When it comes to publicity, Joan Stewart is truly an expert. I consider Joan to be an expert’s expert. She is an amazing resource of knowledge about publicity. Thank you, Joan, for doing this guest blog post and for being a guest on my Blog Talk Radio show on Wednesday, March 14th at 11 AM/Eastern Time. I know you have lots of great publicity tips to share with the listeners and readers of this blog. -Howard- PS: Joan invites you to sign up and receive a free tip sheet, “101 Ways to Find Content for Your Blog”. You’ll find the link to the tip sheet in the blog content below.
By Joan Stewart, “The Publicity Hound”
Back in the old days, you were at the mercy of newspaper reporters, radio talk show hosts and magazine editors if you wanted free publicity to promote your business.
If they deemed your story idea unworthy of their time, you were out of luck. If you were fortunate, you’d have enough money to buy an ad. If not, tough.
Thankfully, those days are gone forever. You don’t have to genuflect at the altar of traditional media to tell the world about your business.
Today, the Internet offers opportunities galore for anyone to promote their own produce, service, cause or issue by becoming a publisher or broadcaster, even with no previous experience.
Here are three ways to do that:
Start Blogging
Blogging remains the very best way to start your media empire.
By writing three times a week or more, you’ll be filling your blog with valuable content that the search engines can find, so they can send traffic your way. The more you blog, the more traffic you’ll see.
The best topics are those that help readers solve problems. This positions you as the go-to expert. It keeps them coming back for more. And guess who they’re likely to call on when they need a product or service that goes into more depth and addresses a problem you’ve written about?
When I’m, the guest expert on Howard Lewinter’s Blog Talk Radio show on Blog Talk Radio on Wednesday, March 14, at 11 AM/Eastern Time, I’ll identify a major mistake many bloggers are making (I made it when I started and learned the hard way). I’ll also explain two opportunities you should take advantage of so your audience can stay in touch with you and buy from you.
I’ll also explain how to access a cheat sheet that you can use whenever you want to write but can’t think of a topic.
Many beginning bloggers whine: “I started blogging, but after two months, I didn’t get any traffic.”
So I ask, “How many times do you blog?”
“Once every few weeks,” they reply.
I rest my case.
— Special note and offer from Joan: Welcome friends of “Talk Business with Howard!” To receive a free tip sheet “101 Ways to Find Content for Your Blog” and my weekly ezine, The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week, click here. —
Create Videos For You Tube
When Google bought You Tube several years ago for $1.6 billion, it was screaming from the heavens, “Video is king.”
Indeed.
Today, the smartest businesses have their own YouTube channels and fill them with short videos that teach or entertain.
You don’t need expensive equipment or fancy lighting. I’m creating a video studio in an old apple cellar in my basement for less than $250, which includes the price of the camera.
During Howard’s show, I’ll recommend three cameras you can use, tell you which one is my favorite, and I’ll make some other suggestions for shortcuts you can take if you don’t want to get your hands dirty doing tasks like learning how to edit your own videos.
You can use these same videos at your blog and website.
Share Your Content On Social Media
LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter — otherwise known as the Big Three — aren’t necessarily for everybody. But just one of those sites, depending on your audience, can pay huge dividends.
On LinkedIn, for example, you can create your own industry group, lead discussions, answer questions, flaunt your expertise, and tower far above your competitors as the expert in your field.
On Facebook, your page can become the go-to destination for people who want to ask questions about a certain topic.
On Twitter, you can amass a huge following of people in your target audience and share bite-size chunks of advice from you and others. The more you share great content, the more people will return to see what else you know.
It’s worth mentioning, by the way, that many of teh journalists and broadcasters who work for traditional media are active on the social media sites. They’re looking for sources, identifying trends and reaching out to experts like you who they can interview.
Hope to see you on Wednesday, March 14th at 11 AM/Eastern Time on Talk Business With Howard on Blog Talk Radio with Howard Lewinter. Click here for a link to the show page. And if you can’t listen to the show live, the replay is always available for your listening convenience.
Publicity expert, Joan Stewart, shows you how to use free publicty from traditional and social media to establish your credibility, enhance your reputation, position yourself as an expert, sell more products and services, promote a favorite cause or issue, and position your company as an employer of choice. As a former newspaper editor, she has accepted and rejected thousands of story ideas, and she knows EXACTLY what the media want and how to deliver it to them. She is the author of four ebooks on publicity and is quoted in more than 60 books on marketing, public relations and small business. Joan is a prolific blogger at www.PublicityHound.net and also publishes the popular ezine, “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week.” She lives (and tries to stay warm) in Port Washington, Wis., with her dog, Bogie.