Category: Sales & Marketing

Guest Post By Steve Olsher

Key Strategies for Leveraging the Media

It’s often said that, “Any publicity is good publicity.” While the truth of this may be debatable, there’s no disputing that receiving unpaid, positive media exposure can add meaningful revenue to your bottom line. No one knows this better than Steve Harrison.

Steve is a publicity expert who’s been credited with helping Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad), Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul), and numerous others, launch their book sales and careers into the stratosphere. Rather than a mere “15 minutes of fame,” Steve teaches authors, bloggers, Internet marketers, and others how to remain in the spotlight for their entire careers. Let’s take a look at a few of his key strategies for leveraging the media.

Give People What They Need

One of the key mistakes business owners make is failing to ask customers for feedback. The single most important question you can ask your target audience is, “What products or services do you need to build your business?” Too often companies create what they think the market will want. Seldom do they take the time to ask what is actually needed.

There can be a huge difference between what you think customers want and what they really need.

To spare yourself from significant pain, create what the market is telling you it needs. If you create products and services with built-in demand, you’ll chuckle as you head to the bank with checks in hand, wondering why other companies don’t use this straightforward yet highly effective strategy.

The Power of Publicity

When executed well, publicity is not only free, it delivers phenomenal exposure over and over again. While people have become skeptical of advertising, an invited guest is typically welcomed. To succeed with publicity, understand the medium you’re pitching, be clear about what producers are looking for in their guests, and have significant value to provide to audiences. If you keep these criteria in mind while pursuing opportunities, then in due time, as the Counting Crows famously sang, “When I look at the television, (I’ll) see me staring right back at me.”

Create the Hook

Robert Kiyosaki, now renowned in both the financial and publishing worlds, originally self-published Rich Dad, Poor Dad. To generate exposure for the book, he and his wife, Kim, enlisted the help of a publicity firm, but it did little aside from placing Robert on a few college radio stations. There were few sales, and thousands of copies sat collecting dust.

That all changed when they enlisted the help of Steve Harrison. The book contained immensely useful information, but no one knew about it. One of Steve’s first objectives was to help Robert craft a powerful “hook” that would attract both readers and the media. As they discussed the content, Steve suddenly came up with the perfect approach to grab attention:

Learn what the rich teach their kids about money that the poor and middle class do not!

As you can imagine, people were instantly intrigued. Who wouldn’t want to learn inside tips and shortcuts from the successful? Most people aspire to create a better life for themselves and their family. The hook had immediate, widespread appeal. Media appearances soon followed.

Soon large retail stores began selling his book. As a result, despite significant budget constraints and the lack of a large publishing house, thousands of copies of Rich Dad, Poor Dad were sold and before long the book was a #1 New York Times bestseller.

Provide Content-Rich, Free Materials

Ultimately, Steve is in the business of building relationships. By providing significant value and consistently over-delivering, he’s able to construct long-term, trust-driven relationships that benefit both his clients and his organization. One way he does this is by supplying value-packed free learning materials. Steve understands that not everyone can immediately afford to pay $10,000 for personal coaching, or $1,000 or more for a seminar. He therefore also offers a variety of free teleseminars and webinars that provide a wealth of helpful information.

To access Steve’s free events, customers must provide their names and email addresses. This results in his having a large database of leads. Steve then works to earn trust and develop a relationship with each of these customers via email newsletters, transcripts, podcasts, tips, and more. When a client attains the financial means to purchase a seminar, learning product, or personal coaching service, Steve’s existing relationship will lead the customer to think of him first.

Consistently Deliver

Steve prides himself on always providing pertinent, high-value tools, strategies, and shortcuts that answer key questions and can be immediately implemented. His staff receives frequent training on how to work most effectively with clients and tirelessly pursues excellence in everything they do. Some say you’re only as good as your last victory. Steve believes you’re only as good as your current victory. He not only teaches his clients how to prosper, but encourages them to soar well beyond his own level of success.

