Public Relations: The Fast-Track to Attracting Buyers – Part III

Posted on April 5, 2012 by blog2718

Four Key Steps You Need to Know

I. How to build a media contact file.
Once you have the story idea, now it’s time to get the information out to the appropriate editorial contacts. Developing your targeted database of contacts is key to getting articles published. Always try and mail at least 3 or 4 items or storylines per year. Editors maintain a file of contacts and will contact you for feedback and comments for other related stories. Be the pro that they contact, to confirm information or to get some of their questions answered.
Your media contact database should include the following:
• List of editors such as: Business Editor, Local News Editor, Feature Editor, or Lifestyle Editor. In smaller newspapers or publications, the above list may be all the same person.
• Media File Information: Media Type: Newspaper (daily or weekly), Magazine or trade. Media Name: Contact: Title: Address: City, State Zip: Phone: Fax: E-mail: Web site: And how they like to receive their releases.

II. Determine what each publication wants and how they want to receive material.
Finding out what your media contact wants, and how they want to receive material is critical. Certain publications don’t accept outside releases, however, they are always on the lookout for a key story line.

The best way to find out is through a public relations agency that maintains a subscription database listing all media contacts nationally. This database is updated weekly and lists all the necessary data. The alternative is much harder, but you can contact each media by phone and ask their requirements.

Here is a sample on how the Housing/Residential Development Editorial Assistant at Better Homes & Gardens Beautiful Homes wants to be contacted:
Pitching Tips: Preferred Order: E-Mail. She can also be contacted by phone,
fax, mail, or e-mail.

It is critical to also understand the objective of the publication. This helps in understanding what they are looking for and what you should send them. Here is a sample of the profile of Better Homes & Gardens Beautiful Homes.

Organization Profile: Offers readers real solutions for taking an active role in the home building process. Editorial content covers homes that are new, existing, spec or production-built. Showcases new homes, design ideas, room planning, construction techniques, and building products.

III. Building a photo file & working with photographers.
One of the best investments you can make is to build a photo file. When you create or see something out of the ordinary or special, make sure to capture a few shots of it. Consider the photos you take as test shots.

Test shots are ideal to show a publication. If they like what they see, they will generally want to use their own photographer. If that is not the case, then you’ll want to hire your own professional photographer. This is not an area that you should try and save money in. With professional photos, you will have a better chance on getting your story published. And once you have great photos, you’ll be able to use them for your web site, literature, display booth, advertising, presentation book and other marketing tools.

IV. Photo copyright and releases.
Before hiring a photographer, always discuss up front, who will own the copyright of the photos. Many photographers want to maintain the ownership of the photos, even though you are paying them. Always make sure that you end up with the full copyright. By owning the copyright, you will have more flexibility on what you do with the photos and won’t have to pay for use every time you want them. Don’t let the photographer tell you otherwise. Many professional photographers will work with you and give you full – or at least shared – copyright use.

If your photos include people (customers, models, even family,) you’ll want to get a photo release. A typical release will be worded something like this:

I hereby grant XYZ Company and parties designated by XYZ Company, unrestricted permission to use and publish any and all photographs of myself, and/or my personal property, for the purpose of editorial, trade, advertising, display, exhibition use or any other printed material or electronic medium without compensation. All negatives and positives, together with prints and all reproductions, shall constitute the property, including all copyright interest, of XYZ Company, solely and completely. The undersigned, hereby waves any rights that he/she may have to inspect or approve finished photos, or advertising copy, or printed matter that may be used in conjunction with other photography. I have read this release and fully understand its contents.

In using such photography, (I do) or (I do not) (circle one) want my name, and included.

Names, Address, City, State, Zip and Date, with a signature line.

Best of success in your new public relations campaign! Remember a third party story is a great selling tool, and PR stories are ten times more valuable than advertising.

We hope you have found this series on Public Relations: The Fast Track to Attracting Buyers helpful and practical for your Small Business. Don’t forget to DOWNLOAD our FREE Marketing Start Up Kit and visit our WEB site for more great information

About the author:
Don Grandy is a sales and marketing coach, consultant to small business and lifelong learner. He is co-host of BuilderRadio’s weekly Internet radio program and is the owner of QThree Marketing.
Contact Don:
Email: dongrandy@qthree.ca
Website: http://www.qthree.ca

How’s your Follow-Up? – Sales Leads are Killing My Business!

