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Ø About Marcia Yudkin
 
 
 

 
 

Create a Press Release That Starts a Flood of Eager Buyers to Your Web Site or Order Line!

Powerful News Releases Require Distinctive Copywriting Techniques and Understanding of Journalists' Needs

"As written about in the New York Times..."
"We were February's 'Find of the Month' in Photographic Supply Monthly." 
"As featured on the NBC Nightly News..."

I challenge you to cite a greater return on investment than that produced by a world-class media release that lands you (or your client) on page 1 of a major newspaper, in a two-page spread in your top industry magazine or in the fluffy final segment of a network newscast. 

Just one major score like this, and you can milk the credibility payoff for your business practically forever. Inspire a feature story that gets picked up by the Associated Press, and enjoy people all over the world clamoring to get their hands on what you sell.

Enticing?  Here's what such publicity success requires. 

My name is Marcia Yudkin, and I'm the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity, a book that has been sold in bookstores throughout the U.S. and Canada since 1994.  An updated and revised edition appeared in 2003.

The first press release I ever wrote prompted TV cameras from two local stations to cover an antiwar march of women and children that my friends and I spearheaded in my home town. My second one landed my company on page 1 of the Wall Street Journal. My third attempt was quoted and praised in a best-selling book by Tom Peters, besides coverage in local and national publications that brought in customers for an innovative business service.

This wasn't sheer luck. Any major media coup requires three ingredients:

  • Understanding what the media consider as news 

  • Imaginative yet credible use of language

  • Avoidance of red flags that lead to a media "no"

The magic of a persuasive press release involves wordcraft of a special sort. Use the copywriting techniques proven to work for sales letters, and you are dead as a dodo. 

Test Yourself: What's Wrong With These Headlines?
Each of the headlines below, interesting as it appears at first glance, is significantly flawed, and for a different reason. Do you know why and how to fix these mistakes?

New York Women Survive Man Shortage by Joining Activity Club for Friendship and Fun

Times are Tough?  Not for These Businesses

2003 Winner of Essay on “Yoga and World Peace” Announced

How to Get the Gold Out of the Golden Years

If you can't identify the flubs in these press release headlines, you need Marcia's Makeovers: 24 Press Releases Transformed from So-So to Sizzling to ensure that the money and effort you're planning to spend on aiming at media coverage has the best possible chances of success. (The improved "after" headlines are in the manual.) Read on...

If you'd like to learn the fundamentals of obtaining media coverage for yourself, your company or your cause, read my book, 6 Steps to Free Publicity. If you'd like to master the strategies and techniques for attracting media coverage, my manual Marcia's Makeovers: 24 Press Releases Transformed from So-So to Sizzling provides a unique, hands-on self-study tool.

Order your copy of the manual now.

Marcia's Makeover Turned Straw into Gold for This Client
"Marcia Yudkin's insights and editorial skills helped propel my company, Creative Visions Consulting, to new heights in just several weeks. Her makeover of my press release resulted in my getting interviewed on several radio talk shows as well as being featured in the business section of the New York Times! In fact, I'm still getting requests to use my articles as a result of landing in that newspaper - almost one year later! If you want to make a big splash and get noticed in your industry, Marcia Yudkin is the best person for the job." - Jim Jenkins, President, Creative Visions Consulting

Insider analysis of media-worthiness and proper tone

As the title indicates, Marcia's Makeovers: 24 Press Releases Transformed from So-So to Sizzling consists of two dozen "before" versions of releases that had little chance of ending up in the news, an analysis of the flaws and missing elements in each, and my "after" version that eliminates the weaknesses and in many instances radically recasts the publicity angle so as to appeal appropriately to media gatekeepers.

Unique, Practical, Useful - and the Price is a Steal! 
"Publicity pro Marcia Yudkin has done a wonderful job of providing a phenomenal tool for learning to write releases that pull gangbuster results. Considering the enormous amount of sales you can generate from free publicity after reading this book, the $69.95 price tag is a steal!" – Karon Thackston, CopywritingCourse.com

Here are just a few of the points you'll learn in Marcia's Makeovers:

  • The everyday three-letter word you should avoid using in the headline and main text of your release, and why

  • How to use the skeptical questions, "Who cares?" and "Why now?" to generate more compelling publicity angles

  • The often neglected headline and content element that's necessary to spark local coverage

  • Two releases designed to inspire holiday gift or any-time gift coverage

  • Ways to dramatize the appeal of new products to journalists, without hype

  • Techniques that greatly boost the odds of coverage for your event

  • The two types of pronouns that kill media interest in your offering

  • Examples of quotes that enhance the persuasive power of a release

Applying Marcia's Tips Doubled Traffic to Our Web Site
"Using the principles explained in 'Marcia's Makeovers,' I wrote a press release intended to pull visitors to my then-new website, MarketingPlanArticles.com. In the month following distribution of this press release, visits to the website doubled from 3,000+ to 6,000+ and the tip sheet mentioned in the release was downloaded nearly 2,000 times.  This stuff really works!" - Bobette Kyle, WebSiteMarketingPlan.com

  • Why and how to tone down enthusiasm for your own product or service 

  • Cures for vagueness, a flaw often seen in releases for new books

  • The importance of dispelling misconceptions that could lead to the mistaken dismissal of your point

  • A sample easy-to-use template for local coverage that a national organization can distribute to its members

  • A rewrite of a pre-Internet release showing how wording can attract or discourage traffic from search engines

Transform Your Business Overnight into a Profit Machine
"I've never seen the principles of writing press releases that make it in the real world elucidated as well as I have in Marcia Yudkin's important new publicity manual. Decades ago I made my living as a bureau chief for a major business news organization. I can tell you first-hand that Marcia knows her subject cold, and that you stand to gain thousands or even millions of dollars' worth of free publicity by faithfully following her advice." - David Garfinkel, World-Copywriting-Institute.com

Is this manual for you? Let's see...

For just $69.95, you're bound to enjoy a rich return from your time studying this manual if you fall into one or more of these categories:

  • A publisher, author, inventor, manufacturer or marketer for any other kind of company releasing a new product, with or without a sizable promotional budget 

  • A copywriter or business writer interested in offering additional services to companies hiring you to write sales material

  • A nonprofit or advocacy organization eager to attract more donors and more attention for your cause

  • An established expert, company or organization hoping for a profitable media spotlight on what you do 

  • A performer, promoter or presenter needing publicity for events

  • Someone charged with writing press releases as part of your job who knows you don't really know what you're doing or wishes you could get better results

An Excellent Way to Learn, Says Nick Usborne 
"With each of the 24 press releases Marcia is making a point about a very important aspect of the craft. It's a wonderful way to SHOW you the points that really make a difference." - Nick Usborne, author, Net Words: Creating High-Impact Online Copy

Do the principles explained and concretely put into practice in this manual truly make a difference? Well, my own publicity credits include Entrepreneur, Success Magazine, Women in Business, Home Office Computing, the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Daily News, Dallas Morning News, four appearances in the Sunday Boston Globe and many, many more. 

An Illuminating and Convenient Learning Tool
"Marcia's press release package is ideal for someone like me - a math and Spanish teacher and not a very good writer, but a quick learner. I look at the "before" release, make some comments on how I would change it, and then look at Marcia's re-write. It is an incredible learning tool. And it works." - Jim Sarris, Author, Comic Mnemonics for Spanish Verbs

An editor at Lawyer's Weekly once called me to say that my latest release was the best she'd seen in her entire career. An editor at Dynamic Graphics said she couldn't use my release, but could I write an article on its theme - for $750? (During the next few years, I wrote something like seven more paid articles for this magazine, articles that in turn brought me clients.) In short, the techniques I teach in this affordable $69.95 manual positively get you attention and inspire profitable media coverage.

Order your copy of Marcia's Makeovers now.

Impatient?  Order a More Profitable Press Release Today!
Several publicity consultants and marketing managers consider me their secret success weapon because they send me every press release they draft for a makeover. I do this completely confidentially, behind the scenes, while they collect the promotion or the gratitude of the client. Each press release makeover is just $195 - or you can have one written from scratch for $395. Turnaround time is two business days. Details and order form for a makeover here.

The manual comes to you in an instant download of a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) file, 93 pages long.  The Adobe Reader program is available here free if you do not already have it on your computer. 

How to order your copy

Your satisfaction is guaranteed.  Read the manual, study the 24 "before"s and "after"s, and if for any reason you're not convinced you'll earn many times its cost by applying its lessons, simply let me know and I will refund your purchase price in full.

After you enter your credit-card information, the system will email you a download link so you can pick up the file.  Tip:  right-click on that download link to open up a "Save As" option to save the file on your hard disk.  Any problems, email me and I'll help straighten things out.

Get your copy today!  

Order Marcia's Makeovers now.  


 

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