The Worst Press Release Mistake Ever

There are many ways to make mistakes when writing or distributing a press release, but the worse mistake ever is to only send a press release out once a year - during Black History month.

This is a common mistake amongst many African American entrepreneurs, authors, speakers, and others who are looking to target Black consumers through the media.

Well, guess what? February is not the only month when Black people are relevant. As a consumer group that spends nearly $1 trillion a year, African Americans should be relevant to your business all year long.

The Black Biz Hookup: Discounted Group Buying From Black-Owned Retailers

Following in the footsteps of Groupon and LivingSocial, a new group buying web site called the Black Biz Hookup has launched with merchant offerings of "Daily Deals" from local Black-owned businesses in major cities.

Instead of using call centers to get a backlog, the company has used a grassroots approach to signing up merchants similar to what Plum District implemented working the "Soccer Mom" referral circuit. They have a group of affiliates around the country acting as advocates for the website and signing up the business owners who grasp the concept.

How I Got 100,000 Facebook Fans In 10 Days

With 500 million users worldwide, Facebook has proven itself to be a very innovative online tool that allows companies to interact with and even market to their existing and prospective customers.

Even non-profit organizations, publications (newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc), speakers, authors, musicians and more can use it to build and manage a following.

This is very easy to do because Facebook enables such entities to create "fan" pages (or what I call "brand" pages) - a customized profile page that allows them to share content, dialogue, photos, and resources. They can even launch custom apps, contests, and sign up forms - all from their very own fan page.

McDonald's Fast Food Weddings - Will It Work?

In Hong Kong, McDonald's is offering local customers an opportunity to get married inside the fast food restaurant. Apparently, people there love McDonald's that much!

While many people in America think the concept is cheesy, many in China are loving the idea - especially since it only costs about $400 US dollars to host a wedding ceremony and a reception for up to 100 guests. Local couples are saying that they met each other at McDonald's, went there for dates, and so why not get married there?

How To Be Featured in Black Enterprise Magazine

If you are an entrepreneur, you have already met the first qualification to be featured in Black Enterprise Magazine and other business publications. But there's more work involved!

Here are three tips:

1) Distribute Press Releases With A "Personal" Angle.
To increase your chances of being featured in Black Enterprise, it's best to be a well-respected and well-known business owner amongst the local and/or national media. A great way to accomplish this is to regularly send out press releases about yourself as a part of a consistent personal branding effort.

The press releases should focus on recent and upcoming developments, with an angle that predominantly highlights you as the principal of the company. For instance, if you win an award, are speaking at a function, or have an upcoming appearance on television - these would be appropriate angles.

Should You Change The Name of Your Company?

Some argue that you should never change the name of your company because you are destroying the brand that you invested so much time and energy into. I agree, but in my opinion, this only applies to companies that are already profitable and actually have brand recognition.

However, for companies that have never reached profitability and have no real brand awareness, changing the name may be an extremely wise thing to do.

How To Build Your Tribe

I first heard the phrase "build your tribe" from my colleague and client Elon Bomani, who is a self-made millionaire. Ever since, it has stuck with me.

Building your tribe really just means to increase your following - such as your Facebook fans and friends, your Twitter followers, your blog subscribers, and those who are loyal to your brand in any other way.

These people make up your network, your personal community, your coalition, and your very own federation. If managed correctly, they will support you, they will buy what you're selling, and they will refer you to other people. Therefore, having a tribe is very essential to your company.

What To Learn From Wyclef's PR Stunt

I don't know if singer/rapper Wyclef ever was really serious about running for president of Haiti, but it was definitely a very smart thing to do when it comes to public relations.

In my opinion, I believe that Wyclef already knew that Haitian officials would deny him the opportunity to run because he hadn't lived in the country for at least 5 years. Despite this, he filed for eligibility as a presidential candidate anyways because he knew it would make headlines and cause the world to view him differently. And guess what? He was right.

Promote Your Products on the Black Shopping Channel

The Black Shopping Channel (BSC) is a very unique televised shopping platform that showcases products sold by African American entrepreneurs. It allows small business owners to sell their products on television in a very affordable format - similar to QVC. The products can also be featured on their web site.

Just recently, they signed a major deal to broadcast live on Time Warner Cable on Channel 376 in the North Carolina and South Carolina markets. This officially starts in September, and they expect expand in to other markets soon.

Mary J. Blige Breaks Sales Record With New Fragrance

Target Market News is reporting that Mary J. Blige's new "My Life" fragrance developed by Carol's Daughter has sold more than 60,000 units on the Home Shopping Network (HSN) in just 6 hours. This completely shattered fragrance records at HSN, and was one of the most successful launches of a line in fragrance history.

Mary J. Blige undoubtedly has a huge following, even though her record sales don't always reflect that. Her influence amongst African American women has been long-standing and very impressive over the past 20 years.

Is Paypal Enough?

This question will generate many different responses. Some business owners claim that their customers are happy to pay with Paypal, but others find that their customers hate using Paypal.

In my opinion, it's good to accept Paypal payments - but it's definitely not enough.

Here's why:

1) Some people have had bad experiences with Paypal, and refuse to use it again. If this is the only method of payment that your web site allows, you could be unknowingly losing potential customers. Many will just leave your web site without saying anything.

What Does Google, Kleenex, and Xerox Have In Common?

These three companies have something very unique in common. Not only are they internationally recognized brands, but many people use their brands as if they are words in the dictionary. They have literally transcended these brands into actual verbs and nouns.

