People have the power. How are we using it?

by Jon Ray on Feb 22 in Social Media

As, I’ve posted many times before, social media gives people a voice and their voice power. It allows good ideas to grow and spread, while it quickly disposes those which are poorly conceived.

Above is a video that was pointed out to me by Jonathan Burg and BL Ochman. It shows just how much John Lennon believed in the power of people for promoting anything, especially peace. It’s a good reminder that if we, as a network of people, want something to happen, then we can make it happen.

Social media allows like minded people to connect and collaborate at a rate and pace that has never been seen before. How are you using social media to help good ideas spread?

Here’s how John Lennon used traditional media to spread the message of “Peace on Earth.” How might he have taken the social media tools we now have access to and wielded their power?

“You know, anybody knows that the people have the power. All we have to do is awaken the power in the people. The people are unaware. It’s like they’re not educated to realize that they have power. …But we must try to make them aware of this.”

“If some housewife is against war, just put it in the window (”War Is Over” sign). You know, just to let her neighbors know, or her husband know. You’ve got to start on the home ground…convert your parents. (laughs)” -John Lennon

And that’s just it. We don’t have to get our message out to the masses to be heard. All we need to do is make sure that we tell our message to those close to us. If the message is worth hearing, it will grow to be larger than any of us. Social media is about taking your message and starting on the home ground. “Convert your parents” and go from there. I highly suggest watching this video in its entirety. Social media gives the power to the people. John Lennon knew that people were the best way to raise awareness 27 years ago.

And while we’re on the subject of Peace and giving the power to the people, read this post and remember that while social media can give us all more power, significantly increasing the reach our voice has, we need to thank those who allowed us to get to where we are now. None of us got here on our own. It’s important to always remember that.

How are you using your voice and the power you wield? Who are some people that are using social media tools to successfully raise awareness about their cause? What kinds of things are you doing to magnify the reach of your voice?

Austin, TX: Learn social media, marketing, PR & video production

by Jon Ray on Feb 21 in Marketing, PR, Social Media, Video Production


[Source Video]

I was interviewed by Aaron of Stickam at the Mashable party and wanted to post the video for you guys. Stickam is a great service that allows you to stream live video over the internet. In this interview, I talk about some of the services my company, Papertank Productions, offers and why Austin, TX is such a great city to form a start-up company.

Other talking points:

  • How Papertank Productions helps companies build communities and create compelling content.
  • Leveraging advertising dollars to drive traffic to a community.
  • Community Management
  • Training companies to better understand and utilize social media tools.
  • Finding passionate people in your organization and making them your online advocate.
  • Training companies on how to handle their own PR, Marketing, and Social Media
  • Learning best practices in PR, Marketing, Social Media, and Video Production
  • What kind of feedback are your customers giving?
  • Finding new tools that corporations can utilize.
  • Why Austin, TX is a great city for a start-up company.
  • Austin, TX is a great place for independent film.
  • Becoming a thought leader.

Once again, a HUGE thank you to everyone who sponsored Mashable party and major props to Mashable.com for throwing such an amazing event!

If you are looking for someone to help you or your company learn or implement a social media, marketing, PR or video production strategy or campaign, then you are in the right place. Contact us, here, ring me on the red emergency phone or just put out the bat signal. I am at your service! ;)

20 Free eBooks about Social Media

by Jon Ray on Feb 20 in Social Media

If you’re not a regular reader of Chris Brogan’s blog, then you probably didn’t see his post with links to 20 free e.books about social media. I don’t usually re-post things on this blog, but it is such a great list of free resources that I have made an exception. Anyhow, if you’re not a regular reader of Chris Brogan, shame on you! Chris is one of the thought leaders when it comes to social media. He advises businesses, organizations and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value. Here is the list of 20 free e-Books about social media that he put together. Enjoy!

It’s interesting what you can find when you look around a bit on Google. I thought I’d look for a few new ebooks to read. I found 20 different ones that might be interesting to you. It never hurts to get a few different perspectives. In all cases, the first link is to a PDF file, the second link is to the site where it’s hosted.

20 Free eBooks About Social Media

  1. The New Rules of Viral Marketing - David Meerman Scott
  2. Marketing Apple - MarketingApple.com
  3. Masters of Marketing - Startup Internet Marketing
  4. Podcast Marketing eBook - Christopher S. Penn
  5. Google Adwords Secrets - SEOBook
  6. Get Viral Get Visitors - Stacie Mahoe
  7. Marketing With Case Studies - Dynamic Copywriting
  8. How to Write a Marketing Plan - Geisheker Group
  9. SEO for WordPress blogs - Blizzard Internet
  10. Social Web Analytics - Social Web Analytics
  11. Geeks Guide to Promoting Yourself With Twitter - Geekpreneur
  12. The Zen of Blogging - Hunter Nutall
  13. What is Social Media - iCrossing
  14. A Primer in Social Media - SmashLab
  15. Effective Internet Presence - Effective Internet Presence
  16. Introduction to Good Usability - Peter Pixel
  17. Increasing the Response to Your Email Marketing Program - CRM Transformation
  18. We Have a Website. Now What? - Craig Rentmeester
  19. Blogs & Social Media - PRSA
  20. The Podcast Customer Revealed - Edison Media Research

Have any more that you’ve found online that you like? Share them in the comments section of Chris’ original post. And if you want to re-post the list to your site, by all means, please do! Just please be kind and link back to Chris Brogan’s post - 20 Free eBooks About Social Media.

