Five Ways Newsletters Up Your PR Game

Five Ways Newsletters Up Your PR Game
Newsletters not only help you attract new clients, but they can also help attract media to your business.
Think about it. You probably subscribe to someone’s newsletter because you want to receive their insider tips and be updated about any news on a regular basis. You want the latest scoop before everyone else who isn’t on their subscriber list.
The media are just like you: searching for the next big news item and trying to get it down in print before someone else does. When filled with the right content, your newsletter can be just the thing that a journalist needs to write their next article, or consider you as a source for their next story – leading to a possible media hit for you.
Here are five ways that newsletters can be used to your PR advantage:

1. Become the expert

Most newsletters have a “letter” section where you can talk to your subscribers about anything- insider tips, a hot button topic, etc. Use this section to talk about something that shows off your industry knowledge and establishes you as an expert in your niche.

2. Pitch the media…without pitching the media

Newsletters let you share company news on a regular basis without having to write a formal press release or pitch.

3. The long reach

You never really know who’s subscribed to your newsletter. It may be a journalist, a blogger or even a friend of a niche influencer who decides to pass on your newsletter one day. A company I co-founded several years ago was included in someone else’s newsletter and a reporter from Maclean’s Magazine (a national magazine like the “Newsweek” of Canada) was subscribed. The reporter then called us for a story and after the story appeared – we attracted a buyer and then sold the company!

4. Follow up, follow up

Newsletters are a great way to follow up with a reporter you’ve met and keep in touch with them. Send them an e-mail following your meeting, share with them your latest newsletter as a way to give them more information about you and mention why you’d think they’d find it handy.

5. Increase the number of eyes on your website

You always want to get more people looking at your website, which increases your chances of a sales or PR conversion. Pepper your newsletter with a few “go to my company site to learn more” links and get those eyeballs there.

The Art of Non-Conformity � Paying the Bills: Your Responses

The Art of Non-Conformity � Paying the Bills: Your Responses

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As expected, I received a flood of responses to Monday’s question on paying the bills. In addition to hundreds of site comments (I posted at least half that came through, but it’s tough to keep up from the road), we also had hundreds of additional suggestions come in through Facebook and Google+.

You guys are so productive! And so smart, too.

Naturally, I outsourced the sorting of responses to my furry assistant Libby, now working back at home while I’m on location in Asia. (Anecdotal reports indicate that when her assistance is virtual, she slacks off even more. I’ll get back to impose discipline as soon as I can.)

Suggestions ranged broadly, and included everything from selling various bodily fluids to begging on street corners. Others suggested prayer or “manifesting” the money. Personally I am more of a “take action” kind of guy, but it’s all good. If manifesting money from the sky has a proven success rate for you, let it rain.

Here are a few interesting comments from our group:

Andrea said:

I’m a former math teacher. With a bit of hustle I can make $300 – $500 tutoring in a month. Particularly since it’s currently August and the next round of SATs are coming up.

Austin Bishop said:

Troll the “gigs” section on Craigslist to match someone’s need with your skills. Especially if you have creative talents (e.g. graphic design, photography, copywriting) it’s easy to make quick money doing something you enjoy. The beauty of this is that some of these gigs will lead to more consistent jobs with that customer, generate referrals, and build your portfolio. I’ve done this with photography–it’s a terrific way to make some supplemental income.

A.J. Parker said:

Focus groups! (seriously) have made as much as $400 a pop just for my humble opinion on stuff. Research and Development departments in companies pay well for your thoughts and ideas.

Tracy said:

I would take my camera to the park and offer to take portraits of people’s kids. I’d give them my card, which shows the url of my photography blog. At $15.00 per digital image, I could easily email them a proof online and send them a PayPal money request that afternoon.

Sarah Russell said:

I’d head over to the Problogger Job Board and respond to a few of the postings there. I’ve been doing that for the past few months, and it’s put *much* more than $300-500 in my pocket lately.

Karen said:

I’d go straight to my travel journals (I have several years’ worth) and write a few travel articles. Before I get told that there are no travel markets that pay up front and have a quick turnaround, I’ll share a few faves I’ve sold articles to that fit the bill: Transitions Abroad, BootsnAll and the Matador Network.

