Lesson 2: Making It Official
Thanks so much for the feedback on the first lesson. The buzz about List Building Promotion Secrets has been incredible! I’m so happy many of you are about creating your own holiday. I can’t wait to get you to the point where you are using it to build your list.
Speaking of which, let’s get going on your next lesson.
But first… a homework checkup:
Did you:
- Fill out the worksheet with three (or more) possible holiday ideas and dates?
- Check to make sure the holiday already exists? (Mother’s Day is already taken, remember?)
- Select one of the holidays to work on?
Great! Let’s get moving.
Now that you have a holiday title and date, we need to make it official.
There are several ways to do this and we’re going to explore all of them.
Your Holiday Description
The first thing you need to develop is a brief description about your holiday that you can use to register it and advertise it. The description should be no more than 100 words or so and should include:
- The name of the holiday
- The date(s) of the holiday
- The frequency of the holiday (Is this an annual event?)
- The target market for the holiday
- And where to go for more info
Speaking of where to go for more info, that should be a website URL. Although you can certainly create a webpage on your existing website, it’s best (and makes it look more ‘official’ to create a completely new domain url.
I use Cherry Picked Domains to buy all my website domains. (Yes, it’s my own domain reselling site.) Go to http://www.CherryPickedDomains.com to find out more about purchasing your own domains and web hosting.
The best domain name to capture is the title of your holiday. For example, for Be Heard Day, I use http://www.BeHeardDay.com
So log into http://www.CherryPickedDomains.com and search for your domain. If it’s available, snap it up. If it’s not, try a variation of it, such as www.Be-Heard-Day.com or www.BeHeardDay4SmallBiz.com
Now that you have a domain name, let’s get back to that description.
Here are a few examples of REAL descriptions to emulate. (Remember to emulate them, especially if one sounds similar to what you are doing. You don’t want to copy, right?)
National Be Heard Day encourages small business owners and entrepreneurs to find their voice, tell their story and be heard by using the power of free publicity tactics. Annual on March 7. For tips and ideas, visit www.beheardday.com
International Volunteers Week. A week to honor men and women throughout the world who serve as volunteers rendering valuable service without compensation. Annually, the first seven days in June. For more info go to www.friendshipandgoodwill.com
No Diet Day on May 6 to stop dieting, stop hazardous weight loss attempts and celebrates a shift to the nondiet health at any size approach to well being. Discover the top 10 reasons diets fail at www.healthyweight.com.
National On-Purpose Month. An observance to encourage us to start the new year by putting our good intentions into action, personally and professionally, and to trade confusion for clarity as we integrate our lives with more meaning and purpose. Go to: www.on-purpose.com
Organize Your Home-Office Day. One day each year for the more than 34 million home office households to find files, purge papers and tackle to-do lists. Annually, the second Tuesday in March. For more information, go to: www.homeofficelife.com
Registering Your Holiday
Once you have a description, you’ll need it (or variations of it) to register your holiday. Although there are thousands of places online to post your holiday, here are the key ones that will give your promotion the most WOW! Factor.
Chase’s Calendar of Events – http://www.chases.com (click on add a holiday link) Because Chase’s has a deadline of April 15 to register your event for the following year, you may not be included in the next edition of the publication. Nonetheless, register it as soon as you can so you won’t forget. Having my Be Heard Day as a listing in this book every year has allowed me to get more exposure and even sponsorships (money!) for the event.
The publishers of Chase’s may initially reject your request to be included. They will tell you in writing. The most common reason for rejection is that feel your holiday is strictly a promotional vehicle for you.
Don’t panic. I have a very viable work around in this lesson that will change their minds.
If rejected, resubmit when you have more proof that the holiday is real. I’ll explain how in a minute.
Once accepted, you will be notified to renew the listing every year via mail and email.
Associated Press Daybook – http://www.ap.org/pages/contact/contact.html (Use email under Daybook on lower right)
Send your holiday description to the New York Daybook office, which shares the entire list of holidays and events across the AP wire (which services hundreds of media outlets).