10 ways to get famous on the internet

by Jon Ray on Feb 19 in Marketing, PR, Social Media

Well, given I was listed on a top ten list for PR people in Austin, I figured I’d take a stab at teaching you how to get famous on the internet. The next thing you know, you’ll be speaking your new catch phrase into homes across America.

10 Tips for Getting Famous Online:

  • Create cool content all the time. Take pictures. Write blogs. Tweet, tweet, tweet. Make videos. Record your voice. Creating consistent content means that your message, opinion, etc. goes out in front of your audience all the time. The best way I know of to get people to help you is by showing them who you are and how they can be a part of it. If I have to choose between an artist that updates her website once a month vs. an artist that blogs, tweets, picture journals, etc. three times a day, I go with the later, because I feel like I know her better through the content she is consistently creating. People hire, promote and associate with people they like. Think of your content like a date. The more dates you go on, the more the person you’re dating begins to know you, feel comfortable with you and trust you. After enough dates, the two of you will just spend all of your time in bed with each other and isn’t that why you wanted to get famous anyway?
  • Promote other people’s stuff. People love to be complimented and in the online world the best way for you to compliment them is by promoting or sharing their online efforts. Did you read something that you liked? Tweet about it. Digg it. Write a response blog post on your blog about it. Bookmark it or share it on Facebook. If you promote enough people’s stuff, they will promote your stuff too (if it is half-decent). Link loving each other makes for good clean fun.
  • Listen. Encourage. Share. There are a lot of people out there saying things. What are they saying? Well, a myriad of things, really. Here’s a good plan that has worked well for me. Get yourself an RSS reader (I prefer Google Reader). Now, anytime someone adds you on Facebook or Twitter, add their blog to your RSS reader. Then, actually read a few posts. Make a comment, sharing your opinions on the post’s content. Now, throw this RSS feed into a folder titled Twitter, Facebook, Austin Friends, Porn Starlets, Etc. Every morning, “J” through these posts quickly and if anything jumps out at you, read it and comment on it. You don’t have to read every post, every day. No one has time for that. But, you can easily read fifty or a hundred and comment on the ones you feel you have the most to contribute to. People like to see that their content is being seen. Commenting is a great way to encourage people to continue creating the content they want to create. Love others and it will reciprocate back to you. Aren’t love triangles fun?
  • Call yourself what you want to be. This goes back to the old saying, “Don’t dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want.” In the online world and well, in reality too, people know you by the way you introduce yourself. Now, obviously, you don’t want to go around pulling a George Costanza and claiming to be an architect if you are not an architect. But, it is very easy to start calling yourself a blogger or a writer or a filmmaker, etc. Just because you haven’t hit your peak or you are still learning doesn’t mean you can’t start calling yourself the thing you want to be. I’m not famous by any means, but I call myself famous all the time. There’s no harm in this, because eventually, I will be famous. Right? Right!? Validate me! So I jumped the gun a little; so what!? Start introducing yourself online and in the real world as the person you want to be. You’ll be amazed at how much faster you become that person once others believe it to be true.
  • Do fun stuff. Just because you’re trying to run a business and appear professional doesn’t mean you can’t reveal a little of your personality. I used to struggle with this a lot. I thought I had to project a professional level of success all the time for people to take me seriously. Then, one day, I said, “Fuck it!” and I started saying whatever I wanted and guess what? I got a lot more clients and they are clients that I actually enjoying working with. Being professional and being dull are not the same thing. Let people know who you are. Be yourself. Talk some trash. Curse from time to time. People like to see that you’re real. Do you like going to Britney Spears concerts and getting trashed on Mojitos? Me too! Share those pictures with us. Don’t hide the person you really are. When you hide who you are, you end up with clients and friends that you have to pretend around. By being yourself all the time, you can be certain that when you do get clients, they are going to love you for you. And isn’t that what you’ve wanted since you were a kid?
  • Be transparent. Be honest. Be yourself. Be cool, man. I can’t harp on this more, but being yourself is so important. People are instinctively drawn to honesty and things that are real. Just because you have flaws does not mean you are a flawed person or unworthy of stardom. It means that you are just like everyone else in the world and not perfect. People like knowing that you’re not perfect, it makes them feel good about themselves for not being perfect. You can be not perfect together and really make something happen. It is our imperfections that give us character. Embrace them.
  • Your status message is the key that opens their hearts. What are you doing? Answer this question 25 times a day. Use a service like Ping.fm to broadcast it to all of the social networks you populate. And then once or twice a day, check in with each network and comment on the chatter around your status updates. Use your status updates to ask questions. Do you want to be hired for some position? Tell your online community about it through your status message. Do you love Whole Foods, Tito’s Vodka, Bud Light or book deals? Tell us about your love for these things in your status message. I have had more sponsorships and opportunities come out of me Tweeting and Status Updating more than I should, than I ever had Tweeting too little. Every status message allows someone to get to know you better. It puts your personal brand in front of their personal face. People can only help you if they know what you need help with. Let them know and then reciprocate the favor.
  • Build those relationships. How much coffee are you drinking? Okay, double that. Building relationships online is easy. By spending an hour or two a day in front of your computer, being resourceful and having a positive attitude, you can make a lot of friends in the online world. But, when you move those online relationships into the real world, that’s when they become REALLY powerful. So, make a habit of having coffee, brunch, lunch, drinks, etc. with a few of the people you meet and trust online every week. Meeting people in real life is fun and can yield amazing results. You don’t always have to hide behind an avatar. Get out there, meet some people and make a few bad decisions (the fun kind of bad). I promise it will be the best decision you’ve made all year.
  • Be helpful. What’s your specialty? Even if you’re like me and planning on becoming famous for being famous, you still have a specialty. I have lots of them. PR, Marketing, Video Production, Social Media, Blogging, Writing, Partying, Scoring Free Tickets, etc. Search yourself for a few things that you are good at. Even if it’s something stupid like being really good at shrinking chip bags in the microwave and making them into keychains, it’s still something. Your expertise does not have to be something that appeals to the mass public. It’s the weird niche fish which makes the biggest splash in the pond (why am I writing in haiku?).
  • Listen and comment and listen again. Finally, I’ll talk about listening, again. Because listening online, like in the real world, is the most important thing. People aren’t jibber-jabbering all day on the internet because they like to hear their own voices. Don’t get me wrong, I am in love with my own voice and could listen to myself ramble for days, but ultimately, I’m hoping that one or two people out there are actually listening to what I have to say. When those people that are listening comment on my blog, or DM me, or write a blog post about me, or offer up sexual favors, cash or hard candies, it makes me feel all good and squishy inside. They like me. They really like me! When you comment, etc on other people’s blogs, they will have this same reaction and then you can move forward in becoming internet besties with them.

