The Publicity Hound’s
\nTips of the Week
\nIssue #444 March 31, 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. Nonprofits, Speak Up<\/p>\n
2. Journalists’ Blogs a Gold Mine<\/p>\n
3. Social Media Sells Books, Products<\/p>\n
4. Take a Survey at Your Blog<\/p>\n
5. How to Promote E-courses<\/p>\n
6. Help This Hound<\/p>\n
7. Hound Joke of the Week<\/p>\n
8. And at My Blog…<\/p>\n
=================================
\n1. Nonprofits, Speak Up
\n=================================<\/p>\n
Many Publicity Hounds who completed my Customer Profile Survey
\nthis month said they wanted more tips for nonprofits. Here’s a
\ntimely one.<\/p>\n
Explain how you would be affected by President Barack Obama’s
\nproposal to change the rules on deductions for charitable
\ncontributions.<\/p>\n
If passed by Congress, the budget would reduce the deductibility
\nof charitable contributions from 35 percent to 28 percent on
\nhouseholds that earn more than $250,000 a year. It also calls for
\na return of the 39.6 percent tax bracket, which could affect
\ncharitable giving.<\/p>\n
A friend told me yesterday that an annual fund-raiser at her
\nchurch has raised only $75,000 this year, compared to the
\n$150,000 it had raised at the same time last year.<\/p>\n
That’s probably due to the bad economy. But how much smaller
\nwould the revenue be if Congress changed the rules that govern
\ncharitable giving?<\/p>\n
The issue is being debated right now. The Center on Philanthropy
\nat Indiana University acknowledged that the reduced deduction
\nwould “increase the challenges nonprofits have,” but said it
\nwould only have a moderate impact.<\/p>\n
Even so, nonprofits are sweating.<\/p>\n
Here are ways to piggyback onto the issue and attract attention,
\nwhether you’re for or against the proposal.<\/p>\n
–Are your board and executives discussing the impact? What would
\nit mean to your nonprofit and the people you serve? Let the media
\nknow.<\/p>\n
–Create a short video arguing for or against Obama’s plan and
\nupload it to the video-sharing sites.<\/p>\n
–Write op-ed pieces for your local daily and weekly newspapers.<\/p>\n
–Pitch bloggers who cover your topic.<\/p>\n
–Discuss it at Twitter and link to videos, blog posts and
\nopinion pieces at your blog or website.<\/p>\n
–Create a group on Facebook and keep your followers updated on
\nwhat happens with this proposal as well as other issues that
\naffect your nonprofit.<\/p>\n
–If you have a good visual to offer, pitch the story to your
\nlocal TV stations.<\/p>\n
If you’re smart, you’ll weave into the story information about
\nthings like your events, fund-raisers and volunteers and explain
\nhow they would be affected.<\/p>\n
=================================
\n2. Journalists’ Blogs a Gold Mine
\n=================================<\/p>\n
Dying to pitch a certain journalist at a top-tier media outlet
\nbut confused about how to make your pitch stand out among all the
\nothers?<\/p>\n
Keep reading for the inside secret.<\/p>\n
I’ve never met Deborah Kotz, a woman’s health columnist for U.S.
