Generating positive press coverage should be a goal for any business. Publicity is an effective marketing tool that creates awareness and drives sales. Three key benefits of good public relations are:

1. It’s generally less expensive than advertising.
2. Since it usually comes from a third party, it’s credible.
3. It can greatly enhance your company’s reputation

A few tips to keep in mind:

• When you send a press release, make sure it’s newsworthy!
• Consider your target audience. Think like an editor or a TV news director.
• Stand out from the crowd by sending something different and creative with your release — but make sure that whatever you send is relevant.
• Create a “halo effect” by tying into local charities and community events.
• Maximize the Internet. Send e-newsletters, e-zines or start your own “expert” blog.
• Follow up with the media after you’ve sent your release. Be persistent without being a pest.

For most small businesses, all marketing is local marketing — as it should be. But even if your company is regional or national in scope, it’s a good idea to “go local” to select, targeted communities. The keys to effective community marketing can be summed up with three guidelines:

1. Get local: target your marketing efforts down to the neighborhood level
2. Get involved: participate in the community to generate visibility and good will
3. Get personal: as much as possible, market on a one-to-one, face-to-face basis

• Use local city-specific Web sites and local portals

City and town Web sites, as well as local versions of major portals, are growing in number and popularity.

• Use local search engines and directories

Make sure you’re listed with local search engines and city-specific directories.

• Set your Google ad to appear locally

If you operate a local business and advertise on Google, you can target local customers only.

Recently, TheOnlineVideoGuy.com conducted a brief, informal survey among approx. 200 solopreneurs. The objective of the survey was to determine online marketing trends and how solo entrepreneurs and service professionals are using their websites in their overall marketing efforts. The final section of the results follows:

Do you plan to use any of the following web-based marketing tools?

69% Add/Embed Video on your site
64% Streaming Video
46% Audio Podcast
33% Video Blog
32% Traditional Blog

Have you ever uploaded a video to the Internet?

79.3% No
6.9% Yes

If the following web resources were readily available to you, which would you use? (Respondents could choose more than one)

80% Online video production
36% Help adding existing video to my website
36% Podcast production
24% Other (audio services, audio acrobat, video training)

Recently, TheOnlineVideoGuy.com conducted a brief, informal survey among approx. 200 solopreneurs. The objective of the survey was to determine online marketing trends and how solo entrepreneurs and service professionals are using their websites in their overall marketing efforts. An executive summary of the results follows:

What is your greatest (current) website need?

32.1% Ability to add audio or video to site
32.1% Other (traffic & conversion, marketing support, add cart)
21.4% Site upgrade or redesign
17.9% E-commerce capabilities
17.9% Web copywriting

What types of online marketing tools do you typically use to promote your business? (Could choose more than one)

80% E-Mail marketing
68% E-Newsletters
36% Teleseminars/Webinars
32% E-Courses
16% Podcasts/Audio Downloads

Do you currently use any of the following web-based marketing tools?

56% Traditional Blog
23% Audio Podcast
19% Video Blog
19% Add/Embed video on your website
9% Streaming Video

ONLINE MARKETING SURVEY RESULTS

Recently, TheOnlineVideoGuy.com conducted a brief, informal survey among approx. 200 solopreneurs. The objective of the survey was to determine online marketing trends and how solo entrepreneurs and service professionals are using their websites in their overall marketing efforts. An executive summary of the results follows:

How important is your website in your overall marketing efforts?

78.6% Very important
21.4% Somewhat important

What are the key goals of your website?

45.2% Build a database or opt-in list
22.6% Sell products/e-commerce
12.9% Promote your company

Here’s our final post-production tip in this series:

Once you’ve edited your video, it still needs to be encoded and compressed to make it “Internet-friendly.” Video files can be enormous, but compression software shrinks the video file size so it plays more smoothly on the Web. Remember to save or export your file to an online-compatible size, which is 320 X 240 resolution; and compress it so it’s under 20MB, if possible.

Be sure to save your video file in a format that most video sites accept, such as a Quicktime movie (.mov), a Windows movie (.wmv) or Flash (.flv) file. QuickTime Pro (for Windows or Mac) is ideal for compressing your video and transferring it to whatever file format you prefer (Windows, Flash, MPEG). If you think you’re going to be creating a lot of videos and uploading them to the Web, then the QuickTime software is the best $30 bucks you’ll ever spend!

Another tip for post production!

Never underestimate the power of music.
Sound is a very powerful storytelling tool. Your background music or voice over will convey the tone and mood of your video. Make sure your music supports and adds to your message, and doesn’t distract. And, by the way, don’t forget that little thing called “copyright!” You can’t just use any song you happen to like. If you’re using a Mac, you may have the amazing program called “Garage Band” (or in some cases “Soundtrack”) that has all kinds of music themes and samples that you can use or assemble to your heart’s content!

Part 4 of our post production tips…

Avoid jump cuts! Use your B-roll.
Jump cuts are jarring, obvious cuts that appear when you’re shooting the same subject or scene and you cut during the same sequence. This is why it’s always good to get some “B-roll” or background footage that you can “cut-away” to. If you’ve got B-roll, you can use it to “cover” your jump cut, so no one ever sees the jarring transition. B-roll would be, for instance, a nice shot of the product you’re demonstrating that you can use while you’re narrator is talking about the product.

Here’s another post production tip…

Less is more!
Closely related to the above… You’ve probably got a lot of materials you can use in your video: Still photos, music, title graphics, etc. Use the stuff that moves the story along or communicates your message. No more, no less. If you start throwing in photos, and music cuts and graphics that don’t flow with your message, your viewer is going to get confused or overwhelmed and tune out. Use the tools that tell your story… and keep it simple!

Entire volumes have been written on the finer points of “non-linear” editing, so we won’t try to re-invent the wheel here! Editing can take years to master, but you just need a few basic guidelines to get your video ready for the Web. Here are the key points to keep in mind, whether you’re using the relatively simple iMovie, or a high-end editing system like Avid:

The best editing is the editing that the viewer doesn’t notice!
Just because you have all kinds of cool effects and transitions at your disposal, doesn’t mean you should use them all! Cheesy effects are the mark of an amateur. 95% of the time, your transitions from clip to clip or scene to scene should be simple cuts or dissolves. Forget the forward, backspin, 3D effects for now. Stick with tried and true, simple, subtle effects and transitions.