Archive for the ‘PR and Publicity’ Category5 Tips to Get You Mass Media Exposure for Brand BuildingJuly 25th, 2010Hi All, I just uploaded my newest video on my “The Promote U Guru” YouTube Channel. In it, I provide 5 effective tips to help you get the media coverage you want to build your brand and business, and increase your credibility as an “expert” in your industry. So, if you’re an author, speaker, small business owner, entrepreneur or solopreneur (coach, consultant, trainer, etc.), check out the 5 tips! The video is short (less than 8 minutes!) and info-packed. You’ll learn: - How to write an effective press release - What NOT to do when writing your press release - Where and how to deploy your press release online - Why creating your own targeted Media List is critical - How you can get more traction for your press release by promoting it through you social media channels That’s all for now… Cheers and Happy Marketing! Lisa 4 Ways to Sabotage Getting the Media Coverage You WantMay 14th, 2010Hi All! I recently wrote a blog about “How to Write a Killer Press Release & Where to Deploy It Online“. This is an impromptu follow-up to that topic, and was prompted by a consulting session I had with a client this week. My client is a (new) book author, so we wrote and distributed her first ever Press Release a few weeks ago. We deployed it online, and it was also sent to a targeted list of specific media we identified (newspapers, magazines, radio/tv shows and blogs). Fast forward to this week…she is very unhappy that her phone hasn’t been ringing off the hook with interview requests. I clearly explained that if it was “that easy” we’d all be featured in the Wall Street Journal or on The Today Show whenever we wanted. It takes effort! Here are the key tips and strategies I told her to do right after the Press Release went out…and as of this week she had NOT done any of them…hence the “not getting much coverage” issue. And, by the way, this is where most speakers, authors, small business owners and entrepreneurs drop the ball when it comes to getting media coverage through their PR efforts (so it’s not just her): 1. They Don’t Follow Up: When you send a Press Release to a targeted list of media, you have to follow up with them. And sometimes you have to follow up quite a few times. The media is bombarded daily with news, so you have to be the “squeaky wheel” to get their attention. Yes, it’s like doing sales calls, and it’s not the most fun thing to do in the world, but unless you have a Publicist to do it for you, it’s a task you must take on. It is critical!!!! 2. They Don’t Share With Their Social Media Communities: Once your Press Release is done, share the link to it on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. First of all, you don’t know who may see it and share it. Secondly, you have no idea who are all the followers your followers have. For example, on Twitter, I had someone retweet a tweet of mine about a Press Release. One of her followers is the host of a very popular BlogTalk Radio show, that reaches my target audience, and that person contacted me for an interview. I also was contacted by a reporter from the NY Times, and have been interviewed by her several times, because of a retweet. 3. They Don’t Post On Their Website: When you write a Press Release, create a page for it, optimize it with keywords and phrases, and upload it. Not only can it get found in search results for on-going traffic generation, but it’s important to share the news on your website. And even when the Press Release becomes “old” it can still drive traffic to you and attract media interviews for you. 4. They Don’t Post It On Their Blog: Use your Press Release as a blog post. It’s okay to occasionally promote news about yourself there. And if you’re on WordPress, and have added the All in One SEO Pack plug-in, this will also help get your news found online. So, there is your crash course in what to do AFTER your Press Release has been written and distributed. It takes EFFORT to get media interviews (unless you have truly earth-shattering news or you’re fairly well-known). But, the media is always looking for news, they have a lot of air time or pages to fill, so you can get your share of coverage if you’re consistent and persistent! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa I’m Conducting a Teleseminar Series in June: Branding, PR/Publicity and Social MediaMay 08th, 2010Hi All! This is a blog post for a bit of self-promotion. Hey! I gotta spread the word, right?? Here’s info about the really cool teleseminar series I’m doing in June…pulled from a Press Release I’m sending out to promote them: Lisa Orrell, The Promote U Guru, is conducting three teleseminars in June for small business owners, entrepreneurs, speakers, industry experts, and authors who want to build their brand awareness and increase sales. The three teleseminar topics are: Brand Building, PR & Publicity, and Social Media. Each one will provide attendees with tips, strategies and advice they can implement immediately, even on a tight budget. The Promote U Business Building Teleseminar Series will be conducted in June 2010, and the dates are: Promote U Through Brand Building, June 8th; Promote U Thru PR & Publicity, June 11th; and Promote U Thru Social Media, June 16th. Each teleseminar is from 10:00 am to 11:00 am PST. And, because these are teleseminars, attendees can attend from anywhere from their phone. Internet and computer access are not required. The event website with details of each teleseminar: PromoteUGuru.com/teleseminars “Lisa knows her stuff and so much fun to work with! I can’t believe how much she has improved my brand positioning, sales, marketing and social media strategies, and PR efforts,” shares one Orrell client, Karin Piper, Author of Charter Schools: The Ultimate Handbook for Parents. “So I can tell you the content she’ll offer in these teleseminars is going to be very helpful…no fluff!” The upcoming teleseminar series is