Put some wind beneath your wings and take one of my courses to learn how to use the best tools online.
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29 July 2010
You can't run an effective marketing campaign without an well-targeted media list.
MEDIA LIST: a list of targeted contacts to whom you wanted to send a press release. A good media list covers newspaper, TV, radio, magazines (mainstream and trade) and online media such as blogs.
By using a media list, you have a much greater chance of your press release being read by the right people at the right outlets and thus seeing the light of day.
Back in my PR days (1991-1993), compiling a media list was pretty tedious process but today it's a much less laborious task. Using the tools outlined below, you'll not only get up-to-date contacts at your targeted media outlets, but you'll also get editorial calendars so you can plan to hit these contacts with information at precisely the right time as well as other resources where you can voice your pitch.
One warning: most of these resources come at a price (though I have included some free options) and typically, the more expensive, the better the resource and the less "busy-work" needed on your end. Given that, wherever possible, I have focused on the media-list-only offerings which does save you a significant amount over some of these vendor's full packages.
On to the resources!
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22 July 2010
I've really enjoyed getting to know Holly Jackson on Twitter; she's fun, talented and belongs to a group which uses the line, "By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth - click the Add to Cart button and let's get started!" (see the "Writing Fairy" link below). Enjoy and don't forget, if you have a favorite tool which you'd like to talk about right here, write up a post and send it in!
When I started my writing company, I took pride in being one of those traditional writers who got inspired through the pen meets paper part of the process. I bought those expensive moleskines and Japanese fountain pens, and proudly told anyone who asked that software for creative people was a complex fix to a basic problem.
This all worked out until my company took off, and I found myself doing more writing then I had ever done in my entire life. I'm one of those people where the more I write the more crazy ideas I come up with, and the vicious cycle lead to a total breakdown of my pen and paper elitist attitude.
It was about then that I found Evernote, which saved my sanity.
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20 July 2010
Before I get into the best way to survive as a software company, I need to take you back, back, back....
Back in the Web Stone Age (1993), I took an interesting class called, "Understanding Telecommunications Technologies for Non-Engineers".
I remember being fascinated by the overview of our journey from telegraph to fiber optics. The promises of fiber optics, video-on-demand, interactive gaming and more had my inner geek giggling with glee.
However, it was not to last.
You see, by that time (again, 1993) most of the telecommunication giants had converted their networks to fiber optics cables. All of their networks that is except for one critical part; the most expensive part to convert. The part that ran from the pole at your curb to your home.
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14 July 2010
I am really psyched to present a guest post from Johnny B. Truant, a blogger and business guy I just respect the heck out of! Enjoy and don't forget, if you have a favorite tool which you'd like to talk about right here, write up a post and send it in!
When Matt asked me to write a guest post about my favorite tool, I immediately started a celebrity gossip piece about Spencer Pratt. Then I realized he actually wanted me to talk about a technological tool, got all mad and huffy, and then started again.
See, a post about a tech tool is actually a lot harder. Because I like and use so many of them.
So I'm going to choose one of the first I started with, and that is probably more universally applicable than the rest, and which I guess I use the most under the most diverse and helpful circumstances. I'll give you my keystone tool, is what I'm saying.
And that's Jott.
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12 July 2010
Whether you have 1 employee or 10,000, your organization's ability to set milestones, create tasks to achieve those milestones and assign resources (money, staff, etc.) to completes those tasks is a big part of whether you will be successful.
Since the onset of the desktop computing era, there have been many project management software options, however, these options have often proved awkward, especially when it comes time to share the plan (and a project plan not shared is a non-starter) and keeping it up-to-date.