For instance, people will say "I Googled you" - even if they searched for you on Yahoo. They will ask "Can you Xerox this for me?" - even if the copy machine is not made by Xerox. And they'll refer to any type of tissue as "Kleenex", whether it's really made by Kleenex or not.

Should You Have A Facebook Fan Page?

Facebook, the largest social network on the planet, allows you to create a fan page. Different from a typical profile page, a fan page is more customizable and is specifically designed to allow users to interact with your brand.

It's perfect for authors, speakers, actors, musicians, organizations, and companies, because by simply clicking "like", any Facebook user can easily and automatically join your fan club and become subscribed to your feed or wall updates.

How To Be On The Tom Joyner Morning Show

The Tom Joyner Morning Show, like most Black radio shows, will feature guests that have something relevant and unique to say. Although many of their guests are celebrities, they do feature entrepreneurs, speakers, authors, etc who can bring excitement to the show.

In addition to the Tom Joyner Morning Show, there are hundreds of other Black radio shows.

Here are some tips on how to be a guest:

Why Gift Cards Work

In 2009, American consumers spent $24.9 billion on gift cards.

Gift cards are a great way to expand your business, but they won't work for every type of business. It really depends on what you're selling and how you're selling it. However, they can work for both online and offline businesses.

If you can figure out how to effectively implement it into your marketing strategy, it definitely will help you generate more revenue for the following reasons:

Why 90% of the People I Market to Buy What I'm Selling

Over the past 10 years, I've been able to figure out how to get 90% of the people I market to - to buy into my BlackPR.com service. That's right, my conversions are 90% - and I'm not exaggerating. In all actuality, it does require some trial and error, but it's not that difficult to do.

Here's how you can do it too:

1) Keep It Simple
Your web site, your promotional material, your approach, and your service/product should all be simple. Complicate these things, and your results will also be complicated.

Black Is The New Green

Most people know that the annual African American buying power is nearly a trillion dollars. But do you know how much affluent African Americans spend each year? That would be $87 billion, according to the book Black is the New Green by Leonard E. Burnett Jr. and Andrea Hoffman.

The book encourages marketers to tap into this rich buying segment, and shows readers how to follow in the footsteps laid down by brands such as Gucci, HSBC, Sony Electronics, Aston Martin, and others.

Got A Local Business? Try Groupon

Groupon is an innovative service that allows local businesses to market directly to local customers with no upfront costs. The term "groupon" indicates a group coupon, and thousands of people locally and nationally are signing up daily to receive these in their email.

Here's the catch: The people signing up are told that they will receive one "unbelievable" deal every day. The deal is always local in their city, and it's generally a deal of up to 50% off or more. So, if you're a business owner - you'd want to come up with a really attractive deal.

The logic is that you may profit little on the first deal, but now you have a new customer that will come back again and again paying full price.

I haven't used Groupon yet as an advertiser because I don't exactly have a local business. However, I'm a subscriber to receive their daily deals and it's quite impressive. Their marketing incentives are very unique, and it's no question in mind that it works. Plus, it involves no investment up front; They are paid a commission on sales that they generate for you.

If you have a local business (restaurant, nail salon, auto shop, etc), I highly recommend you inquire further.

For more details, visit:
www.grouponworks.com

Know What Happened To Know What's Happening

If you make a bad business decision, make sure you fully assess what happened and what went wrong. This will allow you to better understand and deal with the consequences. It will also help you avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

The same goes for making a good business decision. If you do something that produces productive results, make sure you fully assess what you did that worked. This will help you to see what exact you need to continue doing, and it'll help you realize growth in your thinking ability.

Too often, entrepreneurs are blindly making decisions and assuming what works and what doesn't work. As a result, they experience temporary success or no success at all.

Here's a great example: A business owner engages in several marketing efforts all at once - newspaper advertising, search engine advertising, and radio advertising. The campaign is extremely successful, but he doesn't properly dissect it to really determine where the customers came from and why they responded. He just assumes that it was the radio ad campaign that worked best. So, a few months later, he decides to launch another marketing campaign and allocate his entire budget to radio advertising. However, the campaign fails terribly. Obviously, he didn't fully understand what happened the first time - and so he has no idea how to recreate his success.

It's wiser to make business decisions one at a time, so that when the momentum shifts up or down, you'll know exactly what the cause was. You won't be guessing, and you won't be making false assumptions. Even more, you'll have a much clearer idea of what you next step should be.

How To Be Featured in Ebony and Jet Magazines

There are 200+ Black magazines nationally, and the two with the largest circulations are Ebony and Jet. So how does one get to be featured inside?

It's a lot easier than you think!

Here are the steps:

1) Be Seen. Editors at Ebony and Jet like to highlight Black professionals who are well-known and well-respected locally and/or nationally. In order to be well-known, you have to be a public figure. That doesn't mean you have to a celebrity, but you should be an author, speaker, blogger, or some kind of public expert. Whatever your industry is, you should be writing books, giving speeches, and blogging about it!

2) Be Consistent. Editors at Ebony and Jet like to highlight people who are consistently making headlines. So, don't show your face every now and then; Show your face all the time. Use BlackPR.com to regularly send out press releases (about your newsworthy developments) and columns (about your insight and opinions) to the media. The key is to regularly do SOMETHING that will make people notice you!

3) Be Bold. Ebony and Jet, like other magazines, can increase their subscriptions by focusing on controversial issues and people. This is because controversy always catches people's attention. So, think of a way to be more controversial in your approach. Make people respect you for your boldness. Say something no one else will say, and do something no one else will do. If done correctly, being bold and controversial can get you a lot of media attention - and maybe even on the cover!