So, you see, by working with each other, we can all get famous together. Or, if nothing else, one of us will get famous and then sneak everyone else into all the cool parties. Now GO GET FAMOUS!

These are the things that are working for me. They are certainly not the only way. What is working for you? How are you getting famous? Can I come to your party?

Oh, and as a bonus, this video taught me more about becoming famous than anyone or anything else ever has. ;)

Want to hire me for your next PR, marketing, social media, video production or writing gig? Let’s talk about it.

Jon Ray – whoisjonray AT gmail – 512.785.9160

What does a video-film producer do?

by Jon Ray on Feb 16 in Video Production

Let me start off addressing those of you who are reading this blog for the first time. My name is Jon Ray and over the last few years, I have written extensively about how social media can be used to help you create an online presence and community around you, your company, your band, your film, etc. Over the past nine months I have talked about social media and marketing at several conferences, colleges and seminars. All of these opportunities came solely from readers of my blog. It is my hope that I will have the same amount of success blogging about my experience as an independent HD video producer.

What does a video/film producer do?
A while back I started a social media, marketing and HD video production company called Suited Productions (now Papertank). Since then, I have produced over 75 commercials, 40 music videos, 20 short films and a handful of mini-documentary projects on a local, regional and national level.

So, what does a video producer do? In my experience the producer’s job is to breathe life into a project. The producer is the one who goes out into the wild and finds the projects. Once the producer has found a project, it is his job to find the money to fund the project. Sometimes, especially with creative projects, this means attaching talent to a project that investors will find attractive. Other times, it just means that the producer negotiates a project budget with a client. Once funding is in place, the producer now attaches talent to the project. A producer will typically select a writer, director, director of photography, production designer, unit production manager and editor. Ideally, you hope that you have enough money to hire all of these people and more. But, often times, there just isn’t the budget to hire everyone you’d like to hire. I’ve worked on quite a few low budget projects where we just couldn’t afford all of the production talent we wanted. In cases like this, I like to find production talent that can multi-task several jobs. In the past, I’ve used a director that was also my DP and editor. I, often times, act as my own unit production manager and as a production assistant. Working low budget means that everyone is playing multiple roles. The key is finding a group of people (no matter how big or small) that are 120% devoted to making the project the best it can be.

You have your production team, now what?
Once you have the perfect team in place, it’s important to get everyone in a room and make sure they are all on the same page. Or, better yet, that they are all on your page. As the producer, this is your project. Yes, the director and writer are going to have a lot of say in things, but the producer is the one who gave birth to the project and it is the producer that has the final say so on how the project turns out. Of course, there is always a certain amount of give and pull and the idea is that the team you hired is on board for your vision. But, in the end, this is the producer’s project, so it’s important that you make sure the initial vision for the project is being met. If you are working on a creative project, then you’ll want to finish developing your story or concept with your key production staff. If you are shooting a client project, then there are probably already guidelines that the client has set forth for the project. It is important that you, as the producer, make sure that those guidelines are being met. You should always check in with your client and give regular status reports. Nothing makes a client squirm more than a producer that does not communicate with them. Clients want to know that their money is being well spent and a constant stream of communication between the producer and the client is a great way to keep the client from getting cold feet or wanting to send in their own people. If you show the client, right off the bat, that you are in control and there is nothing to worry about, then your shoot will go much smoother. Constant communication will assure that the client uses you for future projects, as well. Remember, the client like the investor on a creative project is the money man. Make sure the money man is in the loop and comfortable and things will run much smoother on your set.

