The Publicity Hound’s
\nTips of the Week
\nIssue #445 April 7, 2009<\/p>\n
Publisher: Joan Stewart<\/p>\n
==========================================<\/p>\n
“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”<\/p>\n
==========================================<\/p>\n
In This Issue
\n================================<\/p>\n
1. Like Rats on a Sinking Ship<\/p>\n
2. Google Measures Your Influence<\/p>\n
3. Let ’em Know You Twitter<\/p>\n
4. Before You Write a Nonfiction Book…<\/p>\n
5. Advice for Twitter ‘Unfollowers’<\/p>\n
6. Help This Hound<\/p>\n
7. Hound Joke of the Week<\/p>\n
8. And at My Blog…<\/p>\n
=================================
\n1. Like Rats on a Sinking Ship
\n=================================<\/p>\n
Those newspaper and magazine journalists you’re pitching are
\ngrumpier than ever.<\/p>\n
You’d be grumpy, too, if you had an ax hanging over your head.<\/p>\n
The 2009 PRWeek\/PR Newswire Media Survey shows that half of the
\n2,174 journalists surveyed this year are considering careers
\noutside of journalism.<\/p>\n
Doug Elfman, entertainment columnist at the Las Vegas Review-
\nJournal describes the situation like this:<\/p>\n
“I know several people who have changed careers or have
\nconsidered changing their careers because they don’t want to feel
\nlike rats on a sinking ship anymore.”<\/p>\n
That confirms what I’m hearing from my friends in the newspaper
\nbusiness.<\/p>\n
PRWeek’s survey results also show:<\/p>\n
–70 percent of journalists are working harder this year than
\nlast.<\/p>\n
–They’re taking on more work on the Web, where publishers
\nfeel they have the best chance of recouping lost revenues.<\/p>\n
–At magazines like Teen Vogue, journalists produce numerous
\ndaily online-only items and blog posts to tide over readers
\nbetween issues.<\/p>\n
–The number of journalists who have a social networking profile
\nhas increased from 54 percent last year to 77 percent this year.
\nMany of them say they look for story ideas, sources and other
\ninformation on sites like Facebook and Twitter.<\/p>\n
What this means to you:<\/p>\n
–Pay attention to a newspaper’s or magazine’s website, not only
\nthe printed edition. You might find many more opportunities for
\npublicity online than offline.<\/p>\n
–The emphasis on the Web means journalists are no longer “print
\njournalists” or “broadcast journalists.” They are all “multi-
\nmedia journalists.” So think “multi-media” when you pitch by
\noffering a video clip for a newspaper’s or TV station’s website.<\/p>\n
–If you’re obsessed with generating publicity in traditional
\nmedia, you need to have a presence on the social networking
\nsites, where many journalists hunt for stories.<\/p>\n
–Position yourself as a helpful source who’s willing to go the
\nextra distance. Many journalists are still confused about how to
\nuse sites like Facebook and Twitter. If you can help them by
\nshowing them, in step-by-step detail, how to do something like
\nsearch Twitter by topic, you could score points.<\/p>\n
If you’re creating video for, let’s say, your local newspaper,
\nyou can recycle it in other ways for additional publicity.
\nVideographer John Easton does it all the time in Charlotte, North
\nCarolina, and the local chamber of commerce and TV stations love
\nhim. During a teleseminar I hosted, he explained how you can do
\nwhat he does without fancy equipment or much techie know-how. “9
\nClever Ways to Use Video to Become a Publicity Darling in Your
\nIndustry or Community” is available as a CD, MP3 or electronic
\ntranscript that you can download as soon as your order has been
\napproved.<\/p>\n
=================================
\n2. Google Measures Your Influence
\n=================================<\/p>\n
If you’re one of the many people who thinks Twitter is a waste of
\ntime and you refuse to participate, please reconsider.<\/p>\n
Rumors have been circulating that Google is interested in buying
\nTwitter, the micro-blogging site that lets users send messages of
\nno more than 140 characters to everyone who follows them.<\/p>\n
For now, it’s nothing more than gossip. But if there’s a nugget
\nof truth to the rumor, here’s how it could affect you.<\/p>\n
Google, the granddaddy of search engines, already measures your
\ninfluence.<\/p>\n
Let’s say you sell dog toys and somebody types “dog toys” into
\nthe Google search box. Google will rank your site on the left
\nside of the screen according to several factors. One of the
\nbiggest is whether your site includes those keywords in the title
\nbar, description, meta tags and copy on your website.<\/p>\n
Another factor is how many other influential websites link to
\nyours.<\/p>\n
It gives high ranking to videos, too. When Google bought YouTube
\nfor $1.65 billion in October 2006, that was the company’s way of
\nscreaming “We think videos are important.”<\/p>\n
Same with Twitter.<\/p>\n
If Google buys Twitter, chances are good that one of the factors
\nit will use to measure your influence is your Twitter presence,
\nhow often you tweet and how often you join the conversation.<\/p>\n
If your competitors are on Twitter but you’re not, what kind of
\nmessage do you think that will send to Google?<\/p>\n
At Stompernet’s Internet marketing seminar in Atlanta last month,
\nseveral speakers predicted that the search engines will place a
\ngreater emphasis on your influence in the social networking
\nworld.<\/p>\n
Already, you can measure your influence on Twitter<\/a> with a variety Type in your Twitter name, and it will grade your impact and Compare your score to the scores of your competitors.<\/p>\n If you ranked really low, you can boost your score by We recorded it and it’s available as a package of electronic ========================================= Hardly a day goes by when the mainstream media isn’t reporting on If you Twitter, particularly for business, and you’re seeing a Consider pitching this story to your local business journal, How about offering a short list of three or four Twitter tools or =========================================== Don’t write one word until you’ve made a long list of all the Too many authors view the book as the end product. Then, if the Smart authors use their books as calling cards. The book After working with more than 9,000 authors over the last 20 Some of them are very famous bestsellers, like the creators of Others are happily not-so-famous but quietly raking in high six- To learn what wildly successful authors know that poor authors ======================================== This week, eight Publicity Hounds have tips for Dan Janal of From David Kadavy:<\/p>\n “For me, it’s not about reciprocity, it’s about genuine From Gail Sideman:<\/p>\n “I have a small follower base compared to many of those with whom From Meryl Evans:<\/p>\n “I signed up for Qwitter a long time ago and forgot about it. Read all the responses to this week’s Help This Hound question.<\/a><\/p>\n Send your own Help this Hound<\/a> question to me and include your city and state.<\/p>\n ================================== Karen Nardella of Conway, N.H. writes:<\/p>\n “I am a sole proprietor who owns the Emporium Consignment Outlet “I sell gently-used, high-quality, brand-name furniture such as “With the sagging economy, what’s the best way on a very tight The Publicity Hound says:<\/p>\n The bad economy presents all kinds of great tie-ins to your<\/a> =============================== Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.<\/p>\n ================================ Massive Twitter directory lists tools, apps galore<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week Issue #445 April 7, 2009 Publisher: Joan Stewart ========================================== “Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity” ========================================== In This Issue ================================ 1. Like Rats on a Sinking Ship 2. Google Measures Your Influence 3. Let ’em Know You Twitter 4. Before You Write a Nonfiction Book… 5. Advice\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":4,"wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3,16,19,10,33],"class_list":{"0":"post-32","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tips-of-the-week","7":"tag-book-promotion","8":"tag-facebook","9":"tag-pitching-to-reporters","10":"tag-twitter","11":"tag-youtube","12":"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\/32","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=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nof tools and applications. One of them is Twitalyzer.<\/p>\n
\nsuccess in social media according to several factors: relative
\ninfluence, signal-to-noise ratio, generosity, velocity and clout.<\/p>\n
\nunderstanding all the ways you can join in the conversation and
\nbe helpful to the people who follow you. Warren Whitlock
\nexplained how to do this, and he gave dozens of tips when he was
\nmy guest during a teleseminar on “How to Use Twitter to Amass an
\nArmy of Followers, Customers & Valuable Contacts–and Promote.”<\/p>\n
\ntranscripts and your choice of CDs or MP3s that you can download
\nimmediately.<\/p>\n
\n3. Let ’em Know You Twitter
\n=========================================<\/p>\n
\nTwitter. It’s obvious many journalists and broadcasters are still
\nconfused about the value of this site.<\/p>\n
\nreturn on your investment, offer yourself as a source for this
\nstory. Explain what has happened to you since you started
\nTwittering, how many followers you have, how much time you spend,
\nhow many valuable contacts you’ve made, and how many clients or
\ncustomers you’ve generated.<\/p>\n
\ndaily and weekly newspapers, TV stations and even your trade
\njournals.<\/p>\n
\napps you use that save you time and help keep you organized? I
\nblogged about a cool directory that separates all these tools by
\ncategory.<\/p>\n
\n4. Before You Write a Nonfiction Book…
\n===========================================<\/p>\n
\nways you can use that book as a springboard to other products and
\nservices.<\/p>\n
\nbook doesn’t sell, they’re stuck.<\/p>\n
\n“upsells” readers to a variety of other products and services.<\/p>\n
\nyears, Steve Harrison has learned that the most successful
\nauthors simply do seven key things differently than poor authors.<\/p>\n
\nthe Chicken Soup for the Soul series and Rich Dad Poor Dad.<\/p>\n
\nfigure and even seven-figure annual incomes without ever being on
\nOprah or hitting any bestseller list.<\/p>\n
\ndon’t, join him for a free 75-minute telephone seminar at 7 p.m.
\nEastern Time tonight, April 7. There’s no cost to participate in
\nthe call (except for your normal long distance charges).<\/p>\n
\n5. Advice for Twitter ‘Unfollowers’
\n========================================<\/p>\n
\nShorewood, Minn., owner of PRLeads.com. He subscribes to
\nQwitter.com<\/a> and wants advice on what to do when the service
\nnotifies him that one of his Twitter followers has “unfollowed” him.<\/p>\n
\nrelationships and useful information. Follow that principle and
\nyou’ll know when it’s right to unfollow someone.”<\/p>\n
\nI have Twitter relationships, but can say that all I choose to
\nfollow are valuable minds in their industries or are lots of fun.
\nIf they unfollow me, I’m not going to analyze why. You can’t
\nplease everybody, especially in a base as broad as social media.”<\/p>\n
\nSuddenly, it hit me with a bunch of unfollowers. Obviously, the
\nservice was flaky. Nonetheless, I unsubscribed to the service
\nafter that. It’s just not worth getting hurt or emotional about
\nthose who stop following you.”<\/p>\n
\n6. Help This Hound
\n==================================<\/p>\n
\nand Home Staging Center, a consignment shop for high-end
\nfurniture in Conway, N.H.<\/p>\n
\nEthan Allan, and I pay the owner 55 percent of the sale. All the
\nfurniture is no more than 10 years old.<\/p>\n
\nbudget to spread the word about what I’m doing? I need to attract
\nthe attention of people who have furniture to sell as well as
\npeople who can’t afford new furniture. What tips can your Hounds
\nshare with me, either through traditional marketing channels or
\nby generating publicity?”<\/p>\n
\n pitches.<\/a> Let’s see how many ideas my Hounds can suggest. If you
\nhave a great idea for Karen, post it to my blog.<\/p>\n
\n7. Hound Joke of the Week
\n===============================<\/p>\n
\n8. And at My Blog…
\n================================<\/p>\n