By Dave Yonkman How do you vet companies with which you might do business? If you’re anything like 90% of buyers, you turn to an online search engine like Google. For the past 20 years you wanted to place the right words on your website and in your marketing so search engines find and feature your company. Commonly called Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it gets you found by people looking for your solutions to their specific problems. The process of getting noticed by customers is undergoing a seismic shift as consumers start using artificial intelligence (AI). They leverage ChatGPT, Claude and Llama for text and data these days. AI influences their purchasing decisions, with 12% of buyers now asking it to suggest the best products and services in their category. You need to get your company on that list to stay in the game. The number of users on AI platforms will continue to grow quickly. It only took 5 days for ChatGPT to reach 100 million users (currently 180 million users). It took TikTok 9 months to get there. Usage will increase as the technology improves and its information becomes more recent and reliable. Not all content created by AI is helpful. Too many people ask it to write finished copy for marketing material like blog posts, website descriptions and press releases that they pass off as their own. It often contains little valuable information or original thought. It’s like serving your customers a hot dog when they ordered steak, and claiming it’s the same. Google recognized the problem, and in 2024 it went into overdrive on delisting websites from its search results that publish unhelpful and unoriginal content. As a result, demand for original and authentic information has never been greater. It gives you new opportunities to define your business and get in front of the customers you want. How do you create content that search engines will find when AI requests it? Glad you asked. Here are 5 proven strategies to strengthen your online presence. 1. Optimize your website for search engines. You want customers on your website. It’s where your Calls to Action and order forms for your products and services lie. Is your website optimized for mobile devices? How quickly does it load? Did you structure the data correctly? These things matter to search engines. Place your keywords – the words most commonly used by your business and industry – throughout all of your content to improve your SEO. Research Google Trends or Moz to find trending keywords that work for you. Describe photos with your keywords, in product information and in Frequently Asked Questions. Publish high-quality and original articles related to your industry regularly on your company blog. 250 words or less often works fine. Buyers want informative websites they can navigate easily. They will quickly bounce to a competitor if yours falls short. 2. Earn news media coverage. Research news media that cover your industry. Send reporters, producers and editors the latest information about your company. They want to know about your products, changes in leadership and milestones. They won’t write about everything you send them but they want to know what’s happening. Become a trusted resource. Send helpful news tips to them even when they’re not about your business. Be accessible and responsive when they’re on a tight deadline. You can even earn yourself the benefit of the doubt should any malcontent attempt to publicly harm your reputation. Use your keywords in all of your communications with members of the news media. They will naturally adopt your language when they write about you, which results in more traffic to your website. Nothing builds trust with search engines and your customers more than reputable, disinterested third-party news coverage of your company. 3. AIs will scan reviews. How many stars have you earned on Google? Are clients leaving satisfied reviews? Buyers want to know about the experiences others have had with your products and services. To get testimonials, you only need to ask for them. Send your clients an email with a link to the site where you would like them to post a brief comment on their experience. Provide a link to testimonials on your website to inspire them. You can even write a sample for them. Also, search for online journals that publish “Top 10” and “Best of” type lists. Submit your offerings. You never know if they will include you in their next list. AI and search engines want to know how others perceive you. Not only what you tell them. 4. Don’t forget social media. Has anyone mentioned you on LinkedIn or X lately? How many followers do you have on the platforms? Do you update your accounts regularly? Social media matters. Consumers want to hear directly from you. They also want to know about the authentic experiences of others with your company. They know you wouldn’t post a negative testimonial on your own website if one even existed. Social media provides platforms for direct interaction with your customers and influencers who talk about your industry. Give people something to talk about. Start conversations on how you’re adapting to industry trends that will make their lives easier. How does your product or service solve their problems? MoonPie launched its #MoonPieToTheMoon2024 social media petition asking NASA to send one of its treats to outer space on the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The humor resonated well with consumers and revived a dormant convenience store pastry. You never know what will go viral. Popeyes got its chicken sandwich into the public consciousness simply by posting a photo of it on Twitter. Chick-fil-A responded directly with a Tweet about the superiority of its “original” chicken sandwich, even drawing Wendy’s into the debate. 5. Show up in real life too! Woody Allen famously said that 80% of success in life is just showing up. That’s true of your social media and blog content as well. Take photos at networking and awards events. Shoot videos of product demonstrations at trade shows. Interview an employee to give them recognition. Find speaking opportunities that allow company leaders to share their expertise. Tag people in your posts on social media and say something kind about their work. It all influences how AI learns about you. Large corporations are already integrating AI into their operations. Chinese company Alibaba uses AI to predict products their consumers might order next. Amazon uses predictive analytics to send customers products before they even buy them. Leverage every tool available to you to get recognized by AI so you become recognized as a leader in your field. Create authentic content, engage your audience and leverage the latest SEO strategies. You’ll prepare your company to succeed in the era of AI and beyond.