being sponsored by: PersonalBrandingBlog.com, WeMeUs.com and 428Designs.com. And the cost to attend individual teleseminars is $29, or people can choose to attend all 3 for a special package price of $69. “Prior to launching my Promote U Guru business, I ran an award-winning ad agency in Silicon Valley for 20 years. So I have been helping larger companies with branding, marketing, PR and social media for a long time. But now I focus on working with small business owners and individuals, and my vast experience benefits them immensely,” explains Lisa Orrell, a Branding Expert, Marketing Consultant and Business Coach. “Plus, aside from being a business owner for over 20 years, I’m the author of 2 books and a professional speaker myself. So I understand the challenges of those individuals who are trying to promote their books, build a brand platform for speaking, and/or who are trying to grow their small business (in any industry).” Based on her 2 decades of business and marketing experience, Orrell has been interviewed by, or written articles for, a wide variety of media, including: ABC, MSNBC, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, WomenEntrepreneur.com, U.S. News & World Report, The Silicon Valley Business Journal, China’s Her World magazine (for professional business women), PersonalBrandingBlog.com, BNET.com, and countless others. I hope to see you in my “virtual” classroom for 1, 2 or all 3 of my teleseminars! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa How to Write a Killer Press Release and Where to Deploy It OnlineMay 01st, 2010Hi All! If you’re like a lot of the clients I work with, you probably don’t have a lot of experience writing a Press Release…if any! So I’d like to provide you with some very helpful tips for not only crafting one, but also where to deploy it on online so that the media actually sees it…and so that it shows up in Google searches to provide on-going traffic to your website. Ready? Let’s get started… 1. Make Sure It’s Newsworthy: Some people want to write a Press Release about everything and anything they do, and that’s not a good strategy. Save writing one for big, worthwhile news: Your new book, landing a significant client, an event you’re conducting, etc. And they are not meant to read like articles! They are meant to be “news”! 2. The Headline: Make sure it’s short, effective, and not like the headline of an ad, eblast or direct mail piece. A Press Release is not a “marketing” promotional piece; it’s meant to share news in a factual, straightforward way. 3. The Body Copy: I have read many Press Releases that read like an ad or marketing brochure. Wrong! Using hype, exclamation points, marketing speak, etc. is not appropriate. 4. Basic Structure: Headline, intro paragraph that covers the “5 W’s” (who, what, where, when and why) because some media may only run your first paragraph and not the whole thing, second paragraph with more support info or a quote from you, a third paragraph with more support info and details, a fourth paragraph with a quote/testimonial from a client (or expert) about you, a fifth paragraph with boilerplate info about your company, and a short final paragraph with contact info. Keep the paragraphs short and try to keep the length to around one page. Click here to see a formatting example. You can use variations of this! 5. Add Testimonials: It’s always good to include one Testimonial so that someone else is quoted in it saying how great you are. It gives you more credibility. 6. Get Client, Organization or Individual Approval: If you want to mention a client, or any other organization, business, or person, in your Press Release, get approval first! This is BIG. Example: You may have just landed a big newsworthy client, or landed a keynote speech for a high profile company or organization, and want to tell the world about it. Yes, this type of news would warrant a Press Release, BUT those entities may have strict policies about being mentioned in someone else’s Press Release (mandated by their legal departments), and you can get into A LOT of trouble sending out a Press Release with them mentioned in it without approval. A LOT of trouble. 7. Optimize Your Press Release: Add 5-10 keywords or phrases that have received good search results because when you deploy your Press Release through an online service, those keywords will help it get found by people doing searches related to the topic of your Press Release. Click here to use a free keyword search tool that Google offers. You can type in keywords and phrases into this tool and it will tell you how many searches were done that month for them. This will help you determine which ones are worth putting in and it will also provide you suggestions that are variations of the ones you came up with. Online Deployment & Distribution: Okay, so now your press release is written…now what? You’ll want to deploy it through an online service. There are tons of these Press Release distribution services. Note: They vary in cost, so it will boil down to your budget. But most of them enable you to choose the industry(s) and media you want to reach, add keywords, select the date of deployment, and add pictures, images and logos to the upload. Here’s a few that most PR pros I know use, and ones I use: PR9.net is super cheap, around $15 per Press Release. Even when I use one of the other more expensive services listed above, I always deploy through PR9.net, too. I do this because I find my Press Releases do show-up in Google searches through their service, so that’s worth $15 bucks. Also, in addition to deploying it online for mass coverage and distribution, you’ll want to create a targeted list of media you want to reach. Then you can email your Press Release to them and do follow up calls and emails. But don’t attach the Press Release to your email! Paste the Press Release copy into the body of your email to them. OKAY! There is your crash course in writing a killer Press Release, and where to deploy it. I hope you found this helpful! Good luck! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Do You Know How to Pitch the Media Your Ideas? These Tips Can Help!March 09th, 2010Hi All! I work with my clients (small business owners, entrepreneurs, speaker and authors) a lot on formulating “story” ideas to pitch the media (radio, tv, magazines, newspaper, blogs) as part of our PR and brand building strategies. Prior to working with me, many of them have either never done media pitching, OR they have sent general info out like: “I’m a small business owner who owns a flower shop, interview me!” (and they wonder why they never get call backs). The key to pitching the media for publicity is giving them easy-to-digest “nuggets” that will benefit their target audience. GIVE THEM the article/segment idea, don’t give them “general” info and hope they’ll think of a reason to interview you. Even on a tight marketing budget, here are 3 solid tips that can get you publicity: TIP ONE: Make sure the media you pitch actually reaches the target audience YOU want to reach! Sounds like common sense, but…I have one client who spent tons of time issuing press releases and ideas to media contacts and when I looked at his list, only about 50% were even worthwhile. If you’re a corporate Executive Coach, don’t waste your time pitching ideas to the “morning zoo” Top 40 radio stations that primarily reach young people between 14-21 years old! TIP TWO: Create a compelling segment/story idea. Let’s say you’re a divorce attorney who wants to get media coverage for yourself and your practice. An angle could be: Is your wife cheating on you? 4 ways to tell. Or if you’re a financial advisor, an angle could be: Is your current retirement strategy really working? 3 ways to tell. The media loves “quick hit tips” segments and articles, so approach them with this type of strategy. And the “posing a question” will grab a producer’s or guest booker’s attention. TIP THREE: FOLLOW UP! Sure, if you have a media contact’s email, you can start by sending your idea that way. But you’ll typically have to follow up with a phone call because producer’s or (editor’s of mags and newspapers) get swamped with media pitches. HOWEVER, if you have a decent (or great!) idea, the squeaky wheel approach helps. Don’t just send one email or make on phone call and let it go. Sometimes 3-4 follow ups are required to get the yes/no answer you are seeking. Okay! Start thinking of your media pitch ideas and start pitching!! These tips have gotten me interviews on ABC, MSNBC, TIME, WSJ, NPR and many others! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Why Doing Your Own Small Biz PR Can Hurt Your CompanyFebruary 17th, 2010Hi All! I know that budget is an issue for most small business owners, so it forces them to assume the role of Director of Marketing for their own companies. But, and I can say this with authority after having worked with hundreds of companies, their results are normally dismal. Why? Because! Unless you have a strong marketing background, you won’t do it well. And ultimately the time, effort and money you spend will be more than if you had hired a seasoned professional to help you. The speakers, authors, small business owners, and entrepreneurs who come to me, have typically spent endless amounts of their valuable time and money trying to market themselves effectively…and they are totally frustrated by the time I hear from them. It’s at that point that they “get it”, and see the value in what a 20-year professional like me (and others) offers. To that point, I came across this great article today on American Express’s OpenForum.com website, entitled “Think Twice Before Doing Your Own Small Biz PR”, written by Steve Viuker. Here’s an excerpt: Should you be your own PR person? Many small businesses might think that doing their own PR is a good cost-cutting decision; however, the real cost might be to your business’s success. To a degree, you can do it yourself — but amidst all the demands of running your own company, hiring someone else with real experience to take care of your publicity might be the better option. While saving money by doing it yourself is appealing, Linda Alexander of Alexander Marketing. says, “Most people are too busy running their companies to spend the hours required for research, pitching and follow up.” “When you’re sick do you go on the Internet to cure yourself, or do you see a doctor?” asks David Grant of LVM group. “PR is not as simple as it looks, and we know journalists and their deadlines. That is vital in promoting a client.” (Grant was a former journalist, as are many people in the PR business). Click here to read the whole article! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Blog for Entrepreneurs Seeking Branding, Marketing, and PR TipsJanuary 26th, 2010Hi All! Welcome to my blog. For 20 years I owned an award-winning marketing agency in Silicon Valley where I developed brand platforms and marketing strategies for some of the biggest names in technology (Sony, SanDisk, HP and many others). Now, as the Promote U Guru, I offer all my knowledge and expertise to small business owners, entrepreneurs, authors and speakers. As a Publicist, Marketing Consultant, and Business Coach, I offer a unique blend of real-world experience to my clients. Have I written books? yes, I’ve written 2. Have I owned a business? Yes, I have been self employed for over 20 years. Have I had to launch and create a brand platform for myself? Yes, on several ocassions. So, I know what it takes. I’ve been in the trenches. And my clients benefit because of it. I encourage you to follow my blog…I’ll post guest blogs from other marketing experts, as well as offer helpful info about book writing, brand building, social media and much more. You can also follow me on Twitter for great tips and resources: @PromoteUGuru. I look forward to meeting you online or in-person…and helping you achieve the success you want. No hype. Just results. Cheers! Lisa |
