Discover a Sample Plumbing Invoice for Public Relations that Streamlines Your Billing Process

Sample plumbing invoice for Public Relations

eight steps to getting media coverage hi i'm micky kennedy and i want to thank you for taking the time to learn more how press releases can help grow your business who this is for this is for small business owners startups and authors who want more traffic and better customers through pr if you sell a product book or service whether it's unique or commodity these strategies will work for you in the next 55 minutes you'll learn how to develop a pr strategy for your business even if you don't have deep pockets or feel you're very newsworthy how to attract media attention by crafting content the media wants to receive and share it with share it with its readers or viewers without using consultants pr firms or publicist how to leverage what makes you unique without deceit hyperbole or making your skin crawl even if you feel like you're not that special hint you are how to drive traffic and customers to your website through the same methods used by high-priced pr firms without the expensive retainers or long-term contracts how to reverse engineer what's working and what's not being discussed within your industry for media opportunities even if you're not an industry expert how to stand out when your product or service is indistinguishable from a lot of stuff sold online even if the only thing that separates you cannot be seen like amazing customer service how to get local media coverage even if you never write a single press release or spend a dollar with me so my promise to you is a step-by-step strategy for getting media coverage i want to go over some house rules and i really want you to know this because this is the basis of everything there's no magic bullet behind most successful press releases are several that failed a pr campaign is a series of at least six press releases and often it's 12 press releases each press release failure is an insight that a particular angle or hook didn't work at that time you want to come up with a pr plan before you begin and that's a hypothesis or theory of several press release ideas then attack one by one until you succeed leverage each press release leverage each press release success by revisiting what worked and determining a possible response that isn't saying the same thing all over again my client's results are not typical typical press releases yield typical lackluster results build uncommon content that the media finds engaging and share worthy while there are no guarantees with pr most successful startups and even fast-growing giants like facebook apple and google wouldn't be where they were where they are today if it weren't for the traffic and credibility that they earned through uh traditional media pickup but before we get to the good stuff let me check in and see where you're at does this sound like you do you feel like you're spending money on advertising and is not working to consistently grow your business the way you want do you start each month wondering what more you can do to grow your business are you tired of chasing social media platforms trying to make it all work instagram facebook linkedin twitter youtube tick tock pinterest do you secretly know you're providing more value better service or something else that isn't being appreciated by current or prospective customers do you see other people within your industry getting the traffic attention and customers you want and you have no idea how they're doing it are you tired of working too hard in your business or working too many hours zapping that energy and drive you once had do you feel like online marketing has become an enemy or threat to your business rather than an asset do you feel like you keep hitting a wall in your business if any of that sounds like you i have good news none of those things are the real problem those are all just symptoms the real problem you haven't taken the eight steps and we're going to talk about what those are in just a second but just to know that once you take these steps you'll have complete control over how you generate traffic and what type of customers you want to attract you will obtain this traffic and ideal customers by issuing press releases that address an opportunity in the media establishing yourself as an authority and resulting in articles about your business you will establish credibility and convert willing customers who are less likely to price shop and create customer service headaches you'll realize that the wall you were hitting in your business was the limits of your current marketing given your current landing page mindset unique selling proposition and we'll talk about that later and messaging and you'll do all this while tapping back into the joy and drive you had when you first started this work before we go too much further let me take a second introduce myself so you know who i am and why the heck you should listen to me i'm mickey kennedy i'm founder and president of e-releases a 22-year-old press release service that's issued more than 50 000 press releases for more than 10 000 small businesses startups and authors we generated media mentions and earned media value at more than 87 million dollars for our clients we specialize in helping my clients leverage newswire access by making the most of their pr opportunity i'm also known for my mildly amusing christmas family photos and for being a committed poet having earned my masters of fine arts many years ago in creative writing i was smart i knew i would never make a living at it so i branched out into pr and that's been very good for me and for my customers discovering the eight steps there are eight steps you must make to get media attention for your business giving you more traffic improve seo and better customers i'm going to walk you through all eight of them in this session i've been doing this for more than 20 years i've seen press releases succeed and i've seen them fall flat i want you to give pr a chance i want you to succeed with a solid pr campaign of at least six press releases i do not want you to try one press release and have no strategy and no pr plan watch it fail then assume press releases won't work that's why i'm here revealing the strategies and approaches that work for my most successful clients a marketing expert told me that i needed to develop a course and sell these strategies for a lot of money i spent two weeks looking at online course platforms online how that works how you get the money you do the upsell you do the downsell that's not for me at the end of the day i run a press release distribution business not