By Dave Yonkman Do you ever wonder why some manufacturers seem to be everywhere? You always see them mentioned positively in the news, launching new products and hiring the best employees. Meanwhile, you feel like a spectator who can’t get your flywheel of referrals and repeat customers turning? The difference between those who are known and those who aren’t is most often Public Relations (PR). Manufacturers at the top of their PR game give the news media a steady diet of new announcements. They contribute to industry conversations on LinkedIn and X. They update their website with information that helps customers use their products better. Think about your favorite brand. Why does it occupy space in your mind? You probably know about its latest products, achievements and even the charities it sponsors. That’s the result of public relations. Your favorite brand ensures that you see it in the best possible light. Visibility is only the beginning of public relations. Have you considered entering new markets? How do you announce your arrival and make sure you're welcomed? PR is the loudspeaker that proclaims your presence and introduces your products. Imagine being greeted with open arms in a new market because it has already heard all the great things about your company. Think about attracting investors or forming new partnerships. A strategic PR plan can showcase your strengths and ambitions, making you an attractive proposition to potential investors or partners. Imagine the doors that could open with the right people noticing your company. Standing out from the crowd is crucial in the manufacturing world. PR identifies your unique value, whether it’s your innovative approach or your commitment to sustainability. How does your business currently stand out, and how could it shine even brighter with a little PR help? Consider your team, too. They’re the backbone of your company. PR not only helps to attract top talent but keeps your current team feeling motivated and proud to be part of your journey. Reflect on the last time your employees truly felt like they were part of something special. Could sharing more of your business's story internally and externally foster a stronger sense of pride? Let's not forget about navigating the complex world of government regulations. A smart PR strategy can help communicate your compliance efforts and even influence policies that impact your industry. Have you ever considered how your voice could play a role in broader industry conversations? Giving back to the community also matters. Companies that support local causes or projects create strong local connections. PR helps share these stories, which strengthens your bond with the community. Which acts of kindness could your business share to build deeper community ties? Lastly, think about the thrill of launching a new product. How do you ensure it makes a big splash? PR is all about generating excitement and making sure your target audience trembles with anticipation. What's your next big launch? How will you create energy around it? Shinola Detroit – the manufacturer known best for its luxury watches and leather goods – stands as a crowning example of great public relations. Shinola tied itself to Detroit’s economic recovery by not only providing good jobs, but by supporting local initiatives and charities. It’s a powerful storytelling angle that generates local hometown pride and attracts a national audience that wants to support manufacturing’s revival. Celebrity endorsements from the likes of Jimmy Kimmel, Ashley Olsen and Kristen Bell don’t hurt. Shinola’s true secret lies in consistently highlighting the craftsmanship and quality of its products. It managed to differentiate its brand in a market flooded with mass-produced items. Yet, what if after all of your hard work something goes wrong? You’ve heard the horror stories. The severed finger in the bowl of Wendy’s chili. Widespread cyanide-laced Tylenol. Fast-accelerating Audi 5000s. (All debunked, by the way.) It's not the most pleasant thing to think about, but say there’s a defect in one of your products or a worker gets critically injured on the job. How you respond to this situation determines your reputation. PR experts stay calm and strategize, helping you communicate in a way that can strengthen your company’s image. They can even help you prepare a plan for the unexpected. How do you handle crises right now? Could a touch of PR expertise make a difference? Consider the total potential impact of PR on your business. From building deeper connections with your audience, standing out in a crowded market and even navigating crises, PR is about crafting and sharing your story in a way that resonates and inspires. Isn’t it time your manufacturing business earned some attention and engagement? What story would you like to tell first?

By Dave Yonkman Albert Einstein marveled at compound interest – calling it the 8th Wonder of the World – because it demonstrates how small investments can grow big over time. It's like a snowball rolling downhill that gets bigger as it goes. Your bank adds the interest you earn to your original deposit, then pays interest on the new total. The process repeats, making your money grow faster than if interest was only paid on your initial deposit. Just like the snowball, adding more to your investment over time makes it grow even more. Similarly, consistent positive actions in public relations can build a great reputation that grows exponentially over time. Think of your initial investment into your reputation as the first good impression you make on a customer. The first impression could be a news article they read about you in a publication they trust. It could be a video your company posted on LinkedIn. It could be the employees they met at an industry event you sponsored. Like your initial bank deposit earns interest – which then earns more interest – a good reputation builds from consistent positive media mentions, social media posts and customer interactions that keep adding to your “reputation bank.” Each interaction is not only a one-time benefit. It builds on the past. The real magic happens over time with the interest on the interest. In public relations, it is the ongoing accumulation of positive press, social proof and word-of-mouth referrals. Every new positive story builds on the layers of good reputation established before, much like the snowball effect, growing more significant. Just as making larger deposits can accelerate the growth of your savings through compound interest, engaging the news media, sharing valuable insights and participating in community or industry events can amplify your reputation. Over time, your efforts compound, leading to a reputation so strong that it opens doors, attracts opportunities and establishes a level of trust and authority that your competitors cannot match. How do you work on building your business’s reputation? First, reach out to journalists and bloggers who write about your industry. They want to know about your company and the unique insight you offer. “Like” and “share” the news stories they post on social media. Suggest coverage ideas to them that aren’t necessarily about your business to build trust with them. Offer your expert opinion on current trends. Consistent, positive interaction with the media leads to more favorable coverage. As reporters see you as a credible and reliable source, they're more likely to turn to you for commentary or feature your business in their stories. Getting your company in the news increases your visibility and enhances your reputation. Second, provide helpful information related to your industry on your website blog and LinkedIn, as well as through webinars or in-person workshops. Regularly sharing expertise positions your business as a thought leader in your field and builds a reservoir of goodwill and trust. People come to rely on your business for valuable information and associate you with expertise and generosity in sharing knowledge. Third, sponsor local community and industry events. It shows your organization cares about more than profits. You’re invested in the well-being of their customers and community. Over time, you build a positive image of your company that enhances trust and loyalty among current and potential customers. Each of these opportunities might seem small on its own, but like compound interest, over time, they add up. The positive effects compound, leading to a stronger, more positive reputation that can significantly benefit your business in the long run. You can also track the results of your efforts to see how well they’re working. Monitor your website performance with tools like Google Analytics. Set up basic news alerts on search engines like Yahoo and Bing to know when your business appears in the news. Social media platforms provide their own resources for measuring your impact. All of these tools offer free versions. Combine data from these tools to better understand how your public relations activities influence your company’s reputation, visibility and ultimately, its success. As management guru Peter Drucker famously said, “You can’t improve what you don’t measure.” You can grow your reputation even in lean times. People who buy your products and services feel the same economic pressure as you. Rising costs make it more difficult to get even a meager profit. Buyers are much more discerning when they have less money to allocate. When your customers need to make tough choices about where to spend their limited resources, they'll opt for businesses known for their integrity. This reputation can be a deciding factor that sets you apart from competitors. A strong reputation fosters loyalty. Loyal customers will more likely continue doing business with you even when their budgets tighten. They can also become your advocates by recommending you to others. It is invaluable when customer acquisition becomes more challenging and expensive. Same goes for attracting quality employees. Even in a recession, talented individuals prefer to work for reputable companies, with salary often a secondary motivator. A good reputation ensures that your business not only retains its valuable employees but also attracts new talent. Be patient, persistent and consistent. Stick to the basics and remember that consistency yields results. Warren Buffet’s wealth didn’t happen because he deposited his newspaper delivery money in the local bank at 15 years old and did nothing else. Apple didn’t become the world’s most respected company among investors in 2023 because it produced the Macintosh in 1984. It took regular investments over time to compound into a fortune. The same forces that stoked Buffett’s and Apple’s finances and reputation are the same forces stoking your success. Your reputation, much like your financial wealth, thrives on the seeds you plant today, nurtured by consistency, strategic engagement and genuine contributions to your community and industry. What's your next move? Are you ready to make a deposit into your reputation bank? Draft that press release, shoot a quick video on your phone for LinkedIn and make your presence felt at the next big event. Every effort counts, no matter how small it might seem at first. In a world in which your next opportunity could hinge on the strength of your reputation, can you afford to wait? Start compounding your reputation today and watch as it opens doors to endless possibilities tomorrow.

Dutch-Touch Window Cleaning became the premier commercial and residential window washing firm in West Michigan by investing in new equipment and training over the years. They kept adding value, and that value kept their customers coming back. After a decade, the Zeeland, Mich.-based business wanted to offer its services to new clients. However, they weren’t sure how to make their superior service more widely known. Dutch-Touch’s website – the world’s first impression of their company – didn’t reflect their growth and 5-star ratings. Tom and Amy Woodrick founded Dutch-Touch to become the best residential and commercial window cleaning company in town by respecting the schedules and wishes of their customers. Tom is fond of saying, “The only way you’ll know we were in your home or business is by the clean windows we leave behind.” DYS Media worked with Dutch-Touch over the course of 6 months to ensure their website – both on desktop and mobile – reflects their high level of professionalism and polish. The newly unveiled website for 2024 welcomes you with aerial photography of their work, a pristine logo, and a design with warm shades of blue that invites you in to learn more. By scrolling further you find a list of Dutch-Touch’s services, a contact form for free quotes, its depth of experience, a map of its service area, and a streaming banner of their excellent reviews. The site is also secure from hackers and fully optimized for search engines. Google and Bing pull it up first when customers type in words like “Holland Window Cleaning,” “Commercial Window Cleaner” or “Soft Washing.” By continuously monitoring how users respond to the site, DYS Media will add and remove keywords over time. It will ensure Dutch-Touch takes advantage of consumer trends and developments in the window washing industry. Has YOUR website kept pace with YOUR growth? Call DYS Media at (616) 610-0533 or write customerservice@dysmediarelations.com to answer that question today!

