If you’re planning to pitch a news story like a new product announcement, or an upcoming event or whatever to the national media , hold off a week or two. Media everywhere are concentrating on the newest developments from Hurricane Katrina, from the horrible looting and shooting in New Orleans to the effects on local… Read More
Pitching
How to Publicize an Award
You should have seen me last Thursday, racing around the Expo building at the Wisconsin State Fair, darting from display case to display case, searching for the two pieces of needlepoint I entered. I finally found them with — ta da! — a second-place ribbon on one and a third-place ribbon on the other. My… Read More
How Attorneys Promote Their Experts
Attorneys have more disdain for the media than any other group of professionals I can think of. “Don’t talk,” they tell their clients who have just been sued or charged with a crime. “No comment,” they tell reporters who ask about a big case they’re defending. That’s why I was delighted to read about the… Read More
Pitch college newspapers
If you want publicity that reaches the 18-to-22-year-old crowd, take advantage of the powerful reach of college newspapers. But don’t use the same pitching tactics you use with weekly and metro newspapers. For one, reporters at college newspapers are difficult to reach in the morning. That’s because many of them study or party late into… Read More
Piggyback Publicity onto Hot Summer Movies
Keep your eyes open for summer movies that might help you create publicity for your product, service, cause or issue. It’s Just Lunch, an international dating service that gives clients a chance to meet over lunch, uses this strategy to get phenomenal publicity. It recently surveyed 2,774 East Coast singles on whether they found romance… Read More
Use the independence theme
Right now, in newsrooms and at TV and radio stations all over the U.S., assignment editors are groaning about having to come up with local stories for the Fourth of July. Even worse, July 4 falls on Monday. That means that in addition to a big Sunday paper, editors have the holiday edition to worry… Read More
How to pitch to USA Today’s technology columnist
Kevin Maney, USA Today’s technology writer and tech columnist, doesn’t cover daily breaking news, individual product pieces, product announcements or product reviews, unless “they are mind-blowing.” But he wants PR people to let him know about up-and-coming technology that is just coming out of labs and factories, as well as tech trends in other countries.… Read More
Find your way into weather stories
The 10 tomato plants in our garden, including two heirloom tomato plants, are wilting. And the basil just sits there looking helpless. If this newsletter is late today, it’s because I’ve been in the garden for the last several days giving a hearty drink to the green beans, beets, carrots, radishes, peas, spinach and three… Read More
How to get into Entertainment Weekly
The best publicist is one who understands that the media is their first client, says Carole Willcocks, Los Angeles bureau operations manager of Entertainment Weekly. If the publicist’s other client happens to be a hot-shot entertainer, that can be difficult. If you represent entertainters who want to get into Entertainment Weekly, read this interview courtesy… Read More
CDs, tapes available from Media Relations 2005
If you missed the Media Relations 2005 conference in San Francisco in April, you can still learn terrific PR and publicity tips by buying the CDs or cassette tapes for $15 each. Read the entire list here. It includes the panel I participated in titled “The 10 worst Journalist Faux Pas You Can Make.” I… Read More