The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

I love Wal-Mart’s convenience, store hours and low prices. Of all the merchants that get a chunk of my money, Wal-Mart probably gets the most.

But when it comes to PR, I’d give Wal-Mart the booby prize. A story in the July 25 issue of PR Week says Wal-Mart has begun a media relations and community outreach effort to improve its image in New York as it looks for future sites for local stores. Residents in Queens and Staten Island are protesting Wal-Mart’s plans to build stores there.

So the retailing giant has started advertising in local newspapers. It has arranged meetings with leaders of the five boroughs. It’s even interviewing with reporters from papers like the New York Daily News and New York Post, and spreading its message that Wal-mart provides good jobs and career opportunities.

Sorry, but it seems like too little, too late. Wal-Mart’s “screw you” attitude with the media over the years has done far more damage than even the best PR campaign can attempt to mend.

Crisis counselor Jonathan Bernstein, who was my guest during a teleseminar titled “How to Keep the Media Wolves at Bay” a few years ago, says one his favorite sayings about media relations is “Treat the media as you would any other watchdogs. Stay calm, be friendly, let them sniff your hand and never turn your back.”

Until now, Wal-Mart has ignored that advice. Now it finds itself dealing with a pack of media wolves far bigger and meaner than ever. And Wal-Mart has no one but itself to blame.

Posted In: Business Promotion, Crisis Communications
posted On: 7/27/2005: 3:47 am: By Joan
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Mark Nash of Evanston, Illinois writes:

“I am a subcriber to your ezine and it has helped this newbie PR junkie get on ‘The The Early Show’on CBS to promote my newest book ‘1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home’ as well as get a nationally syndicated monthly real estate article with byline.

“I have hit a publicity lull and need advice from your readers on how I can jump-start my book PR.”

Posted In: Authors & Publishers
posted On: 7/26/2005: 9:15 pm: By Joan
Comments: 4 Comments

As I watched Tiger Woods sink his putt on Sunday to win the British Open, I couldn’t help but wonder whether the Porta Potties on the golf course at St. Andrews in Scotland had pretty toilet paper and delicate hand towels.

I doubt it. But every time I watch golf on TV, I’m curious about what the Porta Potties along the course look like. That’s because one of my very favorite stories is how the Women’s Golf Association in Wisconsin decked out its Porta Potties several years ago during a women’s golf tournament. The hosts equipped every Porta Potty on the course with pretty toilet paper, scented candles, decorative soaps, cloth hand towels and fresh flowers.

My friend Deb Schmidt, who attended the outing, said she and other women golfers were so impressed that the Porta Potty surprise was the hot topic at dinner that evening–and long afterward. Those kinds of special touches are called “creating the buzz” for your special event. You offer something so unexpected or outrageous that participants give you lots of free publicity by telling everyone about the event months after it’s over, almost ensuring a huge crowd the following year.

There are lots of other ways to create the buzz, even if you’re on a shoestring budget. You can send enticing invitations, for example. Deb remembers the nonprofit fund-raiser that sent special invitations to its high-profile CEOs and other execs to attend a reception for a celebrity guest. The invitations included remote control race cars for everybody on their special event list. Attached to each car was a label listing the name of the person invited. Deb says that to this day, her son still plays with the car.

She and I shared those tips and six hours worth of more advice for meeting planners when we created “How to Plan & Promote Sizzling Special Events.”

Posted In: Special Events
posted On: 7/20/2005: 7:25 am: By Joan
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Jamar Johnson of Phoenix, Arizona writes:

“I need help from Publicy Hounds on how to market my company, SportsPro HR, Inc. It provides personal wealth and human resource management services for professional athletes, entertainers, and small business owners. The sports and entertainment management industry is very, very competitive, and I need ideas on how I can get publicity that will generate client interest, clients and revenue. I don’t have any former or current clients to use for testimonials. My target market of sports and entertainment professionals are really hard to get in front of and I’m in deseperate need of some creative publicity suggestions. Hounds, can you help me?

Posted In: Business Promotion, Publicity on the Internet
posted On: 7/19/2005: 10:09 pm: By Joan
Comments: 12 Comments

Of the five stories that appeared on the front page of today’s edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, my local newspaper, every one of them had a subhead just below the main headline.

In today’s edition of the Wall Street, all four stories on Page 1 also have subheads. You’ll probably find something similar if you check your own local newspaper.

What lesson can Publicity Hounds learn from this? If newspapers think subheads are important, you should too. Subheads pull readers further into the story. That’s why they’re so valuable. They often explain the “who” or the “why” or the “how”–information that can’t fit into the main headline.

You should be using subheads–in your press releases, pitch letters, website copy, bios, company profiles, and other copy.

Subheads are only one of about a dozen sales copy techniques that you can be using in any copy you write. Others include things such as boldfacing copy that you want to call attention to, centering a sentence or a paragraph with wide margins on each side, or adding a post-script. I take advantage of these little tricks all the time to make my emails and pitch letters really stand out from the thousands of others the media receives. And when I worked as an editor, these same techniques caught my eye and often made it easy for me to understand the significance of a story idea quickly, without having to think.

I’ve always known about subheads because I worked at a newspaper for 22 years. But Lori Morgan-Fererro, an expert on how to write sales copy, reminded me that subheads are powerful. She was my guest during a teleseminar we conducted last year on “How to Write Red-Hot Sales Copy That Woos Journalists.” She taught me how to read my copy with almost a new set of eyes, and use those little techniques to turn it from flat to fabulous.

Posted In: Press Releases/News Releases, Writing Articles
posted On: : 7:35 am: By Joan
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