What is a blog?

January 30, 2009

A blog is a dynamic website that you can get up and running without basic internet skills. No webmaster or IT professional is needed to begin. There is no need to worry about fancy servers that you need to update and maintain. When people ask how they should begin to get their feet wet with social media and say things like “should I make a brand new website?” I tell them, “No, start a new blog instead”.

Spending thousands of dollars building and revamping a website makes me cringe when I know that a blog site is likely able to provide them with 90% of what they need to get started interacting with social media. Entries on a blog are quick and easy to do, major search engines are able to pick up and index them within hours and you don’t need to know a single tag of HTML. If you have any difficulty, ask any 14 year teenager for help!

Use the pressuite.com media-marketplace to publish your news stories and send a link back to your blog. Use your blog to talk about your latest news release and link back to pressuite.com. Link both up to your existing website. Traffic and media awareness will go way up!

In these economically challenging times, don’t spend money on a new website. Instead, register for a blog at WordPress, LiveJournal, or Blogger and get started!

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Posted by cleanpix

Marketing with connectivity (part 3)

January 30, 2009

For the next several weeks, the CEO of CleanPix, Nelson Vigneault, will be sharing his thoughts on “Marketing with connectivity”.

BUSINESS LEADERS LEAD ON MARKETING

Typically with these clients, we have noted a business organizational shift from compartmental divisions between PR/marketing/communications toward a business model, where communication is more integrated and concerted. These shifts do not come from IT but, rather, through executive decisions addressing directly the purpose of marketing. Simply said, marketing in Social Media is not about computer networks, it is about people networks. In these models, for example, a photo collection is no longer the domain of a gate keeper, but is instead viewed as a live asset that can be pooled and tailored instantly to meet the demands of communicator teams, whether PR , marketing or media relationists.  We note that the BEST RESULTS, in posting news, come from quite brief (single focused) and targeted stories/headlines. One journalist user said it best when she said, “we want the seeds not the tree” — meaning: not several pages or even a page-long newsletter, but a news brief consisting of a few lines of text with pertinent and press-ready photos.

Check out part 1 of this series
Check out part 2 of this series
Check out part 4 of this series

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Posted by cleanpix

Famously Hot TRIO from Columbia SC

January 29, 2009

sc-hot-trio-copyNicole Smith, Mandi Engram, and Kelly Barbrey, of Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports & Tourism graduated from CleanPix online coaching with the greatest honors. That means getting famously HOT media attention for the Midlands Authority, following the posting of only a few consecutive briefs on pressuite.com

WAY TO GO!

“We’re excited to be using this for press releases and all of the PR capabilities!”
says Mandi.

Columbia SC brief: www.pressuite.com

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Posted by nelsonvigneault

PR on a Dime with Shawne Duperon

January 29, 2009

shawneduperon1Well known America’s “gossip” expert and EMMY® award Shawne Duperon hosted (January 28/09) a brilliant, live luncheon in Calgary for the Canadian Marketing Association on how to get free press and tons of free publicity.

Among many tips on networking with the media, including a musical chairs marathon she had all of us participating in, here are some key elements that particularly got my attention.
Shawne stressed:

• PR with the media is a person-to-person relationship = know and polish that relationship.
• Be brief with your press release to the media = a few points.
• Refrain from sending email attachments = do not create WORK for the media.
• Tailor your pitch as a spin on current events and no stuff outside their interest.

The first statement that she pinned all her presentation on brought cheers in the room. It went like this: In these turbulent economic times, it is time to get busy and get creative with your PR and marketing skills and efforts. That was music to my ears.

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Posted by nelsonvigneault

Three Cheers For Visit Florida

January 28, 2009

Through social media networks many of us were contacted and urged to write letters to our governor, state senators and congress. It worked. I was proud to be a small part of it.

Yesterday, Governor Charlie Crist signed the revised 2008-09 budget passed during a special legislative session earlier this month. Governor Crist also exercised his authority to veto line-item budget items, restoring $90.9 million in general revenue funding to preserve Florida’s investment in many critical areas including economic development. In doing so, he fully restored the $9.9 million cut to VISIT FLORIDA.

Today was a huge victory for our state and our industry. Thanks to all of you our message that “the tourism industry is part of the solution, not the problem” resonated loud and clear in the chambers of the legislature and in the executive office of the Governor.

