Celebrity tie-ins

6 ways to tie your pitch to breaking news for PR, publicity

7/14/2010 By Joan 1 Comment

News is breaking all around you.

Here are 6 tips on how to generate publicity from breaking news.

Update: We’ll be discussing these tips and many others during the webinar “How to Tie Your Story Pitch to Breaking News and Make the Media Interview YOU” tomorrow, Wednesday, July 21.

1. The local angle. If you’re the “local angle” to a national breaking news story, let the media know. Example: Coffee prices nationwide skyrocket. You own a coffee bar. How will you deal with the price increase? Let your local newspapers and TV stations know. (This blog has an entire sub-category on the local angle.)

2. Comment on celebrity news. Al and Tipper Gore announce they will divorce. You’re a divorce attorney. Can you offer tips for national men’s and women’s magazines on how wealthy divorcing couples can negotiate for the best settlement possible?

3. Pay attention to weather news. Your area has just had 4 weeks of rain and people are bailing water out of their basements. You’re an expert on how to remove mold from houses. Contact every media outlet that’s covering the weather and offer your comments.

4. Target industry journalists and bloggers. If there’s breaking news within your industry, or an industry you target, and you’re a part of it, or you can offer expert commentary, contact business reporters and bloggers who write about that industry. How do you know who they are? You create a Google Alert for the topic.

5. Share your expertise on the social media sites. For any type of breaking news on which you can comment, be sure you write about it at your blog and the social media sites, where many journalists are looking for sources.

6. Pitch photos, not just stories. It’s the harvest season. You own a farmer’s market and you have a gargantuan pumpkin in your field. It might not be worth a story, but it’s worth a photo in your daily newspaper.

Learn more tips from a crackerjack publicist on how to contact busy journalists and bloggers, how to craft an email that gets their attention, what to offer to tip the scales in your favor, and how to follow up. Publicist Michelle Tennant of Wasabi Publicity will be my guest on the webinar “How to Tie Your Pitch to Breaking News and Make the Media Interviw YOU” at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, July 21.

She’ll share tips for the best places to find breaking news quickly, a terrific free resource she found online that gives media contact information (saving you thousands of dollars on fancy media directories), and examples of emails to the media that resulted in fabulous publicity for her clients. You can use the same elements in your emails that she used in hers.

How have you tied your story idea to a breaking news event, and what kind of publicity did you generate as a result? Comment here.

Filed Under: Blogs, Celebrity tie-ins, Magazine Publicity, Newspaper Publicity, PR Consultants/Publicists, Photos & Graphics, Publicity Resources, Social media marketing, TV Publicity, The Local Angle

Oprah looks for the next big TV star—Is it you?

5/25/2010 By Joan Leave a Comment

If you’ve always dreamed of having your own TV show because you just KNOW it would be a lot better than all the other junk on the tube, this is your chance.

Oprah Winfrey and her new network, OWN TV, are looking for the next big TV star.

Not surprisingly, that certain someone must have a lot of the same characteristics Oprah has. Let her tell you herself. Watch the video at her website.

Open casting calls for your OWN show will be held in New York, Dallas, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Deadline for entries is Saturday, June 26.

Not interested in your own show but you’d like a shot at being on Oprah before she ends her current show next year? Susan Harrow knows all the inside secrets on how to get booked on Oprah.

Filed Under: Celebrity tie-ins, Special Events, TV Publicity Tagged With: casting call, oprah Winfrey, OWN TV

Artist needs tips for placing artwork on TV, movie sets

1/19/2010 By Joan 5 Comments

Consuelo Okdie from Tampa Bay, Fla., writes:

“I’m hoping that you or one of your readers will be able to tell me how to get my artwork used as set decoration for TV or films.

“My work is unique in medium and application as I am one of a very few artists using polymer clay to create illustrations & paintings. Any information you may be able to give me will be greatly appreciated.”

The Publicity Hound says:

First, you need to be willing to do the research necessary to pitch set designers, costume coordinators, production coordinators, prop masters and product placement decision-makers for specific movies and TV shows. I hosted a teleseminar with Amy Bates Stumpf two years ago on How to Get Your Consumer Product onto the Sets of Movies and TV Shows.

A few quick pointers from that training session:

The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety are magazines that report on upcoming production schedules. That’s a good place to start.
If you’re pitching specific TV shows, be sure watch the show first. In your pitch, explain why you think your product or artwork is a good tie-in.
Don’t send unsolicited products.
Pitch early. Getting in on the ground floor of a TV show or movie or you might miss your opportunity.

Filed Under: Business Promotion, Celebrity tie-ins, TV Publicity Tagged With: Amy Bates Stupf, movie sets, prodcut placment, production coordinators, prop masters, set designers

Top 10 ways to get free publicity from the Tiger Woods mess

12/3/2009 By Joan 3 Comments

Piggybacking onto hot celebrity gossip ranks right up there as one of the best ways to generate free publicity for your product, service, cause or issue.

But hurry. This story may be old news by the end of the week.

