The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #645 Sept. 4, 2012
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. National Empty Chair Day
2. Site Promotes Product Launches
3. TV Execs Share Pitching Tips
4. Hound Joke of the Week
This Week in the Hound House:
I’m getting back into Scrabble and found this cheat sheet of “Q
without U” words. And a fun quiz to help me learn those words
more quickly. So many Q words, so little time.
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1. National Empty Chair Day
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Create your own holiday and use it to promote your product,
service, cause, issue or event.
Or use it to keep the momentum going on a news story. That’s what
the Republicans did by naming Labor Day “National Empty Chair
Day,” in honor of actor Clint Eastwood’s controversial one-way
conversation with an invisible President Obama at the Republican
National Convention last week. They encouraged people to take
photos of an empty chair in their yard and share them on Twitter.
The hashtag #emptychairday was trending on Twitter in the U.S. by
yesterday morning. And the response was so overwhelming, that
websites hoping to feature the best photos found a backlog from
which to choose.
Not wanting to be outdone, the progressive website Change.org is
hoping to convince Democratic National Convention organizers to
let 90-year-old actress Betty White introduce President Obama
before his big speech Thursday night. White is a big supporter of
the president.
As of this morning, the Facebook page called “Bring Betty White
to the DNC” had more than 28,000 Likes. Let’s see if somebody
creates a holiday to keep this campaign alive, too.
For almost two decades, I’ve been urging you to create your own
holiday, or your own day, week or month of the year. That’s Free
Publicity Tip #1 on my Pinterest board called “50 Tips for Free
Publicity.” I have 19 tips so far, and each one leads back to a
blog post where you can read more about each tip.
Click on a tip, click again, and see how it leads you back to my
blog. If you like the board, please repin it, and share it on the
other social media sites.
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2. Site Promotes Product Launches
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What if you were launching a product, and you or your publicist
could write an article about it, let readers give it “thumbs up”
and encourage their friends to read it?
Now you can, thanks to Launch.it, a free
professional self-publishing and brand engagement news platform,
for all new products and services.
The site was created by Trace Cohen and his dad, Brian, a PR guy
who was the first investor in Pinterest.
Here’s how it works. PR people or anyone responsible for
publicity writes a story about whatever they’re promoting. They
upload it to Launch.it and share the link with their social media
followers, contacts and even journalists.
Readers vote up the most interesting stories.
PR people: Please, no boring press releases! We’ve had enough of
those. This is a chance to tell a compelling story and make it
come alive.
I haven’t experimented with this site yet, but you might want to.
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3. TV Execs Share Pitching Tips
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Executives at ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox will share insider tips on
how to get onto TV talk shows when they’re Steve Harrison’s
guests during a webinar at 2 and 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday,
Sept. 6.
In the publishing world, the right national TV appearance can
catapult a book to the top of the Bestseller List. Even if you’re
not an author, appearing on just one of these shows can cement
your status as an expert.
Read more about the three big talk shows that will be represented
on the free call, and how to register, at my blog.
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4. Hound Joke of the Week
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A New York City yupette was shopping in an upscale pet center.
“I want a dog of which I can be proud,” she told the salesman.
“Does that one have a good pedigree?”
“Miss,” declared the clerk, “if she could speak, she wouldn’t
talk to either one of us.”
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