People in the press don’t just work “on the fly”.
Whereas news reporting organizations have to work around breaking
and emerging news stories, most topic specific reporters, whether
newspapers, trade publications, magazines or trade Publications
(Money, Technology, Gardening, Consumer issues, etc)
And radio and TV, (Talk radio, Morning TV Shows) work
with more intention. In other words they plan their stories and topics
they intend to cover
And most publish what is called an “Editorial Calendar”. These
calendars serve as a public reporting of what the media intends to
cover and at what time of the year. (IE June is Pool Safety Month,
February will be tax preparedness month etc).
Although TV and Radio producers do much the same thing, they rarely
Produce an actual calendar. So what to do with this information?
In case of print media, identify the publications you wish to court and
Call or write and ask for a copy of their calendar. With electronic media
NOW is the time to make your contacts and send your pitch letters.
Hosts and producers are NOW actively discussing what subjects
They are hoping to cover in the coming year. Contact them NOW!
Both types of media in these examples prefer the original contact be
made by email. The point is to present your story ideas prior to when
the press will be covering them. This DO NOT mean you cannot pitch
other ideas. This information will however give you a leg up of your
publicity seeking competition – when you know what the media is
“buying” and when.
Last point…If June is pool safety month, Late April, early May is when
you should approach the press. Do not wait until the calendar month!
Get your very own copy of Michaels eZine The Art of Publicity Prospecting
Its chock full of great ideas to help you grow your business and its absolutely free
CLICK HERE http://www.MichaelHartSpeaks.com
Showing posts with label Publicity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Publicity. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Insights from the Inside
If you’re already in the habit of contacting the press, great! Keep it up. But here’s a little tough love. If you contact a reporter or worse respond to a reporter’s query through a service like HARO (Help A Repoter) or Profnet, and send them an unsolicited link to your web site you are wasting your time.
We The Media)WILL NOT follow our links. The primary reason is time. My weekly radio program has to field between 600 and 800 queries a month. Can you imagine what Fox News deals with?
I cannot tell you how many times I get something like
“Hey Michael check out my web site”
AND THAT’S IT! It’s insulting, amateurish, makes you appear lazy and implies you do not respect the reporters time. There are thousands of people that pay PRNewswire thousands and get little or no response and wonder why. This is why.
The link is okay at the conclusion of your query response, but should be preceded with the line:
“For more information go to”
Reporters are looking for answers. As the expert that’s your job. Don’t make reporters do even more research they don’t have time for in the first place
We The Media)WILL NOT follow our links. The primary reason is time. My weekly radio program has to field between 600 and 800 queries a month. Can you imagine what Fox News deals with?
I cannot tell you how many times I get something like
“Hey Michael check out my web site”
AND THAT’S IT! It’s insulting, amateurish, makes you appear lazy and implies you do not respect the reporters time. There are thousands of people that pay PRNewswire thousands and get little or no response and wonder why. This is why.
The link is okay at the conclusion of your query response, but should be preceded with the line:
“For more information go to”
Reporters are looking for answers. As the expert that’s your job. Don’t make reporters do even more research they don’t have time for in the first place
Thursday, December 10, 2009
A government that controls the press – controls the people
In a recent survey up to 90% of Americans that regularly read the news get at least some of their news online. This trend has been growing and has placed a serious financial burden, and even forced bankruptcy on major US news papers as circulation of print media plummets.
But according to Democrat congressman Henry Waxman of California since the newspaper industry is suffering "market failure" the US government will need to step in to help preserve serious journalism essential to democracy.
In a statement during a meeting on journalism in the Internet age hosted by the Federal Trade Commission, Waxman said "The newspapers my generation has taken for granted are facing a structural threat to the business model that has sustained them".
"The loss of revenue has spurred a vicious cycle with thousands of journalists losing their jobs”.
Waxman, who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over the FTC, went on to say "depression in the media sector is not cyclical, it is structural."
"While this has implications for the media it also has implications for democracy," he added. "A vigorous free press and vigorous democracy have been inextricably linked.
"We cannot risk the loss of an informed public and all that means because of this market failure”.
Waxman noted various possible remedies, including new tax structures for publishers, providing non-profit status, changing anti-trust regulations or eliminating a law that bars owning a newspaper and a television station in the same city.
But "as we look at these various solutions, government is going to have to be involved in one way or the other," he warned.
"Eventually, government is going to have to be responsible to help resolve these issues and our whole society depends very much on reaching some resolution of the problem."
When you consider that the first move of any government that is seeking to restrict the rights of its citizens is to seize control of its media,
the idea that the US government should take any stake, let alone a financial one in the media should not only be a major concern to all American’s but one that should be stopped dead in its tracks, before this insane notion has any chance of being taken seriously.
But according to Democrat congressman Henry Waxman of California since the newspaper industry is suffering "market failure" the US government will need to step in to help preserve serious journalism essential to democracy.
In a statement during a meeting on journalism in the Internet age hosted by the Federal Trade Commission, Waxman said "The newspapers my generation has taken for granted are facing a structural threat to the business model that has sustained them".
"The loss of revenue has spurred a vicious cycle with thousands of journalists losing their jobs”.
Waxman, who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over the FTC, went on to say "depression in the media sector is not cyclical, it is structural."
"While this has implications for the media it also has implications for democracy," he added. "A vigorous free press and vigorous democracy have been inextricably linked.
"We cannot risk the loss of an informed public and all that means because of this market failure”.
Waxman noted various possible remedies, including new tax structures for publishers, providing non-profit status, changing anti-trust regulations or eliminating a law that bars owning a newspaper and a television station in the same city.
But "as we look at these various solutions, government is going to have to be involved in one way or the other," he warned.
"Eventually, government is going to have to be responsible to help resolve these issues and our whole society depends very much on reaching some resolution of the problem."
When you consider that the first move of any government that is seeking to restrict the rights of its citizens is to seize control of its media,
the idea that the US government should take any stake, let alone a financial one in the media should not only be a major concern to all American’s but one that should be stopped dead in its tracks, before this insane notion has any chance of being taken seriously.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The Death of Public Relations?
Lately there has been a flurry of queries from reporters that use both PR Newswire and Help a Reporter (HARO) regarding information on the future of the Public Relations industry.
Businesses are not only cutting training budgets but slashing advertising and all but emliminating PR and communications departments. These reporters are seeking DIY (Do it yourself) Public Relations strategy information for a wide range of articles. I have also learned of a couple of websites that seek to place displaced PR people willing to freelance, with firms that have dumped their agencies over budget cuts.
The trend seems to be towards helping firms do their own press work. This on top of this companies are seeking out low and no cost marketing ideas to offset the loss of advertising budgets.
To really "stir the puddin", the press is in a panic because the loss of these PR firms and agents means a severe reduction in their sources and fresh story pitches and quotes.
While a dilemma for both the media and public relations agencies this situation provides some incredible opportunities for entrepreneurs, business owners and sales professionals to get some very serious exposure.
The media needs new sources now more than ever and the most prolific contributer, the Public Relations industry is shrinking. Never before have DIY publicity practioners had so much opportunity to exploit the media's appetite for information and gain priceless exposure.
So get those phones and emails buzzing. To learn more about generating your own Publicity go to http://www.michaelhartspeaks.com/ and make sure to check out our marketing web channel at http://www.brighttalk.com/channels/538/view
Businesses are not only cutting training budgets but slashing advertising and all but emliminating PR and communications departments. These reporters are seeking DIY (Do it yourself) Public Relations strategy information for a wide range of articles. I have also learned of a couple of websites that seek to place displaced PR people willing to freelance, with firms that have dumped their agencies over budget cuts.
The trend seems to be towards helping firms do their own press work. This on top of this companies are seeking out low and no cost marketing ideas to offset the loss of advertising budgets.
To really "stir the puddin", the press is in a panic because the loss of these PR firms and agents means a severe reduction in their sources and fresh story pitches and quotes.
While a dilemma for both the media and public relations agencies this situation provides some incredible opportunities for entrepreneurs, business owners and sales professionals to get some very serious exposure.
The media needs new sources now more than ever and the most prolific contributer, the Public Relations industry is shrinking. Never before have DIY publicity practioners had so much opportunity to exploit the media's appetite for information and gain priceless exposure.
So get those phones and emails buzzing. To learn more about generating your own Publicity go to http://www.michaelhartspeaks.com/ and make sure to check out our marketing web channel at http://www.brighttalk.com/channels/538/view
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Establishing Yourself as an Industry Expert
Join me today at 6pm CENTRAL STANDARD TIME when I present
"Establish Yourself as an Industry Expert"
The webinar is free of charge and will be broadcast on my web channel
BMN- Business Marketing Network. BMN is hosted by Brightalk and in addition to my
programs Brightalk hosts hundreds of others to help you grow your business.
