Every year, newspapers, magazines, TV news shows, newsletter editors, the wire services and even nonprofits feature products and services that would make ideal holiday gifts for their audiences. It isn’t too late to pitch your product for many of these special features. Newspapers, for example, typically plan several holiday gift sections in November and December. If advertising revenue… Read More
Press Releases
Free press release distribution for Calif. wildfire news
Starting immediately, PR Newswire is offering to distribute press releases free of charge if they pertain to the wildfires in California. It has created an archive of releases on both the public site and the media-only PR Newswire for Journalists website. To take advantage of the free service, submit a news release via email and use the subject line “California Wildfires.” Include… Read More
Press release headlines should be upper- & lower-case
Thanks to Dave Casali from readMedia in Albany, N.Y. for this simple tip about a common mistake I see regularly when I read press releases: Nothing kills a reader’s momentum quicker than a section of text in all caps. Blocks of capital letters are extremely difficult to read, and tend to immediately turn readers off.… Read More
Halloween story ideas should be pitched now
If you sell a product or service related to Halloween, or you’re promoting a cause or issue that ties in, start pitching your story ideas now. Halloween-related stories and magazine covers started showing up as early as Labor Day this year, as the popularity of the holiday seems to grow each year. Halloween is the second… Read More
Virtual assistant can relieve you of publicity grunt work
The image at left accurately portrays what my life was like before I hired Chris Buffaloe of Serenty VA Services as my virtual assistant. She relieves me of tiresome grunt work that sucks energy from me. That frees me up to think more creatively and create multiple streams of income. If you’re frustrated that you don’t… Read More
Announcements aren’t news, so stop announcing
My skin crawls every time I see somebody “announcing” something in a press release or a news story. They act as though the announcement is the news when, in fact, it isn’t. The content of the announcement is all anybody cares about. That’s why I’d love to ban the words “announce, announced, announcing” and “announcement”… Read More
Papa Jack Weil, the oldest CEO, great Labor Day story
Thanks to professional speaker Robin C. Johnston, an expert at sales, marketing and fundraising, for tipping us off to a perfect Labor Day story: “A news article just aired on TV about Papa Jack Weil, CEO of a Denver-based company. Papa Jack recently turned 106 years old and is believed to be the world’s oldest working… Read More
Attract more clients with these 6 strategies
During these slow days of summer, I hear people complaining that business is flat. If you need more clients, consider these six ideas: Start blogging. The search engines love timely, content-rich blogs, particularly on niche topics. The more you blog, the more traffic you’ll get. Also, start posting comments at blogs written for the same target… Read More
Correcting press releases difficult with free services
Here’s a great example of what can happen when you’re writing a press release in a hurry. I was writing a release about my August 14 media relations and press release writing workshops, in Norfolk, Virginia, to be distributed by Expertclick.com, where it would be picked up by the Google News feed. So I sent the release… Read More
Online games, quizzes great for website promotion
If you’re trying to attract traffic to your website, a simple link in your online press release often isn’t good enough. You have to give people a good reason to visit. Thanks to the Wylie’s Writing Tips ezine for tipping us off to the cool quizzes and games in the Gotham Gazette, a website with daily content offered each weekday by… Read More