Sobriety and a Niche Market

"The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are sober."

William Butler Yeats

Sobriety is a good niche market with estimates from various US National and World agencies stating that roughly 10% of the worlds population is affected by the disease of addictive personality.

Subsequent articles to this will concentrate mostly on the alcoholism, however, the physical maladies of the brain and the emotional affect on the psyche will be similar among addicts, regardless of the substance they use. Drugs, (prescribed or street), food, sex, gambling, codependency,shopping and numerous other obsessive compulsive behaviors can be identified and treated in a similar manner as alcoholism.

As a niche market it is, however, not a lucrative money maker, because the drunk spent all his money on booze. Although the previous statement was intended to be funny, the sad but more realistic reason for the limited market is the social stigma that is still associated with one being an alcoholic Another reason insurance companies and other agencies are unwilling to spend money on qualified treatment has been the limited success rate of treatment. Claims of success in excess of 5% are usually qualified with a disclaimer. The illusion that one is spending good money on a bad person is tacitly real. Sometimes the affected family, employer, or the courts,find resources to finance treatment for the sick and suffering.

The drunk seldom suffers, until he tries to sober up.

One of the greatest travesties in the United States of America is that Insurance Companies are allowed to dictate to the treatment community how long treatment will be and what treatment will

consist of. The concept of the 28 day treatment regime has been dictated by the Insurance companies and has absolutely no relevance to the need of the individual patient. If a patient needs a longer exposure to primary treatment and possibly extended treatment, they are rarely covered for the additional expenses.

One of the more successful programs to relieve the alcoholic of his physical and mental dependency is (AA) Alcoholic Anonymous. The basis for the AA program is a belief in a spiritual condition produced by the individuals understanding of a Higher Power. As soon as the insurance companies see or hear of anything that is not a medical/drug treatment program they are adamant about providing treatment. To bring a God into the realm of personal well being is not politically correct nor does it warrant the expenditure of their monies. The concept of insurance is a very vague and mysterious market, and when it concerns a drunk you can be assured that cost of treatment is limited to doctors and drugs. However, every life has a value and unless one tries to help, no one will know who may or may not benefit from treatment. Just like the disease of diabetes an alcoholic has a brain physiology that has been altered. Once altered the brain can never be returned to what may be considered normal. The analogy that is the most common to explain this phenomenon is:" you can make a cucumber into a pickle, but once a pickle always a pickle."

A recent TV campaign from a California rehab, owned by a man who wrote a book, are absolutely silly.

Anyone claiming a cure, is not in their right mind, nor their left mind. The man should be taken off the air for spamming. Great marketing, and sure to believe, he'll make money. Insurance companies support his program because it is medically ascribed to. He avoids false advertising suspicion by making no claims to percentage of treatment success.

Today's economic conditions are only going to feed the fires of abuse, and subsequent need for treatments. Stress and sudden changes in life styles can be devastating to the average person. Should that person have an addictive personality, the need to stop the depressing feelings of guilt, shame and failure will almost surely lead to substance or behavioral abuses.

If the drunk is not willing to change, someone is wasting their money.

(Please feel free to contact me, should you have a questions or suggestion.)

Happiness is helping someone help themselves.

Iris and ME (Michael Erb)

Iris and ME (Michael Erb).
Spring Hill, FL, United States
Two nice old folks just hanging out, not hurting a bug or anything larger. I'm a former school teacher with a very broad background. I was a jack of all trades and a master of none. However, the years have been kind to me and I have been able to master a few skills. Actually the skills I enjoy the most are God given talents that I now use to help others.

The Power of Publicity - Finding Your Media Niche

Whether you are the owner, manager, or public relations director of a company, chances are, you're always looking for ways to get your name in the public eye. While advertising is a great start, enhancing your advertising with publicity creates a perfect marriage of exposure for your company. What is publicity? It's non-paid communication to promote your company in a positive light using media vehicles like television, radio, magazines, and newspapers. Through publicity you build mutually beneficial relationships between your business and the public on whom your success or failure depends.