The Golden Rule of Crisis Management: Acknowledge Incident. Accept Responsibility. Apologize. An employee posts a comment online that damages your reputation. A customer attacks you over a defect in your product. Your accountant uncovers an embezzlement scheme when a half-million dollars goes missing. Don’t think it can’t happen to you, regardless of how well you think you know your company. Nobody hit by a crisis ever thought it could happen to them. Communicating in a crisis has taken on a new level of complexity and urgency in the digital age. Social media and instant news delivery can escalate matters rapidly, causing lasting damage to your reputation. United Airlines still hasn’t recovered after authorities were filmed violently dragging a passenger off a plane in 2017. The passenger reportedly refused to give up his seat on a flight the airline overbooked. Instead of apologizing, CEO Oscar Munoz initially blamed him for causing the incident, calling him disruptive and belligerent. By the time Munoz finally apologized a day later, the damage had been done. This 5-step guide will provide you with essential strategies and examples of how to navigate a crisis effectively in today’s fast-paced media landscape. Preparing for the unexpected is the first step toward getting through your next crisis even better than when it started. 1. Prior to a crisis. Get your reputation intact You can start to manage your reputation with well-placed articles in the news media. It also helps to offer a steady stream of positive content on your newsletter and social media channels. It really matters whether you walk the talk though. Word gets around when you offer great wages and benefits, accommodations for personal situations and an inclusive culture. Your employees talk not only to one another, but to their friends and families as well. People are much more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt when you come under attack if you already have a solid reputation. They also talk about the companies that preach a great game, but offer low pay, rigid work conditions and a fearful environment. Those same people will only be more than happy to contribute to your bad fortune if the opposite is true. Meta – the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – is a great example. It has become one of the most hated brands in America for facilitating child sex trafficking and spying on its users. Consumers readily accepted claims that owner Mark Zuckerberg interfered in U.S. elections with direct cash grants and allowed Russian disinformation to run rampant on the platform. On the other hand, fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A handily survived a boycott threat in 2023 over hiring a Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Supporters thought the move betrayed the company’s Christian values because DEI programs often result in racist outcomes over meritocracy. In reality, the position contributed to its culture of belonging. It aligned with its legacy of closing on Sundays, positively influencing whoever contacts Chick-fil-A and to “glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us.” 2. First 15 minutes of your crisis Resist the temptation to speculate when answering phone calls and responding to emails when you have limited or no information at all. Do not communicate externally until you figure out what’s going on. Talking without knowing the full story will likely compound your problem. Do not remove any social or blog postings until the event passes. It will look as though you are hiding something or avoiding accountability. People will find incriminating material if it once appeared anywhere on the web. Acknowledge to any reporters who call that you received their request, and that you will need to get back to them. Make sure you follow through on your promise. Prepare a holding statement within 15 minutes to send to them and to post on your website. Ideally you’ll have a rough draft prepared for just such an occasion. The holding statement should acknowledge the situation, apologize for any stress it caused, say that you are gathering information and that you will give them more information later. The most basic holding statement would say something like, “We recently learned that an incident occurred within our company. We apologize for any harm that the matter may have caused. We are gathering information and are in contact with authorities who are investigating the matter. We will provide more information when it becomes available.” It will buy you space to gather all of the facts, truly understand the situation and give you time to issue a lengthier statement that includes more details. It gives reporters a response they need from you when writing their stories without boxing you into saying something you don’t know to be true. You’ll be much more in control when you do formally respond. It prevents the dreaded “no comment” response from you as well. “No comment” reeks of guilt even when you’re completely innocent. It also helps to prevent a rumor chain from taking off on social media. 3. 15 minutes to 4 hours. Identify the audiences that matter to you. Take control of the narrative. Don’t let anyone else do it. Gather everyone who matters such as your CEO or president and critical staff. Call a reputable crisis communications firm like DYS Media for guidance. Crisis communications firms have been there and done that. They often know instinctively the severity of your problem and how to appropriately address it since they have been in similar situations so often in the past. Contact a lawyer and the authorities immediately if you suspect anything illegal transpired. Note of caution. Many lawyers will advise you to say nothing in an attempt to bury a story. It can work for a time if nobody knows about the crisis except you. Be aware though that a journalist will eventually find the information if it’s important enough, and when they do they will report on it in terms unfavorable to you. Identify what you know to be true and write it down. Get the answers to as many questions as you can, especially the most difficult ones. You only care about your employees, customers and shareholders when crises erupt. Not anyone in the media, and certainly not any online antagonists. Same goes for national or international news organizations. They are not interested in doing you any favors. Draft your full statement. Gather all facts and bullet points that you have available. Cite only the facts. This is hard news, so answer as many as the “who, what, why, where and when's” as you can. Mention the incident, name who is involved if you can, what happened, why it happened, the location and when it occurred. Name any steps that you are currently taking to mitigate damage. A couple of paragraphs should be sufficient. Designate your spokesperson. Your spokesperson should be credible, articulate, empathetic, accountable, quick on their feet, honest, objective and confident. They should be calm in front of a camera and not easily rattled by difficult questions. They should know to stay on script and always revert to the main message. Always speak in positives such as “We don’t know everything yet, but what I can tell you is…” Convey compassion and empathy in everything that you do. Actions speak so much louder than words. Prepare talking points. Be transparent and accountable. Acknowledge the incident, accept responsibility and apologize. Put together 5 messages that your audiences need to hear. Keep it to one page. It ensures a consistent voice and message in your communications with reporters, customers and shareholders. You likely did nothing wrong, but it doesn’t matter. The public and media already convicted you by only hearing from the plaintiff first. Don’t apologize for anything you don’t know, however. Only tell reporters what you know happened and how you are responding. Give as much information as you possibly can, short of accepting any sort of culpability. Announce specifics on how you plan to do things differently. Determine the appropriate response for the press. Don’t spin minnows into whales, yet don’t turn mountains into molehills. The most common response is to email your statement to individual reporters who ask. You’ll need to escalate matters when the amount of misinformation becomes so untenable that you need to correct it. In this case you’ll need to send a press release to every news organization in your market and potentially in the country. Only in the most severe cases – such as when someone’s life is at risk or you caused a national scandal – will you need to hold a press conference. Honesty is the best policy. Never under any circumstances lie to anyone or obscure the truth. A lot of people are trying hard to give you the benefit of the doubt. Don’t make it any harder for them. There is no such thing as off the record. Putting a notebook away or turning off the camera does not mean that the interview is ended. Everything is on the record even when a reporter says it’s off the record. You can use this to your advantage if you know what you’re doing. Be ready for the media to ask you if you have anything else to add. It is always offered and nearly always declined. It is an opportunity to emphasize clear points and return to earlier questions to ensure that the reporter understands you correctly. Prepare a few notes ahead of time so that you can respond better. It could quite literally save a disastrous interview or inquiry. 4. 4+ hours. Stay on top of social media. Who is posting about the problem on your social media channels? Try to get them offline and on a phone call as soon as possible. That could be all it takes to avert a disaster. You’ll need a more detailed response if you’re facing a nationwide recall on a product. Only respond to customers and influencers with valid questions or concerns. Do not engage with anyone with no interest in a positive outcome for you. They include haters and trolls. They’re only after you to get attention for themselves. Third-party activists have no other mission than to bury you. They will pester you relentlessly in hopes of getting a response. Do not give it to them. You owe them nothing. Of the people to whom you respond, only acknowledge the concerns and questions of the sanest posts. Use variations of your statement to respond. Commenters will generally say the same thing over and over and over again. Take a look at your social media analytics. How an article performs – and where it appears – on TikTok, LinkedIn or X will guide you on how and where to respond. Did your crisis end up in an obscure trade publication, or did The Wall Street Journal announce it on its front page? The only metric that matters is whether anyone sharing it has enough followers to make a difference. Craft messages appropriate to the social media channel. Their users are often different and use different communications styles. Create short, informative videos for TikTok, a formal post for LinkedIn and infographics for Instagram. 5. Vindication. You win your defamation suit. A judge sentences your former employee to repay the embezzled funds in full, reassuring your customers and investors. Following an expensive investigation, you learn that an alleged inappropriate relationship claimed by your intern never happened. Victory is yours. You have a mountain of documentation clearing your good name. Time to call a press conference and tell everyone I-told-you-so! Not so fast. Remember the initial mission, which is to mitigate the damage caused by the crisis. Does a headline or broadcast news segment that repeats your name with the original allegation really in your best interest, especially unprovoked? No. The best response at this stage is often no response at all. Wait for a reporter to call in a month or two – or hopefully never – and very casually mention how the crisis passed. The closer the resolution is to their inquiry, the more likely they will write about it. The more time passes, the less likely they will care. In any case, pivot to the most recent positive news about your company. Getting through a crisis requires a little preparation and a lot of adaptability. At this point you should get back to being the best company that you can be.

