But others are downright aggravating. Just a year ago, Facebook was one of our favorite networking sites here at EMSI – and, of course, around the world. But since going public, it’s constantly seeking new ways to make money, which makes it more difficult to get your message out for free, whether you’re trying to share vacation photos or to promote your business, product or book.

Some things, however, haven’t changed, including how you can use social media to build a bigger audience for all of your publicity efforts.

At EMSI, our team of social media specialists is led by Jeni Hinojosa. She writes and posts blogs and comments, and tweets updates, on behalf of clients to build a large, credible following for them. And she’s constantly developing new strategies for her team to build meaningful new connections for our clients.

I asked her to share a couple of the ways she has spread our clients’ messages and to give you a few tips for handling your own social media.

Jeni, by the way, has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology with a specialty in social media. She studied the “socialsphere,” how it evolved into its own subculture and how we interact with it. In short, she knows how it works – and she knows how to work it.

Here’s what she wrote:

People who casually use social media may send a few Tweets, update their Facebook status and write a weekly blog post. They connect with people whose content they’re interested in: family and friends, co-workers, fellow hobbyists, groups with shared interests or causes.

If you have serious goals, however, such as building an audience for marketing purposes, you need to do all of that and more. One strategy I use for our clients is generating “third-party conversations.”

Instead of simply posting on our clients’ own social networking sites, I visit blogs, websites and fan pages of people with similar interests. I comment on their content in hopes of engaging their audience in a conversation that ultimately brings our clients new followers and new traffic to their websites.

Here’s a for instance: We have a client whose message involves nature. She provided some great photos she’d taken, and I shared them on other sites with comments. The photos prompted conversations, and I stayed involved in the discussions. When it seemed appropriate, I shared a link to our client’s blog.

Another strategy I use is promoting our clients when they’re featured in traditional media, such as newspapers, radio and TV, which all seem to have an online presence. We recently had a client who was also on board for our talk radio campaign. I promoted her upcoming interviews to her friends and followers. Then I visited the stations’ websites for links to their Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. I joined the station’s networks, friended their friends, and plugged the upcoming interviews there, too, e.g. “I’m so excited to be chatting with host’s name here on Friday about topic here.”

As a result, this client made lots of new connections among the stations’ listeners.

These are all strategies anyone can use; all they require is time and imagination. To help ensure your success, here are some tips:

• Don’t over-promote yourself. That’s the No. 1 rule. People are turned off by those who seem interested only in selling a book or product. A good rule of thumb is to make sure at least half of your content is light, interesting, informative or fun.

• Don’t bury your followers in an avalanche of content. Limit Facebook and Google+ status updates and Tweets to three or four a day.

• Make friends with your rivals. People new to social media often regard those with similar content as rivals or competitors. Actually, these can be your new best friends. If you’re a baker and you promote Chef Shane’s cooking blog, he’ll likely tweet about the great chocolate cake recipe on your website. Become a partner in sharing with online personalities where messages are similar to yours and you’ll soon have a vast support network.

****

Don’t be surprised when your favorite social media sites change – they’re always growing and evolving. The good news is, you can grow and evolve with them!

And it’s well worth the effort. Getting the greatest visibility possible requires using all of the tools at your disposal: print coverage, appearances on radio and TV shows, and social media. If your goal is to reach a broad national audience, combining your publicity and social media will vastly expand exposure of your message and recognition of your brand.

Off to make some friends,
Marsha

That wasn’t the first great media placement for this client, a psychologist specializing in the emotional health of cancer patients and their loved ones. Less than four weeks into her print campaign, she had more than 35 placements, including five with circulations or views per month in the millions – that doesn’t include Better Homes and Gardens, which hasn’t yet published. It also includes a dozen publications with circulations of more than 100,000.

I’m sharing her story with you because it’s a great example of what can happen to anyone. Our client wasn’t famous and had never before published a book. But the media loved her message because it’s powerful, timely and appeals to a large audience.

Unfortunately, none of us can know for sure whether our message will fly out of the park until we get out there and start swinging. Will it catch the interest of the traditional media – print, TV and radio? Will it inspire followers and sharing on social media?

