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An engaging press release with an interesting ‘hook’ or angle is an excellent way to gain exposure for your product or service and can lead to media interviews with appearances on television and radio stations, and in newspapers or magazines. The objective of a release is to capture the attention of your audience, whether this is your home town, state, province, country or international market, and educate them about your product or service.

We cannot stress enough the importance of a well written press release. We constantly come across inaccurate, poorly written or unedited press releases that simply will not be read. They become a waste of time to journalists who are already bogged down with information overload. And some releases are just not publishable.

So our advice? Write a strong, well written press release and edit before submitting it.

The following links will help you with writing your press release:

Section 1: Press Release Format

Section 2: Newsworthiness: What May Seem Like News…

Section 3: Target the Media

Section 4: Content is Key: Start Strong and Sell the Benefits

Section 5: Language & Wording: Do Not Embellish or Exaggerate

Section 6: Quote Permissions & Attributions

Section 7: What Not to Include in Your Press Release

Section 8: Images in Your Press Release

Section 9: Edit Your Release before Submitting It

Section 10: How Often Should You Submit Your Press Release?

Section 11: Our Distribution Packages and Pricing

Section 12: Start Writing Your Release Now!

Section 1 – Press Release Format

There is a general format for writing all press releases. To format a release correctly and most effectively, you will need to include the following:

Date Instructions: “For Immediate Release”, “For Release Before (date)”, or “For Release After (date)”. Many online distribution services simply ask you to insert a date in the date line or select one from a calendar.

Contact information: Make it easy for the media to contact you about your story by including as much information as possible. It is important to include a phone number, fax number, email address and company address. Failing to leave this information suggests that your press release is either amateurish or illegitimate. Media contacts will ask: “Why don’t they want to be contacted? What do they have to hide?”

Headline: Your headline must ‘hook’ the reader into wanting to read your full release. You may have a fantastic press release. However, failing to write a strong headline will jeopardize your entire release. It will be overlooked and passed by in favor of a release with a more interesting or exciting or controversial headline. So make your headline an attention grabber.

Sell the benefits of your product or service within your headline:

Losing Weight Is Easy If You Follow These Simple Rules

Or ask a question:

Want to Lose Weight the Easy Way?

These headlines draw a reader into the story, simply because they want to know how to solve a particular problem or they want to know the answer to the question.

Summary: This is a sentence or short paragraph that follows your headline. Here is where you continue to draw the media into your story by summarizing the information in your press release with a strong statement or two to keep the reader interested. But don’t give them everything. You still want them to read the entire release.

Body: This is the main area of your press release. Keep it simple, to the point and brief, 175 – 300 words. Use bullets when appropriate and clear, crisp paragraphs for easy reading. Your press release is meant to entice the media to contact you for further information, so encourage the reader to contact you and visit your web site.

About Us/Boiler Plate: Not everyone uses a boiler plate. However, this is the perfect place to add some brief information about your company. (i.e., “XYZ Company is a leading distributor of widgets and has been in the business of building widgets since 1900.”)

End of Press Release: To end your press release, simply enter ### on a blank line at the end of the release. Any information after ### will not be published.

More Press Release Tips: Section 2-12 can be found at http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press_writing_tips.php

Note: This article was written and edited by Cheryl Kaye Tardif for 24-7PressRelease Newswire. It is submitted here with permission.

Cheryl Kaye Tardif has worked in the past as a motivational speaker, marketing consultant, website designer and book editor. Currently, she is a freelance journalist, book reviewer, press release writer and copywriter. She is best known as the author of three bestselling novels: The River, Divine Intervention and the her most recent Whale Song (http://www.whalesongbook.com).

Visit Cheryl’s main website at http://www.cherylktardif.com

As an editor by trade and a writer by passion, I know how hard it can be to get your thoughts on paper. Your inner editor constantly detours your writing flow by criticizing your grammar, word choice, and punctuation. You can stop your inner editor by putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and letting the words flow―even if you consciously know you should be more specific or know you’ve added extra words―forgive yourself and move on. Nobody ever writes a perfect first draft. Once your work is on the computer, run it through the grammar and spell check, and then use these 7 tips to help make your writing better.