By Dave Yonkman Do you drown out most news and public relations claims you hear because you can’t trust any of it? Privacy breaches expose how your credit card account isn’t fully protected despite guarantees. The company runs a public relations campaign to improve its image. A corporation expresses its commitment to the community yet imposes intolerable working conditions on its employees. An ice cream company whose headquarters sits on indigenous property starts a public relations campaign that tells other states to return land to Native Americans. Your customers approach everything with the same sense of skepticism toward public relations. They are as desperate for honesty and transparency as you are. They understand that products malfunction. They want to know whether you will stand by your word and fix it for them. They don't want slick public relations gimmickry that tricks them into remaining loyal customers. They want to be made whole. When that happens they authentically advocate for you. Authentic advocates develop genuine passion and allegiance to your company's products, values or mission. They can be your employees, suppliers or buyers who naturally champion you to others by word-of-mouth. Testimony from trusted friends and associates is the most effective public relations ever invented. Their endorsement is not contractual but stems from an authentic connection to you. This is how public relations works. Tesla galvanized an army of authentic proponents who believe in the company’s mission to re-envision the electric automobile with a powerful public relations effort. Tesla owners – often referred to as “Tesla evangelists” – share their experiences about the benefits of electric vehicles. Such grassroots advocacy amplifies the company's commitment to technological breakthroughs. (Owner Elon Musk famously eliminated its entire public relations department in 2020, which was a clever public relations stunt on its own.) Caterpillar – a global leader in construction and mining equipment – showcases the stories of its employees with public relations. These narratives highlight the people behind their innovations. The vignettes range from engineers who design cutting-edge machinery to factory workers who ensure precision manufacturing. The approach to public relations humanizes the brand to connect with audiences emotionally. Siemens is a technology powerhouse that works on its public relations through its Industrial Partners. The global manufacturer spotlights its joint ventures with suppliers when they solve complex challenges. It generates support from partners who share an interest in shaping the future of manufacturing. Your manufacturing firm can collaborate with your employees to showcase their dedication and expertise with similar public relations efforts. You can humanize your operations by sharing stories of workers on their hiring anniversaries or of those who contributed to groundbreaking projects. Such narratives resonate with your customers and reinforce your reputation. You do need to stand by your brand promise though. Those authentic advocates you worked so hard to build through honest public relations could quickly turn into your greatest detractors if you don’t treat them well. Keep giving them reasons to recommend you. Offer them your new products to try out first. Send them unsolicited swag every once in a while. Host an open house for them. Focus your public relations specifically on them! That’s how DYS Media operates with the public relations services we provide to you. We work relentlessly to ensure that our customers are happy with their results. That’s our brand promise. 9 times out of 10 we can flip the switch on your website or get a news article published about you, and it immediately leads to more demand for your work. Sometimes it takes a little longer, but we stay with every public relations project until we get it right for you. It’s written into every proposal we offer and every contract we sign. We’re proud to share the success stories of our authentic advocates. You too can enlist the support of genuine spokespeople who deeply resonate with your company’s values and offerings with public relations. You will cultivate stronger connections by bringing these voices into your story. You’ll carve a path toward more meaningful relationships. Those relationships will determine your public relations strategies. Your customers will accept any defects in your work if they trust that you will fix any problem. Great customer service will take care of a faulty product any day of the week. Never break the trust of your strongest supporters, and they will promote you for life!

What do your consumers say about you when you’re not online to manage the conversation? The remarks could be unpleasant, resulting in one-star reviews on Google and Glassdoor, as well as complaints to the Better Business Bureau. False rumors spread by bad actors on LinkedIn and X never helped anyone. You CAN manage how people talk about you with Public Relations. You shape your perceived value with the language on your website, on social media and in news articles about you in the publications your customers read. Google’s algorithms more prominently feature positive information about you in its search results when you take control over the words with which the world describes you. You reach your customers first with the facts about your superior products and services. Your super consumers overwhelm negative reviews with positive reviews and beat back the rumor mill on your behalf. Don’t allow trolls to ruin the reputation you worked so hard to build. You deserve better. Call (616) 298-8798 or email us at yourfriends@dysmediarelations.com to start your journey with Public Relations today!

By Dave Yonkman You pay your public relations firm for 4 news media placements that appear in your local business paper, a national trade publication that covers your industry, a podcast hosted by an in-demand influencer and Fortune magazine. Success. All 4 placements strike within the 6-month deadline in your contract. Your email inbox fills up with friends and associates congratulating you on making the news. Local leaders like and comment on the stories when you post them to LinkedIn. Your mom finds a hard copy of the business paper and frames it for you. The nagging question is how do you know whether you received a Return on your Investment (ROI)? Metrics that assess your campaign’s reach, impact and overall ROI. That’s how. As management guru Peter Drucker says, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Define clear goals you want to achieve Do you want more people in a niche crowd to know about you, guide traffic to your website, boost your numbers on LinkedIn or increase sales? Do all 4 at once. First, list all of the articles, interviews and blog posts that resulted from your campaign that you can find in a Google News search. Other publications will link to your news articles if they provide enough value and supporting facts. Create an Excel document that includes columns that list, The date of publication. The title of the article or interview, as well as other articles and blog posts that link to the original story. A link to the story. Subscribers, viewers or listeners