Public Relations And Reporters

Writen by Scott Rupp

As a reporter I always get a kick out of hearing about the secrets of success used by pirates of the public relations world, all the special methods and techniques implemented by these crafty folks to get their press releases published and the story about their clients into the promised land of print or television media.

What stills surprises me the most, speaking as a professional who has worked on both sides of the fence -- yes, I have a lot of experience in the land of public relations, too -- are the tactics these people use and the promises they make to their clients, offering them the moon and stars if they sign with them.

Let's face it, press coverage is golden. There's nothing more valuable than a member of the media taking you and your story and presenting it to thousands of potential clients and customers. The very fact that a reporter takes the time to put your story in print means you are respected, are offering something no one else can and that you are doing something so absolutely right that it can't be passed up -- or at least that's what the reader of said piece will believe.

Reporters can be a special breed (yes, I'm referring to myself here). We love it when someone comes to us with a great story, with all the ducks in a row, all the facts ready to go. We want the simple answer to a complicated question and we want it now. We want interesting stories about people, communities, businesses, everything and in our hectic lives, want them now, before deadline and we want people who are going to help us find those stories -- today. Plus, if someone wants my time for an interview, I want to know they're prepared to take my time.

And they have to give me respect. I'll give them that time if they give me their respect. If not, they get a lot less of my attention. It's pretty well understood in my world that people in public relations use us as their tools, devices in which to help them make more money and bring their clients a respect from the general public. Honestly, though, sometimes people have to come to me more than once before I find the importance of their story and hit me over the head a couple times and establish a relationship with me, and over time, I, as a reporter, will have your back.

But when I'm used as a tool, as is the case far too often, mostly by public relations professionals offering their clients the world, I give them very little of my time, if any, simple as that.

That said, press releases, and public relations professionals who are honest and passionate about you and your business and its story should certainly work with you to try and get you coverage. But, by no means can they guarantee you coverage. It's impossible. If someone tells you they can, walk away and buy yourself a cup of coffee with the money you saved by not going with them.

Also, press releases and press materials do not have to cost a lot of money to produce. In my opinion, people should not be getting charged $25, $50, $75, $100, $150 an hour or any other grossly over-priced amount to create a press release and send it out for you. Sure, they have the contacts, but they're not working six or eight hours on your release. It might take an hour to create, perhaps two.

Instead, go with a public relations company that charges a flat fee; a company that's going to do the same for a lot less, one that's not going to treat you or the press like tools at their disposal.

Actually, because of everything I've already explained here, it's one of the reasons I created PublicityParadise.com.

We charge a flat fee to write a press release no matter how long it takes to write, another flat fee to distribute the release online and another flat fee to distribute it manually to print, radio and television outlets. Each flat fee is only $50. At a $150 total for all three options, that price is unbeatable anywhere in the country.

Plus, I understand what reporters and members of the media want, what they're looking for and how to give it to them in their language and I work to build relationships with members of the media in your market so that over time, they will always be receptive to your needs and maybe, they'll start calling you directly for a news story like I do now with some of my sources.

To learn more, simply click on www.PublicityParadise.com

Scott E. Rupp has more than 10 years of experience working in the media as a reporter and editor and working as the director of public relations and marketing for several companies in the United States. Based in Las Vegas, NV, http://www.PublicityParadise.com helps to fuel businesses growth by working with the media to spread the word about businesses, people, products and services.

Public Relations And Day Care Centers

Writen by Lance Winslow

Day Care Centers have a rough time of convincing parents that their children will be safe and they also have a tough time with public relations, as parents are so quick to prejudge them and their services. Nevertheless a Day Care Center must over come this unfortunate public perception and consider that they need to be on the other side of the game.

How so you ask? Well what if a Day Care Center took the approach that they were helping make the entire community safer? Lets say by participating in a Neighborhood Watch Program? Why you ask; well consider if you will the following facts;

DAY CARE CENTERS: Day Care Centers have vans and shuttle buses that pick up kids and they are colorful and happy in their paint schemes. They also know all of the Moms who work at all the corporations in town. Family and safety are at the top of their agenda. They are very concerned with the concerns of their clients. Those concerns are of safety. Even if they feel uneasy about the sign on their vehicles they will participate and leave flyers in their lobbies. Also remember that many of these day car centers are franchises and therefore will receive kudos from their franchisors for helping the community.

Now then it makes a lot of sense for them to join in a Neighborhood Watch Program and also it makes sense for them to bolster their community spirit and goodwill. This means that they can help the community and gather sufficient bonus in public relations, so, consider all this in 2006.

Lance Winslow - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Managers Paying For Prlite

Writen by Robert A. Kelly

As a business, non-profit or association manager, your public relations expenditure may give you names in the newspaper or product plugs on radio. But what about key stakeholder behavior change – the kind that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives?

Since that's public relations' strongest suit, shouldn't you be getting that first, THEN incremental publicity exposure? Especially when persuading those important outside folks to your way of thinking can move many of them to take actions that help you achieve your department, division or subsidiary objectives?

Bounce this notion off the public relations team assigned to your unit: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired- action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

If they buy into it, you'll have a simple blueprint that gets everyone working towards the same external audience behaviors insuring that your public relations effort stays on track.

Consider the possible payoffs: customers starting to make repeat purchases; community leaders beginning to seek you out; welcome bounces in show room visits; membership applications on the rise; prospects starting to do business with you; fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; higher employee retention rates, capital givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way, and even politicians and legislators starting to view you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities

But, like everything else, there's no free lunch in PR either, and the work looks like this. You need to find out who among your important outside audiences is behaving in ways that help or hinder the achievement of your objectives. And then, list them according to how severely their behaviors affect your organization.

Of course it's unlikely that you have the facts and figures you need to pull this off because you aren't real certain just how most members of that key outside audience perceive your organization.

There's also a good chance you don't have the budget to accommodate expensive professional survey work. So you and your PR colleagues (they should be quite familiar with perception and behavior matters) must monitor those perceptions yourself.

Meet with members of that outside audience and ask questions like "Are you familiar with our services or products?" "Have you ever had contact with anyone from our organization? Was it a satisfactory experience?" Stay alert to negative statements, especially evasive or hesitant replies. Watch carefully for false assumptions, untruths, misconceptions, inaccuracies and potentially damaging rumors. Any of which will need to be corrected, because experience shows they usually lead to negative behaviors.

So, because the obvious objective here is to correct those same untruths, inaccuracies, misconceptions and false assumptions, you now select the specific perception to be altered, and that becomes your public relations goal.

But a PR goal without a strategy to show you how to get there, is like champagne without the peaches. That's why you must select one of three strategies especially designed to create perception or opinion where there may be none, or change existing perception, or reinforce it. The challenge here (albeit small) is to insure that the goal and its strategy match each other. You wouldn't want to select "change existing perception" when current perception is just right suggesting a "reinforce" strategy.

Your writers step forward here to create a compelling message carefully designed to alter your key target audience's perception, as called for by your public relations goal.

Stay flexible as to message delivery because combining your corrective message with another presentation or newsworthy announcement of a new product, service or employee may lend more credibility by not overemphasizing the need for such a correction.

The new message must be very clear about what perception needs clarification or correction, and why. Your facts must be truthful and your position must be logically explained and believable if it is to hold the attention of members of that target audience, and actually move perception in your direction. It's clear that your message must be compelling.

I call the communications tactics you will use to move your message to the attention of that key external audience "beasts of burden" because they must carry your persuasive new thoughts to the eyes and ears of those important outside people.

You're in luck here because the list of tactics is a long one. It includes letters-to-the-editor, brochures, press releases and speeches. Or, you might select radio and newspaper interviews, personal contacts, facility tours or customer briefings. There are dozens in waiting and the only selection requirement is that those tactics you choose have a record of reaching people just like the members of your key target audience.

Your associates will soon want to know if any progress is being made. Of course you'll already be hard at work remonitoring perceptions among your target audience members. Using questions similar to those used during your earlier monitoring session, you'll now be on the lookout for indications that audience perceptions are beginning to move the way you want them to move.

Things can always be moved along at a faster clip by adding more communications tactics, AND by increasing their frequencies.

