What to Pitch in July: The Long (Lead) & The Short (Lead) Of It

I'm writing you this on the eve of a Fourth of July weekend that I'm determined will be filled with sun, swimming, relaxing, fireworks and delicious summer treats.  Which is why it feels funny that we're beginning this "What to Pitch the Press in July" monthly series with this warning: you need to begin thinking about your holiday PR outreach. Now. Yesterday. All month long!  Yes, that's right. Whether you're sharing products for holiday gift guides or want to land your tips in a holiday issue (big readership, folks) now is the time to begin strategizing and pitching the press.  Early birds always get worms and these big, juicy worms of opportunities are plucked quickly.  So that's your first what to pitch teaser.  It's also a big topic to cover so get your head start this way: Watch this #TuneUp webinar where we talk about it more in depth, and stay tuned to the Tin Shingle newsletter because this month we're doing a full and in-depth Holiday Pitching Training that you must attend!  Now onto a few more things you should be creating stories about this month...

A Little More Long Lead: Thanksgiving:

It's time to get grateful, well it is in the land of many a monthly magazine.  That means it's time to get your Thanksgiving-themed pitches out.  Whether you are a product or service doesn't matter, you just have to fit the season.  Here's where you're going to go with this (pick ideas that suit you): How to stay healthy during Thanksgiving, hostess gifts, the power of gratitude, entertaining tips and tricks, Turkey Day recipes, vacation safety, how to make the most of your in-laws, how to prepare your business for Black Friday or Small Biz Saturday (not do not share your actual sale ideas, more on that in this #TuneUp).  If you need some inspiration or ideas specific to certain outlets, just check past issues (online or at the library) to get a feel for the type of seasonal stories they do!

All Things Summer Continues:

Here's a brain dump for you, find some angles that you could spin your brand into: Summer parties, summer safety, bug bites and poison ivy, family reunions, road trips, festivals, parties, summer recipes, summer work out plans, how to stay safe in the heat, how to work out in the heat, how to keep you pets safe in the heat, how to save money on air conditioning in the heat...

Your goal here is to think of story ideas that add value to the readers or viewers who are getting it, and that fit into this peak summer season. 

Bring on the Celebrations & Observances:

July is packed with long lead and short lead observances you can be spinning stories around.  For instance:

1. Bastille Day (July 14) - All things French - get creative!
2. National Picnic Month
3. UV Safety Month
4. National Blueberry Month
5. International Day of Friendship (July 30)

Want access to what stories are hot for pitching or blog posts every month of the year? Download this customizable Blog Planning Calendar - we already did the research for you!

Quote: Start Where You Are, Use What You Have, Do What You Can

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. - Arthur Ashe

Be Bold, Or Italic, Never Regular. A Perfect Quote

Inspired by an image in the stylist Lourdes Amador's Instagram feed in her article for Tin Shingle on her favorite one-stop-shop photo editing app, we put our own twist to this perfect quote:

be bold

or italic

never regular.

Well said. Whoever you are that first said it.

SmallBizSpotlightInterview: Meet Dentist Turned Pillow Dr. Dawn Jones

What leads a dentist to invent the "perfect pillow"?  Where do you even start on that quest as an entrepreneur?  And why is everyone going crazy about it?  Find out in this exclusive Small Biz Spotlight interview with Dr. Dawn Jones-Sylla...

By trade, you are a dentist and own your own practice, which means we have to ask, what led you to embark on a mission to create the “perfect pillow” (where both comfort and hairstyles are concerned)?

I had always struggled with preserving my own freshly done hairstyles.  I had even trained myself to sleep a certain way at night.  A few years ago, while watching the movie Memoirs of a Geisha, I envisioned the solution to this lifelong struggle.

Let’s go back to the start of your business:  how hard is the pillow industry to figure out and break into?  Where did you start the process?

The pillow industry has not been too difficult to navigate.  It was challenging sifting through all the information regarding state regulations for registration and sales tax, but we got through it.  It was also very challenging to connect with a manufacturer that was willing to fabricate a uniquely-shaped pillow. 

