During seventies and eighties the Indian handmade carpet industry had a sizzling pace of growth. Massive demand for carpets from western shores outpaced the supply because the huge demand led to shortage of weavers.

Resultant there was huge influx of labor from the neighboring states. To exploit the opportunity extensively, child labor too was brought in droves.

Thanks to a few activists, this horrifying reality came into light in the later part of the eighties.

The terrible news got wings and spread like wild fire which reached to countries of the west which were the chief consumers of this craft.

Carpet importers became wary and as a precautionary measure started asking for affirmation that the carpets being supplied are free from child labor.

But the damage has already been done.

The industry which was going at a fast clip saw sharp drop in its export simply because magic of media reached even to consumers who avoided buying handmade Indian carpets.

IKEA, a Sweden based multinational, which bought Indian rugs in great quantities, found itself in a tight spot.

At one point in time it was about to stop sourcing carpets from India but good sense prevailed and it decided to bring discipline into its Indian suppliers.

Thus I-Way (Ikea-Way) came into existence which required that its suppliers should follow the norms set in its I-Way – norms which required abide by not only tenets spelled in its I-Way but Indian labor law should also be adhered.

No doubt, besides Ikea, there appeared many non-profit organizations (NGOs) who are still working for the elimination and rehabilitation of child labor of this industry.

But the greatest catalyst of them all, I believe, was Ikea and its I-Way, which was very effective in making the general public aware of the abuse and making the Indian carpet dealers’ observant with the vulnerability to the trade from this immoral practice.

Many manufacturers even got themselves registered with organizations such ISO and other Social Compliance Audits

Undeniably these measures contributed considerably to fight the abuse of child labor from this industry but the problem is still prevalent not insignificantly.

Problem still exist simple because carpet industry is cottage industry and is spread deep into the unapproachable hinterlands.

In fact, I believe, that active involvement of the whole industry can prove effective to wipe the problem from its root.

The idea is that each manufacturer worth its salt must take up a social cause that is targeted for the welfare of deprived children.

At this end, we at AAFRIIINZ intend to adopt the village Nai Bazar – a village where we live-in – with the objective of taking its people in confidence.

This undertaking, we believe, becomes possible if our approach is value based – if we are able to make people aware with the values of life – that is caring, sharing and sensitive to social mores.

If we are sincere, it won’t be hard to make these simple folks to partner for this common cause.

May be we prove ourselves an example to be followed by others.

And, of course we would like that our audience be a part of this problem-solution process to and send their suggestions if they feel like so.

We already have a dormant blog which we intend to make lively once we are able to start turning our mission into reality.

Naseem Ansari
Author and Publisher
Visit this site

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Tags: business, ethics, publicity, advertising, pr

Penny Pincher, CFO of Mature Market Industries was alarmed. With Sarbanes Oxley requirements, raw materials rising, office supplies costs escalating, and shipping costs skyrocketing, were all taking a negative toll on her and the balance sheet. Tired of hearing her purchasing agent say they were bidding everything every year yet year over year costs still rose, frustrated over their transportation manager say they were doing their best but transportation costs year over year continued to climb, the office manager said they were getting great rates from their suppliers. But then, how did she really know as there was no data to support these claims?

Penny’s concerns heightened when she kept seeing various vendor advertising specialties around her business in hats, calendars, pens, not to mention the constant stream of lunch offers, race car event entertainments and year after year the same provider loyalties remained. She checked the company Code of Conduct still posted but buried around the EOE, Safety and other postings on the bulletin board…clearly this nor meetings/memos on the need for costs savings were having any impact. Her hunch was these communications were in name only that the diligence of employees may well be impacted by the salesmanship and schmoozing of vendors with a false sense of accomplishment by bidding or simply renegotiating their business every year to the same group of providers.

If her company books had to comply with Sarbanes scrutiny, and their financial consultant insisted on audits, why shouldn’t transportation, office/plant supplies and raw materials also have a yearly audit to determine cost effectiveness, a benchmarking of how they compare to similar size companies? Having read about scandals in transportation management at similar size companies involving collusion, kick backs and host of other improprieties, this would be the area to start…not to mention transportation was not a core competency, costs were rising more dramatically than any other area and other than anecdotal stories, there was no hard accounting evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of their spend or deliverable values.

The traffic manager was highly agitated when told to develop costs savings ideas and the criteria their business needed in deliverable values of a transportation provider. He tried asking customer service their needs as well as shipping/receiving and purchasing: they all said they either loved or hated the same providers, transit times critical but to balance value with cost in provider selections by client needs. Confused he turned to his favorite transportation provider sales rep who was happy to create a model that not surprisingly favored their capabilities and easily copied and pasted into a company memo. These efforts coupled with showing he re-bid their business every year…but curiously always landed with pretty much the same providers with year over year costs higher on similar tonnage numbers, was the end result. Penny sensed her lacking transportation knowledge could be a good thing in questions seeking a different approach with better results.

Penny called a counterpart at a non related but similar size industry and asked how they approached controlling transportation costs. She learned that they had determined that bids only got the best of a mediocre bunch, a thorough review of available options and best practices was not practical and that transportation simply was not a core competency, so they turned to a transportation management business process outsource provider. Having outsourced their transportation management two years prior, they were able to report a year over year hard 10% savings, but the pleasant surprise value was the added technology provided that created supply chain visibility/reporting with dedicated account support, all at no cost! A new breed of transportation management providers were leveraging their buying power to make their money from the asset providers and pass the savings on to their shipping clients.

Penny got the contact name and number of the transportation management company and in less than a week, placed a non disclosure agreement and obtained at no cost or obligation, an audit of their small package, less than truckload, truckload and international transportation spend. Utilizing tier 1 transportation providers and gaining supply chain technology their company could not afford, a guaranteed offer of over 10% year over transportation spend savings was presented.

The transportation manager when presented these results said it would not work as they tried something similar before, that internal customers would not like changing carriers, and a host of other anecdotal excuses from over the years. However the hard data of six figure dollars falling directly to the bottom line of the balance sheet was too compelling for Penny.

The smooth transition/implementation took less than 6 weeks and the savings were demonstrated immediately. The previous asset providers howled but in the end offered to lower their now clearly premium rates for mediocre services… Penny declined both on the principle of clearly not being treated as a partner and she still had better savings and value with the new transportation management company. Internal influencers in finance, inventory management, customer service and sales were delighted with the new supply chain visibility and improved shipping reliabilities. The Code of Conduct is more prominent now along with the new earnings report that sparkles center stage in posted results and Penny’s success story featured in the company newsletter. The Purchasing department is the next audit target but will be managed by the new CFO as Penny has been promoted to CEO and is driven to focusing on their core competencies as her new CFO is charged with leveraging additional business process outsourcing successes.

Penny learned that employee’s self preservation can be a greater motivator than a Code of Conduct, that company goals for cost savings are relative when balanced against what’s in it for the department head, and that the greater good of the employer is not as great a good as perks legal and potentially illegal to those who feel entitled. Penny learned to take charge and saved big, enhancing her position and financial health of her company.

Harry Gorden, President, Transportation Management Services, Inc, a transportation management agency with over 35 years sales experience, providing consulting to the equity, capital management and supply chain communities as well as no cost referrals for manufacturers/distributors seeking the right fit transportation management support.

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Tags: dilemma, ethics, customer, advertising, publicity

Since the inception of the information technology and the technological advancement of the marketing industry, many people are engaging into fraudulent activities. This is because they are able to gain financial gains and advantages to people through easier and faster means.

For this reason, authorities had been trying to suppress the growing trend of various frauds that are currently affecting thousands, if not millions of people.

Basically, fraud is a kind of trickery that is used for the individual’s benefits, mostly on the financial aspect. These kinds of frauds are absolutely punishable by law, though, its implementation and intensity may vary from one place to another.

In Criminal Law

In the context of criminal law, a fraud is absolutely punishable under certain circumstances that will constitute the deception of a certain individual from which personal gain of the fraudulent person is achieved.

Some of the common frauds that are abhorred by the law are:

1. False advertising

This refers to the achievement of some personal gains of the person concerned by give the wrong impression about a particular service, product, or a business. This can be executed by providing deceptive information projected in unreliable forms of advertisements.

2. Identity theft

In the credit card industry, identity theft is the common type of fraud. This is when the identity of the credit card user is stolen for the personal benefit of the person who wants to gain some financial access to the user’s finances.

There are instances that the criminal may use the identity of the credit card user to make some purchases, in which, the victim’s credit card is used. In turn, the victim will receive billing statements containing such purchases that he or she did not personally created.

There are also some cases wherein the identity of the victim is used to create some crimes, in which, after establishing such acts, they contact the person and blackmail him by asking some money in exchange of eliminating any criminal acts that were constituted through his name.

3. Forgery

This is also one type of frauds where the documents are obtained and processed with the purpose of using them to deceive other people or institution.

In this process, the person who ant to deceive other people will obtain documents that are fake, reproduced, replicas, or explicit reproductions of the original material. There are also some documents that may be originally done but the signatures that should have signified the authenticity of the document is forged.

The very concept of this kind of fraud is to modify an object to suit the personal gains of the offender.

4. False billing

This refers to the fraudulent undertaking of charging or creating billing statements to a particular person or an institution. Here, the criminals will extract money from these people, in which, the concerned person will think that it is part of his or her subscription on a certain company.

In this way, people may be deceived that they have been issued some renewal of their subscriptions, for example, but in reality, the true owner of such establishment that issues subscriptions are not aware of it.

5. Insurance claims

These refers to the act of deceiving the insurance provider under the guise of claiming the due claims and benefits.

For instance, there are some people who create “fake deaths” in order to claim the insurance benefits provided by the individual’s insurance provider.

These are just some of the many examples of frauds. All of which are punishable under the law.

Hence, if you think that you have been victimized based on the examples given, it is best to take some actions properly, otherwise, you will be left hanging on the brink of disaster.

Robert Thatcher is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides fraud prevention resources on this site.

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Tags: ethics, cases, advertising, marketing, concepts

The film industry is a greatly romanticized and fun industry, and this can be used to an indie filmmaker’s advantage when marketing their films. By working with schools, groups like the Purple Hat Society and more filmmakers can reach people directly and through the news. This method is best used in smaller towns of 50,000 to 300,000 people. Towns which are large enough to provide an audience but small enough so that the people living in them will not have many opportunities to interact with independent filmmakers.

One valuable tool would be to hold workshops on filmmaking, using the digital cameras people already have the filmmakers to teach them the basics of script writing, cinematography, editing, and more. Like small watercolor classes the point is not always to make the people of the community into greats, but rather to help them build new talents that could be fun and interesting.

By holding such workshop events you would have the opportunity to not only increase those interested in watching your film when it comes to the theater by directly interacting with them, but you will also likely get mentioned in the local newspapers for free. What’s more you will have a great story to submit as part of web PR. This is important because more people are now reading stories on the internet then in newspapers. Having your stories online then will greatly increase those people who see and hear of your movie and your company beyond the town where you held the workshop.

While workshops can and will likely many independent movies a great method of marketing they need to be planned with care. Those marketing the film need to insure that the theater in the town where the workshop is being held will show the independent film before the workshop takes place, if it won’t then holding a workshop in the town will hold little value.

Further an independent film advertising campaign should be planned to run in conjunction with the PR, providing a means to draw those who read the story into buying tickets. Direct sales to consumers are the reason I recommend internet advertising, PPC and Banner Ad Campaigns allow you to pull those interested directly to a website where they can take action and purchase a ticket, and so will greatly increase the number of tickets you sell.

This mixture of event based PR and advertising will help to dramatically increase your movies ticket sales at a fraction of what it would have cost to do so with just straight marketing techniques.

Ty Hulse is a marketer for independent movies. His independent film advertising services can be found at this site

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Press Releases are a fantastic and FREE form of marketing your company, products and services. Basically, it works like this – you send your company news to a list of publications. The editors WANT your news so they can keep their subscribers up to date on what is happening in your industry. You get a plug and all it took was time to write the Press Release.

The other great advantage is that it can now be posted on many electronic magazines, spreading the word throughout the Internet.

To create the best chances of success with your Press Releases, here’s a quick “How To” list:

1. Have a plan. News happens fast, and you need to be ready with a plan to react to that news to tell the world. So before you start, write at least twelve Press Releases in advance and put them into a folder to draw from when needed. Keep in mind that when in comes to news, it doesn’t matter if it’s NEW to you, it matters if it’s NEWS to the editors. Write them in advance so you can draw from this folder once a month on the same date for an entire year. Keep them in chronological order. As up-to-date news occurs in your company, use that information first, bumping all other Press Releases back one month. Review the folder each month before you send your release and move the unused, unneeded or out of date releases to an archive on your website along with the release you just sent. Get every extra mile you can from every release you write!

2. Create letterhead and envelopes specifically designed for Press Releases. As you send the Press Releases the editors become familiar with your envelopes and letterhead, and know what to expect. This familiarity also increases your changes for success. Don’t be afraid to actually say “Press Release Enclosed” on the outer envelope.

4. Send one release a month. No more, no less. More than that and you stand the chance of annoying the editors, and that means less print space. Less than once a month and you don’t appear to be the kind of company that is actually worthy of news because nothing of importance is happening in your organization.

5. Include a photo or image separately in the same envelope if possible. This just adds to the interest of your Press Release and increases read rates by editors.

6. Use the familiar format for written releases: Header should be your logo. Top right, flush right in Times 12 point, your name on line 1, your contact information on lines 2 (phone) and 3 (email). Under name and contact information, flush left, in Times 14 point bold, all caps, the title of the receiver (i.e., BUSINESS NEWS EDITOR) followed by the words “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE”. Under FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, centered, in Times 14 point bold, upper and lower case, the subject of your Press Release. Use no more than two lines and as few words as possible. Body copy should be Times 12 point, no indentations, double spaced. Start with the city you are sending the release from in parenthesis. Each paragraph should be able to stand alone without needing the above or below paragraphs to make sense to the reader.

After the final paragraphs place three centered star symbols (* * *) to indicate the end of your release. If you have enclosed a photo or image indicate that with a line under the starts stating “Photos/Image Enclosed”.

7. You can gather your Press Release list yourself or have a service bureau provide it for you. To gather the list yourself, go to your local library. There are numerous resources that list publications and their addresses, and the names of the editors. These include The Directory of Newsletters, SRDS (Standard Rate and Data Service), and others. Spend some time and look around. Add your current customers, prospects, vendors and employees to your list. The list should include magazines, journals, newsletters and newspapers. You can also cruise the internet for electronic magazines and newsletters.

8. If you produce a newsletter you should also consider a designated area to reprint your Press Releases in each issue.

Press releases tend to have a snowball effect. When a publication receives enough REAL news from your company on a consistent basis, the more they see the more they tend to print. So create a manageable plan, and stick to it. Examples of what is considered newsworthy (but may not necessarily be news to you) are: New Logos, Logo Update, New Website, Website update, New Blog, New Employees, Promotions, Facility Expansion, New Address, Newsletter Introduction (Electronic or Print), New Products or Services, New Literature, etc.

At the end of the year, review the printed Press Releases. By measuring the amount of space they used in an issue of a publications and comparing that to the advertising rates for that publication you can easily compute how much FREE ADVERTISING your releases have netted you throughout the year. Whatever figure you end up with, add another 10% for editorial markup – your space is actually worth MORE than the amount of advertising space because by printing your Press Release the editors have given a thumbs-up to your company!

