No matter what type of business you’re in, you can’t beat the power of publicity for drawing attention to all that you have to offer. Whether you’re selling green tea, music or looking for more acting gigs, your exceptional products or services won’t matter if your target market doesn’t know about you. Simply put, it’s your opportunity to put a friendly face on your business/service and acquaint the marketplace with who you are and what you do.
The nightly news and daily newspapers are still here. But, they are evolving too. We understand that a media outlet has more than one avenue. Your customers can still find you by tuning in, or turning a page.
However, the added dimension of social media means they can also receive their news via tweet, RSS feed, a post or blog. Traditional PR channels still exist and we work with them every day. But the power of PR lies in understanding that more than one publicity opportunity resides within each outlet.
EOTM Public Relations is a innovative and aggressive PR firm that delivers results. Regardless of your industry, we understand that you need to have your story told by the media in order to build awareness… and more importantly… drive sales. Let us help!
Email pr@eotmradio.com or call 213-290-3573 for a free PR/Marketing consultation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJJ7z2RhDtc
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Free PR Tip – from the Twitter Publicist — Follow @EOTMPR
PR Tip #43 – Smile or Fail
When you go on a casting call, turn on your energy — turn it up! Smile, exude confidence. You’re selling something, remember — the laws of attreaction — what you put out, you will get. Act like its yours and claim your prize!
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PR Tip #44 Dedicated to the Indie Artists — As I said before, you don’t need a record deal to “make it” in the music industry. The industry has changed and that is no longer the absolute measure of your success. You can define your own success.
As an Indie artist, you don’t have anyone telling you what to play, how to dress, how to promote your CD, which songs to sing or who to socialize with. It is all about you and your creativity! Financial freedom is one of the most wonderful things about being an independent artist. You can come up with all types of music promotional ideas about how you market your music and what you do with your profits. Spend the most amount of time on your first album. Take full advantage of every musician resource out there. First impressions are everything so you want this first one to be great.
Spend your money wisely. Don’t go crazy with studio time and rack up tons of bills. Try to work out any problematic areas before you go on the studio clock.
Don’t skimp on the manufacturing of your CD. You want to make sure you release a good product no matter what.
Schedule your own tour. You want to build an incredible fan base because they are the best musician resource out there. Your fans love you but they will also be honest about your music and shows. If they don’t like something or something is not up to their standards, they will let you know.
Lastly, never underestimate the power of the Internet when searching for music promotional ideas on how to promote your CD. The Web is your friend and that is where the Independent artists make the most dough. Start using all aspects of social media. The opportunities are endless so take advantage of every single one of them.
These are just a few music promotional ideas and tips that I can offer you. Feel free to contact me directly – I offer free pr and marketing consultations – email: pr@eotmradio.com or call 213-290-3573.
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More PR TIP’s from the Twitter Publicist aka Carla B
Click here to read my blog on Artist Development —
The media loves drama! Write letters to the editor that are bold, emotional, engaging and even shows a controversial viewpoint.
Your Publicist is the first EYE of offense…
Your Publicist is the first “eye” of offense to the media and is a crucial resource in gaining the largest possible audience for your film.
PR is the catalyst between those who want to say something and those who want to hear it, ie. between the film makers, the media and ultimately the consumer. Often producers will go to their PR agency with little understanding of the market or at whom their film is aimed. At
EOTM Public Relations firm we instill a dose of realism in the producer about the market and how, and at whom, their film should be pitched.
When EOTM takes on a new project they connect with it, seeking out the film’s strong identifiers, and hones that message so that the film’s back-story is an understated part of the film viewing experience.
Contact EOTM today for a free consultation regarding your film. 213-290-3573
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Branding for Beginners
Branding started because manufacturers wanted their merchandise to be distinguishable from the competition. This is still the case today, even when brand owners don’t necessarily make the product. Branding now often carries cart loads of psychological baggage and this perhaps reflects the high values top brands can command.
Ten Things You Should Do
- Legal protection. Ensure that the key brand symbols, including logo’s, colours, sounds and, where significant and possible, packaging are trade mark protected in all countries where you operate or may extend into.
- Be different. You must know why your brand is different to competitors and alternatives. This difference must have real value for the customer if the brand is to have any meaning and real brand value (equity).
- Brand values and personality. These are critical to brand positioning. Think values for serious products – quality, integrity, value for money and so on. Think personality for consumer products – fun, friendliness, and so on.
- Research perceived values. Ask your customers what they most value about your brand and what associations it has for them.
- Look at alignment of values with your projected values. Check that the brand values you project are in tune with the brand values the customer has.
- Remember whose brand it is. Your brand exists in the heads of your customers. In a psychological sense it is their brand, not yours.
- Currency and relevance. Review periodically whether your brand image is still in tune with where you want to be in the marketplace.
