To recap this series on the ins and outs of public relations and publicity, the most important thing to remember is to do it. Getting your name out there usually doesn’t happen by itself.

It all starts with a plan. Take the time you need to think things through. P.R. doesn’t need to cost much in the way of money for an independent designer or small shop. But, it does require an investment in time.

Once you have your plan in place, start building your media list. While you’re doing that, you can also start putting your press kit together. Begin to think like a reporter. What’s happening with your business that can have a newsy spin? Fire up your favorite word processor and draft some news releases.

After a while writing starts to get a little easier. You may even find you have a natural talent for it. If so, great. Write some articles about your design specialty, working with a designer, the design process, etc. Get them submitted online and also to print publications. Those should include relevant industry trade publications where you want to get work.

The next thing you know, your name starts showing up all over the place. You might even land some interviews. Then you’ll have something for yet another news release. And so the cycle begins …

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

Being interviewed is akin to the holy grail of p.r. It can give you instant credibility and an endorsement from somebody, other than you, who says, “Hey, this designer is all right.”

You sent out your press kits and a flurry of releases. After a while, the phone rings or the inbox jingles. You found an editor who’s hot for more and contacted you. They want an interview. You put out the big promise and now it’s time to deliver. Your head is spinning. “Can I do this?” “What if I screw things up?” Trust me, when your first interview rolls around, all this and plenty more will have your head whirling.

Step back. Breath. You’ll be fine. It’s no biggie. All it is, in reality, is a simple conversation. You do that all the time.

The most important thing prior to the interview is to prepare. Consider what they might ask. In most cases, you’ll be given a list of questions prior to the interview. You’ll have time to prepare. At least that’s how it’s been for me. Also, be up to snuff on the issues related to your topic and industry.

For example, I was interviewed by Chris Ritke of 49Sparks.com a while back. The topic was BoDo’s launch. I had to fly down to Fort Lauderdale on personal business and Chris and I emailed back and forth to set the day and time. He also sent me the questions he wanted to ask. I had several days to prepare. Whew!

We did the interview on a Saturday. Here’s where things get typical when it comes to interviews. I was so rushed at the time, I gave Chris the wrong phone number. Sheesh! It’s my family house and I couldn’t get the phone number right. I finally did get it right, he called, and the connection was so lousy we couldn’t make out what each other was saying. We finally connected by mobile phone.

I was in one of the bedrooms and had my papers all laid out on the bed. Nice and tidy and in the order I thought (Key phrase: “I thought”) Chris would ask. Well … the best laid plans of mice and men. Although we did talk about BoDo, one thing lead to another and we ended up talking about all sorts of design-related topics. It was fun and we did get several compliments on the interview. But, it sure didn’t go as I thought it would.

Lesson learned: Know the issues. Even with an agenda, you don’t really know where the conversation will go. Be flexible.

Also, you never know where an interview will originate. I was interviewed by Pitney-Bowes’ Priorities magazine about small business branding. The writer had seen a logo on my site that I had done for a client. From my point of view, he called me out of the blue to set up an interview.

I was also interviewed by a freelance writer for, of all things, American Massage Magazine. That one was about figuring hourly rates for service businesses. The writer had come across my article about how to calculate hourly rates and figured it would also work for massage therapists. She was right. But, I sure wouldn’t have thought to put American Massage Magazine on my media list.

Lesson learned: Get your articles, press kit and news releases out there. They might just result in an unexpected interview.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

Before you start tapping things out on the ‘ole keyboard or [gasp!] penning prose on a pad, consider finding your area of specialty, first. Having a specialty or niche doesn’t necessarily mean that’s all you do. It simply means that’s what you promote.

Face it. You can’t be all things to all people, nor should you try. It’s better to be a master at one or two things, than mediocre at a bunch. You need a niche. What that is depends on your personality and experience, along with what you enjoy doing all the live long day. That last point is important. If you hate doing something, odds are you’ll put it off or not do it at all.

