Press Release Generator – Sample Press Release on United Way Day of Caring [or Action] Involvement

10-Minute Branding Refresher: How do you build your brand 10 minutes at a time? You start small, and you simply begin. An excellent way to convince yourself to get going is to plan your ending. You can even set a timer. Then, be sure to bask in the success of your huge accomplishment of actually beginning and also appreciate the amount of work that got done. Then, repeat the process tomorrow. And the next day. And so on. You will be amazed at your branding progress . . . 10 minutes at a time.

PR as Another Opportunity for Branding

In an earlier article, we discussed Press Releases as Another Opportunity for Branding. Specifically, we addressed some of the basic criteria needed to produce a successful PR piece, including discussions about: Topics, Voice, Audience, Outlets, Format, Quotes and Photos, and Post-Submission Follow-up. In other articles, we provided the following press release generators: Identifying Your Content, Sample Press Release Announcing a New Hire, and Sample Press Release Announcing an Employee Promotion. In this piece, we are providing a template for publicizing a community involvement on the part of your company and employees (specifically the United Way Day of Caring/Action). We chose this example because such observances are broad in geographical scope and because publication of local and regional efforts is an extremely common and a widely accepted practice. However, any community service activity is a likely candidate for PR. (As before, we are hoping these tips will help keep you from getting stuck staring at a blank, crumpled page! However, recognize the need to customize this template to your own situation.)

Can this task be done in 10 minutes? With a template, maybe. However, you can easily spread the exercise across multiple 10-minute sessions.

In getting started, remember that the rule of the 5 W’s still applies, so we encourage you to review our earlier articles. We also want to remind you that voice matters – you must write as though you were a totally objective journalist preparing the story. Similarly, the content must be of interest to the audience of the intended publications.

As previously noted, announcements of community involvements are a common press release practice that communicate a positive branding message about your organization and your people. If you perform an internet search on “United Way Day of Caring,” you will find that local newspapers across the country have shown a willingness to print these kinds of stories that are generally perceived to be of interest to the readership. That said, be aware that some outlets might be willing to include all or most of the information you provide . . . but many will reduce your words to a skeletal, bare-minimum sentence or two. If that is the standard practice, a quick glance at past issues will let you know the kind of space typically allocated to such stories.

Secondary Benefit

When preparing a press release on a public service activity, you are also realizing a secondary benefit by sending your current employees a message that you care about the community and are willing to provide resources (their time spent during working hours) to help. By making this quality part of your brand, you help yourself become an “employer of choice” and you encourage customers to treat you as a valued member of the community.

Below is a fill-in-the-blanks-template to use as a starting point in developing your own content:

Your Logo

PRESS RELEASE – For Immediate Release

[Company Name]

[Contact Name]

[Phone Number]

[E-mail Address]

[Date]

[HEADLINE ex. ## Employees from COMPANY NAME Participate in United Way Day of Caring [or Action]

[CITY, STATE, MONTH DATE] — Recently, ## employees of [COMPANY] took part in the United Way Day of Caring [Action] by spending time at [LOCATION/NAME OF RECIPIENT/BENEFICIARY] performing the following tasks – [LIST THE SERVICES PROVIDED]. Participating for the FIRST TIME-or-# CONSECUTIVE YEARS in this United Way initiative, the crew from [COMPANY] met at their offices before traveling as a group to the work site.

Note: Body paragraphs then follow this opening (i.e., background information, quotes, company description, etc.)

For those unfamiliar with this activity, the United Way Day of Caring [or United Way Day of Action] is an initiative designed to link company volunteers with organizations that have a special need. The kinds of services provided are very varied and can range from outdoor clean-up activities to painting and general maintenance—basically whatever service the recipient needs most. No special skills are required of the volunteers, just a willingness to provide the time and effort needed to make a difference. According to the United Way, their missions is “. . . to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good.” On the Day of Caring [Action], large numbers of people work to improve their communities by volunteering with United Way. (To learn more and find the most up-to-date information, see the United Way’s website.)

According to [NAME OF HIGHLY PLACED OFFICIAL WILLING TO BE QUOTED], “[COMPANY] is very pleased to have participated in this year’s event. As strong supporters of the United Way, we welcome this opportunity to give back to the community and help out in a very tangible manner by offering our time and effort to this worthwhile cause. We appreciate the willingness of our group of volunteers to help out and are glad to be able to give them the chance to spend this day of work in this manner. As you may know, [COMPANY] has a long-standing history of community involvement. We believe our staff and customers benefit from participation of this kind.”

