The Gift List, the fee-based service that provides leads on media outlets planning special coverage of things that make great gifts, will now write your news releases and distribute them to the media. That means people who sell various products and services no longer have to spend time tracking down special sections where their product would… Read More
Press Releases
Write press releases for the media and Google News
Here’s a big mistake that many PR people make when they start writing a press release. They write the release for only one audience: the media. Twenty years ago, when most of us were snail-mailing releases, that would have been fine. But today, you should be writing press releases so people in your target audience,… Read More
PR Web Canada a great way for fitness trainer to give advice to Canada’s portly prime minister
If you can be the local angle to a national story, you can have the media clamoring for your story, and PR Web Canada, the press release distribution service, is a great resource for spreading the word in Canada. Catherine Pruissen, a personal fitness trainer in Canada, asked me how she can piggyback off recent news photos of Canada’s newly elected… Read More
Article directories, free online press releases work hand in hand to generate publicity
I just hired someone to start submitting my many articles about free publicity to online article directories, using ArticleSubmitterPro, which makes the job easy. The same day my assistant started registering me at various sites, Publicity Hound Paulette Ensign, a.k.a. The Tips Booklet Queen, sent me this interesting thread at a discussion board about the power of submitting online… Read More
Publicity tip–Survey shows PR people think following Associated Press style in press releases is still important
A new survey by a group of business communicators shows that if you aren’t referring to an Associated Press stylebook when writing press releases, letters to the editor or anything else for the media, it shows you really don’t know how to play the publicity game. The AP stylebook is the journalist’s bible. It includes all the rules dictating things such as the… Read More
Publicity tip–PR pro customizes nine press releases for one event
When you write a press release, how many different versions do you write? Just one? You’ll kick yourself when you hear about what Publicity Hound Kathi Petersen does. When Kathi told me she wrote nine versions of one release for a fund-raiser she was publicizing, I thought she was kidding. Then she told me about… Read More
How to use Craigslist for publicity
If you’re looking for a job, an apartment, a date, or people in your own community with common interests, you probably already know about Craigslist. But did you realize you can also use these free online community classifieds and forums to promote an event, announce a new employee, advertise a workshop months before it will… Read More
Press releases about new books should explain where readers can buy them
One of the biggest mistakes authors make is sending a press release about their new book to the media, but failing to mention where people can buy the book. I know this because I feature books in my subscription newsletter, The Publicity Hound. At least 7 out of 10 releases, even those sent by major publishing… Read More
Diamond Pet Food Finally Offers an Update
If you read about the Diamond Pet Foods recall on the front page of the Jan. 2 issue of PR Week magazine, you’d walk away thinking the company did just about everything it could to deal with this crisis. Its crisis plan included: —A consumer alert and recall three days after a veterinarian in upstate… Read More
6 ways to improve writing news releases, media kit content
Write like you talk. That’s the easiest way to communicate a message in a clear and compelling way. I harp on this repeatedly to those in my Mentor Program. Yet far too many writers build roadblocks when they write. They use stodgy words and phrases that slow down readers. Here are six writing roadblocks you… Read More