In your journey to produce the Hair Pillow, what were some of the tasks you could figure out and complete on your own, and what were some tasks you have to call on others for support in order to do them correctly?

My personality is such that I think that I can do anything.  For instance, I attempted to create my own pattern for the Hair Pillow and sew it (Note: I do not have any prior training in pattern making or sewing).  I soon came to the conclusion that, although I could probably do this, a trained professional could create the prototype quicker and better than I could.  The same held true for submitting my patent application.

Although I have hired a patent attorney to properly submit my patent application, I have been able to successfully submit my trademark applications.

What makes your Hair Pillow different than other pillows on the market?
 

The obvious:  It is uniquely shaped, comfortably supportive, and attractive.

The most important: It really works! (Beauty bloggers agree)

How do you balance both businesses – managing your practice in New York City with a growing product-based business?  Any tips for other “dual entrepreneurs” who may be reading this?

Balance you say?  Did I mention that I have a five-year-old? There have been times when I have had to sacrifice and put one business on

the back burner while I nurtured and grew the other business.  I have found that in order to maintain a certain degree of balance, four things hold true:

1. You must make it clear to yourself what you want to happen, or rather, clearly define your goals.
2. You can’t do it by yourself: You must hire good workers to fill positions and actively delegate.
3. You must put yourself on a schedule and stick to it.
4. You must decide to believe that what you want to happen will happen. 

I have found that simply making a decision can cause doors to open, sometimes immediately.

What – if any – have you found is different in terms of running a service business (your dental practice) as opposed to a product-based business (the hair pillow)?

There is definitely less overhead associated with my product based business.  Marketing efforts for both businesses are completely different.  There are patient referral services established that

dentists can sign on with and patients will come.  Marketing the Hair Pillow requires me to be more creative and consistent.  Marketing the Hair Pillow and completing the administrative work for my dental office is where balance sometimes gets thrown off.

What are some of your entrepreneurial dreams for the Hair Pillow – and in general?

My entrepreneurial dreams for the Hair Pillow are:

• To truly improve the quality of life for all those in pursuit of maintaining good hair and/or attaining a good night’s rest.  
• To have the Hair Pillow featured as one of Oprah’s Favorite Things and in other major media.
• To have the Hair Pillow endorsed somehow by a major influencer.
• To have strong online sales every month and a strong presence in major and minor retail stores.

My entrepreneurial dream overall is to grow Lifestyle Pillows by developing and bringing to the market other concepts created to help one live a better quality of life.

Quote: How to Have a Simple Life

We love this great infographic about how to have a simple life as an entrepreneur from Anna Vital, Startup Evangelist at Funders and Founders.

• Let go of the past
• Consume less
• Say no, when you mean it
• Let go of perfectionism
• Turn off the phone
• Sever unhealthy relationships
• Have an alter-ego (to deal with complicated things)
• Purge your belongings
• Wear minimalist clothes
• Move closer to where you want to be
• Walk more
• Run slowly, and you will get there faster

Instagram Cheat Sheet Now Available to Tin Shingle Members

If a photo is posted to Instagram without a hashtag, does it make a sound? Barely. And not even your own followers may see it, thanks to Instagram changing their algorithm to not show you pictures chronologically anymore. It mingles with other photos when you include a hashtag into your photo caption. Like #yummy or #nomnomnom for really good food, or #bighairdontcare for a big hairstyle.

People navigate Instagram by clicking on hashtags of things they are interested in. People make up unique hashtags all the time, and sometimes those hashtags take off.

The digital team at Tin Shingle collects these hashtags and adds them to Tin Shingle's Exclusive Instagram Hashtag Cheat Sheet. Each hashtag is checked to make sure it contains a collection of good photos and then is added to the list as a recommended hashtag to use. The Instagram Hashtag Cheat Sheet is available to Tin Shingle members only, and are grouped by industry. It's a living guide, so we add to it on an ongoing basis. It's one of many buzz-building tools that come with membership, so check out what you've been missing if you're not a member yet.

