Tips, Tricks & Tools for Free Publicity
Lois Kirkpatrick of Fairfax, Va., writes:
“I work for a large county government that has a variety of groundbreaking/grand opening events.
“The facilities range from libraries, parks and public safety buildings to homeless shelters and mental health centers.
“What are some things we can do instead of the dreaded VIPs-holding-shovels groundbreakings and VIPs-holding-scissors ribbon-cuttings? I’m looking for general ideas that can be applied to most types of facilities.”
If you aren’t using surveys in your business, you’re missing a chance to read your customers’ minds.
Surveys will let you outsmart your competitors, generate publicity that pulls traffic to your website and blog, and know immediately which products and services your market wants, how people want them delivered, and how much they’re willing to pay.
Yesterday’s webinar hosted by survey expert Jeanne Hurlbert was filled with valuable take-aways that can help any business or nonprofit do more with less, despite the crummy economy.
You can sign up to listen to the free replay of “Your Cash-Generating Crystal Ball: How to Use Simple Surveys to Read Your Prospects’ and Customers’ Minds, Build Lists, Create Products, and Make Money.” Keep a pen and paper close by, because you’ll be taking lots of notes.
I watched the webinar and listed these seven ways Publicity Hounds can use surveys for publicity and to build their businesses:
How to Avoid Survey Suicide
Jeanne also shared tips on how to avoid what she calls “survey suicide.”
The first questions on your survey should never ask respondents for information about demographics. Do that, and they’re likely to abandon the survey.
You must get them engaged immediately, and Jeanne showed exactly how to do that.
If you think have a good idea for a survey you want to conduct, or even if you have no idea about what you can ask your target market, sign up to watch the 77-minute replay. By the time you’re halfway done, you’ll have all kinds of ideas of how to use surveys to build your business.
Important: At the end, Jeanne made a special offer that expires at 5 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow, Aug. 14.
UPDATE on Aug. 16 at 9:38 p.m. Central:
I just learned that Jeanne is extending her offer again because so many people who wanted to listen to the webinar were on vacation. Listen by clicking the link above but do it before 5 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday, Aug. 18. If you snooze, you lose!
If you’re new to hosting webinars, the team at SocialBrite.org has a very helpful summary of 10 steps for planning a successful webinar.
It includes nine ways to promote your webinar. I took their list and added to it. Most of these ideas will also work when promoting teleseminars. Here’s their list of suggestions on how to promote:
1. At your website.
2. On online event calendars such as Upcoming.com
3. Relevant listservs
4. In print and online newsletters
5. On Twitter channels
6. In Facebook groups
7. As a local event for nonprofits (SocialBrite.org specializes in teaching social media to nonprofits).
8. On Web pages that promote webinars in your industry.
9. At the end of current webinars.
Here are my own ideas
I added to their list and came up with 12 of my own ideas:
10. On Craigslist, but only on the list for the city that’s closest to where you live. (See How to Use Craigslist as a Global Publicity Tool.)
11. In the events or calendar sections in traditional media, including newspapers, magazines, trade journals and business journals.
12. In an online press release. (See Keywords: The Magic Magnets That Pull Consumers & Journalists to Your Press Releases.)
13. On the websites of local newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations.
14. In videos, where you can excerpt tips and lead viewers to the sign-up page. Upload the video to video sharing-sharing sites.
15. At your guest experts’ blogs, at their websites, in their newsletters, and on their social media sites.
16. Create an Event on Facebook, and share with your Friends and Fans. (See 11 Ways to Avoid Missed Opportunities on Facebook)
17. In an email blast to your opt-in list, and the lists of your guest experts.
18. In a podcast.
19. At the end of a quiz you create around the topic of the webinar.
20. In targeted ads on Facebook and LinkedIn.
21. If you have an affiliate program, encourage your affiliates to promote the event, using their affiliate links.
Add to this list
Did I miss any? How do you promote your webinars and teleseminars, and which are the most effective?
What about paid ads? Have you used them,
and are they effective?
