If you’re trying to get onto local radio stations, but you don’t have money to spend on advertising, offer the station free recorded 30-second spots filled with valuable how-to information their listeners will enjoy. Tie it into a month of the year that’s related to your topic, and you just might generate some valuable free exposure… Read More
Advertising
13 ways to use royalty-free stock images in a PR campaign
If you can’t afford your own photographer, or you take lousy photos, or you hate creating graphics, use a stock photo service to enhance everything from press releases to media kits in a PR campaign. Royalty-free stock images can save you a lot of time and money trying to generate graphics on your own. Royalty-free means you… Read More
Social networking ROI: A testimonial more valuable than an ad
Many Publicity Hounds say they don’t understand social networking’s return on investment. How can spending 15 minutes a day, or several hours, bring more leads or more sales, they wonder. Here’s one way. I discovered it yesterday morning, shortly after answering a question on LinkedIn. Answering questions is one of the very best ways to… Read More
Home & garden show needs promotion ideas FAST
Lori Feldman of St. Louis, Mo. writes: “My client is a home and garden show that’s produced in four cities—Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Portland—from late February through early March. “We’re launching a social media plan for this company that has done nothing but traditional advertising for the last 50 years! Last year was the… Read More
Help promote a Wisconsin retirement community art show
Kendra Hinzmann of Oshkosh, Wisconsin writes: “I am the director for a fine art exhibit space within an upscale retirement community. This new venture was mostly set in place as life enrichment for the residents, but I really wanted to include the community as well. “I got on board with the local Gallery Walks (over… Read More
Offering testimonials can pay publicity dividends for years
Testimonials are one of the least-used yet most powerful publicity tools. I was reminded of that just now while reviewing the Third Edition of Marcia Yudkin’s excellent book “6 Steps to Free Publicity,” one of my favorite publicity books of all time. She mentioned me twice in the book, first on Pages 77-78 where I… Read More
Hypertarget your message with MyAds on MySpace
I spend almost no time on MySpace simply because that’s not where my target audience spends most of its time. I much prefer Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (follow me, connect with or be my friend). If you’re a musician or artist, or your target audience spends considerable time on MySpace, there’s a new way to target your message… Read More
Product publicity for holidays is easier with this resource guide
Now is the time to start pitching if you’re hoping to convince journalists to feature your consumer product or service in holiday gift coverage. Gift guides appear in many forms: —As special sections in newspapers, like holiday gift guides printed by USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. —As special holiday features in magazines like… Read More
Dairy Queen joins Girl Scouts to create Thin Mint Blizzard
Here’s a perfect example of how a nonprofit can team up with a popular nationwide chain, and piggyback onto a “Week of the Year” to promote a good cause. Dairy Queen is creating the Girl Scout Thin Mint Blizzard for the month of July to promote Girl Scout Appreciation Week July 7-13. What a wonderful idea! No more… Read More
Wal-Mart offers free online classified ads
Are you selling a car or real estate? Looking for someone to fill a job? Selling concert or sports tickets or miscellaneous items? If so, take advantage of Wal-Mart’s new free classified ads which the giant retailer started offering about three weeks ago in partnership with Oodle.com, which aggregates listings from more than 80,000 local and… Read More