2008 October

T-shirt companies need ideas to generate publicity, sales

10/28/2008 By Joan 9 Comments

This week, I received two Help this Hound questions from the owners of businesses that sell T-shirts. I’m including both of them here because their problem is similar—how to attract attention and generate publicity and interest for their shirts. Here are the two questions:

Andrea Ayers of Boulder, Colorado writes:

“I own Tees For Change, a line of eco-friendly apparel that inspires positive thinking. Our tees are available on our website, and about 200 yoga studios, boutiques and green stores, including Whole Foods.

“The tees are made from organic cotton or bamboo and are adorned with uplifting messages such as LAUGH OFTEN, TODAY MATTERS and PRACTICE KINDNESS. We also plant a tree for every tee you buy!

“I am hoping your Publicity Hounds can help us take the company to the next level by giving us some out-of-the-box marketing and publicity tips. The tees have been featured on many blogs and some print media, but we need to reach out to a more national audience and get our name out there, especially now that the gift giving season is upon us.”

Michelle Pratt-Lienhart of Webster, New Hampshire writes:

“I recently started a new business called Just Be Products. Just Be is built around an online community/blog for people to share how they Just Be. We have a presence on social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. People share and show how to Just Be by uploading photos and videos to the blog and the other social networking sites. My main target is tweeners, teens and twenty-somethings.

“The website has been up since June and have only had 2 sales on it even though the hits to the site have doubled each month. I am getting some limited local press and have an editorial in the October issues of Inc. and Fast Company magazine because I won a contest they were sponsoring called ‘Inspired Innovations: The Great Idea Contest’ but I can’t seem to get any more press.

“What is the best way to find out who the publicists and stylists to the stars are? I am trying to get my products into the hands and onto the sets of the TV shows that my target market watches (without having to shell out loads of money). I’ve sent several press releases to all the newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations in the state, but only had a small photo and blurb in one business newspaper. How can I attract more attention and get more press?”

Filed Under: Business Promotion, Celebrity tie-ins, Pitching the Media, Press Releases/News Releases, Publicity on the Internet, Social networking, YouTube

Top 75 PR blogs: Is your favorite on this list?

10/27/2008 By Joan Leave a Comment

Matthew Watson, who blogs about technology PR, has compiled a list of the Top 75 PR blogs.

Check the list and see if he included all your favorites. (This blog is Number 30, thank you.) He produced the list by plucking out blogs with the words publicity, PR and public relations from those on the AdAge Power 150.

That means that one of my favorites, like BL Ochman’s What’s Next Blog, which ranked Number 39 on Ad Age’s list, didn’t even make The Top 75 list. BL, by the way, is my guest expert during the Nov. 6 teleseminar on “How to do Social Networking, Run a Business & Still Have a Life.”

If your PR blog is missing from Matthew’s list, post a comment and let him know. If it’s missing from the Ad Age list, let them know here. The blog must be operating for the past six months and have at least 50 posts. At least half of the blog’s content must pertain directly to marketing. Both lists, by the way, generate great publicity for the creators.

OK Hounds, read the Top 75 list and then weigh in. Which is your favorite PR blog, on or off the list, and why?

Filed Under: Advertising, Blogs, Contests

Artists, don’t let ‘the bad economy’ paralyze you

10/24/2008 By Joan Leave a Comment

I absolutely refuse to wallow in all the gloom-and-doom talk from naysayers who spend more time complaining about the bad economy, and how lousy business is, instead of doing something about it.

Whether my business is good or bad (and right now, it’s very good) is more about my mindset than about plunging stock prices. With new products on the drawing board, a membership site in the works, and fascinating new people in my mentor program, I won’t let anything stop me.

Then there are the artists whose business relies more on people’s disposal income than mine does.

Many are incredibly creative types who can’t figure out how to sell their artwork even when the economy is booming. Whether you’re a jeweler, potter, fabric artist, painter or woodworker, don’t let yourself wallow in all that self-defeating chatter you’re hearing about how bad things are getting.

Join me in January for the smARTist telesummit, hosted by art marketing expert Ariane Goodwin. I’m making a return appearance because I had so many tips to share during the last teleseummit that I barely scratched the surface. This time around, I’ll be talking about social media.

