Archives for June 2014

Title Creep is Nuts…

 

8b20 years ago, a VP or C-level title meant everything.  Now it seems, Gen Y has pushed for bigger tittles, and weaker leaders have given in to them.

With larger titles comes higher pay, and at times unwarranted expectations from those we give them to.

Instead of giving out titles quickly.   Do this instead.  List the TOP 5 things the person has to get done in the next 12 months.  Then give  a title that’s tied to those outcomes.  And pay them based on what they are going to get done, not on some fancy inflated title.

5 Steps to Get the Press to Talk About Your Biz

 

If you’re doing good work, you’ll have good stories to share. One of the best ways to get these stories out—and to build awesome exposure for your company—is to get the media to cover your stories for free. That’s the essence of great PR.

But just as with any business endeavor, good PR requires good strategy. You could have the best story in the history of the world, but if you don’t share it with the right outlet, it’ll never get off the ground.

When it comes to a great PR strategy, finding the right fit for your story is of first importance.

Finding the fit takes focus

When you think about where to sell your story, you need to focus your efforts on the media outlets that will give you the greatest direct benefits.

To sharpen your focus, ask yourself these questions:

• Where would I like to be covered?

• What trade journals do my clients read?

• What media outlets would give maximum exposure to my products, services, or corporate culture?

• Why am I trying to land PR?

Answering these questions will help you focus and help you define the right organizations to target in your campaign. Once you know the answers to those questions, you’re ready to start mapping out your PR strategy.

Make a potential PR list

Make a list of all the media outlets you want to cover your company. Think about TV, radio, online, magazines, newspapers, e-zines, blogs, newsletters, trade journals, and community papers. Ask your employees for ideas as well. They may know about interesting media outlets that you have never heard of.

Send some simple surveys out to all your customers and potential customers using free tools like SurveyMonkey. Ask them what trade magazines they read and what media outlets they watch or listen to daily and weekly, and then target the ones most closely related to your business angle.

Go online and grab free lists of the top newspapers and magazines by circulation, top blogs by readers, and so forth. Once you have those lists, have your team pick five from each category.

Stay hyper-focused. Resist the urge to simply say they’d all be good and pick the ones that will be great.

Zero in on the writers

Whatever you do, don’t focus on contacting editors. Editors are the kings and queens of “no.” They are not the ones who are in the business of digging up new ideas. They are in the business of editing every approved idea and rejecting most of the others.

Instead, zero in on the writers.

The key is to find the best writers and journalists within each of your selected media outlets and to make sure they specialize in your area of expertise. For instance, someone who covers oil and gas companies won’t write about a medical supply company. Someone who covers mergers and acquisitions won’t write about your company’s corporate culture.

Who covers your industry? Who covers your competitors? Who has covered similar companies in other industries? All of those people can write about you, too. Reach out to them and them alone.

Make relentless contact

Contact information for writers, journalists, and photographers can be obtained through services like PR Newswire’s MEDIAtlas or Cision-Point’s Media Database. You can also often find contact information quickly on media outlets’ websites, and nowadays you can even make contact on social media through Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and more. If all that fails, you can generally find someone by entering the person’s name, company, and the word “phone” or “address” into an online search engine.

In a worst-case scenario, you can always call the main switchboard of the writer’s office and ask for the person by name. Hint: I always do this in a tone of voice that implies that the person is practically my lifelong friend. I just casually say, “Oh hi, Mike Smith, please,” and if the receptionist asks if I’d like his voicemail I say, “Sure; what’s his direct line again so I don’t bother you next time?” It usually works.

Here are a couple more tips. Whenever you have a great interview with a writer, ask what other publications he or she works for. One writer I asked years ago wrote pieces for a crummy little trade journal—and Entrepreneur (bingo!). And when you have your photo taken for a story, ask the photographer what other publications he or she shoots for, since this person may be able to introduce you to writers too.

At the end of the day, by having laser focus when it comes to your PR strategy, you’ll get your story into the right hands and have exponentially higher chances of getting your story covered. All it takes is a little time and effort. The results are worth it.

You can learn all the secrets of landing tons of Free PR here — and you can download the content or we can ship you DVDs…

 

Are You Sure You’re Thinking Big Enough ???

 

10bRead this poem – courtesy of a very close friend of mine…  Then ask yourself, if you’re thinking big enough for your business…

The Curious Cat was called Think Big and he thought so much that he needed a wig.

The wig was too small for the thoughts in his head.  His thoughts spilled out to the floor instead.

He needed to think bigger, to figure a way, to find a wig that was bigger each day.

It is hard to think bigger, without thinking at all, so Think Big began to Think Biggest of all.

His thoughts grew so big, they spilled out the door.  They covered the bedroom, the kitchen, and floor.

The wig was too small and his head was too big.  His head was nine times the size — of his biggest wig.

The Curious Cat was called Think Big and he thought so much that he needed a wig.

The wig was too small for the thoughts in his head.  His thoughts spilled out to the floor instead.

He needed to Think Bigger to figure a way to find a wig that was bigger each day.

