Category: Good, Done Well

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Good, Done Well

Press Release Protocol for SMBs and NGOs

North Coast Communications Press Release Protocol for SMBs and NGOs Hero Image

A press release protocol is a strategic necessity.

True, the press release is not the cornerstone of public relations and communications it once was. But information is no longer produced and distributed the way it once was. Newsprint, cable, and radio news desks are no longer the exclusive arbiters of what is, or what is not, news.

Nonetheless, a press release should remain part of your digital public relations and communications strategy. Because, when publishing and distribution are well planned, a press release benefits your brand, organization, or campaign in multiple ways.

How a press release helps you

  1. A press release is a factor in your online discoverability (i.e., SEO).
  2. A press release is a source for secondary and repurposed content (i.e., social media).
  3. A press release captures and demonstrates institutional credibility and performance.
  4. A press release is a critical step for developing media relations and winning media coverage.
  5. A press release is a vehicle for building customer trust and engagement.

The press release is still important.

And, in the age of digital public relations and paywall journalism, it remains one of the only sources of information that everyone can still freely access and one of the most trusted. That’s important, too.

With all that said, don’t count on a newswire service to do the heavy lifting for you. Simply submitting a press release to one of the many pay-for services won’t guarantee distribution to your target audience. You may just end up paying exorbitant sums for mere vanity metrics and no publicity.

Instead, first ask, how should I publish and distribute my press release?

A step-by-step guide for your press release

This is a modern press release protocol for SMBs and NGOs.

Use it and you’ll not only own your news, but you’ll see if it blazes, burns, or fizzles. Then, if your analytics suggest that your community digs it, distribute it via paid newswire to traditional media for more consideration, and to reach more of your target audience.

An 11-Step Modern Press Release Protocol

  1. Define keywords or phrases that will attract attention from your target audience. Include them in the headline.
  2. Create a meta description that accurately summarizes the content and reinforces its key value to the reader. Use that meta description as a subtitle under the headline.
  3. Optimize the content for online search. Include keywords throughout the piece but maintain readability. Use subheadings to improve readability and break up text into logical segments.
  4. Include calls-to-action for direct access to related information. Include links to relevant pages on your website. Include a quote or two. A quote can increase the likelihood of it being published should the editor/writer decide to run it as a brief. Include a contact for additional reporting inquiries.
  5. Now own the press release. Embed it in your website. Create a dedicated URL and more feature content and social media sharing widgets. Link to it from other pages on your site and, if possible, partner sites.
  6. Provide a sharable and printable PDF version. Include high-resolution photos and videos as part of a hosted digital media kit.
  7. Push the release to customers and prospects via email, chat, community groups, etc. Share it directly with social media influencers interested in your niche.
  8. Share on social media using hashtags identical to the press release keywords and phrases. Follow social engagement strategies to promote it.
  9. Stop and listen. Analyze audience feedback, site traffic, and any social chatter. Is your audience talking about it? What is the general sentiment?
  10. If you are sensing traction, pitch your release to your favorite journalist as an exclusive or to your media list.
  11. Ready to go further and you have the budget? Pay up. Pick a newswire service and push your press release to editors and journalists. There are many options: PR Newswire, Business Wire, GlobeNewswire, PRWeb, eReleases, Newswire Today, Press Release Jet, Newsmaker, PR Underground, Nova Release, and more. Want to scale down? Consider regional or niche-specific options.

Performance review

This is a press release protocol for SMBs and NGOs. It can be improved and tailored to your needs.

You followed the steps above. Now take some time to look at what worked and what didn’t. Here are some sample questions to kick off your review.

Performance Review Sample Questions

  • Did we adhere to an effective schedule?
  • Did we have the right target audience for our news?
  • What does engagement data from owned media indicate?
  • What does engagement data from paid media indicate?
  • Did we get earned media coverage? Who are their readers?
  • Does the demographic data for engagement align with our audience personas? Maybe there is a new market to target.

For SMBs and NGOs, a press release protocol is a strategic necessity for effective digital public relations and communications. Plan your distribution well and your brand, organization, or campaign will benefit. Make it a component of your digital public relations and communications toolkit.

If you have questions, we can help.

If you want to download or share this article, here is a PDF.

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Good, Done Well

Digital PR and Communications to Grow a Community Organization

Newton Southeast Little League logo

North Coast Communications used digital PR and communications to help Newton Southeast Little League recruit players and volunteers and raise funds for youth sports programming.

Review

North Coast Communications (NCC) was brought on to assist our Massachusetts little league organization with off-season registration and communication activities.  E-mail and registration communication metrics were significantly higher under NCC management, when compared to metrics of prior years.  NCC was adept in managing social media accounts and partnered seamlessly with league representatives in the generation of content across several platforms.  I fully expect our league will engage NCC in the future on new collaborations.  Highly recommend!

Kyle Mikulis, Google Review

North Coast managed the organization’s social media and email marketing channels, producing newsletter and social media content for Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and led its communications and distribution strategy.

For North Coast Communications, it wasn’t the first time working with a mission-driven organization or managing social media accounts. (In fact, I did these tasks frequently as a Federal government contractor.) We’re happy to support youth sports because we know first-hand how they can positively impact a child’s life. That’s #GoodDoneWell.

How can North Coast can help you? Tell us.

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Good, Done Well

Copywriting, Copyediting, and Strategic Communication Services for Government Relations Firm

A journal on a desk and a pen that conveys North Coast Communications' experience providing copywriting, copyediting, and strategic communication services.

North Coast Communications (NCC) provided copywriting, copyediting, and strategic communication services to American Defense International, Inc. (ADI), a government relations firm serving public sector defense and national security clients. North Coast Comms rewrote and reorganized ADI’s business development proposal template and recommended best-practice digital enhancements.

North Coast kicked off the project by conducting remote interviews with ADI executives and managers to understand,

  1. ADI’s service offerings and value proposition,
  2. client recruitment process,
  3. its clients’ commercial interests and psychographic profiles, and
  4. the strengths and weaknesses of ADI’s prior business development proposal template.

NCC supplemented interview data with industry and competitor research. And, after completing interviews and secondary research, we submitted meeting notes and bullets to the ADI project leader for review and approval.

This is how we like to work: hand-in-hand with our clients. It helps ensure clarity and helps stick to timelines and budgets.

Next, we produced and submitted the first draft revision of ADI’s proposal template. This included recommendations and comments that helped ADI achieve internal consensus about marketing its brand services. NCC presented the revision to multiple ADI staff and co-led a live review, discussion, and feedback session.

North Coast Communications then adopted ADI feedback into a pre-planned second revision for submission, which was ultimately accepted with final edits as the project deliverable.

By understanding ADI’s value proposition and differentiators and the project and stakeholder goals, NCC smoothly produced an articulate, modular business proposal template that is consistent with ADI’s brand voice and business development objectives.

We are confident the new business proposal will help ADI win business, save ADI overhead and staff time, and support ADI’s brand messaging.

That’s how we do copywriting, copyediting, and strategic communication services. That’s good, done well.

Learn more about our work.

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Good, Done Well

Website Development and Brand Consulting Project

An image of Pepek Legal's homepage.
Pepek Legal

North Coast Communications successfully concluded a website development and brand consulting project with Pepek PLLC, a Massachusetts and Washington, DC, law firm. The final deliverables? A tidy and comprehensive one-page WordPress website, pepeklegal.com, and a company story and brand that support its service offerings.

NCC did an excellent job helping to create a website for my law practice. Not only did they create an impressive looking website in a timely manner, their consultation helped focus our marketing and improved our own strategies for communicating with potential clients. Highly recommend.

Wil Pepek, Google Review

There is a lot of pre-work required to stand up a website. For instance, project leadership needs to make several important decisions about the company brand and how it reflects culture. Especially true when a business or project is in its early stages or making a pivot.

Fortunately, we have prior experience in website development and brand consulting. With our input, the client better defined its differentiating qualities and value proposition. Now, it can effectively market itself and leverage its enhanced digital.

Organizations all need some form of public relations. Often, public relations start with a website. In this case, we provided the client with on-brand digital images and website copywriting and editing. Additionally, we determined the structure and organization using best-practices for similar websites.

Most importantly, we performed the technical tasks required to successfully develop, launch, and publish the site. This included,

  • working backend DNS servers,
  • acquiring website hosting services,
  • implementing security and SSL protocol, and
  • maximizing SEO discoverability.

Frankly, we don’t know many public relations consultants, communications specialists, or marketers that can do this scope of work. But we can. And we do it high quality, efficiently, and at a good value for our clients.

That’s probably why we have a 5-star client rating. That’s Good, Done Well.

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Good, Done Well

North Coast, Bizzell Group Support CDC Global Health Division Covid-19 Response

Logos for The Bizzell Group and North Coast Communications

North Coast Communications has agreed to subcontract with The Bizzell Group, a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 8(a) consulting firm, to support their Policy and Communication Support Services prime contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Global Health Protection.

