Got Passion?

I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing a woman from a non-profit organization yesterday. The interview is part of an annual report I am writing for a client. I won't give too much away, because we don't like to spoil the report before it is revealed in its entirety, but I was so moved by this woman that I had to share.

This woman is on FIRE for her non-profit. It is evident by the words she uses and the passionate way she speaks them. I swear, she had me near tears and ready to whip out my checkbook! All this during an interview for an annual report ... for a utility. Who'd a thunk?

I'll tease you with one quote. She said, "Give me a pencil, and I'll get a child to college." Wow. Powerful stuff. Doesn't that just give you goosebumps? She's not asking for enormous donations of scholarships -- just pencils. This woman totally moved me.

She inspired me so much that she set the tone for the entire report in my eyes. She made my job so much easier just by being passionate about hers.

I couldn't help but think, "What if everyone were that passionate about their job?" Can you imagine what we could do in this world? The mouths we could feed ... the children we could educate ... the diseases we could cure ... the possibilities are endless. The energy that radiates from a person who is that passionate about what they do is powerful.

Now I can't wait to interview the rest of the people!

Top 5 Tips to Craft a Media Release that’s worth a Million Bucks

Media releases have gained tremendous strength in recent years as search engine optimization has gained steam. Now, just by writing a news release and posting it online, you can drive visitors to your website – IF you do it right!

I learned a lot by writing and distributing the Million Dollar Coupon media release last year, so I thought I’d share a few tidbits about writing SEO releases with you in this column.

1. Write a fantastic, newsworthy release that is rich with key words targeted to your audience. Keep it short – around 500 words.

2. If you can, give your release a unique URL on your website, using key words.

3. Write a short summary to go under your headline – just one or two sentences – using as many of your key words as possible.

4. Include web page links to other pages on your web site – keep it to a maximum of one link for each 100 words in your release.

5. Take advantage of multi-media – add a downloadable photo and/or a short video. This gives journalists all the tools they need to write a story.

Although you can pay hundreds of dollars to have your SEO release distributed, there are many free and inexpensive news release distribution services out there today. You have nothing to lose by trying it!

Local PR Pro Susan Bennett, APR, CPRC told me about www.prlog.org, and a local colleague of mine, Tara Geissinger, co-founded www.onlineprnews.com. Check them out to learn more about how SEO releases can work for you!

Crazy Foreclosure Guy Lands on WINK-TV

The Crazy Foreclosure Guy landed himself on WINK-TV last night during the 5:30 news. Check out the story here: http://www.winknews.com/news/local/52213527.html. How exciting! It's the best local success we've had with the campaign! We are grateful to WINK News Reporter Christina Hernandez for sharing Tom's story with our community.

The online success of the release has been fantastic! In 11 days we've garnered more than 1,700 full page reads and 137,000 headline impressions through PRWeb. Just type Crazy Foreclosure Guy into Google and see all of the listings that come up!

I just can't say enough about PRWeb for getting the news out to the entire world! We went with the media visibility package, which has MANY benefits, including the ability to upload video and get the story out to all of the top news outlets in the country, including USA Today. We didn't get a "story" out of USA Today, but we did get a mention!

Plus, the analytical reports they deliver after the release goes live are great! How else would you know exactly how much attention your release is getting? Check out their pricing page for more information.

This release is just one of many to come from the Crazy Foreclosure Guy! It was a great way to start getting his name out there. He's got a TON of things on the horizon. I'll keep you posted!

The Crazy Foreclosure Guy

I have a new client -- The Foreclosure Shoppe a.k.a. The Crazy Foreclosure Guy. His real name is Tom Bruzzesi. He and his girlfriend Gina are doing some really amazing things! When Gina and I spoke on the phone about what she and Tom are trying to do, we connected immediately -- it was personal.

Tom has a connection to the Marines, and so do I, through my family. Tom tried to enlist at age 17, but was rejected due to health concerns from his past. His story is amazing. I won't tell it all here, though, you'll have to read it on his website: www.theforeclosureshoppe.com.

My connection to the marines is my brother-in-law, who gave his life for us during the first Gulf War in 1991. And, my 6-year-old son, who donated all of his birthday gifts to the Marines' Toys for Tots program in honor of his uncle last year.

Since Tom was not able to enlist in the Marines, he found other ways of giving to our military and our country. Now that he runs a successful business, he is giving back, BIG TIME. More to come on that later!

The first release we put out was about a home that he purchased at a foreclosure auction for only $1,000. Seriously, $1,000. I don't know about you, but that's less than my monthly mortgage payment. Then, he sold the house for only$18,000 within a couple of weeks! That's a 1300% profit! Tom plans to hold investment seminars in the future to teach other people how to make money this way!

To get the word out, we put out a SEO PRweb release, which is getting tons of exposure worldwide! In just one week, it has had more than 1,300 full-page reads on PRweb and 101,000 headline impressions! Definitely check it out -- it has a fun video embedded, too!

We are also talking about it locally, and we'll see how that goes! Overall, this release seems to be a great foundation for building up to all of the work that he is doing. It's really helping get his name out there. Stay tuned! More to come!

The Power of Creating Buyer Personas

Wow! I read in David Meerman Scott's book the New Rules of Marketing & PR that you should create buyer personas for your website and create separate content on the site for those people -- content that will help them solve their problems.

I took this approach with my client, Master Life Coach Lynne Pietrzyk. Her website is www.shiftandwakeup.com.

We started with three primary buyers who might need life coaching -- stay-at-home moms, working moms and step-moms. Although we are just beginning to get content onto the site, we have already been rewarded with the approach.

A couple of people have already apparently Googled something along the lines of "life coach step-mom." Whoa! I think she found herself a niche! As a result, she's already scheduled a life-coaching workshop about step-parenting!

Plus, the timing was perfect with a release we had just sent out on her current book club -- a double whammy!

Her last week was incredible with one lead coming in after another! Much of that had to do with our approach with the website. #1. Create buyer persona's. #2. Create content to help those buyers.

The crazy part of all of this is that we debated what to do about a website, because we do not have a big budget for it. In the past, websites cost thousands of dollars to create. Well, this time around, Lynne decided that something home-made was better than nothing at all. She did it herself using www.godaddy.com.

At this point, we can't wait to add more content! Keep your eye out!