Kate Courageous said:

I’m a runner, so I’d contact locally owned athletic stores and ask them to sponsor me, with my promises that I’d run through downtown San Francisco, during morning rush hour when everyone’s getting coffee, wearing their brand. I’d have to commit to a certain number of miles per week to get decent sponsorship, so there would also be the win-win of keeping me really in shape.

Steven Petersen said:

Try Gigwalk. They pay $4-7 for you to walk around your neighborhood and verify business information and take panoramic photos of the business locations. If I were to do this in my neighborhood I’d earn $500 in roughly two days.

Felix said:

Here is something I actually did during my student years. I walked into the city park and picked up tree seeds. I went to a supermarket and bought exotic fruits and got the seeds out and dry them.

I packaged them in small portions about 10 – 25 seeds per pack and sold them on ebay for $1.50 to $3.50 and mega-packs for $9.99. Customers usually bought for $6 on average to save on shipping. This turned out to make me between $400 to $600 per month.

Eric Walton said:

I purchase used vintage mechanical watches, restore them and sell them on Craiglist. You can easily make $100+ with each transaction doing this if you know the value of what you’re buying (many don’t know the value of what they’re selling).

With the economy as it is people are rediscovering the value of quality craftsmanship right now and appreciate these older wristwatches. These can be maintained for a lifetime of use vs. throwing a cheaper watch away and buying a replacement.

Jodi said:

I’d offer high tech support to low tech people!

1. Go around to local boutiques in town and offer to set up their Facebook business page. Offer extra small fee for taking digital photo of business or their product.

2. Offer to take flattering profile pictures of friends and local business owners with my iphone, upload to their Facebook page and/or LinkedIn page.

3. Create a HOW TO USE YOUR IPHONE class, $15 for 15 minutes. Set up private lessons at the local coffeeshop.

Sarah in Prague said:

Offer some small group tours of Prague’s literary pubs and cafes. I had a column in the English language newspaper here for several years in the early ’90′s and wrote the first English language pub guide to Prague in ’91, so I can legitimately claim some expertise. Advertise on various tourist and expat oriented sites and in English-language newspapers.

Leah said:

My husband and I had this situation when we first bought our house and I was 6 months pregnant with our son. He had just lost his job, but happened to have a box truck, so we printed up a few cards which he handed out to all the local furniture stores, antique dealers, etc. offering his services delivering furniture. It worked so well he had to get a business license, insurance, etc and it is now his full time job.

If you are willing to do work (labor especially) that other people don’t have time for or don’t want to do, you can make a few hundred the first week easily.

Nathan said:

When I really need cash and I’ve already squeezed my monthly bills, I do this: first I post on Facebook to tell everyone I know that I am available for odd jobs (fixing computers, babysitting, help with yard work, etc) and wait for responses. If you have a network of 100+ Facebook friends you will definitely get some bites. After that, I go on eBay and sell off items I am no longer using.

Finally, Sandy R had a good idea:

Bookmark this comment thread and come back here and select the best fit suggestion for my current circumstances.

“It’s So Easy…”

A number of people said that making extra money is easy. I have mixed feelings about this sentiment. In some ways, I agree. Whenever I need money for something, I find a way to go out and make it.

However, I also think we sometimes skip steps in explaining what’s involved in a project, and therefore cause people to feel bad about their own financial difficulties for no good reason.

I’m not sure that most people could easily earn $300-500 in a short period of time from busking, for example. Some can, certainly, but it’s not widely replicable. That’s why I prefer suggestions that don’t rely on special skills or access to existing contacts.

(Like manifesting money, if you can busk your way to the bank, don’t stop on my account.)

The $100 Bounty

I promised a $100 bounty to one smart commentor. Naturally, there could have been many winners. You all win! But the cat and biased judges could only choose one person. Following much angst, a split decision was awarded to DARLENE.

After first posting an idea on Monday about renting out a spare room to a student and taking public transportation for a few weeks, here’s what she had to say on Wednesday:

So here’s an update — I posted an ad for our room for rent and just rented it for two months and $1200!!! I actually DID it. And it didn’t take 30 days, it only took two.

I know that not everyone has a room they can rent, but I liked the spirit of her suggestion-followed-by-immediate-action. As promised, I just sent Darlene her $100 winning bounty by PayPal.

My congratulations (and my hundred bucks) go to Darlene on her big payday. And for those who said the question was highly relevant to them, well, now you have some ideas.

