The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #449 May 5, 2009
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. Find Her a Job, Collect a Bounty
2. Your Blog & Twitter
3. Wanted: Facebook Success Stories
4. At the End of Your Radio Interview…
5. How a Psychic Can Promote
6. Help This Hound
7. Hound Quote of the Week
8. And at My Blog…
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1. Find Her a Job, Collect a Bounty
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Job-hunters are using social networking in all sorts of creative
ways to find employment.
But one of the most unusual is offering a finder’s fee of up to
$6,000 for anyone who passes along a lead that results in a full-
time job.
That’s the offer from Beverly Shepard, who was laid off in
January from her job as marketing director at The Virginia-Pilot
newspaper.
Sixteen months ago, when the newspaper announced it was up for
sale, Beverly anticipated the worst. She started looking for
another job while she was still working, but to no avail. She
even paid an Arizona-based recruiter $6,000, but it was wasted
money and generated no interviews.
That’s when she turned to LinkedIn for help. She emailed her more
than 200 connections and made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.
Find her a full-time job that pays $120,000, with benefits, and
they earn a $6,000 finder’s fee. An $80,000 job pays a finder’s
fee of $800.
She emailed her 200 LinkedIn connections with the offer.
“I thought a few leads would dribble in, but I was amazed,” she
said. “I got my first lead within 15 minutes. So far, I’ve had
one job interview and I have another one later this month.”
She even heard from an old boyfriend who’s willing to help.
Another friend, Publicity Hound Gail Kent, a PR pro, wrote a
press release about Beverly’s publicity stunt.
That led to an avalanche of media attention, including an
interview on CNN and an article on FastCompany.com. You can see
all the media hits and review details of Beverly’s offer at my
blog.
If you have only several LinkedIn connections, or several
hundred, don’t let them just sit there gathering dust. LinkedIn
expert Scott Allen says there are lots of creative ways you can
use those connections to find answers to questions, be introduced
to decision-makers, and even promote products and services.
During a teleseminar I conducted with him last summer, he
explained them all and offered a step-by-step timeline of exactly
what you should do, and when. “How to Use LinkedIn to Promote
Anything–Ethically & Powerfully” is available as electronic
transcripts and your choice of MP3s or CDs.
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2. Your Blog & Twitter
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Are you using a service like Twitterfeed to automatically feed
your blog headlines and a link to each post into Twitter?
If so, you might want to reconsider.
I don’t use the service because I try to write blog headlines
that are optimized for the search engines and include specific
keywords. When it’s time to tweet about my blog post, I also want
the freedom to rewrite the SEO headline to entice my followers
and force them to click on it.
Rewriting it also allows me to use hashtags.
Here’s an example. The item above, about Beverly Shepard, is at
my blog under the headline “Job-hunter offers $6,000 finder’s fee
on LinkedIn.”
I rewrote that headline on Twitter to read “#Job-hunter for hire.
Will pay you up to $6,000 for a #PR, #marketing or
#businessdevelopment job.” The hashtag (#) allows Twitter users
to find that post when they are using Twitter’s search function to search
under #job-hunter or #PR or #marketing or #businessdevelopment.
I don’t rewrite all my blog headlines for Twitter. There just
isn’t enough time. But some content lends itself perfectly
to two different headlines.
Still not convinced Twitter is worth the effort? Thousands of
people aren’t and they’re grousing about Twitter in forums and
blogs. Before you decide it isn’t for you, read about how the
really smart businesses and nonprofits–large and small–are
using Twitter and finding a big return on investment. “Special
Report #52: How to Use Twitter for Business to Network, Promote,
Sell, Recruit & Profit.”
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3. Wanted: Facebook Success Stories
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If you have a success story to share about how you use Facebook
to sell more books, generate speaking engagements, find clients
and customers, or build strong relationships that have resulted
in a great return on investment for your business, I want to hear
about it.
I’ll be hosting a teleseminar later this month on Facebook and
I’m looking for examples of Publicity Hounds who have used
Facebook creatively.
Are you using the Pages feature to sell? Or Facebook’s
Marketplace?
