Talk radio interviews are one of the bases of a writing homerun.  In fact, they’re custom-made for non-fiction authors who want quick, affordable national exposure for their titles.

 Let’s face it, where else can you:

- Kick-off a coast-to-coast publicity campaign in less than three weeks?

- Create promotional “buzz” for your book at the grass-roots level?

- Reach America’s greatest urban markets - Boston to LA - from the comfort and convenience of your own home?

- And, talk directly to fans and fans-to-be?

Publishers and best-selling authors understand all this. They know the marketing and promotional value of appearing as a guest on talk radio.  And, of course, so do we, as we’ve been arranging interviews for almost 20 years now.

And, during that time we’ve certainly learned a thing or two about the preparation that goes into booking guests on talk radio.

Let me share some tips with you:  

TIP #1/ Stay Current 

First off, you need to follow the news. What are people talking about? What is the media saying? What’s the buzz? Why is this important? Because, in case you haven’t noticed, talk radio is all about current events. Current events in politics, in sports, weather, health, culture. So when you know what’s current, you can package your message to fit the news…making you an attractive guest for a talk show.  Your job is to scan the network and cable news channels, the newspapers, look at news Websites, and, most importantly, monitor the talk radio landscape. Take time to listen to some local and/or national talk shows, hear what they’re talking about - get a feel for the rhythm of it.  Most of all - get a pulse of the public listening in. 

TIP #2/ Tie-Ins To The News 

I mentioned “packaging” your message? That’s a key. As you follow the hottest stories in the news, think of ways you can tie the message of your book into them.  Look for controversy or big names, big money or even relationship issues… These are always tantalizing topics for many talk show hosts (and their listeners). Developing a good angle for your book that’s newsworthy means you might even be able to get on the air with your novel - we’ve had success doing that a number of times. 

TIP #3/ Pitch Your Topic, Not Your Book or Yourself 

As you develop your message, keep in mind that radio hosts are interested in what you can do for their listeners, not what they can do for you.  They want an interview, not an infomercial for your book. So, when pitching to hosts and producers, put emphasis on the issue you want to talk about on the air, rather than on your book. The fact that you’ve authored a book gives you credibility “currency,” so spend it wisely when pitching your cause. There’s no need to worry…once on the air, you’ll be given plenty of opportunity to plug your book during the interview. 

TIP #4/ The Right Press Release Formula  

Nothing is more important than the press release itself - it’s your key to the media’s door.  The quality of our press releases have everything to do with our  success in booking guests.  You want to make sure your headline is enticing - it’s got to grab the media’s attention. The text of your release should elaborate on the subject matter and what the “on-air” conversation will be about.  It’s always good to include a couple of juicy or provocative quotes.  Also include a short, but impressive bio, and 5 to 10 questions you’d like the host to ask you. 

There’s plenty more to learn about, but these few tips can help jump-start you into the world of talk radio. 

Marsha Friedman is a publicity expert with nearly 20 years of experience. If you would like to view a free video presentation from Marsha about the “Power of Publicity” please go to: http://www.publicitythatworks.com

No matter where you are in your year-cycle, now is a good time to pull out your Master Plan for this year and see how you’re doing. If you haven’t created it, this is the second appropriate time to do so.

There are many areas to look at when assessing your business goals. Some goals can be simply to get more exposure: to your company, to your current products and services, or to something new that you have rolled out. Another goal can be more traffic to your website, or even updating your website to more accurately reflect your current company status. The bottom line is: what are you doing on a planned, consistent basis, to get more company exposure, increase your market share and increase your net operating income?

In this third article of the Your Mid-Year Business Check-Up Rx series, we will discuss marketing.

Your marketing plan is your road map; by following a carefully thought out marketing plan, you will always know what your baseline is and where you currently are. The number one rule of marketing is consistency. By using a combination of maximizing your exposure and PR and consistently sending the same message, your expenditures can be much less.

Have you been following your marketing plan? Does your plan include who your audience is, what your message is and what your goals are? If you have not already set measures, now is the best time to do it. How do you find out how you’ve been doing? Surveys and web hits are two good ways to determine if your message is getting to your market. Do your clients or prospects realize the full scope of your services?

Follow These Five Strategies To Assess Your Marketing Goals

1. Advertising and publicity: It doesn’t matter how great your organization is, or the service or products your provide, unless your target market is aware of you and the benefits you offer, your chances of succeeding are not good. Have you tracked the results from each of your attempts? Do you know what is working and what is not?

What publicity have you gotten this first six months? Have you been involved with any charities? Raising money for a good cause, such as a charity or scholarships, is worth sending out a press release. That is a quick way to promote your company and the local economic benefits of your industry.

2. What have you sponsored, and did it give you the results you wanted? If not, how can you tweak it to improve your results next time? Industry organizations often offer sponsorship opportunities throughout the year. Is that getting you in front of your target audience? There is still time to sponsor events, both at a national and a local level.

3. Print media: newspapers, magazines, other advertising. What results have you received from this? If you’ve paid for advertising, have you achieved the results you wanted? They may not strictly be of the financial type; consistent exposure or reaching a different segment of the market are bonafide results. Are you over-reaching your audience? Have you given this enough time to give you accurate results? Talking to your account executive will help you adjust your expenditures accordingly.