***

As you might expect, I have a business project behind all this brainstorming. However, I’m not nearly as strategic as I sometimes get credit for—the business project is indeed in development, but with no target launch date. Sorry. In the meantime, you all have 300+ recommendations on what you can do if you find yourself in need of extra cash to pay the bills.

Jobs for Bloggers - ProBlogger Job Board

Jobs for Bloggers - ProBlogger Job Board

The Management 2.0 Challenge: How will YOU Reinvent Management in Your Organization? (highlights)

The Management 2.0 Challenge: How will YOU Reinvent Management in Your Organization? (highlights)

Business Model Innovation for Creating New Markets and Transforming Existing Ones

Business Model Innovation for Creating New Markets and Transforming Existing Ones

Wiley Valentine � Artist Crush {Katie Rodgers}

Wiley Valentine � Artist Crush {Katie Rodgers}

Every once in a while I come across an artists work that simply takes my breath away. Katie Rodgers aka Kathryn Elyse aka illustration genius is one of those people. I have seen bits and pieces of her work in Rue Magazine (check her out in this month’s issue!) but I just got completely lost in her blog, Paper Fashion. Wow is all I have to say. That girl is talented!

I just can’t get over her gorgeous whimsical style and her occasional use of glitter!

And Alice in Wonderland? a girl after my own heart!

How cool is this? Katie illustrated Coach bags at Fashion Night Out. What a cool idea! Check out more of Katie’s work here. Gorgeous work Katie. Thank you for the inspiration boost today! xoxo

New High-Quality Free Fonts - Smashing Magazine

New High-Quality Free Fonts - Smashing Magazine

Every now and then, we look around, select fresh free high-quality fonts and present them to you in a brief overview. The choice is enormous, so the time you need to find them is usually time you should be investing in your projects. We search for them and find them so that you don’t have to.

In this selection, we’re pleased to present Tondu, Banda, Morning Glory, Matilde, Bohema, Weston Round Slab, Highlands, Cabin, Linden Hill and other fonts. Please note that while most fonts are available for commercial projects, some are for personal use only and are clearly marked as such in their descriptions. Also, please read the licensing agreements carefully before using the fonts; they may change from time to time.

New High-Quality Free Fonts

Bohema
Bohema is a unique art-deco typeface with a modern twist. The unpredictability of some glyphs makes it looks original and interesting, although sometimes a bit troublesome. Bohema is available in eight distinct styles and could be a great fit for headlines, editorial lettering, branding, merchandising and special occasions. You can download one weight, Bohema Regular Alternative, for free, although it’s not quite as useful as the rest of the type family.

Morning Glory
An experimental font by Luis Armesilla, released under a Creative Commons license. The font combines various unique geometric forms and shapes. Obviously, the font is not suited to traditional publications but could be useful in posters, artwork and creative brochures.

Highlands
Highlands is a charming slab-serif font that draws inspiration from the US’ good ol’ National Park posters. Designed by Tyler Galpin, the fonts could be a great fit for headlines and posters. Currently only an uppercase set is available. Released under a pay-what-you-want license.

Bender
The Bender font family is an extravagant Russian typeface for special occasions. Use it for your graphic design work, portfolio or print products. Eight font weights are available, all as free downloads. But registration on MySpace is required.

Ovalian Type
An experimental, playful font based on oval and circle shapes. Obviously not a good fit for corporate or elegant projects, but Ovalian Type could be quite useful in projects that invite experimentation, engagement and creativity. Available in TrueType format.

Linden Hill
Linden Hill is a digital version of Frederic Goudy’s Deepdene. This small serif family designed by Barry Schwartz includes roman and italic styles. Available in OpenType format, Linden Hill is available under the SIL Open Font License.

Fanwood
Fanwood is a carefully crafted serif typeface with a flavor of classic roman typefaces. The font package includes roman and italic styles, both optimized for the screen. It’s an excellent typeface, making for a pleasing reading experience, including in headings and body copy. Released under the SIL Open Font License).

Tondu
A bold yet versatile font that is based on classic proportions and chunky letter forms. The sharp, precise lettering makes it an interesting choice for signage, book jackets, packaging, posters and t-shirts. The small family includes an extended European character set. One font weight, Tondu Beta, is available for free downloading. Registration on MyFonts is required, though.