Being a member is free so make sure to sign up today
You can find BMN at http://www.brighttalk.com/channels/538/view
"Establish Yourself as an Industry Expert"
The webinar is free of charge and will be broadcast on my web channel
BMN- Business Marketing Network. BMN is hosted by Brightalk and in addition to my
programs Brightalk hosts hundreds of others to help you grow your business.
Being a member is free so make sure to sign up today
You can find BMN at http://www.brighttalk.com/channels/538/view
Friday, August 22, 2008
Wacky ways to get yourself known
I've always been fascinated by strange, creative and off the wall publicity strategies. From time to time I like to post ideas from the field - especially publicity stunts that go beyond what many people believe to be "traditional media"
The following story was submitted by Shana Mahaffey
Publicist – San Francisco
When Kemble Scott's debut novel SoMa was released, he figured he probably wouldn't be getting on Oprah. As a new author, the chances of getting any publicity were slim to none. He thought it would be especially tough for his book. Set in the underground of San Francisco, he knew that newspaper editors (especially book review editors) tend to ignore work they think is too edgy.
So Scott decided to take the pitch for his book directly to readers.
What could be more democratic than YouTube?
He created a series of companion videos that told the true stories that inspired the novel. Even though SoMa is a work of fiction, the places featured in the book are real. The videos revealed a side of the city few in mainstream society knew existed. Collectively, the videos have been viewed about 60,000 times. That was enough to create buzz for the book.
Scott went from being a relatively unknown writer to hitting the San Francisco Chronicle's bestsellers list the first week the book was for sale. That was before Scott had done a single public appearance, and without any coverage from mainstream media.Eventually SoMa would hit #4 on the bestsellers list. And the story of the YouTube videos became a marketing vehicle itself.
Scott was the first to use YouTube to promote a work of fiction this way, and that led to mentions in newspapers and on the notorious gawker.com blog ValleyWag. An estimated 300,000 different books are published each year in the United States, so it's a monumental task to get one to stand out from the crowd. It's also widely believed that books don't benefit very much from traditional advertising. That's why you don't use TV commercials for books. Instead, books tend to succeed by word of mouth, like one neighbor telling another over the backyard fence. Now, in the grassroots age of the Internet, YouTube can be just like a little neighborhood.
For more information on this Wacky Idea visit: www.youtube.com/kemblescott
*******************************
Thanks Shana
The following story was submitted by Shana Mahaffey
Publicist – San Francisco
When Kemble Scott's debut novel SoMa was released, he figured he probably wouldn't be getting on Oprah. As a new author, the chances of getting any publicity were slim to none. He thought it would be especially tough for his book. Set in the underground of San Francisco, he knew that newspaper editors (especially book review editors) tend to ignore work they think is too edgy.
So Scott decided to take the pitch for his book directly to readers.
What could be more democratic than YouTube?
He created a series of companion videos that told the true stories that inspired the novel. Even though SoMa is a work of fiction, the places featured in the book are real. The videos revealed a side of the city few in mainstream society knew existed. Collectively, the videos have been viewed about 60,000 times. That was enough to create buzz for the book.
Scott went from being a relatively unknown writer to hitting the San Francisco Chronicle's bestsellers list the first week the book was for sale. That was before Scott had done a single public appearance, and without any coverage from mainstream media.Eventually SoMa would hit #4 on the bestsellers list. And the story of the YouTube videos became a marketing vehicle itself.
Scott was the first to use YouTube to promote a work of fiction this way, and that led to mentions in newspapers and on the notorious gawker.com blog ValleyWag. An estimated 300,000 different books are published each year in the United States, so it's a monumental task to get one to stand out from the crowd. It's also widely believed that books don't benefit very much from traditional advertising. That's why you don't use TV commercials for books. Instead, books tend to succeed by word of mouth, like one neighbor telling another over the backyard fence. Now, in the grassroots age of the Internet, YouTube can be just like a little neighborhood.
