Issue #1100 Feb. 18, 2017
Publisher: Joan Stewart
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
In This Issue
- 7 Terrible Email Address Mistakes
- Why In-person Radio Interviews Matter
- Look for Niche Media Databases
- Hound Video of the Week
This Weekend in the Hound House:
I’m emceeing my Garden Club’s winter gardening seminar all day today. Our hands-on workshops are the most fun. We’re making rustic wreaths, 48-inch wooden garden obelisks with copper tops for climbing plants, and “bug hotels” to welcome beneficial insects to our gardens. You can see ’em all here.
1. 7 Terrible Email Address Mistakes
Want the best way, right now, to improve your branding?
Dump your Hotmail, AOL, RoadRunner, Yahoo and ATT email address, or any address that does not include your domain name.
Even if your email address already includes it, you might be making six other mistakes that are kicking your emails into a journalist’s or client’s spam folder, or making your look like an amateur. For example, someone who uses a spouse’s email address, or life partners who use the same address for business send the message “we have no separate identity” or “we have control issues” or “I’m too weak to manage my own account.”
To do: Read the Consultant Journal article on “7 terrible secrets revealed by your email address (and how to fix them).”
#emailtips #emailmistakes
2. Why In-person Radio Interviews Matter
The convenience of Internet radio makes it tempting to dismiss the task of booking interviews at AM or FM radio stations.
Radio Publicity Expert Bryan Farrish says 99 percent of the people listening to an AM or FM station are within the broadcast signal range, and that’s all you really care about if you’re trying to market a product or service to that area. Only 1 percent might be listening online. But there’s a more important reason to do radio interviews targeted to specific cities.
“It’s probably obvious for musicians, who will need to travel to those cities to perform, but it’s equally important for you to travel there too for book signings, film debuts, speaking engagements, etc.,” he says. “There is absolutely nothing more important to radio listeners in a city than to be able to meet the person that they just heard on the radio.”
Theaters, civic groups, schools, businesses, book stores–even libraries–all want what everyone wants: a person who is somewhat known by the people that can come to their place. And if you just did a great radio interview (or two or three) on a station in a city, then you are at the top of the list of people they will consider to host. And if they were already considering you, they will now consider paying you more than before your interviews, again, because you can now attract more people to their place.
To do: Learn more about how to sell products and services and succeed at five other tasks that will skyrocket your visibility in each city. Read his article “Radio Interview 101: Concentrating Your Radio Listeners Into Cities.”
#radiointerviews #radiopublicity #talkradio
3. Look for Niche Media Databases
If you have more time than money, and you can’t afford to buy the big databases of media contacts, look for associations and trade groups for specific types of journalists, and visit their websites. Here are three examples:
- The National Association of Science Writers makes you log in or register to access most of the juiciest material. But you can read a long list of “our members on Titter,” see their handles and even read their tweets.
- The Association of Health Care Journalists includes a valuable list of independent journalists, complete with their bios, resumes, websites and clips! The clips will tip you off to other media that have bought their articles.
- The Religion News Association has a members search box that will help you find journalists, bloggers, students and educators. You’ll get their names and states where they live but you’ll have to find contact info on your own.
To do: When launching a publicity campaign, use Google to check for niche associations and trade groups. Check their social media sites, too.
#nichemedia #mediadatabases #mediacontacts
4. Hound Video of the Week
Few animal lovers are willing to adopt old, sick dogs. Unless they meet Sherri Franklin who founded Muttville.org 10 years ago out of her home in San Francisco. The group now has its own facility and has adopted out more than 4,000 senior dogs that no one else wants. You’ll fall in love with these mutts and their happy endings. Thanks to Tom Antion, my mentor, for this one.
[Tweet “RT @PublicityHound #PublicityTips –7 Terrible Email Address Mistakes #EmailMarketing”]
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