To help stay ahead of the competition you need to keep in touch with new methods of getting your message out.

That may sound very basic, but it is amazing how many companies think they are keeping on top of what’s happening.

You can read daily trade journals, daily newspapers and read a lot of blog sites. These are all good ways to keep current, but sometimes we just don’t have the luxury of time. So how do you stay in touch? One way is to subscribe to or become a member of organizations that can help you keep current of trends. One such group is the AMA (American Marketing Association).

This organization has been providing a lot of worthy information to help companies of all sizes. No, this isn’t an advertisiment for them. I just felt it would be good for companies to know of this organization, because it can be a valuable source.

Marketing is the key to any successful campaign or publicity program.

If you want to get into the core of marketing, check out other marketing sources, such as Guerrilla Marketing pro, Jay Levinson. His keen vision on marketing can keep your path to success in line.

When your company needs that extra input, these and many other sources are available. Research the web and go to your library to find out more information on successful marketing techniques.

If you still need a good marketing and publicity campaign, but just do not have the time, or the people power to implement a program, consider contacting a professional company to get the message out.

When I wrote the last couple of blogs about creating a press kit and getting publicity, I realized most people might still be confused as what to do, because they do not know the words used in PR. To help you better understand this lingo, I searched the web and came across a site that has a glossary of terms relating to publicity. Check them out at the link below, the PR Academy.

Then I came across another article for press kits. This guy goes into more detail than my blog, so I felt it was a good idea to provide you the article in Entrepreneur magazine.

His deeper explanation will help those seeking more knowledge to make the press kit more complete.

After you do your research and realize that your company can use some positive pr, it is a good idea to have a plan. Yes, just like a business plan, or an advertsing plan, the pr "campaign" should be well designed prior to sending that article or press release.
Even if you think you’re only sending this one article or release, that’s not enough. You wouldn’t place one ad in one publication and say, "that should do it for this year, next year we will do that again".

Be prepared to have a series of releases to submit to the media. You can only become noticed when you make yourself noticed.

See Also

• The PR Academy
• Entrepreneur magazine