Photos & Graphics

Wanted: Alternatives to dreaded ground-breaking events

8/17/2010 By Joan 9 Comments

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.”

Filed Under: Photos & Graphics, Special Events Tagged With: check-passing, grand opening, ground-breakin, ribbon-cutting, Special Events

13 fun, easy ways to find content for your blog

8/4/2010 By Joan 6 Comments

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?

Filed Under: Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Newspaper Publicity, Photos & Graphics Tagged With: blog content, Blogging, Craigslist, Facebook, istockphoto.com

How to build a strong brand so competitors can’t define you

8/3/2010 By Joan 9 Comments

How do you feel when you see the name McDonald’s?

In my mind, I see the Golden Arches. And I think “cheap, fattening food I can’t stomach.” Others love Mickey D’s because they know the Big Mac tastes the same, whether they’re eating it in Peoria or Paris. And that’s reassuring.

How about this one? Gillette.

I think “safe” and envision multiple layers of razor blades whizzing over whiskers.

And how about this one? Google.

I feel reverence, respect and ALWAYS a twinge of fear that’s directly related to how many orders I’ve gotten that day.

Branding isn’t just a snazzy logo, a clever tagline, attractive colors, a catchy jingle, or a compelling home page. It’s what you feel in your gut when you think about a company. Build a strong brand, and you’ll never let your competitors define you.

3 Elements of a Great Brand

Start with a distinctive name, visual identity and, most importantly, a solid reputation. Don’t like your name? You can change it within a few seconds.

Hate your logo? Find a good designer on Elance.com. My logo evolved with help from a graphic designer and clip art.

But you can’t buy reputation. You must earn it, and that takes time.

My company, The Publicity Hound, sells content-rich special reports, CDs and transcripts, ebooks, and services that show people how to use traditional and social media to promote a product, service, cause or issue. The brand includes non-traditional elements you might not consider with branding, like an easy-to-find telephone number on every page of my website and a human being (me) who answers the phone.

A friend told me she heard at a conference that people who do business online should make it difficult for their customers to have access to them “because it makes people respect you more.” If that works for you, who am I to argue?

But when I talk to a stranger who calls me with a question, I can often close a sale. And I won’t hesitate to ask, “Do you want fries with that?” I’ve talked many callers into staying on the phone and buying an hour of consulting so I can REALLY help them.

Sometimes I can upsell them to The Publicity Hound Mentor Program. Even if I sell nothing, I can start a relationship with them which is far more valuable than a string of retweets. (Why do so many people, by the way, not answer their phones but think nothing of spending two hours a day on Twitter “building relationships”?)

Other elements of my brand include:

My customer service manager’s name and telephone number everywhere. “If you need help, call Christine Buffaloe at 619-955-5772. Or me at 262-284-7451.”
My personal replies to emails, even if people need help and I don’t know them. (They get a free tip, and often a link to a product I sell where they can find more.)
Little surprises sometimes tucked inside product packages, from gourmet dog treats to Publicity Hound notepads.
Humorous dog videos, jokes and quotes I share in my ezine and on the social media sites, just to keep things fun.
A free special report or CD of the customer’s choosing when we screw up and ship the wrong order.
My own vocabulary tied to The Publicity Hound theme. I call my followers my “Hounds” with a capital H. People who don’t know the correct publicity techniques are “media mutts.” And when I do something dumb, I’m “sent to the dog house without my dinner.” That’s called sub-branding, and I learned it from marketing strategist Tom Winninger. How do you know when it’s working? When your customers start using the same words and phrases, and suggest others.

Thing to Consider When Building Your Brand

Elements of your own brand might be very different from mine, depending on what you sell. Some things to consider:

How quickly do you respond when a customer complains?

How do you behave in public and online? Do you use four-letter words on the social media sites that you’d never use when meeting with consulting clients? Guest blogger Phyllis Zimbler Miller wrote about how everything you do online is part of your publicity

Can you add a prop to your official business photo—something that ties into your brand?

How often do you ask your customers what they think about your products and services?

What percentage of your social media tasks are spent sharing free tips vs. pushing free commercials?

How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors? What’s the one thing that’s uniquely you?

Can you use mobile marketing to strengthen your brand?

Can a customer who arrives at your website or a social media profile understand, within 10 seconds, exactly how you can help them?

Are you the first in your niche to show people new and innovative ways to solve their problems? Or are you a Johnny-come-lately?

Do you promote your expertise in everything you do?

Do you understand how people feel when they see colors like bright red, sky blue or forest green? Are the colors at your website evoking the types of feelings you want your audience to experience when they arrive?

If you sell high-priced products and services, does your website convey the look and feel of elegance and quality? Do you charm your customers with five-star service?

Do you give your support staff the freedom to wow customers at every turn, even if it costs you a few bucks more?

What do you do when a customer complains about crappy service they received from a company whose products you promote as an affiliate? Are you as concerned as you’d be if the products were yours?

If you showed the name of your company to 10 strangers, how many of them would know immediately what you do?

Listen to Your Customers!

If you’re having trouble creating your brand, let your customers help.

I wish I could take credit for creating The Publicity Hound brand all by myself. But I can’t. My customers pushed me into it.

When I started my business 14 years ago, it was Media Relations Consulting, Inc.—a name dull enough to make your eyes glaze over. My eight-page print newsletter followed a year later and it needed a name. I worked for 22 years in the newspaper business, so “The Publicity Hound” seemed perfect.

The bi-monthly newsletter turned out to be the worst product I ever created because it never gained traction. It bled red ink and consumed my schedule. I kept it on life support far longer than I should have. But the good news is that people who saw the name loved it.

“The Publicity Hound—how clever!”

“What a great name!”

“When I couldn’t remember your name, I could always remember The Publicity Hound.”

I eventually killed off the print newsletter, and turned it into an ezine, “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week,” which quickly amassed 40,000 subscribers. It became the main marketing tool to sell my more than 100 info products. I added a Hound Joke of the Week, which has been expanded to include dog quotes and videos. Readers send me my best material, and I thank them publicly in each issue.

Finally, the light bulb went on.

Media Relations Consulting, Inc. became Media Relations Consulting, Inc. dba The Publicity Hound. If you’re a corporation, “dba” is a convenient way to turn a boring name into an easy-to-remember brand.

I started adding “The Publicity Hound” to my name on bylined articles. When I comment at blogs, it’s always as “Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound” or just “The Publicity Hound.”

Today, I’ve dropped the stodgy company name from just about everything except my tax return and bank statement.


Let a Survey Help You

Early last year, I registered for a Stompernet teleseminar hosted by faculty member Don Crowther. His guest was survey expert Jeanne Hurlbert, PhD, who discussed the value of customer profile surveys and how you can use them to create a roadmap for your business.

I was so impressed that I hired her to create my own survey. Jeanne helped me pinpoint exactly what I wanted to learn and then created the questions.

The survey results showed more than a 90 percent customer satisfaction rate (all those phone calls paid off!).

But more importantly, it gave me 60 testimonials I could use at my website. It laid out in amazing detail exactly what kinds of products and services my customers wanted, and how much they’d be willing to pay for them.

Surveys, done correctly, can help you develop your brand because you don’t have to guess about what people think of you.

Jeanne, by the way, is my new business partner. My survey showed, among other things, that my customers were hungry for information on how to use social media to promote. And Jeanne has been studying social networks since before Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg was born.

Our company, My Social Media Solution, LLC, dovetails perfectly with The Publicity Hound business.

Tips for Branding Your Business

Choose a theme, something obvious that can be associated with your signature product or business. If your theme plays off the name of your cat, and your business has nothing to do with cats, go back and start over.
If you’re having a difficult time thinking of a creative name for your business, don’t force it. Instead, go for a walk, or take a swim or shower. Water and exercise invite creative ideas. “The Publicity Hound” came to me during a six-mile walk.
When you hit on a successful brand and get great feedback from your market, spend the money to trademark your company name and logo.
Be consistent. Use the same photo, tagline, logo, colors, style and design in everything you do, from your website to printed materials.
If you’re not sure what your customers think of your brand, ask. Consider a customer profile survey.
Listen to what your customers say about your brand. If they aren’t saying anything, it’s probably not a brand.
Remember that reputation absolutely supersedes everything.

