November 23, 2009
Cause Related Marketing
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About a week ago, while giving a talk at Bellevue College, one of the students in Whitney Keyes’ course on new media asked me about the most memorable story I had ever pitched. It didn’t take me long to remember.
In 2004, while serving as a publicist for ABODA, I learned of a story that touched many hearts and lives then and now. I had no idea how far and beyond the story would travel or the impact it would have. The story still warms my heart to this day because it reminds me that the act of storytelling can make a remarkable, potentially life-saving difference.
Sports Columnist Steve Kelley of The Seattle Times wrote a story I pitched to him about a retired pitcher for the Seattle Mariners. Brian Holman and his family were staying in ABODA’s corporate housing near Seattle Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center while caring for the needs of of two of their four children.
One of his two sons had fallen from a ski lift and broken quite a few bones. X-rays later determined he had a brain tumor besides. And, not long after that, his 3-year-old adopted daughter — Kassidy from the Marshall Islands — was diagnosed with leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. If that weren’t enough, Brian needed open heart surgery. Through it all, the family was strong, loving, and resilient in the face of overwhelming challenges.
The story about the Holman family traveled the world through the power of the Associated Press. In a remarkable turn of events, a member of Kassidy’s biological family read the story, came forward, and offered bone marrow to save her life. In this case, the power of publicity brought hope and a potential cure in perfect timing.
Sadly, Kassidy passed away in July of 2006 at ten years of age. The tributes to her life and the Holman’s love and care for her were many. Now there is a Team Kassidy in Training group of people raising funds for a cure. You can join them, and I hope you do.
Some story pitches touch hearts and lives and make a difference for those at the center of the stories and for those helping to bring the stories to attention. Those are rare stories that make me feel grateful to play a small part as an angel in the outfield, doing this work that I do.
October 31, 2009
Cause Related Marketing
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Uptown Liz is a retail philanthropy site that makes it easy for you to buy products that contribute part of their profits to causes you care about — including breast cancer research and related charities. I advocate for this site whenever I can. One recent pitch landed a mention for Uptown Liz in the November 2009 issue of Family Circle magazine, inviting awareness and action among all the readers of this nationally circulated magazine.
The Universe is an amazing place because Ramona Russell, founder of Uptown Liz, decided to thank me by posting the Publici-Tea™-TO-GO! Gift Bundle on the home page.
It’s the last day of October, which is well recognized as breast cancer awareness month, yet we all know that the quest to encourage women newly diagnosed with breast cancer is an ongoing concern. I hope you’ll take a look at what Uptown Liz has brewing and consider sharing a Publici-Tea™-to-Go! Gift Bundle with a publicity-seeking business owner you know. Ten percent of the net profits from the sale of each is donated to Northwest Hope and Healing.
Invite more prosperi-tea as you learn essential skills for do-it-yourself publicity, knowing that every purchase gives something back to women who need encouragement right now. Thanks in advance for your support. And remember, these gift bundles are available year-round at the DIY Publicity Store at this blog and not just during October. That does my heart good!
October 1, 2009
Cause Related Marketing
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A few years ago, I had surgery to remove a breast lump. It was a very scary experience. Fortunately, my lump wasn’t cancer, but the experience made a profound impact on me. Women every day are being diagnosed with breast cancer and starting the fights of their lives to survive and thrive after diagnosis. It takes courage, support from family and friends, faith, and more to fight back.
Northwest Hope and Healing is a non profit organization that provides support services to breast cancer patients and their families. Funds raised help provide signature “healing baskets” in addition to providing child care, counseling, transportation, meals, plus emergency rent and utilities to women receiving breast cancer treatment. It is a cause that does my heart good to support.
So often, we tell ourselves, “When I get to a certain revenue target, I’ll make cause-related marketing a priority.” Given my own scare with a possible breast cancer diagnosis, I decided not to wait until my company got bigger before weaving cause-related marketing into the fabric of my company. “Someday” isn’t on my calendar. I am in action now.
Starting in December of 2008, my company started donating 10% of the net profits from the sale of Publici-Tea™-to-Go Gift Bundles to Northwest Hope and Healing. Every quarter, I write a check. The checks may not be huge, but I am writing checks nevertheless.