\nNews & World Report.<\/p>\n
We’ve never emailed each other or talked on the phone. I’ve never
\npitched her.<\/p>\n
Yet I know intimate details about her, including the type of
\nbirth control she has used and whether her two sons are
\ncircumcised.<\/p>\n
You’ll never find those kinds of details in the pricey media
\ndatabases you’re buying.<\/p>\n
But in some cases, you CAN find them buried within the bog posts
\nof journalists you want to pitch. Most PR people, unfortunately,
\nare too busy or too lazy to search for them.<\/p>\n
To make your job easier, I’ve explained in step-by-step detail
\nhow to find out if a journalist blogs and how to navigate the
\nblog to find all the juicy tidbits you need to customize your
\npitch.<\/p>\n
If you think my tips are valuable, please share that link with
\nyour Twitter followers, Facebook friends and LinkedIn
\nconnections.<\/p>\n
=========================================
\n3. Social Media Sells Books, Products
\n=========================================<\/p>\n
Puzzled about the return on investment you’ll get by
\nparticipating in social media?<\/p>\n
David Mathison, an unknown author, has one success story after
\nanother to share about what has happened to him as a result of
\njoining the conversation at sites like Twitter, Facebook and
\nLinkedIn.<\/p>\n
While writing his book “Be the Media: How to Create and
\nAccelerate Your Message…Your Way,” he spent time on those sites
\nand others. As a result:<\/p>\n
–He pre-sold 5,004 books in just 11 days through one Twitter
\nconnection.<\/p>\n
–He used Twitter to get invited to a prestigious university
\nsymposium–and was invited back a second time.<\/p>\n
–He collected thousands of email addresses and now markets to
\nthose people.<\/p>\n
–He used Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to create an unbeatable,
\nlead-qualifying machine.<\/p>\n
–He made friends with more than 3,500 Facebook users and
\nenlisted them to help sell his book.<\/p>\n
Not bad, and that’s just for starters. David will join me for a
\ncomplimentary teleseminar from 3 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time on
\nWednesday, April 8, and explain how to use social media to create
\na huge following and sell more books, products or services. Only
\n200 people will be able to participate.<\/p>\n
=======================================
\n4. Take a Survey at Your Blog
\n=======================================<\/p>\n
If you’re a blogger who wants more traffic, comments and sales
\nfrom your blog, here’s a simple, inexpensive idea.<\/p>\n
Take a survey–not like the lengthy Customer Profile Survey that
\nmany of you completed for me recently, but a short, fun or
\ncontroversial survey you can tweet about on Twitter and refer to
\non Facebook. It will help pull traffic to your blog like a
\nmagnet.<\/p>\n
Jeanne Hurlbert, the consultant who helped me design my survey,
\nis creating a video at her blog that explains how to do this. But
\nfirst, she wants to see questions you have about short blog
\nsurveys.<\/p>\n
She promises to answer every question and then use your questions
\nto guide her as she creates a video that explains how to survey
\nyour readers.<\/p>\n
Authors might want to know how a survey can sell more books. P.S. Jill Cranford, who owns Stone2Furniture, a company that ======================================== This week, six Publicity Hounds have tips for Linda Foirmichelli From Janet Roots:<\/p>\n “Try connecting with people who are in touch with the same market From Viveca Stone-Berry:<\/p>\n “Since you are both well-established, that means you have friends “What about offering a ‘community’ discount to your contacts? From Sheryl Kurland:<\/p>\n “You can submit course information for free to an e-newsletter “Be sure to include a gentle request for readers to blog about The Publicity Hound says:<\/p>\n Lots of freelancers read this newsletter and I’d love a list of ================================== Dan Janal of Shorewood, MN, owner of PRLeads, writes:<\/p>\n “I subscribe to UseQwitter.com which tells me when people stop “I recently became very active on Twitter and many people started “Was this a scam by them to get me to follow them? Should I “What do your readers do when they find out they are no longer The Publicity Hound says:<\/p>\n I don’t really care about who unfollows me. If they don’t like my Share your tips for Dan at my blog .<\/a><\/p>\n =============================== Kenny, a city boy, moved to the country and bought a hound dog The next day the farmer drove up and said, “Sorry son, but I have “Well then, just give me my money back,” Kenny said.<\/p>\n “Can’t do that,” the farmer said. “I went and spent it already.”<\/p>\n “OK then, just unload the hound dog,” Kenny suggested.<\/p>\n “What ya gonna do with him?” The farmer asked.<\/p>\n “I’m going to raffle him off,” Kenny said.<\/p>\n “You can’t raffle off a dead dog!” The farmer replied, “Sure I can,” Kenny said. “Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody A month later, the farmer met up with Kenny and asked, “What “I raffled him off,” Kenny said. “I sold 500 tickets at two “Didn’t anyone complain?” The farmer asked.<\/p>\n “Just the guy who won,” Kenny said. “So I gave him his two Kenny grew up and eventually became the chairman of Enron.<\/p>\n ================================== Jill Cranford wins Kindle2 in Publicity Hound survey drawing<\/a><\/p>\n Social networking ROI<\/a>: A testimonial more valuable than an ad<\/p>\n Hip hop magazine wants to feature women deejays with clout<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week Issue #444 March 31, 2009 Publisher: Joan Stewart ========================================== “Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity” ================================ In This Issue ================================ 1. Nonprofits, Speak Up 2. Journalists’ Blogs a Gold Mine 3. Social Media Sells Books, Products 4. Take a Survey at Your Blog 5. How to Promote\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":2,"wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16,38,39,5,27,14,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-36","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tips-of-the-week","7":"tag-facebook","8":"tag-non-profits","9":"tag-pitch-blogggers","10":"tag-publicity-tips","11":"tag-social-media","12":"tag-social-networking","13":"tag-twitter","14":"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\/36","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=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSpeakers might be curious about what kind of survey can help book
\nmore speaking gigs. Other Hounds might want to share blog survey
\nsuccess stories. Who knows? You might end up in her video.