an online learning platform i want to give you this education for free because it's the easiest way to deliver it to you i want you to learn that pr holds the most potential of any marketing channel you will ever use in your business i want you to issue press releases and if you happen to use my company that's great but even if you don't you will always have this education you will know more about pr strategy than most people who send press releases today press releases today this includes pr firms i you would be surprised at the number of people who put out their shingle as a a pr firm and they don't know a lot about the strategy behind pr so congratulations step one own your story sometimes i know a press release will be a home run like a client i had that did a genetically modified cat cat back in 2006. if i recall correctly it was hypoallergenic and that cat was honored that year in time magazine's uh best inventions and the fact that cat was heralded as an invention is a bit strange but the company got media pick up everywhere people discover the economist newsweek washington post wall street journal usa today you name it i recall being at the chicago midway airport and standing in front of a newsstand and i think that a third to maybe 40 percent of every magazine had this cat on the cover and a lot of it was bad news there was the ethical question front and center are we playing god should we be developing animals in a lab but despite the reservations i knew the media response was going to be intense and i also knew they were going to do a lot of money they did millions of dollars in sales taking reservations for these hypoallergenic cats 99 of businesses will never have a story like that and i'm telling you i have done 10 000 companies that i've worked with they're very few companies like that if you had a customer like that it would make your job easier because you know they're going to get media pick up the good news is you don't need groundbreaking news for media pickup for and you don't need to be important or well funded for every single article in fast company inc magazine on a well-funded startup there's usually two or more articles about a company that subsisted on friends family and credit cards during the lean years i had one client share in the early years of their business that he and his wife shipped packages directly from the kitchen table that anecdote made it into a national magazine the media wants real stories about real people their readers relate to the human condition of struggle and sacrifice while also sharing in the accomplishments and milestones once you learn to harvest your stories your anecdotes and start to share your milestones and accomplishments with the media you will discover changes within yourself your business and almost as if a side effect you should get media pickup in which journalists bloggers and trade publications write articles about you i shared earlier that i'm a poet and i'm going to get philosophical here because it's important i have had several clients on their way to pr success say the early failures helped them to refine their messaging writing down who they are as a company for the first time develop their usp and again we'll get to that later the unique selling proposition and to come together to celebrate the wins one woman told me a manager her company read one of their press releases and immediately felt proud it captured who they were as a company and how they wanted to be presented to the world the manager later revealed that she had considered leaving the company because she didn't feel the company was focused or really cared you know celebrating your wins matters it changes your dna your morale and you begin to attract better employees retain employees you get better customers and it's just a better way of doing things for this reason always put your press releases on a section on your website and share them on social media sometimes it makes sense to share them directly with customers suppliers etc even if just a section on your company newsletter or email that you're sending out share your stories and your journey it might seem courageous but in fact it can often be contagious in addition journalists who want to learn more about a company love to find a company newsroom where they can review and research past announcements giving them a clear and more complete picture of a business it also sends a credibility signal to visitors letting them know you're a real company with real milestones in your past suppliers vendors and even banks like to see well-stocked newsrooms of businesses they work with it's a huge credibility boost that on its own helps you convert more customers and opens you up to more partnerships and opportunities now what milestones are worth issuing a press release well this is easy visit ereleases.com topics so ereleases.com topics and you'll be taken to a webpage that has over 70 ideas for your next press release it includes obvious ideas like an acquisition a new product or service a new hire but also includes things like insights on a new trend charitable work a new study a white paper and more the key is to pick what you feel is a solid milestone and make the press release as strong as it can be with a great quote by someone at your company and paying special attention to your headline and your opening sentence be strategic action oriented and concise that being said don't let this be your go-to for building out your pr plan only do so when the press release milestones are truly worth celebrating the reason so many press releases are written on these 70 plus topics is that many businesses lack imagination the additional steps i cover in this video session are much more strategic and offer a much greater chance of media pickup so don't sell yourself short by not occasionally doing press releases from this list just be sure to present yourself as positively as possible when you do some of my clients have felt that a press release is bragging if it showcases their accomplishments like it's placing too much emphasis on something they don't consider important to their business this is not boastful bragging you have a duty to your business to lead from strength including highlighting areas in your business that the media may want to share with their readers or viewers being authentic to your business demands that you own all of your experiences and showcase the elements that you don't think are a big deal to find areas you should consider spotlighting do an inventory of your unique selling proposition also known as usp and this is really important this includes areas where you your business product or service is