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This page changes periodically with fresh samples. Feel free to check back frequently.
Press Release Samples
Eleventh Annual America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Parade Offers Fun, History,
Tradition
Unique floats, historical re-enactments, and
marching bands entertain and educate
Plymouth,
Massachusetts, October 9, 2006. On Saturday morning, November 18, spectators of all ages will line the streets of Plymouth,
Massachusetts, and gather at Cole’s Hill, to view the eleventh annual America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Parade. Event attendance is expected to surpass
the 2005 attendance, which was estimated by the Plymouth Police Department to be over 140,000.
Along with an appearance by the
world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales, the unique parade features spectacular handcrafted floats that accurately depict historical
events and heroes from American history. Inspiring historical re-enactors, military units and marching bands further aggrandize
the parade. It’s all a meaningful reminder of how patriotism and honor has persevered through American history, beginning
with a small band of courageous Pilgrims who survived their first harsh winter in New England
and celebrated by proclaiming a day of Thanksgiving in 1620.
Touted by the Patriot Ledger
as “One of New England’s most successful events,” the Thanksgiving Parade is the highlight of a full weekend
of festivities. The celebration is launched by honoring American veterans and armed forces with a patriotic concert at Plymouth’s Memorial Hall on Friday evening. Back by popular demand,
Tops in Blue, the United States
Air Force premier entertainment unit from San Antonio, Texas,
will dazzle audiences once again with their singing and dancing.
On parade day, some of New England’s most renowned culinary personalities are on board at the New England Food Festival,
to provide delectable chowders, soups, and desserts for hungry parade spectators, and to vie for favored status and prestige
in the food competition. The Food Festival is housed in a giant heated hospitality tent on the historic Plymouth waterfront.
The Thanksgiving celebration
weekend ends at Memorial Hall, with an uplifting concert of trumpets and drums performed by National Senior Drum and Bugle
Corps and crowd favorite, world-renown Fife and Drum Corp, The American Originals.
For more information about America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Parade or other
events mentioned, please visit http://www.usathanksgiving.com/ or contact Dale Winspeare, Winspeare Media Group at 781-586-0381.
Mail Forms Software: FormXP
2007
FormXP Provides Business Owners
with Global Options
Farmingdale, NY, January 8, 2007-- Software for Websites has just released FormXP 2007, software that allows site builders and administrators
to design and build their own custom forms. Although useful for a wide variety of people, FormXP is especially applicable
to sites designed to gather more in depth or diverse info than standard form templates allow.
“FormXP 2007 is a user inspired and long overdue tool that will make the web designer’s job much easier,
and provide invaluable marketing information to businesses,” say Tri Vo, software developer and CEO, Software for Websites.
FormXP 2007 offers small business owners the ability to take their product or service global, without the added overhead
of a web master. With no PHP skill needed to install or use, the product streamlines
the nitty-gritty mechanics of form building, mailing list gathering and market research.
As a means of understanding who is frequenting your site, FormXP proves invaluable.The product’s web-based interface
allows you to track the location of users based on their IP address. This integrated market research tool enables you to focus
future marketing time and expenditures in literal geographic areas where you know there is interest in your product or service.
FormXP is chock full of innovative and practical features that, aside from streamlining the mail forms process, also
add to the security and ease of use of the software. The advanced field error detection and user preview means that user errors
are corrected before the information is sent to you, saving you time and giving your site a professional edge. The security
Image code ensures that your forms are being filled out by real people, not SPAM-happy computer programs. Also Ajax technology offers the speed and reliability you need when updating forms or sending
out e-mails.
Whether you want to utilize FormXP as a marketing tool to gather names and e-mail addresses or create unique questionnaires,
FormXP 2007 makes it a cinch. FormXP offers unlimited forms as well as unlimited
fields, for remarkably easy customization. Lastly,
the small investment needed to bring this software home makes it an extremely viable option for companies as well as small home businesses.
More information regarding FormXP 2007 as well as eCardMAX can be found at
http://www.eCardMAX.com
Randy Price, 7NEWS Co-Anchor, Selected as Grand Marshal for 11th Annual
America’s Hometown Thanksgiving
Parade
Plymouth, Massachusetts, October 24, 2006. Randy Price, Co-Anchor
for 7NEWS, will preside over the eleventh annual America’s Hometown
Thanksgiving Parade as it ribbons its way through the streets of Plymouth
on Saturday morning, November 18. In response to being selected as Grand Marshal, Price says, “To be back in Plymouth on such a special day in our national heritage, and in this
parade, is quite the honor for me. When I was moving to New England 25 years ago, Plymouth
was one of the first stops on my ‘seeing the historic sites’ tour.”
It seems
only natural that Grand Marshal Price would preside over a parade that utilizes unique floats and inspiring historical re-enactments
to portray stories of America’s
historical events and the courageous, honorable men and women who participated in the events.
Randy has spent much of his time, since joining 7NEWS in 1998, traveling the back roads, the country and the world,
to cover and report stories that will also become part of American history.
Randy
is known as one of the regions most popular TV journalist, and during the course of his distinguished career he has received
numerous awards, but he says “the biggest compliment comes from the hundreds of thousands of viewers who show their
trust and confidence by watching our program everyday.” In that statement Randy is referring to awarding-winning 7NEWS,
who is the Official Media Sponsor for America’s
Hometown Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Randy
Price’s enthusiasm and community involvement spreads beyond the newsroom. In keeping with the true spirit of Thanksgiving
all year, he has served his community in various ways and participated in the efforts of many organizations and causes, from
human and civil rights to hunger, aids care and research, and animal welfare.
