Five Reasons to Post Your Commercial on YouTube

Don't let the money you've already spent on your commercial go to waste. You should stretch your ad dollar even further by posting your commercial on YouTube.com. Here's why:

1. Your Commercial's Already Produced
You spent your ad dollars to create an effective TV commercial so make the most of your money. Posting your commercial to YouTube is free and you get a longer shelf life on your ad even after your run on local airwaves is over.

2. New Way to Reach Customers
There are a couple of new ways to reach customers by posting your commercial on YouTube:

• Invite Current Customers
  Send an invitation by mail or Email to your customers inviting them to watch your commercial on YouTube. If you have a newsletter mailing list or contact Email addresses, send a personal Email that announces your commercial and where they can see it.
  
  Just be sure your customers have given the okay to be contacted so your company isn't considered a spammer. You always want to make sure you send any bulk Email responsibly.
• Reach Customers Outside of Your City
  Millions of people visit YouTube and the site's traffic consistently falls in the top five of every online ranking system. Even if you live in Small Town, USA, selling local products, you have the ability to reach new customers by taking your ad campaign outside of your immediate area.

You may or may not get a sale because someone saw your ad on YouTube but you could generate a lot of buzz, which leads us right into the number three reason to post your commercial on YouTube.

3. Possible Local Coverage
There are a couple of ways you can get even more exposure for your company by posting your ad online. Make a PR effort after your ad is posted. Send press releases to local media outlets announcing that your company is taking its ad ad campaign online with your TV commercial being available on YouTube. This is a good story for newspapers, magazines and Web sites that cover local interest stories.

Don't ignore your TV markets, though. While this is not really a story that's a right fit for TV coverage on its own, you never know when a morning show needs a guest to talk about online advertising and what you've done.

You also want to keep tabs on how your ad is doing. When you reach a milestone, such as 10,000 views, a spot on the "Most Discussed" list, being featured, etc., send out another press release to announce the latest news. Be aggressive with your PR efforts to get the most out of your YouTube ad campaign.

4. Potential to Earn Revenue
You can get paid when people watch your ad on YouTube if you qualify for YouTube's Partner Program. You'll want to stay on top of your PR push after your video is posted. The more people that view your ad, the higher your commercial's rank climbs, the more potential you have to earn money back on what you've already paid to have created.

5. An Easy Way to Get Your Ad on Your Site
Your Web site helps advertise your company. Take your ad campaign to a whole new level by allowing your customers to watch your commercial just by visiting your Web site.

Once you've posted your ad on YouTube, you can easily put it on your site. There are a number of reasons why you would want to do this:

• Save Your Bandwidth
  When potential customers come to your site, they need to be able to see your products, prices and answer any of the questions they have fast. If you have people watching your commercial through your own site's bandwidth, that commercial is hogging the speed and slowing down your site.
  
  Most small business Web sites don't have a lot bandwidth to support videos being watched because they don't need it. After your ad is on YouTube, though, you have the option of linking to your ad or embedding it on your site. YouTube covers the bandwidth and your site continues to run smoothly and unaffected.
• Increased Video Views
  Adding a link or embedding it on your site helps your video views. Since the commercial's hosted on YouTube's server, you get credit for every view. This also increases your commercial's rank, which helps you in your PR efforts as well as your potential to earn money if your ad becomes popular enough.

Many companies are missing out on a unique opportunity to attract customers. Don't post your ad and call it a day, though.

Be sure to follow up with an aggressive PR push and track your ad's success. Not only do you get extra mileage out of your commercial, you never know who's watching.

Using Your Web Site to Advertise Your Business

You can't hide from it. Whether you're driving by a billboard, listening to the radio or flipping through the TV channels, every advertisement has dot.com this and dot.com that.

Even in a lean economy, the evolution of the Internet has business taking a new direction. Now companies need a Web site...even if they aren't involved in e-commerce. But this new wave of marketing still takes some old-school advertising.

Web sites need more than good content. A comprehensive advertising campaign is the only way to make a Web site successful. You not only have to tempt potential customers to buy from you but you have to tempt them to buy from you NOW!

There are several key factors you must consider to accomplish this:

What benefits does the customer get from buying the product? Does your product or service make people smarter, faster, more attractive?

State the benefits. And again.

It's the benefits that will hook your customer. And that hook will have them grabbing their credit card. But if they don't know what's in it for them, they'll be on your competitor's Web site faster than you can clear your cache files.

Keep your site updated. And give them a reason to come back.

Maybe weekly specials, new articles or post a newsletter. Make your site an invaluable resource. Giving people incentives to come back to your site can still generate sales even if the customer wasn't in the buying mood.

Do you have testimonials from your customers? Testimonials prove your product's worth as well as establish your company's credibility.

