The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #573 Sept. 20, 2011
Publisher: Joan Stewart
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“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
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In This Issue
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1. Be Part of a Restaurant’s Name
2. Social Media Today Needs Bloggers
3. Three Major Facebook Changes
4. 7 Ways to Land Big Media Appearances
5. YouTube Adds Editing Tools
6. Promoting a Family circle Article
7. Hound Joke of the Week
8. And at My Blog & Mobile Site…
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1. Be Part of a Restaurant’s Name
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File this one under “Clever Publicity Stunts.”
Starting Oct. 3 through the end of the month, Smith & Wollensky
steakhouse in Midtown Manhattan will remove the name “Smith” and
replace it with the surname of a devoted customer who agrees to
take a pledge of loyalty to the restaurant.
The new names will also appear on signs, awnings, matchbooks,
cocktail napkins and waiters’ jackets.
Just book a table, take a pledge at their website, and your name
might be one of several dozen drawn at random.
This sounds like an incredibly expensive promotion, and I’d be
curious to know if the return on investment is worth it.
Read more about the promotion on the restaurant’s website at
http://www.smithandwollenskynyc.com. Then read 51 ideas on how
restaurants, chefs and foodies can generate publicity. They’re on
the handout I created that accompanies the audio recording of a
teleseminar I recorded on “Publicity Tips for Restaurants, Chefs
& Foodies.”
Find out how to access it at
http://publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/restaurants.htm
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2. Social Media Today Needs Bloggers
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If you’re an expert in any aspect of social media, consider
submitting a guest blog post for Social Media Today.
SMT describes itself as “an independent, online community for
professionals in PR, marketing, advertising, or any other
discipline where a thorough understanding of social media is
mission-critical. Every day, we provide insight and host lively
debate about the tools, platforms, companies and personalities
that are revolutionizing the way we consume information.”
I’ve submitted a few posts at the site and found it a bit
difficult to navigate at first, but the exposure is valuable. I
recommend offering original content, not warmed-over posts from
your own blog.
Learn more here:
http://socialmediatoday.com/clifffigallo/358121/smts-september-message-our-contributing-writers
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3. Three Major Facebook Changes
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New changes you need to know about:
–Until now, it hasn’t been easy to choose exactly what you see
in your News Feed. You also couldn’t hear directly from people
you’re interested in but don’t know personally–like journalists.
Facebook is adding a Subscribe button, making it easier for you
to do both. You’ll start seeing this button on your profile and
your friends’ profiles. Use it to choose what you see from people
in News Feed; hear from people, even if you’re not friends; and
let people hear from you, even if you’re not friends.
–Lists have existed for several years, but users have complained
that it’s time-consuming to organize lists for different parts of
their lives and keep them up to date. To make lists easier,
Facebook has made three improvements. Smart Lists create
themselves and stay up-to-date based on profile info your friends
have in common with you–like your work, school, family and city.
Close Friends and Acquaintances lists let you see your best
friends’ photos and posts in one place, and see less from people
you’re not as close to.
You can also add the right friends to your lists without a lot of
effort.
–You no longer need to accumulate 25 friends or fans before you
can claim a vanity URL. Until you got that many, you were stuck
with a long, ugly URL that no one could ever remember. Choose a
vanity URL and check its availability here:
https://www.facebook.com/username/
Now, use the checklist I created on how to attract fans to your
vanity URL. I compiled it when Mari Smith was my guest during the
recent webinar on “33 Ways to Attract Facebook Fans, Provide
Sterling Content & Keep Them Coming Back for More.” Follow one
tip each day, and watch the number of “Likes” on your page
skyrocket.
Read more about how to access the replay and the cheat sheet of
tips, part of the handouts, at
http://publicityhound.com/facebookpages.htm
Read what Facebook has to say about all the changes at
https://www.facebook.com/blog.php?post=10150280039742131
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4. 7 Ways to Land Big Media Appearances
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One of the big advantages to being booked on a major TV talk show
like the “Today” show, “Good Morning America,” “The View,” or
even for a news segment on the Fox News Channel, is that these
top media aren’t shy about stealing each other’s guests. Do a
terrific interview on the “Today” show, and “The View” might
call.
A single major national TV appearance can change your life
forever. But getting onto these shows isn’t easy.
Discover the breakthrough strategies others have used to be
featured on those big shows and in major print media like Time
magazine and USA Today. Steve Harrison is hosting a webcast at 4
and 8 p.m. Eastern Time today, Sept. 20. This is a free call, and
I’m promoting it as an affiliate.
Learn the 7 things you must know about what separates the run-of-
the-mill publicity seekers from those who get booked onto these
shows and appear in major publications. Register at
http://www.publicitytrainingclass.com/?10011
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5. YouTube Adds Editing Tools
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If you’re serious about creating talking head or PowerPoint
videos for YouTube, you’re probably using a video editing program
like Sony Vegas Movie Studio.
But if you’re in a hurry, you can now use several nifty editing
tools from YouTube that let you edit right in the browser.
Watch the video YouTube created that explains all the tools:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-n9p28Yh8w&feature=
player_embedded
When you’re done, learn all the inside secrets on how to use your
YouTube videos to pull traffic to your website or blog. Colin
Martin and Mark Bullock presented a free webinar a few months ago
on “YouTube Secrets: Getting Views, Subscribers and Branding Your
Business.” I took three pages of notes while recoding the
session. If you missed it, don’t worry. We recorded it. You can
access the replay at http://tinyurl.com/62ajq65
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6. Promoting a Family Circle Article
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This week, three Publicity Hounds have tips for Carrie Steuer of
Chicago, IL, a bra consultant who wants to know how to piggyback
onto an article Family Circle magazine is writing about her this
month, and continue the great publicity.
From Dan Janal:
“Reporters love trend articles. What’s new in fashion? Colors,
styles, etc.? Is there a spin you can make with the news from
Fashion Week?
“Can you poll your customers on what they like or dislike? One of
my clients surveyed her readers and we wrote a press release
based on the results. You can read it at
From Alice Hohl:
“One of the best things you can do is to be prepared for a rush
of people to your site after the article is published. Have
systems in place to handle a flood of inquiries. Create an online
form that captures emails.”
From The Publicity Hound:
“Publicity Hound Larry Jacobs asked a similar question when Golf
Digest magazine wrote about him. I listed as many ideas as I
could think of at my blog at http://publicityhound.net/?p=6944.
One of the most important things I suggested was to order as many
reprints as you can afford. You never know when they’ll come in
handy.”
Read all the responses to this “Help This Hound” question at
http://publicityhound.net/?p=9401
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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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“Some dog I got. We call him Egypt because in every room he
leaves a pyramid. His favorite bone is in my arm. Last night, he
went on the paper four times–three of those times I was reading
it.”
–Rodney Dangerfield
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/
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8. And at My Blog & Mobile Site…
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5 important tips for pitching journalists by phone
http://publicityhound.net/?p=9393
Peek inside the local TV news biz at TV Spy.com
http://ow.ly/6wS4c
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Joan Stewart
The Publicity Hound
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