1) Persuade and motivate your reader. It’s your #1 goal when writing. Provide your readers with smartly-expressed thoughts by choosing words that drive your sentences from one to the next and create a seamless reading experience. Think of the horse-before-the-cart analogy. That cart’s not going anywhere until the horse pulls it into action.

2) Paint a picture. Would you rather eat a chocolate dessert or a creamy, chocolate layer cake? A piece of fruit or a crisp, juicy apple? Drive a car or drive a luxury Jaguar with soft, leather seats and new-car aroma? Your readers won’t see what you’re talking about unless you paint a vivid picture.

3) Clear the clutter. Words like “that, so, very, and much.” Look at your sentences closely–how many times do you use these words in your writing? Are they necessary? If extra words are not adding to the sentence, leave them out.

4) Pick a style–and stick with it. Whether you prefer formal or informal writing, use the same tone throughout your piece to create fluidity and keep your readers focused. Formal writing is used in professional writing, technical writing, and most business writing. Informal writing creates a more casual tone and uses contractions liberally (i.e., you’re vs. you are; won’t vs. would not, and so on).

5) Walk away. Put your draft down and walk away for an hour, a day or a week. After a short break, you’ll view your draft in a different light and be able to pick up what you missed earlier. Sometimes all it takes is a new perspective.

6) Get another set of eyes. Don’t be embarrassed (or too proud) to let someone read your work. Step back from your writing and let an objective set of eyes view your work from a reader’s point of view. Remember: feedback is your friend.

7) Edit, edit, edit. Editing and proofreading will make the difference between mediocre and magnificent. It’s important to rework your writing, but it’s even better to hand your work over to a professional editor. An editor’s job is not to criticize, judge or take away your voice; their job is to make your writing better.

© 2007 Karen L. Reddick, MVA, author of The A-Z Guide: The Best Ways To Work With A Virtual Assistant has more than 30 years of administrative experience, with the last five as a successful virtual assistant. She owns V-And-E-Services and The Red Pen Editor providing virtual assistance and editorial services to authors, writers and small businesses.
Blog: http://karenreddick.wordpress.com
Websites: http://www.TheRedPenEditor.com * http://www.VandEServices.com

Using a press release is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your website in a short amount of time. It doesn’t have to be about a major news story; it is merely a way to let the public know about any new developments, or to let them know about the launch of a new website.

When you write a press release, it can get easily picked up by Yahoo or Google news. If it does get picked up by a big player, you can get an instant traffic explosion.

In order to get noticed by the top guns, it is going to have to be very well-written, and here are a few tips to help you do it the right way.

Press Release Writing Tip # 1: Keep It Short.

It is best to keep it short and to the point. Most are about 500 words, which gives you enough room to write everything necessary. A long and lengthy report will not be accepted by many news sources – it should be a brief clip that encourages the reader to search out more information by clicking on the link you provide.

Press Release Writing Tip # 2: Write It Yourself.

It is really not that hard to write your own PR if English is your first language and you feel comfortable writing. The best thing to do is to follow the formatting of other successful ones.

You can read about formatting and structure, but until you actually visually see one for yourself, you will not appreciate how easy it is to write it. If you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself, then outsource the writing to a writer who is experienced with writing PRs.

Press Release Writing Tip # 3: Write A Captivating Headline.

The headline should be a grabber that makes the reader want more. It should be bolded and the font used should be bigger than the body. Remember to use the keywords that you want the search engines to pick up right in the title, while keeping the spark in it.

Press Release Writing Tip # 4: Get The Reader Hooked.

You have one or two sentences to get the reader hooked and reading the rest, or you will lose him. Without adding anything fancy, state exactly what it is about. Heavy use of adjectives and a sales tone will turn off any reader that is looking for newsworthy information about the topic.

Keep it simple at the beginning; let them know what you are going to talk about and why they need to read it.

If possible, insert your keywords strategically throughout the article; but don’t overdo it and do it in a way that does not affect the natural flow of the content.

Press Release Writing Tip # 5: Keep The Sales Out Of It.

Make sure that it doesn’t come across as a sales pitch. It must be written as a news story. It can contain a link to a site that has been set up to market a product, but the release itself cannot have a sales tone to it. Anything that has a sales tone will not be picked up by any major news sites, and will not spread as you want them to.

