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A press kit is a package of promotional materials that a business owner can hand to a reporter, magazine editor, or potential client that explains what the business is all about in a clear, concise fashion. It’s the answer to the questions, “Who are you?” and “What do you do?” Every business, large or small, should have a press kit ready to go. Your press kits should travel with you to meetings and on business trips so that wherever you may be, you have information about your company at hand.
Much has been written about press kits and what goes in them—letters of introduction, company bios, press releases, positive media coverage, newsletters, a business card—all assembled in a neat package with an attractive, company-branded folder. This method of assembling a press kit is tried and true, but may not make your company stand out from the competition. Fortunately, technology is changing the way we work and promote ourselves. Consider the following ideas to make your company’s press kit stand out:
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Go paperless and portable. Put your entire press kit in digital format, perhaps in Adobe.pdf format on a USB flash drive that has your company’s branding on it. These make great handouts at trade shows and don’t require your clients to carry around a bulky folder along with all of the other paper they pick up.
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Get Flashy. Or, take things a step further and put your press kit in Adobe Flash format. One click of the mouse, and potential clients and the media can enjoy your press kit with sound and video. Be sure to include key materials in .pdf format as well to make it easy for reporters to cut-and-paste bios and mission statements.
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Go online. Even better, put your press kit on the Internet, and make sure it’s compatible for viewing with mobile phones like the iPhone and the Blackberry. No paper, no USB drive, and the info is available anywhere—at the reporter’s desk, in the airport or on the production floor. Print up cardstock bookmarks to remind your contacts to bookmark your website on their web browsers.
Above all, remember that first impressions count. You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. Rely on a professional to help you design, assemble and update your press kit regularly. Contact Trade Press Services today for more information.
I’ve seen some bad photographers in my day.
My grandmother used to take photographs with a battered110 camera that was held together with old, yellowed Scotch tape. Granny was famous for taking bad pictures. She would chop off her subjects’ heads, shake the camera just as she snapped the shutter, or her finger would get in front of the lens and ruin the shot.
 Another bad photographer was a coworker who was actually the marketing and PR director for a large civic arena. She had a nice Pentax 35mm zoom, but always managed to take blurry, dark shots. She blamed the camera, but it was her own lack of understanding of how cameras work that was her downfall.
Many companies are in need of high-quality photography, but unfortunately, they often end up with results not much better than Granny’s. However, it’s not necessarily best to rush out and hire a professional photographer. Are there times when you should? Absolutely—retirement dinners come to mind, or special occasions that can’t be repeated if the photos don’t turn out. But for day-to-day photo needs, a decent digital camera and a little know-how can save the day. Here are a few tips:
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For most small-to-medium sized businesses, a mid-range point-and-shoot digital camera is more than adequate. Priced in the $250-$500 range, these cameras come with a variety of automatic settings to make life easy. Check reliable sites like consumerreports.org for impartial reviews.
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The mistake most photographers make is not getting close enough to their subjects. Move in close. Don’t use the camera’s zoom unless you have to because it can make the picture blurry or dark for technical reasons. Move in close to your subject—and then move in some more!
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Take lots of shots. Digital cameras use memory cards that can hold hundreds of images. If you don’t like them, delete them—no harm done.
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Shoot outside if you can. Daylight makes subjects look better and photograph more easily for many reasons. Avoid direct sunlight—try shooting in the shade on a bright day for the best photographs.
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If you must shoot indoors, remember that even though a room may seem bright, it’s dark to your camera. That can mean dark or blurry images. Invest in an inexpensive ($50-$100) tripod, set the camera setting to “indoor” and use the camera’s timer to take the photo so the slight shake of your hands won’t blur the image. (If your camera has manual exposure or ISO control, you can also set a high ISO and a slight overexposure to help avoid dark images.)
So there you have it. With a few simple tips, you can take great shots of meetings, presentations, products, customer appreciation days, company parties and all of those other moments that you need to capture. Just remember—don’t be afraid to call in a professional for those truly special occasions.
Most public relations or marketing professionals have been in the unfortunate position of trying to submit an article or press release to a publication after its deadline, only to have the editor laugh them out of their office. It’s because putting together a publication is hard work. (If it weren’t, anybody could do it, right?) Magazines, trade publications and newsletters take time, effort and planning. They’re typically put together several weeks to a few months in advance. Your last-minute request to insert an article is kind of like an astronaut needing a potty break as the clock counts down to zero: way too late.
