The same goes for writing press releases about the same subject. Even if it’s your favorite thing in the world (which actually may make it worse) you can get stuck in a rut when you’re constantly rehashing the same information. Eventually you have to sweep everything out of the chimney and start from scratch!

New Perspective

Generally what you need after writing a ton of press releases on the same subject is a new perspective. The product or event or company or whatever you’re writing about hasn’t changed, just your feelings on it. When, say, the product was first unveiled, you were excited about it. Just because that feeling has waned after writing about it so much doesn’t mean the product isn’t cool anymore.

This is why I say it’s like a grill as well as a chimney – with a grill you actually should keep some of the old ashes around as it adds to the flavor. Your press releases before weren’t bad (presumably), you just don’t feel like writing the same thing for the 20^th time. And that’s ok!

There’s bound to be some angle, or news event, or audience you haven’t approached from before. No matter how press releases you write there’s going to be a few things you haven’t tried yet. Look at the product , company or event through someone else’s eyes – a new customer, perhaps, or even someone from another country. How would they see your product? What’s the first thing they would say about it?

Look at Your Old Ones

What? I thought we were talking about finding new inspiration here you say? Yes, but often newness can be found in the past if you know where to look. And that new inspiration may just come from your old posts.

Not necessarily from the old posts and press releases in your current campaign, but PRs from your previous campaigns could lead to some brilliant insight. The previous product may have nothing to do with the current one – but in the end, that could be an ideal situation. After all, you’re looking for a new perspective, and what’s a better example of that then a completely different and possibly unrelatable product?

Think back to when you were writing those old press releases. How did you first approach them? How has the company changed since then? How have YOU changed since then? There’s bound to be a good story in there somewhere if you shift through the ashes!

How do you usually first approach press releases?

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (http://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Download your free copy of the Beginner’s Guide to Writing Powerful Press Releases here: http://www.ereleases.com/insider/beginnersguide.html

Some spin techniques, though, aren’t quite so obvious, and you may not have even noticed them. Some techniques of “spin” are so subtle they slip totally under the radar and catch everyone by surprise. And they happen all the time!

Leaving Out Info

This one may seem obvious, but we often forget just how much information isn’t pushed through in a story. We see, for example, how BP was giving jobs to those affected by the oil spill. They were helping clean up beaches and animals that had issues because of the spill. Everything was looking up for the company as public opinion was turning around.

But it couldn’t last, mainly because it wasn’t the whole truth! Turns out a lot of those workers have been getting sick from the cleanup effort and their claims of helping out the area aren’t quite as thorough as they say.

This type of spin literally happens every day, and it’s often not even from businesses doing it intentionally. There is so much information thrown at us every single day that stuff falls through the cracks. A company like BP will realize this and put out as much good stuff as they can, knowing there’s almost no way the public will find out what’s really going on. It’s spin through omission, basically, and it’s tough to defend against.

Info Dump

Another way of swaying public opinion is to flood the market with the information that’s “correct.” This kind of ties in with the point above, as you’re ensuring that others don’t see any other points of view. However, the tactic is a little different.

Let’s stick with BP. They want people to believe the Gulf Coast is a wonderful place completely free of environmental problems. They want people to believe this because otherwise people would stop buying their gas and supporting them. And so far it’s worked.

The way BP ensured this was to flood the information market with positive messages. If you search “BP” on Google you’ll see countless pages from their “restoration” projects and other environmental messages they’ve put out. Other info, like how the animals they’ve supposedly helped died anyway, is nowhere to be found in this SEO-driven flood.

Putting the Worst Foot Forward

This one’s a little tough to spot as you could easily assume it’s unintentional. Once in a while the leader of a company comes off as a little goofy, maybe a little rough around the edges. Audiences initially think he’s a little short when it comes to crayons in the box.

But eventually something changes, and the opinion almost turns to empathy – they start to wonder what they would do in the same situation, how they would act. They realize they wouldn’t be any better at leading the company than this guy – and suddenly he’s just somebody like them doing the best they can!

It’s a fine line between playing the part of a goof and just plain being a bad leader. Supposedly, though, this is precisely the image that (actually highly intelligent) President George W. Bush went for – the average every man who stumbles through speeches because, well, he’s just like all of you!

