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How to turn a Golf Digest article into more publicity

8/22/2010 By Joan Leave a Comment

Cover of the June 2010 issue of Golf DigestWhen you land a big story in a magazine, it’s all too easy to become giddy with excitement, and miss doing the hard work necessary to “publicize the publicity” and turn one media hit into what can become multiple hits.

Larry Jacobs reminded me of that a few days ago when he participated in the teleseminar call I hosted with John Eggen on how to “Write a Client-attracting Book Fast That Makes $150,000 Before It’s Published.” (If you missed that call, you can access the replay here. It includes a killer Q&A session.)
   
Before the call began, Larry asked me how he can capitalize on a full-page article written about him in the June 2010 issue of Golf Digest. Larry is an expert on how golfers can lose weight, and the article discussed how he approached veteran NBC sports on-course reporter Roger Maltbie and, through coaching, helped him lose 35 pounds. It also appeared in the June 2010 print magazine.
  
“Since it appeared, I use the link in most of my communications with people,” Larry said. “I’d like to know how to parlay this article into PR, more articles, interviews, sales and anything else you can think of.”
 
Here are my ideas on how to do that:
  
Use the Word Expert
First, start referring to yourself everywhere as an “expert on weight loss for golfers,” or however you want to describe yourself. The media, as well as consumers, flock to experts. Use this word in your email signature, bios and at the end of articles you write. Optimize your website for the keyword phrase.
 
Email Signature
Link to the online article in your email signature. You can also use something like this just under your name:  ”See how I helped NBC sports on-course reporter Roger Maltbie shed 35 pounds, in the June 20120 issue of Golf Digest.”
  
Golf Newsletters
I don’t golf, but I’m betting there are dozens of print and electronic newsletters devoted to golf. Contact the editors and offer to write an article about how you coach the PGA golfers. Be sure to tell them about the Golf Digest article, and link to it when you pitch them. You told me your target audience is mostly Baby Boomers and seniors, so look for newsletters directed at that niche, too.
   
Press Releases
Write a press release about the article, even two months after it appeared. Remember that the article and press release will probably stay online forever.
  
Distribute the press release through a service like PR Newswire. Dan Janal has a great offer that guarantees that the article will show up on more than 50 influential, high-traffic websites including Forbes.com, Hoover.com, Reuters.com, and dozens of sites for local business journals. Those business people are a perfect match with the topic of golf.
   
In addition to pulling traffic, Larry, your website will get inbound links from those influential business websites, which means that Google will view your site as more authoritative.  The more inbound links to your site from other high-traffic sites, the higher the page rank Google grants to your own website.
   
The press release should also be sent to your professional associations, trade groups, even the magazine or newsletter published by your alumni association.   Learn how to write an online press release with my free press release tutorial.
  
Articles
Write articles about your topic for article directory sites like EzineArticles.com, plus all the high-traffic websites that appeal to golfers. Be sure to mention the Golf Digest publicity in the blurb at the end of your own articles.
   
Video
Are you creating video about how golfers can lose weight? If not,  create one that mentions the Golf Digest article, offers a few tips and leads people to your opt-in page.
  
Video is one of the most powerful ways to pull traffic and promote your business. Try to get video testimonials from all the PGA golfers and other celebrities who you’ve helped, and use those at your website and at the video-sharing sites.
  
Facebook Fan Page & Groups
Create a Facebook Fan Page for golfers who want to lose weight, and link to the article from the page. You should also search Facebook’s groups and see which ones include golfers in your target market. While participating in the groups, mention the article in Golf Digest.
  
Online Media Room
Create an online media room where you can link to the Golf Digest article and mention other publicity you’ve gotten.
  
Twitter
Larry, are you tweeting? If not, start. Your tweets should mostly be about how golfers can lose weight. Include a short blurb about the Golf Digest article in your Twitter profile. Great for your credibility!
  
Order Reprints
You never know when you might need reprints of the article.  So it would be worth your while to order as many copies of the June issue of Golf Digest as you can afford, or see if the magazine sells reprints.  Many larger magazines have reprint services.
   
