Well, today is March 2 and for most of you March is the last opportunity to get some very specific projects in place before business really picks up. So here’s a list of things to consider:

• Have you put together a promotional calendar for the rest of the year? For example, schedule one consumer promotion a quarter.  Remember, you don’t have to do this alone. Florists, limo companies, travel agencies etc. make great partners.
• What do you have in the pipeline for publicity about you and your business?
• How about a letter to all your past clients reminding them of your skill set? Maybe it’s time for a letter reminding them a family portrait is a terrific Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift. Your best potential clients are those already in your data base.
• Prom time is fast approaching and in May just about every junior and senior is going to be heading to their high school prom. How about planting the seed for a prom portrait and working together with a dress shop, tux shop or limo company?
• Here’s one that’s just about house-cleaning: Are you using your own images in your stationery, for example, your note cards? It’s the perfect way to promote your own work.
• What programs e.g. workshops and seminars are you going to register for between now and the end of the year? It’s great you went to WPPI, IUSA, PMA@CES or your state convention, but what are you going to do to recharge your battery mid-year when you need it the most?  I’m involved in at least two programs, Skip’s Summer School and I’ll be on the road with JB Sallee in the fall. Kevin Kubota’s bootcamp is coming up in April. Sal Cincotta will be on the road. Check out your favorite photographers and see who’s on the road. This isn’t just about continuing to expand your skill set – this is about keeping your focus and networking!
• There are some terrific free seminars on line and you need to get yourself signed up. Nik is hosting a full series for the month of March. Creative Live always has something new coming up. Kelby Training has an ongoing series, along with programs from Xrite, Marathon Press and Adorama TV just to name a few.  But here’s the issue, you snooze, you lose! You’ve got to follow-up and participate.
• What are you doing to meet other photographers in your community? Personally I’m a big fan of SmugMug’s meetups, AKA Smugs. There are also local guilds and PPA chapters. Get involved and start building your local network.
• What are doing to be involved in your community? There are always things going on in photography and you need to be involved. You want your community to be good to you, so you’ve got to be good to your community.
• Is there new gear on the list you need, but don’t have the cash? Relax, it’s not the end of the world, start out by renting it and experimenting with that new lens NOW, while you have some time. Make sure you really need it, before you stress yourself out worrying about the cash! And don’t forget about leasing equipment instead of buying it outright! Here’s your chance to tie up somebody else’s assets without depleting yours.
• Have you met with your accountant? Your taxes are due soon, but don’t do this on your own! There are so many aspects of your business that are deductible and money spent with an expert is going to be coming back to you as you learn all the things you forgot that cost you money.
• Is your website all it should be? It’s too long a topic to go into it here, but there are six different posts over on GoingPro that talk about nothing but your website. March is a great time for cleaning up all your messes! I have yet to see a website that couldn’t be improved and here’s another plug for SmugMug! Yes, they’re a sponsor of some of my projects, but long before I started working with me I fell in love with what they do, the quality of their staff and their finished product. This is all about making your work look good, often better than you deserve! LOL

Okay, there are dozen different things to think about and any one of them could take you a few days to really address. You’ve got the passion for photography. Don’t let that passion get lost by missing all the opportunities to keep your battery charged, build your network, expand your skill set or just have fun!

“Fun” there’s that word again. It’s one of the most important aspects of being in business and it’s the first thing lost and buried when the flood gates open and the challenges with the economy and technology come rolling in.  It takes work to stay focused on fun and not let life get in the way!

Dale Carnegie is quoted as saying,

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.

Okay gang, time to go have some fun!

Cover shots, at least for the professional photo magazines are rarely, if ever, planned in advance.  Typically the images come from editorial pieces within the magazine.  So the first step to getting a cover shot – make the effort to get yourself published.  

Let’s talk about what it takes to get your work published:

1) Patience - It starts with submitting your work to the editorial staff of the various magazines.  You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket! 

