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These straightforward tactics can amplify your press coverage by generating more column inches or air time. Photos and graphics. A good or interesting photograph (or video) can win you significantly more editorial space and you can bet most people will look at the picture before the read the text. Offer a briefing or interview. Talk to the writer as she is writing the story. You can suggest interesting angles and provide information they did not get elsewhere. Leverage your advertising dollars into editorial coverage. Click here for a related article called: Church & State – How do I get editorial coverage with my advertising dollars? Recycling PR wins When you win a good piece of publicity, you can amplify your success using the following tactics: A press release. If you won an award or some other kind of significant endorsement, put out your own press release to announce it. You don't necessarily have to put this release on a costly news wire. You can post it as an advisory on your web site and send it to your organization's mail list. Go local. If a prominent national publication or broadcaster carries a story on you, send a short release about it to your local newspapers, trade publications and chamber of commerce newsletters. "Local boy does good" stories are quite popular. Add to the story. Write a letter to the editor of the publication that just printed the story and elaborate on a few of the points that were made in the article. Post it on your web site. Prominently quote the bits of the article that you like and provide a link to the actual article (most print publications, and even broadcasters, have the same stories online). Distribute reprints and copies. Most publications (incl. broadcast media) offer a reprint service (for a fee). You can include reprints with your sales collateral and distribute them by mail, at events and speaking engagements. If you sell through a channel make sure the sales team of your channel partners also get copies. Laminated copies can be used as "shelf talkers" in retail outlets. Merchandising. If you won a significant endorsement (e.g. an award) you could let potential customers know by using the award icon on product packaging, price lists, employee t-shirts, etc. MarketingSage's affordable PR services help information technology businesses get the editorial publicity they need to enhance visibility, credibility and generate sales leads. For more information click here.   David Lamont, MarketingSage.net may be contacted at http://marketingsage.net . Click here to view more of their articles. MarketingSage helps businesses increase revenue, launch new products, generate publicity, and establish new sales channels by providing the additional brainpower, bandwidth, IT sales experience, tools and contacts. Their mini-course on marketing tactics is available FREE by email.   Copyright Usage:

 