Pitch the Inflight Magazines
Cover of American Wayinflight magazineThe target audience for these publications—business people and frequent travelers—is perfect for you!  How about offering the magazines a list of tips on how golfers can lose weight?  In your pitch, mention the June article.
  
Here’s a powerful tip for really catching the editor’s attention. If you helped a golfer from an area that’s served by the magazine, mention it in your pitch. For example, if you worked with an Australian golfer who’s fairly well-known, mention that when you pitch Qantas magazine, which serves Australia. 
  
A Podcast
You said you have an audio product that consists of a series of recorded teleseminars you hosted. You can excerpt short five-minute segments from the product and turn them into separate podcasts, each mentioning the article in Golf Digest.
  
Ask for Referrals to Other Golf Media
Contact Golf Digest Contributing Editor Mark Soltau who interviewed you and ask him to suggest names of journalists who work for other golf media, or golf bloggers, and might be interested in your story. He might be happy to help.  By the way, did you ever thank him for the article? If not, it isn’t too late to send a handwritten thank-you note.
    
Pitch Bloggers
Bloggers who write about golf or weight loss might love your tips, or a guest blog post. When you pitch them, be sure to mention the Golf Digest article. See How to Pitch the Best Bloggers and Create a Media Explosion.
    
Those are my tips, Larry.
  
OK, Publicity Hounds, what about yours? Let’s hear your ideas on how Larry can recycle that great publicity.

Filed Under: Blogs, Business Promotion, Facebook, Magazine Publicity, Pitching the Media, Press Releases/News Releases, Publicity for Niche Markets, Twitter, Writing Articles, YouTube Tagged With: , , , ,

7 ways to use surveys for publicity, PR, business-building

8/13/2010 By Joan 7 Comments

Customer service surveyIf you aren’t using surveys in your business, you’re missing a chance to read your customers’ minds.

Surveys will let you outsmart your competitors,  generate publicity that pulls traffic to your website and blog, and know immediately which products and services your market wants, how people want them delivered, and how much they’re willing to pay.

Yesterday’s webinar hosted by survey expert Jeanne Hurlbert was filled with valuable take-aways that can help any business or nonprofit  do more with less, despite the crummy economy.

You can sign up to listen to the free replay of “Your Cash-Generating Crystal Ball: How to Use Simple Surveys to Read Your Prospects’ and Customers’ Minds, Build Lists, Create Products, and Make Money.”  Keep a pen and paper close by, because you’ll be taking lots of notes.

I watched the webinar and listed these seven ways Publicity Hounds can use surveys for publicity and to build their businesses:

  1. Speakers and trainers, deliver a mobile survey to your audience while you’re on stage, at the start of your presentation. Ask them what they want to learn, and weave the answers to their questions into your program. You’ll look like a hero on the stage!
  2. Use a customer profile survey to find out what business problems keep your customers up at 3 a.m. Then create products and services that help them solve the problems.
  3. To find joint-venture partners. Once you create that new product or service, a simple survey of no more than five questions can results in hundreds of leads that include names and contact information for people who’d like to help you promote it for a commission.
  4. Conduct an annual survey relating to an interesting, hot or controversial topic in your industry. Brian Kluth, a former church pastor, takes an annual “State of the Plate” survey to see if church giving is up or down.  More than 150 media outlets have covered his survey results.  You can see his press release, read the survey results and see the array of dozens of media logos at his website.
  5. Conduct a survey that relates to your product or service, ties into an upcoming holiday, and reports on how people behave. One of my favorites is the survey taken several years ago by Iams, the pet food company, on the relationship between people and their pets. It found that more than 90 percent of respondents surveyed admitted saying “I love you” to their pets. The survey results were released several weeks before Valentine’s Day, and the story was covered by top-tier media outlets and picked up by the Associated Press.
  6. To gather dozens of instant testimonials. In a customer profile survey, you can ask respondents about specific products and services, or general comments about things like your customer service. You can use those responses as testimonials on sales pages, at your website, and in marketing materials. That’s what I did when Jeanne created my customer profile survey for me 18 months ago.


