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Getting the Most from Your Press Releases

Another PR Leads Expert Teleclass on Thursday, December 4, 2008

Let’s be honest. Press releases in today’s digital media age can spread far and wide in record time, thanks to many fee and free press release distribution services.

The real questions to consider are:

  • Are your press releases really delivering the results you need?
  • Are you earning big "ink and air" as a result of your press release efforts?
  • Or, are you just sending your message into cyperspace with the hope that your message will carry?

These are provocative questions. And here are a few more:

  • Do you want to make the most of every press release you issue?
  • Do you need a primer on what comprises a good press release?
  • Do you wonder if your press releases are meeting the mark?
  • Would you like to learn about some useful and mostly free resources to help you get be an extraordinary do-it-yourself publicist?

Help is just one teleseminar away. Sign up today for Dan Janal’s teleseminar interview with Work-in-the-Trenches Publicist, Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Toolkit Author, and Publici-Tea™ Trainer Nancy Juetten. Dan will interview Nancy and help answer all of your nitty-gritty press release questions so you can begin 2009 on the right track to earn "ink and air" in the media venues that are most important for carrying your message far and wide.

Here are some of the press release essentials Nancy will cover:

  • Why small business owners in particular need to learn to write good press releases;
  • Why most press releases end up on the round file;
  • The single best way to invite readership of your press release;
  • Cool and free tools to help you learn the difference between a good press release and the alternative;
  • Why a really good pitch trumps a press release just about every time;
  • And so much more.

Stay tuned to the end of the call for a special offer on two resources that will support you in your efforts to get seen, heard, and celebrated in your own backyard and beyond through the power of free publicity and contribute to 2009 being your best year ever.

Click here to register for the December 4th teleseminar now. Everyone who registers will receive a link the recorded MP3. If you can’t attend live, then register so you’ll get the MP3.
 

Cool tool: Press Release Grader Helps Improve Your Press Release SEO!

Want to improve your press releases?

Try Press Release Grader.

This simple (and free) site will test your press release and give you tips on how to improve it.

I submitted a friend’s press release and it got a score of 72 out of 100. Press Release Grader then showed how to improve the grade by doing such things as moving the URL from deep in the release to higher in the release. It also checked for Mickey Mouse kind of mistakes as well, such as contact information and phone numbers.

If you’re looking to get an extra edge, check out this cool tool!

Thanks to PR whiz Nancy Juetten for pointing me to this cool tool!

The company that does this also has a product called "Twitter Grader." I’m a measly 69 percentile. My buddy Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound is an astounding 99.2 percentile! That’s hot. Get your own grade at www.twittergrader.com

 

and follow me at @prleads

 

 

 

How to communicate with millennials

Here’s an eye-opening article on how to communicate effectively with millennials. Good info for marketers trying to figure out the social media game, printed in

Ragan Communications’ site.

They see the world differently. Viva la difference!

Social media rules that make sense

Much has been written about the effectiveness of social media in marketing, but there’s no one I trust more than Bryan Eisenberg, the co-founder of FutureNow, which helps large companies increase conversion rates. He also personally helped me improve the sales page for PR LEADS seven years ago, it still converts like magic! If Bryan says something works, it works. And if he says it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

Here’s an exerpt from his post, "Understanding and Aligning the Value of Social Media."

Here are a few ways to view and use social media:

  • Be transparent. Share the good and the bad.
  • Be yourself. People want to connect with real people, not with plastic packaged images.
  • Don’t breach the social contract by doing nothing but selling your wares.
  • Take interest in others and share valuable information, even if it doesn’t benefit you directly.
  • Listen. You can learn a lot.
  • Be patient. Let things grow organically.
  • Viral campaigns can and do work, but they are the exception to the rule. (In other words, only the masses have the power to deem something viral).

I particularly like "Be transparent. Share the good with the bad." That makes you sound like a real person. Ironically, people will relate more to your troubles and personal issues than your successes.

Also, be aware of "Don’t breach the social contract by doing nothing but selling wares." I see this a lot on my Linked In connections. Instead of being blatant in promoting, people are off-handed, like "I’m about to release my new book. You can buy it at …" Come on, that’s a sales pitch, not an information blurb. Especially when you do it several times a week. You know who you are!

 

 

 

 

Publicity: The Gift That Keeps Giving and Giving for Cookbook Author

A query came through PRLeads looking for someone who had healed their health crisis by drinking green tea. Well, I thought, I did drink a lot of green tea while I went about inventing and patenting a unique cooking method for healthy one-pot meals. And, who knows, maybe it did have something to do with the subsequent turnaround in my case of multiple sclerosis.

Elizabeth YarnellThe story ran in Women’s World, a national magazine serving my target market of women. Beyond the initial burst of book sales when the 2-page spread came out, for the next 6-8 months customers continued to tell me how they saw the article in waiting rooms, at beach houses, and in other places where such magazines have a long life. It featured food photos and recipes from my cookbook, a dramatic storyline about how my cooking method aided my return to health, and a large photo of yours truly in the kitchen. You can’t buy this kind of publicity!

It couldn’t have been a better experience, and it wouldn’t have happened without PRLeads. 
 
Elizabeth Yarnell
Author, Glorious One-Pot Meals: A Revolutionary New Quick and Healthy Approach to Dutch Oven Cooking

Glorious One Pot Meals

Publicity can take time; but it can pay off big time!

Hi Dan!

I just had to take a few moments to send a note of thanks to you and PR Leads, and to share with you my recent success
story.

I signed up for PR Leads in February of this year. The sign-up process, and your helpful instructions, were so easy to follow
that I answered my first lead query (for an interview) just two days after registering. 

Louise LewisA few days later, the freelancer (writing a piece for a "major
women’s magazine") replied to my e-mail with a list of interview
questions.

I quickly provided all requested information…and then patiently
waited…and waited.

Long story short, after only one false start, I’m here to tell you
that I received a 133-word interview — PLUS a mention of my
book title, PLUS my photo — in the November issue of HEALTH
magazine!

Even though I have always believed that there are "no accidents"
in life and that things happen for a reason (my book provides
many personal examples), it’s still so thrilling that the timing of the
article’s publication is yet another example that things happen for
a reason.
Let me explain:

          The article was originally scheduled to appear in
          the May issue, but it was rescheduled. No one
          could tell me when (or if) it would be published.

           Months later, the magazine’s fact checker contacted
           me and confirmed the article would appear in the
           November issue.

          Guess who turns 50 in November? Yep, ME! 

With the help of PR Leads, I have received the best 50th birthday
present a gal could ever receive!  Thank you!

PR Leads will certainly remain a vital element to my PR program. 

Thanks again!

No Experts Needed(And if you ever get a chance, please direct folks to my web site so
they can pick up a FREE no-strings-attached gift (pdf) copy of my
book, "No Experts Needed: The Meaning of Life According to YOU!")

Simply my way of ‘giving back’…

Thank you again for providing such a wonderful service!

Take care,
Louise Lewis, Author
No Experts Needed: The Meaning of Life According to You!

FREE gift (pdf) copy at: www.noexpertsneeded.com

Always Follow Spirit!