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For more resources, see our Library topics Marketing and Social Networking.

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Steve Olsher is the author of Internet Prophets: The World’s Leading Experts Reveal How to Profit Online and creator of Internet Prophets LIVE!, which takes place June 8-10, 2012 in Chicago. Featuring 29 of the world’s leading Internet, Mobile and Marketing experts such as Jay Conrad Levinson, Mike Filsaime, Mike Koenigs, Larry Winget, Marc Ostrofsky, Dan Hollings, Janet Bray Attwood, Armand Morin, and many others, Internet Prophets LIVE! provides small business owners, solopreneurs, and consultants with proven no- and low-cost guerrilla marketing strategies, tools, and tactics for cultivating leads, dramatically increasing conversion rates, and generating massive, passive income. Tickets are only $197 until June 5th. For more information and to reserve one of the VERY limited number of remaining seats, please visit www.InternetProphets.com.

There are now many social media avenues by which technical writers could use to provide the information required by their target audience. We have FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogging, Pinterest to just to name a few. With all these social media mediums, do we still need to provide paper documentation or should we just answer questions from users via social media channels? Social media contains user generated content. Will readers be more apt to read documentation on electronic devices than on paper? We are so tied to our mobile devices, that maybe, we should just place all our documentation online. We have the Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Android, Nook, blogs, webinars, and podcasts, etc., just to name a few which can all communicate technical information electronically.

The target audience can gain access to all the information they need quickly and when they want no matter where they are. They can perform searches quickly for specific information and send comments and ask questions when they want no matter where the SME (Subject Matter Expert) is located. SME’s can be reached via links, e.g., tweets which can be added to the end of documents and get immediate responses; especially for critical questions and situations. All these new communication lines also keep all stakeholders abreast of critical situations, new knowledge, and keeps everyone up-do-date on all the latest events.

Even though this all sounds logical and exciting, should we do that? We still have to be aware of some drawbacks or problems. Not every type of information can be placed within social media channels, especially if it is related to confidential information. Confidential information is a huge entity. Each organization will have to decide which types of documents can be placed online for social media access, which to remain on paper format, and of course which to store/archive elsewhere. If the organization has an intranet or has been storing data within the cloud, they can set it up with privilege access only to retain confidentiality.

As a whole, using social media is useful for technical writers. Social media would provide easier accessibility to SMEs, users, upper management and those across all levels of the organization. One of the technical writers functions is to create help content and assist in creating marketing material. All these materials add to the good credibility of the organization and its products. Social media for technical writers in this area provides a plus for consumer service and sociability. If there is a problem w/a purchase or a question, the consumers can immediately, e.g., text, or tweet customer service quickly and the customer service personnel would be able to perform the search and provide answers quickly. In turn the customers/consumers, could, e.g., re-tweet about the organization, its support and cooperation, and might even reply with new suggestions or products for the company.

What do you think?

Let’s begin with those Killer slides. These days, there is just no excuse for poorly designed slides. Pick up a book like Resonate by Nancy Duarte, or Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds. You will quickly see that less is more, that slides need to be visually appealing, and that you can use the rule of thirds to create visual harmony. If you don’t have enough time for the books, read the blogs by these and other experts to get plenty of good ideas about creating slides with visual appeal. I especially like Reynolds’ before-and-after slides that show how to highlight information rather than obscuring it.

In addition to simplicity and harmony, add photos. You might subscribe to a royalty-free photo service where you purchase credits, pay as you go, or purchase a subscription for a certain time. These services provide royalty free photos that you can easily search by topic. Tight budget? There are hundreds of creative commons sites, including Flickr’s Creative Commons area. These images are typically free to use, as long as you follow the stated rules on their use and on giving proper credit for the photos you use. Another great option is to use photos you take yourself. Your team, nature, or objects can all be useful, and you’ll have unique photos without the worry about who owns the rights. I especially like to crop my pictures, or remove the background, or change the artistic effects or color. This is such a fast and easy way to customize your photos and graphics, and to show something unique.

