Publicity Archives - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

Best Kept Publicity Secrets of the Big Red Envelope

Two years back I interviewed a self publishing millionaire who had sold 500,000 copies of his Special Effects Cookbook, and had a great way of getting free publicity.

Here is what he said ..

“As the author of a cookbook, I’ve been on full page in the food section of a Newspaper – full color. The whole first page is my face and my story and all my contact information. And if you get a big story in Boston or LA or Chicago or New York, millions of people are going to see that.What do you think happens when a full page comes out in a big city like that?”

I’ll tell you what happened to him…

When a full story breaks in a big city like that, you sell a lot of books! And he did!

As a self-published author, publicity becomes your new best friend. And in most cases, there’s no perfect time to launch a publicity campaign for your self-published book. You do it pretty much all year long.

He began sending press releases by mail during a time that email wasn’t as prominent, but even now, email and just doesn’t work as well. Neither does fax. Instead, direct mail is the way to go. There are special ways to do direct mail. You put your press release in a big red envelope and you use a magic marker for your return address and you just write in big letters all over it so that this envelope really looks special. I’m talking a big red envelope, 8 x 10, #10. You can get them at Staples.

Just be outrageous. Like the guy who wears a red suit, he walks into the room and you’ve got to see him.

So you send your press release out in a big red envelope and with a black magic marker you just write the guy’s name in big black letters. Use a couple of stamps, and hand-write the address. You only need ten a day.

He sent out hundreds a year for his book. You can do a little bit every day so that you get that constant flow of interest from TV, radio or newspapers, lastly of which can work the best because you can get a write-up; usually a full page.

He puts an 800 number in the press release, and a computerized system where it’s all automated that can handle 10,000 calls simultaneously. Calls can come directly to you from the press release.

The way a press release works and looks is that if you have to follow a format. At the very top of the press release, the upper left hand corner, you just type in for immediate release.On the other side, right across from that, you say for further information, contact… and then you’ve got to have your name and your office phone number. You can leave a number with an answering machine, but I don’t recommend that. You want to handle all the media contacts yourself.

The person who calls you is usually a journalist and they have an editor. And the whole point of writing a press release in the format that I recommend is that you’re not selling anything. You can’t sell anything with a press release. Make them look good with your story. When they go to their editor and they say “hey Mr. Editor, I found this great story”…. it makes the editor look good, so you let him write and let him sell it for you. It works like a charm. It really does.

If you want to see your sales skyrocket, put together a publicity campaign that will get you noticed. Be Unique. Let them know there’s no one like you out there. Use his advice on using this big red envelope. It works.

5 Publicity Hacks For Startups To Grow Your Business Now

One common thread about startups is that most are pressed for time and money.

They know they need to establish their brand, but lack the major funding of most established businesses.

Many try to muddle through in an attempt to pique the interest of journalists and secure media coverage.

They understand the longer it takes to create name recognition the longer it will take them to build sales and profitability, but they aren’t sure how to get the process rolling.

Here are five publicity hacks for startups to quickly attract the attention of newspapers, radio and TV stations, and generate the needed publicity for immediate growth.

#1. Create a short summary highlighting what makes the business special and why it is different than other companies in the market space.

A startup should avoid the standard press release if possible.

The common mistake is to create the typical release and just send it everywhere hoping something will stick.

Instead, depending on the type and scope of the business, offer an exclusive story to the media with a lot of news “hooks”.

Point out interesting details and pitch the local business journal, daily newspaper, or a TV station announcing your company’s launch before it happens.

You can put together an interesting summary with an eye catching headline. Journalists like to break stories and are always watching for new businesses they can write or talk about.

Businesses can always issue and distribute a standard press release later after a major news outlet or two have broken the story.

#2. Develop a short, quirky video for social media.

Video, of course, is highly used in today’s highly digitized world.

A video can humanize the owners and team, and get people talking about it.

Many people would also rather watch something than read about it.

A video can help cover all the bases. It can depict some emotion and show aspects of the business print cannot deliver.

A company can also link to their video for added PR value when the business does send out its press release.

#3. Host a special event.

A special event can create excitement for the leadership, team and recruiting. The right type of event can also have a lot of media value.

Creating a special event is where creativity kicks in. You can do something a little off-the-wall such as creating the world’s biggest cheeseburger or selling 50 dresses in 50 hours to build revenue for a nonprofit or repairing a house for a needy homeowner if you are a painting company or construction firm.

You can do something related to computers if you are a tech firm.

Many ways exist to execute an event and accomplish your goals. Remember a business will need something visual if you wish to attract local TV stations.