4. Direct mail: On the average, direct mail has a 1% return rate. There are ways to increase your rate of return:

• Consistency. Studies have shown that it takes anywhere from eight to 27 times for a prospect to see your name before they feel like they know you. Studies have also shown that it costs six times as much to get new customers than it does to maintain your current ones.
• Be different. You are different than your competitors, why do you present the same image, say the same thing, and/or not play up your strengths? Do your direct mail pieces look and sound like your competitions? Professional creativity can go a long way in getting yourself noticed.
• Use a carefully cultivated mailing list. Take the membership list from your organizations and remove those companies that are not good prospects for your services. The more pieces you get returned, the greater the waste of your time and money. Are you certain those on your mailing list are either current or prospective purchasers of your products or services? Using sub-sets of membership lists is very smart marketing.

5. Website: How easy is it to navigate and find pertinent information? Is all the information on your website current, or do you still have past events posted? Do you add relevant information often to your site, or is it simply a static website? Do you have pictures of your staff, and are they current pictures and current staff? By looking objectively at your website, you will be sure that your facility is shown to highlight anything that gives you your competitive advantage.

What will you change in your marketing plan? Some changes can take days, weeks or even months to show any results; now is the time to review your marketing strategy and implement changes that will make a difference. The best plans are the ones that are fully integrated; no adjustment should be made without looking at how it will affect the other elements in the plan and the overall results. In December, as you look back over the year, will you be able to say “The changes we made in the summer really made a difference!”?

In our fourth and last article of Your Mid-Year Business Check-Up Rx series we will cover trade shows. Are you getting what you need from trade shows to make your business succeed? What areas should you look at to correctly diagnose your trade show participation goals? What must be prescribed to maximize the benefits from trade shows?

Shari Frisinger, the founder and President of CornerStone Strategies, L.L.C., received her Master’s degree in Aeronautical Science from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. She has nearly 20 years experience in training and facilitating, and has created courses and workshops in Leadership, Communication, Management and Professional Development for many corporations, organizations and academic institutions, such as Mountain State University’s Aviation Department and the National Business Aviation Association. Shari is a much sought after Keynote Speaker, who is a Zig Ziglar Certified Trainer, a Dale Carnegie Instructor, a member of the National Speaker’s Association both at the National level and the Houston Chapter. She serves on boards of many professional organizations.

The first thing you will need to do before setting up your photography franchise is to decide which photography field you are interested in. There is children’s, outdoor, glamour, sports, and fashion photography just to name a few. The market for photography has high demands and the opportunity to set up your own studio is wide open. Of course, there will be a lot of competition in this field.

Before starting up your photography studio, you will need to get all required equipment for your studio. This equipment will depend on how big your business is and the requirements of the franchisor. For example, if your studio is specializing in wedding photography, you will need equipment that can be portable and covers lighting and effects. One the main reason why establishing your studio is easy is that you do not need to spend a lot on transportation, since the work will mostly be done in your studio. On the other hand, if you are planning to aim your photography business towards fashion models, lighting and effects will be very important for your photos and of course, your studios’ lighting equipment expense will be very high.

Winning business competitions is always dependent on advertising, and the more creative you are, the more customers you will attract to your studio. You will need printed business cards and advertise in newspapers and magazines so people will know your studio is ready to serve them. However, if you are hoping to spread your business to go beyond the limit, you will need to take a lot of private photos and submit these pictures to well known fashion magazines. Before that, it is advisable for you to research what opportunities are available through franchising.

After setting up your photography franchise and advertising your studio to the public, you will need to promote your studios’ work. Keep in mind that these photos will likely depend on what field you are investing in. Franchises like Lifetouch Studio’s, which are in most Target stores are a franchise business owned separately by investors but partnered with Target Inc.

We all know that pictures are needed all the time to capture important moments, especially for individual or corporate events. And that is why the opportunity of buying a photography studio franchise is very promising. All you have to do is to decide which photography field that is suitable for your photography studios and definitely with perseverance and patience, you will get to where you want to be.

Edward Dean is an accomplished website developer and author. To learn more about photography-studio-franchising visit Photo Studio Franchising for current articles and discussions.

Event ideas are helpful, but only you will know what will be right for your situation and what resources are available to you to create a well rounded event for your participants.

Never be intimidated by any situation because there’s nothing a little smoke and mirrors can’t fix. If on the day of the event you find out the live band couldn’t make it for some reason beyond their control, then substituting an awesome sound system with an amazing disc jockey is perfectly reasonable.

Such a substitution could actually end up costing you more than a live band. Some real famous disc jockeys can get as expensive as $30 to $40K per appearance, believe it or not. But the point is, remain flexible and have a back-up plan should something not go smoothly.

Business Event Ideas

Some Business Events are aimed at diverting attention from the pressure of current agendas and seek to lighten up the atmosphere or completely dispel the existing cloud of unproductiveness.

In this situation, your goal is to take the focus off of day to day business and simulate a vacation without the time and expense of taking one.

