It’s fun and rewarding to take new tools out for a spin to help others learn the power and impact free publicity can lend to their growing businesses. Check out this video that was posted a few days ago and learn a few local publicity tips to propel your business forward. Let me know what you think!
It’s a brand new year and the perfect time to get organized. That’s why my hat is off to Meagan Farrell, owner of Clear the Clutter, a professional organizing services company operating in Snohomish County. She submitted her 150-word story about the circumstances in her life that led to the creation of her company to the Snohomish County Business Journal. Her story ran in the January edition of the paper to ride on the organization excitement associated with turning the page on a new year.
This brief feature invites readers to share turning points in their business lives or careers. If you work or operate a business in Snohomish County, you can submit your story for editorial consideration, too. Just prepare 150 words that capture your story in an engaging way and submit them — with your digital headshot — to hilden@heraldnet.com. You just might find your story within the pages of this local business journal in perfect timing to fuel new inquiries to engage your products or services.
The deadline for the February issue is January 15. If anyone out there has a Valentine’s Day-related story to tell that would be of interest to business readers in Snohomish County, now would be the perfect time to tell it.
Speaking of organization, I’ll share do-it-yourself publicity tips with the members and guests of the Seattle National Association of Professional Organizers on January 8, 2008. The event takes place at the Bellevue California Closet Company from 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. You can read all about it and register online by visiting this link. The event is free to NAPO members and just $25 for non-members. And, everyone who attends will receive their very own copies of the Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Tips Booklets as a gift from NAPO Seattle. How timely is that for turning the page on business visibility for the new year? I hope you can attend and acquire timely and valuable organization and publicity tips to enhance your success in 2008.
A couple weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal did a story about pay-for-placement PR services, and the readers went wild in their commentary on the topic. If you read today’s WSJ, you can read more about what the readers think about this practice. There are also some tips for the art of the pitch, and one of them was provided by yours truly. I say, “To successfully capture the attention of reporters, I read, listen to, or watch their work. Then, I share news, access, or commentary that wil add value to what they report on.” You can read the article and related commentary at this link. It’s a good read.
A lot of folks tell me that they want their commentary featured within the pages of the Wall Street Journal, and I am among them. When this story about PR ran, I noticed that the reporter asked specifically for feedback. I took a few minutes to craft a reply to the WSJ Independent Street Blog about how not to pitch a reporter, and my comments showed up online with my name, and they showed up in today’s Wall Street Journal without my name.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. It happened brick by brick. Perhaps next time, my comments will be featured in both venues with my name and blog link.
I do take heart in the fact that I didn’t pay a cent for the placement because I followed my own advice. I read the reporter’s work and thoughtfully contributed commentary that I thought would add value to the story.
This approach has always worked for me. Try it with your own do-it-yourself publicity efforts, and let share your successes with me. I can’t wait to hear and report on your good news.
What a powerful email to receive on a Monday morning from Shannon Cherry of Be Heard Solutions. She writes about an editor at Wired magazine who has compiled and published a list of banned PR people who can know longer connect with him by email because they have shot themselves in the foot with sorry approaches to pitching their stories. Are you on this list? And what are you going to do to make sure you never earn a place on this list or any other list like it? Here is the link to learn more: http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2007/10/sorry-pr-people.html
If you’ve been running your business for any length of time, you likely have a good sense of the characteristics that describe your ideal client. I was asked this question during a web conference the other day and said that my best clients operate in the “comfort and joy” space and provide products and services that deliver either or both. That response made me smile, and the folks on the call were grinning, too.
Over the years, I’ve worked with clients in a wide range of industries and professions, yet I am very attracted to those that provide comfort and joy. You could say that my client list is very “Oprah-esque,” and it is a beautiful thing. Olympic Hot Tub Company makes it easy to take it easy in your own backyard. Affirmagy offers personal affirmation blankets that wrap each wearer in gratitude, joy, courage, and love. Highline Medical Center provides extraordinary and compassionate medical care. Seattle Chocolate Co. provides delicious chocolates. Need I say more?
