Please share this Christmas gift with your e-mail list. Happy Holidays!

On the tenth day of Christmas, Mesmerizzzed! gives to you -

ten press releases,

nine networking ace's,

eight advertising "don'ts,"

seven direct mail steps,

six customer solutions,

FIVE MARKETING KEYS,

four sales methods,

three pricing strategies,

two engineered products and a focused target market.

Here are ten press release tips to get you in the news:

Break the rules

Every book on public relations tells you the absolutely, positively, no exceptions rules for preparing a press release. Ignore them. The first few lines of your press release may be all that gets read. Don't risk having your story trashed because they didn't get to your compelling headline.

Follow the rules

Never, ever go beyond one page. Even if you have to break the absolutely, positively, no exceptions rule of double-spacing - single space to keep it to one page. Editors do not have time to read - they filter thousands of stories a week looking for one thing - the vital few to print.

Headlines trump stories

There is only one goal for your press release - to get your story published. Editors are looking for attention grabbing headlines - topics that will grab the attention of their readers. They really don't care about your story - they care about printing things that interest their readers - and that interest is provoked by powerful headlines.

Write it once - and re-write it over and over and over ...

How long can it take to write one page? You can probably complete that effort in just a few minutes. How long will it take to re-write it? It could take a lifetime. You need to edit your pages to paragraphs, your paragraphs to sentences, your sentences to words. Every word needs to have a purpose - and an impact on the editor.

Zero Tolerance!

If you are challenged with spelling and grammar, get help. Editors have zero tolerance for spelling and grammar mistakes.

Beat your own drum

Editors are seldom interested in products - but they are interested in people. You need to be willing to step into the public eye and present yourself as the expert in your industry. You can be shy and reserved after business hours - but step into the public eye now!

Don't sell - educate and ...

If you think you are going to sell your product or services through the power of FREE press - stop! You need to educate, instruct, entertain, and whet the public's appetite to learn more ... but you can't outright sell in your press release. Publications have a different word for that - they call it advertising (and you really shouldn't be selling there either - but that's another topic)

Be a tease!

Leave something to the imagination. The job of your press release is to provoke interest, not to tell the whole story. You need to leave them wanting to learn more.

Commit to an ongoing program

Don't be a one-hit wonder. Commit to an ongoing program of public relations. Set a goal to get published often, not just once. Be on the lookout for interesting information to share.

It's the relationship

Don't underestimate the task of media placement. The reason that "free press" isn't free is because of the hard work public relations firms put into cultivating relationships with editors to understand what they want. The make sure they only present press releases that benefit the editor, rather than inundating them with endless fodder for the trash can.

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