The Publicity Hound’s
Tips of the Week
Issue #468 Sept. 8, 2009
Publisher: Joan Stewart
==========================================
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”
===================================
In This Issue
===================================
1. Use Trade Associations
2. Ditch the Shovels, Scissors & Checks
3. Sell 120,000 Books with One Phone Call
4. Marketing an Indie Movie
5. Help This Hound
6. Hound Joke of the Week
=====================================
1. Use Trade Associations
=====================================
If you aren’t using trade associations in your publicity
campaign, you’re missing a valuable tool that can save you time
and help you flex your promotional muscle.
Here’s how:
–If you belong to a particular trade association, let their PR
department know that you welcome calls from reporters. Often, if
the media need sources in a particular industry and they don’t
know who to call, they call the trade association and ask for
names of members.
–Sending a direct mail piece? You can often buy lists of names
from trade associations.
–If you’re a speaker, and you want to be hired to speak before
audiences in a particular industry, contact the editor of that
association’s newsletter or trade magazine and start submitting
articles. Months later, when you call the meeting planner, you
can refer to the articles you’ve written–proof that you’re not a
novice to the industry. I’ve written many articles for the
Society for Marketing Professional Services magazine and PR
Tactics, published by the Public Relations Society of America.
Both have led to numerous speaking engagements.
–Writing an opinion column and looking for ammunition to support
your position? If so, find out which trade associations support
your cause. Trade groups are among the most ardent lobbyists.
–If you need statistics to incorporate into your story pitches,
or for letters to the editor or articles you’re writing, you can
find them by calling trade associations or visiting their
websites or blogs.
Need a quick, handy template for a how-to article? I’ve included
one in the handouts that come with the CD or electronic
transcript on “How to Write a How-to Article.” Learn more about
it at http://budurl.com/s6r2
=======================================
2. Ditch the Shovels, Scissors & Checks
=======================================
I saw it again this week, another one of those ghastly ground-
breaking photos.
You know what it looks like, because you’ve seen hundreds of
them. Four guys wearing business suits and hard hats are
posing, each with their foot on a shovel, looking very
uncomfortable and out of place.
These photos belong in the same category with the photos of
oversized cardboard checks being passed from one person to
another, or the ribbon-cutting photos that feature a 3-foot
pair of cardboard scissors.
C’mon, Hounds. You can do better than that.
Instead of passing an oversized check, how about asking the local
newspaper to photograph kids playing on the playground equipment
that your fund-raiser made possible? Instead of a ribbon-cutting
for your candy store, plan a fun chocolate-tasting.
Promise yourself that from now on, you will never assign, allow,
take or request one of those horrible ground-breaking, ribbon-
cutting or check-passing photos?
Instead, think creatively about how to promote a donation, the
opening of a new business, or a new construction project.
If you’re coming up dry, Dan Collins can help. He’s the
creative media relations director at Mercy Medical Center in
Baltimore. I interviewed him during a teleseminar a few
years ago on “Fun Alternatives to Boring Ground-breakings,
Ribbon-cuttings & Check-passings.” Lean more about it at
http://tinyurl.com/7cl6z
========================================
3. Sell 120,000 Books with One Phone Call
========================================
Dr. Neil Baum tried lots of ways to promote and distribute his
book, Marketing Your Clinical Practice.
But most of them didn’t work, and he ended up frustrated.
Then, he thought that perhaps a big pharmaceutical company might
want to buy his book in mass quantity and give it away to doctors
as a gift. Pharmaceutical companies have very strict regulations
on what they’re allowed to give to doctors. But giving them
educational products wasn’t a problem.
So Dr. Baum contacted Bayer, the aspirin company, and asked if
they’d like to give his book away to their customer doctors as a
way of showing appreciation for their patronage. Within a week,
Bayer bought more than 120,000 copies and sent it to doctors
throughout the U.S. Today, his book is on the shelf of
virtually every medical clinic in the U.S.
And it all happened from just one phone call.
These kinds of deals happen all the time. But few authors
understand the step-by-step process of how to make that happen.
Matthew Bennett, a self-published author who’s relatively unknown
to the general public, has had even greater success than Dr.
