The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #487 Jan. 12, 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. The Missing Marketing Tool
2. Ban This Cliche
3. How to Attract PR Clients
4. Promoting a Book for Associations
5. Help This Hound
6. Hound Joke of the Week
7. And at My Blogs…
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1. The Missing Marketing Tool
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At a small networking breakfast I attended last week, I met five
people who were either job-hunting or were there to talk about
their businesses.
They brought their resumes, engaging personalities, impressive
marketing materials and succinct elevator pitches and shared them
with our table of 10.
But all five were missing a critical marketing tool that could
have landed them a job or set them apart from their competitors.
Not one of them had a blog. For more than an hour, the
conversation centered on how each of them can reach their target
audiences.
By the end of the breakfast, I lost it.
“Everyone at this table should be blogging!” I yelled. With nine
pairs of eyes riveted on me, I explained:
–A blog establishes your credibility and expertise.
–It’s like a giant magnet that pulls in traffic.
–It can impress visitors and turn them into buyers.
–Many of your competitors are blogging.
–Unlike Twitter, you can use your blog to discuss topics in-
depth.
–You can engage visitors and carry on a conversation with them
in the comments section.
–A blog can give you a huge online presence, even if you can’t
afford a website.
–It can help you gain more traction than publicity in
traditional media because, unlike most media people, bloggers
love to link to each other. Get in front of just one influential
blogger and you can be all over the Internet within minutes.
Finally, they got it.
If you’re already blogging, good for you! If you aren’t, it’s not
too late to start.
Blogging expert Patsi Krakoff will be my guest during a
teleseminar on “Time-saving Tips for Smart Business Blogging” at
4 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, Jan. 20. Everyone who registers
will receive the MP3 recording and a handout that includes 77
ideas for finding blog content, and several simple formulas on
how to write blog posts quickly and easily.
Register at http://budurl.com/smartbusinessblogs and then start a
list of questions for Patsi.
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2. Ban This Cliche
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You can’t listen to a TV newscast without hearing somebody wrap
up their commentary with the tired phrase “at the end of the
day.”
Watch the talking heads shows on Sunday morning and you can’t
escape it. Even the sportscasters and meteorologists are using
it.
It’s showing up in blog posts, media pitches, press releases,
press kits, emails and how-to articles. Just for the heck of it,
I went to http://search.twitter.com and typed “at the end of the
day” into the search box. It’s even showing up in tweets!
When I critique articles and pitches for people in my mentor
program, I’m on the hunt for cliches and other mistakes that
dilute writing. If you need your own writing coach, find out if
you’re a good candidate for the program at
http://publicityhound.com/mentorprogram/intro.html
For smaller projects, I do telephone consulting at $300 an hour
and can help you brainstorm pitches, create a press kit, develop
a social media strategy, find joint venture partners, critique
your website and create an impressive presence online, one step
at a time. Email JStewart@PublicityHound.com with several times
you’re available.
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3. How to Attract PR Clients
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If you work in the PR industry and you’re fishing for new
clients, here’s a clever way to hook ’em.
Choose a company that you’d love to have as a client. Then keep
your eyes open for coverage their competitors are receiving. When
you see a story written about a competitor, print it or clip it,
and send it along with a short note to one of the key decision-
makers at the company. The note can say something like, “Thought
you’d be interested in this.” Sign the note and include your
business card.
Do it again, then again. After you’ve sent two or three articles
to the same person, follow up with a phone call. I’m betting that
you’ll receive a return phone call, and maybe even a contract.
A Publicity Hound shared that tip during the teleseminar I hosted
titled “24 Ways to Attract Clients to Your PR Practice.” PR pro
Marcia Yudkin joined me in discussing 24 ways to bring more
business through the door. We’ve both used many of the ideas
ourselves, and we both have found two ideas that work
particularly well.
They can for you, too. Read more about what we discussed and
download the entire list of 24 ideas that you can be reading
within minutes while you’re waiting for the CD to arrive. It’s
also available as an electronic transcript. Read more about what
it includes at http://budurl.com/morePRclients
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4. Promoting a Book for Associations
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This week, four Publicity Hounds have tips for Linda Alexander of
Pitman, NJ, who wants advice on how to market a book. It helps
new members on association boards understand their new roles and
learn the skills and competencies they need to be a successful
board member.
From Leslie Sturgeon:
“Contact the American Society of Association Executives and try
to sell to the association itself for them to resell. Or check
out http://www.asaecenter.org and contact association management
companies and association executives directly.”
From Mary Callen:
“Send a sample copy, or sample pages by email if you’re on a
budget, to the executive director of every association you
mention. Work your way into newsletters for groups of association
managers with the free sample offer. If it’s truly a valuable
resource, they’ll jump at the chance to purchase and distribute a
book to each new member of their boards of directors. A few
copies to pass between newbies can be used and reused.”
From Mitch Carnell:
“Get leading community volunteers from several states or
nationally known volunteer leaders to write and publish reviews
in local and national publications. For example: the CEO of a
United Way, president of the Boy Scouts, chairman of a food bank.
Try for name and organization recognition. Some universities have
courses dealing with the not-for-profit world. I taught a
graduate course on the subject for many years. Contact the
professors.”
The Publicity Hound says:
How about pitching influential bloggers who write for nonprofits?
One of the best is Nancy Schwartz and her Getting Attention blog
at http://www.gettingattention.org/ See my article “Let Bloggers
Create Publicity for You” at http://budurl.com/49dw.
Read all the responses to this week?s “Help This Hound question”
at http://budurl.com/mentoringthestars
Send your own Help this Hound question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound
and include your city and state or province.
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5. Help This Hound
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From Bonnie Stuempfig of Waukesha, WI:
“I wrote a book, Heavenly Connections, a soft-cover spiral-bound
book, and hoped to sell it mostly at my church and other area
churches, but there seems to be a ho-hum attitude despite the
fact that I’m already a published writer and the stories are
uplifting and entertaining.
“They include 24 God-based contributions from other church
members and me, along with a few poems and four pages of color
photos.
“My plan was to donate a good portion of the proceeds to the
church, but now I’m thinking it would be best to just bypass the
church and pitch it to bookstores and gift shops.
“I’m working on getting a website and am doing nothing with
social media. I should have done all this earlier but have put
more than two years into this book and wanted it printed by
Christmas. Now, I can concentrate on the marketing but don’t
know where to start.
“Thanks for any help your Hounds can give.?
The Publicity Hound says:
The most difficult part of your task will be to promote the book
without a website. Let’s see what ideas my Hounds have. Hounds,
you can share them at my blog at http://budurl.com/religiousbook
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6. Hound Joke of the Week
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“I know that dogs are pack animals, but it is difficult to
imagine a pack of standard poodles…and if there was such a
thing as a pack of standard poodles, where would they rove to?
Bloomingdale’s?
–Yvonne Clifford, American actress
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7. And at My Blogs…
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Starting this week, I’ll be including on this list blog posts
I’ve written at MySocialMediaSolution.com, the blog I share with
Jeanne Hurlbert, my new business partner. The second post below
is from that blog.
3 business blogging tips to save time–even if you hate writing
http://budurl.com/bizbloggingtips
30 PR experts you should follow on Twitter
http://budurl.com/twitterprexperts
Social media boosts book marketing guru’s Alexa rankings
http://budurl.com/kremeralexaranking
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Joan Stewart
The Publicity Hound
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