The only way to be certain you are buying full-bodied public relations results and not the "Lite" version, is to undertake an aggressive public relations plan that targets the kind of key stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your department, division or subsidiary objectives.

About The Author

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communi- cations, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public relations. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net. Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

What If Pr Was Illegal

Writen by Lance Winslow

What if public relations were illegal? Well it kind of is if you think about it; for instance if you embellish a story which is construed as advertising then it could be considered false and misleading? If you were to make a statement and someone complained to a Federal Agency or States Attorneys General Office they might come to investigate you? If you had a customer or shareholder which said they used that information to make a decision to buy your product or stock well you could be sued by an attorney in a private right of action; lawsuit? If enough people got together you could be looking at a class action lawsuit as well.

Now public relations is legal if you are a government agency, as long as you bullshit and lie to the American People. If you tell them they are safe from criminals, fraud or International Terrorism when you know damn good and well they are in immediate danger? Or if you are government agency you can tell the consumers, citizens and investors that they are safe from SPAM or Identity Theft because your forceful agency has now made a rule or law and brought 60 cases to court which will take a year to bring to trial, meanwhile there are 60,000 scoundrels out there SPAMMING and countless criminals stealing your personal information. As well as many government agencies, which make the information available to all. In fact Public Relations is fine if you are the government. And defrauding the American Taxpayers, consumers and the American People using tactics of misrepresentation and misleading information is fine as long as you are a government agency and no one can sue you either. Think on this, as we have scoundrels afoot using PR tactics to cheat us and it is not the business community doing it.

Lance Winslow

Public Relations For Milk Delivery Companies

Writen by Lance Winslow

What kind of public relations campaign can a local or regional Milk delivery company do to promote themselves above and beyond the National Milk Association Campaigns?

May I propose that they join a Neighborhood Mobile Business Watch Patrol? Why you are asking? Well, because consider the delivery routes and the business model.

MILK MAN: These delivery drivers are up early and can easily help cover residential areas in wee hours of the morning and also go to institutional facilities and are happy to help. A typical dairy may have 10-50 trucks driving around.

The milk delivery men can keep an eye out when everyone else is asleep and therefore keep a watchful eye on the community reporting suspicious behavior to the local police department. Why should a milk delivery company do such a thing? Well because they can and because it costs them nothing extra to do so.

Additionally in doing so they can remain in the public eye and further develop community goodwill. Milk does a body good, we all know this, but what good is that if the milk delivery company does not deliver it? Therefore they need to remain community based businesses and develop an out of the box public relations campaign so consider all this in 2006.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Media Savvy How To Lead Persuade And Influence

Writen by Thomas Murrell

Media management has become one of the strategic tools for managers and leaders to drive marketing opportunities, communicate key messages, achieve social change or influence Government. Media and Communications Consultant, Thomas Murrell* shares 10 success tips for getting the best from the media.

The ability to lead, persuade and influence are integral skills for effective managers. The capability of telling a story that inspires, motivates and informs is an essential part of this process. In an age of convergence in the media and increased scepticism over traditional communication methods, a new breed of managers and leaders is emerging that sees the media as an opportunity and not a threat. They use the media in a pro-active way to build their organisation's image, reputation and identity.

Business Review Weekly's cover story "Future Leaders" editorial reported "new chief executives must have better presentation skills, for they will be required to perform in the electronic and printed media. Poor presentation will be perceived as a weakness in leadership, and arrogance or condescending attitudes will only be tolerated while the company is on top," (BRW December 14, 1998 P.14).

My role with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, as both a broadcaster interviewing key decision makers and as a manager providing editorial leadership for program makers, allowed me to observe first hand how effective leaders use the media to get their message across.

I now share this knowledge and experience with a range of clients to add value, improve performance and build capabilities. Our company has built a reputation for excellence in media strategy, issues management, change management, marketing communications, media training, financial journalism and professional speaking. A practical approach is focused on helping people strategically manage real-life situations.

Getting positive exposure in the media can be more powerful than any advertising campaign. It is far-reaching, utterly credible and free. As an added bonus, you may well attract an audience you had never anticipated.

But talking to reporters can be risky and threatening for first timers. You can say too much and lose control of the interview. You can say the wrong thing and damage your reputation. Or you can say "no comment" and lose an opportunity.

The only way to build your reputation is by learning the secrets of how the media works and we can help you do that.

10 Tips

These are 10 success tips that will help managers and leaders get the best from the media.

1. Know Your Strengths. What are you an expert at? What is your specialized area of expertise? What unique services or information can you offer? Position yourself as the expert.

2. Clarify your communication objectives? What do you want to achieve? To inform or entertain? To provide information? To build a profile? To influence public opinion? Personal marketing? Marketing or launching a new product or service?

3. Define your target audience? Who is your target audience? General public? Customers? Competitors? Suppliers? What age are they, what level of education, what beliefs and values, geographical location, how do they use the media?

4. Identify the best channels of communication. What is the best way to reach your target audience? TV, Radio, Internet, newspapers - local or Statewide, specialist or generalist, industry publications, community newsletters?

5. What is your key message? Distill what you want to say into three key points. Work out the best time to deliver this message and who will deliver it.

6. Build your case? What are the features, advantages and benefits of your message for your target audience? What evidence and proof do you have?

7. What is the hook? What will make your message or news release stand out from the rest? Be creative. Use a press release to control the information flow.

8. Develop long-term relationships with the media. Visit and meet them face to face. Network and get to know them.

9. Use the Three Golden Rules to Perform at your Best = Know Your Topic, Be Prepared, Relax.

10. Seek Professional Help. For maximum impact, effectiveness and value seek the advice of a media and communications professional.

Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries.

You can subscribe by visiting http://www.8mmedia.com. Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom's blog at http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com.

Tips For Getting On Tv And Radio Talk Shows

Writen by Matt Bacak

We're all familiar with the litany of TV and radio talk shows. Perhaps you've watched or listen…maybe you thought – I would make a great guest! Well, if you think you would make a great TV and radio talk show guest…read on and learn how to get on TV and radio talk shows!

A radio or TV talk show, can be a great publicity move. It takes some effort, but with a little research, and a lot of perseverance, you could be on your way to promoting your product, service or even yourself on a radio or TV talk show.

Step 1 - Groundwork

You need to think about your pitch to the radio or TV talk show. What do you have to say that's new, interesting, unique and different? What's your angle or story idea? Do you have a unique product? Are you an expert in a field?

Once you given some thought to about your pitch, prepare a one page backgrounder on yourself. This fact sheet is very important if you are just venturing into the talk show arena. Include a professional head shot picture and highlight all of your previous speaking engagements, published articles, books etc. You need to build credibility since you are an unknown entity to the radio or TV talk show producer.

Now that your backgrounder or fact sheet is complete, research the various talk shows where you would like to appear. No sense wasting your time or the producer's time if your topic idea is not appropriate for the genre of the talk show. When doing your research, find out what types of topics the show is looking for. Often, the talk show's website or the radio station website are good starting places.

Check out how the radio or TV talk show likes to receive topic ideas. Do they prefer phone calls, emails or is there an application form available? Try to determine whom you contact and what the best method for contact is.

Step 2- Practice

Often overlooked, it is always a good idea to practice your pitch and show your fact sheet to some respected colleagues before you try it out on the TV or radio producers. Ask your practice partner to throw out some tough and challenging questions so that you get practice rebutting any negative responses. The practice pitch will give you a chance to make any changes, streamline your narrative and to think about how you will answer the producer's questions.

Step 3 - Make Contact

Now that you've figured out what you want to say and where you want to say it, it's time to make contact.

There are a few methods of making contact. The first is to fax or email your backgrounder and then follow up with the radio or TV talk show producer a couple of days later. The second idea is to call the radio or TV talk show producer and sell them on your idea right away. A lively phone conversation will demonstrate that you are able to be engaging and interesting. If you get voice mail, persevere! Mention your idea on the voice mail, send your backgrounder and then follow up with a phone call again. A third, albeit more passive way to get on radio and TV talk shows is to register with one of the many online databanks or publications, which are directories of people available for radio and TV interviews. These sites and publications are designed for media professionals who need to quickly and easily find guests for various topics.