The Publici-Tea™-to-Go Gift Bundle is a hot pink tote box filled with DIY publicity tips, tools, and inspiration to guide business owners to earn their own publicity. The bundle also includes a Prosperi-Tea Cup, a tea bag, premium chocolate truffles, and Biscot-Tea™, along with a brochure that explains the good work of Northwest Hope and Healing. The product is available for sale year-round.
Here are at least five things I did to spread the word about this initiative:
DIY Publicity Questions for Today:
- What is your company doing to give back to a cause that is close to your heart?
- Are you doing at least five things to communicate your commitment to the cause so your ideal customers can join you?
- How has giving back to a cause made a difference in your company and your life?
Special Offer for Today and a Suggestion:
If the Publici-Tea™-to-Go Gift Bundle is a product that you would be proud to give and receive, please do. The first 50 people to act will also receive a Zook Hook purse hanger as a special bonus gift!
And do somthing today to encourage a woman in your life who is surviving and thriving after breast cancer diagnosis. It will do your heart good — and hers, too!
May 22, 2009
Cause Related Marketing
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If you are like me, you’d like a cure to be found for breast cancer in your lifetime. In the meantime, help is needed to encourage women striving to thrive after being diagnosed. My company launched an initiative to make a difference for these women last October, and we are working hard to continue to make that difference, while also helping people learn the nuts of bolts of do-it-yourself publicity.
In a tough economy, business owners like you really can learn how to promote your own ideas on a tight budget. And, you can learn in a way that appeals to your fashionable, delicious sensibilities, while making a difference for others. 
The Publici-Tea™-to-Go! Gift Bundle delivers the goods in a sassy, hot pink tote box. And the best part is that we donate 10% of the net profits to a non profit organization called the Northwest Hope and Healing Foundation . This organization encourages women newly diagnosed with breast cancer by delivering “healing baskets” full of comfort and joy items to make women feel beautiful and nurtured during a challenging time in their lives. This organization also provides funds for child care, counseling, transportation, meals, emergency rent, and utilities to women receiving breast cancer treatment.
Each gift bundle even includes a fun Zook Hook purse hanger — a fashionable, functional must-have item — to reinforce the importance of creating the right story hook to invite media attention. The Publici-Tea™-to-Go! Gift Bundle also includes a variety of useful and inspiring do-it-yourself publicity tips, tools, and an audio CD, along with a Prosperi-Tea cup, tea bag, two Seattle Chocolate Company premium truffles, and a Biscot-Tea.™ You can taste, savor, and experience the power of DIY publicity in the time it takes to enjoy a really good cup of tea and get into action to realize ready results for your growing business in the media. Visit this link to read more and make your $57 purchase, knowing that local women seeking to thrive after breast cancer diagnosis will benefit from every purchase.
High Value Special Bonus When You Buy by Midnight, May 31:
When you make your purchase by midnight, May 31, you’ll ALSO receive Nancy’s special report by separate email that explains how to get over blogging fear and start building a following that can bring you and your growing company more abundance, more influence, and more welcome opportunities to contribute in the unique ways that only you can.
One Publici-Tea™-to-Go! Gift Bundle at a time, women newly diagnosed with breast cancer will get the support they need to survive and thrive, and you will be part of that solution as you build buzz for the products, causes, ideas, or services that matter most to you and your company.
We’ve written two donation checks to the cause so far. We want them to grow in magnitude and impact with your heart-felt support with abundant benefits to flow back to YOUR growing business through the power of free publicity. Thank you in advance for your purchases and your generosity in spreading the word to others who can benefit.
And, if you are a freelance writer, blogger, or other influential member of the media seeking great items to include in anticipation of Breast Cancer Awareness month in October, get in touch by phone (425) 641-5214 or email at nancy@nsjmktg.com to request a sample for review purposes. I can’t wait to hear from you.
With heart, gratitude, and hope,
Nancy “Publici-Tea™” Juetten
May 8, 2009
Cause Related Marketing, Video PR
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The Mom of the Year video I posted a couple days ago has since celebrated over 1 million moms worldwide. Clearly, plenty of bloggers like me are helping to spread this very good news. With Mother’s Day coming up this Sunday, there is still time to celebrate your mom, step mom, sister, neighbor, or friend. Here is the link to make it easy for you to get into action. It’s a free, fun, and fabulous thing to do for the moms in your life on a Friday like today.