superior to competitors in the marketplace determine your usp and build a moat around it protect it if your usp is speed of shipping you must constantly audit your shipping and realize you're competing with companies like amazon and walmart who are on the path to offer same-day distribution to most of their customers amazon and walmart may not be your competition which is fine but you must recognize that other companies who are your competitors may be considering a similar approach if not now some point down the line you can have more than one usp balancing what areas you want to claim and what areas your customers actually want you might find your existing customers prefer usp1 and you found the customers you really want to attract like maybe they have a higher lifetime value are responding to usp2 and complicating things is you may find the media is more responsive to a a a third usp usp3 so it's a matter of balancing your needs with the needs of the media which is always looking for interesting and unique stories for the readers and viewers you can test your usp in a press release and if that fails consider a backup usp like usp2 or usp3 i did want to point out that superior customer service is one of the hardest usps to promote or highlight because it's often hard to distinguish and there's become an expectation that you should always receive good customer service being the founder of a company that focuses on superior customer service i wish it promoting superior customer service worked more than it actually does if you sell a commodity a commodity that is indistinguishable from that sold by others you must do a deep dive to distinguish how you want to compete against others what makes you different something has to make you different you have to claim that it could be price customer support add-on speed of delivery if you don't have a usp then you need to create one that you can profitably deliver this is not just to get media attention this is critical to the survival of your business very few companies can grow or prosper if they aren't doing at least one thing better than most without a strong usp and knowing where your company fits into the competitive landscape eventually your company will fail to prosper whether you use pr or not several businesses sell macbook pro laptops but apple doesn't allow companies to sell them for a discount more than a few negligible percentage points so when you're handicapped like that how do you compete well apple sells them so you've you've got to compete against the manufacturer best buy competes by providing in-store availability and occasional promotions like a gift card amazon competes on its streamlined shopping experience and quick delivery b h photo excludes sales tax from purchases in many states where they don't have a physical presence and mac mall often creates free bundles that include software and accessories each company is trying to offer something unique and distinct from its competitors so the one that resonates with their desired customers stands out some of these companies will mix and match and change their usp over time until they find one that works and hopefully it continues to work step two research your industry i previously mentioned a local carpet company in new jersey that became a media darling by sending out a press release on marketing against big box home improvement stores here's what i didn't share one particular floor trade publication offered them a marketing column they wanted to contribute regular articles on marketing that magazine said that they received more favorable feedback from that one article then all other feedback they had received for everything else in the past year this proved that a vacuum existed in the floor trade industry when it came to discussing the issue of marketing are there similar opportunities within your industry is there a subject or topic you can tap for a press release that's been an industry blind spot exploring who are the heroes villains and cheerleaders within your industry might reveal angles the media will respond to in my carpet company example big box home improvement stores are the villains also who are the unsung heroes or champions in an industry for example an individual government official is a friend to the industry which could create an opportunity for you to call for his or her recognition or it could be someone who is instrumental in forming an industry association and has been quietly existing in the background for decades or years as a member of the industry you can advocate for someone else thrusting you into the spotlight as a person of influence in your community another approach reveal the dirty secrets everyone in your industry knows you only need one dirty secret for this to work ingrained industry knowledge is often not written down or explored in writing everyone in the industry just takes it for granted when in fact some people like new hires and uh the newer generation within the industry aren't aware of it at all in online marketing the issue of click fraud from link farms and bots is known by most people yet i still see articles on the subjects a couple of times each year which can often be traced back to a press release by a company offering it's click fraud solutions so it's pretty obvious despite most industry insiders being aware of it readers are still interested in the topic meaning journalists will cover it from time to time if you just approach them with the right message and a compelling quote often that right message is taking the existing topic and expanding it for example you could expand click fraud to address how mobile traffic fits into the issue of click fraud do your research find out what's being covered then try to improve upon it if you add to the overall conversation you stand a good chance of being rewarded with media coverage step 3 quote me on it the key to getting earned media on a topic outside of your direct business like an industry opinion or call to honor someone is to craft a memorable but concise quote if a journalist can paraphrase your quote without giving you credit you make it all too easy for that to happen often by a managing editor who doesn't realize that behind a mediocre quote from somewhat of an unknown company is the person who inspired the story to begin with make it so that if your quote is removed the article would suffer i say spend more time on the quote than any other element of your press release with the possible exception of the headline example of a meteor mediocre quote abc one hospital is a leader in providing exceptional quality of care for residents in the region said john smith president and ceo at abc one hospital we see product x as a welcome tool to be used in our cleaning methods infection prevention is important to us it gives peace of mind to our patients and staff as they will know that our facility is safe example of a stronger quote the addition of product x to abc one hospital's stringent cleaning methods provides a much needed weapon the ongoing fight against infections said john smith president and ceo at abc1 hospital as a regional leader in quality care we continually strive to bring improvements to our infection prevention protocols to secure the peace of mind of our patients and staff the difference here is subtle but the second example reads better and has more strength very few words removed just the arrangement tweaked to be less passive another example oh and this one's a doozy here's the mediocre quote securing the internet of things iot is unlike any of the traditional enterprise devices we've had to secure up until now for those past devices security is added after the device is manufactured and shipped to the user it's like the device is a baked cake and the security is layered on like icing said jane smith vice president of sales xyz technology iot requires security to be designed and architected into the device essentially security needs to be mixed into the batter from the beginning before the cake is baked using alternative diy approaches to iot security are simply too inconsistent and too risky xyz is leading the industry providing organizations with a complete commercial grade and purpose-built solution for designing and implementing secure iot as a poet i love the metaphor of a bait kate as a journalist i would hate that it took this long paragraph to get the point across this rewording is much more concise and probably contains most of the same information and i'll probably read it a little more zippier because i wrote it so i feel it's a little bit better unlike traditional enterprise devices where security is added after the device is manufactured the internet of things iot requires that security be designed and architected into the device said jane smith vice president of sales xyz technology xyz technology provides organizations with a complete commercial grade and purpose-built solution for designing and implementing secure iot it's like a third of the size of what was there before and i've put the two side by side and you would be challenged to find what was really missing other than a lot of wordiness be fast be faster than everyone else with your quote when i worked in the telecom industry 25 years ago there was a telecom analyst smartest man i ever met and i met him once at a trade show and he was quoted in probably a third to 40 percent of all articles about a telecom related merger piece of legislation or other hot button issue everyone went to him and this wasn't just the u.s but it was international as well including the economist financial times etc and he shared with me what he did and that just it elevated me so much in his eyes he had ready-made quotes waiting for the media if there was a rumor about a possible merger between cellular one and landline two he would go ahead and write up the quote and he'd go ahead and send it to the journalists under an email saying comments on the rumored merger between cellular one and landline two well the journalists weren't going to publish anything on a rumor but once the story broke usually in a matter of hours or a few days the journalists had those quotes ready to just cut and paste into an article his quotes were often contrarian which journalists love as all the other quotes that are in the press releases were always favorable they're usually from company executives saying best merger ever so him being willing to say this is bad for competition this is bad for the consumer it was refreshing and they always got picked up step four be the friendly jerk aka the contrarian the telecom analyst just mentioned got a lot of mileage out of being an industry contrarian when the entire industry zigs be the one who zacks journalists often want to be fair and balanced in their reporting but what actually happens is they have a well-researched article and they only have quotes from one side and it happens because they're busy and they just can't get a quote from someone who is willing to say the other side very few people want to be the industry's curmudgeon but if you're willing to do it journalists within your industry should reward you with lots of quotes since you're saying something that is counter or unpopular they're going to want to quote you verbatim even if it's a weak quote which means your business will get a mention you're not going to be john or jane smith earthling you're going to be john or jane smith title at company so your company gets that mention that's really important you still have to fashion a reasonable argument for your perspective so you don't just come across as crazy so here is where those essays you wrote in freshman composition in college where you took the opposite viewpoint on the subject will come in really handy if everyone is saying electric cars are the future and good for the environment you want to say the opposite you'll have to develop a well-balanced logical argument why in fact that one's kind of easy because i've read a little bit about this before and you're going to want to say something along the lines of uh batteries currently being produced for electric cars require a type of mining for raw materials that's horrible for the environment while creating unsafe work conditions for the miners many of whom are underage in third world countries in addition the disposal of those batteries at the end of the car's life often creates more issues than it solves how about a hard one take something everyone loves or holds an esteem within your industry and criticize it it seems that the pr industry especially in fashion and certain segments loves instagram how would i attack that remember all the cool kids in high school who always sat together and never even smiled in your direction ask mickey kennedy president and founder of e-releases well they've all grown up and joined instagram to become influencers creating large followers through vain snapshots of their life all while being paid by big brands to like follow and share okay maybe that one wasn't so hard after all you see unpopular opinions are fascinating to many readers who may not agree with your take on things one client asked me about the ethics of having executive with the company not himself associated with being the company contrarian i didn't see a problem with it until i later realized that person didn't exist at the