A tale of two media titans

Pop quiz:

Question: What do Oprah and Martha Stewart have in common?

Answer: Nothing.

When faced with the attention of the nation, one chose to tell the truth and admit her faults; the other chose to lie and hide the facts.

One faced months in prison, millions of dollars in legal fees and millions of dollars of lost value to her company.

The other faces public adoration and an even more deserved reputation as the most admired person is America (at least in my book).

I'm sure you have no trouble telling which is which.

I have nothing against Martha. She just made a bad decision and now must face years of rebuilding to reclaim trust. She was thrown in jail not for insider trading, but for lying about it! Oprah followed the Golden Rule of Crisis Communications: tell the truth.

It is pretty easy to see which option is the best.


Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS Expert Resource Network
www.prleads.com

Not all publicity is good publicity

Bad Publicity By Association

Whoever said "Any publicity is good publicity," probably had anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan as a willing pupil.

If you missed today's newspapers, you would have missed Cindy posing with Venezuela's president, as she pledged to continue her protests in Bush's backyard.

Say what you will about your position about the war, but posing with a dictator is not a good PR move, in my opinion.

Cindy runs the extreme risk of being painted as the next Jane Fonda, whose protests against the Viet Nam war by posing with North Viet Namese have hounded her for decades.

One fact of publicity is that the people you associate with can come back to help you or haunt you. That's why speakers so frequently say they share the stage with President Ford, or Joe Namath or Zig Ziglar. They want the positive associations to rub off on them.

That's why I interview celebrities in the publishing and speaking world for my teleseminars. I want the good will of a Vickie Sullivan or Linda Hollander or Dan Poynter or Sam Horn to rub off on me.

The implication (in a good way) is that if I know these people who stand on high ground, then I must be an insider as well.

The strategy works.

Just be sure you pick the good guys and not the bad guys, Cindy.

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS Expert Resource Network
www.prleads.com

Find your next business

Here's a tip I just love. I call it "Analogy your way to a new business."

Okay, so maybe it doesn't roll off the tongue, but I think you'll Iike it anyway.

Everyone loves eBay.

Everyone knows what eBay does: sells stuff via auction via the Internet.

Everything from baseball cards, to Boxsters.

You're probably wondering, "There's no way I can compete with eBay."

And you'd be right.

Amazon tried.

Yahoo tried.

Other companies you've never heard of have tried (and probably died.)

Now, I get an email today from a company called LabX.

What do they do?

"LabX is an online auction and classified ad marketplace for scientific and hi-tech equipment. Think eBay for scientists and engineers (business to business)," according to General Manager Ken Piech.

In other words, LabX took a very successful business model. But instead of battling head to head in the wonderful world of Madonna memorabilia, they found a niche and found success.

This is a great formula for success that you can use to your benefit. Let me know when you do!

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS Expert Resource Network
www.prleads.com
952-380-1554

Vickie Sullivan's Marketing Tips

When's the last time you raised your rates?

1976?

Way too long!

Vickie Sullivan, a superb coach to speakers, said that she raises her rates every year, no matter what.

Vickie gave dozens of other tips on how she run her business that have created a 6-figure coaching business on our Coaching Wizards teleseminar last week. You can learn how she balances her life, gets new clients, keeps clients, markets her business in a CD or read the transcript by clicking here:
http://www.prleads.com/coach-sullivan.htm. You'll find a lot of great information that you won't find anywhere else.



This week's Coaching Wizard will be Linda Hollander, "The Wealthy Bag Lady." We'll be focusing on how to get corporate sponsorships and how to use public seminars to grow your business! For information on attending the seminar for free, or for ordering the CD or transcript, go to: http://www.prleads.com/coach-hollander.htm

Thursday, January 19, 2006
2-3 p.m. Eastern time

Register for the free seminar here:
http://snipurl.com/seminarhollander

If you'd like to order the CD recording of this event for $29.95, click here:
http://snipurl.com/cdhollander

If you'd rather read the transcript, order it for $19.95 by clicking this link:
http://snipurl.com/transcripthollander

Announcing Dan Janal's new teleseminar series on "Build Your Own 6-Figure Coaching Business"

I'm pleased to announce a whole new focus for teleseminars to serve you this year. It is called:

"Build Your Own Six-Figure Coaching Business."

Each week, I'll interview my favorite "Coaching Wizards" who have certified they make six figures (or more) from coaching so you'll learn from the people who are at the top of the game!

We'll focus on the BUSINESS of coaching, not the act of coaching. There are lot of great places to learn to be a coach. We're going to focus on how to be a successful coach!

I'm inviting all my blog readers at Duct Tape Marketing to attend each session at no cost, but you must register at this site to receive the phone codes. Each session will be at 2-3 p.m. Eastern time on Thursdays, so mark your calendars. You won't want to miss each session.

This week's session with Vickie Sullivan will be held on Thursday, January 12, 2006 from 2-3 p.m. Eastern.

To get the codes, click on this link and register. You won't have to give your credit card info. Just skip over it. Please write "Duct Tape" in the box labeled "how you heard about us."

http://snipurl.com/coachvickie

If you can't attend, you can order the CDs and transcripts for each 4-week block of sessions. Here's the pricing:

Annual Service -- all 4 CDs will be mailed to you each month and you'll be able to download each transcript via the web: $995. You'll also be able to listen to the MP3 recording via the web. No charge for shipping.
http://snipurl.com/coachannual

Monthly Service -- all 4 CDs will be mailed to you each month and you'll be able to download each transcript via the web: $97 per month, plus $10 shipping and handling, automatic recurring billing to your credit card. You'll also be able to listen to the MP3 recording via the web.
http://snipurl.com/coachmonthly

Installment Plan -- you'll get all the CDs and transcripts as above, with 3 easy payments of $495. No charge for shipping. You'll also be able to listen to the MP3 recording via the web.
http://snipurl.com/coach495

Our first session will be with Vickie Sullivan, the coach for many top speakers and emerging speakers. She helps them determine their positioning strategy. But we'll be focusing on such topics as:
- how to set your fee
- how to justify your fee
- how to position your fee in a value-based way
- her recipe for success in building and growing a business

I won't reveal Vickie's sales numbers -- that's between her and Uncle Sam. But I will let you know that any of you (and I do mean you) would be ecstatic to charge what Vickie charges!

