Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous

Make Yourself Famous

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fame.jpgMy tagline at IdeaLady.com is “Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous.” Those things go hand in hand, as becoming even a little famous in your niche will cause customers to seek you out.

It is not as hard as you might think to get a little famous and, no, the paparazzi will not begin stalking you. Of course, publicity is a great way to gain fame, but you are dependent on the whims of the media for that.

So, while you are waiting for The Oprah to call, here are some things you can do today to make yourself a little famous. Many of these techniques are free, and all can help to create awareness of you and build your expert reputation while making you (at least a little) famous.

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Meeting the Press

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When being interviewed by media, it is tempting to do a ‘brain dump,’ and give them as much information as you can. This can backfire, though. 

Faced with an information overload, the journalist has to pick-and-choose through all the data to construct her story. She probably has room only for a few of your points, and she may not choose the ones that you would like.

Politicians understand this. When they do interviews, they focus on ‘talking points.’ The politician prepares by selecting three or four points they want to get across during the interview. The preparation allows them to get their message across clearly and succinctly.

You should do something similar to this to prepare for your encounters with the media. In Media Training 101: A Guide to Meeting the Press, Sally Stewart recommends that you have five focused and concise Key Message Points.

Key Message Point #1 is a general statement about your company. It might include facts such as how long you have been in business, what you sell, or where you are located.

Key Message Point #2 gives financial information. For example, revenues, growth percentage or number of units sold. Don’t overload on statistics. Choose something easy to understand.

Key Message Point #3 identifies your target market. What characteristics do your customers share? Are they consumers or businesses? Are they in a specific industry? Are they located in the same geographic area? What need do they have that your product or service fills? You might also mention your share of the market, if it is impressive.

Key Message Point #4 addresses the company’s future growth. Are you expanding into foreign markets, creating new products (or identifying new uses for existing products) to appeal to new types of customers, opening a new location or adding more employees?

Key Message Point #5 can be anything not covered in the other four points. It is a way to point out the uniqueness of your company. You might mention awards or other recognition your company has received, the specialized training or experience of your staff, or whatever you would want customers and the public to know about your business and what makes it special.

Avoid hype and advertising slogans in your points. Keep them simple and direct. Focus on the facts. Make your message easy for both the journalist and her audience to understand, and easy for you to remember and repeat them naturally.

As your business evolves, your Key Message Points will also change. Stewart recommends reviewing them in six months to add or delete points as needed. Of course, any major shift in your business will also require that you review and revise your message.

Once you have your Key Message Points, you are prepared for an interview at any time. This is important, because you won’t always have a lot of advance notice of an interview. In some cases, you will have only minutes (if that) to prepare. With your Key Message Points you will know what to say–and when to stop talking.

Recycling Publicity

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magazines.jpgAfter sending several press releases, you finally got a nice article in your local newspaper, a trade journal or a national magazine. Or perhaps you were interviewed on radio or television. You got some of your 15 minutes of fame. Now what?You may think that once the show is over or the publication is no longer on the newsstands, the value of your appearance ends. However, there are many ways to keep your publicity working for you.

First of all, if there is a call to action in the story you will hear from people months or years after the story ran. Always ask the interviewer to include information on how their audience can get something free from you (e.g., download a free report from your Web site) or how they can order your product. I often receive orders from customers who saw an article that appeared more than a year earlier. Although there is no guarantee that your call to action will get in the story, ask.

Here are some additional ways to continue getting results from publicity successes, long after your moment of fame. [Read more…]

Free Publicity for Your Events

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Got an event that you want to promote? There are places online you can post your event for free.

Got an event that you want to promote? There are places online you can post your event for free.

One place you can list events, such as seminars, for free is at http://www.craigslist.org/ From the home page, click on your city, state or region and post in the appropriate category. You can also use the classified ads on the site to buy or sell things, look for a job, promote your business and more.

If you have an event related to a book or author, post it at http://www.netread.com/ Click on EventCaster and set up a free user account to submit your events.

And don’t forget your local paper. Check their web site to see if they post event notices and to learn how to submit. 

Online Press Releases

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The traditional way of distributing press releases is to get contact information for the media and mail, fax or e-mail press releases to them. That can still work, but there is now another option: online press release distribution. You can also use efax services.

Copyright by Cathy Stucker, The Idea Lady(tm)

The traditional way of distributing press releases is to get contact information for the media and mail, fax or e-mail press releases to them. That can still work, but there is now another option: online press release distribution.

Online distribution does not replace the traditional methods, it is an enhancement. And it offers benefits that you don’t get with standard distribution.

The purpose of sending press releases is usually to get your story covered by the press. That is one possible result of online press releases, but not the only one or even the most important one. Online press releases also enhance your online presence and give you at least a short-term boost in the search engines.

Many online press releases are archived for a long time, and they will continue to show up in response to search engine queries. And, they may be posted to several sites, each of which may send traffic to your Web site.

I make it a habit to ask people who contact me how they heard about me. One person who called to offer a consulting opportunity said she didn’t recall exactly, but she had found me in an online search. When she e-mailed the agreement, it contained a keyed address that I had used in a press release I had posted online more than two years earlier. That press release had not resulted in any media stories (at least, not that I am aware) but it did get me an offer for a great job.

Recently, I decided to try an online press release to make people aware of my blog at http://www.MysteryShoppersManual.com/ I have a marketing partnership with PR Web Direct (see http://idealady.prwebdirect.com/) and used the basic service. The day the press release went out I saw traffic increase to the blog site, and when I check my stats, I continue to find visitors who were referred through the press release.

Although writing a release for the Web is similar to writing other press releases, one thing you want to keep in mind is the importance of keywords. Include your most important keywords in the headline, the summary and the text.

As in a traditional release, your release should be news, not an ad. Make it newsy, and it may be picked up by lots of Web sites.

To learn more about writing and distributing online press releases, see http://idealady.prwebdirect.com/ For more on publicity see http://www.IdeaLady.com/article/pr