Building a brand from scratch is hard work, that’s for sure. One of the key elements to getting there is the development of a key message – when you disseminate the same message in different ways, you create a consistent prospect and customer perception of what you’re all about. That makes it easy for them to recognize you and keeps you perpetually top of mind.

You know what’s really interesting, and incredibly surprising? Smaller companies and sometimes, even really huge companies lack a consistent and concise key message. They don’t have what “those in the biz” call an “elevator pitch”—which is, basically, if you had 30 seconds in an elevator to tell someone what your company did, what you would tell them. Instead, companies tend to keep their message fluid and constantly changing without one consistent message stemming from the top exec or business owner saying, “Hey folks – this is what we do, why it’s important and how we are different from our competitors.”

So, how do you define your key message and the supporting arguments to competitively differentiate yourself in today’s crowded and loud marketplace?

Here are some ideas:

-          Create a corporate messaging document that defines your mission.

-          Standardize product and service descriptions with the associated benefits.

-          Select the words you use to describe the value you bring to your customers.

-          Define how you treat your customers and why service is important.

-          Circulate this messaging to all employees – with a special focus on sales, your “feet on the street,” so to speak.

-          Use it as a guide to draft all marketing collateral, Web copy and customer communications.

Just like anything, you hear something multiple times, and it “sticks.” You want who you are, what you’re about, the products, and, most importantly, the value you bring to your customers to “stick” in the market. This will help increase awareness of your company, drive more people to your site, and help you get your message across.

A consistent brand builds loyalty, so you can keep your customer retention numbers up and spur online customer advocates that spread the digital “word-of-mouth” through social media. And, that results in more site traffic, more leads and, in the end: revenue growth.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to develop messaging and a branding strategy that fuels growth, you should think about attending Thrive 2010: The Ins and Outs of Online Marketing. It’s an all-day online seminar focused on helping businesses boost growth by harnessing the power of the web. Speakers will be covering things like how to communicate with customers to strengthen loyalty, what communication channels work, how online press releases with the right messages drive traffic to your site and a whole bunch of other essential marketing tactics for differentiating yourself in the new age.

Consistent communication is essential to success – knowing the basics of how to do it- especially today- can be a bit complicated, but, I promise, there is a way!

Key Messages are Key to Marketing and Sales Success was posted at Blogging PRWeb. | http://www.bloggingprweb.com

If you took an informal survey today about where people get their commercial information, it’s highly likely most folks would avidly reply: “The Web, of course!” Or, when asked, “where did you hear that?” Their reply? “I ‘Googled’ it!” Easy—and immediate–enough.

But what does this mean behind the scenes? How does “stuff” get “Google-able, “Tweet”-able, or just made ready for a Facebook user to share with their friends?

The answers can seem confusing, and even at times overwhelming, as the “digg-erati” talk about the intricacies of Search Engine Optimization, hash-tags, Web 2.0, mash-ups and more.

When it comes to deciphering new media, remembering that “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is extremely important. You attract customers in much the same way you always have: by having great products and services. Their satisfaction and positive (and negative) impression makes people share stories about you with their friends. You might also snag some coverage in the news media in one form another – local, global or trade.

Through it all, “word-of-mouth advertising” is still in fashion. What has changed is the speed at which the good news (or –“oh no!” bad news) about your business spreads. Thanks to the Internet, the good, bad and the ugly spreads like wildfire.  And, that places new requirements on you to understand how you can facilitate, manage, measure and track that process, so you can attract more customers, stay ahead of the competition and keep your business growing.

We see the success that the new digital world is creating; exciting stories of business growth, and great new relationships formed. We also see some puzzlement – and confusion. People are just not sure where to start first.

Together with some PRWeb partners, we’re putting on an online event to help businesses learn the basics of interactive and online marketing. Its called “Thrive 2010: The ins and Outs of Online Marketing.”  It focuses on the fundamental tools and strategies for achieving success in the new digital world – but, in simple language.

Many of us who live in this new-fangled social media world took a leap to get here. We had to figure out how it all worked–the best practices for helping our own businesses and our customers tap the power of social media and Web 2.0 technologies to take marketing and its revenue impact to new heights. And, now, tweeting, sharing, blogging and all the other “stuff” that goes along with social media is actually pretty fun. What life and work should be all about, right?

What are your thoughts, or emotions, about leaping into the new digital world?

