Social media brings people together. And conferences do, too.

I met a Mopwater PR + Media Notes “fan” today during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in San Diego today. My heart’s all gooey. I love meeting Mopwater PR + Media Folks.

How did you find Mopwater PR + Media Notes? I’d love to hear your story.

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*Image Credit: Luxe Chronicles

I think I scare my husband.

Whenever we leave the house, I double and triple check my purse or Mopwater tote to be sure I have my iPhone, iPhone charger and, depending on how long we’ll be away from the house, my Flipcam and MacBook. I have to be equipped at all times because I never know what may happen once we step outside that door.

This is the mindset of the new PR pro-always ready for whatever may happen whenever it may happen and wherever it may happen. You never know when an opportunity may present itself.

Case in point, I recently attended a seminar on fashion and social media that was hosted by my PR pal James S. Walker. During the seminar, James gave a number of great ideas to enterprising fashion professionals (who are ready for whatever) to use social media to score traditional media coverage. I am sharing James’ advice in the video below:

I showed you the video for two reasons. One: James’ message resonates with this notion of leveraging the moment for public relations. You’re down in the Metro, interviewing people with your Flip cam or your iPhone and turning that into some sort of segment on street fashion. Two: I’m showing you how I was there in the room getting footage of James to share with you, leveraging the moment for my own PR. Since I’m in the business of highlighting the work of other PR professionals,  sharing new methods and giving you “tools for great PR”  one way I am able to do that is by leveraging the moment-being ready with my camera and recognizing when the information is getting good and knowing that you, the reader, would love to get the information, too.

James had no idea I was capturing that footage, but you should know that if I’m in the room and you’re saying anything interesting (at least in the realm of PR or social media), it’s liable to end up on one of my content channels

If you’re going to leverage the moment, you’ve got to be ready. You can’t ever be without your tools. Here are some of my tips for leveraging the moment for PR.

Get Equipped If you don’t already have a camera, a simple point and shoot is fine. You’ll need something that takes video (it need not be a Flip, although I am quite happy with mine) and computer software for video editing (I use iMovie). If you travel a lot, you’ll  need a reliable internet connection (I’ve been using the Sprint Overdrive and it’s great because it is a mobile hot spot that can accommodate up to 5 computers at a time.

ABC. Always Be Charged I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been equipped with a dead battery. But it’s bound to happen when you’re a heavy user like me. I’m always on my iPhone shooting photos and video, tweeting and Facebooking. Then there’s my MacBook. I’m editing videos and running multiple programs at one time so the battery takes a beating. So I try to keep my power chords with me and a power adapter for my car on hand in case I can’t find one in a room. Take a spare battery or scope out the outlet situation wherever you go.

Think Links. When you’re out there in the world, be in the moment, but always be thinking how can I turn this moment into a hyperlinked piece of content? Because at the end of the day, if another person online can’t link to what you’re doing, or retweet the link, the sharing stops. And that’s the point of leveraging the moment and making the web work. You have to make things easy for the next man to grab hold of and share.  So if you’re taking photographs with key people at an event, post the photos to your Flickr account. Or better yet, write a blog post, post the pictures and put captions naming the people in the photographs. Then tag the post with those names. If you’re capturing video, upload it to YouTube. Once you do this you have a link that you can shorten (use bit.ly) and share via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, email or wherever. You can also embed the html code into your web site (on a side widget) or into a blog post to get multiple uses out of one piece of content.

Note: how many hyperlinks can you count in this post?

Share. Send. Immortalize Online. Once you have this awesome content shorten the link (the blog post or YouTube video) and tweet it, Facebook it, E-mail it, create a newsletter with it. Send it out into the world. Once you send your leveraged moment out into the online world, guess what? Your moment just became immortalized. Check back in one month, 3 months, or even one year. That blog post or YouTube video will still be there accumulating equity on the web.

Pretty cool, huh?

What are your favorite tips for leveraging the moment for PR?

I recently had a conversation with a young lady, let’s call her PR Ingenue, who wanted to hear my PR Basic Principles because as she said, PR is so broad. We had an interesting discussion about the difference between public relations and media relations so I thought it would be interesting to share my thoughts with you guys, and get some of your basic principles. Here’s the conversation:

Mopwater: A lot of people equate PR to media relations, but that’s just one part.

PR Ingenue: Could you explain the difference?

What are your thoughts?

