Archive for December, 2009

So you’ve decided that getting your name out there is going to be one of your major business goals for the new year. But how do you do that on a limited budget?

That’s where publicity comes in. And you can do it. It just takes time – and a plan. Here are the seven basic steps to creating a plan:

Decide who your target market(s) is. There may be more than one, but your target market is not everyone. A good way to find out is look at who currently buys your product or service and create a profile of them.

Write down three strategies you will use for each market. They can include:

• Speaking/workshops
• Press releases
• Articles
• Ezines or print newsletter
• Letters to the editor
• Postcards
• Networking events
• Blogging
• Podcasting/Videos
• Social Media

Set a measurable goal for each strategy. How many speaking engagements do you want each quarter? How many releases will you send out each month?

Write down several topics or themes. Create at least one for every goal you set.

Learn how to do each of the strategies by researching. There are hundreds of articles and tips on each PR strategy on the web. All will help you implement your plan better.

Schedule time each week to work on your goals and strategies. Research shows that a small business needs to spend about 20% of its time marketing. And if you’re a new business it’s more like 50%.

Evaluate every 3 months to see how you’re doing. You may find that some strategies aren’t working well, and others are really paying off. This way you can discard what ineffective and change your focus, if you need to.

Businesses that want a leg up on their competition need to focus on boosting their public relations efforts. This keeps them from going under when the economy is weak, and gets them ahead of their competitors when sales start picking up. Now is the perfect time to get a fresh start on your PR planning.

Want more ideas for getting free publicity in the new year? Check out my free audio at http://www.easypublicityplan.com

There’s no doubt abo0ut it in my mind, 2009 was the year of the publicity stunt.

With reality shows and 24/7 news, nearly everyone has decided it’s their ‘right’ to become famous. And many are taking advantage of the ‘ol publicity stunt to get noticed.

Heck, I even pulled a few together for my clients this year.

But when you don;t know what you are doing, or doing think it through, it can backfire… big time.

That’s why I chose my top 5 picks of publicity stunts that have gone awry in 2009 and shared them with you in the video below.

Take a look. Do you agree with my choices? Did I miss one of your favorites? Let me know, I’d love to hear about to hear your thoughts.

What an amazing year! Check it out, through the eyes of my girls, Lyra and Sasha.

Too much hustle and bustle this holiday season?

Bah, humbug.

The slowest news time is upon us and if you are a savvy publicity seeker, you can get media coverage.

Most news organization won’t tell you this, but the slowest time of the year are holidays – with the week between Christmas and New Year’s the mother of all slow times. That’s because almost every office is closed or short staffed, so that no news is generated during that week.

Think about it for a moment… it’s the slow news days when the news covers about five parades, four soup kitchens and celebrity gossip as major stories.

During these slow news times, journalists are hungry for news stories. A savvy publicist will take advantage of this and keep some ideas just for this time.

Here are some great ways to get some coverage:

• Surveys and polls – Reporters love these if you have a good sampling of people. Surveys and polls are quick and easy to report on. Why not conduct one during the holiday sales season and announce the results during the slow week? If you are a business coach, how about a survey on what business owners fear most for the upcoming year.
• Trends – Did you see a trend this season? Was there something that flew off your shelves that you didn’t expect to? Then let the media know.
• Tips - These are great fillers – especially for newspapers when the paid advertising space has dwindled down after the holiday frenzy. Think of four to seven tips that relate to your customers or clients needs and write them in a news release format.

The key here is not only to give them newsworthy tidbits, but actually be available for interviews and questions when other people normally are not. You’ll be the hero and remembered in the future.

Another great thing to do during this time is to give the reporters who cover your topic a call and talk to them. Perhaps set up a time to meet or take them to lunch. This wouldn’t be used for pitching, but to build a relationship and find out more about what the journalist is looking for.

It’s the time of year when calendars start to crowd out the books and magazines in bookstores. But there’s a special kind of calendar that all good public relations professionals use – the editorial calendar.

Except for the year and the names of the months, these calendars bear little resemblance to the glossy hang-up calendars in the stores. No swimsuit-clad models, lush scenery, puppies, kittens or cartoons of Dilbert. Editorial calendars are usually bare-bones lists of upcoming issue topics and major features–or at least the cover stories or special sections. Not much to look at–unless you’re a PR pro trying to crack that market.

What’s great about editorial calendars is that your target publications – the ones which their target markets match yours – are basically telling you exactly what information they need for each issue.  If you can spin your own story to match what the media is looking for, then you have a great chance of being featured in that publication.

A current editorial calendar can usually be found in the advertising section at the publication’s website.  If you can’t find it there, contact the publications marketing/sales department and ask them to email/snail mail it to you.

For example: Choice: The Magazine for Professional Coaching: www.choice-online.com/calendar.html

Now, not all publications have editorial calendars.  Really small magazines – the many labor-of-love kind of magazines published by enthusiasts -usually don’t. Magazines, which don’t accept ads, may have one but they don’t publish it. Totally reader-contributed publications don’t. New magazines generally don’t because the content is so often changed and tweaked as the publication searches for its “voice.”

Even some large, national magazines don’t have calendars. News weeklies like Time and Newsweek don’t. Neither does People or US Weekly. They are steered by what news hits that week and that is, of course, something you can’t predict months in advance.

After reviewing the calendar, you can decide which stories you can offer to be a source or expert for, or, in the case of trade publications, which months you could offer a written expert-opinion piece.

Remember that editorial calendars can and do change, so check for updates regularly. Also, pay attention to deadlines. Article queries and pitches especially should be sent to the editors well ahead of time.  And if they don’t have deadlines, assume that the media need the information about four months out.
Want more information about publicity planning? Grab the free audio class at http://www.easypublicityplan.com