North Coast will support Division of Global Health Protection (DGHP) policy and issues management activities on behalf of DGHP to the COVID-19 response and International Task Force (ITF). North Coast will also collect, analyze, and respond to COVID-19 data and information inquiries directed to DGHP and the ITF from CDC leadership, U.S. Federal and international stakeholders, and multilateral partners involved in global public health and global health security work and initiatives.

This is a major milestone for North Coast Communications. It is an honor to work with The Bizzell Group and support a respected and world-class agency like CDC. This work furthers our Good, Done Well mission and helping others overcome the Covid-19 pandemic is an extremely meaningful endeavor.

North Coast Communications helps social impact organizations, initiatives, and campaigns achieve communications and public relations success. While you focus on your mission, we focus on communicating your story – so your audience knows that your good work is indeed done well.

Forward!
David Silverman

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Good, Done Well

Consulting A Mission-Driven Organization

Passion led us here, Ian Schneider

One of our early engagements with communications and management consulting was in supporting a mission-driven organization. This one, a non-profit. Because a 501c3 non-profit must serve the public in some way, it was a professionally formative experience—not simply in terms of skills, ability, and knowledge but in forming and articulating professional interests, goals, and ambitions.

It is wonderful that we will be partnering with that same non-profit once more. As we look back on that early engagement and compare their prior challenges with their current objectives, our past success is a platform to stand up a new, crafted solution and scalable process that will help them serve the public once again.

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Good, Done Well

Audience Segmentation in Public Affairs

Source: Gary Fox

Getting the right message in front of the right person at the right moment is easy–if you have a bottomless budget and unlimited time. The truth is no one has both and most folks have neither.

That’s why North Coast Communications is helping a state-level advocacy campaign focused on enhancing the voting process. And we are seeing early and promising success in our social media campaign.

Why? Because we know the audience. We knew the audience before we started testing. Frankly, we knew the audience before we even started planning.

If you can have those audience insights early, you are, in effect, creating extra time and budget for your project or campaign.

Apropos, this article on Psychographic Segmentation from Unbounce. It is a rock-solid introduction.

Your campaign, project, or nonprofit can–and should–use psychographic segmentation and other audience learnings to improve your communications and outreach. If you need help, reach out for a free consultation.

-David

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Good, Done Well

Building a Better Digital Presence for NH Tech and Business Lawyer

“I needed a strategic approach and technical know-how to build and harmonize my organization’s brand and digital presence. North Coast Communications listened first and then provided communications and marketing advice. David stood up a nice, clean website for me and made sure my story was told well and told consistently across digital platforms.” -Ross W. Fishbein, Managing Partner at Fishbein Legal

Lawyers and law firms, like charities and nonprofits, need to differentiate themselves. In today’s world, that means building an effective and honest brand and digital presence.

North Coast Communications connected with Ross, understood his needs, scoped out the work, and set up a timeline and workplan. Then, we went into the lab and completed his project, on time, on budget, and to his complete satisfaction.

I started North Coast Communications to help folks like Ross build their brand and digital presence. Fishbein Legal does great work. Not only is Ross is involved in his community, but he frequently provides pro-bono and low-fee legal services to nascent and small local businesses. He understands Good, Done Well and what North Coast Communications is all about.

So, if you need help finding or raising your digital voice, let’s talk about it. Just email me, and we’ll set up a time to chat.

Forward!

David

An image of Fishbein Legal website.
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Good, Done Well

Digital Activity 2021

To us, recent CDC guidance suggests fewer people will be looking at their screens in 2021 than data and research firms predicted.

Namely, because more people will be looking at loved ones.

So, we wanted to re-issue the argument we made on Twitter back in early February. (Twitter is a great place for an argument, by the way.)

Specifically, that compared to the predictions of some big research and analytics firms, there will be less (not more, but less) digital activity in 2021.

Have a different prediction on digital activity for 2021? We are here for it.

Data is black and white.
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Good, Done Well

North Coast Communications Launches Brand Website and Social Media

We exist to help social impact organizations, campaigns, and nonprofits plan, launch, and manage their communications and public relations.

Consequently, we take brand style and look-and-feel seriously. Here is some of the thinking and review that went into our own site.

The website is purposely austere, simple, and direct. It is built on the WordPress Twenty Twenty Theme. It employs two sanserif fonts, Poppins and Open Sans, for easy reading and includes a pallet of subtle primary colors: blue, black, and white. Lastly, a neon pink serves as a bold accent color. No space is wasted.

The logo, designed by David N. Silverman, evokes nautical navigation. The “N” suggests the directional, north, and represents the first word in the company name. Encircled, like compass face, by two “Cs” that educe the navigational. Together, these elements convey the brand initialism: NCC, North Coast Communications.

Learn more about us and follow along here and on social media.