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At a recent Media Relations in the Digital Age panel, I heard and interesting tidbit from Nancy Marshall-Genzer, a reporter at American Public Media’s Marketplace program. Ms. Genzer described what I think is an innovative way one news organization is leveraging its audience and using social media to shape the news.

American Public Media has created a “Public Insight Network” where you can go on the American Public Media website and sign up to be considered a source for stories. APM describes the network this way:

Public Insight Network is a new approach that journalists with American Public Media shows like Marketplace, Marketplace Money, American RadioWorks and Weekend America are using to find diverse sources and a broader range of information. It involves partnering with the public and, at its heart, is our Public Insight Network – a group of thousands of people who have agreed to help us cover the news.

Many of our public sources have told us about their work, education, passions and expertise. Almost daily, we ask some of these public sources in the network to share their observations and knowledge with us on specific stories. Our public insight analysts take that information, distill it, and pass it on to our reporters and editors. Analysts may follow up with a request for more information, or perhaps an interview with a public source.

We also ask public sources to tell us about stories that we should be covering – stories that matter to them and are not on our radar. And we ask people to participate in online interactives where they share ideas and stories and reason through tough issues.

These public insights help us set our agenda for coverage and inform our reporting. We believe this partnership creates more diverse and in-depth news and cultural coverage. It also makes American Public Media programs even more trusted and credible sources of news and information.

I went ahead and signed up to join the network and immediately got an auto-respond note thanking me for signing up. The email also informed me of another aspect of the network, the “Trading Floor” which is essentially a blog. Each post poses a question (I’m assuming from a story one of the APM journalists is working on) and to join the conversation and be considered for a story, you simply comment on the blog post.Check out the Trading Floor.

Overall I think this concept has great potential and could be a cool way to use social media to source stories, kind of like HARO and ProfNet’s alerts on Twitter.

Maybe American Public Media has created these “networks” because they’re stretched super-thin and need to be smarter and more efficient in finding sources for their stories. Maybe they were only tapping into a certain demographic and wanted to open the perspectives up to more readers. Either way,  crowd-sourcing does increase the diversity of voices , so it’s a win-win either way.

The PRSA panel was the first time I’d heard of the netowork. The comments on the site were sparse,  and there were only 15 queries since April, so some awareness should probably be raised. There is a Twitter Account that’s basically a feed of all of the queries. So add it to one of your Twitter lists and monitor it daily.

I wonder how many PR pros have signed their clients up to be sources on the network. Have you? If you’re not signed up for the Trading Floor, check it out. It’s free, and there’s nothing to lose. It may be a great way to find another story. I’ll let you know if I come across any queries that pan out for me.

Vocus plans to launch a free service!

Peter Shankman’s free service HARO, short for Help a Reporter Out, which has become an almost ritual  for PR professionals was just acquired by public relations software giant Vocus. The announcement was made this morning at the Vocus Users Conference opening presentation.

Vocus purchased Shankman’s service for an undisclosed sum, but both parties seemed excited about the acquisition. HARO will remain free for its 100,000 + subscribers.

PR pros responses on Twitter were mixed.

@ChiOKate:Yay for Vocus and HARO!! soooo excited

@robertdveloRT @chicagoprgirl: Help A Reporter Out (HARO) Joins Vocus http://bit.ly/aQmvxy. A little worried they may end up charging for this.

Both Shankman and Vocus say the service will remain free. I am personally excited about having a free version of Vocus.

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When was the last time you had your broadcast interrupted for an important public service announcement or PSA? When was the last time you did the interrupting- either for your own cause or on behalf of a client? If you are doing public relations outreach especially for a non-profit organization, public service announcements when done right, can be a great way to spread the word about your cause.

I spoke to Dan Lyons, an expert in PSA production, to get insight on how to create a PSA and when. His firm has created award-winning PSAs for national non-profits, federal agencies and trade associations. Here Dan shares his experience with PSAs.

Mopwater: What is a radio PSA and who needs one? DL: A PSA or public service announcement is a tool to generate awareness, educate the public about important issues, and encourage positive behavior. In our case, the platform for these messages is radio, so our PSAs are geared to engage radio listeners.
Radio PSAs tackle a variety of topics, including consumer safety, education, health, environment, family, etc.  They’re an ideal communications tool for non-profit organizations, trade associations or federal agencies that are striving to reach core audiences with key information and raise awareness for a cause.

