Lizzy Shaw

No, not this kind of pitching, but you gotta love Mariano Duncan! *

We had a fabulous Bonus “Ask Lizzy” call today with Beauty blogger extraordinaire Lianne Farbes, the founder of www.themakeupgirl.net. Lianne is also an expert at throwing live Twitter events that help to radically increase one’s Twitter reach and following.

Today, we talked about Lianne’s tips for effectively pitching to bloggers. She emphasized building good relationships – do your research; address the pitch to the right person; personalize it; make sure you check your emails before sending them out so that they have the right name, right details, right blog or publication, etc.  She gave examples of what to do and what not to do.  Lianne also addressed when to send samples, how to “vet” a blogger, how and when to follow up (the difference between persistence and stalking) and much, much more.

We also talked about Twitter events – what they are, how they can help you and also some of the ins and outs of creating a Twitter event (Lianne’s own Cocktails & Couture live event is in New York on February 11).

We had great questions from the listeners, covering such diverse topics as what kind of products can be pitched to a Beauty blogger, how to pitch an existing skin care line (that doesn’t have new products to introduce); how to tie your pitches to holidays or current events to make them topical and much, much more.

You can listen to the recording HERE.

Lianne was so generous as to create two info docs for “Ask Lizzy” listeners and fans. You can read them here, or download the PDFs if you prefer.

Lianne Farbes’ 14 Tips for Pitching to Bloggers:

1.    Comment First Pitch Later – Be genuine in these interactions, add value to the conversation happening on the blog and show that you’re not just there to ‘take’ but to ‘give’. If a blogger has a genuine connection with you they are much more willing to respond positively to you than if you approach them cold. The longer you interact with them the better. Networking is a great way to accomplish this.

2.    Personalize it – Nothing is a bigger turn off to most bloggers than an auto generated email (or one that lacks any personal touches). Use their name, mention their blog, show that you’re not sending out an email to thousands of people but are talking directly to them.

3.    Get The Details Right – Another turn off for bloggers is being pitched to by someone who gets the personal details wrong. I’ve been on the end of many of these – where the person pitching the idea has gone to the trouble of copying and pasting unique details into an email – only to forget to change a detail from the last email on some important part – like my name. OR the email will start out like this, [Insert Blogger Name Here] and even paragraphs at the beginning that say things like “make sure you compliment the blogger on her site, say something nice”. Getting the person’s name and URL spelling right is a basic. I have received packages meant for other bloggers as well as emails addressed “Hey Felicia”

4.    Show You Know Who They Are – To touch on that last point, mention something that they’ve recently written, compliment them on something unique to them, ask them a question that shows you’ve dug a little deeper than finding their name and email address on a list in preparing your pitch.

5.    Introduce Yourself  - This might sound very basic – but I’m amazed by the ‘out of the blue’ nature of many pitches.  Take the time to get to know who you are pitching.  If you have met them before, consider reminding people who you are and how you’ve interacted with them before if you’ve had contact with them previously. They may remember – but they may not.  Also use clever subject lines if you want me to open your email.  I get hundreds of emails per day – so make yours stand out any way you can.

6.    Images & Press Releases – If you are doing a mailing – the preferable way to receive press info is a thumb drive.  If I get a paper press release from you and then have to ask again for low-res images that’s a waste of time and resources because the paper ones are just going to get recycled anyway.

7.    Please Don’t Pitch Me a “Partnership” if There Is None – I can’t count how many times I have been pitched an “exclusive partnership” that involved me doing a bunch of work for nothing in return.  I will not place a link on my blog for nothing – that’s called advertising.

8.    Research Your Question – Many of the questions that people ask bloggers could be answered by simply taking a moment or two to look around their blog. Look on their about page – see if they have a FAQ page and do a search of their blog to see if they’ve written on the topic that your question is on. Similarly – if you’re pitching a story idea – check to see that they haven’t already written about it by scanning their archives.

9.    Don’t Stalk – Obsessively emailing a person multiple times in a short period of time to ask question after question doesn’t tend to go over well. If you think you’ll have multiple things to ask – hold off on sending an email until you have them all in the one place, then send one email with bullet points.

10.    Be Persistent – On the flip side of the obsessive stalking is the pitcher who gives up too quickly. Don’t be afraid to send a reminder email asking nicely if they got your first one. I don’t mind getting these myself as I do find it difficult to respond to everyone on the first try.

11.    Keep On Topic – If you’re pitching story ideas you can do yourself a lot of damage by pitching irrelevant stories to bloggers. If their blog is about makeup, don’t send them information on sunglasses.

