How to write it and

where to send it!

Last night, some of the “unwritten rules” of news release structure and engagement were addressed http://bit.ly/aDKj4H . . . now here’re some basics on how to write a news release, and what to do with it.

     A good rule of thumb guide for your headline is to summarize the “hot spot” of the release in seven words or less and, whenever possible, include your business name in those seven words. Many professionals recommend starting your release with a brief, provocative question that gets a payoff in the text, or with a short summarizing quote that sets up the text.

     When quotes are used, include the source’s name, title and affiliation. ALWAYS (NO EXCEPTIONS) SPELL EVERY NAME, TITLE AND AFFILIATION EXACTLY CORRECT.

     Your first paragraph needs to deliver the meat of the whole release. It needs to answer the questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? Many times, a rushed editor who’s short on space or air time will just use the first paragraph. And even when the entire release is used, the first paragraph still must serve to “hook in” readers, viewers, listeners, visitors. 

     Give the first paragraph NEWSWORTHY SUBSTANCE and CLOUT.

     Use the balance of your release to support the heading and the first paragraph. Leave details like directions, address, related issues, and secondary points and quotes for the end. Don’t stray from the central message of the release, and don’t try to pack in too much information. Editors and writers discard and delete long rambling quotes and stories. If they want more, they’ll call you.

     Supplementing your release with a captioned photo (especially something unique or candid, which is far better than yearbook profile style) increases your media coverage odds substantially. (When there’s heavy news that day, and not enough room for the release, an editor may throw in a captioned photo. Some news coverage beats no news coverage!)

     Okay, the thing is done. Now what? After getting your media, customer, and supplier contact email and address lists out, my first recommendation (if you haven’t already done it) is to go to www.BizBrag.com and sign up. 24/7, you get a FREE online news release posting, and email distribution to the global, local, or specialized market emails you designate (including any media email addresses you plug in).

     Because BizBrag services are so ideal for do-it-yourselfers, it’s a great place to start and build with. After punching in your “profile,” you just type in your release and even add a photo if you like, then BizBrag dresses it up, puts it into their homepage news rotation and sends it out for you to whatever email addresses you select, giving your business a third party endorsement look. Upgrades are available but not required and I’m told the first 10,000 sign-ups get a super, fixed-for-lifetime discount. 

     Happy News Releasing! 

  Click Here to work with Hal!                       

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! 

Why pay fees

if you have time

to nurture the

media and the

ability to sound

newsworthy?

     Here are some of the unwritten rules of the game that can help you gain media exposure.

     Right off the bat, realize that because news coverage is free, whatever you submit is subject to the trade-off of arbitrarily being discarded, deleted, completely re-written, misquoted, even twisted to set up a favorable impression of your biggest competitor!

     Be aware that many trade, professional, and small-time community publications will demand advertising space purchase before they’ll consider printing your release (or before they’ll consider mentioning you or your company, or noting key points from your release in another separate story).

     Start out by mentally putting yourself in the shoes of those who are likely to receive your news release: writers, editors, and publishers. None of these people are likely to be getting paid commeasurate with their training and experience. It is also 100% at their discretion as to whether anything you submit gets accepted.

     So they are interested in placing news releases that require minimal rewriting; the more time they have to devote to your release, the less likely it will get coverage. Each of the news channels these folks represent is probably stretched tight, highly budget-conscious, and perhaps even on the verge of shut-down.

     More than ever, media writers and editors need to justify giving up online attention, or print space, or broadcast time to news release coverage, and that translates to the fact that the news must be worthy. Thinly-disguised sales pitches get tossed.

     Besides being newsworthy, being professionally written with minimal editing needs, your release cannot be a one-time, stand-alone document. You need to establish an ongoing relationship and have media professionals recognize that your releases are part of a commitment to an ongoing series of releases — two or three a month usually accomplish that.

     Don’t expect any response to your first or second release. If you get some, great; you’re ahead of the game, but many editors and writers want to make sure you’re serious enough to stay around; they don’t like one-night-stand PR efforts.