So, as many companies do, having a company outing is a splendid idea with activities like summer camps have. How about a softball game or a bowling tournament? If something competitive is not appropriate under the circumstances, then some other enjoyable activities to consider might be a rented fishing boat excursion or perhaps some mountain biking. This would be a good change of scenery.

All of the above can be rewarded at the end with a sizzling barbeque which most people love, but of course make sure you have some different salads and rolls or crackers so no one goes hungry.

Fundraising Event Ideas

Raffles can be exhilarating and fun. Some trendy raffle award ideas are: travel packages, dinner for two, cars, electronic equipment, gift certificates, etc.

If person has a serious chance of winning something valuable, like a new iphone, they are more willing to donate, especially if it is a cause close to their heart. To raffle off a iphone, for instance, you could sell 300-400 tickets for $5.00 each.

Fundraising is not solely realized by selling, raffling, or auctioning products.

Saving money is akin to making money. Financial needs can often be met through sponsorship, such as a company providing discounts, freebies, or extras like office supplies that have their company logo and message imprinted on them, etc.

Charity Events Ideas

A charity event does not have to be centered on monetary exchange. Many companies have valuable ways to give back to the community, such as donating time and resources for habitat improvement, giving a helping hand to a segment of the economy (like public clean up), wildlife preservation, and so on.

Sometimes the resources to put on a grand charity event dinner are not available, but spreading the manpower among the existing soup kitchens can accomplish a great deal.

Corporate Event Ideas

There are many retail establishments where their place of business is geared toward multi-faceted events for businesses and corporations. They can frequently be found on your local chamber of commerce list of vendors. They are often very affordable and you can choose to use all or part of their establishment and they usually offer a vast selection of menu options.

Convention Ideas

A Convention is usually associated with trade industries gathering for the purpose of presenting their goods and services and promoting by educating their potential customers.

Naturally, they take advantage of the networing oppotunities that only a hub of industry professionals like this could provide. Using established resources, like taking out an ad in a known magazine produced exclusively for these trade professionals, is an excellent place to direct your marketing efforts.

The more effective your publicity, the greater your attendance will be. When you have some idea of what the level of participation will be, the next step will be to inspect suitable venues to host your convention. So, if you are producing a convention for the stone and marble industry (for example), you would need a spacious area where vendors could display products such as stone and marble, accessories such as care products and application tools, etc.

This type of crowd would require sufficient loading dock areas for equipment, catering and dining areas, conference rooms for presentations on trends, designs and industry issues.

Convention centers of this type are usually strategically located near mass transit, hotels, and airports. If the specialty trade your are producing a convention for is not so product intensive, like the Writers Guild or something, then perhaps a an attractive retreat boasting conference rooms equiped with multi-media capabilities would be a sensible choice.

Conference Ideas

A conference can be a gathering of clergy, an association of athletic teams, a meeting of various committees, or a new organization. It could be just a conference between students and advisers. As with all types of events, a conference is no different when advertising and preparing your prospective attendees to participate is concerned.

Inevitably, you will have to have a website to be publicized, and flyers or handouts need to be distributed, mailed, or emailed.

Once registration is flowing, you can gauge what type of amenities you need to provide, like if there will there be children present. If yes, children’s programs replete with certified counselors and appropriate activities will be required.

Perhaps a fitness room for the adults is appropriate. What form of educational sessions will there be, and what supplies will be necessary?

The number of people and duration of the conference will determine what type of audio/visual and lighting props would be needed and the electical power to support it.

What culinary fare will be suitable? If having the conference in a resort hotel, a pool-side lunch or beach-front grill with some volleyball may relax and refresh attendees for their next session.

Of course, you don’t want to forget your gracious sponsors, and at the same time leave a lasting impression on your participants. So, distribute parting gifts from your sponsors.

Festival Event Ideas

Festivals are often characterised by feasting, rides, inaugurations and entertainment, commemorating or celebrating an anniversary, cultural event, or just good old-fashioned revelry.

If it’s a do-it-yourself festival and geared more towards singles, there are many clubs and restaurants that can supply appropriate food and beverages along with entertainment, both live or recorded to liven up your festival.

If your festival is on a big scale open to the general public, like a music or art festival, your venue would be best if outdoors, such as a local park, field, or city square, if appropriate.

National corporations, like beverage companies, may support TV or radio spots to promote the festival. Inviting noted artists to perform or exhibit will bring crowds in droves.

Furnish a broad array of delecacies from many local food businesses to satisfy the many ethnic tastes which may attend.

Of course, a festival of this sort needs to be coordinated with local government to assist with traffic, crowd control and parking, safety and clean up. If preparations are adequately addressed, a festival can be an excellent economy booster for everyone involved.

There are many events ideas you can consider when planning, designing and marketing your next event, large or small. The possibilities are vast. So, in order not to overwhelm yourself, just stick to a manageable number of ideas which fit your budget.

Everything you need to know about Event Planning and Management, including ideas for marketing your events, can be found at: Event Management.

Get all of your logo-imprinted merchandise for promoting and marketing your event at: Promotional Products.