The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

If you aren’t speaking about your area of expertise, you’re missing valuable opportunities and multiple revenue streams.

Here are eight ways speaking pays, even if you stay in your own community and don’t want to hassle with packed airplanes, crummy hotels and crummier road food:

1. Audience members have invited me to be part of their books. I’m in more than 60 books on public relations, marketing and small business.
     
2. If you do a great job on the platform, you’ll be invited to participate in joint ventures because audience members will want to team up with you on a variety of projects. (You’ll have so many offers than you can afford to be picky.) Someone who was in the audience and heard me speak at the Glazer-Kennedy Inner Circle last week in Green Bay, Wis., called me yesterday and asked I’d be willing to do joint ventures with several other well-known Internet marketers. And he’s willing to make the introductions.  
      
3. People who hear you and love you will refer you to meeting planners in their trade associations.
       
4. Some of those same audience members are program chairs for groups like Rotary, Kiwanis and the local Chamber of Commerce.
      
5. Audience members who have heard me speak have hired me to do consulting.
       
6. Others have invited me to present the same program, but customized, for their magement team.       
     
7. Many groups let you sell products from the back of the room.
      
8. At every speaking engagement, and if the meeting planner allows it, I collect business cards from people who want to receive my free ezine, “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week.” Many of those readers eventually turn into customers.

James Malinchak

If you can’t speak, or you’re afraid of public speaking, that’s OK. James Malinchak has taken even the most timid experts and turned them into dynamic speakers who wow audiences from the platform. 

He’ll share many of his secrets when Steve Harrison interviews him during two teleseminars on Thursday, Nov. 19, on “What You Need To Know To Make $2,500.00 A Day (Or More) As A Public Speaker Without Being Famous!”

And what if meeting planners don’t want to pay you? James will explain why you should never speak for less than $2,500, even if you’re not very well known.

Learn how to change how to change people’s lives with your message, have a lot of fun, and get paid handsomely to do it.

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Business Promotion, PR Consultants/Publicists
posted On: 11/17/2009: 4:15 pm: By Joan
Comments: 2 Comments

If you’re dying to get onto Oprah, stop sending unsolicited books, press kits and other junk.

Instead, spend some time reading the blog posts from the show’s 14 producers.

Yes, they blog. Is it OK to contact them? You bet! Check out the invitation:

If you read just one week’s worth of posts from producer “Caroline,” the first producer on this list, you’d know that:

• She likes mint chip ice cream.
      
• She loves kittens.
      
• She had a really tough week. 

Why does knowing that help? Because smart Publicity Hounds can weave information about those topics into their pitches. They can also take the time to comment several week’s BEFORE they pitch. That shows the producers that you care about what they write. 

You’ll be disappointed to learn that many of the producers haven’t blogged since the summer. But if you take the time to read what they HAVE posted, you’ll be a lot farther ahead than other people who are far too busy to do this kind of important research. I was surprised to see a skimpy number of comments at most posts. That tells me that people might not know about the blogs, or they read them but are too lazy to comment.

Susan Harrow, who I interviewed for tips on “How to Get Booked on Oprah,” says the best pitches are those that fall within several categories that can be considered Oprah’s hot-button topics. Reading the producers’ blog posts will help you identify those topics. 

Posted In: Blogs, TV Publicity
posted On: : 11:00 am: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

If you’re not using teleseminars in your business, you’re missing a fabulous opportunity to amass a loyal following of people who want to hear what you have to say.

With a lousy economy that leaves people reluctant to pay for hotels and airfare, teleseminars are an easy, inexpensive alternative to live events.  

They’re also a handy way to create products very quickly. I’ve hosted dozens of teleseminars on a wide variety of publicity-related topics, and then turned them into CDs, MP3s and electronic transcripts. I host two private  teleseminars each month for people in The Publicity Hound Mentor Program.

Join Steve Harrison on Thursday, November 12, for a free telephone seminar with an author who rakes in over $3.4 million a year this way.

One of the fastest ways to sell more books and make more as an author is do telephone seminars based on your expertise.  To learn how, join Steve for a free 90-minute teleseminar with author Alex Mandossian and learn:

• Eight models for using teleseminars to sell books and make big buckeroos.
      
• How Alex sold over 3,023 books in a single teleseminar.
       
• Why you’re lucky to get 25 people at a traditional bookstore signing but Alex routinely gets 1,200+ on teleseminars with his ‘virtual book tour’ strategy.
      
• The case history of how Alex used teleseminars to help a first-time author hit the New York Times Best Seller List.

Register here.

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Business Promotion, Information Products
posted On: 11/10/2009: 7:55 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Mary Ann Puckett from Oklahoma City, OK writes:

“I am the author of a self-published book, ‘Take Him Home and Love Him/A Story of Autism and How to Cope with It’,  which is currently on eBay and Amazon.com. I published the book in 2005 and have received orders from around the world. 

“It is a narrative of my son Stephen’s life from birth to age 23.  He is now 28 years old and has made great progress due to therapies and medical intervetions I share in the book.

“Autism is now the Number One childhood disability, and diagnosis of this disorder is increasing rapidly. I am looking for ways to get my information to parents and caregivers.  The book is endorsed by medical doctors, the Department of Human Services and has received 100 percent  positive responses from buyers on eBay. 

“Can your Hounds help me promote my book to parents and caregivers who need it?”

Posted In: Authors & Publishers
posted On: : 2:22 am: By Joan
Comments: 8 Comments

Cheryl Muskus of Oak Creek, WI, writes:

“I’m the owner of  The CarmelRose, a floral shop, and I’m looking for ways to generate publicity in a very competitive market.

“Even though our industry is hurt to a large extent when obituaries state ‘in lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to…,” we’re trying to form relationships with local funeral homes so they can refer us to families that are buying flowers for the funeral.  I’d also like to target the local corporate market because revenues from local businesses that need floral arrangements can be significant.

“What ideas to your Hounds have for events I can sponsor at the shop or elsewhere, story ideas I can pitch to the local media, press releases I can write, photos I can offer the local media, opportunities for getting onto local TV, and joint venture partnerships I can form with other businesses? 

“Also, suggestions for using social media would be appreciated.”

Posted In: Business Promotion, Holidays, Newspaper Publicity, Photos & Graphics, Pitching the Media, Press Releases/News Releases, Publicity on the Internet, Special Events
posted On: 11/3/2009: 9:25 am: By Joan
Comments: 14 Comments