Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

I finished teaching a series of classes today for a client called “SEMPR 2008: A Summer of Social Media,” and it was one of the most delightful projects I’ve worked on in the past couple of years. I was able to teach a group of smart people to fish, rather than fish for them.

My client is a very successful, forward-thinking, Portland-based public relations firm who keeps getting asked by clients, “Can you help me with our Search Engine Marketing?” (I’m writing this without knowing whether they’d want me to name them - so I won’t - in case their new-found knowledge would be considered a secret weapon. Of course, if they want to comment here to tell the world who they are, that’s fine with me, too.)

I had lunch with the CEO in late spring. She wanted to know whether I thought she should bring SEM expertise in-house (build), or to leverage their SEM partner’s expertise (buy) for their growing client base; my response was this:

Why not give your team a solid foundation in the basics of SEM? That way, you can help your clients, you can outsource what you don’t want to tackle, and your team and clients will benefit from the integration of search engine marketing best practices into public relations, and vice versa (what I call SEMPR).

She liked the idea. I’m fortunate she did. I drew up a series of lessons for the team:

101 Level:
SEM + SEO - A Basic Primer -

- why search matters
- how spiders “see” web content
- how people search
- why do blogs work so well in search?
- what happens for your clients when you are smart about relevant keywords
- free tools to use to create, track and optimize content
- measuring success for clients - what does that look like?

Social Media for PR Professionals - Managing the Cacophony of Voices

- blogging basics
- relevancy, authority and links
- best practices overview
- tools to build influencer lists and optimize conversations
- conversation management: how to help your clients leverage memes, buzz
- crisis communications - what should you do when something goes awry?

201 Level:
The Art and Danger of Pitching Bloggers -

- how are bloggers different from traditional media?
- building relationships before you need them
- how to select bloggers to pitch
- what do bloggers need from you to write about your client?
- the art of the 140 character pitch
- managing client expectations in social media

Optimizing Content for Spiders and Searchers

- the “must-have” SEO checklist (title tags, headlines, smart links)
- developing a link strategy within a site
- tier 1 and tier 2 keywords, how to determine what to optimize for
- managing site graphics for search
- YouTube and local search - how they’re changing the game
- social media strategy - knowing how to leverage, track, engage safely

To my absolute delight, we had our final homework assignment report out today (yes, there was a homework assignment at the end of every class) and the team seemed happy with their new understanding of the world of SEM, and how it’s intricately related to PR. My client told me the lessons had spurred some significant conversations among the team… and I’m betting with their clients, too.

So for the rest of the Summer 2008? I’m working now on developing my own expertise in 300-level SEMPR activities for another client, and am learning from the best - Marshall Kirkpatrick - who’s teaching me to fish in deeper waters. Tomorrow, for example, I’m digging into Yahoo Pipes and Dapper.

Now that holds promise to be some wonderful dog days of the Summer of Social Media for me!

Woof.