The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #567 Aug. 9, 2011
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. Piggyback Onto the Crash
2. Make Animated Graphics Quickly
3. Spray & Pray
4. Tips from Rachael Ray
5. How to Promote Hair Accessories
6. Hound Photos of the Week
7. And at My Blog & Mobile Site…
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1. Piggyback Onto the Crash
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It’s been a bumpy roller-coaster ride so far today on the U.S.
Stock Exchange after yesterday’s gut-wrenching crash that saw
investors lose a trillion dollars in just one day.
Time to take a break from fretting about your 401K and figure out
a way to tie into this breaking news event that will be with us
for a long time.
Here are five ideas:
–All polls show that voters are furious at the Washington
politicians. Call your local TV station and ask for the newsroom.
Tell them why you’re mad, and what you’re doing about it, and
agree to be on camera. TV loves people, color and motion. Are you
posting a sign in the window of your business? Printing bumper
stickers? Protesting with signs outside your Congressman’s
office?
–How will the crash affect your small business or nonprofit?
What are you doing differently?
–Do you work in a business in which you’re seeing a trend
develop from today’s bad news? Restaurant owners, are you selling
more liquor? Therapists, are more people suffering from
depression over their finances? Financial planners, are clients
yelling and screaming at you? If so, how are you handling it and
what are you telling them?
–What’s happening as a result of the skyrocketing price of gold?
Jewelers, are more people bringing in grandma’s jewelry for some
quick cash? Bankers, are more customers buying safety deposit
boxes to store their gold?
–The downgrade will mean higher interest rates for things like
credit cards and student loans. How are college students reacting
to the bad news? If you’re in a business, nonprofit or government
agency that deals with teen-agers, let the media know what you’re
hearing from them.
Learn dozens more tips on how to tie your news into the bad
economy. This is the time when the media are hungry for sources
like you. See “How to Tie Your Pitch to Breaking News & Make the
Media Interview You”
http://publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/breakingnews.htm
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2. Make Animated Graphics Quickly
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Did you ever land at a blog, and spend more time staring at a
clever graphic than you did reading the post?
I have. And I’ve thought, “I wonder how they did that?”
My paws couldn’t move the mouse fast enough when I stumbled upon
an incredibly cool, free generator that lets you make 10 types of
customized graphics, some of them animated.
I played around with it last night and made my own newspaper with
the front-page headline “Publicity Hounds Rock!” and then wrote
an article below it explaining how savvy you are for suggesting
wonderful ideas in the periodic Help This Hound section of this
newsletter.
You can create your own talking cat, talking owl, talking veggies
and a customized cigarette pack that would be perfect for anyone
who sells products or service that help people quit smoking. You
can use many of these animations and graphics at your website and
blog, in your online press kits and elsewhere in a PR campaign.
I demonstrate how it works and give you lots of ideas at my blog
at http://publicityhound.net/?p=9064
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3. Spray & Pray
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Have you ever created a publicity pitch, and then send it to a
half dozen journalists or more?
That’s called the “spray and pray” technique. You spray a pitch
to whoever is on your media list–sometimes dozens of journalists
and bloggers–and then you pray that somebody bites.
Problem is, nobody ever bites. Then you moan and groan that you
can’t get publicity because “nobody cares about our story.”
The secret to perfect pitching is a customized pitch that you
change each time you deliver it, depending on whom you want to
receive it.
If you’re pitching your story to a TV station, there’s nothing
wrong with calling, particularly if you’re piggybacking onto a
breaking news event and your story would be perfect for that
night’s news.
But if you’re pitching the same story to a national magazine,
you’d almost never call.
So how do you know when to call and when to email? How do you
pitch on Twitter? Or would you?
I’m hosting a webinar from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on
Thursday, Aug. 18, to explain “A Simple 5-Part Formula for
Delivering the Perfect Media Pitch and Hitting it Out of the
Park.” If the time is inconvenient, register anyway because
you’ll receive the video replay and other materials within 72
hours.
You can use my formula as a cheat sheet every time you pitch. And
I’ll give you 27 story angles you can steal on days when the idea
well is dry.
Register here:
http://publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-
tapes/pitchingformula.htm
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4. Tips from Rachael Ray
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Tommy Crudup, senior talent producer for Rachael Ray, is on the
receiving end of lots of those “spray and pray” pitches I
mentioned above.
You can’t treat Tommy the same way you’d treat one of Regis &
Kelly’s guest bookers.
They have their own checklists of “What I’m looking for in a
guest.”
Still, their checklists have a common theme. They want to be sure
that if they book you to be on the show, you won’t bomb on
camera. You need to be animated and interesting, but you can’t
upstage the host.
If you want to understand the mindset of national TV producers
and what entices them to book you as a guest, don’t miss Steve
Harrison’s teleseminar with several national producers who book
guests for ABC, NBC, and CBS. They’ll explain what they’re
looking for, and you’ll learn the most important question you
must be able to answer after you pitch. Tommy Crudup will be
there.
Choose from one of two times and register here:
http://www.tvpublicityteleseminar.com/?10011
This is a free call, but I earn a commission if you buy any
products or services from Steve.
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5. How to Promote Hair Accessories
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This week, 15 Publicity Hounds have tips for Juliet Hartley of
St. Petersburg, Fla., on how to pitch her chic hair accessories
for women and girls to magazines.
From Luke Vorstermans:
“How about a contest: How many bows can you put in your hair?”
From Cristina Salinas:
“Look at the pre-Christmas buying and decorate a tree in a high
traffic store with Bow Allure bows. Have fun with it!”
From Carol Stevens:
“The pitch is too salesy. But what I recently learned the hard
way was don’t just send a pitch and a photo. They need to see the
product!
“I was pitching a line of skin care products. Emails resulted in
no response. So I sent out products with a letter and, then,
called to arrange a desk side, which is an in-person ‘meet and
greet.’ I got the responses I was after by trying that tactic.”
The Publicity Hound says:
Sometimes you amaze me. You really do. I was bowled over by all
the creative suggestions at my blog. Read them all at
http://publicityhound.net/?p=9030
Send your own “Help this Hound” question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound and
include your city and state.
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6. Hound Photos of the Week
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30 Dogs Attacking Bubbles (some of these are really funny):
http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/ferocious-dog-attacks-caught-on-
camera
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 Blog & Mobile Site…
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Once-sacred Google PageRank doesn’t matter anymore
http://publicityhound.net/?p=9073
Create animated graphics for PR with free generator
http://publicityhound.net/?p=9064
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Joan Stewart
The Publicity Hound
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