Pitch Writing Lessons from Movie Blockbusters

I love to watch movies and this summer I noticed a lot of highly anticipated films. I find it amazing whenever a “summer blockbuster” not only breaks box office records, but also generates a huge buzz that gets people talking- sometimes months before the movie’s opening!

There are definitely more than a few PR and marketing lessons to be learned from the movies, but when it comes to writing your next media pitch, take special note of these ones:

Timing

Releasing a movie during the summer almost always guarantees more box office sales for that movie than any other time of year. Why? Because people have more free time during the summer to watch movies. Read more

How Public Relations, Marketing and Sales Work Together

A question that entrepreneurs often ask me is “What should I focus on to make my business more successful: PR, Marketing or Sales?”

You probably think that I’d say PR without question, right? But the reality is a business would thrive better with all three elements working closely together.

Marketing works to communicate the value of your offerings to your customers, potential clients, employees and investors, through your own advertising, newsletters and website. It’s you talking about yourself.

Public Relations can be simply defined as activities that build awareness and credibility for your company, product or service through third-party influencers – such as the media and bloggers. It’s others talking about you. Read more

PR in Your Pajamas Close Out Sale!

 

I’ve been thinking about my business a lot lately. So far, I’m really happy with the way things have been going. Business is growing faster than I can sometimes handle — and that’s a good thing.

However, it’s clear I need to prune some areas of my biz in order to let the other areas grow even more.

And so, I have decided to retire two of my products: How to Do Your Own PR: A Guide for Small Businesses and Social Media for Beginners: Generating Online Buzz.

Before I take them off the shelves, I’d like to give you the opportunity to buy them — at a huge discount.

From today until Friday, July 15, 2011, you can purchase How to Do Your Own PR and Social Media for Beginners for only $47 each.

That’s $150 off the regular price!

If you’re interested, grab these today, because after July 15, they will no longer be available — at any price.

Click here to check out this massive sale.

Or click on the ecovers below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember, these products will disappear after midnight this Friday, July 15. So don’t wait!

The Art of Enchanting Your Professional Crush

Yes, we all have them.

A professional crush is someone who is brilliant and you admire a lot (sometimes from afar). You want to follow in their footsteps. You’d love to pick their brains all day. You will do anything to work on a project with them.

For years now, one of my professional crushes has been Guy Kawasaki, Silicon Valley venture capitalist, Apple evangelist and marketing guru. I first met and wrote about Guy in 2007 when he was speaking about his book The Art of the Start – a start-up bootstrapper’s bible that I still refer my clients to.

Like real-life crushes, throughout the years, my path would cross with Guy’s – close, but not quite close enough:

• My friend Ria Sharon hosted a “virtual pajama party” as a fundraiser and I was on the same “virtual stage” as Guy and Lewis Howes.
• When I started my blog two years ago with just four posts and a Twitter following of maybe a hundred, Guy tweeted about me and one of his followers contacted me to work for his company.  Talk about social media power.
• And more recently, Guy was interviewed by Maruxa Murphy and she mentioned to him that she first heard about him from me.

Like real-life crushes, I’m sure Guy still didn’t know me from the 365,000 followers he currently has on Twitter.

When I found out he was coming to Vancouver for an event, I thought about buying a ticket, but that wouldn’t differentiate me from the hundreds of people there. I wanted to stand out.

So I set out to enchant my professional crush from what I’ve learned from his books and speeches. Here’s what Guy says about Enchantment and how I, in turn, implemented it:

Read more

109 Ways to Make Your Business Irresistible to the Media

This post was first published in Copyblogger.com. My friend Patrick Garmoe, a former reporter, wrote this piece and received permission for us to reprint it here. Enjoy!

---

Ever wonder why some businesses get press and some don’t? Getting a mainstream media outlet to pay attention to your business seems like an impossible-to-solve mystery.

You might see your competitors spouting a diatribe that you know for a fact is wrong, or that you could explain better.

“Why did they interview that guy instead of me?” you wonder.

Actually, it’s not you. 99 times out of 100, it’s not your qualifications, your knowledge, or your ability.

It’s your approach.

After 10 years as a journalist, I’ve seen just about every bad pitch you can imagine. And I’ve also come up with 109 foolproof ways to entice the media in your city to highlight your business — approaches that make the mainstream media unable to resist you.

(And lots of them work just as well with bloggers and social media influencers.)

Read more

5 Reasons the Media Is Ignoring You (And How to Get More Media Attention)

When you’re not getting any media coverage, whose fault is it ?

Is it media’s? They’re preoccupied with other things, especially politics and show business — topics that probably don’t have anything to do with your product.

Is it the fault of your business? It’s just not interesting enough, or compelling enough to warrant media attention.

Or is it your fault? Are you doing something wrong?

To answer these questions, here are…

Read more

How to Create a Good Online Media Center

One of the first things we do with new clients is look at their website to see if they have an online media center.

An online media center is a page on your website with all the important background information on your company or business. It should give an interested journalist the answers to the basic questions running in his or her head:

Who?

What?

Why?

How?

When?

So what?

Read more

How to Give Product Samples to Media

One of the best ways to get free publicity is to give samples of your product to the media. Sometimes, the media themselves will approach you, requesting a sample for them to photograph or review.

However, even if you don’t get such requests, you can be proactive in sending out samples.

Doing so demonstrates your confidence in your product. The media themselves –or someone they know and trust–can try your product first-hand and give an unbiased opinion on it.

Plus, it’s much easier and more compelling to write about a product that’s already in your hands, especially if it’s relevant to your beat (a topic assigned to reporters). For example, a beauty editor may be more likely to write about a new moisturizer if they receive a sample bottle to try.

That said, there are right and wrong ways of giving product samples. Below are some useful tips to remember:

Read more

How to Get PR for Your Live Event

You may not realize it, but having a live event is an excellent PR opportunity. The event itself is usually newsworthy. If you think it isn’t, then make it so!

Make the most of this opportunity by planning your PR efforts for every stage of your event, as you can see below:

Read more

Do You Still Need Traditional Media for PR?

With the rise of social media, many “experts” have predicted the demise of traditional media, whether for information dissemination, advertising, marketing or PR.

In fact, one of our readers recently commented, “I am not so sure I need access to a traditional reporter anymore!”

While I encourage my clients and students to include social media in their PR strategy, I would not advise anybody to drop traditional media.

It may seem that traditional media is losing its usefulness. Many newspapers and magazines have folded up. More and more people are turning to social networks first to get the news. And popular bloggers are reaching incredible numbers of people.

All this is true.

However, we still need traditional media for PR. Here are five reasons why:

Read more

Next Page »