Spice Up Your Marketing

Finally an easy and effective way to create Press Releases

I’m a sales guy, not a marketing guru. But I have spent a number of years in marketing roles, so I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about marketing stuff. I especially need to keep abreast of what’s hot and what’s not on the marketing front since I need to market my own company and the services I offer. For anyone reading this article who is wondering why I’m talking about marketing, it’s simple. In order to start the sales process, you need to have leads. In order to get leads, you need to get exposure and to generate awareness. One way to do this that is often overlooked by business owners, sales managers, entrepreneurs and even sales reps is the press release. If you convince a reporter to write about you, they help convince thousands of potential customers to buy from you. The press release is a valuable tool for generating this interest, and hence more leads for your sales engine.

Many business people believe that writing press releases is the function of a PR firm and not something they should even attempt on their own. I tended to agree with this to a point, mainly because I haven’t found an effective way of writing a good press release myself and getting it into the right hands for publication, or at least mention in trade journals, newsletters, web sites, and more. It’s because of this that the do-it-yourself approach is avoided by many companies and, for those that can afford it, instead opt to hire a PR firm to handle this mysterious marketing necessity. That is, until now.

I found a really interesting tool that not only helps you write your press release, but guides you through how to write each and every step of the content; from headline to sub-head to body to conclusion and more. It also coaches you on how and where to distribute your newly created release, which it will generate for you once you walk through the easy to use wizard. This free tool is called the Press Release Builder from Evan Carmichael, whose web site (http://www.EvanCarmichael.com) is an invaluable resource for business owners, entrepreneurs, and sales and marketing professionals. The Press Release Builder can be found at http://www.EvanCarmichael.com/Tools/Press-Release-Builder.htm.

The Press Release Builder tool walks you through how to:
 

- Choose a topic to write about
- Write the press release
- Build a media list
- Email the reporters
- Find additional press release resources

As you walk through each step of the wizard, the Press Release Builder gives you valuable advice and guidance as to what you should enter at that phase. For instance, before you even begin writing the release, you start with the step on how to “Choose a Topic to Write About”. Here you are presented with a list of 61 suggestions to use to come up with your own unique story idea. With this many ideas to trigger your creative juices, you can’t help but think of something good to write about your company, products, new customers, awards, community efforts, and lots more. It also lets you download a free Resource Guide on “How to Get Media Attention.”

Another example of how this tool helps you with each step is when you actually start to write your press release. It starts out like this:
 

This is immediately followed by the next steps; including Step 2: A Compelling 2nd Headline, Step 3: The Location & Date, Step 4: The Body (with detailed guidance on what each paragraph should include), Step 5: Notes to the Editor, and finally Step 6: Contact Information. As you enter your information into each step of the wizard, the Press Release Builder actually builds your press release. When finished, it generates a MS Word document which you can fine tune yourself. But I can assure you that if you follow the advice it gives and do a thorough job for each step, there won’t be much fine tuning required. The Press Release Builder builds a very thorough and comprehensive press release that, best of all, is the type of release that gets the attention of the press and media folks. It was clearly created by people who know how to write press releases that the press industry will want to read and use.

The timing of my discovery couldn’t have been better. I was just ready to begin the drudgery of writing a press release for my new Sales Snippets mini on-line sales training modules, which I recently introduced (http://www.peaksalesconsulting.com/Sales_Snippets_Training.htm), when I found the Press Release Builder. I figured I’d give it a try and boy was I impressed. It actually helped me organize my thoughts and come up with content that I never would have thought of on my own. The recommendations and resources provided for getting it in the right hands was also very helpful since there are so many ways to waste time versus being effective. So any advice in this area is very welcome.

I’m so glad that I now have a valuable resource to help me write my press releases without having to read an entire book to learn the mysteries of writing press releases. Once again, the biggest benefit, above and beyond the very useful advice and guidance that’s included, is the fact that it generates the press release for me. And it’s all for free. I’m actually encouraged to write more press releases as a result of using the Press Release Builder. So watch the press for more announcements from yours truly.

Good luck and good selling!

Russ Lombardo

PEAK Sales Consulting, LLC

russ@peaksalesconsulting.com

(702) 655-5652