8 DIY Publicity Tasks You Must Do Now

If you are in business for yourself, you must do every task necessary for your business. That includes everything from photographing your clients to taking out the trash. You don’t get to pick and choose what you want to do; instead everything is equally important when it comes to building a success business.

Which means every business owner must be a self promoter too – unless you have the ability to pay someone else to do it. If that’s not you, spreading the word is your task. Not to be confused with marketing, publicity gets others talking about you. And while many people think publicity comes with age – only the more established, more profitable companies need to worry about publicity – in fact its great to build your PR plan as early as possible.

Here are some ideas to help you develop a strong publicity program.

1. Choose what media outlets you would like to be featured in

What do you want out of your publicity? Are you trying to prove your expertise? Or are you trying to attract new clients? People look to articles in magazines as more authoritative than those that place ads. If you’re in an article, you must have something to say. Find a few sources where you would like to be featured and start gathering contact information. In order to pitch an article, you’ll need either a writer/reporter or the editor, depending on the size of the publication. Make sure you get contact information: names, email, addresses, web addresses. In many cases if you head online, you’ll find specific information for submitting ideas. I keep an excel file filled with this information, so its easy to create things and get them into the appropriate hands immediately.

2. Use resources like HARO

Want a great way to get to reporters looking for you? Try out a service like HARO – Help A Reporter Out. Sign up for their free service and you’ll be put on the mailing list in which you’ll receive emails three times a day listing opportunities. Follow up on the ones that you connect with and will bring you in potential exposure to your client base. While you can start with their free service – I’ve been using it for years – they also have pay models in which you can build profiles, filter your alert and even get a head start on responding. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Publicity Tagged With: DIY, marketing, PR, press release, publicity, self promotion

3 Tips For Getting Your Photography Studio In The News

by Virtual Photography

News is changing. When was the last time you actually picked up a hard copy newspaper? And statistics show the younger you are, the less chance of that actually occurring.

Just because the method for getting the news is changing doesn’t mean the necessity for news events is changing. In fact “news” articles are needed more than ever. We no longer have one newspaper for one community. There are dozens of tools and resources that write up and look for news related content on a daily basis.

Yet if I were to ask you what you are doing to attract the attention of editors and writers for these sources, I bet your answer would be “Ummm…”

Let’s break it down, and look at ways you can start growing your business by using publicity, and find resources that will make your job even easier.

1. Know your budget.

Don’t you hate it when the first question out of a potential customer’s mouth is “How much for an 8×10?” Yet that same question is relevant in every industry.

Before you move forward and look for resources in the public relations industry, you have to know your budget. Can you afford to hire a publicity firm? Can you hire people to write press releases for you? How about hiring a virtual assistant to send things to editors and writers on a regular basis – and to keep you on track every month?

The only way to determine how much work you can have done for you is to determine how much you can spend.

You can also talk with more than one person in the industry, and get a better feeling for what is possible. Just because you can’t afford it now doesn’t mean you won’t be able to in the future. Learn what things are, discover the lingo within the industry, and research costs. Then put together a plan of things to do over the coming months.

When you are researching ideas, look for: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Publicity Tagged With: Photography Studio, PR, public relations, publicity

The Perfect Press Release For Photographers

by Virtual Photography

If you are new to owning your own business, you may not have discovered the magic of press releases yet.

Every single day, media outlets around the globe are in search of news. And because news shows seem to be increasing at a significant rate, they need that much more content to fill in the time slots.

While you probably won’t get top billing on a top broadcast, there are still many other ways to gain a little exposure for your business. A 30 second mention on a morning show, or a quarter page article in the living section of your local paper can bring in a ton of business.

But before you get excited about possibilities, you have to master the creation of the perfect press release first.

How To Write Your Press Release

In general, your press release (media release) should include:

Your business name
Your contact information
The date
An attention grabbing headline
Your news story outlined in short paragraphs, with the most interesting up front
Background information about you and your company

Your press release should be about one page in length, and should summarize the overall story you are pitching to media sources. Why should the media care about what you do? You can’t go with the simple or the boring here; journalists are looking for exciting, human interest stories that will be of interest to their readers or viewers.

Journalists receive dozens of press releases a day, and as you might guess, most of them end up in the trash. Their time is short, and they are looking for something to stand out above the rest, and motivate them to take the next step. So with that in mind, frame your story around something that you would find interesting.

A new photography business starting up isn’t interesting. But a new photography business who’s main client is a local rising rock band, and the photographer has followed them to several concerts creating the perfect look for their promotional pieces may be a great human interest story.

You have to put a twist on things, and get the journalist to care about what you do, and to get them to think their readers/viewers will care about it too.

As you are writing the release, write in simple language. Read the paper, magazine, or watch the show you are pitching to. Match your release to the language they use. For instance, a business journal is going to use different language than a local, hometown paper. Give them what they use. To help you write, remember to include: