The truth is, so many people are posting press releases now that search engines are the only things reading them. So unless a search engine finds enough good keywords in there, no one will read it. Journalists and bloggers doing research on a topic will likely just do a search for the most relevant keywords.
Therefore, just as important as readability or conveying important information is making sure the machines like it. That means optimizing search engine scores. For press releases, I like to choose 3-4 keywords to target. Often, we want insomnia and snoring. In our latest press release on our new iPhone App, however, we want sleep, iPhone and App. So at the end of writing everything, I check with a keyword analyzer to make sure they are among the top 10 words with 4 letters or above.
Then I write a title that contains the keywords I want and throw in highly charged words that grab attention. If the journalists look through a list of headlines in a listing of press releases, you want to have something that will grab them. I'm not a professional copywriter, but there are various techniques out there. One that I use the most is this headline analyzer. http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/index.htm
I don't know just how effective it is, but it's interesting. I try different words to make sure the headline scores highly on this system.
The other headline gimmick is to use words like "free," "new," "discovered," "amazing," or other kitsch words you see on infomercials. I have a distaste for over-blown exaggerations, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to be competitive in conditions of information overload. We managed to use Free and New for our last press release title.
So to me, the two things that are critical in writing a press release is to have a great headline and SEO optimization.
For the first 3 years of this business, I was the one writing the press releases. Since money was tight, I wanted to make sure that every release that we paid to get out there was completely optimized in every way. I did lots of research, and it made sense to me. One of our earliest releases really helped us to be established in the area of sleep and headphones, our most important keywords. We are still at the top of Google for "sleep headphones." Yay!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
New Packaging
After many months of design, picture taking, revisions, and working with a box printing company, we have a new package! It will be the one you see on stores shelves at the chain stores we hope to get into. We will soon offer them for sale on our website!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Pregnancy and SleepPhones
The SleepPhones family is getting a new member! The CEO (me) is due to deliver a baby very soon! Here is a picture of me posing in bed wearing SleepPhones.
Nearly all sleep-inducing drugs are potentially harmful to babies when the mother is pregnant and are not recommended. Even Benadryl or Tylenol PM (which also contains diphenhydramine) shouldn't be taken while breastfeeding because they reduce the amount of milk production. Many chemicals can cross the placenta or mammary glands, so please ask your doctor before taking any medications (even over-the-counter meds), herbals (including valerian root, kava kava, and maybe chamomile), or supplements (like melatonin). None of the ones just listed are recommended during pregnancy.
SleepPhones are great for pregnant and breast-feeding women because they are a natural method for falling asleep without drugs. I've been listening to hypnobirthing CDs at bedtime to train myself to relax during the delivery process. Hypnosis is great for general sleep as well as a variety of other things to help the mind think a certain way. The hypno-birthing CD has lots of positive affirmations to reduce pain and fear as well as a guided relaxation technique. I've learned some great breathing techniques, but we'll see if I can actually do them during delivery!
Nearly all sleep-inducing drugs are potentially harmful to babies when the mother is pregnant and are not recommended. Even Benadryl or Tylenol PM (which also contains diphenhydramine) shouldn't be taken while breastfeeding because they reduce the amount of milk production. Many chemicals can cross the placenta or mammary glands, so please ask your doctor before taking any medications (even over-the-counter meds), herbals (including valerian root, kava kava, and maybe chamomile), or supplements (like melatonin). None of the ones just listed are recommended during pregnancy.
SleepPhones are great for pregnant and breast-feeding women because they are a natural method for falling asleep without drugs. I've been listening to hypnobirthing CDs at bedtime to train myself to relax during the delivery process. Hypnosis is great for general sleep as well as a variety of other things to help the mind think a certain way. The hypno-birthing CD has lots of positive affirmations to reduce pain and fear as well as a guided relaxation technique. I've learned some great breathing techniques, but we'll see if I can actually do them during delivery!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Pandora's Box of Music to Fall Asleep
Okay, a pandora's box is a bad thing, but this Pandora is a good thing if you want to fall asleep. For those who don't know, Pandora is an Internet radio site that is quite unique -you can basically create your own radio station by choosing artists you like. Then Pandora chooses similar artists to play along with thhem.
Even better - if you have a smartphone, you can download the Pandora app and create a station. Say you like falling asleep to Enya - you simply create that station and it plays both Enya and artists similar to her.
It's quite cool and also rather handy if you are traveling and forgot your ipod but not your SleepPhones. With Pandora, you just bring up your favorite self-created sleep station, put on your SleepPhones, and snooze away!
Even better - if you have a smartphone, you can download the Pandora app and create a station. Say you like falling asleep to Enya - you simply create that station and it plays both Enya and artists similar to her.
It's quite cool and also rather handy if you are traveling and forgot your ipod but not your SleepPhones. With Pandora, you just bring up your favorite self-created sleep station, put on your SleepPhones, and snooze away!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Governor Corbett's Higher Education Funding Cut Hurts Small Business
AcousticSheep, LLC is located in Centre County, just minutes from Penn State University, where me (the CEO) and my husband (the CTO) continue to work. We're very lucky to be here because we have easy access to tremendous talent and enthusiasm for our business. Penn State Outreach has been instrumental in helping us grow as a small business.
When we started, we took more than half of the classes through the local Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which is funded by Penn State Outreach, to learn everything from writing a business plan, keeping accounting records (multiple classes), managing employees, and inexpensive marketing (including a separate class on Search Engine Optimization). Those classes were quite affordable for us, and comparable services elsewhere would cost several hundred dollars, which we could not afford as a start-up. Plus, our small business advisor is fantastic. She knows everybody in town, all of the resourses, and continues to help us make helpful connections. We're in touch weekly, and I present in front of her entrepreneurship class frequently.
Last year, our SBDC small business advisor hooked us up with Happy Valley Communications (HVC), a group of marketing students at Penn State who provide their services for free. This (free) service got us a great (free) product showcase in Passport Magazine! From there, we learned what PR firms do and started to work with one when the students were gone over the summer. We have since hired our own PR person who also works at Penn State.
This semester we are working with some engineering seniors at Penn State on some top secret SleepPhones and RunPhones development. For a senior project, these students are required to work with companies needing to develop a product. There are dozens of businesses working with the seniors every year. The SBDC had suggested that we work with them and even helped us with the project proposal presentation.
The SBDC also spearheaded the Entrepreneurship Week last semester in which we ultimately gave 2 presentations about our business. The second presentation through InnoBlue (a student entreprenuership group in Penn State) helped us with free publicity and helped us make contacts with various investment sources like venture capitolists and angel investors.
All of this is to say that we rely heavily upon our SBDC for great local business opportunities. I don't know where SleepPhones would be today were it not for the continued advice from our SBDC advisor and the many Outreach classes which we continue to attend.
The Pennsylvania Governor Corbett is cutting the funding to Penn State by 52% this year. Our fiscal year starts in July, and we expect to see most of the Outreach services cut completely. Our small business advisor's job will likely be cut, and we won't have access to the Outreach classes or her advice anymore. She's the sole breadwinner for her family, which has 2 kids in college (one at Penn State). If her job is cut, then she will need to find another job and may move out of Centre County. The same situation holds for hundreds of other families who depend on Penn State for their jobs. And I know that we won't be able to get the same level of quality advice and service to grow our small business anymore.
When cuts are made to higher education, even local small businesses are hurt. For a governor to talks endlessly about being business friendly, he is making things much worse for us as a business.
Here is a great video about how Penn State helps business growth.
When we started, we took more than half of the classes through the local Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which is funded by Penn State Outreach, to learn everything from writing a business plan, keeping accounting records (multiple classes), managing employees, and inexpensive marketing (including a separate class on Search Engine Optimization). Those classes were quite affordable for us, and comparable services elsewhere would cost several hundred dollars, which we could not afford as a start-up. Plus, our small business advisor is fantastic. She knows everybody in town, all of the resourses, and continues to help us make helpful connections. We're in touch weekly, and I present in front of her entrepreneurship class frequently.
Last year, our SBDC small business advisor hooked us up with Happy Valley Communications (HVC), a group of marketing students at Penn State who provide their services for free. This (free) service got us a great (free) product showcase in Passport Magazine! From there, we learned what PR firms do and started to work with one when the students were gone over the summer. We have since hired our own PR person who also works at Penn State.
This semester we are working with some engineering seniors at Penn State on some top secret SleepPhones and RunPhones development. For a senior project, these students are required to work with companies needing to develop a product. There are dozens of businesses working with the seniors every year. The SBDC had suggested that we work with them and even helped us with the project proposal presentation.
The SBDC also spearheaded the Entrepreneurship Week last semester in which we ultimately gave 2 presentations about our business. The second presentation through InnoBlue (a student entreprenuership group in Penn State) helped us with free publicity and helped us make contacts with various investment sources like venture capitolists and angel investors.
All of this is to say that we rely heavily upon our SBDC for great local business opportunities. I don't know where SleepPhones would be today were it not for the continued advice from our SBDC advisor and the many Outreach classes which we continue to attend.
