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Common Question: Is this business viable?
Starting any small business is, for lack of a better term, a challenge. You can’t just jump into it without plenty of thought and research. Running your business is a never-ending roller coaster of good days and bad; ups and downs; rewards and...
Creative People Should Stop Charging By the Hour & They'll Make More Money
If you are a freelancer, subcontrator, designer, artist, decorator, or any type of creative person and are making (or trying to make) your living in any creative field, then this article is for you!
One of the biggest challenges with a...
Innovation Management – specialisation or generalisation?
One of the topics often debated is the benefit of specialisation over generalisation. To consistently generate a large number of good ideas, is it better to specialise within a field or to vary knowledge amongst a variety of fields?
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SEE THE POSSIBILITIES
I have a very dear friend who is also my partner in some of my business ventures. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and I live in Laurel, Maryland. Some business dealings need to be done face-to-face rather than by telephone or e-mail,...
The Top 10 Priorities That Guard Your Five-Star Reputation
Making money doesn’t make your reputation... your reputation makes you money. Gala Gorman
Whether your business is product or service-oriented, the loyalty and dedication of your customers is greatly dependent on your reputation. Your most...
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PubliCity Outside Your City: Outsourcing For More Affordable PR Services
We all know that the Internet has taken away geographic boundaries in the business world. The accessibility and expansiveness of the Internet allows the entrepreneur/business owner anywhere in North America to search outside his local yellow pages for the best and most affordable services available. This is especially true when it comes to finding PR/publicity services for your business. What it boils down to is . the Inter'net can mean a 'net savings in your publicity budget.
A few months back, I got an email from a California client who discovered that the local part-time freelance publicity specialist he had hired was charging three times the amount I charge and providing half the services I offered. Because of that, the client hired me to work with the freelancer in heading up this nationwide campaign launch. The freelancer told me that because of West coast cost of living/overhead, he was forced to charge the higher fees -- surprisingly, he was one of the cheapest publicity pros in that area! I have heard stories like this time and time again from clients who hit the 'net in search of a cheaper alternative to PR services listed in their local directory.
That fact was drilled home to me even more when I recently took a detailed look at my portfolio of clients. I was surprised to learn that over the last few years more than 40% of my clients for my Midwest-based PR business have come from the West coast, another 25% from the East coast and 10% from Canada. A quick e-mail polling of clients revealed the same story over and over. They simply found it hard to locate professional, affordable PR services in their area, so they turned to the Internet to find it.
Frankly, for publicity campaigns restricted to your city/region, I recommend going with a local PR specialist/firm. They typically know the local media market best and have solid media contacts there. But for a national or industry rade specific publicity campaign for your product/business, explore the possibility of hiring a PR individual or team outside your geographic area -- especially if your product has nationwide appeal. One client remarked that he liked how our campaign brought a Midwest feel to his East coast-based business and helped him open up potential new business avenues. Another client said he looked to outsource to a small to mid-sized city PR business because, as he put it, "No matter the size of the office, West coast PR firms seemed very plastic and glitzy, while the East coast firms seemed to be too
hectic, almost frantic." That may indeed be a huge generalization on his part, because I'm certain there are wonderfully professional PR businesses in almost every city.
Be advised -- mechanically, most PR agencies do basically the same thing. Sure each firm/office/freelancer has their strong points. The major difference lies with the respective creativity, ingenuity and professionalism of the PR individual or staff. Don't take this to mean that "cheaper is better" - there is certainly something to be said for the phrase "you get what you pay for". Just don't pay three, four or even ten times as much to get you the same amount of quality. Look for a firm that can give you an entire campaign from start to finish -- release/kit, media market research, media contacts, large-scale media distribution, media tracking/clipping -- not just a $100 - $500 release distribution.
Take to the 'net and see what you can find. Above all, ask for references, writing samples, publicity placement history -- where they have generated publicity for past clients. Make sure they are technologically advanced enough to get timely, high-quality publicity information to media outlets all over the nation that benefits your business. Look for a PR service with a broad range of media contacts in multiple formats (print, broadcast & Internet) and strong media tracking capabilities. Some PR pros promise to pitch your campaign to hundreds of magazines and newspapers when your strongest media market may be in radio/TV shows & newscasts -- or vice versa.
I am not reinventing the PR wheel here, I am simply saying that when it comes to generating publicity for your business/website/venture/invention, the best match for you may not be in the big glass building in your city's downtown. Big firms in big cities most often mean big fees and not necessarily big quality.
Bottom line -- the Internet is giving entrepreneurs of all types the opportunity to afford publicity -- publicity from outside your city.
Todd F. Brabender Spread The News Public Relations Generating publicity/media exposure for innovative businesses, products, inventions & experts. http://www.SpreadTheNewsPR.com info@SpreadTheNewsPR.com
About the Author
Todd Brabender is the President of Spread The News Public Relations, Inc. His business specializes in generating publicity/media exposure for innovative businesses, products, inventions & experts. http://www.SpreadTheNewsPR.com info@SpreadTheNewsPR.com
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Creativity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of ... Wallas considered creativity to be a legacy of the evolutionary process, ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Creativity For Life |
An exploration of creativity in everyday life, with articles, quotes, reviews and other creative resources to awaken creativity in daily life. |
www.creativityforlife.com |
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AdCritic.com: Commercial Ads |
FROM CREATIVITY: Emerging Directors, Unite In the time it took to write this, three new directors popped up. Here are twenty to get acquainted with. ... |
www.adcritic.com |
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National Curriculum in Action - Creativity - |
Ordering Creativity packs: print and video materials. This website gives practical ideas on how to promote pupils' creative thinking and behaviour. ... |
www.ncaction.org.uk |
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Ten Steps for Boosting Your Creativity |
Experiments performed by the JPB Creative Laboratory show that watching TV causes your ... a weekly report on creativity, ideas, innovation and invention ... |
www.jpb.com |
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Category:Creativity Techniques - Mycoted |
This is a general category of Creativity and Innovation Techniques, ... I like to think of these creativity techniques as tools in a toolbox in much the ... |
www.mycoted.com |
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Creativity at Work: The interplay of business, art and science |
A resource for training and development in creativity and innovation in organizations. Has a newsletter, and some articles and essays by 'Corporate ... |
www.creativityatwork.com |
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Crayola Creativity Central |
Crayola Creativity Central offers kids arts and crafts ideas for rainy day fun. We also have coloring books and pages, art and craft projects, games, ... |
www.crayola.com |
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Pages tagged with "creativity" on del.icio.us |
All items tagged creativity ??? view popular ... Perspective for Creative Leaders · save this. by aromay to creativity business management ... 1 hour ago ... |
del.icio.us |
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Creativity Web - Resources for Creativity and Innovation |
Creativity Web Home Page Resources for Creativity and Innovation ... The Creative Process · Multiple Intelligences · Idea Recording · Your Creative Space ... |
members.optusnet.com.au |
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gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards": how to ... |
So you want to be more creative, in art, in business, whatever. ... Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion ... |
www.gapingvoid.com |
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Creativity Quotes | Creativity Quotations | Creativity Sayings ... |
Quotes on Creativity - part of a larger collection of Wisdom Quotes to challenge and inspire. Find Creativity quotations and links to quotes on other ... |
www.wisdomquotes.com |
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Ideas by Creativity Pool |
A free database with new ideas and possible inventions. Add your own, or bring an existing idea to life. |
www.creativitypool.com |
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CREATIVITY |
Creative problem solving depends on using the right tools, tricks, ... Search for the latest books on Creativity (or anything else) in the Quantum Books ... |
www.quantumbooks.com |
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Creativity Tools, Creative Solutions & Creative Problem Solving ... |
This page explains a wide range of techniques which can help you generate creative solutions to your problems. |
www.mindtools.com |
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The 6 Myths Of Creativity |
A new study will change how you generate ideas and decide who's really creative in your company. |
www.fastcompany.com |
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CreativeClass.org |
Richard Florida's "The Rise of the Creative Class" examines creativity and its effects on economic development. |
www.creativeclass.org |
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TIP: Concepts |
The relationship between creativity and intelligence has been always been a central concern of psychology ( Guilford , 1950). Much effort has been devoted ... |
tip.psychology.org |
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American Creativity Association (ACA) |
An incorporated non-profit organization promoting personal and professional creativity. Association membership is represented by four multidisciplinary ... |
www.amcreativityassoc.org |
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CREAX - Portal for creativity and innovation |
A resource for links on creativity and innovation on the web. A selection of 690 links is divided into 67 categories for the visitors convenience. |
www.creax.net |
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