Tag: press queries

5 clever ways to position yourself as a (real) expert

Posted on by Red Slice

Guru. Master. Legend.

Wouldn’t those be nice words to hear after someone introduces you?

Maybe. Personal branding is all the rage these days. But most of us don’t have to be THE leading voice on a certain topic, but a unique, thoughtful and useful voice that is part of the conversation.

I say: Beware the lone guru.

There are so many “personal brands” out there, claiming to be expert in this, or someone who can teach you the secrets of that, or the end-all, be-all source for (INSERT TOPIC HERE).

How nice for them.

The ones who claim to be experts in helping you establish yourself as an expert make me giggle the most. I mean, you should at least have some experience or competency in your chosen field before you expect that article in Fast Company. Experts are not invented, they are cultivated. What are your special skills, talents, experiences that can form a solid, authentic foundation for you to then learn even more and become a valid expert?

My vocation of choice is as a storytelling expert: small business brand strategy, marketing, messaging. Do I know all there is to know about these topics? Hell to the no. I am one of MANY brand strategists and experts. And that’s totally cool with me.

It’s not about offering people one authoritative voice to follow, one cult to join, one Kool-Aid flavor to drink. (Tweet!) There are so many talented brand strategists out there – seeming competitors – whom I admire, follow, learn from and even cite.

No one built up their knowledge and competency on their own. They learned it from somewhere, from someone.

But if you want brand awareness for yourself or your company, if you want to get press + customers + love + speaking gigs + influence, it is a good idea to establish yourself as part of that expert tribe, as someone with a valuable perspective and keen insight into this area.  So instead of getting frustrated every time you see one of these vocal, self-promotional, personal brand “experts” instead of pouting, why not follow some simple tips to join the conversation?

Here are 5 tips on how to establish yourself as an expert

(and no, I’m not claiming to be an expert in expertise – these are just tips I’ve used that have opened up new opportunities for me to help brands + businesses). All of these assume you already have a true level of education, knowledge or experience in your chosen area:

Keep soaking up knowledge:

That’s right. Think you know all there is to know about your topic? You’re done before you even start. Read the best-selling authors out there, attend conferences, read blogs and newsletters. Find out how others are approaching this area, stay up-to-date on trends, and pick and choose which bits of wisdom resonate – or don’t (see Tip #2) – with how you view this topic area. Keep a list of 5-10 sources to follow regularly so you don’t get overwhelmed.

Present a point of view:

It’s not enough to go out there and agree with every expert you read or follow in your space. Often, if you can present a valid, contrarian point of view, people find that much more interesting – and the press may bite. I have often used contributed articles (see Tip #3) and blog posts to say why I thought a certain expert got it wrong, and put my own unique spin and experience on the situation. Being willing to challenge the status quo – for real reasons, not just to be a pain in the neck – displays confidence and authority that people will notice. For some great advice about presenting value-drive content that rabid fans will adore, check out this Jay Baer blog post.

Write & pitch contributed articles/stories:

Not every piece of content you write should be about selling your products or services. People don’t pay to subscribe to news feeds or publications to get commercials. But can you convince Entrepreneur.com that you’re the perfect person to comment on 5 ways companies are actually making money from better SEO? Can you convince Katie Couric that 5 overlooked stressors are making women and mothers ill? Can you persuade TechCrunch to accept your premise that Big Data is changing the way companies roll out new products and features? Think about the macro trends and theories rather than just your own offerings and offer a thought leadership point of view that benefits everyone. Sidenote: Offering guest blog posts to robust online communities like Biznik or BizHive or influential blogs is also very effective.

Speak in public:

Nothing impacts your street cred more than presenting to group as the…you guessed it…guest expert! Have you contacted your local Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Administration or chapter of a national association? Pitch yourself as a speaker on your topic of interest (no sales pitches, please – except they may allow you to have one slide at the end to promote your book, service or special offer). Start building your buzz locally first and then you can start to point to those successes when applying to national event and conferences. Nervous about presenting? Hire a speaking coach, media + presentation coach, or other developmental coach to squash those fears and help you get your message out there. Some great resources for creating an online speaking profile and finding gigs are SpeakerMatch and eSpeakers.

