At times, I dislike doing media interviews, particularly with reporters at top-tier publications whose interview style makes me feel rushed, or I suspect the journalist is either dense or biased. Crisis counselor Lou Hampton of the Hampton Group in Washington, D. C. says we don’t have to be afraid. He offers these six handy phrases to use during interviews: “Let… Read More
Promote books with a contest like this one for Packers fans
If you’re doing PR for a new book, here’s a great idea you can borrow, courtesy of Dorothy Molstad, marketing manager for MBI Publishing Company in St. Paul, Minnesota. Create a fun contest for the media, including ezine publishers and bloggers. That’s what she did to promote their book “Green Bay Packers: The Complete Illustrated History” by… Read More
Airlines magazine to feature best Road Warrior on cover
You don’t have to look far this summer to find stories about travel nightmares in airports all over the world. That’s why the Aug. 31 deadline for the 6th Annual Road Warriors contest sponsored by AmericanWay, the inflight magazine of American Airlines, is perfect timing. The magazine is searching for the top Road Warriors. The winner will participate in… Read More
Attract more clients with these 6 strategies
During these slow days of summer, I hear people complaining that business is flat. If you need more clients, consider these six ideas: Start blogging. The search engines love timely, content-rich blogs, particularly on niche topics. The more you blog, the more traffic you’ll get. Also, start posting comments at blogs written for the same target… Read More
Elephant’s ‘spa day’ a missed publicity opportunity
Publicity Hound Sue Lowery of Chattanooga, Tennessee saw a short news item on one of her local TV stations about how the Bliss Spa in Dallas, Texas pampered an elephant the day before it was making its Dallas debut at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus. She said the news clip showed a… Read More
Christian PR firm wanted to promote sales book
Carol Bloom Stevens of Rye Brook, New York writes: “My husband, Mark Stevens, wrote a book called God is a Salesman: Learn from the Master, which will be published by Hachette at the end of this year. “We are looking for a Christian faith-based PR firm to get the word out to the churches across the… Read More
Correcting press releases difficult with free services
Here’s a great example of what can happen when you’re writing a press release in a hurry. I was writing a release about my August 14 media relations and press release writing workshops, in Norfolk, Virginia, to be distributed by Expertclick.com, where it would be picked up by the Google News feed. So I sent the release… Read More
Promote an event with a ‘make-it-yourself’ food demo
If you’re sponsoring an event that ties into food, take a lesson from a Dairy Queen in Elgin, Illinois. They were featured last week on the news on WLS Channel 7, ABC’s station in the Chicago market, thanks to a simple idea their PR person pitched to the news department. DQ owner Steve Gordon and son Greg did… Read More
Online games, quizzes great for website promotion
If you’re trying to attract traffic to your website, a simple link in your online press release often isn’t good enough. You have to give people a good reason to visit. Thanks to the Wylie’s Writing Tips ezine for tipping us off to the cool quizzes and games in the Gotham Gazette, a website with daily content offered each weekday by… Read More
Email Pitches That Work
One of the biggest complaints you’ll hear from a journalist is the amount of worthless pitches that litter their email box. Yet, time and again, when a Publicity Hound shares with me a success story about a big media hit they got, and I ask them how they did it, the response often is, “I… Read More