The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #496 March 16, 2010
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. How Topsy Can Help Your Blog
2. Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Out of Luck
3. What Publicity Superstars Know
4. When Your Links Won’t Open in Gmail
5. Marketing an Expert on Mold
6. Help This Hound
7. Hound Joke of the Week
8. And at My Blogs…
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1. How Topsy Can Help Your Blog
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When you see scads of people tweeting about your competitors and
their great blog posts, do you ever just sit there and wonder,
“How do they manage to attract so much attention?”
Stop wondering.
Head over to Topsy at http://www.topsy.com/. You can use this
search engine to do some competitive intelligence, and find out
fairly quickly exactly which of your competitors’ topics are
causing the buzz. Then, start writing about those topics
yourself, or pitching them to the media, so you can capitalize on
the market insights your competitors have identified or stumbled
onto.
There are several other ways to use this site:
When you search for something on Topsy, such as “health care
bill,” Topsy finds snippets of conversations on Twitter that
match what you’re looking for. It returns to you a list of things
people link on for that search term.
Topsy ranks its results based on how well they match your search
terms and–here’s the important part–the influence of the people
talking about them. Topsy has pages for every person it listens
to, and it lists the things each person has been talking about.
My friend, social media marketing expert Don Crowther, wrote a
great blog post about 5 ways to use Topsy to help your blog at
http://tinyurl.com/howtousetopsy
Use his tips and then, check out what Patsi Krakoff has to say
about “Time-saving Tips for Smart Business Blogging.” She covers
all the basics for beginning bloggers and shares lots of tips for
advanced bloggers, including 101 places to find content for your
blog. Read more about it at http://tinyurl.com/businessblogger
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2. Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Out of Luck
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When you send an email to your list of customers or contacts, it
isn’t unusual to learn that only 12 percent of the people who
receive it open it. Only 12 percent!
Compare that to the whopping 95 percent open rate that’s easy to
achieve when you send a text message to people’s mobile phones
telling them about a new product or service, or giving them a tip
that will solve a problem or make their lives easier.
Starting with a single blog post, a retail store in California
generated online publicity and made $20,000 in a mere three hours
last year by using a combination of a compelling offer, text
messages, email and social media. It didn’t pay a penny for
print, radio or Internet ads.
Here’s the kicker. The people who stood in a line that snaked
around the store even before the doors opened weren’t allowed in
unless they showed proof of the text message they received. All
others were turned away.
If you know how to incorporate mobile messaging into your
marketing campaign, and you’re in front of your prospects on
their mobile phones, your competitors who don’t have the first
clue how to do what you’re doing will be out of sight, out of
mind, and out of luck.
Download the quick case study of the success story above,
courtesy of StomperNet, and see the replay of last week’s webinar
from Dan Hollings, the guy who created the mobile marketing
campaign for “The Secret.”
http://tinyurl.com/out-of-luck
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3. What Publicity Superstars Know
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Jen Groover launched her career making Butler Handbags that
organize women’s essentials in little compartments inside each
purse, much like the utensils compartment inside your dishwasher.
In February and March this year, her media appearances include
stints on MSNBC’s “Your Business,” FOX Business’s “Happy Hour,”
the “Good Morning Colorado” radio show and ABC News. She appeared
on FOX Business’s “Your Questions Your Money,” “Washington
Business Tonight” on News Channel 8 in D.C., and Better TV.
Jen became a regularly featured lifestyle expert on the Fox News
Channel and the Early Show as well as scoring coverage in
hundreds of print media outlets including O the Oprah Magazine,
Redbook, US Weekly, Success and Entrepreneur, and then, used that
coverage to catapult her business to sales of over $10 million a
year.
One reason she landed so many media appearances is that she’s
able to tell a compelling story of how she refused to listen to
her friends, relatives and industry experts who pooh-poohed her
idea for a well-organized handbag.
But she does far more than just tell stories. On Thursday, you’ll
hear about the secrets that she and other media superstars know
about, like how to become a sought-after news source and guest on
radio and TV talk shows, even with no fancy credentials or
academic degrees.