Press Release Writing Tip # 6: Use Factual Statements.

In order to retain credibility, you must include factual statements that can be verified. You do not want to beat around the bush with any innuendos or theories, but only present the facts in a crisp concise manner. A factual presentation is what is needed and wanted.

Press Release Writing Tip # 7: Make It Stand Out.

Writing a PR does not have to mean that it is completely boring. You need to find some kind of hook that makes the reader want more information.

Look at what you have to present, and then think about it from different angles. What can you add to this that will make it shine above the rest and be picked by major news sources?

Search engines love PRs and you can get a lot of traffic from them. If you write a good one and it starts to circulate around the web, you really have no idea how far it can go. It can appear on thousands of websites in the blink of an eye.

There are people that specialize in writing press releases for a living; and if you have a website that is taking off and have something to tell the world, you may want to find a specialist and get them to write it for you.

A PR is a powerful advertising tool and should not be underestimated. Use it for all it is worth, and watch your traffic and profits build. Many of the Internet marketing pros use this strategy, and anybody that is just starting a new business on the Internet can use them as well.

You don’t need to feel intimidated – anybody can issue a press release. You do not have to be a major company, just somebody that has something important to announce and make known.

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Here are some tips that you can make use of if you want to take your article writing to the next level:

1. Always use killer titles. Your main goal in writing your articles is to capture the attention of your target audience. This will happen if you use eye-catching titles. Make your audience want to read your articles by making your titles very enticing. Use them to communicate the gist of your content and the benefits that await your readers.

2. Plan your content. Don’t start writing unless you have a solid idea on the things that you would like to cover on your content. Decide on the angles that you’re going to target and list down the issues that you would like to discuss. Then, find ways on how you can set your articles apart from the rest.

3. Keep your readers interested. You want your audience to read your articles until the end. You can make this happen if you offer the most essential information upfront and if you make each of your paragraphs worth your readers’ while. It will also help if you write your articles using conversational tone.

4. Keep it short and simple. Writing articles for the web means serving people with different levels of comprehension and attention span. So as not to create confusion, it will be best if you make your articles easy to understand. Write as if you’re talking to a 10th grader. Use simple terms and simple, short sentences. Then, don’t try to cover too many angles on your content. Focus on one angle and make your articles really, really tight and relatively short.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article writing success, “Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide”

Download it free here: Article Writing

Most new writers have problems with scene changes (transitions). A smooth scene transition will encourage your readers to keep reading, whereas a sudden scene change can jolt your reader out of the story.

Transitions

What connects one scene to the next? A transition, which can be either a word or sentence that links one scene to the next. If you want to connect sentences, use transitional words, to connect scenes employ the use of transitional phrases or sentences.

The Purpose of Transitions

Transitions move your story forward. A sign of poor use of transitions would be if your reader gets lost in your story or novel, and needs to go back to the start and re-read what you had written earlier. This may be caused by other problems too, but poorly executed scene changes are often at fault. Quick scene changes, without the proper use of transitional phrases, can leave your readers wondering where the story is heading.

If you use transitions well, you will inspire confidence in your readers. They will know they can trust that your characters will stay connected to the story. Even if your story has muliple POV’s (point of view) those reading will be assured that you’ll come back to the other characters at some point further on. You won’t leave any character lost in the forest, or lying hurt and bleeding for too long. There will be a closure to their particular thread.

Have you ever read a novel that was written in real-time? Probably not. There are always instances in your characters life which do not need to be chronicled; for example, the seven hours spent sleeping; trips to the bathroom; the days or weeks in your story when nothing much happens to them. Transitions come to your rescue, they aid you in moving your characters either forward in time or to new locations.

Author’s Responsibility to their Readers

It is best to wait until your novel or story is finished to add and adjust transitions and scene changes. Start at the beginning and read over the beginning of every scene change, working your way through scenes and chapters. Are your scene changes clearly identified?

Just as you do your best to use correct punctuation, spelling and follow the rules of grammar when writing, you should also endeavor to clearly identify all scene changes. People will not read your novel if it is poorly punctuated, words are misspelled, or there are gaping holes in your plot. They won’t continue reading it if you mishandle scene changes either.