2) Networking – It obviously helps if you work to get your work and yourself known by the editors and manufacturers of the products you use.  Just sending in some images and a story idea cold to a magazine isn’t going to accomplish very much.

3) Be involved – You’ve got to get your work out there.  Enter contests. Look for calls to action where a manufacturer might be looking for images.  A subliminal call to action is any mfg introducing a new product.  Images taken with that product or application are going to be in short supply initially.  Do your own testing of the product and submit images to the manufacturer and magazines.

Here’s a prime example.  Scott Bourne and I go back about 15 years.  He sent me images taken with the new Hasselblad X-pan.  The images were stunning, but we didn’t have any use for them at the time.  Studio Photography and Design was doing a story on the X-pan and looking for fresh images.  I sent them Scott’s work and they wound up doing a profile story on Scott and the X-pan, but the story gets better.  One of their readers loved Scott’s work and hired him for a five year project overseas!

4) Build relationships – It’s not just about the editorial staff, but the manufacturers whose products you use.  I know we’d all like to believe editorial is objective, but it’s not all the time and having the support of a manufacturer, who is an advertiser, behind you will sometimes be the link to finally getting your work published.

5) Never compromise – Every image you submit has to be spectacular.  Never compromise on the quality of the images you submit.

6) Follow the editorial calendars – Every magazine has a published editorial calendar for the year.  Make it a point to follow the themes of the calendar.  You’ll never get published if you’re submitting work that’s all landscape when the theme for the month is children’s portraiture!  Your work needs to have relevance.

7) Format – most photographers forget to look at the format of the cover.  Images used for cover shots can’t just be beautiful, they have to fit the cover with the magazine title, tag lines and even where the address label is positioned.  They also have to be verticals.  I’m always surprised at photographers who think an image would make a beautiful cover, but for example, forget the magazine title is going to run right through their image.   If you want to practice with a few images yourself, mock up a cover of your favorite magazine and then drop in your image.

Here’s a fun exercise to do.  Look through the last issue of magazines like Professional Photographer or Rangefinder.  Look at all the images in the magazine.  I don’t know about PPA, but I know at Rangefinder we used to take just about all the images in the magazine and mock them up as covers before making our final choice.  If you want to see just how hard it is to pick a cover shot, go through the magazine and envision your favorites as covers.  It’s a daunting task.
Patience – no it’s not a typo.  It’s first and last on the list for getting your work published.  Getting yourself featured in editorial boils down to a combination of everything above combined with a little luck and timing.  You’ll never get published if you don’t participate in the process, but just like cooking a great steak, rush the process and you’ll burn it; over season it and you’ll ruin it and take it off the grill too early and it’ll still be raw. 

Take your time.  Be goal oriented and don’t lose sight of your ultimate prize, being published.  Keep building your business and your brand.  Things will come together, but it takes time.

Hard to believe that Benjamin Franklin had the idea a few hundred years ago:

“He that can have patience can have what he will.”

But I love this quote from Buddhist thinker, author and educator, Daisaku Ikeda  even more:

“With love and patience nothing is impossible!” 

Last week I talked about jump-starting a business that’s stalled, but it’s a completely different challenge if you’re just starting out.   Many of the components are the same, but it’s a little different approach, since your goal is going to be twofold – getting your business started, while at the same time building brand-awareness for you and your company. 

Keep in mind, just like jump-starting an established business I’m assuming you understand the skill set!  I’m taking it for granted you understand exposure, composition and already work with a great lab!  Seriously, don’t underestimate the importance of the skills to create great images – no amount of publicity, networking and marketing will help you get established if people don’t love the images they see!

The Community:

Personally, I absolutely believe this where it all starts.  You need to be involved and I’ve written a lot about it.  People like buying products and services from companies they perceive as giving something back.  You’re looking for the community to be good to you, so you’d better be sure you’re good to your community. 

There are lots of ways to get involved and most involve volunteer work – PTA, Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, Rotary, Exchange Club, community events, local charities, even helping out at a specific event that might be a fund-raiser, Little League dinners, soccer events etc.   The key is just getting people to know who you are and while you might be the new kid in town, you want everybody to understand it’s your town too and you’re there to help.

Networking:

New business new community means building a new network.  You need to get to know every business in town, especially those that might be targeting the same consumers you are.  For example, a wedding photographer needs to get to know the florist, the limo company, bridal salon, wedding planners, venues etc.  A children’s photographer should get to know the local children’s shops, pediatricians, barbers and salons etc.  A commercial shooter should invest some time in getting to know any business that might be producing catalogs, brochures, annual reports etc.

I still love the Dawn Shields model.  Dawn is in Missouri and established a monthly networking luncheon of everybody associated with the wedding business.  Everyone pays ten dollars for lunch and they get together once a month to just network, talk about business etc.  In the process they all get to know each other.

When networking, this isn’t just about building awareness with non-competing companies – get to know your competitors.  The strongest photographers in our industry have a network of counterparts they refer business to as well.  They work together and often cross-promote each other.  Let’s face it, at some point you’ll have a conflict and won’t be able to take on a new assignment.  Or, maybe you won’t have the skill-set, but you’ll have a friend who does. 

An effective network isn’t just about the number of people you know, but how well they compliment each other as well as fill in the gaps for what you might personally be missing.  It’s all about having friends who cover your short suits, while you in turn can help them. 

Advertising and Publicity:

You need to advertise and get your name out there.  If you’re just starting out in the senior market, I still love the idea of photographing a half dozen seniors for free and letting them spread the word.  If you’re just starting out in weddings you need to let people know you’re there.   There are tons of publications, both in print and online that offer wedding photographers advertising opportunities.

It might be time to design a postcard and do a mailing, either by yourself or with a couple of those non-competing companies in your network.    Share the cost of the mailing and hit your target audience with some high impact promotional packages.  And when doing that postcard, don’t forget your own holiday cards.  I’ve written a ton about the importance of using your own images in your holiday cards and now is the time to plan for that early November mailing!

On the publicity side, there’s too much information to include here, so refer back to a blog I wrote previously.  There’s even a template for you to use, all ready to go and there’s information on GhostRighters.com as well.  Publicity in the local paper doesn’t happen by accident and nobody can do it as good as you can yourself!  The key to great publicity is to simply become a machine, sending out releases on a regular basis to the local paper, Chamber of Commerce, even some of the local associations you might belong to.

Social Media:

From your website to your blog to utilizing Twitter as a marketing tool, you need to have a presence.  No, you need more than a presence, you need a solid non-stop plan with consistent participation.  There’s so much to talk about in just this one area, that all I can do here is refer you to some great blogs for more detail.  My good buddy Scott Bourne has been cutting edge on social media since the two words got put in front of us.  Take the time to read his blogs on Twitter and using social media effectively.

Promotions:

I touched on it briefly in the section on advertising, but in any business today you need that “hook”, something that gets your target audience excited and brings them through your door.  Think about your own buying trends as a consumer and it can be anything you’ve ever bought.  How many times have you bought something after being stimulated by a special limited time offer?

Your business is no different and getting started in a new community as a professional photographer demands the same excitement.   As a new photographer though, at least from my perspective, it’s easier.  A promotion can be as simple as a an open house, inviting the community in to see what you’re doing.   If you don’t have a studio or a formal storefront, a gallery opening might just do the trick and you can tie it in with a local venue.  Even a coffee shop like Starbucks needs their walls decorated and might just give you the venue to present some great images.

Then there are formal promotions around holidays, purchases offers and buy-one-get-one campaigns.  Joining forces with another company, for example, teaming up with a limo company at Homecoming for a portrait tied together with the limo company’s services.  The list goes on and on.  Check out this blog on ideas for the Spring.  It’s also not too late for a pet promotion similar to Vicki Taufer’s or the one Kay Eskridge did.

And speaking of Vicki Taufer, when she first started as a children’s photographer she went to the local children’s store and photographed the owner’s kids and all the clerk’s kids.  Imagine the power she had with her images all over the store.  A customer would be at the register checking out and notice the pictures the clerk had of her kids on display.  You couldn’t ask for a stronger word-of-mouth promotion!

The list of things you can do to get your business literally goes on and on, but remember…

“If you wait until all the lights are green before you leave home, you’ll never get started on your trip to the top!”Zig Ziglar

We’ve got to start with the definition of “jump start”.  Let’s look at jump starting a business that’s already established and stalled.  If we had twenty, fifty or even a hundred photographers in the room right now and they had all been in business for a few years, the room would be split right down the middle between people having a great year and those referring to 2010 as the year from hell!  Based on their experiences both groups would be right in their perception, but are there things the half having the harder time could do to change their year-end outcome?

It all begins with getting focused on what it is you want to do. You’ve got to get yourself psyched up and be not only excited, but really motivated and proud of your career choice in photography.   So, as simple as it sounds, it starts with your attitude.  Photography is about your heart – and you can’t create images that grab people’s hearts if your own heart isn’t in it.

This is about recharging your battery and right off the bat I’m going to plug Skip’s Summer School next month.  You need to get yourself out of the rut and get a good dose of optimism with lots of good ideas on how to change things.  And if you can’t make it to Summer School then look for programs by some of the industry’s leading icons to help get you pumped.  Jim Garner, Joe Buissink, Matthew Jordan Smith, Dane Sanders, Dawn Shields, Jasmine Star, Kirk Voclain, Kevin Kubota, Jerry Ghionis, Yervant, Bambi Cantrell, Tony Corbell and dozens I’ve missed are all on the speaking tour from time to time and you need to tap into their energy.

Then there are specific things to do like launch your own publicity campaign, getting involved in the community, creating buzz for your business.   You’ve got be proactive and offense is always more fun to play than defense!

A children’s photographer should launch a new promotional opportunity.  We’re coming up to the fall and it’s perfect for themed sessions around harvest time, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.   A wedding photographer needs to do a mailing to past clients about “expanding”, new products e.g. albums etc. anything that creates a little noise.

Maybe it’s time for this same wedding photographer to expand and diversify into children’s photography.  How effective would it be to do a mailing to past brides who might be starting a new family and plant the idea for baby photography?  Or let’s say you’re a commercial photographer and it might be a great time to remind your clients about the need for a new headshot!  Something that goes beyond that old high school senior shot they’ve been using!

And let’s not forget the whole world of social media.  Are you using it to your advantage?  Are you active in Twitter and Facebook, using them as marketing tools.  Do you have a blog?  Are you consistent in maintaining a constant presence.

The point is your business stalled for a reason.  I’m not minimizing the challenges with the economy, but too often that’s become the scapegoat and if you look at businesses with challenges you’ll find there are things that could be done to turn things around.
Okay, so this is a blog and I’ve only got so much room before the statistics say you’ll lose interest and move on to reading something shorter.  The issue is, no business is over until you give up and if you’re worried and feel you need a jump start then get some help before you pull the plug.  There’s a lot of information on GoingPro2010.com.  Scott Bourne’s PhotoFocus site/blog has great information and both of us are here to help you and answer your questions, but we can’t help if you don’t ask.

Then there are some great blogs out there, starting with Jasmine’s.  In fact, read this week’s interview with good buddy George Varanakis at WPPI/Rangefinder.  Dane Sanders has a lot to say at Ask Dane.  The list goes on and on, but you have to do a little research to find those components that can help you the most.  Get yourself signed up for DWF and their forum.  You can search by topic or you might want to start your own string and ask the question haunting you the most, just to see what your counterparts have to say.

These are difficult times with the challenges of the economy and technology both playing a role, but here’s the best part!  You’re not alone in dealing with the challenges and there are lots of us out here willing to give you a hand!

Years ago I had the opportunity to hear Jay Conrad Levinson speak. Known best as the originator of the expression “Guerilla Marketing”, he talked about the top 100 things Guerilla Marketers need to do.  At the very top of the list was “be involved in your community and charities”.   Why?  Because, people like to buy products from companies they perceive as giving something back.

It’s cause-related marketing at its best and it helps build your brand beyond just being a photographer.  Let’s face it, you’re looking for the community to be good to you.  So, what are you doing to be good to your community?

I’ve had a lot of guest posts from professional photographers all involved in various charities.  I ran “Charity Fest” and posted a week of great ideas from all over the country on how photographers were using their skills to make the world a better place.  And, by “world”, I’m not talking about planet earth – just your corner of it.  Obviously some projects were much bigger than others, but the point is, these were photographers who went ahead and did something, instead of just talking about it.  

In a previous blog I wrote,  

By my calculations, (and trust me, these numbers will rarely match what you hear quoted from PPA or PMA) there are approximately 260,000 professional photographers in the United States, when you combine both part time and full time  involvement.  While that’s not a very big industry, imagine the impact we could have if EVERYBODY made it a point to give something back, especially when you add in all the manufacturers, associations and conferences.”

Note: I've updated that number and believe it's closer to 300,000.

Finding a charitable cause in your community couldn’t be easier, but you have to take the time.  Just read the local paper.  What’s going on in your community?  If the school tax bill didn’t pass, then the arts are going to suffer, starting with the yearbook, photo club, newsletter etc.  All, perfect matches for you to lend a hand as a professional photographer.

Is there an event coming up that might need your skills as a photojournalist?  Everything from a walkathon to organizations like Kiwanis, Rotary and Exchange Club all have a major charity drive each year.

Check with your local hospital, police force, fire-fighters – they always need help and they always have an event they’re sponsoring.  Then there are great organizations like Big Brother and Big Sister.

Within the photographic community, there’s NILMDTS (Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep) and Thirst Relief, both taking two completely different approaches to serious issues and both being run by photographers totally dedicated to helping make the world a better place.   And let’s not forget PPA Charities, founded over ten years ago by Bert Behnke, I’m proud to have been one of the original members of the team along with Helen Yancy, Steve Troup, Dennis and Lori Craft, just to name a few.

The importance of giving back isn’t about how big the charity is or even how much you’re able to help – it’s simply that you do help and by helping you raise awareness for the cause and yourself as a member of the community!

Marketing is a full time job or at the very least requires consistent daily focus.  It’s like planting a garden and then never watering anything!  The seeds will never sprout – the flowers will never bloom and in the end you’ll just have a beautifully turned over plot of dirt!  Just like your plants needing water and sunlight – your business needs brand awareness fertilized with some good solid promotions to keep people interested.

Here are a few things to think about:

1) Patience!  No matter what you do, nothing is going to happen overnight – yes, there are stories all over the industry about promotions that absolutely took off, but in virtually every case you’ll find the photographer already had the brand recognition in the community.  Vicki Taufer did her pet portraits day two years ago and had 150 sittings and 40 people on the waitlist, but she already had brand awareness for VGallery.   On everything you start doing, go in with no expectations for the first month or two.

2) Social Media: I’m much better off to just send you back toScott Bourne’s two blogs on how to use Twitter than rewrite it all in my own words.   Whether blogging,  Twitter or Facebook, don’t under estimate the power of social medial to reach out to your client base, but you’ve got to do it with helpful information.  If you’re a wedding photographer start a blog or Facebook page and then put up some great generic suggestions for brides.  If you’re a children’s photographer then come up with some great tips for parents – give them tips on how to take better family photos – honestly, they’re not going to cut into your business – but you’ll enhance your reputation and be giving something back at the same time.