Mopwater: What considerations should an organization or company make before developing a radio PSA campaign? Should they hire a professional copywriter or voiceover? DL: If an organization chooses to develop and produce a radio PSA on their own, there are several factors to keep in mind. First off, they need to be mindful about their intended audience—are you trying to reach a certain demographic, a certain region, or are you creating for general appeal.

Next, while the overall concept of a PSA campaign can be utilized across a variety of media platforms, radio PSAs need to be created for the ear.  With radio, you don’t have visuals to capture the attention of your intended audience. You must capture the listeners’ attention, set the tone, and provide a reason to keep listening within the first 5-10 seconds of a PSA. This can be accomplished with a strong script, distinct voices, various music beds or sound effects. For example, one of our PSAs begins with a middle-aged man with obvious angst in his voice stating, “My son was drinking too much…” accompanied by dramatic music. Instantly, the scene is set. On the opposite side of the spectrum, one of our PSAs features the sound effect of a toilet flushing in the first few seconds (nobody said writing PSAs couldn’t be fun.) Very different approach, similar results. Both PSAs have educated listeners and received thousands of airplays on radio stations around the country.

Radio PSAs must be broadcast quality, top-notch productions, and ready for air. Professional voicetalent is highly recommended. Unless you have a recognizable voice (aka celebrity or public official) or someone within your organization with a “voice for radio,” professional voice talent can lend instant credibility to your PSA campaign. Copywriters can also be helpful, and if you attempt on your own, you need ensure that you’re “writing for radio.”

Other radio PSA tips–PSAs should be evergreen, and scripted so they are relevant for a period of at least several months.  Offer different timed versions of your PSA, the most common being :60 seconds and :30 seconds. Provide scripts of you PSA for live DJ reads and offer PSAs with a “donut” where stations can add their own local information.

Mopwater: Do you have any statistics about responses to radio PSAs? How do you know that they’re effective? DL: On average, our national radio PSA campaigns receive airplay in over 100 markets around the country, and reach millions of listeners. Radio reaches 90% of the U.S. population 12 and older each week, and 4-out-of-5 adults listen to the radio in their car each week. Radio PSAs are a cost-effective and high-impact tool to reach out to these listeners and motivate them to take action.

For many of our PSA campaigns, as soon as it begins to air, our clients begin to see spikes in their website traffic, and an increase in calls if a toll free number is provided.
However, the impact of certain types of PSAs can be harder to measure because they encourage an on-going change in behavior, as such is the case with our PSAs encouraging designated drivers. But we do know that as drunk driving fatalities decline, our PSAs are playing a part. I always like to think that if a PSA stops just one person from drinking and driving, and saves a life, it’s effective and worthwhile.

Further, online radio listenership is at an all-time high, one in five Americans aged 25- to 54- years-old listen to online radio on a weekly basis. This greatly benefits our campaign because PSAs are often used in heavy rotation on radio station online streams.

Mopwater: In your experience, what characteristics make for a really effective radio PSA? DL: Here’s part of the reason I’m passionate about PSA campaigns, and really enjoy working with the Lyons PR team on creating them. There are no strict rules or guidelines for what constitutes an effective PSA. Successful PSAs can be straight reads with no music beds or sound effects, while others are mutli-track productions, heavy on both. Above all, an effective radio PSA will clearly communicate a message or cause, and successfully educate listeners and prompt action.

One of our most successful PSA campaigns aired over 37,000 times around the country and earned us a PRSA Bronze Anvil award. It was also the most unconventional PSA we have ever produced. In homage to the classic movie trailer, we produced a radio PSA complete with the “deep voiced movie trailer guy” and the dramatic choral music. The subject was tire safety, but presented in this manner, it effectively engaged the listener and prompted positive behavior, in this case, checking tire pressure.

Mopwater: If a company is in the middle of a communications crisis, for example the recent Toyota recall, is that a good time to produce and run a radio PSA campaign? DL: PSAs need to be totally non-commercial, so it wouldn’t be an outreach tool a company would use for crisis communications.  To effectively integrate radio into corporate crisis communications outreach, radio media tours or radio news releases are the best way to disseminate information quickly and get a spokesperson on the air.

Mopwater: What is the ultimate goal of a PSA? DL: The goal of a PSA is to influence positive behavior, educate listeners about important issues or a cause, and stimulate action. Ultimately, a PSA can be the first step in engaging listeners to take action, whether it’s changing behavior in their every day life or visiting a website to learn more about a cause.

Mopwater: In what instances should an organization NOT do a PSA? DL: If you’re trying to sell something or promote a brand—do not do a PSA. This would be a waste of time and money, and stations will not air.  And if you need the information to air quickly, for a very limited amount of time, a PSA would not be the right tool.

Dan Lyons in Founder and CEO of Lyons PR, a public relations firm based in Kensington, MD right outside of Washington, DC.

Like everyone else, journalists are using social media to multitask, carry on multiple conversations and be in more place at one time. Of course this ends up meaning they are able to communicate with more potential sources than ever before. The limitations of communication are (almost) removed, creating a hyper-journalism. Kinda like journalism on steroids.

PR pros consider these limitless pathways to communication in a pitching context of course, but it’s nice to know that journalists think of it that way as well. Thanks goes to DC Social Media Examiner Mary Fletcher Jones for capturing this great footage at Twitch! Public Relations in the Age of Social Media, the panel hosted by Mopwater on Thursday evening.  In the clip, Washington Business Journal reporter Jennifer Nycz-Conner discusses how reporting, aided by social media, is akin to cooking on a restaurant range as opposed to on your standard kitchen stove.

[Other #TwitchDC panelists included Jim Long of NBC (@newmediajim), McLean Robbins of Washingtonian Magazine (@deacondoesdc), Jamila Bey of NPR (@jbey), Arthur Delaney of Huffington Post (arthurdelaneyhp) Lindsey Mastis of WUSA9 (lindseymastis)]

Last night I attended a public relations seminar at the WUSA Channel 9 Station in Washington,DC. The topic du jour was digital media and making the transition, but as it was a roomful of PR pros in a televison statio, questions naturally came up about pitching television producers in a digital world.

It’s no secret that newsrooms are shrinking. In December the Washington Post reported on WUSA9′s new approach to multimedia journalism; deploying anchors equipped with digital cameras, camcorders, and video editing equipment. This approach has been met with praise and criticism; but it still begs a question: how can PR pros successfully function in this new multimedia environment?

I found the comments of Khalim Piankhi, Vice President of Community Relations for WUSA9 to be extraordinarily spot-on. To sum up Piankhi’s thoughts, don’t pitch producers.

This may seem counterintuitive to public relations professionals, but the media industry is changing, which absolutely affects the way we work with media organizations. How do they liked to be approached? What are their preferences?

Piankhi says news organizations like his don’t particularly care about your client. They care about their audience. He suggests that instead of thinking of how you can get yourself or your client in the news, think how you can help a news organization meet its objectives. At the end of the day, news organizations need the most relevant content to keep their audience, and if a big story breaks they will be searching for content to pump out to their consumers.

So instead of thinking a pitch, think relationships, he went on to say.  Frame yourself as a resource to a news organization. Check in from time to time. Send background materials. Keep your issue on the back burner-close enough that when that major story breaks bringing your issue to the fore, the producer will reach for the phone and call you.

You know the feeling. You’re working on a new project and you’re in the zone. Your brain is rapid firing idea after idea; you’re drowning in a deluge of creativity. You’re thinking to yourself, “Wow...this client is doing some amazing work in the community,” or “This campaign is briliant; it’s so cutting-edge, the PR element needs to be over the top…” Especially when you have a new client whom you are trying desperately to impress, it seems that the ideas just keep coming and coming; you’re ready to produce the YouTube video and tie the Twitter campaign to a creative giveaway. PR superhero to the rescue!

Not so fast. Hang your cape back up on its hook.

If you find yourself working on a project and the scope seems to grow in medias res, take the time to solidify the details of your compensation before you continue doing your work. It can be nearly impossible to do for those of us who tend to get inspired and want to just do the good work. But a big part of our jobs as communications professionals, frankly, is communicating these evolving scopes with our clients.  Educating the client on how long things take, what steps are involved and how much things cost is all a part of that communications challenge.

Should you find yourself ready to rush to save the day, keep these things in mind first:

Don’t Squeeze: The same way you wouldn’t try to squeeze size 8 thighs into size 2 jeans, don’t try to fit a 2-Year campaign Into a 6-Month Contract. When you do, you’re setting yourself up for failure. If your client has limited time and goals that would normally exceed the time frame, let them know that in the future they should plan ahead so that everyone has the time to do a great job. And then let them know what in your professional opinion can be successfully achieved in the time they have left. Read the full story

CNN correspondent Joe Johns offers what could be a case study in bad PR, and a cautionary tale for all of us.  Johns tells the story of an unfortunate PR person who pitched  the top of the CNN  food chain (the producer) instead of involving the corresponding reporter directly.

