The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #479 Nov. 17, 2009
Publisher: Joan Stewar
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“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
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In This Issue
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1. How to Promote Your Experts
2. Pay Attention to Media Websites
3. Oprah/Palin Outtakes
4. How to Promote a Book on Autism
5. Help This Hound
6. Hound Videos of the Week
7. And at My Blog…
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1. How to Promote Your Experts
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If you’re an expert in your industry, or you have a team of
experts, let the world know.
During yesterday’s teleseminar for members of The Publicity Hound
Mentor Program, I shared 14 ways to promote your experts. Here
are four of them:
–Create an Experts Directory. If you have many experts, list
them by category, in alphabetical order, and include all contact
information. Make sure your experts have given you permission to
include their names. If they’re at all shy about talking to
reporters or bloggers, pay for media training or don’t include
them. Send hard-copy directories to targeted media, and make the
directory available at your website, in your media room.
–Include one page at your website for each expert. Make sure the
title bar includes a keyword phrase that will help the media find
your expert quickly through the search engines. Example:
“Employee recruitment and retention expert.”
–During a big breaking news event that ties into an expert’s
topic, call or email your media contacts and offer your expert
for background, commentary and story ideas that tie into the
breaking news.
–Give your experts prominent exposure in online experts
directories.
Each year, I subscribe to Expertclick: The Online Yearbook of
Experts. PRWeek calls this the “Dating Service of PR” because it
connects experts and journalists. I’ve been a member for years,
and my Press Room Page has helped me capture the top two or three
positions on Google for the phrase “publicity expert.”
The deadline is Friday, Nov. 20, for their 25th Anniversary 2010
Yearbook of Experts.
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2. Pay Attention to Media Websites
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Before you pitch journalists or broadcasters, know all your
options by visiting their websites.
I wanted to pitch a story idea to the news department at Fox 6, a
Milwaukee TV station, recently and visited their site to see what
I could find. I learned they now accept news tips and pitches at
the site during their 1:45 p.m. news meeting each day.
They broadcast video of the meeting. And even though you can’t
hear the audio, you can pitch your story idea right at the
website. That’s exactly what I did.
The producer who was reading the pitches on his laptop while
attending the meeting responded immediately and said he loved my
idea. But he thought it was more appropriate for the station’s
early-morning news/feature program. I pitched that program, and
the host responded the next day and booked a segment with my
client for next month. Is that cool or what?
These websites often include other valuable nuggets. You might
find bios of the on-air reporters and anchors. You can upload
photos and videos at many newspaper, TV and radio websites. You
can submit items for their event calendars. You can also find
mini profiles of all their local programs. Many media outlets
also include links where you can follow them on Facebook and
Twitter.
Now that you know how to find them and pitch them, start building
relationships with them. “Special Report #49: 17 Ways to Build
Valuable Relationships with Media People” shows you how. Only
$15.
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3. Oprah/Palin Outtakes
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Oprah’s taped interview with Sarah Palin, which was broadcast
yesterday, attracted so many viewers who love her or hate her
that Oprah’s smart producers did something that we can do.
They posted five outtakes from the interview at Oprah’s website
under the headline “What You Didn’t See.” Take a look.
If you’re shooting video for whatever reason, and you have some
great outtakes, here are six ideas for using them:
–Edit them into separate videos and upload them to your YouTube
channel and to other video-sharing sites so they pull in traffic
from the search engines. Use different keywords for each video so
you pull the maximum amount of traffic possible.
–Insert the video links into press releases.
–Post the videos in your online press room.
–Use them at your blog.
–Include the links in articles you write for the article
directory sites.
–Share them with your social media friends, fans and followers.
Videographer John Easton of Charlotte, N.C. knows creative, easy
ways to use video to generate publicity and sales leads, even if
you only do business locally. I interviewed him about “9 Clever
Ways to Use Video to Become a Publicity Darling in Your Industry
or Community.”
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4. How to Promote a Book on Autism
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This week, six Publicity Hounds have tips for Mary Ann Puckett
from Oklahoma City, OK, author of a self-published book, “Take
Him Home and Love Him: A Story of Autism and How to Cope with
It.” She needs tips for promoting the book to parents and
caregivers.
From Linda Kotzian:
“Contact Care Trak. They sell
tracking devices for those afflicted by Alzheimer?s and autism.
They might share their mailing list with you, or even promote
your book as part of their service.”
From Eric Gruber:
“You should be writing articles and submitting them to the top
parenting and health websites, blogs, ezines and article
directories–as well as focusing on those sites that deal with
autism specifically. “
From Margaret Vos:
“Perhaps your high school, college, or university would LOVE to
hear about your accomplishment. Not just a ‘local girl does good’
story, but one that can help other parents too–and targeted to
an educational field but with a different angle. You could
include special needs schools that have newsletters for parents.”
The Publicity Hound says:
Mary Ann, you need to reach out to two huge segments of bloggers:
mommy bloggers and home-schoolers. Go to Google and search for
?top 20 mommy bloggers? and see what you find. Also, ?top 20
home-school bloggers.?
Make sure you visit their blogs and post a comment or two before
you pitch. And, of course, make sure the blog is a good fit with
the book.
Read all the responses to this week’s “Help This Hound” question.
Send your own Help this Hound question and include your city, state or province.
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5. Help This Hound
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I’m out of questions (send questions!) so this week’s is from me:
Publicity Hounds who responded to my Customer Profile Survey in
the spring said blogging was one of the top three topics they
wanted to know more about.
I’m planning one or more paid teleseminars on blogging for
business soon, and I want to make sure I’m teaching things you
need to know.
If you’re interested in this topic, let me know which sub-topics
interest you:
–How to find compelling content
–Shortcuts and time-saving tools
–Commenting at other blogs
–The best blog directories where you should submit your blog
–How to pull traffic to your blog
–Using photos and images
–How to pitch a guest blog post to someone else
–How to find guest bloggers
–Feeding your blog posts into social media sites
–Writing compelling headlines
–Or any topics I haven’t mentioned here.
Also, please let me know if you consider yourself a beginning,
intermediate or advanced blogger and put “Blogging” in the
subject line.
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6. Hound Videos of the Week
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Thanks to Publicity Hound Jacqueline Simonds of Reno, NV for
these three videos that show sheer joy, yelps of delight and lots
of tail-wagging as these four-legged hounds welcome home their
owners from Iran and Afghanistan. (This’ll cheer you up if you’re
having a really bad day.)
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7. And at My Blog…
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