Issue #1245 July 31, 2018
Publisher: Joan Stewart
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
In This Issue
- Free Courses on Facebook Ads
- Let Fans Design Your Marketing Materials
- Speakers: Create Better Handouts
- Hound Video of the Week
This Week in the Hound House:
Fairs, fairs and more fairs. My county fair competes for attention this week with the Wisconsin State Fair. The latter includes a giant Cream Puff Building where you can watch thousands of cream puffs being made behind big glass windows while you’re waiting in line. The employees even wear cute black and white hats with a cow design.
1. Free Courses on Facebook Ads
To build traction on Facebook quickly, you must buy ads.
I’m not referring to the “Boost this post” feature but the small ad that appears with a photo, headline and two lines of body copy in the lower right corner of your screen.
The secret to making your ads work? Knowing how to target your audience with precision, which is easier than you think because Facebook knows everything about anyone who has a profile. You also must be able to write compelling headlines that will force people to click on the ad.
You can hire a Facebook ad consultant for mucho bucks like I did. Or you can learn how to do it yourself before you invest one penny.
Facebook Blueprint offers free online training for advertising on Facebook. Its more than 90 elearning courses start with the basics like how to use Messenger, Groups, Facebook Live and create valuable content.
Most of the rest of the course concentrates on how to buy ads. You can even set yourself apart as a Facebook certified professional by getting Blueprint Certification which recognizes advanced-level proficiency with Facebook’s family of products and services. This is perfect for PR practitioners and social media coaches. Facebook offers two certifications–one for buying and one for planning, with more in the works.
To do: Learn more about Facebook Blueprint courses. Read about how to become a Facebook certified professional.
#FacebookAds #FacebookBlueprint
2. Let Fans Design Your Marketing Materials
When I saw the rock band 7th heaven on Saturday, I picked up a free 12-page brochure that includes voluminous information on the band’s tour schedule, photos, products and more.
As a new fan, I saw at least three things that held my attention:
–A small notice urging people to visit the 7th heaven website. “Feeling creative? Click on the press page and download our logo, symbol and flyers and create something you might think we should have to promote 7th heaven. We just might embrace your idea and pay you for it.”
–A long list of “Some Things We Accomplished So Far…” including three #1 songs on the Billboard charts. Most items on the list focused on things the band has done, like opening for Bon Jovi and Kid Rock at Soldier Field to 80,000 fans. I’m frequently telling you to promote your expertise by explaining not only what you know but what you have done.
–A collage of tiny photos of their most loyal fans. “Their work has earned them the right to call themselves our official Fan Club. We are working closely with them to give access to exclusive information that they will share with their group.”
To do: If one of these ideas works for you in your own business, use it!
#7thheaven #Chicagobands
3. Speakers: Create Better Handouts
If you do public speaking or corporate presentations and give your audience handouts, here’s a way to avoid these three problems:
- Always creating handouts from scratch.
- Including too little information on your slides. Or including too much information by packing slides with content, which turns off audiences.
- Sending your slides as a PDF afterward which doesn’t always work well as a handout.
PowerPoint expert Ellen Finkelstein has the solution. She recommends putting a slide title on each slide and adding an image, diagram, chart, etc. to illustrate your main point.
Then use the Notes pages in PowerPoint to write more information that will help the audience understand the point you’re making. You can then format the Notes and use them as your handouts. In other words, you’re creating your handouts at the same time you’re creating your slides.
There’s a lot of tweaking and tinkering involved with this, and it’s a little geeky, but if you’re willing to try it, you just might find this a handy solution.
To do: Follow Ellen’s step-by-step directions, complete with illustrations, in her article “Create presentation handouts using Notes pages.”
#TipsforSpeakers #Handouts
4. Hound Video of the Week
Dogs aren’t only man’s best friend. They’re hard-working helpers. Watch this compilation of dogs performing various tasks for their owners. Thanks to Publicity Hound Linda Radke of StoryMonstersInk.com for this one.
[Tweet “#PublicityTips — Free Courses on Facebook Ads #FacebookAds #FacebookBlueprint”]
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