Note: Add a quote from one or two of the volunteers willing to make remarks. Try to include a description of his/her activity and the way in which the involvement made them feel. (We offer the following example for you to use as a starting point and modify as needed.)

[NAME AND TITLE OF VOLUNTEER] was one of the people volunteering this year for [COMPANY]. According to [VOLUNTEER], “I was asked to [DESCRIBE ACTIVITY]. Working with several others from my company, we accomplished quite a lot, and the people from [RECIPIENT/BENEFICIARY] seemed very grateful. Personally, the whole project made me feel very good about myself and my employer. I hope to come back next year.”

[NAME AND TITLE OF VOLUNTEER] agrees. “I was also part of the group that day. However, my job was to [DESCRIBE ACTIVITY]. I really enjoyed this break from my routine and especially the chance to do some good for others. I appreciate the fact that my employer supports this cause and allowed me to spend a day away helping without a loss of pay.”

Note: Your “boilerplate” company description that outlines the products, services, history, location, hours, etc. then gets added. See our Style Guide for further information. While the boilerplate language of different companies will be quite individual to reflect the specific history and characteristics of that particular business, a simple example might be:

“Established in [YEAR], [COMPANY NAME] specializes in providing [PRODUCT/SERVICES] to customers located in [GEOGRAPHICAL OPERATING AREA]. Open [LIST HOURS/DAYS] or available 24/7 online by visiting [WEB SITE ADDRESS], [COMPANY NAME] [IS ENDORSED BY/IS KNOWN FOR] and encourages customers to learn more. In recent years, [COMPANY NAME] has grown substantially and is looking to achieve similar increases during the upcoming months.”

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Note: As you can see, your boilerplate text provides you with a chance to briefly tell your story while giving potential customers a means of acting on their interest. The above is just one very basic example. Be sure to tailor yours to tell your story in the most effective possible way.

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As always, we welcome any thoughts or feedback, and we encourage you to comment by using the space provided below. We would be happy to receive special requests to provide other sample press releases in the future.

Want a Word document of this example? Just click!

Good luck!

Protect Your Brand: Stop Intellectual Property Thieves on Etsy

Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding!

As I previously noted in my article, Check for Copyright Infringement, if you create something of value, someone, at some point, is going to try to steal it from you.

Image by Freepik

That article explained that you need to stay vigilant and detailed how to regularly and easily check for copyright infringement. This article is one part of ‘what’s next?’ when you find a copycat and don’t have a lawyer to deal with the situation on your behalf. Since Etsy hosts approximately 5.3 million small business owners and entrepreneurs worldwide (source), AND I just happen to be one of them, this venue seemed like a good place to start.

Often times, people think that if they haven’t registered their intellectual property that they can’t protect it. While it’s certainly easier to protect your work with a trademark or patent, it’s not absolutely necessary. According to the US Copyright Office, “copyright exists from the moment the work is created” (source). So . . . how do you protect your copyright on Etsy?

Etsy launched a new Intellectual Property Portal in April of 2022. However, the launch was a soft one, and Etsy’s YouTube announcement of the portal has only 4,800 views as of this writing. As a result, you may very well be one of the many, many people who haven’t heard about this portal yet. If that’s the case, read on, because the answer to ‘what’s next’ is literally a 10-minute process!

HOW TO USE ETSY’S IP PORTAL:

Go to the web site – https://www.etsy.com/ipreporting.
Log into your Etsy account.
Answer the basic questions about your brand/business.
Go to the Intellectual Properties tab and “add a property” for the intellectual property that has been copied. You’ll need to: specify the type (copyright, trademark, patent, or other) and the property owner (i.e., you); include a link to the property being used online, the name of the work (which you can name on the fly), a description of the work (an item or design; an image, audio, video, or other media; writing or other text; a name, title, slogan, or other short phrase), a link describing the work in detail (which can be the same link used earlier), and whether the copyright is registered.
Go to the Reports tab and “create a report.” You’ll need to name it, specify the property owner and the property type (copyright, trademark, patent, or other); select/check the intellectual property you just created; search for and select the listing(s) that infringes your work and then submit the report. That’s it!

