The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Remember those New Year’s Resolutions you made months ago about keeping in closer touch with the media?

If you’v forgotten them, get back into the saddle and jump-start your own publicity campaign, or your client’s.

–Vow to make one new media contact each month. That could mean asking areporter to lunch, or sending an article to a reporter who you want to get to know, so it will help her better cover her beat. Then follow up with a phone call.

–Start keeping a database of media contacts that includes personal information, such as the names of the reporter’s spouse and children, the reporter’s hobbies, likes and dislikes, etc. The very best sales people do this. You should, too.

–Contact every media person who covered you this year and pitch another story idea. It will be easier to catch their attention the second time around because they already know who you are. In some cases, you might want to pitch a “follow up” story to the original one. Use the phrase “follow up.” It’s media lingo and it will immediately catch their attention.

–If you work in PR, promise to never write a boring news release just because the boss or your client thinks it’s a good idea. Either find a better news angle, or a creative way to pitch the story. Your reputation with the media is at stake.

–Do a thorough review of your website, or your client’s website. Remove outdated information and update links to other sites. Post new articles. Get rid of anything that flashes, moves, darts from one side of the screen to the other, and audio that turns on automatically without prompting from the visitor.

–Update your professional business photo and the photos of others in your company. Make the photos available at your web site, and be sure they are scanned at at least 300 dots per inch and are available in JPEG and TIFF formats.

All those resolutions are made–and kept–by the very best Publicity Hounds. Learn what else they do in my 306-page ebook “How to be a Kick-Butt Publicity Hound.” You can download it and be reading it in a few minutes.

Posted In: Authors & Publishers
posted On: 3/26/2005: 7:32 pm: By Joan
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Think about the last pitch you emailed to a journalist, or sent by snail-mail letter.

How long was it?

If it was longer than a paragraph or two, the journalist might have hit the “delete” key or thrown the letter into the wastebasket. Or if you started your phone pitch with “let me fill you in on a little background,” I’ll bet you didn’t get very far.

Wendy Cole, Time magazine’s Midwest correspondent and a member of a media panel that presented its best pitching tips to the Publicity Club of Chicago, said that when it comes to pitching, shorter is better.” And make the story pitch exclusive,” she said.

Publicity Hounds who want coverage anywhere, not just in Chicago, should follow the expert advice of all the panelists:

From Kate DeVivo, Today’s Chicago Woman:

“We don’t have enough access to female bartenders, architects and others in nontraditional female occupations. I would love to do more but need to know about them.” (Good advice if you’re trying to get into a woman’s publication.)

From Jeff Borden, Crain’s Chicago Business:

Know the names of the beat reporters. Read the on-line as well as the print publications to know what they do, how they write and what they write about. Contact reporters who cover your industry’s beat and ask them what they’reworking on and what they’re reading. Don’t send unsolicited press kits and expect reporters to spend valuable time reviewing them. And his best piece of advice? “If you offer me a scoop, we’ll be friends for life.” (This advice is true for any business journal.)

From Brenda Butler, Chicago Tribune magazine:

Press release headlines should clearly state what the story is about. She has little time to guess.

When you write a press release, do you write a sub-headline just under the main headline? If not, you’re missing a valuable tool to help grab the journalist’s attention. Marcia Yudkin says a sub-head is one of the 10 ways you can make your press release even stronger. She explains them all on “TheDo-it-Yourself Press Release Makeover: How to Turn a So-so Release into a Wildly Successful One.” It’s available as a cassette tape or CD.

Posted In: Pitching the Media
posted On: : 7:28 pm: By Joan
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Night after night, we see stories on the local and national TV news about topics like obesity, alcoholism, drug abuse and mental illness.

The reporter’s narration accompanies generic film footage of people walking on a crowded sidewalk, or students making their way to class on a college campus.

No problem–except if the story happens to be about teen-age alcoholics, and the teen shown in the film footage is your daughter, who doesn’t have a drinking problem.

Former TV reporter Dennis Stauffer says he saw things like that happen occasionally when he worked as a reporter at a Minneapolis TV station.

That’s why he says you should make it clear to TV reporters that if they’re taking video of a controversial topic that involves you, you may want to demand that they use the video only once, and only for the agreed purpose.

“The more sensitive the topic, the more cautious you should be,” Dennis says in his book Mediasmart: How to Handle a Reporter by a Reporter available at Amazon. “If you’re being careful about letting a reporter or photographer have access in the first place, then you should be concerned about any future use of that material.”

When a reporter asks you to cooperate on a story, you may want to say, “I’ll do what you want, if…” and make one of the “ifs” an assurance that the video won’t be used for other purposes.

Tell the reporter to personally make sure that the video is not kept and that any sensitive shots are erased after the story airs.

That’s one thing you need to know when dealing with TV reporters, but there’s more. In fact, you should also know the difference between reporters who work for radio stations, newspapers, magazines, the wire services and Internet news outlets. They all have their own quirks and idiosyncrasies. Former reporter Al Guyant explains the distinctions and recommends “handling tactics” for each of them in “The Dangerous Hidden Secrets of Print and Broadcast Reporters.” It’s available as a cassette tape or CD, and each comes with a chapter from Al’s Book “Beat the Press” which you can download immediately and be reading in minutes.