P.S. The weather here today is sunny and in the mid 80′s. Time to be a tourist!

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Posted by geraldhoffman

SMART photo captions are plain SMART

January 28, 2009

Amongst one of the biggest fears for a journalist is to misquote or make an error in naming a location, event, person etc. As a result, more often than not, a journalist not able to confirm the identity of a picture will simply refrain from using an illustration and may simply decide to move on to publish another story altogether. In short, “your great photo is not worth a 1000 words” to the media unless an identifying caption is provided.

What makes a caption:

- One sentence: (25-50 words)
- 4 words : Location, Object (or person), Date taken, Picture provider
- Optional: Instruction on copyright. (ie. if you want it to appear with publication)

What makes a GREAT caption?

- Adding some zest and pizzaz to your caption (20-40 words).

Here is an example on adding “LIFE” to a caption.

The ordinary caption:
“Hockey goal and skating ring on Lake-Louise, winter scene.”

The Zesty caption:
“Located in the winter wonderland of Lake Louise in the Rockies, despite its frosty appearance, it has become the hottest site in town as staff and clients from surrounding hotels join for a casual evening of hockey. By far, the best evening fun in town.”
(Lake-Louise, Canadian Rockies. Hockey ring. Photo: N.Vigneault)

If you have a better idea for a zesty comment, let us know!

The point to remember is that if you have a great shot with no caption, journalists likely will not use it. If the picture is THAT awesome, someone may use it but without the proper information (linked to you) and this will simply negate your promotional effort. If your picture has no caption, the smart thing right now is to make one and then polish it later when you feel creative.

Embedded Metadata

While this is technical in nature, it is good to be aware that modern systems and applications are able to read a myriad of information (text) that gets embedded into many different kinds of files.

When a photo is downloaded from a proper digital asset management system like the CleanPix service all of the metadata you entered in for that image will be embedded straight into the file. This includes caption and copyright. This same information is viewable from the “View Caption” button on our website. Top media outlets such as L.A. Times, Condé Nast Publications, Stern Germany, Paris Match (to name a few) source this embedded metadata regularly. Editors and journalists have contacted us to verify information if it is missing. With the proper metadata included with your photo, it can be sent all over the world and journalists will not hesitate to use your photos with their stories and link them to you.

Leave a Comment » | Captions and Copyright, CleanPix Tools, General, Great ways to use CleanPix, Photography, Tips and Comments | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by cleanpix

Traffic On Sanibel Island, Florida

January 27, 2009

I drove out to my bank on Sanibel for a meeting yesterday. I ran into bumper to bumper traffic on Periwinkle way going both ways. The shops and restaurant parking lots were full to the max.

What Recession? People still seem to be taking a vacation.

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Posted by geraldhoffman

Marketing with Connectivity (part 2)

January 22, 2009

For the next several weeks, the CEO of CleanPix, Nelson Vigneault, will be sharing his thoughts on “Marketing with connectivity”.

REVISITING THE 4 Ps OF MARKETING

Long-established newspapers find it hard to attract advertisers. Is the automotive industry, amongst the largest players and supporters of this medium, also rethinking its effectiveness in reaching targeted audiences? The new reality is that a large sector of the audience gets its news neither from the papers nor even from TV, but from the Internet instead. TV anchors advise, “To find out more, go online”. Obama placed advertising in Xbox  games, courting an important sector of his audience right where they are located. Some say, “traditional advertising is dead” and it may well be. But one thing is for sure: journalism is thriving in the Social Media arena. It is a question of attitude, a definite shift in culture. Creating feeds is the new art and it comes with a magical twist: In Social Media, the audience is now also author — users control the content through full “LIVE” interaction with the information. In turn, this also implies that the traditional 4 Ps of marketing need revisiting (PRODUCT, PRICE, PLACE, PROMOTION) and consequently so do the tools and methods for reaching an audience, or rather I should say “participating with” the audience.

TOOLING FOR THE DIGITAL WORLD

Despite the fact that having a solid asset management service was paramount for our clients, the CleanPix team soon discovered that using it simply as a tool for photo management was not sufficient. The need to act as a seamless visual support for getting our clients’ news out, in a concerted effort to foster media relations, was why the asset management service was created initially. Subsequently, what was critical was the creation of tools to enable our clients to tap into the Social Media space and they needed to do this while making rich media files available on demand.