Courtesy of my good friend Mark Rubin

Want to Know What Your Employees Think of Your Core Values???

 

11bYour employees think you‘re full of crap don’t mean anything you say about anything, because you don’t LIVE your Core Values.

Simply posting your Core Values up on a wall does nothing.  In fact, unless you live them, simply posting them up on a wall hurts you more than helps you.  It says, you don’t mean them, so what would you really mean anything else you say either.

Enron had core values up on their walls, and posted internally too.  However, everyone knew they didn’t give a shit care about them.

If you’re not willing to fire someone who breaks the core values – then they are not core values at all.

If you want to really learn more about how to REALLY create and live core values – order this speaking event I did last month right now – and we’ll email you a link so you can download it from DropBox today or you can have it on DVD too.

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Meetings Suck: Turning One Of The Most Loathed Elements Of Business Into One Of The Most Valuable

We all know that meetings suck, right?

You hear it all the time. It’s the one thing that almost everyone in business can agree on.

Except it’s not actually true… 

Meetings don’t suck.

We just suck at running meetings.   

When done right, meetings not only work, they make people and companies better.

In Meetings Suck, world renowned business expert and growth guru Cameron Herold teaches you how to use focused, time effective meetings to help you and your company soar.

This book shows you immediately actionable, step-by-step systems that ensure that you and everyone in your organization improves your meetings, right away.

In the process, you’ll turn meetings that suck into meetings that work. 

In life, we always hear about people who’ve made huge decisions from their gut – without data.Today, I want you to make a decision, not only from your gut, but also from some data.  A decision that is only $12 per employee but will be priceless for your business.

Right now, your gut is telling you something is wrong with your company’s meetings.  You KNOW everyone complains about meetings.

People HATE going to them, they HATE running them, and they really have NO idea which meetings are truly necessary but they hold meetings simply because they think that is what they SHOULD do.

Even some of the smartest CEOs in the world complain about meetings – Elon Musk publicly told employees at Tesla & SpaceX to walk out of meetings if they weren’t being run properly.

I sent Elon a message saying that wasn’t going to fix anything – the key is to fix the root of the problem – NOT continue to ignore why meetings suck.

A Meeting is – Any phone call, video call or occasion where 2 or more people meet to discuss or work-through office topics.

Most employees on average spend 1-2 hours per day in meetings.

And likely, none of those employees – front-line staff or leaders – have had any training on how to attend meetings or participate in them, LET ALONE How to RUN THEM.

Consider this…

If the Average employee spends just 1 Hour per day in meetings – that’s 1/8th of their time.

If the Average employee earns $50,000 per year.

And they’re spending 1/8th of their time in meetings, that means you’re paying $6,250 dollars per year for just ONE employee to attend meetings.

The reality is, employees spend 1/8th of their time – and 1/8th of your company’s payroll – doing something they have literally NO idea how to do.

The Reality is…

95% of employees are booking & leading meetings – and they have NEVER been trained on how to run them.

95% of employees have had NO training on how to show up and participate in the meetings they attend daily.

And 95% of employees and companies have no idea what meetings are even necessary to hold.

Meetings CAN be hugely effective – IF you know how to run them

Meetings don’t SUCK, we just SUCK at running meetings. 

Investing $15 per employee – to help ensure the $50,000 a year you spend on them is an obvious and easy choice.

This could be the most impactful $15 you’ll ever spend and will save the company’s money, time and resources instantly.

Buying a copy of Meetings Suck for 100% of your employees and having them read it this month will have a huge impact on your company’s success.

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Free PR: How To Get Chased By The Press Without Hiring A PR Firm

Public relations has always been an essential part of doing business which is probably why you’re shelling out big money to an outside PR firm. But the truth is that you don’t need them. You already have all the necessary tools in-house to do as good a job as the so-called experts. 

Cameron Herold and Adrian Salamunovic have taught thousands of company execs how to exploit free media coverage and ditch these expensive, often ineffective outsiders. 

Cameron & Adrian have also built in-house PR teams, spent decades learning how to generate Free PR and how to leverage public relations to complement their sales and marketing strategy. 

In Free PR, you’ll learn how the media world operates while you gain invaluable insider knowledge and actionable advice on how to: 

  • Build your own in-house PR team
  • Provide effective interviews
  • Score great media coverage for free with just a few easy steps 

Landing public relations coverage for yourself and your company is a powerful tool to help elevate your personal brand. PR is easier to generate than marketing, PR is easier to leverage than marketing and PR is more cost effective than marketing. In other words, Public Relations is more critical than ever in growing your brand and your business. 

You’ve got more passion, commitment, a larger stake, and a deeper understanding of your business than any outside PR firm could ever have. So stop wasting money and take the reins yourself.  Learn the secrets to landing TONS of Free PR for your company.

What they’re saying:

“I think PR is the core for promoting any business. Public relations acquires customers! That’s what’s cool about this book.”

– Kevin O’Leary,  Shark on ABC’s Shark Tank

“The ultimate guidebook for those looking to get press, grow their brand, and get in front of the masses. Free PR is the roadmap you’ve been looking for.”

