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Media coverage begets media coverage: How to use publicity to get more publicity

Media coverage begets media coverage: How to use publicity to get more publicity

One of my clients Cy Tymony who writes the Sneaky uses of Everyday Objects book series told a story about his appearance on one NPR talk show lead to an invite to write an educational fun article in a teen science magazine which then led him to be invited to be on a Make TV Public Broadcasting System TV show.

His story about how one media leads to another illustrates one of the primary rules of PR.

Media coverage begets media coverage.

We’ve had many similar experiences with lots of other clients.

What turns on one media turns on other media.

Bigger media also pay attention to what other smaller media are covering. They also use them to identify guests of interest and with the right guest capability and qualities they seek for their audience.

This illustrates my ‘miracle of the microcosm theory’.

It doesn’t matter where you are, you can learn what you need to say and do to turn your audience on.

You need to offer up great information that meaningfully connects with the people in the audience.

This is what Cy has developed and learned to do as an author, a media guest and a speaker. This is where Cy Tymony now shines. His tips and demonstrations are dazzling fun examples of the power of the human ingenuity, innovation and creativity. These elements are not only dramatic, educational and entertaining, but they are motivational and inspiring.

To be successful, this is what other authors have to learn how to do. Like Cy, you can create, practice and refine your media pitch and presentations till they turn people on. You can do this wherever you are.

Once you have a communication script — something that reliably turns people on — then you use the targeted technologies that are available as a force multiplier to repeat the message to similar people and the media they read, watch and listen to, and produce the same response actions wherever you get to go.

This is a conscious business decision. You take your proven mar-com – marketing communication and you decide to systematically roll it out and offer it to more media and people.

Bu this also points out one of the challenges of book marketing and promotion. It takes work to do the communicating. It also takes time, energy, and skill. It’s not rocket science. It is active outreach and repeat performance.

This is a choice many people fail to take in spite of the gift that has been handed to them. They sit back passively and wait for more good things to happen, instead of realizing that it takes effort and energy to push the proven message out there where it can be seen and acted upon.

Knowing When You’ve Created Your Purple Cow

Knowing When You've Created Your Purple Cow

A question was presented to me today:

>> If CNN does decide to interview me, or if I’m scheduled for an interview on
>> any of the other cable news networks I’ve approached, I’m going to want the whole world to watch and learn about my concept.

>> I need to hire someone who knows how to use the Internet to make that happen.

Actually, I don’t think you need to hire anyone. I can’t imagine lots of people being motivated by a message that says ‘watch me on CNN!’ Think about it. You might send out an email to friends, colleagues and your mother, but most media won’t tell their audience to go watch you on another channel or network.

What I think you really need to do is refine your idea until it flies by itself when you present it to anyone and to everyone.

You’ll know you’ve got what it takes when it happens repeatedly and reliably and a level that produces a sustainable yield.

I call this the miracle of the microcosm. If you create something good and can communicate it so that people want it in your little neck of the woods, then when you go on CNN and say the same thing, it will have the same effect on millions of people.

But if what you created isn’t all that great, and what you said to people to get them interested wasn’t all that persuasive or galvanizing, then it won’t matter at all what you say even if you are on CNN.

You can develop your ‘mar-com’, script, or that magic sequence of communications yourself right in your back yard. You create the interview script that goes A-B-C-D-E and produces action XYZ.

This works because we are a nation of people who have been raised to respond to media communications the same way. We laugh at the same jokes and cry at the same sad stories, we cringe at the same pictures of tragedy and disaster and squeal with delight and water at the mouth when promised something sweet to eat.

Here is an article which describes a method for developing your own galvanizing communications sequence and testing it till you know it works.

The Magic of Business
http://www.directcontactpr.com/free-articles/article.src?ID=105

Here’s a link to another article I wrote with tips and ideas on:

How to Be Galvanizing- 22 ways to be galvanizing and interesting to media, prospects and customers
http://blog.directcontactpr.com/public/getting-more-publicity-getting-more-sales-how-to-be-galvanizing

To me and based on my experience with my own books, databases, inventions and clients, perhaps the most powerful thing you can do is make your presentation in the form of a helpful problem solving article or interview. Being helpful is the most important thing you can do to get people interested in what you have to offer. What you offer has to be truly remarkable and useful.

So here’s one more set of ideas for you all about:

Publicizing and Promoting by helping the People You can help the Most
http://blog.directcontactpr.com/public/publicizing-and-promoting-by-helping-people-the-people-you-can-help-the-most

If you do create a script that produces reliable action when you present it to people, of course, then it’s time to incorporate it into news releases and other business proposals and send it out to media and companies and organizations everywhere, so you can use the power of the media as a force multiplier.

I’ll be happy to see that ‘mar-com’ once you’ve created and feel like it’s ready to be pitched.

😉

Marketing and Publicizing an e-book online – poetry and more

Conducting a targeted online marketing and promotion campaign

I agree that marketing poetry can be an expensive and endeavor with low return on investment. That said, I see a lot of my poet clients embarking on personal branding campaigns that eventually produce significant fruit.

In fact, as a publicist I see the same problem occurring with all sorts of self published as well as mainstream published books.

I believe that it can be done. It is not hopeless. It is challenging and it does take skill, excellence, and devotion.

So here’s some ideas and a strategy about how to create an online presence that generates interest, and ultimately sales. Many of my clients do this as they work with me on the publicity. In fact, when this online strategy is coupled with targeted publicity, and judicious integrated marketing offline, the best results are always forthcoming.

Here’s my recommendations on what to do online.

You have to be willing to post some of your best poetry (or content no matter what you write or create) so that people see what you write, and enjoy it so much that they get interested in buying everything you have for sale.

This is the formula for professional branding that I also advocate with problem solving tips articles, humor, music and other creative works.

Offer a little of your very, very best work. Shine. Sparkle. Dazzle people. Amaze people. Make them sweat, make them cry, make them laugh.

But whatever you do, do it very quickly. You only have between 10 to 20 seconds to hook them and no more than 3 minutes to convince them totally.

It’s like people get to see the tip of the iceberg and it’s so good and intriguing, they develop a desire for more.

It’s like finding a diamond in the rough, or seeing a glint in the dirt and grabbing it and finding out it’s a gemstone.

The key is to post something so good and timely to the right needy people that you really trigger their interest.

The copy you select is crucial. One warning – don’t sell. Help or entertain or educate the people you can help, entertain or educate the most.

You have to engage them meaningfully and that is the only way this technique will work.

This means you have to select a truly remarkable piece of your writing and then you have to carefully select where you get it placed.

If you haven’t read my article on how to create these magic words, then you might want to read The Magic of Business sometime. Here’s a link to it: http://www.directcontactpr.com/free-articles/article.src?ID=105

Once you have some proven magic words, then you have to be strategic about where you place these little nuggets.

You can do this online using search engine tools. But you can’t just post them anywhere. You have to find the right places and opportunities.

What you need to do is think about targeting. What do people read, watch and listen to when they are in the right mood and are receptive to a suggestion?

I do this with prime media when we target media for news releases. We go through this same process only we target newspapers, magazines and trade press, news services and syndicates, radio and TV stations and shows, freelance writers, and the Internet media counterparts to all the above.

You do the same thing online with the different types of online publishing and search technologies that are available. Of course, you have to find them first.

This requires you to study, strategize and decide what to write and who to target very carefully.

I’ll illustrate with one simple example. Let’s say you write a poem about overcoming the challenges associated with breast cancer.

If you write a poem for breast cancer patients, then in front of breast cancer patients is where you want to be.

So think about your most important key words and select one:

For this example (I’m sending this to my breast cancer author clients of course), I’ll use the key words: breast cancer support.

You have to make use of the specialized search engines. So look for specialized search engines that will bring you to the right web sites and other online technologies and groups. What you are looking to make use of is:

Regular search engines: Web sites where cancer patients and their support networks hang out.

Photo search engines; the best photo sites about breast cancer

Audio search engines: the best audio sites about breast cancer

Video search engines: the best video sites about breast cancer

Blog search engines: Bloggers who write on breast cancer

Forum search engines: Forums that focus on and talk about breast cancer

Newsletter and ezine search engines: Health / cancer news letters and ezines about breast cancer

Association search engines: cancer and health associations about breast cancer

Podcast search engines: podcasts about dealing with breast cancer

Social networking search engines: sites from breast cancer

Yes there are specialized search engines that focus on just these technologies and you can access them and use them if you learn how.

Not every site you discover will meet your needs in terms of quality and visibility, but you can identify the ones that are significant and valuable to you.

