Just Go Write Blog

You’re not in the business of PR & Publicity. You’re in the business of making sales. After all, there’s nothing wrong with any business that extra sales won’t fix. Now allow me to share a secret: PR, publicity and marketing enable sales to occur.

Many of the business I publicity mentor shrink from up-levelling their PR and marketing, fearing it makes them look ‘too sales-y’ or ‘too hyped up’.

“How can you be too sales-y?” I ask, “if the end goal of any business is to make sales?”

I love great hype or sales copy – so long as it’s authentic. That’s not a misnomer, but sadly nowadays ‘hype’ has become the catchphrase for copy that anyone objects to. Words like easiest, fastest, revolutionary, strongest, bombard us.

There’s nothing wrong with using these modifiers in your sales copy to extol your business virtues – so long as they’re accurate. Proof and credibility are essential. After all, consumers learn quickly – we have to. Look at the deluge of advertising that bombards out lives!

You no longer have the time to prove your claim. You have to make it an unavoidable conclusion from the start. Which is why my mantra is “publicity, testimonials and more publicity.” Publicity gives you independent endorsements and expert status. Testimonials offer more proof. Combine the two and you have the unavoidable conclusion you want your customers to reach.

Instead of enticing, you ambush your customer When you present your claim to have the strongest, fastest, easiest product on the planet, your customer’s unavoidable conclusion is: “Of course you do, your expert status and strong testimonies prove that to me.”

And that’s the best hype of all—when your customer agrees with, acts on, and even advocates on behalf of what otherwise would have been a wild and unbelievable claim.

Publicity Express 5-Star Publicity Tele-Train – all aboard!

Publicity is THE best way for creating credibility and awareness among the general public, far outweighing advertising.

Think about it - how many times have you seen someone interviewed on TV and then mentioned the segment to your friends and family. That recognition is powerful….and that is the power and impact of publicity!

Until now, the only way to get that sort of recognition was to pay a public relations agency upwards of thousands of dollars each month. I know, because that’s what my PR agency charges to secure clients’ stories in The Australian, appear on Sunrise or be interviewed for 60 Minutes.

But I believe there is room for everyone to get great media coverage and grow their business using FREE publicity. Which is why I created my Publicity Express 5-Star Publicity Tele-Train!

This 5-call teleseries is your publicity bootcamp that’ll give you all the tools and insider info to put your name up in lights.

Now’s the time to grab the PR bull by the horns and make 2010 the year you get noticed!

Go to www.publicityexpress.com.au to enrol in the November class and take advantage of the advance special pricing and extra bonuses.

Put your name up in lights!

Closing a sale nowadays is sixty to seventy per cent rapport. If you haven’t got ALL your publicity, PR & marketing aligned with it, then expect a sales struggle. From placing media stories that showcase you as an expert, to leveraging social media and testimony/word of mouth PR – all of this is pure rapport building and you absolutely have to be doing it.

There’s a newly published New York Times bestseller Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. I’ve excerpted below with permission of the publisher John Wiley and Sons (www.wiley.com), including staying faithful to American spelling

· We are living in a communications environment where there is a trust deficit. As a society, we no longer have confidence in advertising. We are hostile to those who appear to have ulterior motives, even if they’re just selling themselves.

· Trust agents have established themselves as non-sales-oriented, non-high-pressure marketers. They are digital natives using the Web to be genuine and to humanize their business. They’re interested in people (e.g., prospective customers, employees, and colleagues), and they have realized that the tools that enable more unique, robust communication also allow more business opportunities for everyone.

· Trust agents have 6 characteristics. Brogan & Smith have organized the book so readers can understand each characteristic or action as a separate entity and grasp the concepts better. Those actions form a linked system. Trust agents use all six of them, though each manifests these traits in differing degrees.

My question to you: What are you doing today to be a Trust Agent? It’s all about belonging, empathising, leveraging, understanding and, yes, networking. Not from the perspective of ‘what can I get?’, but ‘what can I offer?’

Have a think about it. Publicity and strong PR can take what you offer from one to a few, to thousands. Communicate authentically and rapport will follow. Be a trust agent today!