For more information on this Wacky Idea visit: www.youtube.com/kemblescott
*******************************
Thanks Shana
Friday, August 15, 2008
MEET THE PRESS
This article was written by me and originally published in Association Meetings Magazine last April. You can find Association Meetings Magazine online at www.Meetingsnet.com
On any given day, up to 70 percent of all the stories in newspapers across the United States were either released or pitched by public relations firms, publicists, and corporate communications firms. In the case of business news — often released by business owners or their industry associations — this number approaches 100 percent.
Publicity is such a powerful complement to traditional marketing that most major corporations staff entire departments with people whose only job is to get their company in the news.
Associations too can employ this marketing strategy. And when they do, they see their membership rosters swell, their political and civic agendas gather momentum, and their meetings and trade events grow.
Unfortunately, many organizations fail to get the coverage they desire. This failure comes from a misunderstanding as to how mainstream news agencies work. If you hope to exploit the media's insatiable appetite for information, you must first understand a few simple truths.
First, the media needs you
Most newsrooms are short-staffed and their reporters have little time and need a constant stream of new ideas. You should never allow your organization to implement a new service or product, promote a cause, adopt a new social position, or change leadership without notifying the media.
When your association has a meeting or trade event, alert the local media. If you have a speaker of national prominence on the agenda, alert the media. Will your speaker grant interviews to the press? What awards will be given, to whom, and why? Is the event open to the public? If so, how may someone attend? What industry trends or changes will be discussed? Have you hired a new director? Can you guess? That's right, alert the media.
Before a meeting, you might consider encouraging your members to send press releases announcing their plans to attend to the newspapers in their hometowns. This alone would get your organization coverage in newspapers across the country. And your members will learn a valuable marketing strategy they can use in their business lives over and over again.
Second, reporters are relationship-oriented.
If you want to get expanded coverage for your events, it's not enough to blast-fax a release or send it out on a news wire. While appropriate for simple announcements, such as awards, pitching a feature story idea requires personal contact. Fax or e-mail your release directly to the reporter, then follow up with a phone call. Introduce yourself and confirm the reporter received your release. Then — and this is critical — ask if you can continue. Never begin pitching a story idea without first getting permission to do so.
The media needs you. But they owe you nothing. Help them by providing them a steady stream of new ideas. Respect their time. Treat them as cherished partners. Understand when they decline a story. Become a valuable, trusted, and dependable resource and they will reward you with priceless exposure for years to come.
Michael Hart is a speaker and trainer on publicity. For more information on his programs, reach him at (205) 678-9661 or http://www.michaelhartspeaks.com/. To learn more about this subject, send a blank e-mail to report@MichaelHartSpeaks.com to receive Hart's report, MEDIA BLITZ, free of charge.
On any given day, up to 70 percent of all the stories in newspapers across the United States were either released or pitched by public relations firms, publicists, and corporate communications firms. In the case of business news — often released by business owners or their industry associations — this number approaches 100 percent.
Publicity is such a powerful complement to traditional marketing that most major corporations staff entire departments with people whose only job is to get their company in the news.
Associations too can employ this marketing strategy. And when they do, they see their membership rosters swell, their political and civic agendas gather momentum, and their meetings and trade events grow.
Unfortunately, many organizations fail to get the coverage they desire. This failure comes from a misunderstanding as to how mainstream news agencies work. If you hope to exploit the media's insatiable appetite for information, you must first understand a few simple truths.
First, the media needs you
Most newsrooms are short-staffed and their reporters have little time and need a constant stream of new ideas. You should never allow your organization to implement a new service or product, promote a cause, adopt a new social position, or change leadership without notifying the media.
When your association has a meeting or trade event, alert the local media. If you have a speaker of national prominence on the agenda, alert the media. Will your speaker grant interviews to the press? What awards will be given, to whom, and why? Is the event open to the public? If so, how may someone attend? What industry trends or changes will be discussed? Have you hired a new director? Can you guess? That's right, alert the media.
Before a meeting, you might consider encouraging your members to send press releases announcing their plans to attend to the newspapers in their hometowns. This alone would get your organization coverage in newspapers across the country. And your members will learn a valuable marketing strategy they can use in their business lives over and over again.
Second, reporters are relationship-oriented.
If you want to get expanded coverage for your events, it's not enough to blast-fax a release or send it out on a news wire. While appropriate for simple announcements, such as awards, pitching a feature story idea requires personal contact. Fax or e-mail your release directly to the reporter, then follow up with a phone call. Introduce yourself and confirm the reporter received your release. Then — and this is critical — ask if you can continue. Never begin pitching a story idea without first getting permission to do so.