Nine out of 10 artists I talk to, for example, are astonished when they learn that other artists are selling artwork galore by creating interesting videos showing themselvs at work in their studios. Then they upload the video to video-sharing sites like YouTube, which pull in traffic to the artists’ websites. Stay tuned for details next month on how to register for the smARTist telesummit.

Until then, Ariane is offering a special “Last-Sale-Ever-Discount” for the 2008 Audio & PDF Program. You can save $60 but only if you order by midnight Pacific Time on Friday, Oct. 31. After that, the 2008 program goes back to the regular price.

Hope to see you at the opening reception Dec. 4 where you can get a taste of the telesummit and decide if you want to join in the fun, or miss the party.

Filed Under: Business Promotion, Social media marketing, Social networking, Video, YouTube

Family entertainment center needs anniversary promo ideas

10/21/2008 By Joan 5 Comments

Jeff Elliot of Cedar Rapids, Iowa writes:

“I am a manager at Planet X, a family entertainment center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa featuring mini golf, bumper cars, space bikes, space ball, rock climbing and arcade games. We serve food and cater to many birthday parties and corporate events.

“Do your Hounds have any clever ideas on how we can celebrate our 10th year anniversary in January 2009? We’re planning our anniversary celebration all of next year. Our website is at http://www.planetxfuncenter.com.”

Filed Under: Business Promotion, Contests

Life coaches: Offer tips on weathering the economy

10/17/2008 By Joan 5 Comments

Life coaches often complain that they have a difficult time generating publicity, perhaps because life coaches seem to be everywhere.

But Publicity Hound David Bohl, of Milwaukee, a life coach and former venture capitalist, made it happen, with some help from a sharp publicist. David was the expert sources for a more than three-minute interview on a Milwaukee TV station. That turned into another interview. His publicist, Gail Sideman of PUBLISIDE Personal Publicity in Milwaukee, explains:

“It’s Publicity 101 and something about which you talk all the time: piggyback onto a current event. In this case, it’s the slumping economy.

“I started writing a series of Twitter for David to release every half hour-hour a couple of days ago. It got some responses, which for a first time with a Twitter campaign, I thought was good.

“I took the Twitter tips and created a tip sheet/news release. With that in-hand, I made some calls to local television outlets. I had immediate interest from two of four stations. One of WTMJ’s producers emailed me in about an hour and requested the interview.

“One interview turned into two. Anchor Charles Benson liked David’s information so much, he asked him to hang around a few minutes until he got off the air. Benson then did a separate interview with David that was supposed to air at 10 p.m., yesterday, but I think got bumped for breaking news. This is something that still can air in the next few days if the station chooses.

“I think David created a nice trust element with Charles Benson and the people at WTMJ (I got great feedback from the producer), so thus far, the effort is working nicely. Not that I hope the market continues to tank, but I’ll use this angle as long as I can!”

She thought of other ways for David to keep the publicity train chugging down the track:

He hosted a free teleconference on how to weather the finanacial crisis without becoming emotionally overwhelmed.
At her urging, he wrote a letter to the editor and submitted it to the Wall Streeet Journal, in response to a story that said family time is one casualty of the economic crisis.

The gloomy economy presents opportunities galore for smart Publicity Hounds everywhere, not just life coaches. Here are five more ideas:

Create videos offering advice and upload them to the dozens of video-sharing sites using TrafficGeyser, a program that will save you hundreds of hours of time uploading to dozens of sites.
If you can’t get onto your local TV news, submit amateur videos to the stations for use on their websites. Also submit them to local newspapers, which are hungry for user-generated video.
Pitch influential bloggers with tips on how people can save time and money and keep their sanity when times are bad.
Subscribe to one of the publicity leads services that send queries from journalists who are looking for specific types of sources for stories. They’ll be writing and broadcasting thousands of stories on the economy, particularly if we head into a recession.
Think far beyond traditional media and target niches such as ezine publishers.

Save the fretting for your financial statements. But be optimistic about your chances to create publicity that piggybacks onto the economy and any other trend.

Filed Under: Business Promotion, PR Consultants/Publicists, Pitching the Media, TV Publicity, The Local Angle, Twitter