Information marketers turn their content into cash

CAthy StuckerOne of the most important things I learned during my Internet marketing career was that people prefer different learning modalities.

Many professional speakers, for instance, are auditory learners. They like to listen to audio recordings on CD or their MP3 players. Authors, on the other hand, are wordsmiths and often prefer edited  transcripts of recordings. 

When I started creating CDs, I ignored the occasional question “Is this available as a transcript?” More and more readers kept asking it. So I finally got smart and hired a transcriber. Offering a  product in two formats—CD and electronic transcript—gave me the chance to upsell customers who bought either version.

Most CDs and transcripts sell for $39.95 each. If you buy the CD and want the transcript, too, you can have it for only $10 more, and vice-versa.  All those $10 sales really add up over time. 

That’s one of the strategies that Cathy Stucker, The Idea Lady, teaches. She’s a whizz at coming up with ways to retool and rework content to create similar or complementary products. 

She was my guest during a teleseminar recently on ”How to Turn Content into Cash” and shared lots of her tricks on how she turns one product into multiple products.

We even talked about specific vendors we both use when creating products, and time-saving tips to make the job go faster. And we had an interesting discussion about how we make money from people who get our information products for free from their friends. 

You can listen to the recording at http://www.PublicityHound.net/contentcall

Health pros: Learn Internet marketing from the experts

Marilee TolenIf you’re a health professional and you want additional sources of income from the Internet, you won’t want to miss Marilee Tolen’s “Intro to Internet Marketing” teleseminar series on six consecutives Wednesdays, starting April 2.

It’s tailor-made for educators, healers, spa owners, massage therapists, nutritionists, health care business owners, network marketers, and even stay-at-home moms.

I’m part of the team of Internet marketing experts that will be teaching health professionals how to use the Internet to sell products and services, earn hefty affiliate commissions by selling other people’s products, and create a loyal following. You don’t even need a computer to start your Internet marketing business.

I’m presenting a session on “How to Create a Media Plan” from 7 to 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, April 30. 

Marilee, by the way, was in The Publicity Hound Mentor Program for many years, so she learned at my feet.  We’ve both learned under Tom Antion and attended courses at his Great Internet Marketing Retreat Center in Virginia Beach, Va.  We’re also members of the Internet Association of Information Marketers, which Tom manages with Gayle Carson.

Sign up for Marilee’s teleseminar series and you can attend future courses on this same topic for free.  I hope you can join us, and be with me when I present on April 30.   

Pitching online newspapers worth your time

Many publicists pay more attention to pitching reporters at print publications like daily newspapers, and less time pitching reporters who write for the online versions.

Here are four reasons why that’s a mistake:

1. Newspapers are continuing to tighten their print publications because of the high cost of newsprint.

2. Some smaller daily papers are folding or, like the Capitol Times in Madison, Wis.,  cutting back from publishing daily to just a few times a week.

3. A letter to the editor or an article that can’t fit into the print version can easily find its way into the online version where space isn’t at a premium.

4. Many people have stopped subscribing to printed newspapers and, instead, read the online version for free.  

Scott Karp, president and CEO of Publish2 Inc., wrote an article titled “Why I Subscribed to the Washington Post Sunday Print Edition.” It says newspapers used to view the web version of stories as something that adds vale to the printed version.

“Now they have to flip the equation.  The web is at the center, and the print newspaper must add value, as a complement.”

If you want to get into a particular newspaper, or you’re a PR person hoping to place a client into a certain publication, research the print and online versions. Some larger newspapers have separate staffs that work online and actually compete against reporters for the print version.

Here are three tips on how to do research:

—Visit the newspaper’s website and see if you can find an online version.

—If so, subscribe to the RSS feed daily and read it regularly. Compare it to the printed version.

—Once you’ve identified a reporter or reporters who you want to pitch, Google them and see what else you can learn about them. Do they blog? If so, post a comment to their blog, a fabulous way to get in front of them long before you pitch. (See “Let Bloggers Create Publicity for You.“) Do they write freelance articles? If so, you might mention the article when you pitch them.

When you’re creating your media plan, be sure to work online journalists into it. See “How to Create a Media Plan.”

Media bias helped Spitzer’s rise to power

Eliot SpitzerI wish journalists everywhere would read the column headlined “Spitzer’s Media Enablers” in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal.

It was written by Kimberley A. Strassel, who covered the well-publicized investigations of Eliot Spitzer, the former New York prosecutor and governor who fell from grace this week after hiring high-priced call girls. Strassel writes the Journal’s Potomac Watch column from Washington and is a member of the paper’s editorial board.

She builds a great case on how most reporters who covered him were his accomplices. Giddy with delight at his prosecution of Wall Street big-wigs, journalists felt obligated to run with whatever ”scoops” he handed to them without stopping to question whether he was using his power to punish and even destroy private citizens.

Journalists and ivory-tower professors spend hours and sometimes even entire industry conventions debating among themselves ethical issues such as how to cover politicians and others involved in sex crimes (see “Framing Your Spitzer Coverage: Issues and Questions”) and little time addressing the obvious bias the Wall Street Journal column discusses.

Children’s book publisher needs a ‘big idea’ for publicity

Angie Dzalamanow of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina writes:

The Best Nest“I am the public relations manager for Sylvan Dell Publishing, a children’s book publisher committed to exciting children’s imaginations with artistically spectacular science, math and nature themed stories.  We’re doing fairly well at securing reviews for our 29 titles with key trade publications, regional parenting magazines and bloggers, but we would like to create a bigger buzz and score some national attention.

“In the back of every book, we include a ‘For Creative Minds’ educational section with fun facts, crafts and other educational activities.  We also offer free supplemental parent/teacher resources on our website, including 30-80 cross-curricular teaching activities, child-friendly learning links, audio readings, interactive quizzes and a bi-monthly e-newsletter.

“However, our books are first and foremost fun-to-read picture books, and we want parents and educators to understand that there doesn’t need to be a strict line between educational and entertaining.

“The public relations team consists of me and two interns, and our budget is limited.  We need some creative, affordable ideas for media kits and pitches, but we’ve yet to think of that ‘big idea’ we need to garner national media.  Help from your Hounds would be greatly appreciated!”