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#MoneyMonday: How To Get A New Filing Cabinet For Free

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Today's Monday Monday is brought to you by your filing cabinet. The one that you hopefully have in the corner that you treated yourself with from Pottery Barn or West Elm or even Target - some place that officially says:

"I am organized. I care about my things. I will stay on top of these money matters. And I will kick butt.'

Get A Filing Cabinet

For my 32nd birthday, I asked for a filing cabinet from Pottery Barn, and vowed to eventually have a total of four matching ones. That never happened, and I still have the one, but boy does it contain a lot of important information. Orbiting the filing cabinet are mini standing folders that you can find at Target, that hold themes of very important things. One held my husband's bills before and shortly after we married (before I allowed his bills to be accepted and folded into my life - even after our marriage), and one for the house (mortgage bills, city and school tax totals, property tax appraisals, receipts and warranties of appliances).

Both the filing cabinet and the orbiting file boxes maxed out a long time ago, but continued to be stuffed into. Until Tax Season 2017, when I snapped out of the routine of filing around the stuffed folders, and actually looked inside.

Look Inside - Throw Away - Voila, You Have a New Filing Cabinet

Inside of the filing cabinet were three years of Verizon bills from seven years ago. We haven't been with Verizon for seven years. Why are they still filed and not recycled by now? Exactly. Thrown away. Same applied to several other sets of bills that just had no relevance anymore. The result? New space in the existing filing cabinet.

This is your job for Tax Season 2017. While you're in the thick of it, preparing your taxes for the April 15th deadline (maybe you are already done!!), take the time to get a fresh take on your filing cabinet, and you will have new brain space for new growth, new purchases, and new security.

 

Category: 
Money Monday

Special Opportunity: Press Kit Examples - Submit Yours or Your Client's Best Press Kits

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Tin Shingle is preparing a special TuneUp webinar dedicated to Press Kits, to show small business owners and marketers what they should look like. We will be showing examples of good looking press kits that hit the mark in terms of design, presentation, content and copy. We want to feature yours! Your business name, website and contact information will be featured along with any Press Kits that are selected.

  • PR Agency: Are you a PR professional or agency who has a collection of client Press Kits that are awesome? Submit your best ones.
  • Designer: Are you a designer who can design a Press Kit in your sleep? Submit your best work.
  • Business Owner: Are you a business owner or marketer who is particularly proud of your Press Kit and the good response it has gotten from the media or clients? Send it to us.

Send to: info@tinshingle.com

Attachments? Attachments are OK. You can send via email.

Deadline: April 21, 2017

This is not a call for paper Press Kits. Digital only.

Looking forward to seeing submissions. Thanks!

Category: 
Publicity

It's All About Who You Know

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We all want to see buzz about our bizz in our favorite glossy magazine or on the national morning news show. How we get there is another story, a seemingly daunting one. Not for Tin Shingle's members! Whether you are just starting your PR campaign or are a seasoned pro, everyone needs to know, it's all about who you know. The more relationships you build and the more people you tell about your business, the more people will know how amazing your business really is. 

Tin Shingle's unique members only Media Contact Database, supplies you with the contacts you need to accomplish your goals. It is not uncommon for people to move around in the media business. One month a writer is with one magazine and a few months later they could move to a different magazine. Thus, Tin Shingle is constantly updating the database so you can reach the right person, at the right place, to get the word out about your biz.

The database is organized into four main categories: Magazines, TV, Blogs and Websites, and On Air Experts. Beyond that Tin Shingle has designed the database to be able to search by title or name,  as well as "areas of interest". That means you can access the contacts of specific individuals who cover the stories about your industry (ie Beauty, Holiday Gift Guides, Money, Pets etc). Find even more tips and advice on how to connect with the right contact in our TuneUp: Its All About The Contacts Baby, always free for members, and available for download to listen to over and over. 

We recently added more outlets and wanted to give you a sneak peak here in our blog . As always, if you are looking for a specific magazine, producer, or expert, send us an email at ashley@tinshingle.com and we will help you out! 

Newly Added and Updated: 

Allure Magazine

Rolling Stone Magazine

Bloomberg Magazine

Esquire Magazine

Fox and Friends

The Ellen Degenerous Show

Thrillist

CNN

 

Is A Picture Really Worth A Thousands Words?

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Most of us are avid instagramers, posting and scrolling through thousands of pictures a week! If you are not, and are a small business owner, you are missing out on a great, easy, and free way to get the word out about what you do. Head on over to this webinar class, free for Tin Shingle members, and learn how to start!

