Dan Janal | Publicity and PR Leads Blog

If you want to be treated like Hollywood Royalty by reporters, its actually fairly simple. Look to the Red Carpet for clues.

1. It happens every year. Reporters expect it. Their readers and viewers demand it. Reporters have to cover it. There are events in your profession that reporters have to cover, like New Year’s Resolutions in January, Relationships in February and Taxes in April. Find out what reporters cover and give it to them!

2. Actors and actresses come prepared. They don’t wear old rags. They are dressed to kill and they know what they are going to say. You should remember to treat your interview with as much preparation. What are you going to say? How do you want to appear to the media? Be like the Boy Scouts and “Be Prepared.”

3. Act like you belong there. Actors who were unknown a year ago walk with grace on the Red Carpet. Expert sources and thought leaders must display the confidence the same confidence. I’ve met many great people who have done amazing things but think they are not ready for prime time.

You are ready.

Now is your time.

Shine!

I have tools to help you reach reporters. Check out info on our up-to-date media contact databases and our guaranteed, quick and easy press release writing and distribution services at PRLEADSPLUS.com

Continue Reading

George Washington

In honor of George Washington’s birthday, here are marketing tips from the father of our country.

1.    Always tell the truth. Nothing hurts your credibility with reporters or prospects or customers more than shading the truth. Look at Tiger Woods and Toyota. ‘Nuff said.
2.    Eat the cherries, but don’t chop down the cherry tree. In other words, enjoy the fruits of your labors and always keep your main business well tuned for these tough times. If that means you need to get coaching and consulting help in marketing, PR and business growth, call me and I’ll explain how we can work together.
3.    Watch out for splinters. Those wooden teeth have got to hurt.

Continue Reading

Since I’m knowm for making bold predictions, let me put my neck on the line one more time. I’m usually right, so it’s a prety safe bet!

I predict the iPad will change books and publishing as we know it.

To look to future, I look to the past.  Let me explain.

Back in the early days of publishing, monks and artists wrote books or copies Bibles and Haggadahs and other works. Each work contained not only black letters on white background, but colored fonts, large fonts to draw the eye and most important, illustrations.

When Gutenberg came along and invented the printing press, we started to see the book as we know it today. A bland  series of pages with black on white text. Few illustrations, if any, because they are expensive to produce. And all the type was the same size. So you have no idea if one idea was more important than the other.

We saw the beginnings of the change when Jeffrey Gitomer started writing his marvelous series of books.  Pick one up the next time you are in an aiport bookstore. They are easy to find since they sell like hotcakes. Why? Because Gitomer has gone back to the age of the scribes and took their best ideas. Namely:

- Different sizes fonts so you can see what’s important. It isn’t unusual to see one page with just one sentence displayed in 24 point type. That get’s your attention. You know what’s important.

- Different colored fonts. It’s pretty. Why does reading have to be dull?

- Short chapters. Who has a long attention span today? Need I mention Twitter?

I’m sure many authors would love to copy Gitomer, but their publishers won’t let them because of the expense of printing.

Enter the iPad.

Now authors can design their ebooks with type, fonts, illustrations and color, color, color!

All the new, bold design doesn’t add a penny to production costs.

You’re probably wondering. Why stop there? Why not add audio and video? Perhaps an interview with the author? Or video of a role-playing exercise? The sky’s the limit.

One final point. On a recent flight from Minneapolis to San Diego, my two seat makes each had Amazon Kindles. And everyone who passed by them asked them about it. Ebooks are hot and that’s going to change everything.

Your task: Start thinking about illustrating your books, just like you illustrate your blogs.

Continue Reading