One major key to be successful in a decentralized business is the idea of Information Democracy, ID, a principle of equality that demands actionable insight for all. The heart of Information Democracy is the ability to access data, turn it into knowledge and insight through analysis, and share that insight with others in the organization.
Sunday, April 8, 2018
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Selling Your Services
Selling Your Services
An intensive training session presenting a proven Five-Step Service Selling Process' forgetting more clients to hire you or your firm.https://copywritersforums.com/blog/selling-your-services/
An intensive training session presenting a proven Five-Step Service Selling Process' forgetting more clients to hire you or your firm.https://copywritersforums.com/blog/selling-your-services/
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Writing News releases For Fiction Books
What a great string of posts. Sid Jackson asked:
How do you make "news" with a book of fiction?
How do you write news releases for fiction books?
What a wonderful and important question. This post is excellent and I agree with the ideas that news releases should be different for feature editors and book review editors, and different again for radio and TV vs. print.
I think the range of possible answers is vast, although a number of clear patterns emerge when one studies the American media. Which approach will work best for you will depend on which media you are aiming at and what you have to offer.
Like everything else in life, to me there is no right answer, there is only the journey. And I believe that this particular journey will be different for each person who travels down the path. The destinations will be varied and endless. So I'm going to talk about the journey.
Regardless of whether you write a non-fiction or fiction book, I think it is critical for anyone acting as a publicist to understand that when they send a news release they are asking for space (or air time for radio and TV), from a "fellow publisher" , albeit a highly successful one.
Media are businesses that are based on subscriptions and advertising revenue in the case of print, or primarily advertising or donations in the case of radio and tv.
They make all their content-based decisions based on their ever changing ideas of what their audience wants the most and likes the best, all to achieve financial success in their businesses.
Their survival depends on their choice of information of interest to their particular audience. The better choices they make, the more money they make.
Print media publish newspapers and magazines and look for information. Day to day they will use the best information available for their particular subscribers. Their subscribers pay them to publish information in a particular way or on a particular subject.
Radio and TV are audio and visual entertainment media, so they look for the best entertainment.
The producers compare what's available day after day and make decisions to use the best entertainment they can find based on their perceived understanding of what their particular audience wants and needs.
So when you pitch to media, you must cater to their specific needs. You study your target media and identify what they publish. You create a list or matrix of the identified needs, content, and style. Then you do a self-assessment, and identify what you can offer that satisfies these needs.
When you create and pitch the content in the style that a media typically uses, you save them tremendous time and effort, and you make their decision to use your material over some one else’s much easier to make.
You goal in crafting a news release is to out-compete all others.
Content wise, you must remember the differences between the media:
Print wants the best information. Radio and TV want to be told why you have the best entertainment.
Notice the difference: To the specific information or topic is of lesser importance than it's entertainment value to the producer. Print speaks to the head. Print requires more written words -- it is intellectual and focuses on getting you to think.
Radio and TV speak to the stomach. Radio and TV focus on provoking emotional response. They speak to your heart and soul.
Did you know that radio provides out-pulls print and tv when it comes to motivating people?
Did you know that more people respond to audio speech than written speech? Did you know who proved this point better than anyone else in the entire 20th Century?
Adolph Hitler. His oratory motivated the German’s to start a World War.
Listen carefully to the speeches given by our President’s. Look at what the powerful emotions they can evoke with very few words. The speech writers are media masters.
Ha! I know you may get bored after a few minutes, but oh well, they are the ones who are “on the air”, so pay attention as long as you can get something out of it.
You can learn a lot by listening to others, and paying attention to the powerful and successful people around you, especially those who are featured in the media. Study what they do. Learn what they do.
You can modify and improve your media success by learning from the masters all around you. They are in print everywhere you look, on the radio everywhere you go, and on tv day in and day out.
If you become a student of the media with the goal of improving your media success, you will seek to learn and apply what learn, especially if you focus on people who successfully pitched to media, and are now "on the air'.
When you pitch to media, you must ask yourself three simple questions:
What do they want?
What can I offer?
