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“

YOUR HOME OFFICE DECORATING STYLE CAN LEGITIMIZE YOUR BUSINESS & PERSONAL STYLE

by: Roslyn Ashford, Interior decorator, ra reDoes rooms, www.rarooms.com

A well decorated and organized home office helps to keep your ideas fresh, keeps the owner (you) efficient and legitimizes your business. While it is easy to get lost amongst the details (ie clutter) in an office, I want to encourage you to stand back look at the bones of the room – also known as your office.  

First – take a look at your walls.  Do you still like the color?  Does it inspire, or motivate or calm as you work in your office?  If not, consider changing it to a neutral beige or even a soft, calming blue or sage/green. You will need calm as you converse with clients and vendors on the phone,  or upload those new web photos for your website. Be careful not to select a color too intense – like strong reds and oranges – these are intense warm colors (your heart rate and blood increases in red rooms), and you may end up wearing yourself out!  

While you are looking at the walls - what is on them?  Do you have inspiring photos, visuals, vision board or calendar? If not, add them and make this space yours!  Your walls are valuable real estate in an office – don’t just put up boring non-inspiring pictures.  Add a cork or magnetic board for easy addition and removal of pictures, notes, and important articles.  Or add bookcases – great places to store books, pictures, and other necessary and decorative items.  Consider painting your favorite quote on a wall – to keep you motivated and personalize the space. I love the offerings at Words 2 Paint since they provide custom stencils for an sayings and allow custom sayings and words (great for unique business names). If you don’t want to paint, you can also try vinyl letters to adhere to your wall at Wall Words.

Next check out the lighting. Your office should probably have both general lighting and task lighting. General lighting can be in the form of a ceiling light (flood) that illuminates the entire room while task lighting is on desk for specific tasks – like computer surfing, or drawing designs or affixing labels on your latest direct mail campaign. This is one area where I consistently see people lacking – not enough light in the room!  Light it up! (picture of both general and task lighting in office shown)

The next major item is windows. Hopefully you have selected a room with at least one window to provide natural light!  Ever wonder why everyone wants be near the windows in a office building?  Because it connects you with the outside world!  Give yourself the best – window office and all!

Now that you have a window…don’t forget window treatments!

I am a fan of cordless honeycomb shades (shown here) or 2” wood (or faux wood) blinds for an office. I recommend the cordless feature on honeycomb shades because it provides a clean look and honeycomb shades provide great insulation, should you need that functionality in your office. The 2” wood blinds provide a classic, clean look, allow for flexibility during the day and are easy to maintain. If you have common sized windows (between 30-36”W and 48 – 72”H) you can purchase any of these blinds/shades cheaply from Lowes and Home Depot home improvement/hardware stores.  Other sizes will require custom order but don’t fret, companies like Smith and Noble provide a good number of color and style options for both products.

So why does all of this matter? The more intentional your office is, the more intentional your business becomes.  Pull your office together with intention and you will be proud of it.  When you are out with clients or vendors, refer to ‘my office’ rather than ‘my home’.  Notice how often someone responds with ‘Oh – you have a separate office?’ and you can tell it helps to legitimizes your business to others. Only you know the secret – the office is actually in your home!  

Please provide comments and let us know if you would be interesting in learning how to reduce office clutter in the next posting! 

Ra reDoes rooms offers edecorating services to savvy small business owners!  We will offer 10% discount on edecorating (on-line decorating) for every [Your] Director of Marketing reader in the month of November, 2008. Check out our site for more info – www.rarooms.com. Pictures shown are of real clients home office in the DC area.