Promote Your News with Magazine Editorial Calendars
Do you know that many print publications display their editorial calendars online?
This feature is mainly for advertisers who want their ads placed in specific issues, but reading what magazines are planning can be a marketing coup for you.
An editorial calendar details the information, articles, stories, and columns that will appear in each magazine issue. I explain this opportunity in my marketing book
Here’s an example of how to turn these magazine calendars into your free promotion machine.
Gift Shop Magazine is a popular publication for retail store owners. Its Web site includes an editorial calendar. Anyone who’s interested in promoting their products or services to that industry will:
1. Print a copy of the calendar.
2. Review it for opportunities to send releases to the editorial staff via Email and/or sample products via postal mail before an editorial deadline date.
When I saw Gift Shop Magazine’s calendar earlier this year, it included editorial deadline dates, but the current calendar does not. If this is true for the publications you want to contact, call the magazine and ask an advertising staff member for the dates.
This marketing opportunity has helped me receive publicity in many publications. I do exactly what’s outlined above (in the two-step process), placing editorial deadlines on my calendar, and contacting the magazine’s editor with a news story specific to a forthcoming issue.
You’ll find more information about contacting editors on the press release pages.
Is this a marketing option you’ll add to your calendar?
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An Interesting Way to Build Your Email List
You’re following all of the instructions found on the Internet to build your online mailing list, but visitors are slow to subscribe. What’s a marketer to do? Perhaps co-registration is the answer.
I just read a fascinating feature in the April 28th edition of DMNews. Titled Build Your List with Co-Registration, four Email advisers/experts share their insights on how to collaborate with firms selling products or services within similar industries.
“If you sell gifts on your Web site, arrange co-registration with another gift-e-commerce store. I know a store owner who sells gourmet food online and has co-registration deals on sites where people give gifts such as flowers or travel.”
That quote is a great starting point to determine the best firms for your own Email list-building collaborations.
Here are more examples that may spark pairing options.
Why is co-registration becoming popular? One reason is that renting a mailing list may not prove fruitful. I’ve talked about mailing lists and how I’ve rented them, so far with no prospects or sales generated.
“Co-registration differs from buying a list because these names represent potential customers who have ‘raised a hand’ and said ‘I am interested in your product or service.’ “
There are many benefits to offering a subscription to your newsletter and other online communications through co-registration. Another alternative is to write a guest article for publication on the ancillary partner’s site, blog, or newsletter.
Have pen and paper handy before you begin reading the DMNews article. You’ll likely start recognizing which spaces on the Web offer you the most-promising co-registration opportunities.
Technorati Tags: solo business marketing, co-registration list building, small business marketing, DMNews
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Make a Monthly Habit of Writing News Releases
The group shown in this photograph were protesting a long-standing battle in Israel. I snapped the photo last year while walking past New York’s Madison Square Garden.
They received lots of publicity, but you might want to take a different route for media attention. Here’s what I did.
Yesterday, it took me 20 minutes to write a news release, 10 minutes to edit it, and 20 more minutes to distribute the news to 10 trade magazine editors specifically targeted for one market.
This is a task that, for me, cannot be put into someone else’s hands, and it will become an easy, in-house project if you set up the steps to launch your news once a month without fail. If you’re ready and willing, what I’ve created as a habit is easily transferred into your own schedule.
Choose a news topic by: 1) piggybacking off a current event, 2) launching a Web site or blog, 3) speaking/discussing any subject (verbally on in print or the Web), 4) whatever you believe is newsworthy for that month if none of the above applies.
I save my releases in one folder on my computer so that the basic boilerplate is ready for copying and pasting. At the end of each release, I include the names and Email addresses of who received it. That makes it easy to send next month’s news to the same contacts.
The release I Emailed yesterday was added to one of the trade magazine’s Web sites on the same day. How’s that for results?
You’ll achieve the same or even better marketing results by making a habit of contacting your media sources on a regular basis.
Review this section of Solo Business Marketing for more on elevating your relationship with the press.
Technorati Tags: small business marketing, write a news release, solo business marketing, how to contact the media, solo entrepreneur
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Do You Control Your Keywords?
What happens when you put your Web site in the hands of someone you trust to maintain the site in your best interest?
I’m sure that most web designers do the right thing, but this weekend I saw something quite disturbing that all marketers must learn about and watch closely even if web maintenance isn’t your strength.
I visited a message board to read the latest postings in one of the niche industries I follow.
“When is the conference to be held?”
“It’s in August. Here’s the Web site.”
One click took me to a site I hadn’t seen in a while, especially when placing the niche’s term into a search engine. I wondered why the site never showed up. Clicking my right mouse button, I opened the site’s source code to view the keywords.
Every keyword was adult site language, the type you see in your Email to enlarge this and grow that.
I don’t understand why a web designer would add keywords about adult entertainment to a site that has nothing to do with that industry, and I won’t spend time trying to uncover the reasons.
What I do know is that it’s critical to maintain your education about overall business, on and off the Web, especially where marketing plays an important role to bring visitors to your virtual door. How successful can a site become when keywords not only don’t match but are purposely botched?
If I ever hand over the keys to my Web site, there are three things I’d still review on a monthly basis.
1. Statistics. This tells me which keywords visitors use to locate my site, and it also informs me of what words I must consider adding to increase content and sales.
2. Social Marketing Tools. Which ones are other marketers raving about, and which are important for participation and tracking?
3. Spin Offs. What site topics are accessed so much (according to statistics and print articles) that they’re candidates for a site of their own?
Outsourcing makes sense, but not when it’s counterproductive to marketing. Know which words and phrases are associated with your site and update them periodically. The best interest of your Web site is squarely in your own hands.
Technorati Tags: small business marketing, how to choose keywords, Web site marketing, solo business marketing, solo entrepreneur
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Shirley George Frazier - Solo Business Expert, Author, College Mentor
When you hire me to speak at your conference, college or special event, attendees will thank you for a great program. Media interviews also welcomed. Call or Email me. 973-279-2799 or shirley@shirleyspeaks.com.
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