Blog:

Cue the groans. But I’m telling you, blogging is one of the single best – and free – ways to share your philosophy and highlight your expertise on an on-going basis. You don’t need permission or acceptance like you do for scoring a media article or on-camera interview. Think of your blog as YOUR media outlet where you can say whatever the heck you like, Wrote a contributed article about the new rules of workplace etiquette and no publications bit? Fine, post it on your blog. See a juicy new trend in your space that you’re dying to comment on? You can post it tomorrow. The other added benefit of blogging regularly is that you become search engine friendly around these topics, and the more content you have online, the better to establish your expertise when people are searching for info on those topics. Want proof of the power? I often receive both media and sales leads from blog posts that I’ve written 3 or 4 years ago. Need help on where to start and what to write about – or even just how to work with your blog? Take a session with this woman now or check out Problogger for fabulous tips.

What actions have worked for you in establishing your expert status? Which experts do you admire and follow? Share your thoughts and get some link love back to your (expert) site!

Combining football, business & money into an expert personal brand: A chat with Kristi Dosh

Posted on by Red Slice

Fall is almost here in my part of the world. Warm sweaters. Pumpkin Spice lattes.  And of course…football season! If you know me, you know I’m a huge football fan, both college and pro. I would never call myself an advanced expert, but I know the game, can recognize many ref calls, and, when my husband wants to wind me up for an amusing rant, he’ll bring up the Wildcat formation (while exciting to watch, people can’t just go around playing any position they want to, IMHO)

Whether you, too, are a football fan like me or not, you will love today’s post. It’s about sports, yes, but it’s also about how to create an expert personal brand to launch blogs, books and speaking opportunities. We’re talking with Kristi Dosh, ESPN’s sports business reporter, an attorney, public speaker and author. Kristi is the founder of BusinessofCollegeofSports.com, a website dedicated to the financial side of collegiate athletics. Kristi’s latest book on the business of college football, Saturday Millionaires: How College Football Builds Winning Colleges launched this week.  She also has another book due out next year: Balancing Baseball: How Collective Bargaining Has Changed the Major Leagues. Kristi is a frequent guest lecturer in sports management and law programs.

We crossed paths through HARO for a freelance article she wrote. And I’m so glad we did, as she combines two things I love: business and sports. Read on to see why she wrote a book about the business of college football, and for your own brand and business, how she not only became an expert on this topic after being an attorney for many years, but how she promotes this personal brand effectively (hint: targeting is key!) 

RS: Welcome Kristi! What made you decide to write a book about the business of college football?

KD: In the early days of my sports media career – the ones where I wrote for free for Forbes and anyone who would have me on their blog while simultaneously practicing law full-time – I became fascinated by financial statements for college athletic departments. Math was never my favorite subject, but I found out pretty early on while covering the sports business that numbers can tell a story. And the story I was reading between the lines of athletic department financials was nothing like what I knew about college football from years of being a fan. In early 2011, I wrote a six-part series for SportsMoney on Forbes about the finances of every public school in the six “automatic-qualifying” conferences. Those posts received more views and feedback than any other posts I’d ever written, and I knew something was there. At that time, no one was writing about the business side of college sports on a consistent basis, and fans were becoming interested in what was going on off the field in these athletic departments earning millions from television contracts. Seeing the interest and realizing there was a gap in coverage by the sports media, I began to seek out more stories about the business side of college athletics, particularly football. It wasn’t long before I realized all I was learning from my research and visits to college campuses for facilities tours and sit-downs with athletic directors was changing the way I viewed college athletics. I knew not every fan would have that opportunity, so I wrote the book as a way of sharing everything I’ve learned with fans.

RS: How do you become an expert on a topic like this?

KD: First, I think it helped that I chose a topic where there was a gap in the coverage by traditional media. It’s sort of like when you’re developing a new product – you want something that fills the white space.

Next, you have to commit 100 percent. I made learning everything I could about the business side of athletic departments, and writing on what I learned, a part-time job in addition to my full-time job that was paying my mortgage and student loans. I started a blog called BusinessofCollegeSports.com so that all my writing on this subject would be in one easy-to-find place. Then I committed to writing on that site every single weekday. Between the launch of the site and the day I quit writing for the site to join ESPN, I posted 133 blogs in 175 days. In fact, I believe one of the reasons I ended up at ESPN was because their college football writers were linking to my blog on a weekly basis. On top of that, I was promoting myself to radio stations around the country as an expert on the matter by sending them blog posts pertinent to their market.

RS: How do you market yourself as an expert?

