Advertising and Marketing

You may think that writing press releases only works when you have important news to share or company announcements to make and that is wrong! You can write and submit press releases at anytime which will get published if you put an interesting slant to what you are submitting.

Here are some interesting ideas to help get your press release picked up by the media:

1. Write a story about how your business fills a void in your community or solves a problem that is plaguing a lot of people.

2. If your company has a focus on charitable contributions, write up a press release about what your company is doing to help in the community.

3. Tell your story – whether you came from nothing to rise to something big or if you’ve built up your business with a personal struggle, write it!

4. Relate your story to what is happening today – watch the news, check out what the “hot topics” are and find a way to spin your own story from that.

By writing and submitting a press release to the media, you’ll receive free publicity and the best part is that most consumers will read an article before they’ll look at an advertisement. The idea behind that is consumers believe that a press release is written because there is an important story to read and they believe that advertising is simply paid for, a message from the company, and may not benefit them in any way.

Writing a press release isn’t a daunting task – most press releases really follow a basic template and once you write one, you can just copy it, replace the information with your “new news” and submit again. However, when writing your press release, there are guidelines you should follow. Here are a few to get you started:

1. Make sure it is on company letterhead. If you don’t have letterhead, at least add your logo to the top of the press release. Add in as much contact information as you can fit. If the media wants to contact you to find out more information or to run a larger news piece, let them!

2. Underneath the logo, you should write the words Press Release in caps to be sure that the recipient of this news article knows it is a press release. If it is to be released immediately, add the words “For Immediate Release” and if you want it released on a certain day, add the words “To Be Released On” and add the date where I have the “”.

3. Come up with a really catchy headline – what you think the news piece should be called. It’s also a good idea to create a catchy subhead as well so that the editor who receives your story is drawn in before he/she has to read the entire article and so that it gives them a few ideas of their own on how this will benefit their readers.

4. Make sure the body is double-spaced and try to keep it to a three-page minimum. If you can tell your story in fewer pages, do so! When you end your article, add ### centered underneath the last paragraph. This signifies to the editor that the story is over.

The format of a press release is actually quite simple once you get the hang of it. Just remember, allow the creative process of writing a press release to be fun and open and you’ll come up with a much better story that will be sure to be picked up by the press.

Resources We Recommend

PRWeb.com – Press release submission service. Fast, easy and powerful!

I-Newswire.com – Another free or paid press release submission service.

– About the Author –

Erin Blaskie is the founder and president of Business Services, ETC (http://www.bsetc.ca) an administrative support company located within Canada. Erin works one on one with clients to assist them in meeting their goals by taking over the “small stuff.”

– For More Information –

Erin also has a free e-zine called “101 Things That I Discovered as a VA”, which will help you with all areas of your business, that you can subscribe to at http://www.bsetc.ca as well as a blog with the same title where she shares even more tips.

If you want to know more please contact Erin at erin.blaskie@bsetc.ca.

– Copyright Information –

All rights reserved. This publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system or otherwise, unless this notification of copyright is retained.

What is telemarketing?

Telemarketing is the process of marketing goods, advertising services or customer service over the telephone. It is classified into two; inbound and outbound telemarketing. Inbound telemarketing is any incoming sales or service from viewers and listeners who want to order the advertised product or ask for more information. Some inbound applications are order taking, customer service, help desk and many more. An outbound telemarketing on the other hand, is the practice of making phone calls to prospects or existing customers done by a marketing person. Some outbound telemarketing applications include phone sales, appointment setting, lead generation and many more.

Knowing the Advantage

When you hear the word telemarketing, the first thing that gets into your mind would be a telephone or sometimes, a telephone ringing, right? But when you hear the phone rings, your usual reaction definitely is to answer it. You can’t deny the fact that the ringing of the phone alone would get your attention instantly and you would seldom ignore it.

Radio promotions and advertisement including billboards, newspaper and magazine ads or even direct mail demand slight or no interest at all. They can be forgotten once you have heard it, read it or seen it. They can all be disregarded and ignored but not telemarketing. Telemarketing acquires an immediate answer. This is the primary advantage of telemarketing. With this advantage, telemarketing establishes a conversation right away. Having a two-way communication is very productive. It is easier for the client to get the message or understand the product and the most important of it is that all questions can be answered promptly. It can even lead to a sale in an instant.

Another advantage of telemarketing is that telemarketing is available 24/7 at 365 days a year. With this kind of service, telemarketing allows you to answer your prospects’ questions, address their concerns, and overcome their objections. It is also the only marketing medium that allows you to adjust and make any changes with the strategy anytime necessary to increase results. An example of this is constantly changing or editing your sales script. You can even change your calling hours. This can be done as long as you gain results with it which results into another breakthrough, flexibility.

Understanding the Advantage

With its availability and commitment, telemarketing provides client with direct response and essential information that can be promptly scrutinized. Telemarketing is definitely flexible, definitely practical because it provides you with never-ending opportunities and possibilities to increase and enhance your business. Having these advantages proves that telemarketing is truly an ultimate marketing instrument.

This article was originally written by Rosette Siriban, SEO & Content Writer of Priousol, Inc., premier provider of outsourced communication and marketing solutions, specializing in search engine optimization, web designs and web development, inbound – outbound telemarketing and customer service, data encoding and back office support.

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Advertising is a very precise science. It finds its bases in many different fields including copywriting, psychology and even math. In recent decades, we have observed a slow but steady beautification of advertising. For marketing experts this can work. For less savvy advertisers, it is a huge pitfall that draws attention away from the much more important aspects of a successful selling proposition. Faulty advertising costs its makers billions of dollars a year, and almost all are guilty of it, even the huge corporations.

For the sake of clarity, let us define advertising as a call to action, that action being a purchase, a contact for more information or a clickthrough. This distinguishes the former from marketing at large including branding and awareness campaigns, which serve more to build a basis for the influence to make prospects act.

You will see many of today’s internet marketing “gurus” recommending volumes several decades old. There is a good reason for this. Many of those volumes were written by direct marketers that engaged in extremely costly mailings. These ads have to produce optimal results or they produce losses. The upside is that results can be measured and broken down to a ridiculously precise extent. In fact very small fluctuations in these figures separate success from failure.

Back to basics.

First and foremost is the written word. Nothing replaces a captivating headline and solid advertising copy. For headlines, the goal is to grab attention and qualify. Prospects must immediately recognize that the ad is addressed to them and they must also be drawn into the main copy. Ad copy should be as abundant as needed to tell the whole story, or however much of the story is needed to lead to the action you are soliciting.

For internet marketing, this generally means getting a clickthrough to your sales page or that of the affiliate product you represent. There are pre-determined recipes for this purpose: “how to”, “secret”, “?”, “you” as well as too many to list here.

The headline of this article is an amalgamation of several psychological triggers that force attention. “Which one of these 4″ suggests options where the target may be able to find something that applies to them. Moreover it poses an exact number and precision is always appreciated. “Are you guilty of” capitalizes on the fear of not doing things correctly and the word “sin” gives emphasis to this idea.

Without further ado, here are the 4 biggest mistakes you can make in advertising.

1) Being pretty instead of selling. This is really deadly. You don’t need to impress with your design, you need to make a sale, and words sell.

2) Not following a formula. Formulas exist because they work. Use them.

3) Forgetting, even for a single instant, to concentrate on your MDA, Most Desired Action.

4) Not testing different models. This is one of the most painful shortcomings of many marketers. They try an ad and if it’s not profitable the first time, they drop it entirely. If it is profitable, they continue to run it. Here, there is usually an enormous amount of room for improvement. Fluctuations in sales of the order of 500 to 800% are not uncommon

Advertising comes in many shapes and sizes, with different costs associated to them. Do your research, purchase and read books by the likes of David Ogilvy and follow formulas that are aimed towards direct mailings. The results you get will far outweigh any effort you expend or money you invest.

Alex Goad is a specialist in Incentive Marketing. Read more of his articles at http://www.myeasyblog.com