The folks at www.momsrising.com just got word that an anonymous donor has agreed to donate ten cents for every video that’s sent to a mom from now on, up to $25,000. This money will fund MomsRising.org’s work to support moms and good family policy in Washington, D.C. If you send to ten moms, that’s a dollar for this good work. That’s all the more reason to celebrate the moms in your life with this video. Enjoy!
March 21, 2009
Cause Related Marketing, Event Promotion, Social Media Marketing
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If you want more of the right people attending your events, supporting your non-profit causes or charity benefits, and playing an influential role in building the online buzz, today you can learn the step-by-step way to use your community on Facebook to deliver the goods.
Today’s guest blog post comes from Cynthia Flash
, a talented Puget Sound-based publicist who knows a thing or two about successfully promoting non-profit and other events by using Facebook. Take it away Cynthia.
I’ve become a Facebook junkie. Why? Because it’s such a great way to connect and reconnect with people from my present and my past. I love seeing what all my “friends” are doing – both personally and professionally. I see that some are interested in the environment. Others love the arts. Some are very devoted to health care causes, in some cases because they are facing health care crises themselves or are supporting a friend or family member.
What does this have to do with public relations? Tons. Facebook is a must-have for any organization that wants to get its message out. It’s easy and powerful. Not many organizations are yet on Facebook. Most don’t have policies, and many block employees’ participation. You can promote causes for your organization personally. You don’t have to do this from an official business account. Here is what you need to do once you log in to Facebook.
- Find the “Events” application on the navigation.
- Click on it.
- Click on the “Create an Event” button.
- Type in the information about your event.
- If you’re having trouble here, go to your “Settings.” Under “Event Settings,” make sure you - at the very least - “Allow Events to publish one-line stories automatically, but prompt me for larger stories.”
- Once you’ve typed in your event, invite your “friends.” You decide how many and who you want to invite. I choose depending on the event. I know all of my friends wouldn’t want to attend – or even know about - my son’s elementary school auction. I invited those I knew would really want to attend. However, I wanted to invite every one of my friends to my client’s free, open-to-the-public holiday event, “Providence O’Christmas Trees” so I invited all 200 of them.
Now here’s where this gets really powerful. Tell all of the other people you work with in your organization, your board, your volunteers, etc. to also invite all of their “friends” to this event. All they have to do is search for the event through Facebook’s “search” function and click the “invite people to come” button to invite all of their friends.
When someone RSVPs “yes” to the event, that could show up on their Facebook page, depending on how they’ve created their settings. This is a way to continue to spread the message about your event. If you click on the “share” button, you can write a note that will get posted to your profile. This is a way to help build buzz as the event approaches.
Finally, let’s look at some numbers. Let’s say you have 30 people in your organization who are on Facebook. Let’s say each has 100 friends. If each invites all of his or her friends to your event, that’s 3,000 invitations. Each comes with a significant amount of credibility because it comes from a “friend,” not a stranger at the organization or in the fund raising office. If some of those 3,000 friends “share” the event or “invite people to come” it spreads even further. This is viral marketing at its best – with the benefit of credibility.
I tell my clients that this year this is all new. Next year it will be old hat. So go out there and tell all your “friends” about your event through Facebook.
So, dear readers, now you have your own step-by-step guide to build viral buzz and results for your upcoming events by using Facebook. And you can spread the message without spending a dime on postage, additional dollars to create fancy, expensive invitations, or wages for your administrative assistant or other over-burdened team member to manage the project. Thank you Cynthia for sharing practical, step-by-step tips to help others spread the word about their events.
What other step-by-step directions do you need from experts who know the score? Let me know what you need, and I’ll write a post to answer your question or find the perfect expert to deliver what you need. I am here to help and committed to support your DIY publicity success.
March 16, 2009
Be Heard, Cause Related Marketing, Seattle Chocolate Company
1 Comment
Right about now, just about everyone wants more Prosperi-Tea, and I am launching a fun contest for this week to bring more of it your way. Here is how it works. Make a post to this blog between now and March 20, 2009 about why your business needs to invite more Prosperi-Tea through the power of free publicity. I’ll choose the best reply to receive as my gift the Publici-Tea™-TO-GO! Gift Bundle that includes all the items you see in the photo — plus several high-value special reports you’ll receive by immediate digital download. Your gift includes your own delightful and inspiring Prosperi-Tea mug from which to savor your DIY publicity success soon to come. This gift is valued at $57.
