24/7 – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

AOL – America Online.

Benefit – How a particular feature will help a particular buyer.

Bleed – Printing term meaning to be printed to go off edge or edges of a page after trimming.

Body copy – The main words in a brochure or ad.

Brand - A logo, corporate image, or distinct product or service identity that can become firmly rooted in public's mind. Its purpose is to establish a meaningful, differentiated presence that will attract and retain loyal customers.

Brand police - A person or group of people inside a corporation whose primary task is to ensure integrity of a company's brand. This means reviewing any and all materials that contain company's logo, making sure it has right color, size, and so on, and does not get muddied by improper use.

Buzz – Getting people to talk about you and your company or product.

Call to action – The response a marketer would like from his prospect or client, such as picking up phone and ordering his product.

Click-through - The process of clicking through an online advertisement to advertiser's destination.

Concept – The main creative idea or approach.

Content – The creative contribution of writers, artists, animators, and musicians whose work makes up text, artwork, animation, and music on Net. Usually thought of as simply textual and graphical information contained in a website, content also refers to structure and design in which information is presented.

Conversion rate - The percentage of visitors who take a desired action.

Copy – Words to be printed or spoken in an advertisement, brochure or other medium.

Corporate or company image – Brand.

Database management – To store, modify, and extract information from a database.

Die-cut – Printing term that refers to being cut into a special form or shape, such as a folder that has been “die cut” to allow insertion of a business card or a brochure that is cut into shape of a shoe.

Download – To transfer a file or files from one computer to another, for example, from a server to your desktop computer.

dpi – Dots per inch; a metric used to measure print and screen resolution. Electronic newsletter – A newsletter delivered via a website or e-mail, an e-zine.

E-book (also ebook) – A written book that is created for electronic distribution, usually in PDF format.

E-mail (also email) - The transmission of computer-based messages over telecommunication technology.

E-mail marketing - Marketing via e-mail.

E-zine - An electronic magazine, whether delivered via a Web site or an e-mail newsletter.

Feature – Quality or characteristic of product or service.

Filter - A program that examines incoming data to ensure that only information within certain parameters is allowed to pass through. Four-color – A process in which three primary colors and black are transferred by four different plates or filters to a surface, reproducing colors of subject matter.

Gatefold – A type of fold on a brochure in which right and left sides of brochure fold inward and meet at center. The brochure is generally then folded again so that where these two sides meet is now on inside spine of brochure.

Gloss paper – Paper with a shininess or luster.

HTML e-mail – E-mail that is formatted using Hypertext Markup Language, as opposed to plain text e-mail.

Icon - A graphical representation of a specific item (or situation).

Image – A picture.

JPEG - One of two most common types of image formats used on World Wide Web (the other being GIF). It downloads very fast. The shorter extension, JPG (without E), is usually used in association with PC platform files.

GIF – Stands for “Graphics Interchange Format." On Web pages images (or pictures) you see are usually in GIF because files are small and can be downloaded quickly. Another type of graphics format commonly used online is JPG (or JPEG) these files download even faster and contain a better resolution.

Letterfold – Folded in three, way a business letter is folded.

1.Read publication and know what it covers.

Whether you want to get on front page of business section in your newspaper or you hope to be next star featured on cover of Rolling Stone magazine, it’s important for you to get to know media and what types of stories it covers. Certainly a business-to-business company isn’t going to be featured on cover of Rolling Stone. Why? Because that magazine covers music and entertainment industry, not companies that sell widgets to other companies.

Don’t waste your time with publications that don’t cover your industry. There are several resources available to help you determine which media cover your industry or geographic location. Many can be found in your local library. Most are available either for an annual or a monthly fee. Some of these are Bacon’s Media Directories (www.bacons.com); Standard Rate and Data Service (www.srds.com); Gebbie Press All-in-One Media Directory (www.gebbie.com); and Writer’s Market (www.writersmarket.com). Your local chamber of commerce or Public Relations Society of America may also have a local or statewide media directory available for purchase.

Once you have made a list of publications you think your company should be in, begin to find out more about them. You need to know publication or broadcast station’s “personality” to be able to successfully pitch a story to them. How do you do that? You read a minimum of six issues of print publication, cover to cover, or you listen to a month’s worth of targeted television or radio program to get to know its focus and trends it is following. You also obtain a media kit and review demographics kit provides.

Don’t send news releases that are not pertinent to publication’s readership. Send only well-written, short releases with information that is obviously news about your company. Evaluate whether “news” is really “advertising” before you write that release. Don’t waste reporter’s time; he is busy. You will surely irritate him, and that will not be to your benefit!

2.Find out which reporters cover your industry.

Your research above will help you to determine which reporter, editor, or program director you should begin to get to know. Pay attention to which reporters are writing or speaking about your industry and start creating a database.

If contact information isn’t included in articles you are reading, look on publication’s website. It will often tell you which reporter you should contact and how you can do that.

3.Visit reporters and get to know them.

Now that you know whom you should contact, begin to develop a relationship with them. Telephone those you would like to know and set up a time to meet. Because media are often on deadline, it’s best to introduce yourself and then ask, “Is this a good time to talk?”