This past week Mark Horvath, jumped in his car (courtesy of Ford) and is hitting the road this summer to capture and share stories of the homeless. Formerly homeless himself, Mark brings personal experience and compassion as he aims to bring understanding and knowledge to the growing homeless crisis. He will visit 25 cities across the nation including rural areas, larger cities, shelters and youth facilities. Mark has been creating enough waves in the LA and National markets that the Los Angeles Times recently published this article about him on Sunday.
Portnoy Media Group, under the moniker of The Drop, is joining Mark in sponsoring his trip. “I personally love what Mark is doing and it’s really taking the issue of homelessness to the people.” says Dan Portnoy “In this time of economic hardship, it’s important for me to be reminded of the situations of others and be part of the solution” The Drop has recently relaunched and is working to unite a growing group of entertainment enthusiasts who also care about changing the world.
Please join us and check out the stories that Mark Horvath is telling, these raw snapshots of life on the street don’t get any more real.
Please watch a few and join with us by donating to the cause.
The Drop joins other national companies like Ford Motor Company (that have donated a Ford Flex for his travel) Amazon.com, Whrrl, Hanes, The Idea Camp, Big Finish Media, Holy Cow Creative, Pitch Engine, change.org, Union Rescue Mission, The Dream Center, New Hope and Lord, Save us from your Followers.
Join me May 15th at the Pasadena Convention Center for a time of problem solving for non-profits.
It’s important to get your story out there, and the marketing world is consistently being turned on it’s ear.
This will be a great seminar for you and/or your team if these phrases keep coming up in your meetings.
What’s Twitter?
How do we better connect with our donor base?
Or if these thoughts cross your mind:
We need a social media presence but don’t have the manpower/resources to devote to it.
It seems like social media experts and snake oil salesmen have a lot in common.
Portnoy Media Group has a track record of increasing online donations and engaging new donors for organizations, even in a down economy – come get the info for FREE
Why FREE??!?!?
Honestly, because it’s the right thing to do. At Portnoy Media Group, we’re big on abundance thinking and we know that we can help your organization. With all that’s happening on the non-profit front right now through layoffs, pay decreases, and over stretched resources. There really isn’t a better time to share ideas and refresh your development team than to remove some hurdles from your path.
Our goal is to help you with small incremental changes that you can put into practice 30 minutes after the meeting or roll out on Monday. Going further than theory we’ll give you a step by step map to improve your organizations communication. Bring your questions, we’ll be looking for some real world examples.
We look forward to meeting you.
Portnoy Media Group uses the influence of social networks to expand your organization's voice and tell your story. We connect people with your mission and enable your brand to be shared, discovered, and connected. Work with us as we empower your organization to dramatically extend your online presence and increase donations.
In February, (2/25) I got to join forces with Social Media/PR Guru’s Jessica Hasson, Jeremy Pepper and Serena Erlich for a panel on using social media as a Public Relations/PR tool at Pepperdine’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA)
So then I thought, If I were 18 and enrolled at a University or City College today what would I do?
Use Twitter to expand my network:
I thought that most college students had a facebook page and by the show of hands at the PRSSA that was true but the Twitter numbers were far less. As a college student this is a great, easy and fast way to reach out to “thought leaders”, social media people, or whoever is an expert in the field you’d like to catapult into. The funny thing is – I do this now. If I were in college – I’d have such a jump on others in my graduating class, and others as I’m applying for my first major job.
Caveat – be careful how open you’re broadcasting. Just because you have a thought doesn’t mean you should tell everyone, like this woman.How to Tweet Yourself out of a Job
You’ve Got More Time Than You Think
Most college students don’t feel like they have a lot of time – sadly neither does anyone else. The truth is life doesn’t slow down after college – it speeds up. If it were me, I’d be sponging up all that I could form those around me and news sources. I’d be checking The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and topics I enjoy (technology, movies, music). (Quick Note: this continues after school, I’ve never stopped)
Network, Network, Network
Playing well with others is an absolute must. As a college student you’re surrounded by future captains of industry, do your best to get to know those around you. That means hearing what moves people to action and how their passion plays out. Join a civic club or a organization on campus – then I’d look to see how my skill set works into that organization and find my niche. This is done through trial and error.
