Boomer Marketing
Sharon Sultan Cutler of
MatureResources.org asked this for discussion our recent
teleseminar about getting publicity with
Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound:
"Our audience is baby boomers through seniors. Since we are a small e-publisher with a for-profit business directory within our website, do you have any publicity
ideas to get
free national news stories describing how we can set up seniors in their own business?
"We will be offering seniors the opportunity to become their own bosses as independent business contractors at
MatureResources.org to sell Internet advertising profiles to companies of all types wishing to reach local, regional and national consumers looking for their type of products or services. Sales territory is national.
"They will pay a fee for the start-up kit which will include training, sample consumer rack cards, promotional
ideas, business cards, etc. Every sale they make will have an excellent commission structure, which is annually commissionable to the sales associate.
[ Editor's note...I'm not sure what annually commissionable means. Does this mean the commission is paid annually, or the payment structure is reviewed annually?]"Are there any news angles you can suggest? Do you have any
ideas about what you can call this type of contractor as I realize it is not a franchise. A unique title like "Senior Advertising Consultant" or something really clever?
"I understand more and more seniors are starting new service businesses and this is a great way for a senior to become his/her own boss working for the benefit of helping seniors via resources, referrals, etc."
And Lois responds...
Let me see if I understand this correctly. You want to essentially hire seniors to sell advertising for your website, and you want them to pay you for the priviledge? AND you want to get P.R. coverage in national magazines because you are hiring independent contractors to sell Internet advertising?
Hmmm. There doesn't appear to be a news angle here.
But having said that...I suspect what you really want is publicity for your website in general, and you want to find some good independent contractors to sell advertising for you. Let's look at the question from these angles.
Sharon, what will interest the media is facts, figures, trend stories, and perhaps unique lifestyle stories. Do you run a weekly or monthly poll of your website visitors focusing on some issue of importance to seniors, and then release the results of the poll to the media? For instance in January each year, you might ask your Boomer and senior visitors, "How much did you spend on gifts during the recent holiday season? Is this more or less than in previous years?" Ask them to fill out demographic information, as well, so that you know age, gender, what part of the US or what country they are from, and whether they are retired or employed. Then tally all the responses and issue a news release saying "X% of respondents to a recent survey by MatureResources.org said thus and so about their holiday spending."
Each month, run a different poll on questions related to important issues for seniors, such as finances, love, marriage, being in touch with relatives, online purchases, and so on. The next year you can use some of the same polls and compare them to the previous year's results.
Create a Top 10 list of media, too. These would be the top 10 publications, broadcast outlets, and Internet sites that you feel your audience will frequent. Get to know the media and the editors and reporters who work for the media outlets. Focus most of your publicity efforts on them.
When you notice a trend in your market, notify your local media and issue a news release on one of the wire services:
PRWeb.com,
PRNewswire.com (requires payment) or
BizWire.com (requires payment). Remember that sometimes local articles are picked up by the national AP or other wire services, so local exposure can be helpful beyond your community, too.
Write articles about trends that you are noticing or issues of importance to your target market and post them online. One great place to do this is with
Ezine Articles. See if you can write a monthly column on seniors in your local newspaper. You may also work to get this column placed in other papers, or possibly syndicated, too. Remember that you will have to keep your copyright to do this.
Always include a resource box in your articles that links the reader back to your website. You can also include a statement saying you are looking for independent contractors to work with you selling advertising space, as well.
To get exposure on the national scene, you will need news that is of national importance, or you will need to create expert status for yourself, and then work your way up the "media food chain." That is, you'll need to publish the information locally, then regionally, then a bit wider, and finally nationally. To create expert status, follow the steps listed in the
free white paper from the
National Speakers Association (link is halfway down the page on left), "The Expertise Imperative White Paper."
I'm afraid that you will likely have to run paid advertising to find your advertising reps. But you can add a link to your website, "Job Opportunities," and have it link to a page that provides more information. That would be an easy way to begin recruiting sales reps.
