Harry Potter Just Made $476 Million – And How is YOUR Business Doing?

Three Reasons Why Summer is NOT the Time to Slow Down Promotion

Call it what you will – the summer doldrums, the dog days of summer, the summertime blues. It really doesn’t matter what you call it, but most all of the statistics show that businesses slow down during the summertime.

Now, if you’re content to follow the crowd, by all means, feel free to follow suit. But, I certainly can’t run my business based on seasons of the year – and as a marketer and CEO, I can’t understand why other businesses would, unless they’re seasonal in nature. So, if you’re able to disagree with the crowd logic (or as I see it, “illogic”), then while everyone else is following the trend, you could be spending your time and energy transcending it. Read more on how your business is doing →

Getting Results: How Timing and Creativity Can Get You Booked

Just last week, I showed you an interview I did with Lisa Hess, our TV campaign manager, about a typical day in her life here at EMSI. In it, we learned a lot of the different things she does in order to get our clients booked. Although I can always count on Lisa to arrange good TV bookings each week, last week she outdid herself with 4 national TV appearances and 5 local TV appearances on network affiliate stations. So I thought it might be helpful as a follow-up to share with you how she got these bookings.

In her world, there are two kinds of pitches that she uses to garner the interest of national TV producers. While national news programs and talk shows tend to follow the news cycle and seasons, they also sometimes respond to a pitch that is more evergreen, a message that’s not tied to the news but is one that’s timeless. However, in order to generate interest on the evergreen pitch, it has to be creative and really offer the viewers some serious added value. Read more on getting results →

A Day in the Life of a PR Pro

Lisa HessEvery week I write about the things I think can help people do a better job of marketing themselves by using PR. From a purely media standpoint, it makes sense for me to do that. After all, I’m the CEO. I wrote the book. I’m the expert.

But, I am profoundly proud to say that I am not the only expert. At EMSI we have a team of experts and quite frankly, this team is one of the best I have had in my 21 years of running this business. The work they do on a daily basis is phenomenal.

I thought I would introduce you to them, one by one, over the summer months, and allow them to tell you about what they do every day to book interviews on radio and TV and obtain print coverage. I believe it can be truly enlightening and helpful for you to learn how they overcome obstacles and meet challenges in order to consistently arrange media day in, day out, week in and week out. Read more on a day in the life of a PR pro →

If You Don’t Trust Them, Why Did You Hire Them?

In every business, there is always a need to hire an outside vendor. Whether you need a carpenter to build an office partition, an accountant for tax advice or a public relations firm for raising awareness, executives will need to seek outside expertise from time to time.

The success or failure of those engagements relies a great deal on a company’s ability to manage those vendors. Being in the client service business myself, I live in both worlds. My agency is hired to consult with other businesses, and as a business owner I sometimes have to bring in professionals to service my company. While most of my experiences on both sides of the fence have been mutually beneficial, I find myself learning from those few that have not. That’s why I thought it might be helpful to offer a few tips on how to make your vendor engagements successful ones. Read more on trusting the vendors you hire →

Who Do They Trust? New Study Reveals Bloggers Drive Consumers More Than Celebrities

One of the key paradigms that is shifting in today’s PR world is the influence of bloggers.

Keeping in mind there are hundreds of thousands of bloggers on the Internet today, there are some who drive opinions far better than even celebrity endorsements. According to the 2011 Social Media Matters study by BlogHer.com, women who read blogs routinely trust implicitly the advice and recommendations they receive, especially if it is from a blogger they follow on a regular basis. [Read more...]

So, Where Are Your Sales?

One of the most common dilemmas I encounter with many clients is the preconceived notions of what it takes to make sales. The problem with these preconceived notions is that they often misdirect people into thinking there is empirical evidence that lays out the sales cycle in absolutes. But, that just doesn’t exist.

So, what IS real? Exposure is a real tangible element in a marketing and sales cycle, because without it, you can’t sell a thing. Just as a candle under a bucket yields no light, a product or service that no one knows about will yield no sales. People have to know about you to do business with you.

Whether you are selling a book, a product or a service – exposure is the first and primary goal of marketing. While exposure doesn’t guarantee sales, any hope of generating sales can only result from getting in front of your potential consumer. But, when your product receives that coveted exposure to the masses, the X-factors in play become whether or not consumers will like what they see. Your product will either be exactly what the consumer is looking for, or it won’t. Read more on where are your sales →

Get Customers Influencing Stores to Stock Your Product

Usually, I like to dispense advice from the standpoint of having been in the media for 20 years, but this week’s advice is more in the land of common sense.

When you go to the store and you can’t find the exact product you’re looking for, what do you do? Do you just go home empty-handed? Or do you ask a manager? Most of the time, I ask a store or assistant manager if they carry the product, or if they can order it. And, most of the time retailers want to work with customers, so they’ll find a way to get what you want. After all, if they can service your needs, hopefully you’ll keep coming back. Read more on getting customers to influence stores to stock your product →

Are Blogs Important to My PR Campaign? How To Tell Which Blogs Are Bonanzas And Which Ones Are Busts

In the age of the Internet, everyone has a blog.

According to BlogPulse, there were 152 million blogs on the Internet at the end of 2010 and the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Many of these bloggers have become opinion leaders in their particular areas of expertise, while others have next to no following at all and blog just to let off steam. So how do you know which bloggers to target when you’re promoting yourself or your company and which ones to ignore? I have a few tips that might help you weed out the followers from the leaders: Read more on why blogs are important to your PR campaign →

WGN Coming Up on 90th Anniversary: Flagship Chicago Radio Station’s Longevity Confirms Medium’s Vitality

In a media landscape that is growing and changing nearly every day, most of the players are relatively new. CNN is barely 30 years old and Fox News is a teenager at age 15. Even New York’s WABC-AM radio station is only 60 years old. So when Chicago flagship radio station WGN-AM announces that 2012 will be its 90th birthday, it’s cause for celebration.

But it’s not just about a big birthday or a dazzling history; it’s that WGN is a sterling example of why the medium of radio isn’t going away anytime soon. Over the course of its 90 years, WGN has been with us through some of the key stages of American history and with some of our country’s most beloved broadcasters.

After doing some homework I found that back in 1925, it was the first radio station to broadcast from a courtroom. WGN allowed the nation to listen to the famous Scopes “Monkey” Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, where teacher John Scopes was tried and convicted of teaching the theory of evolution in a public classroom, in violation of a local ordinance. Read more on WGN's 90th anniversary →

How Charlie Sheen’s Use of Talk Radio Demonstrates the Medium’s Influence over Everything Else

Have you noticed how Charlie Sheen has quieted down? It’s not that his public meltdown has slowed or that he’s run out of things to say. It’s just that he isn’t saying it on radio anymore.

I was actually surprised when I realized that Sheen’s daily presence in the news wasn’t just from his tweets or his videos that he posted online, but rather his radio interviews. The meatier comments the media used for their stories about Sheen actually came from his constant calls to national radio shows like The Dan Patrick Show, The Alex Jones Show and a wide variety of morning shows in different cities.

In fact, Philadelphia’s Wired 96.5 FM station – recognizing Sheen’s penchant for phone-in radio rants – flew a banner over Sheen’s house inviting him to call the station. He did and another news cycle ensued. Read more on Charlie Sheen's use of talk radio →

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