Internationally Yours

Good Morning! Bon Jour! Buenos Dias! Buongiorno! Guten Morgen!

As you can see, I’m having lots of fun (aka, slightly out of control) with the translation tool in Microsoft Word. But the real point if this post is an exciting new feature to the Amy Mac blog – a ClustrMap which tracks the location of logins.

I recently started noticing people are logging in from all over the world – places like the Czech Republic, Italy, Ireland, Ontario, Poland … even Germany. They are finding Amy Mac from a variety of spots, including blog catalogs and random Google searches (I believe the recent limerick post was the trick to capturing the Irish audience), and some of them are from you kind readers forwarding along my link. Thanks!

So scroll down to the lower right corner of the blog to check out the map, and consider adding a Clustr Map to your web site – it’s free, and it’s a fun way to see what markets you’re reaching around the world.

Spring Cleaning

Follow this link to my latest article in Northside Woman about the perils of Spring Cleaning.

That's That

Good writing is crisp, easy-to-read, and avoids unnecessary words – and many times, the unnecessary word is “that.”

I learned this tip years ago in a writing seminar and it has served me well ever since. Whenever you write, whether it’s a news release or a letter to your local congressman, remove the word “that.” Now re-read the sentence, and see if it still makes sense. I’ll wager 75 percent of the time it does.

As naturally as I run spell check, I also run the “find” tool for the word in question, and eliminate it as much as possible. I’ve even been known to rewrite sentences so I don’t use “that.”

It’s an easy way to trim the fat from your writing. Now, if I could just figure out a trick to trim the fat from bacon …. maybe someday.

And that, folks, is a wrap.

You, Too.

I was in ninth grade when U2’s The Joshua Tree was released, and while they’d released a few albums before The Joshua Tree (and given a phenomenal performance for the Live Aid concert), this was the one that launched them into the stratosphere in the United States.

And here they are, not only still chugging along, but selling out huge arenas during every leg of their last concert tour. All over the world. I was lucky enough to see their last tour thanks to some kind friends with a corporate skybox at Phillips Arena and believe me, it was one amazing show (worth every penny I didn’t actually have to pay.) I’ll be happy to pay top-dollar for their upcoming tour to promote their new album No Line on the Horizon. Which begs the question –

How does U2 stay relevant after 30 years?

I have a couple of theories – and one of them is they use marketing to their utmost advantage. I think we could all take a page out of their book (or liner notes, so to speak):

If you’re launching a new product, be everywhere. Just last week, U2 played five nights in a row on the David Letterman Show, performed on Good Morning America, is playing a “secret” show in Boston March 11, and has been featured in countless magazines (Rolling Stone and People, to name a couple.) As of today, U2 is on track to have its seventh number one album on the Billboard 200 charts, and NLOTH debuted at number one on the London charts, where they launched a similar publicity blitz.

Be relevant – and attract new audiences. The Good Morning America appearance took place at Fordham University. I am sure a majority of the students at the concert weren’t even born when The Joshua Tree was released. U2’s live performance introduced a whole new audience (and age demographic) to their music, but they couldn’t have done that without making sure their music would connect with that age group. My guess is there’s not a kid at Fordham who hasn’t downloaded the album.

Get out of your comfort zone – U2 has been playing stadium-size concert venues for 20 years now, but even they still get a case of the nerves. Last week, Letterman had them read the Top 10 List for the evening, and a couple of the guys were visibly nervous. Interesting, isn’t it – play in front of 20,000 screaming fans? No problem. Read a list in front of a small studio audience? Not so much. They did a great job, and reinforced their reputation as genuinely nice guys.

Produce a great product, every single time – this is the key. If the band didn’t produce great music, they’d be on an episode of VH1’s One-Hit Wonders. Except for a couple of slips in the mid-to-late 90s, their albums are critic and fan favorites alike …. the music is great because U2 sets the bar high and exceeds expectations.

Ask yourself how you can borrow a few of these marketing ideas from one of the greatest bands in the world – and make your product or service stand out. You might not land on GMA or Dave, but even a small-time publicity blitz can pay big-time dividends.

The Today Show and Amy Mac

Yesterday's Today Show featured a story on how these tough economic times are contributing to a rise in the bartering of services. I'm all for a good barter, as you may remember from a recent post. I highly recommend you go through the expenses column on your budget and see if you can find someone who provides you a service who might be interested in a trade - done right, it can give you the best of both worlds and give your bottom line a much-needed break!

First Pitch

I recently got a call from a colleague with a question about reporters – specifically, if there are two (or more) covering your industry – a common occurrence with major metropolitan newspapers - how do you determine which reporter to send your news release?

There’s a simple solution: go to the media outlet’s web site and do a search for the reporter’s name. Read her last five articles. Then go to the next reporter and do the same, and keep going until you start to see a pattern – and you will start to see a pattern. Most reporters have their “hot spots” within their industry, a topic they write about often, a cause they are quick to cover, types of events and news they seem to prefer.

Your job is to determine which reporter your piece of news fits best, and craft a pitch that lets the reporter know you’ve been reading his articles (you know what they say about flattery.)
A well-written news release sent to the right reporter with a succinct pitch will go miles toward getting favorable publicity, so remember to do your due diligence before you hit send on that e-mail button!