The free 90-minute webinar titled “Discover the Secrets of the
Publicity Superstars,” hosted by Steve Harrison (I’m an
affiliate), will be broadcast at 2 and 7 p.m. on Thursday, March
18. If the times are inconvenient, recruit somebody to listen and
take notes for you. Register at
http://www.freepublicity.com/superstars/?10011
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4. When Your Links Won’t Open in Gmail
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If you’re sending emails to the media, bloggers and others who
use Gmail, but few people are responding, or they’re complaining
that the links won’t open, it’s because of a change Google made
recently.
For a URL to be a live link in Gmail, it cannot have a capital
letter after “http://” without using “www.”
That means links like http://publicityhound.com aren’t live. But
https://publicityhound.com/ is.
Read more about it, and watch the video that explains it all, at
Alex Mandossian’s blog at http://ow.ly/1lq20
Now that you know how to configure your links, learn how to send
great email or telephone pitches. Raleigh Pinskey shows you “How
to Create the Perfect 30-Second Pitch.” She is the MASTER of
pitches, and she shares her secrets. Learn more at
http://tinyurl.com/30secondpitch.
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5. Marketing an Expert on Mold
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This week, 10 Publicity Hounds have tips for Susan Murphy of
Pleasant Ridge, MI on how to promote her client, Connie Morbach,
an expert on mold.
From Julie Gabrielli:
“Join the U.S. Green Building Council and get active in your
local chapter. They usually have ongoing monthly programs, so you
could do a session on mold. They also have a huge, yearly
conference (15,000 to 20,000 people), and you could submit a
proposal as a speaker.”
From Doreen Overstreet:
“Not sure who your target audience is, but I bet the National
Apartment Association’s publication (and others like it) would be
interested in using her as a resource or running any of her
articles. Many in the industry are interested in learning more
about this subject–and preventing it.”
From Don Power:
“Your client could talk about how to safely remove small amounts
of mold encountered in the upcoming spring cleaning ritual.
Millions of people do this every spring and it is almost
guaranteed you will encounter some mold (but not enough to call
in a professional removal company). Therefore, there is a real
need to know how to remove small amounts of mold safely and your
client could address that!”
The Publicity Hound says:
Connie should refer to herself everywhere as a “mold expert.”
This should appear on the title bar of the home page of her
website, in her bio, in press releases, in the mini-bios she
writes at the social media sites–everywhere she has info about
her background. And she should buy a profile in “Expertclick: The
Online Yearbook of Experts” at
http://www.Expertclick.com/Referral/PublicityHound (I’m an
affiliate).
Read all the responses to this week’s “Help This Hound” question
http://ow.ly/1g9z9
Send your own question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound
and include your city and state.
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6. Help This Hound
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This week’s question is from me:
Almost every Tuesday, without fail, during the last decade, my
readers and I have been sharing our best tips in this newsletter.
If it’s Tuesday, and it’s Christmas, the ezine arrives via email
on Christmas Day, and the other 51 Tuesdays of the year.
In just a few weeks, on April 16, I’ll publish Edition Number
500,and I’m looking for a clever promotion or contest that will
engage current readers, create a buzz on the social media sites,
and attract new subscribers.
Because I’m knee-deep in three other projects, I’m not even sure
I’ll have time to pull this off. But I’d be crazy not to ask my
Hounds for help.
What can I do to promote the newsletter, pull in new readers,
attract attention for the archived issues at
http://www.publicityarticles.net/, encourage people to submit
questions for Help this Hound, and make this a really fun
celebration?
Submit your best ideas to my blog at http://ow.ly/1mX4z and
retweet if you’re so inclined.
And then send your “Help this Hound” question to me at
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound.
I have only one left, and I’ll include it here next week.
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7. Hound Joke of the Week
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In an upscale pet-supply store, a customer wanted to buy a red
sweater for her dog. The clerk suggested that she bring her dog
in for a proper fit.
“I can’t do that!” The owner said. “The sweater is a surprise!”
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 Blogs…
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Consider retweeting these blog posts:
How engaging is your blog? 17 metrics to measure
http://ow.ly/1hbuK
Pros & cons of using Facebook, Twitter geo-location features
http://ow.ly/1hizB
How to generate publicity from Pi Day
http://ow.ly/1lrRS
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Joan Stewart
a.k.a. The Publicity Hound
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