The Power Publicist

Archive for October, 2008

A special Halloween treat for small business owners. Take a look.

A new issue of Be Heard!, the free weekly ezine, is now available.  Get secrets to a successful launch, journalist interview tactics, and get contacts at Better Homes & Gardens.

Check it out here.

It’s all over the news. GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin is getting a lot of flack for her $150,000 GOP-funded new clothes for her ongoing stumping.

It doesn’t matter who you’re voting for… this is a stupid issue that I wish someone would comment on. Ok, I’m not shy. I will do it.

First, full disclosure: I am not a Palin fan by any means.

But as I said, my political tastes aside, it’s all about PR and costumes.

As a former news reporter in the public eye almost every moment (even when off-the-air and off-camera), you need to look your best. Otherwise people discredit your professionalism.

For a man, you’re set with a couple of suits, several ties and shirts and perhaps some powder to keep the shine off your face. (It’s what I insist my husband has on hand always when he’s going to be on TV for his work.)

For a women, however, it’s different. Although you won’t admit it, people notice when women have worn the same clothes more than once in a week. So you need more than a couple of suits and blouses to carry you. Heck! There’s even some magazines who show when celebs have worn the same outfit! Forget just wearing something over again!

Then, as a mom with a baby, your going to get your outfits dirty, no matter how hard you try to keep clean! And I am not even mentioning all the hand shaking and hugging that goes on. A second or third outfit always needs to be handy. And that costs money.

Then there’s make-up and hair.  A bit of powder won’t cut it.  Women are expected to wear more. And as you may know, cosmetics aren’t cheap.

I cannot believe the media is talking about this as a real significant news story. It’s a distraction of the REAL issue of who’s right to lead out country. Get over it!

Oh yes. One more thing: I’ve never heard a discussion on how much the male candidate spend (or have others spend) on their wardrobes. Someone want to release that info?

Think getting featured in a newspaper or magazine, or on TV or radio is only for the really big companies who can afford it? Think again.

More than 90% of everything you see in the news is generated from a press release, also known as a news release. You, too, can see yourself in the local and even national news just by coming up with a fresh and newsworthy story.

But if you really want to attract the local media to partake, you need to give them a good reason. And that reason is: you’ve got a great local story.

One of the easiest ways to do this is what the people in the news business call ‘piggybacking.’ ‘Piggybacking’ simply mean localizing a national story.

Why is this important? Local news is the local media’s bread and butter. When they can find someone in their area who can offer background, commentary or story ideas that piggyback off a national event, or someone who is part of a national trend, they will usually bite.

Here are some of the best ways to give a national news story a local spin:

• Human Interest
• Tips and Advice
• Tragedy or Crisis
• Holiday/Event Tie-Ins
• Current affairs

In fact, piggybacking plays a major role in local newsrooms across the country. Reporters often search for hours for someone who can shed new light on a national news story – and give the story a more ‘neighborhood’ perspective.

Want easy to use, already written press releases to use to promote your own business? Then you will ove Penny Pinching Publicity. It gives you a release each month to use, hot leads from reporters looking for people to interview, media contacts, and additional marketing tips and techniques. Go to http://www.pennypinchingpublicity.com

It’s important to make your business visible, especially when the economy is weak. After all, when people are still looking to buy products or services, and they usually opt for the business they remember seeing or hearing about.

I recently discussed a bit about this over at Startup Spark, but I’d thought I share some practical tips here to help you.

Use the following ideas to market your business, create visibility, and drive more customers to your doors.

1.) Launch an event – An event can be as small as a dinner party or as large as a banquet. Events create publicity and give the news a reason to mention your business.

Will you be successful during this economy?

2.) Business gifts – Business gifts are a constant reminder to people long after a campaign has ended or an event has been held. Give out useful items as small as pencils and pens, mouse pads or coffee mugs. This will allow your company’s name to be seen all the time – by the person who received the gift and others around them.

3.) Charities – Even if you do not hold or launch a charity event, it is enough to just be involved. Donate money or be involved in collecting donations. This will help increase visibility in your community as well as show the community that you care.

4.) Get online – Online is a great place to increase visibility. Community visibility is important, but being online can help build your consumer base beyond your hometown. Create a webpage that is very informative to your customers. Get your business name into every forum and blog that applies to your business. Create your own blog if you have the time. If you write articles about your service or product, post these on your website and allow other websites to use them. All these things will make it more viable for potential consumers to come across your business name through a web search.

5.) Newsletter – Send out an online newsletter to your customers. If you give customers something to talk about, they may relay the information you are giving them to friends. So, in a networking fashion, your name can be spread and become better known to the community.

6.) Local newspapers – What better place to receive visibility in your community than your local newspapers. You can get your company name into a newspaper buy writing an article, being mentioned in a story, or writing a letter to the editor.

7.) Give speeches – You’d be surprised how many other businesses, organizations and clubs need people of expertise to share information. This establishes your expertise and credibility while at the same time promotes your own business. Research clubs, groups, the local chamber of commerce and organizations often look for speakers with expertise in interesting and informative topics.

Want to learn more inexpensively?