There’s no foolproof way to predict, but there are certain qualities shared by many success stories that you can use as a measure for a potential home run. We had a good feeling that our psychologist would do very well when she first signed on because she and her message had many of those qualities.

• She addresses a problem experienced by a large number of people. She isn’t talking just to people who’ve been diagnosed with cancer; she’s talking to their family and friends. Who doesn’t know someone who’s been affected by cancer? That’s a huge potential audience.

• She offers valuable information. If you’re not giving people real help for solving a problem, they have no reason to pay attention to you. Our client, who’s also doing radio and TV campaigns, did an interview that elicited this email to us from a show producer: “I want to express my gratitude for her sharing her valuable information with our listeners.”

• She has credentials relevant to her message. Our client holds multiple degrees, including two master’s and a Ph.D, in psychology, social work and related studies. She’s been working as a counselor or psychotherapist for more than 30 years. That tells the media she knows what she’s talking about!

Over the years in her pioneering practice with cancer patients and their families, our client developed effective strategies for helping these people stay positive and reduce their stress and anxiety. In her book, she shares many of these tools in compassionate, plain language.

We launched her print campaign on April 5 with an invitation to review her book. Almost immediately, a reporter from the Toronto Sun (circulation 1.2 million) requested an interview. That resulted in an article published April 18, which was picked up by associate papers across Canada. Three days later, Examiner.com (11.7 million views per month) posted its own article about her book.

Articles about her or her book have appeared in a number of mainstream publications, as well as some targeting her core audience. She was particularly excited about an interview request from Cancer Fighters Thrive, the publication serving Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

“She’s had an amazing start and that’s just what it is – a start,” says Ginny Grimsley, our print campaign manager.

Our client’s success has already opened up opportunities she didn’t anticipate. She’s launching a career as a public speaker, and she’s enjoying broadening her message to include anyone experiencing a painful, life-changing event. She’s gratified to be helping people far beyond the walls of her office.

This client already has had a wild ride, and it’s only just begun.

You can do the same thing if you zero in on the aspect of your message that offers the greatest value to the most people.

You’ll never know until you try!

- Marsha

As a media coach, I took note of all the things Ramsey did right, and shared some of them here on Wednesday. But there were some things he could have done better, and these are also great learning opportunities.

For the record, I know he’s not a media professional and this may have been his first TV interview ever. Kudos to him for doing so much so well.  I offer the following tips only because it’s such a great teachable moment.

1. Avoid distractions:  It can be incredibly difficult to focus on an interviewer while standing on a street surrounded by dozens of people, and it proved a challenge for Ramsey. Every time something distracted him, he dropped the thread of his story. As a media guest, you need to do everything you can to avoid distractions. The good news is that should be a lot easier in your circumstances than in Ramsey’s. If you’re doing a radio interview, go to a quiet room and close the door. If you’re on a TV set, avoid looking at all of the moving parts behind the cameras and focus on the host.

2. Know when to stop talking:  Right after the memorable sound byte I mentioned in Wednesday’s post, the reporter tried to end the interview.  Ramsey wasn’t having it, and he continued to riff like a comedian and talk over the reporter.  He could get away with that – he was the day’s top news story!  You can’t.  Don’t try to wedge another sentence or two in at the end because it will make you appear uncooperative and rude. (For the record, as a broadcaster, I would have let Ramsey talk as much as he wanted!)

3. Be prepared for what’s next (good or bad):  Charles Ramsey went viral.  Not just because of his good deed, but because of that WEWS-TV interview.  He was trending on Twitter for the majority of May 7th and was invited to do other interviews on national networks.  That’s great!  For you as a potential media guest, a great interview can lead to more interviews from other outlets.  Be prepared to be busy. Also have an action plan for any negatives that might surface as a result of becoming a household name. Within 24 hours of Ramsey going viral, a news organization published a story about his past criminal record. (Heck, Ramsey never claimed to be a saint and the incident happened years ago. I was glad to see public reaction to the news has been forgiving.)

Thank you Charles Ramsey for an interview that’s as entertaining on the 10^th viewing as the first.  And thank you for acting courageously when you heard a young woman’s screams. We can all learn something from you.

Click Here to read part one.