How to Avoid Survey Suicide

Jeanne also shared tips on how to avoid what she calls “survey suicide.”

The first questions on your survey should never ask respondents for information about demographics. Do that, and they’re likely to abandon the survey.

You must get them engaged immediately, and Jeanne showed exactly how to do that.

If you think have a good idea for a survey you want to conduct, or even if you have no idea about what you can ask your target market, sign up to watch the 77-minute replay. By the time you’re halfway done, you’ll have all kinds of ideas of how to use surveys to build your business.

Important: At the end, Jeanne made a special offer that expires at  5 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow, Aug. 14.

UPDATE on Aug. 16 at 9:38 p.m. Central:

I just learned that Jeanne is extending her offer again because so many people who wanted to listen to the webinar were on vacation. Listen by clicking the link above  but do it before 5 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday, Aug. 18. If you snooze, you lose!

Filed Under: Business Promotion, Newspaper Publicity, Nonprofits, Publicity for Niche Markets Tagged With: , , , ,

How to answer a media leads query & prompt a reporter to call

6/23/2010 By Joan 3 Comments

Woman writing in a spiral notebookThe free media leads services that connect journalists with sources can be a valuable tool in your publicity campaign, but only if you know the right way to answer a query and  convince the journalist to call you.

Otherwise, these services—PitchRate.com, Help a Reporter (HARO) and Reporter Connection—can be a huge time suck, particularly if you’re subscribing to all three.

When I wrote yesterday about how to find journalists online and wow ‘em with your pitch, I got an interesting comment from Shelley Hunter:

“I finally unsubscribed from one of the media leads services because I found myself taking the easy way out.  Rather than spending a few minutes each day mining for PR gold, I just waited for the leads to come to me.  I combed through the requests and answered those that fit my criteria.  But like you said, competition is stiff and only once did I get a call back.  At last, it occurred to me that I could have spent all those minutes (that added up to hours) establishing actual connections on my own.  It feels like a slower way to go, but one good connection could lead to others.”

I replied and told her that a lot of the return on investment of time depends on your area of expertise, and how many other competitors are within that niche. Broad topics like small business success, for example, can result in hundreds of responses, and you can be sure journalists won’t be reading all of them closely.

So what’s a frustrated, time-strapped  Publicity Hound to do?
     
    
Media leads services or your own research?

The smart ones will do both. They’ll use these free services AND pan for gold, using the tips I provided in the blog post mentioned above.

Here are guidelines to follow when answering a journalist’s query:

  • Keep your response short. Absolutely no longer than one screen of type.  One-half screen of type is preferred.
  • Briefly expain what makes you an expert on this topic.
  • If you can offer the journalist other sources, say so, but don’t name them or provide contact information unless the journalist asks. And make sure those other sources would agree to be interviewed.
  • Can you provide an image to accompany the story? Mention if you have a bar chart, pie chart, map, cartoon or other graphic, but don’t attach it to the email response. If the journalist wants it, he will ask.
  • NEVER tell the journalist to “visit my website to learn more about me.”
  • If you have a contrarian viewpoint on an issue, say so up front. The media love controversy, and your response will stand out from among all the others.
  • Keep your response on topic. If you can’t help the journalist with the topic she’s writing about, don’t offer your expertise on another topic and NEVER respond to a query only to pitch another story idea. Do this, and the reporter will blacklist you.
  • If you’re lucky enough to have a virtual assistant, delegate the task of sifting through all these leads.

One alternative to these free services, which can be like drinking from a firehose, is Dan Janal’s PRLeads. For a monthly fee, Dan will send you only the queries that tie into your area of experitse. 
       
      
Share your own experiences
     
What kinds of responses have you gotten from journalists using any of these services?  What media outlets covered your story as a result of responding to a journalist’s query? What tips do you have to share on how to answer a query? Or is your time better spent building strong relationships with journalists one on one?

Weigh in here.

Filed Under: Business Promotion, Magazine Publicity, Newspaper Publicity, Pitching the Media, Publicity Resources, Publicity for Niche Markets, Radio Publicity, TV Publicity Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Online visibility: 13 ways to build a following

6/7/2010 By Joan 4 Comments

This month’s guest blog post was written byJames Nissen. Last week, I shared James’ pitch and wrote about How a guest blogger pitched me and made me say ‘yes’

*     *     *      

james nissen, guest bloggerBy James Nissen
    
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius
   
One of the greatest things about promoting a brand online today is how low the cost really is.  I have helped to market SecretintheDirt.com over the past two years, and it has grown from a single ebook to a thriving golf community.  Over 8,000 golfers have now joined our community at Secret in the Dirt, despite having launched only two months ago.  
    
Granted, we did have a strong buzz before the launch of the site, but the great part about this adventure was the fact that it cost us almost nothing to build the brand up to what it is today.  Allow me to use a cliché metaphor, but one that I think applies to building your brand.  
    
I want you imagine that before you have a “brand,” your idea is just a bunch of car parts.  Everything you do to promote your idea is like adding a new part to the car.  At some point, you will have built the body of the car, the engine, put on the tires, added the interior, and checked all the wiring.  There is nothing left to do; the car is ready to run.  You will have maintenance from time to time, but the hardest part is over.  
   
At this point, your brand can go places it never could go before when it was just a bunch of parts waiting to be used.  Your brand will never get that way if you expect it to run when you’re only halfway complete with the job.  So start building the car today.  Here are 13 cost-effective resources we used in building our brand online.
    
  
Our greatest asset in the beginning was a set of golf videos that Mike Maves aka “Sevam1″ put together on YouTube.  A friend of his asked for some advice on golf, and he put the videos together simply to help his friend’s game improve.  The videos ending up attracting over 500,000 views in a short time and people began to talk about them.  
   
Find a way to talk about your product or service in the form of a video, and put up as many videos as you can.  Other great videos sites include DailyMotion, Vimeo, Viddler and Twitvid.
    
2. Bloggers.

Many people have blogs, but how focused are they?  How big of a following do they have?  How often do they update the blog?
  
I’ll never forget a quote I read by Jeremy Schoemaker from the very successful site ShoeMoney.com that said he would continue to update his blog even if nobody read it.  You obviously want your followers to read it, but there is a tremendous power in that kind of mentality.  Other blogging services include WordPress and Tumblr.
    
3. Twitter.
    
Twitter has not brought the highest amount of traffic to our site of any source, but I still believe it should be part of the online arsenal.
  
Sites like Twitpic and Twitvid allow you to share pictures and videos with your Twitter followers, and it makes it easy to start conversations online with people who want to learn more about your brand.  You can even hold contests for your Twitter followers and keep them up to date on important changes to your website or business.
   
4. Niche Forums
  
One of the biggest sources of buzz for the Secret in the Dirt ebook came from Golfwrx.com, a forum devoted to talking about golf-related products and topics.  Mike posted in the forum constantly, answering questions about the YouTube videos and the golf swing.  I have seen forums in every conceivable niche, and if you can find one or two big ones relating to your company, posting to the forum regularly will go a long way in building up your credibility.
    
    
Seth Godin hit the nail on the head when he helped to create this site.  It allows anyone to create a mini-site (called a “lens”) about any conceivable topic in a very short amount of time.  We used this site as an opportunity to create sites about golf and golf history, which in turn brings traffic back to our site.  Another site similar to Squidoo is HubPages.
   
These pages are great because they are indexed by Google, and people may find them just by doing searches about your topic.  They don’t allow for as much customization as a normal web page or blog, but with over 300 million users on Facebook, you can be sure there are many people who will be interested in the products and services you offer.  They offer a great way to keep in touch with your loyal followers.
  
7. Simple Scripts
   
At some point, you will have to invest in hosting for your website.  If you don’t hage hosting yet, I recommend a hosting service that uses Simple Scripts.  
   