Clearly Setting the Scene

One idea for making sure the scene change is clearly marked is to describe your character and their surroundingsin the opening paragraph.

Bob Mayer (author and writing instructor) described one technique for doing this:

“When you start a new chapter or change perspective, you have to quickly (in first two paragraphs usually) orient the reader as to:

-Where is the locale?

-When in the timeline is this, with relation to the previous

scene?

-What is the point of view, and if it is a character’s, which character?

-Who is here?

Answering those questions “sets” the scene.”

You can also use a brief narrative to set the scene. You can use your character’s thoughts to show the reader how they felt about the previous scene, or their thoughts about what is to happen.

Visual Scene Dividers

Visual dividers are less often used for quick scene changes or when you switch the story to another character’s perspective.

The standard way to mark a scene break in your manuscript, so your editor or publisher will know there is a scene break, is with one #. These signs don’t remain in the published manuscript, they’re usually replaced by either more white space or a specific graphic break.

Was Your Scene Transition Successful?

If you can ask someone to read the section of writing in question and formulate a plot summary for it you can soon learn whether your scene transitions were successful. If all the elements in the series of connected scenes are included in the summary, you have nothing to worry about. However, if it is difficult for the reader to summarize the section, parts remain a blur, or they had to refer to the beginning of the chapter, or reread another earlier scene to make sense of the summary, you may need to look at your use of transition.

For more on Transitions and Scene Changes, read this.

Robyn Wescombe is a published author, who has been writing for more than fifteen years. Published work includes, “In Armageddon’s Wake” and “The Return of the Seven Keys”, both YA Fantasy novels. Tips from Robyn on writing can be found at http://www/.writerzitch.com.

What’s a memoir and how is it different from an autobiography? The first difference has to do with the length. While a bio will tell the tale from conception to death (or the current point in that person’s life), a memoir is much more focused on a certain “point” of a person’s life. Memoirs are far less structured and less encompassing than formal autobiographic literary works. Due to their relative ease of writing – as far as research and chronological structure is concerned – millions of people write memoirs every year, either about themselves or someone else. 

There’s still nothing “easy” about writing a memoir, and many people seek out tips on writing a memoir every day. Writing is sometimes considered a born-with talent, but that’s simply not the case. Ordinance and a sense of the job at hand can help anyone become a memoir writer. 

Tips on Writing a Memoir 

The first in the series of tips on writing a memoir has to do with your mindset. You’ve probably heard it before, but it shouldn’t be undersold. No matter what, you need to stay completely focused. This focus shouldn’t involve any sort of deadline, however, as that can lead to frustration, writer’s block, and a host of other problems. Instead, close yourself off when writing and stay focused on your task. 

The next tip has to do with the memoir’s structure. Although the finished product is going to be in chronological order, never write it that way. You should brainstorm on the most memorable aspects of the person’s life and the ones you can readily write about. By doing this, you’re basically etching out “talking points” which can easily be filled in later. This makes quick work of a point in time in a person’s life, whereas following from birth could drag you down. 

Another one of the great tips on writing a memoir has to do with the relationship you have with this person. If you know the person (or if it’s you you’re writing about) don’t feel as if it has to be glamorous. A memoir should be truthful and unbiased. This is perhaps the best of all tips on writing a memoir, simply due to the writer’s responsibility to paint the correct picture – not the best looking one. 

You should write an outline or a rough draft. Too often people think that dressing it up on the first go ’round will make quick work of the memoir. They ignore this and other tips on writing a memoir, and proceed to flesh out edited, grammatically correct, and fluffy copy on their first setting. It’s always best to draft before you craft. 

The last in the tips to writing a memoir has to do with time. You should never cram. In fact, it’s best to take a page per day approach. Write a finished page per day after you have it drafted and formatted. This will keep you from becoming burned out and keep ideas fresh.

Get more great tips on writing your memoir and discover lots of memoir writing tricks.

The blank piece of paper. It’s the hardest thing for the writer to deal with. Sometimes he can stare at it for hours on end and by the time he is done staring it’s still a blank piece of paper. Welcome to the world of writer’s block. Any writer worth his salt has gone through it. The thing that separates the successful writers from the ones who don’t make it is the ability to get through it. Hopefully, the following tips will give you some ammunition to deal with writer’s block.