How can I present it so I can be more persuasive than others who are also vying for the space, or air time?
So if you have a fiction book, and want to find out ways of publicizing your book, what you must do is start studying the publicity that has been acquired by other fiction book authors.
You can once again use a technique I have described before. I call it the 3 I Technique:
1. Identify the success stories
2. Imitate the success stories
3. Innovate with your own information.
I've been criticized by some journalists for how apparently mechanical and potentially devoid of creativity this formula for success is, but believe me, it works.
So start paying attention to what is out there. Head to the magazine rack. Open up the magazines you want to be in and identify the feature articles about fiction authors. Cut them out and create a scrap book. Then use these for ideas.
Watch TV and listen to the radio and do the same thing. Tape the shows, watch them or listen to them several times, and learn the behaviors.
Accumulate enough examples from your particular target media that you can craft news angles, headlines, and content in a comparable style. Then prepare your own materials using the successful models and mentors as a guide.
There is another way to describe this process, which I get into in much more detail in my new Magic Search Word series. The process is this:
Search, Find, Match and Apply.
You search for the opportunity what you want.
You find that opportunity or a place where you think the opportunity exists.
You make sure what you can offer matches their needs.
And then you apply for to see if you can be selected for the opportunity you identified.
This process works as well for searching for scholarships or jobs, as it does for getting contracts, agents, publishers, or publicity.
I will bet that if you apply these techniques, a pattern will quickly emerge from your efforts that will clearly guide you to the type of articles you will wish for. The pattern that emerges will be one that is colored by your particular set of needs and desires, and by what type of book you have written.
The articles you find will tell you to the types of news release you will need to create to pitch this type of feature article story, or get interviews based on the themes you discover. Analyze them. Identify the content, length, style, and other characteristics of the information. Then create information about your book that parallels what you have found.
I recommend that authors stay away from news releases that simply say "I've published a book and am marketing it....." It may get you local publicity, but you do not see too many feature articles that result in stellar book sales and movie deals.
But if you pay attention, you'll see the types of things that turn your particular media on.
Many of you know I've developed a secret formula for publicity success, which I developed from rigorous assessment of other people's successes with the media, is in operation everywhere you look. It goes like this:
"Tell me a story, give me a local news angle, touch my heart (make me laugh or cry), hit me in my pocketbook, teach me something I didn't know before, astound or amaze me, make my stomach turn over, or turn me on."
You need to do this as many times as possible in a one page news release of 400 words or less, in 30 seconds or less.
I guarantee you that if you learn how to do this, you will succeed in getting publicity. Easily and often.
You will still need to transmit your pitch to custom targeted media lists, but the job of writing your news release will be much simpler. You can do this one media at a time, or hundreds or thousands at a time. The reason this works is that believe it or not, media are human beings, and they tend to respond in a similar manner when stimulated appropriately. What turns one media on, is likely to turn other media on as well.
Look at TV, listen to radio, read the newspaper. You'll see what every media in the country does! They do this repeatedly -- cover to cover, day in day out. Study what you see, listen to and read.
They copy each other! They cover the same or similar news.
Americans love to be entertained, they love have their heart strings tugged, they want to save or make money and they like to be turned on. Some media focus on educating, some focus on shocking, while others use sleaze and cheese.
This tactic works for print and it works for radio and tv. It has been proven again and again, and it works very, very well, for non-fiction and for fiction books.
In particular, pay really close attention to the leaders. USA Today, and Associated Press, Knight-Ridder, Reuter's and the other major syndicates. Look at how they feature authors, both fiction and non-fiction.
There's only one qualification, and that is your book has to be great. Even if it is great, fiction in my opinion, is very hard to pitch via fax or e-mail, but it can be done.
A recent success story:
Just a few weeks ago, M.K. Fottrell had us transmit a news release titled:
AUTHOR'S FIRST NOVEL RESONATES FOR FEBRUARY AND BEYOND The Color of Blood a Timely Choice for Black History Month -- for All
The book is a mystery, a thriller a novel, a work of historical fiction, with social conscience.
please place the words "MK Fottrell Release" in the subject line>.