Posted on March 23, 2012 by blog2718

We are starting a new series…. How’s your Follow-Up? In this series we will talk about Leads, and the importance of follow up.

Sales Manager to Salesperson: “We need more sales!”

Salesperson to Manager: “Then, get me more leads!”

This scene plays out thousands of times per day. Salespeople are hungry for fresh, new prospects. In fact, new leads are the lifeblood of a sales-oriented company. But before you pour more money into more advertising to get more leads, take a look at one of your most valuable possessions – your database of existing prospects.

I know, your salespeople have assured you that they’ve worked those leads to the bone; that there’s no life left in them – that it’s ‘new leads or die.’

Follow along as we uncover the Facts and Laws of Follow-Up.

In the meantime download our Free Marketing Start-Up Kit.

How Sharp is Your Marketing? – Step 4

Posted on March 22, 2012 by blog2718

Learn. Change. Grow.

Remember back a few years ago when business was moving too fast for us to stop and work on making it better? Now, at the other extreme, we still have a tendency to think we’re so busy trying to get it restarted that we still don’t take time to make it better. But if not now, when?

The more you learn, the more willing you are to change, the more you can expect to grow.

Look for great content on the web to help you with this process. We have a free Marketing Starter Kit that can serve as a guide. We can also be contacted directly if you need help Learning, Changing and Growing

Marketing – 3 Questions You Must Ask

Posted on March 21, 2012 by blog2718

If you do not ask these questions you are wasting your time and valuable resources.

Who are your customers?

What are they looking for?

Where are they searching?

Find the answers to these questions and you are setting yourself up for success.

How Sharp is Your Marketing ? – Step 3

Posted on March 21, 2012 by blog2718

Recharge – Step 3

In The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, Steven Covey writes, “This is the singe most powerful investment we can ever make in life – investment in ourselves, in the only instrument we have with which to deal with life and to contribute. We are the instruments of our own performance, and to be effective, we need to recognize the importance of taking time regularly to sharpen the saw…”

Jack Welch, when he was CEO of General Electric, used to advocate working on your business instead of working in your business. Often when we stop, take a break, get our bearings and sharpen our thinking, we come back with renewed energy and a clear head that lets us see things we might have missed before.

This, too, is hard to do. For example, we teach a coaching program for small business owners. The #1 objection we get to from potential participants is not the price, it’s that they are ‘too busy trying to make a living’ to take two hours a week to learn how to better use their time and energy. They won’t take time to sharpen their saw.

How can you recharge? Change your daily routine, habits and environment for one day; take your staff on a planning retreat, somewhere out of the office. Take half a day just to discuss openly where you want your business to be in 12 months from now, what steps are needed to meet your current challenges, and what the reward will be if you take new initiatives.

Free Marketing Startup Kit

Posted on March 21, 2012 by blog2718

Young businesses often make the mistake of focusing on the features of their physical product or services and miss the real product – how what you offer will benefit your customer.Get your Free Marketing Start up Kit

How Sharp is Your Marketing? – Step 2

Posted on March 20, 2012 by blog2718

Four Step Series for your Business – Step 2

Something Different

Most of us who have established businesses view marketing as a way to find buyers for our product. I recommend a different approach: Find the buyers, find out what they want, and then make sure you have the product to fill their need.

When we take our own product and bias out of the mix and examine the market objectively, we begin to find opportunities that we would almost certainly otherwise miss ¬– those that come from a completely different perspective than our own.

For example, we all tend to create and sell what we like. We each have our particular favorites when it comes to technology. And, likely, when the market was good you were able to sell all you needed of what you liked to create. We no longer have that luxury; we must come to market with exactly what buyers want, need, expect and are willing to pay for… or face the consequences.

Finding the right product mix comes from market research ¬– reexamining the marketplace to find out what trends are developing, what buyers are asking for, what is selling now and who is doing the buying. Are your products up to date, and compelling to a new generation of buyers? If so, are those the products you’re promoting? Or, are you relying on our ‘old standards’ because that’s what you like and think everyone should buy?

Change is hard, and different is not always better, but sooner or later everything becomes dated. Keeping aligned with your buyer’s preferences will likely mean keeping well ahead of your competition.

How Sharp is Your Marketing

Posted on March 19, 2012 by blog2718

How Sharp is Your Marketing Plan? Four Step Series for your Business

In this series we are going to explore Four Key Steps you must be implementing in your Marketing Planning Process.