KD: I think self-promotion comes more naturally for some than others – for better or for worse, it comes pretty naturally to me. That being said, I think anyone can learn how to do it. Most importantly, you have to create something you can show to people to prove you’re an expert, whether it’s a blog, a book, a podcast – anything that illustrates your knowledge. Then you have to present that knowledge to the right people. This is where I see many young bloggers get off track. They inundate more senior writers on Twitter, LinkedIn and email with every post they write. My strategy was to carefully select who I targeted so as to give myself the best chance of having that person look at my work. For example, if I wrote about the finances of FSU’s athletic department, I was going to try and get it in the hands of beat writers who cover FSU and local radio hosts and producers. It didn’t make sense to me to send it to a national writer when it’s more of a local interest story, or to send it to someone who doesn’t cover the team regularly. Obviously getting a national writer to tweet out your story or reference it in his/her own piece is amazing exposure, but you can’t just send those people everything you write. Instead, I’d watch for them to write a piece that something of mine tied into – then I’d send them my piece. In the end, I found the most effective way to get other people to help you is to find a way to help them do their job better.

About  Saturday Millionaires:

Saturday-MIllionaires-BookLast year Football Bowl Subdivision college football programs produced over $1 billion in net revenue. Record-breaking television contracts were announced.  Despite the enormous revenue, college football is in upheaval. Schools are accused of throwing their academic mission aside to fund their football teams. The media and fans are beating the drum for athletes to be paid. And the conferences are being radically revised as schools search for TV money. Saturday Millionaires shows that schools are right to fund their football teams first; that athletes will never be paid like employees; how the media skews the financial facts; and why the TV deals are so important. It follows the money to the heart of college football and shows the real game being played, including debunking 6 myths most people have about college football programs, such as: Myth #2: Supporting Football Means Degrading Academics and Myth #5: A Playoff Will Bring Equality to College Football

Check out Kristi’s great new book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble (print & digital editions for both). Follow her on Twitter for more insights and news.

Your turn: What area of expertise do you promote in your brand? Why did you choose that area: skill, passion or something else? Please share in the Comments below. Or just let me know your favorite football team you’ll be cheering in this fall!

 

8 must-read blogs to boost your business & brand

Posted on by Red Slice

There’re waaaaayyyyy more than 31 blog and newsletter flavors out there, tempting readers with deliciously satisfying business and marketing wisdom. I don’t have to tell you – you’re reading one right now (which I hope is one of your faves).

But I’m often asked which are the tastiest ones I follow that help me with my own business and brand. So today for you, I’ve rustled up my top 8 blog and newsletter picks that I allow to invade my own inbox so you can check them out and see which ones will turbo-boost your brand, business or life, in no particular order:

  • Convince and Convert: This daily dose of smart and sophisticated social media news goes beyond mere opinion or playfulness. Jay Baer is one of my favorite people whom I’ve never met and he bills himself as a “hype-free” social media expert, which he is. He showcases interviews, guest posts, reports, case studies and the latest on how companies big and small are connecting with their customers, measuring success and using social media to grow their brand – and their sales. I even get something out of the studies and stories he shares about businesses much larger than mine, because it reveals the latest tools and trends. This is a guy with whom I could sit and have a beer (plus, he lives in Bloomington, Indiana, home of my alm mater IU, so I know he’s good people) – and he’s the real deal when it comes to dropping some knowledge bombs.
  • Heinz Marketing: Matt Heinz is a sales and customer relationship demon. He works with companies on sales enablement, lead generation, and customer relationships to accelerate sales and revenue growth. His blog, Matt on Marketing, is full of practical insights and I also subscribe to his newsletter (one of the few which I do).  Plus, I know Matt personally and he’s a sharp, nice guy to boot.
  • Savvy Sexy Social: Amy Schmittauer is a bubbly, snarky, hilarious online marketing princess who creates fun and informative videos for entrepreneurs and small businesses on how to build a strong online presence. Her videos are full of practical, easy to follow tips to make sense of doing business online – including advice on media outreach, content creation, and editorial planning. Amy is a video content creator working with brands to develop interesting informational vlogs (or “video blogs”) to share with their audience. and she walks her talk: delivering her own engaging and powerful advice in bite-sized video chunks. If you want to sell online without feeling slimy (if you’re part of my community, I pray that’s a “yes”), check her out.
  • Ali Rittenhouse: Ali’s an online business coach and trainer, helping women entrepreneurs build a digital emprire from their own laptop, just like she did. She demystifies tech and helps entrepreneurs embrace it to build their brand, business and revenue. As an “online enthusiast and digital diva,” she’s even taught me a few quick tricks on how to make my website look even better through her many free training videos.
  • Jamie Living: OK, while this is less about business building per se, Jamie Greenwood Dougherty helps rockstars on a mission get their body on board to create the life and business they want. Her content is all about taking better care of your physical and emotional needs so you can accomplish your most ambitious goals. YOU are your business’ most important asset and Jamie never lets you forget it.  You won’t get very far taking care of customers/clients if you can’t take care of yourself and Jamie’s sassy advice has even helped me and my husband improve our game and tackle more challenges with more energy. Her humor and passion shine through every blog post, and her emails are like little presents in my inbox.
  • Alexandra Franzen: I first worked with Alexandra a few years ago on some of my clients – as well as my own brand messaging – and was awed by her wordsmithing wizardry. A writer by trade, Alexandra is now a sherpa of self-expression and her following is huge (and well-deserved). Her weekly emails are like powerful poetry, full of musings to improve your messaging, work relationships, and self-confidence. All without being too woo-woo or preachy. I always score at least one wisdom-filled nugget from her weekly posts that I can immediately apply to my business (and my life). And (squeal!) we finally get to meet in person this May. Alexandra is “soul food” personifed.
  • CRAVE: Looking for a dose of entrepreneurial wisdom and a network of stylish business women right in your own city? CRAVE’s got you covered. You can sign up for your city’s newsletter and discover events, workshops and role models right in your own backyard. Offering business resources, advice and tips, the CRAVE newsletter includes guest posts from entrepreneurs who are out there, making things happen. Melody Biringer, CRAVE’s queen bee, is a dear friend devoted to promoting women-owned  businesses, as well as a serial entrepreneur in her own right, having started at least 23 businesses….and counting.
  • Melissa Cassera: Melissa turns business owners and entrepreneurs into PR rockstars – and she has a blast doing it. This woman knows PR like the back of her hand and is full of great advice to demystify media and make your brand a star. I recently met Melissa personally and besides having our Italian heritage and love for acting in common, you immediately feel her passion for business shining through. She preaches that you need to love your business if you want to get the attention of others – and the press. No one is more passionate about your business than you are and she gives great DIY advice for how to score with the press, sell yourself and build your brand.

Photo credit: Timtak on Flickr

Tweet the love! 8 must-read blogs to boost your business & brand via @redslice http://bit.ly/XPOR6O

Your turn: What do you read as a go-to blog/newsletter for business and brand advice? Besides moi, of course! Please share in the Comments and include a link for all of us so we can get some love.

You love PR: Do your employees know how important it is?

Posted on by Red Slice

Had to share this gem with full credit to Steve Harrison at Reporter Connection. If you don’t subscribe to it, sign up today – it’s free press queries delivered right to your inbox so you can pitch the media and get your story heard. Here was his juicy advice:

Here’s another PR don’t from a journalist friend of mine. Researching a story for a major magazine, she called a store and asked to speak to the owner. The person who answered told the journalist that the owner was out of the store. The journalist asked to leave a message. After a big sigh, the employee said, "Can you just call back tomorrow?" Not surprisingly, the journalist never called that store again. Think about that. Who answers your phone? Have you told them that if a journalist calls, they should not only take a message, but make sure that they get that message to you immediately? If you haven’t told your employees how to handle media calls, do so today.

YOU may care about your brand and your marketing goals – but do your employees or partners know what most matters to you? Don’t assume they do….communicate with them often so everything is going in the right direction.

How to interview…and be interviewed: Advice from Katie Couric

Posted on by Red Slice

Many of you out there promoting your businesses or serving as spokespeople will hopefully be doing more and more press and informational interviews. PR is a core tactic in your brand building strategy and you want to ensure you are further conveying your brand messages when you are on camera, on the radio or in print.

The best advice I can share is whether you are a beginner or have been at this a while is to get media trained. We featured top tips in our Ask the Expert interview with Bronwyn Saglimbeni a while back from her work in media and presence coaching. Even if you just do a refresher every year, this is a great idea to ensure your messages are coming across in the media exactly as you desire. Interviewers can be wily and time is short so you need to know about presence, polish and soundbites – and how to avoid getting dragged down a rathole – in order to get the most bang for your PR buck. You may never get that kind of audience again, so leverage it well.