When you are pitching your ideas, strongly capitalize on your experience. If you have limited to no talk show experience, the producer may be scared off by that. Play up any and all experience you have. For instance, focusing on the broad range of presentations you've made to various audiences will show that you're adept at speaking. Even better is to have some references lined up who will provide testimonial to the producer that you were an informative, intelligent and engaging speaker.

Another idea is to link your idea with an event or issue in the news, if possible. If you can inject a 'little' controversy into a topic (say you represent the opposing side of an issue) you have a better chance of being signed on.

Here's a quick and easy tip, remember to boost the producers ego by mentioning something from a previous show topic or guest, producers love to know that people are watching.

Be excited! You have to believe in your idea, topic or whatever it is you have to say. The more enthused you are - the more likely you will get the radio and TV talk show producers to buy into inviting you to make an appearance on their show.

Step 4 - You're Booked!

O.k. you've gotten the call you were waiting for. You are booked on your favorite TV or radio talk show! It helps the producers and talk show host if you supply a list of relevant questions. Pick 10 or so questions that you would like to be asked. There is no guarantee that they will use them, but producers and hosts are notoriously busy people and anything you can do to make their job a little easier will be appreciated.

Once you've finished your radio or TV talk show appearance, be sure to update you backgrounder. Surprisingly, the more talk shows you do, the more you build your credibility as an 'expert'. As soon as you have a few appearances under your belt, you will likely find it easier to make that initial contact with the TV or radio talk show producer.

It cannot be stressed enough when you're looking for ways to get on TV or radio talk shows, perseverance and determination are the keys. You cannot give up. It will be difficult to make contact and eventually get booked, but the reward in free publicity is MORE than worth it! Good luck!

Matt Bacak became "#1 Best Selling Author" in just a few short hours. Recent Entrepreneur Magazine's e-Biz radio show host is turning Authors, Speakers, and Experts into Overnight Success Stories. Discover The Secrets To Unleash The Powerful Promoter In You! Sign up for Matt Bacak's Promoting Tips Ezine ($100 value) just visit his website at http://www.powerfulpromoter.com or http://promotingtips.com

Public Relations For Chinese Car Companies

Writen by Lance Winslow

It seems that many US Autoworkers fear the imported Chinese Cars coming into America, but China wants to build cars, computers and build up other industries and as the capacity grows and they solve their energy issues and build plants and secure a steady stream of raw materials this will happen.

Indeed, there is little anyone can do about it, especially with the Union, Corporation infighting and the over regulation and insane number of lawsuits in the US. There are some issues however with selling Chinese Cars in the United States and that will be the public relations issues, which are at odds with many Americans.

Perhaps you will recall Daewoo, Hyundai, Daihatsu and Yugo? They all had a tough time in our US Markets. Will Chinese Brands be able to get it done? Just setting up the dealer networks may not be enough you see? DaimlerCrysler is considering putting their brand name on some Chinese made cars, but this could backfire without a very strong public relations campaign.

One thing the Chinese car companies will have going for them is that they build smaller cars which get better fuel economy and this might help them with their public relations campaigns. Although you can bet that many Americans especially union workers and US autoworkers will be fried when they start seeing Chinese cars come into our country. That is one public-relations job, which will be quite tough in promoting Chinese Cars you see? Please consider all this in 2006.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Getting Word Of Mouth Started New Book Pr Method

Writen by James Finch

Authors and business people often go to extremes to publicize their book or product launch. Sometimes, the most successful method can appear in front of them. Take for example, book publicity. It is the one of the toughest cases to crack. Each year, at least 50,000 authors are published in the United States. Tens of thousands of authors publish electronic books. Most fail to get noticed. Very few achieve any of their goals as authors – to build up readership.

Here's a way to get the word out and polish off your book before it hits the stores: sampling. Major corporations utilize focus groups, pollsters and other marketing experts to build up their brand name. This is similar to planting seeds to get a garden or orchard to grow. The more seeds you plant, the better your chances to grow vegetables or apple trees. As an author, you can use sampling or "seeding," to build up awareness of your book. During the publishing process, we discovered a clever way to attract readers, and at the same time, we can upgrade our book.

Having been through the publishing process for many decades, we experimented with what every author secretly fears: a peer review. But, we did it with a twist. Instead of waiting until the book is published to read the reviews, we posted the book on our website to accept all criticism in advance. We called this a "Public and Peer Review" of our book.

Before posting the first eight chapters of the electronic version of this book, we notified subscribers, several days earlier, that the book would be available on June 18th at 11:59 P.M for Open Review. In the email notification, we included a reminder to "tell a friend" about the book's pre-publication.

By the time this book was ready to be electronically published, our large number of subscribers had jumped by nearly 10 percent! In less than one week, we had gained more new subscribers than we had in the previous few months. Our Alexa rating, for the week had also jumped ahead of nearly 1 million other websites. The one-week draw from the email notification had also increased the 3-month average by 267 percent!

This marketing opportunity provided us with greater readership. It might now offer us a broader range of opinions, helping us improve the book. Hopefully, there will be those annoying copy editor types, who will help point out grammar, spelling and punctuation errors. Previous tests, similar to this, have also drawn experts from the industry we have written about. This adds more texture to our research, and ultimately creates a better product for our readers.

Stay tuned for our next publicity surprise, after we review the success of our public and peer review. The key is to plan out a series of teasers to keep drawing visitors to your website and intelligently persuade them that your book is something they absolutely have to read.

James Finch contributes to StockInterview.com and other publications. Visit http://www.stockinterview.com to download your free copy of "Investing in the Great Uranium Bull Market: A Practical Investor's Guide to Uranium Stocks." You can always write to James Finch at jfinch@stockinterview.com.

Are You A Pr Chowderhead

Writen by Robert A. Kelly

You are if you stand by while your public relations people futz around with communications tactics instead of nailing down those outside audience behaviors that help you reach your objectives.

No slap at communications tactics. They come in real handy at the right time, as noted later in this piece.

But the real public relations opportunity lies with this reality: People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action those people whose behaviors affect the organization, the public relations mission is accomplished.

What it does for you, is put the spotlight where it belongs by delivering the key external audience behaviors you need to help achieve your mission objectives. So look at tactics for what they are -- no substitute for a primary public relations effort.

For example, change perceptions and, thus, behaviors among those important outside audiences of yours, then watch for activity like customers making repeat purchases, capital givers or specifying sources looking your way, prospects starting to do business with you, community leaders seeking you out, organizations proposing strategic alliances and joint ventures, and legislators and political leaders viewing you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities.

It just isn't that hard to do it right.

Check out the PR work underway in your unit for activities like these. Has anyone listed those outside audiences with the greatest impact on your specific operation? Has that list been prioritized according to the severity of those impacts?

Do you have any real idea of how those key target audiences at the top of the list perceive your organization? That's really important because, as the fundamental premise cited earlier notes, those perceptions inevitably morph into behaviors that can help or hurt achieving your unit objectives.

Of course there's work involved in pulling this off. You, your colleagues or somebody, must get out there and interact with members of that key target audience.

And ask a lot of questions like "Have you heard of us? Have you had contact with us? Was it satisfactory in all regards?" Of course, all this time you are listening carefully for any negativity while staying alert for evasive or hesitant responses, and especially for untruths, inaccuracies, rumors or misconceptions.

The data you collect, you will use to establish your public relations goal, i.e., the specific perception to be altered, followed by the desired behavior change. In other words, your objective here is to correct those untruths, inaccuracies, misconceptions and rumors.

But goals are worthless without strategies. Happily you have three of them to choose from: create perception/opinion where there isn't any, change existing perception, or reinforce it. Let your public relations goal point to the obvious choice.

Now you put on your writer's hat and write a really persuasive bit of prose – the corrective message you will use to create, change or reinforce individual opinion among members of that target audience. Clarity is really important, as is accuracy and believability. The more compelling the message is, the more it helps alter what a lot of people believe, so try hard to "compel" the reader.

Luckily, you have a herd of "beasts of burden" – the communications tactics mentioned earlier – that will carry your "message of inspiration" to the eyes and ears of your target audience.