The producer should be omnicient.
As a producer, you should always know what is going on with a project. Your job is to hire the best people to get a job done. Once you have good creative talent on board, your job is to manage and supervise that talent. The producer will supervise the development of the project concept or story. The producer will help set a budget based on that concept. The producer will help find key cast members and then develop a shooting schedule. The producer will view daily footage and make suggestions if deemed necessary. Once shooting is completed, the producer will sit-in with the director and editor while the project is cut together. The producer will help find a composer or any music needed for the project and negotiate those contracts. The producer will be the main contact for clients involved with the project. But, most of all, the producer is the ultimate problem solver. No matter what kind of project you are working on, there will always be unexpected problems that arise. As a producer, it is your job to calmly, quickly and efficiently solve any problems that come up. If you’re good at thinking on your feet and finding creative solutions to problems, then you’ll be a great producer!

So, there is a brief look into how I’ve operated as a producer over the past few years. Of course, there is no right or wrong way to approach becoming a producer. But, the above is what has been working for me. You’ll find that you may prefer to approach projects in a different way. If so, I’d love to hear how you like to attack creative and client projects. I am in no way an expert, but I do have a little bit of experience in putting together smaller music video and commercial projects. Are you a feature film producer? How does producing a feature film differ from putting together smaller projects? What advice would you give to young film producers who are looking to raise money and produce their first feature film? Where did you get your experience as a producer? Was it a trial and error process, did you go to a producer mentor program or work underneath another producer? I’d love to hear from anyone that would like to add to this post. And if you have questions, leave them as a comment. If I can’t answer them, I promise I’ll find someone that can.

5 secrets to shoot your music video or commercial for cheap

by Jon Ray on Feb 16 in Music Video

If you run a company, are in a band or if you ever need to promote things from time to time, then there is a good chance that you will have a need at some point for a professional video. But, if you’re like most company’s, bands or events, you’re working with a budget that is, at least, three times smaller than you would have liked to have for the project. Do not worry, it is not only feasible, but very likely that you can get a professional quality video for much less than you might think. You just have to know where to look!

Here are 5 secrets that will get you a great looking video for pennies on the dollar:

  • Know your concept. One of the biggest challenges for a production company or agency is coming up with a great idea that YOU will approve. Depending on the agency and depending on the client, coming up with a concept that EVERYONE can agree on can take a day, or more likely, it can take weeks and weeks. If you come up with the concept you want to shoot in-house and then go shopping for a production company, you’ll save yourself a lot of money simply by cutting out the pre-pre-production process.
  • Borrow locations. Another hefty expense in most professional videos goes to scouting and renting each of the locations that will be used in the video. While it is, often times, necessary to pay for a location, especially if you need a studio space or something very specific, you can usually get away with locations that are available to you for free. Before you start shopping your project to production companies, make arrangements with a few locations you can use for free.
  • Borrow talent. This rule is a tricky one. Trust me, it is easy to find people that will want to be in your music video or commercial. The problem is that those people are probably terrible actors. Other than good lighting and good sound; whether your actors are good are not will reflect worlds on the production value of your project. But, you can find good actors for free or for little cost. Contact your city’s film commission and ask if there is a website or database of talent living locally (in Austin, http://www.austinactors.net/ is a great resource). If they don’t, then you can always turn to Craigslist, but DO NOT HIRE OFF OF A HEADSHOT if the role requires the person give lines. Professional casting calls can be expensive, but if you find your talent yourself or call actor agents directly, you can save a few dollars.
  • Hire freelancers.You have your concept, location and talent. Now, all you need is someone to shoot the thing. So, find some freelancers! These are people ranging from production company staff looking for something to do in their off-time, to college film students, to middle school kids with their parent’s video camera. Depending on your budget, you can choose your level of talent accordingly. Craigslist.com is a good place to post and find someone that can shoot your music video or commercial, but make sure you have them submit a production reel, resume and references. The best way to find a good freelancer is to just ask around to other people who have had video produced in the past. If you don’t know anyone that can make a good referral, then call your local college and talk to the Dean over the film or advertising school. They can usually make a worthy suggestion and you might even get a free video if you can swing something that gives them school credit for shooting your project. Of course, if you can afford it, though, an accredited production company is always the best. You’ll still be able to get them to discount their prices if you do all of the above.
  • Sign a contract. Finally, if you have a spot that isn’t a one time deal, you can gain a lot of leverage by offering up an extended term contract. If you need a new commercial every single month, or want to shoot 3 music videos over the course of a year, then put the entire year’s worth of videos into one contract. I, personally, have discounted my freelance prices almost 25% in the past for a lucrative contract of guaranteed work for an extended period of time. Just make sure the company you sign with is going to treat you well.
    A good quality video can be the difference in selling a product or just wasting advertising dollars. If you have a good product, a professional video will pay for itself time and time again. But, a poorly produced video can create a first impression with potential customers from which you might never recover. But, fear not, a great looking video and concept isn’t that expensive and if you follow the secrets listed above, you’ll be surprised at how much money you can save.

    Don’t have the time to put the entire video shoot together yourself? You might consider hiring a freelance producer. He/She can put the concept, location and talent together and then find a production company for you that will execute the entire project. A good producer is worth their weight in gold and more. You can find local producers in your local film production manual (contact your film commission).