You can read more about Vickie at http://www.sullivanspeaker.com/

This week's session with Vickie Sullivan will be held on Thursday, January 12, 2006 from 2-3 p.m. EST

Click the following link to register:
http://snipurl.com/coachvickie

You won't have to give your credit card info. Just skip over it.

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS Expert Resource Network
952-380-1554
dan@prleads.com
http://www.prleads.com

Wynn Hotel, Las Vegas: Case study in branding

The Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas has the best bottled water I've ever tasted. Better than Dasani. Better than Evian. Better than Perrier.

It just feels smooth when I drank it. Never had that experience before.

So, when I saw a worker replenish the water supply, I complimented him on the water.

His response?

Not -- "Thank you."

But -- "Does it make you want to gamble?"

Now that's a mission statement!

The Wynn seems to have trained it people to make sure they are consistently aligned with the company's mission -- get more people to gamble more often.

If that means having a beautiful registration area with the most luscious flowers I've ever seen, then order the flowers.

If that means having a great restaurant so I don't ever have to leave the hotel, then build it.

If that means having friendly staff (and they really were a notch better than any other hotel I've stayed in in Vegas), then teach them to be friendly.

It all comes back to their mission. Everyone in the hotel is on the same page.

The funny part of the story is that I don't gamble. I don't win enough to make a difference and I hate to lose. But, if I did gamble, I'd do it at the Wynn.

One more point: Even the elevator is aligned with the message. There are buttons for all the floors, the spa and the casino. That's it. There's no button for "First Floor" or "Street Level" or, heaven forbid, "Exit." That would be inconsistent with the message. And yes, I do feel for the off-the-scale literal-analytical types who probably ride the elevator all day long trying to figure out how to get out of the hotel.

Is your company aligned on its message? Can your employees articulate that message? Wynn does. Can you?


Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS
952-380-1554
http://www.prleads.com

What's the price of talent?

You've probably heard the old saying "The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary."

Well, what can you say about the price of perfection or the price of talent?

Here's the story.

I was having dinner with my wife in a fancy Italian restaurant in the new Wynn hotel in Las Vegas in preparation for the ShowStoppers Media Reception at the Consumer Electronics Show. When the waiter brought the dessert menu, I noticed the cognacs. No, I don't go big for after dinner drinks. One beer is fine for me. But here's what caught my eye.

There were two cognacs, one named Perfection, the other named Talent. I gasped when I saw the price of Perfection was $695. However, my jaw dropped when I saw the price of Talent. $1,090!

I'm not kidding!

I would love to be the bar tender who gets a 20 percent tip for pouring those drinks!

Of course, there's a message here. Which is more important? Talent or Perfection?

I've learned from my PR LEADS expert clients that a main cause of procrastination is the quest for perfection. People just can finish projects! Sometimes they are overwhelmed with the idea of being perfect they can't even get started. They might be brilliant, but they can't get the job done.

On the other hand, talent is rare. It takes talent to come up with new ideas, see the boundless possibilities and put a plan in place to bring them to fruition.

My business coach, Mark LeBlanc, has a great saying,"Done is better than perfect."

Think about this the next time you work on a project and see how it affects your thinking.

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS
http://www.prleads.com

My best tip for 2006

Trafficology, a prestigious newsletter, interviewed me last year for my best tactic of the year. I'm glad to share it with you.

Teleseminars.

"Teleseminars" are to authors, speakers, experts what "plastics" were to Dustin Hoffman in the movie, "The Graduate." It is the future.
Here's why.

Each week, I do a teleseminar and invite all my clients for free. This positions me as an expert in their eyes. It also helps me make great contacts with the experts I interview. For Branding, this is a 10.

If that were all, that would be great, but from each teleseminar, I produce products for sale: transcripts, MP3s and CDs.

Also, I can create articles based on the great information in the teleseminars. I post those articles or ideas in my blog, so I get a lot of mileage out of this. Then every Tuesday, I take my best blog entry and post it to my newsletter, so I get even more mileage out of it.

In short, it is a nice cycle that creates a continual flow of new content and products, each with revenue potential.

I use Great Teleseminars Audio Production Company (http://www.greatteleseminars.com) to do my teleseminars since they are a one-stop shopping center for teleseminar bridge lines, recording, CD duplication and transcripts. As the old saying goes, "I like the company so much, I bought it." Well, actually, I created it to meet my needs and it turns out my speaker buddies and clients decided they needed these services too, so, the rest is history.

If you'd like to read more about Trafficology's terrific tips and tactics for improving Internet Marketing, I invite you to get two free issues with my compliments by visiting this site:

http://www.Trafficology.com/giftfromdanjanal/

As for my teleseminars, I'll announce details about this year's great topic here in a few days. Here's a hint: If you are a coach, or want to be a financially successful coach, you'll love this year's theme.

By the way, if you want to order my teleseminar recordings and transcripts for the past year (39 great sessions in all) in the How to Sell More Books and Series, I am offering the entire set as MP3s and e-books for just $199. You can read about the titles here:

http://www.prleads.com/club-list.htm

Have a Happy New Year!

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS
http://www.prleads.com
952-380-1554