of the media outlet. Demographics. The number of readers consuming your news doesn’t matter nearly as much as who they are. Create more columns to track custom information. Do the publication’s readers work in your industry? Is it read by owners, middle management or by professionals? How much does the reader’s company earn in revenue? Do readers have budget authority? How much do readers pay to subscribe to the publication? All of these signals offer incredible insight into who’s reading about you. Analyze your digital traffic Second, set up your Google Analytics. Google provides an easy and free tutorial to track where traffic to your website comes from. Be sure to configure it before your campaign begins so you can accurately determine the increase in numbers. It will show you how many people visited your website. Whether they came from search engines or users who entered your company’s website address directly. How many came from the news articles that featured you. You likely received a backlink to your website in your news articles (you should always ask for one). With a backlink, you can track how many people came to your website directly from the news article. Paid platforms such as Moz, Ahrefs and Semrush will give you even more granular details about the traffic generated to your website by your PR campaign. Be sure to call a reputable PR firm like DYS Media if you need help figuring out how to best measure your results. Gauge your LinkedIn efforts Third, create a separate Excel document with columns that indicate, Date. Text. Likes. Shares. Comments (positive and negative). Reposts. Did one post generate more activity than others? Determine why. Did the post feature more valuable insight for customers? Did it contain more photographs? Does it contain a backlink to the correct page on your company website? How you post on LinkedIn makes a big difference as well. Be sure to search websites that offer guidance on best practices to ensure you operate with the latest information. Surveys and feedback Finally, conduct a post-campaign survey and seek feedback from your customers and employees to judge the campaign's effectiveness. You can pay a lot of money for focus groups in which you bring consumers of your PR campaign together in a room to ask specific questions. You don’t need to spend much to get good feedback though. You can conduct your own telephone surveys and send email feedback forms to your audience. You can also call around to friends, associates and family members to ask for their honest opinions. If nothing else, ask visitors to your website and callers to your office, “How did you hear about us?” Document everything. What is Advertising Equivalency Value? Advertising Equivalency Value (AEV) tries to estimate the value of your earned media by comparing it to the cost of advertising in the same space. It is a poor measure. Online tools can help calculate AEV based on factors such as the size of the publication and advertising rates. It’s a tool that can make you feel better about how much you invest into your PR campaign, but it doesn’t reveal much insight as far as evaluating the cost-effectiveness of your efforts. How do I know whether I recouped my investment? Did you see an increase in traffic from the websites, blogs or social media platforms that carried your news? Did any of the leads generated during the campaign convert into paying customers? More dollars in your pocket than when you started is a pretty good indicator of success. It’s really tough to run a public relations campaign in which you get your products and services in front of the precise people who need them and fail to sell anything. Still, PR is a long-term play. Digital marketing and Pay-Per-Click Google advertising produces immediate measurable results in proportion to how much you spend. They don’t generate lasting value, however. Your promotions end the moment you stop paying for them. Getting in the news requires more work. You need to research publications and reporters who would be interested in what you have to offer. You need to offer them a compelling story in which their readers find value. News coverage says a lot about your company. You can’t buy positive press for yourself because it isn’t for sale. It sends a strong message to the market that you are a serious player. Plus, news articles remain online so long as consumers have a reason to look for you. They don’t end at a predetermined time. After all, news outlets make their money by the advertisements they sell. They don’t make money from ads if nobody reads their actual news product. They can actually keep making money on your news for years after initial publication. Results There’s no feeling like scoring an incredible story about your company in the press. Advertising and marketing play a major role in getting customers familiar with you. You can measure them much more precisely than public relations as well. Nothing builds trust like earned media. To get the most out of your campaigns, be sure to, Define clear goals. Track your media placements. Analyze your website traffic with Google Analytics. Score your social media. Avoid feel-good metrics like Advertising Equivalency Value. Gather feedback from your audience. You can use the information you gathered from your PR campaign to produce an even better run at earning media in the future. Call DYS Media at (616) 298-8798 or write yourfriends@dysmediarelations.com if you need help measuring the Return on Investment from your public relations efforts!

By Dave Yonkman Imagine that your company is about to introduce a new innovation to the market. You reserve a booth at the next trade show. Your sales team calls on your primary customers. You buy an ad on an industry publication’s website. Those moves are all necessary to get your message to the people who need to hear it, yet you have even better opportunities available to you. Why not give the news to the entire market at once with a press release? You can post your press release on your website. Send it to your customers by email. Share it on your social media channels. Most importantly, get it in front of the press so they can publish your news under their reputable banner. Where to begin writing your press release? The inverted pyramid works best for most announcements you’ll make. You start with the most important elements and work your way down to the least important, yet relevant, details. Identify the who, what, why, where, when and how of your news. You’ll need them for your document. Start with the “dateline,” or where your news is happening. This is generally your company headquarters. If you are a manufacturer in the Midwest, your dateline might read something like, “GRAND RAPIDS, MI – .” Summarize your news in the first paragraph. Continuing with the manufacturing example, “ACME Corporation, a Tier 1 automotive manufacturer, expanded this week by installing 10 new ABB IRB 6700 robot arms that double its capacity and efficiency.” Introduce details in the second paragraph. “ACME Corporation invested nearly $1 million into its manufacturing operations with a new fleet of the latest generation in automated technology. The move will increase its plant footprint from 40,000 square feet to 80,000 square feet and