On Tuesday morning, most of us were already aware of the astonishing recovery of three young women kidnapped a decade ago and held captive in a Cleveland home. But not everyone in the office had seen the colorful interview given by rescuer Charles Ramsey who kicked in a door – “cheap door,” he said – to WEWS-TV.

About his neighbor, the accused kidnapper, Ramsey told the station: “He just comes out to his backyard, plays with the dogs, tinkers with his cars and motorcycles, goes back in the house. So he’s somebody you look [at] then look away. He’s not doing anything but the average stuff. You see what I’m saying?”

Our vice president for media operations, Alex Hinojosa, watched the Ramsey interviews with growing admiration for his spirited storytelling. As a broadcaster with more than 16 years conducting interviews, and a media coach for our clients, Alex couldn’t help but take notes.

“While we’re not all as naturally entertaining as Ramsey, there are some good and bad things any person doing an interview for any reason can learn from the news clips,” he said.

On the plus side:

• He’s a real person. I repeat this mantra constantly, whether I’m coaching for radio, television, or social media. Ramsey came across as authentic. Since radio listeners and TV viewers are naturally skeptical of guests at first, beware of acting phony. Be as genuine as possible so that media consumers become comfortable with you. Then they’ll be more receptive to your message

• He had great sound bytes. “I barbecued with this dude! We eat ribs and what not, and listen to salsa music! … There’s nothin’ exciting about him, [big dramatic pause] until TODAY,” Ramsey said during the interview. I can’t tell you how many phrases like that I heard repeated, but it was a lot. Why? Because they are memorable! Again, not all of us have the natural gift of being so quotable off the cuff, but you can work on creating a quality sound byte in preparation for an interview. Practice painting a picture with your words relating to your book, product or service as much as you can. Even better, can you keep it to 140 characters, like a Twitter post?

On the minus side:

• Distractions interrupted his great story-telling. I know it can be incredibly difficult to focus on the interviewer while standing on a street surrounded by dozens of people, but you have to try to tune it all out. Ramsey’s attention was diverted several times during the interview and, while that’s completely understandable for someone brand-new to the spotlight, show hosts won’t be so forgiving of their invited guests. If it’s a radio interview you’re doing, go to a quiet room and close the door. On a TV set, keep yourself from looking at all of the moving parts behind the cameras and focus on the host.

• He kept on talking. At one point, the reporter tried to end the interview. Ramsey wasn’t having it as he continued to almost riff like a comedian and talk over the reporter. He could get away with that in that situation. You can’t during your interviews. Don’t try to wedge another sentence or two in at the end because you won’t come across well. (For the record, as a broadcaster I would have let Ramsey talk as much as he wanted!)

Alex and I agree that Charles Ramsey scored many more positives than negatives in sharing his story. He was sincere and engaged the interviewer very intimately.

And, you’ve got to applaud a man who runs to the aid of a stranger, not knowing whether the bad guy will be coming around the corner any minute with a gun.

As we are learning Ramsey was no saint in the past, but he did a good thing on Monday. We hear all too often about passive bystanders who don’t come to the aid of people in trouble. He helped a stranger.

And then he told us about it in a way that made everyone listen.

Not only because of his incredible WEWS-TV interview, which quickly went viral, but more important, because he thought outside of himself to help a stranger. He did what he needed to rescue Amanda Berry and the two other women who’d been held captive for a decade at his neighbor’s home on 227 Seymour Ave. in Cleveland.

At EMSI Public Relations, part of my duties as Vice President of Media Operations is to media coach our clients. Having conducted thousands of interviews in my 16-plus-years broadcasting career, I know what makes audiences tune in – and tune out. As soon as I saw the Ramsey interview, I knew why it was getting so much attention on social media.

While we’re not all as naturally entertaining (or brave) as Ramsey, there are some things any person being interviewed for any reason can take away from the now famous WEWS-TV clip:

1. Be a person – I repeat this mantra constantly, whether I’m coaching for radio, television, or social media, as I did in this Computerworld Magazine. Ramsey came across as authentic. Since radio listeners and TV viewers are naturally skeptical of guests at first, beware of acting phony. Be as genuine as possible so that media consumers become comfortable with you.  Then they’ll be more receptive to your message.

