Creating Your Own Brand

What can help you stand out as you're promoting your product, service, cause, book, or issue? Brand consultant and author Martin Lindstrom (Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy) recently explained how to create a personal brand on The Today Show. His goal was to help jobhunters, but it got me thinking about how it might apply to my situation as a small business owner, and, in turn, how it might help the authors, business owners, and nonprofit leaders I try to help through this blog. During the interview, he was talking about defining an individual's brand, but his advice can apply to companies and organizations, too.

Here are this five tips:

1. Define who you are and aren't. I think this is the hardest for most people because it requires focus. It forces us to ask, "What do I want to be known for?" Then ask, "What am I probably known for right now?" I am somebody who does her best in any given situation. When I turn in a writing assignment, it's as good as I can make it. When I teach a publicity workshop, you're getting everything I can possibly offer in the timeframe allotted. But who is this important to -- me, or my clients? I should find out. More importantly, though: Who are you?
2. Become well-known for one thing. Again, it's about focus. You can't be all things to all people, so learn what's most important to your target customer and decide if that's what you can deliver.
3. Create an air of mystery. In the publicity business, you can do this by consistently delivering top quality results and not yakking the whole time about how you did it. When I was doing PR work for clients, they used to ask me where I kept my fairydust. Now that I share my "secrets" through workshops, it's a little harder to be mysterious.... But how can you do this in your own business? I think that concept of being good at what you do but not talking about how hard or how easy it is makes for a good first step.
4. Create a signature look. My "signature look" is not wearing sweatpants to the supermarket so I should probably spend a little time on this one. Lindstrom's signature look is black clothes -- an approach shared by actor/singer Mandy Patinkin, who once commented that he always wears a black t-shirt and pants when he performs because he doesn't have to worry about what matches. Your signature look should align with client or customer expectations.
5. Leave a personal mark behind. What can you leave with people that helps them remember you after you're gone? If you use a business card, it should be atypical -- something that stands out and is relevant to your personal brand. For some it could be good advice, for others, it might be a free sample. Be creative with this one.

Going through this process -- addressing these five points -- is an interesting exercise. I don't have all the answers for myself yet, but I will soon, because I think Lindstrom's advice is solid and relevant to my business. Have you done something like this already? What was the result?

Developing a Multimedia Publicity Plan

Business writer Randy Hecht recently interviewed me about online press rooms and social media releases for AT&T's "Real Marketing Solutions" small business newsletter. Her article is concise, clear, and helpful. If you're working to understand ...

• How to reach your target audience through the press
• What differentiates a social media press release from a traditional press release
• How to create an online press room

... you'll want to read the article. Download and save Shift Communications' social media press release template, too. It will give you a headstart.

How are you using social media releases?

How to Be Found

How do you make sure customers and prospects will find you in a competitive marketplace? I used to think the marketers at Wegmans, one of the best supermarket chains in the country, had that figured out.

But that was before I saw the full-page ad for the chain's liquor store, Century Pittsford Wines, in Saturday's daily newspaper.

The ad tells us that the store, which is about a year old, is ditching the daily newspaper in favor of e-mailed ads. As my cousin Nancy used to say when we were kids, "Icky doo."

Here are four reasons why this is both disappointing and unwise.

1. I already get way too much e-mail. In fact, I made a conscious effort already this year to unsubscribe from as many lists as possible. I'm trying to cut down on the inbox clutter not add to it. And do I want to get e-mail that reminds me that I have a vice (merlot...)? I think not.
2. This strategy assumes people know the store exists. You aren't going to get people to your Web site to sign up for e-mail messages if they've never heard of your business.
3. Many of us cluster our errands geographically. I can get my groceries, buy my wine, fill up my car, and get my tall-extra-hot-skinny-vanilla-latte at Starbucks all in one block just a mile from my home on a Saturday afternoon. I'm not going to remember that I can do much of that five miles away in Pittsford and take advantage of the good prices at Century Wines because I don't even remember to stop for gas half the time. Unless...unless...I see the store's full-page ad in my Saturday morning paper and I'm reminded that the prices are lower there. I have to be reminded. (And see point # 1 about e-mail reminders.)
4. Daily newspapers across the country are suffering. Ours is no different. It needs advertising support to survive. Withdrawing this weekly ad feels like a betrayal to my newspaper. Based here in the Rochester, NY, area, Wegmans is an exceptional corporate citizen. The philanthropy coming out of that company is remarkable. I see the newspaper ads as an extension of that community service. But I also think they're necessary for marketing purposes.

You need to stay top of mind with your customers, especially if you're in retail. Remind me, remind me, remind me -- and then remind me again. And remind me on my terms, not yours. You can't convert me from my preferred reminder system -- that weekly Saturday morning ad -- to yours -- e-mail. It just doesn't work that way. Before making this kind of change, be certain you know how your customers want to hear from you -- and then listen to what they tell you.

4 Ways to Find a Good PR Firm

You've decided not to do your own publicity (in spite of my encouragement) and want to outsource the work. How do you find a good PR firm for your publicity project? Here are a few things you can do to make sure you land with a trusted agency that will generate realistic results:

1. Ask around. Have you seen other nonprofits or businesses enjoying impressive media exposure? Contact the organization to find out if they used an agency and if so, which one. Would they recommend them?
2. Ask journalists at your targeted media outlets to make a recommendation based on their experience. They know which PR firms bring them good stories, sources, etc., time after time.
3. Call the president of your community's PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) chapter, describe your needs, and ask for the names of a few members who might be qualified to do your work. (Use this link to get a chapter listing and contact information.)
4. Post a message on a public relations forum. When looking for a crisis communications specialist for a client, I joined a PR forum so that I could ask for assistance identifying a qualified consultant, and got several great leads. My client ultimately retained one of the individuals recommended by list members and was pleased with the outcome.

Once you've identified a few potential firms, you'll want to make sure they're a good fit for you and your assignment. "How to Hire a PR Firm" provides guidelines for the next step.

What methods would you add to this list of tips?

4 Ways to Kill a Pitch

I smile when I get bad pitches from publicists -- they're blog fodder. I heard from many publicists this week who sent material on everything from a cookie diet to a bilingual book series, but the one that really stood out had the following characteristics. Use it as your format for What. Not. To. Do.

1. Use 8 point type. Seriously, even The Young People have trouble reading type this small.
2. Write two inflammatory sentences that paraphrase somebody but don't tell me who you're paraphrasing.
3. Don't give me an overview or facts. Instead, tell me to click on the link below to learn more about the topic.
4. Use a tinyURL format for that link so I can't tell who your client is or whether it's a link I can trust. There's lots of buzz about the bad things that might happen to my computer if I visit a "bad" Web site. I'm not going to trust your tinyURL if all you've given me is a couple of vague sentences about an impending danger to our society.

This woman's client might have had something interesting to say...and this e-mail might have gone to many writers who were in a position to help the source get her message to the people she thinks need to hear it. I suspect that it didn't get the desired response, though. One of the mistakes on the list above is enough to kill what could be a good story idea. Work to make sure that your next pitch avoids these mistakes.

Learn How to Promote Your Book

"Book Publicity 101: How to Build Book Buzz" addresses the biggest issues most authors encounter when they realize they have to handle their own book publicity and promotion. Typically, authors:

• Struggle to figure out what to do first to promote or publicize their book.
• Know which activities will have the greatest impact on their book’s visibility.
• Hesitate to use social networking tactics because they're not sure how to.
• Don't quite understand why and how to schedule a virtual book tour.
• Aren't sure how to approach and pitch traditional media outlets in the most appropriate way.
• Might not be clear about the book's target audience or how to reach it through the media.
• Want to do as much as they can to publicize a book without spending thousands on a publicist

I help authors discover the answers to these questions – and much more – in this dynamic four-week starting February 1, 2010. It's taught in an easy-to-use forum where you will learn, practice, implement, and grow.

Learn more about this very affordable and interactive course (and register!) here; e-mail me at sbATbuildbookbuzz.com with questions.

Want More Publicity? Get Starter Publicity

Publicity begets publicity. You've heard me say it before because I've seen it in action as a publicist and more recently, as a writer, but now there's harder evidence of this. "How News Happens," a new study from the Pew Research Center, reveals that "much of the 'news' people receive contains no original reporting. Fully eight out of ten stories studied simply repeated or repackaged previously published information."

The report went on to say that ". . . of the stories that did contain new information nearly all, 95%, came from traditional media—most of them newspapers. These stories then tended to set the narrative agenda for most other media outlets."

The Pew study of Baltimore media outlets is representative of the local media news-gathering and reporting process, but this plays out nationally, as well. Writers like me use our local newspapers to help generate article ideas that we sell to national publications; national business publication staffers monitor the trade press for news and trends article ideas; the network TV morning talk shows pick up interesting stories from their local affiliates. Whether your story appears in a local or national media outlet, online or offline, you still have a much better chance of getting your story into more than one outlet if you get that one hit first.

For most of us, the easiest way to do this is to start locally. As the Pew study has shown, you'll go the farthest fastest if you start with your daily newspaper.

Have you enjoyed larger media exposure after a local mention? What happened?