My head is spinning. I just got off the phone with Nancy Mills of Los Angeles, The Spirited Woman workshop leader who just taught me two hours worth of tips on how promote my business using Craigslist, the wildly successful free online classified ad forum. We have another two-hour coaching session tomorrow and another hour after that.… Read More
Publicity Blog
Publicity tip–What to do when the media won’t cover a runner, walker coming through your town
When I worked in the world of newspapers more than 10 years ago, we’d get the occasional call from a publicist telling us that somebody was walking, or running, or getting down on his hands and knees and pushing a peanut with his nose through our town, and they wanted us to cover it. You can guess what our answer… Read More
Publicity tip–Author needs people to share their good, bad stories about pay raises
Executive recruiter Norman Lieberman is writing a book on how to get a significant pay raise and wants to interview people about their experiences with raises–good or bad. “Plus, for a very select few people, I will offer to help them secure a great pay raise in return for use of their story. In order… Read More
Publicity tip–To improve your pitches, think like a freelance writer
Mike Spinney of The Horn Group has the perfect solution for PR people who are stuck with drab, uninspired ideas that turn into lifeless pitches. Think like a freelance writer, his blog post says. “Forget about the bland brochure-speak that the client regurgitates and think about the story as if your next paycheck depends upon selling your… Read More
Publicity tip–PR pro customizes nine press releases for one event
When you write a press release, how many different versions do you write? Just one? You’ll kick yourself when you hear about what Publicity Hound Kathi Petersen does. When Kathi told me she wrote nine versions of one release for a fund-raiser she was publicizing, I thought she was kidding. Then she told me about… Read More
Publicity tip–Get inside the minds of journalists by reading Al’s Morning Meeting which offers story ideas worth stealing
Ever wish you could get inside the minds of journalists to watch how they think? Puzzled about what journalists consider news because it bears no resemblance with what you think is newsworthy? How would you like an inside track on what could be the next hot story of the day? And wouldn’t it be cool… Read More
Publicity tips–Avoid boring press conferences, ground-breakings, ribbon-cuttings, check-passings,
When Harley-Davidson unveiled plans last week for a $95 million museum here in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel splashed a big beautiful color photo of the museum on the front page. Since the museum isn’t built yet, but bikers and other visitors appear in the foreground of the photo, I’m guessing that what I saw… Read More
Publicity tip–Products needed for Austinwoman magazine gift guide for moms
Freelance writer Marika Flatt is creating a gift guide for moms for Austinwoman magazine, a 25,000-circulation monthly, to be published in May. She’s interested in a broad range of products and services that would make good gift ideas for mothers. Email a one-paragraph description of the product, the price, and where it can be bought.… Read More
How to promote a webmagazine for gays in the Great Lakes area
Tom Wray of Chicago, Illinois writes: “I run a small webmagazine that covers a portion of the gay community in the Great Lakes area. My core coverage area is Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan with some coverage of Ohio, Minnesota and other states near the region. I’ve had it for four years, and the last… Read More
Publicity tip: What to do when newspapers view you as competition and won’t cover your news
A reader just emailed me with this question: “I live in the Caribbean and am publishing a Real Estate Guide. However, there are two major dailies in my country and they are very territorial and do not want to feature my company or my magazine because we are indirect competitors. “I sent one of the dailies a press release… Read More