The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Piggybacking onto celebrity news and gossip is one of the best ways to generate publicity for your own expertise. 

Commenting on Britney Spears’ lousy parenting skills, her mother’s apparent absence of parenting skills, or celebs bouncing in and out of rehab has never been easier.

The article “Rise of the Hollywood Bad Girl” at GlobeandMail.com explains what’s behind the 2007 implosion of these young women, including Mischa Barton, shown here, the former star of The O.C.  On Thursday, the 21-year-old actress was arrested for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol and possessing marijuana after being stopped by police in West Hollywood. 

Publicity Hounds can also conclude from this article that’s it’s far more advantageous to piggyback off news about Hollywood’s bad girls instead of its bad boys.  (See “Special Report #50: How to Piggyback onto Celebrity News to Promote Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue.”)

Posted In: Celebrity tie-ins, Pitching the Media
posted On: 12/31/2007: 11:50 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

More Publicity Hounds have responded to the items you’ve read here and here, about the Atlanta TV station’s I-team report on dirty hotel glasses, than any other item in recently memory.

An observation:

I half-expected the PR departments at Embassy Suites, Sheraton Suites and the Holiday Inn in Atlanta to email me and explain improvements they’ve made to their housekeeping as a result of the I-team video.  After all, don’t savvy Publicity Hounds create Google Alerts  so they know what people like me are saying about them online, and then follow up with journalists and bloggers to tell their side of the story?  Don’t they try to do damage control?  So far, I haven’t heard from anybody representing those hotels.  Amazing.

A warning:

All you hotel PR people, don’t be surprised if your hotel is the target of an I-team investigation like the one in Atlanta.  When a story like that one uncovers wrongdoing, you can bet that one or more other stations will do an identical I-team story.

Creating Google alerts, and responding to bad news stories, are integral to your 2008 media plan.  I discussed both of those topics and hundreds of others during my teleseminar series “How to Create a Media Plan.” 

Posted In: Blogs, Business Promotion, Crisis Communications, How to Interview, Publicity on the Internet, TV Publicity
posted On: : 8:21 am: By Joan
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Several years ago, I saw the same psychiatrist interviewed for a story about New Year’s resolutions almost everywhere I looked.

He was quoted as saying that Jan. 1 is the worst day of the year to  make them. That’s because most of us are stressed out from the holidays. We’ve overspent and overeaten. We’re tired. We’re cranky. And we’re definitely not in the mood to lose weight, stop smoking, or do good deeds for others.

I can remember thinking about how that contrarian viewpoint pulled the media like a magnet. While all the other psychiatrists were zigging, this guy was zagging.

As I explained in my ebook How to be a Kick-butt Publicity Hound, the next time you’re tempted to  jump onboard with all the other experts from your industry and start doling out advice, ask yourself if offering the contrarian view either via a press release or a pitch would be a lot smarter. Quite often, it is.

Posted In: Business Promotion, Holidays, Pitching the Media, Press Releases/News Releases
posted On: : 7:36 am: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

If you’re on a shoestring budget, pay-per-placement PR isn’t for you.

But if you have the money to spend, it can land you on a top TV show or in a top-tier newspaper or magazine quicker than if you tried to pitch yourself.

Rather than paying a publicist or PR firm a retainer, regardless of whether they generate publicity for you, you pay for every media hit a pay-per-placement firm helps you get.

No publicity equals no fee.

But if they pitch you to a national TV show like “Good Morning, America” and you end up on the show, the fee can be upwards of $10,000. (See “How to Get Booked on the Morning TV Talk Shows.”)

Let’s say several newspaper and magazine journalists see the show and ask you for interviews. Depending on how the pay-per-placement contract is written, you’ll have to pay the publicist an additional fee for each of those articles.

Pay-per-placement, one of the most controversial forms of PR, isn’t for everybody, particularly those on a shoestring budget. Critics say there’s no justification for the outrageous fees. But advocates argue that it makes publicists work that much harder.

I’ve heard journalists complain that overly-aggressive pay-per-placement publicists can make pests out of themselves. I’ve also heard editors say they love PPP publicists who have pitching down to a science and will never waste the journalist’s time pitching lousy story ideas.

The article “Paying for PR–But Only When it Works” explains how pay-per-placement is getting good results for the CEO of a Colorado gift basket company.

If you’re hiring a publicist, don’t interview any candidates until you know the right questions to ask, and you understand how they charge for their services. My ebook “How to Hire the Perfect Publicist” walks you step-by-step through the entire process.  It includes a list of questions to ask all potential candidates, shows you how to rank them, how to choose the best one, and how to work with your publicist.  The ebook also explains the four ways publicists charge for their services, and the pros and cons of each one.

Posted In: PR Consultants/Publicists, Pitching the Media, TV Publicity
posted On: 12/27/2007: 5:51 am: By Joan
Comments: 3 Comments

If you’re rolling out a new product or service, make sure you have a plan in place to promote it online and offline.

No budget? That’s OK. Maria  Reyes-McDavis has a 7-step plan for those with just a small budget. Many of the tips require no money at all.

As you’re working the plan, remember to stress the value and benefits of your product or service, not just the features. Emphasize how what you are selling is the solution to a particular problem.

She mentions the importance of posting press releases online through paid distribution sites. My two favorite sites are PRWeb if you’re posting fewer than 10 releases a year, and ExpertClick: The Online Yearbook of Experts. An Expertclick subscription lets you post up to 52 press releases a year with no additional per-releases charges. It also places you into its online database of experts, which journalists search frequently. Tell them I sent you and they’ll knock $100 off your subscription.

If you want tips on how to write and distribute press releases, sign up for my free email course “89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases.”

Posted In: Authors & Publishers, Blogs, Business Promotion, Pitching the Media, Press Releases/News Releases, Publicity for Niche Markets, Publicity on the Internet, Writing Articles
posted On: 12/26/2007: 8:38 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments