Forever Amber

The fact that you’ve just started a new business is probably desperately interesting to you. If you’re like most new business owners, you’ll be thinking about your business 24/7 (which is pretty much the hours you’ll be working on it, too!). If you’re very lucky, your new business will be just as fascinating to your friends and family (not to mention your lawyer and accountant) as it is to you. That’s great. But the rest of us? Well, unless you’re giving something away free, or offering a service we desperately need and can’t get anywhere else, here’s an unpleasant truth for you:

No one else cares about your business.

Not yet, anyway. The fact is that people start new businesses every day. There are thousands of new businesses incorporated every year. While each of those businesses is obsessively interesting to the people who own and run them, to the rest of us they’re just another new business. They don’t exactly set our worlds on fire – or most of them don’t, anyway.

Don’t believe me? Well, think about it. What would you think if I told you that a new accountant had started doing business in your town? Unless you happened to be in the market for a new accountant, probably not much.

Similarly, imagine walking into the newsagents to buy your morning newspaper. You scan the headlines in front of you: one talks about important developments in the war on terror, one has a new celebrity scandal… and one carries the front-page news that a telemarketing agency has just won a new contract. Which one will you buy? (Assuming, of course, that you’re not the telemarketer, in which case feel free to buy as many copies as you like.)

The fact is that the new business openings don’t sell newspapers because they’re not really “news”.

No one else cares about your new business. Yet.

It’s the “yet” part that you need to pay attention to. Just because no one’s interested right now doesn’t mean that no one ever will be. The fact is that you have to make them care. Press releases help you do that: they persuade people to care about your business by creating a bit of a “buzz” about it – by making it newsworthy.

So how do you do it? How do you find an angle that will persuade people that your business is worth caring about – and persuade journalists and editors that it’s worth taking up space in their newspaper or magazine for?

Time for another story…

The day after Christmas, 2003, Terry was diagnosed with end stage renal failure and told that he’d need a kidney transplant. In the meantime, he started attending five-hour dialysis sessions three times a week, at a hospital on the other side of the city.

Of course, we were devastated. We had bought a house (and a dog) together the year before. Both of us were working, and doing pretty well in our respective careers. Now, although, Terry was forced to give up his job, we struggled to get by on my salary alone, and there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

This state of affairs lasted for four months. By the end of that time, we had made a decision: Terry and I had always wanted to run our own business. Neither of us enjoyed the monotony of the 9-5, and we were both attracted to the idea of working for ourselves, being our own bosses, and generally taking back control of our lives. so we did.

Terry is a website designer. Every morning he headed off to dialysis with his laptop under his arm, and rather than spending the five hours of treatment sleeping, or watching TV, he spent the time designing websites. He sold the first site he designed to a local estate agent. A few months later, I quit my job and joined him, writing website copy and press releases for our clients. Hot Igloo Productions Ltd., was incorporated in June 2004, and is still going strong.

I love telling people this story. I particularly love telling it to people who find themselves diagnosed with kidney failure, like Terry, and think that their lives are over. I like to think that they love the story too – and I know that the press did.

Not long after we launched Hot Igloo, I sent a press release out to our local papers. The headline was “Running a business from a hospital bed” and it focused on Terry – his illness, and how he’d turned his bad luck around to start-up his own business.

The press release appeared on our local news website on a Wednesday morning. Within minutes of it going live, our phone was ringing off the hook with calls from other newspapers. That day, Terry was joined at dialysis by a photographer working for the largest news agency in the country. The next morning, our story, complete with pictures, appeared in both of the local newspapers for our area, countless news websites and one or two national newspapers. It even appeared in a clutch of specialist kidney publications, including the Journal of Nephrology.

The effect of all of this publicity is difficult to measure. We didn’t experience an instant rise in sales, but nor did we expect to: the fact is that we sell websites and press release services, and those aren’t services you’d rush out and buy unless you really needed them.

If you were to ask me, then, whether the press coverage gave an instant boost to our business, I’d have to say no. If you were to ask whether it had helped us in the long term, though, the answer would be a resounding “yes”!

To go back to what we were saying earlier: people remember the stories they enjoy. If they don’t have any immediate use for them, they tuck them away for later – and there always is a “later”. In our case, that one press release is still working for us now, years later. We’ve lost count of the number of clients who’ve contacted us months after the story was published and said, “I’ve just started a business and need a website. I remembered reading about you in the paper, so I thought I’d give you a call….”

The press release also works for us when we tender for a new contract, competing with other businesses from our area. “I remember you!” people say. “You’re the company that was in the paper!”

Finally, around a year after writing the release, it was picked up by a US website developer looking for content for 50 websites (yes, one for every state.) He published it on all 50 sites – not only did it give us some unexpected publicity, it also dramatically boosted the traffic to our own website, when we were least expecting it.

This is how PR works:
It may not work immediately.
It may not give you instant results.

But if you find the right angle for your story, the fact is that PR doesn’t just work – it keeps on working, in ways that you hadn’t even expected.

In order for this to happen, though, you have to first of all find the right story….

Before you even think about choosing the story (or angle) you’re going to build your press release around, there are a few things you need to know about the media. Here’s the first – and most important – of them:

1. Journalists receive hundreds of press releases every week

Depending on the publication they’re writing for, they may even get hundreds of press releases every day. Even a junior reporter on a small weekly free sheet will spend a good part of her day ploughing through the mountain of press releases which land on her desk on in her inbox. So you’re up against some pretty stiff competition. Obviously you’re going to have to make sure your press release stands out, and grabs her attention. But how?

2. The vast majority of these press releases remain unread.

Luckily, the situation isn’t quite as desperate as it may seem. You don’t really have to compete with all of these hundreds of press releases. You only have to compete with the good ones. The reason? The rest of them go straight to that round metal filling cabinet on the floor…

Let me tell you a story. (Because we all love stories!)…

On the first newspaper I ever worked for, we received a small forest’s worth of news releases every day. It often fell to me to sift through them all and decide which were worth following up, and which were headed straight to the recycle bin. After a while, I started to notice that the press releases we received fell into roughly three groups:

* “I’ve started a new business and I want you to write about it!” - roughly 50%

* “I have a new product and I want you to write about it!” - roughly 45%

* Genuine “news” stories that we could actually use - 5%

Most of the last group came from the press office of our local council . They read our paper every week and knew what kind of story we were interested in covering. These were press releases that we had actively requested to be sent.

Most of the second group came from a huge car company (who shall remain nameless), who must have spent an absolute fortune sending us glossy photos of their cars, special presentations folders and the occasional freebie as an added “incentive” (read: bribe) for us to write about their latest car. What they hadn’t stopped to think about, however was the fact that our newspaper didn’t actually have a motoring section…

The first group – the “please write about my business” group are the ones you’re probably most interested in. We’ll come back to those later. What we can learn from the other two examples is this:

* If you want your press release to be read, you have to give the journalist the kind of news they’re interested in covering *

In order to do this, you have to actually READ their newspaper.

Back to our journalists, and the final two things you need to know about them.

3. Journalists are very, very busy

Unfortunately, the newspaper industry is similar to many other industries in that there’s a tendency to hire fewer staff than are really needed. This is bad news for journalists, who work in a highly pressurised environment anyway, with tight deadlines and constant stress – and who often find themselves doing two people’s jobs at once.

What this means for you and your press release is that the journalist you send it to will probably not have time to read it properly, and will simply scan it to see if it’s worth following up. If that first scan doesn’t grab their attention and make them think “hey, this is a good story – we need to be covering this!” they’ll file it straight into the bin.

4. The media don’t owe you anything

Here’s something that most people forget: newspaper owners are running a business too. Their business makes money by selling copies of their newspaper, and trust me, they’re in it for the money: they’re not providing a public service. When I worked on local newspapers, we would get a lot of phonecalls from people who seemed to feel that it was our duty to print the stories they gave us, whether it was about their child winning a prize at school or their business winning a new client. The problem was that as much as we’d liked to have helped these people, we were running a business. The success of that business depended on us providing news that people actually wanted to read, and, sadly, no one really wants to read about a child winning a book token or a business signing a new contract. (Unless, of course, you’re the child’s parents or the owner of the business.)

Some people (including small business owners) would become upset and even abusive when we told them we couldn’t run their story. They had totally missed the point: we didn’t owe them a story.

So, what have we learned from this insight into journalism, and how can it help you with your press release? Let’s summarise:

 Target your press release to the publications that are most likely to use it.