We sent the news release out via e-mail to 1,700 editors, and she received over 20 requests for review copies and media kits, including several from major "national" magazines of note.
In my opinion, she hit a home run on the first try, with an e-mail news release of 465 words. Her release followed my formula pretty well.
Or go to www.google.com, and use a search string with the words:
"fiction books news releases" or "fiction books press releases".
If you write romantic novels, use a search string with the words:
"romantic novels news releases" or "romantic novels press releases".
These searches will get you to web sites that post news releases. Some will be good, but my quick review tells me that most are not. Judge for yourself.
I wrote an article in response to a post here about a year ago, which I will happily share, titled "Creating a USA Today Book Review News Release Using the 3 I Technique". This article does an analysis and dissection of USA Today book reviews.
If you have a fiction book, this technique may give you some fresh new insights in to how to follow in the footsteps of those who have proceeded before you. You can adapt the technique to any media you aim at.
Building Your Online Media Kit
What goes in an online media kit?
marketing tools you can create on your web site. It will help persuade even the most doubtful media that you are newsworthy and have what it takes to make their day.
These go by a variety of names these days: press room, media center, press
releases, press center, but whatever they are called, they are the place you tell media to go upon entering your web site.
When you send out a news release to your media, many of them will click on
your link and come to your site. They are on a mission. They are searching for the information they need to write a feature story of some sort or an interview.
Your job is to make their visit fruitful and productive.
You must not only validate any claims you’ve made regarding your book,
services or products, but you must also make it easy for the media editor or producer to find facts sufficient for them to quickly satisfy their needs.
When it comes to the Internet, the operative word to key in on is this one: “quick”. You must make it quick as a click to get what the editor needs.
This may be facts, bio, pictures or interview questions. It can also be 200, 400, 600, 800, 1,000, 2,000 or 5,000 word articles.
Everything must be ready to go. Click they get it.
The goal is to make it attractive, easy to use, and ready to go for immediate media utilization.
An online media kit should contain the following key elements in text form:
News releases (most recent first)
Biography (long and short)
Company information and statistics (long & short)
Fact sheets (various on different topics)
Contact information (key person, and public relations people)
Articles
Interview questions and answers
Pictures of the book, product or service.
You create what you need to make the experience successful and enjoyable.
So you can also place other persuasive and helpful things in the online media kit:
Links to major media articles.
Links to other reviews
Lists of prior interviews conducted, where, when, with producer comments or
testimonials
Past events
Planned and future events
Powerpoint Presentations
White papers
Case studies
Surveys, questionnaires, results
Graphics
Streaming video and Multimedia files
All this information should be kept up to date and current. The Neopets web site actually has a link off it’s press center which goes to a web site which contains the Neopets Diary of new features:
http://www.neopets
.com/newfeatures.phtml?arr=2004-05-03
Cool.
You should have text materials available in html, text, and in pdf file
formats. You should indicate your willingness get the media what they
need, in whatever format they need it, on demand.
What this means is that over time you may actually end up growing a press
center and organizing it by date, by topic or by initiative. The press center may end up having several press kits in it by the end of a year, depending on how many individual initiatives you get involved in.
Remember the goal is persuasion, so content, and quality counts.
You goal is to have enough information readily available to supply the media with at least five completely self-sufficient, stand alone articles or story angles. You do this to allow media choice, and also to demonstrate your adaptability and the diversity of your newsworthiness.
Photography is worth special attention. Make sure you include both black and white and low and high resolution color photography. Low resolution can be 72 dpi. High resolution should be either 300 or 600 dpi.
You can and should offer photography in a variety of sizes, and indicate that it can be either downloaded immediately, or delivered via e-mail as zipped jpegs (up to ten MB) upon request.
The high resolution color photography in particular will attract the most
attention to your book, (or product or service) if it tells a human interest story, highlights a local news angle, and provokes strong deep feelings or intense desire.
Forget the boring straight headshot. Look at those MTV video's our kids are
watching day in and out and realize that the sexy and provocative is what
editors and producers are looking for.