America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Day Parade, which
has been touted by the Patriot Ledger as “one of New England’s most successful
events”, will feature the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales, military units, marching bands, and spectacular floats.
Tops in Blue, the United States Air Force premier entertainment unit from San Antonio, Texas will kick off the celebration weekend with a performance
to honor American veterans, Friday evening at 7:30 PM, at Plymouth’s
Memorial Hall. Other weekend festivities include the New England Food Festival
and culinary celebrity competition, and performances by the National Senior Drum and Bugle Corps. Parade attendance is expected
to surpass the 2005 attendance, which was estimated by the Plymouth Police Department to be over 140,000.
For
more information about America’s
Hometown Thanksgiving Parade or other events mentioned, please visit http://www.usathanksgiving.com/ or contact Dale Winspeare, Winspeare Media Group at 781-586-0381.
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Article Samples
Why
Bother With A Business Newsletter?
A business-to-customer
newsletter can be an effective, cost efficient marketing tool. If the newsletter contains useful information, is visually
appealing and professionally written, it may be one of your most valuable marketing tools. When I started my freelance editing
service my target audience was writers who needed their manuscripts edited before they submitted them to editors or publishers. I let writers know about my editing service and built my client list by publishing
and sending out a newsletter on writing. Why did I take the time to create a
newsletter and use part of my meager advertising budget to publish and mail it to writers?
I knew my market and wanted to
use my small advertising budget to target that market, instead of wasting the dollars
advertising to a general public that wasn’t interested in my service. The newsletter was sent only to those who requested
it or were obviously interested in writing. When the writers signed up for the
newsletter, I recorded their contact information and built a potential client list. (Side Note: Never ever, rent or sale a
client list that you obtain this way, unless you specifically inform the subscriber that you will do so.) I built my list
by sending free newsletters with a subscription form to writers groups, book stores, office supply stores and libraries. As
I expanded my business to include other services, I expanded my marketing list and sent the newsletter to non-profit organizations
and businesses.
For my newsletter, I wrote articles
on the craft of writing, publishing, the writing life and other writing topics. In doing this, I established credibility as
an ‘expert’ in my field. Writers could tell by the information that I provided, that I had been around the block
a few times and they knew they could trust me to do a good job with their projects.
One of the ways that I became
a part of the writing community, and made my newsletter more desirable, is by announcing local events for poetry readings,
book signings, writers’ group meetings, and other community events of interest to writers. I kept note of the local
publishing industry and featured local authors. (There is more information on specific ways to become a ‘community’
business, in another section of this marketing article.)
Because my newsletter faithfully
arrived in the mailbox month after month, my potential clients began to view me as a legitimate business instead of a fly-by-night
freelance writer. They became familiar with me through the newsletter, and familiarity builds trust. In today’s world
of business, trust is a big issue. People will do business with people they trust even if the price or fee is higher than
that of someone they don’t know or can’t trust to be around to stand behind their work. Customers also want the
satisfaction of knowing that if they need your service again, you’ll be there and they won’t have to start the
process of looking for a writer again. Think about how relieved you feel when you find the right hairdresser. You don’t
want to suddenly find out she/he has left town when you need a great haircut two days before a big event! You’ve already
built a relationship with your hairdresser. She knows what you want and don’t
want. You don’t want to train a new hairdresser.
My newsletter also kept my business
name fresh on the minds of potential clients. If they needed an editor, what is the first name that came to mind? The name they’d seen show up in their mailbox every month. The name of the person who gave them a
useful, free newsletter, and sometimes a coupon for a certain percentage off my fee.
The newsletter also served as
a tool to keep my clients informed of any changes in services or the addition of new services.
As I expanded my business to include commercial copywriting and editing, I added information that was appropriate for
that sector of my market.
What To Put In A Newsletter?
Depending on your business and
your target market, the content of your newsletter will vary. Some business owners worry about having enough content to fill
a newsletter. Usually the opposite problem is more common, and there is more information than space each month. Here are some
suggestions for content. Decide what is pertinent and beneficial to your business or service.
Ø Product
description and uses. This is a good way to give customers the information they might not take the time to ask for, but would
like to have.
Ø Showcased
products or services that are on sale.
Ø Coupons
for discounts or special fees.
Ø Employee
information such as employee-of-the-month; promotions; retirements; special training, classes or events that employees have
attended.
Ø Community
event schedules, particularly events that are related to your business or service. For instance, if you own a bicycle repair
shop you’d want to list a schedule of the season’s bike races.
Ø If
you are a public speaker, or are a volunteer for any community events or fundraisers, or are hosting any events, toot your
own horn.
Ø Useful
information. For instance if you offer a landscaping service you could publish articles on how much water a lawn needs weekly,
what plants grow best in the shade, the best way to combat weeds in the flowerbeds.
In another section of this marketing article, I am going to explain how you can easily
create a print newsletter or an e-newsletter and how to build your mailing list. But
for now, I want to emphasize that a newsletter can certainly be an integral part of your marketing plan for your small business. I can’t tell you how many times
I’ve had someone call me and say, “I’ve never hired a writer before, but I need one now, and I’ve
gotten your newsletter so…” Almost everyone who calls me with that
initial introduction ends up being a long-term client. And remember, long-term clients tell other people about your business.
Never underestimate the marketing power of a simple newsletter!
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