Matilde
A friendly thin typeface with extra-tall capitals and subtle decorative elements. Matilde would work nicely for headings, short paragraphs, children’s books, posters and brochures. The family contains 212 symbols and glyphs. Two styles are available: Normal and Sketch. The font also contains decorative frames and patterns.

Weston Round Slab
This typeface contains rounded slab-serif fonts designed by Pavel Pavlov specifically for use in logos and headlines. Regular and light all-caps versions are available in OpenType formats for free downloading.

Banda Typeface
Banda is a semi-serif typeface characterized by a tall x-height and rounded semi-serifs. Although first designed as a display typeface, Banda quickly evolved into a more complex set, consisting of seven weights plus their respectful italics. Banda can be used for short passages of text as well as fancy displays. Spanning the elegant finesse of the thinner weights to the almost childish bubbliness of the heavier weights, Banda is a great all-round performer, suitable for logos, headlines, packaging and food products and much more.

Black & White
An experimental typeface with two font weights (regular and italic), designed by Alexey Frolov. The typeface has many distinctive, playful features that would give headings a unique retro feel. The typeface contains English and Cyrillic letters and is available in OpenType and True Type formats. Note that in both formats, the small “j” doesn’t work properly. We have contacted the designer about the issue, and hopefully the font will be updated soon.

Legion Slab
Legion Slab is a condensed slab-serif typeface designed by Phil Pham. The body copy set in Legion Slab is quite difficult to read because some letters were designed to be asymmetric, giving the typeface an original, perhaps “broken” appearance. However, Legion Slab could be a great fit for headings and product designs. In TrueType format; only a regular weight is available.

Fabrica
Practice Foundry is an independent foundry that releases fonts under a pay-what-you-want license. The sans-serif font was intended to be the most legible typeface for mobile screens. Its details are drawn from the more systematic constructed Neo-Grotesques, giving it a neutral tone of voice. Although Fabrica was developed primarily for mobile screens, the typeface is suitable to any application, big or small. The font is available in OpenType format for Mac and PC.

ARS Novelty
This typeface is a result of the unconventional approach of Angus R. Shamal. The designer has come up with a fun and by no means less-than-functional experiment in hybrid styles and historical influences, joining the baroque serif with the geometric sans, the formal with the decorative flourish. ARS Novelty is apparently a typeface that tries to make sense of it all. A single weight is available, with stylistic alternates, numerals, standard ligatures and discretionary ligatures, case-sensitive forms, ordinals and localized forms. In OpenType format.

Bevan
Bevan is a reworking of a traditional slab-serif display typeface created by Heinrich Jost in the 1930s. In Bevan, Jost’s earlier letter forms have been digitized and then reshaped for use as a Web font. The counters have been opened up a little, and the stems optimized for use as a bold display font in modern Web browsers. It’s a good choice for bold headings and promotional brochures. Released under the SIL Open Font License and available in the Google Web Fonts repository. Designed by Vernon Adams. You might want to take a look at other free fonts by Vernon Adams: Rokkitt, Shanti, Muli.

Ostrich Sans
This typeface is a display sans-serif typeface with a variety of styles: the free family contains dashed (thin), rounded (medium), ultra-light, normal, bold (with racetrack-style double lines) and black font weights. Designed by Tyler Finck, available in TrueType format and open source (courtesy of The League of Moveable Type).

Sansus Webissimo
This typeface is a contemporary open grotesk typeface available in OpenType and TrueType formats. Sansus is a potentially great fit for both headings and body copy, both online and in print. Two font weights are available, regular and italic. The family is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Quattrocento Roman
Quattrocento Roman is a classic, elegant and strong typeface that perhaps lacks some maturity in certain details (the “g” and “e,” for example, do not quite seem to fit together). The typeface has wide and open letterforms, and the good x-height makes body text legible even at small sizes. As a classic Roman typeface, Quattrocento is a good choice for big bold headlines. Fontlab source files are included in the download package. Available as a Web font, Quattrocento Sans is a free download as well.

Dancing Script
Dancing Script is a lively, casual script whose letters bounce and change in size slightly. The font references popular typefaces from the ’50s. It recalls Murray Hill (by Emil Klumpp, 1956) in its weight distribution and Mistral (by Roger Excoffon, 1953) in its bouncing effect. Dancing Script could be handy if you are looking for a casual, friendly, informal and spontaneous typeface, and it’s a pretty good replacement for Comic Sans, too! Also available as a Web font.

