Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

Social Media and Online Marketing for Book Publicity Campaigns

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

We are  working on book publicity and marketing for  Dr. Catherine Athans, who has two motivational, inspirational books: Make Your Dreams Come True Now! and Just Imagine.

book_imagine

Some of the marketing communication tools that we are using to publicize and promote Dr. Athans include:

Websites: Dr. Athans has a website that promotes her latest books. The site serves as a home base with essential information including bio, testimonials, information about her books, appearances and more.  They help to enhance awareness of the author’s brand.

On her site, Dr. Athans’ video shows the work she does transforming the lives of the many people she works with (http://www.catherineathans.com).

Blogs: A blog is an essential way to be found and to build a network and fan base. Google feeds off new content with the use of strong key words added to a blog’s tags.

Using keywords increases the chances her blog will come up in Google searches and means more traffic will come to her site.

In fact, there are many people who have ongoing searches for key words within the blogosphere. All it takes is for a writer’s blog content to turn up in someone’s email account, and the writer may have a new fan.

Athans is committed to adding content to her blog at least once a week. She writes about events, issues and concepts that are in her book as well as causes she is committed to. Currently Dr. Athans  is soliciting donations so that every high school junior in the Oakland Unified School District (Oakland, CA) can have a copy of her book, “Just Imagine” to be used as part of a district-wide poetry curriculum. Donations can be made at: http://tinyurl.com/yhargm8

Twitter: Dr. Athans can be found on Twitter @CatherineAthans. With about 6-million new users a month on Twitter we find continual opportunities to get people to link to her web site, blog and ultimately her books by providing them with tidbits of information that they can use. Keywords are included in their tweets in order to attract followers interested in their topics.

And for our work on her publicity, Twitter offers us a way to directly contact journalists and have a conversation with them about our authors’ stories. We also use Twitter to tweet about book launches live events, speeches, and book signings and we promote her Twitter URL every time we talk about her in an email or through another source.

A blog that explains how to have a best seller.

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Want to write a book that can establish your career? Kevin Daum has done that. Not only has he been appearing at conferences around the country telling people how to successfully write and publish a career changing book, now Kevin, who has written a number of books already, has written the book that will make his career. It’s called “ROAR.” If you want a book that helps you to understand how to sell the products of your company and have a fun time reading it, my advice is to pre-order “Roar.”

And if you want to get an understanding of what it takes to get your book selling, then read Kevin’s blog. It’s full of good ideas and a step-by-step process to get your book into the marketplace.

Here’s more about Kevin’s process on How to have a New York Times Best Seller.

Images are Key to Connecting with Your Audience

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Orinda Academy asked for help with updating their marketing materials and initiating a PR campaign. The goal was to start a conversation with potential students and their parents about the school and its special strengths. After all, you only get one chance to make a good first impression.

We freshened up their Viewbook and created an email newsletter, an event ad and a flyer template using happy kids’ faces and a colorful design that immediately conveyed the school’s vibrant student population and its teachers’ individualized approach to learning. (more…)

Journalists go to the web and social media for story ideas.

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Where do journalists go to get a story? These days, they go to the Web, and more often than not, they go to social media sites. Jack Loechner of MediaPost did a great analysis of the new survey that was conducted by Cision and Don Bates of The George Washington University. They surveyed journalists to find out where they get their stories. Of the journalists surveyed, “89% said they turn to blogs for story research, 65% to social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and 52% to microblogging services such as Twitter.” (more…)

Saint Mary’s College PR class learns public relations and social media.

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

I’m excited that today is the first day of class for my Saint Mary’s College of California PR class that I teach each year! We study real life publicity and marketing experiences. The goal of my class is for each student to understand that they can have a career in Public Relations or they can learn how to use PR to enhance their careers. Or both!

Now I’ll talk to my students for a moment… Public Relations basic job is to make a reporter’s job easier, this is a mantra you will hear though-out the semester in this course. (more…)

Toyota needs some Crisis Management lessons.

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Placemaking Group’s Crisis Management guru, Irv Hamilton, has some ideas for you… The headlines every day demonstrate the importance of preparing forthat time when bad news happens. There are countless bad-news triggers.   Accidents, earthquakes, criminal acts, health challenges… The list goes on.

No one is immune from bad news.  And badly handled, it can have serious consequences.

Toyota is a case in point.  (more…)

Companies will increase their digital marketing budgets in 2010.

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Are you still wondering if social media is a good marketing tool for your company? Caroline McCarthy of CNET has some interesting numbers for you. She says that “companies will increase their digital marketing budgets by an average of 17% in 2010, according to new research by Econsultancy and ExactTarget today. The new report, Marketing Budgets 2010: Effectiveness, Measurement and Allocation, finds that digital marketing will account for 24% of overall marketing spend this year.” She points out that Social media is driving much of that increase. (more…)

Tips about blogging

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

Q: What tips and tricks have you learned about blogging?

Chrysta Bairre, asked this. She has a personal blog that she values. “I have kept a personal blog for many years,” she says. “I have enjoyed many benefits of blogging, including expressing my thoughts and experiences, sharing knowledge, making new friends/connections, and deepening existing friendships/connections.” Now she wants to start a blog for her business. (more…)

The Guv’s New Media Director advises: Move the web site from IT to Communications.

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

The first thing Rob Quigley, New Media Director for Arnold Schwarzenegger, did when he moved to the Governor’s office was to move the web site from IT to Communications. That very move eliminated a firewall between Communications and IT. Web sites are not digital archives, Quigley explained. “They are very strategic communications tools, and they need to be real time.”

The job, says Quigley, is to drive people to your web site and he does that through social media like Twitter, You Tube, Facebook, and Flickr. (more…)

Necessary tools and resources for individuals who are starting off a career.

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Joanna Lynch, Health/Medical Associate Director at Campbell Publicity in Toronto, Canada, asked, “What are necessary tools and resources for individuals who are starting off a career in the public relations field? So far I am interning at a PR agency, purchased a BlackBerry, opened a Twitter account, started a blog, joined Linked In, purchased the Associated Style Pressbook, and attend an info night for a post-graduate PR program. Any additional tips you wished someone told you before you started your career would also be helpful!”

Joanna, you’re off to a good start. But the tools are only as good as the person who is using them. And for that, you need to get in and get experience. That means doing as much as your time allows. Along with your job, find some charitable cause or even a rock band, and get them noticed! And one more thing… You need to get to know everybody! (more…)