Joy Donnell, CEO and founder of 720 PR and I continue our discussion about publicity and the absolute necessity of using the full extent of your resources to promote your work.  The woman talks tough, “You either go ahead and be courageous or you sit there and keep being chicken-shit,” but it’s advice we all need to hear.   Be sure to read to the end, where Joy shares her resources, and then get out there and start using them.

If you missed it, read Part 1 here.

Q: We’ll get back to actors in a moment, but I really enjoyed the case studies that you have on your site and I’m interested in hearing more about what you do when you work with an independent film.

A: One thing that I wanted to do was help independent film-makers make good connections where brands are concerned.  The corporatization of the entertainment community is here.  It’s not going away.  Product placement and brand integration is as old as Hollywood.  It’s always been around.  Harry Winston was one of the first brands that started doing it.  It’s here and it’s here to stay.  People have mixed feelings about it, but if you work it the right way, it can actually give you more mileage in terms of your publicity and your advertising.

So, when we are working with these independent film projects, we’re helping them create brand relationships that are going to help them with their promotions and their publicity overall.  And that’s an intricate process.  It changes and it depends on what all parties are comfortable with.  But if you have a good indy project with name talent attached, names that people know, with good fan bases behind them, that’s step number one.  And then let’s say that you do already know where you are going to distribute your film.  Ok, now we can have a conversation about bringing in brands to help with that publicity and advertising.

One of the things I talk about is using online outlets to help you with publicity stunts.  That’s one thing I strongly believe in for independent film-makers.  Get a publicity stunt together.  Don’t just pull it out of your butt, but actually plan it in a real way, because it takes planning and detail.  If you pull off a publicity stunt in the right way and you get it filmed and you put it on youtube, you’ve got an opportunity to reach people that you never would have reached before, and get the word out about your film.  It’s a very exciting time.

Here are some examples that Joy pointed me to of successful “publicity stunts”:

Kevin Smith + Myspace (2006)

Sascha Baron Cohen/Borat trying to crash the White House

Q: Do you have recommendations that you give to actors when they are acting as their own publicist?

A: One thing that I know for certain is that regardless of what’s going on with your career, there is always something that you can be doing to publicize yourself.  Always.  Now it doesn’t need to always mean actual media.  There are always things that you can be doing to help spread the word about yourself.

Build your mailing list.  Don’t just take a business card and then don’t do anything with it for five years.  People say, “Oh, I don’t have anything to talk to this person about.”  Why are you making that decision?  You really think that you know what this person wants to talk to you about and what they don’t?  Why did you get their business card in the first place?  You didn’t pry it out of their cold dead hand.  They gave it to you, so follow up with them.  Put a mailing list together.  Keep people posted on the things you are doing.  Even if it’s that your IMDB number went up 6000 points that week.  Keep people posted on what you’re auditioning for, what you are working on, the commercial gig that you just landed.  Stay in communication with people.

Go back to your local newspaper and let them know.  Because when you look at people like Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, you can’t deny the connection they have to Boston, and that home town fan base has gone a long way for them.

And if you say, “I only have 50 people that I know.”  Go out and meet more people.  Leave your house and meet some people.  How much do you really think is going to happen just sitting in your house?  Go to events.  Don’t just go to industry events, go to art gallery openings.  Especially if you are living somewhere where things are happening, you need to go out and meet people.  You’ve got to leave your house.  It’s like trying to sell cookies and never giving the cookies to anybody to taste them.  Exchange information.  Give your information out and allow people to follow up with you.  Take that time.  There is always something you can be doing to build your network and build your contacts.

One thing that I’ve seen myself in my own businesses is that a lot of the things you need to grow your career, you have in your Rolodex already.

Q: So many actors are naturally self-deprecating.  The people that you see really make it, do they either not have that natural instinct, or have they found some way to overcome it?

A:  Well you do have some people who can talk about themselves all day long and it doesn’t bother them, but I think that for the most part, the average person loathes the idea of talking about themselves.  Most of us are worried about being viewed as a bragadocious.  We’re worried about being viewed as arrogant.  It’s a very natural thing.  So, people need to figure out, how can I be a cheerleader for myself without sounding like a complete jerk?  There are people with Oscars who can’t stand talking about themselves.  They can’t stand doing interviews.  They can’t stand watching themselves on screen.  So I think it’s a very normal thing.

Q:  Do you have a technique to help people do that?  To be a cheerleader for themselves without coming off as arrogant?

