TuneUps - Change 'em Up? Do You Want a Buzz Building Challenge?

When: Every Other Wednesday
Time: 3pm EST
Where: At your computer or on your phone.
Price: Would be for All Access Pass Members of Tin Shingle

Do You Want a Buzz Building Challenge?

About two years ago, at the request of a Tin Shingle Member out of Chicago, Lisa of Your Pet Chef (makers of raw dog food), we tried something new: A PR Challenge. We held it online using GoTo Webinar, and members could call in on their computers and we could all see each other, face to face. It was so fun to connect!

It quickly morphed into a PR and Social Media Challenge. Many growth moments happened for the members on the Challenge. One former jewelry designer, Sierra Bailey of Manic Trout, put herself out there and got a national crafting TV show. Yeah - she did that! All because we were hashing things out on the call.

We've been wanting to bring this back, but the timing has been hard. When to have it? Everyone is super busy doing All Of The Things. As we're building the Fall Schedule for Training TuneUps, we're taking a moment to step back and see if there is an opportunity here...
 

Alternating Every Other Wednesday:
Training TuneUp, then Buzz Building Challenge

What do you think? Here's how it would break down:

Training TuneUp:
One week (Wednesday, 3pm EST) you'd get the chance to call in to the show and watch or listen for free during the live broadcast of the Training TuneUp, like always. These are one-sided, so you can only type in your questions via the Question Box. Online Class Members (Level 3) are able to stream all of these Training TuneUps for free later on 24/7.

Buzz Building Challenge:
The next week, (Wednesday, 3pm EST) only All Access Pass Members could call into a special private line and hook in face to face. There would be one homework assignment each week. The agenda would work like this:

• Check in. What's been going on? How are your pitches? How is your social media? Did you send that newsletter?
• Goal check. What are your goals? Why are you doing outreach and marketing? Let's make sure you're doing the right things to get you what you need.
• Homework assignment. You've got two weeks to complete the assignment. You'll find out what it is in the Buzz Building Challenge.

What do you think? Let us know in the Comments below with a Yay or a Nay.

Yay: Yes, I want to alternate between Training TuneUps and the Buzz Building Challenge (guess I better jump the fence and become an All Access Pass Member of Tin Shingle once and for all!)

Nay: Nah, keep the Training TuneUps coming every week. I'll get things done on my own time.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Training TuneUp Streaming Now: PR Planning and What to Pitch for August

We're on a road trip for summer vacay, so you get to listen to this fresh new Training TuneUp for free as a replay for limited time only! Normally the live broadcast is open for everyone to access for free, and the recordings packaged up for sale or made available for our Online Class Level 3 Members. Thanks to the summer schedule, we are in pre-record and drop mode!

Get it here for limited time:

www.tinshingle.com/tuneup  

Major PR opportunities are happening in August. You simply need to know about them, and get into the mindset of going after them. This TuneUp reveals major editorial themes that big magazines are working on, and how you can spin your business into a possible feature. Tin Shingle gives you the tools to pitch your ideas into the media. The most important tool, however, is the right idea at the right time. This TuneUp will bring you closer to the winning pitch.

New Class Available to Stream: Tin Shingle's Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide Pitching Guide

Training TuneUp Available Now:
Tin Shingle's Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide Pitching Guide Online Class

There are 3 submission deadlines of the year when your business has as chance to be featured in one of the most coveted magazine issues of the year: The Holiday Gift Guide Issue that hits newsstands in November and December.

Those deadlines are:

• July (right now!) for national print magazines like O, The Oprah Magazine and Real Simple.
• September for regional print magazines.
• October/November for last minute blog submissions and TV shows.

What Businesses Are Good for Holiday Gift Guides?

Yours, most likely. You just need to think of the right angle.

• Products: Obviously!
• Books: Magazines will be recommending must-reads on those holiday reading lists.
• Gift Cards: Got a boutique fitness studio? Yarn shop?
• Experts: In the same magazine issue as the Holiday Gift Guide, the magazine still fills other pages with holiday advice. This is the time for New Years Resolution stuff.

 
Magazines Are Collecting Holiday Gift Ideas Now for December Issues

So here's the thing...if you want your business featured in the December issue, you must email the magazines of your dreams now. Yes, think big. But how will you do it? Here are the answers!

Watch This TuneUp Webinar - We Tell You How!

In this Training TuneUp that just released into Tin Shingle's Training TuneUp Collection, we partnered up with our dear friend Sabina Hitchen of Press for Success. Tin Shingle's owner Katie interviews Sabina for the inside scoop on how Holiday Gift Guides work, and the best ways you can email an editor with the suggestion that they consider your business in their recommendations. Tin Shingle does have a list of magazine editors in our Media Contacts Database to make this job a little easier on you.