You’ll then get an e-mail from Etsy within the next day or two with the results of the report. Each time I have found and submitted a report for a copyright thief, Etsy has removed the listing. I hope you find this tool as useful as I have. My ongoing quest for easy (10 minute) ways to accomplish challenging branding tasks was completely fulfilled with this tool.

HAVE A QUESTION OR COMMENT?

We’re always happy to hear from you. Scroll down to the “Leave a Reply” section below.

Basic SEO: Link Building

Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding!

BACKGROUND

SEO or Search Engine Optimization, in a nutshell, helps your web site be found online.

If you haven’t already made sure search engines know your web site exists, click on over to this article (Make Sure Your Web Site is Included in Search Engines’ Index). Then, review your web pages’ meta titles, meta descriptions, and meta keywords.

Our current installment on 10 minute SEO is . . .

LINK BUILDING

Every now and again, Google gives us a look behind the curtain and tells us exactly what they want when scanning a web site. Now, they’ve given us that information on links in a recently released document on best practices.

The guide is chock-full of dos and don’ts and background explanatory information. It’s a must read. For tomorrow. And then spend some time reviewing your links, little by little, to see if any tweaks should be made.

QUESTIONS?

We’re always happy to hear from you. Scroll down to the “Leave a Reply” section below.

Make Google Alerts Work for Your Business

Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding!

While you need to know where your business stands in the world according to google, because that is how most prospective customers will try to get to know you, the process doesn’t need to be work intensive (even for 10-minute branding standards). With google alerts, you designate how often you would like google to send you an email with a summary of new search results for your selected keywords. That leaves you with the not-so-lofty challenge of quickly skimming the email upon receipt. However, you do have to go through the process of setting up the alerts. Since our philosophy is think small in order to achieve big, we would recommend breaking up the tasks into a couple of days since the process overall is probably more than 10 minutes. . . .

Day 1: Finish reading this post. 😉

Day 2: Decide on the keywords for your alerts. At a most basic level, you would want your name (because to some degree, you are your business); your business name; and possibly your business name followed by the word ‘review’. Beyond that, would some other topics be useful to track for the sake of your business? Maybe you want to keep an eye on the competition. Maybe a particular current event is relevant to your business. Make a list for yourself.

Day 3: Set up the alerts. (You’ll need to have a google account for the task, so if you don’t have one, know that you’ll be prompted to create one before your alerts go live.)

Go to google.com/alerts and enter your first set of keywords along with your email address. Consider entering quotes around your keywords to limit your results and click “show options” to set the parameters for your search (like frequency, language, etc.). Click “create alert” once done and repeat the process as many times as needed.

Easy Peasy!

Then, you’ll see what the world sees, and you can proactively address issues as they arise.

Note that google does not track social media references unfortunately. Those need to be addressed separately.

Let me know of any questions or comments below. Till next time!

Go Shopping!!

Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding.

A Gift that Keeps on Giving

Disclaimer: While we only recommend products we know and love, we want to note we use affiliate links and may earn a commission for purchases made through those links.

Do you have 10 free minutes until your next task and want to create a way to keep your business’s name in front of existing and potential customers? Then, Go Shopping . . . for possible promotional gifts that you can distribute in a variety of ways. For example, imprinted pens often have a good shelf life – sticking around in the pocket of your patron or on his/her desk for a considerable amount of time and then staying in the face (and the thoughts!!) of that person throughout the day.

Before you reflexively say you don’t have the budget or extra cash, know that cost and quantity can vary greatly, which makes this opportunity available to everyone. You can check out major, well-known suppliers like 4imprint and see a wide spectrum of options (including some for well under a dollar per unit) . . . OR you can go to a site such as Zazzle to obtain just a handful that can often feature artwork relevant to your business as well as your particular company’s branding. While the per-unit cost might be greater, the ability to buy a few at a time might be helpful.

Such small quantities can be used very effectively when distributed in a personalized way. For example, invite a prized customer to lunch and pass along a customized pen as a takeaway. (The whole cost of such a gesture can – together with a good product and service — help secure brand loyalty in the present and future.) If, on the other hand, you have been able to invest in a larger quantity, we suggest getting a good enough quality to enhance the chances of being retained but at a sufficiently inexpensive cost to distribute them freely – including having a handful at your point of purchase for customers to grab-and-go at will.

While we have offered pens as a very typical example of a common company promotional gift offered by a high percentage of businesses, the same logic can be applied to countless other items like key chains, stress balls, lens wipes, sanitizer bottles, lip gloss, etc.

Although you can seldom go wrong with a pen, look for a gift that is both unique and reflects your products and/or services For instance, a contractor might offer a tape measure, an optician an eye glass repair kit, or a doctor a pill box.

If you are lucky, you might find the perfect item in just 10 minutes. If you are one of those people who just can’t get enough shopping and are constantly distracted by a need to check out each item you see, more than one 10-minute session might be required.

Once the perfect promotional gift has been identified, use a second 10-minute session to place your order – typically an action that can be accomplished via the Internet and/or a phone call. When completing your transaction, remember to stay consistent with your brand style guide in selecting fonts, colors, bylines, etc., which will enhance the recognition of your brand.

As always, we welcome your comments and questions. Till then, Happy Shopping!!

Want to see an example of a customizable pen that can be obtained in small quantities per purchase from Zazzle? Check out Example 1 and Example 2.

When was the last time you googled yourself?

Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding!

When was the last time you googled yourself (or rather, your business)?

(If the answer is today, that’s either an extraordinary coincidence, or you might actually do this exercise too often. This article isn’t for you.) More likely, you’re in the majority and don’t perform this quick task often enough.

You need to know where you stand in the world, according to google, because that is how your prospective customers will try to get to know you.

I recommend three regular searches: your name (because to some degree, you are your business); your business name, and your business name followed by the word ‘reviews’.

This way, you see what the world sees, and you can proactively address issues as they arise (keyword being when not if).

A more streamlined approach to this process involves setting up a few alerts. You will also want to register your business on a few review web sites if you’re not already on them. I’ll discuss these topics one by one in the near future. Till then!

2023 – Start a Fresh, New “To Do” List!!

Give Yourself a New Beginning Free from Old Failures

The New Year is a time of fresh beginnings . . . a time of optimism not yet marred by those inevitable defeats we all experience on a daily basis. To properly capitalize on this moment when you get to start over with a clean slate, our 10-minute branding tip for you is to develop a new “TO DO” list that reflects this positive state of mind. If you happen to have an old one, resist the temptation to just perform a quick update. Rip that old page up so you enter the New Year without unnecessary baggage and dead weight from those tasks you never got around to trying or that failed because you did not follow through sufficiently to succeed.

While you will of course need to carry some items over onto your new list because those tasks have indeed been deemed worthwhile, you will have gone through the exercise of re-evaluating each item before automatically (and blindly) carrying the activity forward.

When building your new list, look back over your 10-minute branding successes and determine which ones deserve to be repeated and which ones have advanced to a new stage. Consider your short- and long-term branding goals and identify those new tasks that need to be added . . . but make sure your running list – while ambitious – stands a chance of getting completed.

Start Moving “TO DO” to “DONE”

Attitude and outlook – these intangibles are critical to maintaining the positive energy needed to accomplish your initiatives. Optimism for the future is ultimately the fuel that drives you to move your “TO DO” list over to “DONE” . . . and keep adding new ones that define and advance your brand throughout the year.

As always, we welcome your comments and questions. Happy New Year!!

* * * * *

Special Note

Are you willing to start the New Year with an additional slightly more ambitious assignment — one sure to take more than 10 minutes? (If so, see our article from 2021.):

Perform an Annual 5-Step Brand Wellness Checkup

Send Your Valued Customers a Happy New Year Message

Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding!

Nothing beats a nice card sent through the mail with a short and personal hand-written note. If you have the time for that, wonderful. If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you’re short on time, and the idea of getting important things accomplished in a 10-minute window is very appealing to you.

On the other hand, we are all inundated with companies sending us holiday greetings along with pleas for sales of some sort. I would tread carefully so as not to join this unwelcome category. However, a text or e-mail with a nice graphic and a short, personal message can go a long way. . . . For example:

Thank you for another year of reading our blog. We are grateful for you and wish you the happiest of new years. From Carole and Bob at Brand Building for Small Business

(Feel free to use our graphic if you would like!)

A Match Made in Minutes

Consider Bringing a Partner On Board

Owning and operating a small business can be a lonely and overwhelming proposition. Sometimes, you just wish you had some additional resource you could rely upon. If you have ever found yourself in this position, perhaps you should consider enlisting the assistance of a strategic partner – the topic of this newest 10-minute brand building tip.

