The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #450 May 12, 2009
Publisher: Joan Stewart
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“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
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In This Issue
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1. Lazy Way to Create Fun Video
2. 7 Deadly SEO Mistakes
3. ‘World’s Best Job’ PR Stunt
4. Dump That Default Avatar
5. How to Reach Doctors, Attorneys
6. Help This Hound
7. Hound Quote of the Week
8. And at My Blog…
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1. Lazy Way to Create Fun Video
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Producing video has never been my idea of fun.
I have almost no technical abilities. I sometimes find video so
confusing that it eats up hours of precious time.
Talking head videos require me to fix my hair, wear make-up, put
on something that looks half decent, and clean my office.
During post-production, I hate tinkering with a video’s
resolution, frame rates and bit rates so it looks crisp.
If you’re like me, you’ll fall in love with Animoto, a
subscription service that lets you create TV-quality videos from
photos you’ve taken yourself, or from stock photos you’ve
purchased.
You can even add text. When you’re done, add a musical
accompaniment, or let Animoto choose one for you and–voila!–you
have a really cool video you can use in a publicity campaign and
share on the social media sites.
I created a two-and-a-half-minute video yesterday in less than
an hour, from start to finish, to promote my local garden club’s
plant sale. You can learn more about Animoto and see the video at
my blog.
Here are six ways Publicity Hounds can use Animoto videos:
–Authors, promote a new book.
–Speakers, create a video showing you at various presentations–
and the audience applauding and laughing.
–Nonprofits, appeal for volunteers or donations. And visit my
blog to learn how you can apply for a complimentary account.
–Artists ,you can create a video showing your artwork in various
stages of completion, or show a collage of different works.
–PR people, publicists and virtual assistants, add this to your
line-up of services. Your clients will think you belong in
Hollywood.
–Business owners, create a video demonstrating how to use your
products or services.
Share your Animoto video links with other Hounds in the comments
section.
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2. 7 Deadly SEO Mistakes
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If bringing more traffic to your website isn’t very important,
skip this item.
Stompernet, the Internet marketing membership association, has
identified seven deadly mistakes that people are making when
optimizing their web pages for the search engines.
Here’s Mistake #1: Badly written page titles.
On Windows, the page title is on the blue bar at the top of the
screen. I see this mistake all the time, and it’s one of the
first things I mention when I do telephone consultations with
clients.
My nominations for the worst page titles:
–“Home”
–“Welcome to my website”
–The name of your company
–Your name
–Your tagline or motto
Missing from all of the above are keywords that people would type
into the search engines if they didn’t know you but were looking
for the kind of information, products or services you provide.
The fix is fairly simple, but only if you know what you’re doing.
Full instructions, including the maximum length of each page
title, is in the f*ree report “7 Deadly SEO Mistakes.”
I’m a StomperNet member and give them my enthusiastic “two paws
up” endorsement.
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3. ‘World’s Best Job’ PR Stunt
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If you’re in charge of promoting a destination right now, while a
worldwide recession is putting travel plans on hold, there’s
nothing like a PR stunt to catch people’s attention.
Tourism Queensland, in charge of promoting Australia, dreamed up
the “World’s Best Job” contest in which people competed for the
job of caretaker of picture-perfect Hamilton Island, on
Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef.
The winner, 34-year-old Ben Southall, a charity fundraiser from
Petersfield, Hampshire, must live alone on the island for six
months and then report back to the world via blogs, a photo
diary, video updates and interviews.
More than 34,000 people applied for the job that pays $150,000
and comes with a three-bedroom beach home, a swimming pool and
golf cart.
The job description requires the winner “to explore the islands
of the Great Barrier Reef, swim, snorkel, make friends with the
locals and generally enjoy the tropical Queensland climate and
lifestyle.”
Thanks to Publicity Hound Gary Knowles of Madison, Wis. for
sharing this one.
This promotion was all over the social media sites, a reminder
that if you’re not including these sites in your publicity
campaigns, you’re missing reaching millions of people.
