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June 30, 2006
Tips For Using People Photos That Get Results
Want to use a picture of a person in your marketing? Here's how to make your choice.
Psychological and marketing studies tend to reveal similar results, which state that when you choose a picture for an advertising or publicity campaign look for: (Please don't consider this sexist or get offended, it's what the data says)
- A picture of a woman (men prefer pictures of women, women don't care, pictures of women win)
- Mid to late 20's (something about the age your mother was when you first saw her - things get real Freudian here...)
- Attractive, though not necessarily sexy. Sexy turns women off, attractive appeals to both men and women.
- Dressed nicely, but not sexy. Same rationale.
- Smiling lightly, though not toothy grin. The best pictures are the ones where the model looks approving, like they're happy with you, not hitting on you, more motherly "I'm so glad to see that you're home!" looks that make you feel loved
- Ideally her body should be turned to a bit of an angle to the camera
- Most important - her eyes should be looking directly into the camera. The eyes are important. There's something, particularly in men (eye-tracking research) that shows that our eyes are drawn to eyes that are looking at us. So a model looking into the camera (especially if her body is turned slightly so it appears that she is having to work a bit to look at the camera, tying back to the previous point) draws your eye to hers. Side point here - really focus on the eyes in your pictures. It's possible to look at the camera without looking into the camera lens. You want them focused right on you. My friend describes it as "looking deep into your soul."
In short, study your possible pictures carefully. You should feel your heart do a slight leap when you see the right one. If it does, you've got a winner.
Posted at 08:50 PM
What's That Again? How To Have A Long Marriage...
Here's an announcement about a 40th wedding anniversary:
"Mr. And Mrs. Ron Tennell of Flat Rock are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. She is taking a trip to Europe while he will be gambling on a riverboat in southern Indiana."
Isn't it nice to see a close couple? :<)
Posted at 06:57 PM
New Program Simplifies Online Advertising
Those of you who have been in contact with me for awhile know that I'm a huge fan of pay per click marketing. It's one of the greatest marketing tools currently available to generate huge numbers of targeted potential buyers to your webpage or online sales letter.
One of the keys to success in pay per click marketing is running your ads on thousands, and in many cases, tens of thousands of keywords.
This strategy not only results in less expensive click traffic, but higher quality customers at the same time, because those who search for more specific keyword combinations tend to be farther along in the buying process than those who search for the generic term that describes the category.
Though this is a powerful, results-generating strategy, it comes at a huge price - the time required to sort though huge lists of keywords, culling out those that don't apply, and putting them into logical ad groups for keyword advertising.
Frankly, to do this process right costs between 5-10 hours of mind-numbingly frustrating work. Seriously, you can't hand-process keyword lists for more than about 20 minutes before your eyes start crossing and every line starts to look about the same.
As a manager of a number of high-powered, huge, expensive campaigns, I've done my time, spending far too many late nights slogging through yet another list.
If you've ever done it, you know exactly what I'm talking about...
So, you can imagine my excitement about two months ago as I talked for the first time with a guy I met on a pay per click teleconference named Richard East.
In that phone call Richard told me about a new program his team was creating that was designed specifically to handle the challenge of sorting through huge groups of keywords for pay per click and/or page-building programs.
Posted at 04:25 PM
June 29, 2006
Removing Fear Through Effective Public Relations
I like my neighbor, with one small exception - he raises pit bulls. He's got 8 of them, with 3-4 rotating in to live right next door all the time.
Justified or not, the entire neighborhood is scared of them, with parents being unwilling to let their kids play outside unsupervised (a first in my small subdivision.) My wife's terrified of them, and if she's outside when he lets them out to do their business she goes inside until they're done.
It's even gotten to the point where calls have been made to the police several times by various neighborhood members for various infractions.
So I admired the way he pulled off a public relations coup this week.
Most of the neighbors were out enjoying a summer evening (hey, when it's too cold to go outside for much of the year, we Northerners take advantage of every nice evening we can get!), watching the kids play and enjoying parental conversation, when the neighbor walked out of his house carrying a laundry basket onto his driveway.
That attracted a few eyeballs. But when he reached inside and pulled out a 10" long, 4-week old puppy, it took just a few minutes before the entire neighborhood was gathered around, and each of the 8 puppies had someone cuddling it.
They were awfully cute puppies and they did what puppies do naturally - they captured the hearts of everyone.
As I was holding the puppy, I mentioned to him that I should get my wife to try to remove some of her fear of the pit bulls. He not only thought that was a good idea, but told me to take a puppy to her. A few seconds later, my wife was right in the midst of the cuddle session.
It's been interesting to watch my neighborhood ever since. Each night, the puppies come out, and everyone gathers around. Barriers are being broken, fear is being reduced, comfort is increasing.
Posted at 09:12 AM
June 28, 2006
Our Favorite Online Press Release Distribution Services
One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is which press release distribution service we recommend.
First, let me make a distinction. We have found that there are two types of press release distribution services.
- Ones that get your release out to lots of different sites on the web.
- And those that get your release into the hands of print and broadcast reporters.
Frankly, we've not been able to find one service that does well with both. Either they do a good job online, or they do a good job reaching reporters, generally not both.
This article will focus on the only one we've found that does a reasonable job of doing both at a reasonable price. In future issues we'll discuss some of our other favorite tools.
The service is called The Yearbook of Experts and it's one of those gems that few people know about, but really seems to work.
The Yearbook of Experts provides you a number of services, just one of which is a press release distribution service. You get:
- A profile in the printed Yearbook of Experts
- A profile in their online online ExpertClick directory
- Inclusion in their Power Media BlueBook and CD-ROM and online access to their database
- Training in how to use their service
And, the part you've been waiting for
- The ability to send out releases and articles through their NewsReleaseWire.
