Tie a No-News Event to a Charity

The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #659 Oct. 27, 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. Tie a No-News Event to a Charity

2. Invite Bragging on Facebook

3. New Posts at My Blog

4. Hound Video of the Week

This Weekend in The Hound House:

I’m looking for several good titles for motivational audio books
for a long car trip. Can you suggest one? Comment below.

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1. Tie a No-News Event to a Charity
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It isn’t exactly the type of news event I would have raced to
cover, back in my days as a newspaper reporter.

“How does our hotel get publicity for replacing all our old
mattresses when the public doesn’t give a hoot about new
mattresses?” asked a hotel operator.

She was in the audience when I presented my session this week on
“Savvy Media Relations” for the Wisconsin Lodging Conference &
Trade Show.

Even before I could suggest an idea for publicity, she answered
her own question.

“What are we supposed to do? Promote the fact we’re giving the
old mattresses to a charity?”

Uh, that’s exactly what you should do, I told her.

This story is custom-made for TV because of the visuals. Can’t
you just see piles of mattresses in the parking lot, being
hoisted one by one onto a semi-tractor trailer?

When you have a not-very-interesting event, consider a way to
work in a charitable contribution where more than just cash or a
check changes hands.

Ditching your old computers and monitors? Donate them to a local
senior citizens center. Throw in a free class, taught by one of
your employees, on how the elderly can create an account on
Facebook and connect with their grandkids. Find a few seniors who
would be willing to be interviewed, and you’ve practically handed
the TV stations a story on a silver platter.

Humane societies need things like postal scales to weigh kittens
and even artwork for their annual fund-raisers’ silent auction.
(TV LOVES news stories about kittens and puppies, by the way.)

If your company or trade group is planning a conference next year
and you need me to speak about publicity, PR, social media or
marketing, call me at 262-284-7451 to check my availability.

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2. Invite Bragging on Facebook
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People love to talk about themselves, and they especially love to
brag.

So let them brag all they want on your Facebook page. It’s a
great way to drive traffic, get more Likes and prompt somebody to
drop what they’re doing and respond, even in the middle of a very
busy work day.

Here are some examples:

–Graphic artists, ask people to post links to their Facebook
pages and profiles that have unusual, creative cover photos at
the top.

–Blogging experts, invite your fans to link to the most popular
post at their blog.

–Book coaches, encourage your author followers to “crow about
your best cover” and link to the book, either at their website or
on Amazon.

Invite them from your Linkedin groups, or from a tweet, from your
blog, or from your ezine. Ask other page administrators on
Facebook to spread the word among their fans.

It’s hard driving traffic to Facebook pages, especially if you’re
not really sure what will work and what won’t. Join me on
Thursday, Nov. 1, for my webinar on “35 Ways to Drive Traffic to
Your Facebook Page.” Many of these ideas are things you do just
once, and drive traffic forever.

Want to brag about your own Facebook page and how you pull people
to it? Hit “Reply” and explain. I might feature you in the
webinar.

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3. New Posts at My Blog
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How clever Dan Poynter promotes his multimedia ebook

Dog Tweets: How to use holidays to publicize your hotel, B&B or
lodging property

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4. Hound Video of the Week
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Watch Maymo the dog try to steal cabbage off the kitchen table.
How many times do you think he has to try before he gets it