Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello! My husband and i have started a custom children`s furniture business.  www.sweetdreambed.com Does anyone have suggestions for contacting newspapers, children`s magazines etc. to get featured  Does anyone have any suggestions? 

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sweetdreambed.com

Luxury Children`s Furniture & Theme Decor

I`m really liking the Process page on the website.  It`s definitely reassuring for any potential customer to know they`re in the hands of hard-working experts.

I would like to caution to not write-off search engines.  They can be your most important source for leads for close to no cost at all.   Two quick and free ways to boost your ranking is to add details to your Alexa listing (the Nielsens of the Internet) and to submit your site to the human-operated search engine The Open Directory Project.  They have specific instructions, but Google and Yahoo use The Open Directory as a major criteria for determining search rankings.   Your site itself is laid out fine although you may want to add more pages.  More content means a higher ranking.  Also consider submitting your URL manually to Google and Yahoo if you have not already done so.

As for the real world, publicity can be more tricky and more costly.  Consider finding a business that may find your products will complement their inventory.  A small partnership, such as exchanging links to post on each other`s website or print advertising, may be a great step.  Many small businesses band together to pool print advertising money.  If you want to be featured in a newspaper or magazine however, you will often have to call the reporters themselves directly and not the editor`s desk.  Using a PR service such as PR Newswire, which has a partnership with StartupNation and offers its services with a discount at just a few hundred a year.(See how those partnerships can help out?)

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"Forget inspirational quotes to keep you going. If by doing what you do, you get an hour every day to relax, be with the ones you love in comfort without doing wrong, then it is all worth it." -Anon.

Like David, I`m going to caution you not to give up on contacting newspapers and magazines. But why stop there?
In my opinion, your products would be perfect for some of the HGTV and Martha Stewart shows and home and garden-type magazines. What about product placement? I would keep working contacts.
Persistence is the key.

please reference the following resources for PR:

http://www.startupnation.com/pages/articles/public-relations -strategy.asp

http://www.startupnation.com/pages/passport/PP_PRNewswire.as p (this one`s a payfor resource)

in many cases, getting the media to pay attention has a lot to do with who you contact, what your "angle" is, and how effectively you pitch it. the above resources will help you achieve this.

keep pressing forward. like the advice above... stick to it!

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Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation