ACPR Blog

My book is reviews in Craftsman Craft and Design magazine - which, by the way, is looking gorgeous and has a fab new makeover.

You can also see my tips in Prima Baby. The news article looks a little out of place, but it’s all good coverage, and will hopefully get lots of potential businessmums onto PRBasics

I usually write stuff in my blog, then add selected entries to my newsletter. This week I’m really excited about a new range of products on the ACPRwebsite, so it’s going in the blog and newsletter simultaneously. Read on to find our more about our Teleclass CDs, and how you can win a copy of the first materclass, Articles to Promote Your Business and BOOST Your Credibility & Sales, worth £27Listen and learn to promote your business

This month, ACPR has teamed up with Media Minister Tracey Dooley to bring you a great range of TeleMasterClass CDs. The Masterclasses are based on Tracey’s years of experience in journalism and copywriting. Listen to the CDs for breakthrough insights, tips and tricks.Tracey says, “I’ve included things that other experts and so-called ‘gurus’ simply will not share. I will reveal to you the kind of powerful hands-on advice and information you won’t easily find anywhere else. Just one tip will certainly pay for the price of the CDs over and over again”Telemasterclass TopicsChoose which exciting telemasterclass you want to buy to boost YOUR businessArticle to promote your business

If you are promoting a product, you will hope that any PR you do will sell the product, but there can be unexpected benefits too.

I sent out a press release for “Promoting your Business” last month to a couple of optical trade magazines. I used to be an optometrist, and knew that ”Former Optom writes Business Book” might make the news pages of Optician or Optometry Today.

Optometry Today covered my release, which resulted in some sales. However, there were some aditional beneficial results. A practitioner has been in touch and I am working with him on raising his practice profile. I also got enquiries from a couple of organisations for independent practice owners. I’m now booked to do a talk in October, and another next March, both earning me a speakers fee and a night away, all expenses paid. I’d have had to sell more than 100 books to generate the same income and doing a talk may encourage a few more practitioners to book consultations.

It only took me a few minutes to adapt the orginal press release for the optical press, and has really paid off. Can you find any niche or trade press to target with your PRs too?

I’m often asked how you should send a press release in an email. There are a few simple steps to follow, but the principal behind them all is to make it easy on the journalist.

1. Put the press release in the main body of the email. Don’t send attachments, as they increase the chance of your mail getting caught be a spam filter, and cut the chances of the journo ever reading your mail.
2. Cut out any fancy headers, and put your logo at the bottom of the release. This is one piece of advice I haven’t mentioned in my book. However beautiful your logo is, it’s not going to sell your story to the journalist.
3. Get you ‘hook’ in the first line. Make sure the reader can see what is new, unique or different at a glance, so cover your key points briefly first.
4. Includea low res image at the start. A pic of a great product can sell it to the viewer in a way that even the best description never will.  Make sure it is a small file so not to clog up inboxes.
5. Test your email. Send a copy to yourself and see what it looks like. Can you see the key points? Does the image look OK? Test it on a friend or colleague too.

You’re ready to go – start sending your releases and watch out for some good coverage for your business soon.

Have you got a great name for your business? A recognisable logo and snappy one liner summing up what you do? It can be difficult to work out the right name and image for your business, but getting it right really helps.

I like a name that ‘does what it says on the tin’. Unless you have a Coca Cola sized marketing budget it really helps if your name also tells customers what you sell. And if you have a few potential ideas, the best way to see which ones work is to try it out on your potential customers. A name that seems great to you may have an abbreviation that you haven’t spotted.

And if you feel your name doesn’t quite cut it, don’t despair. It is possible to change your company name.  A client recently changed the name her business trades under from Anara to Anara Toys. The focus of her business had changed slightly, and the new name and logo make it much clearer what is on offer. Her old url, www.anara.co.uk still takes you to the website, and the changeover has gone smoothly with no loss of business.

So, think carefully about your business name if you are about to start up. And if you think people may not be clear about what you offer in an established business, think what you can do to make it clearer.