But will a picture really be worth a thousand words if it's never seen?! Instagram started streaming pictures by popularity and not by chronological order late last year. What does that mean? Your picture could actually get lost in the "instaworld" and never reach your target audience, let alone all your followers. The solution? Hashtags! Hashtags are a way to organize posts by topic. In essence, it links your picture with viewers who are looking for content on that topic. Some popular ones now, especially if you live in the north, are #noreaster or #winterbegone. And, don't forget that today is national #PiDay (Get it, 3/14!) Simply put, if you use hashtags, your Instagram posts will get more views.  However, there are even more tips to get the most amount of views from the people you want to see them.

Tin Shingle provides a members only tool, The Instagram Hashtag Sheet, that continues to unclutter the many hashtags, teaching you which are popular and have the most success. We recently updated and added to our list to provide the best tools for your buzz building skills.  If you don't see a topic or category you like in the sheet, email me at ashley@tinshingle.com.

Happy posting!

Other new hashtags added:

#HowISummer - promoted in bon appétit upcoming June edition of their print magazine

#DoAnything - videos for things that don't come with manuals

#easteregg

#fashiongram

#bloglife

 

Another Roundup of Editorial Calendars!

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I stumbled on this thought while looking for a dinner recipe on Pinterest. And you know what my friends, I think it is gold. Steve Hartman happens to be that man, who in an interview with Marketplace, shared for over a year he p the pool toy with almost no success. If Anyone ever tells you your dreams are silly remember there's a millionaire walking around who invented the pool noodle Despite his slow start, through persistence and hard work, Hartman grew to sell between 6 and 8 million pool noodles a year! That is a lot of pool toys! 

Take a lesson from Steve, and many others, who don't give up on their dreams and really good ideas. This new batch of Editorial Calendars, for Tin Shingle members, will give you new ideas on how you can get the word out about your business. If you are not a member, our Editorial Calendar Database gives you the inside scoop of what each national print magazine is going to cover and when. That means you get the heads up of when to pitch story ideas that are perfect for your business. Helping you have more opportunities to get more press! 

I invite you to sit down today and write down you dreams-small and large. Then go for them! Don't let someone tell you can't do your own PR campaign. Don't get discouraged by a few turn downs from your beloved glossy magazine. Keep up the hard work, use Tin Shingle's tools, and stay persistent. 

Some Magazines and their direction for 2017 in this upload:

Glamour- August: Transformations Issue. Entire issue made shoppable via partner with Amazon!

bon appétit

Essence - November: Innovation & Ideas Issue

Golf Digest

Gear & Gun

Forbes - June: Self-made Women

Star Magazine

Cooking Light - December: Holiday Survival Guide

#MoneyMonday: Just Donate!

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Monday's around here at Tin Shingle are filled with motivation. Sometimes we channel that motivation into the theme of getting money things done - like pitching a new client or advertiser, or designing a financial class with money experts who specialize in working with entrepreneurs and artists (yes, look for that signup opportunity!) It could even mean sending out invoices, paying invoices, or signing on with a new ecommerce tools at your website (yes, that's going on over here!) We call it #MoneyMondays.

Last Monday, we used the theme to focus on donating money. We share an office with our sister company,  A Little Beacon Blog, which is a local online newspaper in New York. Months ago, they hosted an event that was both a kid's haircut day, as well as a chance to donate to the local elementary schools via a facepainting table. It was a success, and A Little Beacon Blog matched what was raised by parents who opted to have their childrens' faces painted to bring the total to $130. Last Monday, the check was written and put into the mail, with the intention of hosting more events with a dedicated fundraising jar to collect for the other schools in our local district.

Do you have a donating plan with your business? Tell us about it in the Comments below.

Category: 
Money Monday

New Editorial Calendars: Get Them While They Are Hot!

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That's right...don't let them get cold on you and miss your opportunity of scoring some pretty cool press. If you are not using Tin Shingle's Editorial Calendar Database, for members only, you really need to be. Or, you might be saying, "Meh, I checked them last week, I'll skip it this time." Bad move.

Editorial calendars, along with Tin Shingle's Media Contact Database, provide you with the general direction each magazine has plotted for the month, so that you have an idea of what direction a magazine is headed in, and you have a chance of submitting an idea in a timely manner. Thus, helping you get your business' product/profile/service/tips in to the printed publication. Believe us, editors are busy. They have lots of work and deadlines flying from their desks, as well as large amounts of people asking for media coverage.

Don't forget, you don't always have to pitch only your product. This entrepreneur, Making Care Easier (a service based care giving company), got press in a technology article on CNET. Not because it fit their business profile, but because they were determined to think outside the box. Founder of Making Care Easier, Julie Fry, provided her expertise in the email pitch, keeping her tips general and applicable, giving her business exposure at the same time. Can you do the same?

If you still feel like your not getting press, don't give up! Peek through these new opportunities, gather some ideas, and follow these tips to help boost your success.

Here are some of the magazine, with a few select highlights for you to see, that we added this week to Tin Shingle's Editorial Calendar database that you can skim now:

Esquire- Featuring an issue on Maverick Ideas & Innovations.