What subtle means of spin have you noticed lately?

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (http://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Grab three free ebooks, including the Big Press Release Book and Twitter Tactics, here: http://www.ereleases.com/insider/freebooks.html

If you don’t keep up with the changes in media relations, you may find yourself on the wrong end of a story. Companies make the mistake of thinking that their local newspaper or even CNN wants to hear all the latest news from them. However, that’s usually not the case, especially if you’re a small business.

So if you’re not media savvy, it’s time to get on the ball!

Think Like a Journalist

One of the quickest ways to understand how the media works is to become a journalist. You quickly figure out what’s important to you – namely, getting your pages or stories done so you go home in a timely manner. Choosing the best material out there is a great idea, but sometimes that doesn’t happen and you have to pick between two mediocre stories.

Now, you probably don’t have time to go back to school and become a journalist in order to understand the process. However, you can start thinking like a journalist so you know when to send in a story versus leaving it on your desk.

Is what you have to share really news? Is it relevant to the market you’re sending it to or are you just throwing it out there and seeing where it sticks? If so, you’re more than likely just wasting everyone’s time, including yours. Start thinking how you can get that poor journalist home at 2 AM instead of 6 AM and you may have a friend for life.

Timing is Everything

Timing isn’t just for comedy — it’s key for navigating the media seas. You may have the best story in the history of mankind, but if you try to send it out during a major political scandal, you might as well be screaming into the ocean. Knowing the environment you’re sending the story into can also help you pick your targets more successfully.

Let’s say you want to announce a brand new warehouse your company is opening. The district it’s in is a little run down but the hope is it will bring jobs to the area. At the same time, you notice there’s legislation to kick people out of their homes in that run down district to do some urban renewal. There’s a huge blowback because of this, costing several people their jobs.

If you had sent off the story during this scandal, you may have been caught up in it. Residents may have thought you were part of the effort to kick them out of their homes. By checking the environment first, you’re able to restructure the announcement to show how your company is helping the district and not just taking it over.

Being media savvy in this day and age isn’t so much a luxury as it is a necessity. To not pay attention to the trends and changes of the industry could cause major problems for your company down the line.

How media savvy would you say your business is?

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (http://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Download your free copy of 7 Cheap PR Tactics for Success in Any Economy here: http://www.ereleases.com/7cheaptactics.html

Pinterest users aren’t entirely willing to be marketed TO, though, so it’s a bit of a challenge. Occasionally you’ll hear of some company that really made it all work for them, but these stories almost come off as folklore. Are there any case studies that actually prove Pinterest can work for small business sales?

Bottica

Bottica.com is a clothing/accessories store that specializes in unique designs rather than faceless mass produced clothing. Their motto is “I’d rather wear a unique story” which helps them on websites like Pinterest as it gives their customers something to identify with.

How have they taken advantage of this on Pinterest? Very well, according to them – their sales through Pinterest have even outdone their Facebook page.

One of the first things Bottica did was to integrate Pinterest “pin” buttons throughout their website. Users could “pin” their favorite Bottica items on their own Pinterest site for their friends to see. After this initial push was successful, they looked to see what they were missing.

Although Pinterest was driving sales their way, they saw there was no further interaction with a customer who pinned things. Worse, others who would click on the pinned item would quickly leave if the item wasn’t something they were incredibly interested in.

In response, Bottica put up newsletters, coupons, and other goodies for users to interact with. This way they kept the relationship going a bit longer than if they just had customers pin things.

Lowe’s

On the other end of the spectrum we have mega-giant Lowe’s, showing that not just small businesses are interested in what Pinterest has to offer. But can a big company like Lowe’s attract the typically indie crowd on a site like Pinterest?

Knowing they had their work cut out for them, Lowe’s used what was available to them: their 1,000,000+ followers on Facebook! They added a Pinterest tab to their account so it would automatically generate content. This way, users could “like” and “pin” things at will without going anywhere. This also cuts out the “eh, I’m too lazy” factor that can cause so many problems.

After adding the tab, Lowe’s saw a 32% increase in followers on Pinterest.  Their focused boards like crafts, family projects, and vacation ideas saw bigger gains, around 60%!

If you have an established audience somewhere else, don’t hesitate to use them in your initial Pinterest drive. If you’ve got the content they’ll follow you – just make sure to reward them when they get there!