Hot Tip: Go Niche

There are SO many gift guides possibilities:

• "Gifts for Moms"
• "Gifts For Nerds"
• "Gifts For Guys Who Love Gear"
• "Gifts For Yarnbombers"
• "Gifts For Self-Help Addicts"

The sky is the limit! Part of your job when pitching your brand to be considered for a Gift Guide is to suggest a great theme, or reason. Liberate yourself here. Identify the magazines you want to be featured in, and go for it.

The best way to liberate yourself to pitch your brand into a magazine is to watch or listen to our Training TuneUp: The Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide Pitching Guide as Katie and Sabina explore the ways you will accomplish this mission. If you are a member of Tin Shingle at Level 3 (Online Classes) or 4 (Media Lists), you can stream this TuneUp for free any time. Otherwise, you can just purchase it!

Covered In This TuneUp:

• The Big Picture – Inside a Magazine
• What Makes a Holiday Gift Guide
• 1st Chance for Holiday Gift Guides (Magazines)
• 2nd Chance for Holiday Gift Guides (Local)
• 3rd Chance for Holiday Gift Guides (Websites)
• The Pitch - What It Should Look Like
• The Photos - How Important Are They?
• Packaging - Worth It?

Tin Shingle Member Price for Levels 3 & 4: FREE
Non-Member Price: $65.00

TuneUp Interview with Christina Fagan, Founder Sh*t That I Knit on How She Rocked a Successful Kickstarter Campaign

Join me this week when I interview Christina Fagan, founder of Shit That I Knit, on how she pulled off such a successful Kickstarter campaign when launching her business, raising over $25,000 from 260 backers in 30 days. It's not easy starting a Kickstarter, and requires all of the muscles in your marketing body. It's all of what we preach at Tin Shingle - the outreach, the PR, the social, the emailing, the presentation. The gumption! The enthusiasm.

Tune in Thursday, July 12th at 1pm EST for the free live broadcast. We use GoToWebinar so you can watch from computer or phone, or call-in old fashion-style. Replays are added to Tin Shingle's private collection for Members to stream anytime.

Membership not required to listen to live broadcast of webinar.
Register now!

The Live Training TuneUp Webinar is at Summer Camp This Week!

Writing from the moment of Summer Camp With The Kids! This week the live broadcast of the Training TuneUp is on break while we catch up on spring cleaning and article writing. Meanwhile, we are pre-recording a must-watch for you...a fresh Holiday Gift Guide How-To with your favorite PR Star...Sabina Hitchen of Sabina Knows! Subscribe to our email to be alerted as to when it drops into our TuneUp library.  

Training TuneUp Road Trip to East Fishkill Library

Tonight, Tin Shingle’s owner, Katie Hellmuth Martin, delivers a Digital Marketing Presentation in partnership with SCORE Mentors Dutchess County at the East Fishkill Public Library District. It's the Tin Shingle Training TuneUp on the road. Road Trip! She will reveal: “8 Things I Learned About Marketing After Deleting the Facebook App From My Phone.” Come! Pre-register, as space is extremely limited.

When: Tuesday May 22 at 6:30 to 8:00 PM
Where: East Fishkill Library - 348 NY-376, Hopewell Junction, NY 12533
How Much: Free

New Gift Guide Class Category in Training TuneUps

Tin Shingle has over 115 Training TuneUps that focus on different areas of creating buzz around your business for you to stream at any time. We have been training businesses like yours for so many years, that we have amassed quite a collection of classes in niche topics that dig deep into important PR and marketing strategies. This calls for a Spring Cleaning! We are organizing these in a more finite way for you, with our first new category:

Gift Guides

Our Public Relations classes category is so extensive, that we are dividing it up so that you can go deep on important issues that will make a big difference in your business right away.

As we inch closer to Summer, we want you to be prepared for pitching those Holiday Gift Guides. Because yeah - that starts in summer! Charge your laptop, because you’ve got some work to do poolside.

All of Tin Shingle's online classes are available to stream free with the Level 3 TuneUp Membership or higher. All others can purchase their favorite classes and keep them forever.

Online Classes Now Streaming

If you're a Training TuneUp Webinar Member of Tin Shingle, you can press play on these from any device when you're logged into Tin Shingle.  If you're not a member, you can buy your favorites and keep them forever!

Activate your membership today, or select your favorites and get excited to take your business in new directions with fresh marketing ideas!

PR Planning For February 2018

This is the Online Class for people who make their own luck. There are those who sit back and wait for opportunities, and then become one of hundreds of people who all try to get that opportunity at once. And then there are the rest of the success stories who are staying ahead of the media and suggesting ideas - suggesting ways that they may feature our business in a way that would delight, captivate, and solve their reader's problems. This class gives the latest story angle ideas that you can use right now in February to pitch your business for PR in April, May or June.