Louisiana Cooking 

Maxim

Men's Fitness- Still time to get in the Spring/Summer Active Outdoor Guide.

Poets & Writers

Family Circle- Holiday Gift Guides Galore! 

Southern Lady

Taste of the South

OK! Magazine

Tea Time

The Cottage Journal

Food & Wine Magazine- The June issue devoted to #HowISummer

Victoria

Teen Vogue Slims Down for 2017

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Does anyone else just love paper? The feel? The smell? The colors? I know...I get it. We need to be moving with the times. The time of digital everything, smart gadgets, and microchips. I do appreciate the capabilities of the digital world but, I still love, even prefer paper. If I could write all of you this blog post on cute, navy and gold stationery, and put it in your mailbox with a darling floral forever stamp, I would! Anyway, I digress...but this is why I am always excited when print magazines stay, well, in print. 

Starting with their spring Issue, Teen Vogue now is being printed quarterly; a reduction from monthly. Editors at Teen Vogue discussed the reasons why with BOF. "Teen Vogue speaks to the future — and our incredible digital growth is proof that young Millennials and Generation Z want to be meaningfully engaged,” says Philip Picardi, the digital editorial director.  However, that doesn't mean the print magazine moves completely to the archives. The article continues, "In order to give Teen Vogue's new print incarnation a more collectible feel, the book will be larger in format" covering "hot-button issues thought to be important to the reader."

Teen Vogue's announcement to invest in digital did not come long after editor in Chief Amy Astley was reassigned to Architectural Digest. She was replaced by a team of three Millennials, editor Elaine Welteroth, Picardi, and creative director Marie Suter. In a different article BOF reported the team's equal stature reflects how important Teen Vogue feels not only the print magazine is, but also their growth in digital. Welteroth's vision for the magazine's audience: "We're not speaking to her in they way we were speaking to her 13 years ago, [because] the world has changed a ton. Our goal is to evolve with her...certainly, we're a fashion magazine still, but we're also so much more than that."

With many outlets moving solely to digital, or folding all together, time will tell how the target audience accepts Teen Vogue's new format. For a list of other recent publications that are changing according to the age of technology read Tin Shingle's ongoing list in the Media Contacts section. As for me, I'll continue to covet my stationary while taking baby steps in the emerging ways of new generations. :)

PR Leads: New Week, New Goodies for You!

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Hey y'all. Tin Shingle is not going to let the week end without giving you some new, fresh, PR leads! We have added at least a dozen new magazines to our Editorial Calendar Section for members only. If you are not using these guys you are missing out a huge tool to help get your brand into the press. Each calendar gives you insight into which direction every issue is heading. Not only can this motivate your creative side to come up with ideas on how to get your business into a print mag, but it just might be what makes you stand out from the hundreds of other pitches they are already getting. DIY PR can seem overwhelming but, you can do it! Tin Shingle's Editorial Calendar Database along with these tips really make it simple.  Still need more help? Don't forget Tin Shingle's Tuneup Series: What to Pitch This Month which is a free live class the first Wednesday of every month.  If you miss it, don't fret, you can download any of our classes and listen to them over and over.  This Tuneup, available for download (free for members!), will teach you exactly how to use a calendar and score press from it. Here is a sneak peek of what magazines have been added this week:

Vogue

Car & Driver - Featuring an article about The Future of Mobility.

New York Magazine

Cooking with Paula Deen

Instyle - One issue devoted to Holiday Fashion, Party Planning, and Holiday Gift Guides.

People Magazine

Popular Mechanics - Can't wait to read the September issue, "How to Make Anything".

Road and Track

W Magazine - Soon to hit newsstands - "The Creatives" issue.

Southern Home

Town & Country

Veranda

Send Your Favorite Business A Valentine: Write Them A 5-Star Review!

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This Challenge was issued to Tin Shingle Members the Monday before Valentine's Day - to send their favorite business a Valentine by way of a good review. That's a Valentine that keeps on giving and giving!

Facebook is being very promotional right now of when reviews are written, and is encouraging those who Check In to places to write a review of their experience. As we discussed in an SEO TuneUp with expert Kate Saunders, Google is cultivating the reviews also from several social networks, so these really do matter a lot.

When you leave a few reviews, tell us who you left them for, and tag them in a Comment on Tin Shingle's Facebook page!

Ok, so I've convinced you to go write a review. But go check your own Facebook Business Page before you tell your friends to leave you a Review. Can you even find the Reviews tab on it? If you cannot, we have an "Ask The Expert" article that explains how to move your Reviews tab in simple terms and pictures.

How Reviews look in your Facebook Business Page

Where To Find The Reviews Tab On Your Facebook Business Page

 

Category: 
Facebook

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