Posted at 05:10 PM
June 26, 2006
What's That Again - Please Drive Safely
A recent study designed to measure whether people perceived men or women to be safer drivers came up with an interesting answer:
"As a passenger, I feel safer with:
35% a male driver
23% a female driver
42% other"
What's an other? Apparently, whatever they are, they drive really safely!
Posted at 02:09 PM
June 23, 2006
Two Messages For Each Issue? What's Going On
About a year ago we tried an experiment. After sending out our regular full-text message, we have been sending out a short message titled "GreatPR Latest Issue Is Now Online" containing a URL link to an online archive of the newsletter.
We sometimes get asked why we do that.
It's simple. Our test showed that a large number of people actually read our issues through that link rather than the full-text message.
We have two theories. First, that, because of our long-winded nature, some people's filters stop delivery of the full newsletter, so it's never received.
Second, some people prefer to read it in a web browser instead of their email program.
Whatever the reason, that's why we do it.
So, if you, as many people tell us, are one who drops everything and reads each issue as it arrives, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. To you we say, "go ahead and delete the GreatPR Latest Issue Is Now Online posts as they come in. You don't need to read them.
Thanks for your loyalty and interest! We love our subscribers!
If you're not a subscriber yet, we'd love to have you.
Posted at 03:49 PM
June 19, 2006
What's Your Backstory?
One commonly overlooked tool in the publicity-seeker's toolbox is the backstory.
Backstories are the "story behind the headline", the history, the background, or even the anecdotes that give life to an otherwise dry story.
They're a staple of prime time news shows and they're what you see in almost any sporting event, when the camera cuts from the game into the story of the life and history of one of the players.
And they can be a powerful tool for getting publicity for your company!
The key is to recognize that every company, product or situation has a backstory. Your challenge is to convey your backstory in an interesting way.
And backstories can be multi-level, each the source of another article.
For a doctor, a backstory could be created around:
- The experience that made her want to enter medicine
- Experiences from her medical school training and residencies (filled with Grey's Anatomy-type experiences)
- The story of the most difficult case she's ever faced
- Interviews with patients who's life she has changed
- Humorous situations she's encountered in her practice
- The story of a resident or intern she's mentored
- Stories of her staff, lab, and other co-workers
- How this busy doctor is also a gourmet cook (how about a Thanksgiving story about how the skills she uses in surgery can be used by the average homemaker to prepare the world's most succulent turkey?)
- Her daily life description, written diary style (4:36 am: Pager goes off)
Can you see how these types of stories could add to the public persona of a doctor much better than another press release about how she's added yet another doctor to her team?
Posted at 04:30 PM
Are Press Releases More Powerful Than Trade Magazines?
Yes, according to a study by Outsell of 7,000 knowledge workers. Previous studies showed that trade magazines were the most relied upon source of business information. But this most recent study showed that press releases now reign as the preferred source of business information.
Why? Perhaps because they're easily and quickly retrievable, they're less likely to be dated, and they fit into the daily lifestyle of today's knowledge worker, who, according to the study, now average 12 hours a week online, up by 1.1 hours from just a year ago.
What does this mean to publicity seekers?
1. The rumors that press releases are dead are far from accurate. Press releases still play a major role in communicating information.
2. Press releases need to be posted to online distribution sources, in addition to being sent directly to your targeted list of key media contacts.
Posted at 01:02 PM
June 16, 2006
Getting Publicity For Alternative Product Uses
I'll never forget the day that someone taught me the exploding balloon trick.
Now this can be dangerous because it involves a caustic substance and fire. Consider yourself warned.
Basically, you put a couple of inches of water in a glass pop bottle (note the word "glass"), add a quarter cup or so of lye, crumple up a piece of aluminum foil and drop it in. Then take a large balloon and carefully fit it over the mouth of the pop bottle.
Over the next 20 minutes or so, the balloon should fill up with the gas generated by the mix. When full nigh to bursting, take the balloon off, and close it off with a clothespin. It should not only float in the air but rise. If it doesn't, stick another piece of tinfoil in the bottle and put it back onto the bottle to fill some more.
If it does rise, tie it closed, and add a 3 foot long fuse made of toilet paper by taping one end to the balloon.
You now have the makings of a very effective prank. Our favorite trick was to go upwind from a campfire surrounded by young impressionable girls (teenagers are so stupid sometimes, I was definitely one of them!), light the fuse, and set it aloft (making sure there was nothing between us and the campfire that would catch fire from the burning fuse). If the fuse was measured correctly, the balloon would erupt into a ball of flames over the campfire, just after you were able to sneak back into the group.
It was always good for a 20 minutes of laughter.
Posted at 01:23 PM
June 14, 2006
Great PR Tips on PublicRelationsIdeas.com
If you haven't been over to PublicRelationsIdeas.com lately, you've been missing some excellent two-minute tips that can help you to get more publicity. Recent posts have included:
Blogs - Business building tools!
Use letters to the editor to gain publicity
When to say "no comment"
Weather - How To Tie Into It!
In-flight magazines - a huge publicity opportunity!
How long should online articles be?
The real job of press releases
Ever heard of the dark pages?
Your website is safer than a news release
Making people believe your side of the story
How to deal with people who post complaints about you online
Your best weapon in crisis: get this weapon now so you're ready when it happens
Pitching talk show producers
The easiest way to make the news
The secret to knowing what reporters are researching
Plus, we've added a very cool new feature. The top right corner of every page features a signup box where you can register to get alerted by email each time a new tip gets published. It's a great way to stay up to date and to ensure that you never miss a tip.
Of course, if you wish, we also have an RSS feed built in, so you can read it in your newsreader.
Posted at 03:50 PM