You have to find radio airplay time if you’re going to be heard and we’re not just talking the local college campus. The trick is called promotion. Now that doesn’t mean you just put your press kit in an envelope with a demo and hope they take pity on you. Perhaps you call a station and they give you the standard pitch of, “Send it and if we like it we’ll put you in rotation.” After a few months of never hearing your music, you automatically think you’re not worthy. First, don’t buy that. You’re one of hundreds, maybe even thousands depending on your city. Your disc will probably end up in the trash or, for more enterprising DJ's, on Ebay in a one-cent CD sale. If you want to be heard and make potential sales, you have to stand out from the crowd, and in this jewel of an article, I’ll show you Five(5) Knock ‘em Dead Ways to Do Just That!: #1 - Get your CD into the right hands. The intern that’s too busy to getting coffee or typing up a report for the station manager isn’t going to be the one making the airplay decision. So find out who the head honcho is in that department and touch base with them. If the club you’re playing at charges an admission or you have a show coming up offer to send the stations tickets to give away to listeners. Now keep in mind you can’t give the tickets to the staff, since that’s illegal and called payola, but you can offer free giveaway items to your potential audience. #2 - If you’ve got one station in your pocket, then drop names. Let them know that WABC is playing your music and it’s getting a great response. #3 - Make genuine friends in the business. If you’ve got a disc jockey that’s got you in rotation and really likes your sound, get to know them. Find out why they enjoy it and see if they’ve gotten any responses from listeners. If they haven’t, ask if perhaps they might Q & A their callers about your music so you get a feel for your target audience. It’s not a bad idea to ask them for a testimonial or quote if they’re well known in your area if you know them personally. People help people. That’s a fact so if you treat your area disc jockeys like a living and breathing human and not dollar signs, that’s a foot in the door. Another good source is club owners. If they play your music and the fans go nuts ask them to say a few words about your sound that you can pass along to prospective stations, but be sure to sit down for a drink with them. Ask them about the picture of him and the woman and two kids behind the Magic Kingdom. Don’t be fake, but be genuinely interested. #4 - Network. Find out if someone you know (or someone they know) has connections to the music stations. Remember six degrees of separation - you’re only six people away from knowing anyone on the planet and yes that includes station managers, concert promoters and record execs. The trick is it takes a great deal of work and time, but if you’re serious, it’s well worth it. #5 - Go local, state, national. Don’t think you’re going to skip your local and state stations and be the next Matchbox Twenty. It doesn’t work that way. Start small and then get big. Making contacts and getting names can be tough, that’s why you should start with a tested and proven music industry resource like The Industry Yellow Pages - Music Industry Contact Directory at http://www.TheIndustryYellowPages.com The TIYP is helpful and loaded with contacts you can start using immediately without doing all the legwork yourself. This article was written by Ty Cohen, the music industry's most recognizable voice! Ty is the C.E.O of Platinum Millennium Publishing, Platinum Millennium Records as well as owner of www.MusicContracts101.com and www.MusicIndustrySuccess.com . Some of his work includes: books, directories, mini-courses and software programs including the titles: "How to Make a Fortune in the Music Industry by Doing it Yourself" and "How to Make $500,000.00 "or More" A Year in the Music Industry by Doing it Yourself". For nearly a decade, Ty Cohen's Get Amplified! Newsletter and series of Free Music Industry Success “Mini Courses” has helped over 40,000 independent musicians, singers, rappers, composers, record label owners, producers, managers, agents and others reach their music business goals. Using a unique combination of tested and proven music business success resources, which includes a series of books, directories, software programs, videos, seminars and newsletters, our goal is to educate and empower musical individuals just like you with the tools needed to succeed! To find out more about Ty Cohen, his services, products and how he may be able to help you succeed in the music industry go to http://www.MusicIndustrySuccess.com and sign up for his free limited edition music industry success 10-part “Mini-Course”, it will work wonders for you and best of all, it’s FREE, but EXTREMELY VALUABLE!   TY Cohen may be contacted at Ty@PlatinumMillennium.com . Click here to view more of their articles. This article was written by Ty Cohen, the music industry's most recognizable voice! Ty is the C.E.O of Platinum Millennium Publishing, Platinum Millennium Records as well as owner of www.MusicContracts101.com and www.MusicIndustrySuccess.com . Some of his work includes: books, directories, mini-courses and software programs including the titles: "How to Make a Fortune in the Music Industry by Doing it Yourself" and "How to Make $500,000.00 "or More" A Year in the Music Industry by Doing it Yourself". For nearly a decade, Ty Cohen's Get Amplified! Newsletter and series of Free Music Industry Success “Mini Courses” has helped over 40,000 independent musicians, singers, rappers, composers, record label owners, producers, managers, agents and others reach their music business goals. Using a unique combination of tested and proven music business success resources, which includes a series of books, directories, software programs, videos, seminars and newsletters, our goal is to educate and empower musical individuals just like you with the tools needed to succeed! To find out more about Ty Cohen, his services, products and how he may be able to help you succeed in the music industry go to http://www.MusicIndustrySuccess.com and sign up for his free limited edition music industry success 10-part “Mini-Course”, it will work wonders for you and best of all, it’s FREE, but EXTREMELY VALUABLE! Reprint Rights: You may pass this article around and even use it on your own website, blog, newsletter or anywhere else, just as long as you DO NOT change anything on it, including the links. Thank you! Ty Cohen. Ty@PlatinumMillennium.com     Copyright Usage: Reprint Rights: You may pass this article around and even use it on your own website, blog, newsletter or anywhere else, just as long as you DO NOT change anything on it, including the links. Thank you! Ty Cohen. Ty@PlatinumMillennium.com

 

