The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Emily Bowles of New York, New York writes:

“I work for a small New York City-based nonprofit that provides free website resources to performing artists (musicians, dancers, choreographers, producers/directors, actors, etc.) seeking rehearsal and performance spaces in NYC.

“Our websites at NYCMusicSpaces.org , NYCDanceSpaces.org and NYCTheatreSpaces.org allow performing artists to search for spaces that match their space and budgetary needs. 

“We provide detailed rental information about more than 1,300 rentable spaces in all five NYC boroughs, at no cost to users. No membership or registration is required.  

“Our resources have not been an easy sell to the media. We may be heroes to those who have used our website(s) to find spaces that enabled them to perfect their art and present it to an audience (we have lots of testimonials), but we are “unsung” and not widely known. Space is highly coveted in NYC and the need is great, but our product isn’t compelling enough.

“Our nonprofit organization, NYC Performing Arts Spaces, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and we are on the verge of consolidating our online resources, so that all three websites may be searched simultaneously.  Any suggestions for how to create significant ‘buzz’ within the music, theatre and dance communities for little or no money, and reach an even wider audience (which we hope will include potential funders)?”

Posted In: Blogs, Newspaper Publicity, Pitching the Media, Publicity for Niche Markets
posted On: 7/24/2007: 1:35 pm: By Joan
Comments: 8 Comments

I used to work in the newspaper industry, and I’ll admit that some of the criticism that journalists are arrogant and holier-than-thou is justified.

Take, for example, the smart-aleck news brief that appeard on Page 3 of the July 6 issue of the Denver Business Journal. The headline read “Another episode: Bad Press Release Theater.”

“Don’t imply that the media outlet to whom you’re pitching will soon be out of business, as in this recent pitch to DBJ editor Neil Westergaard,” the item stated.

The writer, presumably Westergaard,  was critical of an unnamed PR person’s pitch that began like this:

“Four years ago, executive director [Jane Doe] anticipated the eventual decline of print media and launched her own new media startup, which serves the travel, tourism and destination marketing industries through new media and video productions…”

 DBJ Editor Neil Westergaard replied:

“I’m not interested in doing a story on [Company X]. I’m too busy putting the DBJ’s affairs in order owing to our eventual decline as a print medium, as predicted by [Jane Doe].

The publicist wrote back, “Thanks, anyway, Neil. Hope you gave a great day!”

“You have to admire such cheerful obliviousness,” the brief stated.

OK, maybe it wasn’t the greatest pitch in the world. But it wasn’t inaccurate. The editor’s response makes him look, indeed, oblivious. 

The newspaper industry, particularly dailies, is seeing continued declines in circulation and advertising, with many major dailies gutting their news staffs. Craigslist, the wildly popular free online community bulletin board, is largely responsible for the papers’ eroded classified ad revenue.   

The Cincinnati Post and The Kentucky Post, both afternoon dailies, will stop publishing December 31, the newspaper’s owners announced last week. The problem probably isn’t as severe at business journals, but the American City Business Journals chain and Crains have been devoting a lot of time and attention to the online verions of their publications.

Problems in the newspaper industry are all the more reason why PR people should be reaching out to bloggers and citizen journalists and using social networking sites, as well as posting to Craigslist.  See “Let Bloggers Create Publicity for You” and “Craigslist: A Valuable Publicity Tool.”

Full disclosure: I was editor at The Business Journal in Milwaukee, which is owned by the same company that owns the Denver Business Journal. 

Thanks to Publicity Hound Anita Larson of The Web Muse & Company, a Colorado web design firm, who sent the clipping to me. She says she, too, thinks the brief smacks of smart-aleck.

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Citizen journalism, Newspaper Publicity, PR Consultants/Publicists, Pitching the Media, Publicity on the Internet, Social networking
posted On: : 11:15 am: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

When personal assistant Christie Gaderson of Priorities Concierge in Austin, Texas read my tip about how to set up a Google Alert to learn which bloggers are writing about her topic, she did as a I instructed.

She set up an alert for “personal assistant” and immediately started receiving daily email reminders from Google about which articles and blogs were discussing that topic.

One of the alerts led her to Unclutterer, a blog about getting and staying organized.  She read the post about personal assistants, and decided to submit a comment.  It included a link back to her website.

“Today I had a follow-up interview with MORE magazine, which has well over 1 million circulation and reaches my target audience of mostly upscale women,” she said.  “The writer found me based on the comment I posted.”

The writer was researching an article on chores that mid-life women are outsourcing.  She saw Christie’s comment and thought she’d be perfect for the article.  The first interview went so well that the writer followed it up with a second one.

Proof positive that posting comments at blogs is a powerful way to get in front of people who need your products and services, or journalists who are researching your topic.

The Unclutterer blog has a Google page rank of 3/10.  Can you imagine how much more exposure Christie would have gotten if that blog had a high page rank such as 7/10?  Page rank, by the way, is the level of importance that Google assigns to your blog.  As I’ve explained earlier, the most important criteria it considers are the number of inbound links.

If you aren’t blogging or posting comments at influential blogs, you’re missing one of the powerful ways to generate online publicity and interest from consumers who are searching for what you are selling or promoting.

See “How to Pitch the Best Bloggers & Create a Publicity Explosion.”

Posted In: Blogs, Business Promotion, Publicity on the Internet
posted On: 7/20/2007: 6:34 pm: By Joan
Comments: 2 Comments

It’s a publicity tool that’s as old as dirt, so I was pleased to see it mentioned in a case study written by Marketing Sherpa, about how a successful Publicity Hound reaches out to bloggers and uses a variety of online marketing strategies to sell her books.

It’s a handwritten thank-you note, and it never goes out of style. You should be sending thank-you notes to journalists, bloggers, broadcasters and others who spread the word about your product, service, cause or issue.

No wimpy email thank-you notes! Hand-written only, please.  

That’s what author and financial expert Janine Bolon is doing. After consulting with publicist Penny Sansevieri of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., Bolon used this simple five-step process for creating a huge presence online:

1. Revamp her homepage
   
2. Start an email newsletter
3. Solicit reviews from bloggers (also known as a blog tour)
4. Set up Google Alerts to track mentions and reviews of her books (Watch this short video that demonstrates how to use the alerts.) 
5. Send handwritten thank-you notes thanking reviewers

You can read the entire case study for only another week or two.

I’d do one more thing if I were Janine. I’d offer a freebie like a downloadable special report or a list of tips, to anyone who signs up for the newsletter. Some people won’t hand over their email address unless they know they’ll receive something valuable in return—instantly. (See “Special Report #51: 55 Free Things You Can offer to Generate Publicity or Capture People’s Email Addresses”).

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Blogs, Business Promotion, Publicity on the Internet
posted On: : 9:09 am: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

Here’s a great publicity idea for book clubs, libraries, book stores, author groups or any organization that relates in any way to books or reading.

Offer predictions on how you think “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” will end.  It’s the last book in the record-breaking series by author J.K. Rowling.

The article asks whether Rowling could kill off Harry Potter “without devastating her audience, many of whom are young children.”

Hmmmmm.  Sounds to me like child psychiatrists and even day care centers could piggyback onto this story with their own commentary.

Start pitching to your local newspapers and even TV stations.  Don’t forget the bloggers who might be interested in this story.  And how about writing a press release offering your predictions?  Post it online for all the world to find.

Get in the Yearbook of Experts and send up to 52 press releases a year, with no additional per-release charges, by subscribing to Expertclick, the Online Yearbook of Experts.  A subscription includes the Power Media BlueBook, the talk show guest directory of America’s leading print and broadcast journalists.

Publicity Hounds get $100 off the subscription price.  You can subscribe by calling 202-333-5000.  The deadline is July 31 for the new edition of the printed Yearbook of Experts that will be out in October.  Expertclick will send about 7,000 of those editions to journalists.  CNN just called and requested two editions for its own newsroom.

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Blogs, General
posted On: 7/17/2007: 4:07 pm: By Joan
Comments: No Comments