2. Be sound byte ready – “I knew something was wrong when a little, pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms,” Ramsey said during the interview. I can’t tell you how many times I heard that phrase on May 7, but it was a lot. Why? Because it was memorable!  Again, not all of us have the natural gift of saying repeatable phrases off the cuff like that, but you can work on creating a quality sound byte in preparation for an interview.  Practice painting a picture with your words relating to your book, product or service as much as you can.  Even better, can you keep it to 140 characters, like a Twitter post?

3. Be passionate – It goes without saying that Ramsey was pumped up after his heroic act because of the enthusiastic way in which he told his story.  It could be argued he was a little over the top, but I think that’s what most of us liked about his interview. During your radio or TV segment – even if it’s at 6 a.m. – your delivery needs to be full of zeal.

Did Ramsey do everything right?

Not quite.

Later this week, three lessons we can learn from his mistakes.

In fact, 50 percent of book lovers change their reading habits over the summer, according to a survey by TFW, a lifestyle magazine for professional women.

That’s why so many publications, along with radio and TV shows, create summer reading lists. While some of these showcase classics, most are designed to introduce people to new books and new authors.

Are you on a summer reading list? If you’ve been waiting for the right time to market your book, be it fiction or non-fiction, adult lit or children’s stories, that time has come.

Bloggers, book reviewers, newspapers and magazines will soon be publishing their summer reading lists. Radio and TV talk shows will be sharing their favorite new authors. Voracious readers will be chomping at the bit for something delicious and new, and people too busy to read the rest of the year will be primed for some lazy self-indulgence.

According to that TFW survey, fiction is the most popular summer reading material. Mystery/thrillers and self-help books tied for second place. Business/money books came in third.

While most people still prefer a traditional book (65 percent in this poll), the numbers of e-book readers are climbing. That’s good news for those of you offering the option; 25 percent of respondents preferred Kindle to paper, or even to other electronic book readers.

If you want to take advantage of the summer reading warm-up and get your book into the mix, here are a few things you should do:

• Make sure your website’s up-to-date and prominently features your newest book. You must have sales copy on the home page – written by a professional, if possible – that quickly tells visitors why they’ll love your book. Make sure your “About” section includes interesting and relevant information about you, written in a conversational style, and be sure to include contact information.

• Start talking about summer reading on your social media networks. Get the conversations going by asking people to recommend their favorite beach books. Once everyone’s talking about plots, characters and settings, you can slide in a comment or two about your book. (Be careful – you don’t want to sound like the Fuller Brush man or the Avon lady!)

• Take advantage of local news outlets. Local newspapers, magazines, TV talk shows, etc. specialize in providing community news for their audiences – it’s the one thing people generally can’t find anywhere else. As a local author, you’re community news! Does your book have some special local relevance? If so, that’s a great angle to play up as you pitch yourself to journalists and show hosts. Are you active in a local writing community? Perhaps you can offer to share your own summer reading list — a synopses of five great reads by or about your community.

• Look for opportunities to get your name, book and website in the news. Reviews aren’t the only way to get your name out there. Come up with tips and story ideas that feature you as an expert and pitch them to newspapers and radio shows. For instance, if you write children’s books, email mommy bloggers, parenting magazines and features editors with five clever tips to keep kids reading when school lets out. (Tell them you’re available if they’d like an exclusive article, too.) If you have a novel set in British Columbia, offer travel editors five off-the-beaten-path things to do there. Look online for radio and TV shows that cover topics you might be able to tie into your book theme and pitch yourself as a guest.

• Make sure any publicity you get comes back to your website. Post links to any articles or interviews on your site to show visitors you’ve got the attention of the media. It adds to your credibility and trustworthiness, and it keeps that publicity working for you for weeks and months to come.

If you’ve been dragging your heels on marketing yourself and your book, don’t procrastinate any longer! You’ll never see as many people with books in their hands as you will in summertime – shouldn’t some of them be yours?

Of course this is what we do every day for our clients, and we’ll be happy to do it for you, too. If you give it a try and find you’d just rather lay by the pool with a good book, give us a call.