With Spring and Mother’s Day just around the corner, the Publici-Tea™-TO-GO! Gift 
Bundles make the perfect mind/body/spirit gift to sip, taste, and experience powerful, proven DIY publicity success tips over tea, Biscot-Tea™, and premium chocolates from Seattle Chocolate Company. Best of all, I donate 10% of the net profits from the sale of these items to Northwest Hope and Healing, a non profit that encourages women newly diagnosed with breast cancer.
So, now is the time to tell me why you and your business need this gift now, more than ever. May the best blog post win Prosperi-Tea and so much more. Ready, set, go!
February 9, 2009
Cause Related Marketing
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If you offer products to the marketplace and donate a portion of your profits to a non profit organization, consider submitting your products for feature on Uptown Liz. This is a retail philanthropy site created by Ramona Russell in memory of her sister Elizabeth “Liz” Overturf, who died from breast cancer at 28 years old. It was founded to promote products from companies whose proceeds directly give back to charitable organizations. You can shop on this one-of-a-kind Website by charitable cause or product category, knowing that every time you make a purchase, you are making a difference. This site gets over 200,000 hits and over 18,000 page views a month. That is a lot of potential eye balls to be learning about how you and your business give back to charitable causes. Here is the link to learn how to submit your products for consideration. Valentine’s Day is just days away. Shop here first. It will do your heart — and your favorite cause — a whole lot of good!
February 7, 2009
Cause Related Marketing
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Right now, consumers are cautious with their purchases — and rightly so. Still, the need to give back to charitable organizations is ongoing and perhaps more essential now than ever before. That’s why it’s timely to tell you about or perhaps remind you about Uptown Liz, a website that makes it convenient to shop for what you need and give back to causes you care about at the same time.
I am proud to report that the Publici-Tea™-to-Go! Gift Bundles are now featured on this site, along with a host of other products you likely need and want to share with others — just in time for Valentine’s Day or every day. Every item on this site makes a contribution to a charitable organization. I donate 10% of the net profits from the sale of Publici-Tea™-to-GO! Gift Bundles to the Northwest Hope and Healing Foundation.
I launched this cause-related initiative in October of 2008, and I wrote my first donation check just two months later! What a thrill that was.
Check out the vast array of choices and shop to your heart’s content. I’ve noted the site address on my blogroll and invite you to visit often and shop regularly.
Uptown Liz was founded to promote products from companies whose proceeds directly give back to charitable organizations. Through our online database, you can search by cause or product, with the knowledge that every time you link to a company and make a purchase, you are making a difference. Our mission is to build a bridge between compassionate consumers and concerned companies in order to improve the world around us. We like to call it “retail philanthropy” - the opportunity to purchase quality products that benefit worthwhile causes. So go ahead and click, because we promise there is no buyer’s remorse here.
January 14, 2009
Article PR, Be Heard, Cause Related Marketing, For Women Only
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Heidi Richards Mooney is the founder of the Women’s E-Commerce Association as well as the publisher and editor-in-chief of WE magazine. It’s a great read to learn how women are collaborating, celebrating, and communicating as they grow their businesses. You can download the latest issue at this link.
As you read the magazine, imagine your story or expertise featured within the pages of this online magazine. If you’ve decided to become a published author in 2009, are an ordinary business woman doing extraordinary things, or contributing to the marketplace in powerful ways, pitch your story for WE magazine consideration. You have plenty of readership to gain.
And, as you view this magazine, take note that the Publici-Tea™-TO-GO! Gift Bundles are featured on page three of this magazine. Tens of thousands of readers are going to see this message, and that is a beautiful thing!
Thank you Heidi for advocating so powerfully for this cause-related initiative to benefit Northwest Hope and Healing. This is a non profit organization that delivers healing baskets full of “comfort and joy” items like chocolates, lotions, and teddy bears to women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Northwest Hope and Healing also provides cash for groceries, transportation, and child care so women can be supported in the ways they need as they endure their treatment and recovery.
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