For each valuable site you discover, you take a one to one approach, study it carefully, find the contact in-road or access point to the owner or editors, and craft a pitch designed to offer your content for publication or use the way they are accustomed to publishing it.

If you embark on a plan that allows you to hit five per day, then at the end of thirty days you’ll have contacted 150 online media. If even half these take you up on your pitch, then you’ll be on 75 sites.

And if you maintain that for a year, then you’ll be on 900 hand selected relevant sites by the end of the year.

That’s just for one key word: breast cancer support.

Now do some key word rotation switch to breast cancer information, help, guidance, counseling, mentoring, and so on.

When you have a key word NOUN, couple it with keyword VERBS or ACTIONS. I call this the SOAP method, where S = subject words O = Object words A = action words and P = process words

Create powerful keyword combinations by using SOAP.

For each subject word think of the synonyms and related key words.

Now create a key word chart and launch your search for the right web sites.

Then you systematically rotate words one at a time.

You can even do this geographically using the same key words and Google maps.

Go to Google maps and enter the words breast cancer support plus a location like “breast cancer support Atlanta, GA”

The map that results yields businesses, names, addresses, phone numbers and even web sites.

Now rotate to a new location and search again.

Now you may ask where to you find all the specialized search engines.

I have a patent on a search engine tool which I’ve made available for many months now that’s free. It’s still there for you to use:

Search Word Pro
http://www.searchwordpro.com/quick.src?Action=&T=130&04908effad

Search Word Pro operates like a channel changer for search engines.. Enter a search word and then you can send it to over 60 different search engines in all the categories described above and more.

BTW, you can easily use this to design and deploy your own blog tour. There are PR firms out there that will do the same blog tour for you and charge $10,000 for getting you on to 100 top blog sites. No kidding.

So if you want to make use of this and do it yourself, I’ve just shared with you how to do it.

What are the best ways to convert web visitors into web buyers? Make candy.

describes my candy theory for making money on the Internet

One of the discussion groups I’m on fielded a great question.

What are the best ways to convert web visitors into web buyers?

My theory on this is that web sites are just like vending machines.

What’s a vending machine?

It’s a device that’s packed with candy and parked in a trafficked location.

How does it work?

People go by, see the vending machine. They come over. Make a selection, drop in their money, grab the candy and away they go.

Now what happens?

If it’s really good candy, they remember exactly where they go it.

That’s because the physical sensation of pleasure releases a flood of hormones into your body. These chemicals in the brain result in the information being remembered.

Candy produces such pleasurable sensations that it results in chemical memory. People always remember where they got good candy. It’s imprinted! It’s a biochemical mechanism for survival.

And that’s what you need to make if you are going to be successful on the Internet.

Candy.

Now to me a web site is just like an electronic vending machine. It’s a machine sits there and offers things for sale.

Now generally on the Internet you see web pages that have only four basic types of candy.

Products, services, software and information.

Products need to be manufactured and delivered.

Services need to be performed.

Software can be downloaded or transmitted.

Information can be password protected, transmitted by email, video, audio, or ebooks or by regular book.

And of course you have hybrids of these.

Now to have a successful web site, what you have to do is make candy. The website, your product, your services, — all of these have to be ‘candy’.

Even the ideas you present have to be candy – good intellectual candy.

Good ‘intellectual property’ candy.

You make ‘candy’ so that people like what you offer, remember how good it tastes, buy what you offer, and then come back again and again.

The goal here is to galvanize them into action, so that when you are done, they jump up and open their wallets.

You can do this if you focus and test, test, test till your web site and your products and services are truly the best candy you can make.

But most people don’t do this. It’s too hard. They create without testing. This is a sad situation because they’ve come so far and now face rejection and a failure to achieve and sales.

Brian Tracy has a technique he calls The 100 calls technique. It’s a wonderful process that gets you exactly to where you need to be.

What you do is make 100 sales calls in as short a time as possible.

This is the way you learn more about how to sell your product or services. It is also how you sell more product and services than you ever did before.

Then you go through a lessons learned and revise and redo your marketing communications so that it emphasizes and repeats what you did right.

That’s also how you develop your web site so it sells better than ever.

The beauty of this process is that once you learn what it takes, you get to utilize technology as a force multiplier to repeat the message.

BTW, if you want to read more about this subject you can read my article The Magic of Business

Now changing web copy to optimize your success with visitors is a time consuming process. But it can be done.

