The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Add to your media database yet another ezine article directory. You’ll find it at Smartads Article99.com. You can create a free author account and submit your articles, old and new.

Articles at websites like this one help increase your search-engine ranking because your articles will be picked up by other editors and publishers who also will link back to your websites. Links back to your website, especially from other high-traffic sites, can boost your own ranking.

Small business marketing expert Sharron Senter, who was my guest on a teleseminar a few years ago titled “How to Submit Online Articles That Pull Traffic to Your Website,” has this down to such an organized system that she gets from 30 to 100 sales leads a month by submitting articles online. Publicity Hound Judith Lindenberger, president of The Lindenberger Group, LLC, says that after following Sharron’s instructions, she started posting articles and got a qualified lead within only one day. An editor also contacted her and offered to pay her for one of her articles.

What should you write about? Identify the Number One problem your customers face, then write an article packed with helpful advice. Offer it to ezine publishers and editors of print newsletters.

Posted In: Writing Articles
posted On: 9/29/2005: 4:10 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Add to your media database yet another ezine article directory. You’ll find it at Smartads’ Article99.com You can create a free author account and submit your articles, old and new.

Articles at websites like this one help increase your search engine ranking because your articles will be picked up by other editors and publishers who also will link back to your websites. Links back to your website, especially from other high-traffic sites, can boost your own ranking.

Small business marketing expert Sharron Senter, who joined me a few years ago for a teleseminar titled “How to Submit Online Articles That Pull Traffic to Your Website,” has this down to such an organized system that she gets from 30 to 100 sales leads a month by submitting articles online. Publicity Hound Judith Lindenberger, president of The Lindenberger Group, LLC, says that after following Sharron’s instructions, she started posting articles and got a qualified lead within only one day. An editor also contacted her and offered to pay her for one of her articles.

What should you write about? Pick the Number One problemyour customers or clients face, and write an article packed with advice. Then offer the article to ezine publishers and editors or print newsletters.

Posted In: Publicity on the Internet, Writing Articles
posted On: 9/28/2005: 11:57 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Here’s an idea almost guaranteed to bring the TV cameras into your company in October. Sponsor a pumpkin-carving contest for employees. Invite an on-air personality at your local TV station to be the judge.

The challenge? To carve the TV station’s logo in the pumpkin, of course. TV reporter Shawne Duperson loves those kinds of stories and says lots of TV stations do, too. It was one of many ideas we suggested during a teleseminar I conducted with her called “103 Sizzling Story Ideas from July through December.”

One of my favorites, playing off the same theme, is to sponsor a chili cook-off at your company in the fall. Invite employees to bring their chili pots and favorite recipes, and stage the contest in the company cafeteria. Invite the food columnist from the local newspaper, or an on-air anchor from the local TV station to be the judge.

Posted In: TV Publicity
posted On: : 9:36 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Sally-Anne Baker of Leicestershire, England writes:

“In June, I launched my new business, Kitchen Goddess, which is a dream come true because I’ve always wanted to be my own boss. So at my website there’s a brand new website selling gorgeous kitchen and table essentials but nobody knows about it yet!

“What ideas do you and the Hounds have to generate publicity to help get things off the ground?”

Posted In: Business Promotion, Publicity on the Internet
posted On: 9/27/2005: 10:25 pm: By Joan
Comments: 7 Comments

If you market to Baby Boomers, get your hands on a copy of the Monday, September 26, issue of The Wall Street Journal. It included a special section called “Encore: a Guide to Retirement Planning and Living.” It’s packed with trends, statistics and other helpful facts that you can use when pitching story ideas that will appeal to people who already have retired, or are nearing retirement.

In about 100 days, the first of an estimated 77 million Baby Boomers will turn 60. This is the generation that’s responsible for these trends: rock ‘n roll, working moms, Earth Day, SUVs, shacking up, and Starbucks. Reporters also talked to experts who pinpointed several emerging trends among this group. And smart Publicity Hounds will tie their story ideas to them. For example:

—A sizable number of Baby Boomers are expected to have enough money to fuel the market for increasingly exotic travel such as sea-kayaking the Panama Canal to taking champagne cruises to the North Pole.

—Of the 13 cars that the average American household buys over a lifetime, seven are purchased after the head of the household turns 50.

—Boomers are going to figure out creative ways to express their deaths, such as producing video autobiographies and giving away souvenirs at their funerals. Even cemeteries will go digital, with gravestone records online for genealogical research.

—One of the hottest areas for research will be brain science. This includes products like “caller ID on steroids.” When a phone rings, a nearby digital photo frame lists what you talked about during your last call.

—Later life could signal a return to communal living for boomers, particularly because increasing numbers of single, divorced and widowed people seek a lifestyle that’s more affordable, social and supportive.

—3 out of 4 boomers tend to keep working in retirement. But experts say the boomers expect to retire from their current jobs at the average age of 64–then launch a new career.

Fascinating stuff. I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find something in this section that ties in to what you sell. If your story idea appeals to a more upscale, well-educated audience, don’t overlook the potential of National Public Radio. Many NPR shows are built around trends like these, and producers are always asking interesting authors, speakers and experts to look into their crystal balls.

Book publicist Lissa Warren, who has booked more than 100 of her authors on NPR shows, was a guest on a one-hour teleseminar I conducted titled “How to Get Booked on National Public Radio.” She says piggybacking your pitch off emerging trends is one way to really capture the attention of those who book guests.

Posted In: Pitching the Media
posted On: : 10:30 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments