February 11, 2010
Article PR, Information Product Success
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Yesterday, I blogged about the great story RainToday.com shared about my company’s reinvention during a demanding economy. Now you can read the entire RainToday.com feature when you click on this link. Enjoy!
Let me call out some of the fabulous and generous people who have played a key role in helping me navigate these last nine years in particular:
- Publicity Hound Joan Stewart - She advocated for the publicity tips booklets I brought to market in July of 2006 to her list, and that really helped put me on the map. Thanks Joan.
- Tips Booklet Queen Paulette Ensign - She taught me everything I know about tips booklets, and she can do the same for you.
- Michele Lisenbury Christensen of Working with Power LLC, who came up with the Publici-Tea™ name in the first place!
- Presentation Skills Coach Patricia Fripp - Kiplingers Personal Finance has described her speaking school as among the top six best investments you can make in your career. I agree.
- Branding Expert and Founder of Get Known Know Suzanne Falter-Barns - Suzanne coached the “Get seen, heard, and celebrated in your own backyard … and beyond” message out of me on Christmas Day 2007. What a gift!
- Info Product Guru Fred Gleeck- He gave me plenty of straight talk in the beginning about what was missing from my website, product packaging, and product elements. His “tell it like it is” approach isn’t for the faint of heart, but his advice has proven to be right on the money.
- Info Product Guy James Roche - James is showing me how to be more strategic and focused in my efforts to serve my people and grow the success I enjoy from the information products and training elements of my business.
- New Client Marketing Institute Founder Henry DeVries - Henry was the very first coach I engaged to take my growing business to the next level of success. The lessons he taught me have served me well, and they will serve you well, too.
- David Wiseman, my patient and amazing webmaster - No information products business can work without someone like David.
- My loving husband Steve Juetten - Steve, thanks for being in my village, serving as my cheerleader, and doing everything you do in my life and work. You are a treasure. And I repeat with credit to Julie Powell of “Julie and Julia” fame – “You are the butter to my bread and the breath to my life.”
Those of you who are interested in traveling your own journey of reinvention are well served to engage any and all of these fine professionals and resources, all of which have served as powerful contributors along my evolving journey to business success.
December 23, 2009
Event Promotion, Information Product Success
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I am in the process of re-bundling the best products at the DIY Publicity Store and adding new products and services to be of deeper and more powerful service to the coaches, consultants, heart-centered business owners, interior designers, and aspiring and thriving speakers, authors, and inforpreneurs who are among my most loyal clients.
As such, I am taking the opportunity to retire several products on 12-31-09. Now is the time to purchase the Publici-Tea™-to-Go! Gift Bundle, the “Anytime, Anywhere Publici-Tea™ Express Digital Download, and the Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Toolkit at the $57, $49, and $97 price points. Click on each of the active links to read all the juicy details about how each product bundle delivers value and impact for your very modest investment.
If you are someone who loves a deal, you’ll want to stock up on these retiring items before 12-31-09, when they go away at prices not to be seen again.
In related news, the Publici-Tea™ Express “Live” event will debut in 2010 as a digital experience that you can enjoy at your 24/7 convenience from anywhere in the world. More details — including pricing – will be posted soon.
While I will not be producing this event monthly in 2010, I’ll gladly accept invitations to share the Publici-Tea™ Express presentation to large groups that are hungry and ready to benefit from the engaging, practical, and inspiring information. Please get in touch with me at 425-641-5214 or by email at nancy@nsjmktg.com to discuss dates and other win-win-win arrangements.
2010 is going to be great. I can’t wait!
December 16, 2009
Article PR, Information Product Success
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Publici-Tea™ graduate (and my husband Steve Juetten CFP) has been working with passion to put the finishing touches in his new e-book. “Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Making the Right 2010 Roth Conversion Decision for You” debuted TODAY at this site.
This easy-to-understand, 32-page guide empowers you with the information you need to make the right choice on this perplexing opportunity, given your own specific circumstances.
Given how many thousands of “Google” searches being conducted daily on the term “Roth IRA Conversion,” it would appear that Steve has created the perfect guide in perfect timing to serve a wide audience of interested people.
Steve has been translating complex financial topics into easy to digest communications for more than 25 years. He’s written many articles for the Puget Sound Business Journal and is frequently quoted by the news media, including www.BankRate.com and MSNBC, on financial planning topics. He is happy to speak with reporters, bloggers, and others who need the straight skinny on how to proceed. If you are a member of the media and would like to review this e-book for your readers, you can connect with Steve by email at Steve@finpath.com to make your request.
Check it out, and be among the first to benefit from the sage wisdom within the pages of this timely and very relevant guide. And, please share the good news with people in your world who are struggling with how to make the right choice on this issue.
For my money, I anticipate that Steve’s e-book will be a runaway best-seller among those who handle the household finances among friends and family this holiday season. While this may be an unconventional stocking stuffer, it will prove to be a very welcome one, too.
December 13, 2009
Information Product Success
2 Comments
One of my loyal blog readers emailed earlier today. She didn’t realize that HARO accepts paid advertising, and she said she was pretty sure she was not alone in her confusion. Let me clear things up for this reader and others among you who have been wondering about this.
When you receive your HARO feed three times a day that includes media queries to which you can reply to get known as an expert or share your perspective, the very first message on the feed is a paid advertisement. It’s a message about a product, service, idea, or cause that an advertiser has paid for. HARO Founder Peter Shankman has “Peter-ized” a sales message provided to him to give the message his unique voice. When my ad ran on 12-3 in the last feed of the day, it read as follows:
So, my bio starts off with “Peter is what happens when ADHD is good.”
Is your bio exciting and remarkable? Or boring as the day is long?
Check out http://byebyeboringbio.com. Nancy Juetten is a publicist
and a Media Savvy newspaper columnist, DIY publicity blogger, speaker,
and the creator of the popular “Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide.” She has
helped thousands of people get their messages out so they can do more
of what they love and get on with their life’s work fast. Learn the
biggest mistake people make with their bios, how to tell a memorable
and repeatable story, and why you should NEVER take your own publicity
photo. 2010 is just weeks away, so start the year off right with a
winning bio that makes you sound like the rock star you are. Mention
“HARO” in the comments section of your online order form when you buy
by 12-31-09, and you’ll also get the Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Tips
e-Booklets that offer 147 powerful ways to boost business and profit
from free publicity. It’s your story. Tell it well.
http://byebyeboringbio.com
The ad worked really well for me.
If you have interest in exploring advertising on HARO for your product, service, idea, or yourself, you can visit this link and make your inquiry. The advertising is popular, so inquire about availability and one-time and frequency rates. If you are a solopreneur, make that clear, as well. When you make your “YES” decision, you’ll be asked to pay for your ad via PayPal to save the space for your use. Then, one week before the ad is scheduled to run, you’ll correspond with Peter to share the message that you want to share with the readers so he can work his messaging magic with your key points.
This was how it worked in my experience. No doubt, he is continuing to refine his process and revise his rates to reflect the growing popularity of his service. That is why you are wise to connect with him to get the latest facts and make your best advertising moves as 2010 approaches and unfolds.
(By the way, I’ll still honor the special HARO bonus noted above for anyone who mentions “HARO” in the “comments” section of their online order form. Learn more and buy your own Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide today. Here is the link to make it easy.)
December 12, 2009
Information Product Success, PR Beyond the Backyard
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Howard Greenstein writes the Inc. Magazine Start-Up Toolkit Blog, and his December 8 post is entitled “Promote Your Startup - Help a Reporter. Visit this link to read all about it.
As you read, notice that I am quoted within the story in connection with my very recent HARO advertising success story for Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide. What a thrill.
As I often say, one good thing often leads to another, and I couldn’t be more delighted. Thank you Peter Shankman. Thank you Howard Greenstein. Thank you everyone in the USA and the world who is buying Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide and having remarkable success. That’s what this guide is all about.
After all, why have a washed up bio when you can be a rock star fast with a few sassy soundbites and some focused effort? The New Year is coming. Come out swinging with a new bio, and welcome the abundance. If not now, then when? This could be the perfect gift for the entrepreneur on your holiday list.