     Your news doesn’t have to be earth-shattering. Try: community fund-raising participation or activity sponsorship; a new product or service offering or new application of an existing product or service; an employee promotion or accomplishment; a professional or industry association membership, stance, recognition or certification; an expansion, consolidation, partnership, alliance or affiliation; etc. 

     Personalize your cover note with every release you send out as much as possible: “I saw your story about local entrepreneurs last week in The Cape Gazette and thought you might be interested in the attached release about two area teachers who started a new educational services business just six miles from your office. Thank you for your time and consideration.”

     Include at the end of the 1.5 page double-spaced release mailed or hand-delivered to print and broadcast media, or your .75 page single-spaced release and photo emailed, a name and phone number and email address preceded by a small “Contact:” at the end of each release so the recipient knows how to follow up if there’s interest in knowing more. 

     Do not expect copies of anything that does manage to get coverage; it’s your responsibility to find it!

TOMORROW: How to write it and where to send it!

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Keep Your Delete

Button Handy

While Sorting

Out Prospects!

     I like to wake up every morning feeling thankful to still be here and reassuring myself that I am part of a healthy global society. And every morning without fail, my hopes for the healthy global society part go down the tubes when I boot up.

     There it is in my face: the never-ending daily bombardment of sicko spam messages cluttering up my email system and (until the recent installation of blocking software) my blog site.

     It’s almost inconceivable that there are so many insecure, neurotic, deranged people out there hovering maliciously over their keyboards. Are they zealously rubbing their slimy little hands together? Are they smacking their sinister (and diseased, I’m sure) lips in excitement over having sent out rampaging waves of garbage to millions of annoyed recipients.

     Hey, I’m all for freedom of speech, but what about freedom of listening? Where are the rights of those among us who are simply not interested and haven’t the time to waste listening to or reading (or even deleting) the cursed mental case nonsense that spews forth to our monitors as we sleep and work?

     All of us, I guess, could go on into infinity with this evil, insulting, intrusive subject matter, but I’m not sure there will ever be an answer without regulation, and I’d rather have spam. So I’ll stop this diatribe and instead mention that the whole distasteful issue reminds me that we have to spend much of our business lives fending off spammy prospective customers too.

     It doesn’t matter if you’re in retail, wholesale, manufacturing, or professional practice . . . whether you run a multi-million dollar operation out of a huge complex or you work at your kitchen table . . . practically every day, most business owners and managers and entrepreneurs and sales professionals are forced to spend inordinate amounts of time having to qualify, or sort through, questionable prospects to determine if they are or could be legitimate customers.

     Here’s the point: You can’t be afraid of losing business by being (pleasantly please) direct with prospects. If someone is that unstable, uninformed or uncaring that she or he can’t give you a straight answer as to what his or her needs are, odds are you won’t win a purchase commitment no matter what you say or do anyway. 

     If a prospect is unable to share her or his impressions of your product or service ability to meet or exceed those needs, that person is not ready for you and what you sell. You may be dealing with someone who is on a fishing or tire-kicking expedition, or simply can’t afford the price-tag or the emotional attachment.

     When you’re not ready to write off a resistant or noncommittal prospect, you need to be thinking about how much more resourceful you can be with the time you’re spending trying to turn the QE2 in a narrow river, when a small boat will get you across right away.

     Develop a personal system for sorting out prospects that includes great respect and genuine appreciation (return visits are always possible!), and that injects some reasonable haste. Then stick to it. Second thoughts don’t work in sports or business. Rely on your own judgement, and trust yourself more.  

Click Here to work with Hal!       

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! 

“You’ve been a

pain in the butt

ever since

you were born!”

     You own, operate or manage a family business. God Bless You. Now let’s get down to reality. Odds are that you, or at least someone you work with, harbors resentment. And those upset feelings are getting in the way of business growth, perhaps survival. When we collect negative feelings about someone else, resentment is usually the accompanist.

     Resentment often takes the form of a demand that the other person feel guilty. In the classic Addison-Wesley book Born To Win, authors James and Jongeward suggest, “When you become aware that your resentment is growing, handle each situation as it occurs and with whom it occurs rather than collecting and holding your feelings, and perhaps cashing them in for a big prize or on an ‘innocent’ person.”

