The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #438 Feb. 17, 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. Grand Slam Giveaway
2. Don’t Ask to Review an Article
3. How to Recycle Publicity
4. 2 Events for Hounds
5. Promoting a Farmer’s Market
6. Help This Hound
7. Hound Joke of the Week
8. And at My Blog…
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1. Grand Slam Giveaway
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Call it what you want–a handout, a sample, a giveaway.
When the economy is tanking, consumers want a good deal. That’s exactly what Denny’s restaurant delivered two days after the Super Bowl when it gave away 2 million of its signature Grand Slam Breakfasts.
Denny’s reported that its $3 million commercial drew that many people to its 1,600 outlets in North America and Puerto Rico. The company spent $5 million for the promotion that generated $50 million in news coverage.
“A lot of people have forgotten what Denny’s is, or they think they know, while we’ve come out with a whole lot of new products. We felt like we needed to jump start the brand,” said Mark Chmiel, Denny’s chief marketing and innovation officer.
Mitchell Davis, who owns Expertclick.com and NewsReleaseWire.com, loved the Denny’s promotion. If it could work for people who needto eat breakfast, why can’t it work for Publicity Hounds who need to write press releases, he reasoned.
Mitch wants you to “taste his service” and send news releases this week without cost or obligation.
“I got the idea after seeing Denny’s give out 2 million Grand Slam breakfasts and thought more people should see how good our News Release Wire service works–and understand our commitment to customer service,” he said.
So here’s the deal. For one week, you can test-drive his service by sending press releases and creating a Press Room Page about your business. Watch his video about how it all works.
I subscribe to the service, which helps me claim the first three spots on Google for the keyword phrase “publicity expert” and drives my competitors crazy.
Don’t expect those kinds of results within one week, however, because Google probably won’t index your pages that quickly. But if you call Mitch at 202-333-5000 and ask him for The Publicity Hound special, he’ll set it up for you so you can see how the service works–with no commitments to subscribe. I love the fact that they answer their own phones and jump through hoops for their customers–like the time I spotted a heinous typo after I posted my release. I called them, and they corrected it within minutes.
If you don’t want to call Mitch, you can create the test-drive yourself.
Choose the Gold Level at $995. Then scroll down and complete the “Participant” information (who the account will be about) and the “Subscriber” info (for the person in charge of the account).
Check the credit card box but don’t enter your number because you aren’t paying for this.
In the “Special Offer” box enter:”F*ree Week from Publicity Hound.” Then click on “Create Your Press Room Page” and you’ll be able to edit instantly. Once they approve your account, you’ll be able to start sending press releases instantly. Their standard editorial policies apply, so be sure to read them.
Try it for a week and let me know how you like it.
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2. Don’t Ask to Review an Article
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Publicity Hound Gail Sideman saw a Twitter post that caught her attention recently.
It was from someone who said that Inc. magazine was doing a feature on him until he asked the magazine to let him review the article for his final approval.
“Was I wrong to ask? Yes or no?”
She replied and told the guy he was wrong. That led to a spirited debate on Twitter. So she emailed me and several others in the journalism world and asked our opinions.
Here’s what I told her:
–You were right. He was wrong. By asking that question, he showed he wasn’t media-savvy, and it sounds as though it cost him publicity in Inc. magazine.
–He certainly could have asked the writer, “Would you be willing to run by me any direct quotes you are attributing to me?” Some journalists will say yes, some will say no. It never hurts to ask because some journalists will want to make sure their quotes are accurate. But the deal is, if you hear the quote and you know you said it, but you don’t like the sound of it, you can’t ask the writer to change it. That’s one of the ground rules they never teach you.
–He could also have asked if the magazine will fact-check the story. Inc. most likely has its own fact-check department and would do this anyway. But again, it never hurts to ask.
Bottom line: Never ask a journalist to show you a story before it’s printed so you can “approve” it. For sensitive interviews, you can negotiate the terms of the interview, but little else.
I devoted an entire chapter of my ebook “How to be a Kick-butt Publicity Hound” to what you should do before, during and after an interview. These are the ground rules the media never tell you about and hope you never learn. The ebook is the most comprehensive product I offer on all aspects of generating free publicity. The latest update includes six new chapters on social media.
Read more about what you’ll learn here.
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3. How to Recycle Publicity
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When you generate a publicity hit in a newspaper or magazine, on a TV or radio station, or in the social media, don’t be satisfied.
Try to recycle that hit into multiple hits, or multiple promotions.
I’m one of three experts featured in the January/February issue of SUCCESS magazine, offering my advice on how to promote online.
You can read more about it at my blog.
Here are six ways I’ve already recycled that publicity:
–I tweeted about it at Twitter.
–I went to the blog of Joel Comm, who was featured along with me in the article. I posted a comment to an unrelated blog post and then mentioned in a “P.S.” how interesting it was to read his advice alongside mine in SUCCESS.
–Ditto for Scott Fox, the other Internet marketer featured in the article.
–I added a line to my email signature that lets people know I was in the magazine, and I linked to the article.