The media needs you. But they owe you nothing. Help them by providing them a steady stream of new ideas. Respect their time. Treat them as cherished partners. Understand when they decline a story. Become a valuable, trusted, and dependable resource and they will reward you with priceless exposure for years to come.
Michael Hart is a speaker and trainer on publicity. For more information on his programs, reach him at (205) 678-9661 or http://www.michaelhartspeaks.com/. To learn more about this subject, send a blank e-mail to report@MichaelHartSpeaks.com to receive Hart's report, MEDIA BLITZ, free of charge.
Free PR Newswire Seminar
This link will take you to a recent Webinar I delivered for PR Newswire called -
"Maximizing Publicity, Minimizing Cost"
In this program I reveal some of the more important trends taking place in the media and how to get tons of free exposure for your company, association, meeting, organization or event
http://www.iian.ibeam.com/events/prmv001/26747/
"Maximizing Publicity, Minimizing Cost"
In this program I reveal some of the more important trends taking place in the media and how to get tons of free exposure for your company, association, meeting, organization or event
http://www.iian.ibeam.com/events/prmv001/26747/
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Joining the Facebook Frenzy
Among the social networking sites, Facebook is probably the best known of all of them. Facebook (originally called thefacebook) was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February of 2004 at Harvard and was originally designed as a hobby project. Within a few months, the idea spread across the college and shortly thereafter Facebook sign-ups extended to Stanford and Yale. Since that time it's grown in numbers no one could have anticipated; in fact, there has been such a change in traffic and demographic that the average age on Facebook has changed to a median 35 -64.
Keep in mind that while these tips are directed to "facebookers" they can often be applied to a variety of online social networking sites. While the set-up is unique to all of them, the interaction, tips for growth, and marketing strategies tend to be the same across the board.
Setting up a Page on Facebook
Unlike Squidoo which tends to be a tad more involved, the Facebook sign up is pretty easy. There are four basic steps to follow:
1) From the Facebook homepage you'll see a screen that asks you to login or sign up for a free account. Click on "Sign Up," which takes you to a Web form.
2) The form will ask you for your name, email, password, and birthday. You'll also have to go through a security procedure which will involve typing a series of letters and numbers. Once you do that (and agree to their terms and conditions) click the "Sign up now!" button when you have completed the form.
3) A confirmation email will pop into your inbox. Simply click the link when you get the email to confirm that you did register and off you go! You're logged into Facebook and can start uploading content.
4) You can start building your network by looking for friends, colleagues, and groups that are appropriate to what you're doing. Join any groups that seem to fit your message, and start networking.
5) Facebook works really well when your page is personalized so add some applications that will further enhance this page. You'll want to add photos, a library where you can select books you're reading or ones you recommend. You can upload video, even the RSS feed from your blog. Making the page as robust as you can is your goal!
Facebook Facts:
More than 60 million active users
An average of 250,000 new registrations per day since Jan. 2007
Active users double every 6 months
More than half of Facebook users are outside of college
The fastest growing demographic is those 25 years old and older
Sixth-most trafficked site in the United States (comScore)
More than 65 billion page views per month
More than 14 million photos uploaded daily
Facebook Tips
Fill out your profile: Seriously, don't leave pieces of your profile undone. Make sure it's uploaded completely. This doesn't mean giving out your home address or year of birth if you don't want people to know your age, it just means filling out the fun stuff like hobbies, books you enjoy reading and so on.
It's not just about you, it's about the community: Remember the golden rules of social media: help first, promote second.
Step outside of your social circle: try getting away from your inner circle and migrate out to other people who might be good networking opportunities. While it's fun to stay connected to all your college buddies, that's not the main focus of your Facebook page.
Slow and steady wins the social media race: The best Facebook pages (and this is true for any social networking site) are built over time. Slow growth is best when it comes to social networking sites so don't force a sudden surge of growth. This will also keep you from getting booted off if you add friends too quickly. Facebook watches for people who are adding hundreds of friends at a time and will lock your page if they think you're over-promoting yourself.
Don't be shy: The purpose of Facebook is to connect and interact with other members, so don't be shy! Interact with people on your friend list by commenting on their pictures, wishing them a happy birthday, "poking" them (unique to Facebook), writing on their wall or throwing something at them (again, this is unique to Facebook). Doing all these things will help others to get to know who you actually are instead of just knowing your name.