“How to do Social Networking, Run a Business & Still Have a Life”
explains how to get started, how to save time, sites where you
must have a presence, and tips for letting people know, like and
trust you BEFORE you promote.
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4. Dump That Default Avatar
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I mentioned this a few weeks ago but it’s worth repeating,
because many of you are making this mistake.
No reputable Publicity Hound would even THINK of commenting at a
blog or participating in social media without creating a
universal avatar that automatically displays their photo as they
go from site to site.
Create your own gravatar by first signing up for an account. You can upload
your smiling photo, which is far better than those cartoon-character-like icons,
or your company logo, or a dumb photo of a landscape.
At my blog, a small percentage of people who comment have gravatars.
Those who don’t have them end up with my default avatar next to their
comment. It looks like a gray pawn on a chess board. What a missed opportunity
to display your smiling face in front of thousands of people!
After you’ve created your avatar, make sure your profile is as
good as it can be. Almost every profile I read can be improved.
Social networking expert Nancy Marmolejo explained what the ideal
profiles include, during the teleseminar I recorded with her,
with step-by-step instructions on how to dress up yours. It’s
called “Can Your Social Networking Profile Pass the 10-Second
Test?”
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5. How to Reach Doctors, Attorneys
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This week, five Publicity Hounds have tips for Karen Carnabucci
of Racine, Wis. who’s looking for ideas on how to draw
professionals, like doctors and attorneys, to her training
programs, individual consultations and in-service programs
dealing with psychodrama.
From Marilynn O’Leary:
“It’s important that you tie your offering to an outcome that is
on their mind. Lead with a tangible result and compel them to
take some action such as joining your list. And then, educate
them on your work.”
From Gail Sideman:
“I would create a separate blog/blogs that speaks directly to
these two audiences (physicians and attorneys). Share thoughts
and tips in posts and, at the end of those, post links to
information about your training programs.”
From Sophie Wajsman:
“Why not contact organisors responsible for finding guest
speakers at major conferences for doctors or lawyers? You might
offer to perform a small role play based on a real life topical
situation (you could easily find something appropriate through
your local or national media).”
The Publicity Hound says:
Using a social networking directory like Ning, look for niche social networking
sites for doctors and attorneys. I did a search for doctors and found 282
social networking sites for docs! Not all will fit your target
audience, but this is a good place to start. Hand-pick a half
dozen of the best sites and spend some time at the discussion
boards.
Read all the answers to this “Help This Hound” question
Send your own Help this Hound question and include your city and state.
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6. Help This Hound
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Karren Jeske, APR of Milwaukee, Wis. writes:
“My friend is an emerging fine artist in the Washington, D.C.
area.
“He was recently featured in Elan magazine, a publication that
showcases talented North Virginia artists. The magazine included
a photograph of one of his paintings on the magazine cover and
included photos of six more inside.
“What are some creative ways that my friend could leverage this
fantastic publicity? He has a few solo shows coming up in the
next few months.”
The Publicity Hound says:
I have three ideas.
–As I explained in item Number One above, Animoto lets you
create videos from your pictures and images and puts them to
music. It’s a fast, easy way for artists to create videos from
their artwork. People can’t steal the images. Ask the magazine
for permission to include the cover within the video. Then create
a video and upload it to the video-sharing sites with relevant
tags. Learn more about Animoto.
–Tell your friend to follow Publicity Hound Alyson Stanfield, an
art marketing coach.
–The 2009 smARTist Telesummit, hosted by art marketing expert
Arianne Goodwin, is now available as a product. Alyson and I
presented separate sessions, and we were joined by an amazing
line-up of art experts who gave hundreds of tips on how to turn
an art hobby into a career.
Hounds with other great ideas can post them to my blog.
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7. Hound Quote of the Week
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A groaner, but kind of cute:
What do you get when you cross a chili pepper, a steam shovel and
a chihuahua?
Hot diggity dog!
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8. And at My Blog…
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Joan, how is it that I’m just now seeing this. Thank you for your kind recommendation. It’s an honor coming from you!