When it comes to publicity, most people believe they can write a press release, send it to a TV station, radio station or newspaper and just wait for the avalanche of phone calls. But time goes by... and after they realize there aren't any reporters beating down their door, they make a few phone calls to the newsroom only to discover that no one even read the press release. All of that time and work goes down the drain. You're back to square one and you start over, but to no avail. So how do you end the vicious cycle of disappointment?

Research can make or break your pitch

Research. Plain and simple, you need to know your audience and know your media market. And research is the key to both.. So first and foremost you need to take a look at your message and ask yourself a few questions--is it newsworthy? Is it consumer-related? Does it have a local twist? Is it a visual story? What demographic am I targeting--how old is my audience and what is their target household income? The answers to these questions will help you craft your 'pitch' and determine which media outlets you should target.

While most people go for the saturation effect, seeking radio, television and print media simultaneously, the reality is that your message might not be a good fit for all media. So that brings us back to the research table. Now it's time to do a little homework and figure out where your message stands the best chance of garnering media attention.

How do I get on TV?

TV newscasts communicate to their audience through pictures and conversation. Producers look for newsworthy topics that are visual and entertaining or informative 'how-to' segments. They want compelling conversation and pictures that will grab the viewers' attention. They don't want a 'talking head' rattling off statistics or blatantly plugging a new book.

Worried that your message isn't visual? Try this- ask yourself how you'd explain your message to a child? Did that help you think of any pictures or simple words that fit your message? Those pictures or simple words can translate into graphics for a TV story. We once had a life insurance agency that wanted us to arrange local and national TV appearances for their CEO. The pitch we created offered interviews discussing the importance of life insurance and why it's vital for women to protect themselves for the future. Sounds like you could sleep right through it, right? But we offered more than just the interview. We had the client prepare graphs and bullet points with short information snippets showing the mortality rate of women versus men. The TV stations turned them into graphics and voila-- it became a very powerful visual story that was successful for our client and the media.

Keep in mind too, that the morning, noon and evening newscasts are each geared towards a different audience. The early morning shows are usually watched by working adults and families getting ready for school. Notice how the news formats shift into more of a talk and lifestyle segment that's sprinkled with news 'updates' after 8AM when most commuters have already left for work?

Saying Your Piece on Talk Radio

Radio talk shows engage their audience through words rather than photographs. Most radio stations are turning to local angles for interviews. So it's important to figure out if your message has a local tie-in or is important to your community.

Because radio doesn't require visual props or photos, it's a great fit for just about any message, so long as you can discuss your topic for a good 30 minutes. Because what you're really doing is having a conversation with the listeners, you need to be well-versed in your topic and able to handle plenty of questions. Your message should be topical too; something people want to talk about at the office water cooler or over coffee.

Radio talk shows, which are found mostly on the AM dial, also vary from morning to night. Morning shows have shorter interviews during this "drive time" to work. Talk show hosts don't have time for a 30 minute interview because morning shows are jam-packed with news, weather and traffic updates.

Midday shows were once known to target women, but that's changed because so many people listen to the radio at work. Now, you'll find many business shows air during typical daytime work hours. After work, you'll find the second "drive time" of the day. Unlike in the morning, listeners are more relaxed. They're on the way home from a long day at work and there's more time to air a 30 minute interview.

During the evening, it's a mixed audience of people listening from home. And don't discount the reach of overnight interviews--while you may think no one is listening, think again! Overnight talk shows (from midnight to 5 a.m.) are very important due to overnight jobs that bring in listeners - 2nd and 3rd shift factory workers, public service employees and many other industries that operate all night long.

Getting Yourself in Print

Print publicity includes magazines and newspapers. While they are two different vehicles, their requirements are similar to television. Your pitch needs to be newsworthy, entertaining, informative, and in some cases, even visual. Newspapers work on tight deadlines, so make sure you don't wait a week after a hot story is released to offer your expertise or an interview on the topic. Magazines, on the other hand, often have a 30 to 60 day lead time. Research the publication you want to contact and make sure they have a reporter who covers your topic or message. It's also helpful to offer quality visuals. For example, restaurants offering a recipe, a gym offering tips to a tighter tummy, even the latest trends in jewelry, can all be accompanied by photographs to support the story.

I've Narrowed the Search, Now What?

Once you know the types of media you want to target, how do you know which TV stations, radio stations, or print publications are in your area? You can always subscribe to some sort of media list, but why would you do this when the internet is full of free media information? Some websites you may find helpful are www.radiolocator.com, www.usnpl.com, www.newspapers24.com , www.mondotimes.com and www.newslink.org. You can also use a basic search engine and search for your city + media, for example type in "Tampa Media." You'll find a whole list of media outlets at your fingertips.

Now that you've found a list of media contacts, you're well on your way to creating a Power Publicity campaign to drive business to your company. Now that you understand why it's so important to find your media niche, next up in our series, we'll focus on creating a powerful message. To be successful at publicity, you must create your message specifically for your target audience and then find the best media vehicle to drive your message home. That's why pushing those standard press releases didn't work for you in the first place.

About Marsha Friedman:

Marsha Friedman is the CEO of EMSIncorporated, (EMSI) a leading publicity firm that has represented many well known clients such as Motown's Temptations, Teamsters Union President Jim Hoffa, Jr., National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, Bristol Myers Squibb, Financial TV personality, Jim Rogers and Dr. Barry Sears.

About EMSIncorporated:

EMSI is a nationally-recognized publicity firm specializing in arranging interviews on radio shows around the country, appearances on local and national TV and obtaining editorial coverage in newspapers and magazines.

Written by Marsha Friedman, President, http://www.EMSIncorporated.com For more information contact Steve Friedman at 727-443-7115 ext. 202.

Niche Publishing Goldmines

I started a new publishing business some years ago with a Mac Plus, a Laser Writer and two used desks. Just four years laser my company was grossing nearly $800,000 a year.

I was publishing NCEast, a regional magazine; the North Carolina Travel and Tourism Guide, Welcome to Wilmington, a slick four-color newcomer'sguide to this major metropolitan area; Homebuyer's Handbook, a real estate buyer's guide; Washington and Beaufort County Magazine, a city magazine; and Renter's Helper apartment

directories in nine mid-Atlantic cities. Earlier I had published the Mecklenburg Gazette, a weekly newspaper, and Dollarsworth, a free circulation shopper.

Brains and Time, Not Cash

None of my start-'ups cost me one single cent in out-of-pocket cash. Getting into borne town publishing, I found, takes its toll in brain power, time, and energy, but requires little cash investment. Others may find this claim hard to believe, but it's true. I have always been able to finance my books, magazines and newspapers with sweat equity and the cash flow generated by the projects themselves.

Who Can Succeed?

I am convinced that I could take my computer, a toothbrush and a change of clothes to any town or city in the United States and generate a substantial income for myself in entrepreneurial publishing. What I can do, you can do too. I know successful entrepreneurial publishers who have backgrounds in sales; others come from the ranks of graphic designers; some are free-lance writers who are tired of sending articles to other people's magazines and have created publications of their own. Some are simply, management types with an idea they believe in, and the willingness to give it sty.

What Will Work: The Two-Way Test

Successful publications match large numbers of product-purchasing readers with similarly large numbers of ambitious, space-buying advertisers. To insure that this happens, and happens quickly, the start-up publishing entrepreneur should look for projects that have the possibility of intensive sales in a limited geographical area. Expanding the coverage area beyond the easy reach of on or two people can create real difficulties - and much greater expense.

A city magazine, for example, is relatively easy to publish; a regional magazine (the mountains of your state, for instance, or the coast) is more difficult and more expensive; a statewide magazine requires an entire staff of sales and production people. A-national magazine requires all of the above, plus a high-risk investor with several million dollars of idle money in very deep pockets.

When you focus rightly, several good things happen: You can start your business with little or no cash up front. You or your ad salesperson can make calls and sell the product without traveling anywhere overnight. Circulation, distribution and promotion are easily and inexpensively managed. You can do these jobs yourself if necessary.