In addition to simplicity and photos, consider turning those ugly bullet-pointed lists into graphics quickly by converting them to Smart Art in PowerPoint™. With one or two clicks you can put text into a circle (great for a quotation or phrase,) show relationships or just turn long lists into boxes or colorful shapes. And you can change the color or style with a single click. For some simple examples, look below. This is quick, colorful and almost too easy. Just don’t get carried away by all the options available. Your overarching goal is to communicate the information in a more eye-appealing manner, not to try out every effect possible.

Finally, remember KISS. It seems to stand for either Keep it Simple, Stupid, or Keep it Short and Simple, which I think is a little nicer and more to the point. In any case, keep your visuals as clean, uncluttered and simple as you can. Photos and color always look best on a simple white background (rather than prepackaged templates.) But even on a simple background, if you add too many boxes, fonts, and styles, and shapes, it can quickly look cluttered, so keep subtracting rather than adding.

Another aspect of KISS is with animations and translations between slides. Most of the time these are just plain unnecessary. If you have one or two simple builds or transitions in a presentation, they can add impact. Too many and they are just distracting. If you do use an occasional animation, don’t use crazy ones that swoop in and spin around three times….unless somehow that is the point you are trying to make.

Go through your slides one final time to ensure headings are all the same font and size, that clutter has been removed, and that typos and punctuation errors have been corrected. Better yet, get a second set of eyes to proof read it, because chances are you are too close to see these little things that can be so annoying to your audience.

Yes, all this takes time. But if you keep it simple enough, and use fewer slides, you should have just enough time left over to rehearse your presentation out loud one more time. I guarantee that will be time well spent.

One of the most difficult things to do is to describe to someone how to put something together or how to operate a device. How do you communicate to someone the procedure to put parts together to build a plane, boat, or car? Or how do you put the pieces of a table or chair together? For objects such as Lego pieces, images are constantly used rather than text as that seems to be the easiest way to communicate to the target audience (mainly children – but I do like them as well). So why don’t we always use pictures? We can label each item numerically or alphabetically and just say to insert A1 to B1 and B1 to C1 and work our way to the end of the alphabet and then begin again with A2 to B2 and B2 to C2. Everything remains in sequence. But what if you needed to turn B2 at an angle to fit into A2 or how do you indicate the procedure to screw or hammer the bolt or nail A1 to B1? Can a picture show that? Using only images can work in certain cases, but for other situations, it would be more advantageous or easier to communicate the instructions via images and text. Images (drawings, cartoons, stick figures, etc) alone, can convey certain instructions but you need to be constantly imaginative. If you are not, the easiest way would be to describe the procedure and apply an image.

Look at a toaster manual. I cannot think of one appliance that we have purchased that does not have a manual minus text and images, such as, the toaster manual. Notice that even before we are told how to operate the toaster, or how to plug the toaster into an outlet, we are given warnings with what not to do. All critical information is always towards the front after the introduction section. The technical writer realized that there was a danger involved in using the appliance and decided to place the warnings up front. Notice that the warnings are not just plain text. They have a special warning icon as well as being denoted in a different font. How can the warning have been displayed via images alone? The next section within the manual (following the precautions) contains diagrams of all the mechanical parts that the consumer needs to be aware of for the operation of the toaster. Again, text and images are used.

I know I chose a simple devise, to develop a question or a point, but what if we were describing the use of a more complicated piece of equipment? And what if we were to distribute this device globally? How would we be able to illustrate how to operate it?

As technical writers we always have to remember to communicate the essentials in a simple and appealing format. So I think in most cases, you need both images and text, but yes there are cases where only images do work. What do you think?

We continue with the alphabet of presenting.

