Wolf Craft - What you missed...

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Cheers!
Nora & Kirsten

Big news, I (Nora) was on my first podcast last week! I recorded with the insanely interesting, beyond smart, and also strong believer in no-fluff-just-facts, Jessica Totillo Coster of eCommerce Badassery. In it we got into all things PR and small biz. I talked about why PR is important and who it's for, the difference between marketing and PR, tips for leveraging your PR, how to know you're ready for PR, design thinking methodology... the list goes on. We also talk about our pets and how much they love the Adams Family. Pet fluff is the only good kind of fluff.

You can find the eCommerce Badassery podcast most places you listen to podcasts. And if you're selling anything online, you should because its filled with so much good info (I know, I mainlined like... 10 episodes in a week preparing for my recording). You should start with my episode, which is linked here :).

Show, Don't Tell

A ‘how to pitch stories’ guide for your biz
WIRED created a great resource all about how to pitch the magazine. It was written for freelancers looking to pitch stories to WIRED, but it lays out a great framework for developing a PR strategy beyond just pitching WIRED. We broke this resource down into 9 pitching tips for new projects, collaborations, or launches.

Good Links Round Up

1. Best-in-show copywriting examples
Are you stuck writing a clear concise elevator pitch for your homepage? How about some original catchy copy for your newsletter sign up? We LOVE a good reference for inspiration and quality standards (if you've ever gotten a tweak and edit from us, you know). Harry at Marketing Examples has built another great web project with best-in-show copy from brands across the internet. You can sort through the content with Type categories like “headers” or “lead magnet” or audience categories “B2B” or “B2C”. This is BEYOND useful.

2. How to find the right photographer for your project
“The results of a single photo shoot will serve as an eternal portal into their work.” And if you want press placements, capturing these industry standard photos is the best investment you can make in your business. This article from one of our favorite trade publications, Business of Home, talks about how a design firm revamped their photography strategy to produce self-published books, capture more clients, and secure coveted media coverage.

3. Intro to MailChimp’s Content Optimizer tool
If you send newsletters (you should!) and you use MailChimp, it can be hard to keep track of all the new feature updates. That’s why we like following Emily Ryan, she’s a MailChimp pro and makes great short loom videos that walk you through different aspects of the platform. In this super quick 1-minute video you’ll learn a bit more about how MailChimp can help you optimize your emails.

4. An easy to follow product page checklist
We love a simple checklist. We also love a before and after image. This short super clear post lists the 9 essential elements every product page must have and shows what a difference these updates can make with a real world before and after image.

5. A real world case study in brand positioning
In this podcast episode, Flourish and Thrive academy chats about how the jewelry company OXB used word of mouth and brand ambassadors to build a community of buyers before they had a budget to pay for advertising. The podcast is geared for jewelry brands but there are a lot of great tips for anyone wanting to build an ambassador program.

Wolf Craft Pro Tip

Organize your assets
Put yourself in an editor’s shoes. They have no budget, no time, and are bombarded with emails requesting coverage. To rise to the top, you have to make their lives easier.

When pitching, create personalized Dropbox or Google Drive folders for each editor so they have easy access and are not sifting through folders or dealing with unorganized zip files.

Develop a file naming system that will be as easy as possible for editors to understand, like:
✔company_productname_number.jpg
✔productname_company_number.jpg

Wins + Another PR Tip

So many congrats to our former 1-1 client, Maydel (a truly amazing craft/embroidery supply store committed to a very high standard of ethics ranging from accessibility to fair pay and carbon offsetting) on her FULL PAGE IN THE CHICAGO READER!

Lauren, Maydel's founder, and I worked on developing her craft store's assets, which included one of my favorite homework assignments- the Q&A document. Instead of telling you all about why putting this kind of stuff together is important, I'm going to let Lauren take it away.

"I wanted to let you know that I got a call from the Chicago Reader today that they want to feature Maydel for their "Small Business Spotlight"! They're doing photos and an interview and the writer was very enthusiastic. She was apparently referred to me by an editor I pitched months ago, and who now follows my Instagram.

I guess these things sometimes bear fruit even if no one responds at the time. Thanks for your help and getting me to keep faith. I've now got two significant features in my first 8 months! I can start an "As seen in..." section, which feels like a real milestone.

Thank goodness you had me write answers to all those sample press questions as part of my homework! The editor sent me 21 questions to answer in writing between Christmas and New Year's. I don't think I could have finished it on time otherwise."

Thanks for giving us some time in your inbox! If you have any questions send us a note, we'll always reply.

Cheers,
Nora & Kirsten

PS - If you liked the newsletter, we’d be so happy if you shared it with others who might find it useful. Anyone new can subscribe here.

PPS- Check out our new service Tweak & Edit PR Review. When you sign up you'll get super actionable custom feedback on how to improve your assets and tweak your content so you're ready for press outreach. If you've found us through a workshop, a lot of what you saw there about improving assets came from a T+E review!

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