    If you have any questions you’d like to ask about video production, media buying, marketing, PR or social media, I have handled projects on a local, regional and national level and I’m always available for conversation. Hope this helps! ;)

    Jon Ray
    whoisjonray AT gmail DOT com
    512.785.9160

    • 8 ways to promote yourself at outdoor festivals

    by Jon Ray on Feb 16 in Marketing

    I’m going to share some of the ways I and others promoted ourselves at the ACL Festival and hopefully shed some light on how you can become a rockstar in your own right, the next time you visit an outdoor music festival. Here are 8 ways to meet hundreds, even thousands of new people and get your brand out to the masses.

    Put your logo on everything.
    With 100,000+ people walking around, you never know who you’re going to meet or who might approach you. One of the easiest ways to promote your company/band/self is to put your logo on everything. Bring a cooler? Put your logo on it. Umbrella? Get a logo on it. Blanket? You guessed it…logo. You could even wear a T-shirt with your logo on it, but make sure it’s a cool t-shirt and not something you got for free at your last 5K Fun Run.

    Plan ahead and bring something useful.
    This past weekend at ACL, it was HOT, HOT, HOT! So, the popular free handouts were the paper fans being passed out by Heineken and a few other companies. As you walked around the park, nearly EVERYONE was carrying one of these paper fans sporting the Heineken logo. People even started referring to all paper fans as Heineken fans. These things couldn’t have been more useful under the hot Texas sun. Thanks, Heineken! These paper fans are cheap, useful and a way to get 100,000 people walking around and literally waving your logo in front of their friends faces.

    Bring something fun.
    This one is an oldie but a goodie. Beach balls! You see one or two of these everytime you go to a concert, ballgame and many other events, but it really is a great way to get your logo in front of people and while I know a few people that hate these things, I happen to enjoy and even wait in eager anticipation for a beach ball to come my way, so I can get in on the fun. But, be careful. It’s better to have a fewer number of really big beach balls, than to have a lot of little ones, in which, no one can clearly see your logo.

    I mark this land mine!
    Get a flag and a retractable flag pole that’s at least fifteen feet tall and plant it wherever you end up sitting or standing with your group in front of each stage. Not only is this a really easy way for friends to find you, but it creates a reference point for the hundreds of thousands of people around you. When the people next to you are trying to give their friends directions to where in the huge crowd they are, you can bet their going to say something along the lines of “Just look up, we’re 10 feet left of the ‘Your Company Here’ flag.” I felt like a broken record this past weekend because I said something similar to this about ten thousand times. That’s a lot of people talking about your company.

    People want to know what you do.
    Outdoor festivals are the melting pot for music fanatics and if you’re sitting in front of the same stage as some stranger, you can bet that you already have at least one thing in common. Because of this, starting a conversation becomes easy. With all the other branding you’re doing, you can be pretty confident that people are going to ask what your company does. And while you could easily tell them and you should. You can also be pretty confident that after 12-hours of booze and sun, they’re not going to easily remember you. So, get a flyer, brochure, poster, business card or SOMETHING and give it to anyone that inquires about you and your company. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time and efforts. I was amazed at how many people I came in contact with this past weekend that had nothing with their contact information on them.

    Dress to Impress. And for a few laughs.
    Festival attire is very different from any other event. Anything goes and the weirder the better. If it fits your personality, dress up a little. Festivals are kind of like an out of season, more casual, Halloween. If nothing else a fun or silly hat is a great way for people, who might not otherwise, to come up and approach you. In the past I’ve pulled out my alter-ego, Michael Sugarberry, with great networking success. But, a Trojan Warrior Helmet, Beer Hat, Cat In The Hat Hat and other smaller costumes have worked with similar success. But, only do this if it fits your personality. It sucks to walk up to someone with a fun costume on and find out that they’re not at all interested in laughing about it with you. Darn you! Darn you!

    Capture those moments.
    Another simple way to meet people is to bring a good digital SLR camera and take photos of people. Then, tell them that they can go to your website to see them later that night. You don’t necessarily have to be a great photographer to do this. Just put the camera on auto and you’ll be able to take a reasonably good photo. Just brush up on the basics of photography and practice good framing. If you’re not confident in your photography skills, you could always just hire one for the weekend and have he/she do the work for you. This is a great way to drive hits to your website, as everyone loves to see pictures of themselves. Use an automated formula in a software program like Adobe Photoshop to brand the pictures with your logo and then upload them to a gallery on your website. Just make sure you get the pictures up ASAP! There’s nothing more frustrating than coming off a sun drunk, looking for pictures of yourself and not finding them. This can also be a good way to get opt-in e.mail addresses for your newsletter, as you could require an e.mail to download high-res versions of the photos. You might even allow people to print the photos online through an affiliate online printing company. If you’re a photographer, there’s no excuse for not doing this at EVERY event you attend.

    Side Note: With a little more effort and expense, you can take the same formula above and apply it to video that is then posted to your website. This is even more attractive and draws even larger web statistics.

