When members of the Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania traveled by bus to Albany, Ohio earlier this month to meet with Abercrombie & Fitch and complain about the retailer’s controversial T-shirts, a reporter from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette rode along with them. The women were upset over sleazy T-shirt slogans such as “Who needs… Read More
Publicity Blog
2 new press release distribution services
Thanks to Publicity Hound George Hopkin of the United Arab Emerates for alerting us to two new free press release distribution services: USPRwire and UKPRwire. Both services complement the existing international service ClickPress at which was launched in March this year and is now used and visited by PR professionals and journalists every day. Before… Read More
The best time to pitch is before and after Christmas
I can hear the engines revving right now. It’s the sound of Publicity Hounds starting a pitch-fest that lasts from now through the new year. Savvy Hounds know that this week and next are the very best times to pitch newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, bloggers, ezine publishers and other media that have short deadlines.… Read More
How to promote a new charity that accepts and distributes donated items
Publicity Hound Leah Ingram writes: “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a website that acted as a clearinghouse of information for anyone who wanted to donate anything of value to any group that would gladly accept their donations? Thus my new website/philanthropic venture WheretoDonate.org was born. “If I sent a press release to my… Read More
How to promote an event for teens
Publicity Hound Anthony Ingram writes: I work as a volunteer Hound on a team for a church, and we have an upcoming teen event in February. Our goal is to attract more than 700 teens to an event that will feature vendors in areas such as formalwear, hair salons, nail salons, florists, limo companies, etc.,… Read More
How to get better publicity photos for your event
What do you when a photographer comes to your event, shoots photos, and you’re disappointed with what ends up in the paper? That’s what a Publicity Hound wanted to know when she emailed me with this dilemma: “What should one realistically expect when a photographer shows up to shoot a networking/luncheon/cocktail-party? My publicity chairperson is… Read More
Review a product before giving a testimonial
I just finished a teleseminar this afternoon for members of The Publicity Hound Mentor Program. The topic? How to get and give powerful testimonials. Giving testimonials can be as powerful as getting them, and even though authors, speakers and others solicit me regularly for testimonials, I’m very careful about offering kind words only for people… Read More
Pitch these story ideas in December
Thanks to Publicity Hound Shawne Duperon, a TV reporter, for reminding us that December is the very best month to pitch TV stations. “Newsrooms are no longer in a busy Sweeps month, so many employees are taking time off,” she says. Fewer employees means they need your story in a big way. She suggests: —Any… Read More
How to promote a photo gift business
Publicity Hound Jill Caren of Matawan, New Jersey writes: “My business, Expressions Photo Design, takes personal photographs and creates art and gifts with them. Our specialty is creating custom designed collages, pop art and photo memory books. “I have a brick and mortar store, but it has been difficult to launch because everyone thinks we… Read More
How to get great radio publicity
Some Publicity Hounds sabatoge themselves and make it difficult for the media to find them, then wonder why they don’t get publicity. For example, they give media contacts only their office phone numbers, forgetting that radio talk show hosts and newspaper reporters work around the clock and sometimes need to contact sources in the wee… Read More