The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #529 Nov. 2, 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. LinkedIn Adds Recommendations
2. 60+ Places to Promote Offline
3. Speak on Cruise Ships
4. Promote a Bistro/Wine Bar
5. Help This Hound
6. Hound Quote of the Week
7. And at My Blogs & Mobile Site…
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1. LinkedIn Adds Recommendations
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Starting this week, LinkedIn is offering its more than 80 million
members a chance to recommend other companies’ products and
services on Company Pages, under the Products tab.
Initially, LinkedIn users can offer recommendations for only 40
large companies like Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Dell, JetBlue,
AT&T, Citibank and Volkswagen. But LinkedIn will expand the
feature to include all companies and small businesses during the
next week.
Every Publicity Hound should be paying attention to this.
Each time a LinkedIn member endorses your products or services,
their recommendation becomes visible to all of their connections
and could spread virally. When you promote and curate these
recommendations, you have some of the most credible, authentic
endorsements of your products on your Company Page?s Product tab.
You can read about LinkedIn’s new review feature at its blog at
http://blog.linkedin.com/2010/11/01/linkedin-company-pages/
From what I can see so far, this doesn’t allow users to actually
write anything like they can when they’re writing a personal
recommendation on LinkedIn. All they can do is recommend a
product or service. When they do, their photo shows up next to a
checkmark and the phrase “I recommend this product,” and they get
a link back to their own LinkedIn profile.
If your company doesn’t have its own page on LinkedIn, create one
right now. Go to Companies > Find Companies > Add a Company.
Online reviews are becoming increasingly important. How should
you respond to a bad review on other websites? What steps can you
take to decrease the chances of a bad review appearing? And what
can you do to make it easier for your own customers to post
glowing reviews about your great products and services?
Tom Antion tackled this topic during his teleseminar, “Reputation
Management: How to Build and Protect a Great Reputation Online.”
His strategy is simple. Create a huge and positive profile for
yourself at high-traffic, authoritative sites so that when
someone posts something negative about you, the good information
comes up higher in the organic search listings. I never heard of
a lot of the sites he found, but I’m busy creating my own
profiles there.
What would you rather do, manage your own reputation or let
others, including your competitors, manage it for you? Learn more
about Tom’s strategy at http://tinyurl.com/2eyyljb
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2. 60+ Places to Promote Offline
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My recent webinar, “50+ Places Online to Promote Your Live &
Virtual Events to Reach Your Target Market & Pull Sell-out
Crowds,” was such a hit, that many Publicity Hounds who
registered for it have been asking for a follow-up session on how
to promote offline.
Let’s do it! I’ve scoured my file cabinet, hard drive, handouts
from my workshops, back issues of my newsletter and my blog, and
I’ve come up with more than 60 places offline to promote not only
your events, but your product, service, cause or issue. Many of
them are free.
I’m hosting the webinar on Tuesday, Nov. 23, at 3 p.m. Eastern
Time. The first 20 registrants will receive a free copy of my
cheat sheet, “13 Ways to Involve Journalists and Bloggers in
Whatever You’re Promoting.” Example: Don’t ask a local blogger to
write about your cooking classes for kids. Invite her to bring
her own child and participate.
Sign up for “60+ Places Offline to Promote Your Product, Service,
Cause, Issue or Event to Build the Buzz and Encourage Others to
Promote for You” at
http://publicityhound.com/promoteoffline.htm. Also, let me
know about offline tactics you use to promote, and send a photo
if you can. I can work the idea into my presentation and create
even more publicity for you!
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3. Speak on Cruise Ships
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Right now, as you’re reading this, program coordinators for
luxury cruise lines all over the world are reviewing the
materials they’ve received from speakers who want to get booked
to speak on next year’s cruises.
There’s still time for you to submit your materials and take
advantage of the greatest gig on the seven seas.
Here’s how it works.
You furnish the cruise lines three or four 1-hour lectures on
subjects you love, from business topics like leadership and time
management to fun topics like how to perform simple magic tricks
or cook up a gourmet meal on a tight budget.
In exchange for your lectures, you get a free cruise for yourself
and a companion. Since the lectures are usually scheduled on sea
days, you’ll have every port day totally free to explore.
Swarms of speakers apply for these coveted slots. But most of
them make several critical mistakes that kick them out of the
running.
Daniel Hall, who has more connections with cruise line program
coordinators than anyone else on the planet, will be my guest
expert during a free webinar at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday,
Nov. 5.
I know Fridays are bad, but I didn’t want to wait until next week
because program coordinators are hiring speakers NOW. You can
register for the webinar at
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/132750273
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4. Promoting a Bistro/Wine Bar
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This week, 14 Publicity Hounds have tips for Timothy Nishimoto,
owner of Vino Paradiso Wine Bar & Bistro in Portland, Ore., on
how to market his restaurant. He’s having a hard time convincing
local restaurant reviewers to write about it.
From Michael Carr:
“Since your establishment is a well-regarded wine bar, start
there. Develop monthly wine pairing dinners. Invite Oregon (and
Washington) based wine makers to participate, and reach out to
bloggers who write about food, wine and regional travel. Roll
out your seasonal menu and alert the media. Include the usual
outlets, but don’t forget the business press and media focused on
hospitality, wine and food.
“If you’re a member of the Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau,
see if they have a program for visiting journalists. If so, offer
to provide hospitality to travel journalists. Don’t forget to
reach out to the concierges at hotels in town. Host them for
coffee and make sure you keep them up to date with what’s
happening at the restaurant.”
From Etc. Communications:
“You’re missing a huge potential clientele in Boomers, singles
and couples. If you designate a night as Boomer Night, you’d be
surprised at how quickly you would get covered by media!”
From Janet Thaeler:
“Host a bloggers event. Find someone who has hosted successful
ones in your area and who reaches the type of people you want to
reach. It may be that there’s a good mix of design bloggers, food
bloggers and mom bloggers.”
The Publicity Hound says:
I was bowled over by the responses to this question! Read all of
them at http://publicityhound.net/?p=7232
Send your own “Help this Hound” question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound
and include your city and state.
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5. Help This Hound
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This week’s “Help this Hound” question is from me and my fellow
members of the Port Washington Garden Club in Port Washington,
Wisconsin:
We’re sponsoring our first-ever daylong lecture series on Feb.
26, and we’re looking for a catchy title that will really build
the buzz and draw a huge crowd.
Guest experts from within and outside the club will be speaking
on topics that include tips for gardening with your pet, how to
incorporate native plants and dramatic grasses into your garden,
unusual plants for shade gardens, how to create a kitchen garden,
and how to create a worm farm for richer soil. The event will
give local gardeners something to do in the dead of winter in
Wisconsin.
So far, the working title is “Throw off the Winter Blues with a
Day of Gardening.” Can you do better than that?
I’m offering a $50 gift certificate for Publicity Hound products
to the person who suggests a title we end up using.
Post your best ideas to my blog at
http://publicityhound.net/?p=7272
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6. Hound Quote of the Week
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“No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation
as the dog does.” — Christopher Morley
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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7. And at My Blogs & Mobile Site…
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You can now sign up to receive email notifications every time I
publish a new blog post. Submit your email address to “Subscribe
to Email Updates” on the right side of my blog at
http://www.PublicityHound.net
Here are posts from the last seven days:
Use hyperlinks in press releases: Here are 19 ideas:
http://publicityhound.net/?p=7243
Here’s a handy checklist for writing press releases
http://publicityhound.net/?p=7259
Speakers & hobbyists: Get booked on cruise ships
http://publicityhound.net/?p=7266
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Joan Stewart
The Publicity Hound
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