For more information go to Source

Tags: advertising, public, relations, firms, agencies

People tend to confuse PR and advertising, but the truth is that they are quite distinct and while good advertising can bring your business plenty of publicity, there´s nothing like great PR to give you that boost in the public eye.

First of all, you need to realize that PR is public relations. It´s coverage that isn´t paid for in cash, like advertising. It takes a lot more effort to create good PR, but it is well worth it, since this method is far more effective for publicizing your business.

PR Advantages

The advantages of using PR are many, so let´s take a look at a few of them.

Cost.

PR is usually free. It may cost you in printing out your press release and stamps to send them, but it´s still a lot cheaper than advertising which can run into the thousands of dollars!

Placement.

No matter how much you pay for an ad, you´ll never get a big front page placement. That´s reserved for news and offering great PR is a good way to get that position for absolutely nothing.

Credibility.

People know that ads are paid for and they take them with a grain of salt. While a good ad can still convert, people are automatically suspicious of an advertisement. However, with media coverage brought about by PR, people won´t have their guard up. They´ll read your story and be interested in it without being suspicious because it is assumed to be un-biased.

Angles.

Once you´ve been featured on the front page, it´s quite possible for other areas of the newspaper to pick up on your story and redo it in their own way. This can provide free repeat coverage, within the same publication which is a real boost to publicity. People need to see information a lot of times before they make the decision to buy, so the more publicity, the better.

Exposure.

You´d be surprised at how far a good news story can go! Unless you have something to do with a piece of major breaking news, chances are you won´t be the number one story on the news tonight, but that doesn´t mean you can´t enjoy repeat coverage. If one television show or newspaper reports on you, it ´s quite likely that your story will also show up on other channels!

Details.

You can offer far more details about your company or product within a public relations story. Most newspapers will want to print more than a few lines, which would be standard for an advertisement, so you´ll want to include information that will catch the public eye.

Connections.

Having connections with the media is never a bad thing and can stand you in good stead later on when you want to give your business a boost. Make sure that your press releases are exactly what editors are looking for, which will give you a leg up next time you have a press release. They´ll know that you provide quality work and this will reflect in their treatment of you.

There are many reasons to choose PR over advertising, if you have to make a choice. The truth is that combining the two publicity methods is an excellent method for gaining the optimum number of sales. However, when it really comes down to it, good public relations trumps advertising the majority of the time. Building connections and relationships with the media is invaluable and should definitely be utilized in every business that wants to be successful.

A great public relations firm can get your organization a lot of publicity and exposure, making the coverage garnered infinitely more valuable than advertising.

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Tags: advertising, public, relations, jobs, marketing

Let me explain what a press release is then we can talk about the benefits. A press release in essence is a written statement; it can also be a recording. Basically it is a communication released to the media in order to announce something. It is almost like an article but it takes on a slightly different format. Here are the basic features of a press release.

Headline; this is very important a good headline will encourage readers to read further

Dateline; this is where the date is and it also may contain information such as where the press release originated.

Introduction; pretty self explanatory, here you introduce your topic

Body; here you will go into detail regarding what you said in the introduction

About; this talks about the writer and the company or individual that is making the press release more commonly known in the press circles as the boilerplate section.

Close; this just brings the it to a close stating the end.

What are the benefits? If you are launching a new product or service you can get this information into the hands of the media and as a result get lots of traffic. They are picked up by the search engines very quickly, Google news for example picks up a lot of press releases, and this can result in lots of traffic.

They are respected in general by the search engines and from that stand point you can get a good link pointing back to your site with your desired keyword, which helps with your search engine ranking.

I have actually submitted articles to press release networks and have had no problem. I re-write it a little bit. The biggest benefit thus far is the powerful links it gives me. You should not rule out doing press release it can be beneficial. If you are an affiliate and are passionate about making a living online and want to work with others to succeed then select one of the links below.

Do You Really Want To Make Money Online As An Affiliate? Do You Want To Build A Real Website And Have A Real Business Online, Then Watch These Free Videos At Site Build It Customer Reviews. Learn how to publish Professional Websites fast! Do You Have What It Takes?

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Tags: marketing, advertising, agency, release, distribution

For some time, public relations has been viewed by executives as a soft discipline of questionable value to a company’s bottom line. Recently, however, PR’s reputation has received support from metrics being pressed upon every marketing initiative. “They don’t always understand there are a variety of steps required in gaining media attention, I have encountered at times a general lack of clarity about how the things I do day-to-day connect to PR” says Renee Deger, PR manager at Loyalty Lab in San Francisco.

Public relations is a strategic process used to develop a comprehensive communications plan to reach its target audience. The company’s message is received by its audience using research-based strategies and tactics created. It is essential that an effective public relations plan is in action for any sales and marketing company to reach its full potential.

By starting with what PR practitioners call a S.W.O.T. analysis, a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats can be addressed. This research is necessary in order to establish future business avenues to explore. Short and long term goals should also be noted to ensure a clear and coherent message is being delivered.

A useful model used in the public relations process is the R.O.P.E. theory. The fundamentals research, objectives, planning, and evaluation are fully examined to develop an effective communications plan. These elements help guide the campaign.

Research is the first step in this strategic process, followed by setting realistic objectives, planning and execution, and finally evaluation of the campaign to tweak any areas in need of improvement. A company’s target market is identified and located. Quantitative ( eg. surveys) and qualitative (eg. focus groups) research methods can, then, be conducted to later develop an effective strategy to best reach this audience. Who and where are your potential audience(s) and how are they reached. Whether it be TV, radio or print ads, every market has their own preference and it should be known prior to creating any tactical material.

For example, press releases market a company’s involvement, success, or services in an industry; therefore, welcoming more interviews from the media than its competitors. This is only one example of how public relations can save a company from making unprofitable business ventures. Every company can benefit from a more cost efficient approach to doing business.

Moreover, strategic public relations can be essential when dealing with risk and crisis management. A company’s reputation with the public can make or break future networking opportunities. With a strategic plan in place, touchy issues can be handled in a more delicate manner resulting in a more favorable position for the company.

Al Maag, currently the chief communications officer at Phoenix-based electronic components supplier Avnet, joined the company for his first tour of PR duty. His responsibilities fell under the “communications” heading, but the CEO at the time favored advertising and other disciplines that had a set budget and wide acceptance over the squishier practice of PR.

“Nobody in our company talked to the press in those days,” he tells Monster Contributing Writer, Kelly Shermach. “Management didn’t understand it, didn’t appreciate it, didn’t care.” This wasn’t just Maag’s impression. The CEO made it clear to him that PR didn’t have a place on his priority list.

Maag convinced Avnet’s CEO that PR created the demand that its salespeople needed as well as maintaining its public image and leverage with shareholders’ investments. Now, managers at Avnet “know it’s their job,” Maag says, to create good news that can be shared with the public. “Most people believe journalism over advertising.”

Effective public relations helps build stronger and mutually beneficial relationships with existing and future clients. Loyal clients are a company’s most valuable asset and need to be carefully preserved. As noted in Monster Career Advice, with good PR, even managers struggling with small ad budgets can generate sales leads.

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Tags: sales, marketing, strategy, effective, advertising

Online there are review sites that cover almost every type of business and organization. If you are part of a non-profit, you’re not out of the woods and may be under even closer scrutiny given the sites that evaluate charities such as Charity Navigator. As for business listings on, for example, Google Maps, Google pulls together online reviews and includes them with your listing. So, as with print and broadcast media, it’s important to pay attention to what’s being said about you and manage your reputation online.