The tactics range from newsworthy surveys, all kinds of speeches and letters-to-the-editor to press releases, brochures, radio and newspaper interviews and just about everything in between. One caveat: make sure the tactics you select have a proven record of reaching people like those in your target audience.

Pretty soon you will ask yourself, "Are we making any progress in altering the offending perception?" Assuming you don't want to spend a lot of money on professional opinion surveys, (any more than you did earlier in this drill), you'll have to remonitor that target audience's perceptions.

Big difference this time is, you'll be watching carefully to see, while asking the same questions again, to what degree the offending perception has now been altered. In other words, how much that perception is actually moving in your direction, AND how likely it is to deliver the behaviors you really want.

That is to say, you have no chance of becoming a chowderhead when you use the fundmental realities of public relations to safely nail down the outside audience behaviors that help you reach your objectives.

Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net.

Robert A. Kelly © 2003.

About The Author

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to general management personnel about the fundamental premise of public relations. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; Director of Communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and Deputy Assistant Press Secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net. Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com

Public Relations For Job Training

Writen by Lance Winslow

With the economy moving quickly we often find that new technologies will come about and end up hyper advancing others. When this happens those old or not so old industries and industry sub-sectors are no longer needed and therefore those jobs are eliminated for the new up and coming and the consumer moves into the realm of the new technology and embraces those products or services instead.

When this natural evolution occurs we find people displaced and needing job re-training, but if the folks do not know how or where to get re-trained they will find themselves under-employed and this has been a problem in America that is quite serious indeed.

Often, folks who lose their job will feel like they are of no value to society and this hurts their psyche and can lead to stress and depression. Unfortunately stress and depression can also lead to health problems. But if we can get these people back into the workforce and retrain them to be active and important members of society and industry once again, then they can regain their self-esteem.

It is imperative for job retraining centers and tech colleges to promote their importance and solutions to our society and civilization through a positive reinforcement, which will enhance their public relations program and community goodwill. Please consider this in 2006.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Financial Planners Garner Free Publicity By Making It Easy For The Media

Writen by Ned Steele

Would you advise clients to buy a stock based on the say so of an investor relations person, or something you overheard at a restaurant? Of course not. You want to see at least some independent research before suggesting it be added to your clients' portfolios.

Media people are just as protective of their "clients," the reading and viewing public.

Your word about a new trend in investing or the latest tip for retirement planning might be enough to get a media person interested, but it usually won't be enough information for them to write a whole article or create a television segment.

Most times, they'll need more than your timely information and juicy quotes to complete their story. They'll need some background information such as:

• Pertinent statistics
• Real-life examples
• Photos of you or of clients who have benefited from your advice
• Confirmation from other experts

Sure, you can leave it to them to do the additional research, or dig up the photos they need to flesh out your story.

And just as sure, they may decide to move onto another story – one that requires less heavy lifting. The more you help a reporter, the better the odds your story will fly. Make it easy for them, and they'll come back to you again and again!

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele's MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

How To Get Free Publicity For Your Small Business

Writen by Annette Thomas

For starters, take a crash course in writing press releases and putting together a media kit. Numerous online articles detail press release writing — presenting something newsworthy about your business in one or two pages. Include the who, what, where, why and when of the story and select news that is of interest to your target audience.

Piggyback your release onto a major news story related to your business. Also, think like a news reporter and avoid sales lingo and superlatives. Consider what will grab the attention of an editor or producer and encourage them to do a story on your business. Make a list of media contacts and send press releases on a regular basis.

Other means of generating free publicity include:

Viral Marketing (or word of mouth marketing): There are several ways to launch a viral marketing campaign, including an online newsletter, online discounts or even e-cards from your Web site.

Visibility: Free samples or free service demonstrations can also start a viral marketing campaign, especially with a unique or new product.

Awards: Create an award and present it to someone who is notable to your demographic group and has some connection with your industry.

Barter: Make deals with other small business owners to display one another's products, advertise on one another's Web sites, and so on.

High-Profile Individuals: Send, or give, your product to people with high visibility in hopes that they will wear it, carry it or eat it in view of other people and/or the media.

Groups: Start a discussion group, seminar series, book club, wine tasting club or other type of group that can meet to talk about your products or services.

Business Gatherings: Hand business cards and/or press kits out at trade shows, industry events and other gatherings.

Speaking Engagements: Offer to be a speaker at seminars, conferences and other functions. You can even teach a class.

Affiliate Partnership: This is a great way to expose your business(online) with zero liability. Partner with online businesses that have products similar or cross sell.

Annette Thomas is a freelance writer and professional marketer. She has recently launched her online retail store, Giftboxedbaskets.com. Giftboxedbaskets.com is an online retailer of handmade gift baskets, gourmet food baskets, gifts, corporate gifts, and more. You may visit at, http://www.giftboxedbaskets.com.

13 Publicity Ideas For Retailers

Writen by Joan Stewart

If you're trying to promote your store, but you don't have a big advertising budget, relax. There are lots of ways to get in front of the audience you want to reach by using free publicity. Here are tips that will boost your publicity efforts and help you finally get noticed.

1. Tie your story ideas to the holidays. Here are some examples: Gourmet gift baskets that make the best Christmas gifts. Bookstores that are doing special programs that tie into Mother's Day. Health food stores that can explain how to create a vegetarian meal for Thanksgiving.

2. Call the advertising department of every newspaper and magazine you want to get into and ask for a copy of their editorial calendar. It's a free listing of all the special topics and special sections coming up during the calendar year. It will tip you off to sections where your story idea would be a good fit, so you can query the editor weeks and even months ahead.

3. Invite a reporter from your local newspaper or magazine for coffee or lunch. Instead of asking, "Will you write about me?" a better question is "How can I help you?" Offer yourself as a resource in your area of expertise. Talk about trends you are seeing in your store.

4. Consider starting your own television show on your cable TV station's community access channel. A floral shop can do a program on how to create dried flower arrangements. The station can rent you the camera equipment for a nominal fee. Air time is free. Produce one show or an entire series of programs. Call your cable company for details.

5. Build a network of other retailers in your area. Agree informally that you will refer reporters to each other whenever they call and want your views on a topic on which you all could comment, such as a new sales tax increase.

6. Write how-to articles such as this one for newsletters published by groups in your community, or for newsletters read by audiences who buy your products or services. Be sure the last paragraph tells readers how to contact you.

7. Don't forget newspaper and magazine columnists. They're always hungry for fresh ideas. Keep in touch with them and feed them ideas regularly.

8. Get on your local TV news and the morning TV news feature shows. Tie your product, service, cause or issue to a breaking news event. Pitch yourself as the local angle to a national story. Or suggest a feature story with great visuals.

9. Write articles for electronic magazines and include a paragraph of information at the end that leads readers to your web site.

10. Contact your trade association and ask them to refer reporters to you. Many reporters who don't know where to find sources on a particular topic start by calling trade associations.

11. Always refer to yourself as an "expert" in your marketing materials, at your web site, in information that explains your workshops, in your introductions during public speaking engagements, and in your media kit. The media always seek out experts and interview them.

12. Pitch stories about your product, service, cause or issue that tie into the weather. Weather stories are mandatory at most media outlets, and newspapers and TV stations, in particular, are always looking for fresh angles that tie into today's and tomorrow's forecast.

13. Pitch story ideas about your business to the reporter who covers the retail beat for your local business journal or business magazine.

Joan Stewart, a.k.a. The Publicity Hound, shows you how to use the media to establish your credibility, enhance your reputation, sell more products and services, promote a favorite cause or issue, and position yourself as an employer of choice. She publishes "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week," a free ezine on how to generate thousands of dollars in free publicity. Subscribe at http://www.PublicityHound.com and receive by email the free checklist "89 Reasons to Send a News Release."

Nine Ways To Get Free Publicity And More Clients

Writen by Joel Sussman

One of the disadvantages of traditional marketing is that it often lacks credibility. Why should someone believe you when they know you're trying to sell them something? However, there are free or inexpensive techniques for gaining business-building, positive exposure through a number of channels that may not be occurring to you or that you may not be taking full advantage of.

1. Send out a press release to the media when your business opens, expands, diversifies, invents something or innovates a process, partners with another business or organization, hires, takes a position on an non-divisive issue, or sponsors an event or a worthy cause.