Please note that this list is by no means written in stone and the only options available to you. They are just some exercises that many writers agree can work.

The one thing you can do to get through writer’s block, believe it or not, is to just walk away. Put down the pen and paper or keyboard of whatever it is you use to put your thoughts down and just take a walk. It doesn’t matter where. If it’s a nice sunny day, take a walk to the park. Sit on a bench and observe your surroundings. Don’t just look, but really observe. Concentrate on the birds. See if you can identify some of them. Stare at a blade of grass or a flower and watch how it moves in the wind. Do whatever you can to get your mind off your writing. By the time you get back home you will many times find that the ideas just begin to flow.

If getting away from your writing isn’t in your nature then there are some exercises you can do while you are writing that can help jog some ideas loose. One of the best methods is to stop writing whatever it is you are working on and start writing something completely different. If you’re writing a murder mystery and can’t come up with the final revelation of how the murder was committed, stop writing about the mystery and start writing a poem, or a to do list for people who want to get into the writing business. Get your mind off of the specific thing that you’re writing about but still keep your mind active in the writing mode. Many times you will find that the idea you are looking for will just pop into your head.

Another thing you can do to get past writer’s block is to do a writing exercise. Think about the topic you are writing on and make a checklist of all related topics that you can think of to that topic. For example, let’s say you’re writing a non fiction book about mole and wart removal and you’re looking for related topics to add to the book to reinforce the methods discussed for mole and wart removal. Think about what things are associated with health in general. Make a list. You’ll probably come up with diet, cleanliness, exercise and a number of other things. This will give you additional ideas for things you can include in your book such as a chapter on diet and exercise. Maybe a section on the immune system since moles and warts are usually caused by weak immune systems. By simply thinking of related material you’ll be surprised on what you can come up with. Don’t just focus on the main topic. Expand your mind and your book will expand.

These are just a few of many things you can try to get through your writer’s block. We’ll try to cover some more tips in future articles.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Writing Tips [http://writing-tips-guide.com]

Blog writing tips are the winning techniques, which will make your content rate above the normal on the web. For this to happen, it is needed to be presented in correct format and readable format and acceptable to a layman who visits or browses websites.

Listed below are some of the, worth noting, blog writing tips:

- Writing the text in a clear and crisp manner, which is understandable by all; and which requires least exercise of the brain from the reader.

- Developing the text fraught with suitable search engine friendly keywords and phrases. Such keywords serve as an impetus to be noticed by the search engine crawlers and you get the prize of being listed on top.

- Using the content management system to place the text in the way it should look appealing and attractive. This is done for two reasons. First, the CMS provides those powerful protocols, which are easily noticed by the crawlers; and secondly the text is soothing to reader’s eyes.

- Many a times, your content for Blog is not even read, it is just skimmed and it is skimming what gives you the publicity. A word “IS” has lot of power over the Internet, provided it is written and placed in right way in your textual material. And if this small word comes in the keyword, you will earn big. Simply imagine! How much power a content holds.

- The writing style should be simple, colloquial and discursive too. It should not be an academic research document. A true vision of the writer’s own thoughts. Remember to be a blog writer, you do not need to be a good literary person. A normal person with little insight into language can easily handle the stuff.

- Blog contents to your zone should also contain link in order to make them more SEO friendly and financially effective. To understand the real power of such writing genre, you should be aware of the Really Simple Syndication (RSS).

Follow the above-described blog writing tips, and you’ll have nothing more to say.

Niche Writers India provides Blog Content Writing and Blog Writing Service in $4 a piece and if you are looking for Blog Posting Service then you can get it in $2 per article.

If you’re looking for a job or thinking about a career change, you need reliable resume writing tips.

Employment experts say a resume has to be good enough to catch a potential employer’s attention in only a few short seconds.

Imagine that you’re the human resource director or personnel officer for a firm or company looking to hire a manager, a supervisor or any other professional. Or you could be the owner of a small business that needs a new worker.

In either case, you have on your desk a stack of resumes several inches thick. As you examine the documents, they all look the same.

Therein lies the challenge faced by job seekers – how to make their resume stand out from the others.

Improving your resume ends up as a win-win-win situation. You make a better first impression, you have more confidence and you get more interviews.