Baum. He has sold more than 5 million books in quantity to
Fortune 500 corporations, including Disney, Reebok, NBC, Abbott
Labs, Pfizer, US Healthplans, Subway and many others.
Want to learn how he does it–and how you, too, can get started
selling your books by the truckload to big companies?
You’re invited to a free telephone seminar on Thursday, Sept. 10,
to hear Steve Harrison interview Matthew about his proven methods
and system for selling tons of books. Register at
http://www.freepublicity.com/mattbennett/?10011
=================================
4. Marketing an Indie Movie
=================================
This week, eight Publicity Hounds have tips for Maria Antonia, of
New York, N.Y. on how to market the movie “Under Jakob’s Ladder.
Set in the Soviet Union in 1941, it’s based on a true story about
a man who was thrown into prison for praying at a funeral.
From Janine Libbey:
Nia Vardalos (of ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ fame) used Twitter to
promote a new movie recently. She tweeted details about it and
also included a link to the trailer in her Twitter profile. To
see what she did, follow her on twitter:
http://www.Twitter.com/NiaVardalos.
From Jackie O’Neal:
You may want to consider starting a social networking site
related to the film on Ning.com. It’s free and you can blog about
the film, add videos, invite others to the site, but best of all,
use the “Share” feature to promote on multiple social networking
sites with just a click.
From Maggy Whitehouse:
“Jakob’s Ladder is one of the diagrams used by Kabbalists
worldwide. Hundreds of thousands of people are aware of it as a
symbol. Assuming that there is a Jewish character in the movie
(the man who prayed?) and if there is any mystical aspect, then
it can be spread around the world on Kabbalistic email lists (I
have one) and promoted that way on Facebook, etc.
The Publicity Hound says:
Jackie O’Neal also suggested using Animoto, the cool program that
turns still photos into videos. Animoto just introduced a new
feature that now allows users to insert video clips, too. I raved
about Animoto and suggested ways you can use it to produce fast,
snazzy videos–even if you have no technical abilities. Read more
about Animoto at http://budurl.com/mqmu or go over to their
website and take a free test drive at http://www.budurl.com/zlye
Send your own Help this Hound question to:
mailto:JStewart@PublicityHound.com?subject=HelpThisHound
and include your city, state or province.
===============================
5. Help This Hound
===============================
Karma Bennett, a publicist for Ulysses Press, asks:
“My company is publishing a compilation of zombie stories. It
will be a direct-to-trade-paperback, so I can’t get reviews in
the leading periodicals that review fiction since it isn’t coming
out in hardback.
“Some, but not all, of the stories have never been printed
before. The editor is not local and, although the compilation
does include some of fiction?s biggest names–Steven King, Clive
Barker, Harlan Ellison, H.P. Lovecraft, Richard Matheson,
Christopher Fowler, Robert E. Howard and Joe Hill–I don’t think
they will be responsive to interview queries.
“We are only just starting to venture into releasing fiction and
I’m not sure how to go about this. I can’t get reviews. I can’t
get interviews. But the topic is zombies, which are so popular
now because of movies like World War Z, 28 Days Later, the film
version of Pride & Prejudice, and Zombies.
“Can your Hounds suggest ideas for publicity?’
The Publicity Hound says:
The popularity of all those zombie movies is a huge plus, and it
will make it easier for my Hounds to suggest ideas for publicity.
If you have a great idea for Karma, share it at my blog at
http://budurl.com/ujvz
===============================
6. Hound Joke of the Week
===============================
Thanks to Darlene Arden, of Framingham, Mass., for this one:
A man wrote a letter to a small hotel in a Midwest town he
planned to visit on his vacation. He asked if it would be OK if
he brought his well-groomed and well-behaved dog. The hotel owner
sent him this immediate reply:
“I’ve been operating this hotel for many years. In all that time,
I’ve never had a dog steal towels, bedclothes, silverware or
pictures off the walls. I’ve never had to evict a dog in the
middle of the night for being drunk and disorderly. And I’ve
never had a dog run out on a hotel bill. Yes, indeed, your dog is
welcome at my hotel. And, if your dog will vouch for you, you’re
welcome to stay here, too.”
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/
================================================
Joan Stewart
a.k.a. The Publicity Hound
Share Your Two Cents