Public Relations Tips: Magazines

I can remember as an editor, getting letters to the editor. Sometimes, that was the first time I heard about a major story. I would give the letter to the editor to a reporter and assign the reporter the story and have them contact the letter writer. We would run both the reporter's story as well as the letter to the editor. Something as simple as a little letter can give you mountains and mountains of publicity and start building on itself. Keep in mind that the reason the editorial pages are so valuable in terms of getting publicity is because in every other part of the paper, the news editors drive the content. And in every other part of the magazine, it's the magazine editors that drive the content. On much of the editorial and op-ed pages, it's the readers who drive the content.

You can find more great information like this in How to Use Newspaper and Magazine Editorial Pages.

Posted by Dan at 07:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In business journals there are sometimes special sections that can greatly aid you in getting your story published.

One of the old standbys is what's known as "40 Under 40." Many of the publications around the country will do an event for many of the reasons we just talked about-trying to get subscribers, advertisers, etc. They'll try to identify the 40 individuals in the local business community who are under age 40, who seem to be the up-and-coming movers and shakers. This is a prototypical business journal event because this is how it works. They'll find somebody, like a hotel, to host the event and take care of all those details we just talked about. They'll identify 40 people from across the business community. They'll try to get the employers of these individuals to buy advertising in a special publication that will have the bios of these individuals, so that what you wind up with is a readable version of a directory. This is a great publication. It has a long shelf life. Typically, it'll have a year-long shelf life. So you can have these individuals in there and have the advertising in there, and stories about these individuals in their organizations, and people will turn to that throughout the year.

There is a lot more information about publishing in business journals found in How to Use Business Journals to Tell Your Story.
http://101publicrelations.com/businessjournals.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=business_journals

Posted by Dan at 01:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Letters of agreement are common occurrences when ironing out negotiations between you and a journal that wants to publish your article. It’s often better for someone who’s not in the law department to right the letter of understanding. Simply because the law department will put all the legalese in it most of the time, because that’s their job—to protect their organization. It’s better for you to memorialize what you think the agreement is and send it to them, and if they agree with it, great! If they say, “Well, that’s not exactly our understanding,” that’s always better than being in the middle of a business transaction of any sort and finding that you did not have effective communication and meeting of the minds up front.

All other things being equal, even though it takes a little bit of time, it’s worth the writer’s while. It’s worth your effort to do a letter of understanding. Most publishers don’t do anything more formal than a letter of understanding.

For more tips on letters of understanding, or agreement letters, check out Legal Issues You Must Know When Writing Articles For Fee or For Free.

Posted by DK at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Copyright law is a vehicle that protects the creators of original works. You can’t copyright a title, an idea or a fact. But you can copyright any other tangible, fixed, creative expression. It’s the creative expression of the ideas or the facts that is protectable. The law recognizes that you own those rights, and therefore have the ability to decide exactly how they’re going to be used for reproduction or to create derivative works or to display in public, or to publicly perform. It’s important to copyright your articles, or to maintain your copyright, to at least not give away, or lose, the rights to control how that work is used in the future, so that you can determine how it’s used for your lifetime plus 70 years.

For more clarity on what copyright is and how you can make it work for you, check out Legal Issues You Must Know When Writing Articles For Fee or For Free.

Posted by DK at 09:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Editors toss the best news release into the trash if the headline is flat, dull or lifeless. Your article is likely to be forgotten, too, if the editor can’t figure out from the headline why readers should care about what you have to say.

That’s why writing attention-grabbing headlines is absolutely critical. Surveys taken in the newsroom show that an editor spends an average of only 5 seconds reading a news release before deciding whether to use it or toss it. Half that time, two to three seconds, is spent just on the headline.

You can apply many of the tips you read in Tips for Writing Eye-Catching Headlines
for Your News Releases and Articles not only to news releases but to headlines you are writing for informational products such as special reports and audio tapes, speeches and headlines posted at the top of pages at your web site.

Posted by DK at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

-Email pitches must be very, very short. Absolutely no more than one screen of copy. Reporters should not have to scroll to get to the meat of the story idea you’re pitching, they may not have that kind of time.
-Use bullet points and boldface certain words or phrases that you really want to jump out.
-Use a sexy subject line, something that really catches the reporter’s attention. Whatever you do, don’t put in the subject line “news release” or “something for you,” or something that doesn't give them any idea what your pitch is about. The more specific you can be in the subject line the better.
-Absolutely no attachments. Don’t send anything to reporters as attachments unless they specifically ask that you do so.
-Don’t ever flag your pitch as high priority when it’s not.
-Use an email signature that includes your name, company name, address, telephone number, and fax. Also include the word “expert” in your signature, assuming you are an expert.