There are, of course, questions to face when building your resume. If you’re looking for a new position you need to think about whether you need a chronological or functional resume. Perhaps you even need to target the resume for a particular job opening.

You’ll probably want to include your objective, a summary of your experience, and a description of your knowledge and skills. You might need a template, a sample document to serve as an example to follow.

But regardless of those issues, here’s two quick ways to make your resume stand out.

First, add graphic elements, particularly logos from past employers, colleges, or organizations.

Everyone knows that the brain would rather look at an image than read. There’s a reason people say a picture is worth a thousand words.

That’s why two or three logos will improve your resume. The images catch the reader’s eye and allow you to make an immediate emotional connection with the employer and gain an advantage from positive feelings associated with the logos.

And all this happens before the person has read one word of your resume.

Some might fear that they’ll get in trouble for using logos. That’s not likely since you are not using the graphics to sell anything. Of course, this is not legal advice so if you have concerns, get permission before including a logo or other graphic on your resume.

The second way to get your resume noticed is to include quotes from people familiar with your work, including managers, supervisors or clients.

These statements gain attention because they are third-party endorsements of you. Think of them as testimonials for your skills and abilities.

Where can you get the quotes? You can always ask, but another good source is recommendations on your Linkedin profile. Since these statements are already in the public domain, feel free to use them in your resume.

Making these simple changes to your resume will give you confidence and improve your job search.

It’s always easier to do something when you know you can, instead of being unsure. That kind of difference makes all the difference.

An eye-catching resume provides that type of boost. These simple resume writing tips will give you that kind of self-assurance.

Stephen DeVane has more than two decades of writing experience. You’ll find his favorite resume writing tips and tools at the http://www.professionalcvwriting.net web site.

About a year ago, I wrote an article with guidelines on writing a website design and development Request for Proposal (RFP), which received a great response. Now I think it’s high time to do the same thing for those wishing to engage an agency for Social Media Marketing and other Online Marketing and Advertising consultation and implementation.

Below are my suggestions of how to prepare an RFP for social media projects, retainers and campaigns. I also suggest doing research online and viewing other Request for Proposals to see what works best for your organization. Keep in mind that whatever format you choose will determine not only how long the responses are, but also what type of focus you are looking for from the respondents. Each section of the RFP is outlined below, along with some explanation and suggested questions. Have fun!

Information about your organization and project

Introduction

The purpose of this section is to give a brief overview of the company issuing the RFP and the social media project or desired work relationship between the company and the vendor. Provide as much information as you feel is necessary to allow vendors to prepare an accurate proposal. If you feel that there is certain proprietary or other information that you do not wish to make public, require a Non Disclosure Agreement be signed before receiving that information. This may limit the participation of vendors, but it is oftentimes necessary to protect private information.

1. Company Overview

• Organizational history
• Your business objectives
• Your company’s history using social media or reasons why your organization intends to begin to participate in social media

2. Overview of Project

• State the project objectives and how they relate to the business objectives stated above. Explain the type of vendor relationship desired i.e. Project-based, Agency of Record, etc. Explain the current involvement your organization has with social media channels and how they relate to both your organization’s primary presence and any related campaigns
• Explain the social media channels you wish the campaign to involve, unless you are looking for suggestions of which to use, then please specify that to the vendors
• Explain how the project fits into your overall marketing strategy (online and offline) and if there is another vendor involved in other aspects of your Advertising and Marketing initiatives
• Explain the measurable outcomes you would like to see
• Explain the duration of the work – is it a temporary campaign, or an ongoing organizational marketing platform?