The human body in motion is a visual experience. For many it's a visual turn on. The photography can't be boring if it is to be successful. It must sizzle. Sure sex sells. But you don't have to go there if you don't want to. You can explore the visual aspects of a book, product or service in all sorts of professional or action oriented settings.
In one of my questionnaires to the media, high-resolution color photography
was most often cited as the sole distinguishing feature of a press kit or media kit. It was this that got the editors attention more than any other piece of offered information. If you make the file available online, make sure you have a crisp clear picture of it for the media to see.
Add a one line Title, which describes the photograph.
Then write and post a 50 to 100 word descriptive caption. Make the
description have high interest and high impact.
Photography in your online media kit is crucial. The photographs will
often be the single factor that stimulates editor interest and drives them to make a decision to do a feature story.
The story is built around the picture. With your book, you can select and
offer photography that suggests or parallels what you would like to see in a feature story. You can actually create a feature story and provide the picture that complements the story.
With a publicity plan you could identify five or six different story angles
and shoot a photograph to go with each one. This then fulfills your goal of having a media press center, which contains at least five, detailed, different and complete, stand alone story angles.
Now there is no doubt a huge range of photography one can create. Pick only the best.
There is a variety of news angles one can propose which would all be
complemented by some type of photograph. The photography must illustrate
something an editor or reporter can write a story about.
The rest of your media kit must provide the text details to flesh out the
feature or story.
The real goal will be to decide what media you want to be in, in order to sell books, and then figure out what combination of photography and feature story material will get you publicity. Each media publication will not respond the same to each photograph or news angle.
Women's mags will want something different than sports mags. Health and
fitness mags will want something different than men's health. One single picture will not fit all needs of all the media.
You obviously want to avoid being caught in a situation where the response you evoke is "Seen one, seen 'em all."
To be successful, you'll need to be distinctive. To be distinctive you should get on the phone and call the feature, lifestyle or photography editor of each and every magazine you want to be in.
Ask them straight out key questions like: "What can I give to you that will
allow you to write a feature story?" and find out what sort of photography
will be most appreciated and most readily used. Then go and get it photographed and present it back to that editor. Write the letter that says: "In response to our conversation I went and had the enclosed pictures taken". Then send them the choices along with appropriate complimentary feature story material.
Then add them to your online press kit. Make it available to everyone else. You'll be surprised and pleased when other media use the same materials over and over again.
Each of online media kit’s listed below has some excellent design elements,
and illustrate a range of sophistication and cost.
Stan and Sandra Posner Drive I-95
http://www.mascon.net/z3_press_room.htm
O’Reilly Publications Press Center
http://press.oreilly.com/index.html
Parenting Press
http://www.parentingpress.com/media.html
Net Lingo Press
http://www.netlingo.com/press.cfm
AT & T Online Media Center
http://www.att.com/presskit/
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
http://www.madd.org/news/
American Women Road and Travel Magazine
http://www.roadandtravel.com/company/caldwellpresskit/courtn
ey_caldwell%20press%20kit.htm
Susun Weed’s Press Kit
http://www.susunweed.com
/A_press-kit_plus-more.htm
Get in the habit of using search engines and surfing the web. When you find a link to a press room or online media center click on it. Study it.
Search on the words:
Online media kit
online press kit
press center
media center
couple these search words with learning words such as:
tips
article
tactics
strategy
guide
You'll find plenty of articles by experts and web sites with free advice and information.
Heck, some of the stuff may be so good you find yourself buying a book by a
self-published author!
You may find that some of the best materials available by a company are
organized for easy use in the press center. It will likely also be the best place for you to find the right contact information to get you in the door at the company. So a company's media center is often the best place to go to when you need to identify and get a hold of the right people to do business.
Regards all,
21 free must have tools for your professional copywriting career
It’s said that, a craftsman is only as good as his tools. The same goes for professional copywriters, and practically any other industry, as a matter-of-fact.
No matter what niche you specialize in, it’s important that you have the right tools so that you’re able to craft the best possible copy for your client. Here’s a suite of 21 free must-have tools copywriters should equip themselves with:
1. http://www.beenokle.com/zenwriter.html -ZenWriter (PC). Trying to tame the wily beast that is writer’s block is a lot easier with a distraction-free environment. Fortunately, these tools can help make that perfect (or near perfect) writing environment a reality, no matter where you’re using your computer.
2. http://www.yesware.com/ This app describes itself as “email for salespeople”, and although I’ve only been using it fairly recently, I’m quite impressed. With email tracking, pre-made templates and syncing to other products built in. This is a very cool resource you should try out if you want to land more clients. Many initial contacts (and even sales) are made through email, so it’s an important thing to utilize. Yesware lets you step up your game by making your inbox seem like a professional arm of your freelance business (which it should be!).
3. https://www.bidsketch.com/ We just know that all freelance copywriters are going to love how Bidsketch tackles proposals. No longer will you have to waste time creating + designing them, and you’ll now be able to land more clients than ever by sending out sleek, professional looking proposals that outline exactly what work needs to be done.
4. https://bywordapp.com/ ByWord (Mac). If you read the above description and felt like you were missing out because you were on a Mac, fear not! ByWord is quite similar to ZenWriter, and although I haven’t used it personally, it comes highly recommended from folks like Michael Hyatt.
If you’d rather write text “Matrix-style”, be sure to check out the super minimal WriteRoom (Mac) and DarkRoom (PC) as well.
5. http://www.copyscape.com/ Copyscape is a free web-based tool that allows you to check the content of a single webpage and see if it contains any duplicate content found elsewhere on the web. Copywriters might also want to check out the pay-as-you-go version, which allows you to check a section of plain text, rather than an already-published webpage, for plagiarism.
6. https://www.readability.com/ I describe this as a “writing tool” because it’s most useful for creating awesome content. Most importantly, it allows you to read interesting content without being distracted. I challenge you to install it. Go to a really long article like this one, and see if it makes a difference in helping you finish. With an amazing selection of typography and minimalist styles, you’ll be able to consume great content faster than ever before, which will lead to better writing.
7. https://www.flickr.com/ I simply don’t know what I do without Flickr. It’s the only website I use to get images for the copy I submit clients. Finding and crediting images on Flickr is simple and painless, and the quality is unmatched.
8. http://unsuck-it.com/ is a free web app that allows you to convert words that don’t flow well in your copy (like business jargon) and replace it with fun words that do. Mostly, it’s a great tool for you to find quirky synonyms or definitions to boring words.
9. http://www.thesaurus.com/ No copywriter is complete without a trusty thesaurus by his side (or, in the case of web copywriting, in the next tab). Thesaurus.com is the most comprehensive thesaurus website and is one that I frequent multiple times with every piece of copy that I write.
10. http://www.rhymezone.com/ Poetry isn’t the only thing that requires rhyme. Copywriting needs it too sometimes. The next time you’re looking for a rhyming word to strengthen your copy, head over to RhymeZone.
11. https://www.webpagefx.com/tools/read-able/ Did you know that you should be aiming for a 7th-8th grade reading level when writing copy? We’ve covered this before in copywritersforums. Read-Able is an awesome tool that automatically and accurately tests the reading level of an excerpt of text.
12. http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/#work Find high performing and competitive keywords. With this tool - you can get great keyword ideas and suggestions for your content for free!
13. http://live-keyword-analysis.com/ Live Keyword Analysis is a quick ‘n easy SEO tool that will help you calculate the density of keywords in a sample of text. If you feel as though your keyword is too frequent or too rare within your copy, use LKA to confirm that.
14. https://www.freshbooks.com/ I’m not sure how freelancers survive without Freshbooks. It’s such a crazy-awesome tool to use for billing and invoices! Personally, I like using software like this to keep things professional and organized rather than relying on those, “Hey, did you pay me yet?!” emails. Keep track of billing for different clients; send out invoices to separate email accounts in a single click. Never lose track of who owes you money with this great accounting tool, it’s one of the most necessary for freelance writers out of this entire list.