SPOTLIGHT: Top Ten Secrets Revealed: Why DIY Publicity is Easier Than You Think

The time draws near to unveil Publicity Express! There’s a landing page at www.publicityexpress.com.au where you can download my latest free report: Top Ten Secrets Revealed: Why DIY Publicity is Easier Than You Think.

There’s also some early-bird info on my Publicity Express ‘5 Star Publicity Tele-Train’ that starts rolling this November. Think of this 5-call teleseries as your publicity bootcamp for 2010 that’ll give you all the tools and insider info to put your name up in lights.

Stop communicating one to a few and start talking to thousands by doing your own PR. Enrol in the November class for advance special pricing and extra bonuses. Now’s the time to grab the PR bull by the horns and make 2010 the year you get noticed!

Writing a book is, by far, the single most effective tool you can have to market your business and gain instant credibility, visibility and profitability. For the entrepreneur, having a book is as essential as having a business card. Why? Because a book is the best vehicle to share the essence of you, and your business; for revealing the depth of your wisdom and knowledge to help others. When it comes to being visible, sought after and viewed as an expert in your field, a book is what puts you “on the map.”

If the thought of writing a book fills you with dread, you’re going to want to keep up with some my new developments, as I’m going to be launching a fool-proof method for you to write and publish a book that will boost your expert status and give you untold publicity opportunities.

In the meantime though, an e-book can be almost as powerful. Properly planned it can elevate you above your competitors and give you powerful social network marketing traction. A few tips:

· Make sure you create useful content that is of value to prospects but that does not overtly promote products, services, brand, or company.

· Plan your PR and publicity from the start – don’t wait until the e-book is complete, have a strong pitch list and media contacts in mind at the e-book planning stage.

· Invite guest contributors. You needn’t write all the content in your e-book to ensure credibility. In fact, it may be advantageous to include a section or two bylined by expert guest contributors and written with the appropriate attribution. Of course, they then may help promote your ebook too

· Print a few copies – with digital printing you can print short runs and this turns your ebook into something tangible you can hand out at conferences, speaking engagements etc.

· Work with the Pros – Everyday business can throw deadlines, curve balls, and numerous pressures that potentially derail your eBook project. Instead of a source of inspiration: “Look what I achieved” your eBook can turn into a source of regret: “I wish I had done that.”

Truth is, the pros may or may not do a better job than you would. (Though, in fact, with the benefit of experience, they often do.) But they will certainly get the job done. And getting it done is the single, most-important key to e-book success.

SPOTLIGHT

Have you written your eNewsletter yet?

Statistics show that keeping in regular contact with your client base pays dividends, so why is your eNewsletter languishing in your ‘to do” list?

Regular eNewsletters drop quickly off the radar when other ‘more pressing’ jobs turn up or the newsletters don’t get ‘quick hit’ results. Yet the UK Direct Mail Association’s recent deep dive analysis into client data proved ‘quick hits’ aren’t the point.

· Ten percent of one company’s revenue in 2008 came from subscribers who opened not a single email in 2007.

· An outstanding offer from another company generated A$130,000 in sales from subscribers who had not opened the previous 25 to 40 email messages.

And if you don’t have time, work with the pros! Just Go Write’s managed newsletter service gives you a whole Emarketing platform for your business for the next year.

- one eNewsletter per month

- Special promotional offers per quarter

- 6 direct mail or letters for your business, written to your specs, to be used at any time.

You choose from a selection of design templates, personalised with your logo, colours, contact details etc, which are tested to ensure everything works.

We can also help clean up your database, or get one set up if you need. When ready, we expertly copywrite the content of your newsletter, lay it out in the specially designed template, work with you to approve it – then distribute it. You receive details reporting who read your newsletter or special offer, which links were the most popular and, over time, campaign comparisons.

What’s the market value for a service like this? Minimum $20,000. Minimum. I checked last night and eWrite’s standard 12 month eNewsletter service ALONE is US$8000 – that’s just under 10k Australian. Just eNewsletters, certainly not an integrated eMarketing platform.

Just Go Write’s eNewsletter service is a less than half that, and I’ve even arranged weekly and monthly payment plans. So why are you waiting? We’re ready to write your next eNewsletter for you!

Click here now!