\n<\/a>
\nI’ll let you know as soon as she has created the video.<\/p>\n
\nmakes furniture out of stone, has won the Kindle 2. Her name was
\nchosen from all respondents who completed my Customer Profile
\nSurvey.<\/p>\n
\n5. How to Promote E-courses
\n========================================<\/p>\n
\nof Concord, NH and Jennifer Lawler of Lawrence, KS, both well-
\nestablished writers who offer e-courses on how writers can break
\ninto magazines and how to write a book proposal.<\/p>\n
\nas you are, but offering different skills, like writers’ coaches.
\nI’m a writer’s coach and I would love to be able to refer my
\nclients to a trustworthy e-class on these subjects, since my
\nfocus is writing fiction.”<\/p>\n
\nand colleagues who are also well-established and they have
\nfriends and colleagues.<\/p>\n
\nMake it at least 20 percent off. One way to do this is to post it
\non ClickBank which is an affiliate program. I currently list my
\nfatigue recovery guide there and am putting up a duplicate page
\nto offer a ‘community discount.'”<\/p>\n
\ncalled Scribbles for writers and wanna-be writers<\/a>. Your information should actually be
\nemailed to darlyn@sunscribbles.com<\/a> You should also
\nimmediately subscribe to this e-newsletter because it may contain
\ninformation on other places\/opportunities to connect with to
\npublicize your course information.<\/p>\n
\nyour courses or send out your information in their respective e-
\nnewsletters. Writers are usually always willing to help other
\nwriters.”<\/p>\n
\ntips on how they can break into magazines. I’d share them at my
\nblog and then link to your course. So pitch bloggers like me.
\n“How to Pitch the Best Bloggers and Create a Media Explosion,” a
\nteleseminar I did with Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff, aka The
\nBlog Squad, explains how.<\/p>\n
\n6. Help This Hound
\n==================================<\/p>\n
\nfollowing me on Twitter.<\/p>\n
\nfollowing me–more than 400 in a week. However, UseQwitter now
\ntells me that 20 people have stopped following me.<\/p>\n
\n‘unfollow’ them in return? Were they really interested in hearing
\nfrom me, or were they trying to boost their own numbers?<\/p>\n
\nbeing followed? I feel so used!”<\/p>\n
\nposts, they probably aren’t good leads for me, anyway. And I
\ndon’t waste my time unfollowing. But I’ll be curious to hear from
\nHounds who ‘unfollow.’<\/p>\n
\n7. Hound Joke of the Week
\n===============================<\/p>\n
\nfrom an old farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the
\ndog the next day.<\/p>\n
\nsome bad news. The hound died.”<\/p>\n
\nastonished.<\/p>\n
\nhe’s dead.”<\/p>\n
\nhappened with that dead hound?”<\/p>\n
\ndollars apiece and made a profit of $898.”<\/p>\n
\ndollars back.”<\/p>\n
\n8. And at My Blog…
\n==================================<\/p>\n