3) Publicity doesn’t happen by itself.  There’s already a template for you to use on a past blog, but you have to make the effort.  You have to be involved in projects around your community to get the exposure.  You have to be the one to send a photo into the local paper.  Most important of all, you have to be the one to meet all the people who you consider opinion leaders in your community.   As you get to know each other better, you’ll find the publicity will happen easier and faster.

4) Network!  This goes well beyond “working the room” at a workshop or convention.  You’ve got to network a little every day right in your own community.  I’ve written about Dawn Shields in Missouri – but here it is one more time.  She invites everybody she can find that has anything to do with the wedding business to a monthly luncheon – caterers, wedding planners, travel agents, bakers, restaurants, bridal salons, limo companies, tux shops etc.   The cost is $10 and that’s to pay for lunch.  Everyone gets together and talks about what’s going on with weddings in the area.  

Now apply it to being a children’s photographer – clothing stores, restaurants that cater to kids, shoe stores, toy stores, even taking a shot at the manager of a pediatrician’s office would at least be worth the try.  Pull everyone together to talk about kids in the community – maybe a fund-raiser for a new playground – something that gets your name out there and identifies you as a focal point.  And don’t forget the local barber shop or salon – there isn’t a beautician in the world who doesn’t know everything that’s going on in the community or which kid just got his/her first haircut!

5) Promotions!  You don’t need to become the local version of Levin’s Furniture here in Akron – they literally have over saturated the market with promotions, running them back to back all year long!  Too many people now wait to hear what the next offer is going to be and actually delay their purchase decisions. 

You need to have some promotions out there that create a sense of urgency.   They need to be long enough to have impact, but short of enough for your target audience to think about how time’s running out.  My suggestion is try your first few and have them run for a month.

For example, spring and Easter are right around the corner, so why not do a children’s promotion for April or May?  It can be anything from a free sitting, to a tie back to a local charity, donations to a new playground, free framing with one print, discount offers etc.  The issue is the importance of having something that gets your target audience thinking about getting new portraits of the kids.

6) Advertising - don’t under estimate the power of a well-placed ad.  So many times I’ve heard photographers say that advertising didn’t work.  Then I learn they only ran one ad.  You need to run at least three times in a row and with print, you’ll be most effective if you’re in the same place in the magazine or newspaper each time.  You should also look for opportunities on websites of other companies in the area and see if you can develop a relationship to cross promote on each other’s sites.

7) Direct Mail- It still works and there are some people that believe it’s back and far stronger than email blasts.  The issue here is to think about how much you delete in email, usually through your iPhone or Blackberry, before you even turn on your computer.  A well done post card is definitely going to get some attention and lists are so easy to buy today, especially when you’re sorting by zip code.  It’s all so easy and if you’re stuck in how to get started Marathon Press has a whole staff ready to help. (It’s a plug, but they deserve it!)
Email: Just because it’s a challenge to keep from being deleted doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still be doing email blasts, but they need to be effective.  There’s a whole science around getting through the noise when it comes to email.  I heard a great speaker at a convention last year from Constant Contact and was really impressed.  I haven’t used them, but they’re certainly a player in this arena and worth checking out.

So, here’s the bottom line – having the greatest website in the world won’t do any good if people don’t know who you are.  Creating the greatest images of your life won’t build your business if people don’t know to look at them!  You need to weave a web around your target audience and it demands full time attention!  You need to be in their mailbox, in their email box, in the newspaper they pick up and read every morning, in local magazines and you want everyone talking about who you are, the great images you’re creating and the way you’re giving back to the community.  You can’t just build a great website, sit back and expect people to beat on your door when you’ve done nothing else!

“At the end of the day, anybody who thinks there’s a reward for nothing, ends up losing.” Kerry Stokes, one of the richest men in Australia.