create 10 new jobs.” Be sure to give it some color. Include a quote from your president or other company official about the news in the third paragraph. Resist the temptation to say they are “thrilled.” Instead, use the opportunity to add some good-natured subjectivity. “ACME Corporation significantly improved its products and performance at our Grand Rapids facility with our latest investment,” ACME President Sam Goodman said. “Our customers will immediately notice the increase in detail and quality, as well as the speed with which they receive their orders.” End your press release with supporting facts that aren’t the sexiest but still need to make it in. “ACME encourages buyers to schedule a tour of our new facility by calling the main office phone number or stopping by in person. ACME is a privately held corporation founded in 1957.” Last step is to write a headline with your keywords that summarizes your news and grabs attention. “ACME Doubles Customer Value with $1 Million Investment in New Tech.” Also be sure to include your contact information at the top. Your final press release should look something LIKE THIS! Example Press Release Here You are ready to post your press release to your website, write updates about it on LinkedIn and send it to the media who are most likely to publish it. Distribute your press release to news media professionals. Create a media list by researching publications that cover your industry. Metal fabricators might look to The Fabricator or Fabricating & Metalworking magazine. Plastic injection molders could start with Plastics Today. Agricultural producers are likely fond of Food Manufacturing. Find the articles that speak most closely to your innovation or new product. Get the email address for the reporter who wrote the story and send them your press release. Call them in a few days to ensure they received it if you haven’t heard from them. Best case is they want to talk with you to write a longer story about your news. They could also publish your press release as written on their website. Worst case is they don’t return your call. Should that happen, take a step back and recalibrate your message. Ask others you trust for their opinion and try rewriting your press release from a new angle. Either that or call a reputable public relations firm like DYS Media to get the job done for you the right way the first time. How do online press distribution services work? You can pay online services like PR Newswire and EIN Presswire to distribute your press release for you. They lead you to believe authoritative outlets like a local NBC affiliate or Fortune magazine published your news. Truth is they buy advertising space on those websites to publish what you want to say. Think about it. When you visit forbes.com, do you see a glossy presentation of engaging articles with brilliant photography? Or do you see a list of corporate press releases? Exactly. Since it is technically an advertisement, it disappears from the web once you stop paying for it. Customers will only find your news if they look for it while your credit card is on file. Paid press release services hold their value in other areas, but not in the way of connecting directly with reporters for real news value. It’s like buying the cheapest model of a luxury car brand with no features. People can tell the difference. Publish your news the right way! The best part about the media you earn through hard work stays online so long as people have a reason to look for you. It means the links you use to share your news won’t go dead after a couple of months. Your announcement can become the first and best result your customers and talent see when they go to search for your company online. Even more than your original press release, you’ll want to feature your earned media on your website. On your LinkedIn account. In your company newsletter if you have one (you should). You cannot buy a better display case from which to announce your latest company news. There isn’t anything like it for sale. Call DYS Media at (616) 298-8798 or write yourfriends@dysmediarelations.com to get started on earning your media the right way today!

Do you know how your business stacks up in Google or yahoo when users type words related to your products and services?! Would you like to know? DYS Media gives you a FREE audit of your website to find the answer. No strings attached. We audit all aspects of your site including phone optimization, wording, SEO, backend coding and user behavior. We see common problems like links that don’t work, duplicate language and videos with nothing to describe them. Most often it’s only a matter of updating your website. A tactic that helped buyers find you six months ago could actually prevent that buyer from finding you today. Call DYS Media at (616) 298-8798 or email customerservice@dysmediarelations. We can show you simple tips to update your website so it’s working for you and not against you!

How do you get the news media to write about you? Hint. You don’t get there by blasting press releases on an online distribution platform to every reporter with an email address. 99% of them don’t write about your industry. Digital Media Relations identifies journalists who write about your category. Media professionals earn money by giving timely, relevant and compelling news to their readers. You earn credibility and profit by giving timely, relevant and compelling information to media professionals. Do you offer an uncommon solution to a common problem? Does your product undergo a unique process? Who is the talent creating your products? The right journalists want to know! Digital Media Relations ensures media coverage in which you, the reporters who cover your industry and their readers all become more knowledgeable and prosperous. CLICK HERE to read our new step-by-step guide to getting great media attention. Call (616) 298-8798 or email yourfriends@dysmediarelations.com to get started TODAY!

People like to title themselves “leaders” on their LinkedIn profiles. Becoming a leader is a worthwhile endeavor. Leaders dominate industry, politics and finance. They command vast influence. Most often “leaders” on LinkedIn are business consultants who never ran a business. Marketing gurus with college degrees and no experience. Mid-level managers who supervise 3 people. Leaders don’t call themselves leaders. They lead. Walt Disney was famous for picking up trash around his parks. He built integrity by following a rule all Disney employees agreed to follow. Pick up trash whenever you see it. Employees saw him. The founder of a massive company committed himself to the same high standard as everyone else. He inspired others to follow him. Cast members, executives and Mickey Mouse himself picked up trash wherever they saw it. You demonstrate your leadership by becoming a person worth following. Pay attention to details. Become indispensable. Set Big Hairy Audacious Goals. Build a great company based upon impeccable values. Talk about how you're improving the lives of your customers. Disney would never label himself a leader on his LinkedIn profile. He led. Give yourself the opportunity to lead by example with Digital Media Relations. Call (616) 298-8798 or email yourfriends@dysmediarelations.com TODAY!