company at all it was just a made up name that they used whenever they wanted to throw out a contrarian quote please don't be this person if you aren't comfortable being the company contrarian and you can't find someone else at the company willing to be that person move on there are other ways to get media attention however this one can be very effective if you're creative and you walk a careful line never intending to alienate or offend step five count on me special thanks here goes to janelle james one of my editors who i had reviewed the notes for this video training she posted this pic along with her edits and i decided hey i like it i'm going to share it with you guys so the media loves numbers consider using a numbered list like top 10 destinations for a romantic getaway five ways to start saving for retirement rankings also work very well like top ten law schools for under fifty thousand or five worst mid-sized cars to buy new anything that gives information in an orderly way even just the use of bullets should give you an edge over content that just meanders includes and includes lots of chunky paragraphs excuse me i'm drinking water today i if you see the bio on my website you'll see i have a unhealthy addiction to diet soda often in these double gulp cups but i'm trying to make a break and and drink a little healthier so this is water okay so one client an international directory of bed and breakfast would issue top ten lists like top ten spookiest bed and breakfast for halloween in a particular state or region top 10 bed and breakfast for autumn leaf watching in new england in the mid-atlantic they always got media pickup i recall usa today loved their stuff and would often uh include it on the front page of a section of the paper this easy for readers to consume has great entertainment value and was very easy for a busy journalist to use to fill space i previously mentioned that a client that uses surveys and polls across various industries and they receive tremendous media pickup what makes their press releases so media friendly is the use of numbers and statistics here's the beginning of the headline of a recent press release they did 42 percent of small businesses plan to build a mobile app in the future they begin the press release with the observation that the average american spends five hours a day on mobile devices they then go on to say that 32 percent of small businesses currently have an app and that 42 plan to build one in the future those are all numbers that will resonate with the readership of small business owners many of whom may have a nagging feeling that they should start paying more attention to mobile users the press release includes a quote from a small business owner who's built an app as well as an expert at a digital marketing company who says something a little contrarian that if you're a small business owner with a limited budget don't waste your money on the app just make your website much more responsive for mobile users again the journalist probably loved getting that quote from that person this press release should result in articles within business web design and usability blogs and publications this client publishes directories for various industries and each press release keeps their name in circulation and further establishes them as a credible source for data they receive enormous traffic and links from the resulting articles giving their directories more value for the companies that are listed there and it appears higher in the search engine results because of that seo juice from those links from well-branded new sites how do you conduct a survey it's as easy as using a service like surveymonkey or even google forms to create a link that you send to a group of people it could be a survey of your customers your leads or even a segment of your industry a couple of my clients have had success asking trade associations to share the survey link with their members promising them access to the data and sometimes even co-branding the survey with the association which creates a win-win because you get increased credibility from the trade association so when you issue your press release the media is much more likely to publish it you have to have a large enough population of respondents for the survey to have some credibility usually at least 100 and you need to put a lot of thought into the questions learning that 63 of teenagers like sports car not interesting but learning that 17 of teenagers would like to learn how to change their own oil that is kind of interesting create some interesting questions that might not seem obvious let's say you're an automobile insurance company in a survey of teenage drivers some questions for young drivers that might yield interesting results uh are do you sometimes take a longer route to avoid a particular feature like a busy intersection or a roundabout if i was 16 and just beginning to drive that would be a little problematic the roundabout had there been times when you become distracted because you received a text or social media notification on your mobile device do you sometimes feel like you're not really as good of a driver as you should be put some effort into designing the survey to include a few questions designed to yield fun or surprising results a captivating and thought-provoking question is more important than the answer it will pique a reader's interest to want to know the results regardless of how they skew perhaps even think of the type of quotes you could use in reaction to a question for the last question about how good of a driver do you think you are for a teenager um let's say that the survey determines 68 of teenagers feel that they're not as good of a driver as they should be here's the quote you could do the results show that more than two-thirds of young drivers lack confidence behind the wheels said jane smith vice president of marketing at abc insurance this is proven out by the higher percentage of auto accidents by this population of drivers let's say the survey determined only 12 percent feel as though they're not as good of a driver as they should here's a quote you could use the results show that 88 of young drivers are getting the training and support they need to feel confident behind the wheel said jane smith vice president of marketing at abc insurance although this population of drivers accounts for a higher percentage of accidents that number normalizes as the driver accumulates more experience on the road while interacting with other drivers brian dean of backlinko has done exceedingly well by putting together what he calls curated reports each being a detailed analysis of a subject or