The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #595 Feb. 21, 2012
Publisher: Joan Stewart
==========================================
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
===================================
In This Issue
===================================
1. Barking Up the Front Page
2. How Freelancers Can Help You
3. Publicity Tips for Local Events
4. Create Event Videos from Photos
5. Red-hot Pinterest
6. Hound Video of the Week
7. And at My Blog & Mobile Site
=====================================
1. Barking Up the Front Page
=====================================
Michelle Tennant knows how much the media loathe press
conferences.
She heard me preach that repeatedly when she was in my mentor
program many years ago.
Today, she’s a successful publicist who has landed many of her
clients in top-tier media like the New York Times, the Wall
Street Journal and on “Good Morning, America.”
But she was especially tickled when her local newspaper, the
Hendersonville Times, featured a front-page story on Saturday
about the Blue Ridge Husky Rescue, an organization that saves
Huskies that are abandoned by their owners and often turn up in
animal shelters.
The Husky Rescue is close to Michelle’s heart. So are Huskies.
When she heard the group needed publicity, she steered them away
from a press conference to a media event.
Right there on the front page was a photo of Michelle on
rollerblades, being pulled around Jackson Park on a leash by
Smokey, a three-year-old Siberian Husky that found a new home
through the rescue group.
“Do you know how rrrrrough it is to score front page ink? [Dog
whine.] Rrrrrough,” wrote Michelle at her blog at
http://michelletennant.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/barking-up-the-
front-page/.
Remember that the next time you’re tempted to stage a boring
press conference.
Interested in joining my mentor program? Yesterday, I taught
people in the program how to use two helpful, easy-to-remember
formulas (not mine, somebody else’s) when writing press releases
and pitches. They work almost every time. If you want to join us,
read more about the program at
http://publicityhound.com/mentorprogram/intro.html or call me
at 262-284-7451 and let’s see if we’re a good fit.
=================================
2. How Freelancers Can Help You
=================================
Here are four reasons why freelance journalists can sometimes be
more valuable to your publicity campaign than journalists who
work full-time for one media outlet:
–Because they write for multiple outlets, they can interview you
multiple times for different stories they’re selling.
–You don’t have to pitch busy reporters or grumpy editors. They
do.
–Freelance journalists often blog. That means one more place
where they might give you publicity and a backlink to your
website.
–Freelancers know each other and attend the same conferences. If
they know you’re a good source, but they don’t need what you’re
offering, they might share your contact information with a
colleague who does.
If you have a media database, there’s certain information about
freelancers that should be included within it. That’s why I have
a separate template for freelancers. I shared it–along with
seven other templates for newspapers, magazines, TV shows, radio
shows, bloggers, newsletters and websites–when I hosted the
webinar “How to Create Your Own Database of Valuable Media
Contacts” on Thursday. It’s available as a PDF or Word document
so you can just cut and paste the information into your own
database.
If you missed the webinar, you can order the video replay and
access all the other materials here:
http://publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/mediadatabase.htm
======================================
3. Publicity Tips for Local Events
======================================
The next time you do publicity for a local event, remember my 11
handy tips.
I’ve been compiling them since I volunteered to do publicity for
my garden club’s annual gardening seminar, which was held on
Saturday.
We got mountains of publicity, but I also made a few boo-boos. I
mistakenly assumed that the gardening newsletters in Wisconsin
had short lead times for calendar items. Was I wrong! One of them
works three months ahead, and I missed the deadline.
I was also disappointed to learn that the photos I took on
Saturday had no crowd shots.
On the plus side, a big feature story with several photos
appeared in our local weekly, and fliers distributed at the local
tech college resulted in seven attendees from that school.
Read all my tips at my blog at http://publicityhound.net/?p=10437
======================================
4. Create Event Videos from Photos
======================================
Here’s a fun way to create a post-event video and use it for PR
if you’re only shooting photos at your event.
Create an account at Animoto, a website that will let you gather
a collection of your best photos, type some text, arrange them
like you’d arrange letters on your wooden Scrabble letter holder,
choose your music, and–voila!–produce it. That’s what I did
after my garden club hosted our annual garden seminar on
Saturday.
We didn’t shoot video. But used the photos I took to create one.
It’s at our website at http://www.PortGardenClub.org
You can post your video on your website, and share it on the
social media sites and anywhere else you want to promote next
year’s event.
A free Animoto account will let you produce videos of no more
than 30 seconds. Paid accounts, for as little as $5 a month, let
you produce longer videos, but only for non-commercial use.
Go ahead. Play around with it and see how much fun it is (using
this affiliate link):
http://animoto.com/?ref=obcetdav
=====================================
5. Red-Hot Pinterest
=====================================
Users spend more time on Pinterest, the bulletin board social
media site, than they do on Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+
combined, according to a new study.
After I wrote about Pinterest here last week, my email inbox has
been clogged with messages telling me that people, mostly women,
are following me there.
Read more about the study here:
http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/usa-social-network-
use_b18798
Read the 10 reasons Pinterest booked 10 million visitors a month
so quickly:
====================================
6. Hound Video of the Week
=====================================
Have you seen this one of the Dalmation riding a bike? OK, so the
bike has training wheels. But it’s still worth a look.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roJzWYiXFtg
Dog Jokes & Quotes Ebook: 170+ G-rated dog jokes and quotes,
perfect for a dog-lover, your favorite vet, or just for a few
good laughs.
BONUS: Buy the ebook and you also get a compilation of the 50
best websites for dog humor.
http://publicityhound.com/dogjokebook/
======================================
7. And at My Blog & Mobile Site…
======================================
Great content for tweeting:
11 local publicity tips: Start early, pitch often
http://publicityhound.net/?p=10437
Dog Tweets:
Follow these PR rules if
you want to raise some real capital
http://publicityhound.net/?p=10414
Share Your Two Cents