Many of you reading this also have blogs or radio shows that you use to promote your business, so you need to be wise to the ways of effective interviewing. It may not be your core business or competency, but if you have a listening or viewing audience, you need to serve them to the best of your ability or risk tarnishing your own brand in the process.

Katie Couric gave some great advice applicable to both interviewer and interviewee in this video. Check it out and ensure you are on point no matter which side of the mic you are on.

How to reply to a PR query- and how not to

Posted on by Red Slice

Many small biz owners and marketing pros use  HARO – Help A Reporter Out – for free media queries. It’s DIY PR, served up in 3 daily emails.  But listen up, people: as with everything DIY, you must “do it right” to get results. And many folks do not. Having seen the other side of HARO replies as a writer looking for sources, I can tell you the view is pretty darn ugly.

I highly recommend HARO to all of my clients as an easy way to get press. Peter Shankman’s brilliant idea delivers queries right to your inbox from journalists, authors, and even talk show producers on topics ranging from business to lifestyle to health to finance.It takes about 5 seconds to scan the query summaries and see if a topic fits your expertise. There are over 100,000 folks signed up and his email open rates are ridiculous (over 90%) for advertisers (he includes 1 small ad per email).

I took out a HARO ad once to sell my eBook and my shopping cart lit up like Christmas over the following week.

But sometimes people are their own worst enemies, especially with anything DIY. I use HARO for me and my clients to promote our businesses. But as a writer on the side, I also get to use HARO on the other side: as a journalist and author.

I recently posted a query for a new book I’m publishing, due out Spring/Summer 2010 (more on that later) looking for innovative brand examples from small or large businesses. I want to profile, in small sidebars, different Brands at Work, where businesses use unique and innovative ways to express their brands both experientially and visually.

I asked for answers to 7 specific questions in my query.  With the amount of responses you get from HARO, you need some format for screening and for your own sanity. I explained very clearly in the query what I was looking for….assuming people would read it in its entirety before responding.

This proved to be an inaccurate assumption.

So many people sent me page-long emails extolling the virtues of their business’ brand. I had to politely tell them to answer the questions in the query in order to be considered. One person even admitted to not seeing the questions, as she didn’t read the rest of the message truncated from her Blackberry. Another send me 7 photo attachments after I specifically said “no attachments.” Um, hello?

The reason PR pros are so good at their jobs is that they know how to handle the press. They know reporters are on deadline, and often need something in near-complete form before they will use it in an article. They need crisp soundbites. They have no time to spend on reading 8 paragraph emails of the source’s life story. If they get a good taste, they will then follow up if need be.

Here, then, is a list of PR query do’s and don’t for your DIY’ers out there, from my perspective as a writer:

DO read the query in full and only send what is asked. It’s a courtesy to respect the person’s time.

DO keep it short and sweet and provide your name, title, website, and contact information for follow up.

DO include clever soundbites/hooks that could be easily quoted in the story.

DO use bullet points for your main points, as it’s easier to scan.

DO put “HARO” or other such source in the email response subject line for easy sorting

DON’T send 8 paragraphs about you or your business that have little to do with what is asked for in the query. Sending more info is a bad thing, not a good thing. I won’t even spend the time to wade through the response to find a good nugget, as I’ll be so peeved.

DON’T respond to queries that do not apply to you. Period.

DON’T send attachments. EVER.  Unless asked. If the reporter needs something for follow-up, they will ask for it.

DON’T rush it (assuming the article is not due by end of day). If you wait an extra day to reply back with the exact info requested (or wait until you can read the whole query on your computer back at the office) this is much better than sending a response that is not what I wanted. Most reporters won’t be as nice as me and ask you to resubmit, they will just delete your email.

If you are an agency responding on behalf of a source, please follow all the do’s and don’ts above.

Ask the Expert: PR Expert Nancy Juetten with Reasons Why Having a Fabulous Bio in Today’s Demanding Times is Absolutely Essential

Posted on by Red Slice

Red Slice had an excellent chat with PR powerhouse Nancy Juetten of Main Street Media Savvy. Nancy helps businsses get seen, heard and celbrated in their own backyards and beyond. She just came out with a fabulous new tool, Bye Bye Boring Bio Action Guide, for crafting a winning personal bio that tells your story, gains killer exposure and scores points wih the press. We sat down to talk about what a well-crafted bio can do for your press opps and business.