industry he's built his own team of freelancers who work to collect and analyze data he's earned media coverage on major news sites like techcrunch entrepreneur the guardian cnbc buzzfeed and the next web just to name a few his main goal isn't press but links and traffic his efforts have resulted in a 32 percent boost in monthly traffic and more than 4 000 backlinks from major news sites as well as minor news sites as well they all help improve the seo of his website this is an extreme example of using numbers and data to get media coverage because it relies on raw data instead of a survey but just know that all these efforts can be as simple or as complex as you're willing to allow step 6 newsjacking newsjacking is simply riding on the coattails of breaking news or trends everyone is talking about a particular topic or subject is there a way to get your foot in the door and introduce something related to your brand that expands the discussion for example a couple years ago there was the social media viral challenge of whether a particular photo of address hashtag the dress appeared blue and black or white and gold dunkin donuts weighed in with a playful press release and social media campaign that featured special donuts in both color combinations newsjacking can come across as disingenuous if executed incorrectly during the early part of the pandemic we receive lots of press releases selling expensive hand sanitizers and masks which we refused under wise counsel from pr newswire people who sent these type of press releases were seen as opportunistic and the majority did not receive good media attention that being said it's done all the time and precedes even the word newsjacking for example every time there's a major hack at a national retailer there are security and i.t companies doing press releases weighing in on the matter giving their opinion great quotes all by pro all while promoting their own solutions if these press releases have compelling quotes and can pull some interesting numbers together they stand a chance at media coverage but it does get hard to stand out when there's a lot of competition because everybody's trying to join the conversation newsjacking works best if you can be original and enter a topic that your competitors haven't yet joined speed is one approach being creative is the other security and i.t companies doing press releases after a breach to a major retailer and it's rather expected what might not be expected is an ice cream company ben and jerry's announcing in a press release a new flavor called justice remixed as the company's response to civil unrest over systemic racism if ben and jerry's was any other company such a move could be seen as pandering or simply fall flat fortunately for them it aligns with their values and financial commitments to social causes it's also a response that appears more meaningful and concrete than the hundreds of press releases from business saying we support minorities and here we've made a donation to a particular organization cash and words are among the least newsworthy responses to such an effort that being said a few of those companies that are playing it safe will get articles but they are the odds are not great ben and jerry's hit rate was much higher across lots of national media outlets as well as a lot of small local newspapers picking it up because they happen to have a ben and jerry's store in their area whatever you do learn from what's working now and try to put your own spin on it step seven become a local media darling this step can be done on your own without paying for service like e-releases i know but if you're simply looking for coverage in your local market there's perhaps less than 12 people who would report on you a major newspaper perhaps a minor newspaper a business newspaper a local online news site two to three tv stations and perhaps one to three radio stations that have shows that interview local businesses check your local newspaper and see who normally writes about businesses your size and within your industry contact that person if you don't know their email address simply call and ask you can also try services online they can try to locate a person's email address like hunter.io often for free for a handful of searches simply email that person and write a personal request after making an observation like perhaps you've recently seen or heard a story they did on company x and while you felt it was done uh well done and interesting you feel a different story on your business would be welcomed by readers listeners or viewers because insert reason here could be you're a third generation banker baker in your in in your area you recently pivoted to the recent hardships and you're doing something different you employ local citizens who are handy capable you can even invite a conversation about that word or you want to invite media to your company's charity event at tv and radio stations you're often looking to contact the show producer or person responsible for booking guests this is almost never the host so don't make that mistake of sending email to the host often you can find this out by simply asking once you have your rolodex of 12 or fewer local media simply send thoughtful emails perhaps four to eight times a year to each in addition to pitching them occasional ideas for your company share tips and ideas they may want to consider that might not focus on your company like an observation you may have made from trade publications or national story your goal is to become a friend and asset to these local gatekeepers making it all the more likely that when you do have a newsworthy story that they'll run it for you and and share that meaningful milestone with their readership or viewers in fact this local approach of building relationships with journalists is the exact blueprint pr firms use so feel free to extend it towards industry trade publications and even national media the downside is at some point you will find your time is best spent running your business and you get more mileage of simply issuing strategic press releases over a newswire through a service like e-releases step 8 invest in your pr everyone should invest in the pr of their business pr brings traffic and customers it can greatly exceed the roi of paid advertising paid advertising works through the raising of bids as more competitors join it increases costs and makes what is affordable today just break even tomorrow most customers who visit your website from a news article or doing a search based off an article they don't price shop they want to do business with the company mentioned in that article lots of clients have found that these customers tend to be the most loyal and the most profitable pr takes minimal time most press releases are rather simple stating facts in the third person pay attention to the headline the quote and the opening paragraph your most cost effective use of time in pr is the building of a strategy build several ideas for a press release and then test each trying to measure engage media response strategy is the one thing most of my self-service customers fail to utilize when doing press releases their pr success suffers from it as they never get out of the zone of doing obvious milestone press releases let pr be a creative outlet for your business and exist as an extension of your messaging to staff customers leads partners and your industry there are ideas in your head right now from today's video training you would not have if it weren't for committing the time and energy to learn more about these press-free strategies now is the time for you to capitalize on those ideas and invest in your pr through press release marketing how it works mindset brainstorm and inventory your business and industry develop ideas for a six press release campaign actions writing the press release or an outline for a press release writer distribute over peer newswire through e-releases a shameful plug outcomes media coverage traffic improved seo better customers improved employee morale better understanding of business your business unique selling proposition clarity and refinement are you happy with the way things are going right now in your business if you're not happy you need a new mindset a new plan and a new outcome you need to invest in your pr through press release marketing i routinely have clients say that a successful press release has paid for itself 100 times over however you need to calculate the unsuccessful press releases as well then evaluate the complete pr campaign which as i said consists of at least six press releases i recommend that serious students of pr plan for as many as 12 press releases but be willing to shift and change the approaches to incorporate small wins along the way building on what works recap one own your story two research your industry three quote me on it four be the friendly jerk aka the contrarian five count on me six newsjacking seven become a local media darling eight invest in your pr should you use one or all of these steps you should try different approaches until you find one that works for you then see if you can repeat it the company that relies on surveys and polls only focuses on that but almost every press release they distribute through e-releases is generating actual articles another client who predominantly posts university rankings for different specialties like nursing business and law doesn't have to branch out from this approach as he is achieving consistent media pickup from a regular distribution of press releases and it's working year after year until you find what works for you keep testing different approaches the biggest mistake a client can make is assuming after one or two press release failures that pr just won't work for them and their business today i promised how to develop a pr strategy for your business even if you don't have deep pockets or feel very newsworthy how to attract media attention by crafting content the media wants to receive and share with its readers or viewers without using consultants pr firms or publicists how to leverage what makes you unique without deceit hyperbole or making your skin crawl even if you feel like you're not that special and again you are special you just have to hone what it is that you do that's special and own it and like i said create a moat around that usp how to drive traffic and customers to your website through the same methods used by high priced pr firms without the expense of retainers or long-term contracts how to reverse engineer what's working and what's not being discussed within your industry for media opportunities even if you're not an industry expert how to stand out when your product or service is indistinguishable from a lot of stuff sold online even if the only thing that separates you cannot be seen like amazing customer service how to get local media coverage even if you never write a single press release or spend a dollar with me a step-by-step strategy for getting media coverage what you need to win a pr strategy based on the eight steps these eight steps alone are enough to propel you to pr success boosting your traffic improving your seo and getting better quality customers now you have a choice you can take the information i've given you and forget all about it you can keep on struggling to get traffic and customers watching the profit from your advertising dwindle over time or you can start to get the clients you know you deserve the ideal clients you have always wanted here's what i have for you my team and i have set aside time to help serious students of pr get started with a strategic pr plan applying these steps to your business starting today regardless of the type of business you're coming from we're here to serve you and provide the broadest most focused and affordable press release distribution possible how i can help well my team has created a program so that you can apply these ideas to your business starting today it does not include additional education or training as i've given that to you today and i will providing those who invest in this program with the video slides and notes from the education portion of today's video training this program centers around support support from our experienced editors helping you succeed whether it is in reviewing your press release and offering advice or helping you if stuck building out an aspect of your pr strategy plan whatever your biggest challenges are we've seen it and we know how to overcome it to make pr work for your business here's the catch this isn't for everybody who this is for you must have something or someone to promote whether it's a business product service book or person you must be aware of what your usp unique selling proposition is or could be you must be willing to do the work of auditing your industry to determine gaps or blind spot opportunities if that's you we're a perfect fit why we're doing this we do this because we love helping small businesses achieve their goals plus we know that you might need help developing your press releases and getting them distributed what you get in this offer six half hour coaching calls with a pr success editor it's a twelve hundred dollar value these coaching calls can be used to help you on anything from strategy reviewing a press release you've written or making suggestions