What kinds of publications fall into these categories? There are many, but here are some that I have personally published:

Local Tourism Guides

Tourism guides range from tabloid newspapers to full-sized, extra-slick color magazines. The most popular format is the digest-sized (5.5" x 8.5"), saddle-stitchçd, four color publication printed on economy, enameled stock. I have however, seen long-lived, successful tourism guides printed in black and white, with a little spot color thrown in.

The tourism guide has very short, pithy articles on things to do and places to go. Iris filled with little maps to help readers find their When 1 say "entrepreneurial publishing" I am not talking about way around. It lists restaurants and their specialties, nightclubs traditional trade hook publishing, in which you sell a product (your and every other possible kind of vacation or travel activity, book) through distributors and bookstores. That is a high-risk, including everything from the miniature golf course built to capital-intensive business, fraught with peril for the small guy. To create a cash flow that can float your business, pay your rent and buy new

shoes for the kids requires at least ten successful tides in print. And even when your books sell, the returns come in slowly and unpredictably. No, I am talking about advertising-intensive periodical publishing, which can often be undertaken with no capital at all. In periodical publishing, the advertising that you sell pays the way.

The publications themselves are often distributed free, or in some combination of paid and free. When there is a price printed on the front of your tabloid or magazine it is usually done as a marketing ploy, designed to lend perceived value. You do not depend on subscriptions or newsstand sales to snake a profit, of advertising space. Given away free in motel rooms, welcome centers, convenience stores, newsstands and every other conceivable place, these guides are always consulted by ever-renewable numbers of vacationers. Advertisers will be eager to buy space in any well-designed and widely-circulated guide to reach this constant stream of visitors.

Newcomers Guides

We are a mobile nation. The average family in the United States pulls up stakes and moves to new cities, towns and neighborhoods every five years. This means that 20 percent of all families in America are on the road at any given time.

We are also a nation of consumers. We need things. We need people who can do things for us. And when we move we need them all at once. Last week, securely nestled in our old home, we knew which doctor to go to. When we had a toothache, we knew which dentist to call. We knew where to go to buy a new car and where to get the insurance for it. We knew where to shop for clothes, go to the movies, eat a good meal, buy a book. We knew how to register the children for school, where to get the electricity turned on and how to subscribe to cable TV.

Yes, last week we knew all of these things. But this week we don't know any of them. We are in a new home, in a new neighborhood, in a new city - maybe even in a new state. We need to find these things out all over again. And this is precisely what a newcomer guide helps readers do.

While the tourism guide focuses only on entertainment/leisure advertisers, in the newcomer magazine everyone from plumbers to electricians to interior designers and new car dealers are prime targets. For this reason newcomer's guides are a staple of the independent publisher. Every metropolitan area of more than 30,000 is prime territory for such a publication, and they can be quite successful on a smaller level in much smaller towns. I published one successfully in a town of 14,000.

City Magazines

City (or county) magazines are attractive projects for the independent publisher. These are four-color, 8 1/2" x 11", self-covered glossy magazines. They focus on the culture, history, personalities and business of a single community.

Since the advertising rates will be relatively high, the city magazine needs a fairly large metropolitan area to support monthly or bi-monthly publication. But an annual city magazine can be successful in small towns.

There are fringe benefits that some entrepreneurial publishers will enjoy. As editor and publisher of a "real" magazine (as distinguished from the promotional Chamber of Commerce variety) you will be courted and admired by writers and artists, and be invited to be the featured speaker at many a civic club dinner. You will have a showcase for your own writing, and even begin, over time, to wield a bit of influence in molding and mobilizing opinion in your community through the articles that you publish.

City magazines are most successful when they are part of a mix of publications brought out by the same publisher. They are not likely to produce a large enough cash flow to float your business as a single activity. At least that has been my experience.

Chamber of Commerce "Quality of Life" Magazines

If you are planning a move to a new city and you write the Chamber of Commerce for an information packet, you will receive maps, pamphlets and other materials. Among these will be a publication that looks like a magazine, with a strong mix of editorial and advertising. These are the so-called "quality of life" magazines that virtually every Chamber of Commerce in the country publishes annually. It is not a real magazine like the ones you buy on a newsstand, but rather a strong promotional piece dressed up to look like a magazine.

