leader in e-commerce solutions for the SME market and creatively pitched story ideas to editors and analysts. We positioned Ignify as an excellent business model for feature stories and company profiles as well as an expert source to comment on the validity of current trends. By developing case studies that showed the value and benefits of Ignify’s solutions, Zenzi was able to penetrate an incredibly crowed media space and garner accolades for Ignify from analysts and top-tier media alike.

Results: Sandeep Walia, President of Ignify is now considered an authority in e-commerce order placement and security and fraud prevention, appearing in top national business publications such as Forbes and BusinessWeek. They have had frequent appearances in top-tier trade publications including CRN, Computerworld, eWeek, Internet Retailer, RIS News, E-Commerce Times and others. As a result of a well-rounded PR campaign, Ignify has been able to leverage media recognition creating a name in the industry for e-commerce while expanding into areas such as ERP, Business Intelligence and CRM. The media attention has helped foster attention from Microsoft. Today, Ignify is a Microsoft Gold Partner and has expanded into the large enterprise market, serving customers including Black & Decker, Microsoft, Aerosoles and Giant Bikes among others.

According to Walia, “Zenzi has been a strong element of Ignify’s success story. The amount of positive coverage we have received in two years has been more than what we expected. We couldn’t have made the ranking of the 178th fastest growing business in America without their help.”

Challenge: fix8 tasked Zenzi with the product launch of a little-known technology that allows IM users to create customized avatars and animated video using webcams. Its main objective was to introduce the product to consumers and drive its free download offering online. Their initial target market was heavy Internet users age 25 and under who use Instant Messenger, AIM, Skype etc. to communicate to colleagues or friends. The primary obstacle was that no one would be looking for this technology online so education about the technology and leveraging ways to demonstrate the functionality and utility of the software was crucial.

Solution: Zenzi planned a viral and interactive online campaign to reach their target audience and accomplish their download goals. The plan incorporated key data from research based on how to penetrate tech savvy, youthful Internet users by studying habits of this demographic. The integrated plan employed the use of social networking sites, tech blogs, creative demonstrations at tradeshows, traditional media outreach and analyst relations to blitz the market and drive traffic to the website.

Zenzi provided detailed recommendations for the improvement of the fix8 site, software and download process as wel as web developer referrals to expedite the remodel so that it was ready to publicize. Zenzi used our connections to outreach to syndicated bloggers, consumer review sites, free download sites, video sharing sites and social networking page development and cross-promotions.
We leveraged top properties including MySpace, Facebook, Technorati, Bebo, BlackPlanet, Classmates, Cyworld, eCrush, Friendster, LavaLife, MSN, Tagged, Twitter, Xanga, Yahoo!, YouTube, 606Tech, Blogburst Network, BlogoWogo, BusinessWeek’s Tech Beat, CenterNetworks, Darla Mack, Business 2.0’s Dawn Patrol, GigaOm, Gizmodo, Mashable Social Networking News, ReadWriteWeb, Red Herring’s Internet & Media, Rojo, Techquila Shots, Business 2.0’s ThirdScreen, Wired’s GadgetLab and GameLife, and ZDNet’s Office Automation. Social pages on Myspace Facebook and LinkedIn were used to share the latest news, videos and coverage to validate fix8’s offering, and invite their rapidly-increasing friends’ groups to share the software, participate in top software reviews, and comment on blogs to achieve maximum viral impact.An educational video was developed and pushed to media, bloggers and analysts to introduce and illustrate the technology.

Results: By leveraging relationships with top bloggers, analysts and tech media the Zenzi team achieved “wire like” syndication of fix8 reviews and news stories to reach key target markets and map our efforts directly back to business development. Positive coverage from such respected bloggers has quickly gained attention, acceptance and validation of fix8 among a typically fickle (and difficult to reach) teen/college market.

We built tremendous momentum for fix8 in just a few months and secured 260 news clips. The dollar equivalency is $1,388,258 in ad dollars, 85,215,532 in web traffic and 213,038,830 in total readership. Zenzi grew the number of downloads on the fix8 site from 554 to over 60, 000 in just four months. Our targeted campaigns have also been instrumental in securing key partnerships for fix8. The company now offers Zenzi’s full support in promoting partnership announcements in order to sweeten deals, and secure targeted agreements more quickly.