Month: December 2011

I can predict your PR future…

By Tatyana Gann

(Photo Credit to Ronald Roe)

I can predict your PR future..

No I am not PR psychic and I do not look into a crystal ball to see your business future, but I can tell you if you keep doing what you always did in your business without PR, you will not get any PR at all.

Majority of business owners I met do not even know that PR can help them to get exposure. The sad news is that they know big companies have PR departments that run monthly PR campaigns, manage the online reputation and get more online exposure.

The bad news- they do not see themselves as leaders or believe in their success, so PR element is not important to them.  I have had few business owners tell me, “Tatyana, I spent all my money on development of my product, my sites and my marketing and I HAVE none left for PR.” Hello, ask APPLE Computers or Microsoft PR team if they have a PR plan to grow their business, and I am sure they will look at you very funny.

Every company that wants to get increase sales, get flawless reputation and build a brand has put together an annual PR plan. For them it is a must. They know it works. They know how it can help them and what it would do to their business if they stop doing PR.

But what about you?

Do you feel stuck?

I can break this cycle..

Please go to Work With Tatyana- VIP consulting  page:

Read what our customers are saying and how you can take advantage of my New Year Special:

Today is the final chance to grab my VIP consulting program for 40% off and start 2012 on the right track:

It is my VIP training program that includes one on one PR consulting strategy sessions:

VIP training program includes:

12 weeks (1 90 min strategy session each week) for serious business and marketing professionals who want to take their business to a new level and serve their clients with new PR tools  (brand management, online identity protection and online reputation repair,  pr campaigns set up, press releases training, online publicity training and social media strategies to make your social web presence fun)

The training will be your guide to achieve the following:

  • · To establish solid online reputation, get more media exposure
  • · Steps you must take to get access to the top media contacts and build relationships with them
  • · Learn how to write a press story that gets results- traffic, more leads and better SEO.
  • · Reaching your ideal audience and how to avoid common mistakes in your PR campaign
  • · Tools, resources to simplify the process
  • · From setting up your newsroom to putting together a media kit and much more..

 

Get complete details on your customized PR Plan here:

Regular price: $2497.00

But during the TWO DAYS sale you can get 40% off which will give you access to my consulting strategies for less than $1500.

This is ONE TIME offer and ends Dec 31, 2011 at 11 PM CST

PS. Of course you try our small packages and get our NEW YEAR special using our  coupon code HOLIDAY2011


Cheers!

Happy New Year!

May 2012 bring you a lot of success!

Tatyana Gann

12 Key Ingredients of Successful Publicity You Cannot Miss in 2012: Part 1

By Tatyana Gann

(My secret splurge- french chocolate truffle tart)

When it comes to cooking and baking I can spend hours in the kitchen creating various masterpieces. I love  new challenges and learning a new cuisine is like living in a new country.   NEW WORLD. NEW EVERYTHING.  I learned many techniques on my own and got few techniques from my amazing grandmother Elena. I love to bake and entertain my friends. I love to see their happy faces when savoring my food. They know when they come to my house for a dinner they will get the best food with the highest quality ingredients, and I will make sure it is perfect.

But imagine if I was careless about my cooking or baking and did not care what I put into the food I made and did not have a recipe or a plan? Last week I made a brand new recipe of a french chocolate tart. It was a big hit. My friends tried convincing me to start a cooking channel.  But…the point I want to make…

Have passion for what do you, enjoy entertaining your audience, love people and bring solutions. I love to compare cooking and baking with PR. Professional Chef gives the best and uses the highest quality foods. He knows how to make his clients happy.  But he also knows what ingredients  are best for a particular recipe. I say PR PRO is like a Chef PRO.

Have you cooked or baked anything without knowing the key ingredients? I am sure you opened the cook book, wrote down the exact recipe, went to the store with your ingredients list , came home and bake the tart.  What would happen if you forgot it.. I love baking. I know if I ever miss the ingredients in my recipes I would be really angry.

When it comes to establishing yourself as an authority in your niche you must have a business plan and it is better if your business plan has PR element. According to the research companies will be spending more on PR by 2015.  In 2010 companies spent almost 10 billion dollars on PR and by 2015 they expect it will be around 15 billion dollars.