Set up your Accounts
There are a few sandboxes you need to make sure that you’re represented in. I’d set up a Twitter account, Linked In profile, friend feed, YouTube and one of several social media outlets: Facebook, Virb.com, and/or Myspace. You may not use all of these accounts seamlessly but it’s important to have a presence. Next, make sure your name is the same across the web. Ex: The easiest is your actual name but if your name is John Smith (you’ve got a tougher time) choose something that is quasi professional. (I still laugh when I get an email address like Butterflies_And_Unicorns@hotmail.com from someone) This is very helpful when an employer searches for you in Google and THEY WILL! Make their life (and yours) easier, besides it’s brownie points.
Start Something
As an entrepreneur, I’m a big fan of starting something new. It gives insight, sharpens your skill set and causes me to appreciate people who have a totally different skill set than my own. Each new challenge has it’s own set of problems. With each of them you can outspend your competition or outthink them. As a poor college student, there’s only one option and it’s the better one.
Volunteer
Especially as a PR student – nonprofits are in need of you more than they know. The reality is that just because you show up to a non profit and tell them you’d like to help, they may say not need what you’re offering. Be tenacious and try a few places, especially if your into social media – send an email or start a facebook fanpage. Be creative.
Try New Things
After you’ve started something, risk it. Failure is part of the equation and a fantastic teacher. However, to fail correctly means learning. In my own life, I’ve risked big and lost big money and spent years paying it off. The losing required me to alter my thought process, attitudes and plenty of time to strategize. After one extremely big loss a successful friend of mine told me, “Dan, it’s only a mistake if you don’t learn from it.” Strategies for success can work through failure.
Stay Humble, Hungry and Smart
I’ve met more than a few people who come out of school and have a sense of entitlement. In today’s market, there is no room for this attitude. Learn this lesson early and solve a lot of your headaches later on.
Read this (e)Book
Hugh MacLeod in his eBook – How to Be Creative. Listening to his advice will save a lot of headaches and help keep the main thing – the main thing.
Download it here
It was a great time to interact with bright minds at Pepperdine University, a lot of really great questions on how the web moves. A Big Thank You to Dr. Emily Kinsky for the invite.
Today’s a big day in the world of Ramit Sethi. His new book I Will Teach You to Be Rich just reached the top slot on Amazon.com
He’s giving away Free Kindle’s and thousands of dollars as promo when you buy the book at Amazon or from Barnes and Noble.com (Currently #13) I personally bought the book this morning because Ramit knows what’s going on financially.
I did some searching through the Portnoy Media archives and found an interview with Ramit from 2006 before he was the big dog he is today. This was taken from the Biz-Ops Podcast and also features Tim Grahl of Out:think Group. The biz ops podcast was a show I got to co-host for Dane Carlson and his Business-Opportunities web network which has been a giant leader as the largest business website.
I get a kick out of it because it was 3 years ago and although trends change and our financial climate has changed drastically – Ramit still gives solid advice. Give it a listen, click the play button below.
I meet a lot of interesting people in my travels and I thought it would be great to share that with you. The quick interviews will be from professionals in all areas of media. From authors and musicians to new media professionals and filmmakers – hear what they’re doing and why it matters, all with a distinct “Portnoy” flavor. First episode launches March 17th.
Cynthia Ware from The Digital Sanctuary grabbed me for an interview while at Idea Camp. I’m always getting asked, “I see you attached to so many different project, what exactly do you do?” The next time I get asked I think I’m just going to send this link to them. Thanks Cynthia!
As far as Post Idea Camp thoughts..
I feel very fortunate to meet, hang out with and develop relationships with attendees and speakers alike. Idea Camp is definitely the kind of conference I’d like to be a part of again.
I personally really enjoyed the session I got to facilitate (How to Tell Your Story through New Media – and Save Money), it was a room of about 25 sharp people. With questions ready, we railed through some serious real world issues on how to make media work in the context of church and business. It was a great exchange of solutions and opinions about what other media directors, developers and filmmakers were using to make their lives easier.