However, smart marketers can use this situation to their advantage. Magazines put together what’s called an editorial calendar,  generally on an annual basis. The calendar specifies the type of content that will go in each issue of the publication. For example, pieces on fighting the winter blahs in January, gardening tips in May and autumn crafts in October.
Why publish this information? First, it allows advertisers to see the content topics in advance so that they can plan their ad buys (boat companies may place ads in the June boating special issue, for example). Also, it allows the publication’s editors to assign stories to reporters in advance. This is where you come in: you can craft your press releases or article pitches to the editor to tie in with the content for specific months.
September’s theme is fall getaways? Pitch a piece on how your travel company has packaged affordable weekend trips for recession-weary consumers. April’s theme is personal finance? How about a piece on your wealth management company’s most overlooked deductions for taxpayers?
You get the point. By crafting a pitch that ties in to what the publication is doing, you not only give your story idea a better chance of making it to print, but you build a bond with an editor who may be looking for new, fresh ideas. You’re helping them be successful!
Editorial calendars are commonly found linked in the small print on publication websites. Barring that, feel free to contact the publication to ask for a copy. If the publication doesn’t have a formal editorial calendar, ask the editor what topics he/she is most interested in. In most cases, they’ll be happy to share the information with you. Or, just contact us at Trade Press Services. We specialize in making editorial contacts and crafting bylined stories for all types of companies and publications.
Now that you’ve learned what goes in a press release in part I, here’s the secret to formatting a great release (drumroll, please):
The secret is, there is no secret. That’s right. If you have great content like we discussed in part I, then you’re 90 percent of the way to writing a great press release. The rest is basically just common sense. If you Google the subject, you’ll find that everyone has an opinion on the correct format, and it comes down to personal preference. Much like a resume, you want to avoid typos, and be sure to make it easy for the news editor or reporter to find the information they’re looking for. You’ve come this far…don’t blow it with careless mistakes.
Pretend you’re writing the press release just as you’d like it to appear in the newspaper. (Like I said in part I, with small publications that have limited resources, you might be doing just that. They often run whole press releases with few or no changes.) At the top of the page, put your contact info: name, company, phone, e-mail and website. Then, add a headline, factual but captivating, and not in all caps: “Mid-Town Mufflers Silences the Competition, Wins Golden Tailpipe Award for Sales Excellence.”
 You can add things like “PRESS RELEASE” or “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE,” but that’s redundant. Editors already know it’s a press release. Some PR professionals or company contacts also add the date they want the item run in the paper. That is presumptuous. Instead, just be thankful that the news outlet is running your piece.
Then, write the story, in third person. First tell the most important information. For example, “Mid-Town Mufflers has won the Golden Tailpipe Award.” Next, add a bit about the award, and why Mid-Town Muffler won it. Is this Mid-Town’s first win? Then, include a quote from the manager, or maybe the Muffler Association of Greater Akron, which sponsored the award.
Conclude with some general info about the company—your mission, how long you’ve been in business, and so on. Include a phone number and website if the reader would like more information. At the very end of the release, put something that indicates the release is over. Symbols like “###,” “,” or just “end” are commonly used.
Where do you send the release? That depends. What do your customers read? Find out who the editors are at those publications. Make a few phone calls and see who the best contact is to receive your information. Be careful about sending the release to multiple contacts in the same company unless they say it is okay; and if you do, “cc” everyone in the same e-mail so the publication staff knows with whom you’ve spoken.
E-mail? Yep, e-mail. Fax and snail mail are out. Even the lowliest monthly rag on revolutionary war-era candle-making has an e-mail address, so use it. After all, it’s the 21st century.
 A word about photos: by all means, include them as attachments to the e-mail if, I say, IF, they are a) good photos (good composition, proper exposure, etc.), b) relevant to the story, and c) of sufficient resolution. That 39kb jpeg you pulled off your website won’t cut it—you need photos that are 3 or 4 megabytes in size at minimum to work for commercial printing. Just be sure to include a photo caption and who took the photo. Again, a smaller publication will run the pictures you send, but a larger one is going to send a staff photographer over.
And that’s about it. After a few days, if you don’t see your release in the paper, or just want to make certain that the e-mail arrived, initiate a polite follow-up phone call. Feel free to ask if they have any questions. If you’ve put a good story into an easy-to-read, legible format, you’ll probably see yourself in print soon.
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For an assignment in my news writing class in college, we were asked to attend a local “happening” and write a basic news story on it. Simple enough…but I couldn’t leave it at that. Somehow I managed to convince the professor to let me write a press release instead of a hard news story. Ever since, I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for the lowly press release. Spurned by big newsrooms, welcomed by small weeklies with two-person staffs, the press release can be an effective tool for getting your message out.
