Kelly Moore of Des Moines, Iowa writes: “I have been the number-one ‘community’ (just a fancy way of saying ‘unpaid’) blogger for a local magazine in our city for more than a year. The magazine is owned by our city’s daily newspaper. Consequently, I was able to find out that my page-views not only outshine… Read More
Publicity Blog
‘Best of ProfNet’ list promotes PR agency
‘Tis the season for “Best of” lists. The Morris + King Co., a New York City PR firm, issued its own Top 10 “Best of ProfNet” list. ProfNet is a subscription service that forwards leads from working journalists to PR people. M + K chose the funniest and most peculair reporter leads of this past year.… Read More
Recycle Your National Media Hit
When a major newspaper, magazine or niche publication prints a story about you, or when you’re featured on a national network newscast, recycle that publicity by letting your local media know about it. Mystic Pop magazine, which features articles about holistic living and spirituality topics, wrote about surrealistic artist Mickie Bellah of Austin, Texas, and… Read More
Book tours being replaced by virtual tours
Book tours—which can be expensive and time-consuming—are falling out of favor, and being replaced by podcasts, film tours, blog tours, book videos, and book trailers. This article in the Christian Science Monitor speculates as to whether the cumulative effect of a huge online presence will one day make the face-to-face bookstore meeting between writer and reader obsolete. I… Read More
Laurel, Montana photo studio needs publicity ideas
Kammy Thurman of Laurel, Montana writes: “I hope your Hounds can help our photography studio, Anchor Photography. We’ve been in business several months and we want to become the most recognized studio in our area. “That will be tough because we’re up against studios that have been in business for 30 to 50 years, and more. I… Read More
I-team story on dirty hotel glasses: How would you respond?
OK, Hounds. Let’s see you match wits with the crisis counselors. Watch this four-and-a-half-minute video, an I-team investigation by a TV station in Atlanta, Georgia, that shows the unsanitary way that three local hotels clean dirty drinking glasses and coffee cups. The team took hidden cameras into guest rooms at three major hotels—Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn and Sheraton… Read More
Overweight sugar addicts wanted for TV show
Connie Bennett, author of the book “Sugar Shock,” alerted her readers in this blog post that the casting company that producted “The Biggest Loser” is looking for overweight sugar addicts to be part of the show. You must be available for shooting on Saturdays in February. They must hear from you today.
Compassionate Friends/USA wants PR ideas
This week’s “Help This Hound” question is from Wayne Loder of Milford, Michigan: “I’m the Public Awareness Coordinator for The Compassionate Friends/USA, a national self-help bereavement organization with a mission to assist families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age and to provide information to help others… Read More
Celebrity sports gala wants items for gift bags, auctions
Larry King, Mary Hart and Tommy Lasorda are hosting the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation’s “In the Spirit of the Game” 5th annual event on January 19 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. The event will draw many high-profile baseball players and coaches as well as celebrities like Alyssa Milano, Don Johnson,… Read More
Press release faux pas of the day–and my blogging boo-boo
In the old days, when we screwed up a press release with an embarrassing typo, it was bad enough that we had to humiliate ourselves in front of journalists. Today, it’s a lot worse. Journalists are blogging. And they’re exposing our boo-boos to the whole world in blog posts like this one from a Baltimore Sun reporter.… Read More