Small business owners are often a Jack of all trades. They have to know at least a little about many things. On any given day they could be called on to do things they don’t necessarily know how to do well.

Here are some essential skills all small business owners should have, or work on achieving.

Small business owners need to at least have basic bookkeeping skills. Even if you have the money to hire someone to do your bookkeeping, you need to be able to keep an eye on what’s going on with your money.
If you own a small business you …read more

Lately, I’ve been shocked at the number of people who claim they can do public relations – and charge people for it.
I’m not talking about skilled PR professionals who have studied and honed their craft. I’m talking about writers, online marketers and virtual assistants who basically say anyone can help get someone publicity.
It’s just not true.
Most of these people chargge a very low fee to write a press release – and claim you get get meida coverage by posting on the various press release sites on the Internet.
You can’t. Media are really hanging out at those sites – and frankly, …read more

Lately, I’ve been getting a ton of pitches from would-be public relations folks trying to get my attention to write about them on one of my other blogs: Startup Spark.
And most of them have been completely off the mark for the topic I write about. I mean, just because you represent a new author who wrote a book about stress doesn’t mean a generic pitch will work for me. Tell me why it’s important to my audience, not everyone else.
You see, the difference between a good pitch and a bad pitch is all in the execution.
The pitches that are used …read more

I was excited when the President’s new administration announced that their website Http://www.whitehouse.gov would play a big role. Here’s what it said:
One of the first changes is the White House’s new website, which will serve as a place for the President and his administration to connect with the rest of the nation and the world.
Awesome!
They’ve also opened the site up to search engines, for the very first time. Great step!
They promise more communication, transparency and participation. Sounds good, but their blog is not open for comments.
That’s right. Although you can fill out a form, commenting on their blog isn’t available.
Communication …read more

Drew Kerr’s insightful post on Ragan’s really got me thinking…

Sure, I agree PR people shouldn’t use the words “excited,” “thrilled” and “honored” in press releases because, as Drew points up, they are just fluff.
But I also think there plenty of marshmallow words that public relations writers whould ban from their news release vocabulary.
Words like:

‘solution’/ ’solutions’ -  As in “This new solution provides the answer.” It appears more than thousands of times in Google News.
‘announces’ – “Company XYZ announces the…” First, a company cannot announce something. Only a person can announce. Second, surely there is a better way to beef …read more

How do you create news when it’s the slow season for your business?
Ask Ben & Jerry’s, the ice cream gods.
They used a major PR tactic, called piggybacking. I talk about piggybacking on Startup Spark’s Monday Media Marketing Minute and at my other blog: The Power Publicist.
The folks at Ben & Jerry’s created a new ice cream flavor in honor of Obama’s inauguration. Called “Yes Pecan,” it pays homage to the president-elect’s battle cry, “Yes, we can.” Plus, they added a bonus, proceeds go to a charity that helps people get involved in the politcal process.
You may think it’s silly. But …read more

Jason Falls is a great new media public relations person. And recently, I read his blog post “Is The Future of Advertising Public Relations?”
Jason makes some great points about the future influence of bloggers on the media landscape, but right at the beginning I squirmed:
(I say new-fashioned because old-fashioned is sending blast emails to hundreds of media outlets or bloggers and calling it a day. New-fashioned is reaching out personally to individuals to build a relationship and working with them to meet their needs and yours in symbiotic fashion.)

Ummm… I didn’t know that the new-fashioned wasn’t always the case, Jason.
Good …read more

So the big conversation in the PR world last week was the question: Is PR dead?
Many who say yes have pointed to how social media has taken over and how it’s important to have personal conversations.
Yup, I agree. But that doesn’t mean PR is dead. Not in the least.
The real issue is that a lot of PR people aren’t adopting social media as part of the public relations toolkit. And some are even shunning it. And I hate to say it, but there are plenty of people out there who think PR stands for press release.
Well, tell that to Motrin, …read more

The difference between a good pitch and a bad pitch is all in the execution.
The pitches that are used are the ones that are newsworthy, media-friendly and arrive at opportune times. All three working together gives a PR person the best chance of media coverage and publicity.
Other tips for creating a good pitch and avoiding bad pitches include:
* Forming lasting relationships with the media can be more effective than sending a non-targeted email pitch to an editor or reporter who has never heard of you. These emails are often treated as spam and discarded by the media. It’s not enough …read more

One of the best ways to get free publicity is to piggyback on a holiday. Piggybacking in the news biz means jumping on a story with your own spin or story. Here are some of the hundreds of holidays and events in November that you can use to create an interesting story idea.

Diabetes Month
Family Stories Month
I Am So Thankful Month
Lung Cancer Awareness Month
National Adoption Day
National Authors Day
Peanut Butter Lovers Month
Sandwich Day
Pursuit of Happiness Week
Parents as Teachers Day
Teddy Bear Day
Name Your PC Day
Thanksgiving
Black Friday