Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter. How to use holidays to publicize your hotel, B&B or lodging property. http://ow.ly/eECHT 10 questions to ask when interviewing candidates to manage your social media. http://ow.ly/eEDPM Autumn is a second spring, when every leaf… Read More
Brick & Mortar
Copycat TV news story: Buy a diamond, get a gun
It pays to be a copycat, especially if you’re after free publicity. When jewelry store owner Harold van Beek, near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, heard that a jeweler in Georgia had gotten publicity for offering a hunting rifle to every customer who bought diamond jewelry, he copied the marketing tactic and found himself on the local news.… Read More
Publicity galore for Chamber of Commerce ambassadors
You see them everywhere—in your local weekly newspaper, on the nightly news and on sites like Patch.com. They’re your local Chamber of Commerce “ambassadors” who show up at ribbon-cuttings for local businesses, open houses, parades, awards ceremonies, and other events where the chamber must be represented. They’re no dummies. They know that these events typically… Read More
7 publicity ideas for your arts and crafts business
Knitters, potters, stained glass makers, woodworkers, metal artists and anyone who sells arts and crafts from home often have a difficult time convincing traditional media and bloggers that they’re worth covering. From a journalist’s perspective, these can’t be real businesses, can they? Of course they can. Craft businesses have long been important to the U.S. economy… Read More
How to get publicity for your company’s anniversary
You might so excited about your company’s anniversary that you’re ready to shoot off fireworks. But don’t expect anybody else to join you. Unless, of course, you offer an interesting timeline of the most newsworthy events in your industry, or your company, during that time you were in business. I came up with that… Read More
4 ways to promote your retail business before you open
UPDATE on Feb. 22, 2017: If you’re a store owner selling goods online, or a company offering their services, understanding your consumer’s behavior within a digital landscape is pivotal. You have to familiarize yourself with the various online channels, programs and software. See 19 Experts Share Ecommerce Digital Marketing Tips. This guest post is written… Read More
Doing business locally? Share your blog at Patch.com
At the winter farmer’s market in my town, I ran into my local editor for Patch.com, the uber-local website that’s giving Publicity Hounds yet another outlet for their press releases, photos and local news. Lyssa Beyer and Matt Schroeder, her associate regional editor, were stopping shoppers and asking if they knew about Patch, which operrates in 22 states in the… Read More
6 ways to promote your retail business before you open
Create a buzz all over town long before your store opens. These days, in a sour economy, businesses opening just about anywhere are major news. So don’t shy away from publicity. Here six ways to promote your retail business before you open. Display a large banner or sign outside your building letting people know you’ll… Read More
7 ideas for publicizing a new construction project
In this lousy economy, almost any construction project makes the front page of the local newspaper. But you still need to think creatively when publicizing a building project. A writer emailed me recently asking how her nonprofit could generate publicity for new construction. Here’s what I suggested: Think beyond traditional media. Waiting for a newspaper reporter or… Read More
Wine bar/bistro can’t get a restaurant review—ideas?
This week’s Help this Hound question is from Timothy Nishimoto, owner of Vino Paradiso Wine Bar & Bistro in Portland, Oregon: “My business is known as a wine bar, but we are trying to transition into more of a restaurant, meaning we have a full dinner menu, bigger than ever. “But, many people in town still don’t… Read More