A company called Diligent makes a downloadable program that literally creates a heat map of where visitors spend time on your web pages. You can use it to uncover your best and worst performing areas so that you can keep what works, and revise what doesn’t. Here’s a video which describes this product.

Here’s a link to the video which explains this very useful program. http://www.blinkx.com/burl?v=BiotHIpBiExaBpKbmzdNurWbYNxn7yjY

You may have to sit through a commercial to see this video, but if you get to see the one I just watched with the sumo wrestler, it’s really worth it. Hilarious.

One last helper. Here’s the link to the Search Word Pro results page on the
key words ‘best way to convert web site visitors”

http://www.searchwordpro.com/shared.src?b=474-0484d60d4d-20080609

It’s loaded with helpful guidance.

New Search Engine Marketing & PR Tool

New Search Engine Target Marketing & PR Tool - Test of a new search engine marketing and PR research tool

Everyone knows that online marketing is a powerful tool. One of the biggest challenges is to use the amazing power of seartch engines to your advantage.

Your goal when you search is to identify and target the right people, companies, organizations, media, blogs, and social networks and communicate with them.

If you find them, then you send them personal messages or a pitch or a proposal that allow you to be seen on their web pages, or in front of their auidence members or subscribers, with links back to your site. This improves your inbound links and the content people see on these other sites drives traffic, and creates interest and increases the number and quality of the prospects who are interested in buying what you offer.

That’s the theory anyway. But try using a search engine to target properly. Now you experience the real pain of the Internet. The excessive time, the web sites that don’t provide you with good information, the slowness, and the sheer volume of places you need to visit and material you need to read to find the right, trustworthy and reliable information – the critical business intelligence you need – to improve and grow your business.

The results you get from simples searches tend to be all over the map. It takes special skill to refine a search. Each search engine is sometimes different and requires special syntax.

Finding the right web sites say for your particular product or services, for a blog tour, or the right discussion groups and mailing lists, or the right affiliate sites for your product, is very simply a time consuming and arduous task.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could do this precision searching and targeting all in one location?

Well that’s why I’m creating a news specialized search tool that operates like a tv channel changer for specialized search engines. It basically allows you to enter your key words and then search all the top sites you’d want to search for custom targeted marketing and PR, all off one page.

Enter the words once and click – you’re on the top searchable resources specifically selected for targeted marketing and PR.

This tool is deceptively powerful. One commenter stated to me that the power of this system defies first pass comprehension. That’s I want your help and feedback.

I’ve created a beta test site. Will you also look at this and give me feedback?

Here is a sample page of results for one common keyword for the self-publishing industry.

(keywords= “self publishing”)

Each of the 50 + search engines listed is selected to help lead you to information, people, and organizations you’d want to contact if those were your key words.

The categories of search engines that a person who wants to do targeted pr and marketing include:

1. the regular web search engines

2. images

3. audio

4. video

5. books stores

6. ezines and newsletters

7. social networks

8. discussion groups and mailing lists

9. podcasts

10. affiliate programs

11. chat rooms

12. usenet

13. forums and message boards

14. media – magazines, newspapers, radio and tv

15. news search engines

16. SEO/SEM Tools

Look at the results page for the keywords “self publishing”. As you use this one page, you get to see the results in a new page. This one page allows you to send your key word search to about 50 search engines in each of these categories.

You can’t do this from the top search engines unless you search out and fund these searchable resources first. Here they are all at your fingertips just one click away. You don’t even need to retype your words. Just click on the search engine.

We’ve also programmed it so that each time you search, yoiu are getting an advanced search, not a simple search. This improves the quality pof the results for you.

With multiple words, the “quotes” for this search are on automatically. However, you can turn the quotes off with a click and expand the results any time.

The Search Word Pro web site is designed right now to be a subscription based license for a year which allows people to save their searches (100 of them) so it operates like a personal work station. The search page and link can be shared by email so it also has great utility as a viral and client tool, much like I’m doing with you right now. I can also create and license customized search tools like this on any topic.

What do you think? Did I leave any major online marketing categories out? Area there searchable resources that should be added to the list?

Comments welcome.

My New Business Cards

Paul Krupin's new show off business cards

Front of new show off business cardI decided to have some fun when I went to the Publisher’s Marketing Association Conference and the Book Expo America this year. So several months ago i contracted with a specialized company who creates very unique business cards for you totally personalized. They call themselves Show Off Cards.