12.    Vet Bloggers Before Sending Product – Protect yourself.  Check out the blogger before you blindly send product.  Many but not all bloggers are in it just for the free product.  Do your homework and check their traffic, Twitter, Klout score, Facebook Fan network, and how their readers react/relate to them.  Most times, I prefer sample sizes unless it is skincare which I like to test for a longer period of time.

13.    Offer an Exclusive – Bloggers love to break stories. It helps them build traffic, establish credibility and profile and gives them the perception of being more connected in their niche. Offering some sort of exclusive angle on a story, access to interview a key person or even given them the exclusive rights to be first with a story is something that might help you get your story featured on a blog. A quick warning though – if you tell someone that they have an exclusive but end up offering it to numerous others you could end up doing more harm than good.

14.    Build Relationships – Interact with bloggers.  I have built some amazing relationships over the years with PR Reps. I support their products and releases because they work well with me.  I go out of my way to make appointments to see them and find out what the latest offerings are.

You can download the PDF HERE

Lianne Farbes’ 10 Tips for Having a Successful Twitter Event:

So you want to have a tweet-up huh? Tweetups are serious business these days and a fantastic way to build your brand and gain loyal followers in the process.  I have organized and executed my event Cocktails & Couture for the past 5 seasons at New York Fashion Week.  Here are my top ten tips for a successful, stress free event!

•     Tweet Tweet Once your locations and sponsors are confirmed, promote your tweet-up through your social channels.  Get the word out so you can have a good turnout!

•     Location…Location Depending on the size of your event, you may need different types of locations.  Always try and barter for the location in exchange for promotion.  Remember, you are bringing them business.

•     Sponsors If you aren’t good at sales, get good at it. If you want sponsors for your event you have to convince the sponsors that it will give them a good ROI (return on investment) so that they feel comfortable giving you their money.

•     Food + Drinks This also depends on location and what type of party you are having.  If it is a private event then you can get a cocktail sponsor and then use your sponsor $ to get a caterer for nibbles.  If you are just having an event at a bar/lounge you may be able to negotiate reduced rates on bar items in exchange for logo placement.

•     Step + Repeat Red Carpet Runway has great deals on packages for a party backdrop.  Put your logo, the logo of the venue and any high dollar sponsors on it.

•     Photographer You will need photos of your event – hit up sites like Craigslist OR the job boards at local art schools.  Great ways to get quality photos of your event for low $ (make sure you look at their photos or ask if they have a website before you hire them!)

•     Raffles Some sponsors may want to donate items in lieu of sponsorship if you have a raffle.  Raffles are a fun way to get partygoers exited about the event.

•     Invites Hit up a student graphic artist or if you know photoshop – save your self some money and make your own.  Or you can use sites like www.pingg.com and www.paperlesspost.com to create invites.

•     Management If you are using an invite that you have created, you can use a management site like www.evite.com to keep track of RSVP’s and upload a mailing list.  They even have a feature that you can download a guest list for the door.

•      Have Fun No event is any fun if the host is frazzled, remember to smile and have fun with your guests.  Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, eat something and keep the drinks to a minimum so you can be alert if any issues arise.

You can download the PDF HERE

* Future Hall of Famer and current NY Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera is truly the greatest relief pitcher of all time. He is (as of this writing) a 12-time All-Star; he is MLB’s all-time leader in saves (603) and games finished (883); he is a five-time World Series Champion. During his illustrious career, he has garnered 5 AL Rolaids Relief Man Awards, the 1999 World Series MVP Award and the 2003 AL Championship Series MVP Award. His list of records is so long, it can’t be contained here. Check the Wikipedia page and be astonished. He is still playing for the Yankees and is a god of baseball.

Give it a Rest!

It’s a good idea to know when to NOT promote yourself or your business.

If you are being interviewed by a journalist or editor, keep in mind that the interview itself is promoting your brand – there’s no need to keep saying “my (product) does this…” or “my (service) does that” every answer or every few minutes. The interviewer really does know that you want to promote yourself; let the journalist’s questions naturally evoke the things people need to know about you.

And also remember that most of the time, there will be contact information included about you – whether it be a link, a print URL or phone number, or a verbal mention. Your interviewer will do their best to get your info out into the world.

Literacy is a relatively late development in our history, so we humans are hard-wired to respond to stories and good storytelling. When a good storyteller is speaking, both sides of his brain are active and engaged. For the listener, both sides of her brain are engaged. We are automatically more connected.

This applies in your PR and marketing efforts as well. When you are pitching to journalists or trying to capture the attention of your consumer or customer, a good story will almost always garner better results than a dry recitation of facts and figures. The more comfortable you are at talking about and telling stories about yourself and your business, the better results you will achieve in any PR efforts. You’re just more interesting and fun to talk to – your journalists are more likely to connect to you and what you’re pitching.

So…what’s your story?