Step One

Two lumberjacks began the day with a healthy sense of competition. One was determined to outwork the other, so he stopped for nothing. All day long you could hear the rhythm of his axe and he struck blow after blow against the massive trees – Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

The other lumberjack was just as competitive, but his objective was slightly different – he was determined to outperform his partner. So, every few minutes his axe grew silent as he took a few moments to sharpen it.

At the end of the day, which one do you think had worked the hardest? Which had the most to show for his efforts?

One of Steven Covey’s ‘Seven Habits of Highly Successful People’ he calls Sharpening the Saw: Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal. Our product – life itself – is constantly changing. For us to keep up we need regular and consistent renewal. That might mean learning something new, trying something different, or just taking time to re-energize.

The fact is that change is hard. Few of us want to change. We want the market to change; we want our prospects to change and overcome their fears and start purchasing our products and services.

We all would just love for the world to change to conform to our wants and needs. But this rarely happens. So, stepping out of your comfortable daily habits for a minute, what can you learn or change that might bring you closer to your market – to selling and delivering more products?

Something New
Have you started a company blog yet? How about a Facebook page for your business? Do you have a list of local blogs that you follow and where you regularly leave comments? How will this help you sell more?

These are the places where buyers are looking for information about your products, services and – even about you. Your company’s blog is a way for you to connect with potential buyers and tell them about yourself and your company in a non-commercial way. Here’s where you can demonstrate what your brand stands for, tell stories about your business, the people you serve and share interesting points as to why and how a business can move their plans forward.

Your blog should never be an advertisement, but more of a journal of interesting information your customers can use to plan and make decisions. In fact, if you want to really make your blog irresistible to your buyers, write about them. Better yet, get your current customers involved in writing about their experiences, or have someone on your team interview them and write their story for them.

Then, whenever you have a new blog post, promote it through the social media outlets – Twitter, Facebook, etc. The point of all of this is to attract new potential customers to your blog, and then on to your main website. Your audience will grow in two ways: From people searching the social networks for the topics your writing about and from people who pass on your social posts to others.

Lead Generation Machine

Posted on March 13, 2012 by blog2718

Here are 6 keys you can use to unlock the secret to becoming a Lead Generation Machine. You don’t need to get this done all at once but at least spend some time each week working on one or more keys and you will be rewarded!!

Keyword Research
On Page SEO
SEO Link Building
Blogging
Pay Per Click
Social Media Marketing

Three Tips for Getting Traffic to your Blog or Website

Posted on February 29, 2012 by blog2718

Three Traffic Methods for Free!!

Are you frustrated because you’re not getting all the internet traffic you want to your web page? Are you maxing out your credit card to pay for clicks and all you have to show for it is a huge bill and no traffic? Are you confused by the way your site just dropped out of the Search Engines results?.
Here are three great tips that get traffic without spending dime.

1. Link it

Of all the powerful website traffic tactics, you can get great results by linking to and from other websites. This is the one of the most widely-used techniques and it works. It does take time but then it doesn’t cost anything. Just make certain that the websites you will be trading links with are related to your own business. Search Engines look for relevant content so if you own a Website about training dogs don’t link to a Website about Cooking as this will affect your trust rating with Google and the like. And obviously, do not overdo it as this will affect your rankings as it is considered spam.

2. Meta Tags

Another technique for to acquire your desired visitors for your website is through Meta tags. Your Meta Tags should include keywords that target your business. Meta tags guide search engines by describing your web page. If you are pretty adept at using the HTML aspect of your web pages, adjusting your meta tags will be a piece of cake.

3. Keyword Rich and Relevant Content

Make use of free keyword suggestion tools such as the Free Google Keyword Tool, Wordtracker or Overture to help you to find relevant keywords or phrases to target your visitors and lead them to your website. Then use these keywords to write articles or blog posts which provide sound information relating to your business. Making these articles readable and genuinely useful will make your visitors want to come to your website repeatedly and hopefully become customers.
Distributing these articles to a variety of article directories will provide much more visibility for your business as long as you maintain your resource box in tact to generate for yourself numerous back links.
These strategies, if used properly, will not only make your website well liked but will help you to achieve results.

Here is a great resource link:
http://www.toprankblog.com/2006/06/25-tips-for-marketing-your-blog/