Basically you get to select a personal photo, and then they give it to an illustrator, and they make a cartoon character of you. You get to think up something that captures your personality and image in a way that conveys the real you.

Whenever I teach or put on a seminar, I always use the metaphor of catching big fish. Of course, when it comes to getting publicity, we talk in terms of the top media being the big fish. So I took one of the photos I use in my Powerpoint presentations of me in my boat on a happy morning fishing on the Columbia River at a place called Ringold, just north of town just a few miles away, hauling in a beautiful chinook salmon.

For the back side, they ask you a whole bunch of questions and try to get you to come up with things like your vital statistics, favorite quote, and a personal mission statement.

It’s quite a process and takes four to six weeks to get it all done. But then voila!

So here are Paul’s new Show Off Business Cards.

What do you think of these business cards? Comments welcome.

Back side of new show off business card

paul-show-off-card-hi-rez-front-compressed.jpg

For the PMA, I have an exhibit and so I enlarged these business cards POSTER SIZE!

So come to see me and chances are, it won’t be hard to find me at all!

If you are interested in getting these business cards done for yourself, I highly recommend you get in direct contact with Mr. R. Scott Jones, CSO (Chief Show Officer), www.ShowOffCards.com or www.ShowOffStudios.com 336-558-6713

Harvey Eker and Brian Tracy in a marketing strategy session

Harvey Eker and Brian Tracy in a remarkable marketing strategy session.

Harvey Eker and Brian Tracy in a marketing strategy session.

You may have to turn up your volume to catch all the little golden nuggets in this one but it’s worth it to pay close attention to how these guys do their marketing.

This is an amazing little video.

Seth Godin explains his theory on flipping the sales funnel

Seth Godin explains his theory on flipping the sales funnel

Seth Godin explains his theory on flipping the funnel. This is a very important strategic choice you make. Seth says you need to make sure your product customers act as a megaphone and tell the people they meet all about you and the story experience they had with you. He encourages you to do all sorts of things to make it really easy for your clients to do this.

This is very helpful and useful guidance.

Getting More Book Publicity for fiction, non-fiction or ebooks – it really doesn’t matter that you wrote a book

Getting More Book Publicity for fiction, non-fiction or ebooks, it really doesn't matter

The type of book you have doesn’t matter to the media.

I’ll say it again.

The type of book you have doesn’t matter to the media.

I do a lot of work with fiction authors. I do a lot of work with non-fiction authors. I do a lot of work with ebook producers.

I used to distinguish how I wrote news releases for fiction compared to non-fiction, but over the years I’ve found that when it comes to getting publicity, it really doesn’t matter what the book is. Also, my experience to date is that I am not very enthused about book reviews, and I favor galvanizing feature stories and interviews. Book reviews tend to be most helpful to those who seek library and book store sales. For people who are working beyond the bookstore and library, and for those who sell direct, just rely on Amazon or online sales and web sites, or are pushing for quantity and special sales, problem solving tips articles, feature stories and in depth topical interviews produce far better return on investment. This is where I’ve seen the greatest gains for authors and publishers.

That’s because, from a publicity point of view, the media actually don’t care a lot about what the product is. They are only interested in publishing three things: news, education and entertainment. They honestly couldn’t care less about whether you wrote a book or have one available for sale. To most media that fact that you wrote a book is just a credential to you being a person who’s qualified to give a newsworthy comment.

Sure if they like the book, if it has real added value to a lot of people in their particular audience, then media may choose to write about the book. But for the most part, they aren’t real inclined to help you sell product. Their view is that if you want them to promote your product so you can sell books, then take out an ad.

What the media really wants to publish and what they respond to best is galvanizing quality content that is interesting to lots of people in their particular audience and that has real added value to them. This is what they need to satisfy their audience and keep the subscription and advertising revenues flowing. This is also what you need to provide them, if you want to get media coverage.

I can get people publicity whether they’ve written and published a book or not. I do this day in day out. All we have to do to be successful is focus on what the media needs. They respond to that.

Even a fiction book makes you an expert of a sort, who can offer helpful insights and information on topics germane and relevant to the book.

What that means is that we focus on using problem solving tips articles, human interest, delving into issues that people want to know about.

Some fiction examples that produced media success this year:

* For Ayna Meppelink’s book ‘I See a Red Door’, we present content talking about what it’s like to be just like her characters, a reluctant, psychic, doubting what her senses are telling her.

