PR Therapy

for the one-person-show (or small team) who must promote your own products, services, or even yourself.

Livingston Communications & Development, Inc. helps people mobilize talent, skill, and creativity by building business brands and professional platforms.

We know that doing promotional outreach requires a different mindset for people who have actually created their own products and services or who need to tell the world about themselves.  When you are the creator, designer, writer, or producer of a product or service, you don’t want a shallow approach to stirring up buzz.  You care too much about who you are and what you do to choose a promotional route comprised of meaningless hype.  You need to be noticed and you do want to make money, but you don’t want to feel like a used car salesman hawking your wares.  Hard-selling your audience is simply not for you.

If doing your own PR is driving you crazy, relax.  We can help.

If you have promotional issues, our PR Therapy services will bring back that original joy and excitement that made you want to throw your hat in the business ring in the first place.  We can show you how to approach your publicity efforts differently…and find the success you deserve…and make a positive difference in your corner of the world.  We create business development plans and authentic promotional strategies for entrepreneurs, writers, nonprofit leaders, and others with talent, skill, and creativity.  And, we never take for granted that you are human…and that your audience is comprised of real people, too.

Visit PRTherapy.com for tips on promoting yourself, your book, your products and services.  Read the first chapter of our book, watch book trailers, and find advice for stuff like creating your media room, or taking photos of your event, and more.

PR THERAPY by Robin Blakely, is available on-line and in book stores around the globe!
Below, enjoy an abridged excerpt from our book about taking the first steps to build a solid promotional plan…

Abridged excerpt from PR Therapy:
The basics of all good promotional plans come right back to three simple areas: who, what, and when.

Who is your audience?  Real people are your audience. And, real people really matter. People are the heart of good PR. Publicity is done best when it’s done for people for the right reasons. The power of PR can forever change lives—including your own—for the better. Build your PR mission on the belief that what you do or what you sell will help people and that it is important that they learn about it.

Find answers to these questions:

• Who needs to know about what you do?
• How will knowing about your products and services help them?
• Why do you care if they care?

Wrestle that information to the ground and come to terms with the answers.  When your promotions are focused, the response you get back from the world will amaze you. Your job is to target your promotional efforts to the specific people who need your products or services. You’ll reach them with the help of the media, but don’t waste time on media venues that don’t provide substantial access to your key markets.

What will you say? Articulate your message with clarity. You must be able to consistently tell people who you are and what you do—simply and clearly. When possible, tell them with passion, style, and enthusiasm, but simply and clearly will be good enough to get the results you need. Focus on venues that will allow you to deliver your message, rather than taking anything you can get.

Have ready short answers for these questions:

• What do you do?
• Why do people need this?
• What makes you or your product different?

If you struggle over coming up with answers to these questions and come to the conclusion that they don’t apply to your specific product or service, think again. And think harder this time.

For example, if you write fiction, maybe people need your product to provide an entertaining escape from the stress of their everyday worlds through a great laugh, a romantic thrill, or an armchair adventure. If you design beaded bracelets, perhaps you are helping women express their personal style or to make a unique fashion statement. If you are a personal chef, your services may help individuals with special diet needs or help working parents preserve the traditional family dinner.

Frame what you do and who you are around how you impact others.

When is the right time to speak up?  Timing can launch you or derail you. Consider timing strategically. Don’t quite understand? Think this over: You open a new car wash in the harshest winter in Midwest history; cars won’t line up. You try to sell snow shoes in the dog days of summer; nobody will be interested. On the first Monday in December, you try to arrange a book-signing event to promote your book during the holiday rush; the book chains tell you they don’t have any room for events in December and they booked their January events back in October.

Timing can quick-track you or derail you. Get it right. If you don’t know the seasons of your industry, you need to find these out from someone who does know.

Ask these questions of folks in your arena who are in-the-know:

• What time of year is the busiest?
• What time of year is the slowest?
• What deadlines are too important for me to miss?
• When would people be most receptive to my message?

Doing PR right means that you will meet exciting people, develop your talents, grow your career, and help change a corner of the world. The PR tools and promotional resources you need are already within your reach, or soon can be.

Get ready! You’re about to make some major PR breakthroughs.