If you want to generate awareness and brand recognition for your company, you have to learn to leverage on public relations. Learn more about how to utilize email marketing, network with press contacts, start a blog and other low cost PR tactics in this newsletter's top story.

The new business ideas covered today are: the Smart Car, high-tech closet, diamonds-studded credit cards, Ccube communications suite, and more. Check them out, one by one.

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Great Low-Cost PR Tactics

Public relations can be an effective way to generate awareness and name recognition for your business. PR is also considered to be a low-cost alternative to other marketing tactics such as traditional advertising and media buying. Your PR strategy should begin with the following key elements:

Build your target list: Compile an accurate database of key media contacts.
Develop your hook: Tell a compelling story.
Follow up: Cultivate relationships with the media and stay in touch.

Following are some recommended steps to help you get good PR:

1. Turbo-charge your press releases
Your news releases should be newsworthy, targeted to the appropriate contact and, above all, engaging. Break through the clutter by enclosing something unique or creative (related to your business) with your release.

2. Maximize email marketing
Email marketing software has made it easier than ever to send out professional newsletters and press releases. User-friendly templates let you customize, target and track your email releases. It's a low-cost way to stay top-of-mind with the media. Constant Contact offers low-cost do-it-yourself email marketing solutions, as do Bronto and Benchmark Email.

Read The Rest of This Article | Comments | Sales & Marketing
Lou Bortone is a GE Network Expert. View Lou Bortone's profile or read more articles from Lou Bortone.

Drink Up, Get A Toy

Y Water’s new bottled drink is clearly aimed at children. The LA start up’s new product tackles sustainability concerns by packing its drink in a bottle with a second life as a toy. Once the contents of the bottle has been consumed multiple bottles can be collected and joined together in a modular structure.

   Read More | Comments | Food & Beverages

Smart Closet

If you've ever stood in front of your closet trying to figure out what to wear for an important meeting, a new high-tech wardrobe invention might be just the thing for you. The "smart wardrobe" keeps track of when you wore an item, where you wore it, and can even tell you when your clothes need to be dry-cleaned.

   Read More | Comments | Technology

Exploding Piggy Bank!

Toy maker Takara Tomy Co unveiled its "Savings Bomb," a piggy bank which "explodes" and scatters coins if users fail to save for a long time. The battery-powered toy -- designed as a cartoon-style, ball-shaped black bomb with a skull & crossbones logo -- lights up, shakes violently and scatters coins if not topped up for a long time.

   Read More | Comments | Gadgets

Ccube: New Age Communication

Ccube was born to provide a solution to today’s number one Web concern: privacy. Ccube launched Communicator Toolbox, a total call solution for every Web user. The complete Toolbox includes four distinct calling tools to serve diverse communication needs, with added benefits.

   Read More | Comments | Mobile

101 New Business Ideas for Retirees: Specialize, Specialize, Specialize

An approach of specializing will keep your retiree's business small, which is one of our goals, but will differentiate you from the pack. The secret is specializing your business to keep it small and to grow your business through word-of-mouth advertising.

   Read More | Comments | Special Feature

Smart Car

Smart offers you one utterly unique vehicle – one that’s exhilarating to drive, with luxurious appointments, and as responsive in its handling as it is responsible to the environment. The Smart is truly innovative in the sense that it is the most contemporary automotive interpretation of current social trends.

   Read More | Comments | Automobiles

Highly Priced Credit Cards

Gold and diamond covered business card is a cool way to show off your riches. Now, GK Power, a Seoul-based smart card maker and online game provider, has made a new high-concept card for the VVIP customers. GK Power has developed technologies that enabled cold film coating and diamond embedding on credit cards.

   Read More | Comments | Lifestyle & Luxury

Ten Questions You Need to Answer in Your Business Plan

Writing a business plan for your Solo Entrepreneur business doesn't have to be a daunting project. If you can answer 10 straightforward questions about your business, you can be ready to go. The key to success is to answer all of the questions that if a friend asked you to invest in this business, you'd say yes.

   Read More | Comments | Starting Up | Article by Terri Zwierzynski

How to Buy A Franchise - Step 1

You’ve thought about it for years and you’re finally ready to make the leap into business ownership. It’s time to be your own boss, to be the one in charge of your financial future – your destiny. Because you are a smart woman, you want to avoid making mistakes along the way. Will you be happy as a franchisee?

   Read More | Comments | Franchise | Article by Kimberly Ellis

Train Your Sales Team Using an Effective Sale Process

Most sales people know that they need to develop a relationship with their clients. If they don’t know this in today’s society and business climate, then they are probably living in a coal mine in Tibet. However, what they may have difficulty with is knowing what to do to develop that relationship and how to do it.

   Read More | Comments | Sales & Marketing | Article by Russ Lombardo

Get a Home-Based Job Without Getting Scammed

Working from home is a great way to supply the extra income a family needs so that one spouse can stay home and raise the children. But many people are scared away from doing so because of the scams that are prevalent today. Although it can be hard to tell fact from fiction, it is possible.

   Read More | Comments | Home-Based Business | Article by Jill Hart

Why Utilize an HR Attorney as a Consultant

Although all businesses with employees practice HR, many businesses encounter HR related problems. Also, there are legal ramifications associated with many human resources issues that many HR professionals just aren’t qualified to deal with. A company needs a professional who understands law enforcement.

   Read More | Comments | Legal | Article by Charles Krugel

The Conference Commando

Don't write page after page after page of notes from the speakers at a conference. Instead I kept an 'Action Sheet' at the front of my notes and focused on writing down the two or three key points from the convention that, added to my business model or speaking style, could make a difference.

   Read More | Comments | Networking | Article by Andy Lopata

Are You One of The Monkeys?

You should be considering what you can do to avoid making the same mistakes as a group of monkeys; this is not something that can be instructed to you, this is something that only you can discover relative to your current position within the scenario. Don't let your team within the company acts in a similar monkey fashion.

   Read More | Comments | People & Management | Article by Ron Finklestein

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