A press release is not an advertisement or a way to drive people to your website. It is, however, a way to inform the media about the aspects of your product, service or company that may be newsworthy. News editor consider something to be newsworthy if it’s new, timely, controversial, unique, humorous, interesting or different.
First off, know this: news editors could care less about helping you promote your product or service. That’s left to the folks in the advertising sales department, and the two groups are like oil and water. From an editor’s perspective, advertising sales is a necessary evil. Of course, without paid ads, there would be no magazine or newspaper.
What editors do care about is news. That’s why your press release can’t focus on business as usual. Put yourself in the editor’s shoes—what can you share with them that their readers want to know? What is new at your company? What interesting stories can you tell? Do you have an employee who is an Iraq war vet? What does your business do that no one else does? What has your business helped a client do well? What is time sensitive that needs to get published now?
News editors are literally bombarded with press releases from all over the country, and even the world. What separates your message from the rest of the pack? Even if your release is about the latest trend in communication devices, an offering of affordable health insurance, or a personal injury lawyer who can get you money for your injury, you still have to have a “hook.” Ninety-nine percent of press release content is focused on what the writer wants to say and not focused on what the customer—the news editor—wants to read. News people call PR folks “flaks,” a derogatory term that refers to the annoying anti-aircraft fire that World War II bombers had to fly through on the way to the target. Is your story “flak” material, or news?
Every company should keep a supply of story ideas on hand that will make for great press releases (and great newspaper articles) when business is slow or when there’s a slow news day. If you build a reputation as a great source of legitimate news stories, you’ll have editors and reporters calling you for ideas. Remember, small newspapers and magazines are always desperate for content and short on people to generate it. As a result, sometimes they will often publish your entire press release verbatim!
Now that you know what to put in a press release, we’ll focus on how to structure and write in it part II.
How would you like to learn a great way to attract new customers to your business? You can—with a professionally-written white paper.
You’ve heard the term tossed around, but what is a white paper, anyway? A white paper is a report that is intended to  be the definitive statement on a particular topic or issue. Lots of types of organizations write white papers, for lots of different reasons—governments spelling out official policy, for example. In the business world, a white paper not only establishes your product or solution as superior to the competition but positions you (or your company) as a thought leader.
A white paper is first and foremost a marketing tool. It should be written with your customers in mind, and should seek to address their problems, needs, or concerns. The length of the paper can vary, but again, keep your audience in mind. A highly technical consumer will be more tolerant of a longer, more detailed document than will a less technical buyer.
Whoever the audience, it’s important to grab their attention quickly. Remember, no one is forcing them to read your white paper. In the first few sentences, it’s key to catch their attention with phrases that will resonate with them. For example, “Are you tired of missing important e-mails because your spam filter does its job too well?” or “Finally—a document solution that combines the low cost of black and white with the professional look of color.”
Now you’ve got them on the hook! Next, reel them in with the specifics of exactly how your product or service can solve their problem. Be sure to include figures, stats or studies that support your claim. Testimonials from customers who have experienced success with your product work well, too.
Finally, wrap it up with a concise, compelling summary that restates your key points and includes a call to action: “To reclaim your inbox, call E-mail Solutions today.”
Trade Press Services can help you craft an effective white paper that will help your company get its message out to your audience.
You may know what “editorial” means (that’s on the opinion page in the newspaper, right?), and you probably know what advertising is (the annoying stuff that interrupts my TV show!) But what the heck is “advertorial”? And why do you care?
Advertorial content is the Frankenstein monster of journalism. Part news, part opinion, and part advertising, it’s a section of a publication that looks like a story, but it isn’t. It may contain some news, but it doesn’t quite look right. The type style is just a little different than the previous page. The people in the photos seem a bit too…happy. And the author sure seems enthusiastic about a certain brand of products.
Usually, advertorial pieces in reputable publications are labeled “Special Advertising Sections” or “Special Advertisement,” but not always. This is especially true of online publications, where an advertorial section may be labeled “Info Site” or contain no warning at all that this is advertising and not unbiased reporting.
Why do companies pay for advertorial content? First, there are always those people who won’t see the warnings and who will assume that it’s another story—and gosh, Company Y sure must make great products if Publication Z is so crazy about them. Others may recognize the advertorial content as an ad, but they’ll read it anyway—for the same reason that people read long, multi-page letters from charities raising money at the holidays.