We did it. Pressuite.com is effectively a bridge to Social Media. Clients who use pressuite.com in that fashion get unprecedented results, for a fraction of the cost of conventional means.

Check out part 1 of this series
Check out part 3 of this series
Check out part 4 of this series

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Posted by cleanpix

Marketing with connectivity (part 1)

January 15, 2009

For the next several weeks, the CEO of CleanPix, Nelson Vigneault, will be sharing his thoughts on “Marketing with connectivity”.

From every side we are hearing the dreaded words: “budget cuts”. This is not all bad news, but certainly an indication that world economy has changed both suddenly and drastically. From a marketing perspective, it means that money is severely restricted for … just about everything.

For reliable results, one needs proof of ROI (return on investment). The problem is, to some extent, that the practices of marketing and PR deal with so-called “soft” measurables — built over time, from a combination of repetition and message consistency.

As a result, when the lack of measurable returns derived from classic tactics combines with steeply rising costs of delivering the message via traditional means, a new breed of SMART is definitely needed — or at least, a new business model — to promote business in challenging economical conditions.

SOCIAL MEDIA: A NEW PLAYGROUND OF CONNECTIVITY

What are the avenues one can take and what are the tools one could use? Certainly a good pointer is the success of the recent Obama campaign. One word comes to mind: CONNECTIVITY. Connectivity is a type of viral information dissemination where the recipient gets involved in enhancing the story path. This, in itself, keeps the news fresh, but best of all it ensures it is READ/VIEWED. Social media is probably the richest, yet least tapped source of connectivity.

The one thing we all have in common is a product or a program to sell or to promote. The unshakable certainty of classic print and TV mediums as the means to reach markets is definitely questionable. The way in which audiences are sourcing content is reinventing journalism. SOCIAL MEDIA is becoming the new playing field. Revamping websites for tens of thousands of dollars, budgeting a mass-media brochure distribution or orchestrating a PR strategy that does not prioritize Web connectivity may be decisions that require serious reconsideration.

Check out part 2 of this series
Check out part 3 of this series
Check out part 4 of this series

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Posted by cleanpix

Report tool metrics and success score

January 14, 2009

Pressuite Publishing:
A campaign on pressuite.com is intended to be directed toward a pool of media professionals. Journalists generally wish their search for press releases and photos to remain anonymous. Because of this, only the number of views and clicks are recorded.

If a request is made on a “Rights Managed” Weblink that is attached to your story, the identity of that person will of course be made available to you. This information is not available if you attached a “rights free” Weblink.

E-list Campaign:
Comprehensive details of all individual views and clicks are provided for each list campaign directed to the media from the moment the campaign is launched. To access, click on [E-LISTS] and select the name of the campaign for which you need info.

The measure of success:
Our statistics demonstrate unequivocally that CleanPix clients that post short and original stories (one or two paragraph newsbriefs) at least once a week (and some do 2 or 3 per week) regularly get media calls. It appears that consistency in participation is key, this means publishing NEW newsbriefs week after week.

What has changed?
Over the past year we have noticed a significant gain in the amount of repurposing of stories (made by our clients) on pressuite.com by the general media. It is our belief that this increase is due to a combination of 3 factors:

1) The resurgence of better web outlet journals
2) The wish for the audience to deal interactively with the news and
3) Perhaps more critically, the departure of paid advertising in the conventional print media due to economical stress

That said, journalism is absolutely thriving on the internet. The latter makes pressuite.com a perfect bridge for our clients to enhance media relations in an active way, and for the media to get a rich pool of story ideas as they are being made.

Tourism Case Study: COURTING the MEDIA
CleanPix is currently processing a case study where, in tandem with the advertising company, we are promoting a specific news event for a client. This promotion is taking place in both classic media advertising and through the web. From the online perspective we are also addressing communications to media professionals and buying specific sets of keywords & phrases targeting web-based news outlets. We are doing this all in a concerted effort to trigger social media interest. This venture is tricky due partly to the fact that most current methods of evaluation are rather conjectural in nature. The study can measure to some degree audience interaction with a specific news item but not how this interaction generates actual sales. Nevertheless, in this case study, we will be able to get a fairly accurate buyer count resulting from the campaign and differentiate the results of classic media from web media.

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Posted by cleanpix