| 91 | Marketing-Minded Financial Planners, Create Your Very Own Story to Get Free Publicity Preview: One big mistake that many marketing-minded financial planners make when contacting the media is to drop what's called an "information dump." Sending a reporter statistics on the growth of your business (no matter how impressive) or on the success rate of your stock picks (no matter how propitious) will simply overwhelm them and will not garner p... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 92 | Helping Your Prospects Overcome “Buying Fears” By Using Testimonials Preview: You DO use direct marketing for your small business… right? If so, you’re taking advantage of the most cost-effective means of advertising available. (Yes… I’m biased… I admit it!) Let’s talk for a minute about how you can make your sales copy and direct marketing more effective. One of the simplest yet most powerful ways to strengthen your sal... (more) Published By: Joe Farinaccio Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 93 | What's Your Story? Marketing-Minded Financial Planners, Follow These Guidelines to Get Free Publicity Preview: Be a Resource The media people that are likely to want to speak to financial planners are usually working on stories that will help people: help them get out of debt, make smarter investment decisions, or save for retirement. They look to financial planners to be a resource for these people. When you become a resource, the media will come back... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 94 | Six Ways To Profit From Public Domain Information Preview: Ever wondered why Walt Disney never got sued for intellectual property theft? C’mon, the guy ripped off so many Hans Christian Anderson and Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales! And he never paid the said authors any royalty fees! Granted that they’re dead, but shouldn’t their families be entitled to proceeds from their works? Such would be a small price ... (more) Published By: Mark Tse Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 95 | Five Publicity "Buckets" For Marketing-Minded Financial Planners Preview: Maybe you’ve seen another financial planner on TV, and thought, “Hey, I’m just as good as she. Why didn’t the press pick me?” Well, chances are, as you now know, they picked her for at least two good reasons: 1. She is a proficient – though not necessarily top–financial planner, and 2. She did something, somewhere, to get on their radar screen... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 96 | Marketing-Minded Financial Planners, It's Not Who You Know But What You Know Preview: Almost every day, I hear the same question, over and over, from motivated, well-meaning financial planners who want to use publicity in their marketing mix. It goes something like this: “Who do you know in the media? (Or, sometimes they frame it as, “Who do I need to know in the media?”) Can you get me publicity?” My answer is always the same. W... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 97 | Problems Are Good (For Financial Planners Seeking Free Publicity) Preview: A common complaint you'll hear is that the media is fixated on negative stories. But, let's face it, that's what people watch. Jerry Springer and Maury Povich wouldn't make millions of dollars a year if people hated watching spouses fight and jilted lovers weep. And have you ever heard of a publication or show that thrived on telling happy stori... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 98 | Financial Planners, Why Advertise When Free Publicity and Marketing Is Better? Preview: Commit this to memory, please: To get in the media, being good is good enough. You don’t need to be perfect, or even the best in your profession. There’s no elaborate entrance exam or competition to determine who gets media coverage. The prize goes to those professionals who are competent or better, and who understand how to play the publicity g... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 99 | Marketing-Minded Financial Planners, the Media Wants to Give You Free Publicity Preview: In this great country of ours, there are basically three ways to get yourself tons of media coverage. You can be a celebrity. Try becoming a TV, movie or sports star. That’s a good start. You can become notorious. Getting arrested, or enmeshed in a juicy scandal, will do nicely. But I recommend that you follow the third route. You can become a... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 100 | Publicity and Marketing Magic For Financial Planners: The Four 'More's Preview: Publicity will take your financial planning practice, your business, and your life to the next level. It’s going to bring you: --more recognition --more credibility --more value to the marketplace --more business It’s obvious that getting more publicity – exposure in the media – will yield you more marketplace recognition. But how do the ot... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 101 | For Financial Planners, Marketing and Publicity Is About You Preview: For financial planners, getting publicity, in the end, isn’t about having contacts in the media. Or about writing a great press release. In the end, it’s about one thing: it’s about you. You, and the knowledge and expertise you share every day with your clients. If you have any of that knowledge stuff (and you wouldn’t still be in business if... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 102 | How Marketing-Minded Financial Planners Get Publicity Preview: You’ve probably noticed, if you live on this planet, that we live in a media-driven world. You may have mixed feelings, personally or philosophically, about this. But it’s a fact of modern life. And in at least one very important way, it’s good news. This is how: Living in a media-driven world is very good for financial planners. For anyone, in f... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 103 | Trade Show Exhibit Booth - 7 Tips to Improve Yours Preview: Once you have decided to participate in a trade show, half your work is done. The other half starts with exploring ideas on how to get the maximum out of the event both in terms of brand building as well as sales enquiries. Here are seven easy to follow and cost-free implementation tips which would help you improve your trade show booth. 1. Balan... (more) Published By: Patty Stripes Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 104 | Trade Show Promotional Products - Boosting Booth Traffic Preview: I was about seven or eight years old when I learned the value of promotional items at trade shows. I just didn't know it yet. I was at a home show with my parents. As we walked through the hall it was held in, I noticed people walking around with yardsticks. I really had no need for a yardstick, but seeing them made me want one. So, to make me hap... (more) Published By: Cindy Carrera Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 105 | Take Your Publicity National to Grow Your Financial Planning Practice Preview: Think that you aren't big enough for national media coverage? Says who? Certainly not the USA Today. In one recent two-week period, they quoted financial planners in Southfield (Michigan), Dublin (Ohio) and Clearwater (Florida). These are not exactly metropolitan hubs. When your media confidence and experience grow, consider branching out to a la... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 106 | You, Marketing-Minded Financial Planner, Can Be an Author Preview: After you’ve gotten in the groove of turning out articles and notes to reporters about your topic, take it to the next step: Write and self-publish a book about your topics. Does this seem intimidating, or even impossible (not to mention expensive). Believe me, it isn't. I know, because I did it. You can write the entire thing in a word process... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 107 | Freelancers Can Jump-Start Your Publicity Initiative Preview: If you find that your progress is blocked by a lack of time or experience, consider hiring a freelancer to jumpstart your project. Writer's block got you down? Don't let it. Every town has a freelance writer who can help you get a release or article written quickly. Or you can search for one nationally on one of the free classified ad sites like ... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 108 | Evergreen Publicity for Marketing-Minded Financial Planners Preview: They'd hate to admit it, but the media is pretty predictable. There are some stories that will run in newspapers until the saints go marching in. Some of the obvious ones: diet tips, anything having to do with kids or animals, political scandals, celebrity divorces...you could probably find a story about each one of these topics in every single ... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 109 | How To Get Celebrities To Endorse YOUR Product Preview: How would you like celebrities to endorse your product? Perhaps that sounds crazy. Well, here's the info... But before anything else - let me stress that when I say "celebrities", I'm not talking about Tiger Woods or Tom Cruise! Who I'm talking about is celebrities in YOUR market. People who are very highly thought of and well known in the mark... (more) Published By: Louis Allport Submitted: 22 June,2005 |
| 110 | Keep The Publicity Machine Rolling with Reprints Preview: More than half of America skips the Super Bowl, the nation’s most-watched TV event. So it stands to reason that not all your prospects will see your publicity, even if you’re on 60 Minutes and Oprah. Create a strategy to use your publicity proactively to reach and impress everyone with it. Here’s how… You’ve worked hard, gotten your story in. You... (more) Published By: Ned Steele Submitted: 22 June,2005 |