2. Suggest feature articles and news story ideas to reporters and editors concerning your field or area of expertise. Offer to be interviewed or to provide quotes for an article.

3. Make yourself available as a speaker at Chamber of Commerce meetings, professional associations, community groups, and seminars. Announce your speaking engagement to the press in the form of a news release, phone call, email, or post card.

4. Write a 'Letter to the Editor', but avoid taking a controversial position on an issue which could cost you clients. You don't want to alienate people. Make it a practice to read the editorial pages to see what's being written about.

5. Teach a class at the local community college or continuing adult education program. It's a great way to increase your credibility, visibility, and acquire new clients.

6. Become a columnist. Speaking of credibility and visibility, if you can arrange with a print or online publication to run a regular column of yours, especially with a photograph and brief bio at the end, you'll gain a lot of valuable, free exposure.

7. Word of mouth is the best kind of free and credible advertising. Keep focusing on providing exceptional service and going above and beyond what clients expect, and word of mouth advertising and new business from referrals is virtually guaranteed.

8. Write informative articles that would be helpful to your clients or prospects and post them on your web site. Let people know about the articles in every way you can think of: talk it up, add a one sentence blurb at the end of your outgoing voice mail or answering machine message, include it in updates of your brochures, flyers, business cards, print ads, and broadcast commercials. If you're editing and uploading the articles yourself (as opposed to having a web designer or search engine optimization expert do it) make sure you liberally sprinkle the article with a few appropriate and repeated key words that would help Internet searchers find your articles. When choosing key words and phrases, think in terms of what a customer or prospective client would enter into a search engine when looking for the topic or service you're writing about. One website where you can get a list of keyword phrases arranged by popularity (the number of times they've been searched) is at Overture.com . Click on 'Visit the Resource Center', then go to the Keyword Selector tool.

9. Invite people to sign up for your monthly email bulletin in which you can provide clients and prospects with news, helpful tips related to your business or profession, and new product or service announcements. Four recommendations if you do this: Don't sign anyone up without their permission, assure subscribers that their email address and other personal information will remain private (have a publicize a privacy policy), tell people they can 'unsubscribe' from your list whenever they want to (immediately honor those requests), and avoid making people feel like they're being inundated with your information and offers. For more information on the responsibilities of email marketers, visit: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.htm

While marketing tactics that cost money are a necessary part of almost any strategy, make sure to get the most mileage you can out of techniques that are either free or extremely economical. Remember, even if your marketing budget is tight, there are still plenty of things you can do to increase inquiries, boost referrals, and expand awareness of the unique aspects of your business.

Copyright 2006 Joel Sussman

Joel Sussman, a business writer and Internet publisher, has created an online resource for small business owners called "Marketing Survival Kit.com". Visit http://www.marketingsurvivalkit.com for proven sales and marketing templates, software, downloadable manuals, and articles.

How To Write Foolproof Media Releases

Writen by Matt Bacak

Free publicity resulting from a media release sounds good, but how do you go about getting it? The first step is to write foolproof media releases. Are you looking for inexpensive ways to promote yourself or your business? Well, read on about media releases, one of the most cost effective promotion vehicles available. Free publicity resulting from a media release sounds good, but how do you go about getting it? The first step is to write foolproof media releases.

Many people 'gasp' at the thought of committing the written word to the page. Don't be scared, just apply these quick and easy steps to write foolproof media releases! Let's get started!

Always remember when writing your media release that editors will likely give you a '10 second' glance to see if the topic is newsworthy. Make sure you cover all the media release basic essentials to ensure your media release isn't 'tossed' before it gets even the 10-second once-over.

Before You Start Writing Your Media Release

Before you even begin typing, take a moment and determine 'what is your story' or 'what is your angle'. What do you want to communicate and why? Some media release ideas are the launch of new product, change in your company that affects your customers, or an event that affects your industry.

Remember that a media release is not an advertisement; your story needs to be a newsworthy account about you or your company.

Essentials for Media Releases

You are ready to start writing, take the time to familiarize yourself with the essentials required in all media releases.

· "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" on the top left of the page

· Contact name, title, address, phone number, fax number, email address

· Headline, bold and centered on the page (more on writing effective headlines later)

· Location and date

· No more than one page in length

· Be concise and grammatically correct (no spelling errors!)

· At the bottom, provide a bio on the company, person etc. Provide brief details and remember to include a website address where readers can get more information.

O.k. the essentials are the easy part, let's delve into the guts of your media release and the tools for writing effective content.

Effective Media Release Content

1. Headline - Some PR people say that you need to spend as much time writing the headline as you do on writing the entire content of the media release. The headline needs to capture attention, while at the same time convey the content of the media release. The headline may be the only thing an editor reads of your media release so ensure it's a good one!

2. Paragraph structure - Make sure you make your most important statements in the first paragraph, waiting too long could mean your media release is never read! The headline along with your opening paragraph should tell a gripping story. Answer the five critical questions, who, what, where, when and why. The last paragraph is your call to action - make it clear and compelling.

3. Writing Style - Keep your audience for the media release in mind and ensure all information is factual and relevant to that audience. Provide statistics and/or relevant quotes that substantiate the information you are providing. Limit jargon and slang.

4. Distribute - Spend the time researching and creating a distribution list. Effective media releases do work; you just need to ensure that you send your media release to the right places. Check out industry associations, relevant publications (both print and online), newswire services, PRWeb, the opportunities are endless!

Writing a foolproof media release will take a little time and effort. The rewards of free publicity, resulting in even more customers and revenue are worth the investment! Why not try writing and distributing a media release today!

Matt Bacak became "#1 Best Selling Author" in just a few short hours. Recent Entrepreneur Magazine's e-Biz radio show host is turning Authors, Speakers, and Experts into Overnight Success Stories. Discover The Secrets To Unleash The Powerful Promoter In You! Sign up for Matt Bacak's Promoting Tips Ezine ($100 value) just visit his website at http://www.powerfulpromoter.com or http://promotingtips.com

Do You Really Need Pr

Writen by Robert A. Kelly

The right kind of PR, that is, the kind that puts you in charge of the care and feeding of a lot of people who play a major role in just how successful a manager you're going to be?

As that manager, it also helps if you accept the fact that you need the kind of external stakeholder behavior change that helps you reach your business, non-profit or association objectives.

And it's also helpful if you believe it's a good idea to try and persuade those important outside folks to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed.

Given all of that, if it now appears that you need to do something positive about the behaviors of those outside audiences that most affect your operations, yes, you really need public relations!

I mean, look at the sort of results you could be getting: politicians and legislators starting to view you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities; prospects starting to do business with you; fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; membership applications on the rise; customers starting to make repeat purchases; community leaders beginning to seek you out; welcome bounces in show room visits; higher employee retention rates; and even capital givers or specifying sources beginning to look your way.

So we agree that, yes, you really need public relations. But here's what's got to happen.

From the get-go, assure yourself that the public relations people assigned to your department, division or subsidiary know you're determined to find out what your most important outside audiences actually think about your organization. Reason being that target audience perceptions usually lead to behaviors that can help or hinder you in achieving your operating objectives.

Pin down which audiences are really key to your success then build and prioritize your list of important outside groups of people whose actions most affect your unit. And begin work on that top external audience.

Your new public relations effort will depend for its success on how efficient you are in gathering the perceptions of your organization held by your key target audiences.

Put your public relations team to work interacting with members of that #1 outside audience. Or, if you can tap a good sized budget, you can ask a professional survey firm to do the job for you. However, because your PR folks are already in the perception and behavior business, my choice would be to use them for this assignment.

Either way, someone must interact with members of that prime audience and ask questions like "What do you know about our operation? Are you familiar with our services or products? Have you had any negotiations with us? If so, were they satisfactory?"

Keep a careful eye on responses. Notice any evasive or hesitant comments about your organization? Be especially alert for misconceptions or untruths. Are there false assumptions or inaccuracies you need to remedy in light of experience that shows negative perceptions inevitably lead to negative behaviors – the kind you must correct to protect your unit's operations.

All this work prepares you to set your public relations goal. For instance, clarify a hurtful inaccuracy, fix that misconception or flatten that rumor once and for all.