J is for the pure Joy of presenting. How often we view presenting as a chore, something to be worried over, gotten though, and sometimes frightened by. The truth of it is, if we can get into the moment, presentations can be nearly effortless and even joyful. In addition, when we come from joy, not fear, our presentations are far more compelling to our listeners. Yes, you need to be as fully-prepared as the situation requires, no matter how much time it takes. But instead of approaching the presentation with dread, approach it with joy. This is an opportunity to connect and influence people. This is a chance to do good in the world. Use a little self-talk if you need to: “This is a joyous occasion, and I am so happy to be speaking and influencing people in a positive way.”

Speaking of joy, J is also for Jagger. Mick, that is. Here is an old soul, a 68 year old rocker who still rocks. Picture his swagger, observe how he uses his whole self to communicate with his audiences, think about the joy he brings to performances. Tentative? Timid? Unsure? No way! Here is a guy who goes all-out no matter what. I suspect if each of us had that mind-set and that commitment to our causes, our presentations would be so much richer and more compelling. Swagger a little? Better than creeping around feeling like a mouse. If you can’t rock your own presentations, who can?

J is also for Jobs, Steve Jobs. Well known for his casual dress and his conversational style, but also for the Wow Factor he always brought to presentations and announcements. Here is what I want you to know about Jobs; he wasn’t born that way. By all accounts, he started out a low-key, rather unimpressive speaker. In order to achieve the greatness we all associate with him, he had to work harder than most, and he spent untold hours rehearsing over and over, every aspect of the presentation, until it looked natural and spontaneous. Don’t resent the time it takes you to prepare in order to look smooth and polished in your delivery. In the long run, all your presentations and everyday communication will be better as a result.

There you have it, Joy, Jobs and Jagger.

With social media connecting us to more people globally, technical writing was sure to follow the same path. What does it take to be a global technical writer? How much the global clients need and what they need has to be clearly defined. The key will be in understanding the local culture and language. But how will this interpretation and translation of terms be understood if you are not there? Think of this as providing e-training and you are providing a distance learning program – it might help you in figuring out new ways to get your information across. But here are some ideas to think about.

In terms of writing:

• Create a standardized dictionary of terms (including terms to avoid) and spelling (remembering spellings such as ‘color’ vs ‘colour’).
• Be flexible in adjusting your use of words depending on whom you’re writing for. One culture may like explicit detailed longer explanations, whereas another may like short succinct definitions. As with many target audiences, another culture may prefer illustrations instead of words, or both, or videos or webinars instead.
• Plan out your documents and create outlines for approval.
• Determine ahead of time how you will be managing changes or updates.
• Give appropriate examples within explanations; make it pertinent to the product or application. Do not use examples that the client’s culture may not understand.
• Get your first draft authorized to ensure you are writing the way you are supposed to be and are relaying the correct information using the correct terms. It is better to find out the problem areas up front than have bottlenecks later on and be late on delivery

In terms of managing:

• Make sure you have all the information you need before you begin writing.
• Prepare questions ahead of time for meetings to ensure there’s no misunderstanding before you begin producing your document.
• Make sure the same tools or technology is being used for sending and receiving information. It would be a waste of time if you wrote, illustrated, created videos or used other means to transfer knowledge in one particular format and the client didn’t have those applications.
• Have open lines of communication to ensure knowledge and comprehension is correctly conveyed
• Make sure that deadlines and milestones are understood by all parties- hold intermittent status meetings to ensure that everyone is still on the same page and that the project is progressing as it should.
• Be flexible with time schedules depending on whom you’re meeting with.
• Be sure to answer the question ‘how to handle security of the document’ if that is an issue.
• Invest in a document managing system if the need arises to maintain organization.

As a gobal technical writer, you have to envision or put yourself in the place of the stakeholders. There will be a lot of translation hindrances or obstacles, but being vigilant about maintaining direct communication will decrease the number of error and barriers.

If you have had experience being a global technical writer, please share your experience.