New Product? Give It Nine LivesWritten by Marcia Yudkin
The closeness between words "new" and "news" provides a telling clue to how easy it can be to get media coverage for something that's new. By definition, media are in business of covering what's fresh, what's unprecedented and what has just happened. Follow a few simple steps and publicity can make your product launch a significant success.First, carefully and honestly define specific markets for your product. Media that target those markets are those you should concentrate on. Forget about mass media unless even a skeptic would have to agree that your product would matter to practically everyone. Second, identify primary benefit your product will bring to each target market. String that together with identity of corresponding population in a press release headline, using formula "New [generic product description] brings [benefit] to [target market]." For instance: New Bridal Shower Game Ends Gift-Opening Tedium, Makes Shower a Memorable Event for Hostess, Bride and Guests Third, reword your headline for each target market. An editor's paramount question when screening release headlines, whether in a stack of faxes, in an email in-box or on Web, is "Is it relevant to my readers?" Naming readers in headline answers that question without forcing editor to think. For example, while headline above would go to brides' magazines, one below fits publications for wedding planners: New Bridal Shower Game a Sure-Fire Add-on for Party Planners Fourth, complete releases and distribute them to relevant media. The narrower a niche, more you may want to supplement established industry distribution circuits with additional research and one-by-one mailing, emailing or faxing.
| | Are They Watching You Online?Written by Jim Edwards
When surfing Internet you probably take your anonymity for granted, most of us do. Tapping phones, listening to confidential conversations, reading others' e-mail messages seems like something that only happens in spy movies to "other" people. However, you probably don't realize just how much information about yourself has potential to get transmitted across Internet every time you go online. Every computer connected to Internet has "ports" that allow it to connect. A "port" doesn't mean you have a physical hole or opening in your computer's case or hardware, but it does mean you have openings through which information passes back and forth between your computer and Internet. Depending on type of connection (dial up, LAN, cable, DSL), you may have several openings for potential mischief by hackers, malicious code or viruses. Computers with dedicated connections rate most at risk. If someone or something gets into one of these ports and into your computer, they can potentially watch everything you do and see all data you enter, including social security numbers and credit card information. The easiest way to defeat this problem involves using a firewall. Firewalls, simple and inexpensive software available at virtually any office supply or computer store, block most common ports hackers use to enter your computer. Firewalls also help you detect and block unauthorized transmission of information from your computer to Internet. This adds a significant measure of protection if you get infected with a Trojan Horse virus that tries to "phone home" to hacker with your sensitive information.
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