Many businesses have strong associations with other businesses that are important to them. For example, estate agents and lawyers have a symbiotic relationship: lawyers rely on estate agents for conveyancing business, and estate agents rely on lawyers for referring people who are (for example) dealing with a deceased relative’s house sale, or looking to value a property.
Likewise, lawyers and accountants often feed work to each other, and doctors and chemists work closely together. All businesses rely on someone else—that’s the nature of business—so why not recognize the importance of these other firms by committing an act of kindness?
An artist named Valentina from California decided to expand interest in her work beyond galleries. She wanted the opportunity to explain her thinking, and show people the process of making the artworks, so she had herself filmed actually painting a new work, and giving a running commentary.
The idea took off, and she now posts a new “episode” every Sunday. Eager YouTube viewers “tune in” each week to watch her paint, and she now has a worldwide following.
Not all of these people will buy a painting, of course, but galleries have certainly picked up on what she is doing: her profile has been raised considerably. And that, as they say, is PR in action.
Practice
• YouTube will edit you out if you are overtly commercial rather than just interesting.
• Have the actual filming done as professionally as possible, but without the “Hollywood” touch. YouTube is about people, not about slick production.
• Keep it personal. Talk about yourself, not the company (although you can, of course, mention the company too).
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