If you don't have testimonials, one way to get them is by donating your product or service to a few qualified customers. Let them know that you're giving them the product to try for a certain amount of time in exchange for their comments at the end of the trial period.

Make your Web page as easy to read as possible. Grab customers with powerful headlines.

The headlines gently ease customers to read further into your sales message without the tact of a used car salesman trying to unload a few lemons.

Headlines also break up the flow of copy, making your Web page easy on the eyes - something your customers will appreciate.

How many Web sites have you visited with grammatical errors or words misspelled? It looks unprofessional and makes would-be customers wonder about the professionalism of your company.

Proofread your Web page copy. Then have a few more people proofread it.

The writing needs to jump off the page. Fresh. Crisp. A poorly written Web page is worse than not having a Web page at all.

Following these tips will make your Web site informative and profitable. If you're a business owner wanting to develop a Web site, you can contract out the writing portion to a professional freelance copywriter.

How To Hire a Freelance Copywriter or Graphic Designer

Your particular project doesn't warrant a permanent, full-time copywriter or graphic designer. You just need some help temporarily. Choosing the right person for your project is a must for getting the materials you need, the expertise required for the job and making your ad campaign a success.

Difficulty: Average

Time Required: Hiring a freelancer for your specific needs requires several hours for research and interviewing.

Here's How:

1. Make a Plan
   What are you looking for in a freelancer? Before you begin your search, make a list of the materials you need written and/or designed and the type of person you want to work with you. Are you willing to work with someone with limited experience? Do you really need the materials within a matter of days? How much are you willing to pay? Do you want to work with someone who charges by the project or by the hour? Knowing these answers first will make your search much easier.
   
2. Do Your Research
   There are plenty of freelance copywriters and graphic designers out there and some may have already approached you. Whether you're searching on the Internet, going off someone's recommendation or looking yourself in your city, research the copywriter or designer to see if they meet with the plan you've outlined in step 1. This will help you cross some freelancers off the list that aren't in line with your specific needs and wants.
   
3. Know Your Boundaries
   You don't have to be bound to a freelancer in your immediate area but it comes down to your personal decision. Thanks to telephones, fax and Email, you can work with a freelancer 2,000 miles away. However, if you want a freelancer who lives in your area, you'll be limiting the number of freelancers available to you but you may gain access to someone you can meet in person if that's the way you prefer to work.
   
4. Check the Credentials
   Don't just hire a freelancer because he offers a lower rate than the others. Check credentials and see what he's worked on. If his experience doesn't show any brochure work and that's what you need, evaluate whether you're willing to risk that he may not be able to give you exactly what you want since his experience is limited in that field.
   
5. Evalute Experience Levels
   Freelancers with a limited background usually cost less but the trade-off is you might be working with someone new to the business. That shouldn't scare you off completely. Just be sure they can handle the project you need. If you have a small project, this would be a good time to evaluate a freelancer with little experience. If you need someone to create multiple projects in a short amount of time, go ahead and pay extra for a freelancer with more experience.
   
6. Ask for Writing Samples
   Reputable freelancers should be able to submit a portfolio to you through Email, giving you a Web site link or even via fax. Look at the writing or design the freelancer has done for other clients. Does it match up with the style and personality you're looking for in a freelancer?
   
7. Give a Writing or Design Test
   Freelancers with a packed résumé aren't going to be as receptive to a writing test as those who are just starting out. For those with a large amount of experience, you can generally make a good decision based on the writing or design samples in his portfolio. But for those with limited experience, you can give a short writing test (for copywriters) or design test (for graphic designers) to see if they will be able to create your materials to your liking.
   
8. Check the Policies
   Freelancers should have a solid set of policies in place. What rates do they offer? Are rewrites or redesigns free as long as the nature of the project doesn't change? What is their turnaround time?
   

How Do They Charge?
By the hour or a flat rate fee? Know this before you agree to let the freelancer do the job. If the freelancer charges by the hour only, you'll need to know an estimate of how many hours it will take to complete the project. Sometimes that estimate will go over, though, so you must be comfortable with working with a freelancer who may go over the hourly estimate. If you're not, see if a flat rate project fee can be given or go with another freelancer who offers one. 

1. Put It In Writing
   Freelancers usually have their own contract they'll send once you offer them the gig. These contracts are fairly simple and state project details, the final charge and when the project is due. If they don't have a contract, you put everything in writing and send it to them to sign. Creating a simple contract will ensure you and the freelancer are on the same page before the project starts.
   

Tips:

1. When checking out a freelancer's work, anything that says "SPEC AD" means the freelancer did not actually write or design the material for the company. The freelancer is just submitting a mock ad to show you how he writes or designs a project. "SPEC ADS" are common in the industry so don't automatically eliminate a freelancer from your short list just because he has submitted these types of ads as samples.
   
2. When creating a writing test, give the copywriters some brief info about your company and have them create a short ad based on the info you've given. Tell them what type of ad you want them to create for the test and make sure it's short so they can give you the results back quickly and they won't have to spend a large amount of time on the test in case you don't hire them. Generally, a 24-hour turnaround time for a short test will be fine.
   
3. When creating a design test, give the designers some sample photos of your product and company if you have them. Have them design a sample print ad, for example, to get a feel for their design style. If you don't have photos, they can insert any type of photos for the sample test because you're just evaluating their design skills for your needs. A 24-hour turnaround time for the short test is sufficient.
   
4. If you're hiring for multiple projects at one time, ask the freelancer for a discounted rate for bulk work. Many will discount the rates for you since you're submitting multiple copywriting or design projects.
   
5. Unless the freelancer has a specific background in both copywriting and graphic design, which is usually rare, hire the freelancers separately. In other words, don't hire a freelance copywriter to do both the writing and the design of the project unless he has a large amount of experience and even schooling in both areas. If you're unsure if he can handle both aspects of the project, give a writing and design test to evaluate the skills for yourself.

Writing Press Releases

As a PR pro or company owner managing your own public relations campaign, writing press releases should become very natural to you. If you've got news about your product, service or company, then you're ready to experience the power of press releases.

And best of all? It's free!

So just what is a press release? It's simple. A press release is a one to two page document used to call attention to your company and its products/services.

Learn the building blocks of how to write a press release before you start submitting your releases to the media. Otherwise, you'll start getting a reputation that you're an amateur and your press releases will be ignored.

When you're ready for free media coverage, you send press releases to editors and TV stations. This isn't a guarantee that you'll get free publicity, though. There are many differences between advertising and public relations and in PR, the media is not required to cover your story. You send your press releases hoping they will pick it up for their magazine, newspaper or local newscast.

But you have to be patient. Some publications may take several months to publish your press release. And then there are other publications that will print your release in a few days. It all depends on your news and their schedule.

And television stations are a different story entirely. If you're trying to get air time for an event, send out your press release to your local TV stations at least two days beforehand.

Since news varies from day-to-day, a car crash can prevent stations from covering your event. But your chances are even lower if they receive your press release the same day.

Press releases are also known as news releases. Back to basics, it means just that: news.

If you've been marketing the same heating pad for 20 years and nothing's changed, there's no reason to write a press release. Editors will snub their nose and then line the bottom of their trash can.

Say your heating pad now has an automatic timer built in for convenience. There's your news!

There are several types of press releases you can write. Starting a business. Having new employees joining your team. Your company wins awards. You're working with a charity. Or anything new or different about your business and its product line constitutes a newsworthy press release.

There's a trick to writing press releases, though. Your message has to be newsworthy without sounding like a blatant advertisement. The release is written in an unbiased format so the reader trusts the information to be accurate.

However, there's a clear distinction between advertising and public relations. But if they're written correctly, press releases can be even more effective than advertising.

In order to build your press release, focus on what your readers will care about. Grab their attention.

Use a headline that sums up your entire story. That way, they'll get the meat of the message and - if the headline's good enough - they'll read on.

Your first paragraph should answer at least five essential questions. Who? What? When? Where? Why?

If at all possible, answer a sixth question. How? Sometimes you just can't work the "how" into your piece. Always, always make sure you answer the first five questions, though.

Answering those five key questions gives you a great opportunity to make your point quickly. Don't bury your story. You'll have one paragraph to impress the editor...if you're lucky.

At the same time, don't approach the hard-sell. That's a quick turn off for editors and a great way to keep their paper shredder happy.

Don't forget your basic information as well. It may sound elementary but be sure to include the name of a contact person, phone number, fax, Email address, Web address and company address.

Also write a short paragraph that describes your business. Use this paragraph at the end of every press release.

Keep your sentences short and to the point. Don't use jargon. Just keep it simple.

Don't be tempted to write a long press release. Stay as close to one page as possible. More than two pages is way too long.

One thing to keep in mind is that editors don't have a lot of time on their hands. They'll be reading your press release with hundreds of others. So imagine how many editors will roll their eyes if they see a three- or four-pager come across their desk.

Write your press release as if you were a third-party observer. Read the newspaper for some examples. Or study press releases from other companies.

A good press release, one that will be seen in print, is tightly written with accurate, newsworthy information. Since most press releases are printed exactly as you send them, make sure there are no spelling errors within your piece.

Since you're not paying for ad space and getting your press release published is up to the editor, consider the services of a freelance copywriter or a PR firm. PR firms usually run the same amount as an advertising agency. So you might be better off with a freelance copywriter. It all depends on how many press releases you're planning on submitting.