Collator
Collator is a sans-serif typeface designed to achieve greater harmony between Chinese characters and Latin letter forms when set together. Drawing inspiration from the two traditions of type design, Collator aims to be a contemporary, balanced expression of both Western and Asian cultures. Created by Vince Lo and released as a pay-what-you-want license.

Cabin
Cabin is a humanist sans serif inspired by Edward Johnston and Eric Gill’s typefaces, with a touch of modernism. Cabin incorporates modern proportions, optical adjustments and some elements of the geometric sans. As the designer puts it, “It remains true to its roots, but has its own personality.” An excellent typeface for body copy and headings on small and large screens. Four font weights are available, with corresponding italic styles.

Logisoso
Logisoso is an ongoing type design project. Created during a signage project for a logistics center, where it was used to identify different buildings, the font was later completed with Inkscape and generated with FontForge. The download package contains the source files for you to improve and optimize the font.

Novecento
Novecento is an uppercase-only font family inspired by the European typographic trends of the first half of 20th century. The typeface looks rational, geometric and blocky. But it is based on optical, not geometric, proportions. Novecento could be used for headlines, visual identities and short sentences. The lighter weights provide a more contemporary look and feel, while the bolder ones have a retro flavor.

Ubuntu
The Ubuntu font family is a set of new open sans-serif fonts. The family includes all of the languages used by Ubuntu users around the world. Designed by Dalton Maag for the Ubuntu operating system, and open source.

Ultra
Ultra’s beauty lies in its boldness. This decorative Western font with elegant serifs has a sharp and inviting presence, especially in the subtleties of the “J,” “7” and “f.” The font has an extended European character set and is available as a free download in TrueType format. Licensed under the Apache License version 2.

CS Benwood
This font is unique and would serve a large variety of print design work, be it posters, CD covers or any other project that requires a non-traditional typographic spin. Each glyph has its own unique “woody” appearance. Designed by BenChalit Sagiamsak, and available in OpenType format.

Five Minutes
This font was created by Oleg Zhuravlev and is meant for illustrations that display your brainstorming and other creative ideas. The letters are not quite optimized and appear to be a bit loose, but you wouldn’t expect anything more from your own scribbled notes either. The font contains 151 glyphs, including Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, numerals and some special characters.

DOCK11
Lukas Bischoff has released this heavy, elegant headline typeface for private use only. The typeface would work well for headings, short paragraphs and any type of graphic design in your personal portfolio.

Maven Pro
Maven Pro is a free sans-serif typeface with a unique curvature and flowing rhythm. The extensive collection of characters totals over 530 glyphs! Many languages are supported (too many to list), including basic Latin and Western European diacritics. The vast number of glyphs make it highly usable for just about any textual content: spreadsheets, documents and especially websites. The typeface is also great for printed collateral and can scale down very small while maintaining legibility. Available in four styles: black, bold, regular and medium.

TypoFlat
Typoflat’s founder, Branislav S. Cirkovic, loves experimenting with type. The company’s website contains a number of experimental vector typefaces (only EPS format is available), all available for free downloading and use.

Nikaia
The Miller Type Foundry has released three font weights of its type family Nikaia for free downloading. Nikaia is a futuristic geometric typeface for headlines and body copy. Nikaia, Nikaia Regular Italic and Nikaia Script have been released for free. To download the files, you will need to register on MyFonts.

Eau Sans
This sans-serif typeface was originally designed by Yamaoka Yasuhiro in 1992, yet the nicely shaped glyphs make it a timeless, sturdy tool for any typographic work. The family consists of six font weights, with numeric characters in three variations: proportional, old-styled and lining numerals.

Podkova
Podkova is a monoline slab serif with diagonal terminals. Wide proportions and clean features aid with legibility at small sizes. The unusual letterforms provide enough character to be used at display sizes. Designed by Ilya Yudin in 2010.

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The Force of Typography
May the force of typography be with you! Matteo Civaschi and Gianmarco Milesi have proved that the power of typography can go far beyond traditional text and headings. Have you ever tried to design Yoda, stormtroopers or Darth Vader with type? Well, they have. And the result is nothing less but spectacular!

jenny odell • satellite collections

jenny odell • satellite collections

77 Waste and Salt Ponds

120 Stadiums

Google Web Fonts

Google Web Fonts