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Garber on Business: Your PR Checklist for success

Written by: Anne Garber

Article Overview: Companies and individuals wanting to enhance their self-promotion can benefit from doing a little strategy work before starting a new PR campaign.

Garber on Business: Your PR Checklist for success

by Anne Garber

Stick to the ideas that you identify via this list for a year and you'll be able to narrow down the strategies that really work for your business or practice.

A Checklist for traditional businesses
It will be easier if you print this out and put it in your date-book to use on a regular basis until your toolkit is complete and effective.

You do not need to develop all of these tools, but I'd suggest developing some in each category. That way, you'll end up with a balanced marketing approach.

Check Y or N in the list below.

1. BRAND YOURSELF Branding yourself means getting your name out there and ASSOCIATED with something SPECIFIC related to what you offer--not merely name recognition. The minute they think of you, they think of what you OFFER. 3 key aspects of branding are:

Name for my biz/practice that helps promote me instantly
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Logo/Graphics
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

30-Second Commercial
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___



2. PROMOTIONAL PACKAGE/MEDIA KIT You never know when you'll need to send information to the media. You may want to launch a PR campaign, details of which are in my 6-Figure Practice Blueprint and other publications. Here are the essential elements of this kit:

Biographical profile
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Biographical feature story (highlight yourself or, even better, you helping a client -- or even someone for free!).
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Practice/Biz description & history
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Brochure(s)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Fact Sheet/Product-Service Description
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Notice of event/Tip Sheet (e.g. "New Local Service Teaches Shoppers 312 Different Ways to Save Money. Here Are the Top 10.")
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

News Release/Media Advisory (usually mis-called a Press Release.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___


3. ATTRACTION TOOLS In marketing, you go out and aggressively tell people what you offer. Attraction is a more indirect way of bringing clients and customers to you based on their getting to know you and value you. You have to add MASSIVE value to people in the attraction approach (for free or cheap) and then they'll trust you enough to spend significant money for even more value. Some key attraction tools:

Newsletter (email or print or both)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Booklets or Special Reports
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Free Trials (e.g. Consultations, e-book, software)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Take-ones (These are small cards with a brief article on them that you can place in church vestibules, doctors' offices, etc..)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___


4. ADVERTISING Advertising is a more direct method of getting to people who might buy from you or hire you. You can ADVERTISE TO SELL in which case you want your ad to actually get credit cards out, or you can ADVERTISE TO GENERATE INTEREST. We call this "lead generation advertising" because you offer people a reason to raise their hands and say, "I'm potentially interested in your product or service." Offering a free report is often a good technique for this "two-step" advertising approach.

Classified ads (online or off)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Display/space ads
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

"Article ads" (write an article that is actually an ad. This is not the same as sending articles around. Some people call this an advertorial.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Yellow pages ads
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Directory listings & ads
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___


5. DIRECT MAIL Direct mail is when you send a letter or package of materials to prospects. It is quite effective for professionals and small biz people to use if done properly.

1-2 page letters
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Long form sales letters (4+ pages, usually 4 - 12)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Post cards (including card decks)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Flyers
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Faxes (outgoing to current customers or interested people. In the U.S. it's illegal to send fax ads to people who haven't said they're interested. Kind of like spamming but illegal.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Fax-on-demand (people call a number from their fax machine and receive back your sales letter. Not in as much use these days in the U.S.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___


6. OTHER PRINT TOOLS There are many times when you'll want to have other things to give to people. The more creative they are, the better, but no need to spend a lot of money. HUMAN INTEREST STORIES are best, especially client success stories. Also good are checklists and self-assessment "Test Your Emotional IQ" type guides. Use your imagination rather than your credit card!

Business Cards (Most people don't use biz cards properly. Think of them more like space ads, slightly modified.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Tear pads (may go with flyers)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Coupons (Yes you CAN use these as a professional in the right marketing campaign. You can certainly use them with products, and some services can have an "After 3 sessions the 4th one is free" approach. Instead of just saying it, check off each visit on a coupon, and then redeem the coupon on the 4th visit.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Gift certificates (Ditto above. Give your services as a gift)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Inserts (used in fusion marketing. If you know what that is, great. If not, it's like a joint venture.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Proposals (You definitely want to know how to develop proposals if you offer services, both for private contracts and for the government. It's best to develop templates you can quickly modify.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___


7. ONLINE TOOLS Website with Massive Content (an attraction approach)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Email marketing tools (send an email with "Email Marketing" in the subject to emailmarketing@successfulpractice.com for a complete e-book on this subject. If you're online you need to know this.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Banner Ads (On the whole you can use this to market your SITE but not directly your services in many cases. Depends on what you offer. Email me if you are wondering. Banner ad effectiveness is slowly decreasing, but still viable sometimes.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___


8. TELEPHONE TOOLS Answering machine/voice mail (Yes, you're answering message SHOULD 'sell' people on your products and services if prospects call your number a lot. Can use a soft sell if you'd like, but strict name and "I'm away from my desk" type of message is useless.)

Voice-on-demand system (like a fax-on-demand, but with voice messages people can listen to.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Telephone script for outgoing calls (If you do cold calling or any sales calls, you definitely want a script or two or 3.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___


9. OTHER TOOLS The tools below are just a small sample of the additional approaches you may want to consider.

Conference booth displays (if you go to conferences, you MUST have not only a good display but also good ways to get people's names and addresses, like giving away something for free -- and NOT a pen or ruler!!)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Radio ads (You can also consider paying for a half-hour interview with you in a studio as a kind of radio infomercial, and then buying airtime on various stations in your area. This is VERY effective for professionals marketing services. It allows you to maintain a very professional image.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

Computer Disks (e.g. an electronic book you hand out or mail. Internet downloads are only partially effective right now.)
Developed? ___ In Use? ___ Effective? ___

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Article Tags: anne garber, biographical feature, biographical profile, blueprint, brochure, campaign details, date book, different ways, fact sheet, feature story, local service, logo graphics, news release, pr campaign, service description, shoppers, tip sheet, toolkit, traditional businesses, ways to save money



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