for your press release six pr pro distributions it's a three thousand five hundred and ninety four dollar retail value it's a total of six releases to be done at your schedule over a period of up to one year each press release will receive a custom national distribution over pr newswire the oldest and largest newswire press releases as well as our pr true pitch which is a curated hand selected email send of your press release to specific journalists you receive both the widest and most concentrated distribution giving your press release the best chance at media's success you receive a discount on writing you'll pay 200 for each press release rather than 300. you can add writing at any time over the next year to one some or all of the press release distribution credits for the discounted price of 200 per release some customers find they want one of our writers to do the first couple of releases then feel comfortable doing it themselves whatever we leave it open for you to use how you want to use it videos slides and notes of education from today's video training 1997 retail value that being said it all starts with building a plan so you will also receive the education from today's video training through a video link my detailed notes and a pdf of the slides if you get stuck or have problems we're always here to help i was actually advised to make this training an advanced course and charge nearly two thousand dollars for it i'd much rather for you to use the training and then send your press releases through e-releases take a full one year to use the coaching calls and distributions this program has a combined value included including the discounted writing of nearly 7 400 your price today is just two thousand nine hundred and ninety nine dollars that's a savings in excess of four thousand dollars i'm making this great offer because once you see the value of a pr campaign and the incredible distribution you get through e-releases i believe you will become a customer for life if you're ready to commit to a pr campaign of at least six releases simply visit e-releases.com coaching to sign up i'm also going to try to make a little button appear beneath this video training so wish me luck this entire package cost less than the retail price of just six pr pro distributions because this program provides six of our most premium distributions the pr pros combined with six half-hour coaching calls with one of our pr success editors we do have limited availability at certain times we do have to remove the coaching calls from this promotion so that we can serve our current clients so go ahead and get started today knowing you will have those six calls to use over the next one year it's no exaggeration that you could pay a pr for more than twelve thousand dollars for a pr campaign and come nowhere close to having the strategy and level of press release distribution you would receive through this offer you watched this video for a reason i've given you solid press release strategies refrying refined from what i've seen from more than 20 years of experience isn't it time to take your business to the next level through pr go ahead and get started today it would be my honor to serve you and make you our next success story i want to go through very briefly some of our customers and what they've said about us here we have bill seagraves of catchfire funding he received a key pickup in an industry trade publication an article in financial advisor giving him enormous credibility he's used on his website and in marketing to potential clients kenny atchison his client is an author who received a radio interview and request to become a monthly columnist in industry trade publication aaron headley this designer of custom wine cellars received two editorial features as a result of her pr campaign jason templer he received pickup in more than a dozen publications as well as added 10 new clients and more than four thousand website visitors as a result of his pr campaign hunad baliwala he received media pickup on abc nbc msnbc and washington post and thousands of website visitors traffic to his site actually doubled as a result of the pr campaign linda lipecky this smart start coach received media coverage online in print and on tv she saw traffic increase more than 10-fold and she writes we're still getting customers months later with no further effort on our part as long as articles stay up and engage readers you can continue to benefit from traffic and customers here we have sam jane brown she's an independent fiction writer and i do want to acknowledge fiction is one of the hardest subjects to get media coverage but she stuck with the process and received several articles from her pr campaign she writes be prepared to stick to a good plan and well-written releases and do this for at least a year as an independent author i am now starting to reap the rewards my release plan i am very happy mike alabach who happens to be a boudoir photographer is the perfect example of someone who is basically a local business who received national and international attention on huffington post cosmopolitan daily mail yahoo lifestyle as well as local coverage in the philadelphia enquirer by focusing on a unique selling proposition of making body positive photographs of clients of all sizes he tapped into publications and readers wanting to learn more and see examples of his work in fact we have a video of mike in a case study on our website at erelises.com case studies do you see how people are making pr work for them have you already thought of a couple strategic ideas you could do for a press release go ahead and write those down it all starts with a little planning are you beginning to see how a pr campaign of six press releases might help you test pr as a means of getting traffic improved seo and better customers for your business for less than the price of six pr pro distributions you get those distributions copies of this training a discount on writing services and six half-hour coaching calls with an editor who cares about your pr success please take advantage of this offer by clicking on the button below or visiting ereleases.com coaching you can also chat with an editor on our website at erelises.comcontact or call our office at 410-931-2966 during business hours 7 a.m to 7 p.m eastern time monday through friday again if you're ready to proceed with the support of my staff and get started just visit erelises.com coaching i appreciate you taking the time to learn more about building a pr strategy through press releases i look forward to working with you and adding you as another e-releases press release success story take care you