I hope this helps. Good luck with your publicity efforts.
How Do I Get Advertisers for My Mail-Order Book Catalog?
Recently,
Toni from
Beaconhill Books Catalogue, asked for this help: "I circulate a book catalogue by mail displaying ads from self- and small-press published authors and writer-related businesses. These same ads are also published FREE on my website. I have trouble getting enough authors/advertisers signed up to finance the mailing. I would love some tips on how to achieve this. I have been on list-servs for self-published authors for the last couple of years. Thanks for whatever advice you can share."
Joan Stewart,
The Publicity Hound writes: You must explain the benefits of advertising with you. Here are ways to do that:
--> In your catalogue, include testimonials from ad buyers who have gotten great results from their ads. Tell them to be specific when offering testimonials. How much more did they sell as a result of the ad? And be sure to use their real names and where they're from. Anonymous testimonials are worthless.
--> Include a sales page at your website listing all the benefits of advertising in your catalogue. How many people does it reach? Are they decision-makers? What kinds of products and services do they buy?
--> What's the benefit of the catalogue? Does it simply list books for sale? Or does it also include great free content that will help the catalogue readers solve a particular problem? Once the catalogue becomes more valuable to the readers, they will start paying more attention to the ads.
And Lois offers this...Authors and publishers often have little money to spend on advertising, but they are willing to do it if the return looks like it will be worth it. I have a few ideas for you.
==> Create a contest with the grand prize a high-value advertising package. Publicize it to your in-house list, through other ezines, and on
PRWeb .
==> Get to know other companies whose target market is the same as yours. Create a creative, joint marketing effort.
==> Start doing a one-topic (therefore, not too burdensome) ezine (opt-in, of course) and promote your book catalogue in each issue.
==> Create an announcement of your soon-to-be published catalogue and submit it to
Dan Poynter for inclusion in his newsletter.
==> Advertise in ezines that have a similar target market.
==> Get to know
Annie Jennings,
Dan Janal and other PR consultants who work specifically with authors and publishers.
==> Create a compelling direct-mail postcard campaign and send it to small publishers.
==> Attend tradeshows that small publishers and authors attend. Get on a speaking panel, if possible.You can also learn lots of ways to help you improve your selling by reading the ebook I wrote with Jim Wilson, "
Sales Success! Strategies for Women." Click on the link and read more about it or download it and be learning new ideas in just minutes.
How Can a Creative Services Rep Attract Clients?
Recently,
Kay Johnson-Suglia, a creative services rep for ad agencies in the New York City area, wrote: "For about the last 10 years I've been enmeshed in production, account direction and business development for agencies in the interactive/Internet industry. As of April3, 2005, I am going out on my own and focusing solely on business development. I've taken this route to establish a work-from-home business and to have more control over what I do day-to-day and over my earnings (I had pretty much hit a dead end at the agency I'm currently working for in terms of position and income potential). So I'm looking forward to all the advice and expertise you can share. My biggest challenge is securing clients (big brands, particularly those located in NYC area) for my clients (creative agencies)."
Robert Grede, author of "
Naked Marketing" and owner of
The Grede Company , replies, "When I worked in the ad industry, we secured new business by writing an industry White Paper." And Rob offered a special report on writing White Papers that
you can download FREE here (You do need to go through the shopping cart to get this, but you do not need to fill out any credit card info).
Robert Warren, an independent marketing writer, writes: Niche very tightly; she's not going to get far at first by aiming for general markets, because she'll be up against far more formidable competition both in-house and not. By narrowing to a single lucrative sector, Kay can set herself up as a boutique operation. Her background in interactive technology makes that field an ideal start.
Second, be a networking monster - not in the "let's swap cards, let's do lunch" way, but in the sense that she knows everyone and just has an endless supply of personal connections and relationships. There's a certain individual here in Orlando who has built an entire business empire around just making introductions; he knows everyone, can get nearly anyone to pick up the phone, and so his firm does business development. Local companies hire his firm to open doors for them, and people nearly trip over themselves to get onto his radar.
She could do something similar, once again in a very tightly niched way; she'd want to start with her current address book. (One important point - this Orlando individual I'm talking about is known as a man of high caliber; he's involved in a number of charity and nonprofit programs and projects in this town. He wouldn't have the power he has without that reputation for integrity.) It'd all take time, but if she has the time to invest, she'd do fine by those strategies.
Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, offers these suggestions: If you want big-name clients:
==> Do public speaking engagements at events where these clients are likely to attend. These can include trade industry conventions and seminars, business networking groups, etc.
==> Write how-to articles offering free advice on how to solve a particular marketing problem. Offer these free articles to print and online publications read by the kinds of people you want to attract.
==> Publish an opt-in ezine or tip of the week that offers free advice on how to solve marketing problems. Make it the type of publication that is likely to be read by your target audience.
==> Create tips sheets and booklets and give them away.
==> Ask people you know for referrals.
These are five of 25 ideas from "
How to Attract Clients toYour PR Practice," teleseminar
Joan did with
Marcia Yudkin. Actually, the ideas can be used by people in any industry. You can order the CD or downloadable transcript.
Read more about it here.
And Lois says: I suggest you call upon all of your contacts over the years and let them know what you're doing. Your first order of business is to gain the confidence of the advertising agencies you'll represent, assuring them that you will keep their information confidential and also how you will fairly handle divvying up the work since it's possible that you will represent competitive firms. You'll, of course, learn all you can about their specialties, what type of clients work best with them, and what makes them different, and be able to give thrilling examples of great work and success to your prospects.
Then, to interest the potential big-name clients, first pursue some that have big names but aren't actually national accounts, like the up-and-coming software development company or a large regional chain of department stores. Work with the agency personnel to pitch accounts as you hear about them, with you, of course, being the lead dog on the team. If you've done this successfully during your employee days, you'll be able to transfer these skills easily. You'll need to network your way in to the prospect's company. Learn to network in places where your prospects frequent and get a good introduction. Try to find the associations, organizations and networks where you'll meet the right prospects without lots of competition--like intellectual property attorneys association. If you are the only marketing person there, it will be easy to shine...and get those necessary introductions.
For more ideas on how to network your way to the right people, pick up a copy of the recorded teleseminar I just did with
Adam Urbanski, "
Secrets of Successful Networking."
Read all about it and order it here.
In today's spam-filled email world, it's sometimes VERY difficult to get your news releases and PR pitches to the media person you are trying to reach. These tips hold true for personal emails, too, so even if you don't do P.R., this article holds some important email tips.
Here are a few ideas to help you be more successful in reaching your target.
==> Write the release with spam filters in mind.
There are many words that trigger spam filters these days. Learn to write alternative words, substitute zeros for Os or add * in the word to avoid the spam trap. You can find out which words are likely to be a problem in this
excellent list provided by Dr. Wilson.
==> Check your content to see what your spam filter rating is.
There are free sources to check your email. One of them is
Lyris Content Checker, which checks it against the SpamAssassin database.
==> Send each email individually, not as a CC or BCC.
The CC function allows everyone to see who you sent your email to so you definitely don't want to do that. The reporters will get irritated when they see you have sent it to all of their competitors. As my grandmother used to say,"It's better to keep some things to yourself."
The BCC function allows you to hide the list of recipients from everyone who receives the email, but it doesn't hide it from the email programs and filters. These programs know that you are sending a BCC message to a list, and if you send it to 10 or more, it will automatically trigger the spam filter.
You can send your emails efficiently from many database programs. I use ACT! and it allows me to not only send to a group, with each email going individually, but it also keeps track of what I sent to whom.
There are also systems available, like the one I use to deliver
my ezines, designed to send hundreds and thousands of emails all at the same time. And the best thing is, you can tailor your release to add personal details about each recipient, such as their name and the industry they cover.
==> Include the recipient's name in the subject line.
When someone sends me an email that begins, "Lois,...", I pay attention. I know that this person either knows me or I have subscribed to their ezine or asked to have them communicate with me for some reason. And I NEVER report these people as spammers. If I don't want to continue receiving information from them, I politely unsubscribe or email them to take me off their list.
Think about it. You respond better when someone uses your name, don't you? It's a terrific way to get someone's attention.
==> Include [News] or [Pitch] in brackets at the beginning of the subject line.
Again, you need to give the reporter an easy way to spot your news as legitimate. So tell them up front you are sending them news or a pitch and watch your email delivery rate soar.
==> Include the reporter's column or beat in the first paragraph.
A reporter is always going to pay more attention to your pitch if you are one of their faithful readers. If you start out your email with something like, "Jane, in last week's Tech Tips for Consumers column, you said...", you will surely get the reporter's attention.
==> Include all your contact informationNothing's worse than getting an email that you want to respond to immediately and having no way to contact the person except by email. Give the reporter all your phone numbers. And don't forget your physical address and website domain. Make it easy for them to contact you.
==> Never include any attachments.Unless you've been living in a cave without Internet access, you know that attachments are the way that most worms and viruses are spread on the Net. Windows XP strips off most attachments, and most corporate entities don't allow attachments to come through their systems. They can even get you blacklisted so your emails cannot get through. So don't be stupid. Don't send attachments unless someone asks for them.
==> Provide a link to your website to download photos, graphics, graphs, bios and other background information.Just about anything that you need to deliver to a reporter can be uploaded to your website. You can include product photos, people photos (remember to make them 300 dpi for print/ 72 dpi for online and in various sizes, so that the media can choose which size they want to use), bios, background information, sample chapters, and even an entire digital book. If the reporter wants you to send the product or a physical book, then you'll have to mail that, of course.
==> Always include a subject line, but never put "Hi" or"Hello" in the subject line, especially alone.
Emails without subject lines are usually spam, and those that say hi or hello are usually viruses, so no one is going to open them. Be thorough. Include a subject line.
==>
Follow CAN-SPAM rules and allow an easy unsubscribe method to your email list.Even if you don't include a one-click unsubscribe, you should at least include a statement that tells the reporter how they can get off the list or let you know that their beat has changed. A simple statement that says, "To get off this subscriber list, simply hit 'reply' and put 'remove' in the subject line" will suffice. And don't forget to include your name and address.
Once you have their attention, there are many more things you can do to position yourself as an expert. On
March 23,
Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, and I are doing a teleseminar to give you loads more publicity tips. It's called,
"How to Use the Media to Market Your Expertise."Read more about it and register here.
Last week,
Sarah Cohen of
Life's Inner Quest Center asked, "I'm seeking places where I can give seminars on the following subject 'The Secret to Happiness' and 'Stress Less for Success.' Can you offer suggestions?"
Brainy reader
Alisa Heitz of
Up4Contract.com offered these suggestions:
"I would try to reach out to human resource departments of larger corporations:
Bank One, Suffolk Construction, county governments, etc. Many larger organizations offer their employees monthly programs on various topics that focus on their overall well being. I worked at Bank One (which may have changed names now), and we had a monthly Lunch & Learn. We brought in speakers on how to be a better communicator, how to balance life with work, and other related topics. I could see your topics fitting in with organizations that have a belief in the well being of their employees. I would start talking to the heads of the human resource departments and see if they offer such programs, and tell them how you can bring value to their employees.
"Another suggestion is to consider college campuses. While this may not be your ideal target, you may find sororities, student councils or governments looking for great programs to bring their students. I would highly suggest talking to the Greek organizations, i.e. Panhel (which is the leading body over the sororities), and tell them about your knowledge and how you would relate to the students. I know Greek organizations are always looking for worthwhile programs to bring to their members. If I can be of any assistance, I have connections at
Marquette University."
From
Sandra Sims of
Step By Step Fundraising:
"About six months ago, I joined an organization called
Business & Professional Women. I found that it's a great place to network with other business people and meet potential clients. Not only that, but once a month we have a guest speaker give a 20-minute talk. Civic clubs such as
Kiwanis,
Lions, Optimist, and many others have a similar format. Sarah could give a short talk as a 'sample' of her seminar material and style, and then book paid seminars from the organization or other people she meets at the meetings."
Liz Ryan at
WorldWit writes, "As we gear up for
'Camp WorldWIT 2005: Women in the Lead,' we have some slots available for dynamic, inspiring speakers. If you fit this description and would be interested in speaking to a group of professional, talented and educated women please visit our Camp speaker page and apply to be a speaker."
And Lois says: While business, civic and nonprofit organizations are not likely to pay you much for your speeches, it's a great way to get yourself in front of lots of people who ARE in a position to hire you. Make sure they know how to contact you later. If you also have products to sell when you do these free seminars, such as a video, audio training CD or ebook, you can often make good money by selling these after your presentation. I suggest you join Toastmasters and the National Speakers Association, too, because you will not only get practice presenting speeches, but you will meet others who can help you get speaking gigs.
To get hired by business, civic and nonprofit organizations, you'll need to get in touch with the program director. Research the organization and network your way in to the program director. Consider attending the group a few times before you approach the person in charge of programming. They will be much more likely to hire you if they know you.
Consider putting together half-day and full-day workshops on your topic, and expand your networking by partnering with other speakers who can help you fill out your program. That way, you will have access to their customer list, too. Create a postcard campaign with at least three postcards in the series to promote your programs, and mail them to a targeted list of businesses and organizations. Remember, it's generally the human resources or training departments that hire speakers.
Write articles about your subject and place them in print and online publications. You didn't mention if you have a website, but you should have one! A website is a terrific showcase for a speaker because you can easily post articles you have written on your topic,
post audio clips of your speeches, and you can even
post video clips easily today. So it can eliminate the need to create an elaborate sales package and it can often help you book a seminar without having to sell. Your website sells for you.
My next teleseminar guest,
Joan Stewart,
The Publicity Hound, is a highly sought-after public speaker. And she started out much like you--with a wealth of knowledge on her topic (publicity) and a desire to get paid for public speaking. She used her 22 years of experience as a newspaper editor at four newspapers to launch her career as a publicity expert. That was ten years ago. Since then, her career (and fortunes) have blossomed by applying all of the publicity ideas she has learned over the years. She commands big bucks whenever she speaks now. And you can hear her for peanuts if you sign up for our
March 23 teleseminar, "
How to Use the Media to Market Your Expertise."
I hope you can join us.
Betsy Hamilton of
Canyon Communications asked, "Our biggest business challenge is getting client cooperation (they need to provide or approve information) in order to meet their deadlines."
Meredith Hamilton of
Expert Communication responds:
I know in my own practice when I have encountered this situation, it was because I did not establish the relationship in the beginning as a team effort. I have found when I approach it this way as opposed to one of a "service provider" and "client," that not only does the client see things differently, but so do I! From the start, when seen as a collaboration, we set out what is expected of each party and what is needed to obtain the optimum results they are seeking. When a deadline approaches, with this mindset, I can call them and say, "As we discussed in the beginning, to achieve *our* goals on the timeline *we* set, this needs your approval as quickly as possible so *we* can progress to step two."
And
Lois Carter Fay says: I hear you on this one, Betsy! Sometimes it's VERY difficult to get clients to sit down, focus and do their part so we can do ours. I've found it helps to have a day-by-day schedule written and agreed to by all parties before I begin a project. It also assigns responsibilities for each step and lists the items needed to proceed. The more organized I am, the easier it is for my client. I also learn who all the key players are and how the decisions will be made. If there is one person reviewing and approving each project, it can move much quicker than when a group is involved. So if I know the decision process involved, I can take that into account when we all plan the schedule initially, and this helps the client to be more realistic in their scheduling. I know that it helps me to have a deadline and a face-to-face meeting scheduled to keep myself on task. It also helps keep the client moving. I can generally move things along quicker if I offer to call the client to do a phone interview with the people who need to provide information, too. Sometimes, it's just a fear of writing that is the stumbling block.
How Much Do YOU Charge?
If you work with clients, at some point in your career, you've probably been asked,
"What's your hourly rate?"Now, you and I both know this question isn't totally relevant, even if you provide services like I do. Because itdoesn't really matter how much I charge per hour. What the client really wants to know is, "How much is this going to cost me?"
But they don't want to pay some astronomical hourly fee, either. They want to feel like you put some effort into their work.
So what you really need to know is, "How much is it worth to this client to have this problem solved?"
Sure, I could quote an hourly rate. But usually I don't. They'd be shocked. Because I've been doing what I do for about 30 years, so I can often write a brochure in "record time," which wouldn't pay me enough to stay in business if I charged hourly.
So I don't charge that way. I charge for my "smarts"-- my knowledge and experience. And if the project rate is within the client's budget, they're willing to pay it. But how'd you like to get out of the piecework business altogether? I know I would!
That's why lots of people take the risk of commissioned sales. That is, they sell something and then get paid a commission -- no salary. And some programs, like Mary Kay, are two-tier commissioned sales -- meaning you get commissions on what YOU sell AND you get commissions on what your"downline" sales force sells.
So you and your underlings go out and beat the pavement, looking for new and returning customers to sell makeup to. You also keep your eye out for more sales reps who want to join your team, too. You'd never think of advertising your product in the newspaper, would you? No, because Mary Kay is direct sales.
Well, the online world of marketing has taken this a little farther. It's called affiliate sales.
Some programs pay one-tier and some pay two-tier commissions. It's basically the same as Mary Kay. But what's different is that usually you're being paid for "electrons" instead of makeup.
Someone writes an ebook that you decide to sell for them through your website. You put it up in your store, and then you forget it. Every once in awhile, someone buys it and you get a commission. Maybe you've recruited others through your affiliate link to sell the same product. They put it up on their website and make sales. You get a commission every time you sell the product AND every time your downline affiliate sells the product.
AND you have the option to advertise the product using pay-per-click campaigns on Google and Overture (and other places). You write such a good ad that tons of people click on it and visit your website. Because you have such a terrific sales page for the product, let's say that half the people buy it when they visit.
Now you're cookin'!You also improve your search engine rankings -- meaning you do all the right things and every time someone searches on your keywords, you come up on the FIRST PAGE of search results. So more people visit your website.
And while they're there, they might buy something or not. Or, they might see a Google ad that interests them and click off to someone else's site.
You got it! You make money on that, too! And after awhile, your website becomes your product.
Now you want to add more revenue streams to your business (firing every difficult client you have and replacing that revenue with something else...wouldn't that be great?!!?). So you write your own ebooks or nifty little software product that you can sell the same way you sell other people's electronic products. But this time YOU KEEP ALL THE MONEY. Because it's your product.
Unless, of course, you recruit affiliates to sell your product for you. And who wouldn't? It gets your product out to LOTS more people. So you have to pay them 40% of the sales price. What does it cost you? Zip. Zero. Nada. It's just electrons.
You did all the work up front, so you can collect the money over and over and over as sales are made.
THAT'S PASSIVE INCOME! If you'd like to learn the nitty-gritty details about how to do something once and make m0ney over and over and over, you can. Recently I did a teleseminar with
Lynn Terry, a passive income expert and the author of
The Passive Income Guide to Online Business.
You can read more about the teleseminar and buy the CD, MP3 and transcript of the recording here and be on your way to generating passive income in just minutes:
http://www.WomenMarketing.com/passive_seminar.htm
