Thursday, April 4, 2013 | Business Tips
If you want to change your business quickly, quickly change some of the things you’re doing.
Business growth tip # 1:
Look for the hidden gems — products or services you can create easily or re-purpose.
- Most business owners and executives overlook some of the very valuable services they could provide because they take their own knowledge for granted and, possibly, assume that “everyone knows that.”
- Product-based companies can usually find new uses for their products or they can tweak them slightly to re-position them.
- If you look at your current offerings and listen to what your customers/clients ask you for or praise you for, you will probably get some ideas for new products or services to add to your offering.
- Don’t be afraid of a product that has a short shelf life if you can flood the market and achieve a high ROI. Not everything is meant to last forever.
Business growth tip # 2:
Conduct a monthly “awareness audit,” and amplify your presence.
Look at all of the places where you could easily let people know more about your products and services, add-ons and more. See if you could do more with:
- The signature on your invoices
- Every page of your web site (Is there a call to action on each?)
- Your social media profiles and posts
- If you have a physical location, your signage and waiting area
- Your outgoing voice mail message or hold music/message
Business growth tip # 3:
Create specific plans of action to meet the following groups of people and to make them aware of you:
- Opinion Leaders: these are the people others look to as trendsetters, style leaders, and authorities.
- Key Influencers: these are the people who are close to your target customers and who have the power to influence their buying decisions.
- Members of the media who could interview you.
- Speaking bookers or event organizers who could invite you to speak to members of your target audience.
If you focus on getting to know as few as 10 members of each of these groups each month, imagine how much more widely known you would be and how much potential new business you could be getting.
By reaching out in the right way, you could also secure press coverage and speaking engagements, which can bring you more business and visibility.
Here’s one way you can challenge yourself. Choose one of these strategies to focus on each week, over the next three weeks. Then, track any changes that occur in your business during that time and over the next three weeks.
Feel free to share your experience below or on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/expertmediatraining
I’d love to hear from you.
Now that you have some business growth tactics, do you need tips and advice on media training and presentation training? Check out these links:
Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid in Media Interviews
Top 10 Media Relations Tips – Media Training Tips from a Media Trainer
How to Create an Online Press Room That the Media Will Love
Media Training Tips on The Language of Your Brand in Media Interviews
Prepare for TV Interviews BEFORE You Book One
Wednesday, August 29, 2012 | Business Tips, Messaging, Social Media
Eric Clapton sang, “It’s in the way that you use it.” While this applies to many things, it certainly applies to what you do with press placements.
One of the best things about getting press coverage is that you can use it to help your business in a multitude of ways. Certainly, good press placements can help new clients and buyers find you, so you can experience an immediate burst in sales. However, there’s so much more that you can do to maximize every placement you get.
Being featured in respected media outlets raises your esteem in the eyes of most people because they know that most reputable TV shows, radio shows, newspapers, magazines and web sites will conduct some research before interviewing someone. So, if you’re featured as an expert or your product is selected for inclusion in a magazine, you’re getting a third-party endorsement from the media, who are thought to be “in the know.”
To learn how to use press placements, once you get them, read on.
Ten Great Things To Do with Press Placements
1. Post a scan of the print article or a video or audio clip in your online press room. If you don’t have an online press room yet, I highly recommend creating one, especially if you want more press.
2. You can also post impressive press clippings on the home page of your web site so anyone who visits your site can see them.
3. Share links to them with your sales team or use it for your own sales calls. If you take care of sales yourself, send links to great press placements to potential clients and existing clients who can benefit from the information or who will enjoy seeing you or your products featured in the media.
4. If you sell products and you have a sales team or sales reps, share your press clippings with them immediately so they can present them to potential clients who may want to buy more of your product to meet the anticipated increased demand it due to the media exposure. You can also make them aware of upcoming media coverage so they can prepare for increased demand for your product by purchasing more of your product.
5. Engage people you email by sharing a link to the article or broadcast clip that you host on your web site in the signature of your e-mail. Be sure to tell people why they should click on the link (e.g., “Click here to read what the NY Times said about us.”)
6. Use your press to get more press. Use your press placements as fuel for other articles and interviews by including links to articles and appearances in emails you send to pitch the media. Just be sure to NOT pitch a similar idea that’s covered in the piece you’re sharing with a competitive outlet. They really don’t like that.
7. Get your social media friends excited about your good news. In addition to you sharing links to your press clippings on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media, ask friends to tweet and share on Facebook about your press placements.
8. Include press clippings and TV and radio segment clips in sponsorship packages, if you’re seeking sponsors. Companies who are considering spending their marketing dollars on you will want to see that you’re highly visible and that you’re media savvy enough to garner press coverage (or have a PR rep who is) so you can potentially get press coverage for them, if they sponsor you.
9. If you’re a public speaker and you’re trying to attract more speaking engagements, post your clippings on your web page/area devoted to you as a speaker. This will raise your credibility greatly and it will impress people who are considering booking you to speak at their events.
10. Display copies of your press clippings at events where you’re hosting a table. Here’s a great way one of our clients, photographer Kerry Kara, used her press clippings. She took the double-page spread of her photos that we had secured for her in Modern Bride and had it blown up and mounted on display boards to grace her table at a bridal show. The display attracted people to the booth and helped her book thousands of dollars in business.
Press placements are an asset. Use them to your greatest advantage with this list of 10 things to do with press placements.
Now that you know how to use press placements, once you get them, do you need additional media training resources and tips?
If so, visit these links on our site:
Videos with Tips to Improve Communication, Presentations, Speeches and Media Interviews:
https://expertmediatraining.com/videos-media-interviews-presentations-speeches-investor-pitches
Frequently Asked Questions about Media Training
https://expertmediatraining.com/faqs-about-media-training/
Media Training Tips for Actors, Music Artists and Performers
https://expertmediatraining.com/media-training-for-actors-music-artists-and-performers-media-interview-tips/
Media Interview Checklist from a Media Trainer
https://expertmediatraining.com/media-interview-checklist-from-a-media-trainer/
How to Create an Online Press Room That the Media Will Love
https://expertmediatraining.com/online-press-room-tips-from-media-trainer/
Prepare for TV Interviews BEFORE You Book One – Tips from an Media Trainer and Spokesperson
https://expertmediatraining.com/prepare-for-tv-interviews-media-trainer-tips/
One of the best things about getting press coverage is that you can use it to help your business in a multitude of ways. Certainly, good press placements can help new clients and buyers find you, so you can experience an immediate burst in sales. However, there’s so much more that you can do to maximize every placement you get.