If you get a positive review, that’s great- be sure to make a note or bookmark who is writing positive as well as negative reviews and what they are saying specifically. The next time you get a negative review or criticism, you can ask one of the positive reviewers (or one of your best customers or supporters) to respond and to mention what they find as positives about you, your business or organization. This is both ethical because you are not putting words in their mouth as well as good business sense.

Studies have shown that a negative experience can result in many more customers or clients lost than a positive one gains. Responding, and responding swiftly are important. If you have to respond yourself, be sure to mention clearly your relationship to the business, practice or organization. This is important to avoid any accusation of misleading visitors of the review site. Also, many popular review sites, such as Yelp, require this kind of disclosure as part of their user policy.

If you have a website, be sure to include on there positive publicity by the press and, if you have them, testimonials by customers, clients or other stakeholders. Also include an email address or, better yet, a feedback form by which your website’s visitors can submit comments and feedback. This is one way to keep communication between you and the public open and avoid surprises or harsh feedback on a review site.

Be sure the email address or feedback form is easily accessible, or clearly linked from the front page of your site, and respond promptly to comments and feedback. In any event, keep tabs on what’s being said about you online. To do this, you can use a RSS reader/aggregator to track mentions on some sites and run a Google or Yahoo search periodically for mentions of your name, business or organization.

As you develop loyal customers, ask each of them to post a review on one of the review sites. By doing this, those customers help set the tone and bring you new customers, clients or supporters. A growing trend is that Internet users are relying on reviews before initiating contact. With these tips, you can stay in step with what is being said about you online and manage your reputation.

For more information on this and other PR or publicity topics, see http://prandpublicity.com

Copyright 2007-2008. Email Ivan

An experienced and innovative PR and public affairs professional, Ivan Howard Chan helped develop the Web’s most thorough public relations resource, Prandpublicity.com. Ivan also blogs on public relations and public affairs, and produces a companion podcast. His experience includes working with print, broadcast, out-of-home media, as well as news agencies, newswires, and online media. He has worked on projects for nonprofit organizations, associations, as well as for-profit corporations.

He has also worked on projects involving advocacy, coalition-building and grassroots support in Washington, DC as well as the state and local levels. His unique experience includes integrating PR in marketing strategies and plans, as well as social marketing and branding.

His professional development activities have included workshops at New York University and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Contact Ivan via the website Source.

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Tags: online, pr, sites, advertising, media

Learning how to write good press releases is a great way to increase your online income. It gives you exposure and traffic, increasing your business. If you want to get good results from them, you need to be a great writer of this style of writing. Relax, it’s not as difficult as it sounds!

Writing one of these is different from writing an article or a blog post. It’s a little more formal and contains more journalistic elements. You need to outline your PR article before you begin writing it.

Press releases, in general, are supposed to inform and educate. Don’t sound too promotional in your PR article (submitters won’t accept promotional material).

The title of your press release is important and it needs to act as a headline to grab the attention of readers. Your first paragraph and your first few sentences are also important. To keep your reader interested in your PR article, you should make him curious through the first few sentences of it. Promise a solution to a problem or ask a question. Those are two good ways to get people to read your article in full.

You should also keep your paragraphs short and to the point. If your paragraphs are too long, people will lose interest as your article will be hard to read.

By consistently submitting quality press releases every time you have something important to announce, you’ll see your websites get a boost in traffic and sales over time. So get started writing yours today!

Fabian Tan is the author of the free 51-Page Report:

“Murder Your Job: How To Build Cash Sucking Autopilot Businesses In 30 Days Or Less!”

Head over here to get your free copy now before it’s gone!

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Your chauffeur picks you up for your massage appointment. Your designer suggests one or three custom outfits with matching accessories. Your flight attendant in the private jet pours you a glass of champagne. Your key people worldwide report that everything is peachy keen.

What a fabulous way to start the day…

If you want the fame, prestige and exposure that only the media can provide you’d have to go beyond becoming an average author, speaker or the millionaire next door. You must offer a powerful message of hope to a starving marketplace. A unique message that provides answers to a significant issue. And you must grab more than one media producer’s attention so you can quickly and effectively broadcast your message into the mainstream consciousness.

Maybe your message is saving the planet from global warming. Maybe it’s helping people make and maintain a fortune in investments. Perhaps it’s discovering a cure for a disease. How about being the whistleblower of a major conglomerate? Or maybe you’ve produced the easiest, most powerful, melt-fat-while-you-sleep diet program.

The truth is there are already others, or there will soon be others cashing in on the same marketplace. For example-think about the latest fad diet ads being pumped through the media. And then the many new plans, pills and surgical procedures that attack the same weight-loss market each year. People get numbed with all those messages assaulting them on bookshelves, in the mail and in print advertising.

But I know your message is different.

So where do you fit in? How will you stand out? Is there any significant difference between you and your peers?

After you’ve honed down your message, it’s time to pitch your story to a producer. Getting interviewed on radio or television or being invited as the guest will gain you tons of exposure-if you can pull it off. But how do you get a producer’s attention?

Three keys when pitching a producer:

1) A unique spin. A popular show like Howard Stern caters to a certain audience. If that’s your target market, you should create something to offer Stern’s producer that would interest that particular audience.

Let’s assume you own a cosmetic surgery business you want to spread the news about on Stern’s show. So what? How is your business different from the dozens of others that may be pitching the same producer?

Your wouldn’t want to say: Our Breasts are the Best in the West. That’s ridiculously shallow. And overused.

But you might want to claim: Our Breasts are Certified 100% Safe by the Adult Entertainment Association of America. That’s more specific and sounds almost like an industry endorsement.

2) Your expertise. Who are you? What got you started? Why should audiences listen to you? Have you written a book? Have you been a guest on TV or radio? Do you host your own show? Have you reached celebrity status?

Audiences want to know your story. They want to connect with you. They want to know the reason why you do what you do. They want to see your passion.

Did you study under a certain guru? Did you travel to the jungles of the Amazon to find The Cure? Maybe someone you loved passed away and you wanted to do everything possible to prevent this from happening to others.

3) Your solution. What problem(s) are you solving? How safe is it? How many people have had positive results? How are you helping families, neighborhoods, and country?

Where is your product produced? What are the ingredients? Is it environmentally friendly? Can you produce test results?

Has your company gone public? Can consumers order online, through the mail, or FAX? Do you offer customer support? Do you send out a newsletter? Is there an online forum or blogs? Do you have repeat customers? Are there retail outlets?

Here’s the kicker…

Producers are extremely busy people. They are listening to pitches all day long. You must condense your three keys into a short, powerful attention-grabbing hook that will benefit the show’s audience.

Linking your pitch to current news, controversial topics, or disastrous events may help. Tying your story to a humongous problem like consumer debt, the subprime mortgage mess, or the war on obesity may help. Sometimes shocking discoveries, claims or beliefs may give you an edge to get on the air.

If you can get a producer’s attention and get invited onto the show, you’ll see a dramatic increase in business like you’ve never seen. There will a buzz for your products or services. And other producers may invite you on their shows.

Tommy Yan helps business owners and entrepreneurs make more money through direct response marketing. He publishes Tommy’s Tease weekly e-zine to inspire people to succeed in business and personal growth. Get your free subscription today at www.TommyYan.com.

If you’re a speaker, trainer, coach, or a consultant-the major challenge you face is connecting with your audience. You talk, shout, or recite your message while they are dreaming about dinner.

Their eyes are glossy, their minds’ elsewhere, and their bodies ready to bolt. You don’t have a lot of time, so you’ve got to grab their attention fast. Or else, you’ll die wrestling against audience resistance.

But it doesn’t have to be this way…

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Tags: advertising, public, relations, firms, jobs

The best PR (Public Relations) events are the ones which yield warm leads. PR includes a wide range of things, from communications to a champagne toast. Some public relations are directed at reaping warm prospects and can take on big importance in a marketing-for-leads program. Publications outreach is the most widely-used lead generating public relations method, and the goal is to receive a mention of your business, services, or staff members in spots published in a magazine – or have something written by one of your managers published.

This type of press placement can have an important influence on the amount and type of leads generated. However true that this coverage is inexpensive compared to paid ads, still editorial coverage takes committed time and effort in order to develop rapport with influential press people in your field. A complete press campaign is preferable to divided and disparate efforts to attain publication. A public relations campaign is best when utilizing the following:

- release with email and other advisory activity

- kit with background, biographies, photos of products, press release and reprinted article content

- relationships with editorial staff

- features ghost-written for or by management staff

- media coverage of management staff as expert industry insiders

- success testimonials from customers

Research and compile publications and read them. Remember the readership when making this list – is this your audience? If the answer is ‘no,’ the magazine may not be the right one to concentrate on. Think about the info that the magazine is publishing; does it hone in on industry product news? If so, your one sheet to introduce the new Chief Executive Officer may not really be appropriate.

Converse with editorial staff after reading the magazine and visiting the website. Next, decide who is the right person to speak with. Phone the editor to inquire about their guidelines and what they prefer to publish. Look for an editorial calendar which shows the articles and stories which are running each month – this is often located in the ad section at the back page or at the company website. Once checking out the calender, it’s time to determine just what story you will offer, and which months to enter expert-written articles for publication.

With persistence you can develop a rapport and begin to speak with editorial staff on the telephone or face-to-face. By mentioning relevant development to the publication’s editors, you may be supplying just the sort of info that staff remembers upon receiving an assignment. Do you have an idea to pitch? Call your editor. Tell them how your story is relevant to the editorial calendar, and offer to supply an outline and synopsis immediately upon request, remembering that editorial deadlines are most often separate from the ad deadlines. Often, it is preferable to have your article written by a pro ghost writer. These writers are familiar with working with magazine and are able to sculpt the article so that it doesn’t appear overtly promotional. By hiring a third-party writer who takes responsibility to complete the article on time, the time of your tech or management staff is freed, allowing them to work within their specialties.

Press Release

Be certain that your press releases actually announce news. An editor seeks info that the readership would like to know, often about products and services which solve business problems in an innovative or efficient new way. Address the topic from the reader’s viewpoint when announcing your news-worthy info.

A good release answers some key questions:

- what’s the unsolved problem?

- what does it accomplish?

- what’s the benefit?

- is the solution a product or a service, and how does it work?

- how is it able to do this?

- what will cause the readership to take interest in your service?

- what’s the cost?

- what are the top features?

- what capabilities are provided?

- when is the product available?

- what are the most important features?

Avoid praising oneself or one’s company. Remove over-used words such as ‘revolutionary,’ ‘the best,’ and ‘unique.’ Editorial staff people prefer customer testimonials rather than self-praise from an employee. Don’t use lingo that a layperson would not understand. Is it accessible to the readership? Keep in mind that even the editorial staff don’t really have a deep understanding of your products and services. Write in a clear and simple style. Remember to put contact info at the top or bottom of your submission, including company name, the titles of relevant employees, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. Include photos if the magazine prints them, and inquire about the file format preferred. Digital photos are preferred by most – use literal descriptions in the file names so editorial staff can easily identify and find them. It is best to send your release to a list of individual editors; however some mass distribution press services are found on the ‘net. These services distribute your releases to editors for you, for a fee. You may consider prnewswire.com, prweb.com, and send2press.com, among others.

Public relations can also be used for better SEO (Search Engine Optimization) campaigns. Wire services are excellent ways to attain better SEO results. Once sent, the release will be findable by search engine news wire services such as Googlenews, news syndicates and traditional publications, all of which will have the ability to visit your website via a link. The link network is key for Search Engine Optimization as the number of links directing to your website improves your rank and puts your company nearer to the top of the list in search results for certain words. By sending your release in to wire services you may help writers locate info about you and your services. A recent Middleburg/Ross survey indicated that almost all journalists access the web on a daily basis – almost three quarters of them search for press releases. For a free news wire about your field, visit: google.com/alerts and subscribe for free. For more about marketing for lead generation, see: ‘Business-to-Business Lead Generation Tactics : A Recipe for Success.’

M. H. “Mac” McIntosh is described by many as one of America’s leading business-to-business marketing and sales consultants and an expert on sales leads. He is president of Mac McIntosh Inc., a sales and marketing consulting firm that helps companies get more high-quality sales leads and turn them into sales. More tips at Mac’s Sales Lead Insights: B2B Marketing Blog.

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Are you the owner of an online business and eager to promote your website and your services without spending a single dollar? Press release writing could well be one of the ways to advertising your products online. Technically speaking, press releases are news item which you can transform to cater to your marketing goals by writing ads that have the features of general news. This could be very advantageous in your publicity campaign since many people are bored of reading ad copies that only boast about themselves and want to read news which contains solid information and hard facts. One of the most essential internet marketing schemes, this could effectively attract the eyeballs from targeted groups.

Given below are three ideas to effectual press release writing that can give a boost to your advertising and marketing campaign programs:

1. Write your copy in the third person to create press releases that sound objective. Avoid the use of personalized phrases and words. Try to express what you want to say in as much as a concise and brief manner as possible. Straightforward description is the key here – make sure to use the 4 Ws and 1H of news writing – who, what, when, where and how.

2. Try to steer clear from hype words. This is a definite no-no in press releases. Editors are extremely impatient of such texts and will discard them in no time. And on the other hand readers will find it too cliché to be honest hence the purpose your advertising copy will become ineffective. Simply use objective words and neutral descriptions.

3. When you want to insert hype in press releases there is a way to do it. Place direct quotes from people who lay a claim of loyalty to your products and services. Get the words of endorsement from your CEO or marketing officer and put them word by word in your article. Strategically insert them to add the X factor in your write-up. However, keep in mind not to carry this far because you want your article to be objective and not flowing with direct quotations like a book of quotes.

You can use your press release also when there are significant events coming up. Through this your customer will get an idea of how this event or update might be helpful for them. To establish your credibility you can also display a press release citing the receiving of an award.

Another important thing to note is to make the article attractive to both the media as well as the general public to achieve a wholesome impact. A unique press release is not only unprejudiced but also conversational. Remember to coordinate your release with the correct media. You would not like to waste your resources submitting it in an incorrect forum.

Do not forget that when you strategically and effectively use press release as a medium of publicity, you would be in a position to raise the return on what you invest. This will increase your authority in an unprecedented manner, beyond your imagination!

For more information on Press Releases and other internet marketing strategies visit this site To learn more marketing strategies from Maury Wilks, visit this site

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Tags: marketing, public, relations, firm, advertising

Picture this scenario

Your chauffeur picks you up for your massage appointment. Your designer suggests one or three custom outfits with matching accessories. Your flight attendant in the private jet pours you a glass of champagne. Your key people worldwide report that everything is peachy keen.

What a fabulous way to start the day…

If you want the fame, prestige and exposure that only the media can provide you’d have to go beyond becoming an average author, speaker or the millionaire next door. You must offer a powerful message of hope to a starving marketplace. A unique message that provides answers to a significant issue. And you must grab more than one media producer’s attention so you can quickly and effectively broadcast your message into the mainstream consciousness.

Maybe your message is saving the planet from global warming. Maybe it’s helping people make and maintain a fortune in investments. Perhaps it’s discovering a cure for a disease. How about being the whistleblower of a major conglomerate? Or maybe you’ve produced the easiest, most powerful, melt-fat-while-you-sleep diet program.

The truth is there are already others, or there will soon be others cashing in on the same marketplace. For example-think about the latest fad diet ads being pumped through the media. And then the many new plans, pills and surgical procedures that attack the same weight-loss market each year. People get numbed with all those messages assaulting them on bookshelves, in the mail and in print advertising.

But I know your message is different.

So where do you fit in? How will you stand out? Is there any significant difference between you and your peers?

After you’ve honed down your message, it’s time to pitch your story to a producer. Getting interviewed on radio or television or being invited as the guest will gain you tons of exposure-if you can pull it off. But how do you get a producer’s attention?

Three keys when pitching a producer:

1) A unique spin. A popular show like Howard Stern caters to a certain audience. If that’s your target market, you should create something to offer Stern’s producer that would interest that particular audience.

Let’s assume you own a cosmetic surgery business you want to spread the news about on Stern’s show. So what? How is your business different from the dozens of others that may be pitching the same producer?

Your wouldn’t want to say: Our Breasts are the Best in the West. That’s ridiculously shallow. And overused.

But you might want to claim: Our Breasts are Certified 100% Safe by the Adult Entertainment Association of America. That’s more specific and sounds almost like an industry endorsement.

2) Your expertise. Who are you? What got you started? Why should audiences listen to you? Have you written a book? Have you been a guest on TV or radio? Do you host your own show? Have you reached celebrity status?

Audiences want to know your story. They want to connect with you. They want to know the reason why you do what you do. They want to see your passion.

Did you study under a certain guru? Did you travel to the jungles of the Amazon to find The Cure? Maybe someone you loved passed away and you wanted to do everything possible to prevent this from happening to others.

3) Your solution. What problem(s) are you solving? How safe is it? How many people have had positive results? How are you helping families, neighborhoods, and country?

Where is your product produced? What are the ingredients? Is it environmentally friendly? Can you produce test results?

Has your company gone public? Can consumers order online, through the mail, or FAX? Do you offer customer support? Do you send out a newsletter? Is there an online forum or blogs? Do you have repeat customers? Are there retail outlets?

Here’s the kicker…

Producers are extremely busy people. They are listening to pitches all day long. You must condense your three keys into a short, powerful attention-grabbing hook that will benefit the show’s audience.

Linking your pitch to current news, controversial topics, or disastrous events may help. Tying your story to a humongous problem like consumer debt, the subprime mortgage mess, or the war on obesity may help. Sometimes shocking discoveries, claims or beliefs may give you an edge to get on the air.

If you can get a producer’s attention and get invited onto the show, you’ll see a dramatic increase in business like you’ve never seen. There will a buzz for your products or services. And other producers may invite you on their shows.

Tommy Yan helps business owners and entrepreneurs make more money through direct response marketing. He publishes Tommy’s Tease weekly e-zine to inspire people to succeed in business and personal growth. Get your free subscription today at www.TommyYan.com.

If you’re a speaker, trainer, coach, or a consultant-the major challenge you face is connecting with your audience. You talk, shout, or recite your message while they are dreaming about dinner.

Their eyes are glossy, their minds’ elsewhere, and their bodies ready to bolt. You don’t have a lot of time, so you’ve got to grab their attention fast. Or else, you’ll die wrestling against audience resistance.

But it doesn’t have to be this way…

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Tags: relation, public, advertising, pr

Press releases can have significant value. Depending on the type of press release, the value can differ.

The different types of press releases include announcements, spots, reaction stories, bad news, and local ‘hometown’ releases.

An announcement can include a public service announcement, sales, business earnings, new products, etc.

A spot announcement usually contains an on-the-spot-message like a flood or a storm. This message is going to go out to the public on the spot.

A reaction story can include a gunman in a local neighborhood or a school. This would cause the school to go into lockdown. A reaction story is a story that will cause a group of people to react.

Bad-news releases are common today because it looks bad for a company to try to cover up information if something bad is happening. So they will create a news release and tell the public about the bad event so that there are no surprises. This helps to prevent or put a stop to negative talk about hiding information.

The last type of press release mentioned, which isn’t used enough, is the local or the hometown release. Newspapers love information about what is happening locally and if the press release is written properly, it has a great chance of being used.

The purpose of using any of these releases is to create awareness about what is going on. Press releases can be sent to radio, television, newspapers, essentially all media outlets.

Press releases save on the costs of advertising and if a newspaper uses the press release, the press release will hit a large audience.

Another reason press releases are better than advertising is because of the fact that the credibility of ‘news’ is higher than that of advertising with the consumer.

Whether the news is good or bad, the value of a press release is insurmountable; saving money on advertising, notifying the public about events, disasters, new products, saving a company from scandal, or just letting folks know what is new with you and your business and keeping on the top of their minds.

To your success!

David Mason is president of Mason Performance Development Inc., a Speaker, Trainer , Performance Development Coach and internationally best selling author.

This article has been an excerpt from David’s best selling book, Marketing Your Small Business For Big Profits, visit Site

Want FREE marketing tips? Sign-up for The Performance Development News, it is a weekly ezine for small business owners who want information and advice that works to grow their business and their lives, guaranteed!

This article is copyright protected but can be reprinted unaltered including the author bio and resource.

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Who doesn’t want to get the word out about their company, service, or product? As a publicity expert with more than twenty years experience in the field, I have encountered hundreds of companies who have wanted the same thing. My answer is to appear as a guest on local radio, TV news shows and/or gain editorial coverage in print which will enable you to get the word out to thousands (and possibly millions) of consumers.

From my experience, here are some tips that will help anyone get started in the race to attract attention from the broadcast media – radio and TV.

How To Know if You Are a Good Candidate for Radio and TV.

Almost anyone can be a candidate for radio and TV, but if you are a company with consumer-oriented products you are a perfect fit! If you are a professional firm with legal, financial or consumer related services this would work for you too. With specialty radio and TV programs on law, relationships, lifestyles, health, gardening and more, there are definitely shows out there that can be a perfect match for your message.

Does Practice Make Perfect?

Oh, definitely. The professionals who are in the media all the time make it look very easy, but actually it’s a skill. The more interviews you do, the better you get at defining your message and honing your presentation skills. And once you do a few radio call-in shows and speak to a few hosts, you’ll find that the questions you get are similar. Usually, there’s one area of your message that’s really interesting to people and you can start to craft your answers to respond about that area.

Where To Focus Your Pitches.

Local radio shows on the 250-watt or 1,000-watt AM stations are a great place to start. There’s also internet radio, which is becoming more popular and could be another good way to get started. With more radio shows going to national programming the weekend programs are also the best place to find radio shows that are looking for guests.

For TV go after your local morning news programs or weekend lifestyle segments.And there’s also community-access cable, which can be relatively easy to get on and can provide wonderful experience and a way to build up your confidence on camera.

How to Spark Producer Interest.

Well, first, stay up on the news. Listen to the radio, read newspapers, watch TV. That helps you figure out what’s in the news and how your message might tie in with it. Once you have an angle or tie-in to a current news story, put together a press release that positions you as an expert on this issue and sells them on why they should have you as a guest. Remember, pitch your expertise as a solution to a problem that’s making news – don’t go in with a sales angle!

Getting Prepared for the Interview.

Make sure you’re fully prepared with facts, figures, and anecdotes to talk about when you’re on the air. Make up a cheat sheet or note cards loaded with your best information and key points. Most TV interviews are going to be very short — three to five minutes at most — so you really must know your message before you go on the air.

Do some dry runs with a friend or business associate acting as the host, so you get your answers down. The audience can easily detect the difference between a guest bursting with knowledge and one whose knowledge well is drying up. If you don’t have much to say, you’ll lose the audience’s attention and any credibility that you were building with them.

Do As Many Interviews as Possible.

There is no such thing as overexposure; you want to conduct as many media interviews as you can. The more interviews that you do, the more buzz you will build about your company, product or service. And you should make yourself available at a moment’s notice, if need be. Talk radio interviews are typically done from your home or office, so that makes it very easy.

