Category Archives: Publicity

Marketing For Metal Bands

Publicity

I am in a metal band in Sacramento CA. We have a CD out, and we have some interest in other cities like Reno NV, but we obviously want to go farther. We are on Facebook, and there are a ton of like for like pages that help us get likes, which helps us get our name out there. But we want to do something more than that. Obviously there are ads that we can purchase, but do you have any ideas on how else to get the name out there? We have shirts, and stickers, as well as a full length CD. We have a .com, and we have the facebook page. We have limited money to work with, so I am looking for something that is cheap and effective we can do that will help us get some fans. We are called Steel Savior.

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Jay’s Answer:  Improve your videos, to give people an inspired feeling of what it’s like to hear you live. As for getting known, try by doing something different: volunteer for Make-A-Wish performances or in the SF Bay Area Bread & Roses. That’ll help spread your humanity. As for increasing your fan base, empower your fans to help you with more than “likes”. Can you have a private VIP concert for your fans? Or, find someone to play/sing with that’ll stretch you both musically (and increase your audience reach as well)?

Need A Name For A Very High End Pinot Noir Event

Names + Taglines, Publicity

I am on the Board of Directors for Russian River Valley Winegrowers, a non-profit organization that markets and promotes the Russian River Valley wine region in Sonoma County. We are planning a very high end event and are having trouble coming up with a name and defines the event. The event is a full weekend of wine dinners, seminars, a Paulee event and ending with a Pinot Noir barrel auction, dinner and live music. We would like the name to represent the past, present and future of Pinot Noir in Russian River Valley, but also touch on the exclusivity of the event (only 300 tickets to be sold for the auction event) and create buzz on the scarcity of the tickets.

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Jay’s Answer:

  • Pinot: Past, Present, Future
  • Russian River Pinot Insiders
  • RRPP: Russian River Pinot Party

Promoting A Racing Team

eMarketing, Publicity

i am entitled with a work its to promote a racing team on Facebook. My task is to put interesting stuff in the fan page something like have competitions for fans and award them. Currently i worked on too many pages and i am out of creative ideas. So can you suggest me some interesting competitions for fan out their on Facebook which spread the words to others too.

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Jay’s Answer: Why don’t you simply “share the win” with your fans? Every time your team wins, a random FB fan will get a prize (autographed team jacket, etc.).

2 Billboards Next To Each Other

Publicity

I have just launched a PC e-shop.My company rented some billboards to advertise it, 2 of them are next to each other. My question: is there any tips or hints how to take advantage of this? I mean, is better, if I use them as one field, or make them different…?

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Jay’s Answer: If people will be seeing the billboards in sequence (walking/driving down the street in the same direction), then you can use a repeating theme or a connecting message (such as “Still waiting for your PC to reboot, again?”). If the billboards are for different directions of travel, then simply reinforce your message.

Best Ways Of Promoting Courier Service In Dubai

Publicity

We are into courier service & wants to know the best way of promoting our business & improving our sales. Is newspaper advertising or through pamphlets or through online medium, but preferably which would be the best advertising medium to improve sales.

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Jay’s Answer: Are there a lot of other companies that already perform courier service in Dubai? If so, how do they promote their service? How would you be different/better than they are?

Who specifically would you target? Why would they need your services (instead of using an electronic service)?

Mattress Sales Headline

Publicity

There is a furniture company, focused in the Northeast, that within the last few years has expanded their mattress selection. They carry all the big “S” brands plus some memory foams. We are trying to come up with some verbiage on an 8X11 display that will draw the customer into the mattress gallery. The sign would be going on vignettes (sofa, loveseat and chair), probably on the end table…any help/suggestions would be much appreciated!

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Jay’s Answer:

  • Getting Sleepy?
  • Put More Excitement In Your Bedroom

Speak With Passion: Ending Your Talk

Creative Business Ideas, Publicity, Speak With Passion

Ending your talk

(Photo by SCA Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget)

Imagine you’ve just given an amazing talk. It was well-paced, full of great stories, with no technical difficulties, and you received standing ovation. But if you didn’t built in a call to action, your talk will be relegated at most to “something entertaining” instead of “something life changing”. Why?

A call to action is the one step you want the listener to take after hearing your talk. The mistake most presenters make is assuming the audience will know what to do after hearing their talk (go to their website, buy their book, join their support group, volunteer for a new non-profit, donate to a named charity, or make a lifestyle adjustment). But unless you spell it out, people won’t make the leap. Since people are used to being entertained, if you want your talk to be life-changing, you need to tell people how to change their lives. It doesn’t have to be a big next step – in fact, the smaller the call to action is, the more likely people will take the first step painlessly.

Without a call to action, people are unlikely to remember your talk for more than a day or so (no matter how great it was). With no built-in way to keep the “thinking going”, you’ve given a one-way presentation, and not started a dialogue. A dialogue requires active participation of two (or more) and moves people from passive listeners to active participants.

A call to action also has the bonus of measuring how inspiring your presentation was. If you get 50% of your audience to join with you in doing something new, you’ve achieved a great deal. To build a movement, you need troops. With measured results, you’re both able to gauge your effectiveness and provide data showing that what you’re doing matters.

If the goal of your talk is to change lives, tell people exactly how to start their own life-changing experience with a call to action.

Poster Bikes?

Publicity, Starting Out

We run a street marketing service in the Bay Area- distributing flyers, posters and postcards and we are considering adding bikes with poster trailers.The bikes pull a small trailer that has a two sided poster board standing vertical. It would be mobile and travel throughout the city. Does this seem like a service that would be of value?

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Jay’s Answer: Why not simply test market the service? See if people notice, and the call-to-action on the signage works. If so, you’ve got something that’s easily explained to be effective.

So I Have A New Blog…Now What?

eMarketing, Publicity

What is certain to totally wreck a blog?
-or-
How can I dodge the pitfalls of blogging?

Any assistance will be gratefully appreciated.

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Jay’s Answer: I’d suggest to research what your target market is searching for (using a free tool like https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal), and then using these searches to inform your blog article content. That way you’re creating a way for the right people to find you.

Measure your traffic and see what articles are more popular.

Encourage a discussion of your findings to the visitors.

Ensure you can spread your thoughts in a social media environment that your prospect’s might more easily stumble upon including LinkedIn or Facebook.

Name Our 3 Charity Events

Publicity

We are creating an event. Grapes & Ale in July at Progressive Ball Park in July. The grocer that is sponsoring has asked that we co-promote with 2 other charities that they sponsor. Ours is Grapes & Ale…A Benefit Celebration of Fine Wine, Blues, Brew and BBQ! October: Beer Week to benefit The Jimmy Malone Scholarship Fund and November: World Series of Wine to benefit WVIZ/PBS.

We need to come up with a tagline for Heinens the Grocer that supports all three charity events  that they reach out to the community. Something clever….Heinens asks “us” the charities to come up with way to co promote each event as well.

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Jay’s Answer: It’s a bit tricky to come up with an umbrella name since there’s not much to connect the 3 events other than “alcohol” and “benefits” – different months, different beneficiaries, and perhaps different venues as well.

Here are some off-the-top suggestions to play with:

  • (Heinens Presents:) Fun Events With Benefits
  • (Heinens Presents:) Drinking Has Its Benefits
  • (Heinens Presents:) 3 Toasts For 3 Charities