Mini-Biz Buzz

Getting your product included in a gift bag or having a table at a gifting suite is a great way to get exposure. Besides getting your products into the hands of the recipients, there may be additional printed promotional material that includes your company info, or the event may be covered by the press.

Because the opportunity for publicity is so good, a lot of people are vying for a spot and it can be difficult to be selected. But now there is a great new service available that will deliver you a list of gift bag product requests. Peter Shankman, who started Help A Reporter Out (an email of reporter queries), has just added an additional service, emailing out gift bag product requests.

The new list is completely separate from the HARO list and will be emailed out a few times a week. It will include requests from groups producing events, auctions, charity events, and celebrity events. They will be looking for products to fill their gift bags. If you see a gift bag request that would be a good fit for your product, ask the following questions:

How many people are attending?

How much product do they need?

What kind of people will be getting the product?

Will there be media exposure?

Make sure it will be worth the time and cost for you to participate. Figure out the cost of the product and your time involved. Then determine if you’ll be getting your advertising/PR money’s worth.

Sometimes there is a fee to participate in gifting suites and gift bags, but this is a NO-FEE-ONLY list. No one from this list should ever ask for a fee to participate. If they do, forward the info to the HARO gift bag people and they’ll permanently remove them from the list.

If you sell a product, definitely sign up for this email. You have absolutely nothing to lose.

HARO Gift Bag

Here is yet another opportunity for your company. The finalists and winner of the Shine A Light contest will get visibility, money, and some marketing support for their company. You can participate by nominating a company, getting someone to nominate you, or voting for a nominated story.

The Shine A Light contest is sponsored by American Express, in partnership with NBC Universal. Three finalists will be selected by judges and one winner will be selected from these three based on participants’ votes. Additionally, the submitters of the three finalists receive a prize. The prizes are as follows:

The 3 finalists will each receive a $10,000 grant.

The submitters of the 3 finalists will each receive a $3,000 American Express Gift Card.

The winner will receive a $50,000 grant and $50,000 worth of marketing support.

People are encouraged to “shine a light” on inspiring businesses. To nominate a business you need to submit a story about their unique entrepreneurial spirit. Have they adopted an innovative business approach during these tough times? Do they exemplify a customer-first attitude? Do they give back to the community? How do they inspire you and other entrepreneurs? Here are the nominee requirements:

Private, independently-owned and operated business

Organized for profit and operates primarily in the U.S.

Has 100 or fewer employees, with revenues under $10 million

Accepts American Express Cards (they are sponsoring, after all)

As you know, I believe in the power of small and micro businesses. Take this opportunity to celebrate one of these companies, even if it’s yours. Shine A Light Contest

As a reminder, The Perfect Pitch 2009 competition is being held in conjunction with The Perfect Pitch Entrepreneur and Investor Conference. This is taking place at The Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey, CA on October 26, 2009. (see the previous post)

As a lead up to this event, PerfectBusiness and USA TODAY are hosting the microPITCH Competition on Twitter. This is such a cool idea and a great opportunity. You need to tweet your business idea in 140 characters or less to @perfectbusiness with the hashtag #micropitch.

The winner gets airfare to Los Angeles, 2 event tickets, hotel accommodations, private coaching to turn your tweet into a business plan, and gold membership to PerfectBusiness.com – a prize package worth $2,500.

With writing, less is more, and this contest forces you to learn that. Editing and rewriting is key to arriving at a clear message, so write your short proposal and start whittling it down to the best 140 character sales pitch, ever!

Go here for all of the details. Someone’s going to win, and it could be you.  And if you don't win, at least you have the perfect 7-second pitch.