2007 April

California household labor website needs promotion ideas

4/24/2007 By Joan 5 Comments

Kare Anderson of Sausalito, California writes:

“I am a friend of Jenna Raby, co-founder of the company Labor Fair, an online referral community of reliable, quality workers for all on-demand household labor. Consumers get free, real-time access to hundreds of local worker profiles, pictures and professional references. And consumers connect directly with already available, qualified but underemployed workers.

“For the first time, time-pressed consumers have a fast way to find reputable household help online (cleaning, repair, gardening, childcare, etc.) through LaborFair. It just launched in 15 San Francisco Bay Area cities, from San Jose to Sausalito.

“By paying LaborFair just $15 a month for a listing, workers can bypass costly (for them) and time-consuming neighborhood flyer distribution or agency representation that cuts deeply into their take-home pay. Better than Craigslist for this service, think of LaborFair as an Ebay for household services, with fair trade built into the business.

“Can your Hounds think of ideas for promoting this service throughout California?”

Filed Under: Business Promotion, Pitching the Media

Opening a bank branch? Display origami dollar bills

4/19/2007 By Joan Leave a Comment

Publicity Hound Brian Foley read last week’s item in which I complained about those uncreative ribbon-cutting and check-passing ceremonies that seem to be everywhere.

He loved my idea of a bank hiring a magician to perform magic tricks with dollar bills at its grand opening. Brian, a professional magician who does exactly that, offered another tip that’s worth sharing.

“Banks can also have origami displays of animals made out of bills,” Brian wrote. “I’ve seen displays like this in banks in Europe, in glass cases in the middle of the bank floor. They always get great responses, and you can keep them on display for weeks. I think they’d result in good publicity for any bank.”

Use the origami display idea not only for grand openings, but to celebrate anniversaries and during other special events.

At tax deadline time, how about a local tax preparer’s office finding local students to make origami animals from all the unused tax forms, then displaying them?

If you teach origami, do a joint promotion with a local print shop. Your students can use over-runs or leftovers and turn them into animals, flowers and other colorful pieces of paper art.

An office supply store can sponsor a local contest inviting people to submit the most creative piece of origami artwork. Those are just a few ideas to get you started.

If you’re an artist who creates origami or works in any other medium, learn dozens of ways to promote it. I was a guest on a teleseminar a few months ago on “How Artists Can Sell More Artwork Through Online and Offline Publicity.”

Filed Under: Business Promotion, Publicity for Niche Markets, Special Events

Spa publicity, promotion is easy with this story idea

4/19/2007 By Joan 1 Comment

I can think of no better treat than a day, or even a few hours, at my favorite spa.

Until I read an amazing article on the front page of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about how the local day spas are the newest hangouts for teens and little girls.

Girls as young as 8 are no longer content with pajama parties. They’re having pedicure parties at the spa.

One 13-year-old girl interviewed gets manicures, pedicures, eyebrow waxings and facials every other week, to the tune of several hundred dollars a month.

Another wellness center said children as young as 6 and 7 are getting massages.

When it comes to rewarding little girls for good grades, “A day of shopping just doesn’t do it anymore,” one parent lamented.

I noticed that the reporter mentioned my favorite spa. And I can tell you right now that I’m out of there—pronto—if it turns into a hang-out for teeny-boppers.

But all you day spa owners: If you’re seeing this trend, too, pitch the story to your local newspapers and TV stations. It’s almost prom season, and that’s the perfect tie-in.

Stories like this spa trend are perfect for spring. As TV producer Shawne Duperon mentioned during the teleseminar I conducted with her on “116 WOW Story Ideas from January through June,” TV stations are always looking for compelling seasonal stories like spa trends, particularly if they lend themselves perfectly to interesting video.

To make the story more enticing, introduce some controversy. The owner of the spa I go to said she’s weighing concerns about age- appropriate body waxing. She knows, however, that she won’t be offering bikini waxes to young teens.

What about old folks like me, who don’t want to have to share a hot tub with a bunch of little girls yacking on their cell phones? Are spa owners enforcing age limits for certain services? What about rules that prohibit people from using their cell phones at the spa? Do patrons ignore the rule?

If I worked as a reporter and somebody pitched ideas like these to me, I’d bite.

Filed Under: General

Most successful authors do 7 things differently

4/19/2007 By Joan 1 Comment

For almost two decades, Steve Harrison has worked with more than 19,000 authors.

He’s convinced that the most successful authors—the top 3 percent—do 7 things differently than all the others.

He’ll explain them all during two free 75-minute telephone seminars today. You can listen at 2 p.m. Eastern Time or 7 p.m. Eastern Time. Steve says you’ll hear all about the unfair advantage that those authors use successfully when publishing their books.

Steve will also discuss the single biggest thing authors need to attract a publisher and one thing authors should do to dramatically increase the profit they make from every book. I’m curious, so I’ll be on the call, too.

Reserve your spot before they’re all filled.

Filed Under: Authors & Publishers

Why you should read reporters’ blogs

4/18/2007 By Joan Leave a Comment

Any Publicity Hound who wants to build a strong relationship with a journalist should first find out if that journalist blogs.

Many reporters blog because they want to. Others blog, grudgingly, because they have to.

A reporter’s blog will tip you off to sorts of insider stuff you wouldn’t otherwise know if you read only the reporter’s printed and online articles. Their blogs also give you a great chance to interact with reporters by posting comments.

I just read some great tips on how reporters can blog more easily. It’s called How to Feed the Blog Beast, courtesy of Amy Gahran, a conversational media consultant and content strategist, who posted the tips at Poynter Online. They’re excellent, and they’ll give you an inside look at all the ways you can start to form a relationship with reporters by interacting with them at their blogs.

As I mentioned on my CD “How to Pitch the Best Bloggers & Create a Publicity Explosion,” commenting at someone’s blog is one of the very best ways to catch their attention and let them know who you are. In the case of a journalist, commenting at their blog several times can lay the groundwork for a pitch that you can email a few weeks later.

Filed Under: Blogs, Magazine Publicity, Newspaper Publicity, Pitching the Media, Publicity on the Internet