15. https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive We all need some way to deliver copy to our clients. For me, Google Drive is the perfect answer. Not only do most of my clients use it already, but the vast amount of storage and simple UI makes it a far better choice for me than Dropbox.
16. http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/ EMV Headline Analyzer is an extremely cool yet very underrated copywriting tool that allows you to check the EMV (emotional marketing value) of your headline. Basically, it tests your headline to see what percentage of words in it invokes emotion. The higher, the better.
17. http://www.wordcounter.com/ Word Counter is an advanced keyword counter. It analyzes a sample of text and gives you info as to the top 25 most repeated words in the text, excluding small words like it, the, etc.
18. http://sitetuners.com/ Conversions are a big priority in professional copywriting. The Conversion Ninja Toolbox is essentially a website with a vast library of conversion optimization resources. It’s a great place to frequent whenever you need some CRO advice.
19. https://www.legalzoom.com/country/ng Once your freelance business starts to make some progress, you MUST familiarize yourself with the necessary documentation for your business endeavors. You will likely only need to file for an LLC if you are the sole “employee” in your freelance operations. While a website is never a good replacement for consulting a lawyer and an accountant, LegalZoom can help you knock out legal documents in a breeze.
20. https://www.mint.com/ I still use mint regularly to keep some basic tabs on my finances. The software is beautiful and it has just as many features as needed. It can help you set goals on spending & income so you can track your progress on all expenditures (by linking your debit & credit cards) or you can opt to enter purchases manually.
21. https://www.rescuetime.com/ One of the biggest wake-up calls I ever had in relation to my productivity was installing RescueTime. It’s pretty scary how much time you can be spending on “black holes” of the internet. Time sucks like Reddit and YouTube were taking up a couple hours every week, but I was finally able to see just how much time I was wasting, and now I’ve cut down time spent on those sites immensely.
We do hope, you will like and enjoy these free tools and we also want to know more about other tools that’s not mention here, which you are using in your freelance copywriting business!
Monday, July 25, 2016
Are Your Beauty Supplies Banned In The Airplane Terminal?
Are you a female who is about to catch a
flight? Whether you are just going to visit family, are planning to
take a vacation, or you have a business meeting to attend, there is a
good chance that you will be bringing along beauty supplies. In fact,
some of these supplies you may even want to carry with you at all times,
but can you? If you weren’t already aware, there are a number of
different beauty supplies that are prohibited from being stored in your
carryon luggage. Before you head to the airport, you are encouraged to
familiarize yourself with these items.
With the recent ban on liquids, you will find that a number of your
beauty supply products are automatically eliminated from being allowed
in your carryon luggage. These items most commonly include liquid
deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioners, hand sanitizers, and all
liquid hair products. Although it may be inconvenient for you, you will
also find that the majority of your makeup supplies are banned from
carryon luggage bags. All of these banned items include liquid based
formulas, such as liquid foundation, liquid skincare creams, liquid
mascara, and liquid lip products.
Although a large number of liquid beauty supplies are prohibited from
being stored in carryon luggage bags, there are a few exceptions.
These liquid exceptions include prescriptions that are prescribed to
you and certain eye care products. If you are wearing your contacts or
have eye problems, you are allowed to carry small amounts of eye drops
or saline solution with you.
These items must be no larger than four
ounces each.
Although a large number of beauty supplies are liquid based, there
are others that are not. For instance, most nail care products, expect
for nail polish or nail polish remover, are liquid free. By the way, it
is important to note that both nail polish and nail polish remover are
included in the, above mentioned, liquid ban. Nail care items that you
can bring aboard an airplane with you, in your carryon luggage,
including nail clippers, nail cuticle cutters, and nail files.
If you need to carry any other beauty products with you, it is likely
that you they will focus on eye care. As previously mentioned, small
amounts of saline solution and eye drops are permitted onboard in an
airplane, in your carryon luggage. Although you may think it is banned,
you are permitted to carry eye glass repair kits with you. These kits
are allowed, despite the fact they do have a small number of sharp
objects in them.