For example, after coming on board in April, 2007, I’ve begun to carve out a niche at Odell Advertising/Marketing, Inc. I looked over our stuff. I talked with the designers and art director, along with other account folks. I yapped with our financial manager. My goal was to find out what the art gang enjoyed doing, which clients were good to work with and what sort of gigs were profitable. As it turns out, we really shine when it comes to packaging and branding. In particular, we’re good (and profitable) when it comes to packaging for the food and beverage industry. On the heels of that is collateral materials for the healthcare industry. The best part is that people need to eat and tend to get sick (hopefully not quickly in that order). So, both are stable and/or growth markets.

Look over what you’ve done or would like to do. Fire up Quickbooks or what ever financial app you use. Do you really make money doing what you enjoy? Is there a leaning toward a particular industry or type of project?

Once you find your niche, it becomes a lot easier to write about and it also helps reporters and editors pigeonhole you. That’s okay. The goal is to position yourself as an expert for a very specific topic.

Writing articles isn’t rocket science. Well, I guess it could be if you happen to actually be a rocket scientist. Writing an article is simply a matter of picking a topic you know something about, then creating an outline with broad based topics. Do a bit of research on the Net or with books and magazines. Find a few relevant quotes to pop in. Add in sub-topics within your outline. The next thing you know, your article has pretty much written itself.

Articles can be published both online and off. Research target publications to learn their style and tone. Also, check the magazine’s site or contact them directly for their writers’ guidelines and editorial calendar. The calendar will help you appropriately time your submissions.

Contact the editors with your story idea. A quick phone call will help you find the right editor and learn their preference for contact. Make sure to get the correct spelling of their name. In your ‘pitch” give the highlights of your article, describe any art, photos or illustrations and how the article will be helpful to their readers.

Never submit an article to more than one print publication at a time. Editors want exclusive material. Only after an idea is rejected are you clear to submit to another editor. As a side note, read the contract’s fine print. Depending on the usage rights you negotiate, you might be able to re-sell your article elsewhere.

Some publications will pay you for your efforts, so writing can become another revenue stream for you. These are usually mainstream consumer pubs or high profile trade publications. Trade journals don’t usually pay, but they will put you right in front of your target audience. They’ll also often include your contact info, site address and/or email address. That exposure to your target audience can be payment enough.

Articles submitted to web sites don’t normally pay, but they have other benefits (read: exposure). There are also syndication sites like e-zinearticles.com and articleworld.net. The neat thing about web-based articles is linking. Most sites will include your site address. That increases the number of sites linking to yours, which can increase your link popularity. That’s a big factor these days in search engine ranking.

In the end, don’t be afraid to write. It’s really not that tough. You have two things going for you. Unless you’re speech-impaired, you can talk. If you can talk (and even if you can’t), you can likely think. If you can talk and think, you can write. Simply write like you talk. Getting over the initial hurdle is the big step. After that, it’s all downhill.

Go ye forth and write your hind quarter off. You’ll do just fine, Hemingway.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

Okay, so now you’ve got a press kit and maybe a press release or three. What the heck do you do with them? Well, it’s probably a good idea to get them into the hands of the media. That means you’ll need to build your media list. It’s a cousin to your prospects and contacts list.

The first place to look is your own backyard. What local and regional publications are out there? Check for newspapers, business magazines and newspapers. A trip to your local bookseller can help you find media along with editor and reporter names and contact info. Grab some pubs, score a cuppa joe and start writing things down (or into your laptop).

Don’t stop there. You want widespread fame. Look into national publications, too. What the heck. They may not print your stuff right away, but you’re not out too much postage dough. If they see your a good source of information that’s relevant to their readers, you just might find yourself in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Inc. or USA Today (or top pubs of your country du jour).

Also, look for industry publications within your niche. You do have one of those, right? Trade associations are also a good source. Many produce magazines and newsletters.

When building your list, don’t forget radio and TV. These folks need people to interview. You want them to interview you. So, send them your kit and releases and then keep in touch.

Online syndication services are another key ingredient in your media mix. My Creative Latitude and About.com graphic design forum bud, Calvin Lee, of Mayhem Studios, posted several in his recent e-newsletter. By the by, if you don’t receive Cal’s newsletter, you should. It’s a quick, albeit great, read. There’s a spot to sign up on his home page.

So, without further ado, bookmark these sites, courtesy of Mr. Lee.