     The world renown educator/counselor/co-authors recommend the following steps for dealing effectively with resentment:

• “Try to talk the problem over with whoever is bugging you.

• When you attempt this, avoid accusing the other.

• Tell the other person how the situation is affecting you. Use the pronoun ‘I’ instead of an accusative ‘you.’ [For example, ‘I don’t like smoke; it bothers me,’ instead of  ‘You’re really thoughtless the way you blow your smoke around.’]”

• Remembering that the solution to any group problem lies within the group, James and Jongeward go on to urge that in a family group, it is helpful to set up “resentment and appreciation sessions,” which they point out need to have specific rules. Here is how they define that process:

• “Each person in turn verbally states the resentments he holds against the others; (it is important that the others listen but do not defend themselves. The statements of resentment are to be let out but not reacted to.)

• After resentments have been stated, each person tells the others what he appreciates about them.”

     When first learning how to conduct this kind of session, do it daily. After it can be done with ease, stretch it to weekly.

     In some working situations, resentment and appreciation sessions can be useful, “particularly where people work together closely and personal irritations occur easily. If it is tried, all members should agree to a trial period — say two months.” At the end of this period, the usefulness of the procedure can be re-evaluated. If “participants decide to continue, they could decide on adaptations and establish regular session times, like meeting once every two or three weeks,” or whatever seems “practical.”

     It should go without saying that an outside professional facilitator or family business coach can play an important role in establishing and moderating this kind of program. The more structured and enforced the process, the more likely it is to eliminate or minimize nonproductive ill feelings and be able to help produce positive results.

     Is all of this easy? Probably not. Does it take time? Yes. Is the risk reasonable? If everyone involved is agreeable to pursue positive and productive solutions, yes. Should you try it on your own? Possibly, if you are not personally involved in the resentment exchanges, or directly related to those who are, and have a firm but compassionate leadership quality.  

# # #

Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You!

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

“Show me an authentic boss

. . . I’ll show you a winning leader!”

Real. Actual. Genuine. Bona Fide. Not False or Imitation. “Honest-to-Goodness.” Being Exactly What is Claimed. Good Faith. Sincerity of Intention. Legitimate. “The Real Deal.”

How many of these qualities do you carry in your pocket and empty onto the table when you’re talking, meeting, and dealing with others? How often? How influenced are you by good or bad moods? By past experiences or self-doubts?

  Does it matter whether the “others” are customers, prospects, employees, associates, investors, or suppliers? Does it matter whether you’re on the phone, in person, texting or emailing?

   How much do incidents, environments, and issues beyond your control play a part?

What is it that you are most afraid of having others you work with, or sell to, learn about the real you? What’s in the back of your closet that you’re choosing to put in the front of your mind that’s holding you back from being the up-front person you’ve always wanted to be?

Have you made yourself be a victim of circumstances? Is this an identity you cling to?

This is not some ridiculous Hollywood exposé, or some empty suit government or political probe. This is about you, your business, your daily performance, and the way you “come across” to others.

  Here’s why it matters. When you own a business, the business is an extension of your ego. It is the career stage on which you have chosen to perform.

Depending on how true to character you allow yourself to be, and how persuasively you present yourself and ideas, your business will rise and fall with the curtain calls and appreciative audience applause.

If you elect to play a hard-nosed character, and you’re convincing in that role, you will attract hard-nosed critics and audiences who may not hang around until intermission . . . or who are harder-nosed than you!

  I’m not suggesting you or I or any of us has the ability to simply turn the authenticity faucet on and become Mother Teresa. But I am saying that we all have certain qualities of genuineness as human beings.

Exercising these strengths of character (in spite of closed closets) will serve to free up unnecessarily-guarded business behaviors and–in the process–open opportunities we may never have thought possible.

     It’s a choice that that I can encourage, but only you can make. I urge you to take the risk to rise above your own doubts and show more customers, employees, and suppliers more of what the real you is all about. Let them see that they can trust your judgement and earn your confidence.