A: First of all, there’s not necessarily a technique, as much as you just have to train it like any other muscle.  But the first thing you have to do is decide that you are going to be brave.  You have to decide that you are going to be courageous for yourself, and that a lot of times is a difficult thing for people, unless they feel like they have an obligation to something other than themselves.  There have been situations where I have sat down with clients and said, “You are a single parent.  You have got to go out there and do publicity.  If you don’t take care of this child, who will?”  Well, maybe you have to think about your career as your kid.  And the same way that you would do anything, you would run out into the street and be hit by a bus to save your child, you need to have that kind of attitude for your career.  So you have to be courageous.

And two – if you are scared of meeting people, then that’s the exact thing that you need to start to do.  Little baby steps.  Talk to a stranger at the grocery store.  Go to an event where you don’t know anybody.  What people get trapped into a lot of times is that they’ll go to an event with their posse, and then they only talk to the one who brought ‘em.  They never step outside of that group.  It’s very comfortable.  You can be out in public talking to people you already know.  There is no stress in that.  Ok, well stress yourself a little bit.  Until it starts to feel more natural.

You just have to approach it like any other conversation.  People get so fixated.  “That is Steven Spielberg over there.  I have to talk to Steven Spielberg, and I have to walk away with a movie deal.”  Why?  Why are you stressing yourself like that?  Steven Spielberg is a regular person.  Just carry on a conversation.  You might find that you and Steven Spielberg don’t get along in any kind of way, and that’s cool too.  Just go ahead and treat people like people instead of agendas.  When you are coming at someone like they’re an agenda, it shows.  And that’s one of the reasons why they get turned off and they are standoffish.  Just look at it as, you’re human, and we are social creatures by nature, so socialize.  Don’t put so much pressure on yourself for what the end result needs to be for it to be valid.

A lot of times people feel like they have to get everything out at one time, and people can’t handle that.  We’re capable of incredible intellect, but we learn in very particular ways.  I always liken it to ABC.  Repetition is what people need to learn.  And simple definitions are what people need to create pathways in their minds.  So, when you are going out there and you want to let people know about your brand, you still have to go with the simplest definition.  Now the simplest definition may not be what your actual career is, maybe the simplest definition is what you stand for.  It could be an idea.
If you think about Oprah, yes, Oprah has a talk show, and Oprah has a magazine and Oprah has Harpo Productions, and Oprah now has her own network, but what people really know Oprah to be is someone who helps you to live your best life.  Oprah is someone who is encouraging and inspiring and uplifting.  Her brand is “be the best person you can possibly be.”  Maybe someone else’s brand is they get known as someone who gets stuff down in Hollywood.  There is nothing wrong with being a hyphenate, but you have to still give people a simple definition to hold onto.  That can require a little bit of thought.  And sometimes it requires asking questions and sometimes it requires seeing what do people react to the most in you.

I recognize the struggle in putting yourself out there publicly, and it isn’t just a journey of vanity.  It is actually a place that you have to get to.  A place where you step up and decide that you are going to do this for your career.  You are going to bite the bullet and go ahead and do the things that you need to do.  Be courageous.  One of the things that I’m always trying to instill in people is that you can take control.  We live in a world where you don’t have to wait for everything to come to you.  This is your dream.  Not my dream, not your mama’s dream, not your daddy’s dream, your dream.  And who can dream for you bigger than yourself.  Who can talk about you better than yourself?  You are with you all the time, therefore you are with your brand all the time.  You have to be your biggest cheerleader and your best spokesperson.  I see it very black and white.  You either do it or you don’t.  You either go ahead and be courageous or you sit there and keep being chicken-shit.  This is your dream.

Here are some resources that Joy has recommended for you to go out there and act as your own publicist, but she gave this disclaimer:

“As for resources, let me first make a statement. Just like driving a car, you shouldn’t use these resources if you are impaired or don’t know what you’re doing. Don’t conduct yourself like a buffoon. Use these resources wisely.”

Muckrack.com = connect with journalists on Twitter.  Follow tweets on the “beat” you are interested in and send out one line press releases.

Helpareporter.com = HARO – delivers journalists’ needs directly to your email inbox.  You could be quoted in a major publication.  Find out what reporters need and pitch yourself as an expert.

PR.com = free press release distribution.  Yes, they’ll try to up-sell you, but the cost for the silver plan is $0.

Gist.com = connects your email and all your social media so that you stay organized and up to the minute with news about your most important contacts.

Mailchimp.com = great resource for organizing your mailing list and keeping them up to date on your news.

In Photo: Stefany Baclaan of G.A.M.E. Group, international recording artist Freedom, Lindsey Labrum, Joy Donnell