This morning I attended the PRSA National Capital Chapter’s panel in Washington, DC: How to Get Big Media Hits in a Social Media World. Joe Johns, a correspondent for CNN, gave this great synopsis of how he uses Facebook to get information for his stories. While he loves Facebook, he’s not such a big a fan of Twitter. So the lesson here is, know your journalists’ tastes.

Enjoy the clip.

Name and News Organization: Kate Michael, KStreetKate.net and The District Dish
Beat: DC topics (People, places, events, charities, businesses)
Job Title: New Media Personality
Length of Time in this Role: 3 years
Web Site and/or Blog: K Street Kate/ The District Dish
Twitter Handle: @kstreetkate

Mopwater: What kind of stories/people/companies are you most interested in covering, and in what context?  KM: Both the online magazine and talk show feature the best of DC, lifestyle stories that highlight the real District of Columbia and its eclectic neighborhoods.

Mopwater: What’s the best pitch you’ve gotten recently and why?  KM: A unique and interesting business (trapeze school) moved into the area and featured lessons with the instructor who taught “Carrie” on the trapeze episode of Sex and the City.  We booked him immediately to tell people about the trapeze school on The District Dish!

Mopwater: What’s the worst pitch you’ve gotten recently and why? KM: The sister of a local woman asked me to do a feature on her because she was “so nice” and “people should know about her”… I’m not sure why.

Mopwater: What’s the easiest way to get ignored by you when pitching?  KM: Forget to take out the name of the other publication you were pitching when you were cutting and pasting your pitch.

Mopwater: What’s your preferred method of contact? Phone, email, your web site, your twitter account, your Facebook? KM: Email and twitter, equally.  My actual e-mail is listed on my facebook page, so why use a facebook message?? Read the full story

Traditional media outlets are, sadly, a thing of a bygone era. It has become almost an improbable proposition to start and sustain a pricey print publication, or an expensive-to-produce television show. Journalism is evolving, some would say dying;  and we have not hit rock bottom yet.

With the number of major news organizations downsizing and/or folding altogether, public relations professionals have to begin to develop a stronger roster of new media contacts  to get their clients’ stories told. As a PR2.0 professional, I am always on the lookout for the New Influencers: professional bloggers (many with journalism backgrounds), freelance writers who write for both the Web and print publications, and new media producers.

Though media database services like Cision and Vocus are great tools that still very much have their place, scrappy PR2.0 professionals realized long ago that Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter have made it much easier to find and connect with journalists. In the same democratizing way,YouTube, Vimeo and other free video sharing sites have destroyed the barrier between the would-be television producer and the audience, and   WordPress and Blogger made it possible for anyone with content to easily publish that content on the Web. Producers don’t need tons of money or the backing of major networks to get a show up and running: all they need is a camera, a YouTube account and a great story to tell.

Which is where we come in. Read the full story

Name: Jasmine Vega
Age: 41
Current City: Venice
Job Title: Music Publicist
Company Name: JPR
Length of Time in this Role: 20 years

Mopwater: Describe your path to PR. How did you wind up in this field?
JV: I didn’t actually go to college.  I started working at 14 yrs old and haven’t stopped.  I didn’t know what a publicist was when I asked for the job.  I was working at a law firm in the data entry department during the day and at night I was promoting my boyfriend’s club in Los Angeles.  This was in the late 80’s.  We always had rappers and record promoters come to the club and get on the mic.  I became friends with the A&R person from Delicious Vinyl (Young MC, Tone Loc).  He asked me if I wanted to come to his label one day after work, so I did.  I looked around and saw that the office was in a shambles, no file cabinets, no structure etc.  This was hard for me to understand coming from a law firm where everything was in its place at all times.  So I asked why that was and a month later I got a call asking if I wanted to come in for an interview to assist the GM.  I went in and got the job.  A few months later the publicist at the label was leaving her position and said that I should ask to take her place since I was already doing her job and everyone liked working with me.  Doing her job at that time since we had established artists was answering the phone and sending out press kits to those who asked.  Those calling were the likes of Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek etc.  I was in a very fortunate situation and took the position.  The rest is history.

Mopwater: Describe how you got from the in-house publicist job to what you’re doing now. When did o become an independent PR pro? How many years into working at Delicious Vinyl did you decide to go out on your own?