You don’t have to “become one of the guys” to let others know that you possess compassion and humor alongside your insightful and visionary leadership. Hey, give it a try. You may even like your self better. Have fun!

# # #

Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals!

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

“Break out the

tambourines,

Boss. It’s time

 to collaborate!”

Okay, ready? Take some deep breaths Here comes a long question:

Are you and your business standing quietly on the sidelines, like celery stalks in search of a Bloody Mary…while others in your building, block, town, county, state, region, profession, industry are taking action to improve community well-being?”

     Maybe your answer has to do with how you define community? So here’s a short question: How DO you define “community”?

     And while you’re beating your brains in trying to answer that, you may want also to consider how you and your business typically interact with other businesses and business owners within the community you ultimately define. I know this is getting mind-boggling, so here’s a little historic help from your friends:   

     First we had affiliates, then we had partnerships, next came alliances, and then –so no one would construe these deliberate arrangements as involving money transfers during economic times of question-ability– we gave rise to strategic alliances. Now, however, living in the age of social media (which we have slathered on top of a deeply troubling economy), we have all become collaborators.

DID YOU HUG YOUR COLLABORATOR TODAY?

    Actually, collaboration as you know is nothing new, but its prepon-derance in today’s txt msg literature brings to the surface a more cooperative spirit. Like it used to be “What have you done for me lately?” and then “What has your business done for me lately?” and now it’s “What has your business done for the community lately?” 

     Well, that kind of all comes full circle back to how you define “community.”

     Wherever your business is located — basement, garage, ware-house, office building, construction site, the cab of your truck, your hall closet — it comes packaged with a geographic community.

     Whatever type of business or profession you practice, it comes packaged with a business, industrial, trade or professional community.

     That means that you and your business have a responsibility to others around you besides your customers, employees and suppliers. Ah, but acceptance of that notion that doesn’t have to be burdensome if you pick and choose your community involvements carefully.

You and your business have a responsibility to others around you besides your customers, employees and suppliers.”

     Being a good business citizen doesn’t always have to mean undertaking charitable crusades, though that’s a wonderful thing when it’s possible. Actively standing up on behalf of those around you who can’t or won’t is itself an act of charity. And regardless of what it achieves, it inspires.

     When you can collaborate with other businesses, you can, for example, share marketing expenses and perhaps use the savings to afford to offer better customer discounts or higher employee bonuses, or both. When you can collaborate by sharing employee talents, it serves to broaden every one’s horizons and presents opportunities for enhanced customer service.

     Best of all, it need not cost a penny. And you thought you had no cause to celebrate? Break out the tambourines, Boss!

 Click Here to work with Hal             

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! 

If you’re not gonna

finish stuff,

don’t start it.

     I’ve seen guys who are so slow, you’d think they were going uphill in molasses, backwards, in the middle of a blizzard. And the flip side brings out the best in frenzied, knee-jerk, entrepreneurs with maniac schedules. Then there’s the workaholics who barricade themselves off from the rest of the world to avoid dealing with feelings of intimacy.

     This is, curiously, also one of the main (usually unconscious) reasons for obesity: it’s hard to express feelings when food is going down the throat. So, here we have those who want to work themselves to death, those who prefer death, and don’t those who don’t want to work at all. What a choice!

     My father always told me,“If you’re gonna do something half-assed, don’t do it at all!” and I guess that stuck, but I must admit there have been times when I sure wished I had the capacity to choose to just wing it, instead of seeing a task all the way through to the end. Well, I suppose that sets the stage for taking a brief look at quitters.

     Who cares? I do. Okay, well maybe I don’t anymore; but I did. I always believed in learning something from everyone. Quitters were no exception. What I learned from these partly-pregnant people (and that, believe me, is one very big feat!) is that they shouldn’t be functioning in today’s business world. But they are.

• I have had no fewer than four clients I can recall who hired me, paid me, put me through the wringer with meaningless changes, told me they were delighted with my work, and even paid the next level of application (printer, website designer, and media people), but never finished the job. Two even paid extra for “exceptional” work!
• One guy delayed printing a brochure I wrote for him for ten months. He paid me and he paid the printer nine months ago. Then one day he decided to finish the job which was — by then — practically outdated, but that didn’t matter.
• A website client had me write ten pages on a “rush” basis, hurry to get the site designed, pay everyone involved, put the site on a disk, and pack it away. Now, a year and a half later, she decided she wants to launch it. Go figure.
• Another individual contracted me for writing his business plan, which he said he loved, and then put it on the shelf to collect dust. I could go on. It simply amazes me that people do this.

     Having a sense of urgency about your business will carry your business through the lean times. Foot-dragging will simply be a ball and chain affair in trying to address business ambitions (if there are any). Who could ever know what goes on in these minds? I’m happy to report that most clients I’ve had, have made great successes of the materials I’ve created for them.

     They take the marketing plans and programs and materials and run. And when more business comes in the door, they come back to me for more. That’s the stuff that makes it all worthwhile.

     The other stuff? The stuff that never gets finished? Don’t bother to start it. And if you do, start it somewhere else where people appreciate lethargy and indecision. I’ve learned all I can learn from those folks: that half-hearted leaders get half-hearted results!   

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US 302.933.0116

Open Minds Open Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Grab Your Hat

and Get Your Coat

  . . . Then Take

These 5 Steps!

     Think you’ve heard it all? You have. You’ve read the management books, trade magazines and professional journals. You’ve watched every TV special that’s related to your business. You’ve sat through endless repetitive lectures, webinars, seminars, workshops, blogcasts and stage presentations by big-name motivational speakers.

     You’ve checked hundreds of related websites and thousands of related online stories and emails. You’ve even listened to and interpreted the deep-down meanings of favorite songs and the advice of favorite uncles.

     You’ve listened to the warnings, scoldings, and tidbits of genius dished out over your lifetime by your mother, your father, your teachers, business and marriage partners, and even — in your weaker moments — politicians.

     You’ve heard it all!

     Now it’s time to do something productive with what you know, to put all that input to work. Make it make money for yourself and your family, steer it in the direction of building/strengthening  the reputation you want for yourself and your business, enlist your knowledge in directions that will help others to improve their self-worth. How?

1. By recognizing first and foremost that what you do or don’t do with what you know is your choice.
2. By priming your pump.  Take some deep breaths; get regular 3- times-a- week exercise; sleep and eat better. The more the merrier, but any and/or all of this will make you feel better and perform better.
3. By sorting out your ideas and the information that works best for you in your situation right now. [These are different for everyone] Prioritize them, then start on making Number One happen and keep at it to the exclusion of all the others; then, move on to Number Two, etc.. The most important first step is to take the first step. Some action is always better than no action.
4. By remembering Winston Churchill’s famous battle cry: “Never give up. Never, ever give up!” Be tenacious. Be persistent. Be persevering. Stick-to-it-tive-ness sells! And when you do what you do with grace and respect and confidence, you will engage others, not chase them away.
5. By recognizing that EVERY customer and prospect has an ego that’s as least as big as yours, but has not perhaps promoted it in the same ways. Back off your own self-indulgence and become a fan of the person/company/organization you seek to sell.

     Bottomline: You HAVE heard it all. You KNOW what to do and how to make it work for you. You know this in your heart and you know it better than anyone else could possibly know. You’ve just spent too much time questioning and delaying and doubting yourself. If the risks involved are reasonable ones, put your peddle to the metal. There’s no such thing as a second first chance.

Click Here to work with Hal!                                        

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! 

Yes, you get

what you pay for!

Stop wasting time looking for magazine articles to guide your way. 

     You will not find actionable, productive problem-solving steps to take in magazines. The so-called experts whose guest-lecture style writing is published routinely in trade and professional journals may arouse your interest, and may carve out some fascinating new research directions, but odds are they haven’t a clue about the kinds of help you really need.

     How can I say that so authoritatively?

1) Common sense dictates (and has been soundly proven) that the best solution to any group, organization or business problem lies within the group, organization or business that has the  problem. A good, experienced outside consultant brought in under your wing can quickly integrate into your group, organization or business— plus bring  invaluable, informed, fresh perspectives to your table. 

People who are skilled at this are generally too busy with hands-on activities to be  writing about their experiences. And even when they do manage to squeeze in a story or two, it will never be de-fined with the exact same dynamics that are giving you headaches.

2) Early on when I couldn’t make enough money consulting, I used to write many of these milquetoast monologues. And, I can assure you, practical application never factored in as long as the publisher or editor was happy and I got paid.

Besides, what on Earth would a publisher or editor know about your business? Most of them can’t even tend profitably to their own affairs. It’s like inviting  the wholeheartedly incompetent federal government to step in and run your business.

     So, let’s get back to the kinds of help you really need. First of all, you need an action approach and realistic, flexible thinking support. Whatever you might read in a trade or professional publication is not likely to be action-oriented, and even if it is, it surely won’t be flexible and realistic enough to apply to your unique needs. While problems are not usually unique, solutions–real ones, lasting ones–typically are.

     The current issue of a major industry trade magazine features a cover story titled “The Making of a Manager” and proceeds to say nothing of any useful consequence. Instead of providing some insight on how to initiate manager development, the article focuses on all the reasons (mostly questionable) to promote from within rather than hire from outside.

     The article offers no input about the important differences that need to be addressed between, e.g., being a sales or customer service rep vs. being a sales or customer service manager. There’s no attention given to the most critical step involved with “The Making of a Manager” which is learning to let go. In order to do the job of motivating others to do the tasks that one used to do firsthand, requires learning how to let go of doing the tasks oneself.

     This is no doubt not addressed because to do so would upset the writer’s premise and purpose to promote internal promotion instead of finding the best person to do the job. 

     BOTTOM LINE: Read trade and professional press items that interest you, if you have the time, but don’t expect to find lasting and productive answers until you’re willing to bite the bullet and pay for someone who can help coach you and guide your people through the solution process.

Visit Hal at www.TheWriterWorks.com

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You!

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Only 16%

of Thirty Million

US Small Businesses 

Use Social Media!

     We have already recently heard that fewer than half of America’s 29.7 million small businesses actually have their own websites, and were astonished. When you’re clicking back and forth to your own and other sites all day, it’s incredulous to believe that everyone else is not. Well, now we have more fuel for the opportunity fires.

     Results of a poll http://bit.ly/bWvym3 commissioned by EMPLOYERS, a small business insurance company, was reported today in Angelique Rewers’ final edition of  The Corporate Communicator (rolling over next week into her new online publication, “BRILLIANCE … Rich, Smart and Happy” — Watch for it. Angelique is a sensational writer and online publisher!).

     The poll is a reality slap! 

     Bottom line: You thought the whole world was TWITTER and Facebook crazy and that any business worth their salt had to be heavily engaged in this explosive new media form with knock-’em-dead marketing messages and links galore. Not according to the 500 small business owners and managers surveyed:  the total number of small businesses using social media for marketing is hovering somewhere around a very unimpressive 16%.

     But what does this mean? First of all, consider the vast untapped market potential this information suggests. What a fantastic opportunity this awareness serves for those who focus their businesses on Internet marketing development, and on small business development and related services.

     Just consider the prospect pool. There are more businesses out there who need what you have than there are those who already have it, and clearly everyone will at some point down the road indeed have both feet in the websites and social media arenas.

     Now add to that mix those who already have websites and social media savvy. They either do or will soon need overhauls, updates, upgrades, revitalizations, and expanded, pizazzed-up, better-functioning services. Nowhere does this ratchet up service needs more profoundly than with content development (copywriting) because word content is king in the visual world of the Internet. [If you need help with this and you’ll pardon my brashness, you can find my rates and services at www.TWWsells.com]

     To top off the survey findings, the majority of small businesses leveraging social media are finding it effective, more than half those interviewed believe that having a social media presence is important, and nearly 60 % who do use it say it has provided value to their businesses. So, how much farther does the gauntlet need to be thrown down to you, for you to consider crossing the moat?

     What are you waiting for?

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day!