– Peter Shankman, Founder, Help a Reporter Out (HARO)

“Adrian and Cameron will show you the secrets of getting massive exposure for your business. This book is packed with actionable insights from two guys that actually know how to to do it.”

– Dan Martell,  Serial Entrepreneur & Investor (Intercom.io, Unbounce)

“I told Cameron to write the book on generating free PR. I’m excited to see that he’s finally sharing his secrets with the world. This is a must read for any entrepreneurial company and marketing team.”

– Verne Harnish, Founder of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and author of Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0)

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Vivid Vision: A Remarkable Tool For Aligning Your Business Around a Shared Vision of the Future

Many corporations have slick, flashy mission statements that ultimately do little to motivate employees and less to impress customers, investors, and partners. 

But there is a way to share your excitement for the future of your company in a clear, compelling, and powerful way and entrepreneur and business growth expert Cameron Herold can show you how. 

Vivid Vision is a revolutionary tool that will help owners, CEOs, and senior managers create inspirational, detailed, and actionable three-year mission statements for their companies. In this easy-to-follow guide, Herold walks organization leaders through the simple steps to creating their own Vivid Vision, from brainstorming to sharing the ideas to using the document to drive progress in the years to come. 

By focusing on mapping out how you see your company looking and feeling in every category of business, without getting bogged down by data and numbers or how it will happen, Vivid Vision creates a holistic road map to success that will get all of your teammates passionate about the big picture. 

Your company is your dream, one that you want to share with your staff, clients, and stakeholders. Vivid Vision is the tool you need to make that dream a reality.

miracle-morning

The Miracle Morning for
Entrepreneurs: Elevate Your SELF to
Elevate Your BUSINESS

READY FOR EXPLOSIVE GROWTH AS AN ENTREPRENEUR AND ACCELERATED SUCCESS IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?

A step-by-step guide to enjoying the roller-coaster ride of growth — while getting the most out of life as an entrepreneur. A growth-focused approach: The book is divided into three sections, which cover planning for fast growth, building a company for fast growth, and leading for fast growth. Each topic the author covers — from creating a vision for the company’s future to learning how to generate free PR for a developing company — is squarely focused on the end goal: doubling the size of the entrepreneur’s company in three years or less. A down-to-earth action plan: Herold’s experienced-based advice never gets bogged down in generalities or theory. Instead, he offers a wealth of practical tips, including: How to design meetings for maximum efficiency; How to hire top-quality talent; How to grow in particularly tough markets; How to put together a board of advisors — even for a smaller company; How even the busy entrepreneur can achieve a work/life balance.

READY FOR EXPLOSIVE GROWTH AS AN ENTREPRENEUR AND ACCELERATED SUCCESS IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?

Hal Elrod’sThe Miracle Morning has helped redefine the mornings and the lives of millions of readers since 2012. Since then, careers have been launched, goals have been met, and dreams have been realized, all through the power of the Miracle Morning’s six Life S.A.V.E.R.S.

THESE SIX DAILY PRACTICES WILL FUEL YOUR EFFORTS TO CREATE AND SUSTAIN POSITIVE CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE.

Now The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs brings you these principles in a whole new light—alongside the Entrepreneurial Elevation Principles and the Entrepreneur’s Elevation Skills. These are essential skills that you need to create a successful business and personal life. Cameron Herold— Bestselling Author and a widely-respected expert on entrepreneurial mindset—brings his wisdom and insight to you using Hal Elrod’s powerful Miracle Morning framework.

DEVELOP A VISION FOR YOUR BUSINESS, AND BECOME THE INFLUENTIAL AND INSPIRING LEADER YOU WERE ALWAYS MEANT TO BE.

The principles and skills you’ll find in this book will help you to channel your passion and achieve balance in a remarkable new way. – Learn why mornings matter more than you think – Learn how to master your own self-leadership and accelerate your personal development – Learn how to manage your energy—physical, mental, and emotional – Learn how to implement Hal Elrod’s invaluable Life S.A.V.E.R.S. in your daily routine – And much more… You’re already an entrepreneur. Now discover how to take your success to the next level by first taking yourself to the next level. The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs is your roadmap to masterfully building an empire with a powerful vision, utilizing your areas of personal genius, with the right team at your side.

Start giving your business and your life the very best opportunities for success, right now.

A step-by-step guide to enjoying the roller-coaster ride of growth — while getting the most out of life as an entrepreneur. A growth-focused approach: The book is divided into three sections, which cover planning for fast growth, building a company for fast growth, and leading for fast growth. Each topic the author covers — from creating a vision for the company’s future to learning how to generate free PR for a developing company — is squarely focused on the end goal: doubling the size of the entrepreneur’s company in three years or less. A down-to-earth action plan: Herold’s experienced-based advice never gets bogged down in generalities or theory. Instead, he offers a wealth of practical tips, including: How to design meetings for maximum efficiency; How to hire top-quality talent; How to grow in particularly tough markets; How to put together a board of advisors — even for a smaller company; How even the busy entrepreneur can achieve a work/life balance.