How Do We Know This? The folks at Tin Shingle are in touch with publishing houses to get their "Editorial Calendars," which are the monthly plans that magazines generally follow.

Have a Media Contact or Editorial Calendar Request?!
Send an email to member@tinshingle.com.  

Want Access?
 Join Tin Shingle as a Level 4 Member now!

Interview With An Artist Who Quit Her Day Job

This is an incredible story. Tin Shingle’s owner Katie will interview Megh Knappenberger to hear her story of leaving her graphic design days behind her in order to pursue her painting full time. But, her graphic design days come back into play a major part into how she found success so soon. Not long after making her big decsion to become a professional fine artist, Megh produced some paintings, and made a sale of $150,000! Publicity happened quickly after that, and she she needed to take the rest of the month off to keep up with new orders.

Living the Dream (Job)!

How did Megh do this? With a combination of tapping into her city's love for sports - the Kansas City Jayhawks - and landing the only licensing agreement from the Jayhawks to an artist. We are going to find out how she did this, and tap into the chutzpah that makes all of this happen. 

Iron Sharpens Iron - One Story Helps Shape Another

Megh will tell us all about her inspiration, determination, and collaborations in Tin Shingle's exclusive interview, to help you make your own success. Covered in this interview:

• Licensing Artwork
• Getting Sales
• Getting PR
• Changing the Mindset
• What Is Life Like Now

SEO Tips & Tricks for Google Rankings

What happens when a creative writer gets a hankering for loving SEO and Google Rankings? Really great content that ranks highly in Google's search engine! Do you want to know something even better? In this class, you get an SEO expert that can explain it to you in plain English, using metaphors to help you understand that are way more fun than charts and graphs! Tin Shingle's owner, Katie Hellmuth Martin, is such a person, and will lead you through this Online Class. Here is what she will cover:

• What is SEO
• What Does and SEO Friendly Website Look Like (A step by step guide)
• Tips For Service  and Product Based Companies
• How to use Social Platforms to Your Advantage
• Why Google Reviews are important and how to get your clients to do it
• Getting SEO from other websites
• What the Normal Person is Seeing and how you to optimize that
• Keyword Clues you can use to boost your rankings
• When and If you should by an Ad
• What to do when you rebrand

Listen to this online class to see how you are going to make your website SEO delicious for Google and get found by new and old customers and clients.

Today's Online Class TuneUp: PR Planning for February

Today's Free Online Class:
PR Planning For February

When: Thursday (Today), Feb 8th at 3 PM EST.
Where: The place most convenient for you. Watch at your desk or listen on the go.
Price: Free for all on the live broadcast.

This is the Online Class TuneUp for people who make their own luck. There are those who sit back and wait for opportunities, and then become one of hundreds of people who all try to get that opportunity at once. And then there are the rest of the success stories who are staying ahead of the media and suggesting ideas - suggesting ways that they may feature our business in a way that would delight, captivate, and solve their reader's problems. Register for this Online Class today that airs today at 3pm to get the latest story angle ideas that you can use right now in February to pitch your business for PR in April, May or June.

Newsflash: If you dream of your business being featured in a magazine, you can make this happen - on your own. All you need to do is email them with an idea. Ok, there's more to it than that, (like a really effective Subject Line, a Great Followup, and a Killer Idea), but the real trick is knowing the right time to pitch the right article angle.

Hot Topics Right Now: Magazines work 3-6 months ahead of time. So you must think that way also, and suggest a timely idea for the future. This doesn't mean simply planning ahead. This means actually executing it right now. Magazines are working on things like this right now:

• Summer Fun
• Camping
• Star Wars Origami ("May the 4th Be With You" is coming up!)
• Bridal Budgets
• Disruptive and the revolutionary people behind the idea
• Italian Cooking

Do you want more ideas like this? Then Register for this Online Class today that airs today at 3pm. Today is Tin Shingle's monthly PR Planning class, and tells you what to be pitching in February if you want PR in May or June.

How Do We Know This? The folks at Tin Shingle are in touch with publishing houses to get their "Editorial Calendars," which are the monthly plans that magazines generally follow.

Normally the story angle deadlines are available to our Media Contacts and Editorial Calendar Level 4 Membership only. But during this PR Planning class series, we share with you some of these deadlines. Get in the class today and you'll hear them, and/or activate your Level 4 Membership level to access these and more any time you want.

This Class is Computer & Phone Friendly

• Call on the phone to listen.
• Watch from the phone app - do nothing - it just works!
• Click to watch on the computer