Get Your Promotion in Shape for the Holidays: Marketing for Holidays and Beyond Starts Now
The holidays are upon us, once again, and as retailers try to get in gear sooner each year you can never start planning too early! After all, more than 70 percent of all consumer goods sold in the U.S. are sold in the fourth quarter of the year. For marketers, it’s the opportunity to meet and expand sales projections, and set the stage for the New Year. Read more on getting your promotion in shape for the holidays →
How Familiar (and Unfamiliar) Holidays Can Drive Your PR Campaign
As the dog days of summer wind down, I think it’s only appropriate that I tell a dog story of my own.
It starts with a client of mine who is a dog crusader with a cause. She’s written seven books about it, and just released a new one. Her passion, as if you haven’t figured it out by now, is animal rescue – specifically dogs from animal shelters. It’s a reasonably narrow cause, but she has been getting a great deal of attention, and October is going to be even bigger for her. You see, October is national Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog Month, sponsored by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). For our client, it’s a month made in heaven for her message. Read more on how holidays can drive your PR campaign →
So I’m Launching a PR Campaign – How Many Sales Will I Make?
Understanding the Real ROI of PR
If I had a nickel every time a CEO or marketing executive asked me how many more sales they’d make by using PR, Bill Gates would be jealous of my island-sized yacht.
In order to answer that question, however, it’s important to understand the fallacy on which it’s based. So, let me ask you a few questions. Read more on the true ROI of PR →
When is a Good Time To Start Your PR Campaign? How About NOW?
“What may be done at any time will be done at no time.”
– Scottish Proverb
Okay, don’t ask what the Jewish grandmother from New York is doing with a Scottish proverb. My chief strategist found it for me, and it fit the tone of my message today. Read more on when is a good time to start your PR campaign →
Planning on Booking Your Own TV Publicity?
There’s More to It than Just Sending Out a Press Release
In the past few months, I’ve covered a lot of ground with regard to how to do your own public relations campaign. I’ve explained how to make yourself or your company appealing to the media, how to write pitches and why articles work better than press releases.
But I haven’t yet explained some crucial elements with regard to orchestrating a PR campaign and more specifically with regard to landing TV appearances. Radio and print publicity definitely require attention to details – but the number of logistical issues you have to deal with for TV exposure is far greater. Read more on how to book your own TV publicity →
Want to Get on TV? Follow a Daily News Routine to Increase Your Chances
Over the years, I’ve always advised my clients that if you want to get in the news, you have to watch and read the news. I know it sounds a little like “bumper sticker” advice, but it’s really not meant as a sound bite. In fact, we use a practical application of that advice every single morning at our agency.
It’s actually a very simple list of easy steps that anyone can do, and it can get blockbuster results. Read more on a strategy to get on TV →
How Steve Jobs Can Fix Apple’s iPhone PR Snafu
Let’s see how many cardinal rules of tech product launches Apple can violate in a 30-day period.
1. They released a new, bleeding-edge device behind enough hype to make the next Harry Potter movie look like a Mary Kate and Ashley video – only the darn thing wasn’t completely cooked, yet. Consumers generally understand that new releases may have their share of minor glitches here and there, but with the iPhone 4G release, it was suffering from reception problems. Now, I’m not a tech geek, but when you release a phone that doesn’t get good reception, I’d call that a primary issue. It’s like when you go to a KFC a half hour before closing, and they tell you they’ve run out of chicken. Come on! The “C” on your sign stands for chicken! How do you run out of it? (I wouldn’t be so upset about it if they didn’t put that “secret ingredient” in it that makes you crave it!) So, cardinal rule #1 – when you release a high priced, high hyped new tech device, you have to make sure it, you know, works. Read more on How Steve Jobs Can Fix Apple's iPhone PR Snafu →
How to Get the Media Interested in You: You May Be Newsworthy Without Even Knowing It
Do you know what the media would consider newsworthy about you or your company?
Many new clients come to us with a strong opinion about what their “pitch” should be, but often miss the mark, in terms of knowing what will get the media to sit up and pay attention to their message. But it’s very understandable that this could occur, if you’re not working with the media the way we do, day in and day out, developing story angles intended to grab their interest. Read more on getting the media interested in you →
Do You Want to Be On the Big Talk Shows? Then You Need to Get the Media Talking About You
If I had a nickel for every client or potential client who asked me if I could get them on Larry King, Oprah, Ellen, Charlie Rose, Keith Olberman, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly or Rachel Ray, I’d have retired long since. Read more on getting on the big talk shows →
5 Steps for Using Creative PR to Become an Expert Celebrity
One of the things I love about my job is solving problems.