1) Go get a glass of wine, a coke, whatever and just sit down with a pad of paper and a pen.  Find a spot where you won’t be interrupted for the next 30 minutes. 

2) Start thinking about everything that happened in your business in the last few weeks.  Some times the most routine events can be newsworthy with the right spin.  Did you attend a workshop or convention? Did you hire a second shooter?  Were you hired as a second shooter? Are you starting to diversify your business and now photographing pets, high school seniors etc.?  Are you working with a new album company?  What are some of the new products your lab is now offering?  Are you working with a new lab?  Do you print your work yourself and are you now using new papers – or, maybe you ramped up and are about to buy a new large format printer?  Are you involved in a new charity?  Are you doing something with Thirst Relief, NILMDTS or local community charities?  Did you just purchase new equipment that gives you greater versatility when shooting?  Are you sponsoring any community event?  Are you a volunteer for any programs in the school system? Got the picture?  The list can go on and on.

3) There are no rules for the list, just everything you did over the last few weeks.  Next, do the same list of things you’re planning on doing in the near future. 

Now, let’s talk about what to do with that list.  Each topic has the potential to help you become a publicity machine, but you have to take the time to write it up or find somebody who will write it up for you.  Let’s assume you’re going to a national, regional or state convention involving professional photography in the next few months.  Here’s a template you can use…yup – you can plagiarise all you want – it’s yours.  I used it recently at a marketing program I did at the DWF convention in Nashville this month.

For Immediate Release

Your city, Today’s Date 

Area Photographer Attends International Photographic Event

In (his/her) continued efforts to expand the broad selection of cutting edge photographic services, (your name) recently attended the Digital Wedding Forum Convention in Nashville, a three day, professional photographic workshop and convention. 

“There’s never been a more exciting time to be a professional photographer or, to have images created by a professional.  Digital technology is changing all the time and I want to make sure I’m offering my clients the very best!” said (Your Name).

(Your Name) is the founder of (your studio) and is located at (address).  The studio offers a full range of (commercial portrait,wedding,childrens, etc.) services.    Or, _________ plans on continuing as a freelance photographer…etc.

For more information contact: Your name, phone and email address

This is a template, only applying to the one event, attending a convention or workshop, but the elements of any press release are always going to be the same.  1) A headline and an opening paragraph that describes what the event is. 2) Personally, I like a quote that explains your position as it relates to your customers. 3) The third paragraph just describes your business, who and where you are. 4) Always close with a contact line so people know where to find you.

Always include a photograph of you at the event interacting with other attendees, a speaker or a vendor.  The more people in the image, the more likely it will be published. 

Next, let’s talk about what you’re going to do with the press release:

You’re going to print a hard copy and include it with a print of you at the event.  You’re also going to put the image and the press release on a disk. 

Here’s the hard part – it’s not really hard, but people never do it.  Develop a press list for your business with the names of the people you want to contact.  People tend to think just sending things addressed to the editor are enough, but you need a real name on the front of the envelope.

Your press releases should go to anybody who publishes anything reaching your target audience.  For example, the local newspaper, the Chamber of Commerce, if you’re involved in organizations like Kiwanis, Rotary, Exchange Club, they all have newsletters, blogs that might reach your audience, your own blog, bridal magazines and even your home town paper if you’ve moved away, but still have roots in the community. 

Last but not least, send everything in a priority Fedex, UPS or US Post Office envelope – it gives your information a level of importance and will help get through the noise.

My suggestion to start is to send out at least one release twice a month for the first three months and then back off to one a month, but just like a blog – you have to be consistent and continue the effort, even when nothing seems to be happening.  You never know when an over worked editor is going to be out of time and out of stories and have a gapping hole in his/her publication – that’s when it just might be your lucky day!

Most important of all be patient – most of you will be starting from scratch and it takes time to build a following.  Tomorrow we’ll talk about ideas to help you build that network to help drive the publicity machine you’re building!

The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it open! Arnold Glasgow