If you want to contribute to this Instagram Hashtag Cheat Sheet Guide, you can email your suggestion to member@tinshingle.com. This is good for people who:

• Are having great luck and getting big reach from certain hashtags.
• Are trying to create a movement with a hashtag they made up and want to connect with others on it.

To help you get the most out of Instagram right now, listen to this TuneUp with the Senior Social Media Manager of Marvel, Adri Cowan, who also helps select clients in her social media agency, Rogue Social.

Unauthorized Use of Getty or and Image... "But I Didn't Do It!"

Coming clean in this blog post because our confession is the only way we know how to feel better after making such an avoidable mistake. And we don't want you making the same mistake, because just one wrongly published photo could be costly.

This week, we were served with a packet of paper from the Legal Department of Getty Images, stating that we'd wrongly used an image, the rights of which are managed by Getty Images. Because we'd not paid for the rights to use this image, our usage of it on this website constituted as stealing. This letter is otherwise known as the Getty Images Unauthorized Use Notification letter, and plenty of people have gotten one. It's also known as a cease-and-desist letter.

SEE ALSO: Copyright and Website Image Selection

Getty had taken a screenshot of the photo in question that was used on this blog. It was true. We had used the image. But the image we found had no watermark. It came up in a Google Images Search. We'd never touched Getty's website while searching for it. Sure, it was a great photo, staged well, perfect lighting, but....yeah, there it was in Google Images, so we could use it, right? No one would notice, right?

Wrong. And honestly, we knew this. Long ago I'd pinned the article on Photo Copyright Tips for Bloggers from IFB. I've purchased the rights to use photos in designated spots for clients. But somehow, I'd turned a blind eye for our own blog [hand slap!!!]. If you are getting sloppy with how you collect images from the web to post to your website or Facebook business page, just stop and read this article.

SEE ALSO: someecards.com are Favorites for eCards, But Permission Denied for Publishing on Websites

If you've posted images that you are not 100% about their origin, or if you didn't contact the owner to ask permission, then delete them right now from your website, Facebook business page, Twitter, and wherever else you've posted them. And for the very paranoid, remove your website from Archive.org as well, that can visually list pages from months or years ago.

HERE'S THE DEAL:

Getty Images, Corbis, and any big photo rights management company has software that can dig deep into websites all over the Internet, including Facebook pages, and find images that are posted without proper payment. Photo rights management companies represent artists like this guy who make a living making the photos, illustrations or other forms of graphic art. They need to be compensated for the art, and a big company like Getty will make sure they get it. And Getty makes sure that Getty gets its own share too.

So it's quite lucrative to go out and identify a photo being used on another website, send the company a letter with the proof of the unauthorized use, and demand payment. Even if you didn't mean to use a rights protected image. Should you wish to contest their financial demand, you'd need a lawyer, and the lawyer would probably cost more than the settlement you will probably need to pay anyway.

We did email our lawyer to make sure this wasn't a hoax, and that he thought it a good idea that we pay the settlement fee, which was basically a fee to use the image on a type of page in our website. It wasn't the home page and it didn't have very prominent placement, all of which is taken into account when negotiating rights to place an image. We paid the fee.

"BUT THE PHOTO DIDN'T HAVE A WATERMARK!"

Know this: you should not do image searches in Google and pull an image, even if there is no watermark on it. If someone bought the rights to use an image on their website, then they have a legitimate copy of the photo with no watermark on it. However, Google Images currently is able to pull that image and display it in a collection of image results to show you. If you suck down that image, or take a screenshot of it, you're using a photo that you didn't pay for.

There could be entire websites that post stolen images without watermarks that exist simply to attract you to search images on them. Such a website owner may have put Google Ads onto the site, and is making a pretty penny off of people like you clicking around on ads for a sunset image, finding it on their website, thinking it's safe, clicking on more Google Ads on their site, and it goes on and on.