Content, content, content: Remember that it's important to add content. You can do this by uploading a video, adding the RSS feed from your blog and a variety of other things. You can also add Facebook applications and there are a bunch to chose from. Spice up your profile using these applications.
Marketing on Facebook: Marketing on this site is done via interaction with members as I've stated before. Interacting with others on the site is a great way to market yourself.
Keep updating your profile: Don't let your profile get stale. Update your status, add photos, answer wall messages and emails.
Create events: Yes, you can create events on Facebook and it's pretty easy to do. Once you have your network momentum going and are adding friends, why not plan an event too?
Add your Facebook page to your blog: Make sure and add your Facebook page to your blog. You can have your web person take care of this for you, it's a simple widget that gets added to let people know you have a Facebook profile.
Keep in mind that there are a few different things you can do on Facebook. There are Facebook Profiles, Pages, and Groups. A Facebook Profile is the standard way to get yourself onto Facebook and if you're just starting out, but if aggressive promotion is what you seek then a Page or Group might be better suited to your needs.
Penny C. Sansevieri
Author Marketing Experts, Inc.Turning Authors into SuccessStories
http://www.authormarketingexperts.com/
Note from Michael:
Penny mentions Content, content content. This is Very, very very important - for any site. News servers such as Google Alerts constantly spider for new content on the web. Remember blog directories categorized blog content differently then web browsers do. So add content frequently to all your sites and yes this includes your web pages too.
Keep in mind that while these tips are directed to "facebookers" they can often be applied to a variety of online social networking sites. While the set-up is unique to all of them, the interaction, tips for growth, and marketing strategies tend to be the same across the board.
Setting up a Page on Facebook
Unlike Squidoo which tends to be a tad more involved, the Facebook sign up is pretty easy. There are four basic steps to follow:
1) From the Facebook homepage you'll see a screen that asks you to login or sign up for a free account. Click on "Sign Up," which takes you to a Web form.
2) The form will ask you for your name, email, password, and birthday. You'll also have to go through a security procedure which will involve typing a series of letters and numbers. Once you do that (and agree to their terms and conditions) click the "Sign up now!" button when you have completed the form.
3) A confirmation email will pop into your inbox. Simply click the link when you get the email to confirm that you did register and off you go! You're logged into Facebook and can start uploading content.
4) You can start building your network by looking for friends, colleagues, and groups that are appropriate to what you're doing. Join any groups that seem to fit your message, and start networking.
5) Facebook works really well when your page is personalized so add some applications that will further enhance this page. You'll want to add photos, a library where you can select books you're reading or ones you recommend. You can upload video, even the RSS feed from your blog. Making the page as robust as you can is your goal!
Facebook Facts:
More than 60 million active users
An average of 250,000 new registrations per day since Jan. 2007
Active users double every 6 months
More than half of Facebook users are outside of college
The fastest growing demographic is those 25 years old and older
Sixth-most trafficked site in the United States (comScore)
More than 65 billion page views per month
More than 14 million photos uploaded daily
Facebook Tips
Fill out your profile: Seriously, don't leave pieces of your profile undone. Make sure it's uploaded completely. This doesn't mean giving out your home address or year of birth if you don't want people to know your age, it just means filling out the fun stuff like hobbies, books you enjoy reading and so on.
It's not just about you, it's about the community: Remember the golden rules of social media: help first, promote second.
Step outside of your social circle: try getting away from your inner circle and migrate out to other people who might be good networking opportunities. While it's fun to stay connected to all your college buddies, that's not the main focus of your Facebook page.
Slow and steady wins the social media race: The best Facebook pages (and this is true for any social networking site) are built over time. Slow growth is best when it comes to social networking sites so don't force a sudden surge of growth. This will also keep you from getting booted off if you add friends too quickly. Facebook watches for people who are adding hundreds of friends at a time and will lock your page if they think you're over-promoting yourself.
Don't be shy: The purpose of Facebook is to connect and interact with other members, so don't be shy! Interact with people on your friend list by commenting on their pictures, wishing them a happy birthday, "poking" them (unique to Facebook), writing on their wall or throwing something at them (again, this is unique to Facebook). Doing all these things will help others to get to know who you actually are instead of just knowing your name.
Content, content, content: Remember that it's important to add content. You can do this by uploading a video, adding the RSS feed from your blog and a variety of other things. You can also add Facebook applications and there are a bunch to chose from. Spice up your profile using these applications.
Marketing on Facebook: Marketing on this site is done via interaction with members as I've stated before. Interacting with others on the site is a great way to market yourself.
Keep updating your profile: Don't let your profile get stale. Update your status, add photos, answer wall messages and emails.
Create events: Yes, you can create events on Facebook and it's pretty easy to do. Once you have your network momentum going and are adding friends, why not plan an event too?
Add your Facebook page to your blog: Make sure and add your Facebook page to your blog. You can have your web person take care of this for you, it's a simple widget that gets added to let people know you have a Facebook profile.
Keep in mind that there are a few different things you can do on Facebook. There are Facebook Profiles, Pages, and Groups. A Facebook Profile is the standard way to get yourself onto Facebook and if you're just starting out, but if aggressive promotion is what you seek then a Page or Group might be better suited to your needs.
Penny C. Sansevieri
Author Marketing Experts, Inc.Turning Authors into SuccessStories
http://www.authormarketingexperts.com/
Note from Michael:
Penny mentions Content, content content. This is Very, very very important - for any site. News servers such as Google Alerts constantly spider for new content on the web. Remember blog directories categorized blog content differently then web browsers do. So add content frequently to all your sites and yes this includes your web pages too.
Thanks Penny
Friday, July 11, 2008
Speak More Often, Make More Money!
By Lisa Braithwaite M.A.
Public speaking is a free and easy way to get the word out about your business. It’s not as flashy as advertising, but infinitely more personal and customizable to your audience.
If you’ve considered promoting your business through public speaking but don’t know where to begin, here are three painless tips to get you started. If you’re already speaking for your business but want to make a greater impact, read on!
Determine your objective
Speakers frequently create presentations based on facts, figures and features, but with no particular objective or purpose. Without an objective, how do you know what you’re trying to accomplish? Without a purpose, how do you remain focused?
First, figure out who’s going to be in the audience. The more you know about them, the easier it is to determine your objective. You might want to know their age, gender, income, experience level and interest in your topic, for example.
Ask yourself what you want the audience to do as a result of your presentation. Do you want to educate them? Do you want them to hire you? Do you want them to go out and tell others about your company? Those are all valid objectives. Now how do you get there?
Open with a bang
Grab your audience right from the beginning with a question, quiz, quote, story or statistic. You want the audience to be emotionally involved right up front, and a lengthy introduction about you, your company’s history, and your satisfied customers is not going to achieve that.
Is there a quote that will make them laugh before you transition to your main topic? Is there a story you can tell that will have them on the edge of their seats? Is there a statistic that will leave them with their mouths hanging open? This is the first step toward engaging your audience and keeping their attention.
Talk benefits, not features
The audience only cares about themselves. They only care about what they’re going to get from your presentation, and how they can use the information later. Ask yourself, “What’s in it for them?”
When talking about our businesses, we frequently talk about features: services, products, how fast our response times are, our great customer service, our many awards.
These are all vague concepts to your audience. They don’t say anything about what the audience gets from using the service or product. Will they look younger? Live longer? Make more money? Save time? There you go! That’s what they want to know. Those are the benefits of using your service or product, and that’s what you need to promote.
The key here is to offer value, practical information that they can apply to their own lives the minute they walk out the door. If you are not providing something of value to them, something relevant and useful, then you are wasting their time.
Know your objective and focus on the audience’s needs and wants, and your talks will be more engaging, you’ll better represent your business and yourself, and your audiences will come back for more.
For more information contact:
Lisa Braithwaite
http://www.coachlisab.com/
Visit Lisa's Blog at http://www.coachlisab.blogspot.com/
NOTE From Michael:
Whenever you speak you should notify the media. Even small mentions in local papers can go a long way towards establishing yourself as an expert. Send a short paragraph to all the media in your town prior to the event. Make sure you do so again after the presentation. You might want to invite your local business reporter(s) editors to hear your program. And definately remember to bring a camera. Newspapers love action pics. Send the picture with the post event release. Send it to the business section editor as a stand alone piece. Post it to your web site. Send it to the group that invited you to speak and suggest they post it to their website. There are tons of different ways to leverage seemingly small events like these into great exposure.
