publicity

5 Small Businesses That Made It Big With The Help Of Reality Shows

Linsey Knerl — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:57:07 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/5-small-businesses-that-made-it-big-with-the-h...

Do you ever wonder about those business owners who get featured on reality TV shows? Whether they offer professional advice or nanny services, life is rarely the same for the real-life “stars” of these popular and additive docudramas. Here are five small business owners who can share just what being on TV is like, as well as their favorite piece of personal finance advice.

1. Linda Webb (aka “the fraud dog”), Contego Services Group

This expert in fraud is a major player in FraudDog.TV, a series covering the less-than-honest behaviors of individuals worldwide. While Linda admits that reality shows have a tendency to want drama and conflict, her business acts well as a team. She also gives this sage tidbit to anyone looking to make it big with reality TV: “I think it does bring exposure, and helps get publicity, but not as much as one would think. You still need a strong public relations marketing firm, and constant SEO optimization, with social media interaction.”

Favorite money tip: "Do your due diligence first and know who you are engaged with when dealing with money matters. There are a lot of fraudsters out there."

2. Candi Wingate, owner of Nannies4hire.com and Care4hire.com

Candi’s business Nannies4hire was a hit in the household of TLC’s famed reality television family Jon and Kate + Eight, which led to a big increase in brand recognition and a relationship with top media guru Dr. Phil. The show chronicles Kate as she searches for the right nanny for her kids, giving Candi’s business several mentions and an on-air display of one of her company’s nannies. While she cautions people to know what they are getting into with any reality TV contract, Candi shares that TLC was great to work with. “When you work with any celebrities, it is a plus in a business.”

Favorite money tip: "Don't forget to save for a rainy day."

3. Dave Levine, owner of CNV.com Inc (parent company of one of the largest online adult retailers)

Dave shares the full details of his experience on The Millionaire Matchmaker via his website (some text possibly NSFW), but even with the bad dating experience, his outlook in business couldn’t have been brighter. Knowing that he wouldn’t have the opportunity to mention his domain name, Dave got creative with a nickname to market his brand during the two episode gig. “They couldn't promise anything, but I figured there wasn't much down side. Turns out they did allow me to show some of my toys and talk about my business in a positive light so the risk paid off.” Regardless of your thoughts on the adult novelty industry, Dave has proven that reality television can promote your business and your personal brand.

Favorite money tip: "Gold has been a currency and store of value for over 2,000 years, and currencies not based on gold have rarely lasted more than a few decades. I suggest you use a brokerage like E*Trade as your bank account and hold your money in ETF GLD, which is gold. Then sell gold in chunks when you need to pay your bills."

4. Clint Arthur, author of What they Teach You at The Wharton Business School and president of Five Star Butter Co.

Clint of Five Star Butter Co. is no stranger to television, having been interviewed on several major news networks over the years. He also did a spot on Iron Chef, giving him quite the education on reality television appearances. He shares this sobering piece of advice: “You really have to know what you are doing. Once they have tape of you, they've got it and can do whatever they want with it. Practice being on TV as much as you can, get as much time in front of cameras as you can, and watch the tapes over and over to improve. Also have people critique your performances, especially PR pros.” Clint also credits much of his personal, professional, and spiritual transformation to the television experience.

Favorite money tip: "Your 'job' is to figure out how to get the money as fast as possible."

5. Leslie Haywood, inventor of Grill Charms

The high-intensity reality show Shark Tank was not a typical experience for Grill Charms' Leslie, who had lost her father just prior to taping. She lived through the experience, however, and encourages potential business stars to examine their motives for being on TV before they apply. “If you go into it expecting a certain outcome, you run the risk of tremendous disappointment. Instead, go into with the attitude that no matter what happens, this is an amazing opportunity and a once in a lifetime experience. And no matter what, try and HAVE FUN!” The upbeat and motivated Leslie is convinced that the level of success her business has would have been accomplished on her own eventually, but she credits the show for the amount of exposure she received on her small business budget.

Favorite money tip: "If you go one more day and don’t know what HARO is, you’re being lapped by your competition that does."

Reality television has truly changed the landscape of small business. Would you consider appearing if it could boost your buzz for little to no money? If so, here are some tips from the experts:

Dave suggests you check out sites that list casting calls for reality TV: Reality TV Casting Call, Reality Wanted, MTV's Casting Call, and Reality Blurred.
Try out for everything; think of the lesser shows as practice and a resume-builder for the more important ones.
Practice for TV by being yourself in front of a camera at home. Do you have annoying facial expressions or use words that would be a turn-off? You can’t change who you are, but you may be able to refine characteristics that could keep you off a reality show.
Find friends or professionals who work in the industry. Yes, reality TV is a BIG industry, and just like any other entertainment scene, networking can get you far — and fast!

This article is from Linsey Knerl of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

4 Social Media Strategies that Actually Work

James Clear — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 22:12:55 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/4-social-media-strategies-that-actually-work

As a small business owner, entrepreneur, or ambitious individual, I'm betting that you have at least thought about leveraging social media for your business. But how?

There are lots of ways, of course, but let’s start with four actionable steps you can take to find new business, generate more leads, and make more sales through social media.

1. Join a Group Discussion on LinkedIn

It's easy to overlook LinkedIn with all the fuss about Google+ and Facebook and Twitter, but the job and career site a very powerful network. In fact, the average household income is higher on LinkedIn than it is on both Facebook and Twitter.

Higher income means deeper pockets – and deeper pockets mean better customers.

One way to access the deep pockets on LinkedIn is to join groups related to your business and start answering relevant questions that are asked in the discussions section.

There are some groups on LinkedIn with over 100,000 members (browse the full group directory).

You can imagine that when 100,000 people gather together around a topic, a few of them have some questions to ask.

If you're the one providing answers to those questions, then it's a natural extension to send them a more detailed message with more information. With group discussion serving as the conversation spark, you might find yourself with a new client in no time.

2. Leverage the Answers Section of LinkedIn

Another wonderful place to find quality leads on LinkedIn is in the "Answers" section.

This area of the site is where people can ask questions about any topic. Other userss – like you – can then search those questions and provide answers. All you have to do is go to the search bar and select "Answers" from the dropdown menu. Then, simply search for a relevant topic.

For example, I just searched for the term "small business" and there are currently 132 open questions on LinkedIn for that term.

Let's say you're a small business consultant. Think about how powerful this feature is for you. That's 132 people who are actively looking for answers to their small business questions – and you could be the one to provide the answer they want.

As you can see, the Answers section has the potential to be a very high quality pool of leads for your business.

3. Twitter Search

Twitter has a massive audience of more than 200 million members. They also have a search bar right at the top of the screen. You would think that people would start putting those two things together and search Twitter like crazy for clients, but my experience tells me otherwise.

The real shame is that there are people on Twitter actively telling the world that they need help with problem X or issue Y. All you have to do is search for them and you’ve found a potential new client.

So how exactly does this unexplored universe of Twitter leads work? It's pretty simple. All you need to do is search for relevant terms in the search box.

For example, if you run a graphic design company, then you might search for "logo design" or "infographic" or "brand designer". Then, people who use those words in their tweets will show up in the results. It's not unreasonable at all to expect that someone might have recently tweeted, "Anyone know a good logo designer?"

4. Google Plus Circles

Google Plus – which is Google's just released social networking tool – is all the rage right now. Over 10 million people have received invites and joined already, and you can be sure that Google will be rolling the service out to everyone else soon.

The beauty of Google Plus is that it allows you to segment your communication efforts. Google Plus allows you to create "circles,” which are just groups of different people. You can put anyone you want into a circle and then send out a message to a specific circle, multiple circles, or everyone.

This is great for businesses because you can choose the specific people you want to target with your message.

Let's say that your business offers three products and you just built a great upgrade for customers of one product. If you let the world know about it on Twitter, you might reach a few of the relevant people, but many of the people who see it couldn’t care less.

On Google Plus, however, you could create a circle of customers for each product. You could then notify the relevant circle of people when you have a new product update, an upsell offering, or a new customer service feature.

Unlike most social networks, Google Plus offers a way for you to group your customers and then address each group specifically. More specificity means better messaging, more traction, and more sales.

The Key Takeaway

Social media, regardless of the network, is filled with people who have interests and passions, problems and pain points. They are just waiting for someone to reach out to them and lend a helping hand.

The methods might be different – groups, discussions, search, circles – but the approach is the same: use the strengths of each network to find people you can help. The strategies above won't always bring you a paying client, but you can be sure that the more people you help through social media, the more social media will help you.

This article is from James Clear of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Why Offline Marketing Still Matters

Annie Mueller — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 23:02:05 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/why-offline-marketing...

Offline marketing — you remember it? — used to be the only kind of marketing. Billboards, flyers, brochures, sales letters, direct mail, cold calls, marketing events, seminars, sponsorships, newspaper ads, magazine ads, giveaways, signs — those were all the old fashioned methods of building a brand, building relationships, building awareness, communicating with your customers and potential customers, and getting buzz on the street.

They were all common marketing techniques for small and large businesses, and they often cost a lot of money. Small businesses have, for the most part, embraced online marketing with a sigh of relief. For a smaller investment, they can reach a more targeted market and, often, have a better chance at tracking their ROI, which means they can make better choices about whether or not to keep investing those marketing dollars in the same places.

Does offline marketing even matter anymore?

Here's a scenario. You're looking for a new employee. You've got an expansive online network, lots of contacts in social media, a huge email address list, an active Linkedin account. You get social networking. You've put the word out that you're looking for a new hire.

You go out to eat with your family, and while you're there you run into an old friend. You shake hands, chat, and it turns out your friend has the precise skills you're looking for and is looking to make a job change. He promises to send you his resume.

The next morning you check your inbox to find a flood of responses from your online network: personal recommendations, Linkedin messages, emailed resumes. Oh, and there's the resume from your old friend, halfway down the email list. Which one do you click on first? Which one gets the most consideration? Which one has a draw, a personal connection that makes it easier to imagine hiring this person who sent you this resume?