Here’s a couple solutions and recommendations from the session:
WordPress – It’s CMS (Content Management System) a blog tool and pretty much anything else you can imagine. I think it’s a great foundation to a digital presence. (it’s also free)
Twitter – It’s such the buzzword right now. If you AND you’re organization aren’t on Twitter – you should change that. Caution: Please don’t launch a campaign to tell everyone how cool your organization is. Think of it as a segue to talk to a crowd of people.. what would your opening line be? Plus, there’s a bunch of additional tools to make twitter do whatever you want it to.
Mobile Cause – I love this! For under 4K a year your non profit has a number to promote for stadium appearances, speaking engagements or talking with small groups. The phone is the future appliance of communication.
Harness low/no cost multimedia tools to accentuate your brand like Vimeo, and Facebook Applications.
I’m looking forward to next year’s Idea Camp. Big thanks to Charles Lee for the opportunity.
A few weeks back I got to sit down with Tobias Dunlap to talk about his role in the LA Marathon. Toby rides his bike as part of the Child S.H.A.R.E. Team and raises money through sponsorship for each mile he completes. William Fitzsimmons lends his music (Afterall from the album, Goodnight) to this commercial that Portnoy Media Group (PMG) produced. For this project, I worked with Justin DIal (@jdialfilm) who shot and edited the commercial piece. This is the second project we’ve worked together on and I was thrilled to collaborate with him again.
If you’re running the LA Marathon make sure you register with Child S.H.A.R.E. Marathon team and help over 17,000 kids in the foster care system in the Los Angeles area.
Child S.H.A.R.E. contracted Portnoy Media to coordinate the shoot, editing and launching the final product to the world. We had a great time putting it together and did the whole project from start to finish in about 5 days. Getting access to William Fitzsimmons’ music was a total bonus – my sincere thanks to him and Brick Wall Management.
Click here for the official press release
Last month, the beginning of the short films of DEIDOX launched along with their website. These stories are a great combination of documentary film and Christian media.
My interaction with the Brent Gudgel and Dave Mahanes at Chronicle Project (CP) started almost a year ago and it wasn’t until May that we started kicking around the idea of working together on a web portal that would be different than a lot of other short film download sites.
“These stories help us focus on something bigger than ourselves.†– Brent Gudgel
Early on I was able to see their business plan and being in the same suite of offices got to enjoy the ups and downs along the way to last months launch. This was a great project to work with because we were able to really collaborate on the site. Having worked previously together and continually with Union Rescue Mission’s Stories from Skid Row helped establish a great work flow and exchange of ideas.
In October we really went to work talking about the features they’d like the site to have and came to the conclusion that since Chronicle Project has had great success with Dear Francis (Heartland Film Festival Crystal Heart, Best Documentary at NY AIDS festival) The site had to convey and be on par with the kind of work that they do. We set about making a laundry list of features including making the focus and experience of the site highly visual.
Their initial idea was to develop a site that allowed for easy access, distribution and download the short films that they’d be creating. We took a look at other sites that were distributing on a massive scale in the faith based community (Sermon Spice, Worship House Media, Bluefish.tv) and while they were hitting a massive audience the choice was made to self distribute and augment the process through publicity and working network/contacts for awareness.
In similar fashion to Independent music, independent film (specifically shorts) don’t have a lot of options. Both iTunes and Amazon.com distribute video but unless you’re a major studio, there isn’t an option for distribution due to the length of the piece. What we eventually decided was to use e-junkie.com as a cart due to the fact that they allow a really flexible checkout solution and allow for digital downloads hosted on their servers.
Throughout the process of development, two companies were tapped for their expertise. Domestic Equity, based in Orange County and East Coast based Outthink Group. Prior to this project I’d worked with Greg Crosariol’s design in updating the CP website to be database driven on their back end. Greg is really amazing at conveying different looks and feels with his work. When I saw his design/look/feel of DEIDOX.com I thought it conveyed where the films were headed and communicated to the audience that would be checking out the site. He thought through so much of what would be needed that it was really a joy to work with.