My Next Webinar: How to Use Twitter Lists
I’m presenting “How to Use Twitter Lists to Generate Publicity & Build Your Brand” at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Aug. 26. This one-hour webinar is perfect for anyone who hasn’t yet started using Twitter lists, or for Twitter users who aren’t sure how to get the most out of their lists.
Everyone who attends will also receive a bonus special report I wrote on “How to Use Twitter for Business to Network, Promote, Sell, Recruit & Profit,” a $10 value, as well as slides of the PowerPoint presentation I’m using for the video, a link for the streaming video and the video download, and the MP3 recording. So if the time is inconvenient for you, register anyway and you can watch it afterward at a time most convenient for you.
If you’re around today, Thursday, Aug. 5, join Steve Harrison for a free webinar (or teleseminar) and discover 12 strategies you can use to get more publicity. It’s called “Discover the Secrets of the Publicity Superstars & Get a Lot of Media Coverage.”
The call is at 2 and 7 p.m. Eastern.
Steve will be talking about things you can do right away to score more media coverage including:
You’ll learn some great stuff so I hope you can make it. The call is part of a free series of calls that Steve is offering to promote the National Publicity Summit Oct. 20-23 in New York City, where 100 pre-qualified Publicity Hounds will be able to meet dozens of journalists and broadcasters face-to-face and deliver a pitch.
I’m promoting the summit as an affiliate, because I’ve received great feedback from people whose topics were a perfect fit for the event. If your topic is better suited to trade publications, or niche publications, you probably won’t be accepted.
Register for today’s call. If the time is inconvenient for you, recruit somebody to listen and take notes.
The next time you’re looking for a topic for your blog, ask yourself these three questions, suggested by small business marketing coach Sydni Craig-Hart in 5 Simple Steps to Generate Relevant Content for Your Blog:
1. What’s keeping your clients up at night?
2. What’s the biggest challenge or problem they’re facing right now?
3. What information and resources do you have to share to make their lives easier?
Here’s what I love about those questions.
For each one, you can probably come up with more than one answer. Three answers equals three blog separate blog posts. Eight answers? Eight posts.
Here are four more questions I’d like you to consider when trying to find content:
4. What question have I received from someone recently in my email?
Pay attention to ALL questions in your email. When you answer, cut and paste it into a new blog entry, and then elaborate and, if appropriate, link to resources.
5. What’s the most frequent question beginners in my niche are asking? If I’m a speaker, I’d ask myself, what’s the Number One question that beginners in my audiences are asking?
Keep a running tally of all these questions, and use them when you need blog content. Never assume that just because you know the answer, it isn’t interesting to others who follow you.
6. What’s the one issue I’m struggling with right now and searching for the answer?
When I can’t find the answer to a question, I go to LinkedIn and ask. Sometimes, only one or two people respond. But often, I receive several great answers that can be woven into a blog post. I’m suddenly smarter, and so are my readers. I’m careful to explain within the LinkedIn question that I want to blog about the issue.
7. What’s the “hot new thing” or controversial topic in my industry that everybody wants to know about? For example, people in my audience, mostly self-promoters, want to know what they need to do to get a great return on their investment of time with social media. They might know how to use Facebook. But they want to know how to use Facebook to make money.
Patsi Krakoff, who was my guest expert on the teleseminar Time-saving Tips for Smart Business Blogging, partnered with me to create a list of 101 ways to find content for your blog, a handout we offered to teleseminar participants.
Here’s a sneek peek at six more ideas on that handout:
8. Invite your followers to ask you questions. Answer them at your blog. Become “The Answer Man” or “The Answer Woman.”
9. Find inspiration in photos. Browse through photos on a site like iStockPhoto.com. Look for a cute animal photo, or a funny image, or a photo that makes you think, and write a post around it.
10. Industry definitions. Create a list of industry definitions, particularly those that confuse people.
11. Visit Craigslist. You might find interesting workshops, press releases or other material worth a comment in the small business, community or events categories for the cities nearest you. (See How to Use Craigslist as a Global Publicity Tool.)
12. Don’t do it all yourself. Recruit a guest blogger on BloggerLinkup.com.
13. Show readers both sides of an issue. Write about the advantages/disadvantages of something.
How about adding to the list? How do you find content for your blog?
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The Publicity Hound