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What’s Your Excuse?

Alexander Irving — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 18:50:05 +0000

Some writings resonate

We’ve heard every reason and excuse in the book for salon professionals not becoming successful with their own PR.

“I can’t afford monthly PR agency fees“, or, “I can’t afford multi-month commitments right now“. Those two have always been among the biggies. Well we’ve solved that one for you. Check out PR a la Carte. Let’s not hear that particular excuse anymore. OK?

On that topic, here’s a post we received a copy of this morning from Seth Godin’s Blog . If you don’t subscribe to his blog, we suggest you do. Here it is, short and sweet.

Every successful case is a special case

It’s easy to dismiss strategies or plans or people who succeed by pointing out how they have something special, something irreproducible, some sort of advantage that makes their success special.

Special as in, “not available to me.”

They went to Harvard, they’re public, they’re not public, they have a great fundraising team, they have a powerful partner, they didn’t go to Harvard, they already have a reputation, they have no reputation to risk…

This is silly, as all success is special. That’s what makes it success. We don’t consider breathing a success, since, fortunately, we all can breathe.

The trick is learning about what the special cases have in common, in understanding how maybe, just maybe, you have some of the very same attributes that others have used in a new way.

Comments?

Do Your Salon Clients Really Open Your Email?

Alexander Irving — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 03:59:51 +0000

Just because you write doesn’t mean you’re read …

How do you look through your incoming email pile after you’ve been away from your desk?

you know how it looks … suddenly a zillion ‘From:’, ‘To:’, ‘Subject:’, and ‘Received:’ fields stream int and the top window darkens with unread emails..

You sigh, and scan for clients, and “most urgent” .. (people or subject) – 95% + don’t fit this category. Few deletions have happened.

OK … Urgent emails are dealt with

here’s the critical part. Reader’s final review —- “Gotta check it out” … or …“It’s dumb,

I always get a perverse kick out of knocking down the number of emails I do that by scanning the ‘From:’,and ‘Subject:’, fields again.

Dumb , boring, or predictable = Delete

Interesting, appealing, engaging … Gotta check it out? = Save

So the next 30 seconds sound like this:

Delete … delete … delete …. don’t delete … don’t delete … delete … delete … don’t delete
… delete … delete … don’t delete … delete

Sound familiar? Am I wrong?

You spend a great deal of time and effort planning a promotion or offering etc. But, unless you made the final email review cut, they never saw your offer. I know … you have great in-salon signage?

It’s the subject line

Just like newsstand magazines, it’s the headline that grabs ‘em long enough to get them started. Better have a good first paragraph. Here is a link to a PDF of headline suggestions for your consideration … tried and true and offered by Chris Garrett (http://www.chrisg.com) and Authority Blogger. http://www.authorityblogger.com.

Download the PDF.

Enjoy.

PR at its Best: Simple and Old-Fashioned

Alexander Irving — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:11:18 +0000

Today was unusual.

We got a hand-written card in the mail.

It stood out in the pile like a sore thumb. Hand-written, imagine that. Different … That took time.

We went back into the house where we usually toss the mail on the kitchen table for opening later, but not today. We stayed together and opened that piece. We looked at the return address. How ‘old-fashioned’. We left all the other mail for later.

It was short, sweet, and thoughtful. We commented on it and discussed that person and (I assume both) thought to ourselves, ” Gee, they found this lovely card, sat down, thought of something original to write, addressed it by hand, put a stamp on it, and took it to the post office. Imagine that! They spent time doing that for me.”

Good PR is Like That Because Editors are Real People

Short, sweet and personal. No one likes to feel they’ve been ‘mass’ mailed. Avoid what is known as ‘spray and pray’. Each piece of news you send out should have a brief cover note written to that editor or producer, helping them understand how your news applies to their reader or viewer. This approach to spreading news is always well received.

Perhaps your news doesn’t get used this time. That’s OK. You made an impression and will be a welcome guest in their mail box in future. It’s clear you know what they write about, and that they are not just another email address on your (ugh) ‘media list’. Remember, editors and writers save stuff for when they can use it. So pick your target publications or TV/Radio programs, and go after them repeatedly over time with good information, well written, useful, helpful and of course … with your own personal touch.

Speaking of Thank You

Remember that thank you card? Do you have any idea how many people don’t say thank you to the writer, editor, or producer who made a story happen?

When something editorial happens for you, or your salon, spa or product, for heaven’s sake … don’t forget to say thank you. Believe it or not, you will be in the minority. Acknowledgement done in a ‘special’ way, like that hand-written thank you note, separates you from the pack. Time well spent.