3. Overview of Audiences and Stakeholders

• List primary audiences for the company, i.e. demographics, psychographics, etc
• List primary information needs of each audience group
• Identify if any market or audience research will be necessary in the execution of the campaign

4. Overview of Response

• Make it clear the type of response you are looking for:
• Are you looking for a hypothetical approach, or an explanation of the vendor’s process of how they will come to create your campaign. Many times a hypothetical approach is not the best way to approach an RFP process simply because a vendor will be missing several key pieces of information that might negatively affect their ability to propose a specific solution. We suggest looking for more general responses and weighing the effectiveness of past client work heavily

Guidelines for Proposal Preparation

• In order to give all qualified vendors a level playing field, it’s important to set up an easy to follow schedule for both when your RFP is issued, when and to whom questions are allowed, and when and in what format responses are required
• Specify the date the RFP was issued (Month, Day, Year). If your RFP is publicly listed, it will help those searching for RFPs on Google or by other methods to find relevant Request for Proposals
• An optional requirement is to specify that all interested vendors register their intent to submit a proposal by a certain date – usually within 1-2 weeks of the RFP issue. This is a good way to limit the potential number of vendors who respond if you anticipate a large volume of proposals and would rather receive a smaller amount
• We recommend allowing a question and answer period that ends at least 1 week before the proposal is due. It is up to you whether to allow questions by email, conference call or individual phone calls. We do recommend that you share all the questions (and answers) with all interested vendors in order to keep things as equal as possible. Always specify which format -phone call, email, and to whom these questions should be addressed. We recommend identifying a single person in your organization to be the point of contact. Just make sure vacation schedules, etc don’t interfere with this process, and if there is any other reason why the primary point of contact might need to be out of town during the process, specify a secondary point of contact
• Responses from issuer to be sent by 20XX in the following formats (specify whether electronic submissions, hard copies or both must be either emailed, mailed or hand-delivered)
• On the basis of the replies to the RFP document, a short list of potential vendors will be selected and this group will be asked to present demonstrations of their capabilities and vision for the project. These meetings will be completed by XXth, 20XX
• Awarding of the contract to selected Vendor by XXth, 20XX
• Work to commence by 20XX and to last until (if applicable)

Vendor Questions and Qualifications

The following is a series of questions that, if applicable, we suggest you ask the vendors submitting proposals. Some may not apply, but it is a great idea to get as much of an idea of the vendor’s approach and philosophy on social media as possible. Compare the responses both among each other, and to the research and reading that you have done to make sure that the vendor is up to date with the latest thinking and best practices.

COMPANY DETAILS

• Company name and parent company name
• Ownership structure
• Years in operation
• Mailing address (headquarters)
• Other office location(s)
• Primary phone
• Fax number
• Website and blog URL
• Primary point of contact (name, title, phone and email address)
• Total number of employees
• Number of vendor employees whose primary function is social media
• Current client list with those engaged in social media work identified
• Percentage of total revenue that is social-media related
• Three references for social media work including; company name, primary client name, contact details and brief explanation of services provided
• Any potential conflicts with existing vendor client base and this RFP
• Senior social media staff bios and links to social media profiles where applicable
• Please provide a complete list of relevant social media platform and technology partners
• References from clients currently engaged in social media work with the vendor

CAPABILITIES & EXPERIENCE

• List all social media and online marketing capabilities
• Do you have any proprietary tools or products related to social media?
• Please list any experience you have with integrating social, paid and/or earned media
• Is there a specific industry or type of work your firm specializes in?
• Please list and provide links to primary social media communication channels for your company (i.e.company blog,Twitter account, Facebook group, blogs authored by principals, etc.)

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY

• Please outline your social media strategy process
• Which stakeholder groups do you typically include in a strategy engagement?
• Describe the final deliverable of a strategy engagement
• What is your approach to risk management in social media?
• How do you incorporate existing applications, websites, microsites and newsletter programs into your overall social media strategy?
• How do you ensure compliance with client legal requirements?
• Please describe your approach to integrating across client marketing, customer service and corporate communications departments. Please provide an example of your work in this area
• How do you approach adapting a traditional brand into a two-way dialogue?
• Please provide a case study of your strategy work that resulted in a social media initiative and the business results achieved

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT & SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING

• What is your brand/reputation monitoring process (i.e. proprietary tools used, methodology, etc)?
• What is your opinion on automated sentiment analysis?
• What technology do you use to assist in online monitoring?
• How long (on average) between a potential issue being posted online and being flagged to the client?
• What volume of mentions has your organization handled in the past (e.g. 2,500 mentions per week)?
• What is your quality assurance process to ensure that the large volumes of data gathered in the monitoring process are handled efficiently and representative of the overall online conversation?
• Please detail your methodology for handling online crises
• What services do you provide in support of online crisis management?
• Please describe the structure of your crisis management team, including bios and relevant experience
• How do you assess which mentions require immediate responses and which do not?
• Please outline your general approach to sourcing and responding to comments
• Please provide a case study detailing your work for the purposes of managing reputation or online crisis management, including outcomes and lessons learned
• Please include a sample of your monitoring report format and/or a link to appropriate dashboards (specifics should be removed)

