FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Anthony Mora Communications Receives 2009 Los Angeles Award

U.S. Commerce Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

WASHINGTON D.C., June 8, 2009 — Anthony Mora Communications has been selected for the 2009 Los Angeles Award in the Public Relations Counselors category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).

The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2009 USCA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.

About U.S. Commerce Association (USCA)

U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USCA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The USCA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

SOURCE: U.S. Commerce Association

CONTACT:
U.S. Commerce Association
Email: PublicRelations@us-ca.org
URL: http://www.us-ca.org

Perfecting the Art of PR

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Although L.A. is seen by most as the P.R. capital of the world, actually very few local artists know how to effectively promote themselves and their work. Most find it a daunting task, some believe that if they wait long enough others will do it for them, still others believe that P.R. is not an artist’s job.  (It seems that no one ever explained that to Warhol, Madonna or Tarantino).  Ask anyone to name their favorite successful artist and you can be assured that, at some point, a skillful promotion was an essential component of that artist’s success.  Art is first and foremost a calling, but if you hope to reach a large audience, or to make a living from art, it must also be a business.  Success is achieved when art and promotion have been effectively blended.

A Personal Journey:  Creating and marketing your art are very different processes and the relationship between the two can be daunting and confusing, something I know only too well.  I began as a poet, publishing in obscure journals; I then had some short stories published.  From there I moved to journalism.  I eventually wrote for such publications as Us Weekly and Rolling Stone and edited for a few magazines.  I then made a leap to P.R.  In 1990 I started Anthony Mora Communications, Inc. and published two books on P.R., The Alchemy of Success and Spin to Win.  Our company has placed clients in a wide range of media including Time, Oprah, 60 Minutes, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and other media outlets. Launching P.R. campaigns for others is an interesting challenge, but when the hardcover version of my first novel, Bang! A Love Story, was published, I came face to face with the dilemma of promoting my own art. I adapted it as a play and again came face to face with the issue.  Since then I’ve had four plays produced, the latest being Modern Love and am presently working on Hang Fire, which I’m writing both as a film and as a play.  So I understand in a very visceral sense the issues that artists face when promoting their own works.

Being a P.R. consultant did not save me from the artist’s mental trap.  I found myself torn between art and marketing.  It’s not easy wearing both hats.  After awhile I discovered that I was ignoring my own well-worn advice to artists which is:  if you’re going to give your blood, sweat and tears to your art, you owe it to your art to give it a true shot to succeed.  If you hope to reach a wide audience, you need to approach your art from a new perspective.

Explaining and defining this perspective is what P.R. For ArtistsTM, is all about - P.R. as an art form.  Whether you’re a writer, musician, director, or actor, whether you keep your screenplay in your trunk, your paintings under your bed, or your music in your basement, there are P.R. skills and tools that you can learn and master. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to your art.

P.R. for Artists was created to help artists in any field reach their audience and share their work.  The first step is to challenge your perceptions and redefine your relationship, not with the creative process, but with yourself and your art.  The second is to give you the marketing information, tools and a P.R. roadmap.

Some deeply held beliefs that can stand in your way include:

1) I’m an artist, not a marketer

2) My work is so exemplary, I don’t need to market, the public will find me

3) A white knight (publisher, investor, producer, etc.) will see my extraordinary talent and take care of everything for me.

4) If I live the artist lifestyle and buy into the myth of the artist, I am an artist.

5) I am ahead of my time.  Once I’m dead people will see how talented I am.  Then they’ll be sorry.

6) Marketing is beneath me.

7) I’m not good with people.  I’m too shy to market.

That’s not how my brain works.  I don’t know where to start or what to do.

Most artists deal with one or more of these issues.  The trick is to mover beyond them.  These thoughts can spell the difference between you creating your art and you becoming a successful artist by reaching your market.  Art is best shared; it is a form of communication unique to each particular artist.  To communicate you need to find your audience, or more importantly, they need to find you.