As for me, getting seen, heard, and celebrated on the Inc. Magazine Startup Blog is an early holiday gift I couldn’t be more delighted to receive. Hurray.
December 7, 2009
Business Success, Information Product Success
18 Comments
If you’ve decided that 2010 is your year to get seen, heard and celebrated in the media in your own backyard and beyond, let me make it easy for you. The first ten people who comment on the blog about this post will receive as my gift my “N” list, which includes just shy of 40 useful tips, links, and resources I’ve used, tested, and proven to be effective in supporting DIY publicity and online visibility success.
Action Required: Be among the first ten people to post a comment to this blog post that says something like: “Nancy, I absolutely must have your time-tested, proven to be effective resources to support DIY publicity and online visibility success.” And, you must share your email address with me so I can send the report your way. A comment without an email address doesn’t get the job done. Use your imagination. Put some heart into it. And , when you are among the first ten people to reply, your prize will help you advance toward your goals a lot faster than proceeding without it. Can’t wait to hear from you!
December 5, 2009
Information Product Success, Measuring Results
4 Comments
I am really pleased to report how well the HARO ad for Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide is delivering so far. I got to break even on my advertising investment within 12 hours of the ad going “live.” Blog visits have escalated dramatically. Opt-ins for the Media-Savvy-to-Go ezine have escalated, too. And three prospects have already booked meetings to explore engaging my Extreme Bio Makeover and other publicity services. I have high hopes that more orders will flow to www.byebyeboringbio.com as people catch up on their emails and decide that now is the time to upgrade their boring bios at long last. This advertising investment is delivering quality, targeted exposure to the right potential clients and offering me the opportunity to earn new fans and followers. That is just what I was hoping for.
If you have a product, service or idea that would serve the subscribers of HARO, check out the advertising opportunities available for 2010. You can visit HARO to learn more. I am sure Peter Shankman will be happy to hear from you.
By the way, anyone who mentions HARO in the “comments” section of their online order form for their very own copy of the popular and well-reviewed Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide will also enjoy two Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Tips eBooklets that offer 147 powerful tips to boost business and profit from free publicity as a high value gift, provided they buy by 12-31-09.
I’d be honored to earn your business and guide you to create a bio that makes you sound like the rock star you are. It’s holiday time. Treat yourself to a gift that will return results to you and your business every day of the New Year.
Main Street Media Savvy Question of the Day: If you have advertised on HARO, what has been your experience and what results did your company enjoy? I know the readers of this blog would love to hear from you so they can have even more support to guide their 2010 decision making. Please share!
September 19, 2009
Information Product Success
No Comments
On July 12, 1996, I started down my path to become an infopreneur with the debut of my Media-Savvy-to-Go publicity tips booklets. Today, I’m just preparing for my third printing. Thousands of printed and electronic versions of my 147 Powerful Ways to Boost Business and Profit From Free Publicity booklets are in use all over the world. This has led to speaking engagements, radio interviews, and purchases of additional information products that I have created since the first tips booklets came on the scene. These products have given me more control over my earning opportunities as the economy has changed. It’s a beautiful thing.
If you have been curious about how and why to create your own tips booklets, tune in to the Booklet Author Success series hosted by Tips Booklet Queen Paulette Ensign. She’ll be interviewing me on Tuesday, 9-22 at 11 a.m. PST.
Nine booklet authors - people just like you - reveal how they have grown their business and made lots of money by selling and giving away their booklets so can you match and surpass their results. They remember what it was like when they started their booklet journey. No matter where you are on yours, they will give you ideas you never considered.
Here’s how they’ve used their tips booklets:
- New and greater income streams
- Increased profit margins
- Marketing tools to sell their other products and services
- Cornerstones to create or expand a product line
- Choices, companions, or triggers to sales of their services
- Re-purposed into other formats in hard copy and downloadable
- Guide for delivering and expanding services
- Collaborative tools for cross marketing with other business owner
This success series is timed in celebrating of the release of the fourth edition of Paulette’s comprehensive manual “Promote Your Business with Booklets.” You can check it out and learn more by following this link. Then, click on the box in the upper left corner to learn more and register for the Booklet Author Success Series. There is so much value packed in this that you’ll be fast on YOUR way to booklet success in record time. “See” you on the call.
February 3, 2009
Information Product Success
2 Comments
Yesterday’s post offered some additional details from my 2 1/2 year journey to become a profitable infopreneur. Today’s post fills in a few more missing pieces.
The road to information product sales is not a get rich quick scheme. It’s a time consuming journey filled with bends and twists in the road, lots to learn about technology and other things, and the potential for overwhelm. Patience, tenacity, and resolve are required.This is a long distance run and not a sprint.
In the beginning, it’s easier and definitely more profitable to trade time for dollars than to develop and learn the systems for sustaining and promoting a line of information products. My revenues actually dropped the second year of this transition as I dealt with a pretty steep learning curve.
Create products in printed and digital versions to appeal to customers with either preference. Bring the content alive for buyers with accompanying workshops or telephone coaching sessions that are priced right so customers can connect personally and get the guiding help they need to be successful.
Be prepared to learn a new vocabulary of terms and tools to grow the information product division of your company. Affiliate program, joint venture, blog, online shopping cart, merchant account, auto-responder, and broadcast email are just a few of the new ideas to learn about, apply, and sustain to lend fuel to a successful effort.
Just because you post the letter to your website or blog doesn’t mean people will buy. You have to build traffic so people will read it. Growing your list of customers and potential customers is essential. You have to experiment to find the right price point that invites people to buy, and offer extraordinary guarantees to remove the risk associated with any purchase. And, you have to remember that people take their time to get to know your expertise over time. They buy when they are good and ready — or they don’t.
Products that appeal to sight, sound, and experience sell better than those that appeal to one sense alone. Creating a “best value” toolkit that involved audio files and printed materials in brief, mid-length, and longer length elements made a big difference in generating ongoing and consistent sales results. Offering Seattle Chocolate Company truffles, Biscot-Tea™, and freshly brewed tea helps to transform workshops into “mind, body, spirit” events that are delicious and inspiring.
Don’t underestimate the appeal of a sassy event name. When I created the Publici-Tea™ Workshop to bring alive the content within the Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Toolkit, sales escalated immediately. The magic of this name and the “comfort and joy” approach to delivering the information has proven to be very inviting for event guests who appreciate receiving a guiding hand to ensure their DIY publicity success. Special thanks to my friend and colleague Michele Lisenbury Christensen, co-founder of Working with Power, LLC , for suggesting this memorable and well branded event name.
Buy a digital recorder, and learn how to use it. Every speech, workshop, and presentation becomes potential content for audio products to serve customers beyond your own backyard. My digital recorder of choice is the SONY PCM-D50 Linear PCM Recorder. Purchase affordable audio conversion software like Blaze Media Pro so you can conveniently convert your files to MP3 format.
Learn how to sell your products from the back of the room to make every speaking engagement – paid or not – pay back to your business for your investment of time, passion, and effort. One big idea I came upon was to ask professional groups to pay for my speaking services with quantity booklet purchases. Now, everyone who listens to my presentations gets a valuable gift from the sponsoring organization. I am compensated for my speaking efforts, And, everyone in the room leaves with useful tips and inspiration that will lead them back to my door at some point in the future.
Articulating your unique selling proposition in an inviting, emotionally connecting, and visual way is well worth the time and effort you apply to getting the message right. And it’s not easy. My ideal customers most definitely want to “Get seen, heard, and celebrated in their own backyards … and beyond” through the power and impact of free publicity. This message resonates, reflects favorably on how my company serves, and invites the right customers to my care.
Quality packaging contributes to a favorable, high-value customer experience. Big box office supply stores are rich with fabulous packaging options that can make your offering look polished, professional, and inviting for potential customers. The right information products well presented sell better than those that show up in a generic folder every day of the week.
Promote products in a wide variety of ways consistently. Press releases, pitch letters, blog posts, long sales letters, newspaper columns and articles, teleseminars, webinars, speaking engagements, panel discussions, meeting notices, networking events, joint ventures, radio interviews, videos, and ezines represent a sampling of tactics that need to be consistently and tenaciously applied to deliver the message on an ongoing way to invite consumer purchases. Not every offer delivers the same response. Be prepared to test a variety of terms and offer details to find the perfect blend that works for your customers.
The time it takes to do all of this is not “passive income” by any definition. This is a lot of hard work. And it is well worth it if you stick with it and keep learning every step of the way. Finding ways to diversify income streams, serve new customers, and leverage expertise over larger groups of potential customers is a good thing in the best and the worst of times, especially for a solo practitioner such as myself.
By the way, the 8-year anniversary sale of my newest audio file and best-selling information products is in 
progress. Now you can enjoy fabulous deals on the new Publici-Tea™ Workshop audio file, the Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Toolkit, and the Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Tips Booklets. These are well reviewed and well-used tools to empower your DIY publicity success. Whether you have $8 or $88 to invest, there is something at the DIY Publicity Store to suit you needs and budget. I’d be honored to earn your business and your referrals.
You can even join my affiliate program and be one step closer to earning income for product sales that flow from your recommendations. How cool is that?
If you have gained value from the information shared in this and yesterday’s post, feel free to track back to it and forward it to others so more people can benefit and accelerate their journey to information product prosperity. Thank you.
February 2, 2009
Information Product Success
No Comments
It’s been a long and winding journey along my 2-1/2 year road to becoming a profitable inforpreneur. Today, an article I wrote offering the most humbling and useful lessons I’ve learned along the way debuted at BizNik. I invite you to read it if you have been pondering taking a similar road to potential prosperity.
Articles on BizNik, by definition, have to be under 1,500 words. That is just enough “real estate” to hit the high points without a lot of elaboration. Here are a few anecdotes to add more meat to the matter.
Engage experts to accelerate your journey. Tips Booklet Queen Paulette Ensign and Get Known Now Branding Expert Suzanne Falter-Barns delivered extraordinary value for my investment in their coaching to create tips booklets and craft a unique selling proposition that would deliver an emotional connection for my ideal customers. Michelle Price convinced me to launch and sustain my DIY publicity blog and share DIY publicity videos over the internet. These have been powerful tools to build online buzz for my expertise and invite new ways to be of service.
Create a starter product, and add to the family as inspiration and opportunity strike to serve a distinct market need. I started by writing a 130-page workbook draft. My gut told me it wasn’t the right format or length. Paulette Ensign offered a free teleseminar about tips booklets and why they make sense in today’s information overloaded marketplace. That caused me to revisit my content and create two tips booklets that offered 147 powerful ways to build business and profit from free publicity. Then, I revisited the workbook and reduced the length by more than half.
When the Media-Savvy-to-Go Tips Booklets came off the press, I sent samples to Publicity Hound Joan Stewart. Her tips, ezine, and other resources had been great inspiration to me, and one of the ways I thanked her was by mentioning her website within the booklets. She called me upon receipt and said, “Darn good booklets. Wish I had written them myself.” Then, she asked, “Do you have an affiliate program?” I didn’t have the slightest idea what she was talking about. I asked, “What’s an affiliate program?” Joan was generous to explain. As soon as I hung up the phone, I called my webmaster and asked him to set one up. It turned out that my online shopping cart was already enabled with such a program. It was just a matter of activating it. A few weeks later, I let Joan know my affiliate program was “live.” She subsequently endorsed the Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Tips Booklets to her entire ezine list, bringing awareness and sales from customers across the nation to both of us.
Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. I learned that Susan Harrow, CEO of PR Secrets, was creating a mega joint venture with internet marketing and PR gurus from all across America. I took a risk and sent an email, asking her consideration to include the Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Toolkit in the product bundle she was creating. She reviewed my materials and invited me to participate. The end result was dramatically better buzz for my products and expertise, meaningful sales results for us both, and a winning business relationship and friendship that continues.
I’ll share a few more details tomorrow. In the meantime, consider posting articles of your own to BizNik. This site serves independent business owners and offers a welcome exchange of information to empower success. There are three levels of membership, and you can experience the bounty of benefits for free. With nothing to lose and much to gain, again it is a matter of getting in action. Action is always the key.
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