Posted In: TV Publicity
posted On: : 7:23 pm: By Joan
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Sally Kirby Hartman of the Norfolk Foundation in Norfolk, Virginia wants ideas on how to publicize the Academy for Nonprofit Excellence, which offers monthly two-day training sessions for area nonprofit staff and board members. Topics will vary each month and range from strategic planning to marketing, accounting and fundraising.

From Lois Carter Fay of Massanutten, Virginia:

“Since I lived in Williamsburg for a number of years, I’m going to respond to this request with specific suggestions about the Hampton Roads, Va. community. Your new offering is something that the local business journal, Inside Business, should be interested in. Contact the editor and suggest that IB develop a new quarterly special section on nonprofits. It would include such things as profiles of the various nonprofits, along with a story about your newoffering, emphasizing the benefits of how this training program will benefit the many nonprofits in the Hampton Roads area. Other story ideas could be: how a nonprofit organization grows its leadership, why nonprofits are important to the community, how they compete for talented employees when salaries and benefits are generally lower than at for-profit firms, a list of all the nonprofits, why it’s important to volunteer in the community, profiles of high-visibility volunteers, and the economic and social impact that nonprofits provide to the community, a calendar of events for nonprofits, etc.

“Gather a list of all the nonprofits in the area and do a postcard mailing series of at least three postcards to the entire list. Make the series benefitdriven. What are the top three benefits of your new program? Design the campaign around these benefits and entice people to sign up for your seminars. Get a graphic designer or advertising agency to do this creative work pro bono. Create an email newsletter about your program and develop a list of subscribers from the nonprofit sector who will let you email them. Keep them apprised of your offerings and give them little tips for success in the nonprofit world.

“Ask some of the more influential nonprofits, like Volunteer Hampton Roads, to help you promote the program. Offer to train their executive director for free in exchange for her help in spreading the word. Approach Cathy Lewis at the local NPR station about being a guest on her show. This is exactly the kind of topic that her lunch-hour program discusses. Talk about the joint venture between public and private institutions and, if applicable, about the ‘two sides of the water’ working together to create a better community. (This would also be a perfect topic for both Leadership Hampton Roads and the CIVIC Leadership group which Cathy Lewis heads. Try to get on their programs to present to their 2004-2005 classes.)

Lois has many more marketing tips for companies large and small at WomenMarketing and MarketingIdeaShop.

From Penny Leisch of Tempe, Arizona:

“Consider holding workshops that are industry specific. For instance, make flyers and brochures inviting all of the animal welfare organizations, rescue groups, shelters and government animal care and control agencies. By focusing on related industries, you offer a value-added to those you invite, which is the chance to network and exchange ideas within the industry. You can also target your training and resources to one industry, rather than trying to cover all bases. The high quality, focused information will generate great reviews, and your reputation will spread quickly. To advertise your workshops, you might hold mini-seminars with brochures and Q&A sessions at local bookstores or coffee shops. Again, gather information about some of the favorite gathering places of people who work in a specific industry or area.”

From Liz Bearce of New Orleans, Louisiana:

“Create a database consisting of nonprofit directors or coordinators. Send these people a letter or brochure introducing the program. Ask if you can come and speak at their next staff meeting. Follow up with a phone call.”

Nonprofits can save time and money generating free publicity, with everything from hotlines to templates for standard news releases. Read about what you’ll learn on the CD or electronic transcript titled “Failproof Publicity Tips for Your Nonprofit“.

Posted In: Nonprofits, Publicity for Niche Markets
posted On: 3/24/2005: 8:46 pm: By Joan
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Barb Bartlein of Bayview, Wisconsin, author of the book Why Did I Marry You, Anyway? 12.5 Strategies for a Happy Marriage , says she’s had great success with 99PR.com, a service that emails your pitch to radio talk show hosts and other journalists. The pitch looks like it came directly from you. If a journalist responds, the response comes directly to you. “I have been averaging 10-15 radio shows per release, many in the larger markets,” Barb says. “At one point, my book was in the top 5,000 on Amazon. Many of the producers book me again for future segments, so I often get repeat business from each release.”

Linda Watson of Pretty Pony Pastures in Davisburg, Michigan, says she found a great way to generate publicity for her therapeutic riding lessons.

"One of The Publicity Hound’s tips is to tie into an event or an occasion.
As luck would have it, Congress declared December 13 as National Day of the Horse. I immediately came up with the idea of doing a presentation at ourbarn on ‘The Making of a Therapeutic Horse’ and schedule the presentation for December 13th. I sent out press releases to seven local papers. The press release was published in four. Three of the four papers are doing stories on our facility and today I received a call from an organization that would like me to come and speak at one of their meetings. They donate to places like mine that provide activities for persons with disabilities. I also ceived calls from three people who would like to volunteer their time.”

The Publicity Hound says: Consider incorporating these two ideas into next year’s media plan. Also, don’t discount the power of using briefs and other short items. They’re one of the best ways to get into national magazines and newspapers. Read more about “Briefs, Fillers & Quizzes–How to Write Them and Why Editors Love Them” .

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Media Kits
posted On: : 8:25 pm: By Joan
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