#4. Tie-in a charity.

Community outreach can be a key part of a communications program. A new company can develop something at the outset that benefits a local charity and gains the attention of the media.

Editors and producers like companies that do something creative and give back to the community.

You can do some special things with nonprofits that involve bringing your pets to work or small children. The media loves dogs and kids.

#5. Publicize your press coverage on social media and your website

Your newsroom should be kept up-to-date and make sure you link to your stories on all your social channels.

Print, video and digital all play off each other with SEO benefits as well.

Keep in mind the more coverage you get, and the more media relationships you establish, the more credibility you will have for future stories.

Publicity Predicament Number 2 – What’s the Right Timing For Publicity?

Media outlets are in the news business. And as you can tell from the close resemblance between the words “news” and “new,” the mission of the media is to bring you interesting and timely reports on what’s new. If you’re an entrepreneur or organizational marketer and you feed your news about what’s new to the media at the appropriate time, you’re helping both them and yourself. You give them news to share, and you receive credibility and exposure to potential customers.

Ah, but what is the appropriate time? Media deadlines are the most important element in proper timing. Follow these guidelines to make the publicity process work in your favor.

In one group are radio, television, newspapers and web sites, which have short-range deadlines, and in another group are magazines, which have considerably longer-range deadlines. For the short-range deadline media, one week is generally enough lead time for those media outlets to pick up your story. For magazines, the lead time depends on the publication schedule: Monthly magazines need to receive your press releases or pitches 3-6 months ahead of time, while those published every other month need even longer lead time. Weekly magazines need 3-6 weeks advance notice, whenever possible.

When announcing events or looking for coverage for them (as opposed to, say, announcing a new product or providing perspective on a trend), you often need to add a few weeks to the lead time, because daily media often have a weekly rather than daily publication schedule for their calendar listings. That is, upcoming events get published in a batch once a week on Thursday or Friday rather than every day.

The biggest timing complications arise with a product launch, because magazines need to receive your publicity materials 2-3 months before the newspapers, radio, TV and websites in order for them to feature new stuff around the same time. If you rely simply on press release distribution for publicity, either magazine coverage will lag way behind the other media or the newspaper etc. coverage will be premature.

Solve that dilemma by sending publicity materials directly to the magazines at least three months before you want the coverage to appear, then wait until the week before you want the coverage to hit up the newspapers, radio, TV and websites, either by contacting them directly as well or by doing a general press release distribution. That’s right – do publicity in two batches.

Using the guidelines above, plan your timing carefully so you don’t have publicity appearing before your product is ready for purchase or after it’s too late for customers to plan to attend your events.

Bonus Tip: Improve your timing even more by looking up or requesting a publication’s “editorial calendar.” This is an issue-by-issue rundown of planned topics – for instance, the March 16 issue will cover network security, the March 23 issue software upgrades and so on. If you dovetail your publicity with a particular publication’s editorial calendar, you’re practically a shoo-in!

Free Publicity – How to Get People to Read Your Newsletter

One way to continue to get free publicity is to send a newsletter out to your customers and other contacts. Thanks to the Internet and email, you can create and send a newsletter essentially for free. Newsletters not only promote your products and services, they can establish you as an expert.

But it’s one thing to send out a newsletter, it’s another to get people to open and read it. That’s why it’s critical to have quality content. Here are some of the types of things you can include in your newsletters to keep them interesting:

How-to Articles — help your subscribers learn how to do something that relates to your business. Financial planners can give tips on investing, choosing stocks, tax issues and so forth. Personal trainers can offer exercise and nutrition tips.

Surveys — people love to give their opinions. Ask your customers their thoughts on a variety of topics.

Milestones — tell your readers when you’ve sold your widget 10,000, 25,000 times or more. You can also mention time-related milestones such as your 10th or 25th year in business.

Flashbacks – Relate anecdotes about what your and/or your company were doing this day X number of years ago. They can be serious or funny.

Product knowledge — tell people how they can better use your products or services.

Questions — solicit questions from your customers and prospects about how they can better benefit from your products and services.

Case histories — share how your product or service helped someone solve a problem.

Testimonials — without being too hard-sell, include a testimonial or two in each edition.

Sales — Tell people you are running a sale.

Coupons — put in a coupon that people can print out and bring in to your place of business. While you’re at it, encourage people to share the coupons with their friends. It could bring you new, long-term customers and clients.

These are just a few of the things you can put in your newsletters. You don’t have to use them all in each issue. Just a few. Mix them up so that each new newsletter will arouse interest and curiosity to help you get more and more free publicity.