    Make the people you meet VIP.
    Everyone wants to think of themselves as being a Very Important Person (VIP). That’s why such a premium is taxed onto VIP tickets for events. It’s not necessarily that the benefits are THAT great, because usually they aren’t. But, it is fun to think of yourself as VIP and rub shoulders with other VIPs. So, make the people you meet VIP! It’s pretty cheap to print up the laminated lanyards that are often used for VIP passes. Take your company logo and create a VIP section on your site. You could pair this with any of the other things listed above, but give people some reason as to WHY this is a VIP section on your site. Perhaps a free music or video download? Now give this new contact your branded lanyard that in BIG letters says “VIP” in plain font. Then have your company logo, a brief description of what being in your VIP program means and a list of your services. Oddly enough, people love to wear something that says VIP on it, because it makes them feel just that, like a Very Important Person. It’s perceived value and they like the way people look at them, when they are a part of an elite club. Perceived value is king and VIP badges are a good way to assure that your branded lanyard isn’t thrown on the ground.

    And Finally…
    In the end, all of these techniques will allow you to meet more people, get your brand out in front of a ton of like-minded people and make your festival experience a lot more fun. And that what it’s all about! The more contacts you make, the more fun it is to walk around the park and run into your new friends time and time again. You can easily make yourself, your band or your company a mini-festival celebrity just by implementing the above techniques. So, try them out and see how they work for you. What do you do to promote yourself at festivals or events? How are you starting conversations online and in real life? What ways would you suggest people NOT use to promote themselves?

    What can you learn about PR/Marketing from the circus?

    by Jon Ray on Feb 16 in Marketing, PR

    The Barnum & Bailey circus has come to Austin and that excites me because I LOVE circuses! When you think about it the circus is the ultimate PR spectacle and Barnum is a big reason behind that. P.T. Barnum was one of the greatest showmen of all time because he knew how to put on a spectacle that people would talk about for ages.

    Here are 5 things the circus teaches us about making your PR campaign a spectacle:

    • Build Anticipation. If you’ve ever lived in a town where a circus is going to visit, you know that they don’t just show up. They flyer the entire city with fun posters that announce when they will arrive. Any good PR/Marketing campaign would be good to build anticipation for what is about to happen. It is important to wet people’s appetite and find early adopters who will spread your message. People don’t generally like to be flat out surprised, they like to slowly be surprised. Start out slow and clever with your message and you’ll find you have more success, as you slowly unroll the magnitude of your spectacle.

      Example: David Ogilvy ran a billboard ad in France once that showed a girl in a bikini, the tagline read something to the extent of “On Sept. 28, I lose the top.” This was building anticipation. On Sept. 28th, they replaced the billboard with the same girl only she was topless. This time the tagline read something like, “On Oct. 15, I lose the bottoms.” More anticipation created a lot of buzz and then finally, On Oct. 15th, the model stood on the billboard naked. Building anticipation is powerful.

    • Make a grand entrance. The circus takes making a grand entrance to the highest degree. As it parades into town, it literally parades into town. In Barnum’s day, an elephant might even lead the parade down main street. It’s hard to ignore an elephant stomping by your office. Whatever your event, promotion or campaign, make sure you create an element that people can’t stop looking at. The nightly news is told in images, when you create an irresistible image, it won’t just be the press talking about you, it will be the entire city.
    • For a limited time only. One of the reasons the circus does so well wherever it goes it because it only comes around once or twice a year in each city it visits. By creating a scarce window of time, they create an urgency to get people to act and buy tickets before it’s too late. If people can see you every night of the week, you’re not going to have a sold out show on any night. But, if your event, promotion or campaign is limited and creates a sense of urgency, then you’re more likely to get an influx of customers and press coverage.
    • Feeding the elephants. Now that you’ve got people’s attention, you want to seal the deal and convert anyone still on the fence. What the circus does is publicly invite the entire community to come and feed the animals for free. No need to buy a ticket, just bring your kids down and see how much fun the show is going to be. It’s hard to see all those animals and clowns and then walk away without seeing the show. What’s even more powerful is that every member of the circus is so passionate about their part of the show. That passion makes buying a ticket almost irresistible. Once you’ve got attention, invite people in to see your operation, or test your product. If you are the remarkable company you say that you are, then you’ll have no problem converting visitors into customers, especially if each member of your organization can sell their part of the “show” effectively. Members of your team don’t have to be sales people, you’ve got sales people for that, but they do need to be passionate about what they do. Trust me, passion sells.
    • The Greatest Show on Earth. Finally, you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk? The circus gets you all amped about its arrival, then it parades into town making a spectacle, it promises you the greatest show, but only for a limited time. If you want to dig deeper, it lets you feed the animals and meet all the members of their circus team, each of which speak with passion about their craft and then the circus delivers on everything they’ve built up in your head. The Barnum & Bailey circus really IS one of the greatest shows on earth! And when it’s all over, you leaving with a feeling of wonderment, just as you pass the gift shop. You always tend to spend more at the gift shop than you did on the entire family’s tickets and that’s the point. They put on a show that you want to tell people about and then they sell you the tools to tell their story.

      After you’ve given a client everything they wanted and more, it’s not a bad idea to have something you can up-sell for added value. With our music video packages, we offer a top notch music video. Once we have a happy music video client on our hands, we talk about shooting an EPK (electronic press kit) that they can use to further promote the band and once they love their new EPK, we offer them a series of social media, PR and marketing campaigns that will allow them to promote their new video content. Then we build anticipation around their album by releasing snippets of footage from behind-the-scenes, then parade into town pushing the music video all over the place…wait this is starting to sound familiar. ;)

    How do you organize and execute your PR/Marketing campaign? What tools or techniques allow you to garner the largest response from your product launch, promotion or campaign? What is your company’s giant elephant marching down the street? How are you up-selling or adding more value to the product’s you are selling?

    Sponsorships! How to attract them & keep them

    by Jon Ray on Feb 16 in Marketing

    While working out of Conjunctured today, we got into a brief conversation about sponsorships and the best way to go about attracting them. Here’s how I would attract sponsorships and keep them. But first:

    Why do companies give?
    It seems to me that their are several reasons that it would benefit a large organization to give to a charitable or smaller project:

    • Promotional Reasons. You’ll notice that a lot of the sponsorships that you are familiar with are focused around events that generate large audiences. The reason that you can’t find a sporting arena, music venue or roller coaster that isn’t sponsored by a company is because those types of venues see hundreds of thousands of people go in and out of their gates on a yearly basis. If you can generate a great deal of traffic to whatever it is you are doing, landing a sponsorship becomes easy.
    • It looks good and it feels good. Fortunately, you don’t HAVE to get 100,000 people through your doors every single day to get a company to consider sponsoring you. If you are a charitable organization, you’re in luck. It is very commonplace, if not an unwritten rule, these days that companies give back to their communities. Many companies only exist because of their underlying community. So, when someone in that community is in need, most are willing to give back a little something. It looks good in the papers, the company blog and their website. Employee morale goes up because they feel like they are doing their part to help the community around them because they work for a company that cares. And, of course, let’s not forget that giving really is the best policy. Every business plan should include some way to give back.
    • Niche groups with similar interests. Another reason companies give is because they share the same common interests with a smaller niche organization and it is beneficial to them to see this smaller niche organization succeed. You’ll see this, for example, when a small programming firm, working on a niche segment of computer software is sponsored by a larger organization, who in return for providing sponsorship, get access to data. Or a young athlete, who shows potential, will receive a sponsorship from a sporting goods company to continue their training on the hope that they will become a champion and then be associated with their brand. This type of sponsorship is the “nurture them while they are young, then watch them grow up to be big and tall and we’ll be so proud” approach.
    • People like People. Finally, the old saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” is especially true when it comes to sponsorships. Often times, companies will have a certain number of dollars each quarter or year that HAVE to be spent on sponsorships of some type. Sometimes this is just part of the corporate mission statement, other times it is because those sponsorships are needed as tax write offs. Whatever the reason, many companies will give to a cause, simply because they know someone involved. And here you were, trying to avoid that fun run next weekend! ;)

    Here’s how I would attract a sponsor?
    Alright, now we know what sponsors are looking for, so how do we attract them? Well, you can fall into any of the above categories and have a real shot at landing something, but to swing things even more into your favor I might try some of these things:

    • Put together a press kit, or something similar that is geared toward explaining to prospect sponsors why your organization is a good fit with their organization. You’ll want to include any recent press here, because a company is much more likely to sponsor someone that is receiving a lot of press, than someone no one has ever heard of before.
    • Get to know your prospect companies. Don’t pitch to companies in which your organization is not a good fit. It’s much better to do some research and pitch to a few companies, than blindly pitching to many. And remember, you might be amazed at the links you have to a specific company. Do you know an employee of the company? An employee’s family member? The more support you have on the inside the better.
    • Throw an event. This is one of the easier ways to gain sponsorship. Events have to be promoted, otherwise no one would show up and it wouldn’t be any fun. One of the easiest ways to get a sponsor is to imagine the greatest event of all time, pair it with some great marketing, PR and a little advertising and then get the sponsor to pay for it all. This is a win-win because the sponsor gets to put their name on all of the marketing material associated with the event and you essentially get a TON of free publicity and credit for throwing an awesome party. Play your cards right and you can turn sponsors from just an event sponsor to a full-time sponsor, even after the event is over.
    • Offer up property. A big part of companies sponsoring something is being able to see where their money went. So, allow them to slap a logo on something. Running a 24/7 operation? Get an energy drink to sponsor the office webcam and stream it live over the web 24 hours a day with their logo bug in the bottom corner of the video stream. Got a conference room? Guess what? Now, it’s the Office Supply Store Think Tank. Do you get a lot of people hanging out in your lounge? Pride yourself on the music played? Post playlists online and share them, but label them “Playlists from the Rhapsody Lounge.”
    • Be creative. Some of the ideas here might work and some might not, but the key is to always be creative. Companies want to be creative and cool more than anything else, which is why so many are willing to waste millions of dollars on ideas that some ad agency told them were “cool.” If you can be creative and come up with a cool idea, then finding sponsorships will become easy.

    How to keep sponsorships?
    This one is pretty easy. If you were able to get someone to sponsor you initially, then getting them to continue to do so is just a matter having good relations. Get to know the people sponsoring and invite them to be a part of what you are doing. People like to feel needed, so get your sponsors involved in the projects you are working on. If they are personally invested, they aren’t going to want to cut off your funding because they’ll be having too much fun. A lot of people will tell you that sponsorships only continue if an organization is seeing an increase in public awareness, but most of the time, you can keep a sponsorship for a long time just by getting key members at your sponsors organization involved in your project. How hard was that? ;)

    What has your sponsorship experience been?
    That’s how I would do it, but sponsorships come because of many different factors. What has your experience been? What worked for you and what didn’t when you were attracting sponsors? What are you trying to find sponsorship for right now? How can we help? I’d love to hear all of your sponsorship hardships and hurrays, so tell your story in the comments section of this post.