As with just about any goal you pursue, you don't reach it without the right strategy to show you how to get there. Fact is, with matters of perception and opinion, you have three strategic options: change an offending opinion/perception, create it where there isn't any, or reinforce an existing perception.

Here, perhaps the hardest work connected to a public relations program rears its ugly head -- preparing the persuasive message you will use to carry your corrective facts and figures to members of your key target audience.

Several characteristics are required in such a message. It must be clearly written as to why that misconception, inaccuracy or false assumption should be corrected or clarified. Supporting facts must be truthful so that they lead to a finished message that is persuasive, believable and compelling.

How would you plan to move your message to your audience? This is the least complex step in the sequence because there are so many communications tactics ready to do the message delivery job for you. They range from op-eds in local newspapers, radio and TV interviews, speeches, consumer briefings and brochures to newsletters, special events, emails, personal meetings and many, many others. Only caution: be sure the tactics you assign to the job have a good record of reaching people just like the members of your target audience.

Can we point to progress? Only way to know for certain if offending perceptions have been altered, is to interact out there once again with those audience members asking the same questions as before. But this time, you and your PR team will be watching carefully for indications that the troublesome perception really is correcting in your direction.

That IS where "the public relations rubber meets the road," isn't it? Business, non-profit or association managers use mission-critical public relations to alter an offending perception, leading directly to the predictable behavior…which helps them reach their department, division or subsidiary objectives.

About The Author

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communi- cations, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public relations. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net. Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com

Public Relations For Garage Door Companies

Writen by Lance Winslow

Garage Door Opener Installers and Garage Door Companies are just like any other business and that means they need to do some amount of community goodwill to thrive and prosper in their markets. But what kinds of public relations campaigns can such a company do to promote themselves as good corporate citizens?

Perhaps you have your thinking cap on and have thought about Habitat for Humanity and yes that is one good thing they can do along with sponsoring a Soccer or Little League Team. But for publicity and PR to really work you need a news worthy item, so how about having them join a neighborhood mobile business watch in the area? Why you ask? Well consider the business model;

GARAGE DOOR COMPANIES: These companies deliver, install and repair garage doors in neighborhoods. It behooves these companies to participate because neighbors will not think they are stealing when they come to someone's house if they have the neighborhood mobile watch sign on their trucks. So they are very apt to join the program and participate. They rely on referrals from other contractors, and can also help build your program in size and number of units on the road.

Now then can you see why joining in with a group of businesses in the community to take a bite out of crime and keep their eyes open for evil bad guys makes so much sense? Consider all this in 2006.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Effective Press Release Distribution Is Key To Spreading The Word

Writen by Chris Robertson

When it comes to getting your message out to the media, there are two forces at work. The first is the diversity of media outlets that exist today. In addition to the mainstream print, television, and radio media, there are now millions of websites that publish news as text, audio, and video. The second force at work is the media's insatiable appetite for content. In an era of 24/7 cable news channels and Internet access, there is a never-ending demand for news. Both of these factors work for you as you design a plan for press release distribution.

Unfortunately, balancing the media's ongoing need for content is the exploding growth of competition among those wanting to get their message out. Everyone from the President of the United States to the most recently launched website is competing for airtime, column inches, click-throughs, and blog entries. There's nothing more frustrating than to carefully craft news releases, only to find they don't even create a blip on the media's radar. Today's competition demands that, in order to get your message out, you have to adopt a sophisticated strategy when it comes to press releases and press release distribution.

The path of least resistance - and often the path of greatest success - is to engage the services of a PR service or news release services. They have access to professional writers and reporters who are well versed in the art of creating an attention-grabbing press release. News release services also have extensive media contact databases, which means that your release can reach hundreds of thousands of members of the media. A PR service can also distribute news releases through multiple channels, such as radio, fax, and email. Conversely, it can personalize and target press releases to a specific segment of the media. Most importantly, news release services have triggers that can make press releases available online at a moment's notice. This capability can be very important to editors, who rely on established press release distribution networks to gather information about new products, services, business relationships, and other announcements before their competitors.

If you choose to write and distribute your own press releases, keep these tips in mind:

Make it Newsworthy: Regardless of how well-written your news release might be, it won't get picked up if it's not newsworthy. Not every topic is earth shattering, but help it along by hooking it to current events. Editors are always looking for a new angle on a current story.

Make it Well-Written: A poorly written news release will end up in any editor's trash bin. Make sure the headline commands attention and that the text follows the "Five Ws" - Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Editors should only have to read the first paragraph to understand your point. Above all, don't forget to run a spell check and grammar check. If you're not a good writer, hire a PR service and have them write your press releases for you.

Distribute it Properly: If you're announcing an event two weeks ahead of time, don't bother sending your press releases to magazines that go to press more than a month before they hit the newsstands. If your news releases are specific to a certain industry, don't waste your time sending them to consumer publications. Above all, don't simply post it on your website and hope that the media finds it. A press release distribution service is well worth the money it can disseminate your news as broadly or as narrowly as you wish.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Visit this Communications Website and Majon's Communications directory

Getting To Know Your Local City Council Members

Writen by Lance Winslow

The easiest way to meet city council members is to meet them at an event. Usually city council members have a phone number that is listed. Many will not ever answer the phone, but events they must be cordial and open to all. Explain who you are and your business and thank them for some endeavor they feel strongly about in the city. If they are too busy to talk with, then make friends with everyone who talks to them and make sure they get a business card too.

If you make friends with all their neighbors and they see you, you will obviously make an impression. A perception - politicians are always dealing with perceptions. So turn the tables a little. Other ways to meet city council members is to find out things about them from neighbors such as:

What service clubs they belong to

What school their children go to

What church or temple they attend

What pet projects they like

If your city is set up with a Mayor, city manager and council people you will additionally have to meet them all. To meet your city manager this requires a completely different approach. City managers usually rely on many vendors and special relationships that go way back. It is important to know the movers and shakers of the town especially those 'Good ol' boys' who do contract consulting with the city. A good city manager can usually get someone to do a report that shows figures any way they want.

You should be doing business with those companies who support the city through contract consulting or major contracts. Also builders, shopping center owner/managers and large employers are generally on the city managers list of close contacts. One idea is to try to get on the Mayors Task force of small businesses, there is a time commitment, but it is worth it. If you find difficulty getting on the board of such a group look to your chamber of commerce to assist, no matter how large the group everyone needs volunteers and people who can get stuff done. This is serious politics. Be friends with everyone. Never take sides. If anyone asks you how you feel about an issue simply say:

"I think that's very important."

If forced into an issue, listen, ask questions and agree 100% with the side and opinion of who ever you are talking to. It's not lying. It's surviving and it's a taste of their own medicine. They deserve it. All politics is local and they are all scoundrels anyway, if you can't throw them very hard, the trust ought to be about the same distance. Think about it.

Lance Winslow

A Company That Doesnt Need Public Relations

Writen by Robert A. Kelly

Really? You mean there are NO perceptions and behaviors peculiar to that company's outside audiences that would help or hinder it in the pursuit of its objectives?

Wow! I need to know more about a company that can ignore what its key external publics perceive about the company AND how they behave. I need to know how such a company can disregard serious negative behaviors by people who make up an influential external audience, and still reach its business objectives!

In fact, it would have to be a miracle! I don't buy it because it defies logic!

The business world doesn't believe that's possible either because it needs public relations big time, and they show it every day.

How? By staying in touch with their prime external publics and carefully monitoring their perceptions about the company, their feelings about any current topic at issue, AND the behaviors that inevitably follow.

Possibly there is an angle here for your business.

Now, with what has been learned about that audience's feelings and beliefs, the public relations goal, corrective if needed - for example, a specific behavior change -- can be established.

Which then requires that a strategy be identified. There are just three choices here, create opinion where none exists, change existing opinion, or reinforce it.

It's a logical sequence. With the strategy now set, we need persuasive messages with a good chance of moving perceptions (and thus behaviors) in the organization's direction. And we make sure the messages talk not only to the current topic at issue, but any misconceptions encountered during our information gathering, and to any problems that might be brewing.