The Pennsylvania Governor Corbett is cutting the funding to Penn State by 52% this year. Our fiscal year starts in July, and we expect to see most of the Outreach services cut completely. Our small business advisor's job will likely be cut, and we won't have access to the Outreach classes or her advice anymore. She's the sole breadwinner for her family, which has 2 kids in college (one at Penn State). If her job is cut, then she will need to find another job and may move out of Centre County. The same situation holds for hundreds of other families who depend on Penn State for their jobs. And I know that we won't be able to get the same level of quality advice and service to grow our small business anymore.
When cuts are made to higher education, even local small businesses are hurt. For a governor to talks endlessly about being business friendly, he is making things much worse for us as a business.
Here is a great video about how Penn State helps business growth.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Photo Shoot Feb. 19
We needed to shoot a new photo for the back of the upcoming package, so our package designer helped us find an impressive local photographer. Here's a video of the photoshoot. (No, we're not the models - just trying out the bed!)
Here's the background. One of the things holding us behind is having the perfect packaging for SleepPhones. We've been working on it since last June. Although it's taking a long time, we really have been working on it for all 8 months.
The first company we worked with wanted to completely reinvent everything. Our color scheme since the beginning has been lavender and gray. Although there were no bolder colors, black and white also go well with the scheme. Our headphones, our stuffed animal Sheep, and any advertising collateral we have out were based on those colors. Most importantly, our customers recognize our color scheme by now. If we were to reinvent ourselves, I guess it's better to do it early on with a new color palate. But they didn't really convince us that we needed to go with certain colors. They just gave us lots of choices for a package that costs more, may not have worked well in a retail environment (there was a flap in the front customers were expected to open before purchase), and completely ignored any sense of color cohesion. There were hot pinks in some designs, which is the last color I associate with sleep. After a few months, and a lot of expense, we let them go.
I had met briefly with the biggest local branding firm about 2 years prior about helping us with packaging actually. One of the firm's partners kept me waiting in the waiting room while she chewed out one of the employees. When she met with me, she basically tore apart our product. I took her complaints to heart and have now made the changes she demanded. But she never did get back to me with a quote either. I guess she didn't want to work with a fledgling company.
To find our current designer, I asked our friends on Twitter. Someone suggested that we talk with a PR person working for our local chamber of commerce and happens to be the wife of my husband's supervisor. She was great and pointed us in the direction of one person: Shannon Lake.
After working with her for the past 3-4 months, I think she is probably one of the best in the area. She worked in Pittsburgh for a larger firm previously and then in State College for the previously mentioned local branding firm. After she had her child, she ventured out on her own so she could have more control over her hours. She's extremely professional, has a great sense of style, and does fantastic work quickly. She keeps me in the loop constantly and turned our colors and ideas into a beautiful package.
Here's the background. One of the things holding us behind is having the perfect packaging for SleepPhones. We've been working on it since last June. Although it's taking a long time, we really have been working on it for all 8 months.
The first company we worked with wanted to completely reinvent everything. Our color scheme since the beginning has been lavender and gray. Although there were no bolder colors, black and white also go well with the scheme. Our headphones, our stuffed animal Sheep, and any advertising collateral we have out were based on those colors. Most importantly, our customers recognize our color scheme by now. If we were to reinvent ourselves, I guess it's better to do it early on with a new color palate. But they didn't really convince us that we needed to go with certain colors. They just gave us lots of choices for a package that costs more, may not have worked well in a retail environment (there was a flap in the front customers were expected to open before purchase), and completely ignored any sense of color cohesion. There were hot pinks in some designs, which is the last color I associate with sleep. After a few months, and a lot of expense, we let them go.
I had met briefly with the biggest local branding firm about 2 years prior about helping us with packaging actually. One of the firm's partners kept me waiting in the waiting room while she chewed out one of the employees. When she met with me, she basically tore apart our product. I took her complaints to heart and have now made the changes she demanded. But she never did get back to me with a quote either. I guess she didn't want to work with a fledgling company.
To find our current designer, I asked our friends on Twitter. Someone suggested that we talk with a PR person working for our local chamber of commerce and happens to be the wife of my husband's supervisor. She was great and pointed us in the direction of one person: Shannon Lake.
After working with her for the past 3-4 months, I think she is probably one of the best in the area. She worked in Pittsburgh for a larger firm previously and then in State College for the previously mentioned local branding firm. After she had her child, she ventured out on her own so she could have more control over her hours. She's extremely professional, has a great sense of style, and does fantastic work quickly. She keeps me in the loop constantly and turned our colors and ideas into a beautiful package.
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