Most people will be drawn toward the face-to-face connection. As great as social media networking is, as powerful as online connections can be, as many new doors as the Internet can open, the tangible reality of seeing a person in the physical context of your real, offline life makes more of an impression than a virtual hello ever could.

Does this mean your small business is wasting time and money with online marketing?

No.

The world of marketing is not diminishing and should not be divided into online vs. offline. Rather, marketing has expanded into a two-ring circus.

Online marketing provides many immediate ways to connect with a target market. It gives you a voice into new circles of conversation. It gives you the ability to meet people who otherwise would have remained unknown to your business. It provides instant connections, unlimited availability, and many ways to gather and track and respond to data. There is much to love about online marketing.

And online marketing, all by its virtual self, can garner a good response if done properly and consistently.

But if you're tired of seeing incremental number changes in your online marketing, you need to step back into the second ring.You need to make a tangible connection, and that's done via offline methods: a paper letter, a hand-written card, a physical product, a face-to-face meeting, something to be touched and felt and experienced, or someone to be met and talked with and remembered.

However advanced our technology might be, we still rely on direct methods of assessing value and trustworthiness. Your haircut, facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language might have a far greater effect on how I perceive you than do the actual words you say.

Online interaction removes many of those gauges we use to establish value and trustworthiness. A person's relationship with a business depends on how the person perceives the value and trustworthiness of the business.

If you limit the gauges by which people can establish your business credibility, you slow the relationship down. In some cases, you'll stop it altogether, because your business will simply get lost in the online roar. But when you couple online marketing with the tangible, offline interaction that we still need and crave, you boost relationship development.

When a couple who has met through an online dating service starts "getting serious," what is the normal next step? They meet in person, in the real world, in a place where they don't have to make judgments based on virtual clues which none of us are instinctively good at reading. It's the real-life meeting that determines whether the relationship will go forward or not.

Don't make the mistake of keeping your business relationships and your marketing virtual when a little offline work could move them forward, from connections to loyal customers.

It doesn't take as much effort in offline marketing – in terms of time or dollars – to make an impression. If you've already established some common ground via online marketing, then the offline efforts will have a foundation on which to rest. You can follow up with more online marketing, but you'll be following up with the strength you didn't have before: the strength of a tangible, personal connection, the same strength your old friend has behind his emailed resume merely because you shook his hand the night before.

This article is from Annie Mueller of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

How to Get Free Publicity

Heather Allard — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 22:39:40 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/how-to-get-free-publi...

Everyone knows publicity is good for your business. After all, publicity:

Creates buzz
Positions you as an expert
Brings traffic to your site
Skyrockets subscriber sign-ups
Launches the heck out of a new product
Drives sales
Increases brand awareness
Establishes authority & credibility
Builds your platform
And much more…

But let's face it, professional publicists are an expense most small business owners can't afford. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get great publicity — for free? Well, you can. All you need is a little time and a lot of desire.

Here are six ways to get amazing publicity that won’t cost you a penny.

Social Media

More and more, media outlets are using Twitter and Facebook to find great sources for the stories they’re working on. Is there a magazine or TV news show you’d like to be featured in? Chances are, they’re on Twitter and Facebook, and once you “follow” them, you’ll see awesome shout-outs for sources like you.

Help a Reporter Out

Like Match.com for reporters and sources, HARO provides publicity-hungry sources with hundreds of media opportunities each day. All you need to do is sign up, get your HAROs and start pitching.

Guest Posts

Get your business in front of a whole new audience by guest posting on other people’s blogs. Check out Copyblogger for 10 tips on how to snag a guest post on an A-list blog.

Press Releases

Despite what some PR people say, the press release isn’t dead. Writing and distributing a press release can announce news, launch products, tweak your SEO and help you reach the media. DocStoc.com has several free press release templates and Mashable.com lists 20+ free press release distribution sites.

Editorial Calendars

An editorial calendar shows the major editorial features planned for forthcoming issues of a newspaper or a magazine. Editorial calendars are traditionally used by the advertising department to sell advertising, but you can use them to increase your chances of getting featured in a publication.

Where can you find editorial calendars? Go to the publication’s website and look for a link or tab that says “Advertising” – it’s usually way down at the bottom of the website. Click on that and you’ll likely find rate information, closing dates and a “download editorial calendar” link. Download the editorial calendar and start hunting for publicity opportunities in the features they have planned!

Product Placement

Have you ever seen your favorite products being used in movies or TV shows? That’s called product placement and you can get your product placed, too! Sarah Shaw of Entreprenette has a genius free service called Instantly Famous Products that'll get your product on the big screen.

Much like HARO, Instantly Famous Products broadcasts queries from TV and movie producers looking for certain products – clothes, accessories, green items, food, bags, shoes, whatever. All you need to do is pitch your product and cross your fingers.

Publicity is a powerful way to boost your business. And as you can see, there are many fun and free ways to get it. So go get it!

This article is from Heather Allard of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: