Veteran radio talk show host George McKenzie thinks radio is an often overlooked publicity outlet for authors, consultants, and anyone who has a product or service to sell. Why? Because they pitch their books, products or service to radio DJs, and fail miserably. The secret, he says, is not to pitch what you are selling.… Read More
Pitching
Less is more when contacting the media
Inexperienced Publicity Hounds make the frequent mistake of inundating media people with too much information. For example: –Sending an unsolicited media kit along with a pitch letter, with grand illusions of the journalist spending hours poring over your materials. (Dream on). –Sending an unsolicited book, with hopes that a radio talk show host will find… Read More
Use sales copy techniques when pitching
When you send a snail-mail or email pitch to a journalist, does the copylook like a big block of gray? Or do you flag the journalist to the most importance elements of your pitch by using things such as sub-heads, boldtype, indented paragraphs, underlined text and a post-script? Publicity Hounds who borrow those techniques, used… Read More
Target smaller niche publications
When you’re creating a media plan for yourself or a client, don’t overlook all those second- and third-level publications–from free weekly shoppers to alternative newspapers–that might be hungry for your story idea or article. When I was in Studio City, California in February to speak to the Book Publicists of Southern California, I picked up… Read More
Things to consider when hiring a publicist
At least once a week, somebody emails me and asks if I can recommend a good publicist. Sure, I could. But usually, I don’t. That’s because you need to consider dozens of factors before hiring one. –How much money can you spend? –Do you want to get into only big national media, or do you… Read More
How to Get Booked on “The View”
After finally landing a spot on a major TV talk show, publicists and guests sometimes make the big mistake of thanking the wrong person. They send flowers, or candy, or baskets of muffins, or cute little gifts that they know the Barbara Walters and Joy Behars of the world will love. But they ignore the… Read More
Photographer puts local spin on Steve Fossett story
Thanks to Publicity Hound Stephen Brockelman of Las Vegas for explaining the clever way he managed to be the local angle to Steve Fossett’s quest to fly around the world in Global Flyer non-stop. "Watching GlobalFlyer.com, I noticed that after crossing the Pacific coast near Los Angeles, the plane would be flying at 45,000+ feet… Read More
Create fun for reporters
Opening a new pizza shop? Invite a reporter to the shop so the client can teach her how to make a pizza. Tell her she’ll even learn how to twirl the dough around on her fist, then throw it up in the air and catch it. Opening a hardware store? Invite a reporter to a… Read More
Top 10 trends in 10 industries
If you’re looking for trend stories to pitch and you’re coming up dry, find the Jan. 31, 2005 edition of the Wall Street Journal. It included a special section called “The Top 10 Trends in 10 Industries.” The industries are consumer electronics, video games, credit cards, higher education, architecture, music, accounting, agriculture, furniture and defense.… Read More
Contact any celebrity
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