Now, I have applied my “comfort and joy” passion and created a new way to be of service to small business owners seeking their own free publicity. I have scheduled my first Publici-Tea™ for November 16. Read the rest…
I subscribe to Joan Stewart’s Publicity Hound ezine, and I recommend that you do, too. Joan always has great tips and resources to share to empower your quest for free publicity. While visiting her blog this week, I found a post about a new feature called Doing Business and Doing Good that JJ Ramberg is writing for Entrepreneur magazine. Visit www.publicityhound.net and read the 10-21-07 post entitled, “Entrepreneur columnist focuses on do-gooders.” All the contact information is included to make it easy for you to make your pitch.
Speaking of which, I took the opportunity to submit a pitch on behalf of Affirmagy, which is working around the clock to fill orders for its book/blanket bundles that include fleece Courage blankets that are covered with affirmations, along with the Chicken Soup for the Breast Cancer Soul books. Founder Kristen Marie Schuerlein intends for the blanket/book bundle to raise $400,000 for breast cancer research this month. The “Pay It Forward” component of this program makes it easy for you to donate bundles to women you have never met who are facing breast cancer treatment. As I quipped to Kristen the other day, I am grateful to have two breasts, especially since I had surgery a few years ago for abnormal cells. That is another reason I was even happier to “Pay It Forward” with two bundles I donated to women I’ve never met. Think about it, and get into action. Visit www.affirmagy.com to place your order today, and spread the word about this inspired business woman who is definitely doing business and doing good. It’s a beautiful thing.
It’s a great day for GoMobile Advertising, a Kent-based company that offers eye-catching trucks with floor-to-ceiling windows that travel the streets of Seattle and beyond to build buzz for clients’ businesses, causes, and promotions. The company earned a story on the front page of the business section of today’s Seattle Times. Here is the link:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/
The folks at GoMobile have been powerful advocates for my Media-Savvy-to-Go message and have had me speak before their U.S. affiliates to spread the word about do-it-yourself publicity. Clearly, they are taking their own advice and earning front page business coverage in the process. Hurray!
Also making news today within the same Seattle Times retail report is Affirmagy for its courage campaign to raise money for breast cancer research and education, while offering encouragement to those newly diagnosed with breast cancer.
Seattle-based Affirmagy, which sells blankets with inspirational messages, hopes to raise money next month to fight breast cancer by promising to donate $7.99 for every $39.95 purchase of a pink “Courage” wrap and “Chicken Soup for the Breast Cancer Survivor’s Soul” book. Donations will go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month next month. The blanket’s sayings include “I will not give up” and “My courage makes me brave.” To learn more, go to www.affirmagy.com.
If ever there was a cause to support at the right time, this is it. Please visit Affirmagy’s Website and purchase a bundle or two or five for women you have never met who need the courage and encouragement that this special gift delivers in a way that really inspires.
A fabulous thing happened on the way to launching this blog. My farewell column for the Snohomish County Business Journal appeared online on August 30. It offered a link to this new blog before it officially launched on September 1.
That same day, I received a invitation to be interviewed for the Women’s Media Summit taking place October 18 and 19, 2007. Founder and CEO Heidi Richards set a “Google Alert” to find media experts. That search quickly linked to my newspaper column, and the bio box in the column directed her to the new blog.
The Women’s Media Summit is a virtual conference during which top PR industry experts including Annie Jennings and Shannon Cherry share useful publicity tips to empower women’s business success on the Web and beyond. My “Deadly Sins of Do-It-Yourself Publicity” interview has been added to the agenda.
Heidi tells me that her Website enjoys 40-50 thousand unique visitors each month, and she plans to share a link to make it easy for the visitors to learn more about the Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Toolkit.
Having the opportunity to contribute to her upcoming event could bode very well for expanding the reach of the hometown media message. And, it could very well invite more people to visit this blog to benefit from the information I gladly share.
If this is what happens the first day of blog launch, I can’t wait to see what happens next. Stay tuned.
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