3 Missing Ingredients From Many Online PR and Internet Marketing Blogs

Does the world really need another PR blog even one specializing in Online PR? Obviously, the answer is yes because, a) you’re reading this PR blog and b) the money’s been spent on branding so there’s no turning back. 🙂

In my prep research of blogs of all marketing types-Internet marketing, Offline PR, Online PR, Publicity, SEO, and more, the same missing ingredients kept popping up.

Granted, there is a TON of great content out there. (One look at my bookmark and tags list will tell you that.)

And yet there seems to be little to no attention given to well, attention! As in ours is most fleeting and we are all stricken with surfer-it is and ADD. So what’s the solution?

A start would be if any PR blog, mine included would contain the following ingredients:

Missing ingredient #1: “consume-ability”

Missing ingredient #2: “context”

Missing ingredient #3: “action steps”

To clarify, the goal isn’t trace amounts or to simply touch on these missing ingredients. These missing ingredients need prominence and priority. That way, they’ll register and hit home with the desired audience while the reader transitions from casual observer to active participant.

Let me walk you through a scenario. Say you find a PRblog article or online PR post about how to write optimized press releases. The post or article is well written and provides some follow up resources and additional links.

Will you take action on what you’ve learned? If you’re like 99% of most people, the answer is no. You’ll bookmark that PR blog article, maybe even print it out, stuff it in a folder and go about your business.

Yet, if that article contained the three missing ingredients stated previously, the likelihood of you going from learning to doing jumps dramatically. So at this PR blog are we taking our own medicine? You betcha! (Did Sarah Palin ruin this expression for future use? Sure hope not.)

Let’s look at each ingredient individually…

Missing ingredient #1:  “consume-ability”

Question: how inviting is a paragraph of 7 lines or more? Answer: not very.  Of course, more goes into making content easier to consume than just eye flow. For example, how easy is it to extract the salient points?

This PR Blog has a recipe for consume-ability that includes:

• Short paragraphs to easily scan and comprehend
• Each PR blog post and article features a “story highlights” summary
• Fewer and simpler major points
• Items are bulleted like you see here

Missing ingredient #2: “context”
With the information glut a growing beast, never was the time greater for helping us trim the fat and put things in perspective.

30MinutePR’s recipe for this missing ingredient includes:

• Major points are presented so as to be absorbed by both big picture thinkers as well as more  detail-oriented folk.
• Wherever possible, added documentation is provided.
• Wherever possible, positive and negative ratings are provided to a) filter out the noise and non-contenders and thus b) simplify decision making.
• Wherever possible to provide a past/present/future context.

Missing ingredient #3: “action steps”
Granted, not every article or blog post is “how to” in orientation. Action steps don’t have to be long or detailed. If someone reads to the end it’s only natural to expand on what’s next.

30MinutePR’s recipe for this missing ingredient includes:

• Articles/PR blog posts concludes with action steps
• Action steps can be completed in 30 minutes
• Each action step builds on the next and relates to an over arching whole

Finally, my intention here is not to slam other PR blogs or any marketing blogs but to acknowledge that we can be of greater service to our readers and customers. In so doing, we make our own efforts more successful because people go from learning to doing that much faster. In essence, by modifying our information marketing content to include the three missing ingredients, we take a more active role in the success of others. Make sense?

So what’s the best way for you to leverage this newfound knowledge? Try this: write the 3 missing ingredients on a sticky or index card. (To jog your memory if you can’t recall them by heart.) Then, when you either generate or consume information, use the 3 missing ingredients as a filter.

Story highlights and action steps:

• Time to review: 12 minutes
• Information marketing is more valuable when it contains the following:
• Missing ingredient #1: consume-ability
• Missing ingredient #2: context
• Missing ingredient #3: action steps
• The PR Blog 30MinutePR provides a recipe that includes missing ingredients
• Action Steps:
  • Feedback and comments?
  • Write the 3 missing ingredients on an index card and use it as a filter for evaluating any information you consume
• Related resources: Sean D’Souza’s PsychoTactics.com