Such a relationship can but does not have to involve any kind of formal legal arrangement. Rather, you are looking to pair with another business that – like you – is hoping to gain a certain marketplace advantage.

Identifying a Potential Prospect

Some combinations seem to have a natural synergy – like the way peanut butter pairs with jelly or marshmallows with chocolate bars and graham crackers. When considering prospects, ask yourself what other product or service might be acquired to better take full advantage of the characteristics of yours.

For instance . . .

If your business is to share advice about branding, you might consider forming a strategic partnership with a designer who produces branded stationary, business cards, etc. If you are a farmer with apple orchards specializing in the production of cider, perhaps your ideal strategic partner would be a grocery store or farmer’s market that uses seasonal campaigns (such as fall, Thanksgiving, Halloween) to promote sales.

Basically, think of a business that could benefit from your product while, in turn, enhancing yours. That said, you will want to consider issues such as goals for growth, culture, values, attitude toward service, and history of success to ensure the optimum likelihood of a good match.

Potential Benefits of a Strategic Partnership

Many exist . . . but I will concentrate on three for the purposes of this piece.

Cut Costs

One role of well-matched strategic partners is the ability to run joint sales and advertising campaigns, which has the potential to substantially reduce the expense of both parties by splitting costs while also allowing everyone to take advantage of economies of scale. Better deals can sometimes be available to companies willing and/or able to spend more, which can be accomplished through a partner while your own original investment remains the same. Any activity targeting large numbers of prospects falls into this category (direct mail/e-mail campaigns, sales events, etc.)

Increase Your Audience

You have your own list of customers as well as a data base of prospects. More than likely, your strategic partner does as well. Combining these lists for activities such as direct mailings or even telemarketing campaigns substantially increases your pool of highly qualified prospects. If you’ve chosen your strategic partner well, their customers should be very interested in your products/services and more likely than your average cold contact to ultimately become your customer as well. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that you already share some of the same customers and that letting them know about your strategic partnership can only strengthen their loyalties to both of you, which suggests a joint loyalty program might be very successful.

Remember, strategic partners are not your direct competitors. Rather, these companies are ones that complement your main focus . . . so sharing of customer data is reasonable.

Enhance Your Product

Even the best products can always become a bit better . . . but you just lack the resources to pursue such development. By choosing your partner wisely, you can make your product better by being able to offer additional qualities brought to the table by your partner. (Once peanut butter found jelly, that partnership created a new enhanced offering called PB&Js . . . and the rest is history!!)

In the case of a branding blog, we try to explain some of the characteristics that create an effective brand, we can even provide instruction for building certain basic tools like logos. However, a partnership might allow us to highlight certain vendors who are able to supply finished products for items like brochures (helping those readers who prefer not to take the DIY approach).

Your 10-Minute Branding Assignment

Identify a company offering a product/service that complements yours. Visit their web site to get a sense of their audience and approach to sales. Determine whether the prospect has been involved in a coordinated effort with another business (perhaps even one of your direct competitors). Track down the names and contact information of people within the operation who might be the best ones to approach about possible partnerships. (The “About” page of the candidate’s web site can sometimes yield this information.)

While your 10-minute task for the day is done once you’ve completed this assignment, another day your mission will be to make a preliminary contact. This process can be repeated as many times as necessary to move forward. The potential benefits will easily justify the effort.

Favicons (and a Favicon Generator)

Welcome to another installment of 10-minute branding!

So what is a favicon, you may ask? A favicon is the small image (typically a simplified logo) that the web browser displays along with the name of your web page . . . IF you have one designated.

Beneficial not only for your branding efforts but also for search engine optimization, you want to be sure your web site has a favicon file if you haven’t already.

I came across a web site that creates the favicon for you free of charge in a very user-friendly interface. You just need a square image (PNG, JPG, or SVG at least 260×260 pixels in size), and they will also walk you through the process of incorporating the files on your web site. Whenever you’re ready, head over to realfavicongenerator.net.

(Reading this article and choosing/preparing your file can probably be done within ten minutes today and then you may be able to have the task completed in another ten-minute window tomorrow!)

Good luck! Let us know of any questions in the “Leave a Reply” section below.