Do this every year for you holiday.
Earth Calendar – http://www.earthcalendar.net/_php/proclaim.php
Follow the directions to submit it to the calendar. You will not need to renew it every year.
Also check out their ideas to help you make your holiday more momentous.
Holiday Smart - http://www.holidaysmart.com/aboutus.htm (email address given at bottom of page)
Submit your description via email. You will only have to do this once and it will continue annually
Proclamations (aka the Chase’s work around)
A proclamation is a fancy way to make a public announcement. Mayors, council members and any regional, state or national government leader write proclamations to commend people or to announce upcoming events.
Elected official will more than likely agree to proclaim it your holiday because, frankly, it looks good for them. It shows that they are supportive of a local business (yours) and a specific target market of voters.
You may be thinking that you aren’t big in politics so why would you want a government official to proclaim your holiday? There are a few reasons:
- They are an excellent vehicle for securing recognition for your event.
- It makes your holiday official in the eyes of Chase’s Calendar of Events publishers.
- Media and the public both will find your event more credible
- It’s a formal announcement to the world that acknowledges your holiday and the services you provide to your target market in the community.
- If you choose to get sponsors for your holiday, you can use the proclamation as a great promo vehicle for your sponsors.
Getting a proclamation is much easier that you might imagine. Below are a few easy steps you might follow that have proven successful for others.
Step 1: Start local first. It’s much easier to get a yes from a mayor or town council member than the president of the US. What I suggest is each year work your way up the government ladder, starting with local, moving to county or region, then to the state level, than to your national representatives (US Senators or Congressmen), and finally the president.
Be sure to find out the exact name and contact details of the government official you are reaching out to. This information available on government websites.
Step 2: Do NOT wait to do this. This should be done weeks (or even months) in advance of your holiday.
Step 3: You need to make it easy for them to say yes. Create a sample proclamation for the government official to use. And add a cover letter to it.
As one of your bonuses, I’ve included a template for a cover letter, plus several examples of REAL proclamations you can use to help craft your own. Simply go to the ‘Bonuses’ link HERE and download them.
Step 4: If this is a local proclamation, the preference is to physically drop off the cover letter and proclamation. Government officials really do like to see their constituents and it helps your chances even further since you are building a relationship.
While you are there find out the expected turn around time to get your request approved, so you can follow up appropriately if needed.
Depending on the type of government entity, most commonly a town council, ask if there will be a public meeting to discuss the proclamation. If there is a meeting, find out when it is and SHOW UP! Trust me it DOES make a difference.
They may even ask you to speak at this meeting about your proclamation and why it’s important. If that happens, simply show the council why it’s beneficial to recognize the day in terms of the target market. Use some of the words from your cover letter to help with this.
Step 5: Get a copy of the signed proclamation. Take pictures of the signing. Promote the signing with a press release and on your holiday website.
Step 6: Send a handwritten thank you note to the elected official.
If for some reason, Chase’s had rejected your initial request to be published in the book, you can now send them a copy of the proclamation as ‘proof.’
ASSIGNMENT:
- Get your domain name for your holiday. (I use http://www.CherryPickedDomains.com)
- Create your short holiday description.
- Submit your holiday description to Chase’s Calendar of Events, the AP Daybook, Earth Calendar and The Holiday List
- Create your proclamation and cover letter and submit it to government officials
Next week, we’ll be focusing on setting up your holiday website.
Also, be on the lookout for an email in about three days… it’s your first surprise ‘Cherry-Picked’ bonus, and audio interview entitled “Getting Companies to Pay For What You Do With Sponsorships.” In this audio, Adela Rubio of the Conscious Business Telesummit interviews me about how I’ve used sponsorship money to promote my National Be Heard Day list building promotion. You can download this onto your mp3 player or listen right on your computer!
Bonus: Sample Proclamations