Here are the Top 10 ways to create free publicity for yourself by participating in the Tiger Woods conversation online and offline:

If you’re an expert in a topic that ties into this drama, pitch influential bloggers who are writing about the story. Explain your area of expertise and offer commentary.
Post comments at high-traffic blogs like Huffington Post that are discussing the story. Ditto at blogs written by journalists, like sports columnist Jason Whitlock whose post on Tiger’s Real Crime? Not Playing the Media’s Game attracted more than 500 comments in about two hours this morning. Weave into your comment information about your expertise. If appropriate, lead people back to your website where they can find tips, advice or a quiz that ties into the topic.
If you’re a divorce attorney who can talk about prenups, an ad agency executive who’s an expert on branding or celebrity endorsements, a crisis counselor or PR pro who can discuss PR 101, and even a minister who can offer tips on how to forgive, write a letter to the editor of local, regional and national publications where the stories are appearing.
Call your local TV stations and offer yourself as the local angle to this international story. Offer a list of short tips.
Create a short two-minute video offering advice on what others can learn from Tiger’s mess and upload it to YouTube and the other video-sharing sites. Tag it with keywords that people are using to search for information on the story.
Subscribe to free media leads services like HARO and PitchRate, or paid services like ProfNet and PRLeads, so you know about the types of sources journalists are seeking for their stories.
Offer to write a guest blog post about it, with tips and advice. BloggerLinkUp helps guest bloggers and bloggers who need guest posts find each other.
Pitch clever angles to this story to drive-time radio show hosts. Example: A cell phone expert can pitch a story on “Got a dirty little secret? 5 ways to cover your tracks on your cell phone.”
Write your own blog post that ties into Tiger Woods, include lots of outbound links, and then bookmark it at sites like Digg and Delicious. The “Top 10 Tips…” headline works well. I got the idea for this post while reading Tip #3 in Bryan Eisenbertg’s blog post on Top 3 Problems of Social Media.
Do all of the above, and link to them from Twitter and Facebook.

If you’ve piggybacked off the Tiger Woods is story to generate free publicity for yourself or clients, or you’d like to add to this list, join the conversation.

Filed Under: Advertising, Blogs, Celebrity tie-ins, Crisis Communications, Facebook, Newspaper Publicity, PR Consultants/Publicists, Pitching the Media, Social media marketing, TV Publicity, Twitter, Video, YouTube Tagged With: Elin Nordegren, Gloria Allred, Jaimee Grubbs, Joanna Jagoda, Kalika Moquin, Rachel Uchitel, Sports News, Tiger Woods Affair, Tiger Woods Affairs, Tiger Woods Mistress, Tiger Woods Mistress Jaimee Grubbs, Tiger Woods Scandal

13 ways to use royalty-free stock images in a PR campaign

11/21/2009 By Joan 3 Comments

If you can’t afford your own photographer, or you take lousy photos, or you hate creating graphics, use a stock photo service to enhance everything from press releases to media kits in a PR campaign.

Royalty-free stock images can save you a lot of time and money trying to generate graphics on your own. Royalty-free means you can use the downloaded images forever and not have to worry about infringement issues.

Shutterstock has given me a complimentary subscription so I can try their service, and their photos come in handy at this blog. They’ve helped me compile this list of 13 ways you can use stock image photos in a PR campaign.

Blogs. Many bloggers are missing the opportunity to dress up their posts and make their blogs more attractive. Regardless of what topic I write about, I can usually find a stock image to accompany it.
Ezines and print newsletters. Stock photos and illustrations can enhance articles in company newsletters and ezines. Now that so many ezine publishers produce HTML newsletters, stock images come in handy.
Press releases. Most press release distribution services allow customers to upload several images at no extra charge. If the headline doesn’t call attention to your release, the stock photo just might. Adding editorial stock images of premier events such as concerts or sports competitions can add weight and influence to a related press release, blog post or ezine article.
Presentations. Whether you’re submitting a proposal for a client, or you’re a speaker who’s presenting to an audience, compelling stock images used to illustrate business presentations can help capture the attention of your audience. Highlight key points with photos and illustrations in PowerPoint.
Reports. Stock photos are a great way to add excitement to client reports and reinforce your accomplishments.
White Papers. White Papers often cry out for colorful stock imagery to break up text and hold readers’ attention.
Media kits. Including stock photos and illustrations when designing a media kit or media kit inserts to add extra visual appeal.
Event invitations and posters. Stock photos and illustrations allow PR professionals to create attractive event invitations. Stock images can also help create just the right mood for the event itself. Simply enlarge them to poster size and place them throughout the event location.
Social media. Use them to enliven your your social media presence on sites such as Facebook, Twitter (Twitpic), Wikipedia, and more.
Search engine optimization. By properly tagging a stock image within a release, blog or website, you can raise your site’s rankings. PR clients will appreciate the added value as well as your SEO savvy.
Your own website. Stock photos and illustrations are a great way to demonstrate creative flair and generate interest in your website, or your PR client’s.
Advertising. If you’re buying an ad, a good stock photo can come in handy.
For the media. Offer stock photos to journalists if they’re coving a story about you, and the photos are a good tie-in. Sure, the media have access to their own stock photos, but Rule #1 when working with the media is “Be helpful.”

My ebook How to Use Photos & Graphics in Your Publicity Campaign offers thousands of helpful tips on how to incorporate images into your publicity efforts.