Is your company on Pinterest? Do you have plans to take advantage of the site?

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (http://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Grab your free 160-page copy of the Big Press Release Book – Press Releases for Every Occasion and Industry here: http://www.ereleases.com/insider/bigbook.html

But in the right hands, they can do magic. Here are just a few reasons you need to start on your own white paper right this minute.

1. Creates Authority

Have an “authority” problem with your company? The more people think your business knows what it’s doing and talking about, the more likely they’ll buy from you. After all, why would they shell out their hard earned cash if they don’t trust you at all?

This can be easily solved with a white paper. A properly done white paper can make even the most skeptical person know just how much you know your industry. When you know what you’re talking about and it shows, the customer equates this knowledge with your product. The solution to whatever they need is to buy your stuff!

2. Answer a Problem

Your customers have issues that need solving. If this wasn’t the case, why did you make your product?

At the core of every sale is a basic dilemma: there’s something wrong, and I need it fixed. Looking for a sandwich? I’m hungry; if I eat this, I won’t be hungry anymore. My hands hurt when I open a can; if I use this electric opener, they won’t hurt anymore.

What you can do with a white paper is answer yet another dilemma in your customers’ lives. The best part is, it doesn’t matter what you sell. Even if it’s the simplest, silliest product ever made (my vote goes for the banana case), there’s a dilemma. Let the public know what the issue is, then solve it with your white paper.

3. Dynamic

One of the best things about the modern white paper is the ability to make it as dynamic as you want. Instead of a stale paper press release you submit to a newspaper, your white paper can have pictures, graphs, videos and links to websites that back up your argument.

This creates more of an “experience” for your reader. No more just reading countless paragraphs on how awesome your company is – now they can see it and experience it firsthand! Not only will this mean they may actually read your white paper, it also gives off an air of professionalism, not to mention mastery of modern technology. Just make sure you have lots of good material in there and not a bunch of filler or the point will be lost.

Have you ever written a white paper? What was the hardest part about writing it?

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (http://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Download your free copy of 7 Cheap PR Tactics for Success in Any Economy here: http://www.ereleases.com/7cheaptactics.html

1. All About Relationships

Public relations isn’t just about selling to an audience. Moving product may be the ultimate end-game, sure. But at the heart of a true PR campaign is a need to build relationships with the general public. In this digital age, that’s more important than ever before. People don’t want to be sold to, they want real people telling them about a cool thing they could use.

2. Channels are Different

Although your message may be the same throughout the years, the channel will always change. Public relations experts know the proper channels and which ones that make the most impact.

Coca-Cola has been around since the 1800s, but they don’t use the same PR tactics they did then. They’ve adapted to radio, TV, the Internet, and continue to change the channel. However, the overall message is still “Coca-Cola is delicious to drink.”

3. Getting Your True Face Out There

“Trust agents” are the people the customers can relate to – if a business doesn’t have the proper trust agent to represent the company, it can greatly damage their trust with the public. Public relations pros know this can take a lot of tweaking and deep thought to arrive at the perfect blend of professionalism and “laid-back” coolness.

4. Improving Product

One of the major advantages of building a relationship with your customers is finding out what works with your product and what doesn’t. Simply selling to them doesn’t tell you that most of your audience thinks the “on/off” switch should be vertical rather than horizontal. Only by getting to know them and listening to what they have to say will you get to that very crucial point.

5. Subtlety

One thing even the most hardened haters of PR can’t say is that public relations is all about the “in your face” experience. PR is a more subtle way of convincing the public they need what your company is selling. This is also the reason opponents say PR pros are guilty of manipulation. However, it’s simply knowing what the people want and how to get it to them. While advertising is all about the in-your-face, PR dips below the radar to achieve life-long customers. And that skill isn’t going anywhere soon.

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (http://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Grab your free 160-page copy of the Big Press Release Book – Press Releases for Every Occasion and Industry here: http://www.ereleases.com/insider/bigbook.html

Instead of going crazy, though, it’s best to calm down, step back, and try to think your way out of this press release hell. “Writer’s block” is usually caused by writers simply freaking out and shutting down. After a while of sitting staring at a blank page, it seems like nothing will ever come – and if you keep thinking that way, it never does!

