Sally Kirby Hartman of the Norfolk Foundation in Norfolk, Virginia wants ideas on how to publicize the Academy for Nonprofit Excellence, which offers monthly two-day training sessions for area nonprofit staff and board members. Topics will vary each month and range from strategic planning to marketing, accounting and fundraising. From Lois Carter Fay of Massanutten,… Read More
Authors share publicity ideas
Barb Bartlein of Bayview, Wisconsin, author of the book Why Did I Marry You, Anyway? 12.5 Strategies for a Happy Marriage , says she’s had great success with 99PR.com, a service that emails your pitch to radio talk show hosts and other journalists. The pitch looks like it came directly from you. If a journalist… Read More
5 places to look for freelancers
Publicity Hounds spend so much time and energy chasing after staff writers at national magazines, that they often overlook a much more valuable group of contacts–the freelancers that write for those publications. Why are freelancers more valuable? Because many of them already have key contacts at lots of major magazines and newspapers. That means if… Read More
Small bank branch gets big ideas to promote grand opening
Twelve Publicity Hounds have super tips for Therese Myers of Albany, New York. She asked about how to get publicity for a bank branch opening in March. Her branch will be new in this small community in Maine, but it will be the seventh branch to open there within the last two years. Because headquarters… Read More
Writers too reluctant to write like they talk
One of the biggest writing problems I see among people in my mentoring program, and others who hire me to improve their writing, is that they’re afraid to write like they talk. They never use one-word sentences. They refuse to start sentences with words such as “and” and “but” because an elementary teacher way back… Read More
TV Weatherperson’s Day
I’ve received so much great feedback from Publicity Hounds who have used my tip about “TV Weatherperson’s Day” on February 5 that I’m mentioning itagain. When it comes to celebrity status, the TV weather people are at the bottom of the totem pole. While the news anchor is invited to host a glitzy charity ball,… Read More
Who’s your daddy?
I confess to watching most of “Who’s Your Daddy?”, Fox’s maudlin melodrama in which a blonde babe tries to pick her biological father out of a line-up of seven men and pocket $100,000. She guessed correctly, of course. Adoptive parents and others, including the National Council for Adoption, pleaded with Fox’s 182 affiliates not to… Read More
Newspaper editors’ pet peeves
When I worked as a newspaper editor for more than 20 years, I had my own pet peeves about people who were clueless about working with the media. They included: –Idiots who called to complain, “You’ve written about my competitor three times but you’ve never written about me!” –News releases that didn’t list the name… Read More
Serious Publicity Hound recycle their publicity
Did you get mentioned in a newspaper or magazine article recently? Savvy Publicity Hounds are always looking for ways to turn one hit into multiple hits. Here’s how: –Make reprints of the article and include them in your media kit. –Post articles by and about you at your web site. –Send an e-mail to business… Read More
Invite reporter with a pet to cover vet clinic opening
Beth Ann Black of Coppell, Texas has a client, a large group of specialty veterinarians–all for animals–that will celebrate their fifth anniversary this spring. She wants fun promotional ideas, beyond the one they’ve already thought of: hosting an open house where current and potential clients bring teddy bears to be examined so the doctors can… Read More