- Have a brand policy. Intangible though they may be, brands are a key asset of the business. It is important to have a policy for their protection, investment and development to maintain their levels of recognition, goodwill and relevance.
- Think about different brand dimensions. Most brands are there for customer recognition – they are customer brands. However, the company also has other stakeholders such as current and potential investors who are interested in the corporate brand, employees are also stake holders who will seek and see different values in the brand.
- Consider brand balancing. Are your product brands consistent with your company brand. Consider playing the transfer market if you have misfit brands that would be of value to someone else. Also consider brands you could buy that would fit your portfolio?
Five Things You Should Not Do
- Don’t neglect investment. In a dynamic environment, with lots of messages, unless you speak for your brand, its share of voice and mind share with customers will fade over time.
- Don’t corrupt the brand. Respect and uphold brand values.
- Don’t overextend the brand. Projection of an existing brand into unrelated areas can weaken overall value and cause customer confusion.
- Don’t tolerate encroachment. If it looks like a real case of passing off, take legal action.
- Don’t throw away brand value. Established brands may represent a cumulative investment over many years. Needless re-branding means this value is lost and you start again from ground zero.
Social Media Strategies to Get You Through 2011
Social Media is huge, 940 million people use some form of social media on a daily basis.
With a global community of this size, I’m going to put my neck on the line and say that most consumer brands have an online strategy for 2011.
Let’s discuss Facebook —
It is always trying to improve the user experience, both for individuals and brands. In the last six months or so Mark Zuckerberg and his staff have rolled out numerous changes, so I wanted to highlight how five of the major developments should be affecting how brands use Facebook.
Facebook Pages
Facebook recently changed the Pages format to better reflect the profiles of individual users. Besides looking more aesthetically pleasing, the changes provide new opportunities to be more active and collaborative.
Page administrators are now able to use Facebook as both a brand and as individuals – by simply clicking “Use Facebook as XXXX” page administrators can contribute relevant content and conversation on the pages of other brands and individuals.
This is not an invitation to spam people with content. Doing so will only damage your brand anyway.
It is, however, a much needed additional functionality that gives brands the ability to interact with people across Facebook, not just on their own page. Granted, there are definitely still some issues Facebook needs to iron out with the new format but this change will significantly alter how brands can use Facebook.
Facebook Sponsored Stories
Sponsored Stories is a clever development that bridges the gap between Facebook Ads and friend activity updates.
People are far more likely to interact with a piece of content or a brand if they see that one of their friends has done so. They trust their friends far more than an advert next to their news feed. While Facebook Ads has clear benefits in terms of targeted marketing, it’s still more effective to grow an active, valuable community organically. This gives brands the opportunity to do both.
With Sponsored Stories, when someone likes a page, piece of content or checks in to a location, brands can now pay to have this appear in a “Sponsored Stories” box in the profile side bar of everyone who is friends with that person. If someone then clicks through and likes the page or piece of content, this activity is featured in the profiles of their own community, and so on.
Facebook Groups
The new Facebook Groups is primarily a tool that allows individuals to have private, specific conversations without flooding their friends’ news feeds with irrelevant chatter. It’s also provided companies with an opportunity to engage with their communities in new way.
The option to create closed groups means administrators of brand pages can identify key community members on their page and invite them to join a focus group discussion away from the wider community. This could focus on a product, event or even what content would be more interesting on the brand page.
It is also a way for companies to engage with their staff on Facebook. Events companies can use it to canvas availability for certain events, HR departments can use it to promote internal training sessions or social activities, and sales teams could even use it to update each other on how different leads are progressing.
Essentially it gives brands the ability to have specific, private conversations with select groups of people that goes well beyond simply geo-locating page content.
Facebook Contents
Facebook has recently unveiled its new Comments service for blogs and websites, and it’s something both brands and agencies should take note of.
The great thing about the new Facebook Comments platform is that if someone comments on an article on a website and opts to share this on Facebook, when someone responds in the Facebook thread it appears both on Facebook and under the original article. Facebook Comments is a great tool for a brand to manage article feedback on its own company blog, while also increasing the level of conversation about the company on Facebook.
It all hangs on adoption though – if no websites use it then the real benefit of the Comments platform won’t be realized.
Real-time Facebook analytics
A brand’s Facebook page means nothing without the information that tells page administrators exactly what your community is doing and how exposed your brand is. Facebook insights is great in terms of tracking activity on the page itself. Facebook recently announced that it’s launching a new “Insights for Websites” tool. It allows administrators to track how many times a Like button on a website has been viewed, how many times it’s been clicked, the number of times people have seen the new Comments boxes and contributed, as well as drastically improved community demographic & content sharing analysis as well.
These changes will give brands unprecedented insight into how Facebook is benefiting their business, both on Facebook itself and around the web.
Hope this helps!
The Twitter Publicist is only a phone call away — dial directly and request your free marketing/pr analysis.
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