Get Slightly Famous

Formulas Make Writing Easier: The List

Just as an outline helps you begin with a structure that makes writing easier, a “formula” is a design or structure for articles that is ready-made, widely recognizable, and provides a pattern for expressing your ideas.

Formulas are set patterns for expressing your ideas. In addition to making writing less of a chore, formulas, like outlines, impose discipline, help you determine the components of your article and insure that they relate to one another.

The list is one of the most basic formulas for writing an article. A list article is just that—a specific number of facts or bits of information tied together by a binding idea.

List articles are:

• Easy to research
• Easy to write
• Easy to sell
• Ideal for new writers just breaking into print

“Ten Common Sales Objections,” or “Eight Ways To Avoid Workplace Injuries” are examples of list articles that promise an easy grasp of a cluster of facts based on an overall theme.

List articles are popular among writers, readers and editors. Not only are they easy to write, they are easy to read and make excellent material for editors looking to fill in empty spots in a magazine. Another useful attribute to the list article is that it can easily be reworked, or even submitted in identical form, to other publications.

How PR Can Boost Your Business

Jayme Broudy of Pinnacle Consulting Group used to work with business owners across many industries, helping them develop management systems to better run their businesses. The benefit she delivered was helping her clients move from “owner dependant” firms to building profitable, stand-alone businesses.

Her challenge, however, was that she lacked a clear, focused target market to guide her marketing efforts.

When Jayme Dill Broudy became a client, we challenged her to target a market niche of her best prospects, which turned out to be building contractors - from plumbers, to electricians to roofers - who had a track record of benefiting from her services.

We created a plan to establish her reputation within the contracting industry that centered on publishing articles in contractor trade magazines. We researched dozens of contractor magazines, developed article ideas based on her expertise, and approached editors and introduced Jayme as a potential expert contributor.

In less than 9 months, Jayme went from “niche anonymity” to securing seven major article placements in contractor magazines, including articles in Building Systems Magazine, Lawn Care Professional and a monthly column in Construction Business Owner Magazine.

This trade media coverage helped Jayme become a known and trusted resource to the contracting industry, secure speaking engagements at national contractor conferences, boost her web site traffic, and generate article reprints for a direct mail campaign.

The media shape the opinions of everyone that has a direct impact on your business. How many times have you learned about an important issue, a business you patronize, or a product you buy because you read about in a newspaper or magazine?

Advertisers and marketers agree that the more times someone runs across your name, the more predisposed they are to buy from you — an effect that grows when your name appears in contexts that imply you are competent.

Online PR and SEO go hand in hand

I recently came across Lee Odden being interviewed about the comlementary role of online public relations and search engine optimization. Odden is President of TopRank Online Marketing, a search marketing agency specialising in search engine optimisation, online PR and blog marketing.

A recognised industry expert, Lee publishes MarketingBlog.com and has been cited by major publications including U.S. News and The Economist and speaks at numerous industry conferences. Here's a snippet of this interview...

Marketers seem to finally be realising that online PR and SEO go hand in hand. Can you sum up the opportunities?

Public relations and search engine optimisation are intertwined in many ways. A common crossover is with linking. The best links which are most often editorial in nature are often the most difficult. Coveted link sources include major online publications, educational or government web sites. The pitching of stories to journalists common to media relations is directly related to pitching for linking opportunities on some of the more difficult sites. Getting a contributed article into a prominent online publication can drive traffic, build credibility and associate link popularity.

Another crossover point deals with press releases, their distribution and the syndication of content. A press release is a document like any other that can be indexed and algorithmically categorised and ranked. Optimising press releases for keywords as well as for the people that will read them allows the release additional exposure from search queries on news search engines. Press releases that are easier to find get picked up more often and when those releases contain links to the company web site, it can send traffic and link popularity.

To read the rest of this article, Click Here

A Movement Against Lame PR Pitches

"The single greatest complaint by journalists about PR people is lame pitches," says an op-Ed by Jim Sinkinson, Publisher, Bulldog Reporter's Daily Dog enewsletter.

"That means pitches that have nothing to do with the media outlet’s (or journalist’s) mission, pitches that are blatant sales pitches, pitches that are filled with jargon, or pitches that are just plain poorly written. Take a second to review these sins one more time. Are they esoteric? Complex? Do they require an MBA or J-school degree to understand? Uh, no."

I constantly remind readers, prospects and clients that it's a waste of time to see PR pitching as the metaphorical equivalent of dropping leaflets out of an airplane. Not only will you annoy editors and journalists, but you risk burning bridges for your media relations strategy.

Unfortunatley, there's still plenty of bad PR to around, and it's prompted a movement on several blogs, including The Bad Pitch Blog, headquarters for of PR "curmudgeons who are mad as hell and just won’t take it anymore...they’re determined to band together in protest of stupid PR tricks and to expose these practices wherever they surface."

As a former journalist, I have been on the receiving end of this trend. It's annoying to have press releases about topics totally unrelated to anything I've ever written about find their way into my inbox. Why do I (and by extension, any media outlet) get so many bad PR pitches? One word: laziness.

Before you approach a media outlet seeking free media exposure, remember this simple rule. Do your homework. It's easier than ever to learn about any reporter, newspaper, or magazine's overall editoral focus before you approach them. Take the time to learn about the media you pitch your story to by visiting their web sites, reading archives and studying the publications themselves.

Editors get hundreds of press releases and pitch letters each week. They have one job, and it isn't to please everyone sending in a release—it’s to please their readership. Knowing this, you should ask the same question of your press release that editors ask, “Will it interest our readers?”

Developing Ideas For Feature Articles

Even though you are probably not an experienced journalist, coming up with ideas for articles is not hard. Most “expert” feature stories are how-to pieces aimed at educating readers on a particular topic related to the author’s industry. Another strategy involves case histories or application stories-- showing readers how a business solved a problem or addressed a need.

Save relevant news stories as launching points and ready-made research for your articles. Gather publications that serve your target market, and look for ideas that relate to your business. Look to your own experiences and those of your colleagues and clients—there's plenty of good material all around you.

Study your chosen publications, and determine the types of stories each of them seems to favor—then use them as starting points for your own ideas. Look for patterns, trends, and points of discussion.

Remember: few story ideas are truly original. A new slant, an interesting angle, timeliness, and focus—these are enough to make a story publishable.