The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Of all the people who need to promote what they’re sellings, artists are among those who have the most difficult time.

I don’t know why. But Nicolette Tallmadge, who blogs at The Crafted Webmaster, offers 10 tips on How to Use Online video to Promote Your Art. She makes an interesting point. People who buy artwork love to watch artists at work. They’re also curious about things like what inspired the artwork, if the artist sells fulltime or has another job, and if more works are being created.

“Those who attend craft shows say that meeting the artists and talking with them about their artwork is part of what makes the whole experience fun. If you sell exclusively to galleries or exclusively online…this is an important piece of promotion that you are missing.” 

That’s where video comes in. Create a video showing your artwork in various stages of completion. Or talk about what inspired you to create it, how long it took, and even stories about problems or challenges you encountered along the way (people love this stuff!). 

In additon to Nicollete’s many great ideas, I think artists—and anyone else for that matter—should embed video links within press releases. They make the releases more interseting and will help them rank higher in the search engines. My free email tutorial ”89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases” explains everything you need to know about how to write and distribute direct-to-consumer releases.

That’s the topic I discussed during the second annual smARTist™ Telesummit in January. Artists from 35 states in the U.S. and 12 countries participated in the art career conference that taught artists about topics like marketing, how to sell more artwork and how to license their work. Ariane Goodwin, who sponsored the telesummit, is offering all the conference materials for sale at her website.

The testimonials from artists who already have seen great results from the telesummit and the line-up of guest experts ought to convince any artist that the materials can turn “just a hobby” into a thriving business.  Artists, you have until June 16 to take advantage of the early-bird special.

Posted In: Business Promotion, Press Releases/News Releases, Video
posted On: 5/30/2008: 10:24 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

One of the best ways to use video for publicity is to give visitors to your website the red-carpet treatment by taking them on a video tour of your site. 

I’m creating a video right now for that very purpose, using Camtasia Studio 5.0. It’s a software program that captures whatever is on your monitor screen. The screencasts can be saved in a range of formats, including Flash, WMV, AVI and QuickTime.

The latest version, by the way, is far superior to Camtasia 2.1. One of the coolest features is the writing tool, so you can actually “write” on the screen with a red marker. Or change the color if you wish.

I’m experimenting by starting my video with a “talking head” clip of me in front of my computer screen, created with my Flip Video camera, then segueing to the Camtasia video tour. Come to think of it, a video tour would be equally helpful at a blog.

The “Welcome to my website” video idea is one of several ideas for using video that I’ve explained in my new article “Amateur video can propel your publicity campaign, search rankings.”

What does placing video at your website have to do with getting publicity? Several things:

• If journalists visit your site and see a helpful video that leads them by the hand and takes them through your website, they will be more inclined to stay.
• Ditto for visitors who aren’t journalists.
• The more journalists are impressed with your website, the more inclined they will be to cover you.
• Any tour of a website should certainly include a short explanation of your press room. This is the place where journalists can find what they’re looking for quickly. And if you’re smart, your press room will explain all the ways you can help journalists, like mine does at the bottom of the page.

Stay tuned…

Posted In: Business Promotion, Publicity on the Internet, Video
posted On: 5/2/2008: 11:09 am: By Joan
Comments: 4 Comments

Stop wasting time trading links with other websites, posting the same how-to article to a gazillion article directory sites, and doing sneaky little things at your own website to try to trick the search engines.

Those strategies can actually hurt you.

Spend your time instead creating video, one of the most powerful ways to pull traffic to your website or blog.  It can boost your position in the search engine rankings and, in some cases, take tons of business away from your competitors.  Do it right, and they’ll be so shell-shocked they’ll pack up and go home.

During my 70-minute teleseminar “How to Use Web Video for Your Website to Pull Traffic, Impress Visitors, Make the Phone Ring and Close the Sale” with video expert Mike Stewart earlier this month, the 400 people who were on the line listened as Mike outlined lots of creative, powerful ways to use video in your publicity campaign, or to sell a products or services.

We’re not talking about full-length productions here.  Just short clips of about two minutes or less.

Here are our ideas on how to use video in a publicity or marketing campaign:

—-Create short videos about your products and services, upload them to your website, and include video links in your press releases.

—Speakers, create short video snippets of your presentations and post them at your website.

—Use videos to demonstrate how to use your product.

—Authors, create short little videos that discuss portions of your books.

—Take visitors on a tour of your website using a screen-capture software program like Camtasia.

—Shoot your own video of events the media won’t cover, and submit the video to local newspapers and TV stations, many of which offer consumer-generated video at their websites.

—Use video on a one-page sales letter.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, video can close the sale.

—Generate leads and pull traffic by creating videos and posting them to YouTube and other video-sharing sites.

—Use video at your blog, or create a video blog on a free Wordpress platform like I’m doing.  (I should be ready to introduce it to you next week.)

If you missed last week’s call, you can hear the replay by clicking the link above.

Mike will show you the absolute easiest-to-use equipment you’ll need to start producing video that will turn you into the type of marketing warrior that will send your competitors running home to mommy.

P. S. Many of you who participated in the call emailed me, asking if Mike and I could give you more options in terms of buying a camera, the editing software and the training tutorials.  You said you want to get comfortable shooting and editing video first before you create a video blog or a one-page sales letter.  We have.  Now you can get what you want when you want it.  Take another look here. 

Posted In: Blogs, Business Promotion, Video
posted On: 4/29/2008: 8:52 am: By Joan
Comments: 2 Comments

While many other newspapers are marching toward the graveyard, Spanish-language daily and weekly newspapers are seeing circulation and advertising revenue soar.

The April 7 issue of PRWeek says La Opinion, a Hispanic newspaper, saw its circulation grow by 3.7 percent in September, the largest increase of any newspaper—in any language—in the United States. 