Think of media appearances as instant promotional opportunities, and be available day or night. Anytime you’re on the air, you’re going to boost your company, product or service’s visibility and sales.

How To Get Invited Back.

You need to sparkle on air. Enthusiasm speaks loud and clear, so in order to keep the audience attentive you need to maintain a high level of interest throughout the interview.

Remember, media is about entertainment. So you want to be both informative and entertaining, not boring. Do that and you’ll find the host jumping in to help you promote your message.

How to Give a Good Interview: Eat, Sleep and Turn Off Your Phone!

It sounds obvious, but the first thing is make sure you’re really well-rested and well-fed. Your attention isn’t going to be focused if you’re hungry or tired.

Also, if you’re doing a radio interview from your home or office, close yourself off in a room where there are as few distractions as possible. Get your cell phone out of there! Then, try and relax and be yourself. Nobody knows your message like you do — so you really are an expert. Have fun with it!

And don’t be too hard on yourself after your first appearance. No one goes out and bats a home run the first time at the plate. So try to be as comfortable as possible and as prepared as you can be, and then enjoy yourself.

Marsha Friedman, CEO of publicity firm EMSI, is a radio personality, speaker and publicity expert. If you would like to receive a free copy of her EBOOK “50 Tips To Becoming a Great Guest On Talk Radio” please visit our website at http://www.emsincorporated.com

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Tags: marketing, financial, relations, agency, advertising

A mother finds alcohol in her son’s car and runs an ad in the local paper to sell the car. On the surface it seems like a nothing story and something that might be somewhat common.

Yet within days of this classified running the mother is bombarded with interview requests from media outlets across the country.

Why? Well because of the way that the ad was written. It used words that the average person would not normally see in a car classified which is why it has generated so much attention.

I discovered a couple of days after seeing the story run that the woman is a professional copywriter. And now she is having news anchors across the world talking about how great her copy is written and people are able to see the effectiveness of the copy because of how much attention it received.

Well it gets better.

In her interviews not only does she promote her copywriting business but also a radio show that she is doing. These interviews are costing her nothing, yet she is receiving probably millions of dollars of free advertising.

So, how did she make herself a news story and become an instant celebrity?

I don’t know for sure, but I expect that one person was behind all this. Paul Hartunian.

Paul is the master at getting major publicity often times for free. He has taught people around the world how to get massive local, national and even worldwide exposure for themselves and their business. You can’t buy better advertising than you will get for free or very little money by making yourself a news story or tying yourself into a top story.

So have these media outlets be your salespeople. While everyone out there is fighting for market share, paying huge amounts for advertising and spending countless hours on SEO and other website methods, Paul is showing people how to do all this for less than the cost of lunch.

If you are serious about getting massive publicity for your business, Paul is someone you need to get to know.

Listen to Paul and take action on what he says. His methods work with every industry.

And follow in this woman’s footsteps and make yourself newsworthy and successful.

To our success,

Chuck Abbott

Chuck Abbott will be talking to Paul Hartunian as part of his weekly free teleseminar series called Follow My Success. More details can be found Here

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Tags: advertising, public, relation, great

Press release writing is a very effective advertising and promotional method. You can publish any aspect of your business or latest product launch through press release. There are rules however when writing a press release. You should take note that editors are very strict and choosy when it comes to press releases. The following are 7 basic tips to press release writing:

1. When writing a press release, stick to one subject. It is more effective to feature a single subject rather than peppering your write up with numerous topics.

2. You must remember that press releases are news. Be objective in presenting your article. Don’t use hype words or unnecessary adjectives. Write directly and to the point.

3. Be factual. Your press release must have concrete and verifiable information. You are writing a news story and not an opinion article. Keep your opinions to yourself. Just present the facts.

4. Create an angle for your subject. Effective press releases are those that have a very interesting angle. It should appeal to human concerns. Generalized information should be avoided. Your readers must get hard and specific information.

5. Make sure that you write news worthy articles. Editors are very keen on this. They generally publish press release that will surely pique the interest of the reading public. You must also write up to date press releases. Remember, this is news and it should tackle current events.

6. Keep your lead paragraph below 50 words. It should be very short but can capture the essence of what you’re writing about. Readers usually scan a page. If you can catch their attention, then your press release is effective.

7. You must include addresses and telephone numbers of contact persons who released the news. In this way online or offline editors can communicate with you if they have specific questions regarding your release.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article writing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide’

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Writing

Do you want to learn how to build a big online subscriber list fast? Click here: Secrets of List Building

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 9034 articles in print and 14 published ebooks.

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Tags: basic, press release, tips, write, advertising

A client of mine told me about a PR firm that offered to do his advertising creative. It turned out to be ineffective work because, in the end, it didn’t address his marketing objectives, nor did it communicate to his target audiences. He was surprised because this firm did such a bang-up job at PR. His disappointment led to a complete dissolution of his company’s relationship with the PR firm.

Why the failure? In this case, the PR firm did not recognize its limitations, and therefore did not recognize the opportunity to come through for their client by bringing in qualified, experienced creative professionals. The assumption that because a person can write a press release means they can come up with creative concepts, or even write effective ad copy, is a bold one and, more often than not, a mistaken one.

I relayed this story to a friend of mine who has been a successful freelance copywriter for more than 15 years. She rolled her eyes and said, “Been there. Done that.” In her experiences, she has worked with consultants who insisted on acting as “account executives,” but lacked advertising and marketing expertise. Still, they would not bring her into the room to meet with their clients. As a result, they couldn’t help their clients determine their objectives, and were therefore unable to communicate those objectives to the creative team. As a successful creative professional, my friend possesses a great deal of marketing savvy, or else she would not have been able to do successful work for so many clients over the years. “My work is only as good as the input I get,” she told me, adding that she can spend an hour with a client and usually glean more than she needs to know because she knows what questions to ask. She felt that the consultants with whom she worked in some instances were well aware that they were not needed in the creative process, and feared that their clients would realize the same thing if they were to meet the creative team face-to-face. So they tried to fake their way through client meetings alone and then expected the creatives to perform miracles with inadequate input.

Risking your reputation and your client relationship for the sake of making a mark-up is short-sighted. Imagine if my client had been told by his PR firm that the work he needed done was out of their depth. My client would have found someone else to do the work and would have respected the firm’s honesty. If the PR firm had told him they couldn’t do the work, but referred him to a top-notch creative who could, they would have been heroes and shown their commitment to helping their client succeed. In doing so, they would have retained the account.

I’m glad to be guided by the experiences of other professionals. I find that I learn something in virtually every conversation I have that’s related to business. Of the things I’ve learned, some of the most important are: 1) How to recognize talent; 2) How to recognize an organization’s needs; and 3) When to get out of the middle in order to let talent and organizations make magic together. And I’m proud to make such referrals.

The lesson? There are truly remarkable, highly talented PR firms out there. They’re top shelf in every respect. The principals of these types of firms and their top administrators don’t misrepresent their reach, their in-house talent or the clout they will bring to your team. But if you’re in the market for PR, do your homework at the outset before signing on — especially with smaller firms. Ask the tough questions. A firm that delivered supernatural performances for one business may not offer the in-house talent that your business needs. Ask them who on their team delivers the goods you need. Be smart — meet them!

Don’t let consultants misrepresent themselves — those who do are the ones that give all of us with such hung shingles a bad name. The bottom line is that some projects are out of a firm’s comfort zones. The unprincipled ones will be very hesitant to declare that with consulting ducats on the line. The rock-solid ones are generally quick to size up your wishes and requirements, and to point you in another direction if someone amongst their stable of professional connections can better serve you.

