What’s the big idea?

No, I’m not being rude – I really want to know. What’s the big idea behind your business? And what are you doing to help get the word out about how you’re making life easier for your customers?

Press releases are an excellent and easy way to get free (or almost free) publicity – especially if you’ve got a website. (And you do, don’t you?!)

How can an online press release help you get the word out?

• There are thousands of websites out there that do one thing: publish press releases. Their owners crave press releases like your dog craves pepperoni. They scour press release distribution sites looking for something they can publish. Why? They need a constant stream of new content for their sites – and press releases are one of the best ways to get it.
• When they pick up YOUR press release and publish it, Google says something like, “Beep, squaaaaa, boop boop teeeeeeee,” about your site. Roughly-translated that means, “Huh. This guy’s site actually has content that’s relevant, newsworthy, and fresh. Better bump it up in the search results.”
• You, then, do a happy dance, singing something like, “Yay!! People are lazy and impatient!!” Your dog looks at you with his left eyebrow raised, certain you’ve finally lost it. So you explain why humankind’s character flaws are good news, in this instance at least: Pretty much NOBODY goes to the second page of Google’s search results. In fact, most people never even scroll down to see the bottom five results on the screen. So the higher your site is listed, the more traffic you’ll get! And the more traffic you get, the more money you make.

What’s that? You have no idea how to do a press release? Well, here’s more good news: it’s not that hard.

1. Decide what you want your readers to do. Should they visit your site? Should they call you? Should they give you their email address?
2. Decide what your big news is. Are you just opening your business? Have you changed your name or moved? Do you have a new product? Celebrating a milestone?
3. Either write the press release yourself, or hire a freelance writer to write it for you. If you do it yourself, you can Google “press release template” to learn what goes where, how it should look, and what information you should include.
4. Proofread!
5. Submit your press release to an online distribution site. PRWeb.com is the king, but it’s pricey. There are lots of sites that are cheap or free – just Google “press release distribution” and see what comes up.

Super bonus tip: Why not plan to do a monthly press release? Just take a look at your calendar and see what’s planned that’s newsworthy. Add this to your arsenal of guerrilla marketing tactics and see how easy it is to get the word out!

Post by Sue LaPointe (Thanks Sue!)

Sue is a wonderful copywriter. She and I have been working together for about a year now and she has written the forward and chapter addition entitled “Words That Sell Ideas” for the second printing of my GTWO Book due out the end of August. Sue has also released a great resource for writers called Working Writer Happy Writer: How to Build a Thriving Writing Business from NOTHING.

You can contact Sue on guru.com  Profile ID: 692258

What are you worth…that is, what is the average Salery in your area for your job description? I stumbled upon this great little tool by careeronestop.org in a effort to advise a friends daughter that was interested in going to college to possible enter the Marketing field.

Here is what I found:

Marketing Manager make on average in our Buffalo-Niagara Falls NY area about $90,000 with the high end reaching $140,000 per year. Not Bad!

This information is backed up  Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics Program. The OES is a semi-annual survey that provides wage and employment statistics for the nation, each state, and sub-state regions.