It’s a user interface that comes installed when you by hosting from Bluehost, Hostgator, and a few others.  The great thing about Simple Scripts is that with just a few clicks (literally), you can have your blog or website up and running, without having to worry about installing it yourself the hard way.  It makes it a lot less scary if you are new to the web.  You can also point as many domain names as you want to the same hosting plan (it’s around $100 a year).
   
   
This service allows authors to submit articles on every topic imaginable, and is great for establishing credibility in your niche and getting your thoughts clear about your topic. We have seen thousands of people view our articles, and all of that traffic is free.  Other great services include ArticlesBase and ArticleDashboard.
    
    
If your niche involves art or pictures of some type, consider using Flickr.  It’s a great service that allows you to create photo albums that you can share with others for free.  
  
Even if your niche does not involve photography, posting photos from industry events and appearances is often great material to share with your loyal fans.  Another great photo site to use is Twitpic, which links up with your twitter account.
   
   
I can’t speak highly enough of Google Analytics.  This is a free service that takes minutes to install onto your website or blog.  You can see where your traffic is coming from, how much traffic you had, how effective your affiliates are, what countries your visitors are coming from, how long they stay on each page, and a lot more.  Testing is critical to refining your website.
    
11. Cold-Emailing
   
I was surprised to see how many bloggers, radio talk show hosts and newspapers are hungry for good content.  Don’t be afraid to contact successful people in your niche and ask if you can write a guest post for their blog.
   
 BlogTalkRadio lets you create your own radio shows for free, and these talk show hosts always need new guests and experts to have on their show.
  
Last but not least, don’t forget the almighty newspaper.  Contact the smaller ones in your town or neighborhood first, because they like to highlight “local stories” and things going on in that part of town.  If you’re giving a free seminar or making an appearance somewhere, odds are one of the writers would love to spotlight it.
   
12. Karma
   
Aside from the fact that people enjoy getting things for free, it never hurts to have karma on your side.  When we launched the Secret in the Dirt E-Book, we gave away several chapters for free as a bonus for signing up to our email newsletter.  
    
Posting videos and blogging regularly has the same effect.  Give people a chance to get to know you on a personal level, and make it a habit to answer questions emailed to you about your topic.  Give them some real value.  If what you say gets them hooked, they will be back for more.
   
   
When we ever ran into a problem that we could not solve ourselves, we used Elance. They have professionals who can help you out with logo design, banner ad design, web programming, blog layouts, troubleshooting, writing, video editing, and a lot more.  The turnaround time is pretty quick, and since professionals bid for jobs, you are sure to get the best price.
  
Even though you now have the right tools, when you make a habit of using them day in and day out, you will start to see success.  It will feel like a slow climb at first, but that’s part of the journey, right?  
   
Take what applies to your business and throw the rest out.  Focus on one tool at a time, and build upon that.  Get creative, think outside of the box, take action, and add parts to your car.  It will be up and running before you know it.
    
    
James Nissen, head of marketing for SecretintheDirt.com, loves golf, espresso, and the outdoors. He also may be found reading the occasional book or playing guitar.  He is a graduate of the University of Redlands with a degree in accounting.

Filed Under: Blogs, Business Promotion, Facebook, Newspaper Publicity, Photos & Graphics, Publicity for Niche Markets, Publicity on the Internet, Social media marketing, Social networking, Twitter, Video, Writing Articles, YouTube Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nonprofit needs ideas for marketing training programs

4/27/2010 By Joan 8 Comments

woman's face on laptop screenDeborah Avens of Temple Hills, MD writes:

Virtuous Enterprises, Inc. is a nonprofit devoted to transforming lives of underserved women and girls in the Washington, D.C. area through training and development.

Our programs include training in computer science, engineering and computer information systems; a 16-week program for women who want to become entrepreneurs; and a leadership development and mentoring program for girls in foster care in Maryland.

How can we promote these programs without a marketing budget?

(Shutterstock photo)

Filed Under: Nonprofits, Publicity for Niche Markets
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