Thanks Lisa
Public speaking is a free and easy way to get the word out about your business. It’s not as flashy as advertising, but infinitely more personal and customizable to your audience.
If you’ve considered promoting your business through public speaking but don’t know where to begin, here are three painless tips to get you started. If you’re already speaking for your business but want to make a greater impact, read on!
Determine your objective
Speakers frequently create presentations based on facts, figures and features, but with no particular objective or purpose. Without an objective, how do you know what you’re trying to accomplish? Without a purpose, how do you remain focused?
First, figure out who’s going to be in the audience. The more you know about them, the easier it is to determine your objective. You might want to know their age, gender, income, experience level and interest in your topic, for example.
Ask yourself what you want the audience to do as a result of your presentation. Do you want to educate them? Do you want them to hire you? Do you want them to go out and tell others about your company? Those are all valid objectives. Now how do you get there?
Open with a bang
Grab your audience right from the beginning with a question, quiz, quote, story or statistic. You want the audience to be emotionally involved right up front, and a lengthy introduction about you, your company’s history, and your satisfied customers is not going to achieve that.
Is there a quote that will make them laugh before you transition to your main topic? Is there a story you can tell that will have them on the edge of their seats? Is there a statistic that will leave them with their mouths hanging open? This is the first step toward engaging your audience and keeping their attention.
Talk benefits, not features
The audience only cares about themselves. They only care about what they’re going to get from your presentation, and how they can use the information later. Ask yourself, “What’s in it for them?”
When talking about our businesses, we frequently talk about features: services, products, how fast our response times are, our great customer service, our many awards.
These are all vague concepts to your audience. They don’t say anything about what the audience gets from using the service or product. Will they look younger? Live longer? Make more money? Save time? There you go! That’s what they want to know. Those are the benefits of using your service or product, and that’s what you need to promote.
The key here is to offer value, practical information that they can apply to their own lives the minute they walk out the door. If you are not providing something of value to them, something relevant and useful, then you are wasting their time.
Know your objective and focus on the audience’s needs and wants, and your talks will be more engaging, you’ll better represent your business and yourself, and your audiences will come back for more.
For more information contact:
Lisa Braithwaite
http://www.coachlisab.com/
Visit Lisa's Blog at http://www.coachlisab.blogspot.com/
NOTE From Michael:
Whenever you speak you should notify the media. Even small mentions in local papers can go a long way towards establishing yourself as an expert. Send a short paragraph to all the media in your town prior to the event. Make sure you do so again after the presentation. You might want to invite your local business reporter(s) editors to hear your program. And definately remember to bring a camera. Newspapers love action pics. Send the picture with the post event release. Send it to the business section editor as a stand alone piece. Post it to your web site. Send it to the group that invited you to speak and suggest they post it to their website. There are tons of different ways to leverage seemingly small events like these into great exposure.
Thanks Lisa
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Where's Michael Today
As I have preached for decades aggressively pursuing the media is a wonderful way to get priceless exposure for and product, service, company or cause.
I not only preach this strategy, I practice it. Here a few places where my ideas have been featured in the last 24 hours alone. (One is actually a quote I authored for an old ezine I published years ago - I Googled this 10 year old quote and not only did it appear in the publication but I found it used 16 other times so far)
FORBES Magazine
http://www.forbes.com/wineandfood/2008/06/30/breakfast-spots-business-forbeslife-cx_ls_0630food.html
ASSOCIATIONS CONVENTIONS And FACILITIES Magazine
http://acf.themeetingmagazines.com/acf/20080506Features/GrowingPains/tabid/109/Default.aspx
BLOG NOSH Magazine
http://www.blognosh.com/2008/07/50-timeless-blo.html
I not only preach this strategy, I practice it. Here a few places where my ideas have been featured in the last 24 hours alone. (One is actually a quote I authored for an old ezine I published years ago - I Googled this 10 year old quote and not only did it appear in the publication but I found it used 16 other times so far)
FORBES Magazine
http://www.forbes.com/wineandfood/2008/06/30/breakfast-spots-business-forbeslife-cx_ls_0630food.html
ASSOCIATIONS CONVENTIONS And FACILITIES Magazine
http://acf.themeetingmagazines.com/acf/20080506Features/GrowingPains/tabid/109/Default.aspx
BLOG NOSH Magazine
http://www.blognosh.com/2008/07/50-timeless-blo.html
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