Issue #728 June 25, 2013
Publisher: Joan Stewart
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
In This Issue
- Gandolfini Death a PR Opp
- Free Biz-Building Technology Map
- How to Use Vine, Instagram for PR
- Hound Video of the Week
This Week in the Hound House:
If you’re a peanut butter junkie like I am, but can’t afford the
calories, you’ll be thrilled to hear about PB2 made by Bell
Plantation. It’s powdered peanut butter you mix with water. It
has 85 percent less fat than regular PB, and they even make a
chocolate version. I found more than 550 five-star reviews on
Amazon. My order is on its way…stay tuned here for the review.
1. Gandolfini Death a PR Opp
Use the health problems or death of a celebrity as a springboard
to promote your health-related cause or issue.
That’s what the media, and marketers, did within days of James
Gandolfini’s fatal heart attack at age 51 last week. They
piggybacked onto the news of The Sopranos star to discuss:
–Who is most vulnerable to a heart attack.
–The dangers of smoking. Gandolfini and Tony Soprano both smoked
cigars.
–How Gandolfini’s alcohol and drug abuse increased his chances
of a heart attack.
–How being overweight, or obese, plays a role. Gandolfini tipped
the scales at 260 pounds.
–Whether his “last supper” of a double order of fried prawns, a
massive order of foie gras, two pina coladas, two shots and two
beers helped bring on the attack.
If you think this PR tactic is ghoulish, or politically
incorrect, that’s your business. But smart Publicity Hounds
understand the value of tying into a news event like this one
that is capturing attention worldwide.
Publicist Michelle Tennant piggybacked onto the October 2009
sweat lodge deaths in Arizona to land her client, Dr. John
Ellerby, on “Larry King Live” that same month. She’s a master at
tying into breaking news events, and she explained exactly how
she does it when she was my guest on the webinar “How to Tie Your
Pitch to Breaking News and Make the Media Interview YOU.”
The video recording comes with handouts so you can see the exact
pitches that Michelle emails to the media to get her clients on
“Larry King Live,” “Dr. Phil” and on CNN’s HLN.
2. Free Biz-Building Technology Map
If you want to build an online audience, you can blow a lot of
money very quickly if you don’t know what techie programs to use.
You can also become so confused with the wide selection of tools
like shopping carts, email programs, landing page systems,
webinar hosting companies, and blogging platforms that you end up
chasing your tail and getting nowhere.
Be a smart Publicity Hound and grab Danny Iny’s free Audience
Business Technology Map.
It’s a colorful flowchart that shows all the technologies he uses
now, or has used, to run Firepole Marketing, his successful
online marketing business. He even has live links that will take
you directly to the two dozen websites he recommends.
You won’t need all of them. But you’ll be able to understand
easily how some programs are connected to others and how all the
puzzle pieces of an online business fit together.
The map is yours when you register for the free webinar I’m
hosting with Danny at 3 p.m. Eastern this Thursday, June 27, on
“The Proven 4-Step/12-Month Process For Creating A (Raving) Blog
Fanbase That Buys Over $250K Worth Of Products (And Services)
From You Per Year.”
This webinar is perfect for authors, speakers, experts, PR firms,
publicists and business owners who want to do a significant
portion of business online.
After you register, it might take an hour or two to get the
technology map, but it’s well worth it.
3. How to Use Vine, Instagram for PR
When I put out the call a few weeks ago for examples of Vine
videos you’re using for publicity and PR, several Publicity
Hounds said they found Vine very confusing.
I did too until I found a four-minute video on Cnettv that
illustrates it step by step.
Watch Sharon Vaknin walk you through all the things you can
do with Vine. An associate holds the camera and taps the screen
to record video of her assembling a lunch salad.
If six seconds is too short, try Instagram (owned by Facebook),
which lets you record 15-second videos.
Some PR uses for Vine and Instagram:
–To demonstrate how to use a product. Viners are using the
hashtag #howto to share step-by-step processes for projects like
cooking and crafting. You can see a good example of how to create
a how-to video using Vine, at the Entrepreneur.com site.
–For a quick “Tip of the Day” in your area of expertise.
–“Before” and “after” clips. This would work great for a hair
stylist, make-up artist or professional organizer.
Read this helpful article about the differences between the
Vine and Instagram apps.
4. Hound Video of the Week
I dare you to stifle laughter when you see these two dog videos,
brought to you by Ellen DeGeneres.
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