Happy summer reading!

Marsha

But she’d become suspicious of their strategies and canceled her contract.

Two weeks after she came to us, more than 1,600 of her followers disappeared between breakfast and lunch one day. A couple weeks later, nearly 900 vanished overnight.

Our social media strategists did some sleuthing and quickly developed a theory. Since all of the followers who’d apparently fled were those our client had gotten through the previous firm she worked with, they were likely fakes – dummy accounts or “robots.” Those are accounts that aren’t attached to real people, and they’re used to make it appear that someone has lots of followers.

Our client’s previous firm could have easily flipped the switch on these accounts, so to speak, and “unfollowed” her, perhaps as punishment for the canceled contract. If the accounts were manned by real followers, it’s unlikely the firm could have organized such mass disengagements in such short amounts of time.

I share this tale because fake followers have become big business. With prices starting at $1 for 1,000 followers, a business can easily earn upwards of $40 million a year selling them, according to a New York Times article published earlier this month.

Twitter seems to have the biggest problem because it’s designed so that one person can have multiple accounts, says Jeni Hinojosa, our senior social media strategist. More than two dozen services sell fake Twitter accounts, and now, you can buy bogus Twitter retweets, too. But other sites are also vulnerable. Facebook, for instance, had a problem with fake “likes,” Jeni says. Last year it developed an automated system for identifying suspicious accounts and getting rid of them.

What’s the harm in having fake followers?

What happened to our client, for starters. But it gets worse. When others realize a large portion of your following is fabricated – and they do! – you lose valuable credibility. Fake followers also defeat the purpose of social media marketing: They’re not real people who are going to spread your message and might eventually do business with you. Their only value is in making it appear that you’re popular …. Until you’re not.

If you’re doing your own social media, don’t succumb to the come-ons for cheap followers. Even if it’s just a dollar, it’s a dollar wasted – or worse.

If you’re hiring a company to help you build a social media following, here are some tips for ensuring you’ll get what you pay for:

Ask about their strategies. Do they build connections organically by seeking out people who have interests related to a client’s topic? Are they interacting with people in interest groups, and looking at user profiles?

Check out their clients’ followers. Even careful social media users are liable to have some fake followers – high-quality fakes can look just like real people – so expect to see some. But a large number should be a warning sign. Ask for a list of social media clients and either spot check their followers manually by randomly clicking on individual profiles or run them through a tool like Status People, which will tell you what percentage on a particular Twitter account are fake, inactive and good. It isn’t 100 percent accurate, but it will give you a good idea of the numbers.

Find out who will be running your account. Your online reputation will be in their hands, so you should know their level of expertise. Find out if they are genuinely interested in and knowledgeable about your topic. Look at some of their posts and interactions to evaluate their communication skills. How many clients’ accounts will they be managing, and how much time will they devote to yours?

On another note, if you hire a firm to help build your social media accounts over a short period of time, you should have a plan for maintaining the accounts once you’re on your own. Otherwise, the money you’ve invested in them is wasted. Social media marketing is a long-term strategy; the best results come from building and maintaining momentum. So, either find a great firm and have it manage your accounts until you’ve met your goals, or watch and learn from your account manager, so you’ll know what to do when you’re in the driver’s seat.

Stories like what happened to our client can be scary, but they shouldn’t deter you from using social media to build your brand. The new media has become a critical component of every marketing strategy and there is honest professional help available if you need it. If you’re not on the playing field, it’s time to start.
Keepin’ it real,
Marsha

This is hands down the question I hear the most as a social media strategist.

Many people know they need to be on social media, but aren’t sure why. As someone who has been “plugged in” since the years of Telnet, I’ve watched with both fascination – and sometimes fright! – the shift in the dynamics of social networking.

Recently, I witnessed two more very real examples of just how much we rely on social media and the major influence that can have on society. A little more than a week after Twitter broke news of the tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon, it briefly became the center of attention again Tuesday with the hacking of the Associated Press’s own Twitter account.

Once a source of distraction, social networks like Twitter and Google+ have increasingly become a place where individuals turn for news and information. Therefore, news outlets including CNN, FOX, MSNBC and the Associated Press use sites such as Twitter to deliver breaking news updates directly to their audiences.

