MarketingMoment

A readers asks:

Question: “Would you mind answering a quick question for me?  I received an email from XXXXXX (name removed for client confidentiality) earlier this week that they’ve developed a sample media release that members are free to modify and distribute to local media.  My question is, if I was to distribute this via email what do I put in the subject line and covering email?  Do I just say ‘Subject: For immediate release’ and in the email ‘Please find attached a press announcement for immediate release.’ Basically, what’s the code of conduct when sending these things?
 
Not sure if that’s turned out to be a quick question or not so I appreciate your comments.”

Answer: When you send a release via email put the actual heading or title of the release in the subject line. You can also add the fact that it’s a release, like this: “[news release] MediaMinister launches new service for the busy exec.”

Don’t bother putting “For immediate release” – that’s an antiquated tradition that doesn’t mean much. If it isn’t intended for immediate release, you’d say so. Hopefully!

Also, and this is a biggie, do NOT attach any attachment. Instead, simply copy and paste your release into the body of the email. (That said, it might be better to turn off HTML and send your email as a standard ‘text’ message, which could mean that the formatting/line spacing may need to be tweaked).

At the top of your message you might want to state that you have pictures (if true!) and whether the release available as a PDF or Word document. And ask editors to to get back to you should they want either of these or have any questions.

Immediately below this insert an obvious break in – like a solid line, or dotted – and then put line release.
Be sure to put the media contact (whomever will deal with press release enquiries) for editors, and of course their contact details. You’d be surprised how many people omit this vital information.

Hope this helps.

• For specific ideas on tailoring a news release to your business, and how to develop a PR campaign that can help you generate masses of free publicity, for less than the price of dinner, see:

http://freepublicitymadeeasy.mediaminister.co.uk

FREE CONSULTING ALERT: Got a burning question you want answered? Pop it in the ‘comments’ box and I’ll see what I can do. 

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Without a marketing plan, your business will meander along the ‘hit and miss’ path. For you will tend to set no specific goals, and therefore not really progress. Your budget, time and other resources allocation will be either non-existent or haphazard at best. And generally you will – intentionally or not – let things slide.

But all you need to get started is three minutes. Not much, really now, is it?

Sure, a big international player such as Cadbury Schweppes may have a marketing plan that runs to 100 pages. However, your first marketing plan need not be more than one single sheet of A4.

Here are the key steps to getting your marketing action plan moving:

1. Write down in one or two short sentences the purpose of your marketing. Be specific. Examples include:

   • To get published in the local media.
   • To get more repeat customers.
   • To attract new women customers within the age group 30-45.    

   Your goal here is to make sure your marketing goal is a ‘doable’ one. Do not set yourself up for a fall at this stage. Think small, work towards big…

2. Write down your budget for achieving this marketing goal. Be sure to budget enough of your money, as well as time and other resources (eg, staff) to get the desired results from your marketing plan. If you are a start-up, then ideally you will be allocating the majority of your time to marketing. If you are more established, then you may be too busy to put 80-100% of your time towards marketing activities. In that case you would outsource the majority of the marketing tasks to freelance professionals (ie, copywriters, marketers, and so on). 
    
3. Now schedule what you will do and when to get things moving. Eg:

   • By the end of next week I will have achieved…………………………….
   • To do this I will spend ………. hours on marketing activities.
   • These activities will include…………………………………………………….
   • Within one month, I will have completed/acquired………………………
   • The days and hours I will dedicate to marketing each week will be..
   ……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Taking your first mini-marketing plan as an example, you can now go on to develop several for each marketing or business goal. Start right now: one for ‘creating a monthly ezine’, one for ‘referral or word-of-mouth marketing’ and one for ‘developing free samples of your services’. These are just examples; you are, of course, free to choose your own!

Obviously, the above mini-marketing plan assumes that you have already worked out who your target audiences are, as well as your positioning statement, USP and so on. If you need any help in these areas, then there are a myriad of both free and inexpensive tools to guide you.

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At any given point in time, there are a number of major ‘conversations’ going on inside the heads of your prospective customers. This is partly down to the increasing demands on our time and attention… What’s more, your target market will only be aware of a small portion of this inner talk.

So you can appreciate why trying to sell anything – online, via a classified ad, or a letter, wherever – can be nigh on impossible. Until you find a way to stop all that mind chatter. And it’s your opening, or headline, that gets you noticed.

As well as grabbing that all-important attention, a great headline will help pull your readers into the body copy, so compelling them to read the rest of your message.

Here are three top headline formulas that have, over the years, proven to be winners. Try one or all of them in your own advertising and marketing materials, and see your response rates change for the better.

1. The ‘how-to’ headline

Perhaps the most used (and abused) headline of them all. When done well, the ‘how-to’ headline has the ability to dramatically improve the response. I use this type of headline all the time. What you’re selling here is how to achieve a given result. Some examples of ‘how-to’ headlines include:

• “How To Have a Long and Healthy Life”

• “How a Computer Crash Can Be Good For Business”

• “How to Open Your Own Online Shop in Just 15 Minutes”

• “How to Lose the Bloat (Safely) in Just 10 Days”

2. The question headline

Another winning headline formula I use often is the question headline. This can be a very effective way of using headlines, as the question will (or should) appeal to your prospects’ emotions. It’s a good way of engaging your readers, too. When they read a headline written in the form of a question, they’ll usually answer the question in their mind. Examples include:

• “Are You Making These Five Marketing Mistakes?”

• “Want to Stop Spam Once and For All?”

• “Are You Sick and Tired of the Daily 9-5 Routine?”

•  “Does Your Partner Do Any of These Embarrassing Things”

3. The testimonial headline

This is a very powerful headline technique IF you have specific and exceptional customer testimonials you can use. Examples include:

• “Everyone Keeps Commenting on How Well I Look – and I Feel Years Younger Already…”

• “My Website Traffic Increased by 315% In 31 Days…”

• “I Made £276 Yesterday Alone Using Your Marketing System! I Didn’t Think This Was Possible – Especially As I’m No Marketing Expert Myself.”

• ”Tom Jones’s Consulting Is Magic – My Sales Have Increased by 25% Over the Past Two Months!”

Tip: To appear credible, always include your clients’ full names and their websites or the cities they live in. Oh, and be sure to get permission first!

Your headlines literally have the power of making or breaking your marketing efforts. So, take your time and test the different formulas above to see which works best for you. By testing and refining, you should hopefully see your sales grow considerably.

(C) 2007 T Dooley, All Rights Reserved 
Article first published in the August 2007 of CfS –– a free newsletter aimed at helping entrepreneurs, solo professionals and small businesses: 
 

 gain more customers
 secure more sales
 increase website hits
 and generally be more successful in today’s fierce marketplace.

Want to use this article on your own blog, or website, message board or in an ezine? Not a problem! But please give credit where it’s due. You MUST include the following: 

Tracey Dooley of MediaMinister (www.mediaminister.co.uk) is an experienced copywriter, editor and marketer. She has spent 14 years crafting compelling concepts and copy that successfully sell, inform, educate or entertain. =====>Get a FREE business-building audio CD by signing up for her freebie business-building tips, marketing and publicity pointers: www.mediaminister.co.uk.

***Would you like some help in developing or polishing your headlines? I would be glad to help or act as a facilitator for you and your team… Just let me know.

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Add my RSS feed to your reader now so you never have to miss a post.
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Want to use this in your ezine, blog or website? No problem! Just let me know. I’ll send you a short resource box/bio to include at the end of the article.

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