METRICS, MEASUREMENT & REPORTING

• What methodology do you use for measuring the success of your social media programs for clients?
• Please provide specific examples based on past work
• Have you developed any proprietary metrics? How have you applied these for clients?
• How have you defined Return on Investment (ROI) from a social media perspective in the past?
• How do you take data points generated from various social media channels and measurement tools and combine to give an objective/comprehensive view?
• What is your approach to server analytics and community analytics for program measurement?
• Do you have the capability to measure cost per lead or cost per acquisition? Please provide an example of a project on which you have done so
• What platforms are you unable to measure accurately, or able to provide only limited measurements from?
• Please provide a sample of a measurement document or final report (specifics should be removed)
• What percentage of the budget do you recommend be dedicated to metrics and measurement?

CLIENT EDUCATION & TRAINING

• Do you offer social media training services for clients? If yes, what formats are they available in?
• What internal processes do you have in place to ensure that your staff is kept current on social media innovations and best practices?
• How do you measure progress and evaluate training effectiveness?
• How do you recommend that clients keep up to date on the latest social media innovations and best practices?

SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHER DIGITAL CHANNELS

• What are your design, creative and community management capabilities?
• What percentage of your staff is dedicated to building and deploying social media solutions versus management and consulting?
• Please describe your experience with the following platforms and tactics:

- YouTube or similar video sharing sites

- Blogs, Podcasts, Vodcasts, Forums

- Content Management System (CMS)

- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

- E-mail Marketing

- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing(SEM)

- Facebook Pages, Apps, API integration

- Mobile application development

- Twitter

- News sharing sites (i.e. Digg, Reddit, etc.)

- Virtual Worlds and Augmented reality

- Photo sharing (i.e. Flickr) and other content sharing sites (i.e. Scribd, Slideshare, Delicious, etc.)

- Social Media press releases(SMPRs)

- Crowdsourcing or Wikis

- Real world events organized via social media (e.g. Tweetups)

- Ratings/Customer service sites (i.e. Yelp, ePinions, etc.)

Please provide examples of social media channel development work completed within the last two years

COMMUNITY AND INFLUENCER OUTREACH (SOCIAL PR)

• What is your process for identifying influencers within various social media channels?
• How do you determine and define “influence?”
• What is your outreach process for communicating with identified online influencers?
• What tools and approaches do you use for Influencer Relationship Management? (Third-party, proprietary,etc.)
• How have you integrated Influencer Outreach with traditional communications and/or marketing campaigns?
• How do you approach seeding conversations within stakeholder groups?
• What is your exit strategy with influencers once the initiative is completed?
• How do you ensure authenticity and transparency when conducting outreach on behalf of a client?
• Please provide a case study of an online community outreach project

CLIENT SERVICES & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• How is a typical client engagement with your firm structured?
• How do you structure your account teams?
• Please outline your internal communication structure. If your account staff is separate from your project management staff, please detail how these teams work together
• If you are selected to provide social media services, who will be assigned to our business (please provide names, titles and short biographical notes)
• What percentage of senior staff involvement is structured in to your projects? What role do they play?
• How are your projects priced? Using an hourly rate? Blended agency rate? If the former, please provide a rate card
• What change management practices does your agency employ?
• What reports will be provided to the client in order to communicate project milestones and overall project health?
• What is the frequency of these reports?
• What is your process for gathering business requirements?

Writing a Request for Proposal (RFP) is a good first step when considering Online Marketing and Social Media work as it takes thoughtful planning to specify and construct an effective, integrated campaign. A well thought-out, quality RFP is essential to a successful endeavor because it helps you to focus on your goals and exactly how to achieve them.

Greg Kihlstrom is the Chief Creative Officer at Carousel30 Interactive in Washington DC, an award-winning digital agency offering online advertising and marketing services as well as interactive design and development for social media, websites and mobile applications.