Tag Archives: publicity

The Power of the Press Release: How to Unleash It in Six Easy Steps

Once you understand the potential of a press release, it helps to know the best way to unleash its power. I like to use the following six steps. Step 1: Pinpoint Your News Item If you can’t do this, don’t bother proceeding to any other steps. You MUST have a news item to center your press release around. Period. Take mine for example. Last week I had two new writing credentials to promote: Casting On, Binding Off, my latest Amazon Shorts release and the Bylines 2008 calendar I’m part of. Most authors make the mistake of thinking a new release … Continue reading →

The Power of the Press Release: Understanding Its Potential

Press releases are perhaps the most valuable tool for garnering “free” press and publicity any business can employ. I put free in quotes because nothing is ever truly free, is it? You do have to invest time in writing and distributing press releases. (This is assuming you’re doing it yourself. If you hire out, well, then it’s definitely not free.) But that’s the beauty of press releases. They allow you to save money on marketing while potentially netting huge results because you can do it yourself. “Sounds nice, but they wouldn’t work for me.” I used to think that too. … Continue reading →

Hiring a Publicity Specialist or Consultant

I write often about all the ways that you can do marketing and publicity for your home business yourself. After all, for most of us, it doesn’t depend what sort of business we are in or what we are offering, marketing and public relations is an issue. Sometimes, however, the need may arise to find a “professional” to help with your promotions. Perhaps you are too busy with other elements of your business or are planning a large expansion that will need marketing beyond the realm of your experience. Here are some tips for choosing and hiring a publicity specialist … Continue reading →

Create Your Own Event

I wrote about how to use other charity events and auctions as a means to promote your own business—but what about creating your own signature community or sales event. Events are a fabulous way to promote even the smallest of businesses. Additionally, you can involve other “companion” businesses and create something spectacular that draws in tons of prospective customers! The things to consider when you want to create your own event are: where will you hold the event? What time of year or season is best for your business and works with what else is going on in your community? … Continue reading →

The Call to Action

In the world of marketing and advertising there is a little something called the “call to action.” Basically, what this means is that any advertising, promotional items, or marketing materials you produce should have a call to action for the prospective customer—you want them to do something. There needs to be something for them to do, or someplace for them to go—in order to find out more about your product or services. So, I’ll bet you’re thinking that call to action is really to make a purchase. Well, ultimately, yes, that might be the case. Ultimately, you want the individual … Continue reading →

Cool Author Websites

As I skim around on the Internet, gathering information on authors for the book reviews I do here on Families.com, I have the chance to see many neat websites. Here are some of my favorites. James Dashner is the author of the Jimmy Fincher series for young adults. His site features mystical looking graphics, great shots of his book covers, and mysterious music. This is an example of a site matching the theme of the book perfectly. Jan Karon, author of the “Mitford” books, has taken a series of scenes that could easily be gatherings in Mitford itself and placed … Continue reading →