Archive for the ‘PR & marketing tips’ Category

Here’s one of our latest projects:  A new Web site and e-newsletter for Ken Hebenstreit, Bookseller. We chose the developer because they are specialists in online bookstores.  They have a superior back end, but their design parameters were limited.  Still, we used it to serve our underlying marketing strategy.

Among book sellers, with stores and on the Web, even those named for their founder never feature that person.  That’s natural.  They want to expand and need to be able to delegate to others. We wanted to differentiate Ken from the rest.  In his narrow niche, he will always be a solo act.

Our strategy then was to give the site Ken’s personality, using his photo and writing in a breezy, first-person style. Ken’s product line, first edition fiction, is highly specialized and technical.  People spend hundreds, even thousands, of dollars on a book.  They have to trust him.

Photographer Robert Stewart took beautifully-lit photos of Ken and his books.  Designer Nancy Cohen took her inspiration from Ken’s lavender shirt to create a colorful palette with purple, orange and green.  (OK, it looks a little like Fed Ex, but only if you think about it.)

We revised Ken’s Constant Contact e-newsletter to match and created new business cards and new signage and sports shirts for book fairs.  2/26/10

Should you be your own PR person? Many small businesses might think that doing their own PR is a good cost-cutting decision; however, the real cost might be to your business’s success. To a degree, you can do it yourself — but amidst all the demands of running your own company, hiring someone else with real experience to take care of your publicity might be the better option.  Here’s the rest of the story from the small business section of the American Express’s Web site. Thanks for Kim Adams for the source.  2/26/10

Early in my career, printed collateral materials ruled.  Big budget projects were full bleed, four color.  We’d agonize over the design, the paper, the copy.  We’d strategize audiences to create materials that spoke to many, or splurge on different versions for difference audiences.  We’d dole them out via mail and at events.  Clients gasped at the cost, but paid it because it was the only way.

Today, any business can have a communications tool that is colorful, infinitely flexible and accessible 24/7.  It speaks to every audience simultaneously.  It is interactive.  And still people flinch when they find out what it costs to create a good Web site.

Maybe because other digital marketing tools, like e-newsletters, are free, we think our Web sites should be cheap.  Indeed, they can be.  But truly – truly – you get what you pay for.

Good Web sites are expensive, but think about it: They are the most important thing in your marketing program.  They centralize your image like nothing else in the past, ever.  So don’t give it to your brother in law, who’ll do it “free.”  As I said last month:  “If you think it’s expensive hiring a professional, wait until you hire an amateur.” 2/26/10

As I advised a client who’s new to social media, Facebook is heaven for the passive aggressive.  If you don’t want to be friends with someone who’s requested it, just ignore their request.  If forced to friend (using a noun as a verb – ack!) someone undesirable, hide their posts.  Extreme action:  Accept them as a friend, then dump them.  They’ll never know. 2/26/10

When it comes to capitalization, journalists follow “down style,” using capital letters sparingly and according to a precise set of rules.  This University of Michigan style guide nicely sums up the reasons and the rules.

And speaking of style, news business insiders may enjoy Twitter’s Fake AP stylebook. (Thanks to Kim Adams at gangofpour.com for this and much other tech support).

For a lesson in clear writing, read the Harvard Business Review.  They provide practical information about esoteric topics, yet they never use business industry jargon.  I’m no MBA, and I understand the articles, while recognizing that even a Fortune 500 CFO would value the information, too.

“Ad budget tight?  Call the P.R. Machine.”  Publicity in traditional and new media has been a high-value stand-in for mega-ad budgets recently, according to this article in the New York Times.  (You need a free account with the Times to read the whole thing).

“Don’t feel sheepish about asking for referrals; there’s nothing pushy or smarmy about it.”  A terrific article from Entrepreneur.com.