Since each issue is good for as many as two or three years, there is no regular publication date, and so producing such a product doesn't constitute an onerous commitment. If you do a fantastic job you'll be asked back. You can decide at that time whether you want to do the magazine again or not. Usually the money is good, the time commitment reasonably small, and the public recognition for you and your new company both gratifying and valuable - a combination of benefits that is hard to resist.

Again, you have three pluses going for you: intensive sales, in a limited geographical area, with targeted circulation. I won't say that ad sales are ever easy, but with the quality of life magazine they are as easy as they're going to get. The businesses that are Chamber members have been conditioned to "participate," issue after issue, year after year. There may be a grumble or two, but most of those who bought last year will buy again this year.

Association Directories

My introduction to publishing association directories came when a friend suggested that I design and print a directory for the newly-formed North Carolina World Trade Association. The directory would carry the names and addresses of the hundreds of members of the organization, plus advertising from many of them. I would produce the directories free of charge for the association, and give them a check for 10% of gross advertising revenues.

I was immediately interested, for three reasons:

1. The project could easily be handled by the people I had in place - by me alone, if necessary.

2. I did not carry the financial baggage of excessive overhead the other, larger, periodical publishers would have to factor into their profit and loss analysis. I could be very competitiveat no loss in quality or profit.

3. The ads could be sold by telephone, for the most part, to members of the association. There would be no need for any resemble the Aztec Empire, to true golf courses, parks, flea markets, but on the sale specialty shops and other entertainment possibilities too varied to catalog here. There would be no need for any hard sell, and there would be triple motivation for these members to buy:

First of all, they could afford it. Most of the advertising prospects - major banks, shipping lines, large industries had budgets more than adequate to handle the cost of advertising. Since it was an annual publication, their cost would occur only once each year. Availability of funds would be no problem.
Furthermore, they would be likely to buy ads, at least in the first issue or two, purely out of loyalty to the organization.
Finally, the directory would offer a strong, targeted advertising opportunity. There was no other place where these advertisers could so easily reach their most sought-after potential customers: those involved in the import-export trade and international distribution of manufactured goods.

Check your yellow pages for association names and addresses. Perhaps there is a directory out there for you.

Weekly Newspapers and Specialty Tabloids

Weekly newspapers and specialty tabloids are very attractive entrepreneurial projects, and well within the reach of the two-person publishing company. Such publications-have a lot going for them and are easier to get going than you might think. These publications also meet our criteria for success: they have a clearly defined and limited trade area and target a finite list of advertising prospects, all of whom are easily reached. Moreover, tabloids are inexpensive to design and produce.

There may be some modest start-up costs, mainly for office space and initial supplies. (You can avoid the space cost have a large enough basement or double garage that could be converted into an office.) Most equipment, chiefly your computer, laser printer and fax, can be leased. Production tables, files and other paraphernalia are generally very simple to design and can be homemade.

These virtually negligible up-front costs are more than balanced by the short weekly billing cycle you will be working on. By the time your next month's lease payments come due you will already have four or five (yes, some months will have five Wednesdays in them!) weeks' accounts receivable to pay them. If, in the beginning, you do not need to draw out great amounts of cash for your own living expenses, it really is quite possible to start a newspaper and pay for it out of current revenues.

This is precisely what I did with the Mecklenburg Gazette, a weekly newspaper that I owned in Davidson, North Carolina. When I got hold of it, the newspaper was literally a week away from bankruptcy. I had no cash to speak of-just a few thousand dollars in savings to live on until advertising revenues started coming in.

Among the population segments that could form the base of a profitable publication are people with shared interests, ethnic and religious groups and, for university towns, guides for incoming students.

Apartment Comparison and Real Estate Guides

You go into a motel in a new town. In one corner of the lobby are wire racks stuffed full of pamphlets and booklets offering apartments for rent and homes for sale to every eventual newcomer who might be passing that way. These modest publications are chock-full of ads, each of which may cost anywhere from several' hundred dollars to a thousand or more dollars per page. Some of these publications may be tabloid style, but most will be brilliant, full-color booklets and magazines printed on slick paper. All of them are free.