Note: It's not Google making a killing on that type of website (well...indirectly they are), it's a scam artist who built a website with stolen images on it, attracting folks looking for pretty pictures to put on their website.

NO-NO TO POSTING PROTECTED IMAGES ON FACEBOOK OR TWITTER

Read the License Agreement over at Getty Images. See how far reaching their protection is over the art they represent. See the clause on Facebook and other third-party social sharing sites:

"2.11 Unless otherwise specified in the Rights and Restrictions, Licensee may not, directly or indirectly, Reproduce the Licensee Work in any secondary Reproductions, such as compilations, screenshots, in-context promotions or on file-sharing or social networking websites such as YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, etc."

CREATE YOUR OWN ARTWORK

You don't want to get mixed up in this. If you don't have a photo budget to buy stock photography at Getty or Corbis, then you are much better off taking your own photos and creating your own artwork in many of the free photo editing software out there, like PicMonkey, Hipstamatic, Hipstogram, and even your iPhone or Android has filters to make pictures stand out and look cool.

See this photo below? It's part of our new mission to build our own stock photography collection. This green ornament is one that hangs on my front porch. Then Jackie did some PicMonkey magic to it to make it more framed!

Photo credit on the camera above, which we applied the red art to: "Font Awesome by Dave Gandy - http://fontawesome.io".

Hudson Valley Magazine Speaks with Katie Hellmuth Martin, Co-founder Tin Shingle

Days after attending the 3rd Annual Women in Business lunch hosted by Westchester's business magazine, 914Inc., I picked up a copy of the Hudson Valley Magazine from my local drugstore here in Beacon, NY (yes, we still have a local drugstore that isn't Rite Aid!), to read the December issue of our regional magazine. This month covers how female entrepreneurs, CEOs and small business owners are taking care of business. I was honored to be included in the editor's letter that kicked off the issue.

Olivia Abel, editor in chief, interviewed me for my take on what special challenges women entrepreneurs face these days. The challenges that women entrepreneurs face are quite different for each circumstance and usually relate heavily to family and time. She included a few of my thoughts in her editor's note, which I'll share here with you as well:

Perfection. Women are natural organizers and can multi-task very well. These are ingredients to a recipe for success. However, women who can quickly foresee the success of a business venture can be easily let down or disappointed in themselves if things aren't going exactly as planned. It's important for women to forgive themselves when they are working their hardest and sacrificing personal time for the pursuit of their business. (Alli Webb, founder of Drybar, also feels this way, as we learned in our business success secrets interview with her.)

Guilt. Women are consumed by guilt, and it's a really hard habit to break. There is no room for guilt in business relationships. Guilt about having a negative conversation with someone when a situation needs improvement can often lead to no conversation at all, and thus no improvement in a situation.

Family. Women are nurturers, and in business this can work very well as they listen to the needs of their businesses and shift accordingly. But the pull of family responsibilities is strong, and women often are taking care of household tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and directly caring for the children. This is quite time consuming, thus leading to time away from growing their business. On the upside, however, unplugging in this digital day in age has become increasingly difficult, so a forced unplugging when spending time on family or household can lead to a recharged brain and fresh ideas.

Networking. It can be difficult to find a networking group that gets to the core of your business needs. But once you fine one, you'll realize that women are great at sharing and like to help each other.

Being "Worth It". Entrepreneurial women have created something from scratch. There is no boss telling them to stay after 5pm, or working on a family vacation. Entrepreneurs decide to work these extra hours, not take personal calls during the day, and sometimes say no to personal invitations when really, she needs to be working on her business. Women sacrifice for others, but rarely for themselves. And as a business owner, a woman must think that she and her business are "worth it" in order to do what needs to be done.