* For Mary Anna Evans book ‘Effigies’, we pitch talking points that explore the deep Southern culture, ethics, and biases that her characters encounter.

* For Molly Dwyers book ‘Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein’, we pitch interview and feature content that explores the feminist politic and what it’s like to be a revolutionary woman rising above desperate times.

* For Nick Ruth’s Dark Dreamweaver series, we emphasize the esteem building, character developing themes for young people, and the power of dreams and goal setting.

* For the children’s book, ‘Grandpa Grouper’, by Don Arends, we focused on the idea that the book delivers underwater adventure and contains distinctly innovative human interest. The lead sentence to the news release declares, “Grandpa Don Arends looks a lot like the main character in his new children’s book, ‘Grandpa Grouper, The Fish With Glasses.’

What you have to resist and avoid is telling the media anything at all about how your publishing struggles, marketing plans, publishing and promotional activities, and book sales. This will result in coverage that is all about you, but offers very little motivation to a reading or listening or watching audience to learn more about your products, and the knowledge, feelings, benefits and the personal experiences they can receive by getting what you offer. You need to focus what you offer on the media audience. That is your mission. That has to be your focus.

More important, you can’t just describe it, and say, it’s in the book. Your news release has to actually persuade media to call you and ask for the book to review, and to do that the release has to actually trigger some feelings, desire, want, and emotion. The news release has to do what your book does and achieve that emotional engagement in about 30 seconds. You have to deliver a thrill, a pleasure, an emotion and a personal experience. I wrote this up a while ago as a ‘rule for getting publicity success’ like this:

Tell me story (a short, bed time story), give me a local news angle (of interest to my particular audience), hit me in the pocket book (make me or save me money), teach me something I didn’t know before (educate me), amaze me or astound me (like in WOW!), make my stomach churn (in horror or fear), or turn me on (yes, sex sizzles).

No matter what type of book or service you have, getting publicity is a completely separate task and requires you to use different ideas and actions. And to get publicity that sells books you have to be very interesting, have incredible things to say, or offer truly helpful, educational, entertaining or humorous, or galvanizing ideas that interest people in who you are and what you have to offer.

This is a process of testing and refining what you say until you know that if you communicate certain things, a known action will result. You can interest media in writing about you if what you offer is exceptionally good. If create and offer something interesting, then you will improve your chances of getting favorable publicity significantly. Communicating that what you have to offer is good is crucial.

If you are at a loss for what to do here is a quick way to identify and develop your core material.

What I tell my clients is this:

Imagine being in front of 20 to 30 of the very best people you think would be most interested and who in your service.  Describe these people to me. These are your target customers so describe who they are.

Now identify the most important and interesting topic, challenges, or problem situation that will interest the maximum number of people you can think of in this pool of people, that relate to what you can speak about based on what you have created. 

Think about being entertaining and informative with your points and develop the ideas at your story telling best. Think about how you talk to people about your book, especially when the conversation results in a sale. Look at your reviewer testimonials. Why do people like what you do? Use what you learned to guide you. 

Then give me your ten best tips, problem solving actions or stories and ideas or lessons learned for your target audience.  Can you give these people your ten commandments?  Your best quips?  The most important things you learned by writing? 

Pretend you have three to five minutes to give these people ten absolutely phenomenal show stoppers.  That means for ten items, you have less than 30 seconds for each one, plus a one minute intro and a one minute ending.

The goal is to create a vision for the media that clearly illustrates and allows them to visualize in their minds what your presentation and their article or interview is going to look like — How you can help them put an article that gets favorable thank you’s by mail phone and email, or a good show that entertains and educates the people in their audience.

Focus less on passive ideas and more on actions or positions people can take that people can take today! that deliver immediate or tangible real time or near term benefits, impacts, or predictable consequences.   Use real stories about things that happened to you or other people to add human interest. 

These ‘show stoppers’ could be “Do This Today” types of actions if it is advice you are giving to solve a problem or “Get a Load of This” type of emotionally engaging stories that are dramatic and personal and illustrate some achievement in the face of adversity. 

This forms the core content to the news release/show proposal pitch.

In many cases ,these will also be publishable as an article with some caveats we can add to the beginning and ending of the core content to turn it into a proper news release offering.  It will also become the core script for a Q & A style interview, so they serve many purposes.