To learn other helpful tips for email pitching to reporters, check out Secrets of Perfect Pitching to Reporters.

Posted by DK at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is it better to pitch an editor because they’re higher on the totem pole?
No. The best rule of thumb is if you’re going to be pitching somebody, pitch as low as you possibly can.
Find out who the beat reporter is who writes about the topic that you want to pitch. Call or email them, and give them your pitch.
Reporters are under tremendous pressure to come up with story ideas every day, either for the 6 o’clock TV news, or for their daily newspaper, or for their magazine. Reporters love to be able to go to editors with a great story idea as opposed to being told by an editor that they have to cover something.
If you’re ever uncertain as to who you should contact, just call the media outlet. You can ask for the newsroom. Then ask whoever answers the phone who the best person is to pitch to.

For more tips refer to Secrets of Perfect Pitching to Reporters.

Posted by DK at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In most cases, you’re going to have a pretty good idea of which publications the people who you sell to read. But you'd be surprised at all the publications that are out there that you may not have thought of. So here are some places to look for publications that might be a really good fit with your how-to articles:

The Bacon’s Directories
Most major libraries have the Bacon’s Directories. You can go to your particular topic and find all kinds of magazines, both business-to-business and consumer magazines, that might be interested in the particular article that you happen to write.

Writer’s Market
It updates its book every year. You can get the Writer’s Market at any major bookstore.

On the Internet
You can do an Internet search for electronic newsletters that serve your niche market.

Ask your customers
The best way to track down publications that you want to get into is to ask the people who are already buying your products and services what publications they are reading, and ask them to give you some sample copies.

For more publication resources check out How to Write How-to Articles for Newspapers, Magazines, and Trade Journals

Posted by DK at 08:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So your article has been printed and you are absolutely delighted. There are some things that you need to do with follow-up that are very important to making sure you get the biggest bang for the buck.

• Send a handwritten thank-you note to the editor of the publication that just printed your article, thanking them for running it. You’d be amazed at how few people ever do this.

• Be sure that you make reprints of the article. Most publications will give you permission to reprint from their publication.

• Ask yourself who else might be interested in the article. Don’t be satisfied by getting it printed once. You’re not going to have to write another article from scratch. It’s already written.

• Climb the media ladder. Ask yourself, “Is there a bigger publication that would be interested in printing this article?”

Get more information on how to recycle articles over and over again to appear in a wide variety of other publications at How to Write How-to Articles for Newspapers, Magazines, and Trade Journals

Posted by DK at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Before you write an article, it’s a good idea to simply query the editor of the publication that you want to get into to see if they’re even interested in your article.

Who do you query at a publication? Aim as low as you can on the totem pole with your query. Try to find out who the editor of the particular section of interest is and query that section editor.

Try to find out how that editor likes to be contacted - whether by phone, mail, fax, or email. These days, more and more people in the media prefer to communicate by email, simply because it’s so efficient.

Your query should be to the point and include the following:

• Let the editor know that you are familiar with their publication and their audience. You will impress editors immensely if you can prove to them that you have read their publication, you’re familiar with the types of articles that they publish, and that you can help their audience.

• Tell them the idea or the snappy headline for your article and why you think their readers should care.

• Ask, “Is this something that you think your readers might find interesting?”

For more helpful tips on how to impress editors and write effective articles, check out How to Write How-to Articles for Newspapers, Magazines, and Trade Journals

Posted by DK at 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How do you choose a snappy title for your how-to article that will command the attention of editors and readers?

A great way to is to steal great headlines by going to the supermarket, or any place where they sell magazines, and peruse the covers of the major magazines like Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Oprah’s magazine, and even some of the news magazines.

Take a look at some of these headlines and you’ll see different formulas emerging. It can be “6 tips on how to…” or “5 ways to…” or “7 secrets of…”. People love secrets and editors love articles where the headline starts with a numeral.

You can often take these headlines and just substitute a word or two that applies to the story you are going to be writing for you or your client, and you’ve just come up with a headline.

Once you’ve selected your title, what about the rest of the article? How do you get your article published? For more information on writing and publishing how-to articles, check out How to Write How-to Articles for Newspapers, Magazines, and Trade Journals

Posted by DK at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you’re clever, you can use letters to the editor to promote your product or service - for FREE.

