Book Recommendation: "Can We Do That?"

To help me continually evolve, learn how to run my business successfully, and learn from other business owners, I enjoy reading business books.

I just finished, “Can We Do That? Outrageous PR Stunts That Work and Why Your Company Needs Them” by Peter Shankman.

This is a must-read for anyone in the PR industry. It’s also an excellent read for anyone who relies on creativity for their job.

First of all, this book was like a great novel that I couldn’t put down. I was so eager to read about the brilliant ideas the author (who owns The Geek Factory, Inc. a marketing and PR strategy firm in New York) and his team came up with and then to see how successful they were. It reminded me of my early PR days at an agency in Southern California. We once got to coordinate a home-run hitting contest for Coors Brewing Company that put me right down on the field for the San Diego Padres. It was also fun to coordinate a faucet design contest for student designers for Price Pfister.

You have to read the book to learn how his team helped a mom/pop yarn shop outside of New York City garner national media attention. Note, they worked with the creators of the Oscar Meyer wiener mobile.

It was good to be reminded why boring pitches never get any media response. This has been good for me to counsel professionals who have already written their release and they just want me to use my media list to distribute it. I was able to explain to them that the media probably wouldn’t pick it up. He then provides excellent examples of how to spice up boring/typical news announcements.

People pay me to be creative. Many people have said, “Lori, you’re so creative. I’m not creative at all.” As the author explains, “everyone is born creative. We just have to allow ourselves to be creative.”

Peter provides some excellent tips to stimulate creative ideas to avoid PR complacency. Note, I need to get my running shoes back on to “up my endorphins and get a fresh brain.” This will also help me in my desire to write more and have essay and blog ideas come to me.

The last chapter is very inspirational for anyone to read. He provides tips for getting out of a rut (don’t we all need a kick in the butt every now and then when we start acting complacent?) It’s especially hard for moms to get out and do something for ourselves. But this chapter in the book has inspired me to take a class to learn something new and to do things differently to “stir up creativity.” As Peter explains, “everything we do…has implications on how you work, how you become creative, how you do things differently than the masses.”

Peter Shankman recently created a free service called Help a Reporter. All publicists should sign up for it because writers, reporters and journalists use it when they need to find experts to interview. You’ll get 2 – 3 emails from Peter a day with the queries. I enjoy the queries because of the funny tid-bits Peter provides about his day.
http://www.helpareporter.com/

Media Hit!

In celebration of Earth Day, I wrote a "Green Babies" pitch letter for my client who sells organic, natural and eco-friendly baby products. Well, my client was interviewed twice on Earth Day by two different media outlets. I don't know if I've ever had a client on the media twice in one day. Talk about a media rush!

Here is the clip from Marni on Good Morning Texas, channel 8. Marni was interviewed by Paige McCoy Smith of the "Not So Perfect Parent" segment. She talked about the increase in organic baby products available to parents, the benefits of raising a green baby and she was able to showcase a variety of products she sells in her store to keep babies healthy, safe and eco-friendly.

The segment is here.

Green Media Tour

In celebration of Earth Day, I wrote a "Green Babies" pitch letter for my client who sells organic, natural and eco-friendly baby products.

Well, my client will be interviewed twice tomorrow (Earth Day!) by two different media outlets. I don't know if I've ever had a client on the media twice in one day. Talk about a media rush!

Marni Matyus
Peppermint Baby Boutique

Tuesday, April 22
6:30 a.m.
Mix 102.9
Marni will be featured in the celebrity segment. The hostess, Victoria Snee will talk about the baby boom in Hollywood and and how celebrities love organic baby products. My client will bring a variety of organic baby products to talk about on air.

Later that morning at 9 a.m.
Good Morning Texas, channel 8
Marni will be interviewed by Paige McCoy Smith of the "Not So Perfect Parent" segment. Marni will be interviewed about the increase in organic baby products available to parents, the benefits of raising a green baby and she will once again be able to talk about a variety of products she sells in her store to keep babies healthy, safe and eco-friendly.

Blog Success Story: Dentist

I subscribe to the weekly E-Centric newsletter from Chief Marketer. You can subscribe by clicking here. I enjoy the articles about social marketing.

In this week's newsletter they featured a story by Beth Negus Viveiros called "Tooth in Advertising: Blog helps Dentist Bite into Search Rankings."

It was about a group of dentists (Comfort Dental) who receive about 5 - 8 new patients a month because those patients found them through their blog!

Here are some highlights from the article...

"It seems like every dental practice on the planet now has a Web site," says Dr. Dean Stratman, owner of Comfort Dental. "A blog was a way for us way to differentiate ourselves."

"...we saw blogs as the easiest way to get at the top of Google listings," he says. "If somebody types in 'dentist, Anderson, IN' I want to be on the first page."

The dentist are getting questions via e-mail from patients and prospective patients. "It helps them to feel like they have a relationships with us before they walk in the door."

Congrats Comfort Dental! This is a wonderful story on the power of blogging!

Click here to read the full article.

Help A Reporter

Sharing with you today a great resource. You'll want to tell the PR people, marketers, publicists, editors, and journalists you work with about it too, because it's all about them and their needs.

If you're not already using http://www.helpareporter.com/, check it out. It's a service much like that other one that connects PR people and journalists looking for sources, but this one is free. It used to be on Facebook, but grew too large for it. Once you subscribe, you receive about three (sometimes two, no more than four, ever) emails a day with reporter, editor and freelance writer queries, written so you can quickly and easily scan the topics for relevance.

If the topics do not apply to you or your clients, just hit delete. If they do, you may contact the reporter or editor directly, as instructed.

Note that Peter Shankman, the list facilitator, is very strict about helping out these reporters.

Respond only if your information (or your client's info) is relevant and on target.

If not, and you send non-relevant emails more than once, you'll get bumped off the list.

Quickly.

I've seen it happen.

He's a big believer in good Karma, and he's also quite funny, and tends to also include a link to a fun site, or a funny story about his day in the emails. It's a nice refreshing change from the boring, non-funny emails we usually deal with.

Reporters can post queries at www.helpareporter.com/press, and sources can sign up at www.helpareporter.com

As I said, it's free. Peter asks that if you find it useful, then you make a donation to any animal rescue charity or animal hospital. You can forward the queries to others who are a fit, but do not post any queries (or the editor/reporter contact info) on any blogs or public websites.

I received permission from Peter to send you this note, since this is a private group and I'm helping to spread the word to both subscribers and media to sign up. www.helpareporter.com -

The more people who use it, the better it becomes.

I Recommend WOVI

I've attended many networking groups. Many are clique-ish (co-workers stick together), some can be intimidating and many are very surface-level - "What do you do? Oh, that's great."

I have finally found a networking group that has truly benefited me: Woman of Visionary Influence, WOVI. I attend the Frisco Chapter that meets at Solare Spa and Cafe the 4th Monday of every month.

Here's what I love about WOVI.

• All different kinds of women attend the meeting: from stay-at-home moms to professionals in the workforce.
• It's within a reasonable drive for me - less than 20 minutes. No need to go downtown!
• Since I work from home with my daughter all day, it's nice to get out and do something for me.
• It's more of a mentoring group. Every week we have dinner and a speaker. Then, everyone is given a sheet of paper with two questions on it. After writing down your answers, everyone at your table shares their answers. In the next round, everyone at the table comments on your answers, providing insight and suggestions from their own experiences. There's a time limit to this exercise, but when you can imagine the intensity of getting women together to talk about issues. There's always "Two more minutes" pleas heard around the room when coordinators try to wrap things up.
• For example, at the most recent meeting the theme was, "What are your struggling with right now and what can you do to overcome this?" For me it was something as simple as getting back into yoga. I miss it. I know it would help me be a better mother, wife and business owner. Sometimes I think I'll have more time when Kate goes to school, but as one mother warned, it's actually harder to do things when the kids get older. The more they get older, the more involved their own lives become, causing mom to juggle even more. The point hit home with me.
• I was able to offer advice to a mom who wants to work from home with her own daughter. Advice to a woman who wants to start exercising and advice to a mom who has been at home for 10 years and is thinking about getting back into the workforce.
• These exercises are called "Mento Rings" and they allow woman who have never met each other before, to build relationships, learn from each other and mentor!
• I come away from these meetings energized and uplifted.

You can click here to learn more about WOVI and find your local chapter in the Dallas area.

You Know You're a WAHM

When you are serving baby green beans and the phone rings. It the talk show host of a major morning radio show who wants to interview your client!

Woo hoo!

Then, later in the day, when you're trying to get sunscreen and shoes onto daughter to go outside, there's an email from a producer at a morning TV show who wants to do a segment on the same client.

One media hit is a rush - two in one day! Wow!

Then later in the day, you know you're a WAHM, when you are in your professional clothes but have to put baby in the sling to keep her occupied while hubby finishes making his dinner and can take over parenting duties so that you can head out the door for a networking meeting.