Now that you know which common beauty supplies or products are
allowed or are not allowed to be stored in your carryon luggage, you can
pack accordingly. It is important that you keep this list in mind. If
you are planning on wearing makeup, you will want to apply it before you
leave and store the rest in your bags that will be checked. In the
event that you try to sneak, the above mentioned, prohibited items into
your bag, you may be at risk for being detained by airport security.
Although there is a chance that you may be detained by airport
security or miss your flight, due to being tied up at a security
checkpoint, you will find that those are the most serious consequences.
In the event that you are cooperative with airport security and other
airport staff, you will likely just have your banned beauty items
confiscated. As a woman, you should know that many of these items do
not come cheap. Therefore, instead of wasting your hard earned money,
you are advised to think wisely and plan ahead.
Checkout Recommended International Traveling Accessories:
4. Buy Cheap Flights and Airline tickets and Compare prices among leading airlines and travel agencies
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I am a self-motivated, creative copywriter with nine years of marketing
and advertising experience, committed to teaching people real online and
offline marketing strategies that drives residual and leveraged income
to create real wealth! http://www.mobiletopup.com.ng/
Are You on The No-Fly List? What You Can Do
Each day, thousand of Nigerians/Americas
board an airplane. Although many of those individuals do not have a
problem, others do. One of those problems may involve the no-fly list.
While the no-fly list was designed to make air travel safer, there are
some instances when the wrong individuals have been targeted. These
mistakes often include mistaken identities or misspelled names. Despite
what you are told or may think, there are ways that you can get yourself
off of the no-fly list.
Although you can get your name off the
no-fly list, it is important to remember that it will not happen
overnight. In fact, if you are notified that your name is on the no-fly
list at the airport, it is almost a guarantee that you will not be able
to board your plane. Since airport security cannot rely on your word,
they will likely not allow you to proceed any further. In fact, you may
even be detained a short period of time by airport security. Once you
are released, you can begin taking the steps needed to have your name
removed from the no-fly list.
The first step in getting your name off
the no-fly list is to the contact the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA). Once you are notified that your name is on the
no-fly list, you should be provided with the contact information for the
TSA. If you are not provided with this information, you can easily
obtain the telephone number needed to directly contact the
administration by visiting their online website. That online website can
be found at www.tsa.gov. Once you have made contact with the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA), you will be provided with
instructions on what to do next. Those instructions will likely include
filling out a form that should be mailed to you.
In addition to filling out the proper
paperwork, you will also be asked to submit identification. In fact, you
will need to submit more than one piece of identification Most
travelers need three different items. Accepted items include a driver’s
license, a government identification card, a military card, a social
security card, a voter registration card, a passport, a visa, or a birth
certificate. Although only three pieces of identification are required,
you may want to have additional identification documents on hand, just
in case. After you have collected these items, they will need to be
notarized by the proper officials.
After you have submitted all of the
required documents, the process should begin, which will result in your
name being removed from the no-fly list. This process could take as
little as a few weeks, but it could take months. You are advised against
making any travel plans until you receive confirmation that your name
has officially been removed from the no-fly list. Once your name has
been removed, all airlines will be notified of this removal. This should
mean that you are now able to purchase airline tickets and make travel
plans.
In addition to actually having your name
on no-fly list, namely due to a mistake, there is a chance that someone
else with the same name as you could be on the no-fly list. Despite the
fact that you are not the one on the no-fly list, you may experience
some problems. For that reason, the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) has developed a traveler verification program. In
the event that you are commonly mistaken for someone else, it may be a
good idea to register for that program. Information on this helpful
program can be found by visiting the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA)’s online website. As previously mentioned, that
website can be found at www.tsa.gov.
Although getting off the no-fly list may
seem like a long and frustration task, it is something that you will
want to do. Chances are your name will not magically disappear from the
list. This means that if you are planning on traveling, now or in the
near future, you will want to take the appropriate steps to ensure that
you will make it to your intended destination.
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