Advertising @ Home

What’s a press release? This is generally a one page story about your business, your product/service or an event happening related to your business that is about to, or recently occurred. These publicity stories are generally “shot gunned” to newspapers, radio, television and the trade publications.

Then imagine having your products/service written on newspapers, trade publications, aired on radio and viewed on television absolutely for FREE!!! Pal, that’s going to skyrocket your profit target. That’s what press release can do for you. It’s not going to cost you anything to do this, not a dime.

Don’t get excited yet because survey shows that 95% of all press release are rejected, they don’t make it. The problem is getting the people to whom you’ve sent these press release to use them, publish or broadcast them. But this article will show you the art of making a good press release that will be accepted by news directors and editors, and give your product/service the publicity it needs.

The two basic things to pay much attention in making your press release is the writing and presentation. So lets start from writing. What would you write about? You can write about just anything but please it” MUST be something that will sell the first person receiving your material – the editor or news director. Then the media man will quickly see and understand how your product or service benefits, his readers – thereby making him a hero to them.

Go right to the point and say your product is lower in price, more convenient to use or in what way your product or service is useful to the people in general. It’s a good idea to include a complimentary sample of your product. Don’t make the mistake of telling the story of your ups and downs towards your success about your product/service. They don’t have time for that, they only want things that alerts them of something new and probable real interest to their readers.

Try to associate your release with current events in the news. Is there job layoffs, increased unemployment, and inflation or growing need for earning extra income? Then its an opportunity to cash in if you have a product/service that’s a solution.

Now you have gotten a story to write, to make it to be attention grabbing depends on how you write your headline. Lets say your product/service offers a solution to the above mentioned problem. Here’s an example of a headline that could be used – MONEY MAKING GUIDE: SECURE YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE, NEW SOLUTION FOR THE UNEMPLOYED.

You can write the headline before the story, and then a story to fit the headline or the story before the headline, and then a headline to fit the story either way basically the same as writing a space ad or a sales letter; you attract attention with the headline and fill in the details with your story.

About The Author

Emma okafor, an online market researcher and writer. His blueprint success in online marketing is available in his site http://bizacumen.8k.com

mimionline@zwallet.com

Tags: advertising, business, media, pr, press-release

Love or hate ‘em, you’re hitched to advertisements, and by default, also to their fine print. There are many discussions on whether ads work, what effect they have and who they’re really intended for. We don’t, as a whole, take ads seriously unless we are one of the converted. Yet we should take small print in ads seriously, especially if we are converted.

In print, ads are not so much of a bother; we can easily skip over them. On live TV it’s different. At best we can mute the channel or, god forbid from the point of view of whoever paid for the ad, switch to another, get up for a break, snooze, or take care of some small business. In any case, here we’ll look at what’s really going on and what we can do to shield ourselves from the hazards of small print and fine print. Note that fine is not necessarily small.

Advertisements tell us about what kind of choices we have in the marketplace, yet note that the choices given are only what the advertisers see as viable commercial ones, not the possible ones and there’s the rub. The not so viable commercial choices are absent, yet we may want them if we know what they are.

Advertisers are also more interested in you if you have more money to spend. The more money you have, the more money they’ll spend on advertisements targeted at you. Their prize is your pocket book or wallet. Your well being may or may not be in their picture. On the other hand, folks with less money are not ignored. Witness the advertisements for help with bad credit.

Values are subjective constructs and advertising unashamedly plays with them. It makes things more real than reality itself. Perceived values are embellished. Colors are intensified or flattened and background details are added or subtracted to create special effects that are designed to trigger the impulse to buy or to get you to relate positively to the message. Voice and sounds are manipulated to reinforce images and pitches. There is no doubt that advertisements are a species of propaganda. Enjoy the ad ride, but be aware you’re not in an amusement park. Disney World it isn’t unless it is.

Ads are sometimes written by tricksters. Here are two examples. An ad with bold, towering print and low price quotes for cruises had the following very fine print disclaimers:

Limited availability; prices shown are min. for selected departure dates (not stated); other dates higher; not responsible for last minute changes of prices or itinerary by cruse line, or any errors or omissions in the content of this ad; some restrictions and cancellation penalties may apply. We don’t know availability, the selected dates, higher prices for non-selected dates, penalties for cancellation or other restrictions.”

What do they know? They hope you will ask. The fine print in the ad , whatever you can make out of it, is actually a litany of questions to ask the agent if you are not scared to dial the toll free number. Note that the word ‘minimum’ is abbreviated- easier to miss that way. That list of disclaimers is a beauty. Should you call? Only if you haven’t read the fine print. In that case … enjoy the cruise whenever, wherever, at whatever price.

Travel fraud is not uncommon and folks planning a vacation seem to be in a frame of mind that makes them vulnerable to ads with exotic landscapes. So check out destination details, which may surprise you. The advertised choice hotel may be a renovated shack. The beach front may be a mile away. It’s much better to seek out a travel agent than have one seek you out.

A large newspaper ad for a Pope John Paul Memorial Commemorative coin was advertised to be issued directly from The Roman Monetary Authority. The fine print on the bottom stated that the so-called Roman Monetary Authority is simply an Independent Corporation. The ad in bold print says that only a total of 500 Commemoratives will be issued per nation. How many nations are there? You get different answers depending on who you ask. The United States recognizes 192 independent nations, excluding Taiwan for political reasons. Using the 192 figure, we come up with a 96,000 coin “limited release”. Then again, who’s counting?

The bottom line is that you should step cautiously in the minefield of advertisements. Here’s an Ad Checklist:

• In advertisements look at the small fine print first.
• Check the offer date limitations in advertisements.
• Are photos for illustration only and do not represent advertised items.
• Do discounts or terms of the offer apply only to minimum dollar or quantity purchases?
• Are there specific items excluded from any discounts? What are they?
• Are any of the advertised products excluded from the promotion?
• What is the interest rate after the end of any free financing period?
• Are there limits on multiple purchases?
• Are rain checks available?
• Is the offer good only while supply lasts? What is the supply?
• Are any locations exempted from the promotion?
• Are there Free Delivery distance disclaimers?
• Does a warranty apply only to the original owner?
• If a monthly service is cancelled, is the monthly service fee prorated?
• What is the order cancellation policy?
• What, if any, is the return policy?
• If the so-called monthly billing cycle 12 or 13 times a year?
• If you are making a financial investment in a new venture, check with your tax and/or legal counsel.
• If you are making a financial investment in a new venture, check for missing fine print. Are they telling you everything?
• What are the late payment penalties? These can knock you out. And they’re always in the small print.
• What does the advertisement or contract say about discontinuing any service?
• Is there a minimum purchase amount for the offer?
• Never make a late payment if humanly possible. The penalties for late payments are serious.
• Never use credit until you know what your credit limit is.
• Review your credit report before borrowing more.
• Know exactly what all the advertisements you read or watch say.
• Remember: advertisements are propaganda.
• Shred all advertisements for unwanted credit cards.

Tags: ads, advertisement check list, advertisements, advertisers, fine print, small fine print

If your career has gone off the road, take control and drive back to job satisfaction with a direct approach.

When you’re looking for that new job or a career move it’s easy to think that ‘they’ hold all the cards.

But if you can change the way you think about it, you can get back in the driving seat, and after all, this is your career we’re talking about.

Remember ‘they’ don’t hire you for the sake of it; they hire you to help them make a profit!

So two things first – how you are (attitude) and how you react (the way you see things)

1 Attitude

Everyone goes on about positive mental attitude, don’t they? But what does it mean?

To some extent we can all have some influence over what happens to us. I don’t mean to say that we can make everything go right all the time, but we can hold an attitude of expecting things to go right

If we expect things to go well they’re more likely to.

If we expect things to go badly they probably will.

So even if everything doesn’t go right we can get past the things that go wrong so much easier. This is what I mean by positive mental attitude.

2 The way you see things

Instead of thinking they’re in charge, why not try ‘I’m in charge’

Instead of waiting to be chosen, decide what you want and present some proposals;

Instead of dreading interviews, think of yourself influencing key decision-makers;

Instead of scouring the adverts, read them as sources of inside information;

Instead of worrying about vacancies, think of them as needs waiting to be met;

Instead of having to accept the offered terms, think how you can negotiate;

Instead of them getting what they want, you both get what you want.

Job banks, search engines, job listings, and job guides are all useful tools in your employment search; however they won’t find you the unadvertised jobs. Statistics show that perhaps up to 60% of all jobs are unadvertised and are found informally – that is to say through networking and the direct approach – so the unadvertised jobs are what you really need to uncover.

You can uncover these unadvertised jobs and get back into the driving seat by putting together a carefully crafted direct approach letter.

This direct approach is no more and no less than a ‘marketing’ exercise to a specifically qualified target audience. It is NOT a mail-shot and certainly NOT ’speculative’ letters that some people would have you waste your time writing.

Compared to a direct approach letter, the speculative letter or mail-shot is a complete waste of time, effort and possible opportunity. So don’t do it!

Why do I say that?

Because:

A speculative mail-shot aims to cover as many possibilities as you can, so inherently it’s not specific to any particular reader.

A speculative letter labels you as a jobseeker and gets sent to the Personnel Department (if they have one and it gets past the waste-basket).

Unless you want to work for the Personnel Department (if they have one) that’s the last place you want your letter to go.

Mail-shots in general usually have less than 2% response rate so to generate some interest, (even before an interview is offered) you’d have to spend maybe

Tags: career change, cover letters, Direct approach, employment search, job search, unadvertised jobs