Editorial content on the other hand is different. It comes in the form of opinion pieces, news, by-lined articles, case studies, research results, roundtable discussions, etc. It positions the author as an expert and the company as a leader in its marketplace. There’s no pay to play involved.
 Advertising is space within the publication that is sold, usually to companies but sometimes to individuals, for the purposes of promoting a good or a service. Content can be completely self-serving. While advertising content increases visibility in the marketplace, editorial content has more credibility. Generally, advertising, along with subscriptions and single copy sales, is how publications make their money.
At most publications, there is a firm line drawn between the newsroom and the sales department. In other words, it’s important to the editors of the publication that their advertisers don’t influence the stories on which they report or their opinions, in order to protect their journalistic integrity. Likewise, they don’t want to write heavily about certain topics or promote certain opinions hoping to lure in certain advertisers.
Bottom line: nothing promotes your company as well as good old fashioned editorial content. You can’t pay for a front-page article in the paper. Really, you can’t. They don’t sell that. You have to make the news on your own merit.
Lucky for you, Trade Press Services is expert at getting your name into the publications that you want to be in. We help you assemble first-rate editorial content and place it in the finest industry publications, where your customers, potential customers or strategic alliance partners will recognize you as the subject matter expert.
Don’t fool around with Frankenstein. Contact Trade Press Services today.
The popular PBS children’s show Reading Rainbow was canceled recently due to a lack of funding. It ended a 26-year run with host LeVar Burton (you may know him as Star Trek’s Geordi LaForge or Roots’ Kunta Kinte) during which the show taught children that reading could be a lot of fun.
A recent AP/Ipsos poll found that in 2007, one in four Americans didn’t even crack a book.
Around the country, newspapers are going under as subscribership drops and advertising revenues dry up.
Is the evidence overwhelming? Is reading…dead? And perhaps a more important question for you, the business leader: Is it worth spending your advertising dollars on print media? In short, yes.
Reading isn’t dead—not even close. Information is as important as ever. Today, the ability to rapidly consume, digest, and act on information is perhaps the most important skill an executive can possess.
Reading Rainbow wasn’t canceled because reading isn’t important. It was canceled because the Dept. of Education wanted to focus their funding on the how of reading—spelling, phonetics, grammar—and not so much on the why. Americans’ reading habits have bounced all over the charts over the years. And while newspapers are going away, real-time information sources on the Internet are exploding.
How do trade publications fit into this mix? For most industries, trade journals are still the top source of industry-specific news. Increasingly, print is being supplemented with the web, which can serve as an online archive for printed journals, a way to expand and enhance printed content, and a convenient way to provide timely, brief news updates.
But in the end, it’s the content that matters, regardless of how it’s delivered to your brain. Trade Press Services can help you position yourself and your company as subject matter experts whatever the media type. Call or e-mail us today to learn more.
Why place your company’s message in a trade publication—a magazine or periodical targeted to a specific industry? Fair question—and you’ll like the answer.
Editorial content—a fancy name for articles, as opposed to advertising—has many advantages over other forms of publicity. The first is shelf life. Display advertising in a magazine, e-mails and mailed promotional materials have very short shelf lives. At best, a display ad in a magazine lasts 30 to 60 days, depending on the publication. Printed promotional materials may stick around a day or two, or get placed in a filing cabinet for “future reference.” E-mails have the shortest shelf life, if they even get past your target’s spam filter.
In contrast, editorial content is forever. Trade Press Services can order reprints of your article to frame and display in your office, post to your website or blog, or distribute to clients. And because many, if not most, trade publications have a searchable, archived online index, your article will turn up in Google searches and be accessible to anyone with an Internet connection—anywhere, any time. Can you say the same about a 2” x 2” ad in the back of your industry’s trade journal?
Another benefit of editorial content placed in a trade publication is credibility. When Trade Press Services helps you place an article with your byline, photo and bio in a publication, you are instantly positioned as an industry leader or subject matter expert. When others in your industry (or your target audience’s industry) read that publication, they’ll automatically look up to you as a thought leader— someone who has the knowledge, skills and drive to not only do their own job well, but to advise others as well. And it’s a fact, readers assign more credibility and faith to the claims made in the editorial portion of a magazine than they do for paid advertisements.
Lastly, a final benefit of placing an article in a trade publication is cost. Other forms of publicity and advertising are far more expensive than targeted placement in the trade press. And when you consider the other benefits—shelf life and credibility—it’s a no-brainer.
Contact Trade Press Services today to start maximizing your PR dollar.
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