My passion is words and their power to inspire and bring about action, leading recently to fulfillment of a life-long dream — launch of my own consulting gig. As an editor, I’m even more persnickety than I am as an administrator. I have run point on monthly and quarterly magazines, website launches, flier and brochure development, advertising “creative,” and marketing initiatives, as well as the more mundane writing of HR- and admin-related manuscripts, handbooks, annual reports, etc. I have also written a great many speeches that have been extremely well received. My background includes a journalism degree and a career principally in the nonprofit community. And all of that has added up to some “thoughts” on words, writing and business. Lee Cooke.

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Tags: advertising, pr, firms, companies, marketing

PR often gets a bad rep. Like it’s cousin marketing, it is sometimes seen as a ‘black art’ which carries unfair connotations of untruthfulness. In fact, the truth behind PR is more prosaic – and good, effective PR can only work if it is based on the truth. So how can PR help your business?

At the most basic level, a PR company will help you disseminate information about your business. Whether you’ve got a new product line or an exciting story of growth, your PR agency will work to create a story which they then distribute to newspapers, magazines and other such publications. Many PR practitioners are ex-journalists and maintain a healthy “contact book” of key people in the media who they can contact in a bid to get a story into publication. If a story is compelling enough publishers will be keen to use it to help fill their pages.

If you take a long term view, a public relations agency can help develop a ‘storyline’ for your company. If you wish to be seen as a dynamic, quickly growing firm your agency can develop a schedule which will tell that story over a period of months. Potential customers become accustomed to seeing your name in a positive context in the press and are more likely to remember your name and deal with you in future.

They will also help you identify the correct context for your stories. If you are hiring new staff, then this is often an excellent little story for local interest publications but won’t raise a ripple in the national press unless you’re hiring in the thousands. If your product is aimed at a very specific sector, then your PR company will find specialist outlets for your story where it will have the greatest chance of being published and will resonate most strongly with an audience.

Sometimes, it is worth remembering that your company can gain bad press as well. Adverse trading conditions beyond your control, or a breakdown in relations with an important customer can find your business making headlines for all the wrong reasons. A good PR agency can help ameliorate the negative effects of such news using a variety of techniques.

If you sell a specific product, it may be possible to foresee potential problems and prepare a strategy in advance in case of certain events. A good agency will also be able to offer training in case you yourself need to answer questions for the press. Journalists will often ask loaded questions during an interview to tempt you to give an answer that they can use to paint a particular picture. Because of their understanding of these techniques, your PR company can either handle press enquiries on your behalf or brief you on how to effectively deal with them. An agency will also be on the lookout for more positive stories they can create to counteract the negative ones.

This is just a brief overview of the benefit that PR can bring to your business. If you’re unsure if it’s the right choice for you, pick up the phone to an agency and ask to speak to them.

Paul Carpenter is an website marketing expert from Leeds in Yorkshire, with a strong interest in PR and the work carried out by PR company

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Tags: tool, marketing, pr, advertising, public relations

Free publicity can be a far more powerful business-building tool than advertising.

Why? Well, when it comes to advertising, people are skeptical.

According to the Advertising Media Internet Center (July 22, 2007), we are exposed to an average of 288 ads per day, counting TV, radio, print and Internet ads. If you include the number of brands we are exposed to, let’s say on a trip to the supermarket, that number skyrockets to over 2,000.

In order to survive this onslaught, people have become more skeptical – they just don’t believe what companies say about themselves anymore. On the other hand, people do believe what they read in the newspapers, or hear on the radio or TV news.

The beauty of free publicity is that it puts the credibility of these trusted news organizations at the center of our marketing equation. If the news names you as an expert, you’re an expert!

Best of all, free publicity is… well, free!

Becoming the Local Expert Isn’t As Hard As It Seems

If you serve a local market, begin by compiling a list of local media that cover topics in your field. Which local newspapers include articles relevant to what you do? Which reporters usually write those stories? Write these names down.

Which local radio and TV stations cover stories related to your area of expertise? Which reporters usually handle those assignments? Write these names down as well.

Next step?

Simply send these people a letter introducing yourself or give them a call. Let them know who you are and what you do. Let them know you are always available if they need a local reference on a topic in your field.

It can be that easy…

For example, marketing expert David Frey’s brother sells hot tubs. He introduced himself to the local reporters and now gets contacted about three times a year to comment on “backyard lifestyle” issues.

To further cement your relationship with your local reporters, consider sending them something on a regular basis. If you find an article in a trade journal that might make an interesting story, pass it on to them.

Remember, though, that the goal of the press is not to build your business through free publicity – it’s to provide good information to their audience. Don’t be pushy. Instead be helpful and informative. As a result the local media will turn to you and position you as the local expert. It’s that exposure that will build your business.

How to Attract a Nationwide Audience

Another way to attract publicity, perhaps even on a national level, would be through a Publicity Referral Service.

An example of a publicity referral service would be Radio and TV Interview Report (RTIR). RTIR is a magazine sent out to radio and TV producers introducing them to potential guests for interviews from a wide variety of fields. These guests are usually authors promoting a book or business owners like you.

While it’s not free (there’s a fee to advertise), it is a good way to potentially attract nationwide publicity for your business. You can learn more about RTIR here

In addition to advertising (online and offline) and referral generation, free publicity can be another valuable tool to put to use in your quest for maximum growth and profit in your small business.

Dr. Bill O’Shea is a marketing consultant specializing in helping independent professionals and small business owners create maximum growth and profit in their businesses. For more great resources on small business marketing and a free Marketing Plan Development Guide and Special Report on “The Top Ten Advertising Mistakes Most Small Business Owners Make”, please visit Small-Business-Marketing-Success.com.

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Tags: publicity, strategy, business, marketing, advertising

We cannot really speak about “traditional” public relations any longer. PR has extended its area of interest to the online world since a long time already. As a matter of fact, although not “another” discipline, online PR is a “new branch” of the old PR, a discipline that takes the principles and values of its ancestor to better represent the interest of the clients and the public.

Useless to repeat over and over again stories about the magical powers of the Internet, how this might be the magic wand that transforms a little firm into a Global player. If a business owner is not aware of that fact, he or she should probably find a better occupation, for there’s no place on the Web for obtuse thinking. Period.

Now, what a business owner might not know is strictly related to how online public relations works and how this discipline can boost credibility for a business, with a strength that often shakes the offline media to the ground.

Reaching the public has never been easier, and yet trickier. It takes a minute to join a newsgroup or a forum, less then a minute to post a smart comment to a blogger’s entry and some funds to start a PPC campaign or to initiate other paid advertising strategies. You need some money for a good press release as well, a reliable distribution service (always recommended the professionals from PRWeb) and a lucky star to watch upon your news and make the journalists pick your story out of the other few thousands that are released at the same time all over the Web!

It takes a skilled PR expert to know how to “talk” to the people. While you don’t see their faces you should understand that they are there, in front of their monitors, reading your texts, paying attention to your podcasts and ready to react to your message, if and when you have something to say. You should understand that the Web is alive, it’s growing, it’s transforming, it might even change its shape, like a chameleon, it might lift you up or take you down, in a matter of days.

If you don’t have “what it takes”, if you don’t know “how to”, the Web is still there to help you out. You can ask for advice, type into that Google search box your query and thousands of answers will reveal themselves at a click of the mouse. Which one is the right one? Which one to trust?

This is the magic of the Web: it offers so many answers, possibilities and choices. Understand that the moment you go online, yes, you go Global, but you are just a drop in the ocean. When you try to make a living online, when you try to sell your products, you’ll come up as an answer to a search query as well. Are you the right one? Can you be trusted?

This is what online public relations can do for you: it can make you the right one. It can make you the one people trust.

For more related articles visit Mihaela Lica’s SEO and PR Blog or her official website.

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Tags: online, public relations, campaign, advertising, strategies