Once you send out your press releases, how will you know if they're printed? You can use a clipping service that tracks the publications for you. They'll clip what actually appears in print and send it to you for your records.

But you'll know you've written a successful press release if your phone starts ringing off the hook. That's when you can say you've experienced the power of free press.

Managing a Public Relations Campaign

or small business or even individuals, managing your public relations campaign may seem impossible. Don't ignore the many opportunities you have to get free coverage with your own PR campaign, though.

1. Press Releases
Any effective PR campaign is going to include press releases. When you have news about your company and products, write a press release and distribute it to the appropriate media outlets. Be sure you know how to write a press release because there is a big difference between advertising and public relations.

2. Press Kits
Your press kit, or media kit, is an invaluable tool you can use to promote your company. From trade shows to product launches, there are a number of good reasons you must create a press kit.

3. Use Your Blog
Your corporate or employee blog is an excellent way to keep you visible to your customers. Making your blog a regular part of your public relations campaign gives you exposure to customers, journalists and it even provides you with word of mouth advertising.

4. Working With the Media
Make no mistake. The media is not required to give you coverage. Public relations is your ability to get free publicity. Knowing how to work with the media will help you come off as a pro even if it's your first media event. You also want to develop a long-lasting relationship with the media so you can start to develop contacts in the industry as well.

5. Organizing Media Events
PR is more than blitzing the media with your press releases. Organizing media events is an outstanding way to get multiple media outlets to come to you and give you free exposure.

Be creative when coming up with ideas. Just because you have a news conference doesn't mean the media will show up. A groundbreaking ceremony with a local celebrity or other prominent figure to address the crowd increases your chances of getting publicity over the same event with just you and your employees sticking some shovels in the ground. If you're working with a children's charity to raise money, the media will be more likely to show up if you're hosting a fun event like snow skiing in summer for the children who the charity helps rather than you just filling out a check to hand over to the director of the charity.

6. Learn Crisis Management
You can learn crisis management from corporate giants because not every aspect of public relations is going to be pleasant. You may have to deal with product recalls, lawsuits or even deaths of employees while on the job, for example. The numerous possibilities of what can go wrong are something you have to be prepared for before they happen. You can't anticipate everything that can occur but you can learn effective crisis management to prepare you for the future.

Building Blocks for a Powerful Press Release

Your Letterhead

Every press release should begin with your company letterhead. If you're a smaller business and don't have a letterhead with a logo on it, take the time to design one or farm out your letterhead's look to a graphic designer.

When Can the Media Release Your News?

If the media can print your news now, use the words, "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" in all caps. If you're looking to release your news on or after a specific date, you can use the phrase, "FOR RELEASE ON" and then include your date. A vast majority of releases use "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE."

Contact Information

Give complete contact information for the person in charge of your media relations. This is the person who a reporter will call to field all questions about the release.

You want to give as much contact information here as possible. Name, address, phone, fax, Email and Web site address if you have them.

Your Press Release's Headline

Make it bold. Make it catchy. And just like the rest of your press release, make sure it's newsworthy and relevant. It will be centered (left to right, not top to bottom), in caps and at least two font sizes larger than the main body of your release.

More tips on writing a press release can be found in Packing a Punch with Press Releases.

Press Release Subheadline

You don't always need a subheadline for your press release. But if you do want a subhead, use upper and lowercase letters and a smaller font size than your headline.

Location and Date

The body of your press release begins with the location and date. The date you use here is the actual date of your release. If you're using the press release to announce an event, you don't put the event's date here.

Example: You have a fundraiser on July 18 but you're submitting the release on July 1. The date you write for this section is the actual date you're sending the press release, July 1.

The Body of Your Press Release

The body of your press release should answer the questions who, what, when, where and why. When possible, also answer the question how.

The second paragraph of your release can also include a quote from a company executive. This can add to the impact of your release.

Your press release can be broken into many paragraphs but do keep it down to one page. Two pages are rare but acceptable. One is standard and preferred by the media.

Company Info

The last paragraph of your press release contains a standard line of company information. Most companies use the same closing paragraph for all of their press releases that sums up the company's purpose, sales and other essential information.

Example: Zazzie Manufacturing has been creating baby rattles for more than 50 years. The company employees 3,000 people with offices in Hong Kong, Europe and the United States.

Put on the Pounds

End your press release with three pound signs (###) centered. This is standard for any press release. It also shows a journalist this is the end page and they're not missing any part of your press release.

The Finished Look

Once your press release is complete, you'll have a few paragraphs in the body of your release to describe your news as well as your standard final paragraph describing the company and its products. Press releases don't require a fancy layout like an advertisement. The two are completely different mediums.

Be sure to check out Packing a Punch with Press Releases to learn more about writing a press release.