Fast Pitch Networking

PR Compass

Free Press Release

PR Leap

Press Arrivenet

24/7 Press Release

PR Log

1888 Press Release

Click Press

Free News Release

I-Newswire

PR

PR 9

Press Base

Keeping in touch is important. Work to build a relationship with editors, reporters and writers. These are the folks that can get your name in front of Mr. or Ms. Deep-Pockets. You want to treat your media contacts with kid gloves and become a resource for them. Think of them as a treasured prospect, worth their weight in publicity gold, because they’re the ones who can put you in touch with scores of other prospects.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

In my previous post about press kits, I wrote that press releases are often the anchor of your publicity efforts. To help ensure your potent prose sees the light of day, be sure your releases conform to accepted format standards.

I dusted off one of my older releases to use as an example. First comes the release (and a plug for BoDo bud, Jeff Fisher’s, first book). Next, we’ll look at each element of a release. Get your release writing down and pretty soon you’ll be the media darling you were meant to be.

News Release

Contact:
Neil Tortorella
330.305.1554
[email address here]

December 6, 2004

For Immediate Release

Local Designer Featured in New Graphic Design Book

North Canton, OH: North Canton-based graphic designer, Neil Tortorella of Tortorella Design, is featured in the newly released book, The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success: Ideas and tactics for a killer career, by Jeff Fisher.

The book includes advice on the building blocks of a graphic design career; education options; what designers have learned in the “school of hard knocks;” how to get more than your foot in the door in your quest for clients or a job and various aspects of dealing with clients on projects. Communication issues are covered in some detail, as are establishing a business persona and the nitty-gritty issues of business - pricing, contracts and more.

In addition to Tortorella, the volume also contains anecdotes and career lessons from designers Jack Anderson; Habib Bajrami; Milton Glaser; Art Chantry; Christopher Gee, Von Glitschka, Nigel Gordijk, Chuck Green; Nigel Holmes; Karen Larson, Morgan Mann, John McWade, Clement Mok; Jennifer Morla; Catherine Morley; Ellen Shapiro; Valarie Martin Stuart, Travis Tom; Peleg Top; Petrula Vrontikis and several other industry professionals.

Marketing and promotion is a major topic in the book. In addition, a number of designers relate major career obstacles and how they were overcome - or avoided in the future. There’s also information on doing pro bono work and getting involved in the design community. The book is full of industry-related quotes, business resources and materials to help designers be more successful as business people.

Published by HOW Design Books, The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success: Ideas and tactics for a killer career can be found at most major booksellers both on and offline.

With over 30 years experience in graphic and web design, Neil’s primary focus is helping small businesses effectively communicate with their audiences. He is also the recipient of numerous awards for design excellence and cofounder of CreativeLatitude.com, a popular online resource for both creatives and clients. Tortorella Design’s web site can be found at www.tortorelladesign.com.

###

Let’s take this apart and look at each element.
————————-
Contact:
Neil Tortorella
330.305.1554
[email address]

This is your contact info and should appear at the top of the release. If an editor, reporter or writers has questions, you want them to be able to get in touch with you for clarification.

————————-
December 6, 2004

The date of the release.
————————-
Local Designer Featured in New Graphic Design Book

Here’s your headline. It should immediately tell the editor what the release is all about. This release went out to my local media contacts, so the headline focused on being local, rather than something overly witty.
————————-
North Canton, OH:
Insert the dateline at the beginning of the first paragraph. Ironically, the “dateline” isn’t a date at all. It’s the location of your office or where the news originated.

————————-
North Canton-based graphic designer, Neil Tortorella of Tortorella Design, is featured in the newly released book, The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success: Ideas and tactics for a killer career, by Jeff Fisher.

Lead off with the most important information. Think of the body of your release as an inverted pyramid with less important information lower in the release. Editors tend to cut from the bottom.

When you’re drafting your release, put on your reporter hat. They want to know who, what where, when and why. They also love facts, so give them as many as you can.

————————-
[more] and/or ###

If your release is two or more pages, let the editor know by including [more] at the end of each page. Finally, close your release with either “-30-” or “###,” the customary symbols to say “That’s all folks.”

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

In my last post, I wrote about the importance of having a press kit to help immortalize your moniker in print. In this post, I’ll share the tasty ingredients for your kit.