You can do five do’s and five don’ts or whatever.  You just have to be your wittiest and most galvanizing self.  You can be humorous and/or serious, just be good and make them memorable.  Keep them G Rated.

Hence the key to your success is being truly great at what you do. Help the people you can help the most. Please them and satisfy their needs beyond expectations. That’s what will get you attention. That’s how you create and deliver value.

That’s also how you market and achieve success and happiness.

I wrote an extensive article on this topic which you can see at my web site. It is titled:

Writing News Releases For Fiction Books

Here is another article that might be helpful to those who want more strategies in getting more book publicity titled: Cover letter or news release? Book review or feature story?

BTW – if you follow this advice, make sure you send what you create to me by email. I’ll be happy to take a look at them and give you some recommendations on what else to do next to get more publicity.

Writing ebooks for publicity and even profits – a comment

Provides ideas and insight into the marketing and promotion of ebooks

Dustin Wax creator of The Writer’s Technology Companion web site wrote an article titled Writing ebooks for publicity and even for profit…

As a publicist who sees hundreds of books of all types each year, I don’t believe that ebooks are a hot product in and of themselves. There are only certain types of people who will buy them and use them. The marketplace is actually pretty small and most people still buy and read regular books.

So in my view, and what I advise my clients is this: Once you own a body of intellectual property, sell it every way you can. An ebook is just one form of publishing. You can print it POD, publish it in with Kindle, package it in a pdf file, break it into pieces and let people subscribe to it, you can teach with it, use it as a freebie for people who pay for a workshop, you can use it as a calling card for higher cost services, and lots more.

I think you can benefit a lot if you look at what you are doing as if you are making candy.

Sweet, enjoyable, memorable candy.

It comes in all sorts of flavors and colors and sizes.

I see four types of candy on the Internet: products, services, software and information.

* Products need to be manufactured and delivered.

* Services need to be performed.

* Software can be delivered in a box or a download, and can be easily updated.

* Information can be provided in lots of ways.

There are lots of hybrid forms to these four basic types of candy on the Internet.

You can make mind candy — intellectual candy. This is candy that teaches people something and helps them grow.

People always remember where they get good candy. It produces a physical sensation that creates the sensation of physical pleasure and specific chemicals are released in the body — chemical memory is the result. This is the branding that takes place when we see or even better experience, something remarkable.

So no matter how you publish, focus first on creating something truly incredible. Then when people hear about it, they’ll want it, and they’ll be interested in anything else you sell.

So write to sell. Write content for information or code for programs. Write what you are best at.

Don’t stop the development process till you can reliably demonstrate that what you have created actually sells repeatedly to different people at a known rate. Do this once, twice, three, four, five times to different groups of people until you vereify that the communication you use produce the same action on the part of the people you present to. If you talk to, email, or communicate with ten people, and sell one product, that’s a ten percent response rate. Two products, then that’s a twenty percent response rate. Three products, and that’s thirty percent.

And that’s incredible for any product and marketing communications.

Then publish. Publish your ebook, publish your hard copies, publish your videos, and your dvd’s and mp3’s. Promote your speaking, your wrkshops and your consulting.

You can see more of my ideas on this how this translates into marketing and publicity at the free articles at my Direct Contact PR website

In particular look for the article titled “The Magic of Business”.

From a publicity point of view, the media actually don’t care what the product is. They are only interested in publishing three things: news, education and entertainment. They honestly couldn’t care less about whether you wrote a book. To most media that fact that you wrote a book is just a credential to you being a person who’s qualified to give a newsworthy comment. if they like the book, if it has real added value to a lot of people in their particular audience, then they may choose to write about the book. But for the most part, they aren’t real inclined to help you sell product. Their view is that if you want them to advertise your product, then take out an ad.

What they want to publish is the news. education and entertainment that satisfies their audience. This is what you need to provide them, if you want to be published.

So we can get people publicity whether they’ve written and published a book or not. All we focus on is what they media needs.

So no matter what type of book or service you have, getting publicity is a completely separate task and requires you to use different ideas and actions.

You can interest media in writing about you if what you offer is exceptionally good. If create and offer something interesting, then you will improve your chances of getting favorable publicity significantly.

Hence the key to your success is being truly great at what you do. Help the people you can help the most. Please them and satisfy their needs beyond expectations. That’s what will get you attention. That’s how you create and deliver value.

That’s also how you market and achieve success and happiness.