The major mistake business owners make is that they leave the PR plan out of their business plan or  it becomes “just in case solution”.  Good PR plan can make a huge difference in your promotional efforts- bring you a better reputation, more targeted leads and increase your income. In modern PR world we have a few major factors that are playing a big role in giving your business mode exposure: SEO, social media and of course your rich content.

Lets talk about the key ingredients you must have in order to make your publicity work.

1. Reaching your audience.

You must think about ideal audience and not using a shotgun approach. It means you must know what media outlet can be interested in  your message and if their readers would love your story as well. Will it be beneficial to them? Focus on reaching buyers directly. It is the best way to go.

2. How much credibility do these media outlets have?

Are they reliable, trustworthy and a leader in your niche? Do their readers listen to them? Think about Oprah OWN network. She talks, and people listen. She is the SOURCE.

3. Choose the specialized publications.

They are more targeted and more open to getting information from the writer. If you target generic publications you will find it hard to reach to them with your message. It must be very narrow.

4. Choose the medium for your message:

Is it a radio interview, a written article or a video? Then you must decide where you are going to look for the right publications.

Earlier I recommended to check these resources to get media inquiries and listings:

5. Focus on the right angle.

You must learn how to write a good media pitch and approach media outlets. Knowing how to approach a media outlet or even a leading blogger in your niche you must be pitch savvy. Especially if your product is commodity you must know how to show the unique qualities or show the benefits that your competitors did not even mention. Quite often they do not mention and you can take advantage of that..

Make sure your news are strong.  Some companies make it sound like a nice story but media wants a story with news that can bring solutions, change and transformation. Example, company ABC runs ONE day sale on their hottest weight loss product  on a certain date…That is news and you must point out what they will miss if they do catch one time  special. Show it. Include bullet points what they will receive and how can they can have access immediately. Create urgency.

The most important approach is a service approach.. Show how to choose, buy and use product. Be the SOURCE for your listeners or readers.

6. Use surveys and test groups

You will be able to find out if your message is being accepted or rejected.  Send the message (press release) to your business associates and ask for feedback.

7. Make sure you have a media kit

It is very important part of your business. It can be downloadable or you can mail it to the media contacts.

8.  Tracking system

You must track your urls of your website when your readers click on the link to get a free report, an e-book, or even buy your products. Very important to see where they come from and how compelling your message is to your customers.

9.  Write your publicity goals for the next 90 days and 6 months and 12 months.

Remember your PR plan must be put together with your publicist or PR consultant. Without having a plan you will quit doing PR thinking it does not work for you. Understanding that it takes time to get your name known is a very important step .

10 Focus on the major stories and minor stories you want to cover.

Make a list of the top 10 stories that you must send out within 90 days and get to writing them. (Make sure focus on reaching buyers directly. Study buyers keywords and with good SEO you can get more online PR and leads)

11. Misconceptions.

What are the misconceptions your readers might have about your company? Think about it for a moment. Have you ever addressed them?

How do you think you can use them to get more attention? Use them to get  more positive publicity.

12. Write a list of your competitors

We do not bash our competition but we want to engage into the conversations with their customers or in some cases business owners. We want to share even common things and differences. Remember be polite and know how attack- I mean giving your opinions and facts. Never assume things but get the right answers. Your competition’s customers are watching you too.

13. Always discuss budget with your publicist

A publicist must know your budget for the next 6 months to a year and you must set it aside.  It shows you are committed to yourself and your team.  It shows how serious you are and plus it allows a publicist to create a flexible PR plan for you , especially if you have emergencies and need extra funds for your projects.  The tools, PR platforms are not cheap. The PR databases and PR management platforms will run between 5 to 10k a year plus other tools and services you might need  that can average about $500 to $1000 a month. The serious company owner will have 5k a month min in her or his budget.  PR is not a part time deal.
Love to hear your feedback and the part 2 is coming out on Jan 2 2012. Do your mini home work and follow the checklist I have just shared with you.

Look forward to know you more,

Tatyana Gann

Can God Call Santa Via Skype?

By Tatyana Gann

Couple days ago I woke up to a wonderful surprise. My oldest son came into my bedroom and said “Mommy I need to send this letter as soon as possible. It is a letter to God …Mom, do you have think God can call Santa via Skype?”. I was quite surprised and curious about what he wanted to say. I asked him again why it was such a rush and he said with an amazing confidence, “Mommy Only God can do this. Only He tell SANTA to bring you something special what seems so impossible! I believe in magic of Christmas!” It really touched my heart and I looked at his beautiful face and said “Yes we will mail it for sure. I know God will answer”.