RS: Hi Nancy. So, really, how important is your bio? Who reads those on websites anyway?

NJ: People do business with people they like, trust and respect. It is essential to share who you are, why you are qualified, and why it matters with a few lines of well-chosen text that tell your story in a compelling, inviting way. A bio is an efficient and essential tool to share this information so the right people will pay attention. If you are serious about speaking on the radio, commenting for the media, or getting invited to speak in exchange for professional fees, you must have a bio that makes clear the value you bring and why it matters right now.

Also, consider this: The US department of labor reported recently that 15 states are still experiencing double digit unemployment.
2) 27 million people are in some stage of “escaping from cubicle nation” to start and grow businesses of their own.
3) Plenty more are seeking out side incomes to stay afloat in this demanding economy

These circumstances have people looking for a way to stand out from the crowd so they can get the chance to dance and get on with their life’s work NOW. Don’t be boring and boilerplate with your message. Be magnetic and really great to invite more of the right opportunities.

Check your web site stats to find out how many people are reading your bio. Chances are the numbers are higher than you would have first thought. If your bio is “boilerplate” and boring, take the time to revise it to be “really great” and inviting. Then, when your ideal customers land here first and love what they read, they won’t be able to stop themselves from reading more, sending you an email, or dialing the phone to discuss how to benefit from how you serve.

This bio for Patricia Fripp is one of my favorites:

Patricia Fripp is an award-winning speaker, sales presentation trainer, and executive speech coach who delights audiences, electrifies executives who speak, and transforms sales teams. Meetings and Conventions magazine calls Patricia “one of the country’s 10 most electrifying speakers.” Kiplinger’s Personal Finance says, “Patricia Fripp’s speaking school is the sixth best way you can invest in your career.” She is also the author of Make It! So You Don’t Have to Fake It and Get What You Want. Learn more at www.patriciafripp.com.

Right off the bat, you know who she is, what she does, and for whom. It is clear that she delivers stunning results. She offers sassy sound bites that lend credibility to her offering. She makes it easy for the reader to learn more and buy. This is a winning recipe that works for radio station interviews, website bios, speaker introductions, and more.

RS: Will people think you’re not professional if your bio is too playful and personal?

NJ: I heard an executive from Microsoft quip, “Social media isn’t a job. It’s a lifestyle.” In today’s information overloaded world, where messages of 140 characters speak volumes about the sender, we all have to be mindful about the quality and texture of information we share in our bios and social networking profiles. My advice is to share information that is relevant and magnetic for your ideal customers to know, while also sharing a bit about who you are so the reader can form an opinion about who you really are. Are you an irrepressible entreprenuer? Are you someone who is known for having an endless supply of great ideas? Are you a
risk taker who loves sky diving, roller coasters, and more? If you try to be all things to all people, you end up being too little of the right things for the right people. Have courage to declare who you are, how you add value, and why you are an essential ingredient for success in your niche, and you’ll invite more of the right
opportunities.

RS: Sounds a lot like what Red Slice says about branding in general. Better to appeal strongly to the people who matter than blandly to many more who don’t. So how will a better crafted bio help me get more exposure and speaking engagements?

NJ: A radio station producer for a nationally syndicated talk show told me last week that the bios guests send in are often long, boring, and not well suited for radio. The downside for the guest is that the radio station producer likely doesn’t have time to re-write the bio to be suitable, so she likely captures key words and runs with it. It is far better for you to provide a few lines of well-worded text to introduce you in the perfect way than to relinquish control to someone who doesn’t care nearly as much about your story or your success as you do. It’s your story. Tell it well.

What most people want is the chance to to do what we really love with our time and our lives. At the same time, most of us fear being anonymous, not being heard, or toiling away in obscurity. And, if being seen, heard and celebrated in the media is on your priority list, a great bio is your calling card to qualify to tell your story so the right people will listen and take action. No matter where you stand on the continuum — from seeking a perfect assignment or getting known for your winning ways in your own backyard and beyond — a great bio isn’t just something to put on the “to do” list. It is absolutely essential, now more than ever.

Folks who struggle can find help with the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide. I highly recommend checking this out, and I’ve already put some of the lessons learned here into practice for my clients. And those who need a guiding hand from a PR expert to turn their ideas into a few lines of well-worded, magnetic text can consider signing up for an Extreme Bio Makeover.