Here's a quick quiz: 1) When I see a see a sunrise, I'm moved to: A. Compose a poem. B. Try and capture the beauty with my paints and brush. C. Stumble drunkenly into bed -- boy that party was a lot of fun. D. Cover my face with my pillow and go back to sleep. Who in their right mind gets up early enough to look at sunrises? 2) At work, I'm the person my coworkers go to when they need someone to: A. Think up a new theme for the office party (especially if they want it to be a bit wild and off the wall). B. Get people excited for the party. C. Organize the party. D. Clean up after the party. 3) In school, I was considered one of the: A. Brains. B. Jocks. C. Nerds. D. Nothing. I was kicked out my sophomore year. Now take this test again and write down what you think a creative person would choose as his or her answer. Scoring: Well, there's no real scoring here. The point is to get you thinking about creativity and stereotypes. In another creativity article I wrote, "Quiz: Are Your Creative?", I pointed out that the biggest difference between creative people and those who aren't is creative people believe they're creative and uncreative people believe they aren't. But, it's one thing to say it and something completely different to live it. I believe one of the things that prevent people from fully realizing their creative potential is the idea of stereotypes. They think they cannot be creative because they don't look, act, live, etc., a certain way. And, unfortunately, that belief can become so powerful it truly does cripple their creativity. Let's take a closer look at these three stereotypes. 1) When I see a sunrise… You can still be a creative person and not be moved to paint a sunrise or write a poem about it. Everyone is different and everyone draws their creativity from different things. Me, you couldn't catch me anywhere near a sunrise without an IV drip of coffee in my arm. And even if that did happen, I'd be lucky if I could reach the creativity level of a turnip. The point is every muse is different and every muse dances to a different drum (or maybe it's not even a drum, maybe it's a French horn.) Sunrises make you yawn? So what? Find what gets your muse dancing and go with it. 2) At work… You don't have to act like a Bohemian to be creative. In fact, that image of a black-clad, beret-wearing, long-cigarette-smoking Artiste has been the bane of many would-be artists. I can't tell you how many people I've run into who don't have time to BE creative because they're too busy trying to LOOK creative. Creativity comes in many shapes and sizes. It also dresses in a variety of outfits -- from t-shirts and paint-splatted jeans to suits and ties to cocktail dresses to, yes, the all-black look. Don't worry about how your creativity relates to how you look or act. There's no correlation between the two. 3) In school… Again, there are no studies linking creativity to getting bad grades or being a social misfit. Creativity is just as likely to have been class president as it was to have been caught smoking in the bathroom. Or kicked out of school altogether. (Now, whether those schoolyard memories are fodder for creative pursuits is a topic for another day.) Basically it comes down to this -- creativity doesn't fit into any neat box. Whether that box may be unconventional or conservative. Whether it's covered with clay and furiously spinning pots or impeccably dressed and churning out million-dollar deals. Whether it's dressed in black and discussing Satre in a coffee shop or pushing a stroller in small-town America. Creativity is just that. Creative. It doesn't care what package it comes in. It only cares that you use it. Creativity Exercise -- Take Away The Power of Stereotypes Go back to the quiz. Look at the answers you chose for yourself. (If one of my answers didn't fit -- which is entirely possible -- turn your answer into fill-in-the-blank.) Look at the answer you instinctively felt a creative person would have selected. I'm going after instinct here -- don't worry about what you read in the article. Or go back and see how you answered before you read the article. Do you have two different answers? Describe what makes the answers different and why. Do you describe yourself in completely opposite terms as you would someone creative? Why is that? Do some journaling on the answer. Now try describing yourself again and this time add the statement "and that makes me creative" or "yet I still am creative" at the end. For instance: "I hate sunrises and that makes me creative. I was a model student yet still I am creative." Write these out ten times each day until you begin to believe it. (Source: Freeing Your Creativity: A Writer's Guide by Marshall Cook) Michele Pariza Wacek is the author of "Got Ideas? Unleash Your Creativity and Make More Money." She offers two free e-zines that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.TheArtistSoul.com.   Michele Pariza Wacek may be contacted at http://www.writingusa.com michele@writingusa.com . Click here to view more of their articles. Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.writingusa.com. Copyright 2005 Michele Pariza Wacek.   Copyright Usage:

 

