Public Relations Tips: November 2007

Why shouldn't you include a letterhead on your press release? One of the biggest enemies of success in publicity is creativity. People try to get creative and they go right down the tubes. Follow formulas that have been proven to work. In the upper left-hand corner of your press release, you're only going to write one of two things. You only have two options. It's very simple to tell which one you use. The first option is the exact words, "For Immediate Release." Some of you may have seen that, and some of you may use it. Maybe you don't know really know what it's doing, though. When you put the words "For Immediate Release" in the upper left-hand corner, it does two things. It says to the reporter, "You can use this information any time you want. You can use it today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year-anytime you want is fine with me." More importantly, though, it's saying, "Stick with me. I know how to play the game. I know that `For Immediate Release' should go in the upper left-hand corner, and I know when to use it."

The only other option that you have for the upper left-hand corner is what I called a "time qualifier." And write that down, because you're not going to hear it anywhere else. It's called a "time qualifier." It tells the reporter exactly when to use the press release, and when not use the press release. For more fantastic tips on how to write great press releases, read "How To Write Killer Press Releases."
http://101publicrelations.com/killer.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=killer_press_releases

Posted by Dan at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An effective speech or presentation means understanding the basics of delivering it.

Your opening is the most important part of your speech. You establish your credibility from the moment you enter the stage or room. You set the tone with your opening words. Plan your opening to catch and hold the attention of the audience and establish rapport. Memorize it, be able to say it in your sleep and deliver it with vitality and enthusiasm. If you have a humorous story that is pertinent to your topic, include it.

Organize your ideas in a logical, comprehensive format or segment. Depending on the makeup of the audience, bring in illustrations and stories that are relevant, including their occupations or hobbies.

Cover each segment in detail and recap it briefly to strengthen your message before moving on to the next section. Keep transitions clear. Speak in a natural, conversational tone. Avoid words that are too big and sentences that are too long.

In closing, summarize your main points. Conclude with a memorable closing, no longer than a short paragraph, that you have memorized. It can be a quote that is particularly relevant or your own thought. The purpose of the closing is to leave the audience with something to think about and take home with them. If there's time, ask for questions, or make yourself available.

Building the Power of Your Voice: How to Improve Your Voice to Command Attention & Move People to Action provides professionals with valuable tips and solutions that will enable them to achieve success in their presentations.
http://101publicrelations.com/voicepower.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=voice_power

Posted by Dan at 07:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What are some ways that you can grab the media's attention with your media kit? I had one press kit I thought was one of the most gorgeous things I've ever seen. I just loved it. It wasn't one that I had done. A huge firm on the East Coast had done it. The reporter looked at it, flipped through it, went, "Uh uh, can't use this.can't use this.can't use this." then pulled out a printout of an online press kit and was mesmerized for about 30 minutes. In fact, I was literally saying, "OK, next. Show me what's next." So it isn't really how glossy it is, or how colorful, unless there's a heck of a good reason for why it needs to be. It's what information is in it, and how quickly they can scan it and get what they need. Certainly the compelling headline, which is really informative, is really important.

As I've mentioned to you before, I use a two-line headline because they'll read the whole two lines. You can get a lot on there. Then the first paragraph, just like in a newspaper, has to have a good lead. And it isn't who, what, when, where and why. That's boring. It's something that really hooks their interest.

For more important tips on how to use media kits for publicity, read "Electronic Media Kits: How to Create Them, Deliver them, and See Instant Results."

Posted by Dan at 07:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you want your product photo to be published you have to find out a few things, like whether they will take the picture, or if you will. One way to get a photo published is to shoot it yourself. Smaller publications will frequently depend on you for photographs, but there may be occasions when even a sophisticated large daily with a big staff will use your publicity shot. "In some cases, publicity photos are useful because there's no way we can get a picture quickly ourselves," says one newspaper's photo editor. But, he goes on to say, "I think the rules for pictures we accept from publicists should be the same as the rules we impose on our own staff photographers." In other words, your publicity picture has to be as good as the shots taken by the publication's regular photographers.

To learn more about publicity photos, and how you can get your publicity photos published whether you shoot the photo, they shoot the photo, or you loan them a product and someone else shoots the photo, read David R. Yale's "How To Get Publicity Photos In Newspapers, Magazines, And On TV"

Posted by Dan at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are some great ideas for tip sheets. These are easy, and editors absolutely love them, for all the same reasons they love briefs. A tip sheet is nothing more than one page-notice I said one page-of tips on how do something-how to solve a problem, how to feel better, how to look younger, or how to do something more easily. You can probably each come up with a couple of examples for tips sheets right now either related to books that you've written, or services that you provide for people.

I suggest that you consider a tip sheet whenever you want to introduce a new product, or a new service, or whenever you want to create additional publicity for something that already has been covered extensively. Let's say you've had a couple of major articles in national publications. Come back with a quick tip sheet a couple months later, and you may get in again. The editors may not even realize that the tip sheet that you provided was provided by you, who they wrote about six months earlier.

For those of you who are writing books, I think tip sheets are ideal to sell books. For those of you who want to publicize events, you could do it with a tip sheet. You can avoid the high cost of conveying your message in paid ads by using tip sheets. Tip sheets are also great to use as a handout to leave behind after a public speaking engagement. I even use tip sheets right in my handouts.

For more great publicity ideas, read Briefs, Fillers and Quizzes: How To Write Them and Why Editors LOVE Them

Posted by Dan at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Did you know tongue twisters can help you improve your professional speaking? Building the Power of Your Voice: How to Improve Your Voice to Command Attention & Move People to Action says:

Tongue twisters are an excellent way to sharpen your articulation. Singers, actors and television personalities use these regularly. Not only are they useful, they are fun.

Select one of the tongue twisters below and begin by saying it slowly, articulating every consonant. Don't be afraid to overdo it at this point. Tape yourself and listen for consonants that are sloppy or eliminated. When you are able to say the sentence accurately, gradually increase your speed. When you stumble or eliminate a consonant, slow down and repeat the sentence.

Your goal is to be able to say each sentence as rapidly as possible, pronouncing each consonant clearly and crisply. Volume is not important. Saying them softly is effective as long as they are said with energy.

Twisters to twist your tongue

A tutor who tooted a flute tried to tutor two tutors to toot. Said the two to the tutor, is it harder to toot or to tutor two tutors to toot.

Betty bought some butter but the butter Betty bought was bitter. So Betty bought some better butter to make the bitter butter better. But the bitter butter Betty bought makes the better butter bitter.

Theopholus Thistle, the thistle-sifter, sifted a sieve of unsifted thistles. If Theopholus Thistle the thistle-sifter, sifted a sieve of unsifted thistles, where is the sieve of unsifted thistles Theopholus Thistle, the thistle-sifter, sifted?

If she stops at the shop where I stop and if she shops at the shop where I shop, then I shan't stop to stop at the shop where she stops to shop.

A big black bug bit a big black bear and the big black bear bled blood.

For more valuable techniques, tips, and tools to improve your voice and professional speaking, use Building the Power of Your Voice: How to Improve Your Voice to Command Attention & Move People to Action by Dr. June Johnson.
http://101publicrelations.com/voicepower.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=voice_power

Posted by Dan at 07:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Want to know how to make pinging on your blog easy? Here's what I do. Whenever I post I ping Yahoo's site. I'm getting technical here. If you don't understand what I just said, the book that we have referenced in the packet helps explain what pinging is and how all of that works. But basically what it's doing is telling certain engines "Hey I just did something new. Come and get it and put it in your search engine." So I ping Yahoo so Yahoo knows I've got something new and then I go and open my My Yahoo page and it grabs my content and pulls it in.
I have found that sometimes within 20 seconds, sometimes two days, Yahoo spiders arrive at the site and spiders the pages. And I oftentimes get those blogging entries into Yahoo within a matter of hours. Within 72 hours I'm in Yahoo with that post. I can't do that with a regular full-text newsletter archive page. Here's what I recommend that you do. I recommend that you ping www.PingOMatic.com. What Ping-O-Matic does is they gather all of these different places where you can do this pinging stuff. We're getting really technical and I apologize but pinging means that your computer tells some other computer someplace else that you did something new and they need to come get that. For more great ideas and information on how to make blogs work for your business, read "Business Blogging Results."
http://101publicrelations.com/bloggingresults.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=business_blogging_results

Posted by Dan at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Include images in your crisis communication plan for a well-rounded and complete plan.

Collect images in electronic and paper format that aptly illustrate key areas of your business. This may seem excessive, but print press will usually want a current headshot of any spokesperson you put in front of them. A straightforward format is best, with the subject looking directly at the camera to avoid creating the impression that your spokesperson is evasive. An expression that is somewhere between a smile and a serious face is also best.

You will be glad you have headshots during a crisis too because the last thing in the world you will want to do is schedule photos. Plus, people dealing with a crisis are often not particularly photogenic.

