The Publicity Hound’s Blog  

Perez Hilton,  the Hollywood gossip blogger named the #1 most influential “web celeb” by Forbes.com, tells Martha Stewart his top three secrets for creating a profitable blog.

He blogs several times a day and gets an astounding 9 million visitors to his blog each day. Advertising at the site has made him a millionaire, although he won’t tell Martha exactly how much it rakes in. 

His advice for success?

1. Find a niche (”Ya gotta get a gimmick.”)

2. Find ways to make your blog different. His signature ”white chalk” drawings, sometimes humorous and often crude, appear frequently on top of photos of celebrities that accompany his posts.

3. Be prepared to work hard. He works on his blog 14 to 16 hours a day, Sunday through Thursday. Watch the interview here:

This blog, by the way, is a great place to search for the hottest celebrity news. See (Special Report #50: How to Piggyback onto Celebrity News to Promote Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue.”)

Posted In: Advertising, Blogs, Celebrity tie-ins, Photos & Graphics, Publicity on the Internet
posted On: 9/18/2008: 12:16 pm: By Joan
Comments: 1 Comment

A freelance PR person just emailed me and asked, “Did you ever or can you recommend a resource on how to become a magazine columnist?”

I told her that several years ago, I wrote “Special Report #34: Secrets to Becoming a Columnist in Newspapers and Magazines.” It advises writers to offer columns for free and not ask for payment. 

The newspaper industry, and the magazine industry to some extent, has been battered since I wrote that report about seven years ago.  Audiences are more fragmented than ever. Many publications are losing classified and ad revenue because of Craigslist and pay-per-click ads. Costs for paper and ink are rising and the news hole is shrinking. That makes competition for a column more difficult than ever. Readers, particularly of newspapers, are getting older and dying off.  

Trying to get a column in a magazine, I told her, can be mostly wasted effort, unless you’re targeting a B2B magazine that goes directly to your target market.  Her client would be far better off blogging several times a week and offering blog content through an RSS feed.

If you blog, you can really gain traction because if your content is good, other bloggers can link to it. Blogging can offer exposure far greater than a magazines column. Besides, journalists who work in traditional media may find the content and cover you as a result. 

But these days, savvy Publicity Hounds think far beyond traditional media.

Posted In: Advertising, Blogs, Magazine Publicity
posted On: 8/28/2008: 7:07 am: By Joan
Comments: 5 Comments

Now is the time to start pitching if you’re hoping to convince journalists to feature your consumer product or service in holiday gift coverage.

Gift guides appear in many forms:

—As special sections in newspapers, like holiday gift guides printed by USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.

—As special holiday features in magazines like Redbook, Allure, Wired, Stereophile, Fast Company, Organic Gardening, Cooking Light, Shape, Atlanta Magazine, Cottage Living and Elite Traveler. Because many of these magazines have early deadlines, you must start pitching now.

—As special segments on TV such as Oprah’s “Favorite Things” show each year in which she lists her favorite holiday gifts.

—As special radio promotions.

—As columns, reviews or special holiday features in online magazines.

—Even bloggers feature their favorite things to give as holiday gifts.

If your consumer product or service would make the perfect gift, getting a placement in some of these media is easy—but only if you know where to look, whom to pitch, when to contact them, and if they want photos.

The Gift List can make your job easy.  Its staff contacts the top 250 daily newspapers, all the major wire services, and television shows like “Filter,” “The Look for Less,” and, of course, MTV, “Ellen,” “The View,” and hundreds more.

It doesn’t bother with media outlets that won’t mention products by name or those with circulations under 25,000.  Broadcast outlets must reach a national or significant regional audience.

Already, The Gift List has compiled a whopping 400 leads for this year’s features.  You can buy a subscription to either the Gift List for Holiday 2008 Print & Broadcast, or The Gift List for Holiday 2008 Web & Blog, or both.

What if “Oprah” or USA Today changes its feature focus the week before a deadline?  Not to worry.  The Gift List will notify subscribers who sign up for their ezine and email alerts.  You won’t miss a beat.  And you’ll be miles ahead of the competition.

Take a free test drive.

Posted In: Advertising, Blogs, Business Promotion, Holidays, Magazine Publicity, Media Leads, Newspaper Publicity, Pitching the Media, Radio Publicity, TV Publicity
posted On: 6/24/2008: 10:00 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Flooding in the Midwest. Wild fires in California. Snow in the Northwest. Scorching heat on the East Coast.

And it’s still only spring.

This is the time to pitch weather stories. If you sell or give away a product or service to help people cope with the weather, let the media know. They’re hungry for any tie-in.

Several years ago, after terrible flooding in the Midwest, the president of a Minnesota company that sells dehumidifiers called a local drive-time radio show on a popular Milwaukee station. It was during a week when homeowners had bought every small engine and generator in the state, which they used to remove water from basements. On that afternoon, there wasn’t a generator to be found in a store anywhere in Wisconsin.

For at least 10 minutes, the host interviewed the company president who explained how his machine works. The host even repeated the company’s toll-free phone number several times. I remember thinking, “Now THAT’S smart!”   

What story idea can you pitch to help people cope? As I explained in my “Special Report #37: How to Tie Your Product, Service, Cause or Issue to the Weather,” piggybacking onto the weather is one of the easiest ways to get into the news, yet few Publicity Hounds take advantage of this opportunity.  

Start today adding weather stories to your 12-month publicity plan or media plan.

Posted In: Advertising, Business Promotion, Pitching the Media, Radio Publicity, The Local Angle
posted On: 6/17/2008: 12:01 pm: By Joan
Comments: No Comments

Here’s a perfect example of how a nonprofit can team up with a popular nationwide chain, and piggyback onto a ”Week of the Year” to promote a good cause.

Dairy Queen is creating the Girl Scout Thin Mint Blizzard for the month of July to promote Girl Scout Appreciation Week July 7-13. 

What a wonderful idea! No more having to wait until March every year to enjoy these luscious cookies. And I’ll take a Girl Scout Thin Mint Blizzard any day, compared to the other sickening sweet candy and other sugary additions that go into Blizzards.    

By the way, do you have your own day, week or month of the year? You should. Just go to Chase’s Calendar of Events and submit it for free. April 15 is the deadline for the next printed edition of the popular reference book which many journalists use. 

As I explained in my “Special Report #45: How to Generate National Publicity from Your Own Holiday (or Day, Week or Month of the Year),” you can piggyback onto your own holiday or day, week or month of the year when pitching story ideas to bloggers and journalists. For some reason, the media love these tie-ins.

Posted In: Advertising, Pitching the Media
posted On: : 10:50 am: By Joan
Comments: No Comments