My boys believe in Santa and the magic of Christmas and I see how faith is so simple but powerful.. They truly bring joy into my heart..

During Christmas we are all looking for the magic moments. Our hearts are filled with joy and love and very strong faith. As adults we believe in the impossible. We believe in the miracles that normally we would not believe but during Christmas our hearts open up and we see happy faces, we regain hope and we know that life would be better than ever. We want to give more and spread more love. We buy gifts to strangers and play “Secret Santa games”. We support more charities and we forget about all the grudges. It is a season of forgiving- giving love and peace to the world around us. Remember to keep such an attitude all year around. Don’t give up!! Christmas is a great time to rebuild relationship with YOU and ask yourself what you really want regardless what world thinks.

Some of us may still believe in Santa. Growing up I did not have a luxury to receive fancy gifts from my parents. My magic moments were times when my parents took me to enjoy rides on the ice slides, see the coolest ice sculptures and sometimes Christmas plays. It was free. Growing up in the Soviet times we learned to find ways to get a lot of things for free. We did not give many gifts. The gifts were times we spent with our families, cooking together and having fun! I realize that I remember it more than any gifts my parents gave me. I did not have video games, LEGO sets, tea party sets, Barbie dolls or extra toys. We got books, tickets to theater plays and kids shows or circus. We learned to be grateful.

Today I use Skype to call my parents. Thanks to Skype my kids see their grandmother via camera …thousands of miles away. We are grateful for technology.

We call them “Skype magic moments” because with a click of the button we dial and see my family across the globe. Gratitude is a ticket to have more abundance in life and it gives us the feeling of peace in our hearts.

Growing up in Russia we loved our life. It was simple but magical. We believed in the most impossible. We believe in the craziest miracles. We had the faith that during Christmas season all our wishes come true. As I got older we celebrated Christmas more. We celebrated Christmas on January 7th  according to the old Russian  calendar and we used to get together with our family and friends to enjoy a roasted goose with apples and homemade pies. Often my girl friends would get together and talk about our future life. We had dreams! Nothing changed. Today we still get together only now in America..

Can we predict our future today for our business or our personal life? Can we plan our future magic moments or should we see them as surprises? What do we do?

Remember that magic moments in your personal life or your business start with accepting yourself the way your are today, the way your life is instead of worrying when they happen.

Magic moments will happen in your life or your business when you decide to make changes. When you make decisions to live in your truth and do what you are destined to do. It takes very deep soul searching and really listening to your heart and stop believing every self improvement guru that tells you their opinion to buy their products and tools – only in the end you must know what is best for you then get a mentor to guide you if needed. Some of them do not even practice what they teach.

Your magic moments will happen when you realize that there is NO fear around you to do what it takes to create success and improve your life. Nothing can stop your passions. We often think that we have to have all in place before we follow our dreams. It does not happen and GOD will smack you on a head with heavy pan. He did that to me and I had to wake up and recognize my true power, my purpose. I had to get sick and break down to see my purpose. I had to stop doing all I am doing to raise VALUE of who I was and raise standards for what I could accept in my life or not.
Magic moments can happen without forcing them to happen. They are happening with ease and you must remember nothing forced lives forever. Nothing forced brings TRUE happiness and joy!

Merry Christmas

Tatyana Gann

SmokinHotPR Team Announces Semi Annual Christmas Sale

By Tatyana Gann
Happy Holidays!!!

I have some outstanding news that I am so excited to share with you. As a team with many years of online marketing, PR and sales experience we have seen many entrepreneurs feel stuck, they do not set aside the funds to run PR campaigns and really lose the passion of owning a business. They give up too fast because they think PR does not work.
The key is to run a consistent PR campaign (which includes press releases, interviews, promotions, contests and some paid promotional ads)

I cannot believe that 2012 is around the corner and we have a special Christmas sale on our publicity packages to get you started even if you are on a budget.