Outthink Group has consistently been my right arm for web development in making the impossible happen. My favorite part about working with them is that they anticipate problems and get really involved in their projects. Tim Grahl was fantastic in bending javascript to his will, making the complex move simply and for general miracles.
Every project has it’s own unique problems/opportunities and since this process was blazing a trail in a cross platform melding of the professional film world, faith based communities and self distribution there was a fair amount to get past. We decided to harness the power of Vimeo HD (I think it’s the best player on the web) and showcasing the trailers by giving them a whopping 900×500 pixels of space above the fold. Everything on this site is designed to engage the viewer with video. Last years reports on web traffic said that 60% of traffic was viewing video; furthering the idea that if a picture tells a thousand words, video tells hundreds of thousands.
Also part of the genius in this business plan/model is the “pay-what-you-want” element. Where the music industry went wrong 10 years ago is where the independent film community can go right. There’s an important balance between having value on your work and creating product that is quality. This way you can see what you’re getting for a relatively low buy in ($2.99 or less) and enjoy the films at lo-resolution for your iPod, iPhone, etc. The dangerous part for the CP guys is the great trust they’re putting in their audience. I totally applaud them for this move but if the support isn’t there.. they won’t be making anymore of these films. Other price points for the SD and HD versions are $19.99 and $24.99 respectively.
DEIDOX.com was a great project to be involved in and I think the guys from Chronicle Project are doing some powerful things with film – check it out.
Deidox tile
Blog Action Day is SO GOOD! Poverty is such a big deal and while I haven’t traveled to third world nations that are experiencing mass hunger, I do get to see it on a weekly basis around Los Angeles. When I think of poverty I immediately think of the homeless. In LA we’ve got almost 90,000 homeless and whether you’re on skid row in the heart of downtown or you’re in my neighborhood in Pasadena, the homeless issue is everywhere. There are a lot of reasons for homelessness and such extreme poverty – from chemical imbalances and drug addiction but according to Andy Bales, CEO of The Union Rescue Mission, the big cause is the lack of close family. Check out his recent video talking about it.
The average age of the homeless in America is 9 – NINE!! Sam Slovick’s collaboration with GOOD Magazine’s look at downtown is horrifying and heartbreaking – I recommend you check out all 5 parts.
So how is poverty going to change or even just decreasing the number of homeless in LA? Sure, I could say a collaborative effort, increased police presence, cracking down on drugs, and politicians working to give aid where it’s needed. BUT all of those things are passing the buck. What am I going to do? I can rail against governments and organizations all I want but people are at the core of all of that. People make those decisions, people influence their corporations.
Tim Sanders, in his recent book, Saving the World at Work, illustrates time and time again that a single person at any level of an organization has HUGE power. So I think that the power to stop poverty starts with you and with me. I’ve been very fortunate to rub shoulders with both Andy Bales and Tim Sanders in the last 6 months – both are amazing guys and are the kind of person I aspire to be. I recommend checking out the book.
Some quick action items:
1. Donate to your favorite cause – If you need one I recommend the Union Rescue Mission (They were recently featured on ESPN – See it here)
2. Talk with your business about helping your community – many companies are starting to encourage this kind of ethos in a brand.
3. Let the candidates know that you care about poverty and that it should be addressed. With the election this year, you’ve got more power than normal to influence the world.
About a month ago we made a significant switch on THE DROP website. The adjustment came as a way to incorporate the multitude of ways that users would interact with the website. We had been using a social plug-in and it really started out working amazing. Last month I was introduced to ShareThis and I found that the plug-in was easy to use and that it actually gave the user more options to pass around the info and would be crucial in the interaction of social media to the site. The user would then be able to add or share the posts via their Myspace or Facebook but could also email them to friends if they so chose. A little while back The Drop was featured on the ShareThis site. We got sandwiched between infertility and obscure movies – I don’t think it’s a bad start.
I also had a chance to join their Publishers Group on Facebook. What I loved about this was that I then could put faces with the code writers and other bloggers/new media types who were employing the same pieces and any additional strategy that they may have. ShareThis has just been named one of the Top 20 plugins to have on WordPress and I highly recommend it.
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