Dan Janal’s PR LEADS Blog

If you want to learn about marketing — and fill an empty stomach — there is no better place than a grocery store!

So I went to my local supermarket today in search of marketing ideas. I mean, in search of dessert.

I saw that my favorite Jello Pudding Snacks were out of stock. I buy them because they say “fat free” on the label. I figured that was a good thing.

Since other people beat me there and I felt like having dessert tonight, I looked for alternatives.

Fortunately, I saw another flavor that promoted “Zero trans-fats.” That sounds pretty good, too, so I bought it.

What would I do in the future when both varieties are in stock?

I guess I’ll have to ask myself which is worse — trans fats or fat?

I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

In the meantime, the lesson for you is that sometimes, saying what you Don’t Have is more important than what you do have. Look to the market and see what they don’t want. If you don’t have it, you might get the sale!

For example, PR LEADS has no long term commitments. I used to offer an annual subscription fee, but I decided that if people want to promote a book for six months and then write a book for six months, then they should have the option of paying for as long as need to use the service. So I promote “no long-term contracts.” This is a great option for people who might have thought about hiring a PR firm but they usually want a commitment of some sort. I can’t blame them. PR is hard work and it takes time to get results, so they should offer a fee that makes sense for them. That’s what makes each company different.

Do what’s best for you. Look for the differences.

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS
www.prleads.com

The perfect sales letter

My fellow National Speakers Association Colleague Jill Konrath does a great job of dissecting the supposedly great sales letter on a new CD. Her insights were amazing.

She read a very well crafted sales letter than any of us would have thought was perfect and she showed how it was totally ineffective. Her major points: We write about our features and benefits instead of focusing on the customer’s concerns.

She also points out that most sales letters are written as if we were at a lower social level than the buyer. She contends that CEOs want to buy from their peers and equals. We do a disservice to our selves and our knowledge and our experience if we don’t approach them as equals.

Thanks, Jill, for setting the record straight and helping all of us be more effective.

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS
www.prleads.com

Are free press release sites worth the effort?

That’s the question I’m posing today as I embark on a mission to see if they really do produce results.

I’ve asked my able assistant to post a press release announcing my new blog, “Dan Janal’s Teleseminar Tips” (http://www.greatteleseminars.com/blog) on 10 press release sites. All these sites are free and claim to have hundreds, if not thousands of readers, presumably most of them are journalists.

I’m a bit skeptical, but I’ve heard good things from several people I trust that when they post press releases to these sites they actually get increased traffic.

I’m not at all sure that reporters really read press releases — they get so much garbage sent to them over the transom that I can’t believe they would actually troll these sites for more info, but who knows. Prove me wrong and I’ll be delighted.

Anyway, I think the benefit of these sites is that you’ll get another link to your site, which will help your site’s page ranking in the major search engines. If that’s all I get, I’ll be happy.

I’ve set up several other metrics to judge this campaign, including:
- number of inbound links to the site
- site visits
- number of clicks on affiliate links
- orders from affiliates
- inquiries for Great Teleseminars services

We set up a spreadsheet to track these numbers. I’ll report back in a few weeks to let you know if this appears to work or not.

The good news is that the services are free, so I’m just paying for my assistant’s time. If this works, it should be easy to make this pay for itself. If not, it is a nice exercise to see what can happen.

Here’s to success!

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS
www.prleads.com