Dan Janal: Internet Marketing Pioneer & Public Relations Whiz

Entrepreneur Dan Janal poses for a portrait photograph

In a busy world, capturing anyone’s attention is daunting, especially for marketers. Just ask small-business owners.

But for public relations strategist Dan Janal successfully conveying a message comes easy. He wrote one of the first books on Internet marketing; taught the subject at elite universities; and helped launch America Online (AOL), the CD-ROM player, GPS technology, and PCs.

Dan has consulted with household companies, including IBM and Reader’s Digest.

Prior to becoming a professional public-relations strategist you were a journalist. What was it like interviewing Gerald Ford and Barbara Bush?

I was fortunate to land a reporting job for a daily newspaper in Florida after I graduated from Northwestern. Florida was a key primary state so all the politicians came to town. I interviewed former President Gerald Ford when it looked like he was going to run against Ronald Reagan. I was in a press conference and other reporters were asking him softball questions about the economy. I was a business reporting major at Northwestern, so I knew a great deal about that topic and I asked him a tough question. He was visibly shaken and stammered a few seconds and then gave an answer. I felt so proud because I could hold my own with a person who was the Leader of the Free World! But never let anything give you a big head! As the conference was ending, we all stood up in a sign of respect. Just as we did, he passed by me and stopped right in front of me. He probably thought I was going to ask a question. I was unprepared and stammered in response! That’s the power of the office!

Barbara Bush was campaigning for her husband [George H.W. Bush] in Florida and I was intent on not doing the typical sound bite story. I wanted to find out what made her tick. I asked her question after question about her thoughts and opinions, but she always answered, “George thinks.” For example, “What do you think about the economy?” And she’d say, “George thinks…” She was amazing. I couldn’t get to her real personality. Finally, I said, “What do YOU like to do for fun?” She replied, “George and I like to go bicycle riding!”

“A true cyberspace marketing pioneer” according to USA Today, you’ve taught said subject at both Cal Berkeley and Stanford. When did you determine that the Internet was the marketer’s next Wild West?

I was an early pioneer online. I was a SYSOP (forum) host on CompuServe’s PR and Marketing forum in the 1980s. I worked for a PR firm in NYC that had Commodore as a client. They were one of the original founders of Quantum Link, which became AOL. So I was working with Steve Case and in the very, very early days of AOL. Frankly, it was hard getting PR for them. They were the number-3 online services company behind CompuServe and Prodigy. Then, one day, I noticed articles about this thing called “The Internet” on the front page of The New York Times and every trade publication. Day after day there were big articles! The funny thing was that there is no Internet company! There is no Internet CEO directing the PR and marketing effort. There is no big PR agency with a big budget planting these stories. It just happened! That’s when I realized the Internet was the future. The Internet went viral before anyone knew what viral was. I knew a hot trend when I saw one, so I wrote the first book about integrated marketing on the Internet in 1993. I like to say the only people online back then were me and Al Gore. That’s always good for a laugh. But truth was there were less than 1,000 websites – and they were all grey background with black text! The book led to speaking engagements around the world – from Beijing to Budapest to Rio to all over the U.S., Canada, Mexico and teaching at Berkeley and Stanford.

You know how to convey a message as a teacher and consultant, having written and published several notable books. Why do you write?

I write, therefore I am. Sorry. That sounds corny even to me! When I was a kid I wanted to write the great American play (not novel). I thought that by becoming a reporter I’d meet interesting people in interesting situations and they would be the basis for stories. Life has a different way of pointing you, however. So I wrote news articles and press releases and how-to books and marketing books. Now I’m helping people write their own books as a ghostwriter and as a book coach. I guess writing is my super power. Hitting a baseball certainly isn’t my super power.

Even in twenty-first-century America, the press release is alive and well. Your PR Leads content appears either at or toward the top of search-engine results. How has this means of communication continued to prosper?

I’ve been very fortunate to have my clients’ press releases appear on page 1 of Google quite often. That’s because my clients have information worth reading and because I know how Google likes to see information. They also like to see info coming from a reliable source, which is why we use the newswire that we do – and not a cheap third-tier company. Even though Google keeps changing the rules for how they rank stories, one thing stays the same – great content beats all else.

Remarkably, you run eight businesses that each earn six-figures in annual profits! Does one build off another?

Yes, they do build off one another. When I was in college, the most influential article I read was one that said, “In the future, everyone will have 6 careers. Not jobs. Careers.” That opened my mind to the realization that one job leads to another that could be in a different field. I went from reporter to editor, then jumped to working for a PR agency in NYC to starting my own company. You can see where the skillset and talent is closely intertwined: writing and editing. The businesses I created were all inter-related for the most part. I started writing books. That led to speaking. Those activities led to consulting and coaching. Because I had an audience that knew, liked and trusted me, I could make affiliate income from recommending other products. PR LEADS led to writing and distributing press releases. I also had a teleseminar recording business that did very well when telephone lines were very expensive. However, when free conferencing services came to be, that business died. There are three lessons here:

1.) Listen to the market. They know what they want. There are always new opportunities if you pay attention.

2.) Every business dies eventually. Be on the lookout for the next thing.

3.) Not every idea works. I left out a lot of ideas that didn’t go anywhere! I wrote one of the first books about voice recognition technology in 1999! That technology is becoming mainstream, just in the past year. I was too early by seventeen years!

Given your wide-ranging work you regularly meet fascinating people from all walks of life. Which are surprising, unusual, or humbling? I’ve worked with more than 5,000 thought leaders from every walk of life, thanks to my PR LEADS business. I’ve always been a fan of the Law of Attraction. I have a million “It’s a small world” stories. For example, I’ve had two women named Joan and Joni sign up for PR LEADS on the same day – and they are both actresses and they both were in movies with Elvis – and neither one slept with him. Freaky! My clients include relatives of Freud, Picasso, Candid Camera’s founder, Blondie cartoon strip creator, the daughter of a very famous Broadway actor (sorry, I can’t mention names) and the wife of another Broadway actor. The creator of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) was a client! There are also lots of people who are famous in their niches. I guess the new most-famous person would be Tim Ferriss. I remember he called me one day and said he wanted me to promote his book, “Drug Dealing for Fun and Profit.” I thought he was a drug dealer! I told him I couldn’t help him. Of course, he was running a company that sold supplements, not street drugs! He came back a few weeks later with another title for the book, The 4-Hour Workweek. That’s the best title ever! He used PR LEADS to get started (and gave us a nice shout-out in first and all future editions of the book). He worked hard and had a lot of oars in the water to make that book a success and his success is well deserved. Of the more than 5,000 authors and experts I’ve worked with directly, he is the true bestselling author.

Biography

Books by Dan Janal

Learn more about Dan Janal and his services at PRLeadstoProfits.com.

Want to further enhance your marketing knowledge? Read our interview with master marketer Marcia Yudkin.