The Cover Letter
This is a brief intro letter, typically one page, that tells the editor or reporter what the press kit is all about and that you’d be just pleased as punch to be interviewed or contacted for a quote when the right story come by.

It’s important to do your homework beforehand. Address your cover letter to a specific person and make sure to spell their name correctly. Check the publication for the right folks to send your material. It’s always a good idea to pick up the phone and call the publication for verification of the name, title and such.

Backgrounder
Here’s where you’ll be detailing what you and your business are all about. Some of the things you’ll be addressing are your company’s history, services/product offerings highlights, why the company exists and what it’s mission and goals are all about.

For independent professionals, you want to position yourself as an expert in your field. That means addressing your background along with your relevant education and experience. It might also contain your key topics such as branding, web design, corporate identity, etc.

Fact Sheet
This is a listing of key facts about the business. Reporters love facts, so make it easy for them. This may contain office locations, number of employees, number of awards won, etc. Some folks prefer to incorporate the facts sheet within the backgrounder.

Press Releases
Press releases are the anchor of your publicity efforts, so you’ll want to include a few of your most recent/most important releases. Be sure when writing releases that they conform to accepted format standards. I’ll be cover press release format standards in a future post.

Key Personnel Bios
In some instances, you can cover key bio in the backgrounder. In other cases, it makes more sense to create a “Bios” page. This is a couple of paragraphs about each key player in the business and may also include a photo. The bio should list the person’s title, key responsibilities, relevant education and experience.

Services/Products
This is a page or pages that outline your key services and/or products. Some companies will substitute this with a brochure. The main thing to remember here is focusing on benefits, not features. Lots of people get hung up with their offering’s bells and whistles, but that’s not usually what’s important to clients and readers. They want to know how what you offer will solve their problem, make their life easier, make them look good and such.

Press Reprints
Got press? Great! Make copies or order reprints from the publication. Editors are more likely to cover you and your business if another publication has already taken a chance on you. Reprints are also a good source of inspiration for writers to develop a story idea all about you. Give them all the ammo they need.

Photos
These can be key personnel photos, product images, and such. Perhaps you do speaking gigs. An in-action shot might be perfect to punctuate an article about you. Images can be hard copies or digital on a CD or DVD, but the latter is preferred since most publications are produced electronically now days. Make sure your images have enough resolution for print reproduction. The rule of thumb is 2x the line screen of the publication. For most magazines that means at least 300 dpi. Newspapers use a coarser screen so they can be 120 - 200 dpi. When in doubt, go higher. Images can go down in resolution, but not up.

And there you have it. Piece of cake. Yes? Putting together your press kits isn’t rocket science. It simply takes some time, diligence and planning.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

If you don’t already have one (and I’m betting you don’t), you should have a press kit in your marketing arsenal. They can be created on the relative cheap, but they can be worth way more than their weight in publicity gold. They can be your ticket to fame and fortune. A well-crafted press kit will decrease your waistline and increase your desirability toward the opposite sex (or the same sex, as the case may be). It will end world hunger and bring about a lasting, universal peace. The planets will align and Utopia will permeate the Universe.

Okay … that’s a bit more than a stretch. But, a quality kit will help to position you as the one who’s in the know, offers excellent services and smarts and might even get you an interview here and there.

Consider this. I did a press kit a while ago for a business-to-business client. It was simple and distributed on CDs that we burned. The client was in a small market. Small, to the point of me only finding a whopping six publications for their media list. I sent out a release to the list, followed by our handy dandy press kit. The release was printed in three pubs. But, the press kit resulted in two feature stories about my client and the rest of the pubs printing the original release. Nifty? You bet. But, the best part is that the feature stories resulted in the client cracking a new offshore market and picking up a customer on the other side of the planet. Now they’re “global.”

Think of a press kit as something akin to your business’ resume. It provides one-stop shopping for editors, reporters and writers who are on the hunt for an expert to quote or maybe a story idea. A well-conceived and produced kit helps you stand out from the pack and also helps to get you noticed by those folks who can forever immortalize your name in print. Plus, a correctly structured press kit can be easily adapted for other audiences as well, like those deep-pocket folks such as investors and prospects.