If your business sells makeup, for example, Farmers Weekly probably WON’T want to know about it…

 Make sure the subject of your press release qualifies as genuine “news”, and isn’t just a blatant attempt to advertise your business.

Ask yourself, “Would I want to read about this, if it wasn’t about me?” If the answer is no, you’re going to have to seriously re-think your angle before you even think about sitting down to write your release.

How to Write Perfect Press Releases, Part 1

The fact that you’re reading this post tells me that you’ve already discovered one secret of freelance writing for yourself: it’s not easy. Before you even get started, then, here are some other things you need to know:

1. You won’t make a living from it right away

That’s not to say that you won’t ever make a living from it. Many people do: myself included. If you think that you’ll be able to quit the day job and immediately start pulling in a full-time freelance wage, though, you’re in for a shock. Building a freelance writing business takes time and effort. There are no shortcuts.

2. Qualifications won’t help you

One of the questions I’m asked most frequently is whether it’s worthwhile investing in one of the many writing courses on offer, either online or through colleges and universities. While I’ve no doubt that these courses will help you hone your writing skills and understand the business a little better, though, they won’t help you find freelance writing jobs.

The fact is that freelance writing just doesn’t work that way. It’s not like other careers where you gain the qualification and then walk straight into an entry-level job. In the world of freelance writing, it’s experience that counts, rather than qualifications. I’ve yet to be asked what kind of qualifications I hold, and very few employers have even wanted to see my resume. (The ones who did were interested in my experience, not my qualifications anyway).

The “secret” you can take from this: do a writing course if you think you need to brush up on your technical skills. Just don’t expect your qualification to open many doors for you.

3.  Freelance writing is the classic catch-22

As mentioned above, the people who employ freelance writers aren’t interested in your qualifications. A magazine editor who’s considering commissioning you to write a feature for her doesn’t care where you went to school, or what kind of qualifications you have. All she cares about is whether you can deliver the type of article she’s looking for, and whether you can do it in the time scale she’s looking for it.

In order to establish whether you’re likely to be able to do this, she’ll probably want to know what your experience is: what else have you written, and whom have you written it for.

And there’s the rub. If you haven’t yet written anything for anyone, you won’t have the experience to show her. But if no one will commission you can’t get that experience.

Of course, this is no secret. In fact, it’s probably one of the reasons you’re reading this site. Before we help you work around the Catch-22, though, there are some other things you should know about freelance writing…

4. You’re going to need a thick skin

Make no mistake, freelance writing is not a career for the faint-hearted. You will get rejections: in fact, you’ll probably get a lot of them, and no matter how many light-hearted jokes you try to make about wallpapering your bathroom with them, the rejections will hurt. Sometimes they’ll hurt so much that you’ll feel like giving up.

This is another of those hard facts that you have to deal with if you’re determined to make a career for yourself in this business. If you don’t have a naturally thick skin, you’re going to have to develop one. Not everyone is able to do this. Ask yourself carefully if you can do it before you make the leap.

5. Not everyone will support you

By starting a career as a freelance writer, you’re following a dream. You’d think, then, that people would be happy for you – and, indeed, some of them will be. Not all of them, though. Freelancing as a career is a far riskier option than settling down to a nice 9-5 job. By deciding to do it, you’re taking a risk, and not everyone will think that risk is worth it. When I first started freelancing I lost count of the number of times people asked me when I was going back to work, or why I didn’t have a “real” job. The fact is that some people just don’t understand. Be prepared for this.

6. You will work harder than you did in your “regular” job

Many people cite “time” or “freedom” as a major factor in their decision to start freelancing. Quite simply, they don’t have enough of either. They get sick of working long hours for other people, never having time for themselves, and going largely unrewarded for all their hard work. They see freelance writing as a way out of that trap, imagining a blissful existence where they tap away at their laptop while seated in front of a roaring fire, or on some exotic beach.

Of course, it’s not like that. The reality of freelance writing is that it’s a lot of hard work: probably harder work – at least at first – than the job you left in order to do it. It’s long hours, weekends, evenings, holidays. It’s far less financial freedom than you’re used to.

It’s also highly rewarding and, if you love to write, probably the best job you could wish for.

Hold onto that thought.

The ability to write press releases is a good skill for a freelancer writer to have, both because it’s a tool which will help you promote your own writing services, and because it’s a skill you can sell to your clients. In the first part of our series on How to Write Press Releases, we look at the reasons this form of promotion is so popular…

People love stories. Most of us get a daily fix of storytelling of some description, whether it’s from reading a book or newspaper, watching TV or just enjoying a good chat with a friend.