JV: While working at Delicious Vinyl, we also hired an indie pr firm to work other projects that I didn’t have time to.  After a year in the position, the pr firm had asked if I would like to work in their LA office.  I eventually left the label, moved to the indie firm until it closed its doors.  At that time, I was able to leave with a handful of accounts to be independent for a few years until Priority Records offered me an in house position.  I was there for a couple of years until I was courted by Virgin Records.  I remained at Virgin for 8 years until they moved the company to New York.  At that time I went indie again and have remained indie for the last few years. Read the full story

I recently caught up with Jennifer Nycz-Conner, a features reporter for the Washington Business Journal here in DC. She shared with me her pitching preferences and for the Business Journal; and what makes her love or hate a publicist.  The Washington Business Journal is owned by the American City Business Journals, which also owns 41 other papers. If you’re in business or representing someone who is, you’ll want to take note of these pitching preferences.

Name: Jennifer Nycz-Conner
News Org: Washington Business Journal
Beat: I cover our Business Smarts section, which is a feature section on how to better manage your career and business. I also put together our Back Page, which is our people/events page (yes, I am the post-college version of Party Pix). I also write for our Web site and our Focus sections.

Mopwater: What kind of stories/people/companies are you most interested in covering, and in what context? JNC: I love entrepreneurial stories – the kinds that examine what people are pursuing, what they’re passionate about, and how they’re making it happen. I also love how-to stories – the kinds of things where a reader finishes the article with tips they’re inspired to move on right away.

Mopwater: What’s your idea of a great pitch?
JNC:Short e-mail pitching a company, why it’s interesting, and why our readers would care. No release – just simple facts, why it’s interesting, and not looking for anything more than to share information.

Mopwater: What’s the worst pitch you’ve gotten recently and why? JNC: Looooong releases. Oh, no, worse – I received an e-mail pitching a story on cosmetic surgery procedures. In New York. Not about business. Not local.  Please, please, please read our paper before pitching us. If I have any strong pieces of advice, that’s one of the best I have. Read the full story

These days, everyone is trying to get more for less. And when you’re a public relations practitioner, that especially includes your clients.  We’re in a recession, so smart business owners are out to get more than their money’s worth. Clients want to see the impact of each dollar spent.

But what can you do to add value to an existing public relations contract without investing too many precious hours that you don’t plan to bill? Here are a few ways to easily add components to your contract and enhance the public relations work you’re already doing. Tip: Assign these tasks to a PR intern who is eager to learn.

Set Up a Facebook Fan Page

The new Facebook Fan Pages are much better than the old Facebook groups because they allow you create a profile for a business much like you would create a profile for yourself.  Fan pages allow businesses to list standard business info like hours of operation, web address and phone numbers, as well as update the status bar to answer the “What are you doing?” question much like you would do on Twitter.  I like the fan page because it allows business to combine the lightweight functionality of Twitter with a photo gallery, video, and more. The client can update their fan page to quickly reflect changes in hours, menu, prices, sales, promotions, etc. The client can also upload photos to show potential customers the interior of the establishment, etc.

Offer to Set Up a Blog 

I happen to love setting up blogs for clients because I’m a writer and content is my middle name.  If you’re a writer, researcher, or creative type (which you are if you’re in PR) suggest helping your client set up a blog focusing on their industry. But be sure to make the blog industry and solutions-focused, not company service-specific. Readers don’t want to feel like they’re getting sold; they want to feel like you’re helping them solve a problem.

Your client may want to build out a blog section as a part of their custom site. If not, there are tons of free blog publishing platforms out there, so the investment will be nominal. My personal preference is WordPress, but there are a few other blog services that offer powerful publishing capabilities for little or no cost.

Setting up a blog can be time consuming though, because you want to get the colors, design, fonts, headings, and taglines just right. If you need some help on this, subcontract some of the content development  out to a professional writer.  Be sure to suggest topics for your client to blog about, or be prepared to provide the first few posts to get the ball rolling.

Set Up a YouTube Channel

Another easy, free way to get your client maximum exposure is a YouTube channel.  Take the blog beyond mere words by embedding video. Bonus: Once you upload your video on  YouTube, you can tag it with keywords to make it instantly searchable.  This, of course will aid in SEO-one of those ROI factors clients love. Videos are also a great way to incorporate “how to” messages, product demonstrations, on-site facility tours, employee interviews and more. There really is no limit to where you could go with video. And again, since YouTube is a free service, the investment is only your time.

What have you done to add value for your clients?