If you are with a big firm, make sure there is consistency with the shots. All executives should be well-kempt and in formal, professional dress. It's often a good idea to schedule publicity shots all around the same time using the same photographer. This ensures that all of the headshots have the same look and feel. It's just one more way to keep your brand image strong in the public eye.

Don K. Crowther provides solutions for crafting a complete crisis and well thought out crisis communication plan in his manual Crisis Communication Planning: Organizing and Completing a Plan That Works.
http://101publicrelations.com/crisis-communication.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=crisis_communications

Posted by Dan at 07:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Include images in your crisis communication plan for a well-rounded and complete plan.

Collect images in electronic and paper format that aptly illustrate key areas of your business. This may seem excessive, but print press will usually want a current headshot of any spokesperson you put in front of them. A straightforward format is best, with the subject looking directly at the camera to avoid creating the impression that your spokesperson is evasive. An expression that is somewhere between a smile and a serious face is also best.

You will be glad you have headshots during a crisis too because the last thing in the world you will want to do is schedule photos. Plus, people dealing with a crisis are often not particularly photogenic.

If you are with a big firm, make sure there is consistency with the shots. All executives should be well-kempt and in formal, professional dress. It's often a good idea to schedule publicity shots all around the same time using the same photographer. This ensures that all of the headshots have the same look and feel. It's just one more way to keep your brand image strong in the public eye.

Don K. Crowther provides solutions for crafting a complete crisis and well thought out crisis communication plan in his manual Crisis Communication Planning: Organizing and Completing a Plan That Works.
http://101publicrelations.com/crisis-communication.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=crisis_communications

Posted by Dan at 07:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If there are other events going on at the same time, that can affect your event, do you have any suggestions for how to check the schedule of other events that might be happening, so if I'm planning an event in Los Angeles or New York, how do I check to see if there's anything else going on at that time that may compete with my event? That's a very good question and it's a very important one. Yes, there are three sources available. One of the things you can do is actually contact the community affairs directors at the local TV stations because often they have a master list of a lot of events coming up in the community. The chamber of commerce will have event listings.

In the Milwaukee area, we have the World Festival Association, and they have those listings because they're making sure they're not competing. If there's a festival association, you can call them. Local major theaters often will have a schedule of events-major events-not only planned for their theater, but also for competing theaters because they're all looking at that. The Visitors and Convention Bureau is a tremendous resource for that information, so if you have a Visitors and Convention Bureau, contact the director or the PR department for that organization. You generally have to go to multiple sources because nobody will have everything.

For more great information and tips on how to create media buzz for your event, read "How to Create Media Buzz When Promoting Your Special Event."

Posted by Dan at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Vocal training can help you succeed in getting more publicity, but don't forget the role body language plays in your delivery.

Body language is the oldest, most trusted language in the world. It was around long before the spoken word and accounts for 55% of what we communicate, while the voice accounts for 38% and the words for only 7%. ..

Before you even open your mouth, people are making assumptions about you based on your non-verbal cues. Are you to be taken seriously or dismissed? Are you warm and friendly or stiff and distant?

Do you smile easily, or do you scowl? Do you walk with assurance and confidence when you enter a room, or do you slip in hoping you won't be noticed? Do you meet people easily, or do you have difficulty in new situations? These are only a few of the things that your silent voice, or body language, reveals about you.

Building the Power of Your Voice: How to Improve Your Voice to Command Attention & Move People to Action provides valuable tips that help professional individuals achieve complete success with public speaking.
http://101publicrelations.com/voicepower.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=voice_power

Posted by Dan at 07:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Journalists call news pictures art. Not art in the sense of museum pieces, but communication art. Good news photographers think through their pictures before they shoot, and they take their work very seriously. Publicists, unfortunately, usually give pictures short shrift.

As Larry Kramer of the Trenton Times points out, "art from businesses is notoriously bad. So a good business item with an interesting handout picture stands a better chance of making it. And there are stories that make page one because there was art with them."

The same is true for art from nonprofit organizations, trade associations, and government agencies. The photo editor quoted above amplifies on this: "Publicity photos we get are staid and unimaginative. That's why they seldom get in the paper. Ninety-nine percent of the photographers who take publicity photos have not had newspaper experience and don't know what we want. We want good action photos. Since publicity photos are often advance shots of things happening in the future, there's nothing going on in them. They're posed pictures of people doing nothing."

To learn what publicity photos not to send, as well as which ones will get you published see David R. Yale's "How To Get Publicity Photos In Newspapers, Magazines, And On TV"

Posted by Dan at 07:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)