Have you created a Group that’s helped your business? Are your
Facebook videos pulling more traffic to your website? How are you
measuring traffic, conversion or ROI? Has your Facebook profile
generated requests for interviews by the media?
If I share your story, your Facebook page will be discussed in a
product I’m creating, and you’ll most likely receive even more
friend requests.
Email me and put “Facebook Success Story” in the subject line. Include
your phone number. If your idea is a good fit, I’ll call you.
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4. At the End of Your Radio Interview…
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If you’ve just finished a radio interview in the studio or over
the phone, and the host or producer gushes about how great you
were, don’t be afraid to ask this question:
“Do you know any other radio talk shows that might be interested
in interviewing me?”
Many Publicity Hounds have done this and found their way onto
other shows. The radio job market is in a constant state of flux.
That means hosts and producers might know colleagues at a former
station who would welcome interviewing you.
If they give you a lead, go ahead and ask if they can make a call
on your behalf. If they loved having you on their show, they’ll
probably be happy to help.
Alex Carroll, who wrote a book on how to get out of paying fines
for unfair speeding tickets, has been a guest on more than 1,000
radio shows and sold more than $1.5 million worth of books.
Many of those shows were the biggest ones, like the Howard Stern
Show. Learn the step-by-step formula Alex has developed for
pitching stations, cutting through the noise, giving a compelling
performance and prompting them to invite you back. Read more
about the CD “How to Get Booked on Radio Shows in the Top 20
Markets.”
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5. How a Psychic Can Promote
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This week, five Publicity Hounds have tips for Terri Jay of
Washoe Valley, Nev. She is a psychic messenger for humans and
pets, and she’s looking for a way to pitch a TV show about what
she does to the media, and spread the word about her work.
From Sophie Wajsman:
“One of the best ways to attract media attention is to involve
the media. Why don’t you contact a radio and TV station and offer
the presenter of the program you are most interested in the
opportunity to have a personal reading on air?”
From Candy Tutt:
“Find out when the local SPCA is scheduling adoption days at a
mall, pet store, or wherever. Ask them if you can work in tandem
with them. Suggest that they allow you to set up an area and do
readings for, say, $10. At the end of the day, donate half to the
SPCA.”
From Sheryl Kurland:
“There’s a big news story spreading right now. It was on the
‘Today’ show May 1, about a chihuahua that was ‘found’ by a pet
psychic. Do some research on this story and find ways to piggy-
back onto the coverage of this hot news item.”
From The Publicity Hound:
If you want a TV show, start cranking out videos and post them to
the video-sharing sites. I’d love to see one that shows you in
action, talking to a horse. Listen to the one-hour teleseminar I
hosted with video expert Mike Stewart (no relation) who explained
the easiest, fastest way to sell with video.
See all the answers to this Help This Hound question.
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6. Help This Hound
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Karen Carnabucci of Racine, Wis. writes:
“I’m a psychotherapist working with psychodrama, the creative
arts therapies and experiential therapies, and I’ve been building
my practice slowly and patiently.
“Most of my clients have insurance benefits which they use when
they see me. Now, I want to shift my practice to offer training
to help professionals, physicians and attorneys who will benefit
from these skills that I’ve been using.
“Physicians, for example, can learn to communicate more
effectively with their patients, especially when telling bad news
so that the patient and family can receive the news in an
emotionally healthy way. Attorneys, especially defense attorneys,
can deepen their understanding of the client’s case so they can
communicate the essentials to the jury and win cases.
“I’m looking for ideas on how to draw professionals, primarily
from the upper Midwest, to my training programs, individual
consultations and in-service programs and would welcome ideas
from your Hounds.
The Publicity Hound says:
You’re targeting a niche. That’s the easy part. But your topic is
outside the mainstream. That’s the hard part. Let’s see how my
Hounds can help. Hounds with ideas for Karen can post them at my
blog.
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7. Hound Quote of the Week
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“Scratch a dog and you’ll find a permanent job.” – Franklin P.
Jones
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8. And at My Blog…
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Job-hunter offers $6,000 finder’s fee on LinkedIn
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