Dream Come True: Hudson Henry's Good News Granola Featured on Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda 4th Hour

This morning, I was watching the Today Show at my sister-in-law's house while on a family visit. I watched a few segments that featured some products and organizational ideas (that possibly were sourced by organization experts in other small business communities like In Good Company), and I thought about Hope Lawrence at Hudson Henry Baking Co., and how her dream (as stated even on her packaging) is to have her "Good News Granola" featured on the Today Show. She's been working towards that dream and it's actually how she found Tin Shingle: she wanted to get on the Today Show, and discovered that our business membership program had the components to make that dream a reality.

After making my children's breakfast, I'd actually turned off the Today Show so that I could focus on getting them dressed and getting out the door. Moments later, Sabina, Tin Shingle's co-founder and my business partner, emailed me saying: "It happened!!"

"What happened?", I wondered. I dove into the email to learn that Kathie Lee and Hoda just aired a feature of Good News Granola as one of their Favorite Things. (It's also my favorite granola snack that is always stocked in my cupboards...)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a glorious way to start a Monday!  Now here's something you should know: Tin Shingle is all about empowering entrepreneurs like Hope to build buzz - that's what we do, day in and day out.  We demystify PR, social and online marketing via education, motivation tools and tips so that you can be sure people hear, see and read about your business.

The founder of this granola company that was featured on the Today Show, Hope Lawrence, is a member of Tin Shingle and is especially inspiring to me because she is a mother of two boys who started her granola business so that she could build a business and raise a family. Every decision she makes is made around her family. She doesn't move as quickly as other entrepreneurs because she's on a family vacation, or picking up her son, or is baking granola. But she does it at her own pace. Sabina and I call that a "holistic business" approach, and it's one we try to live by as well. Very often, entrepreneurs in our field don't have families, and they have many more hours in the day and night to grow their business. But the pace of an entrepreneur with a family is slower, and that pace just paid off for Hope.

Hope landed this segment with persistence, patience and by following Tin Shingle's Membership Program. She used several Tin Shingle membership tools to help her get featured on the Today Show. Here is how Hope got featured on the Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda:

• Hope read our (free) articles in the Ask the Expert section to learn how to pitch the Today Show and Kathie Lee & Hoda 4th Hour.
• She attended our #PRTuneUps including the virtual classes about how to land a spot on a morning show.
• Hope used our community and resources to check and get feedback on her pitch to strengthen it before she sent in to the show's producers. This helped ensure her pitch was in tip top Today Show shape.
• Hope used our Media Contacts to pitch her product to the right producers.
• Hope then used strategic emails to follow up with the producers and then waited when she needed to. When she had questions she took them to our Community Forum to get thoughts from others who'd been in her position.

And really, Hope had hope for her product, created fantastic packaging, has a darn cute website, and has enough spunk and "wow factor" that her brand was a fit for the show.

We are so thrilled!

See her packaging here, which truly illustrates her belief in the power of good messages. She states her mantras, one of which is to "Ask for what you want". See the first sentence in the packaging "My dream is that this little granola company will allow me to spend my days with my boys and land a spot on the Today Show":

Done. Mission accomplished thanks to Tin Shingle's Membership Program. Play the clip below:

Cross Promotion: Why Your Small Business Should Consider It & A Few Ideas to Get You Goin

I recently popped into one of my favorite boutiques in Brooklyn and noticed a stack of beautifully designed postcards on counter that they were handing out with every purchase.  Upon closer examination I saw that it was an offer for 25% off purchases at two neighboring shops (a gift shop and shoe store) along with a free baked good with purchase of a drink at the coffee shop around the corner.  With deals like those I couldn't resist at least checking out the participating stores (I mean, it couldn't hurt to peek into them I told myself...) and before I knew it I had snagged a new pair of summer sandals (25% off!) and discovered somewhere to enjoy "latte and laptop time" in the future. 

This retail experience was pleasant for me as a customer (I discovered new businesses, I scored great deals), as well as for all three of the participating businesses!  In fact, even though I didn't purchase anything at the gift shop featured on the postcard, I have now been in the store and can visit it when I need something in the future (as well as refer it to friends).  Beyond the experience, it was a fantastic, real-life example of small businesses acting on cross-promotional ideas, and the positive results that can be achieved from such an undertaking.