What will we do with our new messages? We'll carry them to the attention of our priority audience. We'll use communications tactics that are credible in the eyes of the receiver, effective in reaching him or her. We'll also want tactics that stand a good chance of moving opinion in that target audience, on the topic at issue, in the direction of the industry's position..

Fortunately, there are dozens of communications tactics to choose from: newsworthy announcements, letters-to-the-editor, news releases, radio and newspaper interviews, brochures, speeches and on and on.

At this point, we're back to the monitoring mode as we interact once again with members of the key target audience. With our communications tactics hammering away, we keep one eye peeled for signs of target audience opinion shifts in the industry's direction. The other eye, (and ears) stay alert for any references by print and broadcast media, or other local thoughtleaders, to our carefully prepared messages.

Our bottom line is, are perceptions and behaviors within the target audience being modified? If not, adjustments to both message and communications tactics - often a big increase in, and wider selection of tactics -- must be made.

Gradually, you'll begin to notice changes in opinion starting to appear along with a growing receptiveness to those messages of yours. This is real progress.

Should you still need encouragement to hang in there with your brand new public relations program, consider this. A single issue - for example, a potentially dangerous, unattended perception among a key audience -- can spread like wildfire nudging any business closer to failure than success.

Now, don't you feel better about public relations?

Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net.

Robert A. Kelly © 2005.

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public relations.

Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com; bobkelly@TNI.net

Building The Best Network

Writen by Jill Lublin

If you want to succeed, build a great team. A great team multiplies your prospects for success; it enables you to form relationships with powerful people who can make your dreams come true. A great network supports your strengths, fills in your weaknesses and allows you to d build on your teammates' accomplishments. When you have a great team, people assume that you are great and will stand in line to get to know you, do business with you, and help you. They will also be delighted to pay your price.

Okay, so you understand the value of a strong network. Now, how do you get started in building a great network?

Well, unless you've been living in total seclusion, you already have a network in place. And your network is probably more extensive than you realize. It may not be a great network yet, but it's a beginning and a place from which to build. Your network most likely consists of your family, friends, schoolmates and business associates. It includes people with whom you've conducted business, socialized or otherwise interacted. In addition, the members of your network members' networks are also members of your network. Therefore, if your accountant is a member of your network, so are all the members of your accountant's network.

To build great networks, you need great people: great lawyers, doctors, dentists, accounts, insurance agents, friends, etc. If a disaster arose in the middle of the night, whom would you call? Can you count on him/her? Would he/she solve your problem? If a disaster arose in the middle of the night, who would call you? How could you help? Could they count on you?

If you want to build a great network, you must continually expand and upgrade your existing network. Everything always changes and what constitutes a great network today, could be less than great tomorrow. Network members drop out and lose interest: they change businesses, interests, and their lives and so will you. In networking, expanding and upgrading is a never-ending process: heads of states, CEOs, established leaders at every strata of society are constantly seeking to find the best people and incorporate them into their networks, add them to their teams. So the process of expanding and upgrading never stops; it's what building a network is about.

To expand and upgrade your network requires focus. Once you realize that you have a network, it's time sharpen your focus and begin to see with new eyes. Continually look for new and better network members and search for links that tie your network members with virtually everyone you meet and everything you experience. Search for opportunities for your network members and help them reach their goals.

Follow the example of the successful people in your life. Have you noticed how frequently they take new information and relate it to their particular area of expertise? Have you observed that writers tend to see everything as material for potential stories, financiers always look at the bottom line, publicists think about promotional possibilities, comics turn everything into humor, lawyers probe for hidden liabilities and medical workers zero in on health?

Well, successful networkers operate on the same principle. They're obsessed with connections and instinctively search for them. Accomplished networkers see the world in terms of leads, contacts, and opportunities that will bring them closer to network relationships. They view the world optimistically and see every possibility as an opening that could lead them to their pot of gold.

Examine how the successful people you know process new information. Then apply their methods to your situation.

In most cases, your contacts have been around for quite a while. However, you confined them to specific niches. To you they were friends, family, business associates, or service people, not potential network contacts. When you expand your awareness to see those around you also as members of your network, you can refine your networking focus.

Focus on networking. Practice honing your networking focus until it becomes a highly-developed skill. Begin by:

* Asking yourself if people you know, meet or hear about could help you network.

* Clarifying precisely how these people could help. For example, introduce you to the mayor, recommend you for the membership in the garden club or inform you where they found their antique Venetian carnival masks.

* Find out what places and events would be worth attending to expand your contacts.

* Question how you can make the best use of information to connect you with your targets.

Developing networking focus isn't difficult and before long, it will become second nature. Work to get it down pat because the ability to focus sharply is a priceless skill that will bring you rewards for the rest of your life.

Jill Lublin, author of the best selling book, Guerrilla Publicity, is a renowned public relations strategist and marketing expert. Jill is founder of GoodNews Media, Inc. a company specializing in positive news. She is currently the host of the nationally syndicated radio show, Do the Dream where she interviews celebrities who have achieved their dreams. Jill also has a TV pilot, The Good News, and an upcoming book, Networking Magic (Adams Media). Websites: www.promisingpromotion.com and www.jilllublin.com.

Marketingminded Financial Planners Put Extra Content In An Ezine

Writen by Ned Steele

As you start getting more media-savvy, you'll find yourself coming up with more and more information and ideas to help the public. Not all of these ideas will strike the fancy of your media contacts, but don't let them go to waste—become a media person yourself by publishing an e-zine.

Fill your e-zine with the same advice, information, and tips you use in your publicity articles. You'll want to edit in for readability on the Web—that means short paragraphs. Studies have shown that people hate reading long blocks of text on a computer screen.

You are using the same content, but have more ways to get it in front of your sources of referrals, clients and potential clients. Better publicity, better marketing, more business.

You don't have to be tech-savvy or even tech-competent to create an e-zine these days. Plenty of services now do all the tech stuff, design work, and bulk e-mail distribution for you…. for pennies. They are web-based, so you don't even have to download a program, and you can write your e-zine from anywhere.

Once you spend an hour doing the basic set up work, all you do is write a few clever words, they automatically fall into an appealing-looking template, and are then sent to your list.

Ned Steele works with people in professional services who want to build their practice and accelerate their growth. The president of Ned Steele's MediaImpact, he is the author of 102 Publicity Tips To Grow a Business or Practice. To learn more visit http://www.MediaImpact.biz or call 212-243-8383.

A Guide To Optimizing Public Relations Content

Writen by Peter Prestipino

This guide to "SEOing" your PR efforts can help you get high-ranking search results for your press releases, marketing white papers and ezine newsletter content. Whether you are managing PR efforts for several online companies or just one website, you've probably wondered how you can increase your sites (more importantly, your work) overall impact in the Web community. While the answer lies less and less on traditional forms of promotion such as press releases, learning the tricks of the trade to qualifying for top search engine placement could be the most important thing you ever do for your company.

So how do you help generate visits to your website? By optimizing website content such as press releases, marketing white papers and ezine newsletter content you can increase the chances that potential visitors select your site from search engines. The reason (which you will learn how to do in this article) is because you will using alternate keywords and key phrases that are related to your business or service that are outside of the most popular terms that your search engine optimizer should be striving for, and your advertising efforts should be bringing in through bid for placement campaigns.

Identify Your Target Audience:

While traditional PR teaches us that it is wise to focus our efforts on reaching journalists, editors and producers (members of the media), effective online PR make us focus on reaching the "public" directly. If you provide a specialized product or service, web users may not know you exist if you don't appear in the search engines. If your search engine optimizer can't get a number one listing for the hot keyword for your site, don't worry, you literally have thousands of other keyword and key phrase options to choose from to generate publicity.

As a PR person, you probably have hundreds of articles, reviews or press releases about your company's specific products or services. The best thing you can do with them is to identify which audience is best suited to that content and be as specific as possible. This is typically called a "segmentation strategy." While the media should continue to be one of these "segments" don't eliminate the larger "segment" of general web users. These are prospects for your products and services and are searching with innumerable variations of keywords, many of which should be contained within your PR materials like press releases.

By actively segmenting your users into groups, the users you are attempting to attract are actively seeking information about products and services, which is exactly what you are providing with articles, newsletters, reviews and white papers. These readers will eventually be ready to buy from your site if you are selling what they are looking for!