To create your brilliant publicity package, you’ll probably want to enlist the services of a writer and maybe a photographer. Sure, you can do it yourself. You can also handle your bookkeeping and tax returns, install that new electrical outlet you’ve been needing and hoist your car up on a couple of jacks and toss in a new engine. Let me share my thoughts on that. Well … actually they’re not my thoughts. They’re the sage advice from one of my profs at the art school I attended back in the old days. Odds are she got it from some mentor along the way, too –

“Never do for yourself what somebody else can do better.”

Read it. Know it. Live it.

You want your press kit to stand out from the crowd, be impressive and tell your story in a memorable way. A good creative team can be worth their weight in gold toward helping you reach that goal.

You can put a kit together without sinking a load of dough into it. It simply takes some thought and planning. You can pick up some nice two pocket folders at your local office supply store. Apply a well-designed, ink-jet printed, crack ‘n peel label and volia! Pop your business card in the pre-cut slits and you’re good to go.

Odds are the office supply or a decent copy shop can also make copies for you. Have your writer’s glowing prose copied instead of having pages offset printed. Have your photographer shoot some dazzling images of you and some of your work. Maybe your office, too, if it’s a neat space. Format the writer’s text so each page is consistent with your branding in terms of typography, colors, etc. Burn the sucker and whip up some great CD labels. The next thing you know, you have a slick and informative press kit.

Up next, we’ll talk about what to put into your kit … and how to do it.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

So, you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and get your publicity machine cranking. What avenues are out there to tell your story without sinking a load of dough into your efforts? Here’s a list of possibilities, in no particular order:

On and offline news release distribution
Writing articles for trade publication
A blog
Print or e-newsletters
Writing articles for web site content
Creating a press kit
Writing white papers and reports
Tip sheets
Generating interviews for on and offline publications
Online forums and discussion groups
Speaking engagements
Workshops / Seminars
Your website
Writing a book

Setting Up Your Plan
You’re not going to get too far without a well-thought out plan of action. Some of the best sage advise I know is “Plan your work and work your plan.” Without a written plan, you’ll find yourself floundering faster than molasses going up a hill in January.

A publicity or public relations plan is typically a subset of a marketing plan. The marketing plan is a subset of an overall business plan. But, that’s a topic for another post.

Here’s what’s typically included:

Executive Summary
This is a one or two page summary of what you’re planning to do, how you plan to do it, what result(s) you’re striving to reach, how much it’s going to cost and when key things will happen.

Current Situation
This section of your plan is an honest assessment of where you’re at now and usually some information about how you landed yourself in this situation.

Include any public relations and publicity efforts you have in place, or have done in the past. and how well they’re working (or worked).

Goals
This where you’ll list what you’re trying to accomplish. Goals should be realistic, attainable and measurable. For instance, setting a goal to get on the cover of Business Week’s next edition isn’t likely to happen. Submitting a news release to them just might.

Budget
List all anticipated costs for your publicity activities. It’s a good idea to tack on an additional 20%. Most things tend to take longer and cost more than you think they will. It’s also a good idea to create a spreadsheet where you can track what you did, when, how much it cost and what the return was for each effort. The bean counters like to call this tracking ROI, or Return On Investment. If you don’t do something like this, you’ll have a hard time really knowing what’s working for your hard earned dough and what’s not.

Schedule
It’s a good idea to transpose your action plans to a calendar. Ideally, this is a software calendar that includes alerts. Set alerts to remind you of what needs to be done with enough advance warning so you’re not scrambling to meet your deadlines.

I use a contact manager application for everything - my marketing and promotional tasks, client contacts, daily project tasks, personal appointments and tasks and even when I need to take any prescriptions. My computer is set up to talk, so I have audible alerts. As a matter of fact, one just went off to remind me to go to the bank and do the grocery thing. I love my contact manager. [humorous side note] A while back, I was taking a prescription for some work done on my teeth. I had my son over one night when my alert went off. “Neil, it’s time to take your medicine.” My kid lost it. He cracked up to the point of rolling off the couch while saying, “Oh my gosh! You’ve got a wife!”

The point here is to leave nothing to chance. Putting a system in place will help to keep you on track. If not, I can guarantee you’ll get busy with this or that and put things off … tasks which never seem to get done.

With your goals, action plans and calendar in hand, you’ll be able to effective schedule your time.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt