The Publicity Hound’s
\nTips of the Week
\nIssue #442 March 17, 2009<\/p>\n
Publisher: Joan Stewart<\/p>\n
==========================================<\/p>\n
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”<\/p>\n
================================
\nIn This Issue
\n================================<\/p>\n
1. Newspaper Closings? Ho-Hum<\/p>\n
2. Thanks for Taking My Survey<\/p>\n
3. A Handy Twitter Formula<\/p>\n
4. Backgrounders Educate Reporters<\/p>\n
5. ‘Window Shopping’ for a Retirement Home<\/p>\n
6. Help This Hound<\/p>\n
7. Hound Joke of the Week<\/p>\n
8. And at My Blog…<\/p>\n
========================================
\n1. Newspaper Closings? Ho-Hum
\n========================================<\/p>\n
Fewer than half of Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center
\nsay that losing their local newspaper would hurt civic life in
\ntheir community “a lot.”<\/p>\n
Even fewer, one in three people, say they would personally miss
\nreading the local newspaper a lot if it were no longer available.<\/p>\n
Those are among findings of the latest weekly News Interest
\nIndex, conducted March 6-9 by the Pew Research Center for the
\nPeople & the Press.<\/p>\n
The survey also shows that more people say they get local news
\nfrom local television stations than any other source. About two-
\nthirds (68 percent) say they regularly get local news from
\ntelevision reports or television station websites, 48 percent say
\nthey regularly get news from local newspapers in print or online,
\n34 percent say they get local news regularly from radio, and 31
\npercent say they get their local news, more generally, from the
\nInternet.<\/p>\n
Close on the heels of the survey results was yesterday’s
\nannouncement by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that it’s stopping
\nthe presses and experimenting with a web-only edition of the
\npaper. The 118,000-circulation daily is keeping only 20 of its
\njournalists to work on the online edition, and laying off 145
\nothers.<\/p>\n
An article in the Wall Street Journal says the smaller digital
\nedition will no longer be a catch-all of local and national news
\nand features. Instead, it will cover local events and publish
\nblogs and columns from staff, readers and prominent local
\ncitizens. It also plans to link liberally to other news sources
\nin the Seattle area.<\/p>\n
What does this mean for Publicity Hounds in Seattle? (If you live
\nelsewhere, pay attention. The same thing might happen to your
\nlocal daily newspaper.)<\/p>\n
–Newspapers like the Post-Intelligence will be hungry for
\ncontent, including letters, opinion columns and even video.<\/p>\n
–They might even start calling on “citizen journalists,”
\nincluding local bloggers, to report on news and events. No longer
\nwill you have to genuflect before the media gatekeepers. Anyone
\nwith a computer or a camera can report the news.<\/p>\n
–Hounds no longer will be able to rely on their local
\nmetropolitan paper for major publicity. Consider pitching your
\nlocal business journal, which is probably on more solid footing
\nthan your local daily. And, of course, continue to pitch local TV
\nstations.<\/p>\n
–If you’re not on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social
\nnetworking sites where your target audience is gathering for much
\nof their news, start right now.<\/p>\n
BL Ochman, a prolific blogger who creates social networking
\ncampaigns for her corporate clients, says “the social media train
\nhas left the station.” She was my guest during a recent
\nteleseminar on “How to do Social Networking, Run a Business &
\nStill Have a Life.”<\/p>\n
======================================
\n2. Thanks for Taking My Survey
\n======================================<\/p>\n
If you want to know what your customers think of your products or
\nservices, don’t sit around and guess. Ask them.<\/p>\n
That’s what I did when I emailed the link to my Customer Profile
\nSurvey to more than 50,000 Hounds this month.<\/p>\n
The response was fabulous, and I learned that many of you who
\ntook the survey are more patient that I’ll ever be.<\/p>\n
We chose the vendor for this survey after a lot of research. But
\nthe company dropped the ball and threw so many technology
\nroadblocks in your way that many of you bailed out before
\ncompleting it. Some of you were “frozen” on a particular page and
\ncouldn’t move. Others couldn’t make it onto the thank-you page to
\nget the code for $40 off their choice of products.<\/p>\n
Just when we thought all the glitches were solved, the vendor’s
\nentire system crashed one day last week. Miraculously, we have
\nretrieved all the survey results, and we’re in the process of
\nanalyzing them.<\/p>\n
Why am I telling you this? Because 94 percent of the people who
\ntook the survey ranked my customer service 8, 9 or 10 on a scale
\nof 1 to 10.<\/p>\n
Part of good customer service, I believe, is to explain problems
\nthat occurred, why they occurred, and what I’ll do to make sure
\nthey never happen again.<\/p>\n
From time to time, I’ll be asking you to take much shorter I’ll be sharing some of the survey results through press =========================================== Confused about what to tweet about on Twitter?<\/p>\n Do you hate those “what I ate for lunch” tweets and vow you’ll Here’s a helpful tip from Perry Belcher, who accumulated more –30 percent: Tips that help make people’s lives better<\/p>\n –10 percent: Information that keeps them informed<\/p>\n –30 percent: Anything that makes people laugh (He says –25 percent: Compliments and praise<\/p>\n –5 percent: What you’re doing<\/p>\n Have you been writing most of your tweets about what you’re Granted, this takes a little more time and discipline. But I’m Yes, you can use Twitter to promote. But you have to do it much ======================================= If a complicated story is about to break within your industry, The March 16 issue of PRWeek magazine says backgrounders are Radi Medical Systems, for example, invited a reporter from the AstraZeneca has been hosting media briefings on various cancer Briefings also let companies control which reporters they speak You can also use briefings to educate the editorial boards of Afraid of meeting with a group of journalists? Don’t be.<\/p>\n During a teleseminar I hosted, I explained exactly how to contact ======================================== This week, 10 Publicity Hounds have tips for Keri Gerlach, the From Barry Lebow:<\/p>\n “Look up\u00a0 which is the Senior Real Estate Specialist<\/a> website. From Patricia C. Vener:<\/p>\n “Keri, have you heard of Eons? It?s an online social media group “You might also look into those health fairs that are often Finally, offer an open house affair with a dinner (or coffee and From Alan McBride:<\/p>\n “I worked for a radio station with a 55+ audience and we put on a The Publicity Hound says:<\/p>\n Keri, how about using the Milwaukee Craigslist regularly to The Publicity Hound says:<\/p>\n Read all the responses to this week’s “Help This Hound” question.<\/a><\/p>\n Send your own Help this Hound<\/a> question and include your city and ================================== Mitchell Teplitsky of New York, NY writes:<\/p>\n “I am self-distributing a documentary to the home video and “I do my own PR, but as one-man band, it’s too much. I’m thinking “The movie tells the story of two women raised in different “Do your Hounds have any suggestions on where I might look? Are The Publicity Hound says:<\/p>\n Many companies and nonprofits are looking for PR interns this My Hounds who have used interns will be able to offer some great But don’t just hire an intern then send them off on their own. ================================== Dear God:<\/p>\n Why are there cars named after the jaguar, the cougar, the ================================== Gardeners, USA Weekend wants photos of giant fruits, veggie<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week Issue #442 March 17, 2009 Publisher: Joan Stewart ========================================== “Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity” ================================ In This Issue ================================ 1. Newspaper Closings? Ho-Hum 2. Thanks for Taking My Survey 3. A Handy Twitter Formula 4. Backgrounders Educate Reporters 5. ‘Window Shopping’ for a Retirement Home 6.\u2026 Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":7,"wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[25,19,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-28","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tips-of-the-week","7":"tag-business-promotion","8":"tag-pitching-to-reporters","9":"tag-twitter","10":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Joan Stewart","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/jstewart\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43247,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions\/43247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nsurveys but I promise you I will not use the same vendor. Survey
\nMonkey, another popular survey service, doesn’t quite fit our
\nneeds. I’m curious about companies you recommend. If you survey
\nyour customers regularly and you’ve found a great vendor, drop me<\/a>
\n a line and let me know.<\/a><\/p>\n
\nreleases. If you take surveys, or you’re thinking of taking them,
\nrecycle the publicity over and over again. My ebook “How to be a<\/a>
\n Kick-butt Publicity Hound”<\/a> gives you hundreds of ideas on how to
\ngenerate buzz for whatever you’re promoting and gives you an
\nexcellent bird’s-eye view of all your opportunities. The 2009
\nupdate includes seven new chapters on how to use social
\nmedia to promote.<\/p>\n
\n3. A Handy Twitter Formula
\n===========================================<\/p>\n
\nnever write them, but you can’t think of much else to say that
\nyour followers would find interesting?<\/p>\n
\nthan 52,000 Twitter followers in only 128 days. At the Live7
\nevent hosted by Stompernet, the Internet marketing membership
\ngroup earlier this month, Perry shared his formula for the
\ncontent of his tweets:<\/p>\n
\nFark.com<\/a> is a great site for humorous content)<\/p>\n
\ndoing? If so, try this formula and see how much more quickly
\npeople start following you.<\/p>\n
\nsure it’s the reason Perry has been able to attract such a huge
\nfollowing so quickly. You can follow him on Twitter<\/a> at and you <\/a>
\ncan follow me.<\/a><\/p>\n
\nmore subtly than the way you promote in other venues. Twitter
\nexpert Warren Whitlock gives you the step-by-step process on “How
\nto Use Twitter to Amass an Army of Followers, Customers &
\nValuable Contacts–and Promote.” It’s available as an electronic
\ntranscript and your choice of CDs or MP3s. Publicity Hounds raved
\nabout the two teleseminars I hosted with him several months ago
\nbecause his advice helped shorten their Twitter learning curve.<\/p>\n
\n4. Backgrounders Educate Reporters
\n=======================================<\/p>\n
\nconsider hosting a backgrounder, a one-on-one meeting with a
\njournalist and others who might cover it.<\/p>\n
\nparticularly helpful in the health industry, where stories about
\nnew drugs, diseases and devices can be difficult for journalists
\nto understand. Backgrounders help educate reporters who aren’t
\nunder the pressure of deadlines.<\/p>\n
\nWall Street Journal who wanted information about cardiology
\nprocedures, to a hospital to watch a procedure and speak with
\ncardiologists.<\/p>\n
\ntopics the last few years.<\/p>\n
\nwith and which spokespeople they provide.<\/p>\n
\nnewspapers because they’re the ones who decide the positions that
\nthe newspaper will take on certain issues. Sometimes an hour-long
\nbriefing with a group of editors can help you gain their support
\nfor a cause or issue you’re promoting.<\/p>\n
\nthem, ask for a meeting of the editorial board, what to take with
\nyou and what to say. “How to Use Newspaper & Magazine Editorial
\nBoards” is available as a CD or an electronic transcript that you
\ncan download and be reading as soon as your order has been
\napproved.<\/p>\n
\n5. Window Shopping for a Retirement Home
\n========================================<\/p>\n
\nmarketing director of Clement Manor, a retirement community in
\nGreenfield, WI. She’s looking for ways to encourage families to
\n“window shop” now for long-term care for their aging parents.<\/p>\n
\nIt identifies Realtors who are dedicated to working with Baby
\nBoomers and their parents. Get a list of members within, say,
\n50 miles of your location and invite
\nthem for a special tour of your facilities. Work with the
\nRealtors who are in the field, create a program for them and
\nwelcome their referrals. Make it easy for them to recommend you
\nby sponsoring a lunch, have a speaker on a subject relating to
\nseniors and real estate (will and trusts?). Keep them in the loop
\nand on your mailing list.”<\/p>\n
\nfor people over, I think, 50 or so. You’d be surprised at how
\nmany early Baby Boomers are pretty computer-savvy.<\/p>\n
\nsponsored by newspapers, Chambers of Commerce, and other health-
\noriented businesses.<\/p>\n
\ndessert) and a presentation, kind of like what the vacation
\nshare companies do.”<\/p>\n
\nSeniors Expo. This involved all the retirement villages but it
\nwould be just as easy to hold the event at yours. Invite funeral
\nparlous, local tour operators–in fact, anyone who provides a
\nservice. Each person buys time on the radio over eight weeks and
\ngets a stall. Radio stations love you, providers love you. Even
\ninvite Scouts and guides to generate goodwill to the elderly.”<\/p>\n
\nattract the attention of Baby Boomers and others? You can share
\ntips on how to choose a retirement community, create short videos
\nand offer the links on Craigslist, and even do video interviews
\nwith some of your residents. Nancy Mills, an expert on how to use
\nCraigslist, was my guest during a teleseminar and she shared all
\nof her time-saving tips on how to take advantage of the world’s
\ngiant classified ad bulletin board.<\/p>\n
\nstate.<\/p>\n
\n6. Help This Hound
\n==================================<\/p>\n
\ninstitutional markets.<\/p>\n
\nof trying to find an intern or PR firm pro bono. The benefit:
\nThey’ll get to work with and learn how to independently market a
\nfilm (few can do it well).<\/p>\n
\nworlds–an immigrant folk dancer from the Andes, and a modern
\ndancer from Queens, NY–who return to Peru to reconnect with
\nroots and an astonishing world of traditional dance and
\ncelebration. You can learn more about it.<\/p>\n
\nthere any sources you can recommend to find people?”<\/p>\n
\ntime of year, so you’ll be up against some stiff competition to
\nlure the right person.<\/p>\n
\nshortcuts. Hounds with tips for Mitchell<\/a> can post them to my blog.<\/p>\n
\nThey need guidance, training and mentoring. I can help. My
\nteleseminar series on “How to Help Your Boss or Client with a
\nPublicity Campaign” is an in-depth course on how to do
\npublicity–perfect for summer interns, virtual assistants, or
\nanybody who works in a PR capacity and needs help understanding
\nfairly quickly the best ways to promote any product, service,
\ncause or issue.<\/p>\n
\n7. Hound Joke of the Week
\n==================================<\/p>\n
\nmustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not ONE
\nnamed for a dog? How often do you see a cougar riding around?<\/p>\n
\n8. And at My Blog…
\n==================================<\/p>\n