Researching Your Keywords

Whether you realize it or not, there are probably thousands of keywords and keyword phrases that people might use to find information about the products or services that you provide. Since you have already segmented your potential audiences, a little research never hurt anybody. So sit down, find your competitors and see what keywords they are promoting their site with. You might also want to use popular keyword suggestion tools provided by bid for placement search engines such as Overture or 7Search.com. You will quickly discover the most searched words or phrases that people are actually using. Start with general descriptions of your services and move on to two or three word phrases. The more general your terms are, the more competition there will be for them. So instead of the keyword "Public Relations," how about "public relations firms in Chicago?" Instead of "baby gifts" how about "unique baby shower gift ideas." Picking more specific key phrases can increase your chances of driving quality traffic and generating buzz about your product. Use these targeted terms in your press releases, articles and white papers; better yet, use one targeted term and its derivatives in one article each and make the most of all your keywords and all your articles at once! Also, make sure the content reflects the audience segments you identified.

The Hack's Guide to SEO

SEO is complex and requires expertise to be truly successful, unless of course you follow this simple overall guide to optimizing your PR content. There are literally hundreds of guidelines that must be abided by that you should at some point try to understand. The first is to make sure the words that people use to find your product or service are included in your page and its content. These pages need to be useful, information rich and clearly and accurately describe your content. Then position the keywords (that's optimization). Make sure that the keywords and key phrases you have researched appear in important positions on your website. Each page's title tag is unique and should be as important to you as the headline of the press release posted on your page. Remember that optimization does not mean stuffing your meta-tags with every single keyword and key-phrase. Appropriateness is more important that quantity in this case. Make sure those keywords are relevant to the content appearing in your pages and that they appear high in the body copy of your page. When you think about it, these same "Inverted Pyramid" principles of press release writing should be used when you optimize your content: keep the good stuff at the top, just in case your visitor loses interest. Keep in mind that pronouns are just "dead weight" to search engine spiders so enter your press release "it." "its," and "ours" with specific keywords or keyword phrases for each page of content.

Go Promote!

It's what you do best so go do it! Share your press release, articles, white paper and Ezine with as many people as you can. Since every major search engine uses links as part of its ranking algorithm, you can improve how well these newly created page rank if they get a lot of quality inbound links from other sites. Ask other PR webmasters like you for reciprocal links, submit articles to article directories, and get a professional SEO to submit your hundreds of newly optimized PR content pages!

The End

This guide to "SEOing" your PR efforts is not intended as a replacement for a complete Search Engine optimization campaign, it is merely a guide to help you get high-ranking search results for your press releases, marketing white papers and ezine newsletter content.

About the Author Peter Prestipino, Chicago, IL, USA Pete@swirlingcircle.com http://swirlingcircle.com Pete Prestipino is the founder and CEO of SCG - Swirling Circle Group Public Relations a consortium of publicicsts, online marketers, promoters, SEO's, web designers, and Internet consultants. For information on your PR needs, visit: www.SwirlingCircle.com

Want To Boost Your Advertising Value Get Your Business In The News

Writen by Lauren Hobson

We see it everyday, articles about businesses in the local paper, internet news sites, or industry publications. But why do companies bother doing interviews and building relationships with reporters and media experts? Because a business news story is worth approximately seven times the value of purchased advertising!

That's an amazing number, but getting an interview or story in the news isn't necessarily "free." It takes time to build personal, ongoing relationships with people in the media, and many small businesses don't have the time or resources to devote to such activities. That's where marketing firms and public relations professionals often fill the gap for small businesses.

In the long run, however, it is always worth it to be considered an expert in your industry, and be available to reporters who are often under time constraints for their articles. Strive to be the "go-to expert" that reporters can count on!

Having your business in the news also increases your credibility, since news stories have a huge impact on a company's reputation. Readers often think that "anyone" can buy an ad, but only leaders and experts are quoted or featured in news stories.

A strong relationship with the media, whether it's through in-house efforts or through a marketing company, is a great marketing tool. It requires a significant commitment, but it also differentiates you from the competition and can boost your company's image to the rest of the world. Remember, everytime your business is in the news, you've created a seven-fold "bang for your buck" in your advertising efforts.

Lauren Hobson is the Editor of Biz Talk Newsletter, a free monthly publication designed to provide small businesses and non-profits with tips and techniques to help them make the most of their web sites and marketing efforts without spending a lot of money. Biz Talk is published by Five Sparrows, LLC. Visit us at http://www.fivesparrows.com or subscribe to Biz Talk at http://www.fivesparrows.com/biztalk.htm

Business Card Design Tips

Writen by Michael Rad

Often, your business card is the only item left with a potential client or business partner. After a conference, meeting or display of your products, you are likely to meet dozens of people and leave your business card with them. It is essential that the business card design is complex and complete. This means that your logo, name, title and address (including contact details such as phone, fax, e-mail and web site) should all be present. When you are having your business card designed, aim for an image and a "feel" that best represents you and your company. Do not go for a flashy business card design if you are working in the financial field as this might give a feeling of sloppiness and insecurity to your clients.

Adapt the business card design to your clients

It is not important that you like your business card – but it is very important that your business partners and clients like it. Of course, you should always aim to get a business card design that you become attached to, a fact that will give you even more confidence. One useful trick is to print out a few dozen business cards and give them out to potential prospects and conduct an "on the spot" interview about them. Gather their opinions and make any necessary changes to improve your business card design.

Business card printing

If a professional graphic design company created your business card, you can rest assured that they also followed all the necessary guidelines to make the business card printing process a good one. This means that the business card designer saved the files in a format suitable for print (such as a TIF or EPS) and left a bleed area sometimes required by printers. Many advertising and creation agencies also offer business card printing, either with their own printers or by using a dedicated printer's services to do it. Quite often, a graphic design company will offer you a package for your card: both the design and the business card printing.

Costs of business card printing

Because there are many design and print packages and a variety of prices for business card printing, we will not stop to analyze actual costs. However, the general rules are as follows:

· Black and white business card printing is the cheapest, but do try to print on high quality paper, or the business cards will look unprofessional.

· Using 2-3 colors (pluswhite and black) can produce good visual results and is also cheap.

· Full color business card printing is more expensive, but can also produce some great visual results.

· The larger your order, the cheaper you get with the individual business card printing cost.

More information on logo design, business card creation, graphic design tips and other useful resources can be accessed on our website: Business Card Tips

Author information: Mihai is a successful graphic design company manager, working with a multitude of international clients. Here are more similar resources:

Business Credit Cards

The 7 Deadly Sins Of Press Releases

Writen by Joan Stewart

A press release is often your only chance to make a great first impression.

Newspapers, magazines and trade publications receive them by the truckload. That means sloppy, inaccurate, pointless releases are the first to hit the newsroom wastebasket. To make sure yours isn't one of them, avoid these 7 Deadly Sins:

1. Providing insufficient or wrong information on your press releases, particularly telephone numbers. Releases must be complete, accurate and specific. (Note: A news release is the same as a press release.)

2. Writing too long. They should be no longer than a page.

3. Sending it too late. Mail or fax it to local media at least two weeks before an event, preferably three or four. Major magazines work four to six months ahead of time.

4. Sending a release with no news value. News is what happens that is different. If it isn't different, it isn't news.

5. Blatant commercialism. Avoid hackneyed words and phrases such as spectacular, incredible, the only one of its kind, breakthrough, cutting-edge, unique and state-of-the-art.

6. Omitting a contact name and phone number. At the top of the first page in the left corner, let editors know who they can call if they have questions. Include day, evening and cell phone numbers.

7. Calling after you send a release and asking questions like "Did you get my news release?" or "Do you know when it will be printed?" Don't follow up with a phone call to see if the media got your release, unless you are absolutely sure that someone will check for you. Most reporters and editors don't have time. If you do follow up, make sure you have a reason to call. Suggest a particular angle to your story, or ask the media people if they need any other information.

Joan Stewart publishes the free ezine "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week," packed with valuable tips on how to generate thousands of dollars in free publicity. Subscribe at http://www.PublicityHound.com and receive free the handy checklist "89 Reasons to Send a News Release."