What’s more, we remember the stories we hear – and if they interest us enough, we find ourselves repeating them to everyone we know. Good stories are never forgotten, and never ignored. If only the same could be said for adverts and marketing materials!

Think about the last time you read a newspaper. I’m willing to bet you remember at least one of the stories you read in it, if not more. But can you remember the advert that was on the same page?

These days, people are so inundated with marketing and advertising messages that we just don’t notice them any more. We’ve managed to tune them out.  Consumers are tired of over-hyped marketing which makes ridiculous claims and uses too-many exclamation marks. They’re tired of adverts which interrupt their favourite TV show, or fall out of their magazine as soon as they open it.

So they ignore them.

This is the main reason why so many business owners are turning away from traditional advertising and marketing methods and using press releases instead to put their message across.

When you write a press release and send it out, it will appear (if you’re lucky enough to have it appear!) in the publication as an ordinary story. What that means is that it will be read. Actually persuading people to read your message is the biggest hurdle to overcome when you’re using traditional advertising methods. With PR, however, you don’t have that problem. And the reason? Because people love stories.

What’s your story?

The world is full of wannabe writers. Just ask my inbox: every day it gets flooded with emails from people looking for freelance work or just desperate to know how to get started.

Not that I blame them, of course. I’ve been there, done that, got the repetitive strain syndrome to prove it. I’ve wasted hundreds of words on query letters and articles, felt that familiar drop of the stomach as each rejection came in, and spent hours online, searching for that big old secret that would let me make a career out of doing something I loved.

Well here’s the secret: there isn’t one.

Before you hit the back button in disgust, though, let me clarify.

There is no great secret to building a successful business as a freelance writer. That much is true. Sometimes, though, it feels as if there is. When you’re a new writer, desperately struggling to win your first freelance commission, it’s tempting to think that everyone else knows something you don’t. How else would other writers be managing to snag those elusive contracts and huge payouts when you’re still collecting rejection slips? Why can no one ever seem to tell you what to do to get your writing career off the ground?

When you’re just starting out in freelancing, the constant rejections and lack of progress can be very disheartening: and while it’s true that there’s no great secret to breaking into the industry, it’s also true that some people seem to manage it better than others.

It’s those people’s secrets we’ll be sharing in this blog over the coming weeks: the tips and techniques that have helped real freelance writers build successful businesses.

Before we do that, though, I’ll share the biggest secret I know about freelance writing: it’s a business.

Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? Surprisingly enough, though, many of the freelance writers I encounter don’t seem to have realized this important fact. To that extent, it sometimes really does seem like the best-kept secret in the freelance writing world.

It’s true, though: freelance writing is a business.

That means you have to think like a businessperson in order to succeed as a writer. You need to know a little bit about marketing, a little bit about sales, a little bit about customer service, a little bit about finance, a little bit about advertising: and, of course, a little bit about writing.

You’re probably thinking I got that wrong. Surely you’ll need to know a whole lotabout writing if you want to start a business as a freelance writer? Not necessarily.

Here’s another secret for you: the most successful freelance writers aren’t necessarily the most talented writers.

This one seems a bit odd. Writing, as we all know, is a skill, a talent. It’s an art that you have to hone carefully over many years in order to get good at it. Well, yes. All of this is true. But this post isn’t about writing. It’s aboutfreelance writing. And freelance writing is first and foremost a business.

Now, I’m not for a second claiming that the quality of your writing doesn’t matter. If your writing skills aren’t up to scratch then you won’t succeed as a freelance writer, period. What I am saying, however, is that excellent writing skills alone aren’t enough. Some off the best writers I know have absolutely no idea how to market their skills or find clients, and even less clue how to run a business. Those writers aren’t currently working as freelancers.

On the other hand, there are other people out there whose writing skills, although good, are nothing out of the ordinary, but who work hard at selling themselves. Those are the ones making a living out of freelance writing.

Of course, it doesn’t take a genius to find out that if you can find a way to combine the two – great writing and great business sense – you could be not just making a living out of freelance writing, but a very good living indeed.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing the secrets of starting and running a successful freelance writing business. Check back tomorrow for the next installment!