You can lock in big savings TODAY. We are running a special sale on press release writing services to get you more exposure, more traffic, build better online reputation, replace negative information with a positive publicity. Plus you will receive  a national distribution services for an additional cost unless you purchase our VIP press release package

Check our 5-Pack and 3-Pack deals plus our 50% off coupon will give you great savings to try our services.

Use code DEC2011 at the check out..

RULES:
1. Email me receipt of purchase before Dec 24, midnight
2. you can use press release credit within 30 days
3. Only 1 VIP press release package (excludes our VIP public relations campaigns that are 90 days minimum)

Special Bonus: With 3 pack and 5 pack press release packages get 1-35 min PR session (value $120)
If you are serious about your business in 2012 and ready to map out a new PR plan you can lock in savings on our  single consulting strategy sessions and our PR consulting packages till Dec 24, 2011.

There is one thing I need to tell you… We only take SERIOUS business owners who want to make a change in their business and be dedicated to learn the skills that can help them to grow their business and build a solid reputation!

Get full details here and use same code DEC2011 at the checkout.
Send me email to media@smokinhotpr.com and fill out contact form on our consulting services page RIGHT here.
Sincerely
Tatyana Gann

Christmas tree, duct tape, brainiacs and dreams…

By Tatyana Gann

When I think about dreams I think about my children. The holidays are around the corner and they are dreaming about the gifts, the toys, delicious cookies and fun times together! I see my children are so pure when it comes to believing in their dreams, and they are not afraid to ask.

When I was growing up we did not have a fancy Christmas tree. My dad would go to a farmers market to get a tree from a little pine tree kiosk and bring it home. Often the tree did not look too fabulous! We had many moments of laughter when on many occasions my dad had to tape the tree limbs to the tree.  That tree did not live for a long time. The beauty of it we still had our dreams come true. We had a tree! Today my kids have the most beautiful Christmas tree and it is magical for them. They are living the life of their dreams!

Yesterday my boys and I went to Cheekwood Botanical Garden in Nashville and the theme  was the Western Christmas. It was a great trip to educate my kids about history and experience magical moments of Christmas. I saw this beautiful Christmas tree with a cowgal on the top…It was fun and different. I thought about a tree my dad bought for me, the one without the limbs. Even though the western Christmas tree was more beautiful my dad’ s tree meant more to me and I will always remember it.

Do you still dream? Are you ashamed to be childlike? What has happened to us, adults? We, as adults, forget to dream BIG. We stop believing in the most magical moments. We only think about magic and miracles during Christmas. We think about gratitude and love during this time of year more than any other time of the year. How often in our life we are NOT grateful for dreams. We ask for them. We receive them and then we are still not satisfied. Or the worst case scenario we just love to believe that dreams would never come true. We give up.. We easily give up…

Dreams do come true. The dreams were given to you before you were born. It was your blueprint.  But you have to seek your purpose. You must discover  your blueprint, your life purpose. Often people are being guided by others and never by their intuition.Then they realize the dreams are lost and often they do not know what they were to begin with..

Before I came to this country back in early 90s I used to visualize my life here, my education, being among college kids, teaching, and starting a family. Couple years  later I was given a great opportunity. I took a risk and believed it was a sign to be in America. I was an ordinary girl, who actually did not know much ENGLISH. I was a brainiac, a math student in my high school. Well I can say I was a geek.  I studied math and geometry formulas. I loved chemistry and physics..I belonged to the “future lawyer club”.. I hated writing.

But something happened..

I changed my mind and told my mother- No Law School. I took a detour to follow my guts, my inner intuition. I decided to be a linguist and a teacher. That meant giving up on my parents dreams. They wanted me to be a lawyer. Well I do not know how about you but I made a firm decision to do  something completely different. Very deep down I knew I had a bigger purpose. You know what I mean. It is inside of you ready to come out and you do not know what to do with it.

Well, here I am...Almost 20 years later. I am sharing this story to inspire you to believe in you and to know that ANYTHING is possible.  Follow your passions, believe in impossible! Do not JUST say that you believe but REALLY believe. You have no room for doubt in your heart. NONE.

Here are 1o things you must do in order to make dreams come true.

Sounds corny? May be…but…anyway, here are my magic 10 steps:

1. Seek your purpose.

2. Follow your passions,  your goals

3. Do not allow distractions to doubt your abilities

4.  Believe in magic moments that are around the corner

5. Focus on what is IMPORTANT to you because you have to live with it.

6. Never fight your passions and your dreams. If you do fight what you are meant to be,  you will feel fears, hatred toward yourself first and foremost for not doing what you ALWAYS wanted to do.