One way to do this is to weave information about whatever you are selling into a letter that states a strong opinion on a related issue, or comments on an article that was recently printed, without making the letter sound like a blatant attempt at a free ad.

Here's an example:

Entrepreneur magazine ran this letter from Eric Lofgren, CEO of Panzer Studios, commenting on an article on low-cost PCs.

"Thanks to you and your delightfully unaware reporter, I now have a largely successful business. And what is it, you might ask? I make a living upgrading old computers.
Recently, thanks to articles like yours, I’ve been spending a great deal of time trying to help users who bought an inexpensive "power" PC. These computers were aimed at the consumer market and, unfortunately, are woefully unsuitable for any business...Before you print another article of this quality, could you please test these things for yourselves?"

See how he worked his company's services into the comment? How can you do the same?

For more information on how to use letters to the editor (by the way, these also work as comments on blogs and forums too) check out How to Write Crisp, Compelling Letters to the Editor to Promote Your Product, Service or Favorite Issue

Posted by DK at 05:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A quick look at the statistics that describe those who read in-flight magazines should convince you that these publications, often with high circulations, can be vital to your publicity campaigns:

· Many are Frequent Flyers, among the most educated and affluent consumers
· 60 percent are men; 40 percent women
· 74 percent are in the 25-54 age bracket
· 86 percent are college-educated
· 56 percent hold management positions
· 57 percent have incomes of more than $75,000 a year

There’s more. Almost three-quarters of the Frequent Flyers read an in-flight magazine during every flight. And the average pass-along rate for in-flight magazines is 5.5. This often overlooked medium can be a goldmine to your publicity campaign if you can match your needs with what their editors want.

Because the airlines serve very different geographic markets, those "wants" will differ from publication to publication if you’re pitching stories about travel and tourism. The good news, however, is that many of the in-flight publications concentrate on a wide variety of general-interest topics such as technology, business, entertainment, beauty and fashion.

Get contacts for tons of major airlines, plus more information on why and how to get publicity in in-flight magazines in Fly High with Publicity in the In-Flight Magazines

Posted by DK at 04:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Briefs are very short articles you can use to build your publicity. Why spend your time writing briefs?

- They fill odd-size holes on a page, and they can sometimes stand alone. If you offer a 75-word list, it stands a much better chance of getting published than a longer, 900-word article, which an editor has to have a lot of space for.

- Briefs help portray you as an expert in your field. You can send the same tip sheet to a variety of publications. For whatever reason, the media (particularly magazines) are not as concerned that the same information appeared elsewhere. So you don't have to worry that "I can't send this to Woman's Day because I've already sent it to Family Circle." Just go ahead and send it and if they've got a space for it, they may use it.

- You can promote yourself with briefs much more so than if a reporter wrote a long story about you. If you're going to pitch an idea about yourself and they call you to do an interview, and write a big story, they decide exactly what goes in that big story. Many editors are going to make sure that it doesn't sound too promotional and doesn't include too much hype. But with briefs, you can promote the heck out of your product, service, cause or issue much more than in a longer story. For some reason, editors will let you get away with it in those shorter briefs.

These are just a few of the many tips you can find in Briefs, Fillers and Quizzes: How to Write Them and Why Editors LOVE Them

Posted by DK at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of the toughest things for many business bloggers is to think of things to write about. Here's a great technique that helps to generate ideas that are guaranteed to be of interest to your audience.

First, I believe that one of the best things that everyone should be doing is reading the publications that your customers and the others in your industry read.

Gather at least a year's worth of issues of those magazines (hopefully 3 years) together into one place to use as resource materials. Then make copies of their tables of contents and post them side by side up on a wall someplace. Look at the commonalities that you see between those publications.

These are trends that are being consistently being talked about through published trade media for your particular industry. So you can assume that either those trends are what your audience is interested in knowing about, or that your particular trade's media is suffering from mass delusion (somewhat unlikely).

Those trends should give you a pretty good idea of you what you should be blogging about. Of course, the more recent issues should be weighted more heavily in your analysis.

It's one of the most powerful tools you can use because you're being told exactly what people are interested in.

Want to learn more about how to write better business blogs with less effort while still ensuring that appropriate review and control procedures are in place to help keep your company out of trouble? Check out our new report Business Blogging Results: How To Create and Write A Blog That Builds Your Business.

Posted by DK at 05:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)