Cross-promoting with companies that may not be the exact same type of business, but most likely share similar customers, messaging or even are part of the same "world" (we'll talk about this more later) can be one of the most cost-effective and powerful strategies you can employ to increase your visibility and customer base.  I personally love it when small businesses and entrepreneurs find organic and well-matched partner companies to cross-promote with.  Why?

• Low to no cost: Cross-promoting can be free in some instances (social media) and most other times it allows you to use the tools and systems you already have in place or are already paying for (newsletters, your website, sales), thus not requiring you to increase your costs significantly.  Cross-promotional opportunities like the one I outlined above with postcards are also effective and again, are fairly low cost.  They also allow you to...

• Split the cost and the work:  You're no longer alone when you cross-promote, which means you have another business (or two or three) to sharing cost and the workload.  You know what we always say here at Tin Shingle: why do it yourself when you can do it with others? Half the work and cost along with double the visibility and sales opportunities is an equation I can definitely get behind!

• They're fun:  Yes, I said it!  Sometimes it's just fun and re-energizing to do something new and fresh with your business and brand, and to have some outside energy present.  When you're a small business owner you tend to love what you do (after all, you created it), but it still doesn't hurt to have new ways of sharing it and getting the word out about it!

• The possibilities are endless: Cross-promoting opportunities are endless because there are countless ways you can combine yourself with other companies and countless companies you can match up with!  You just have to think get your brain in the right place! You have to start thinking of obvious (and not so obvious) companies you can partner with and ideas that work for both of you!  The goal is that both of you enjoy it, benefit from it and the workload is fairly weighted, if not identical.

To kick your cross-promotional brain into high gear we've come up with a few concepts for you below! 

Before you begin, remember that when choosing a business to partner with, you don't have to choose the exact same kind (in fact you probably don't want to do that).  Instead, think of companies that are "playing in the same world" as you.  For example: the athletic/fitness world, new moms and babies world, items for road trips world, fashion lovers world, food lovers world, small business products world, tips and products to make your home prettier world, and so forth!

Now bring on the ideas!

• Shared newsletters: While I don't recommend swapping contact lists and emailing each other's followers blindly (they'll quickly wonder who gave up their contacts) you can create a co-branded newsletter tying yourselves together (in an organic and strategic way) and offering mutual discounts.  Perhaps you introduce another company as a favorite of yours, or in an overview of products perfect for road trips/mini-home makeovers, etc.

• Create paper or virtual frequent buyer cards:  These can offer discounts and other goodies at all the participating shops, which can be brick-and-mortar or virtual.

• Social Media Promotions: There are countless ways you can bring  a cross-promotional partner into your company's blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and more! Best of all, they're all free! Even a simple mutually shared discount code for your online followers can reap big benefits!

• Hold a Contest: Contests can be in person or virtual, can include applicants sharing business cards or email addresses with you and can include prizes based on the goods or services all participating businesses sell.  A great way to spread your brand and get in front of new eyeballs!

• Use Those Sales Receipts & Deliveries to Spread the Word: Every time a customer receives a product or receipt from you (real or virutal) or attends a class or event hosted by you, they should walk out with a promotion code for future shopping/working with you.  You can expand this sales and marketing tactic exponentially by partnering with other companies and including each other in these opportunities.  This especially works when you're partnering with brands "in your world" as you know their customers will most likely enjoy what you sell as well!

Want more? Here are a few more ideas:

• Co-host a seminar or class together
• Throw a summer party together
• Share pop-up retail space!
• Share a referral program

Get creative, get strategic! As you can see the opportunities are there, and I'm sure your partners are as well!  If you're a member of Tin Shingle just pop into the business directory and find a fellow small business owner there that feels like a good match.  Sales are often slower in the summer, and cross-promotional marketing is a fantastic and low cost cure to the "summer slump".  Happy planning!