7. Raise standards for who you are, your life, your business goals…Once you do that you will attract like minded people.

8. Be grateful for things that might be small, ugly or non significant to others but they mean more to YOU than everyone else.

9.  Every day affirm that your work inspires, blesses, prospers your clients, even if you do not have any  yet.  Your mind will accept and start working things out.

10. Have fun with your dreams. Truly believe in them and visualize. Create a vision board or even a digital vision board on your computer. I have a program that allows me to create one and I look at it every day..

Enjoy a holiday season,
With love

Tatyana Gann

Blogging Tips: Talking, Blogging, Edutaining!

By Tatyana Gann

“Readers subscribe to blogs when they provide an informational or entertainment value so great that it would be a loss to not subscribe to it.” Maki

I love talking to people. Last year I was hosting a radio  show at the local Nashville radio station. I love to inform people, interview, have fun, entertain and educate. I came up with a word =EDUTAIN.. Educate plus Entertain! Everyone loved it.

When it comes to blogging, some business owners think it is different. They say “Tatyana, I cannot talk like you or even write…” Really? I think when we find passion for what we talk about, we write about it. I say “Get someone to transcribe it for you”. Solutions are everywhere. It is a choice you must make to grow your business. Expressing who you are and your passions does not have to be perfect. You have two choices: hire someone to teach you to express it or hire someone to do that for you and work with you side by side. There are tools available for you today. However, the best instrument in success is YOU! Talking, entertaining, educating, informing, giving VALUE is what people want . They crave it like a great piece of daily chocolate. Can you bring the best VALUE to your customers? ONLY…If you have passion for what you do and passion to do what it takes to create success!

In the past few years having a blog has become the mission of every business owner and they have accumulated a lot of content that was not recycled. The old blog model is not working anymore. It is time to be innovative,  share your content and get paid for it. It is your intellectual property. It is your knowledge that you are inspired to share.

However we all must keep in mind our blogs has two purposes:

ENTERTAIN+ EDUCATE=EDUTAINMENT

“The key is to show your readers how they can excel in what they do  and how they have a better balanced life, business, relationships, health and so on..Show them how much your lessons can inform, improve their life.. Adding a good sense of humor that breaks some ice WORKS.”

Today bloggers can change the course of any brand. They can bring praises or share opinions about the niches they are passionate about. We all want to live our purpose and share our potential with the world even if we never owned a business. We have a life lesson to share that can transform a person’s life.  It is time about feeling united and we must stop thinking “the competition” when we can experience the cooperation.

Regardless if we are brand new or not, having your content on the authority platform is the key to generate traffic, leads and more cash flow for your business. If you are a brand new in business, you must get some publicity. You must learn how to write a good pitch to media so you can get a good press coverage, so make sure you know basics and rules of a successful PR pitch. Your blog content must be rich and valuable to refer your new clients. I think some business owners make a great pitch but then they forget about their website or a blog. When a buyer/media contact looks at your site and the content is not that GOOD, they wonder why..

The other part that bloggers struggle with is how to monetize on the blog content and where to post the content to bring traffic and leads. In the end of the day it is about connection and results. Today we can help others to create the income they deserve by giving them the opportunity to share what they know. No more burying your talents Right?

And more bloggers still are spinning the wheels and reinventing their blog world. …It is time to take your rich blog content and turn into the viral blogging machine to build your business.

If you are tired of old content distribution model,  it is time to review two business models that are getting a lot of attention. I have done great research and here they are:

First platform is called Empower Network, a viral blogging system. The second publishing platform is LoyaltePays.com– it gives an opportunity to monetize on your content FAST and turn into info product.

For me it is a three step formula:

1. Write a content for your own blog

2 Post on Blog Network Empower Network blog

3. Monetize the content and turn into the info product with a blogging software LoyaltePays created by my great friend Heide Holtz

Share away…Build links..Use it..

Watch the videos. I recommend to use both systems because they compliment each other.

Plus you will enjoy great complimentary reports to give you a new perspective in your business.

Watch videos. It is a perfect recipe for success. Combining two business models you just now created the formula to have MORE online success, get an expert status, build authority and more traffic.

  1. Empower network for small business professionals
  2. LoyaltePays- the brand new network, that can empower you to share your message and be heard!

Watch videos. read reports. We look forward to talking to you soon.!

Sincerely

Tatyana Gann

Tatyana Gann is the founder of Smokin’ Hot PR Ezine, and SmokinHotPR Boutique providing publicity, online PR services and even one on one PR coaching. Today her love for writing, connecting with people, serving people to reach new levels in their business, teaching and marketing turned her college teaching career into the street smart PR gal. Her passion today is to bring finesse, clarity, fun and joy into people lives. Tatyana Gann is ready to bring you publicity tips, advice and PR services to help you to gain more raving fans for your business and create smokinhot publicity. She has got the simple formula for creating a publicity plan that brings results. She believes it’s time to get back to the basics and enjoy simple PR and marketing methods that work around the clock. Her publicity secret strategies can help you to tap into the markets you never thought possible and how to establish your online credibility very fast. . Get her FREE newsletter at http://www.SmokinHotPR.com

How to make a perfect PR pitch to media that gets FREE publicity

By Tatyana Gann

Publicity can be terrible. But only if you don’t have any. Jane Russell

From the desk of Tatyana Gann

In my work with media contacts I always ask editors about their guidelines and their editorial calendars. When you know the guidelines you can have better understanding of their audience, their writing style. It can help you to find the right approach. If you are dealing with a blogger who has some influence in your niche it helps to read their posts, see discussions, comments and also to see if they have contributing writers and what they write about..

To get more visibility and more publicity you must remember one thing, regardless how cool you are, media wants great quality content. Without a good piece of advice from you your company, your product or  your service is not going to have a chance to get more visibility.  Make sure bring the advice that has a great value.

Few days ago I spoke with a young internet marketer who shared with me his  story how he became very successful using direct mail method with a very little use of internet, basically from rags to riches story…I told him that to media the story means nothing.  It does not mean the story is not good but media professionals get stories like that all the time! They want a solid advice. They want  some valuable information that their readers can learn from, get some benefit to help them to grow their business or transform personal life.

I always give one simple advice- treat your readers, your potential customers how you would love to be treated. In your writing tell what you want to be told, use the exact words. Show appreciation, support and admiration of your customers. Show them they matter by bringing the exact answers they are looking for.

1. Always focus on how your readers can benefit from your story (it is not your product that matters to them but how it can make a difference in their life)

2. Think how you can inform them and entertain them. Entertaining  your reader with a good story, with some humor can do a lot of good!

3. Help your new readers to accomplish their goals, even small ones. Being famous is your second goal,  not first.  Help them to get success in life or business, you will bring it back into your life. It is a law!

4. Share 3 to 4 lessons you have learned from your product development.

5.  Few ways you paid attention to your customers and what determined to better meet their needs

6. If you landed a new client,  share your strategy and what you did to compete with heavy hitters or may you did not have to compete

7. Share stories in which you failed and what you learned from it.  Take your readers on a tour and explain what you learned, how you recognized your mistakes and what you did to correct them.

8.  If you landed a brand new business partnership, share news.  Share what you did  to help your new partner to see your vision.  Share the bullet points that formed the foundation for solid partnership.

The key is to show your readers how they can excel in what they do  and how they have a better balanced life, business, relationships, health and so on..

Remember the communication with your readers, engaging them in the story, giving them answers and being the source is a must.  My new friend John Morgan known among his friends as ” The Chuck Norris of branding” and author of Brand Against The Machine noted  at his recent book party in Nashville, “Stop being the service provider, start being the resource.”

I totally agree with it. PR and branding are so important. In order to have a great brand, build relationships, love people, show you CARE, give advice, always over deliver and build a great persona.  Always ask yourself “How do I want my customers to remember me in 10, 20 and even 30 years”

Tatyana Gann is the founder of the Smokin’ Hot PR Ezine and Smokin’ Hot PR Boutique, providing publicity, online PR services and even private VIP consulting. Tatyana Gann is ready to bring you publicity tips, advice and PR services to help you gain more raving fans for your business and create smokin’ hot publicity! She has a simple formula for creating a publicity plan that brings results! Grab your FREE publicity weekly advice at: http://www.smokinhotpr.com/