A lot of great ideas happen when two or more other ideas collide to form something completely new. Think of this like those old chemistry movies we used to watch in school. You had all of those atoms floating around and when two collided -- bam! A chemical reaction. Maybe something new was created. Maybe something exploded. Or maybe it all fizzled out and nothing happened. Well, a similar reaction is going on inside your brain or muse. Except instead of atoms floating around they're pieces of information or other ideas. As they drift about, they occasionally bump into each other. When that happens, you may get a new, third idea. Or a big explosion. Or absolutely nothing at all. Now, if you have lots of atoms, or information and ideas, you're going to get lots of reactions. Some will fail. Some will be so-so. And some will be hot -- so hot, so full of energy, they'll have the power to change the trajectory of a business. Or even a life. The problem occurs when you don't have lots of random information and ideas. Fewer atoms mean fewer reactions. On top of that, you still have to weed through the invariable duds. So the odds of landing that one amazing idea drop considerably. But not to worry -- there's good news. You can increase your odds of getting those great ideas. Better yet, it's fairly easy and painless. Below are three ways to get started. 1. Read, read and read some more. I know, I know, I can hear the groans already. "But I already have too much to read. How can I fit more reading in?" Never fear, there are ways to do this. (Remember I did say this was painless.) The key is to keep it wide and shallow. What does that mean? Well, read lots and lots of different things, but keep it general. Read about sheep farming, finances, yoga, cooking, traveling, dog training, etc. But keep it general -- don't read deeply. You can even skim if that's all you have time for. Start by subscribing to a couple of different magazines and e-zines. General interest magazines are really good for this -- Walt Disney used to read Reader's Digest. Scatter them around the house -- by the bed, the couch, even the bathroom. I'd put a few in your car as well for those times when you have to wait for an appointment. When you have a few moments, flip through them. Skim a few paragraphs. See what catches your eye. You can also buy or rent audio books and CDs and listen while you exercise, drive, do the dishes, etc. Whatever you do, DON'T read publications related to your industry. That's for another time. This is brain-feeding time, not keeping up in your profession time. 2. Travel the world. Traveling has so many fabulous benefits for your creative soul I could write an article just about that, but for now I'll limit my comments to brain food. When you travel, you open yourself up to lots of new and exciting experiences. New sights, new sounds, new smells, new tastes, new textures. And they all have the ability to form a reaction with something else. Don't have time to hop on a plane to India? Take a day trip to a town you've never visited. Or, if you can only spare a few hours, seek out a park you've never been to or a museum you've been meaning to see or even that new cute little shop that just opened. You can always find somewhere new to visit no matter how long you've lived in the same city. And if you're truly desperate, try walking around your neighborhood on the opposite side of the street in the opposite direction you normally walk. (It can help jolt you out of rut.) 3. Open yourself up to new things. Of all of these, this one is probably the scariest. But, it also has the potential to be the most powerful. Take the time to try new things. Meet people outside your normal circle of friends. Attend associations, nonprofits, hobby groups outside of the ones you usually go to. Listen to speakers on topics you know nothing about. Take a class at a community college about something outside your scope of knowledge. Or even have dinner at an ethnic restaurant you've never tried. Now I'm not just talking about "typical" creative things, like taking an art class or learning to belly dance. If you're a creative professional, take a class on doing your own taxes or budgeting your finances or repairing your car. (Oooh, I bet all you creative folk felt a chill when I mentioned that.) The point is to really stretch yourself past your comfort zone. Make yourself uncomfortable. It's not only a great way to grow, but it's a fabulous way to keep your muse fat and happy. And that helps keep the ideas flowing. Creativity Exercises -- Prepare the banquet Over the next month, I want you do to at least one tactic from each of the above three techniques. 1. Read something you know nothing about. Even if you only spend five minutes skimming an article about quilting when the last time you tried to sew a button on a shirt you stabbed yourself with the needle and got blood all over the material. 2. Travel somewhere you've never been before. Even if it's an antique shop and the most antique piece of furniture in your house is a bookshelf your parents bought from Sears when you were a little kid. 3. Stretch yourself in a different and potentially scary way. Even if it's attending one of those Home Depot gardening workshops despite every plant you've tried to grow didn't and if your thumb was any blacker it would fall off. You know how you work better when you're not hungry, see how well your muse starts churning out ideas after a good meal.   Michele Pariza Wacek may be contacted at http://www.writingusa.com michele@writingusa.com . Click here to view more of their articles. Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.writingusa.com. Copyright 2005 Michele Pariza Wacek.   Copyright Usage:

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How many times does an artist stare down at that blank piece of paper thinking "What on earth do I paint - Where do I put my first mark?" More often than you would imagine! It happens to all creative people actually, from visual artists, designers, poets, through to musicians and writers. When this situation arises, you are in the grip of creative block. When you wrack your brains to come up with ideas but just can't seem to. There may be contributing factors to this state, such as tiredness, depression, environmental, physiological or psychological issues. On the other hand you could just be experiencing a period of simple low creativity. When this happens there are a few things you can do to restore your creativity levels at will, however what you must not do is worry or fret about it. If the worst comes to the worse and you don't seem to be able to produce any work, simply regard the period as a 'holiday' or a rest. Your creativity level WILL rise again. In the meantime, utilise the time spent not creating to do positive things anyway. Research other artists' work. Visit galleries or surf the net and see what other people are doing. Join artists' chat rooms or visit message boards or forums where you can exchange ideas and views with other artists. Just talking to other creative people can give you a real buzz! You might even make some new friends in the process. Spend the time you are not actually producing art, by increasing your marketing efforts. Send postcards to galleries, research upcoming local art fairs or events where you could possibly take a booth to sell your art. Have some leaflets or brochures printed up all about yourself and your work. Take a couple of days out of your schedule and do a local neighbourhood leaflet drop. Update your website or online portfolio. You may think it's already perfect but it's not often that things can't be improved or sharpened in some way. Update your artist's statement; put new 'zing' into your descriptions. If you really can't face doing anything concerning your own artwork, visit the theatre, go to a pop concert, browse local museums. Go to a restaurant or coffee bar with friends and have a (non art related) natter. Use the time to take a complete break, if this is what works best for you. You will instinctively know when the time is right to 'go back' to your art. When this happens there are lots of techniques you can use to get back into the swing of high creativity. These I explore in my article 'Overcoming Artist's Block (part 2)'. ====================================== Gail Miller is a professional artist whose artwork is a visual feast of colour and fun. Her fascination with bold colours and fluid, expressive shapes and line are evident in funky abstracts, sinuous nudes, vibrant still life paintings and lively townscapes. Visit her website at http://www.gailmiller.com =======================================   Gail Miller may be contacted at http://www.gailmiller.com gails-gallery@freeuk.com . Click here to view more of their articles. Profile; The Funky Art Woman is an artist and writer. Visit her website at http://www.gailmiller.com for unique, funky original artwork, bold colours and fluid, expressive shapes and line. Online store; http://www.rubylane.com/shops/funkyartwoman     Copyright Usage: Can be reproduced provided the resource box at the end is left intact after the article

 

Once you are ready to start working again you will know it instinctively. All artists go through periods of 'creative block' - it's normal, but after one such episode there are ways of stimulating ideas and getting the creative juices flowing again. Visit your local library and take out books that cover materials, techniques and subjects that are not familiar to you. If you are a watercolour artist, why not try oils for once? If you paint large acrylic abstracts, would it be possible to try soft pastels on a smaller scale? What results could you achieve by doing something completely different to what you're used to? What about trying collage or mixed media work? Take photos of your neighbourhood, family or friends. Local places of interest, the countryside, the seashore, the city. Manipulate your photos on your PC and print out as digital art. Use the images, either natural or manipulated as collage pieces. It is so therapeutic cutting pieces and sticking them down. Use a range of materials to finish your work. Instead of going straight back to paintings or drawings on normal scale, why not create some miniature pieces? How about greetings cards? White card 'blanks' are very easy to source. How delighted family, friends or customers would be to own an unique hand painted card. Try drawing for once instead of painting, if that's your usual medium, or vice versa. Fill a sketchbook with small quick sketches. You could even time yourself. Three or five minutes maximum for each sketch. When you're ready to go full size again, try loosening up your technique, by again setting a time limit for each piece of work you create. With a deadline to meet, you will speed up and loosen up. Try not to be precious with your art. Be quick and bold - see what happens. Paint upside down. Start a new piece, then half way through turn the paper or canvas round 90 degrees. This is a great technique for abstracts. Use new colours - let them flow into each other. Splatter colours onto the wet surface. If you like, you could turn the work once more to finish. What a great way to create 'happy accidents'. Paint or draw to music. Use only your emotion to make marks on the surface of your support. Play your favourite rock, pop or classical music, let the melodies and rhythms wash over you, influencing how your artwork evolves. I often paint to 'Smile' by Brian Wilson .... and boy do I get inspired! What about painting left handed if you're a right-hander and vice versa. Trying to do a representational work with your weakest side will produce art that is still yours, but will have a completely different edge to it. Challenging and great fun to do ... if you have the discipline! Finally, once you get back into full flow, remind yourself of all the artwork you have created successfully. How appreciated you are by your customers. Read their testimonials. Feel that glow again, when you realise that your creativity block was only temporary and that there are fans out there just waiting for you to release some wonderful new artwork into the arena. ====================================== Gail Miller is a professional artist whose artwork is a visual feast of colour and fun. Her fascination with bold colours and fluid, expressive shapes and line are evident in funky abstracts, sinuous nudes, vibrant still life paintings and lively townscapes. Visit her website at http://www.gailmiller.com =======================================   Gail Miller may be contacted at http://www.gailmiller.com gails-gallery@freeuk.com . Click here to view more of their articles. Profile; The Funky Art Woman is an artist and writer. Visit her website at http://www.gailmiller.com for unique, funky original artwork, bold colours and fluid, expressive shapes and line. Online store; http://www.rubylane.com/shops/funkyartwoman     Copyright Usage: Can be reproduced provided my artists bio / link to website is included with article.