Need Walk-ins? Use Chalk

Issue #810 April 19, 2014
Publisher: Joan Stewart

“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

In This Issue

Need Walk-ins? Use Chalk
My Best Canva Graphic (Free)
5 Steps to Paid Speaking Gigs
Hound Video of the Week

This Weekend in the Hound House:

p>If you’ll be with the kids or grandkids this Easter weekend, they’ll get a kick out of the LOL Funny Egg Jokes/Yolks board on Pinterest. Lots of super-cute eggs, egg faces, egg jokes and related stuff. Sort of make me wish I still colored Easter eggs.

1. Need Walk-Ins? Use Chalk

If you rely on walk-ins to increase business, attract attention with colorful chalk artwork, or just a simple message written in chalk on the sidewalk in front of your building.

That’s what the Java Dock, a coffee shop in my town, does.

They and many other stores are also using small sandwich board type signs near the curb. I like the Java Dock’s because somebody inside is an artist and they make the lettering explaining the homemade soup of the day so darn eye-catching that I can see it from the road when I’m in my car.

Consider:

–Pay a local high school kid who’s artist to draw a pretty message on the sidewalk to bring in customers.

–Have one of the kids shoot a video of the artist in progress and share the video online.

–Share photos and videos of the artwork on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and other social sites.

–Pray it doesn’t rain.

Here’s a fun Pinterest board loaded with ideas for sidewalk chart art, some so elaborate and simple they’re brain-bending.

2. My Best Canva Graphic (Free)

On Tuesday, I mentioned Canva, the mostly free graphics and drop-dead-easy program that lets you create stunning illustrations for your blog, website or social sharing.

Check out the graphic I created, in less than 30 minutes, that leads people a blog post I wrote about how Google+ groups are more important than LinkedIn Groups.

I shared it in the crowded and super-smart Google+ for Small Business community. Eight people shared it and 17 people gave it a +1, which is similar to a Like. I know for sure that that content would NOT have been shared by as many people without the graphic.

The blog post, about 19 ways Google+ Communities can help grow your business, promoted Thursday’s webinar on How to Use Google+ Communities to Connect with Influential People. We offered it as a hangout, and it was packed with people.

One reason, I’m guessing, is because they saw the graphic on Google+, checkout out the blog post, liked the content, and decided to attend.

If you missed it, I’m sending the video replay on Saturday, along with bonus videos and a cheat sheet on how to format Google+ posts. You can order it right now and not miss a thing.

3. 5 Steps to Paid Speaking Gigs

Despite all the hoopla around social media, public speaking still remains one of the top ways to promote your expertise, generate free publicity, build your business and attract clients and customers.

You can gets lots of clients from both free and paid speaking gigs. That’s exactly what I did 17 years ago when I started my business.

But you don’t have to speak for free forever. Once you understand the speaking industry, you can set a fee and get it–but only if you know your content cold and are better than most of the other speakers in your niche.

Four speakers–S. Renee Smith, Rob Pennington, Jason Frenn and Gaby Cora–all make a healthy six-figure income from speaking. And they’ll share their best tips on how you can, too, when Steve Harrison interview them during a webcast at either 2 or 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, April 22.

Register for the free event and learn “5 Easy Ways to Get More Paid Speaking Engagements Whether You’re A Beginner or An Experienced Pro.”

You’ll learn the truth about working with speakers bureaus, how to turn radio/TV interviews into paid speaking engagements, what you must know about speaker contracts, and how to get paid well when you speak at churches or other places that say they don’t have a budget.

Even though the call is free, I’m one of Steve’s affiliates and earn a commission if you buy anything from him.

4. Hound Video of the Week

Thanks to Christine Buffaloe, my assistant, for this video of cute puppies. By watching it, you are earning money for dog adoptions in New Zealand. The more views on YouTube, the more money YouTube makes off of ad revenue. YouTube shares a portion with Pedigree Adoption Drive.