–I’m writing about it here.
That’s only six ways! And I know you Hounds can think of many others. Add them to my blog.
Recycling publicity is an important part of a media plan because you must follow up, follow up and follow up.
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4. 2 Events for Hounds
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Event #1: Teleseminar on how to start a coaching program
Do you offer coaching services? If not, consider it.
Coaching is one of the quickest ways almost any non-fiction author or anyone with expertise can make more while also helping a lot of people. For example, I have three types of coaching programs: one-on-one coaching over the phone, my mentor program and teleseminar series devoted to specific topics.
You’ll be surprised how much others will gladly pay for what you know, even though you take it for granted.
To discover how to get started offering coaching services, you’re invited to a free telephone seminar on Thursday, February 19. Hear Steve Harrison interview Tim Paulson, an author, speaker and coaching expert who’s helped many people start thriving coaching practices. You’ll learn how to get others to pay you from $100 to $1,000 an hour, or more, for your expertise.
If you have another commitment, register anyway and recruit somebody to take notes for you. Steve doesn’t record most of these teleseminars and if you miss it, it’s gone.
Event #2: Media event for products tied to celebrities or good causes.
If you have a consumer product that’s tied to a celebrity or a good cause, consider displaying it at the annual Celebrity Connections Media Event and the Good Causes Media Event, to be held April 1 in New York City.
Journalists are always looking for a great angle when it comes to covering new products, and many journalists are looking for products with either a celebrity connection or products that help worthy causes. The events draw an impressive list of top-tier media.
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5. Promoting a Farmer’s Market
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This week, 12 Publicity Hounds have tips for Rose Strong of Springtown, Pa. on how to publicize a local farmer’s market.
From LisaMarie Dias:
“Send an online newsletter through a company like Constant Contact. You could profile the vendors, post a calendar and include recipes. If you send the newsletter out monthly, you could do weekly reminders in a smaller form–with links back to your website. You could have prizes and giveaways to gather email addresses.”
From Michael Carr:
“Invite local chefs to create an ongoing set of promotional opportunities. Book your chefs in advance and publicize their participation. Your chefs can shop the market to select fresh produce to use in their demonstrations. Customers will appreciate sampling what the chef has made as well as learning about using fresh seasonal ingredients at home.”
From Tara Bright:
“Kick off your season with a Raw Food Uncook-off. Host a Green Foodie Contest. Join forces or initiate a “Buy Local, Live Sustainable” group. Host weekly potlucks on a day you are closed.
“Why not set aside a space where children can start seeds while their parents shop? They will need to come back every week to check the progress and water their little sprouts. Also, do a comparison shopping trip at a local chain grocer. If your cart ends up costing less at the farmer’s market, publicize it.”
The Publicity Hound says:
Team up with local artists, musicians and other entertainers. One week, feature an art show and let the artists manage it. The next week, how about a bluegrass band? The following week, feature arts and crafts vendors. All would provide one more reason to shop the farmer’s market.
The teleseminar I hosted on “Publicity Tips for Restaurants, Chefs & Foodies” offers 51 ideas you can use for almost any food- related story. (This title is no longer available, see “61 Publicity Ideas in 61 Minutes.”)
Read all the responses to this week’s Help This Hound question.
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6. Help This Hound
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Lori Feldman of St. Louis, Mo. writes:
“My client is a home and garden show that’s produced in four cities–Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Portland from late February through early March.
“We’re launching a social media plan for this company that has done nothing but traditional advertising for the last 50 years! Last year was the first time they even attempted to collect email addresses from attendees, so we have a list of 20,000 we can use.
“As you can imagine, ad costs significantly increase each year with significantly declining ROI. So the challenge was to find alternative media to combat the ineffectiveness of old media. They also face these hurdles: Home starts and real estate are way down. Young people have not supported these live shows (but this could be due to a lack of an online presence). All marketing is local–you’re not going to jump on a plane to attend.
“Because time is short, I’d like to get as many suggestions from your readers as possible to consider every option to increase traffic.
The Publicity Hound says:
You–and my Hounds–are up against a tough deadline. But that’s when my Hounds are most creative! I know a lot of them publicize events, so they’ll post their best ideas to my blog.
Don’t have time to wait to hear their ideas? “60+ Places Offline to Promote Your Product, Service, Cause, Issue or Event to Build the Buzz & Encourage Others to Promote for You (A Webinar)” will give you lots of ideas.
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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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Thanks to Publicity Hound Kerry Hargraves of Oakland, Calif. for this one:
Little Harold was practicing the violin in the living room while his father was trying to read in the den.
The family dog was lying in the den, and as the screeching sounds of little Harold’s violin reached the dog’s ears, it began to howl loudly. The father listened to the dog and the violin as long as he could. Then he jumped up, slammed his paper to the floor and yelled above the noise, “For Pete’s sake, can’t you play something the dog doesn’t know?”
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8. And at My Blog…
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Online promotion tips in Jan/Feb issue of SUCCESS magazine
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