Publicity Hound Marilynn Mobley of Atlanta, Georgia writes with this comment about my advice two weeks ago to stop staging boring check-passing photos: “AMEN to your advice about how dreadful ‘passing the check’ photos are. I thought you might be interested to know that they can actually be dangerous as well. “Recently, I picked up… Read More
Stop calling news conferences
A reader wrote this week and asked: “We are looking for some advice on when to send a media notice to our contacts announcing a press conference. A week prior to the press conference? Two days? Or is it best to hit them a couple of times?” The Publicity Hound says: Why do you think… Read More
Beware your lawyer’s media advice in a crisis
I shake my head in disbelief every time somebody who has just been sued is quoted in the newspaper as saying, “We can’t comment because the case is in litigation.” I saw that quote again this morning. Some people actually think there’s a law somewhere that prohibits them from commenting on lawsuits filed against them.… Read More
Find your way into weather stories
The 10 tomato plants in our garden, including two heirloom tomato plants, are wilting. And the basil just sits there looking helpless. If this newsletter is late today, it’s because I’ve been in the garden for the last several days giving a hearty drink to the green beans, beets, carrots, radishes, peas, spinach and three… Read More
How to get into Entertainment Weekly
The best publicist is one who understands that the media is their first client, says Carole Willcocks, Los Angeles bureau operations manager of Entertainment Weekly. If the publicist’s other client happens to be a hot-shot entertainer, that can be difficult. If you represent entertainters who want to get into Entertainment Weekly, read this interview courtesy… Read More
CDs, tapes available from Media Relations 2005
If you missed the Media Relations 2005 conference in San Francisco in April, you can still learn terrific PR and publicity tips by buying the CDs or cassette tapes for $15 each. Read the entire list here. It includes the panel I participated in titled “The 10 worst Journalist Faux Pas You Can Make.” I… Read More
Mossberg says MSN has best blogging software
On Page D4 of today’s wall Street Journal, tech guru Walter Mossberg chooses Microsoft’s new MSN Spaces service as the most user-friendly of three blog-creation services. He also compared Google-owned Blogger.com and well as Yahoo’s Yahoo 360 service. The decision was made based on how each service handled four basic tasks: publishing text entries or… Read More
Danish company improves publicity campaign after tips from Hounds
Donald Hansen of The Viking Trader, a company that makes Nordic jewelry, wrote today to thank me and the rest of the Publicity Hounds for their wonderful suggestions a few months ago on how he can market his Nordic jewelry. His question was posted in my ezine, “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week,” and… Read More
Newspaper editor wants how-to books, info
David Foster, managing editor of the Journal Register Company’s News Gleaner family of newspapers, feeds feature stories to all the newspapers in his chain, including 24 dailies. “Each week I write a lead feature (usually linked to a book), an Off The Shelf column that focuses on overlooked titles, and ‘How to … ‘ which… Read More
Pitch your products for holiday gift guides
If your product or service would make the perfect Christmas gift, now is the time to pitch many of the major magazines that have special holiday gift sections and work several months ahead. But how do you know which publications are doing gift guides? Or which are doing feature stories on products that make great… Read More