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!

The Public Relations Secret Behind the $1 Million Coupon Phenomenon

Did that headline make you think I was going to tell you the secret behind the Million Dollar Coupon PR campaign? Well, I'm not!

But Content Marketing Strategist Newt Barrett will. He wrote about it in Friday’s edition of Content Marketing Today.

Visit www.contentmarketingtoday.com to read the article. Then let me know what you think! I hope you learn some hands-on tips that will help you in your job.

I don’t know how you feel, but I’m very excited about the new way of doing PR! I’m feeling re-energized and re-dedicated to my clients and my profession!

2009 PR Professional of the Year

I received a very big honor yesterday. The Southwest Florida Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association named me the 2009 PR Professional of the Year.

I don't think I can put into words what this means to me. For 13 years, I have watched seasoned PR professionals accept this award for their hard work and dedication to the profession. I have always dreamed of being honored in this way someday … I just didn’t realize that day was already here.

I owe much of my professional success to FPRA. When I moved to Florida 13 years ago, I joined the organization and jumped right in – volunteering on different committees and serving in board positions, including President in 2000.

I took very seriously the opportunity to learn from those around me, and I still do! What a gift – a group of 100 local PR professionals dedicated to helping others become better PR professionals! How can one go wrong?

With FPRA, you get out of it what you put into it. There are opportunities abound!

To expand my learning opportunities and networking, I even spent some time serving on the State board of directors. What an incredible experience that is!

The networking from this statewide organization has built my business. I have never advertised. I just continue to do what I do. What I love.

Thank-you to all of the members of FPRA for being so amazing at what you do and for sharing it with the rest of us! Thank you for your vote of confidence!

PHOTO NOTES: I was in good company! Pictured with me are: Laura Puerto, Chapter Member of the Year and Carla Ulakovic, Rising Star of the Year. What an honor!

Major Excitement

Happy Monday morning! I'm writing to you from Illinois where I am finishing up my family vacation -- my brother got married!

While here I received two VERY exciting emails! One from Marketing Guru Newt Barrett, who said he would like to feature the Million Dollar Coupon on his content marketing blog! I'll be speaking to him later this week, and I'll be sure to post the link when it is published!

The other email was from David Meerman Scott. He is updating his book The New Rules of Marketing and PR and would like to include the Million Dollar Coupon! Major Wow! David is an amazing Marketing and PR expert, and I am honored to be considered as an example for the book!

In case you haven't heard of the book, it is one of the top marketing books in the world, a BusinessWeek bestseller and is published in 24 languages! David says many universities are using it as text! The new edition is expected to come out in early 2010. Wow. How lucky am I?

I am so excited about the new way of doing Marketing and PR. It has totally revved up my excitement about my business! I'm just chomping at the bit for the next adventure! I saw just how effective it is with the Million Dollar Coupon. I was totally wowed by it! If you haven't yet read David's book -- get it now!