The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #566 Aug. 2, 2011
Publisher: Joan Stewart
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com
http://publicityhound.com
http://www.publicityHound.mobi
http://www.publicityhound.net/ (Blog)
http://www.publicityarticles.net (Ezine Archives)
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“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
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In This Issue
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1. The Most Powerful Twitter Strategy
2. It’s Fair Time; Start Pitching
3. Webinar on Webinars Replay Link
4. Correcting Corrections
5. Help This Hound
6. Hound Photos of the Week
7. And at My Blog & Mobile Site…
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1. The Most Powerful Twitter Strategy
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Here’s the best way to attract thousands of raving fans on
Twitter if you’re using it primarily for business:
–Provide a steady stream of useful content that helps your
followers solve their problems. That includes links to other
people’s content such as articles and blog posts. Twitter is all
about your followers. It shouldn’t be all about you.
–Link to infographics, photos and videos that explain
complicated topics and offer how-to information.
–Humor your followers occasionally with pithy one-liners,
particularly those about your industry. I tweet about “Dumb
Headlines” like this one: “Stiff opposition expected to
casketless funeral plan.”
–Answer questions when people ask. Don’t tell them “It’s on Page
44 of my book.”
–Be one of the first in your industry to share breaking news.
–Keep promotion to an absolute minimum. Push your Twitter
followers to your blog, where you should also be sharing helpful
content, but where you can promote all you wish.
Use these guidelines, and your followers will retweet your
content. Their followers will retweet it too, and so on.
Don’t fret if you’re still not on Twitter, or if your tweets
aren’t gaining traction.
I’m hosting a webinar on “Twitter for Beginners: A Step-by-Step,
Can’t-Fail System for Experts and Influencers (and Those Who Want
to Be).” It’s at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Aug. 4.
This webinar is perfect for Publicity Hounds who manage their own
Twitter accounts and for PR people who are training clients on
how to manage theirs. Read about what you’ll be able to do after
the webinar:
http://publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-
tapes/twitterforbeginners.htm
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2. It’s Fair Time; Start Pitching
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This is the month for state and county fairs. The media love
story ideas like these:
–If you’re an expert on household budgets, invite a reporter to
accompany you and your family and see the fair on the cheap. What
food and entertainment can be had for next to nothing? Where can
people find coupons for the fair?
–At the Wisconsin State Fair, beer on a stick and butter on a
stick are among the new foods being featured this year.
Nutritionists and cookbook authors can pitch a story on “State
fair food that can kill you.” Suggest healthy options offered by
fair vendors.
–The merchants building is filled with businesses hawking car
polish, knives, cookware, mops and massage machines. If you have
a booth, pitch a story on what you’re doing differently this year
to try to get fair-goers to part with their credit cards. Free
samples? Contests? Free bottled water?
–Doctors, hospitals and clinics: Offer tips on how fair-goers
can survive the heat.
–Floral shop owners: Pitch a story on how to keep fresh-cut
flowers looking their best for a week, even in the heat. Lots of
gardeners are competing for blue ribbons. Even those who aren’t
going to the fair will love this story.
–Chiropractors: What midway rides are the most dangerous for the
spine and back?
What happens if you pitch, but no one responds? Should you follow
up? Of course. But do it the right way. Jill Lublin shows you
how. See “Failproof Ways to Follow Up After Sending a News
Release or a Story Pitch” at
http://publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-
tapes/failprooffollowup.htm
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3. Webinar on Webinars Replay Link
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Publicity Hounds’ tails were wagging during the webinar I hosted
last week with Daniel Hall on “Step-by-Step Insider Secrets To
Producing Highly-Profitable Webinars.”
Why? Because Daniel told us what webinar company to use. He gave
us specific instructions on exactly what to put on our PowerPoint
slides, word for word. And he showed us how to “close the deal”
at the end. If you want to use free webinars to sell a product or
service, don’t miss the replay:
http://www.realfastwebinars.com/joanwebinar.html
Even if your webinar participants don’t buy anything from you,
they’ll still love you for providing high content.
The replay link is live only until Sunday. Then it’s paid access
only.
Even if you don’t take up Daniel on his offer, which also ends
Sunday night, you’ll want to get your hands on this formula.
http://www.realfastwebinars.com/joanwebinar.html
I bought his product. Once I’ve studied all of it, I’ll be
inviting you to free webinars on a variety of publicity and
social media topics, and they’ll be very different than the ones
you are use to seeing.
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4. Correcting Corrections
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One of the mistakes that will send you to the dog house without
your dinner is contacting a media outlet or a blogger about bad
information you provided to them, asking for a correction, and
then screwing up the information in the correction.
So it looks like no dinner tonight for this Hound. In last week’s
newsletter, I wrote a correction for an item that appeared here
the week before about basketball star Dwyane Wade of the Miami
Heat. But in the correction, I misspelled his name. Another
alert Hound caught my error.
With my tail between my legs, I’m slinking off to my dog house.
And no treats for a week!
What’s that? You say you don’t ask for corrections? Big mistake!
Find out why by reading my article “How to Ask for a Correction”:
https://publicityhound.com/pics/free_publicity/Articles/ask_for_a_
correction.html
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5. Help This Hound
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Publicity Hound Juliet Hartley of St. Petersburg, Fla., writes:
“I’ve been sending a lot of pitches to different magazines about
my chic handmade hair accessories at http://www.BowAllure.com,
but I just don’t hear anything back from them. It’s very
frustrating.
“I’m attaching a copy of a pitch I sent to a few magazines and
would love to hear your input. I’ve contacted a couple of
reputable publicists but I just cannot afford to pay for their
services at this moment.
“The magazines I’m trying to send pitches to are very hard to
reach, like Parents magazine or Pregnancy and Newborn magazine.
They don’t give you the email address of the editor.”
The Publicity Hound says: As soon as I read Juliet’s pitch, which
I’ve posted at my blog, I spotted a problem instantly. There are
others. Let’s see if you can find them, get Juliet back on track
and make some suggestions on how she can pitch a story about hair
accessories. Or should she?
Post your comments to my blog at
http://publicityhound.net/?p=9030
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6. Hound Photos of the Week
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Thanks to Publicity Hound Meryl K. Evans of Plano, Texas, for
this funny photo collection of dogs shaking off water:
http://www.petapixel.com/2011/07/28/portraits-of-dogs-as-they-
shake-off-water/
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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5 things they never tell Twitter newbies, but should
http://publicityhound.net/?p=9015
Muck Rack lists 140+ journalists on Google+
http://publicityhound.net/?p=9043
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Reprinted from “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week,” an ezine
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Joan Stewart
The Publicity Hound
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