HOW WEB 2.0 PUBLICITY (HARO) CAN HELP YOU FIND A JOB OR PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS

Early in my blogging days, I blogged about Peter Shankman’s new project, HARO (”Everyone’s An Expert At Something”), which brings regular people & business owners together with journalists looking for specific people to feature/include in stories they’re working on.  At the time of my 1st YDM blog post on HARO, I didn’t really believe it would work, and I thought I would get tired of the 3 times daily emails…  Reporters pay for including requests in Peter’s emails, for everyone else, it’s free!  Be sure to read and follow the important terms, so that you don’t find yourself blacklisted by the service for grabbing reporter contacts or sending unsolicited press releases.  That would be bad.

What is good is Peter’s encouragement that if you feel like you should be paying to contribute to his project, you should simply make a donation to a local animal shelter and continue to further the good Karma.

After shooting off a quick note to a reporter Peter had identified as looking for stories about how people are job hunting in the weeks following the start of the economic crisis (late October 2008), I quickly forgot about HARO and moved on to tackle other Web 2.0 projects.  

Recently though, someone in my industy found me on Facebook and asked how I managed to get mentioned on MSN, and I had to go looking for the article, by Google-ing myself! As it turns out my quick note to the reporter was picked up by multiple blogs and job hunting websites for my initiative in deciding to take “the bull by the horns” and develop an in-depth knowledge of Web 2.0 & Social Media for integrating into agency brand campaigns.

This is also a great example of how a little bit of online publicity can mushroom on its own, from one media mention/quote to many other blogs and articles.

“I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of Web 2.0 as it relates to my industry,” explains Debbie Horovitch, a marketing and media specialist. She decided to start a blog and use its content as a virtual calling card, where she can show readers what she’s learned. 

“The results of my efforts are online for all potential employers. They can see that I am a self-starter, and understand business trends, opportunities and needs.”

Even last month, bloggers writing about job hunting in the new economy have seen some of the articles and continued to mention me by name, further helping establish my Web 2.0 calling card.

• The Zen of Blog “The New Media Way to Job-Search“
• Financial Matters by Vik Dulat “Start a blog and land a job“
• Wibo’s Weblog “Start your own blog“

CREATING WIN-WIN JVs & PARTICIPATING IN COMMUNITY OUTREACH HELPS SECURE CREATIVE SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR YOUR SME THROUGH HARD TIMES

What a great way to reach out to the local community and generate a personalized showcase of your best work - gives me all sorts of ideas for my soon-to-be business!

Spider host’s recent press release outlines the how the contest winner will be selected - sounds to me like the business who can demonstrate an “astounding transformation” opportunity for their selection & judging panel (and no, I’m not suggesting you trash your website just to win the contest!):

Wall Street Journal Weekend Market Watch posts Spiderhost Worst Website Press Release:

Contestants in the Orlando area can enter athttp://www.spiderhost.com/crappiestwebsite; those in the Tampa Bay area can enter at http://www.jallanstudios.com/crappiestwebsite. Spiderhost will pick one winner from the Orlando market; J Allan Studios will pick one from the Tampa market.

WANT TO KNOW WHAT REPORTERS AND JOURNALISTS ARE LOOKING FOR?

There’s a new service I just found and signed up to try out - “Help A Reporter Out” connects journalists with thousands of people around the world who MIGHT be able to provide them the exact information they are looking for to include in articles and reports (and potentially generate press coverage for your business).

According to Peter, you’ll get a few emails each day with press queries.  If you know exactly what they’re talking about and would like to “Help A Reporter Out”, respond to the reporter and see what happens.

Follow the clearly outlined rules that include: no harvesting reporter emails and no responding to reporters with non-relevant info (both only waste everyone’s time & might result in you being purposely ignored by the press)

Should be fun!  I’m looking forward to seeing how often the requested subjects are relevant for me and also how quickly I tire of 2-3 emails daily (especially if the subject matter is way out there for me).

A triumphant SNL performance like I haven’t seen in years.  Adele really took charge of the performance and blew away the room!  On such a Stars & Politicians loaded episode, a great performance can really boost awareness levels, especially at a time when the broadcast can reach so many people!  

It’s been at least 6 months since I’ve purchased anyone’s full CD on iTunes, but I have an ‘enjoyment factor’ system I use to determine if a $10 CD will be worth it to me.  Even at 3am I wanted to Turn It Up! Adele’s YouTube video! (3:41 sec)

What does this have to do with marketing?  Its a great example of getting the brand (in this case, Adele) right into great media channels.  With everyone jumping on their soapboxes, SNL is becoming a ratings star, making this a great way to get extra publicity for her business.

How to include your business content in media (on a small-business scale)?  If there is a blog you read often, offer to write a blog post that ties Your Unique Expertise to what the blogger would describe as the blog content theme.  

OUTREACH NEWSPAPER IN DIRE NEED OF RECOGNITION AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT

The response to this Micro Ad Agency idea has been overwhelming already.  

Thank you to everyone who has helped get me here (even if I may not have been able to recognize it at the time).

Lets keep it going.  I was hoping this morning to really give my cashFLOW a serious boost (I’m setting up this business hopefully to the financial benefit of everyone) - so I stopped and picked up a copy of the old Toronto standard, the OutReach newspaper.  I have been off from being an “employee” for nearly 6 months now, so I feel like I’ve settled into my current financial catastrophe and learned to see some opportunity and benefit in the experience.  So I felt giving what I could $3, instead of the $1 cover price, might help our finances flowing.

To be honest, I haven’t bought a copy in years (probably at least 5), but it felt good to give a small amount to help out, especially at this time of year and in my life. Well, it turns out that perhaps I can offer them more than just my $3 support - it looks like they are having a serious need for some support, and if you’d like to help them out, I am sure they would appreciate you purchasing a copy today, on your way home for the long weekend.  

Or if you are so inclined, volunteer to help Robert Callaghan (the wears-all-hats publisher of Outreach) with this business, by offering your services, skills, knowledge or network connections to help support Toronto’s OutReach connection.  

Is there a business, marketing, media, communications or PR student

or interested person also willing to help out?  

His front page article clearly is asking for assistance of any type - fundraising ideas, donations, or even volunteering time to help layout, grammar & spell-checking, editorial content suggestions/feedback, content submissions that would be beneficial to the paper, Robert and you (is your business doing something to help people who are homeless, or at risk?).  

Can you do anything in services or finances to help? I am confident that if he’s a reasonable person, he’ll be happy to help you out in kind.

I’ll update this post with links and more info if Robert has any clarifications to make after I speak with him!

email: outreach.connection@gmail.com and please let him know you heard about him from

[Your] Director of Marketing!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!