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Get Noticed!

The Art of Self-Promotion

By Angella Luyk www.AngellaLuyk.com

© 2016

Get Noticed! The Art of Self-Promotion © 2016, Angella Luyk LLC 1 www.AngellaLuyk.com

Get Noticed! The Art of Self-Promotion

When in business, you want to be in front of potential clients all the time. Sounds easy enough, but when you are wearing multiple hats it can be a bit tough. Even if you are doing well and have multiple employees, you may still face the challenge of how to get in front of people on a consistent basis. You need to ask yourself, “What I am doing now? Is that the best use of my time?” Unless you have figured out a way to clone yourself, being everywhere all the time, is impossible. What if I told you there are some tricks and tips that I could offer you to help you seem like you are everywhere all the time? “Impossible,” you are probably thinking. Well, yes, technically it is, but what I am talking about is the perception that your name is constantly in front of people. Your next question may be “why do I care?”

Because when a need arises, you want your name brought up. You want people to think of you and call you to solve their problem. It is said that it takes 5-7 touches (hearing your message or about you) before a person will reach out to you. 5-7 may seem like a lot, but it’s not really. I am going to give you a lot of information—things that I did to grow my business to well over a million dollars in a few short years, and continue to grow as well as start a second and third business. It doesn’t matter what your business or profession is, these tips work. I am proof of that. The key is you need to be consistent in whatever tip you use. You can try one or two, or all of them, but stay consistent. Rome was not built in a day, and neither will your empire.


Professional Headshots

First and foremost, get professional headshots taken. Not a selfie with your camera or a picture your friend took with their phone. If you are a woman, go and have your hair and makeup done. Let the makeup artist know that you are doing headshots and they will apply the makeup a little differently and little heavier so that when the flash bulb goes off it won’t wash you out. For men, make sure your hair was cut and styled recently. You can use these pictures for a multitude of different things that we will talk about. Have the photographer take a few different looks.

Ø Have some fun shots you are able to use for your personal social media Ø Take some serious shots for your professional printed materials Ø Use on business social media Ø Send when a reporter asks for a headshot for the column they are writing that you

are quoted in Ø Use when you win an award and they need a headshot Ø The list goes on and on for when you need these pictures – so have them handy

Don’t be afraid to take some full body shots for you to use in your promotional materials. Include a few changes of outfits. Angella’s Secret – Your headshots should be retaken ever year or so. There is nothing worse than having headshots from fifteen years ago. I know vanity plays a role, and we all want to stay young forever, but you need to look like the professional you are.

BAD IDEA MUCH BETTER


Media Whore

One of my favorite (and perhaps not for everyone) tactics is to tell people I am a media whore. I know this sounds extreme, but I follow it up with a simple statement – that news crews do not scare me. I let people know that I am very comfortable in front of cameras. What I want to happen is that when one of my friends has a media opportunity they can’t make, I want them to think of me. Often times when a reporter is doing on a

story, they will ask if you know of anyone else they may talk to. Here is where your friend will remember the media whore comment and give them your name. Once you have spoken with the reporter, offer to send them your new headshots. This will help the reporter, as they will not have to send out a camera crew and can finish their story much faster. When you get this golden time with a reporter try and make their job easier. Keep your answers short and informative. If it helps, come up with three key points you want to get across. Be easy going and fun. I know you are nervous, but don’t make them work for the answers. If they have to pull teeth to get you to talk, you are not going to leave a memorable positive impression. Angella’s Secret – Be sure to remember to thank your friend for this opportunity. Perhaps you can offer to take them to lunch, or send a small gift card. You should thank the reporter as well; this person is often overlooked. They aren’t usually allowed to accept gifts, but you can offer to take them to lunch and get to know them better. This will stick out in their mind. I have received calls from reporters who I did not know letting me know they got my name from one of the other reporters. Turns out they were talking about an upcoming story and needed a business owner to talk to. My reporter friend remembered our lunch conversation and told them to call me.


Press Release

Press releases go along with talking to reporters. There are a few key things to remember when writing a press release.

Ø Never send it as an attachment. Remember these reporters do not know who you are, so they are not going to open an attachment from a stranger. Put your content in the body of the email you send.

Ø What you put into the press release is crucial. You only have one chance to grab their attention. Put your contact information at the top and bottom. Don’t make them dig for it. Contact information should include website, email, phone number and physical address.

Ø I know this will sound counterproductive to what we are talking about, but the press release should not be about you directly. Yes, we know you are wonderful and excited about you, but that is not newsworthy. A great story is about how your company is helping the community. Perhaps you have just celebrated 20 years in business and you are donating 20 coats to charity. Great, so you are helping the community. I would go one step further and explain how according to xyz there is a coat shortage among homeless people, and your company wants to give back to the community that has supported you for the last 20 years. During the actual interview you will have the opportunity to discuss your business in more detail. Once you get the reporter to call you back and set up the interview is when you can talk about your company. Until then it needs to be about how you are helping the community.

Ø Take a few minutes to prepare for the interview. Have you ever heard of sound bites? According to Wikepedia a sound bite is a short clip of speech or music extracted from a longer piece of audio, often used to promote or exemplify the full-length piece. You want to make sure your answers have sound bite material in them. I often say have three key points you want to make. You can write them out and practice them before you speak to the reporter.

Most likely you will be nervous, and that is fine. It’s okay to let them know that you are nervous, and to be transparent. Don’t try to hide anything from them. Practice with a friend before you go, and then it won’t seem so scary. Angella’s Secret – Remember, if the reporter calls you back; do not delay in your return phone call. Offer to meet them whenever and wherever they need. Often they are on a deadline, and the first person to get back to them becomes the winner.


Be an Expert

Is there something you are passionate about? Become an expert on this topic. Pick one area that you have a lot of information about and start letting people know.

Ø You can offer to let people pick your brain on this topic. You can also contact your local radio and news outlets and let them know you are happy to talk about this topic as an expert.

Ø Reach out to bloggers and ask if you can write a guest blog for them on your topic.

Ø LinkedIn is a great place to be seen as an expert. Take a few moments to write some good content for your LinkedIn account. Remember not to cut and paste the exact article you wrote for someone else. Try to change it up. If someone is following you, they don’t want to see the same thing over and over again.

Ø Take the articles you have written and develop a program around them that you can offer to speak on.

Most chambers of commerce look for local speakers to come in and offer their members valuable information. See if you can find some other local groups who meet on a regular basis and offer to speak for them. When you speak on your topic, they will most likely put the word out through e-blasts to their membership, and sometimes a little blurb in the newspaper. When you get to the speaking engagement be sure and have plenty of business cards and a handout. In the handout you should highlight a few key points you made in your presentation along with your contact information. They will then take this handout back to the office and refer back to it when they want to refresh their memory on what they learned. If you have really good content, they may copy it and hand it out to their officemates and friends. Now your information is being passed organically. Be sure and add a line or two letting them know you are able to speak at their events, along with how to contact you and topics you are able to talk about. Angella’s Secret – There is a great email list that I belong to called HARO.com: Help A Reporter Out. Every day I get an email looking for experts in certain fields. It is broken down into categories, and what they are looking for. It gives the deadline, what the media outlet is and the reporter contact information.


Become a Writer

There is some controversy about whether or not you should write for free. This is a decision that you need to make for yourself. I decide based on whether I am getting good exposure that I can show has brought in clients. If you are, then it is worth it to write. Often times, you need experience to get in front of the bigger players. If you do not see a return, then you should stop writing for free or search out a different media outlet.

There are lots of places looking for content. Reach out to them and ask if they have any use for your writing. Be sure to have three sample works ready to send to them. This helps them determine your style and whether you are a good fit for them. You can also start a blog or newsletter. Be sure you are being consistent with when it goes out. People will come to expect your blog or newsletter. Make sure it has good content and informs them in some way. Three to four tips would be great. Send them back to your website for more information. Make it simple for them to contact you. At the end of your newsletter ask people to send it to their friends. Offer up an easy way for those friends to subscribe to your newsletter or blog. Contact your local magazines and ask them if you could have a featured column on a regular basis. Does your local newspaper have a section for guest writers? In Rochester New York we have what is called Nexpert, each week a local person writes a 400-word column about something they are an expert in. Angella’s Secret – Once you have been published, be sure to send out the full link to the article to your email list and on your social media sites. Share the link where they can see the full article. This should be done any time you are published. Your goal is to have people sharing your content with their friends. You will organically grow and able to reach more people with little extra effort.


Use Social Media

Connect with as many media people as you can through social media. They often go to social media to put out a call for help with a story they may be doing. Connect with other experts to see what they are talking about. Connect with people you would like to do business with. Caution though: if you go this route, be careful what you post. No whacky

drunk pictures or political rants. You can create on Facebook a business profile page; perhaps you invite clients, potential clients and media to that page, or have a regular Facebook page that you use for business and one you use for your crazier friends. Social media is a great way to stay connected with people. You can schedule your posts for a certain day and certain time. Create a calendar of your posts, Monday could be motivational, Tuesday could be fun day, Wednesday could be whacky video day and so on. At the beginning of the week you could schedule all your posts to go out. This will save you from having to remember each day. You should still post things during the week as you think of them, or strategically share other content in between scheduled postings. You can post tutorial videos, or tip of the day videos on YouTube. Almost everyone has a smart phone these days, and they take great video. Be sure and add your website to the end of the video, because it’s all about getting them back to your website where you can sell them on your goods or services. Share those videos on your other social media accounts. It can be a good idea to pay to promote your posts and ads on social media. Make sure you do some research to see who your target market is, and then target those groups with your ads. Angella’s Secret – On any social media platform, be sure to respond to any direct messages, posts and comments. Engaging with others is a great way to make sure they will come back!


Your Website

I have mentioned a few times about directing people back to your website. This is where you really get to shine, capture their attention, and really hit home how you can help them. If you are nervous about designing an entire website, or feel that you are overwhelmed with having to come up with content. You can start with what is called a landing page. This is a one-page

website that has some basic information: mainly who you are, what you have to offer and how they can reach you. Once you have that solved you can expand one page at a time. Just focus on each page individually. You can follow this simple grammar statement, who, what, where, when, why, and how.

• Who are you? • What makes you different? • Where are you located? Are you a physical location or a virtual one? • When are you open? When can people contact you? • How should they purchase from you? Via an online portal?

You can start to see how this is developing. You can also add video testimonials to your website. If you do this be sure and include the name of the person doing the testimonial and their company. Offer to do a testimonial for their website. This will give you an opportunity to get in front of their customers and friends. Angella’s Secret – On a side note be sure and sign up for google alerts. This allows you to see (for the most part) whenever anyone mentions your name, your company name or any word that you have asked to see. Nothing is 100% perfect, but this does catch a lot. Occasionally I will go a step further and google my name, just to see what is out there that I did not know about.


Ask for Online Reviews This is a great way to get more exposure. Anyone looking at these online review sites will see your company along with a testimonial.

Ø Yelp Ø Google Ø Yahoo Local Listings Ø Chambers of Commerce

People are busy, so you must give them a reason to give you a positive review. We offer them a $10 Starbucks gift card with three reviews. We even give them step-by-step directions. We don’t want to make them search for a way to help us. If you are going to do this, you must keep checking the sites once a week to see if a review has been posted. A sample of what we use:


Sponsor an event

Find an organization that is dear to you and ask if you can sponsor one of their events. Look to your current organizations that you are involved with and see if they have any sponsorship opportunities. I know this is expensive at times, so try to find one in your budget. You can also determine if it is worth it by selecting ones that are made up of your target market. Sometimes it is worth the investment. If there is time, I suggest going to one of the events before you sponsor, then you can see what the attendance is like and gauge peoples’ interest in the

sponsor. If you are given a booth or table as part of the sponsorship package, be sure to have some type of giveaway with your name and contact information on it. Have a place where they can leave their information so you can follow up with them at a later date. Be sure to find out what is included in your sponsorship package. Will your name be in the program? Will there be signage with your company name and logo? Will your name be mentioned during the presentation as a sponsor? If the event is a fundraiser there will often be t-shirts that your company can be put on. Check and see if the media has been contacted. If not, make the offer to help them reach out to your network. Be sure and let the media know that you have partnered with this organization. Angella’s Secret – Sponsorship opportunities are plentiful, so make sure you choose organizations that can truly help you reach your audience while helping to make a difference in your local community at the same time.


Cross Promote with Other Companies

Try to team up with a business that compliments yours and offer to cross promote each other. You can offer a discount on your services when they purchase your friends’ services. Leave your business cards or postcards next to their register and offer to leave theirs by your register. Jointly send out flyers to each other’s distribution lists. Ask for a small ad in their newsletter, and offer them one in your newsletter. Each of you probably has a few hundred (or more) people that will now get to see you. You can both agree that when giving a referral gift, you will share each other’s products or services. Angella’s Secret – Strategic partnerships not only help you get the word out, but can also save you money when you give and take discounts with one another – or barter services, too!


Apply for Awards

This is a great way not only to get your name out there, but also set you apart from your competition. When they announce the award finalists, winners or recipients, they often do so numerous times. They will send it out to their mailing list in different ways. It may be a post card inviting people to the award ceremony, or it may be in a press release to the media.

If any advertising is done on behalf of the award ceremony, they often use the recipient’s names and even headshots. At the event itself you may have the opportunity to have a sign representing your company. Perhaps even have the chance to say a few words. Some awards have even started doing videos of the recipients and their companies. This video is then shown at the award ceremony, on their website, and in their social media. Other times the award committee may make a sign for you or a plaque that is displayed at the ceremony. If there is a winner, and finalists, they will often send the names out in their newsletter or e-blasts they do after the ceremony. You are now part of this elite group of recipients. Angella’s Secret – Most organizations do not require membership in order to be considered for their award, so put your name out there for anything you can find. If you need someone else to nominate you, help them write your nomination so that they get all of the information correct and include all pertinent information.


Join Local and National Groups

Check out groups in your area (networking groups, chambers of commerce, merchant associations, etc.). They often have either on online directory or print directory. This is your chance to get in front of more people. Make sure you fill out all the proper information. See if you can be listed multiple ways if that fits your company. This is how people will find you, so make it easy for them to locate you. This is also a great place to use those professional

headshots you purchased. Ask if you can have a link on their website back to your website. If the groups you join hold meetings, be sure to attend them regularly. Remember you need to build relationships with people. Angella’s Secret – If the group has regular meetings, ask if you can be a sponsor at them. You are often given a few minutes to address the attendees. Sometimes they will allow you a table or a sign, which everyone will pass or look at all throughout the event.


When you are in front of people on a regular basis, the moment they have a need they will think of you. Be seen as the go-to person in your field. Work on your writing and presentation skills. Be helpful and available to the media when they contact you for help. You need to be consistent with whatever avenue you choose. In time people will perceive you as being everywhere. For more information, to schedule a free consultation, or to secure mentoring with Angella, visit AngellaLuyk.com.

get noticed cover - angellaluyk.com · get noticed! the art of self-promotion when in business, you...

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