Sure, it’s great to have a client walk in the door who has a unique product or service, solid credentials and a compelling angle. It makes the work easier, certainly, but it sometimes is more satisfying to solve what a client thinks is an unsolvable problem in a creative way. Read more on the 5 steps for using creative PR to become an expert celebrity →
Put Your Expertise into a Book: Dave Ramsey’s Path to Celebrity
Today’s celebrity is not always a movie or TV star, or famous recording artist. Rather, today’s celebrity is frequently an expert in his or her field, whether it is decorating, gardening, investing or healthcare. These “expert celebrities” are the people we look up to, the people who have the information we are searching for, or who inspire us to make a change for the better in our professional or personal lives. Read more on putting your expertise into a book →
Do You Have What it Takes to Be THE Recognized Expert in Your Field?
You might see yourself as only one of a million people who are knowledgeable in a particular area, but your friends, family and colleagues may see you as the reigning expert on the subject, the go-to guy or gal with the answers. Read more on having what it takes to be the recognized expert in your field →
Why So Serious? Corporations Could Take a Lesson From Conan
You have to change your perspective a little to understand the significance of what Conan O’Brien has done in positioning himself and his career.
First, you have to understand that Conan is not an individual. He is a corporation, and in fact, one that employs close to a hundred people. His team from NBC will largely be rehired to work on his show on TBS, which was announced last week. Read more on why corporations could take a lesson from Conan O'Brien →
5 Tips for Using Social Media to Build Your Opt-In List
The immense popularity of social networks, and the meteoric rise in the last few years of social media marketing, have been some of the most exciting new directions for PR and marketing that I have experienced.
That is why I jumped on board the social media marketing train over a year ago…it has been a huge boon to my performance-based PR business.
But in spite of the many extraordinary opportunities in social media marketing, one drawback I’ve found is the speed with which one can be forgotten. Even the social-media savvy may struggle to stay in front of and remain memorable in the minds of their friends, followers, connections and fellow group members. Read more on using social media to buildyour opt-in list →
Ronald McDonald retire? Not on my Big Mac!
Setting aside for the moment the fact that clowns just CREEP ME OUT, I feel the need to stand up for Ronald McDonald.
This week, a Boston activist group called Corporate Accountability International is calling for McDonalds to retire the longtime fast food icon because it claims that Ronald is “the product of a well-orchestrated and shrewd marketing strategy by America’s king of fast food” and that “McDonalds’ food is responsible for such social ills as heart disease, diabetes, animal welfare abuses, labor exploitation, unceasing environmental destruction and the breakdown of our food system.” As if Ronald is the reason why kids do pirouettes when Mom pulls the family van into MickeyD’s. Read more on McDonalds PR →
The Road to Celebrity Can Have Many Twists and Turns
At the start of her career, Rosie O’Donnell probably never dreamed she’d have her own TV talk show, but she did. And with Oprah Winfrey’s landmark show ending next year, a new Rosie show is being positioned to take over from Oprah as the preeminent daytime talk show. Rosie’s success in the entertainment industry is a lesson to everyone with aspirations to become a celebrity themselves. Read more on the road to celebrity →
Tiger’s Coming Out of The Woods
I am SO watching the Masters golf tournament when it airs next month.
After decades – nay, EONS – of golf broadcasts being characterized by commentators whispering play by play of grown men swatting a ball and then chasing it for 4 hours on TV, it’s finally going to get interesting. The guarded, sequestered Tiger Woods will finally be out in the open. Read more on Tiger Woods PR comeback →
How Not to Do a TV Interview
4 “Don’ts” to Keep In Mind to Ensure You Don’t Blow It
Sometimes I feel bad for on-air TV personalities, because if you’re on television regularly for any length of time, you’re going to screw up. It’s inevitable. It’s the law of averages, and when you do, YouTube will be sure to archive it for future generations. Read more on how NOT to do a TV Intervew →
How to Use PR to Overcome the 3 Biggest Challenges of the Natural Products Industry
It seems so simple and obvious.
Create healthy products that are really good for people, using natural ingredients or materials. Who wouldn’t prefer to buy foods and other products that are natural and healthy, over those that are…not? Read more on using PR to overcome the challenges of the natural products industry →
Why Do We Listen to Movie Critics and How Can You Use That Paradigm in Your Business?
Movies are getting more expensive and before we plunk down $9 for a ticket, and perhaps spend an additional $15 – $20 on popcorn and sodas, most of us first look to see what the critics have to say about the movie we’re planning to see. Read more on using the movie review paradigm in your business →
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You Can Enjoy Expert Celebrity Status
Are you ready for your own brand of celebrity? Public relations expert Marsha Friedman teaches you how to Celebritize Yourself! Learn the secret to becoming an expert celebrity. Her book is the manual for becoming well known as an expert in your field!