So instead of going nuts it’s time to think outside the box. Beat press release hell with some of these suggestions.

Take a New Approach

When writers get writer’s block, they sometimes forget that the way they approached the draft isn’t necessarily the ONLY way to approach it. There are always a million ways of approaching a press release (or an article, or story, or whatever you may be writing at the time). Sticking to one if it isn’t working is just plain silly.

Say your press release is announcing a new product being released from a relatively new company. Naturally you set out to talk about all the stuff the product does. But after a while you realize that what you have is a little dull. Not because the product is boring, but because what it does isn’t drastically different enough to be interesting on paper.

How to approach it from another angle? Since it’s a new company, why not tell a little of its story in the press release too? There could be some real gold there – why did the designer choose that particular color, what it has to do with the CEOs life story, etc.

Reformat

Another thing that can get your creative juices flowing is a change in format. Now, press releases are pretty strict on formatting, and you can’t throw in pictures or videos or crazy tables or anything. But what you can do is play with what you have.

Is your first sentence a powerful attention-grabber? If not, and you can’t think of anything, just forget it. Go for just a few words – “New. Innovative. Comfortable. The new iPillow is here.” If a sentence isn’t working, try something else entirely.

Instead of lumping a list of things into a paragraph form, create a small bullet point list. This works doubly well as it also gives readers’ eyes something to latch on to as they scan the page.

Real News

If you’re absolutely stuck on your press release, it may be time to ask yourself an important question: are you writing about a real news item? Is the press release relevant at all to any media outlet in the world?

Many companies make the mistake of sending out a press release for absolutely anything to see what sticks. Any tiny bit of “news” coming out, they think, could make a great press release, so they write about employee promotions and warehouse address changes.

But sit back and take a look at what your press release is about. Would you read about this in your local newspaper, or would you skip right over it over breakfast? If the answer is the latter, it may behoove you to wait for a real story comes up before trying another press release.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? How did you get out of it?

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (http://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Download a free copy of the PR Checklist – a 24 point list of Press Release Dos and Don’ts here: http://www.ereleases.com/prchecklist.html

When you’re dealing with the media, especially during a disaster or backlash, it sometimes feels like things are getting “curioser and curioser” with no end in sight. Eventually it’s almost like you’ve been tumbling your whole life and the rabbit hole goes forever. There are some lessons you can learn from Alice and her experience, though.

Tumbling

The worst part about falling down the rabbit hole when a disaster strikes is how long it takes to finally land somewhere. After the initial news story comes out about, say, your product encountering a critical failure, you start the slow ride down. While the initial wave of problems and reports may only take a day or two, it might as well be forever.

In the meantime you’ll spin and turn in mid-air, waiting for something to finally happen so you can land. It may not be on your feet, but you’ll land eventually. In other words, you’ll come to a point where the flow of bad press and stories stops and you can work on healing.

Shrinking Down

The garden Alice sees is unattainable until she does a few things to open the door. Likewise, your company healing from the bad experience won’t happen until a few things happen.

Alice had to shrink herself to reach the key to the door. Your business must also shrink – at least when it comes to the day to days. Things aren’t quite the same as they were before you encountered your disaster. Those people who bought your product only to have it completely fail on them won’t be happy with “business as usual.”

So you have to shrink down your operation to get back to the basics. You’ve got to let everyone know you’re working on what went wrong and how to make amends. Shrinking down to a more manageable size means you’re getting back to what you started with in the first place.

Growing Huge

In the next part of the rabbit hole story, Alice eats the piece of cake in order to grow big enough to get through the door to the garden. However, she grows just a little bit too much and bangs her head which makes her cry.

Your business has to rebound somehow. After you shrink down and fix everything (broken product, customer orders, public opinion), it’s time to grow back up, better and bigger than ever. However, where Alice went wrong is she grew too far too fast. Had the admittedly magic cake given her the opportunity, she could’ve grown a little slower at the correct rate.

Try to learn from Alice’s mistake when your business is rebounding from a disaster. Your natural instinct may be to do as much as you can in as little a time. However, this might not be the best plan, and could just lead to more tears!

What’s the worst disaster your business has suffered through?

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (http://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Download your free copy of the Beginner’s Guide to Writing Powerful Press Releases here: http://www.ereleases.com/insider/beginnersguide.html

1. Pictures of Your Product

Since Pinterest is a totally visual platform, most of your efforts are going to revolve around pictures. And one thing that can draw Pinterest users to your online business is through pictures of your product.

However, you can’t just stick pictures of your latest findings or inventions and expect people to rush over and buy them. In fact, the opposite may happen: they’ll run away and never come back, as they weren’t expecting to receive a sales pitch. You have to intertwine these photos with pictures of other interesting things your visitors will enjoy.

2. Be Creative with Your Pinboards

Going along with #1, try to be as creative as possible with your various pinboards. You may be tempted to include your new shampoo line in a “hair care product” pinboard. However, not only will it probably get ignored, it may get totally lost in the shuffle.

However, if your bottle is bright orange, there’s now something interesting about it. Take an awesome, vibrant picture of it and place it in an “Orange Explosion” pinboard. Now there’s a reason for your visitors to check it out.

3. Make a User Pinboard

People like to talk about and look at themselves, it’s true. Heck, it’s basically why social media is invented. We pretend it’s all about connecting with other people, but a large part is announcing to the world that you exist.

Help your visitors achieve this by posting a User Submitted Pinboard. Users can send in pictures of themselves using or holding your product in creative ways. You may even be able to turn it into a contest!

4. Creative Uses

Speaking of creative uses, it’s part of your job to convince future customers they can’t live without your product. One way to do this is to literally show them how many uses your product has on Pinterest! Make several Pinboards that show off the many ways customers can use your product. For example, maybe the shampoo is also good for cleaning windows (hey, it’s been known to happen…). Now you have an opportunity to show people with great hair and an entire gallery of clean, sparkling windows!

What’s the most creative Pinterest pinboard you’ve come across?

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (http://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Grab three ebooks, including My Facebook Formula, a free report on Facebook and why you should be using the largest social network for your business, here: http://www.ereleases.com/insider/freebooks.html

Now having said that, what a lot of small businesses fail to realize is that all it takes is one or two unintentional faux pas to negate all your hard work and make your customers distrust you. Here are a few things you may find yourself doing that could cause this to happen.

1. Poor communication. It’s a busy world; you won’t hear me denying it. And the more our marketing efforts succeed, the busier we become. But a negative side effect of this calculated growth is that it’s easy to let our procedures and communication falter in the process. So when you jump from 5 clients to say…30 clients, suddenly those prompt return phone calls may slow down a bit. Just remember that much of that trust you built up with your first clients was founded on the open communication lines you fostered. Once a client sees them closing, you can bet the seed of distrust is planted and taking root.
2. Jargon. Time and time again I see companies fail in the way they speak to customers. Whether it’s simply how you’re used to speaking about your industry or you are looking to assert your expertise, it’s easy (and dangerous) to get caught up in throwing out those multi-syllabic words or acronyms. But rest assured that your clients will be anything but impressed. What it ends up doing is making you seem all high and mighty, as well as making your client feel left out of the loop. Instead, get down on their level and speak in their own language.
3. Complex contracts. Have you ever sat down to do business with a company only to find their contract too long to even begin to read? At that point, how did you feel? First of all, you probably felt a little apprehensive to sign. Secondly, you likely just wanted to get the whole thing over with. So you slapped your signature on there, crossed your fingers, and prayed that you were not getting screwed by signing away your life’s rights. What you probably didn’t realize is how you lost a bit of trust for the company in the process. Look, plain sentences work just as well as long drawn out ones steeped in legalese. So do your best to shorten your contract down to only what you NEED to protect your business transactions.
4. Unprofessional web presence. Let me get right to the point here. Nothing screams scammer like a template website full of pop ups and Google ads. Do yourself a favor and pay money up front to have a decent website built for your company!
5. Overpromising. Ever got that feeling that an offer was just too good to be true? What happens then? Either you just walk away because you know you’re going to get a knife in the back, or you proceed with your guard up. Consider this: yes you want to offer something different than other companies. But you don’t want to overpromise to the point that you sound suspicious.

What other things have you found will cause customers to distrust you? Share them with us.

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (http://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Download a free copy of the PR Checklist – a 24 point list of Press Release Dos and Don’ts here: http://www.ereleases.com/prchecklist.html