2009 March

Pitching Hispanic radio? Tie your pitch to the geographic area

3/20/2009 By Joan 1 Comment

radiomicrophone2 If you’re pitching a story idea to a Spanish-language radio station, remember that the Hispanic market is diverse.

If you’re planning to treat all stations the same, and deliver the same one-size-fits-all pitch, you’re doomed even before you begin.

Dean Thompson, media relations associate at News Generation, a PR firm that specializes in radio media tours, offers these pitching tips in the March 16 issue of PRWeek:

Provide information relevant to the geographic region and the demographics that a station reaches.
Audio news releases, public service announcements and interviews must be written and positioned for specific audiences.
Don’t send the same pitch to a South Florida station serving mostly Cuban or South American audiences as well as to a southwest Texas radio station serving a largely Mexican population.
When pitching, include a specific reason for pitching an Hispanic audience.

Here’s my related tip: When pitching an idea, you get extra points for supplying contact information of somebody within that radio market who agrees to be interviewed.

Filed Under: Pitching the Media, Radio Publicity, The Local Angle

NY film-maker needs intern to do PR for documentary

3/17/2009 By Joan 4 Comments

Mitchell Teplitsky of New York, NY writes:

“I am self-distributing a documentary to the home video and institutional markets.

“I do my own PR, but as one-man band, it’s too much. I’m thinking of trying to find an intern or PR firm pro bono. The benefit: They’ll get to work with and learn how to independently market a film (few can do it well).

“The movie tells the story of two women raised in different worlds–an immigrant folk dancer from the Andes, and a modern dancer from Queens, NY–who return to Peru to reconnect with roots and an astonishing world of traditional dance and celebration. You can learn more about it at http://www.soyandina.com/

“Do your Hounds have any suggestions on where I might look? Are there any sources you can recommend to find people?”

Filed Under: Business Promotion, PR Consultants/Publicists, Publicity for Niche Markets

Gardeners, USAWeekend wants photos of giant fruits, veggies

3/16/2009 By Joan Leave a Comment

It’s a strange time of year to be asking for photos of giant fruits and vegetables, but that’s exactly what USAWeekend magazine wants.

Yesterday’s edition invites gardeners to mail photos of large specimens. The magazine will announce entries on its website and might even publish them in a book. Photos don’t have to be from this year.

Include the following information:

—Who is in the photo

—What the photo shows

—Where you live and/or where the giant was grown

—When the giant was grown

—How you managed to grow such a large specimen

—Any interesting stories happen as a result of growing this giant?

Deadline for entries is April 30, 2009. Read other details and upload your photos.

Filed Under: Magazine Publicity, Photos & Graphics

Retirement community needs marketing tips

3/10/2009 By Joan 14 Comments

Keri Gerlach of Greenfield, WI writes:

“I’m the marketing director for Clement Manor, a retirement community. My biggest challenge is a limited budget and limited resources targeting long term care and assisted living. Not many folks are out there touring facilities until they have to, and given the economy, most are waiting even longer to sell their homes.

“More specifically, I’d like ideas on how to encourage families to ‘window shop’ now so that when the time comes for their parents, they’ve done their homework and have an idea about what facility they might choose. The sons and daughters we are seeing are in their mid-60s.”

Filed Under: Business Promotion, Publicity for Niche Markets

How to use Twitter hashtags for promotion, publicity

3/10/2009 By Joan 5 Comments

If you’re planning a special event like an industry convention or a speaking engagement, even a teleseminar, invite the Twitter community to buzz about it.

At the opening session, announce from the stage or your teleseminar call that participants who tweet about the event should use a hashtag, and then tell them what tag you want them to use.

A hash tag is the character # followed by a short word that describes the event, or a particular topic, on Twitter.

For example, at the Stompernet Internet marketing event I attended over the weekend, audience members were asked to mark their tweets by typing “#Stompernet” within each one.

That makes it easy for other attendees, and even people who didn’t attend the event, to go to Twitter’s search box at and type in “#Stompernet” and find all the tweets about the event, like this:

You might be wondering: Why would Stompernet want the rest of the world to take advantage of information at an event that only members and their guests can attend?

Here’s why:

—It creates interest in their membership site. I guarantee that if you search for all the “#Stompernet” tweets and read them, you will find at least three tips you can start using today to increse your bottom line. (Membership in Stompernet is closed but will reopen later this year. If you’re interested in joining, please email me and I’ll make sure I notify you when membership opens.)

—Many of the thousands and possibly millions of people on Twitter who are following all the Stompernet members who are tweeting about the great speakers and tips are “retweeting” the tips to THEIR followers, and so on, thereby exposing potentially millions more people to Stompernet.

—No more whining that “The Daily Tattler didn’t cover our event, boo-hoo.” By using hashtags, you turn your entire audience into journalists and let THEM report on the event for you. Often, their reach on Twitter will be far greater than the reach of many top-tier media outlets like CNN and the New York Times. Plus, those tweets are online forever, just waiting for the search engines to find them.

How do you use hashtags for publicity and promotion? Share your best tips.

Filed Under: Pitching the Media, Publicity on the Internet, Publicity Resources, Social networking, Special Events, Twitter