Are You “Tweet-able?” was posted at Blogging PRWeb. | http://www.bloggingprweb.com

This morning we announced our new online newsroom product.  Our goal in developing this product is to provide you with something SEO and social media friendly that takes only a few minutes to set up.  Additionally, anyone can set-up and preview a newsroom without paying for it so anyone who wants to play with their newsroom before publishing it, has that ability.

It promises to be:

• A Resource for Bloggers and Journalists – Most research indicates that the vast majority of journalists and bloggers feel an online newsroom is something a company should have.  This product will provide the countless bloggers and journalists who read your news on PRWeb with an additional resource to help them create their story about your news.
• Enhanced Visibility for your Brand – The online newsroom becomes a hub for all of your PR collateral and news releases, driving increased visibility for your news content.
• A Consumer Resource – For those customers who use PRWeb primarily to interact with customers and prospects, the newsroom provides an additional source of information for those consumers who wish to learn more about your company before making a purchase.

Here is a little walk-through of the new product for anyone interested.

Step 1 – Navigating to your newsroom
To access your newsroom management screen, scroll over ‘My Account’ and click on ‘Newsrooms.’

Step 2 – Create a Newsroom
You will now be in the newsroom management console.  Click on ‘Create a New Newsroom’ to enter the newsroom editor.

Step 3 – Edit your Newsroom
The newsroom editor uses a WYSIWYG interface.  To edit the different components of your newsroom simply click on the ‘Edit’ link associated with that component and edit away.  The newsroom editor is integrated into your multimedia file manager as well as your news management console.

The multimedia drag-and-drop interface is very similar to the file management system that supports news release editing and also provides access to the multimedia files in your file library.

The news releases that will appear on your online newsroom will be drawn directly from your PRWeb account.  We provide you with the ability to control which client group will display, how the releases will be grouped, and even which elements of the newsroom you’d like to display.

Step 4 – Preview your Newsroom
When you have made all of your content edits and are satisfied with your newsroom then preview it to see what it will look like once it is live.

Step 5 – Publish your Newsroom
When you are satisfied with the look and feel of your newsroom, go ahead and publish it.  You can always go back later and make modifications to it.  Note: the only thing you can’t modify once you have published your newsroom is the URL so choose it carefully.

Introducing the PRWeb Online Newsroom was posted at Blogging PRWeb. | http://www.bloggingprweb.com

Inc.com offers a series of slide shows oriented around a broad array of topics including 11 Ways to Land Media Coverage. Their #2 way is to use distribution channels and they have listed several of the major news distribution services including PRWeb!

PRWeb Listed as a Top Way to Land Media Coverage by Inc.com was posted at Blogging PRWeb. | http://www.bloggingprweb.com

For years, PRWeb has offered press release subscription services to thousands of journalists, bloggers, Web publishers and others interested in receiving breaking news from us.  Actually our current subscriber base currently exceeds 35,000!

Traditionally, we sent out press releases as individual e-mails.  That was fine when the volume of our press releases was more limited but now that we are publishing hundreds of press releases each day it has caused a problem with some of our subscribers (who are already receiving press releases from other sources). 

To help these subscribers cut down on the volume of press releases they receive each day we have consolidated all the news releases into one compact daily news digest, sent out first thing every morning. 

Sample News Release Digest

Subscribing couldn’t be easier

Read our official announcement

Update to our News Subscription Service was posted at Blogging PRWeb. | http://www.bloggingprweb.com

New and Improved NewsPad – PRWeb’s NewsPad search engine has been completely overhauled to provide more than just press releases in the search results. Images, Web sites (including blogs) linking to releases, and podcasts are now included. Newspad.com is a PRWeb property used for searching the PRWeb archive of content. NewsPad searches also create RSS feeds; when subscribed to, these feeds will alert you when new releases have been added to the search results.

File Library – PRWeb has improved its news content management capabilities by adding the File Library Console to the PRWeb platform. PRWeb users can now upload all file types into their File Library for easy and ready access. The File Library utilizes a “drag-and-drop” user interface to make managing your files and attaching them to your press releases quick and easy to do.

Improved BlogThis – The BlogThis feature has been enhanced to enable inclusion of the embedded video from the press release in the blog post being created about the release. BlogThis will also now identify categories used by the blogger and allow them to be assigned to the corresponding blog post. PRWeb has also made the BlogThis tool available to all bloggers, whether or not they are PRWeb account holders.

PRWeb User Enhancements was posted at Blogging PRWeb. | http://www.bloggingprweb.com