    All this talk about sponsorships at 3 o’clock in the morning has me thinking…perhaps an energy drink should sponsor ME. ;)

    5 ways I used event networking to get more business

    by Jon Ray on Feb 16 in Marketing

    This past Wednesday, the folks over at Mashable.com threw a rager at Buffalo Billiards and were nice enough to pick up the tab! Not only did I have a blast, but I have already picked up a few clients interested in either marketing, PR, social media, video production or the whole lot. Here’s how I approached SummerMash and how I try to go into every conference or mixer I attend:

    5 ways I used SummerMash to get more business:

    1. Be prepared. This first one is a no-brainer, but seeing as I met more than a few people who disobeyed this rule, I’ll go ahead and mention it. When you go to a networking event, make sure you have a business card or SOMETHING with your contact information on it. It’s hard to pick up new clients if they don’t know how to contact you.
    2. Be creative. It’s a networking event. Unless, they were breaking rule number 1, EVERYONE is going to be passing out business cards. Does yours stand out? Does it say something about you that will make me remember you? The more you can do to make me remember you, the better. Because, trust me, when there is an open bar, you’re going to have to be pretty darn creative to get people to remember you.
    3. Be personable, but time conscious. If you’re attending a small event, this isn’t as important, but with a huge blowout party like SummerMash Austin, you’ve got a lot of people to meet in a very little amount of time. So, have a quick pitch on what you do and get your contact information in their hands ASAP. Now listen to their pitch (oh, side note: have a pitch), when you have a good idea what they do, tell them how great it was to meet them and assure them that you will be in contact soon. And you’re out! Now, of course, you want to gauge this on a case to case basis, but let’s face it, an open bar is not a good place to get into all the gory details of your business. Make a good case for yourself and then talk shop when everyone is sober.
    4. Know thy cameraman. This one isn’t mandatory, but I throw it in because I love having my picture taken. But, make sure you’re being photographed with other people. At event’s like SummerMash, people will post the photos they are in all over the web and then tag all of the people in them. If you’re in photos with a lot of people, guess what, that means their entire community is about to find out who you are. Plus, isn’t taking photos fun? As an added bonus, go to the event’s official Flickr feed and comment on the photos your in. Not many people do this and if you’re the first to comment, a decent amount of people will read your comments. Make sure to link back to your blog. ;)
    5. Follow up. And I’ll end with another no-brainer. You know that big wad of cardboard you found in your pockets when you woke up this morning? Those are business cards and they represent all of the amazing people you met the night before. Go through each of them and look at all of the websites; reacquaint yourself with the people you met and then shoot them all an email telling them how much you enjoyed your brief meeting. Now, is a good time to request a follow up meeting to talk in more depth. Make sure you find everyone on Facebook, Twitter and the slew of other social networks you might populate, so that your new friends will have no option but to pay attention to you. ;)

    See, wasn’t that easy! If you follow those 5 tips every time you go to a networking event, you’ll have so much business, you won’t know what to do! Just think if everyone in your organization was as tenacious a networker as you are? Yeah, that penthouse office is becoming more of a reality everyday, isn’t it? ;)

    I had an amazing time at SummerMash, was able to catch up with many old friends and made some great new contacts. Thanks to Mashable.com and everyone else that made SummerMash Austin possible.

    Here are some of the great new people I met. Not on this list? Then you didn’t give me your card. Shame on you. Shoot me an e.mail if we met at SummerMash and I’ll throw you on the list.

    (no particular order, other than this is how they fell out of my bag)

    1. Paul Terry Walhus – Web Designer – Spring.net
    2. Dee Dee Dial – Sr. Recruiting Consultant – BazaarVoice
    3. Chris Mullins – Product Management – Social Media
    4. Jeremy Arntz – Web Application Developer – Jaduka
    5. Clint Howell – Senior Account Executive – BusinessWire
    6. Dane Hurtubise – Student – Electrical Engineering
    7. Bill Erickson – New Media Entrepreneur
    8. Allison Allen – Founder – WomenBloom.com
    9. Holt Hackney – Managing Director – Hackney Communications
    10. Hayes Davis – Founder & CEO – Appozite.com
    11. Jenn Deering Davis – Chief of Community Experience – Appozite.com
    12. John West – Digital Media, IPTV & Web 2.0
    13. Aaron Novak – Marketing – Stickam
    14. Oscar Tijerina – Blog Catalog
    15. Eve Richter – City of Austin – Economic Growth & Redevelopment Services
    16. Jason Domangue – Vice President of Marketing – uControl
    17. Mark J. Schmulen – NutshellMail
    18. Yoono – Awesome Photo Sponsor and Firefox Social App
    19. Michael Cummings – Awesome Photographer
    20. Kristine Gloria – Austin 3.0

    Did I mention that SummerMash Austin was awesome! ;)