Figuring out which stories to tell should be an early step in the planning of your PR/media strategy. This also helps with your collateral materials such as bios, company stories, “About Us” pages on your website, brochures and more. Figuring out your story or stories will help create a roadmap for how you talk about yourself and/or your business.

One important story in pitching and selling your business is the Origin story, or how you got started. Your unique story can be one of the things that can differentiate you from the pack. Let’s face it: many products and services are the same or very similar, so sometimes it’s very small points of differentiation that cause customers or clients to come to YOU. Talking about how you got started – or how you perceived a problem or lack in the marketplace and then envisioned a solution – can be very compelling for your clients or customers.

Another kind of important story is about your clients or customers. Anecdotes or vignettes about your clients, their issues and the solution(s) you provided can be really compelling to those in similar situations. Testimonials on your site from satisfied customers are a real vote of confidence. How often do you look something up on a site like Yelp or check reviews on Amazon before you buy? We all want to know other people’s experiences with our same issues. Eliciting these stories from your clients/customers can be very important to your success, and give you stories to tell about your business.

It’s also important to think about your vision for the future. Where are you headed? Where is your company headed? How are you helping create a better future for your clients or customers – or for yourself? Being able to provide this vision – either right now (when people hit your site or read your press kit) or when asked (when you’re corresponding or speaking with a journalist) can give your editor great insights for their potential article; it also gives them confidence that you are in it for the long haul.

Tell us your story – how have you used storytelling to sell your business?

Waiting…Waiting…

If, after receiving a press release, a pitch, or finding you on their own, a journalist contacts you – please respond right away. There is no waiting game here; journalists are on a deadline, so 99% of the time, they need your response NOW. In these days of 24/7 connectedness, if you’re not available to answer a question, send an image or a sample, give a comment or whatever it is they need, they will go on to the next-most-interesting person, product or business.

Your PR success depends on your ability to respond in a timely manner, and journalists may use a variety of ways to contact you. So, make time to check those emails & texts and listen to your messages; we want you to get that piece of press!

Here we are in the middle of the Holiday season. This is a great time to think about letting people know that you love them, their business, product or service.

Sometimes it’s good to cast your bread upon the waters; you never know what will come back your way. We all like to help people who have helped us; it’s just human nature. And if someone has been nice and helpful to us in terms of spreading the word about our businesses, it’s only natural that we’d return the favor.

As you know, I am a publicist, so it is my job to mention my clients whenever and wherever possible. That said, I will only represent people whose product or service knocks me out; that way, I get to feel like I’m doing the world a favor letting them know about whatever it is; I promise it is always something fabulous. So I feel like I am coming from a great place when I post, tweet or blog about my clients.

When spreading the love for the rest of the “world”, I will say here – I think intentions are important. When I post, tweet or blog about a non-client – a person, product, service, place, food, article, etc. that I’ve come across and want to tell people about, my true intention is to spread the word about something I like or love or feel will be of interest/service to my peeps; I am not looking or asking for reciprocity.

If you spread the word about someone only because you are hoping that they’ll return the favor, well, I think that’s not a good intention and I do think it somehow comes through in what you’re saying; it doesn’t feel like a genuine recommendation – and probably won’t do much for you or the person you’re mentioning.

So open your heart, consider who you think is fab and let’s get proactive at this holiday time of love and sharing. Let’s make your love list:

• First, make a list of your biz pals who make a product or service that you like, or, even better, actually use.

• Then make a list of peeps you don’t know, whose product or service you like or use.

• Then make a list of peeps whose businesses, products or services align with yours, or seem like natural extensions of what you’re doing – these peeps will be of extra interest to your followers, likers or subscribers.

Now – share the love. Plan out tweets and posts and start getting the word out to your friends, likers and followers. If you’re a blogger, this is a great time to creatively and organically fit links to your faves into your blog posts. But really keep in mind that you’re doing this to spread the love, not for some specific reciprocity. Spreading the love is always good, and I promise it will come back to you in often-surprising ways.

Happy Holidays to you!

Ask for Testimonials

Testimonials are a fabulous way to build trust in your brand – which is a main object of PR. Your satisfied clients and customers are one of your best assets – so use them! Testimonials can be used on your website and in your collateral materials.

So – while your peeps are in the Holiday spirit, this is a great time to send them your season’s greetings and ask them to write short, to-the-point testimonials about your product, business or service – don’t forget to ask them for a photo, too; they’ll see that they get some exposure in return for their kind words.

It’s a win-win for both of you!

Hey, if you've got the wall space…

The “quiet” time as the year draws to a close is a great time to look ahead and start getting organized for your PR push into the new year. You want to be able to hit 2012 like a tidal wave!

A great way to do this is by calendaring out the 2012 pitch year:

Make a 12 month calendar on 1 page (this is a visual aid so you can “see” your whole year ahead); you can find great calendars online – iCal and Google Calendars are great; there are many more, of course.