And Bogie Makes Two

In keeping with the dog theme, my German Short-Haired Pointer, Bogie, is joining me in my new business profile photo which will appear at my website. But I’m not sure which of two photos I should choose for the homepage.

Through my brand, I’ve build a strong community of other Publicity Hounds who love being a part of my business. So I’ll ask them.

And you, too. Which of the two photos do you like? Bogie on my lap, or nose to wet nose? Let me know by stating your preference on this one-question survey. Thanks for helping me continue to build my brand. Now, go build yours.

Filed Under: Business Promotion, Photos & Graphics Tagged With: branding, Don Crowther, Jeanne Hurlbert, Phyllis Zimbler Miller, The Publicity Hound

6 ways to tie your pitch to breaking news for PR, publicity

7/14/2010 By Joan 1 Comment

News is breaking all around you.

Here are 6 tips on how to generate publicity from breaking news.

Update: We’ll be discussing these tips and many others during the webinar “How to Tie Your Story Pitch to Breaking News and Make the Media Interview YOU” tomorrow, Wednesday, July 21.

1. The local angle. If you’re the “local angle” to a national breaking news story, let the media know. Example: Coffee prices nationwide skyrocket. You own a coffee bar. How will you deal with the price increase? Let your local newspapers and TV stations know. (This blog has an entire sub-category on the local angle.)

2. Comment on celebrity news. Al and Tipper Gore announce they will divorce. You’re a divorce attorney. Can you offer tips for national men’s and women’s magazines on how wealthy divorcing couples can negotiate for the best settlement possible?

3. Pay attention to weather news. Your area has just had 4 weeks of rain and people are bailing water out of their basements. You’re an expert on how to remove mold from houses. Contact every media outlet that’s covering the weather and offer your comments.

4. Target industry journalists and bloggers. If there’s breaking news within your industry, or an industry you target, and you’re a part of it, or you can offer expert commentary, contact business reporters and bloggers who write about that industry. How do you know who they are? You create a Google Alert for the topic.

5. Share your expertise on the social media sites. For any type of breaking news on which you can comment, be sure you write about it at your blog and the social media sites, where many journalists are looking for sources.

6. Pitch photos, not just stories. It’s the harvest season. You own a farmer’s market and you have a gargantuan pumpkin in your field. It might not be worth a story, but it’s worth a photo in your daily newspaper.

Learn more tips from a crackerjack publicist on how to contact busy journalists and bloggers, how to craft an email that gets their attention, what to offer to tip the scales in your favor, and how to follow up. Publicist Michelle Tennant of Wasabi Publicity will be my guest on the webinar “How to Tie Your Pitch to Breaking News and Make the Media Interviw YOU” at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, July 21.

She’ll share tips for the best places to find breaking news quickly, a terrific free resource she found online that gives media contact information (saving you thousands of dollars on fancy media directories), and examples of emails to the media that resulted in fabulous publicity for her clients. You can use the same elements in your emails that she used in hers.

How have you tied your story idea to a breaking news event, and what kind of publicity did you generate as a result? Comment here.

Filed Under: Blogs, Celebrity tie-ins, Magazine Publicity, Newspaper Publicity, PR Consultants/Publicists, Photos & Graphics, Publicity Resources, Social media marketing, TV Publicity, The Local Angle

Fast Company wants your photo for its November issue

7/6/2010 By Joan Leave a Comment

Fast Company magazine wants to include your photo in the November 2010 issue, as part of a neat project it calls the “2010 Most Influential People.”

This is a terrific chance to generate publicity from a magazine with a circulation of more than 538,000, as well as knowing how influential you really are.

If you’re patient and willing to wait a few minutes for the site to load, go here now to get a unique URL which you can then share with your followers via email, at your website and blog, and on the social media sites.

It took me only a minute to sign up, insert my short bio and upload my photo.

After you’ve registered, you can track how your influence has grown and where you stand at any time on the site. You’ll also get a welcome message from Fast Company telling you that your photo will be in the November issue.

Let’s see how many Publicity Hounds we can get into the magazine!

Filed Under: Business Promotion, Magazine Publicity, Photos & Graphics Tagged With: 2010 influencer project, Fast Company