Scrappy Marketing Solutions Blog

PR/Publicity Pitching: Ways to Come Up With Newspaper Story Ideas

This article at Freelancewrite.About.com, 6 Ways to Come Up With Newspaper Story Ideas, is meant to provide inspiration for freelance writers hoping to pitch a newspaper story.  The list provided also provides some inspiration for those PR hopefuls looking to pitch article ideas to reporters.

For instance:

Idea #1: Localize National Stories
Pay attention to national trends. If it’s big in other cities, there’s a good chance it’s influencing your town.

If you are looking to get some local PR for your scrapbooking business, watch the national trends, and pitch the local angle to local media/reporters.  Watch what the top daily newspapers are covering -- like the Chicago Tribune, the LA Times, the NY Times, and the Washington Post.  How can you take their news topics, and twist/tweak it for the local angle?

Read the rest of the newspaper story ideas here.

Google unveils free coupon service for merchants

Did you happen to notice this post on my Scrapbooking Industry News blog: Google unveils free coupon service for merchants?

This is good news for local scrapbooking store owners, or local retailers in general, really.

Google launched a free service that will let businesses offer consumers printable coupons through Google Maps. You can post a local listing for free on Google's Local Business Center, then add printable coupons to your listing.  Sweet.

I'd love to hear about any scrapbooking retailers/business owners that do this, and what your results are.

http://del.icio.us/ScrapbookMarketing

Another del.icio.us idea -- I have recently started a new social bookmarking list: del.icio.us/ScrapbookMarketing.

This list will include links that will be of use to those interested in Scrapbook Marketing, such as local scrapbooking storeowners, independent scrapbooking instructors and consultants, scrapbooking manufacturers, and professional designers -- and perhaps anyone wanting to reach these audiences.

As I share resources on this blog, and with clients, I will post many of them on http://del.icio.us/ScrapbookMarketing.  You can even subscribe to the RSS feed here: http://del.icio.us/rss/ScrapbookMarketing

If you would like to contribute to this "social" project, please feel free to send me links that you have found helpful in your Scrapbook Marketing efforts -- articles on PR/marketing, small business resource sites, publications you read, local marketing tips, etc.

Ah, behold the goodness of folksonomy and Web 2.0!  :)

grassroots marketing, marketing ideas, PR 2.0, scrapbook marketing, social media

Marketing Communications: Writing a Strong Bio

So my cyber-friend Clara Wallace, of Matter of Scrap, emailed me tonight about writing bio's:

I need to write a good bio - do you have any tips? :) 

I'm going to be on the editorial board for Simple Scrapbooks Digital Scrapbooking mag! :) So, that's why I am emailing - I thought you might have some tips on writing an intriguing bio. This would make a good topic for your marketing blog too.

Indeed it would!  (And yea for Clara!)

The best advice I got on writing a bio was from a Special Report I bought from PublicityHound.com.  It's Special Report #46: Tips for Rewriting Your Boring Bio.  It helped me rewrite my bio to my current one: About Angie Pedersen.  I have slightly different versions on my Typepad About page and on my WordPress About Angie page.  Also read the Publicity Hound's own bio for a good example.

Basically a strong bio tells a story.  It helps people get interested in why you're interesting.  ;)  For Clara's, for example, she could answer such questions as:

• How long have you been digi-scrapping?
• Why digi?  What do you love about it? 
• Any amusing (short) anecdotes about first digi projects?
• What is the foundation of your expertise?  (background in graphic arts/design, college major, etc)
• When did you start selling your designs online?
• What success have you had?  What are you known for?  Give specific numbers, quantities, length of time, subscribers, etc.
• What gets you jazzed, professionally, or in regards to your work?  What makes you "geek out"?
• What turning points or milestones have you experienced professionally?
• What DT credits do you have?  Who have you worked with?
• What projects have you been involved in behind-the-scenes?  What have you spear-headed?
• What are your professional goals?
• Where do you live?  (general geographic area is fine)  Who do you live with?
  

Seek out bios of other professionals, both in your industry and outside it, and try to pinpoint what you like about it.  If you like the casual, almost irreverent tone, try to figure out how you can achieve the same feeling when writing your own story.  And remember that it IS a story, like I said.  The bio's that list off work history and accomplishments are all well and good, but the ones that draw you in and make you want to meet the person tell a story, and give a glimpse of the subject's personality.

A good place to put your bio is on your website/blog (it basically becomes your About page) and in your scrapbooking press kit.  You can also craft a shorter version for brochures, resource boxes for the end of articles, class descriptions, and basically any marketing communication that needs a touch of your history and personality.

Using del.icio.us as a PR 'Hub'

FASCINATING "PR 2.0" idea offered in this post: PR Squared: Daily Servings of del.icio.us Delights. 

Whoa.  Takes a bit to wrap your brain around.  It really illustrates how things are changing, both for how marketers get their message across, AND how reporters find their information/story leads.

Taking PR Squared's lead, I have created a del.icio.us page for the Scrapbooking Industry, in hopes that the link could be passed on (and the RSS feed subscribed to) by mainstream media reporters looking to keep tabs on the scrapbooking industry, and/or need background information for a story.

Other links available:

http://del.icio.us/ScrapbookingIndustry/magazines

http://del.icio.us/ScrapbookingIndustry/blogs

http://del.icio.us/ScrapbookingIndustry/"scrapbooking statistics"

NOTE: PR Squared is the blog of SHIFT Communications, creators of the "Social Media Press Release" -- another PR-pioneering concept

What do you think?

Edited to Add: Jeremiah Owyang, Web Strategist Extraordinaire, linked to this post, and said it was "smart thinking."  Sweet.

Press Releases: Offer Tips Your Customers Can Use

A great example of a tip-based press release: Uncover a New 'You' and Shake Those Empty Nest Blues.

This is a press release offered by Lowe's home improvement stores, which suggests four tips in three different areas of home improvement (including creating a scrapbooking room!)

Offering tips is a great way to get extra mileage out of a press release -- not only will it provide useful information for a reporter looking to build an article, but the release can also provide content for your website, in a newsletter, or repurposed for online article directory submission.  Most of the press releases I write offer tips for just these reasons -- tip sheets are very multipurpose, making the time invested in writing them well worth it.

I also like how the Lowe's press release tied into the current season of going back to school.  Makes this release very timely.  What kinds of press release angles can you come up with to tie into this time of year?  Back-to-school means shopping for school supplies (hey, Mom needs new "supplies" too!), and more free time with the kids away during the day.  Now's the time to offer your customers ways to fill all those "lonely" hours without children. 

Blog Marketing: Queen & Co

A great example of a scrapbooking manufacturer who is using a blog effectively to market their company: Queen & Co.

What I notice when I look at their blog:

• separate photo galleries for each of their product lines (i.e. Sprinkle Brads), showing product in use in projects (plus credit to the Design Team member, always nice)
• links to each product line at the company website
• A listing of Design Team members' name in the right margin, and links to blogs when available
• Announcement of a contest, and a request for submissions via their blog.  They will post the winning projects on their blog.  Contests are a great way to encourage participation via your blog.
• Individual posts on new product launched at the most recent trade show, with clear, closeup photos of the product, as well as sample projects
• "sneak peek" posts of upcoming projects and products
• The About page gives a brief history of the company, and gives insight into the company's purpose: "to always create playful products that are bursting with bright color and pattern."
• The About page and Email Me link are featured "above the fold" (high on the left side column)

Four things I would suggest to improve this blog:

• Add RSS feeds via Feedburner "above the fold" (high enough that people don't need to scroll down).  Don't make people search for the "Subscribe to this blog's feed" link near the bottom of the left column.
• Add an "Receive Updates by Email" option via FeedBlitz, again, above the fold.
• Link to the blog from the main website.  Each incoming link makes the blog seem popular and helps in search engine rankings.
• Blog more frequently -- even once a week would be beneficial, both with search engine rankings, and for keeping in touch with your audience.

Just creating a business blog isn't enough; you have to tweak it so it's truly effective, and there is upkeep involved. So many business blogs I see aren't doing these things -- it's cool to see a company that's doing it right.  Way to go, Queen & Co!

Marketing Tip: Be Everywhere at Once

Going through my inbox today, I noticed ads from Tumblebeasts in two different newsletters, both the Creating Keepsakes NewsFlash and the ScrapJazz News.  Karen, owner of Tumblebeasts, probably extended the benefits of her advertising dollar by advertising in both publications at the same time.  That may seem counter-intuitive, but hear me out...

Many scrapbookers are just like me -- they subscribe to multiple newsletters and magazines.  They scan through the newsletter content, and notice the ads.  They open another e-newsletter, scan through it, and see a similar ad for the same company.  Their subconscious brain registers the previous mention, and all of a sudden it seems like, "Man!  That company is EVERYWHERE!"  Even if it's really only two or three places.

Often as we scan, we may not make note of a specific ad (or article or review), but our brains process it just the same.  Our brains zero in on similiarities, trying to sort images and concepts into similar categories, so it all makes sense.  It's kind of like when you learn a new vocabulary word, and then hear or see it in three different places in the same week.  That's because now your brain is more attuned to notice it.

Manufacturers and business owners can make use of this brain process by planning their advertising placement accordingly.  Like Karen's Tumblebeasts ads "aired" in two different newsletters that were sent to subscribers on the same day.  She could have furthered her branding reach by sending out her own newsletter today as well, or perhaps by arranging to release a guest posting on a scrapbooking blog. 

Another way to extend reach -- if you know when an interview with you will appear in a magazine, newsletter, or podcast, arrange for ads to appear in other forms of media around the same time.  All of a sudden, it seems like you're "everywhere"!

I received a number of comments just like this shortly after my Virtual Book Tour for The Book of Us.  Over the course of two weeks, I 'appeared' at 15 different websites, offering challenges, scrapbooking tips, and doing Q&A sessions.  Most scrapbookers don't visit all 15 of those sites, but they probably visit several of them.  So over that two week period, in their minds, I was "everywhere"!

I received an email recently with that comment, because the person had seen scrapbook marketing articles I had written in both Craftrends and Scrapbook Premiere.  Two places doesn't really qualify as "everywhere", but it's all about how people perceive it.

As busy trying-to-do-it-all business owners, we know how hard it is to try to do everything and be everywhere at once.  So wouldn't it be nice if we could work it so at least customers *think* we're "everywhere" at once?

Think about how you can work that idea into your own marketing efforts, and put those plans into motions.  Then report back here with your results!