Because so many people are now accustomed to the instantaneous information they see on social media, they tend to react quickly – without checking the facts. The fake tweet that went out early Tuesday, claiming two explosions in the White House had injured President Obama, was quickly retweeted hundreds of times.

In the roughly 10 minutes it took the Associated Press to regain control of its account and discredit the tweet, the Dow Industrial Average dropped more than 140 points.

So, why is this important to you?

From a business perspective, social media can have an equally big impact. It can potentially spread your message to hundreds of thousands of people, giving you visibility that previously could only be attained through traditional mass media.
Inversely, mistakes can be devastating.

Know who you are trusting with your accounts, if you are not up keeping them yourself; it takes only one bad comment to potentially ruin your credibility.

Have a plan of action if something happens. Unfortunately, hacking is a risk commonly associated with social media. The faster you can regain control of the account, the less potential for damage.

Most importantly remember: What you say on social media carries weight no matter who you are. This goes two-fold for industries and individuals who have established or are trying to establish themselves as experts in their respective fields. Make sure that the information being shared is well researched, accurate and meaningful. If in doubt, wait and confirm the source before moving forward.

Like it or not, social media is here to stay. It’s embedded itself into the fabric of our culture and emerged as a living subculture of its own. Now, things get interesting.

The horrific elementary school shootings in Newtown, Conn.?

The October storm that took lives and devastated communities across the Northeast?

Sometimes, nothing at all.

The age of digital marketing brings with it new challenges, including how to respond during a national tragedy. Remember, as recently as Sept. 11, 2001, we had no MySpace, much less Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. Except for email, no vehicle for delivering instantaneous marketing messages existed. After 9/11, one of the most painful days in American memory, most of us had time to pause, reflect and put on hold print, radio and TV marketing campaigns that might be viewed as inappropriate or offensive.

In recent months, there has been lively debate on this topic in the marketing community, including how and when to tie – or not to tie – a marketing message into the news of the day, a widely used strategy, which we also employ at EMSI.

Gaffes can occur with the most innocent of intentions in any media content, marketing or not. Earlier this month, a new episode of the musical comedy “Glee” upset and angered parents in Newtown, Conn. In the show, one of the students brings a gun to school and it accidentally discharges.

“A lot of people were upset about it and that I feel horrible about,” Jane Lynch, one of the show’s stars, told Access Hollywood Live days later. “If we added to anybody’s pain, that’s just certainly not what any of us wanted. … We’re always rather topical and rather current.”

Usually, however, simply applying your own sense of decency and good taste can help you avoid a blunder. Consider American Apparel’s notorious “Hurricane Sandy Sale,” advertised as tens of thousands of people endured freezing temperatures without power. Most of us wouldn’t have even considered such a ploy!

There are a couple things you definitely should do if you’re marketing via social media. First, if you use automated posts scheduled through a site such as HootSuite, turn them off immediately. Recipients may find them insensitive and uncaring, or silly, or they’ll conclude your messages come from a robot – not a real person – which is just as bad.

Can you be helpful?

Hours after the blasts in Boston, with cell phone service out in the city and family and friends desperately trying to connect with loved ones, Google.org launched “Person Finder: Boston Marathon Explosions.” There, individuals and organizations could share information about the status of marathon participants and spectators for those trying to find them.

If your community has suffered a tragic event, perhaps you have helpful information to share. But don’t offer it as part of some marketing strategy – it’s appropriate only as an altruistic gesture.

For example, here in Florida, which is affected by hurricanes, people use social media to help evacuees and their pets find shelter, and to alert others to danger, such as downed power lines.

Depending on your area of expertise, you may be able to provide more general information or commentary. For instance, we have clients who are educators – they could offer tips for answering children’s questions about the event. We also have philanthropists for whom it would have been appropriate to comment on the selflessness with which people helped one another immediately after the Boston explosions.

Of course, social media is also about reactions and, for many, that’s a sincere expression of sympathy for and unity with those affected.

If you want to post something and you’re unsure about what to say, take a look at what businesses and other brands are sharing, and how online users are reacting. You may decide to just say nothing for a day or two, or whatever time seems reasonable given the nature of the event.

Sometimes, saying nothing at all speaks volumes.

Peace,
Marsha

Read More about Social Media Marketing in Times of Tragedy on Business News Daily

Read More about social media marketing in times of tragedy on Computerworld

As it turns out – plenty!

I recently read an article based on an interview with former Chiat/Day Advertising executive Tom Patty, author of Tom Patty’s Marketing Without Money. It was so good, I already bought the book! The article was written by my good friend Michael Levin, a New York Times best-selling author and CEO of www.BusinessGhost.com.

It has some great ideas from which we can all benefit – no matter how big or small our marketing budget.

What’s Better – Marketing With Money Or Marketing Without It?

By Michael Levin

The best way to market a new product, says Tom Patty, author of the new book Tom Patty’s Marketing Without Money, is to spend $100 million.

Of course, if you don’t have $100 million, you can always substitute creativity, daring and hard work, which is what Marketing Without Money teaches you.

Patty was a top advertising executive at Chiat/Day Advertising, whose clients included Apple, Nike, Pizza Hut, Nissan and other major brands.

“If a business has a budget and can afford to spend money on advertising,” Patty told me, “they can be assured that they will get something for their money. They will have a high probability that the ad or TV commercial will run and that people will see it.

“When I ran the Nissan Motors account at Chiat/Day, we spent about $100 million to introduce a new Nissan model. We could be pretty sure that that money would translate into about 70 to 80 percent awareness among the target, adults 18 to 34. Of course, we could not know precisely how many sales would result from this advertising, but we could at least be pretty sure that most people were aware of our new product.”

That’s why spending $100 million is almost always a good idea. But what if you don’t have nine digits to toss on advertising and marketing? What if your business’s marketing budget is … zero?

Says Patty: “If a business does not have a budget for advertising, it needs to come up with clever ways to cause other people to talk about their product or service – by getting publicity or using social media or whatever. If you can’t produce an expensive television commercial, you can create a YouTube video that millions of people want to see. Or you can generate an effective email campaign that generates awareness and sales.”

“In addition,” says Patty, “small businesses can use the exact same strategies that Nike and Apple and other successful companies used to grow their business. They can satisfy more customer needs by creating new products and services. They can make it more convenient for customers to buy their products or services by expanding distribution. They can increase their value equation by providing more benefits for the same cost. Etc. etc.etc.”

Patty retired from Chiat/Day advertising more than a decade ago and now gives marketing seminars and consults with small business owners for SCORE in Orange County, Calif. The book is based on his consulting, which comes down to these 10 points:

1. Marketing is more than advertising. Marketing is EVERYTHING you do to attract and retain good customers.
2.  A customer is someone who PAYS YOU for your products or services.
3. All customers are NOT equal. Customers come in four flavors: Evangelist, Good, Bad, and Ugly.
4. A business will get the kind of customers it deserves. Just like fishing, the bait you use determines the fish you catch.
5. There are only three ways to grow your business; 1. Merge/ Acquire; 2. get more new customers; or 3. get more money from existing customers.
6. The most efficient strategy is to get more money from your existing customers.
7. There are five proven strategies used by every successful business, from Nike to Apple to Starbucks, etc. Small business owners can use these strategies. (But you’ve got to buy the book to get the strategies!)
8. It is critical to select the right target audience for your marketing; otherwise you will waste time, effort, and money.
9. Getting a lot of people to “like” you on the Internet is not going to pay your bills. They must “buy” you and “love” you.
10. All big companies started as small companies. Do not try to emulate what today’s Nike or Apple do; emulate what they did when they were small.

And if you happen to find $100 million in a drawer somewhere, you can always hire Chiat/Day! Or for just $15 you can buy Patty’s book at Amazon and do it yourself.

***

As Michael and Tom point out, it’s easier than ever today to gain publicity and visibility – the problem is, it’s easier for everyone else, too!

That’s why it’s also more important than ever to work hard at shaping your unique message, identifying your audience and putting yourself where they’ll see you, whether that’s social media, traditional and online print publications, or interviews on radio and TV.

Give ‘em something to talk about!
Marsha