Make sure each month block has room for 5-10 pitch ideas.

Now, consider your target media’s lead times:

Magazines (national/glossy) – 4-6 months

Magazines (local) 2-4 months

Newspapers 1-2 weeks (unless breaking news)

TV news 2-7 days (unless breaking news)

Blogs/online 2 days-3 weeks

Radio 1-2 weeks.

An exception to keep in mind is that most media outlets start compiling for Holiday Gift Guides as early as end of May or beginning of June – even shorter-lead magazines and papers; so it’s a good idea to calendar inquiries for mid-May; ask your outlets when they are actually starting to compile for their Holiday pitches.

So backing into the correct dates, enter your pitch ideas so that you’re ready to pitch when your outlets are ready to listen. Once you’ve made your reference calendar, you can schedule everything into your actual calendar and you will be organized and ready to go.

Now get to work on those fabulous pitches!

Inform Your Industry

When something great happens for your and/or your company, don’t forget to let your industry know about it.

If your field has a trade publication (or several), make sure they know that Bloomingdales ordered for all stores, that you just opened a new store, hired a new CEO or that you were named as “Realtor of the Year”.

And don’t neglect any trade organizations or associations to which you belong; they like to hear what their members are doing – it gives them something to report in newsletters or blog posts – all of which are searched by Google, etc., so that translates to more press for you.

One of the things I have learned in all these years of being a publicist is that PR of course stands for Public Relations, but P can also stand for Persistence and R can stand for Results.

PR takes time, consistency and effort. It’s not for the faint of heart or the weak of will. You have to know going into it that you will rarely get instant results (i.e., placements) with that fabulously-crafted, well-targeted pitch or release that you just sent out. But, when a PR campaign builds momentum and begins to succeed and show results, the rewards can be amazing.

Remember that most of the time, you’re going to have to pitch your journalists again and again. And you’re going to have to follow up and follow up – and you will have to learn by experience how to do that without being a pest or a pain. You have to make yourself available, do a lot of their work for them, stay in touch and make their lives easier. It’s all part of building a solid relationship with your journalists; they gradually begin to know who you are and trust the content of the pitches you send.

In the course of building these relationships, it can really feel like a long, hard slog. This is where your ability to be persistent and consistent kicks in. The PR process can feel random and bewildering. Sometimes you do get lucky and get a placement on the first pitch, but it’s more likely that you will have to send story idea after story idea to the same people over and over before you finally hit that right person on that right day with that right pitch.

When that happens – BING! – you book a piece of press and that is always a great feeling. There’s nothing like opening a major magazine and seeing a story that features you, your product or service. Or clicking on a website and reading all about your new book, handbag or eye cream.

So craft a great pitch; build a targeted media list and get out there and start pitching. Good luck!

Have you ever gotten a bite on a first pitch? Tell us about it!

Well, it’s that time of year again – Thanksgiving. As we get ready to dive into our turkey dinners tomorrow, many families have different traditions for giving thanks; some go around the table and tell their families and friends – out loud – the things for which they’re thankful. Some write their thanks or grateful thoughts on paper “leaves” and decorate a tree.

I think it’s a good tradition in business to find your own way of expressing thanks. Maybe you’re not saying it out loud, or tying a decoration on a tree, but it’s nice to let people know that they’ve had an impact on your business for which you are thankful. Earlier in the year, I wrote a blog post about The Fallacy of the Solopreneur; it was about how even though sometimes it feels like you’re all alone out there slugging away, we all actually have a big circle of people who get us and our businesses through the day.

So now is a really nice time to send cards, emails, small thoughtful tokens or make that thank you phone call you’ve been putting off. Let your peeps know you are feeling the love; you’ll definitely get some back; and that’s nice too.

Did a blogger write a great story about you or your company? Did your sister help you (finally!) understand how to use Quicken? Did the business editor of your local paper highlight your company? Did you get a mention for that terrific workshop you led? Did your graphic designer create a killer logo for your new venture? Did your CPA save you some big dough at tax time? Did your intern reorganize all your files? Did your sales rep land you that dream store? Did a piece in a major magazine have huge impact on your online and wholesale sales? Did your customers write great testimonials and reviews on Yelp and other sites?

If you look back over the year, you’ll see that you’ve been given encouragement, helping hands and great advice; magazine editors, newspaper reporters and bloggers have written about you and raised your profile; assistants and employees have worked hard and made your life better and easier; your cleaning person has made your home the place you love to come back to; your clients and customers have helped your success – and have paid your bills. Your family and friends have given you the hugs and kisses you’ve needed to get through an often-challenging year.

So to all those people in our lives, let’s say a big THANK YOU!!!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!