Promoting Your Business with PR

Public relations is about managing the media and developing a brand. It isn’t about making someone famous through managing appearances or mingling with celebrities – which is one of the biggest misconceptions to date.

Public relations professionals don’t book work or appearances outside of media interviews, talent or literary agents do this. Public relations professionals book media appearances based on what a client is doing. If you have to do the work yourself (you can’t quite obtain a publicist just yet), please pay attention to my top 3 common PR mistakes listed below.

1. It is two different things entirely to pitch news your clients force you to pitch against your better judgment and pitch something to a reporter without the thought of you believing it is news in the first place.

2. Your timeline isn’t what the press cares about. In fact, you need to care what the media’s timelines are. I recently read this piece of advice and couldn’t agree more. “Let’s say you are sending a Christmas wish list to a monthly magazine. When do you send that pitch? October? August? Try June or July.

3. Know the news. Everyone thinks their clients are special, and they are. However, you will not get your clients picked up by every single news outlet. In fact, for every 500 outlets pitched, expect a 3% return and not right away. Remember, editorial calendars exist!

As you move forward, you will create connections that will make it easier for you to pick up the phone and bump competing press agents and their stories. Until then, follow the rules and don’t make these 3 major mistakes.

Until tomorrow,

Twyla N. Garrett

One Habit Harming Your Business

I’m going to share the most vital of business tip I can – you have a bad habit. In fact, most entrepreneurs do. I had to become aware of this bad habit, which is why I am passing it on to you. Once you become aware of this habit then you can start to work on breaking it.

So, what’s the habit? Living in the past. Yes, the past. You see, dwelling in the past keeps you from moving forward. It is important that you do whatever it takes to bury the past so you can come into the now. You can’t think about mistakes or should’ves. You really have to focus on planning to move forward and think about possibilities.

People who live in the past or judge the present based on how they have experienced the past tend to be dreamers, not do’ers. It is important that you are both. I use to live in the past. I thought about all the money and time wasted learning lessons and thought how impossible it seemed for me to move forward. Then, one day, after realizing that I was frozen by my past , I decided to dive right into my future. I worked on shrugging off irrational fears of what could happen again and made a plan to move forward and prevent these things from happening again. I didn’t become glued to past results, I worked on moving forward because of the past results.

If you can learn to move forward from the past, you will be successful. There is no question in my mind about this strategy. So, I ask you today, what about your past is making you fearful about moving forward today? Whatever it is, address it and then figure out a plan to move beyond it.

Until tomorrow,

Twyla N. Garrett

Cyber 9-11 | It IS Possible

Today's post is dedicated to the topic of homeland security. My company, IME provides homeland security services, such as computer forensics. This brings me to the topic of a cyber 9-11. In a couple of weeks, this country will celebrate cyber Monday. A time when people spend the Monday after Thanksgiving shopping online and sharing personal information. Oh, and retailers receive a large amount of cash via the internet. So, is a cyber 9-11 possible? The answer is yes.

Many retailers are not aware there is a cyber security issue until the attack has occurred and already performed damage. Any business with a heavy web presence, especially one that collects data or money online, needs to have a reliable back-up plan should an attack occur, new approaches to identifying potential security breaches should be sought after, and we as consumers and business need to practice vigilance against potential threats. Cyber security and hackers should be taken seriously. Identify theft through cyber security tasks can help mask terrorists and transfers of cash can help fund plans- never a good thing!

While the majority of true potential internet risks surrounds our military data when it comes to security in cyber space, we should always be aware of our security systems and our weaknesses online.

Have questions on this topic? Let's talk! Join me on Facebook or Twitter to ask questions, notate examples of training, etc.

Twyla Garrett of IME