The readership of many  Spanish-language newspapers is not only increasing, it’s diversifying.

“The Hispanic newspaper audience in South Florida, for example, may include Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, and other various nationalities originating from South America and the Caribbean.”  

PR Week offers these pitching tips if you’re targeting Spanish-language newspapers:

—Don’t think you’re serving Spanish-speaking audiences by simply translating press releases into Spanish. Tailor your content for the specific Hispanic newspaper audience.

—Spanish-language newspapers are interested in themes that relate to Hispanics–such as family, education  and health, regardless of nationality.

—Pitch stories that include multimedia content such as video. These dailies are following their English-language counterprarts by creating online portals.

In a related trend, the number of Spanish-language radio programs is also expoloding. 

Posted In: Newspaper Publicity, Pitching the Media, Press Releases/News Releases, Publicity for Niche Markets, Publicity on the Internet, Radio Publicity, Video
posted On: 4/3/2008: 6:57 am: By Joan
Comments: 3 Comments

Don’t miss this critical step when creating your publicity plan.

Start adding bloggers and editors of electronic newsletters (ezines) to the list of people who you will contact if you want publicity.

If you’re a publicist, and your PR client is adamant about getting coverage in top-tier media like USA Today, The New York Times, O magazine and on big shows like “Today” and “Fox & Friends,” take the time to explain that your client must also get in front of the thousands of people who don’t read those newspapers or watch those shows and prefer, instead, to receive their information online.

One of the big advantages of pitching bloggers and ezine editors is that unlike traditional media, the information you provide has a way of spreading online rather quickly. If it shows up in an ezine, and that ezine is archived, people will be able to find it months and even years later.

—Most bloggers and ezine editors write about specific topics. A stay-at-home mom who has her own home-based business, for instance, can offer information to bloggers and ezine publishers who write about stay-at-home moms or home-based businesses, or both.

—The best bloggers blog several times a week. Because they present a constant stream of new information, the search engines give good ranking to blog posts. That means that when somebody searches Google for “dog obedience tips,” the list that Google returns on the left side of the screen will include blog posts, not just websites.

—When journalists are doing research for their articles, most of them use a search engine to find background, commentary, statistics, experts and other sources. If they end up at your blog, at a blog where you are mentioned, or at an ezine archives where there’s an article about you, they might call you for their story. Many journalists also subscribe to electronic newsletters devoted to the topics on their beats.

—Bloggers love to link to each other’s posts. If an influential blogger mentions you, or your product or service, other bloggers who link to that post may help you get in front of an entirely different audience. The publicity builds and builds, like a snowball rolling downhill.

—I publish an ezine on publicity. Another ezine publisher who writes about publicity might ask if she can use one of my articles in her ezine in exchange for me using one of her articles in my publication. Some of the people on her ezine list, who want information about publicity, might not know about me. When they read about me, they might visit my website, sign up for my ezine and perhaps even buy my products. It’s a win-win.

How to research blogs

I’ll bet many of you already know about bloggers you’d love to target.

If you’re looking for others, go to Technorati.com. Type in a topic such as “engineering” and you’ll get a list of either engineering blogs, or blogs that mention the word engineering. From there, you can research each blog and see if it’s likely to reach your target audience.

Once you’ve found a blog that’s a good candidate for your pitch, spend some time reading it so you’re familiar with what the blogger writes about.

One of the very best ways to get a blogger’s attention before you pitch is to post a comment about a topic they discuss at their blog. I’ll sometimes post two or three comments within a week or two at a particular blog before pitching that blogger with my idea.

Why? Because I want the blogger to recognize me when I pitch. It shows I’m willing to become involved in the conversation, not just contact them when they want something.

It’s best not to be too promotional within your comment. Instead, add to the conversation, then email the blogger privately to let them know about other information you have about your product, service, cause or issue. (See “Let Bloggers Create Publicity for You.”)

How to find ezines

I like to use New-List.com where about 9,000 ezines are listed. You can also do a Google search for “health care ezines” or “construction ezines” or whatever the topic happens to be.

EzineSearch.com lists more than 10,000 ezines, with thorough instructions on how to search for what you need.

BestEzines.com includes includes information on more than 2,200 ezines representing more than 15 million permission-based email members.

NetTop20.com website includes the top 20 ezine directories.e most popular and highest-rating ezine directories on the Net today.

What ezine editors want

Ezine editors want content-rich material for their publications. So don’t be shy about pitching them. This is the type of content they love:

• Free advice
• Press releases about news their readers want
• Links to short videos that are entertaining or instructional
• Top 10 lists
• Commentary on controversial topics
• Other resources their readers will find helpful
• Success stories
• “How to” information (See “Headlines for how-to articles”)
• Frequently asked questions and answers on a particular topic
• Jokes and quotes (I include a dog joke in each issue of my ezine and readers love them!)
• Polls and surveys
• Quizzes and other briefs (See “Briefs, Fillers & Quizzes)

Another way to research is to ask the kinds of people you’re trying to get in front of which ezines they read. Ezine editors just like me are always looking for content like success stories, comments on controversial topics, innovative business practices, anything that will save people time and money, the rising stars in a particular industry, and the story and personalities behind a particular award a company has received. Email the editor and offer your information.

Now, you’re ready to start contacting bloggers and ezine editors. If you’re successful, email me and tell me all about it. I might write about you in my own ezine or this blog.

Posted In: Blogs, PR Consultants/Publicists, Press Releases/News Releases, Publicity Resources, Publicity for Niche Markets, Publicity on the Internet, Video, Writing Articles
posted On: 3/30/2008: 10:48 am: By Joan
Comments: 4 Comments