Where there is a great deal of money being spent advertising in a niche market publication, there is also a great deal of it to be made. It was not unusual for one 126-page issue of my apartment directory to contain over $100,000 in advertising.

How Much Can You Make?

Independent, home-based publishing is a business in which you can earn almost as much money as you desire to earn, so long as you are willing to work for it and learn the business. Some people have a laid-back style, want to live simply and modestly, and find the publishing life a delightful way to do it. Others will put in the effort and brain power to earn sixty or seventy thousand dollars a year. And some ambitious souls shoot for the biggest prize of all-they want to develop strong publications, duplicate them in every imaginable market, franchise them, go public and become millionaires.

Each of these scenarios is a possible one. The one you choose will depend on your temperament, and your mastery of the success principles and trade secrets of the business

Can I guarantee your success? No, I cannot. I do not know the intensity of your ambition, your capacity for work, or your skill in managing the work of others (always a key element). What I can guarantee is that the ideas presented in this article have worked for me; they have worked for others; and they can work for you, to the degree that you study them carefully and put them into practice with energy and intelligence.

Dr. Thomas A. Williams is the author of 14 books, including Publish Your Own Magazine, Guidebook, or Weekly Newspaper, a complete start-up guide and operations manual for entrepreneurial publishers. He is also the originator of many magazines, guidebooks, newspapers and tabloids, and operates his publishing company, from his home in Savannah, GA. Williams can be reached by email at bookpub@comcast.net and at http://www.pubmart.com

Old Money Saving Niche Making a Comeback - Canning

It is quite common for the American family to have a garden growing in the backyard and up until recently, the produce that the garden produced was used when it was needed or wanted. Due to the recession however, amateur and professional gardeners have jumped on the canning ship in order to save every ounce of produce that their gardens are producing. While it is not known how many people have started canning for their first time or how many people have started canning again, there are a couple of things that stick out.

A website run by the organization Canning Across America has seen a spike in those looking for information on how to can. The organization also holds simultaneous canning festivals at the end of every August and the number of people who showed up also increased recently. Canning jar and equipment suppliers have noted that their sales have increased an average of 30% this year, compared to the same time period in 2008. It has also been noticed that canning equipment and jars have started to fill shelves at grocery stores and supercenters across the nation. A couple of short years ago, it was common to only be able to find canning equipment and jars at yard sales.

As noted, canning is making comeback due to people trying to find new ways to save money. Most people assume that canning fresh grown produce from their garden is cheaper than buying produce in the grocery store because they can grow vast quantities. Canned produce can often last several months to several years, which also makes cost effective since spoiling is not an issue. Other people are canning however, because they have control over the amount of sugar, salt and other additives that go into the food product that they can. In turn, this leads to healthier foods and more people are starting to become more health conscious than they used to be.

To many, canning sounds like the perfect idea to eat healthy foods and save money at the same time, but there are also a few drawbacks. Several types of produce contains a bacteria called Clostridium botulinum. If the bacteria is present and placed in a jar, it can actually cause botulism, which is a form of food poisoning that is deadly. Due to this, strict guidelines that are set forth by the U.S. Agriculture department must be followed. The bacteria can normally be killed by using a pressure cooker that heat the produce to a temperature hot enough to kill it.

Aside from the methods that need to be used to kill the potentially fatal bacteria, the produce needs to be cut, the jars need to be washed, stuffed with the produce and then submerged into very hot water in order to create the seal and ensure that all bacteria has been dealt with. If you have a day or two a week that you can devote to this process then it might not seem like such hard work.

Cost is also another big factor in whether or not canning is actually worth all of the hassle. The jars cost money and it also costs money to plant and maintain a garden. After all is said and done, canning does not actually cost that much less to do than going to the local market and picking up the produce that a person needs. Canning is however definitely making a comeback and people seem to be making it their produce niche. For more information on canning and other ways that people are saving money, see http://www.theinternettimemachine.com.